how abundant, on the other hand, the Mer-
cy of God, who, remembering his Pro-
mife, was pleas'd to raise up fo mighty
a Salvation for them, and all Mankind,
by fending his Son JESUS CHRIST
our LORD, at that Time into the
World.

SECT. XX.

The Pharifees, Sadducees, and Herodians.

This Hypocritical loofe Way of profeffing and practising the Law, or true Religion, among other bad Effects which it produc'd, made ftrange Factions and Divifions, even among the vain Profeffors themselves. There are no less than three notable Parties of them mention'd in the Gospel; thofe, of the Pharifees, Sadducees, and Herodians; other historical Writers speak of four more. They all agreed, in laying a greater Strefs upon Tradition than Scripture; and confequentially, in being generally very unrighteous in their Conversation in the World. But they differ'd in the following Particulars.

Acts

The Sadducees held that there was no Refurrection, nor Angels, nor Spirits; all xxiii. 8.

which the Pharifees profefs'd to believe. And therefore St. Paul, when he was making his Defence before the High-Priest, and Claudius Lyfias the Chief Captain of the Roman Garrison, took Advantage of this; and perceiving that the one Part of his Accufers were Sadducees, and the other Pharifees; he cried out, in the Council, Men and Brethren, I am a Pharifee, the Son of a Pharifee: of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead, I am call'd in Queftion. And when he had fo faid, there arofe a Diffention between the Pharifees and the Sadducees; and the Multitude was divided; and there arose a great Cry; and the Scribes that were of the Pharifees Part, arose and ftrove.

This Expedient might be of Service to the Apostle, juft at that Season. But otherwise, he had little Reafon to expect that they, who had united in crucifying the LORD of Life, would let their Differences prevail fo far, as to be favourable to him who was employ'd in carrying on that Building, of which JESUS CHRIST hmfelf was the Chief Corner Stone,

The

The Pharijees were much greater Hypocrites than any of the reft; and therefore we often find them fo ftyl'd, by our LORD himself. They pretended to much Fafting and Prayer; but took care to do it in fuch a Manner, as to make every Body take notice of it: their whole Design thereby being only the more effectually to deceive and take Advantage of Mankind: They made long prayers for a pretence.

Matt.

They set up for being more strict Ob- xxiii. 14. fervers of the Law than the reft of the Jews; but their Strictness, in Reality, went no further than Trifles, and mere indifferent Things, while Matters of Moment and Importance to eternal Salvation, were utterly neglected by them. They paid tythe --- 23. of mint, and anife, and cummin, every little Herb that grew in their Garden; but omitted the weightier Matters of the Law, Judgment and Mercy and Faith.

And, because the Law orders that the Children of Ifrael should make a particular Kind of fringe upon the borders of their Numb. garments, that when they look'd upon it, they xv. 38. might remember the commandments of the LORD, and do them; Therefore the Pha

rifees, who did all their works to be seen of Matt. men, made broad their Phylacteries, and enxxiii. 5. larged the borders of their garments; to pro

cure them, what they lov'd better than the Commandments of the LORD, Reverence and Respect among the ignorant Multitude; to have the uppermost rooms at feafts, and the chief feats in the fynagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be faluted with bonourable titles.

The Sadducees, though they did not believe a future Life, yet profefs'd themselves oblig'd to obferve the Law, because of the temporal Rewards or Penalties which were to attend them according as they behaved themselves; and appear, in the main, to have been a fomewhat better Sort of Men than the Pharifees; because we seldom find our LORD charging them with Hypocrify, and those many other foul Crimes with which he upbraids the Pharisees. The Baptift indeed joins them with the Pharifees, Matt. iii. when he fays of both together, O generation of vipers! And our LORD bids his Difciples ib. xvi. 6. Beware of the leaven (the Doctrine) of the Pharifees, and of the Sadducees.

7.

But

1

But, as to their Error, in not believing a Refurrection; an Error of a pernicious Nature, as it tends to deprive Mankind of the Bleffings of a Social Life here, and cuts off the Wretches who are fo unfortunate as to be misled by it, from eternal Happiness, bereafter; Our bleffed LORD took Care, effectually, to confute and put to fi1 lence these ftupid Maintainers of it, at a Time when they attempted to fneer and ridicule Him by, what they took to be an unanswerable Question: Whose wife of the Seven men that had married her, a woman 23. fhould be at the refurrection?

Mat.xxii.

This grofs fenfual Suppofition of theirs, in making the Cafe improbable, the better to palliate their own Incredulity, he explodes by saying, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For, in the refurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are, as the angels of God in heaven. But, as touching the refurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, faying, I Exod. iii, am the God of Abraham, and the God of 6. Ifaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And

when