ABSTRACT
One must not hope to find in our savages that civility which the Scribes and Pharisees did require in the Disciples of our Lord [Matt. xv. 2]. For which their over-great curiosity he made them such answer as they deserved. For they had brought in ceremonies and customs which were repugnant to God's commandment, which they would have straightly to be observed, teaching ungodliness under the name of Piety. For if a wicked child did give and put into the common box of the temple that which appertained to his father or to his mother, they (for to draw this profit) did justify this wicked son, against the commandment of God, who hath above all things commended and commanded the children's obedience and reverence towards them that have brought them into the world, which are the image of God, who hath no need of our goods, and doth not accept the oblation that is made unto him of the goods of another. The same Scribes and Pharisees did also bring in a civility to wash hands, which our Lord doth not blame but inasmuch as they made the not observing of it, to be a great sin.
