Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Ver. 1-21. God, having chosen Israel for his own, separated them from the nations, adopted them as his children, and designed them for his glory, has a right to expect from them that they should answer these purposes of his grace, and approve themselves a holy people before him. And this must appear, 1. In their mournings, when all inordinate sorrow must be avoided; and every superstitious practice which the Gentiles used must be abhorred. Note; (1.) We are not forbidden to mourn for the dead; but to express immoderate sorrow would be the proof of idolatrous attachment to the creature, and a dishonour to God. (2.) As our bodies are not our own, but bought with a price, we must glorify God in them, and not disfigure or deform that temple where he is pleased to take up his abode. 2. In their meat. Though many of the forbidden beasts, or fish, or fowl, may, in themselves, be good for food, and allowable to others, yet God will lay them under particular restraints, to prevent their mingling with the heathen. There is enough permitted them to remove every occasion of just complaint, if their perverse appetites did not enslave them. Note; Those who are not satisfied with the lawful gratifications that God allows, never will be satisfied in the gratification of their lawless lusts. The above observances are purely judaical, and the reason of them has now ceased; but the separation from evil, and the dedication of ourselves to God, which these signified, still remain obligatory on every christian.