Changes

121:7.3 The [[scribes]], the [[Pharisees]], and the [[priesthood]] held the [[Jews]] in a terrible bondage of [[ritualism]] and [[legalism]], a bondage far more real than that of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire#Government Roman political rule]. The [[Jews]] of Jesus' time were not only held in subjugation to the [[law]] but were equally bound by the slavish demands of the [[traditions]], which involved and invaded every domain of [[personal]] and [[social]] life. These minute regulations of conduct pursued and dominated every loyal [[Jew]], and it is not strange that they promptly rejected one of their number who presumed to ignore their [[sacred]] [[traditions]], and who dared to flout their long-honored regulations of [[social]] [[conduct]]. They could hardly regard with [[favor]] the teachings of one who did not hestitate to clash with [[dogmas]] which they regarded as having been [[ordained]] by Father [[Abraham]] himself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses Moses] had given them their [[law]] and they would not [[compromise]].

121:7.3 The [[scribes]], the [[Pharisees]], and the [[priesthood]] held the [[Jews]] in a terrible bondage of [[ritualism]] and [[legalism]], a bondage far more real than that of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_empire#Government Roman political rule]. The [[Jews]] of Jesus' time were not only held in subjugation to the [[law]] but were equally bound by the slavish demands of the [[traditions]], which involved and invaded every domain of [[personal]] and [[social]] life. These minute regulations of conduct pursued and dominated every loyal [[Jew]], and it is not strange that they promptly rejected one of their number who presumed to ignore their [[sacred]] [[traditions]], and who dared to flout their long-honored regulations of [[social]] [[conduct]]. They could hardly regard with [[favor]] the teachings of one who did not hestitate to clash with [[dogmas]] which they regarded as having been [[ordained]] by Father [[Abraham]] himself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses Moses] had given them their [[law]] and they would not [[compromise]].

121:7.4 By the time of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_century first century] after Christ the spoken [[interpretation]] of the [[law]] by the recognized [[teachers]], the [[scribes]], had become a higher [[authority]] than the written [[law]] itself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic Judaism] And all this made it easier for certain religious [[leaders]] of the Jews to array the people against the [[acceptance]] of a new [[gospel]].

121:7.4 By the time of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_century first century] after Christ the spoken [[interpretation]] of the [[law]] by the recognized [[teachers]], the [[scribes]], had become a higher [[authority]] than the written [[law]] itself. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic Judaism] And all this made it easier for certain religious [[leaders]] of the Jews to array the people against the [[acceptance]] of a new [[gospel]].

121:7.5 These [[circumstances]] rendered it impossible for the [[Jews]] to fulfill their [[divine]] [[destiny]] as [[messengers]] of the new [[gospel]] of religious [[freedom]] and [[spiritual]] [[liberty]]. They could not break the fetters of [[tradition]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah Jeremiah] had told of the "law to be written in men's hearts,"[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Jeremiah#Chapter_.31] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel Ezekiel] had spoken of a "new spirit to live in man's soul,"[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Ezekiel#Chapter_36] and the Psalmist had prayed that God would "create a clean heart within and renew a right spirit."[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Psalms#Psalm_51] But when the Jewish religion of good works and [[slavery]] to [[law]] fell victim to the stagnation of traditionalistic [[inertia]], the [[motion]] of religious [[evolution]] passed westward to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe European] peoples.

121:7.5 These [[circumstances]] rendered it impossible for the [[Jews]] to fulfill their [[divine]] [[destiny]] as [[messengers]] of the new [[gospel]] of religious [[freedom]] and [[spiritual]] [[liberty]]. They could not break the fetters of [[tradition]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah Jeremiah] had told of the "law to be written in men's hearts,"[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Jeremiah#Chapter_.31] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel Ezekiel] had spoken of a "new spirit to live in man's soul,"[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Ezekiel#Chapter_36] and the Psalmist had prayed that God would "create a clean heart within and renew a right spirit."[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Book_of_Psalms#Psalm_51] But when the Jewish religion of good works and [[slavery]] to [[law]] fell victim to the stagnation of traditionalistic [[inertia]], the [[motion]] of religious [[evolution]] passed westward to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe European] peoples.