THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 102, 18 November 1852, Page 3

THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.

Luke xviii. 13. " God be merciful to me a sinner." Ver. 11. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself:"—he stood by himself; with great formality, in a place where the people must notice him; he prayed thus with himself, and la himself, not to God; there are many people pray to themselves; lliey speak not to God; their words never reach him: they utter sounds, but not desires;

Ihis- praying will do no good. It is remarkable that in all tlic Pharisee's prayer there is not one polilion: lie came to pray; but surely lie forgot'bis errand, for he asks nothing. Praise to fiod is certainly :i proper and a noble part of prayer; lmi though heprelends to praise, be only boasts, ititt!.-I ;:•- 'i.-nr his fine prayer; "God, I llianV dire, thai I am not as other men arc." Whit is this but ignorance, pride, and consorioiisness ? Ho was a< oilier men are, for all men are sinners; in this respect all are on a level; there is mi ilifferriwe, as the. srriplurcsspeaks, Koiii. iii. 22, 2.">, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." It is true that some men are restrained from sins that others commit; but the seeds of every Mil are by nature in the heart of every man; and if we have not actually committed them, we owe it to the restraining power or the changing grace of God. The Pharisee seems to admit of this by saying, "God, I thank thee;" but we have reason to doubt his sincerity in so saying; and to think they were words of course and form; for so proud a heart as his, could not be duly sensible of bis obligations to divine grace: and there are many who, like him, use words of praise, but feel no gratitude to God. His meaning was probably this, "OGod, l!;on author of my being, I thank the for the noble powers with which thou hast endowed me, by my own wise and careful improvement of which I have kept myself from being so wicked as other people." You will observe that there were two principal parts of the law ; the one respected morals, the other ceremonials. Now the ! Pharisee takes care to brag of bis regard to bolh; and first to the moral law, / am not \ mother men are— well, what are other men? I Why, according to his accounts, it should ! seem that most other men are extortioners, un'ust, adulterers. At all limes there are [loo many such people as these; but ids way i of mentioning them was merely for the purpose of exalling himself and his own sect, some of whom were equally criminal, though under the mask of religion. It may be the Pharisee was not an "extortioner" —did not cruelly oppress his neighbour: but we have Christ's authority for it, that the Pharisees were generally '' covetous," and some, of llieni "devoured widows' houses." He says he was not "unjust"—not a knave or a cheat; but could he say he never coveted his neighbour's goods, for this !•■• hir.rtrobbery in the sight of God. Me says he was not an "adulterer;" it may be so; but our Lord says, that "he who looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," Mall, v. 28. Hut this was the folly of such men; they washed the outside of the cup and the platter, but within Ihey were "full of extortion and excess; righteous without, but full of hypocrisy and iniquity wilhtn;" so Glirisl declares, Mall, xxiii. 2.* i, Arc. Xot content of boasting of himself, he must abuse the poor publican as Ibis publican." What business bad he wilh the publican? He ought lo have rejoiced to see him in the temple; be might have, hoped it was a .symptom of bis reforin- | alion. he should have gone and shaken hands with him, and given him some good advice. Put his proud heart spurns at the broken-hearted sinner; just as modern Pharisees, who look upon mourning souls as poor canting, winning hypocrites, far beneath their notice, There was a great deal of cruelty in this; he could not say hi:; own prayers without putting in a caveat, as it where against Ihe petition of his poor neighbour. Hill the Pharisee has yet more lo boast of. He bad not only "done nobody any harm," as the common phrase is, but he had been mighty religious; he kept Lent alt the ijear. I fast said he, twice a week. Occasional

