The
parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is a perpetual warning against
spiritual pride. But it must not frighten any one of us out of being
thankful that he is not, like this or that neighbor, under bondage to
strong drink or opium, that he is not an Erie-Railroad Manager, and that
his head rests in virtuous calm on his own pillow. If he prays in the
morning to be kept out of temptation as well as for his daily bread,
shall he not return thanks at night that he has not fallen into sin as
well as that his stomach has been filled? I do not think the poor
Pharisee has ever had fair play, and I am afraid a good many people sin
with the comforting, half-latent intention of smiting their breasts
afterwards and repeating the prayer of the Publican.
(Sensation.)
This little movement which I have thus indicated seemed to give the
Master new confidence in his audience. He turned over several pages
until he came to a part of the interleaved volume where we could all see
he had written in a passage of new matter in red ink as of special
interest.
--I told you, he said, in Latin, and I repeat it in English, that I have
freed my soul in these pages,--I have spoken my mind. I have read you a
few extracts, most of them of rather slight texture, and some of them,
you perhaps thought, whimsical.
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