The Pharisee and the Publican | Page 4

as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. 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 to me a sinner.-- Luke, xviii. 10-13.
In the beginning of this chapter you read of the reason of the parable of
the unjust judge and the poor widow; namely, to encourage men to pray.
"He spake a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not
to faint;" and a most sweet parable for that purpose it is: for if through

importunity, a poor widow woman may prevail with an unjust judge,
and so consequently with an unmerciful and hard-hearted tyrant, how
much more shall the poor, afflicted, distressed, and tempted people of
God, prevail with, and obtain mercy at the hands of, a loving, just, and
merciful God? The unjust judge would not hearken to, nor regard the
cry of, the poor widow, for a while: "But afterward he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she
weary me." "Hark," saith Christ, "what the unjust judge saith." "And
shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto
him?--I tell you that he will avenge them speedily."
This is therefore a very comfortable parable to such of the saints as are
under hard usage by reason of evil men, their might and tyranny: for by
it we are taught to believe and expect, that God, though for a while he
seemeth not to regard, yet will, in due time and season, arise and set
such in safety from them that puff at them; Psalm xii. 4.
Let the good Christian pray always; let him pray, and not faint at
seeming delays; for if the widow by importunity prevailed with the
unjust judge, how much more shall he with his heavenly Father. "I tell
you," says Christ, "that he will avenge them speedily."
But now, forasmuch as this parable reacheth not (so directly) the poor
Publican in the text, therefore our Lord begins again, and adds to that
other parable, this parable which I have chosen for my text; by which
he designeth two things: First, The conviction of the proud and
self-conceited Pharisee: Secondly, The raising up and healing of the
cast down and dejected Publican. And observe it, as by the first parable
he chiefly designeth the relief of those that are under the hands of cruel
tyrants, so by this he designeth the relief of those that lie under the load
and burden of a guilty and disquieted conscience.
This therefore is a parable that is full of singular comfort to such of the
sinners in the world that are clogged with guilt and sense of sin; and
that lie under the apprehensions of, and that are driven to God by the
sense of the judgment that for sin is due unto them.
In my handling of this text, I shall have respect to these things -
1. To the persons in the text.
2. To the condition of the persons in the text.
3. To the conclusion that Christ makes upon them both.

First, For the persons. They were, as you see, far one from another in
their own apprehension of themselves; one good, the other bad; but yet
in the judgment of the law, both alike, both the same, both sinners; for
they both stood in need of mercy. True, the first mentioned did not see
it, as the other poor sinner did; but that altereth not the case: he that is
in the judgment of the law a sinner, is in the judgment of the law for sin
condemned, though in his own judgment he be ever so righteous.
Men must not be judged, or justified, according to what themselves do
think, but according to the verdict and sentence that cometh out of the
mouth of God about them. Now, the sentence of God is, "All have
sinned:" "There is none righteous, no, not one;" Rom. iii. It is no matter,
then, what the Pharisee did think of himself; God by his word hath
proclaimed him a sinner: a sinner, by reason of original sin; a sinner, by
reason of actual transgression. Personally, therefore, with reference to
the true nature of their state, they both were sinners, and both by the
law under condemnation. True, the Publican's leprosy was outward; but
the Pharisee's leprosy was inward: his heart, his soul, his spirit, was as
foul, and had as much the plague of sin, as had the other in his life or
conversation.
Secondly, As to their conditions