"He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;"-that is, shall have no part therein. He is a stranger to the kingdom of heaven which is on earth; he hath no portion in that inheritance; no share of that "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Nor, by consequence, can he have any part in the glory which shall be revealed.

4. But if those who even thus break, and teach others to break, "one of the least of these commandments, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven," shall have no part in the kingdom of Christ and of God; if even these shall be cast into "outer darkness, where is wailing and gnashing of teeth;" then where will they appear, whom our Lord chiefly and primarily intends in these words, they who, bearing the character of teachers sent from God, do nevertheless themselves break his com mandments; yea, and openly teach others so to do; being corrupt both in life and doctrine?

5. These are of several sorts. Of the first sort are they who live in some wilful, habitual sin. Now if an ordinary sinner teaches by his example, how much more a sinful minister,—even if he does not attempt to defend, excuse, or extenuate his sin? If he does, he is a murderer indeed; yea, the murderer general of his congregation. He peoples the regions of death. He is the choicest instrument of the prince of darkness. When he goes hence, "hell from beneath is moved to meet him at his coming." Nor can he sink into the bottomless pit, without dragging a multitude after him.

6. Next to these are the good natured, good sort of men; who live an easy, harmless life, neither troubling themselves with outward sin, nor with inward holiness; men who are remarkable neither one way nor the other, neither for religion nor irreligion; who are very regular both in public and private, but do not pretend to be any stricter than their neighbours. A minister of this kind breaks, not one, or a few only, of the least commandments of God; but all the great and weighty branches of his law which relate to the power of godliness, and all that require us to "pass the time of our sojourning in fear," to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling," to have our "loins always girt, and our lights burning," to "strive" or agonize "to enter in at the strait gate.' And he teaches men so, by the whole form of his life, and the general tenor of his preaching, which uniformly tends to soothe those in their pleasing dream, who imagine themselves Christians and are not; to persuade all, who attend upon his ministry, to sleep on and take their rest. No marvel therefore, if both he, and they that follow him, wake together in everlasting burnings!

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7. But above all these, in the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ, are they who openly and explicitly "judge the law" itself, and "speak evil of the law;" who teach men to break (Avoαi, to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least, or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke; who teach, without any cover, in so many words,- What did our Lord do with the law? He abolished it. There is but one duty, which is that of believing. All commands are unfit for our times. From any demand of the law, no man is obliged now to go one step, or give away one farthing, to eat or omit one morsel." "This is indeed carrying maters with a high hand; this is withstanding our Lord to the face, and telling him. that he understood not how to deliver the message on which VOL. I.

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he was sent. Oh Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!

8. The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is, that they who are given up to it, really believe that they honour Christ by overthrowing his law, and that they are magnifying his office, while they are destroying his doctrine! Yea, they honour him just as Judas did, when he said, "Hail, Master, and kissed him." And he may as justly say to every one of them, "Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" It is no other than betraying him with a kiss, to talk of his blood, and take away his crown; to set light by any part of his law, under pretence of advancing his gospel. Nor indeed can any one escape this charge, who preaches faith in any such a manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedi ence; who preaches Christ so as to disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the commandments of God.

9. It is impossible, indeed, to have too high an esteem for "the faith of God's elect." And we must all declare, "By grace ye are saved through faith; not of works, lest any man should boast." We must cry aloud to every penitent sinner, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." But, at the same time, we must take care to let all men know, we esteem no faith but that which worketh by love; and that we are not saved by faith, unless so far as we are delivered from the power as well as the guilt of sin. And when we say, "Believe, and thou shalt be saved;" we do not mean, "Believe, and thou shalt step from sin to heaven, without any holiness coming between; faith supplying the place of holiness;" but, "Believe, and thou shalt be holy; believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt have peace and power together: thou shalt have power from him in whom thou believest, to trample sin under thy feet; power to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and to serve him with all thy strength: thou shalt have power, by patient continuance in well doing, to seek for glory, and honour and immortality;' thou shalt both do and teach all the commandments of God, from the least even to the greatest thou shalt teach them by thy life as well as thy words, and so 'be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'"

