Crashaw: Two went to pray?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011
    Feast of Matthew, Apostle & Evangelist
Meditation:
    To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
    “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
    “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
    —Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
Two went up into the Temple to pray.

Two went to pray? O rather say,
One went to brag, th’ other to pray.

One stands up close, and treads on high,
Where th’ other dares not lend his eye.

One nearer to God’s altar trod,
The other to the altar’s God.
    ... Richard Crashaw (1613-1649), from “Divine Epigrams”, The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, London: J. R. Smith, 1858, p. 20 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, my sin is no better than anyone else’s.

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