The Pharisee and the Publican

2.  Dost thou plead by thy righteousness for mercy for thyself?  Why in so doing thou impliest, that mercy thou deservest; and that is next door to, or almost as much as to say, God oweth me what I ask for.  The best that can be put upon it is, thou seekest security from the direful curse of God, as it were by the works of the law, Rom. ix. 31–33; and to be sure, betwixt Christ and the law, thou wilt drop into hell.  For he that seeks for mercy, as it were, and but as it were, by the works of the law, doth not altogether trust thereto.  Nor doth he that seeks for that righteousness that should save him as it were by the works of the law, seek it only wholly and solely at the hands of mercy.

So then, to seek for that that should save thee, neither at the hands of the law, nor at the hands of mercy, is to be sure to seek it where it is not to be found; for there is no medium betwixt the righteousness of the law and the mercy of God.  Thou must have it either at the door of the law, or at the door of grace.  But sayst thou, I am for having of it at the hands of both.  I will trust solely to neither.  I love to have two strings to my bow.  If one of them, as you think, can help me by itself, my reason tells me that both can help me better.  Therefore will I be righteous and good, and will seek by my goodness to be commended to the mercy of God: for surely he that hath something of his own to ingratiate himself into the favour of his prince withal, shall sooner obtain his mercy and favour, than one that comes to him stripped of all good.

I answer, But there are not two ways to heaven: there is but one new and living way which Christ hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and besides that one, there is no more; Heb. x. 19–24.  Why then dost thou talk of two strings to thy bow?  What became of him that had, and would have two stools to sit on? yea, the text says plainly, that therefore they obtained not righteousness, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.  See here, they are disowned by the gospel, because they sought it not by faith, that is, by faith only.  Again, the law, and the righteousness thereof, flies from them (nor could they attain it, though they follow after it), because they sought it not by faith.

Mercy then is to be found alone in Jesus Christ.  Again, the righteousness of the law is to be obtained only by faith of Jesus Christ; that is, in the Son of God is the righteousness of the law to be found; for he, by his obedience to his Father, is become the end of the law for righteousness.  And for the sake of his legal righteousness (which is also called the righteousness of God, because it was God in the flesh of the Lord Jesus that did accomplish it), is mercy, and grace from God extended to whoever dependeth by faith upon God by this Jesus his righteousness for it.  And hence it is, that we so often read, that this Jesus is the way to the Father; that God, for Christ’s sake, forgiveth us; that by the obedience of one many are made righteous, or justified; and that through this man is preached to us the forgiveness of sins; and that by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Now, though I here do make mention of righteousness and mercy, yet I hold there is but one way, to wit, to eternal life; which way, as I said, is Jesus Christ; for he is the new, the only new and living way to the Father of mercies, for mercy to make me capable of abiding with him in the heavens for ever and ever.

But sayst thou, I will be righteous in myself that I may have wherewith to commend me to God, when I go to him for mercy?

I answer, But thou blind Pharisee, I tell thee thou hast no understanding of God’s design by the gospel, which is, not to advance man’s righteousness, as thou dreamest, but to advance the righteousness of his Son, and his grace by him.  Indeed, if God’s design by the gospel was to exalt and advance man’s righteousness, then that which thou hast said would be to the purpose; for what greater dignity can be put upon man’s righteousness, than to admit it?

I say then, for God to admit it, to be an advocate, an intercessor, a mediator; for all these are they which prevail with God to shew me mercy.  But this God never thought of, much less could he thus design by the gospel; for the text runs flat against it.  Not of works, not of works of righteousness, which we have done; “Not of works, lest any man should boast,” saying, Well, I may thank my own good life for mercy.  It was partly for the sake of my own good deeds that I obtained mercy to be in heaven and glory.  Shall this be the burden of the song of heaven? or is this that which is composed by that glittering heavenly host, and which we have read of in the holy book of God?  No, no; that song runs upon other feet—standeth in far better strains, being composed of far higher and truly heavenly matter: for God has “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” Eph. i.  And it is requisite that the song be framed accordingly; wherefore he saith, that the heavenly song runs thus—“Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth;” Rev. v. 9, 10.

