"God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are!"
"God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Luke 18:11, 13
Here we have two kinds of prayer set side by side for our instruction. The first really is no prayer at all; it is only a bit of self-congratulation in the presence of God. Yet it was not much comfort, after all, that the Pharisee found. He was better than certain other men, he said. He never thought of comparing himself with God, the only true thing to do.
This Pharisee has many followers. A great many people's whole stock of piety — consists in not being as bad as some other one. The dishonest man felicitates his conscience, with the reflection that he is sober and temperate. The false-tongued man is thankful that he pays his debts. The gossiping woman finds great comfort in the fact that she is not a heathen like her neighbor, who never goes to church at all. But it is a poor kind of virtue, which has nothing better to build on than such imperfect relative goodness. One may be clear of a great many ugly faults that his neighbors have — and yet not be a saint himself.
The other man's prayer was different altogether. There was in him no measuring of himself with other men — to see whether he or they were the worse. Then there was no going over sins he had not committed. He said nothing about his neighbor's sins — but was very free in speaking of his own sins. He stood before God burdened with the consciousness of his own personal guilt, and cried to God for mercy — mercy wholly undeserved, to be granted only through grace. It is very obvious, which was the true and acceptable prayer.
It is the penitent's prayer which reaches Heaven. God wants honesty in our supplication; He wants humility. It is not enough to be worried about other people's sins. The particular sinner with whose sins each man ought to be most concerned, is himself.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.