m not as other men or even as this publican." His prayer
was not a long one; it consisted of thirty-four words; yet there
were five capital "I's" in it. It was self in the beginning, self in
the middle, self in the end--self all through. "'I fast twice a
week;' 'I give tithes of all I possess;' I am a wonderfully good
man, am I not, Lord?" He struck a balance twice a week, and God was
his debtor every time. He paraded his good deeds before God and man.
Such a one was not in a condition to receive the favor of God.

You can divide the human family to-day into two classes--pharisees
and publicans. There are those who are poor in spirit: the dew of
God's grace will fall upon them. There are others who are drawing
around them the rags of their self-righteousness: they will always
go away without the blessing of God. There were but seven words in
the prayer of the Publican: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He
came to God confessing his sins, and asking for mercy; and he
received it.

If you were to run through Scripture, you would find that where men
have gone to God in the spirit of the Publican, He has dealt with
them in mercy and grace.

A young man came to one of our meetings in New York a few years ago.
He was convicted of sin; and he made up his mind he would go home
and pray. He lived a number of miles away, and he started for home.
On the way, as he was meditating about his sins and wondering what
he was going to do when he got home, the thought occurred to him:
"Why should I not pray right here in the street?" But he found he
did not know just how to begin. Then he remembered that when he was
a child, his mother had taught him this prayer of the Publican: "God
be merciful to me a sinner!" So he began just where he stood. He
said afterwards, that before he got to the little word "me," God met
him in grace, and blessed him. And so the moment we open our lips to
ask God for pardon, if the request comes from the heart, God will
meet us in mercy.

Let our cry be that of the Publican: "Be merciful _to me!_"--not to
some one else. A mother was telling me some time ago that she had
trouble with one of her sons, because he had not treated his brother
rightly. She sent him upstairs; and after awhile she asked him what
he had been doing. He replied that he had been _praying for his
brother!_ Although he had been the naughty one, he was acting as if
the fault lay with his brother instead of himself. So many of us can
see