(2.) While it was the aim of Jesus to call men to the law of God itself as the supreme guide of life, the Phar- isees multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent, upon the pretence of maintaining it in- tact, that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numer- ous and trifling that the law was almost, if not whol- ly, lost sight of. These " traditions," as they were called, had long been gradually accumulating. Their object may in the first instance have been a good one.
The law had been given under circumstances very dif- ferent from those in which the Jewish people found themselves more and more placed as the Christian tera approached. The relations oflife had been far simpler; the influence exerted over Israel by neighboring nations less refined; while the national authorities, except in times when the worship of the true God was altogether thrown aside, had united in keeping all admixture of foreign elements at a distance. That was no longer possible, and it became almost necessary therefore to explain the application of the law to the changed and ever-changing condition of the people (comp. I ►ollinger, Christmthum und Judenthum, p. 750). Commenting upon the law therefore was unavoidable: and many of the comments given were no doubt really what they were designed to be, " a fence to the law." But these "fences" too soon assumed, as indeed it was natural that they should, an importance superior to that of the law itself, while at the same time they were continually increasing in number, till at last a complete system of casuistry was formed, in which the most minute inci- dents of life were embraced, and which rendered the very conception of broad and general principles of duty an impossibility. Of the trifling character of these regulations innumerable instances are to be found in the Mishna, but, as it is not quite clear that the Tal- mudical was the same as the Pharisaic theology, we omit these, and remind our readers only of some of those mentioned in the N. T. Such, then, were their washings before they would eat bread, and the special minuteness with which the forms of this washing were prescribed; their bathing when they returned from the market , their washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and couches (Mark vii, 2-4); such were their fastings not only at the seasons which the law prescribed, but twice in the week (Luke xviii, 12) — on Thursday, when, according to their tradition, Moses had ascended Mount Sinai, and on Monday, when he had come down from it (Eisenmenger, Enfdecktes Judenthum, i, 311); such were their tithings, not only of the property which the law provided should be tithed, but even of the most insig- nificant herbs — mint and anise and cummin (Matt, xxiii, 23;' comp. Luke xviii, 12); and such, finally, were those minute and vexatious extensions of the law of the Sabbath, which must have converted God's gra- cious ordinance of the Sabbath's rest into a burden and a pain (Matt, xii, 1-13, Mark iii, 1-6; Luke xiii, 10-17, etc.).
(3.) It was a leading aim of I lie Redeemer to teach men that true piety consisted not in forms, but in sub- stance ; not in outward observances, but in an inward spirit; not in small details, but in great rules of lite. The whole system of Pharisaic piety led to exactly op- posite conclusions. Under its influence "the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," were undervalued and neglected (Matt, xxiii. 23; Luke xi, 42), the idea of religion as that which should have its seat in the heart disappeared i Luke xi, 3.S-41 ); the most sacred obligations were evaded ( Mark vii, 11); vain and trifling questions took the place of serious inquiry into the great principles of duty i Matt, xix, 3, etc.) ; and even the most, solemn truths were handled as mere matters of curious speculation or means to entrap an adversary (Matt, xxii, 35, etc., Luke xvii, 20, etc.).
(4.) The lowliness of piety was, according to the teaching of Jesus, an inseparable concomitant of its re- ality, but the Pharisees sought mainly to attract the attention and to excite the admiration of men. They gave alms in the most ostentatious manner; they often prayed standing at the corners of the streets; they dis- figured their faces when they fasted (Matt. vi. 2. 0, 16). To draw attention to their religious zeal they made broad their phylacteries and enlarged the borders of their garments" (Matt, xxiii, 5). Blind to the true glory of ministering to others rather than being minis- tered to, they sought their glory in obtaining the chief seats in the synagogues, the tirsl places at the tables to
PHARMACY \
which they were invited, greetings of bonoi in the mar- kets and the title of Rabbi, Rabbi (Matt xxiii, 6; Luke xiv, 7,i. indeed, the whole spirit of their religion was summed up, nol in confession of sin and humility, bul in a proud self- righteousness al variance with any true conception of man's relation either to God or his fellow- creatures "God, 1 thank thee thai I am no! as other men are. extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican" (Luke xviii, 1 1 .