persons, sometimes saying, and oftener thinking, that they are more
righteous than others. Yea, it seems by the word to be natural,
hereditary, and so common for hypocrites to trust to themselves that they
are righteous, and then to condemn others: this is the foundation upon
which this very parable is built: “He spake this parable (saith Luke)
unto certain which trusted in themselves as being righteous,” or “that
they were” so, “and despised others,” ver. 9.
I say, hypocrites love not to think of their sins, when they stand in the
presence of God; but rather to muster up, and to present him with their
several good deeds, and to venture a standing or falling by them.
2. This carriage of the Pharisee before God informs us, that moral
virtues, and the ground of them, which is the law, if trusted to, blinds
the mind of man that he cannot for them perceive the way to happiness.
While Moses is read (and his law and the righteousness thereof trusted
to), the vail is upon their heart; and even unto this day (said Paul) the
vail remaineth “untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which
vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read,
the vail is upon their heart;” 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15. And this is the
reason so many moral men, that are adorned with civil and moral
righteousness, are yet so ignorant of themselves, and the way of life by
Christ.
The law of works, and the righteousness of the flesh, which is the
righteousness of the law, blinds their minds, shuts up their eyes, and
causeth them to miss of the righteousness that they are so hotly in the
pursuit of. Their minds were blinded, saith the text. Whose minds? Why
those that adhered to, that stood by, and that sought righteousness of
the law. Now,
The Pharisee was such an one; he rested in the law, he made his boast of
God, and trusted to himself that he was righteous; all this proceeded of
that blindness and ignorance that the law had possessed his mind withal;
for it is not granted to the law to be the ministration of life and
light, but to be the ministration of death, when it speaks; and of
darkness, when trusted unto, that the Son of God might have the
pre-eminence in all things: therefore it is said when the heart “shall
turn to him, the vail shall be taken away;” 2 Cor. iii. 16.
3. We may see by this prayer, the strength of vain confidence; it will
embolden a man to stand in a lie before God; it will embolden a man to
trust to himself, and to what he hath done; yea, to plead his own
goodness, instead of God’s mercy, before him. For the Pharisee was not
only a man that justified himself before men, but that justified himself
before God; and what was the cause of his so justifying himself before
God, but that vain confidence that he had in himself and his works, which
were both a cheat and a lie to himself? But I say, the boldness of the
man was wonderful, for he stood to the lie that was in his right hand,
and pleaded the goodness of it before him.
But besides these things, there are four things more that are couched in
this prayer of the Pharisee.
1. By this prayer the Pharisee doth appropriate to himself conversion;
he challengeth it to himself and to his fellows. “I am not,” saith he,
“as other men;” that is, in unconversion, in a state of sin, wrath, and
death: and this must be his meaning, for the religion of the Pharisee was
not grounded upon any particular natural privilege: I mean not singly,
not only upon that, but upon a falling in with those principles, notions,
opinions, decrees, traditions, and doctrines that they taught distinct
from the true and holy doctrines of the prophets. And they made to
themselves disciples by such doctrine, men that they could captivate by
those principles, laws, doctrines, and traditions: and therefore such are
said to be of the sect of the Pharisees: that is, the scholars and
disciples of them, converted to them and to their doctrine. O! it is
easy for souls to appropriate conversion to themselves, that know not
what conversion is. It is easy, I say, for men to lay conversion to God,
on a legal, or ceremonial, or delusive bottom, on such a bottom that will
sink under the burden that is laid upon it; on such a bottom that will
not stand when it is brought under the touchstone of God, nor against the
rain, wind, and floods that are ordained to put it to the trial, whether
it is true or false. The Pharisee here stands upon a supposed conversion
to God; “I am not as other men;” but both he and his conversion are
rejected by the sequel of the parable: “That which is highly esteemed
among men” (Luke xvi. 15) “is abomination in the sight of God.” That is,
that conversion, that men, as men, flatter themselves that they have, is
such. But the Pharisee will be a converted man, he will have more to
shew for heaven than his neighbour—“I am not as other men are;” to wit,
in a state of sin and condemnation, but in a state of conversion and
salvation. But see how grievously this sect, this religion, beguiled
men. It made them twofold worse the children of hell than they were
before, and than their teachers were, Matth. xxiii. 15; that is, their
doctrine begat such blindness, such vain confidence, and groundless
boldness in their disciples, as to involve them in that conceit of
conversion that was false, and so if trusted to, damnable.
