rnatural light and the incarnation, passion,
resurrection of Christ. "Wherefore," he goes on to say (_ib._ 24), "God
gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts;" and
so on, through the rest of the chapter, he describes the vices of
ignorance, and sets them forth as the punishment of ignorance. This
obviously agrees with the verse of Solomon, already quoted, "The
instruction of fools is folly," so that it is easy to understand why
Paul says that the wicked are without excuse. As every man sows so shall
he reap: out of evil, evils necessarily spring, unless they be wisely
counteracted.

Thus we see that Scripture literally approves of the light of natural
reason and the natural Divine law, and I have fulfilled the promises
made at the beginning of this chapter.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] From the _Tr. Th.-P._, ch. iv, same title.

CHAPTER VI

OF THE CEREMONIAL LAW[8]

In the foregoing chapter we have shown that the Divine law, which
renders men truly blessed, and teaches them the true life, is universal
to all men; nay, we have so intimately deduced it from human nature that
it must be esteemed innate, and, as it were, ingrained in the human
mind.

But with regard to the ceremonial observances which were ordained in the
Old Testament for the Hebrews only, and were so adapted to their state
that they could for the most part only be observed by the society as a
whole and not by each individual, it is evident that they formed no part
of the Divine law, and had nothing to do with blessedness and virtue,
but had reference only to the election of the Hebrews, that is (as I
have shown in Chapter IV), to their temporal bodily happiness and the
tranquillity of their kingdom, and that therefore they were only valid
while that kingdom lasted. If in the Old Testament they are spoken of as
the law of God, it is only because they were founded on revelation, or a
basis of revelation. Still as reason, however sound, has little weight
with ordinary theologians, I will adduce the authority of Scripture for
what I here assert, and will further show, for the sake of greater
clearness, why and how these ceremonials served to establish and
preserve the Jewish kingdom. Isaiah teaches most plainly that the Divine
law in its strict sense signifies that universal law which consists in a
true manner of life, and does not signify ceremonial observances. In
chapter i., verse 10, the prophet calls on his countrymen to hea