weary and vanquished, the malice and iniquity of one, or the patience and goodness of the other. He who abides and persists in doing good against evil, may be said to be a person of invincible kindness and generosity, unconquerable love and charity. In this manner Moses held out against the infinite obloquies, murmurings, and revilings of the Israelites in the wilderness, still obliging and serving them, and praying for them. Thus also David persisted in his duty and loyalty towards Saul, notwithstanding all the ill usage he met with from him; and no imaginable rudeness, malice, or persecution, could at all move or shake his most invincible constancy and fidelity. And to name no more, our blessed Lord himself was a bright example of the like love and charity to the last, going about doing good," both to friends and foes, weeping over Jerusalem, which thirsted for his blood; and at length praying for his murderers while he hung upon the cross. This is "overcoming evil with good;" to stand firm and unshaken in love and kindness, against all provocations and ill usage. It is triumphing over the adversary, to show that, with all his rage and inveteracy, he shall never be able so much as to tempt you to retaliate, or to move you to do like him. Let him proceed as he pleases, he shall never make you stoop to do any thing meán, or to act a part unworthy of yourself. This is noble and manly carriage: and he who thus acts, though he does not soften his adversary, yet has plainly the advantage of him, and triumphs over him. God so deals with sinners, and so should we: for when neither his sunshine warms them into a love of him, nor his showers have any force to soften them into compliance with him; yet he persists in sending both, making "his sun to rise on the evil and "on the good; and sending rain on the just and on the "unjusth."

I know but one objection of any moment against this conduct, which is this; that it may seem to give too

Matth. v. 45.

much encouragement to malicious men to persist in their iniquity; and may also strengthen their hands against ourselves, to do us the more mischief: to which I answer, that, were it really true, that it carried this single inconvenience with it; yet, so long as there are innumerable conveniences on the other side, more than sufficient to counterbalance it, this single difficulty ought to be no objection against it. But I have this thing to add further; that the principles which I have been maintaining do not oblige a man to lay himself open to his enemy, or to give himself up into his power. He may do him kind offices, without making a friend or a confident of him; may oblige and serve him, without running into his arms. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him "drink." The Scripture bids us be kind and generous; and yet bids us also beware of ill men, and not to deliver ourselves up tamely and thoughtlessly into their hands. Love and charity are one thing; easiness and folly, another. Be well assured of a man's friendship, before you admit him into your retirements and confidence: but be he ever so malicious, yet serve him, at a proper distance; and oblige him also if you can, but without betraying or exposing yourself. Indeed as to any distant and imaginary dangers from an enemy, strengthened in some measure by your favours towards him, those must be risked: and God's providence is our security in such cases, as in a thousand others, where a thing equally may or may not happen. Distant surmises and mere suspicions are too slight to deserve any regard, or to bear any weight in this important matter.

To conclude then let the duty of the text stand in its full force, notwithstanding the objection which I have been answering. And now, after explaining the duty as far as seemed necessary, it remains only that we go and put it in practice. Which that we may, God of his mercy grant, &c.

SERMON XVIII.

The Nature and Purport of our Lord's Parable of the Publican and Pharisee.

LUKE xviii. 14.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

THESE words are the conclusion of a noted parable, which our Lord delivered for a just rebuke upon pride and censoriousness. He "spake" it "unto certain" persons, who "trusted in themselves that they were right"eous, and despised others." The parable itself runs thus: "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." So said the assuming, self-admiring Pharisee. But in the mean while the modest and humble 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.” Now our Lord's reflection upon the whole case, after thus comparing the two men and their manners, was; "I tell

you, this Publican went down to his house justified ra"ther than the Pharisee: for every one that exalteth him

"self shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself "shall be exalted."

The Pharisee, it seems, was a man of a strict, regular life, religious in his deportment towards God, and righteous also in his outward dealings towards men; but withal he was full of spiritual pride and censoriousness. The Publican was a man of the world, given perhaps to extortions and exactions, (the common vices of his profession,) but modest however, and unpretending, and if not thoroughly penitent, yet in a fair way towards it, in a fit disposition for it. Our Lord does not say, absolutely, that either of the two was justified; but he speaks comparatively, that one was so "rather than the other." The Publican's loose life, if not thoroughly corrected and reformed, would condemn him; and the Pharisee's pride and censoriousness would condemn him: but still, in the mean season, the Publican's humility before God would be found more acceptable, notwithstanding his otherwise irregular life, than the Pharisee's religious strictness could be, while tarnished with censoriousness, ostentation, and pride of heart: for "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace "unto the humble." So much in the general. But for our clearer understanding the nature and purport of this parable, and the practical uses to be made of it, I shall proceed to a more distinct view of its several parts, pointing out the doctrinal observations which naturally arise from them.

1. We may take notice, that, be a man's life and conversation otherwise ever so religious and regular; yet, if he is proud and censorious all the time, assuming upon his performances, and reflecting hardly on his neighbour's, that man's religion and regularity is vain; he shall not be justified in God's sight. His self-admiration and his contempt of others will more than counterbalance his pretences to virtue, and will cancel, in a manner, all his godliness.

■ James iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 5. Prov. iii. 34.

The Pharisee began well; "God, I thank thee:" he should have added, "if I have any thing praiseworthy ❝ in me, or have done any thing acceptable in thy sight; "for it is all owing to thy grace, and in myself I am no"thing." Such an address to the Divine Majesty might have been modest and becoming; especially if he had gone on to enumerate his many or great offences, and humbly to implore pardon for them: but instead of this, he says, "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners," &c. What had he to do, to come before God with accusations in his mouth against other men; perhaps false and injurious, but most certainly foreign and impertinent? The sins or failings of other persons was no concern of his in his prayers: but selfaccusation or self-humiliation might have come very decently and properly from him, in his supplications to an offended God. He was disposed to dwell only on his imaginary perfections, and to throw a veil over his sins. His self-flattery prompted him to magnify his own services, taking a false estimate of himself from an ill-natured comparison, which could serve only to deceive him, rather than justify him. For what if some others were really worse than he in some certain respects? it would not follow from thence, that he was better than they upon the whole; much less, that he had any just pretence for boasting before God.

The Publican, with better colour, (had his modesty per mitted,) might have said, "God, I thank thee, that I am "not as some men are; proud, uncharitable, censorious, or ❝even as this Pharisee: I boast not of my own virtues, "I confess my transgressions, and am ready to make all "due allowances for the failings of others, as much as "for my own." Such a prayer as this (though far from becoming or proper) might as reasonably have been offered up by the Publican, as the other by the Pharisee : but both would have been wrong: for the important question, which every conscientious person has to ask himself, is, not whether his life and conversation be com