2. By these words, we find the Pharisee, not only appropriating
conversion to himself, but rejoicing in that conversion: “God, I thank
thee,” saith he, “that I am not as other men;” which saying of his gives
us to see that he gloried in his conversion; he made no doubt at all of
his state, but lived in the joy of the safety that he supposed his soul,
by his conversion, to be in. Oh! thanks to God, says he, I am not in the
state of sin, death, and damnation, as the unjust, and this Publican is.
What a strange delusion, to trust to the spider’s web, and to think that
a few, or the most fine of the works of the flesh, would be sufficient to
bear up the soul in, at, and under the judgment of God! “There is a
generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from
their filthiness.” This text can be so fitly applied to none as the
Pharisee, and to those that tread in the Pharisee’s steps, and that are
swallowed up with his conceits, and with the glory of their own
righteousness.
So again, “There is a way” (a way to heaven) “which seemeth right to a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death;” Prov. xxx. 12; xiv. 12.
This also is fulfilled in these kind of men; at the end of their way is
death and hell, notwithstanding their confidence in the goodness of their
state.
Again, “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing;” Prov. xiii.
7. What can be more plain from all these texts, than that some men that
are out of the way think themselves in it; and that some men think
themselves clean, that are yet in their filthiness, and that think
themselves rich for the next world, and yet are poor, and miserable, and
wretched, and blind, and naked. Thus the poor, blind, naked,
hypocritical Pharisee thought of himself, when God threatened to abase
him: yea, he thought himself thus, and joyed therein, when indeed he was
going down to the chambers of death.
3. By these words, the Pharisee seems to put the goodness of his
condition upon the goodness of God. I am not as other men are, and I
thank God for it. “God (saith he), I thank thee, that I am not as other
men are.” He thanked God, when God had done nothing for him. He thanked
God, when the way that he was in was not of God’s prescribing, but of his
own inventing. So the persecutor thanks God that he was put into that
way of roguery that the devil had put him into, when he fell to rending
and tearing of the church of God; “Their possessors slay them (saith the
prophet), and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say,
Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich;” Zech. xi. 5. I remember that Luther
used to say, “In the name of God begins all mischief.” All must be
fathered upon God: the Pharisee’s conversion must be fathered upon God;
the right, or rather the villany of the outrageous persecution against
God’s people, must be fathered upon God. “God, I thank thee,” and,
“Blessed be God,” must be the burden of the heretic’s song. So again,
the free-willer, he will ascribe all to God; the Quaker, the Ranter, the
Socinian, &c., will ascribe all to God. “God, I thank thee,” is in every
man’s mouth, and must be entailed to every error, delusion, and damnable
doctrine that is in the world: but the name of God, and their doctrine,
worship, and way, hangeth together, as the Pharisee’s doctrine; that is
to say, by nothing at all: for God hath not proposed their principles,
nor doth he own them, nor hath he commanded them, nor doth he convey by
them the least grace or mercy to them; but rather rejecteth them, and
holdeth them for his enemies, and for the destroyers of the world.
4. We come, in the next place, to the ground of all this, and that is,
to what the Pharisee had attained; to wit, that he was no extortioner, no
unjust man, no adulterer, nor even as this Publican, and for that he
fasted twice a-week, and paid tithes of all that he possessed. So that
you see he pretended to a double foundation for his salvation, a moral
and a ceremonial one; but both very lean, weak, and feeble: for the first
of his foundation, what is it more, if all be true that he saith, but a
being removed a few inches from the vilest men in their vilest actions? a
very slender matter to build my confidence for heaven upon.
