pieces of Parchment with Fringes for an external + See thow of Religion, they Numb. 15. 6. If they be invited 7. In the open streets they love to receive the Praises and Compliments of Men, and are wonderful proud to hear the People with Reverence and Respect call them Mafters and Fathers, Heads of Sects and Authors of Doctrines. 8. But let it not be fo among you my Disciples: Let no Man among you contend for Superiority or Precedence: For ye have one Supreme Head, which Chrift; and ye, as Brethren, ought to condescend to one another with mutual Charity and Respect in all things. 9. Let no Man among you be call'd Father, or Head of a Sect, as the chief Teachers among the Jews love to affume to themselves the name + Rabbi or Fathers: For ye have one Father and Supreme Teacher which is God; and ye as Children ought to ftrive to exceed one another in nothing but Humility and Love. 10. Neither let any one among you arrogate to himself the Title of Mafter, or Author of a Doctrin: For ye have one Supreme Mafter, which is Chrift ; and all ye, as Fellow-Servants, ought to affift one another without envy, contention, or pride. 9 And call no man your Father upon is your Father which is in heaven. the earth: for one 10 Netiher be ye called mafters: For even Chrift. one is your mafter, * Πατέρα μὴ καλέσητε ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Call no one among you Father upon Earth. So the Words feem most naturally to fignifie. +27 and 28 the Principal of a School, or Author of a Doctrin. 11 But he that is greateft among you, shall be your Servant. 12 And whofoever fhall exalt him felf, shall be abafed; and he that fhall humble himself,shall be exalted. 13 But wo unto you fcribes and pha 11. Even he that for Order fake fhall have a higher Office or greater Dignity in the Church than another, let him not be proud and imperious upon that account; but let him be fo much the more humble, and communicative, and ready to affift others, by how much he is intrufted with greater power and opportunities of doing good. 12. For whofoever is proud and arrogant, fhall be brought down and humbl'd: But he that is humble and modeft and thinks lowly of himself, fhall be esteem'd worthy to be exalted both by God and Men. 13. ¶ Then Jefus turnrifees,hypocrites; for ing himself to the Jewish ye fhut up the Kingdom of heaven a gainft men for ye neither go in your felves, neither fuffer ye them that are en tring to go in. Doctors, and Pharifees, added and faid: Wo unto you hypocritical Teachers and Pharifees; For ye, who pretend to be Interpreters of the Law, and ought to inftru&t Men in the Knowledge and PraEtice V 3 Etice of true Religion, do on the contrary by your vain Traditions and wicked Lives hinder and pervert them. Ye neither follow true Virtue and Piety your felves; nor fuffer others, who are willing, fo to do. 14. Wo unto you, hypocritycal Teachers and Pharifees: For ye break the Moral and Eternal Law of God by your Rapin and Extortion, oppreffing the Widows and Fa therless whom God has commanded you to fupport; and think to hide your Covetousness under the fpecious formality of long Prayers and great ftrictness in the external parts of Religion: therefore ye fhall be doubly punish'd by God. 15. Wo unto you, hypocritical Teachers and Pharifees: For ye pretend great Zeal, and fpare no pains or coft, and leave no means unattempted, to Convert a Stranger to your 14 Wo unto you fcribes and pharifees, hypocrites, for ye devour widows houses, and for a pretence make long Prayers; therefore ye thall receive the greater damnation. 15 Wo unto you feribes and pharifees, hypocrites; for ye compass fea and land to make one Profefelyte, and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more than your felves. the child of hell Religion: But when you have fo done, you are fo far from inftructing him in true Virtue and Piety, that you corrupt his natural Notions of Good and Evil, with falfe Doctrins and vain Schemes of Religi on, and make him even much worse than he was before. 16. Wo unto you, ye Ignorant and Superftitious Guides; who tell the People that if they Swear only by the Temple, they may be discharg'd from the Obligation of that Oath; but if they Swear by the Gold that is Confecrated to God in the Temple, that they are then indeed ftrongly obliged by their Oath, and cannot be discharged. 17. Ye foolish and perverfe Teachers: What an abfurd and fenfelefs diftinction is this! As if the Gold were more Sacred than the Temple of God, by which the Gold it felf is made holy. |