He saith not that they have redeemed, or helped to redeem and deliver themselves; but that the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain; the Lamb only was he that redeemed them.  Nor, saith he, that they had made themselves kings and priests unto God to offer any oblation, sacrifice, or offering whatsoever, but that the same Lamb had made them such: for they, as is insinuated by the text, were in, among, one with, and no better than the kindreds, tongues, nations, and people of the earth.  Better!  “No, in no wise,” saith Paul (Rom. iii. 9); therefore their separation from them was of mere mercy, free grace, good will, and distinguishing love; not for, or because of works of righteousness which any of them have done; no, they were all alike.  But these, because beloved when in their blood (according to Ezek. xvi.), were separated by free grace; and as another scripture hath it, “redeemed from the earth,” and from among men by blood; Rev. xiv. 3, 4.  Wherefore deliverance from the ireful wrath of God must not, neither in whole nor in part, be ascribed to the whole law, or to all the righteousness that comes by it, but to this Lamb of God, Jesus, the Saviour of the world; for it is he that delivered us from the wrath to come, and that according to God’s appointment; “for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by (or through) our Lord Jesus Christ;” 1 Thess. i. 10; v. 9.  Let every man, therefore, take heed what he doth, and whereon he layeth the stress of his salvation; “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;” 1 Cor. iii. ii.

But dost thou plead still as thou didst before, and wilt thou stand thereto?  Why then, thy design must overcome God, or God’s design must overcome thee.  Thy design is to give thy good life, thy good deeds, a part of the glory of thy justification from the curse.  And God’s design is to throw all thy righteousness out into the street, into the dirt and dunghill, as to that thou art for glory, and for glorying here before God; yea, thou art sharing in the glory of justification when that alone belongeth to God.  And he hath said, “My glory will I not give to another.”  Thou wilt not trust wholly to God’s grace in Christ for justification; and God will not take thy stinking righteousness in as a partner in thy acquitment from sin, death, wrath, and hell.  Now the question is, Who shall prevail?  God, or the Pharisee? and whose word shall stand? his, the Pharisee’s?

Alas! the Pharisee here must needs come down, for God is greater than all.  Also, he hath said, that no flesh shall glory in his presence; and that he will have mercy, and not sacrifice.  And again, that it is not (or shall be) in him that wills, nor in him that runs, but in God that sheweth mercy.  What hope, help, stay, or relief, then is there left for the merit-monger?  What twig, or straw, or twined thread, is left to be a stay for his soul?  This besom will sweep away his cobweb: the house that this spider doth so lean upon, will now be overturned, and he in it, to hellfire; for nothing less than everlasting damnation is designed by God, and that for this fearful and unbelieving Pharisee: God will prevail against him for ever.

3.  But wilt thou yet plead thy righteousness for mercy?  Why, in so doing thou takest away from God the power of giving mercy.  For if it be thine as wages, it is no longer his to dispose of at pleasure; for that which another man oweth me, is in equity not at his, but at my disposal.  Did I say that by this thy plea thou takest away from God the power of giving mercy?  I will add, yea, and also of disposing of heaven and life eternal.  And then, I pray you, what is left unto God, and what can he call his own?  Not mercy, for that by thy good deeds thou hast purchased: not heaven, for that by thy good deeds thou hast purchased: not eternal life, for that by thy good deeds thou hast purchased.  Thus, Pharisee (O thou self-righteous man), hast thou set up thyself above grace, mercy, heaven, glory; yea, above even God himself, for the purchaser should in reason be esteemed above the purchase.

Awake, man!  What hast thou done?  Thou hast blasphemed God; thou has undervalued the glory of his grace; thou hast, what in thee lieth, opposed the glorious design of heaven; thou hast sought to make thy filthy rags to share in thy justification.

