E. And so we have got the whole word of God in the Old and New Testament.

M. And have cause to be thankful above measure, that the light was put at length upon a candlestick, where all who come into the church of God might see it. Notwithstanding there were those who still perversely clung to their traditions. Not content with the unerring teaching of God's holy word, they added to it inventions of their own, which they thought of equal or of greater authority; teaching for divine doctrines the commandments of men. Had they only used tradition to help them in understanding God's word, which it often might have done, or to enable them to keep up such ancient customs, as were innocent and useful, this would have been wise and right. But their fault was, I mean the fault of those Pharisees whom Christ reproved, that they set up tradition above the Scriptures, and used it instead of the word of God, to the great injury of the cause of truth and piety; to the great increase, also, of hypocrisy and hardness of heart.

But you will like to see how they managed to do this, and will understand the subject better, if I give you an example of the manner in which the Pharisees thus perverted the truth.

E. Pray do, dear Mamma; I always like examples.

M. The instance which our Lord gives, is a very striking one, and one in which you will be the more interested, as it relates to children. It is the duty, you know, of children to love, honour, and succour their father and mother; a duty expressly enjoined in the fifth commandment, and one which God considers [Second Series.]

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of so much importance, that He promises an especial blessing to those who observe it: not only so, He has pronounced in His word dreadful curses on those who break it; and by the law of Moses, those who reviled or ill treated their parents, were surely put to death.' An awful truth, my child! Lift up your heart then to God, whenever you hear or repeat this commandment, and say, "Lord, have mercy upon me; and incline mine heart to keep this law!"

But these clear and solemn commandments were little thought of by the Pharisees, in comparison with their own sayings and traditions, which they had received from the elders or Pharisees of former days. It was upon these they bestowed all their anxiety, though some of them were of a very trifling character, such as the washing of hands before meat, "and the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and tables;" practices very desirable for cleanliness and comfort, but no where commanded by God, as a matter of religion. The Pharisees, however, made a great deal of all this; and, ever on the watch to find fault with our Saviour, they asked Him, how it was that His disciples did not attend to these things, but often ate bread with unwashen hands. Our Lord, instead of replying at once to this question, began to point out to them the dangerous use which they had made of their traditions, particularly in the case of the fifth commandment, which they had quite laid aside by the false meaning given to it in their traditions.

E. How was this, Mamma?

M. The Pharisees taught that if a person whose parents were poor, and wanted his help, liked to make a religious offering of what he would otherwise have

given to his father and mother, he might be excused from doing any thing for their comfort and support. They forgot that in the sight of the Lord "obedience is better than sacrifice," and that at any time the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: and wicked indeed must those become, who were thus taught to harden their hearts against their own parents; who had the greatest of all rights to their affection and gratitude; especially when God himself had committed parents to the love, and reverence, and succour of their children.

But thus did the Pharisees set up a false religion, instead of the true; thus did they make even wickedness a part of piety and many such things did they. Nor must we suppose that the Pharisees have been the only people in the world thus to pervert religion. Happy would it have been for mankind, if this sin had belonged only to them! But, alas! the same disposition has existed in all ages; even into the Christian Church it has found its way: yes, Edward, even among Christians, and amongst Protestants too, we may find numbers who think much more of their own opinions and systems than of the plain commands of God. For, without actually opposing these, they too often throw them aside, as things comparatively uninteresting and unimportant, and so, like the Pharisees, make them of none effect; not, perhaps, exactly teaching for doctrines of God the commandments of men, but often teaching for commandments of God the doctrines of men. And thus religion still, instead of being a sweet fountain of living water whose streams should purify and refresh every nook and corner of human life, becomes too often a well of bitterness, be

side whose muddy current every thing that is lovely and of good report withers and decays.

After pointing out the great mischief which was done generally by the traditions of the Pharisees, our Lord dwelt for some time upon the matter of purifying. Now I must tell you that the Pharisees made a great deal of purifying; but then the purity which they required was altogether outward. They placed religion in clean hands and clean vessels, not in that pure and clean heart which is so blessed in God's sight. Foolish men! to think that it mattered before God, whether a man's hands were soiled or his plate not clean, or whether he ate from shining dishes, with fingers as white and fresh as the driven snow. You have often read the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Now I dare say the Pharisees would have thought much better of the rich man clothed with purple and fine linen, and sitting down to his sumptuous feast, than of the poor beggar, who was laid at his gate full of sores. Yet happier would it have been for the rich man, to have allowed the poor Lazarus even to sit at his table with unwashen hands, and all unfit as he was for such a place, than to have left him to the pity of the dogs. Had he done something towards comforting and assisting that miserable man, he would have given a better proof that he was clean himself in the sight of God, than all the washings of the hands could ever have accomplished.

E. I think, Mamma, the Pharisees could not have felt much about the wickedness of their hearts, when they talked so much about the cleanness of their hands.

M. I am afraid they did not, my child; or they must

have forgotten what their own Scriptures from first to last would have taught them, that in man unrenewed, “every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually." Had they really believed this solemn truth, instead of dwelling so much on the outward washings, they would have been joining in the prayers of the royal David, and saying, " Cleanse thou me, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me!" But these were the petitions of one mourning deeply under a sense of his own corruptions; not of self-complacent Pharisees. They had yet to learn what the Holy Spirit had taught him many hundred years before; and therefore our blessed Saviour told them plainly that there was nothing from without that could really defile a man. No! if they wished to become pure in the sight of God they must turn their eyes within; for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts and tempers and passions, and all those unholy and wicked things, which make him really unclean and abominable. A melancholy, and humbling doctrine; and the Pharisees turned away from it offended. But we will not do so we will acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickednesses;' we will cry out before God with the poor leper of old, "Unclean, unclean!" and then recollect with joy that, when he said to Christ, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,' the Lord Jesus said in reply, "I will, be thou clean.” Let us have the same sense of our defilement, and the same faith in the power of Jesus to recover us from it, and we shall experience the same blessed result. The word of God which speaks to us so plainly of the