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 ’tis 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 that 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, _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 assist at all the sacrifices, and to join in all the 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 possest.