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The Pharisee and Publican By: John Bunyan (1628-1688) |
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by John Bunyan
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the
other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself;
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even 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... Continue reading book >>
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