And for the second part of his ground for life, what is it but a couple
of ceremonies, if so good? the first is questioned as a thing not founded
in God’s law; and the second is such, as is of the remotest sort of
ceremonies, that teach and preach the Lord Jesus. But suppose them to be
the best, and his conformity to them the thoroughest, they never were
ordained to get to heaven by, and so are become but a sandy foundation.
But any thing will serve some men for a foundation and support for their
souls, and to build their hopes of heaven upon. I am not a drunkard,
says one, nor a liar, nor a swearer, nor a thief, and therefore I thank
God, I have hopes of heaven and glory. I am not an extortioner, nor an
adulterer; not unjust, nor yet as this Publican; and therefore do hope I
shall go to heaven. Alas, poor men! will your being furnished with these
things save you from the thundering claps and vehement batteries that the
wrath of God will make upon sin and sinners in the day that shall burn
like an oven? No, no; nothing at that day can shroud a man from the hot
rebukes of that vengeance, but the very righteousness of God, which is
not the righteousness of the law, however christened, named, or garnished
with all the righteousness of man.
But, O thou blind Pharisee! since thou art so confident that thy state is
good, and thy righteousness is that that will stand when it shall be
tried with fire (1 Cor. iii. 13), let me now reason with thee of
righteousness. My terror shall not make thee afraid; I am not God, but a
man as thou art; we both are formed out of the clay.
_First_, Prithee, when didst thou begin to be righteous? Was it before
or after thou hadst been a sinner? Not before, I dare say; but if after,
then the sins that thou pollutedst thyself withal before, have made thee
incapable of acting legal righteousness: for sin, where it is, pollutes,
defiles, and makes vile the whole man; therefore thou canst not by after
acts of obedience make thyself just in the sight of that God thou
pretendest now to stand praying unto. Indeed thou mayst cover thy dirt,
and paint thy sepulchre; for that acts of after obedience will do, though
sin has gone before. But, Pharisee, God can see through the white of
this wall, even to the dirt that is within: God can also see through the
paint and garnish of thy beauteous sepulchre, to the dead men’s bones
that are within; nor can any of thy most holy duties, nor all when put
together, blind the eye of the all-seeing Majesty from beholding all the
uncleanness of thy soul (Matt. xxiii. 27.) Stand not therefore so
stoutly to it, now thou art before God; sin is with thee, and judgment
and justice is before him. It becomes thee, therefore, rather to despise
and abhor this life, and to count all thy doings but dross and dung, and
to be content to be justified with another’s righteousness instead of thy
own. This is the way to be secured. I say, blind Pharisee, this is the
way to be secured from the wrath which is to come.
There is nothing more certain than this, that as to justification from
the curse of the law, God has rejected man’s righteousness, for the
weakness and unprofitableness thereof, and hath accepted in the room of
that the glorious righteousness of his Son; because indeed that, and that
only, is universal, perfect, and equal with his justice and holiness.
This is in a manner the contents of the whole Bible, and therefore must
needs be more certainly true. Now then, Mr Pharisee, methinks, what if
thou didst this, and that while thou art at thy prayers, to wit, cast in
thy mind what doth God love most? and the resolve will be at hand. The
best righteousness, surely the best righteousness; for that thy reason
will tell thee: This done, even while thou art at thy devotion, ask
thyself again, But who has the best righteousness? and that resolve will
be at hand also; to wit, he that in person is equal with God, and that is
his in Jesus Christ; he that is separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens, and that is his Son Jesus Christ; he that did no sin,
nor had any guile found in his mouth; and there never was any such he in
all the world but the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Now, Pharisee, when thou hast done this, then, as thou art at thy
devotion, ask again, But what is this best righteousness, the
righteousness of Christ, to do? and the answer will be ready. It is to
be made by an act of the sovereign grace of God over to the sinner that
shall dare to trust thereto for justification from the curse of the law.
“He is made unto us of God, righteousness.” “He hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.” “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth;” 1 Cor. i. 30; 2 Cor. v. 21; Rom. x. 4.