Now, all these are mighty sins; these have made thine iniquity infinite.  What wilt thou do?  Thou hast created to thyself a world of needless miseries.  I call them needless, because thou hadst more than enough before.  Thou hast set thyself against God in a way of contending, thou standest upon thy points and pantables; thou wilt not bate God an ace of what thy righteousness is worth, and wilt also make it worth what thyself shalt list: thou wilt be thine own judge, as to the worth of thy righteousness; thou wilt neither hear what verdict the word has passed about it, nor wilt thou endure that God should throw it out in the matter of thy justification, but quarrelest with the doctrine of free grace, or else dost wrest it out of its place to serve thy Pharisaical designs; saying, “God I thank thee, I am not as other men;” fathering upon thyself, yea, upon God and thyself a stark lie; for thou art as other men are, though not in this, yet in that; yea, in a far worse condition than the most of men are.  Nor will it help thee anything to attribute this thy goodness to the God of heaven; for that is but a mere toying; the truth is, the God that thou intendest is nothing but thy righteousness; and the grace that thou supposest is nothing but thine own good and honest intentions.  So that,

4.  In all that thou sayst thou dost but play the downright hypocrite: thou pretendest indeed to mercy, but thou intendest nothing but merit: thou seemest to give the glory to God, but at the same time takest it all to thyself: thou despisest others, and criest up thyself; and in conclusion, fatherest all upon God by word, and upon thyself in truth.  Nor is there anything more common among this sort of men, than to make God, his grace, and kindness, the stalking-horse to their own praise, saying, “God, I thank thee,” when they trust to themselves that they are righteous, and have not need of any repentance; when the truth is, they are the worst sort of men in the world, because they put themselves into such a state as God hath not put them into, and then impute it to God, saying, God, I thank thee, that thou hast done it; for what greater sin than to make God a liar, or than to father that upon God which he never meant, intended, or did: and all this under colour to glorify God, when there is nothing else designed, but to take all glory from him, and to wear it on thine own head as a crown, and a diadem, in the face of the whole world.

A self-righteous man, therefore, can come to God for mercy no otherwise than fawningly: for what need of mercy hath a righteous man?  Let him then talk of mercy, of grace, and goodness, and come in an hundred times with his, “God, I thank thee,” in his mouth, all is but words; there is no sense, nor savour, nor relish, of mercy and favour; nor doth he in truth, from his very heart, understand the nature of mercy, nor what is an object thereof; but when he thanks God, he praises himself: when he pleads for mercy, he means his own merit; and all this is manifest from what doth follow; for, saith he, I am not as this Publican: thence clearly insinuating, that not the good, but the bad, should be rejected of the God of heaven: that not the bad but the good, not the sinner, but the self-righteous, are the most proper objects of God’s favour.  The same thing is done by others in this our day: favour, mercy, grace, and, “God, I thank thee,” is in their mouths, but their own strength, sufficiency, free-will, and the like, they are the things they mean by all such high and glorious expressions.

But, secondly, If thy plea be not for mercy, but for justice, then to speak a little to that. 1.  Justice has measures and rules to go by; unto which measures and rules, if thou comest not up, justice can do thee no good.  Come then, O thou blind Pharisee, let us pass away a few minutes in some discourse about this.  Thou demandest justice, because God hath said, that the man that doth these things shall live in and by them.  And again, the doers of the law shall be justified, not in a way of mercy, but in a way of justice: “He shall live by them.”  But what hast thou done, O blind Pharisee?  What hast thou done, that thou art emboldened to venture to stand and fall to the most perfect justice of God?  Hast thou fulfilled the whole law, and not offended in one point?  Hast thou purged thyself from the pollutions and motions of sin that dwell in thy flesh, and work in thy own members?  Is the very being of sin rooted out of thy tabernacle?  And art thou now as perfectly innocent as ever was Jesus Christ? hast thou, by suffering the uttermost punishment that justice could justly lay upon thee for thy sins, made fair and full satisfaction to God, according to the tenor of his law, for thy transgressions?  If thou hast done all these things, then thou mayst plead something, and yet but something, for thyself, in a way of justice.  Nay, in this I will assert nothing, but will rather inquire: What hast thou gained by all this thy righteousness?  (We will now suppose what must not be granted:) Was not this thy state when thou wast in thy first parents?  Wast thou not innocent, perfectly innocent and righteous?  And if thou shouldst be so now, what hast thou gained thereby?  Suppose that the man that had, forty years ago, forty pounds of his own, and had spent it all since, should yet be able now to shew his forty pounds again; what has he got thereby, or how much richer is he at last than he was when he first set up for himself?  Nay, doth not the blot of his ill living betwixt his first and his last, lie as a blemish upon him, unless he should redeem himself also, by works of supererogation, from the scandal that justice may lay at his door for that.

