opportunity.
The objection may be stated here that sacrifice was likewise universal.
True enough, but we have fulfillment of all its obligations and typical
significance in the perfect sacrifice, “The Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world,” “Our High Priest who needeth not daily like
those high priests who offer up sacrifices, first for his own sin and
then for the sins of the people. For this he did once for all when he
offered up himself.”
I have also met this objection. Circumcision and polygamy were
universal, and your argument would establish them. In the first place
circumcision was never universal, and even if it had been, we have
numerous statements in the New Testament denying its further claim
and a seal of the covenant, as I believe, clearly revealed which was
to supersede it. As to polygamy, it may be safely affirmed that it
never was divinely commanded, it is contrary to a definite law of God,
announced to our first parents, and reaffirmed in the New Testament.
With sacrifice all the rites of ceremonial significance and the retinue
of priests and Levites which administered them came to an end. All
moral obligations, however, were not abolished, but many of them were
more strictly interpreted. The Sermon on the Mount reveals a higher
conception of moral obligation and requires a purer motive than any
precept of the Old Testament. The laws of home relationship are made
more binding. The bill of divorcement is swept away and only the great
principle recognized, namely, faithlessness to the universal law, “Thou
shalt not commit adultery.” Even in the case of ritual offering this
is true. Take an example. While incense is abolished, that which is
symbolized, the great heart beat of humanity which we call prayer, is
not abolished but is enlarged to a precept of exceeding broad scope,
“Pray without ceasing.”
Now we demand some word of fair implication at least, or some example
to show that the universal obligation of the tithe has been set aside
in the general shaking up of the earth. It was not removed as being one
of “the things that are made,” but, as I believe, it remains as one of
“the things which cannot be shaken.” This statement is borne out by the
evidence afforded from its history. “These thing ought ye to have done”
is a word that justifies our conclusion.
Fourth: NOT BEING ABROGATED WHEN THE OLD TESTAMENT ECONOMY ENDED, IT IS
UNIVERSALLY BINDING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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