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 lon to  Rome;  Samaria,  the  very  heart  of  Israel,  had apostatized; the  north  had  become  the  Galilee  of  the Gentiles; all  Palestine,  a  prey  to  a  denationalizing lust for  empire,  had  fallen  under  the  yoke  of  Caesar, and the  entire  population,  by  the  exigencies  of  business and  politics,  was  hourly  exposed  to  heathen  defilement. Then it  was  that  the  Pharisees  arose  to  be the  saviours  of  the  nation. Self-constituted expounders of  the  law,  they  proceeded  to  throw  around  each member of  their  race  at  home  and  abroad  such  a  network of  ordinances  concerning  years  of  jubilee, Sabbath observance,  sacrifices,  purifications,  his  food, his clothing,  fasts  and  tithes,  that  at  every  turn,  in every  little  circumstance  of  life,  his  nationality  and his religion  were  brought  prominently  before  him. In all their  outward  observances,  too,  the  Pharisees themselves were  scrupulously  exact. What wonder then, that  having  preserved  intact  the  "  remnant  "  of prophecy,  this  aristocrat,  this  patriot,  this  zealous stickler for  the  law,  should  enter  God's  Temple  with  a sense  of  proprietorship,  and  proudly  elbow  his  way to the  first  place,  and,  standing,  thank  his  God  that he was  not  as  the  rest  of  men! Was he  not  God's champion  against  the  heathen  dogs,  and  the  extortioners and  unjust  and  adulterers  of  his  own  race? Did he  not  fast  twice  a  week  and  give  alms  of  all  that he possessed? With half  such  good  reasons,  I  repeat, any  one  of  us  would  give  way  to  self-congratulation, and  of  us  as  of  the  Pharisee  would  be  true  the words of  the  Spirit  to  the  Church  of  Laodicea: " Thou  sayest:  I  am  rich  and  wealthy  and  have  need