But, I say, suppose, O Pharisee, this should be thy case, yet God is not bound to give thee in justice that eternal which by his grace he bestoweth upon those that have redemption from sin, by the blood of his Son.  Injustice, therefore, when all comes to all, thou canst require no more than an endless life in an earthly paradise; for there thou wast set up at first; nor doth it appear from what hath been said, touching all that thou hast done or canst do, that thou deservest a better place.

Did I say, that thou mayst require justly an endless life in an earthly paradise?  Why, I must add to that saying this proviso, If thou continuest in the law, and in the righteousness thereof; else not.

But how dost thou know that thou shalt continue therein?  Thou hast no promise from God’s mouth for that; nor is grace or strength ministered to mankind by the covenant that thou art under.  So that still thou standest bound to thy good behaviour; and in the day that thou dost give the first, though ever so little a trip, or stumble in thy obedience, thou forfeitest thine interest in paradise (and in justice), as to any benefit there.

But alas! what need is there that we should thus talk things, when it is manifest that thou hast sinned, not before thou wast a Pharisee, but when after the most strictest sect of thy religion thou livest also a Pharisee; yea, and now in the temple, in thy prayer there, thou shewest thyself to be full of ignorance, pride, self-conceit, and horrible arrogancy, and desire of vain glory, &c., which are none of them the seat or fruits of righteousness, but the seat of the devil, and the fruit of his dwelling, even at this time in thy heart.

Could it ever have been imagined, that such audacious impudence could have put itself forth in any mortal man, in his approach unto God by prayer, as has shewed itself in thee?  “I am not as other men,” sayst thou!  But is this the way to go to God in prayer?  “The prayer of the upright is God’s delight.”  But the upright man glorifies God’s justice, by confessing to God the vileness and pollution of his state and condition: he glorifies God’s mercy, by acknowledging, that that, and that only, as communicated of God by Christ to sinners, can save and deliver from the curse of the law.

This, I say, is the sum of the prayer of the just and upright man, Job. i. 8; xl. 4; Acts xiii. 22; Psalm xxxviii.; li.; 2 Sam. vi. 21, 22; and not as thou most vain-gloriously vauntest with thy, “God, I thank thee, I am not as other men are.”

True, when a man is accused by his neighbours, by a brother, by an enemy, and the like, if he be clear (and he may be so, as to what they shall lay to his charge), then let him vindicate, justify, and acquit himself, to the utmost that in justice and truth he can; for his name, the preservation whereof is more to be chosen than silver and gold; also his profession, yea, the name of God too, and religion may now lie at stake, by reason of such false accusations, and perhaps can by no means (as to this man) be covered and vindicated from reproach and scandal, but by his justifying of himself.  Wherefore, in such a work, a man serveth God, and saves religion from hurt; yea, as he that is a professor, and has his profession attended with a scandalous life, hurteth religion thereby, so he that has his profession attended with a good life, and shall suffer it notwithstanding to lie under blame by false accusations, when it is in the power of his hand to justify himself, hurteth religion also.  But the case of the Pharisee is otherwise.  He is not here a-dealing with men, but God; not seeking to stand clear in the sight of the world, but in the sight of heaven itself; and that too, not with respect to what men or angels, but with respect to what God and his law could charge him with, and justly lay at his door.

This therefore mainly altereth the case; for a man here to stand thus upon his point, it is death; for he affronteth God, he giveth him the lie, he reproveth the law; and, in sum, accuseth it of bearing false witness against him; he doth this, I say, even by saying, “God, I thank thee, I am not as other men are;” for God hath made none of this difference.  The law condemneth all man as sinners; testifieth that every imagination of the thought of the heart of the sons of men is only evil, and that continually; wherefore they that do as the Pharisee did, to wit, seek to justify themselves before God from the curse of the law by their own good doings, though they also, as the Pharisee did, seem to give God the thanks for all; yet do most horribly sin, even by their so doing, and shall receive a Pharisee’s reward at last.  Wherefore, O thou Pharisee, it is a vain thing for thee either to think of, or to ask for, at God’s hand, either mercy or justice.  Because mercy thou canst not ask for, from sense of want of mercy, because thy righteousness, which is by the law, hath utterly blinded thine eyes; and complimenting with God doth nothing: and as for justice, that can do thee no good; but the more just God is, and the more by that he acteth towards thee, the more miserable and fearful will be thy condition, because of the deficiency of thy so much, by thee, esteemed righteousness.