IV. 1. Whatever other way we teach to the kingdom of heaven, to glory, honour, and immortality, be it called the way of faith, or by any other name, it is, in truth, the way to destruction. It will not bring a man peace at the last. For thus saith the Lord," I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes, mentioned so often in the New Testament, as some of the most constant and vehement opposers of our Lord, were not secretaries, or men employed in writing only, as that term might incline us to believe. Neither were they lawyers, in our common sense of the word; although the word vouxo is so rendered in our translation. Their employment had no affinity at all to that of a lawyer among us. They were conversant with the laws of God, and not with the laws of man. These were their study it was their proper and peculiar business, to read and expound the law and the prophets; particularly in the synagogues. They were the ordinary, stated preachers among the Jews. So that if the sense of the original word was attended to, we might render it, the divines. For these were the men that made divinity their profession:

and they were generally (as their name literally imports) men of letters; men of the greatest account for learning that were then in the Jewish nation.

2. The Pharisees were a very, ancient sect, or body of men, among the Jews; originally so called from the Hebrew word w, which signifies to separate or divide. Not that they made any formal separation from, or division in, the national church: they were only distinguished from others by greater strictness of life, by more exactness of conver sation. For they were zealous of the law in the minutest points; paying tithes of mint, anise, and cummin: and hence they were had in honour of all the people, and generally esteemed the holiest of men.

Many of the scribes were of the sect of the Pharisees. Thus St. Paul himself, who was educated for a scribe, first at the university of Tarsus, and after that in Jerusalem, at the feet of Gamaliel, (one of the most learned scribes or doctors of the law, that were then in the nation,) declares of himself before the council, "I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee," Acts xxiii, 6; and before king Agrippa," After the straitest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee," chap. xxvi, 5. And the whole body of the scribes generally esteemed and acted in concert with the Pharisees. Hence we find our Saviour so frequently coupling them together, as coming in many respects under the same consideration. In this place they seem to be mentioned together, as the most eminent professors of religion; the former of whom were accounted the wisest; -the latter, the holiest of men.

3. What "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees" really was, it is not difficult to determine. Our Lord has preserved an authentic account, which one of them gave of himself: and he is clear and full in describing his own righteousness; and cannot be supposed to have omitted any part of it. He went up indeed " into the temple to pray;" but was so intent upon his own virtues, that he forgot the design upon which he came. For it is remarkable, he does not properly pray at all: he only tells God how wise and good he was. "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 I possess. His righteousness therefore consisted of three parts: First, saith he, "I am not as other men are;" I am not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer; not " even as this publican:" Secondly, "I fast twice in the week:" And Thirdly, "I give tithes of all that I possess." "I am not as other men are.' This is not a small point. It is not every man that can say this. It is as if he had said I do not suffer myself to be carried away by that great torrent, custom. I live not by custom, but by reason; not by the examples of men, but by the word of God. "I am not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer;" however common these sins are, even among those who are called the people of God; (extortion in particular, a kind of legal injustice, not punishable by any human law, the making gain of another's ignorance or necessity, having filled every corner of the land;) "nor even as this publican;" not guilty of any open or presumptuous sin; not an outward sinner; but a fair honest man, of blameless life and conversation. 4. "I fast twice in the week." There is more implied in this, than we may at first be sensible of. All the stricter Pharisees observed the weekly fasts; namely, every Monday and Thursday. On the former

day, they fasted in memory of Moses receiving on that day (as their tradition taught) the two tables of stone written by the finger of God; on the latter, in memory of his casting them out of his hand, when he saw the people dancing round the golden calf. On these days, they took no sustenance at all, till three in the afternoon; the hour at which they began to offer up the evening sacrifice in the temple. Till that hour, it was their custom to remain in the temple, in some of the corners, apartments, or courts thereof; that they might be ready to assis at all the sacrifices, and to join in all public prayers. The time between they were accustomed to employ, partly in private addresses to God, partly in searching the Scriptures, in reading the law and the prophets, and in meditating thereon. Thus much is implied in, "I fast twice in the week;" the second branch of the righteousness of a Pharisee.

5. "I give tithes of all that I possess. This the Pharisees did with the utmost exactness. They would not except the most inconsiderable thing; no, not mint, anise, and cummin. They would not keep back the least part of what they believed properly to belong to God; but gave a full tenth of their whole substance yearly, and of all their increase, whatsoever it was.

