The Gofpel a Law of Liberty. 37 not only by a multiplicity of external rites S E R Nr. which were of undoubted obligation, be- II. caufe God had appointed them ; but their `-""""j teachers fuperadded to this yoke many cere- monies merely of their own invention, and impofed them on the people. This they carried fo far that our Saviour himfelf in- veighed againft them with great feverity, declaring that they tranfgreffed the com- mandment of God, and made it of no effe& by their traditions ; and to this pur- pole he applied the words of the prophet Ifaiah, Matt. xv. 8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me ; but in vain do they worfhip me, teaching for doc`lrines the commandments of men. The bleffed author of chriftianity has taken care to guard againfl fuch an invafion of his prerogative and the rights of his dif- ciples, by eftablifhing it as a perpetual law, that no one who is called by his name, and is his profeffed follower, fhall at any time claim a legiflative authority in his church, Matt. xxiii. 8. Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your mailer even Chrifl, and all ye are brethren ; and call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in &aven. Neither be ye called mafder, for one D 3 is
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