Traditions and Religious Legislation
The long code of traditions imposed upon the Jews by the elders and scribes was not all devised or enacted at once. It was an accumulation of years of attempt to improve on the commandments of God. The whole mass of traditions that eventually burdened the people beyond their ability to bear, would have shocked the originators of traditionary, or man-made, moral law. It was perhaps the thought of earnest, well-meaning men to check the inclination of the people toward spiritual slackness and more or less disregard of the law of God. It was deemed wisdom, and, therefore, good policy, to do a little physical coercing, to which end some law had to be devised by those who assumed to be wiser and better than their fellows, because of some official position. These were at first very mild, and were supposed to be a help to the people in the keeping of the divine law. They were especially applicable to the Sabbath, and were added to, little by little, until they became very burdensome. This principle of moral reform by means of human law—which is often so highly lauded—grew upon Israel until the law of God was made of none effect (Matt. 15:6) by the usurpation. And the like effect must just as surely follow the like cause to-day. But this fact does not deter the Pharisees of our time from advocating religious legislation with ever-increasing zeal. And, as of old, human laws concerning the Sabbath, in all cases averse to the law of God on the subject, are made the most prominent. If the people would not be overwhelmed with the burden of religious tradition, in the form of political law, they would do well to discountenance every form of religious legislation by political bodies, in its very incipency. In this matter, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."