dressed.
Now Christ said that He did not ordain laws as a legislator, but
inculcated precepts as a teacher: inasmuch as He did not aim at
correcting outward actions so much as the frame of mind. Further, these
words were spoken to men who were oppressed, who lived in a corrupt
commonwealth on the brink of ruin, where justice was utterly neglected.
The very doctrine inculcated here by Christ just before the destruction
of the city was also taught by Jeremiah before the first destruction of
Jerusalem, that is, in similar circumstances, as we see from
Lamentations iii. 25-30.

Now as such teaching was only set forth by the prophets in times of
oppression, and was even then never laid down as a law; and as, on the
other hand, Moses (who did not write in times of oppression, but--mark
this--strove to found a well-ordered commonwealth), while condemning
envy and hatred of one's neighbor, yet ordained that an eye should be
given for an eye, it follows most clearly from these purely Scriptural
grounds that this precept of Christ and Jeremiah concerning submission
to injuries was only valid in places where justice is neglected, and in
a time of oppression, but does not hold good in a well-ordered state.

In a well-ordered state where justice is administered every one is
bound, if he would be accounted just, to demand penalties before the
judge (see Lev. v. 1), not for the sake of vengeance (Lev. xix. 17, 18),
but in order to defend justice and his country's laws, and to prevent
the wicked rejoicing in their wickedness. All this is plainly in
accordance with reason. I might cite many other examples in the same
manner, but I think the foregoing are sufficient to explain my meaning
and the utility of this method, and this is all my present purpose.
Hitherto we have only shown how to investigate those passages of
Scripture which treat of practical conduct, and which, therefore, are
more easily examined, for on such subjects there was never really any
controversy among the writers of the Bible.

The purely speculative passages cannot be so easily traced to their real
meaning: the way becomes narrower, for as the prophets differed in
matters speculative among themselves, and the narratives are in great
measure adapted to the prejudices of each age, we must not, on any
account, infer the intention of one prophet from clearer passages in the
writings of another; nor must we so explain his meaning, unless it is
perfectly plain that th