SERMON XXVIII. THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN, ST. LUKE, CHAP. Xviii. VER. 10. Two Men went up into the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. OF many reasons which might induce our Saviour so frequently to express himself in parables, none seems to have been more in his view than that of gaining an opportunity to deliver an unwelcome truth in the least offensive manner. This style of discourse naturally engaged attention, and at the same time avoided all that harshness of reproof, which a plainer and more simple language would have produced;-it appealed to the sense of the hearers, and left the application of it to the parties themselves; with this view, our Saviour chose the parable before us, to dispose the Pharisees to whom he then addressed himself, patiently to hear his discourse upon so tender a point, the subject of which demanded their particular attention; it is hardly possible in any age to produce so striking an instance of the difference between pride and humility, as we have here delivered in the characters of the Pharisee and Publican. The parable begins thus:" Two men "went up into the temple to pray." It is evident, their intentions at that time were the same-that of offering up their respective prayers at the throne of grace; how widely the one differed from his original purpose will be seen hereafter the one a Pharisee, the other a Publican;" as there was something remarkable in the characters of each, it may not be amiss to point out the distinction between the sects. The Pharisees were a sort of people who professed the greatest respect and reverence for their religion; but it consisted chiefly in the outward ceremonies and some particular observances, such as fasting, giving alms to the poor, and a kind of severity and moroseness which they imposed upon themselves in public; they affected a stricter rule of living, and a higher degree of sanctity to distinguish themselves from the vulgar; or as our Saviour observed, "they trusted in them"selves that they were righteous, and "despised others." The publicans, on the other hand, were in general detested by the Jews, notorious for their merciless oppressions, and seemed to be lost to all sense of justice and common honesty. How infamous they were in our Saviour's time may be seen from the Scripture itself, where we seldom find them named but with sinners, harlots, and heathens. Different indeed were the characters of these two men, but more so their behaviour in the house of God; the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself" God, I thank "thee, that I am not as other men are, ❝ extortioners, or even as this publican ;" instead of humbling himself with awful respect before that Being in whose presence he stood; instead of kneeling and confessing his sins, or petitioning the Almighty to deliver him from temptation, he contemptuously breaks forth into a bold and impious boasting of his own merit the sight of the publican at a distance raised his indignation and pride to such an excess, that he seemed at once to have forgot the intent of his coming into the temple; and that which should have been a prayer to God, was suddenly converted into an uncharitable and unprovoked |