Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-06-11
CHRlST'S DENUNClATiON.
why 1t Was Directed at the Pharisaic
Type OF Character.

why 1t Was Directed at the Pharisaic
Type OF Character
One Of the sermons which fingers in
the memory and affects the moral
judgments of those who have read it
Is Canon Mozley's discourse on The
Pharisees." The Pharisees were the
only class of men which Jesus sweep
ingly and repeatedly denounced. To
Him the evils which they represented
were the most subtle and destructive
that could infcst humanity. lie was
tender to faults of mere weakness and
impulse, but He cast an inheXiblc and
obdurate look toward the Pharisees.
1t may also be said that He represents
the Pharisee as incapable of repent
ance. When He said that the publicans
and the harlots went into the kingdom
of God before them He used language
the very familiarity of which may con-
ceal from US its tremendous implica-
tions.
DR.. Motley is undoubtedly correct in
his analysis that it is not Journalism,
nor excessive Difference to accepted
moral and religious standards, but false
goodness, the disposition TO make re-
ligion serve ones personal ends, which
is the root of the Pharisaic type of
character. The Pharisee went up into
the temple to pray, and took u con-
spicuous place. There was nothing
wrong in that. He compared his privi-
leges and attainments with those of
nj
that. The real key of his character
is not in these externals, but in the
spirit which made his prayer center
about himself. What he worshiped was
not God but himself. There was no
outgoing Of his heart in self-forgetful-
ness toward God; there was no con-
seriousness of dependence upon One
who stood apart from him. The spirit
Of His words is exactly that Of a man
who is using religion for his own nd
vantage. He sees that it is one of the
forces Of human society, and that it can
be manipulated and utilized like any
other force; that it will help him in
the esteem of his fellows and assist
him in employing them for his ends.
Tho Pharisee may be good man so
far as eXternals go. He may be chaste,
honorable and philosophical, and ex-
Gel in the conventional virtues of his
time. You cannot condemn him from
the outside; but he practices these vr-
tues, not because they are right, but
because they are popular, because the
age requires them, or because the ma
chinery of success requires them. They
do not strike root in n motive of I'M
earthly greatness. In such n man the
trail of self-seeking leaves its slime
upon his fairest deeds. An old Hebrew
warning men from idolatry, would have
thought that the Pharisee described in
this parable had completely obeyed his
word, but if that prophet could have
read the Pharisee's heart he would have
seen that self had been substituted for
Daal, and that this ostensible worship
er of the true God was in reality only
a refined idolater.
The attitude of the publican is in ex-
act contrast to that of the Pharisee.
The single sentence that breaks from
his lips reveals q spirit that Is looking
up to God, full Of dependence and hui
mility, and with the consciousness of
the divine holiness and of sin, yet dar-
ing in faith to come to God. This is
not only the true spirit of prayer, but
of all religious life. In the externals
of life the publican may be far less
admirable than the Pharisee, but his
soul moves from center of honesty
and truth. To such n man repentance
and faith are possibility, and the
vital union of his soul with God. To
the Pharisec repentance and faith are
impossible. His attitude toward re-
ligion has raised an impenetrable wall
that hides him from himself, and he is
safe from his own scrutiny.-Boston
Waterman.