This done, and concluded on, then turn again, Pharisee, and say thus with
thyself—Is it most safe for me to trust in this righteousness of God,
this righteousness of God-man, this righteousness of Christ? Certainly
it is; since, by the text, it is counted the best, and that which is best
pleaseth God; since it is that which God hath appointed, that sinners
shall be justified withal. For “in the Lord have we righteousness” if we
believe: and, “in the Lord we are justified, and do glory;” Isa. xlv. 24,
25.
Nay, Pharisee, suppose thine own righteousness should be as long, as
broad, as high, as deep, as perfect, as good, even every way as good, as
the righteousness of Christ; yet since God has chosen, by Christ, to
reconcile us to himself, canst thou attempt to seek by thy own
righteousness to reconcile thyself to God, and not attempt (at least) to
confront this righteousness of Christ before God; yea, to challenge it by
acceptance of thy person contrary to God’s design?
Suppose, that when the king has chosen one to be judge in the land, and
has determined that he shall be judge in all cases, and that by his
verdict every man’s judgment shall stand; I say, suppose, after this,
another should arise, and of his own head resolve to do his own business
himself. Now, though he should be every whit as able, yea, and suppose
he should do it as justly and righteously too, yet his making of himself
a judge, would be an affront to the king, and an act of rebellion, and so
a transgression worthy of punishment.
Why, Pharisee, God hath appointed, that by the righteousness of his Son,
and by that righteousness only, men shall be justified in his sight from
the curse of the law. Wherefore, take heed, and at thy peril, whatever
thy righteousness is, confront not the righteousness of Christ therewith.
I say, bring it not in, let it not plead for thee at the bar of God, nor
do thou plead for that in his court of justice; for thou canst not do
this and be innocent. If he trust to his righteousness, he hath sinned,
says Ezekiel. Mark the text, “When I shall say to the righteous, that he
shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit
iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered: but for his
iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it;” Ezek. xxxiii. 13.
Observe a few things from this text; and they are these that follow.
1. Here is a righteous man; a man with whom we do not hear that the God
of heaven finds fault.
2. Here is a promise made to this man, that he shall surely live; but on
this condition, that he trust not to his own righteousness. Whence it is
manifest, that the promise of life to this righteous man, is not for the
sake of his righteousness, but for the sake of something else; to wit,
the righteousness of Christ.
1. Not for the sake of his own righteousness. This is evident, because
we are permitted, yea, commanded, to trust in the righteousness that
saveth us. The righteousness of God is unto us all, and upon all that
believe; that is, trust in it, and trust to it for justification. Now
therefore, if thy righteousness, when most perfect, could save thee, thou
mightst, yea oughtst, most boldly to trust therein. But since thou art
forbidden to trust to it, it is evident it cannot save; nor is it for the
sake of that, that the righteous man is saved; Rom. iii. 21, 22.
2. But for the sake of something else, to wit, for the sake of the
righteousness of Christ, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to
declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just,
and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus;” Rom. iii. 25, 26; see
Phil. iii. 6–8.
“If he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his
righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath
committed (in trusting to his own righteousness), he shall die for it.”
Note hence further.
1. That there is more virtue in one sin to destroy, than in all thy
righteousness to save thee alive. If he trust, if he trust ever so
little, if he do at all trust to his own righteousness, all his
righteousness shall be forgotten; and by, and for, and in, the sin that
he hath committed, in trusting to it, he shall die.
2. Take notice also, that there are more damnable sins than those that
are against the moral law. By which of the ten commandments is trusting
to our own righteousness forbidden? Yet it is a sin: it is a sin
therefore forbidden by the gospel, and is included, lurketh close in,
yea, is the very root of, unbelief itself; “He that believes not shall be
damned.” But he that trusteth in his own righteousness doth not believe,
neither in the truth, nor sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ to
save him, therefore he shall be damned.
But how is it manifest, that he that trusteth to his own righteousness,
doth it through a doubt, or unbelief of the truth or sufficiency of the
righteousness of Christ?