Yea, the stricter Pharisees, (as has been often observed by those who are versed in the ancient Jewish writings,) not content with giving one tenth of their substance to God, in his priests and Levites, gave another tenth to God in the poor, and that continually. They gave the same proportion of all they had in alms, as they were accustomed to give in tithes. And this likewise they adjusted with the utmost exactness; that they might not keep back any part, but might fully render unto God the things which were God's, as they accounted this to be. So that, upon the whole, they gave away, from year to year, an entire fifth of all that they possessed.

6. This was "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees;" a righteousness which, in many respects, went far beyond the conception which many have been accustomed to entertain concerning it. But perhaps it will be said, "It was all false and feigned; for they were all a company of hypocrites.' Some of them doubtless were; men who had really no religion at all, no fear of God, or desire to please him; who had no concern for the honour that cometh of God, but only for the praise of men. And these are they whom our Lord so severely condemns, so sharply reproves on many occasions. But we must not sup

pose, because many Pharisees were hypocrites, therefore all were so. Nor indeed is hypocrisy by any means essential to the character of a Pharisee. This is not the distinguishing mark of their sect. It is rather this, (according to our Lord's account,) "They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." This is their genuine badge. But the Pharisee of this kind cannot be a hypocrite. He must be, in the common sense, sincere; otherwise he could not "trust in himself that he is righteous." The man who was here commending himself to God, unquestionably thought himself righteous. Consequently he was no hypocrite; he was not conscious to himself of any insincerity. He now spoke to God just what he thought, that he was abundantly better than other men.

But the example of St. Paul, were there no other, is sufficient to put this out of all question. He could not only say, when he was a Christian,

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"Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence, towarde Gol, and towards men," Acts xxiv, 16; but even concerning the time when he was a Pharisee," Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day," Acts xxiii, 1. He was therefore sincere when he was a Pharisee, as well as when he was a Christian. He was no more a hypocrite when he persecuted the church, than when he preached the faith which once he persecuted. Let this then be added to "the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, -a sincere belief that they are righteous, and in all things doing God service."

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7. And yet," Except your righteousness," saith our Lord, "shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." A solemn and weighty declaration, and one which it behoves all, who are called by the name of Christ, seriously and deeply to consider. But before we inquire, how our righteousness may exceed theirs, let us examine, whether at present we come up to it?

In externals he was

First. A Pharisee was "not as other men are." singularly good. Are we so? Do we dare to be singular at all? Do we not rather swim with the stream? Do we not many times dispense with religion and reason together, because we would not look particular? Are we not often more afraid of being out of the fashion, than being out of the way of salvation? Have we courage to stem the tide ? To run counter to the world? "To obey God rather than man?" Otherwise the Pharisee leaves us behind at the very first step. It is well if we overtake him any more.

But to come closer: Can we use his first plea with God?—which is, in substance, "I do no harm: I live in no outward sin: I do nothing for which my own heart condemns me." Do you not? Are you sure of that? Do you live in no practice for which your own heart condemns you? If you are not an adulterer, if you are not unchaste, either in word or deed, are you not unjust? The grand measure of justice, as well as of mercy, is, "Do unto others as thou wouldest they should do unto thee." Do you walk by this rule? Do you never do unto any what you would not they should do unto you? Nay, are you not grossly unjust? Are you not an extortioner? Do you not make a gain of any one's ignorance, or necessity? Neither in buying nor selling? Suppose you were engaged in trade: do you demand, do you receive, no more than the real value of what you sell? Do you demand, do you receive, no more of the ignorant than of the knowing,-of a little child, than of an experienced trader? If you do, why does not your heart condemn you? You are a barefaced extortioner! Do you demand no more than the usual price of goods, of any who is in pressing want,-who must have, and that without delay, the things which you only can furnish him with? If you do, this also is flat extortion. Indeed you do not come up to the righteousness of a Pharisee.

8. A Pharisee, secondly, (to express his sense in our common way,) used all the means of grace. As he fasted often and much, twice in every week, so he attended all the sacrifices. He was constant in public and private prayer, and in reading and hearing the Scriptures. Do you go as far as this? Do you fast much and often? Twice in the week? I fear not. Once at least," on all Fridays in the year?"