S L.

CHAP. XV. 1–20.

Christ reproveth the Scribes and Pharisees for transgressing God's commandments through their own traditions. THEN came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

2 'Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother and, "He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, 'It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.

16 And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding?

17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,

adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a

man.

a Mark vii. 1.-b Mark vii. 5. e Col. ii. 8.-d Ex xx. 12. Lev. xix. 3. Deut. v. 16. Prov. xxiii. 22. Eph. vi. 2. e Ex. xxi. 17. Lev. xx. 9. Deut. xxvii 16. Prov. xx 20; & xxx. 17.-f Mark vii. 11, 12.-g Mark vii. 6.--h Is xxix. 13. Ezek. xxxiii. 31.-i Is. xxix. 13. Col. ii. 18. 22. Tit. i. 14,-k Mark vii. 14.- Acts x. 15. Rom. xiv. 14, 17. 20. 1 Tim iv. 4. Tit. i. 15.--m John xv. 2 1 Cor. iii. 12, &c. -n Is. ix. 16. Mal. ii. 8. ch. xxiii. 16. Luke vi. 39.-o Mark vii. 17.-p ch. xvi. 9. Mark vii. 18. -q 1 Cor. vi. 13.-r Jam. iii. 6.-8 Gen. vi. 5; & viii. 21. Prov. vi. 14. Jer. xvii. 9. Mark vii. 21.

seems to have been a part of traditional superstition among the Jews, that the merit of devoting their property to religious purposes was such as to excuse persons who made such an offering from performing those relative duties in which their funds might have been, and in fact ought to have been, otherwise employed. So that a man who would have been bound to assist in maintaining poor or afflicted parents, was to be held excused, if he could say It is a gift, i. e. I have given or devoted to religious purposes, by whatsoever thou mightest have been profited by me, i. e. that portion of my substance which I might have been able to apply to your support or comfort!-Monstrous, indeed, are the perversions of God's truth, and of the real principles of piety and duty, which may be traced to traditions of the elders, or fathers, as well in the Christian church as in the Jewish. Such is

the wretched consequence of an attempt to add unto the words of God.

READER. The tradition of the elders-that which was vainly called the oral law, and supposed to be supplemental to the written law; just as, in course of time, it came to pass in the Christian church, that certain apostolic traditions, falsely so called, were supposed to contain an authorised comment upon the words of Christ, and the records of inspired evangelists and apostles. In this manner, a collection of fables and errors has been impiously,—or, at the best, by most awful and dangerous mistake, - regarded as the unwritten word of God!-Perhaps it was with a very sincere, but blind and erring, zeal, that the Scribes and Pharisees on this occasion came to our Lord, and said, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? There is sincerity in error and superstition, as well as in adherence to scriptural truth, and the practice of piety.

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?-A most emphatic and solemn question; extending, in its force and propriety, even to the present day. The dictates of divine revelation are, in a great degree, annulled and superseded by vain and frivolous tradition, in many corrupt branches of the catholic church. May God preserve our own section of the universal family of Christ from the effects of this contagion! Your tradition, said

66

our blessed Lord. 'They called it 'the tradition of the elders,' laying stress upon the antiquity of the usage, and the authority of those who imposed it, as the Church of Rome does upon Fathers and Councils; but Christ calls it their tradition.-Illegal impositions will be laid to the charge of those who support and maintain them, and keep them up, as well as of those who first invented and enjoined them; Micah vi, 16. You transgress the commandment of God." The same is

true concerning unscriptural dispensations; as in the case which our Lord instances.

God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother, &c.—According to the divine law, it is the duty of children to show respect towards their parents, and, if need be, to maintain them in their old age, or any other season of necessity. It was a flagrant example of the evil influence of human traditions, that, under their authority, an excuse could be found for the neglect of so primary a duty as this, and that too under pretence of religion. It❘ is to be feared that Christian tradition has led many persons to bestow upon ecclesiastical endowments those funds which ought to have been appropriated to the relief of poorer members of their own families. If we would really give ourselves or our substance to God, let us see that we do it according to the commands of God; and not merely according to the suggestions of tradition or the church. How striking is the opposition between what God said, and

what man said, -as here displayed to us! And yet these dictates of men were made with every show of piety, and with great apparent zeal for the cause of God and religion. But, as it has been well remarked, "that which men say, even great men, and learned men, and men in authority, must be examined by that which God saith; and if it be found either contrary or inconsistent, it may and must be rejected." Acts iv. 19.

This people draweth nigh unto me, &c.-Such insincere worship, merely ceremonial and outward, is an abomination in the sight of the Lord. God looks on the heart, and requires its devotion. And "God is not mocked." not mocked." See Prov. xxiii. 26; Jer. xii. 1-4.

But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.-Alas, the worship of Christians, as well as of Jews, has been spoiled in this way! The commandments, or institutions, of men have been placed on a level with the doctrines, or instructions, of God. For example, the council of Trent declared that oral tradition is to be received "with the same pious affection and reverence" as the word of God itself. Let us beware of so fatal a delusion, and of all its approaches.

Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind.—And yet it was part of our Saviour's office to open the blind eyes. But when men are wilfully and obstinately blind, even He says, "Let them alone." How awful is this doom! It should adminis

ter a caution against the insidious love of human traditions, and blind attachment to superstitious ceremonies and merely ecclesiastical observances. See Hos. iv. 17; Rev. xxii. 11; Jer. v. 31; Rom. ii. 19, 20.

Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.-There are noxious weeds in that spiritual garden, the Church of Christ. But they will not abide the trial of the great day.-False systems of religious worship, and false statements of religious doctrine, are doomed to perish. "In matters of religion, if men will act according to the dictates of their own fancies, or the traditions and rules of their fellow-mortals, and not walk by the rule of God's word, they may please themselves perhaps, but they never can please their Maker. Divine institution is the only sure rule of religious worship."

Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart; and they defile the man.-Our blessed Lord teaches us that a corrupt heart is the fountain which sends forth polluted and polluting streams. Let us seek, and yield to, the influence

of divine truth and grace on our affections, dispositions, and desires; and let us ever reason and act upon the practical recollection of that great Gospel truth, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

HYMN.

Lord, when we bend before thy throne,
And our confessions pour,
Teach us to feel the sins we own,

And shun what we deplore.

When our responsive tongues essay

Their grateful songs to raise, Grant that our souls may join the lay, And rise to thee in praise.

When we rehearse our wants in prayer,

May we our wills resign;
And not a thought our bosoms share,
Which is not wholly thine.

Let faith each weak petition fill,

And waft it to the skies; And teach our hearts 'tis goodness still That grants it, or denies.

S LI.

CHAP. XV. 21-28.

Christ healeth the daughter of the woman of Canaan.

21 'Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after

us.

24 But he answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.