VI. SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

TEXT: For 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. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.-Matt. 5, 20-27.

"Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds," thus writes St. Jude. At the appointed time God will come to execute judgment upon all the wicked for all their wicked deeds, and this judgment God will execute through Jesus Christ, as Paul preached to the Athenians, saying: "God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained," Acts 17, 31, that is by Jesus Christ, and in proof thereof Paul added: "Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the conclusive evidence, that God will judge the world and that the judgment will be executed by Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ humbled Himself and took upon Him the sins of the world, bearing them in His own body on the tree, therefore God exalted Him and

ordained Him the judge of the world, to deliver His people from the power of death, to take vengeance on those who, after He has redeemed them with His blood, believe not on Him, despising His labor for them. As surely as Christ died in the sins of the world, rose again and ascended to heaven, even so surely will He also perform the last act of the work committed to Him and will come again unto judgment.

This Jesus Christ is ordained judge of the world. Not the Jews only or the Greeks, nor alone the nations walking in idolatry, the world will be summoned to judgment. Neither will He pronounce judgment upon all nations in one mass, so that the individual might hope to remain hid in the vast multitude, that his deeds of darkness would not be set in light before God and the angels, He will separate them and will summon each one individually to answer for his deeds done upon earth; for St. Paul does not only write, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," he also adds: "That every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5, 10. In vain do men comfort themselves that their deeds are hidden in darkness; there is a day coming in the which every man will be obliged to step forth into the light and all will see what he is.

Jesus Christ is ordained to judge the world in righteousness. He is a righteous judge who will judge with righteousness. His sentence will be righteous, and righteousness He will seek in those whom He judges. Those in whom He finds that righteousness which He seeks He will pronounce heirs of the kingdom, and those whom He finds without this righteousness He will banish from His countenance forever.

WHAT IS THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WILL AVAIL BEFORE GOD IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT?

To set this forth let me propose two questions:

I. Will the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees be found valid before God?

II. What is that righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees?

I.

Will the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees avail before God? For 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 Lord does not deny all righteousness to the scribes and Pharisces. He does not say that they were vicious men walking in manifold and manifest sins and vices. He concedes that they had a certain kind, or a certain measure of righteousness, but he denies that the righteousness which they had was sufficient to entitle them to an entrance into the kingdom of heaven; for He declares, to enter into the kingdom of heaven our righteousness must exceed, must be greater, better, than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

What righteousness did the scribes and Pharisees possess?

The scribes were those men among the Jews who had studied theology, and whose duty it was to expound the law and the prophets. At the time of Christ the scribes either belonged to the Pharisees, or were of the same mind as these. The Pharisees were a sect among the Jews which is said to have sprung up about 150 years before Christ. To this sect Paul belonged before his conversion to Christ, and in his defense before king Agrippa he calls the Pharisees "the most straitest sect of our (the Jewish) religion," Acts 26, 5. And such they were; for they wanted to keep both the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders. The foremost principle of this sect was: if a man would be saved he must keep the law. Salvation by the works of the law comprehensively describes the doctrine and religion of the Pharisees.

While teaching salvation by keeping the law the Pharisees. were not Perfectionists. They could not deny and did not pretend to deny that no man can prevent evil thoughts from arising in his heart and that none can abstain from sinful lustings. Therefore they divided the law into two parts: great and small commandments. Their great commandments comprised words and acts, the small thoughts and lusts. Agreeably to this division of the commandments the Pharisees declared it sufficient

unto righteousness before God, if a man would keep the great commandments, 'that is if a man would abstain from breaking the law by word or deed he would be justified before God, even though inwardly he could not and would not abstain from evil thoughts and lusts. The import of this doctrine of the Pharisees was the same as the common idea entertained by so many people, if a man would do the best he could, God would accept him and would ask no more of him.

The doctrine of the Pharisees therefore had the tendency to make them self-conceited hypocrites and such, on an average, they were. They made a great show of piety, dressed in long, somber garments, made long prayers, distributed alms in public places and they loved to occupy the prominent seats in the synagogue, but in their hearts there was no true fear of God. If you wish to know in what unqualified terms Christ denounced both the doctrine and the hypocrisy of the Pharisees of His days, read the 23d chapter of Matthew. They were hypocrites who outwardly had the form of godliness, but were not sincerely in earnest about it, and that the righteousness of such hypocrites avails nothing before God needs no proof.

Yet we must not think that the Pharisees were all hypocrites. The name "Pharisee " has become a by-word, so that, whenever we hear it, we are accustomed to think of a man who purposely puts on a mask of piety to hide his wickedness. But we must not forget that the Pharisees were the strictest sect among the Jews, and amongst them were many sincere and upright men. Nicodemus was not a hypocrite, neither was Saul. On an average the Romish monks are hypocrites, but there are some sincere men among them. Martin Luther, when a monk, was not a hypocrite. He bent his whole soul on securing righteousness before God by monastic works of piety. Concerning his life when a Pharisee Paul writes: "I profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." Gal. 1, 14. There were those among the Pharisees who sincerely, from heart and soul strove for righteousness in the works of the law, and there were such who reached blameless

ness before men, as Paul says of himself that he was "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Phil. 3, 6.

Was perhaps the righteousness of the upright among the Pharisees available before God? Indeed not; for the Lord here distinctly tells us, to enter the kingdom of heaven our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. He does not say, of the hypocrites among the Pharisees, but in general "of the Pharisees." To stand before God we must have a greater, a better righteousness, than the best among the Pharisees had. That is certainly rejecting all Pharisaic righteousness as unavailing before God.

Why is the righteousness of the Pharisees rejected? The reason is twofold. In the first place, they were corrupters of the law by their doctrine, teaching a way in which no man ⚫ could be saved. Teaching men to seek righteousness in the outward works of the law they were blind leaders of the blind. and could not but fall into the ditch. Therefore the Lord cried out upon them: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering, to go in." Matt. 23, 13. How could the righteousness of those be pleasing to God of whom the law says: Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way"? Deut. 27, 18. Any one who deliberately corrupts, alters or sets aside God's law, or any part or particle of that law, can surely not be acceptable with God.

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In the second place, the Pharisees, though they kept the law outwardly according to the letter, failed to keep it inwardly in its full import and meaning. In the chapter before us the Lord says: "Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all · be fulfilled." For righteousness before God all the law must be fulfilled, and any one violating one jot or one tittle of it has failed to keep it, and falls under the condemnation of the law, just as well as another who has broken all the commandments in the most flagrant manner imaginable. This is evident from the words of the Lord when He here introduces the fifth com