What a deplorable condition then is a poor Pharisee in!  For mercy he cannot pray; he cannot pray for it with all his heart, for he seeth indeed no need thereof.  True, the Pharisee, though he was impudent enough, yet would not take all from God; he would still count, that there was due to him a tribute of thanks: “God, I thank thee,” saith he: but yet not a bit of this for mercy; but for that he had let him live (for I know not for what he did thank himself), till he had made himself better than other men.  But that betterment was a betterment in none other’s judgment than that of his own; and that was none other but such an one as was false.  So then the Pharisee is by this time quite out of doors: his righteousness is worth nothing, his prayer is worth nothing, his thanks to God are worth nothing; for that what he had was scanty and imperfect, and it was his pride that made him offer it to God for acceptance; nor could his fawning thanksgiving better his case, or make his matter at all good before God.

But I will warrant you, the Pharisee was so far off from thinking thus of himself, and of his righteousness, that he thought of nothing so much as of this, that he was a happy man: yea, happier by far than other his fellow rationals: yea, he plainly declares it, when he saith, “God, I thank thee, I am not as other men are.”

O what a fool’s paradise was the heart of the Pharisee now in, while he stood in the temple praying to God!  God, I thank thee, said he; for I am good and holy; I am a righteous man; I have been full of good works; I am no extortioner, unjust, nor adulterer, nor yet as this wretched Publican.  I have kept myself strictly to the rule of mine order, and my order is the most strict of all orders now in being: I fast, I pray, I give tithes of all that I possess.  Yea, so forward am I to be a religious man, so ready have I been to listen after my duty, that I have asked both of God and man the ordinances of judgment and justice; I take delight in approaching to God.  What less now can be mine than the heavenly kingdom and glory?

Now the Pharisee, like Haman, saith in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?  Where is the man that so pleaseth God, and, consequently, that in equity and reason should be beloved of God like me?  Thus like the prodigal’s brother, he pleadeth, saying, “Lo, these many years do I serve thee; neither transgressed I at any time thy commandments,” Luke xv. 29.  O brave Pharisee! but go on in thine oration—“Nor yet as this Publican.”

Poor wretch, quoth the Pharisee to the Publican, What comest thou for?  Dost think that such a sinner as thou art shall be heard of God?  God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God (as I am, as I thank God I am), him he heareth.  Thou, for thy part, hast been a rebel all thy days: I abhor to come nigh thee, or to touch thy garments.  Stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am more holy than thou; Isa. lxv. 5.

Hold, stop there, go no further: fie, Pharisee, fie! dost thou know before whom thou standest, to whom thou speakest, and of what the matter of thy silly oration is made?  Thou art now before God, thou speakest now to God, and therefore in justice and honesty thou shouldst make mention of his righteousness, not of thine; of his righteousness, and of his only.

I am sure Abraham, of whom thou sayst he is thy father, never had the face to do as thou hast done, though, it is to be presumed, he had more cause so to do than thou hast, or canst have.  Abraham had whereof to glory, but not before God; yea, he was called God’s friend, and yet would not glory before him; but humbleth himself, was afraid, and trembled in himself, when he stood before him acknowledging of himself to be but dust and ashes; Gen. xviii. 27, 30, 22; Rom. iv. 1, 2; but thou, as thou hadst quite forgot that thou wast framed of that matter, and after the manner of other men, standest and pleadest thy goodness before him?  Be ashamed, Pharisee! dost thou think that God hath eyes of flesh, or that he seeth as man sees?  Are not the secrets of thy heart open unto him Thinkest thou with thyself that thou, with a few of thy defiled ways, canst cover thy rotten wall, that thou has daubed with untempered mortar, and so hide the dirt thereof from his eyes; or that these fine, smooth, and oily words, that come out of thy mouth, will make him forget that thy throat is an open sepulchre, and that thou within art full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness?  Thy thus cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter, and thy garnishing of the sepulchres of the righteous, is nothing at all in God’s eyes, but things that manifest that thou art an hypocrite and blind, because thou takest no notice of that which is within, which yet is that which is most abominable to God.  For the fruit, alas! what is the fruit of the tree, or what are the streams of the fountain?  Thy fountain is defiled; yea, a defiler, and so that which maketh the whole self, with thy works, unclean in God’s sight.

