Choose a topic from Part 2A:
1. The New Law and the Old Law are at one in their effortto bring man into proper order with God. But the Laws are otherwisedistinct. The Old Law stands to the New Law as imperfect toperfect, as promise to fulfillment, as childhood to perfectmanhood.
2. The Old Law could not move man to righteousness(justification, grace), but it could prepare man for righteousness,could foreshadow it, and promise it. The New Law fulfills thepromise by making men righteous in the grace of Christ. The New Lawbrings the substance of Christ to take the place of the shadow ofprophecy and prefiguring set forth in the Old Law. Even the moralprecepts of the Old Law, though eternal in value, were perfected inthe New; these precepts were made more definite and clear by ourLord's teaching, and had the counsels of perfection added tothem.
3. The New Law is the flowering and fruitage of what was,in the Old Law, the seed. Thus, the New Law was contained in theOld, not formally or as such, but virtually as aplant is contained in the seed from which it springs.
4. The New Law imposes a lighter burden than the Old Law,in the sense that it has not so many ceremonies to be performedwith painful accuracy and bothersome frequency. Yet the New Lawimposes a heavier burden than the Old, inasmuch as it demands theunceasing practice of virtue in the spirit of promptitude and joy.And hence St. Augustine (In John v 3) says thatChrist's commandments "are not heavy to the man thatloveth, but they are a burden to him that loveth not."
"It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides.
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Thomas á Kempis
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"The Lord has always revealed to mortals the treasures of his wisdom and his spirit, but now that the face of evil bares itself more and more, so does the Lord bare his treasures more."
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church
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"Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God."
Thomas á Kempis
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