Of Chrßian Liberty. ;z; great degeneracy, when the people, inured S R M, to a fervile ftate of mind, and to grofs fu- V. perftition, having in a great meafure loft the fenfe of true piety and refpet to the di- vine moral precepts, were ready to fubmit to any innovations in religion which were impofed upon them. But that our Saviour never reproved them for this, is evidently a miftake; for he often, and with juft feve- rity, inveighed againft their traditions, Mark vii. 7, 13. as tending to corrupt religion, and render the commandments of God of none effeEt, by teaching men to lay firefs upon infignificant ceremonies, while they negleaed fubftantial piety and virtue, which ís Rill juftly complained of as the greateft inconvenience attending the impofition of indifferent things in religion. And that our Lord chofe, for the pofitive rites of his inftitution, two ceremonies which were for- merly ufed amongft the yews in admitting profelites, and in celebrating the paffover, only proveth, that the things were innocent, and had no antecedent unfitnefs in them- felves, but may and ought to be ufed in religion, when enjoined by a proper, that is, by divine authority ; not that they might be lawfully irzpofed by the mere precept of men.
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