, 116 _b_).
This passage is not in contradiction with those in which the abolition
of the Law is implied. It only signifies that in Jesus all the types
of the Old Testament are realized. Cf. Luke xvi. 17.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. ix. 16, 17; Luke v. 36, and following.]

[Footnote 5: Luke xix. 9.]

[Footnote 6: Matt. xxiv. 14, xxviii. 19; Mark xiii. 10, xvi. 15; Luke
xxiv. 47.]

CHAPTER XIV.

INTERCOURSE OF JESUS WITH THE PAGANS AND THE SAMARITANS.

Following out these principles, Jesus despised all religion which was
not of the heart. The vain practices of the devotees,[1] the exterior
strictness, which trusted to formality for salvation, had in him a
mortal enemy. He cared little for fasting.[2] He preferred forgiveness
to sacrifice.[3] The love of God, charity and mutual forgiveness, were
his whole law.[4] Nothing could be less priestly. The priest, by his
office, ever advocates public sacrifice, of which he is the appointed
minister; he discourages private prayer, which has a tendency to
dispense with his office.

[Footnote 1: Matt. xv. 9.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. ix. 14, xi. 19.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. v. 23, and following, ix. 13, xii. 7.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xxii. 37, and following; Mark xii. 28, and
following; Luke x. 25, and following.]

We should seek in vain in the Gospel for one religious rite
recommended by Jesus. Baptism to him was only of secondary
importance;[1] and with respect to prayer, he prescribes nothing,
except that it should proceed from the heart. As is always the case,
many thought to substitute mere good-will for genuine love of
goodness, and imagined they could win the kingdom of heaven by saying
to him, "Rabbi, Rabbi." He rebuked them, and proclaimed that his
religion consisted in doing good.[2] He often quoted the passage in
Isaiah, which says: "This people honor me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me."[3]

[Footnote 1: Matt. iii. 15; 1 _Cor._ i. 17.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. vii. 21; Luke vi. 46.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xv. 8; Mark vii. 6. Cf. Isaiah xxix. 13.]

The observance of the Sabbath was the principal point upon which was
raised the whole edifice of Pharisaic scruples and subtleties. This
ancient and excellent institution had become a pretext for the
miserable disputes of casuists, and a source of superstitious
beliefs.[1] It was believed that Nature observed it; all intermittent
springs were accounted "Sabbatical."[2] This was the point upon which
Jesus loved