I answer, because he trusteth to his own. A man will never willingly
choose to trust to the worst of helps, when he believes there is a better
as near, and to be had as soon, and that too, upon as easy, if not more
easy terms. If he that trusteth to his own righteousness for life, did
believe that there is indeed such a thing as the righteousness of Christ
to justify, and that this righteousness of Christ has in it
all-sufficiency to do that blessed work, be sure he would choose that,
thereon to lay, lean, and venture his soul, that he saw was the best, and
most sufficient to save; especially when he saw also (and see that he
must, when he sees the righteousness of Christ), to wit, that that is to
be obtained as soon, because as near, and to be had on as easy terms:
nay, upon easier than man’s own righteousness. I say, he would sooner
choose it, because of the weight of salvation, of the worth of salvation,
and of the fearful sorrow that to eternity will overtake him that in this
thing shall miscarry. It is for heaven, it is to escape hell, wrath, and
damnation, saith the soul; and therefore I will, I must, I dare not but
choose that, and that only, that I believe to be the best and most
sufficient help in so great a concern as soul-concern is. So then he
that trusteth to his own righteousness, does it of unbelief of the
sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ to save him.
Wherefore this sin of trusting to his own righteousness is a most high
transgression; because it contemneth the righteousness of Christ, which
is the only righteousness that is sufficient to save from the curse of
the law. It also disalloweth the design of heaven, and the excellency of
the mystery of the wisdom of God, in designing this way of salvation for
man. What shall I say, It also seeketh to rob God of the honour of the
salvation of man. It seeketh to take the crown from the head of Christ,
and to set it upon the hypocrite’s head; therefore, no marvel that this
one sin be of that weight, virtue, and power, as to sink that man and his
righteousness into hell, that leaneth thereon, or trusteth unto it.
But, Pharisee, I need not talk thus unto thee; for thou art not the man
that hath that righteousness that God findeth not fault withal; nor is it
to be found, but with him that is ordained to be the Saviour of mankind;
nor is there any such one besides Jesus, who is called Christ. What
madness then has brought thee into the temple, there in an audacious
manner to stand and vaunt before God, saying, “God, I thank thee, I am
not as other men are?”
Dost thou not know, that he that breaks one, breaks all the commandments
of God; and consequently, that he that keeps not all, keeps none at all
of the commandments of God? Saith not the scripture the same? “For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all;” Jam. ii. 10. Be confounded then, be confounded.
Dost thou know the God with whom now thou hast to do? He is a God that
cannot (as he is just) accept of an half righteousness for a whole; of a
lame righteousness for a sound; of a sick righteousness for a well and
healthy one; Mal. i. 7, 8. And if so, how should he then accept of that
which is no righteousness? I say, how should he accept of that which is
none at all, for thine is only such? And if Christ said, “When you have
done all, say, We are unprofitable,” how camest thou to say, before thou
hadst done one thing well, I am better, more righteous than other men?
Didst thou believe, when thou saidst it, that God knew thy heart? Hadst
thou said this to the Publican, it had been a high and rampant
expression; but to say this before God, to the face of God, when he knew
that thou wert vile, and a sinner from the womb, and from the conception,
spoils all. It was spoken to put a check to thy arrogancy when Christ
said, “Ye are they that justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth
your hearts;” Luke xvi. 15.
Hast thou taken notice of this, that God judgeth the fruit by the heart
from whence it comes? “A good man, out of the good treasure of his
heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man, out of the
evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil;” Luke vi.
45. Nor can it be otherwise concluded, but that thou art an evil man,
and so that all thy supposed good is nought but badness; for that thou
hast made it to stand in the room of Jesus, and hast dared to commend
thyself to the living God thereby: for thou hast trusted in thy shadow of
righteousness, and committed iniquity. Thy sin hath melted away thy
righteousness, and turned it to nothing but dross; or, if you will, to
the early dew, like to which it goeth away, and so can by no means do
thee good, when thou shalt stand in need of salvation and eternal life of
God.