and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &c. 205 . under the cloak of a fevere and fan&ified. afpe&, . they were malicious, implacable, lewd, covetous, and rapacious : in a word, innead of being reformers, they were the corrupters of the people, and confequently their wickednefs deferved the greaten re- proof that could be given by the great Redeemer of mankind : Woe unto. you, Scribes andPharifees, hypocrites ! foryePhut up the kingdom of heaven againft men : for ye neither go inyourfelves, neither fufer ye them that areentering, to go in. Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharifees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houfes, andfor apretence make longprayer ; therefore ye 'hall receive thegreater damnation. Wo untoyou, Scribes and Pharifees, hypocrites! for ye compafs fia and land to make one profelyte, and zohen he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourfelves, Matt. xxiii. 13, &c. You fhall fuffer a punilhment that will be terribly fevere, becaufe ye have given a wrong interpretation of the ancient pro- phecies concerning the Meffiah, and done all that is in your power to hinder the people from repenting of their fins, and believing the gofpel ; becaufe you have committed the groífeit iniquities, and, under the cloak of religion, have devoured the fubftance of widows and orphans, hoping to hide your villanies by long prayers becaufe ye have expreffed the greaten zeal . imaginable in making profelytes, not with a view to render the Gentiles more wife and virtuous, but to acquire their riches, and a command over their confciences'; and innead of teaching them the precepts of virtue and the moral duties of religion, you confine their duties to fupernitious and ceremonial innitutions, andhence they often relapfe into their old (late of hea- thenifm, and become more wicked than before their converfion; and confequently liable to a more fevere fentence. Our Lord alto mentioned, in a parti- cular manner, their do&rine concerning oaths; and declared, inoppofition to their abominable tenets, that every oath, if the No. 18. matter of it be lawful, is obligatory; be- caufe, when men fwear by any part of the creation, it is an appeal to the Creator himfelf; for, in any other light, an oath of this kind is abfolutely ridiculous, the- obje& having neither knowledge of the' . fa&, nor power to puriifh the perjury : 'Wo unto you, ye blind guides, which fay, WhofoeverJhall fwear by the temple, it is nothing; but whofoever(hall fwear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor ! Ye fools and blind, whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that fantlßeth the gold ? And, Whofoever (hall fwear by the altar, it is no- thing; but whofoever fweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty! Ye fools and blind, for whether isgreater, the gift, or the altar that ficnklifieth the gift? Whofo there- fore fhall fwear by the altar;fweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whofo (hallfwear by the temple, fweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that Jhall fwear by heaven, fweareth by the throne of God, and by him that fitteth thereon. Our bleffed Saviour alto upbraided them with their fuperflitious'pra&ices, in obfer- ving the minuteff parts of the ceremonial precepts of-the law, and at the fame time utterly negle&ing the eternal and indifpen- fable rules of righteoufnefs: Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharifees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tythe ofmint, and anife, andcummin, and have omitted the weightier matters ofthe law, judgment, mercy, and faith : thefe ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. The Son of God alto took notice of their hypocrify ; for they fpared no pains to appear virtuous in theeyes ofthe world, and maintain an external conduis that íhould require the praifes of men ; but,' at the fame time, negle&ed to adorn their fouls with the robe of righteoufnefs, which is the only ornament that can render them dear in the fight of their Maker : Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharifees, hypocrites ! for ye make clean the outfide of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of 3 D extortion
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