Chapter VI.—Of the Abolition and the Abolisher of the Old Law.

Therefore, since it is manifest that a sabbath temporal was shown, and a sabbath eternal foretold; a circumcision carnal foretold, and a circumcision spiritual pre-indicated; a law temporal and a law eternal formally declared; sacrifices carnal and sacrifices spiritual foreshown; it follows that, after all these precepts had been given carnally, in time preceding, to the people Israel, there was to supervene a time whereat the precepts of the ancient Law and of the old ceremonies would cease, and the promise86    Or, “sending forth”—promissio. of the new law, and the recognition of spiritual sacrifices, and the promise of the New Testament, supervene;87    The tautology is again due to the author. while the light from on high would beam upon us who were sitting in darkness, and were being detained in the shadow of death.88    Comp. Luke i. 78, 79, Isa. ix. 1, 2, with Matt. iv. 12–16. And so there is incumbent on us a necessity89    Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 16. binding us, since we have premised that a new law was predicted by the prophets, and that not such as had been already given to their fathers at the time when He led them forth from the land of Egypt,90    See ch. iii. above. to show and prove, on the one hand, that that old Law has ceased, and on the other, that the promised new law is now in operation.

And, indeed, first we must inquire whether there be expected a giver of the new law, and an heir of the new testament, and a priest of the new sacrifices, and a purger of the new circumcision, and an observer of the eternal sabbath, to suppress the old law, and institute the new testament, and offer the new sacrifices, and repress the ancient ceremonies, and suppress91    Here again the repetition is the author’s. the old circumcision together with its own sabbath,92    Cum suo sibi sabbato. Unless the meaning be—which the context seems to forbid—“together with a sabbath of His own:”  the Latinity is plainly incorrect. and announce the new kingdom which is not corruptible. Inquire, I say, we must, whether this giver of the new law, observer of the spiritual sabbath, priest of the eternal sacrifices, eternal ruler of the eternal kingdom, be come or no: that, if he is already come, service may have to be rendered him; if he is not yet come, he may have to be awaited, until by his advent it be manifest that the old Law’s precepts are suppressed, and that the beginnings of the new law ought to arise.  And, primarily, we must lay it down that the ancient Law and the prophets could not have ceased, unless He were come who was constantly announced, through the same Law and through the same prophets, as to come.

CAPUT VI.

Igitur, cum manifestum sit et sabbatum temporale ostensum, et sabbatum aeternum praedictum, circumcisionem carnalem praedictam, et circumcisionem spiritalem praeindicatam, legem quoque temporalem et legem aeternalem denuntiatam, sacrificia carnalia et sacrificia spiritalia praeostensa; sequitur, ut praecedenti tempore datis omnibus istis praeceptis carnaliter populo Israel, superveniret tempus quo legis antiquae et caeremoniarum veterum praecepta cessarent, et novae 0609A legis promissio et spiritalium sacrificiorum agnitio, et Novi Testamenti pollicitatio superveniret, fulgente nobis lumine ex alto, qui sedebamus in tenebris et in umbra mortis detinebamur (Luc. II, 78, 79). Itaque necessitas nobis incumbit, ut, quoniam praedicatam novam legem a prophetis praediximus, et non talem qualis jam data esset patribus eorum eo tempore quo eos de terra Aegypti produxit, ostendere et probare debeamus tam legem illam veterem cessasse, quam legem novam promissam nunc operari. Et quidem in primis quaerendum an exspectetar novae legis lator, et Novi Testamenti haeres, et novorum sacrificiorum sacerdos, et novae circumcisionis purgator, et aeterni sabbati cultor, qui legem veterem compescat, et Novum Testamentum statuat, nova sacrificia offerat, et caeremonias 0609B antiquas reprimat, et circumcisionem veterem cum suo sibi sabbato compescat, et novum regnum quod non corrumpatur adnuntiet. Nam etiam novae legis lator, sabbati spiritalis cultor, sacrificiorum aeternorum antistes, regni aeterni aeternus dominator, quaerendum an jam venerit , necne. Et si jam venit, serviendum est illi: si necdum venit, sustinendus est, dummodo manifestum sit adventu ejus comprimi legis veteris praecepta, et operari debere novae legis exordia; et in primis definiendum est non potuisse cessare legem antiquam et prophetas, nisi venisset is qui per eamdem legem, et per eosdem prophetas venturus annuntiabatur.