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The Records of the New Haven

Colony (1641-1644):

The

judicial law of yod given

by Moses and expo

unded

in

other

parts of scripture, so

far

as it is a

hedge

and

a fence to

the

moral

laws,

and

neither ceremonial

nor

typical

nor

had any reference

to

Canaan,

hath an everlasting equity

and should be the rule of our

proceedings. It was ordered that

the

judicial laws

of yod,

as they

were delivered by Moses ... be a

rule

to

all the courts

in this

jurisdiction

in their

proceedings

against offenders:

Puritan

William

Perkins (cited

in

Rossell

H.

Robbins

,

Encyclopedia

of

Witchcraft and

Demonology [New

York:

Crown, 1959], p.

382):

That

the

witch

truly

convicted is to be

punished

with

death

,

the highest

degree of punishment, and that

by

the law of Moses, the

equity

whereof is perpetual.

Puritan Thomas Cartwright,

according to Hutchinson,

The

Histol)'

of

the

Colony

and

Province

of Massachusetts

Bay

(1764):

Cartwright, who had a chief

hand

in redUcing

puritanism to a

system,

held

, that the

magistrate

was bound to adhere to

the

judicial law of Moses,

and

might

not punish or

pardon otherwise

than

they prescribed.

English theologian Thomas

Scolt

(1747-1821)

in

his

Holy

Bible with Notes (at Exo.

21:1)

wrote:

Making some

allowance

for

the circumstances val)'ing in

different ages and nations,

there

is

a

spirit

of equity

in

these laws,

which is well worthy of being

transfused into those of any

state .... A full investigation of the

subject would

evince,

that the

laws enacted by [Moses] were

uniformly

more

wise, equitable,

humane, mild, and salutaI)' in

their tendency, than the

complex

body

of laws,

even

of the

most

civilized

nations

....

Robert L

Dabney,

The

Practical

Theology ,

p. 513:

The application of

the lex

talionis

made

by Moses against

false witnesses was the

most

appropriate and equitable ever

invented.

7.

A

leading criticism of the

Puritans of

the

Westminster

Assembly and of the 1600's is

their endorsement

of

the

application of

capital

punishment

in

accordance

with the Old

Testament

law.

The 1640

Massachusetts Civil

Bay

Code

in

America is

an example

of the

Puritan view, and it applies the

specifics

of yod's penal codes.

Reformed Basel theologian

Johannes Wollebius (1586-1629),

in

his Compendium of Christian

Theology,

(cited

in J.

W

Beardslee, Reformed

Dogmatics

[1965],

p. 10)

wrote:

Propositions:

I As the

ceremonial laws concerned with

yod, the

political

was concern

with the neighbor. II. In those

matters

on

which

it

is

in

harmony

with the moral law and with

ordinal)'

justice

,

it

is binding upon

us. III In

those

matters which

were peculiar to that law and were

prescribed for the promised land or

the situation

of

the Jewish state, it

has no

more

force

for

us

than the

laws of foreign commonwealths.

Leading

Westminster Divine,

yeorge yillespie in his Aaron's

Rod Blossoming (1646

,

1:1):

I know some divines hold that

the judicial law of Moses, so

far

as

concerneth the

punishments of sins

against the moral law,

idolatl)', blasphemy,

Sabbath-breaking,

adultel)', theft,

etc.,

ought to be a rule to

the Christian

magistratel and,

for

my

part

, I wish more

respect were had to

it,

and that it were more consulted

with.

Puritan John Owen (Works,

8:394):

Although the institutions and

examples of the Old Testament, of

the duty of magistrates

in

the

things and about the worship of

yod, are not,

in

their whole

latitude and extent, to be drawn

into rules that should be obligatoI)'

to

all

magistrates now .., yet,

doubtless, there is something

moral

in

those institutions, which,

being unclothed

of

their Judaical

form, is still binding

to all

in the

like

kind, as

to

some

analogy and

proportion. Subduct from those

administrations what was proper

to

, and

lies

upon the account

of,

the

church

and nation of the

Jews,

and what remains upon the

general

notion of a

church

and

nation must be everlastingly

binding.

December, 1995

t

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t 23

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Puritan Thomas

Shephard

(1605-1649)

(The

Morality

of

the

Sabbath,

rep. 1853

11I:53fl:

The judicial laws, some

of

them being hedges and fences

to

safeguard both moral and

ceremonial precepts

,

their

binding

power was

therefore mixed

and

various,

for

those which

did

safeguard any moral law, (which

is perpetual,) whether by just

punishments or otherwise do still

morally bind

all

nations.

... As, on

the contrary, the

moral abiding,

why should not their

judicials

and

fences

remain

The

learned

generally doubt not

to affirm

that

Moses'

judicials

bind

all

nations,

so far

forth as

they contain any

moral equity

in them, which

moral

eql ity

doth appear not only

in respect of the end of the law,

when it

is

ordered

for common

and universal

good, but chiefly in

respect

of the law which they

safeguard

and fence, which if

it

be

moral, t is most

just

and

equal,

that either the same

or like judicial

fence (according

to some

fit

proportion) should

preserve

it still,

because it

is

but just and equal that

a moral and universal law should

be universally preserved ....

8. That which

is

'

expired

'

in

the

judicial

laws are

those

elements that structured it

for Israel

as a nation (the particular land

arrangements which allowed

for

cities

of

refuge

, blood

avengers,

elders

in the

gates

,

stoning [as

typologkal

of

Qod's

crushing

judgment), levirate

marriages

, and

the

like) or are

applicable

to the

peculiar ancient circumstances, the

accidental

histOrical

and

cultural

factors

of

Israel

(fences around

rooftops, g()ring oxen, etc.).

R. L Dabney, lectures in

Systematic Theology,

p.

412,

re

:

lev. 18 law against incest:

We hold that this law,

although

found in

the Hebrew

code

,

has

not passed away;

because

neither ceremonial nor

typical. ...

We

argue also,

presumptively,

that

if

this

law is

a

dead

one,

then the Scriptures

contain nowhere a distinct

legislation against this great crime

of

incest

: The

same would be

true

of

bestiality and other

crimes.

On

page 402

he states:

'The laws

of Moses, therefore

,

very properly

made adultery a

capital Crime

... :

On

page

403 Dabney

lists

capital

punishment laws for

murder,

striking

a

parent,

adultery

,

etc.,

without any disapprobation.

In fact,

English

theologian

Thomas Ridgeley, in

his

1855 A

Body of

Divinity

(11:307).

noted

that the

following laws

were

seven kinds that ' expired"with the

coming of

the New Testament:

1)

24 f THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon , December, 1995

Non-Profit

argo

U.s. Postage

PAID

BULK RATE

Permit No. 1553

Greenville ,

SC

296

02

levirate and inalienability

of

property;

(2) jubilee, (3) six year

limit on slavery;

(4)

sabbatical

year,

5) usury

prohibitions;

(6)

annual festivals; and (7) cities of

refuge

and

blood avengers.

Recommended Resources

Kenneth L (ientry,

Jr.,

Qod's

law in the Modem World

(Presbyterian and Reformed,

1992).

Kenneth

L Qentry,

Jr .

'The

Westminster

Confession of Faith

and Qod's law: Six

sermon

tape

set

:

$28.00

(from author) .

Qreg

L

Bahnsen

, No Other

Standard: Theonomy and

Its

Critics

(Inst.

for

Christian

Economics,

1991)

(iary North,

ed., Theonomy:

An Informed

Response

(ins .

for

Christian Economics, 1991)

Q