SÈtT1Ohl Ïf. 111 and the love of God. So the Pharisee that went into thé temple td pray, he fasted twiceaweek, and gave tithes of all that he pos- sessed, and he accounted himself righteous; Luke xviii. 12: And upon this account you find the question proposed else- where to our Saviour ; Mat. xxii. 36. Which is the great corn-, mandment of the law? Some were for circumcision, as a most ancient precept, and therefore of the most general obligation : Some for the sabbath, because it was so strictly enjoined to the Jews : And some for sacrifice, as being in their opinion a suffici- ent expiation and atonement for any other defects whatsoever, They thought one or other of these to be the critical points on which salvation depended. And generally we find that thecommands of God, ofan exter nal or ceremonial nature, or the mere inventions and traditions of men, were thus aggrandized by the teachers of the Jews, as though heaven might be obtained in a short way, by practising' those formalities, without the long labours of watchfulness and abstinence from sin, and obedience to every moral command of the law. Yetwe must suppose this person to be one of the bet- ter sort of them too, for he had endeavoured to keep the moral law, at least in the outward and visible duties of it, as well as ceremonial, even from his youth up, as he tells our Saviour. Ill. Or we may suppose this young man hearing the fame of Christ, as the great prophet that was to come into the world, might' expect some new and unheard of doctrines, some new and unknown way to heaven, which the law and the old prophets had never spoken of ; especially since he thought he had already fulfilled all that they had required : And thereforehecame running to Christ, kneeling clown with earnest desire tobe taught this new revelation, this method of obtaining heaven and eternal life, which the new prophet was sent to teach : And perhaps he might imagine Jesus to be the Messiah : And they knew that wizen the Messiah came he would teach them all things, which all the former prophets and Moses himself had not fully acquainted them with ; John iv. 25. Or may we not suppose all these three designs together, to be in the heart of this young querist ? As if he should say, Good Master, Moses in his five books, hath spoken much of life, long life in the land of promise, but has not given us an express ac- count of life eternal in the other world, nor prescribed the special methods to attain it; I would therefore fain learn that of thee. And whereas the statutes and ceremonies, and commands and judgments, and duties of the law, are very numerous and diffi- cult, is there no one good thing that may be as acceptable to God as all the rest, and give me a title to eternal happiness, in a short and compendious manner ? Or is there any new way to heaven which thou dicoverest to men ? As thou seemest to preach up a
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