treason, and cast the money at their feet, Mat. xxvii. G, 7, ' It is not lawful,' said the}^ ' to put it into the treasury, because it is the price of blood ; ' jiretending to be afraid to oftend in the least things, when they had offended in tlie greater. They boggled not at betraying innocent blood, and yet they would not meddle with the gain when it Mas thrown back to tliem. Another instance of the like conscience is John xviii. 28, ' Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the judg- ment-hall, and it was early ; and they themselves Avent not into the judgment-hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the passover.' They were careful to avoid legal pollution, and yet they were at the same time seeking the life of the Lord of glory. Just such another fit of conscience cometh upon them a little after : John xix. 31, They went to Pilate, and desired that the bodies might not hang upon the cross on the Sabbath-day, lest their great feast should be defiled. And thus you see that through formality and custom men may be strictly bound in conscience to perform the duties of ceremonial or external worship, whose consciences notwithstanding never scruple to violate the most weighty precepts of the law. Just of this nature was that solemn case of conscience, Zech. vii. 1, 2, about the keeping of their fasts, when the prophet telleth them they had higher matters to mind, the executing of judgment and showing mercy, and breaking off their oppressions, ver. 10. The Lord would not answer their cases about the fasts, some of which were needless and superfluous ; but would have them break off their known sins. Hitherto may be reduced the harlot in the Proverbs, that enticed the young man to adultery, and yet she had her peace-offerings : ' I have peace-offerings with me this day,' Prov. vii. 14, with the 18th ; made conscience of her sacrifices, but not of her honesty and chastity. Yea, also, we may reckon to this rank of conscience the instance of Bath- sheba. Even the children of God have much hypocrisy, and an odd kind of conscience, when they give way to wilful and heinous sin. The passage is, 2 Sam. xi. 4, ' David took her, and committed adultery with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness.' That uncleanness was ceremonial only ; but in the meantime she was committing a moral uncleanness, from Avhich she was not so careful to keep herself. Well, then, the consciences of men being of such a make, well might God say, ' I will have mercy, and not sacrifice ; ' substance, and not ceremony. And we have all need to take heed to ourselves that we do not boggle and startle at a shadow, when in the meantime we are stupid and senseless in sins of another nature and deeper dye, and preserve a tenderness in lesser things, when we give way to injustice and oppression.
[2.] The reasons why hypocrites never find their consciences awake so much as in matters ceremonial. I shall giv'C these two : —
First, Because these are of easiest digestion, and will sooner satisfy the conscience. Slight duties suit best with a heart that is unwilling to come under the power of religion. Conscience is like the stomach, which naturally desireth to fill itself ; and when it cannot digest solid food, it sucketh nothing but wind. They that place their confidence in their own righteousness, presently fly to their external shows. The right stating of the duties of the law, according to their due weight,
Mat. IX. 13.] morals before rituals. 17
would convince them of their mistake. Therefore, that the ell may be no longer than the cloth, they confine their obedience to external obser- vations, and so make their religion as commodious for themselves as they can. Adultery is nothing to eating flesh in Lent, or breaking some external rule. The apostle saith, ' Going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God,' Kom. x. 3. Not to the way of solid righteousness and broken-hearted acceptance of Christ, but an external appearance of duty is most for their interest.
Secondly, To put the better pretence upon their vile practices, therefore they must have some external ceremonies to countenance them. Thus the pharisees, to countenance their oppressions, ' for a pretence make long prayers,' ^iat. xxiii. 14. That made them be trusted by the destitute widows, whom they deceived. As Jezebel would have the formality of a fast, for the better colour of her impiety in destroying Naboth. In days of fasts, they were wont to inquire after heinous offenders, to execute the law upon them, as you may see Num. XV. 7, 8, and Ps. cvi. 30, so to stop God's wrath. So some expound that, Joel i. 14, ' Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders ;' that is, call a court who may inquire into offen- ders, that they may be punished and reformed. So Jezebel calls a fast, for the better pretence of a court to take cognisance of Naboth's sin.
4. They make conscience, not only of externals instituted by God, but mostly of those that are devised by themselves. Tiiis very absti- nence from converse with publicans was a thing not forbidden by the law, but an institution of their own ; because of their frequent con- verse with heathens, they looked upon them as a polluted sort of men, and unworthy of their converse. So that this helpeth us to another character of hypocrites ; they are zealous for human traditions, but transgressors of divine commands ; God's precepts are little regarded ; and so prefer their own institutions before the laws of God. So Mat. XV. 3, ' By your traditions ye transgress the commands of God ;' namely, by holding that if a man had devoted his estate to God, he might choose whether he would relieve his parents. Men are mightily in love with their own customs, and place much religion in man's injunctions, and care not how they loosen or weaken the obligation of God's law by their impositions. The pharisees' great fault was, they would outdo the law in externals ; and then, when they had set their post by God's post, they were moi-e zealous for man's inventions than for God's ordinances ; and this zeal is shown either by imposing upon themselves or others — imposing upon their own consciences when they lie in chains of their own making ; on others when they make their own practice the rule of others : Mat. ix. 14, ' The pharisees fast, John's disciples fast, thy disciples fast not.' To this head we may reduce Saul's rash restraining the people by his injunction and oath, 1 Sam. xiv. 32, with ver. 38. The people had gotten a great victory, and Saul, out of his hypocritical zeal, commandeth them to flist till evening. Now what was the issue ? The people, through faintness, could not pursue the enemy ; Jonathan, that heard nothing of this curse and oath, was in danger of his life; and the people, being