laced in force,and till the fulnesoftimewas come , were the commande 273 meatsof God ; now the truth beeing reucaled, ceafe fo to be, andare Gxt4.4 become the meere commaunden+ents of men. But yet I cake it fome l difference is to beput between thefe two,namely this,that by commas- ' dementsofmen,aremoreproperly meant (nor thole which were diuine ordinances) but humaneconflitutions,and traditions thrill} by the Iew- ifh teachersvpon the Church,tobe obferuedwith like deuotion,andre- ligious refpc t, as ifthey were the very commandements of God : fuch as thofe our Sauiour found and left the Church of the Iewes peftered with, and oppofeth them ro diuine ordinances, Matth.7 5.9.lavaine they worfhippemee, teaching for doltrines mens precepts. Which that we may a littlebettet conceiue,it is not amifle to note,that the Iewes haue and doe atlirme that Moles receiued the law fromGod, either by wri- ting, which was of things more oblcure, more breife, and difficult, or elfeby word ofmouth,and that was ofthings more large , feruing for the interpretationof that law written:and for this latter fake ( fay they) was it that he (hied 40. dales in themount Sinai, for elfe in one houre he might haue receiued the tables in which the lawwas written: and al- though they themfelues were at Icafure ro number the lawes written by Mofes, and gauc in thenumberofthe afiirmatiue ro be 248. fo many as there aremembers in a mans bodie, and the negatiue 365. fo many as there bedales in a yeare,tobetokc that the Lord requireth the through I obferuation ofthemwith all the firength, and that all their daies:which numbers added together were burthens fufñcient for many cute to read ouer;yet laid they innumerable,andmore intollerable traditionary pre- cepts on the people , which they fay Mofes receiued by word of mouth from God,and kit them to Iofhuah: who deliuered them to the feanen- tieelders, they to the former Prophets, theft to the latter, from them to the great Synagogue,frorn whom they were preferued to the wife men returning from theBabylonifh captiuitie,and fo from generation,to ge- neration euen to thisday: to write thefeexplications,fay they,is forbid- den byGod, abufing that text,Prou.4.ar. but they are kept in the heart of forne wilemen at this day. Of thefe the Apof le would haue the Cretians to beware, andgiue no more beetle to them then the for- mer. Which turne away from the truth.] By truth-is meant truthdiuine fetched out of the wordof God,fo cal- led I. becaufe it is abfolute without error. 2. it is moli eminent : cal- led before truthaccording to godlines,tobe turned from which,is to be turned from all godlines. In the word 7urne away ,is a metaphor ,:the drrosopec,¡vme. (peach beeing borrowed from thofe,wboLorne away their bodies from Eplßleofs.Paurtto Titus. CHAP.I. i4. che
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