No. XIII.
SEVERITY OF THE RABBINIC ORDINANCES.
The feast of the Passover, ordained as a memorial of past
mercies, has at the same time served to remind us of another
deliverance necessary both for Jew and Gentile, and also of a
happy time when "there shall be one fold and one shepherd"—"One
Lord and His name One." But the blessed anticipations
of the future cannot, and ought not, withdraw our thoughts
from the reality of the present. That happy time is not yet
come. Jews and Christians are not yet agreed as to the articles
of faith; and this feast of the Passover especially directs our
attention to the cause and origin of the difference. At this
solemn season of the year, Jesus of Nazareth was condemned
by the Scribes and Pharisees, and by them delivered to the
Roman power to be executed as a malefactor. One portion of
the Jewish nation, and that the majority, concurred in the
judgment of the rulers. Another portion, at first small, but
ultimately considerable in number and station, arraigned the
justice of the sentence, and professed their faith in His Messiahship.
The question between Jews and Christians at present is,
which of these two portions of the Jewish nation was in the
right. In these papers we have taken up this simple position,
that the religious system of those who rejected Jesus of Nazareth
is contrary to the law and the prophets, and is therefore false;
whilst the doctrines of Him, that was rejected, are in conformity
with those writings, and must therefore be true. When we
say that the rabbinical system is false, we do not mean that the
Pharisees held no truth. On the contrary, we showed in our
last number that some of their expectations were agreeable to
the Word of God, and therefore true. All we intend is, that
the peculiarities of Rabbinism of which the system is composed
are erroneous. The laws relating to the present festival furnish
us with abundant proof of our assertion. The Divine commands
relating to it exhibit the care, consideration, and condescension
of God in providing an opportunity of instruction, a time of
relaxation, and a season of joy for the poor as well as the rich.
The rabbinical laws, on the other hand, are burdensome, oppressive,
and hurtful, especially to the poor and unlearned.
We take our first proof from one of the laws relating to the
(
Hebrew characters) "the four cups"—God has given a simple command
to Israel to make known to their children the reasons for
the feast. (Hebrew characters) "And thou shalt declare unto
thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which
the Lord did unto me, when I came forth out of Egypt."
(Exod. xiii. 8.) In order to fulfil this command, a sort of