But, Pharisee, how comes it to pass that the poor Publican is now so much a mote in thine eye, that thou canst not forbear, but must accuse him before the judgment-seat of God—for in that thou sayst, that thou art not even as this Publican, thou bringest in an accusation, a charge, a bill, against him?  What has he done?  Has he concealed any of thy righteousness? or has he secretly informed against thee, that thou art an hypocrite and superstitious?  I dare say, the poor wretch has neither meddled nor made with thee in these matters.

But what aileth thee, Pharisee?  Doth the poor Publican stand to vex thee?  Doth he touch thee with his dirty garments? or doth he annoy thee with his stinking breath?  Doth his posture of standing so like a man condemned offend thee?  True, he now standeth with his hand held up at God’s bar; he pleads guilty to all that is laid to his charge.

He cannot strut, vapour, and swagger as thou dost; but why offended at this?  Oh, but he has been a naughty man, and I have been righteous! sayst thou.  Well, Pharisee, well, his naughtiness shall not be laid to thy charge, if thou hast chosen none of his ways.  But since thou wilt yet bear me down that thou art righteous, shew now, even now, while thou standest before God with the Publican, some, though they be but small, yea, though but very small, fruits of thy righteousness.  Let the Publican alone, since he is speaking for his life before God.  Or, if thou canst not let him alone, yet do not speak against him; for thy so doing will but prove that thou rememberest the evil that the man has done unto thee; yea, and that thou bearest him a grudge for it too, and while you stand before God.

But, Pharisee, the righteous man is a merciful man, and while he standeth praying, he forgiveth; yea, and also crieth to God that he will forgive him too; Mark xi. 25, 26; Acts vii. 60.  Hitherto then thou hast shewed none of the fruits of thy righteousness.  Pharisee, righteousness would teach thee to love this Publican, but thou shewest that thou hatest him.  Love covereth the multitude of sins; but hatred and unfaithfulness revealeth secrets.

Pharisee, thou shouldst have remembered this thy brother in this his day of adversity, and shouldst have shewed that thou hadst compassion on thy brother in this his deplorable condition; but thou, like the proud, the cruel, and the arrogant man, hast taken thy neighbour at the advantage, and that when he is even between the straits, and standing upon the pinnacle of difficulty, betwixt the heavens and the hells, and hast done what thou couldst, what on thy part lay, to thrust him down to the deep, saying, “I am not even as this Publican.”

What cruelty can be greater, what rage more furious, and what spite and hatred more damnable and implacable, than to follow, or take a man while he is asking of mercy at God’s hands, and to put in a caveat against his obtaining of it, by exclaiming against him that he is a sinner?  The master of righteousness doth not so: “Do not think (saith he) that I will accuse you to the Father.”  The scholars of righteousness do not do so.  “But as for me (said David), when they (mine enemies) were sick (and the Publican here was sick of the most malignant disease), my clothing was of sackcloth, I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer (to wit, that I made for them) returned into mine own bosom.  I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother;” John v. 45; Psalm xxxv. 13, 14.

Pharisee, dost thou see here how contrary thou art to righteous men?  Now then, where shall we find out one to parallel thee, but by finding him out that is called “the dragon;” for he it is that accuseth the poor sinners before God?  Zech. iii.; Rev. xii.

“I am not as this Publican.”  Modesty should have commanded thee to have bit thy tongue as to this.  What could the angels think, but that revenge was now in thine heart, and but that thou comest up into the temple rather to boast of thyself and accuse thy neighbour, than to pray to the God of heaven; for what petition is there in all thy prayer, that gives the least intimation that thou hast the knowledge of God or thyself?  Nay, what petition of any kind is there in thy vain-glorious oration from first to last?  Only an accusation drawn up, and that against one helpless and forlorn; against a poor man, because he is a sinner; drawn up, I say, against him by thee, who canst not make proof of thyself that thou art righteous; but come to proofs of righteousness, and thou art wanting also.  What, though thy raiment is better than his, thy skin may be full as black; yea, what if thy skin be whiter than his, thy heart may be yet far blacker.  Yea, it is so, for the truth hath spoken it; for within, you are full of excess and all uncleanness; Matt. xxiii.

