538 Of Chrif ian Liberty. S E yr between the Jewifh and the Chriftian fer- Iit;- vice, particularly with refpet to liberty, '4.--v7--) Though the Ifraelites were God's peculiar people, diftinguifhed from all other nations by religious privileges, yet is their fiate, when compared to the chriftian, reprefented as a bondage. In the debates at yerufalem, .Icís xv. i o, upon the famous queftion, 'Whether the Gentile converts were obliged to obferve the Mofaic',inftitutions, St. Peter giveth his judgment againft the attempted impofi.tion, becaufe it was putting a yoke upon the necks of the difciples, which, faith he, neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. And St. Paul, in his epiftle to the Galatians, largely treateth of this fubjeé}, íhewing that the difference between the Jewifh and Chrifiian religious Rate was like that between an heir under age, whofe condition differeth nothing from a fervent or a bondman, and a fon grown up to ma- turity, free from tutors and governors, who hath obtained the plenary poffeiìon and free enjoyment of his inheritance. The principal reafon of this is, becaufe by the Jewifh con - flitution, religion was blended with civil po- licy. There was an outward .fanc`tion added to religious rites, and the obfervance of them was enforced, not only by the fear of the 5 invifible w
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