s rigid and stern in respect of the 'tradition of the
elders,' but it did not revise itself constantly or at all in the light
of the mind of God, and therefore its moral standard became debased.
It 'made void the word of God because of the tradition.' It 'tithed
mint and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the
law, judgement, and mercy, and faith.' It 'strained out the gnat, and
swallowed the camel[16].' It {12} came to be almost purely external
and consistent with even the grossest spiritual hypocrisy, as both St.
Paul and our Lord Himself assure us. Above all, it was completely
satisfied with itself. 'We have Abraham to our Father.' 'I thank thee
that I am not as other men are.' That is the characteristic tone of
Pharisees and of all who, however unlike them otherwise, are living by
a strong social standard and priding themselves on belonging to a
respectable and dignified class. This it is that St. Paul calls
seeking to be justified or commended to God by 'works' or 'works of the
law'--not, we must observe, 'good works,' such as are the fruit of a
right disposition towards God, of which St. Paul never spoke with any
disparagement.

It is the characteristic of the Pharisaic attitude that a man holds by
a strict code enforced by the public opinion of his church or circle; a
code which he diligently and even painfully obeys. But it is
characteristic of this attitude also that it resents new light, and
tacitly claims independence even of God, provided that 'the law' is
kept or the accepted standard maintained. Thus the Pharisees resented
the Christ, when renewing the voice of the old prophets, without
respect of persons, He exposed the {13} moral weaknesses of these
religious leaders, and bade them, in effect, begin again and think
afresh what God's will really meant: when He warned them that the one
unpardonable sin is to be self-satisfied in one's own eyes, and to
repudiate as an impertinent intruder the fresh divine light. The story
is very familiar. They resented and rejected the Christ because He
made the unlimited divine claim upon them: because He spoke to them as
God to the human soul, and not as the representative of 'the
tradition.' 'Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did
not subject themselves to the righteousness of God[17].'

Now we understand what it is to seek to be justified by works. It is
to have a social or ecclesiastical code, and to claim acceptan