96

BY THE PHARISEES.

[LECT.

and his feet, yea, and to beg for him. By such a tradition as this, it might seem that the commandment would be even more rigorously observed; for there is in it an appearance of sanctity which goes beyond the written word. There is, however, a point, my brethren, at which that which seemeth to be virtue, ceases to be such, and we read of the possibility of being "righteous over much." There is moreover a prescribed path of duty which turneth neither to the right hand nor to the left, by which our moral nature must aim at the perfection required; but if we attempt to go beyond it, our presumption may be expected to lead us to destruction. God hath adapted his laws to that of which our nature is capable man can neither add to nor diminish from them with impunity. But to return to the teachers in the synagogue: the fifth commandment being thus rigorously enforced, there arose another precept no less to be observed-it was openly taught that a parent, in comparison with a teacher of the law, was to be esteemed of no account, and therefore, whatever a person thought proper to give for the use of the Rabbi, or to dedicate for the general support of the altar, could not possibly be applied to another purpose; but it was enough to make a vow, that such property should ultimately belong to the Church, whether for the reparation of the temple or the revenues

IV.]

PHARISAICAL HYPOCRISY.

97

of the priest. Property so consecrated was said to be "corban, it is a gift ;" when therefore the aged parent came to his wealthy son, pleading the sanctity of the fifth commandment, and appealed to the authority of the synagogue, and the strict interpretation of the law, the answer he generally received was this, "Whatsoever I might have had, in which thou wert entitled to a share, O my father, it is now a gift, it is sacred to more pious uses, ""and ye suffer him," adds the Redeemer, "no more to do aught for his father and mother;" for if the son, moved by the parent's appeal, should have applied to the Rabbi, for the desecration of a small portion of his devoted goods, he would have incurred his displeasure. Observe the subtlety of the Pharisee, and the impiety of his tradition: if he were accused of perverting the law of God, his answer was ready; "On the contrary, I honour that law, and by strict injunction the son is obliged to nourish, yea, and beg for his father, to this he is bound, but to have consecrated his whole estate to pious uses he was not bound. "" This is but one of the many instances recorded by the Evangelists of Pharisaical doctrine and practice, and yet we are told of the specious zeal and sanctity displayed in their outward deportment,

1 See Dr. Lightfoot, as above cited, vol. ii. p. 20, or Matt. chap. xv. ver. 6.

H

98

PHARISAICAL HYPOCRISY

[LECT.

their strict observance of the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the law, their sprinklings, their long prayers, not only in the synagogues, but in the public streets, the sentences of the law written on their robes, the ostentation of their alms-deeds, their rigorous fasts and mortifications, their paying of tithes and their proselyting zeal. The accounts of the Evangelists are more than confirmed by the Jews themselves : we learn from the Talmud, that some of them in order to appear plunged in deep meditation, walked as if afraid to touch the ground others, that they might not be disturbed in their reveries, enveloped their heads in a large hood, so that nothing could be seen but their feet: a third class walked with their eyes closed, lest the sight of any external object should excite their passions they composed their features to an air of gloom and solemnity, and in short, the whited sepulchre, to which Jesus compares them, is but too faithful a picture of their vice and hypocrisy. Notwithstanding all their errors and wickedness, they were inspired with a wonderful zeal for making proselytes, which our Lord thus describes and condemns: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Upon the whole,

IV.]

AND WICKED PRACTICES.

99

therefore, we perceive that this, the most numerous and influential sect of the Jews, had the form of godliness, without any of its power, which they even denied; but by their pride and self-righteousness, their want of the charity which distinguishes the action of the real Christian, their neglect of the weightier matters of the law, and above all their setting aside the commandments of God, to make room for their traditions, they had become the children of hell; so that not only did they, like the heathen, place their virtues, such as they considered them, upon a corrupt principle, but they even came short of heathen morality. Therefore the publicans and sinners, the most abject and despised of the human race, went into the kingdom of heaven before them. It is manifest then they had need of a Divine teacher!

We will not now dwell long upon the Scribes and Lawyers: they are so often mentioned in the Gospels along with the Pharisees, that we may suppose them to have been of that sect, not however without some exceptions, for we find scribes and lawyers of the Sadducees. The business of the former was to write out and expound the law the lawyers, whose office differed not much, frequently came to Christ with some subtle question, thinking "to entangle him in his talk" they were amazingly well read in all the

:

100 THE SCRIBES AND LAWYERS.

[LECT.

A

commentaries of the Rabbis. A person who had not beforehand studied their logical distinctions might easily be ensnared by their subtleties; the people referred all their difficulties to them as the infallible expounders of the law: they, on the other hand, boasted of their authority, and of having, by an uninterrupted succession, preserved the rites of the law and other orthodox sacrifices. "We are Abraham's children," they said, "and were never in bondage to any man." They claimed precedence in the synagogue, and loved to be greeted in public places: it would be hard to suppose there were not among them many well-intentioned men, of whom some afterwards embraced the Gospel; but speaking of them and their system of doctrine as a whole, Christ positively said, "Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

If the Pharisees may be supposed to have imbibed something of the heathen notions of incorporeal substances, the Sadducees had not less adopted the system of materialism; for this was just the distinction between the two sects: "the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; the Pharisees confess both." Since, however, we find they acknowledged God the Creator of the world, and even admitted the doctrine of a Providence, they must have rejected