The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-12-18
Text-Luke 1S:9-14.

And he (Jesus) spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in them
selves that they were righteous, and
despised others. Two men went up
into the temple to pray, the one
Pharisee, and the other a Publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself: God, I thank thee,
that | am not as other men are; eX-
tortioners, unjust, adulterers, or ev-
en- as this Publican. I fast twice in
the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess.
And the 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, sinner. 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.
The parable Of the Pharisee and
the Publican is very familiar to ev-
cry Bible student. The reason why
it was given by Christ is given in the
9th verse. There were certain who
trusted in themselves that they were
righteous-pious, Cody people-but
despised others. Here is the key to
the situation. The question arises
from this:
What is true Piety. Let us see
whether We can find the right answer
in this parable. 1t is very import
ant question. Our piety must stand
the final test, and it is therefore of
the greatest Importance that I do
not deceive myself, that you do not
deceive yourself. These two men, let
us understand, are given by Christ to
represent classes, not individuals. Leu
us also bear in mind as we proceed in
this consideration that both these
men were identified with the church.
The Pharisee represents a leading
class among the Jews, the orthodox
party, they CLAIMED all the rights to
| the kingdom, they carried the very
keys to the kingdom All the others
must stand afar off. The publicans,
on the other hand, were the outcasts.
Willing to be the servants of the Ro-
man government, they were only hat
ed the more by the Pharisees. But
they were Jews, and hence members
Of the church,
Our text therefore would deal with
church members. By this we ere not
to understand that you, my dear
friends, who have been standing
aloof from the church, are not to
learn an important lesson. Nay, the
lesson to you is the more emphatic,
for if the righteous scarcely be saved
where shall the un@Odly Or the sin
ner appear. But we come back to
these two men. these two classes, and
we want to learn from them what
constitutes true pietv. The Pharisee
| fully thought that he possessed all
the qualifications necessary, and
| therefore we will look into his case
and see what We can find.
We notice first that there are some
most excellent qualities in this man.
LIST. He is a church goer. When it
says: Two men went up to the tenn
pie, this Pharisee was one of them.
He did not claim this piety without
this very important exercise of
church going. Tn our day, many Of
his followers think they have made
great advancement on this point.
They can lead very godly lives, and
be earnest and good Christians with
out going to church. He made no such
claim. Now let me be very candid
and plain, my dear friends, on this
important point. You have never
found the case throughout the entire
word of God of true Christian who
was not a church goer. Such thing
is an impossibility. When a person is
able to 90 to the house of God, and
will not. that shows that there is
something radically wrong between
him and his Heavenly Father. God
knows whether we are able Or not,
and he Judges accordingly.
ID Then YOU will notice in the
second place. that the purpose was a
good. one. He went up into the tenn
pie to pray. That was verycommend-
able. Notice he did not 90 up to show
his new cloak which he had gotten.
nor to see how his neighbors were
dressed. He did not 90 to display his
millinery outfit. Nothing of the kind.
1t says: He went up to pray. He
was not even drawn there by the elo-