PARABLE TWENTY-FIRST.

MORAL.

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

LUKE XVIII. 9-14. HARMONY, IV. 49.

LUKE Xviii. 9—14.

9 Moreover he spake this parable also, with respect to certain persons, those that were persuaded of themselves that they were righteous, and set at nought the rest. 10 Two men went up "to the temple, to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a "Publican. 11 The Pharisee, having taken his stand by him"self, began to pray in these words, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of the men of this generation, being rapa"cious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this man, the publican. "12 I fast twice in the week, I give a tenth of all things soever "that I get. 13 And the publican, having stood afar off, would "not even lift up his eyes unto the heaven; but was smiting "on his breast, saying, God, be propitious to me the sinner. "14 I tell you, this man went down to his house accounted righteous rather than the other: for every one that exalteth "himself shall be made low, and he that maketh himself low "shall be exalted."

MATERIAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

THE parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, short as it is, is conspicuous not only for the very serious and important moral uses to which it is subservient, (a property which entitles it to an higher feeling of respect than admiration,) but for the sim

plicity of its narrative, and the force and liveliness of its delineation of character; in which respect it is so perfect of its kind, that it may be said rather to paint than to describe; and conveys as clear an idea to our imaginations, as the most finished picture could have done to our senses.

The material circumstances of the narrative, strictly so called, are few, and consequently afford scope for but little explanation; and such explanation as may be requisite will be found to turn mainly on questions more or less of verbal criticism; that is, on the proper method of rendering the sense of the original-with respect to which there is some reason to question the accuracy of the authorized version.

The historical notice premised to the account of the parable, and so far specifying the occasion which produced it is the first of these questions that requires to be considered; that preamble being on the whole inadequately perhaps represented by the received version: "And he spake this parable unto "certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."

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It would have been more strictly correct to have rendered the first part of this sentence, "Moreover "he spake this parable also"-an introduction to what follows, which would have implied that one or more parables had been delivered already, and that Jesus proceeded to add another, before he made an end of what was said at one time, and on one occasion. The truth is, that the discourse which begins to be related at the twentieth verse of the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, the ostensible occasion of which

was the question put by the Pharisees-there recorded-for any thing which appears to the contrary, was continued without interruption down to the conclusion of the present parable; so that in this portion of St. Luke's Gospel, from xvii. 20. to xviii. 14, we have probably a connected account of the particulars of a discourse of our Saviour's, which whether relating to the same topic throughout or not, was delivered on the same occasion. The last part of this discourse, from xviii. 1-8, consisted of a parable, that of the unjust Judge-which we have shewn to have been as much addressed to the disciples of our Lord, and to have been as much intended for their special admonition and instruction, in certain peculiar circumstances of situation, as any thing which preceded, from xvii. 22. to the end of that chapter. This circumstance is sufficient to account for the introduction premised to the present parable, supposing it to have followed soon after the preceding; that as our Lord had already delivered one parable, for such and such a purpose; so he added another, whether with the same purpose in view or not, yet in all probability addressed to the same persons.

And with respect to the remainder of the sentence-if the received translation is faithful to the sense of the original, it must imply that the parable was addressed to certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous; and though these persons are not otherwise specified, than so far as such a description was qualified to specify themyet if the parable which follows, contains an instance in point to the description, or an actual example of

one who trusted in himself on the grounds herein supposed the persons in question must be the Pharisees; and the parable must have been addressed to the Pharisees.

But the Pharisees had ceased to be addressed since the reply to their own question, Luke xvii. 20, 21. At verse 22 of the chapter, our Lord began to address himself to his disciples, and through the rest of the chapter he continued his address to them. The first part too of the next chapter, which relates the parable of the unjust judge, we have shewn to have been simply a continuation of the discourse begun in the preceding. And this being the case, St. Luke's manner of speaking in introducing the account of another parable directly after it, "Moreover he spake this parable also," presumptively leads to the inference that this too was addressed to, and intended for, the same persons who had just heard the former.

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In fact the persons, to whom the evangelist must have supposed the parable addressed, whether mentioned by him or not, must be the same to whom our Saviour also directs his concluding observations on his own narrative; "I tell you, this man went "down to his house accounted righteous," or "jus"tified rather than the other." That he is speaking in these words, to some persons, and that those must have been the proper hearers of the parable just related-would be evident enough: the only question would be, who these persons were, whether the Pharisees, as present at the beginning of the whole discourse, and possibly still so to the end, or his own disciples?

The probability is that the persons addressed in

the parable immediately subjoined, were the same who had been directly addressed in the parable inmediately preceding; and that had our Saviour, when passing to a new subject of discourse, passed to a new class of hearers likewise, St. Luke, who specifies the first of these facts, would not have failed to specify the other. timated that the disciples, and not the Pharisees, were addressed in the whole of the discourse which had preceded till then, he had no need to specify that they began to be addressed in what followed; if that too was directed to them.

But having already in

It appears from our Lord's own remark on the parable at last, that it was designed for a practical lesson-independent of the mere narrative; that it would be a very improper conception of its final end to suppose it intended to give any description, however lively and graphic, of two opposite characters, and of two different modes of behaviour under the same circumstances, except as furnishing a case in point to the same inference and application, the one as striking in a negative point of view, as the other in a positive; the one with respect to what ought not to be done, and the other with respect to what ought to be done, in order to the same result, the justification of man in the sight of God. In other words, that this is a moral parable, in the strictest sense of the word, and a moral parable directed to a corresponding use and purpose of the most important kind, does not admit of a question. If so, it may well be presumed, a priori, that it could never have been addressed to such hearers as the Pharisees. There is no instance on record in the Gospels, of a moral parable, or even of a moral and didactic dis