Justice and Mercy; then he himself, who SERM. enjoin'd them, with the greatest SolemniL. ty declares them not only vain but abominable; an Aggravation instead of an Attonement for other Tranfgreffions. So the Prophet Amos, Ch. v. 21, and the following Verses; I hate, I defpife your Feastdays, and I will not smell in your folemn Affemblies. Though ye offer me BurntOfferings, and your Meat-Offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the Peace-Offerings of your fat Beafts. Take thou away from me the Noife of thy Songs; for I will not hear the Melody of thy Viols. But (obferve this) let Judgment run down as Water, and Righteoufnefs as a mighty Stream. And Ifaiah, in his 1ft Chapter, parallels him exactly, where after reproaching the People of Judah with their Corruptions and Stubbornnefs under Correction, he adds from the 10th to the 18th Verfe. To what Purpofe is the Multitude of your Sacrifices unto me? faith the Lord: I am full of the Burnt-Offerings of Rams, and the Fat of fed Beafts; and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks, or of Lambs, or of He-goats. When ye come to B 3 appear

SERM. appear before me, Who hath required this I.

at your Hand to tread my Courts? Bring no more vain Oblations: Incenfe is an Abomination unto me; the new Moons and Sabbaths, the Calling of Affemblies, I cannot away. with; it is Iniquity, even the folemn Meeting. Your new Moons and your appointed Feafts my Soul hateth; They are a Trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye Spread forth your Hands, I will hide mine Eyes from you; yea, when ye make many Prayers, I will not hear. (Now follow the Reasons of all this, with the Remedy,) Your Hands are full of Blood: Wash ye, make you clean, put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes: Ceafe to do Evil, learn to do well: Seck Judgment, relieve the Opprefed, judge the Fatherless, plead for the Widow. Many more Places of like Nature might be alledg'd out of the Pfalms, and this and other Prophets; but these are fufficient to fhew what I have cited" them for, and in general to facilitate the Understanding of my Text.

The more numerous and clear fuch
Teftimonies are found, the more blame-

able

I.

n

able appears the Prejudice which hin- SERM. der'd the Pharifees from learning their just Consequences; particularly of that in Hofea, (to which our Lord fends them once and again) the 6th Chapter and 5th Verfe; I defired Mercy, and not Sacrifice.; and the Knowledge of God more than BurntOfferings. Thefe Men, notwithstanding their boasted Skill, (for want of understanding this Scripture) cenfured the Innocent, and even the Praife-worthy; as the Inftance in the Text fhews, and that in the 12th Chapter of the fame Evangelift. There our Lord defends the Neceffity of his Disciples in breaking the Sabbath, as he does here his own Charity in converfing with Publicans, alledging the fame Proof for both Purposes, Verse 7. But if ye had known what this meaneth, 1 will bave Mercy and not Sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the Guiltless.

: Now because it is very neceffary to diftinguish the feveral Ranks and Limitations of Duty, not only to do Right (as you see) to others, but to govern ourselves with the Prudence as well as Zeal of Religion; let us confider, what Measures

I.

SERM. we may take, from the Words before us, for that Purpose, as the Occafions they are apply'd to here, and the Doctrine of like Places in the Old Teftament, and the Reason of the Thing itself explain them. And this we fhall be able to do with Clearnefs and Satisfaction, if we firft comprehend, what is the full Extent, in these Scriptures, of the Word Sacrifice, and what of the Word Mercy: For in them will be feen the Nature and Kinds of the Religious Performances that are to be preferr'd, and that are to be postponed.

First then, as to Sacrifice, it will appear, that the Prophet intended we fhould by that Term understand, not only what of itself it expreffes, the Slaying of Beafts and other Oblations at God's Altar. Indeed, if that were the Cafe, this Enquiry could be of little Ufe after the Abolishing of that whole Manner of Wor fhip in vertue of our Lord's one perfect Oblation, Nor yet is it enough to com prise under it (which is its next Enlarge. ment of Signification) all Gifts whatsoever dedicated to Divine Service, to the Ho nour and Use of the publick Worship

But

But the Jews were, if they would have SERM. confider'd, plainly taught by that Text of I. Hofea, (and fo are we and they by thefe of St. Matthew alfo) that all Sacrifices and Offerings, and every Honour we can do to the Lord with our Substance, nay, and each Circumftance and Article of Wor hip, with the feveral Obfervances and Reftraints imposed for the Sake of it, muft, when there is not Room for both, give Place to the weightier Matters of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith.. This, I fay, will appear, firft, by the Cafes our Saviour applies the Words to; one of which could have but an indirect Rela tion to them, and the other none at all, if taken in a stricter Senfe.

The former immediately precedes the Text, beginning at the 9th Verfe: As Jefus paffed forth from thence, be far a Man named Matthew, fitting at the Receipt of Custom; and be faith unto him, follow me: And be arofe, and follow'd bim. And it came to pass, as Jefus fat at Meat in the Houfe, behold, many Publicans and Sinners came and fat down with him and bis Difciples. And when the Pharifees

Jav