Pharisee, these are transgressions against the second table, and the Publican shall be guilty of them; but there are sins also against the first table, and thou thyself art guilty of them.

The Publican, in that he was an extortioner, unjust and an adulterer, made it thereby manifest that he did not love his neighbour; and thou by making a god, a saviour, a deliverer, of thy filthy righteousness, dost make it appear, that thou dost not love thy God; for as he that taketh, or that derogateth from his neighbour in that which is his neighbour’s due, sinneth against his neighbour; so he that taketh or derogateth from God, sinneth against God.

Now, then, though thou hast not, as thou dost imagine, played at that low game as to derogate from thy neighbour; yet thou hast played at that high game as to derogate from thy God; for thou hast robbed God of the glory of salvation; yea, declared, that as to that there is no trust to be put in him.  “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness;” Psalm lii. 7.

What else means this great bundle of thy own righteousness, which thou hast brought with thee into the temple? yea, what means else thy commending of thyself because of that, and so thy implicit prayer, that thou for that mightst find acceptance with God?

All this, what does it argue, I say, but thy diffidence of God? and that thou countest salvation safer in thine own righteousness than in the righteousness of God? and that thy own love to, and care of thy own soul, is far greater, and so much better, than is the care and love of God?  And is this to keep the first table; yea, the first branch of that table, which saith, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God?” for thy thus doing cannot stand with love to God?

How can that man say, I love God, who from his very heart shrinketh to trust in him?  Or, how can that man say, I would glorify God, who in his very heart refuseth to stand and fall by his mercy?

Suppose a great man should bid all the poor of the parish to his house to dinner, and should moreover send by the mouth of his servant, saying, My lord hath killed his fatlings, hath furnished his table, and prepared his wine, nor is there want of anything; come to the banquet: Would it not be counted as an high affront to, great contempt of, and much distrust in, the goodness of the man of the house, if some of these guests should take with them, out of their own poor store, some of their mouldy crusts, and carry them with them, lay them on their trenchers upon the table before the lord of the feast and the rest of his guests, out of fear that he yet would not provide sufficiently for those he had bidden to the dinner that he had made?

Why, Pharisee, this is the very case; thou hast been called to a banquet, even to the banquet of God’s grace, and thou hast been disposed to go; but behold, thou hast not believed that he would of his own cost make thee a feast when thou comest: wherefore of thy own store thou hast brought with thee, and hast laid upon thy trencher on his table thy mouldy crusts in the presence of the angels, and of this poor Publican; yea, and hast vauntingly said upon the whole, “God, I thank thee, I am not as other men are.”  I am no such needy man; Luke xviii. 11.  “I am no extortioner, nor unjust, nor adulterer, nor even as this Publican.”  I am come indeed to thy feast, for of civility I could do no less; but for thy dainties, I need them not, I have of such things enough of mine own; Luke xviii. 12.  I thank thee therefore for thy offer of kindness, but I am not as those that have, and stand in need thereof, “nor yet as this Publican.”  And thus feeding upon thine own fare, or by making a composition of his and thine together, thou contemnest God, thou countest him insufficient or unfaithful; that is, either one that has not enough, or having it, will not bestow it upon the poor and needy; and, therefore, of mere pretence thou goest to his banquet, but yet trustest to thy own, and to that only.

This is to break the first table; and so to make thyself a sinner of the highest form: for the sins against the first table are sins of an higher nature than are the sins against the second.  True, the sins of the second table are also sins against God, because they are sins against the commandments of God: but the sins that are against the first table, are sins not only against the command, but against the very love, strength, holiness, and faithfulness of God: and herein stands thy condition; thou hast not, thou sayst, thou hast not done injury to thy neighbour; but what of that, if thou hast reproached thy maker?

Pharisee, I will assure thee, thou art beside the saddle; thy state is not good, thy righteousness is so far off from doing any good, that it maketh thee to be a greater sinner, because it signifieth more immediately against the mercy, the love, the grace, and goodness of God, than the sins of other sinners, as to degree, do.