Page:The ancient interpretation of Leviticus XVIII. 18 - Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is lawful.djvu/13

 law favourable to our own pleasures, we are in this to put ourselves under the yoke of the bondage of the law, but, if any of the things enacted by the law seem to be grievous, we are then to run off to the liberty which is in Christ." I, also, believe that St. Basil is here entirely mistaken, and am convinced that the laws in Leviticus xviii., being a part of the moral law, stand on a totally different footing from circumcision, or the Jewish Sabbaths, or abstinence from meats. Indeed, I believe that this marriage-law was given to the Gentile Churches in the famous decree of the Council of Jerusalem. When the Jewish zealots wished to impose the yoke of the Mosaic law on Gentile believers, the Apostles and Church at Jerusalem refused to sanction any such imposition, but required the observance of four Mosaic precepts which they call "necessary." "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things, that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication." Why were these things considered necessary, when the law itself was declared not to be binding? Was it merely to please the Jews? No; to please the Jews the Church at Jerusalem must have imposed the whole law. The reason for these special requirements was, that Moses himself required these four things from the Gentiles as well as from the Jews. The apostles did not feel themselves bound by Jewish traditions, but acknowledged the authority of the Divine law. What the law did not impose upon Gentiles they left free. What the law imposed upon Gentiles they required as "necessary." Now, in Leviticus xvii. and xviii., these four things are found together, and by Moses required of the Gentiles: