SERMON XI.

THE PHARISEE ADMONISHED.

MATT. xxiii. 26.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

THE meek and charitable Lamb of God throughout this chapter expresses himself with prodigious vehemence and severity against the Pharisees. As none of his discourses are in vain, as all are recorded for our instruction, I shall not dwell so much on the ancient Pharisee as on the modern. And as I conceive the advice of the text may be singularly useful, both for the direction of unconverted and converted persons, I shall apply it to each distinctly -first, to the unconverted; and secondly, to the converted ;-pointing out in each, as I can, the cases to be spoken to, and addressing them accordingly.

1. In speaking to the unconverted, I am, then, to address a blind Pharisee, one altogether so. And yet he is not without religion, any more than the ancient Pharisees were; but his religion is all false and vain; and, as he

manages it, provoking to the Lord, instead of being acceptable to him. If this man ever be undeceived, he must be shewn in what his error lies, and he must undergo the mortification of finding himself wrong even in those things in which he glories.

The Pharisees among the Jews were men who bore the fairest characters, and had the greatest ascendency and influence among the people. In all things, where character was concerned, they were solicitous to save appearances. They paid tithe of mint, anise, and cummin'; but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. This their minute attention to little things, and their gross neglect of greater things, our Lord compares to the straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel; and to the cleansing the outside of the cup and platter, and leaving the inside full of filth and uncleanness: and hence he leads them in the text to the true wisdom: "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." But we are not to suppose that all these Pharisees were men totally void of conscience and principle. Too much, indeed, of this attention to appearances, and neglect of the fear of God, there was, or might be, among them all. Ostentation, and the thirst of worldly honours and greatness, were common among them; and some might have little else in them but covetousness

and worldly-mindedness. But many of them (as St. Paul bears witness of the Jews, with a special eye to that sect, we may suppose, of which he was one) had a zeal for God, though not according to knowledge. They meant to be religious. Even in their enmity against true Christians, they meant to do God service, as our Lord bears them witness. That idea of Pharisaism, then, or those Pharisaic characters who were altogether hypocrites, in the grossest sense, and had no inward religious principle at all, only the mere pretence of it, enter not into in this discourse. That they are most detestable, all men see. But those who, with something of this hypocrisy, had also some religious zeal and desire to save their souls; these were perhaps the most numerous Pharisees, both of that and of every age: men who not only deceive others, but themselves. There is a superficial and slight way of judging, which persons unsuspicious of the human heart, and unacquainted with themselves, are apt to fall into. They think all wicked men must know themselves so to be; and make no allowances for that deceitfulness of the heart, of which so much is said in Scripture. It is to be feared they this way deceive themselves: their consciences do not tell them of their own corrupt and Pharisaic state, and therefore they conclude they are not so. this mark of the text,-attention to outward things, and neglect of inward purity,-you

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may, however, see the character of a Pharisee in every age, and men should learn to know themselves. This, then, is the spirit of a Pharisee, belonging to all Pharisees, ancient and modern :- Supposing him to have a concern for his soul, he lays the great stress of duty on outward observances: Whatever religious denomination he be of, he acquaints himself with the excellencies, real or imagined, of that sect or denomination he belongs to: if he is a Churchman, his zeal is strong for the rites of the Church, and his contempt for all out of the pale of the Establishment is high and inveterate. The real love of God and his neighbour, the real knowledge of God and his covenant, and an heartfelt acquaintance with his Son Jesus Christ, are cold and slight matters to him: hence, in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, he does not examine what views he has had of Christ; what lively discernment of him by faith; what approaches to him in confidence, humility, reverence, and love; what contrition and humiliation of soul for his sins; what sensations of joy, peace, gratitude, and thanksgiving; and what lasting fruits and effects these things have had on his conduct-these inward things, this inside of the cup and platter, is all unknown to him;-but, how decently he behaved; with what attention he heard, and repeated responses; with what exactness he went through the quantity of reading with which that great supporter of Pharisaism, "the

Week's Preparation," supplied him. In the duty of almsgiving his heart is the same: he will consider who knows the alms he gave, and what a great quantity he gave considering his circumstances; and he will please himself also, if he felt pity in his heart to the wretched object-(This affection is right indeed; that is, we should feel pity for the distressed, but not think ourselves virtuous for it: it is an amiable instinct, it is no more;)—but whether he gave what he gave to Christ; how far he felt the love of Christ constraining him in what he did; this he values not, nor lays any weight on.

I have mentioned the sacrament and almsgiving; for these two-the one, as being supposed to contain our duty to God; the other, to our neighbour-are the distinguished idols of Pharisees at this day. Other particulars need not be mentioned they act in all other things as they do in these two. And if there be any Dissenters here present, let none of them exult: Pharisaism is a common weed in the rank soil of human nature, and grows among them as well as among Churchmen. It behoves every one to see whether he do not cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, and neglect that which is within, his heart. And it is observable, if the consciences of Pharisees be distressed, it is generally about frivolous, outward, or at least subordinate matters: and when they have done such and such thingsfor instance, said their prayers so often, or