We have known, I do allow, examples of an
enthusiasm which has swept away all external ordinances before it. But
this spirit certainly did not dictate our Saviour's conduct, either in
his treatment of the religion of his country, or in the formation of his
own institution. In both he displayed the soundness and moderation of
his judgment. He censured an overstrained scrupulousness, or perhaps an
affectation of scrupulousness, about the Sabbath: but how did he censure
it? not by contemning or decrying the institution itself, but by
declaring that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;"
that is to say, that the Sabbath was to be subordinate to its purpose,
and that that purpose was the real good of those who were the subjects
of the law. The same concerning the nicety of some of the Pharisees, in
paying tithes of the most trifling articles, accompanied with a neglect
of justice, fidelity, and mercy. He finds fault with them for misplacing
their anxiety. He does not speak disrespectfully of the law of tithes,
nor of their observance of it; but he assigns to each class of duties
its proper station in the scale of moral importance.
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