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CHAP. XV.

Bout this time cer

1A Bain Jewish Doctors,

Scribes and Pharifees, Inhai bitants of Jerufalem, ftrict, Obfervers of the traditional Precepts of the Elders, came to Jefuss and because they could not find any means to accufe him of tranfgref fing the Law of God, they charged him with neglecting their Humane Traditions, faying:

2. If you pretend to be a Teacher of greater Holinefs than ordinary, why do you fuffer your Disciples to tranf grefs thofe Precepts and Traditions, which our wife Ancestors have commanded to be observed as Fences of the Law? For Example : Whereas our Elders have that for fear of

ordained

any defilement that may have happened to them,

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Men fhould always wash their Hands before Meat ; your Difciples wholly neglect this Tradition, and make. no fcruple to eat with unwashed Hands.

For

3. Jefus answered: Ye are most unreasonably and malitioufly partial. who are moft justly to be blamed my Disciples, who neglect indeed your trifling and tedions Superftitions, but ftrictly obferve the Law of God? or ye your felves, who that ye may fuperftitioufly observe the vain and Sometimes directly wicked Traditions of Men, stick not at all at tranfgreffing the eternal Commands of God?

4. For Inftance: 'Tis an eternal and unchangeable Law of God, that Men fhould Honour and Respect their Parents; that they fhould Obey and Submit to them; and that, when need requires, they fhould Relieve and Affift them: And this Law God hath moreover confirmed, by pofitively annexing a capital Punith

ment

† Deut.

21. 21.

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ment to the breach of it
that whoever Dishonours,
Reviles, Disobeys, or Rebels
againft his Parents, fhould
+ Die without mercy.

5, & 6. But ye on the
contrary fay: If a Man
binds himself by an Oath,
that he will not relieve the
Neceffities of his Parents;
or Vows to give to fome
pious Ufe, what should o-
therwise have been laid out
for their Relief and Affi-
stance, the Man is by this
means freed, from all Obli-
gation of Duty to his Pa-
rents. Thus in obferving
your vain and fuperftitious
Precepts or Traditions, ye
openly violate the plain
Commandment of God.

7. Ye Hypocrites; moft

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7 Ye hypocrites,

well did Efaias pro

jultly may I now fay of you, phefie of you, faying,
what Efaias in old time said
of your Fathers; (Ifai. 29:
13.)

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8. This People talks of Re-` ligion, and makes an outward Show of Holiness and Devotion; but their Hearts are far from being boneft and fincere.

8 This people

draweth nigh unto

me with their mouth,

and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far

from me.

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ftand.

II Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but that which cometh

9. In vain therefore are all their pretences to Piety, and of no esteem in the fight of God; whilft inftead of Obedience to the Divine Commands, they infift only upon the Doctrines and Traditions of Men.

10. Then Jefus calling to him the common People, faid; Hearken, and understand what I say:

II.

11. Eating with Hands not washed just before, does not make a Man impure, as

out of the mouth, the Pharifees vainly teach.

this defileth a man.

For real Purity and Impurity does not confift in outward cleanliness or uncleanlinefs of the Body, but they are inward and moral difpofitions of Mind. Every thing that God has created, is in its own nature pure; and nothing that entreth into a Man's Mouth, and goeth down into his Stomach, can of it felf make him ap

*

* That is, no kind of Meat or Drink makes a Man a Sinner, tho' the quantity may through Intemperance, which is

a Vice of the Mind.

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pear finful and unclean in the fight of God. They are those things only, which come out of a Man; Thoughts and Defires proceeding from his Heart and Mind, that defile him in this

can

Senfe.

12. Then came the Dif ciples to Jefus, and faid; Do you not perceive that the Pharifees are angry and enraged at what you fay? and that they are likely to bring you into fome Danger, for fpeaking thus openly against their Traditions ?

13. But Jefus answered, faying: They may be angry and rage, but ye need not fear them; For both they and their Doctrines, not being from God, shall be destroyed and perish to gether.

14. Let them alone, and do not trouble your felves about them. They are blind, ignorant, and proud Teachers: They know not the Truth, and they refuse to be inftructed in it: They

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