and whose Business it was to give the true Meaning of it, inftead of that did groffly pervert the real Defign, Senfe, and Meaning of it, put erroneous and falfe Gloffes upon it, and inany times imposed their own Traditions upon the People in the place of it. And yet none pretended a more strict Obfervance of the Law than they. Infomuch that we find them in the Beginning of this Chapter, with an usual Arrogance, demanding of our Saviour, Why do Thy Difciples tranfgrefs the Tradition of the Elders? For they wash not their Hands when they eat Bread, ver. 2. To which our Saviour gives this Answer; viz. That they of all Men had the least Reason to tax His Difciples with the Neglect of fuch a Ceremony as washing before Meat; as if that were fuch an Invafion upon Tradition, and a crying Sin; when they themfelves were guilty of a much greater, in endeavouring to vacate the Obligation of the Fifth Commandment, by falfely fuppofing a Case which would discharge them from honouring and relieving their Parents; and fo making void the Commandment of God by their own Tradition, with a Witness. Their Corban, Mark vii. 11, 12, was an effectual way to cover their Avarice, and they could not have invented a more colourable Pretence to varnish over their moft fordid and unnatural Temper than that

was.

And indeed this was their common Method, when they had any wicked Design in Hand, then to feem moft religious; and when they made long Prayers, it was but too fure a Sign of their devouring Widows' Houfes. And for this Reafon our Bleffed Lord doth so often and so severely rebuke them; particularly here, where, after He had given them fuch an Answer as He did, He expofeth and layeth them open to the People, and cenfures the Vanity and Hypocrify of all their religious Pretenfions. And directing His Difcourfe to the People, He affures them that true Religion confisteth not in fuch outward Washings and Cleansings, and ceremonious Purgations, but in the spiritual and inward Purification of the Mind and Soul, the Fountain of all our Thoughts and Imaginations, and of our Actions the Product of them. That if the Heart be pure and holy, the Thoughts, and then the Actions, will be fo too; but if the Heart be foul and wicked, the Iffues of it will be correspondent. When the Spirit of a Man is truly seasoned with Religion, it will fhew itself in all the beauteous and lovely Fruits of Righteousness; but when the Principle is vicious and debauched, the Effects must and will be filthy and abominable. That a Man is not defiled by any material Thing_that_he either eats or drinks, but by his own Imaginations, Defires, and Affections; the Things which

come out of him. For out of the Heart proceed Evil Thoughts, Murders, Adulteries, Fornications, Thefts, Falfe-witnesses, Blafphemies; these are the Things which defile a Man: but to eat with unwashed Hands defileth not a Man.

All the ceremonial Part of the Jewish Law aimed at, and terminated in this. Their Ceremonies were Significations and Types of Matters under the Gofpel; and their frequent Washings and Cleanfings, were to denote the Spiritual Purifying of the Heart and Soul.

It is true, God enjoined them to be observed for a time, the Ignorance and Nonage of the Jews requiring fuch a material and grofs Way of Inftruction; but these were all abolished and done away, at the Coming of the Messiah, when the Son of God Himself became our Divine Instructor and Teacher, and informed Mankind of the Nature of that rational and fpiritual Worship, which God did expect from us, and would be acceptable to Him. That it was the Devotion of the Soul, the Purity of the Heart, the Spirituality of the Thoughts, that living Sacrifice alone, that would please God Who is an Infinite Spirit, and prepare us for the refined Joys of Heaven, and the exalted Pleasures of Seraphims; and confequently, that the greatest and most important Duty, incumbent on Mankind, was to govern the Heart and fubdue the Thoughts. This then, in short,

was the Occafion of our Saviour's speaking thefe Words; which did effectually humble these proud Pharifees, whose whole Religion was mere Pomp and outward Show, and confifted merely in broad Phylacteries, an affected Garb, and demure Looks, while thefe gaudy and painted Sepulchres were within full of all manner of Rottennefs and Uncleanness; and at the fame time lets us fee a Description of true Religion, and how excellent and noble an Inftitution that is, which extends to the inmost Receffes of the Soul, and fo tends to refine the very Thoughts of the Heart, and to fit Men for the pure State of Angels; and therefore, is far above all other Inftitutions that ever were in the World before.

CHAP. II.

The Advantage of well governing our Thoughts. HE next Thing proposed to be handled is the vaft Advantage of wellgoverning of our Thoughts, in order to the Purposes of Religion in general. Now this Advantage is very great and obvious. Every Perfon must be convinced that the most proper and only way for a Man to live well, is to begin at his Heart; to put his Thoughts into a true Order and Government.

For otherwise, there can be no Uniformity in his Piety. The good Actions that he doth are broken and imperfect; and he is apt every now and then to make fresh Work for Repentance, by returning to his old Sins. But this Advantage of the well-governing our Thoughts will be the better seen by fome Particulars.

First then, a Care of our Thoughts is the greatest Prefervative against actual Šins. It is a most certain Truth, that the greatest Sin that ever was committed was at first but a Thought. The fouleft Wickedness, and most monftrous Impiety, arofe from fo fmall a Speck as a first Thought may be refembled to. The most horrid Thing that ever was done, as well as the most noble and virtuous Action that ever was accomplished, had no greater a Beginning. Of fuch a quick Growth, and spreading Nature is Sin, that it rivals even the Kingdom of Heaven, which, our Lord telleth us, Is like to a Grain of Muftard-feed, which a Man took and fowed in his Field. Which indeed, is the leaft of all Seeds; but when it is grown up (in those Countries) it is the greatest among Herbs, and becometh a Tree, fo that the Birds of the Air come and lodge in the Branches of it. Mat. xiii. 31. But the Apostle St. James, Chap. i. 13, 14, 15, reprefents it by a Simile of another Nature, comparing the Original and Growth of it to the Formation of an Embryo in the Womb. Let no