the law," and He expressly commanded His followers to recognise the official authority of the "Scribes and Pharisees" who "sate in Moses’ seat." To the canonical Scriptures of His nation Christ was accustomed to turn for the sustenance of His own religious life, for the elucidation of His teaching, and for the proof of His claims. From the Founder Himself, therefore, the Christian Church inherited a reverential attitude towards the system of Israel.
It follows that the starting-point of every attempt to appraise the teaching of Christ must be an examination of the doctrine and practice of the Jewish Church to which He belonged. Underlying the Gospels everywhere is the current Judaism of the time; the maxims of Christ pre-suppose both a theology and a morality, and they can only then be justly appreciated when they are considered in connection with the complete mass of ecclesiastical doctrine and practice which they confirmed, or disallowed, or corrected. This