asiing, in order lo humble ourselves heforc God foe our sins, is very commendable, whether !;. private persons or public bodies; but (lie Pharisee's Casting was not (w Ihal purpose, but for u.-len::aioii, and willi a view to merit :ii the Lam! of God, as appears by his boastm;,; o! :i. this, he lells God, he ga- /••.■':••■ •/ nil '■/- '■■•■•'"''' il()l only of wl;.;l law of M'm- i< quired, bill of Ihc I .lis in his gar.leu; he devoted a tenth part of all he had to religious uses, whether lillieahle or not by the law. Thus you have the Pharisee's prayer; a prayer which God rejected ; and though he justified /ii'i/iff//; God did not justify him. And now, my friends, let us examine ourselves. Is there nothing of ihe Pharisee's spirit in us? Do we not hear people speakIhc same language sometimes? Is not this all Ihe hope of some persons, Ihal Ihey never did any person harm : ihal Ihey pay everyone his due; and perhaps Ihal ihey go lo church.constantly; behave decently: take the Kicraiiiciit; give alms, and so on? Now often do we hear litis language 011 a dying bed ? Poor ignorant souls rush into the presence of God, with 110 other foundation for (heir hope limn llic Pharisee had; while we hear not a word of true humility,, poverty of spirit, sense of sin, or hope in Jesus, as the sinners only friend and hope. O beware of resembling the Pharisee. Pleas like this may please men, bill they will not succeed willi God: rather lei us resemble the poor brokenhearted Publican, whose character and prayer we next consider. Verse 15, "And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful (o me a sinner!" By a Publican you are not to understand ihc keeper of a public-house, but a lux-gatherer The Jews were, at the time, subject lo the Roman emperor, and paid hint (axes, which were sometimes farmed by the rich publicans, who in the execution of their office were 100 ofte.u dishonest and oppressive; on account of which, and 011 account of Ihc j taxes themselves, which were vexatious lo Ihe Jews, Ihe name of a publican was abominable, and was classed Willi those of great sinners. Whether this publican was an extortioner or not,'we cannot say. Doubtless he was a sinner; and by sonic means or oilier he became a convinced .'inner, a penitent sinner, and a praying sinner. Perhaps this was Ihe first lime that ever he prayed in bis life; for sinning generally keeps men from praying. It is plain that the Spirit of God bad humbled his heart: he was one of those blessed men who are "poor in spirit," and he was one of those blessed mourners who "shall be comforted." Oh, my friends, let us rejoice with •hose who arc thus brought lo repentance, and pray for yrtiee lo mourn likewise for our sins. Observe his posture— he tlnoil afar ofl'—nl a great distance from the holy place, where Ihe priest officiated ; he knew this became .him, for he had lived at a great distance from God as a sinner; and he knew he deserved that God should for ever behold him afar off. Observe all his dejected looks, he could not look up ; he thought it would be presumptuous in him to lift up his eyes to heaven, the habitation of God's glory. Other sinners have thought Ihe same; David savs, Ps. xl. 12, " Innumerable evils hav e compassed mc about; mine inipuilies have taken bold upon me, so thai I am not able lo look up :" but those downcast eyes attracted the eyes of God ; he could not lift up bis eyes, but he lifted up his bean; and there is nobeauly in the sight of God greater than blushing for sin. "For lo this man will I look," sailli Ihe Lord, rmi lo him that is poor, and a contrite spirit, and tremblelh at my word," Isa Ixvi. '->.

Another mark of liis repentance was ln's smiling his bremf, lie knewliis heart; hedid not think it a good heart, as some very ignorant people speak; no, lie knew the plague of his heart; he knew it was the seat and source of all his sins, and by smiling on I)is breast lie seemed as if he would take revenge, upon his own wicked heart; it expresses his indignation against himself, nnd the vehemence of his anger against sin. My friends, what do we know ■ f such a disposit'on as this? When were yon thus angry with yourselves, and filled with shame and confusion of face because of your sins.' Know this, thai such is the temper of al' j who are taught of dod ; and if you have i never fell in litis maimer, you are yet strangers to true repentance.. Now we come to his prayer. It was very . short, but very good; no man ever oll'ered a I belter, or lo better purpose. Not that the ] mere words are of any avail; too many | people use such words profanely, when they j say on a .surprise, (lod bless us! or, Lord j have mercy on us; but such praying as this is the way to get a curse, not a blessing. When the Publican said, fiod be merciful lo mo a sinner, lie felt what he said ; he felt bo was a perishing sinner, and he fell an earnest desire for mercy. Ho calls himself u sinner or (lie sinner, as some would render it, or the chief of sinners, as Paul called himself. The words/mire was a term of reproach among the Jews, an,| seemed lo be applied chielly lo some notorious oll'eiuler; but the Publican lakes il to himself. It is very likely hespake this aloud, in the hearing of the Pharisee, and others who did not think lliemselvcssinners; for h e was not unwilling lo appear before men what he wellknew he was before God. He would not have been angry with llial sort of preaching which lays men low; norwould he have been displeased Svilh a friend who should have said, you are a very great sinner. Put say., my friend, what would yon lliink of a person who shall charge ijim in that manner? Would you not be very angry, and say, I am no worse than others: but a true penitent can never find words suflicient to express the sense he has of his vileness To be continued.