The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 129

accotmted for on several grounds. (1) The procession of nature is so uniform. All things seem to continue as they were from the creation. Nature is on so large and grand a scale that we do not appreciate the real progress, and imao'ine 0 that we are in the midst of a standstill. Unifonuity, however, is not standstill. (2) Hope deferred will make many hearts sick. And so what has been so long talked of and yet has never appeared will be thought at last as never to appear. And (3) stoicism will lea~ many_ju~t to take things_ as they are, and entertain no concern about any change. It 1s astomshmg how casy-gomg people tolerate manifest wrongs rather than take the trouble either to pray about them or to work for their removal. But: 2. Our Lord acl."11.owl,3dge~ the wron[l to which his elect ones have_ been exp~sed. '!'heir cry is for justice, for redress, like the widow. Now, our Lord admits that his people have not got justice from the world. The world has not been worthy of them. The world has made them time after time martyrs. It is a great assurance that the Lord acknowledcres his servants' wrongs. 3. He intimates at the same time that, like the widow, they ,;ill need importunity. The one weapon must be wielded and wielded incessantly. Re keeps us waiting doubtless for our good. If we got all the moment we asked it, how should we ever learn patience? But: 4. He promises a sudden redress. The idea seems to be not "speedily" but" suddenly" he will avenge them. It will be a sharp and decisive deliverance when it comes. We thus see that all life's discipline is planned to stimu- late prayer. And when we have least taste for it, we should, like Luther, pray on. This is the importunity the Lord loves and will answer. II. LET US NOTICE THE SPIRIT OF SELF-ABASEMENT WfilCH SHOULD 0HARACTERIZl!I OUR PRAYER AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE PARABLE OF THE PHABISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. (Y ers. 9-14.) And in this second story we have a Pharisee first presented whose prayer is an outburst of self-confidence. He thanks God that he is so much better than his neighbours. For in these he recognizes extortioners, unjust men, and adulterers. A self-righteous spirit is censorious; its prayer is a criticism ; even a publican's modesty iu standiug afar off, aud his contrition in smiting on his breast, are set down to his disparagement. Then the Pharisee can congratulate himself on fasting twice a week, and on giving tithes of all he possesses. But he was not a bit the better for all this so-called prayer, this bit of blatant self-praise. On the other hand, the publican, though he remained afar off and hardly ventured to look up, but smote on his breast and cried, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" went down to bis house a happier and better man. For the important point is not th.eir consciousness, but God's attitude towards their respective spirits. To the one spirit God responds by justifica- tion and a sense of acoeptance. The other is sent empty away. Hence the principles Jesw; deduces are twofold. 1. Self-exaltation always precedes abasement. The proud will sooner or later get his fall The Pharisaic spirit is always humiliated in the end. The man who is filled with self-satisfaction is only demonstrating his own self-ignor- ance and distance from God and his great ideal. 2. Seif-abasement always leads eo exaltation. It is when we feel "as a beast" before God, like Asaph in the seventy-third psalm, that we are on the way to spiritual rapture. For God has provided for the abased sinner the pardon he needs, and, besides the pardon, sanctification and everlast- ing progress. Let us, then, pray in the penitential key continually, and let us pray determined not to be deuied; and heights of spiritual exaltation and rapture will be seeu ri~ing from our very feet, and inviting us to sit down on them with Jesus.- R. M. E. Vere. 15-30.-The chudren of the kingdom. During the progress of the King towards Jerusalem, his pemonal influence and benediction were greatly valued. It would seem that mothers b11:1ught their children to him to be blessed, and ended by producing the very little ones. The disciples thought the line should be drawn some- where, and so ventured to forbid the anxious mothers, only, howev~r, to rec~ive the significant rebuke from him, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. n We are thus introduced to the important principle that- I. CmLDLIKENESB IB THE QUALIFICATION FOR GoD's KINGDOM. (Vers. 15-17.) Now, tLat is only another way of stating that God's government ie paternal, and that his subjects are sons. It is, in fact, "a mighty family" of which he is himself tho Head. OH. xvm. 1-43.] TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S'l'. LUKE.