IX.

The Law of Forgiveness.

“Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven,” etc.-MATT. xviii. 21-35.

OME one who had lived to middle age without

SOME

seeing the ocean, and whose imaginings of it had been very great, when his friend took him to the beach and said, "This is the sea,"-exclaimed, "Is that all?" As he watched the little children playing on the shore making the water serve them in their sport, and beheld small skiffs smoothly gliding on the bosom of the quiet ocean, he might think it, not after all, so grand and wonderful as he had thought; but when he realized that the little part spreading before him was, but the earnest of the illimitable, unfathomable waters stretching beyond; that borne upon its mighty breast are numberless worlds in miniature; that it is the girdle of the world, that he might set sail and sail on

and on, week after week, month after month, and not come to the end of the grand old ocean, he could no longer exclaim, Is that all? When you first saw the Lord Jesus with the eye of faith, possibly you felt inclined to exclaim, Is this all! but did you not soon discover to what a mighty all you had committed yourself? "To as many as believed, to them gave Christ power to become the sons of God." Trust in Christ is the dawn of the eternal day—it is the beginning of the God-like life-it is the rising of the sun that never sets-the springing of the fountain that never fails. Reader, you little thought that day when Christ first appeared to you as your Saviour, what beauty and worth He would create in you. You did not dream of the conquests over the world, the flesh, and the devil, He would cause you to make; you could not imagine what high and holy fellowship you would enjoy. No, thank God, the half was not told. You now know something of the power He imparts to those. who believe in Christ, to become His children, not in name only, but in nature. One of the most marvellous effects of this new nature is the power to forgive, for it is they and they only who have become the children of God in nature, who have the divine prerogative of forgiving as they are forgiven.

Now let us examine what the Lord taught St. Peter, and through him taught all His disciples about forgive"Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how

ness.

oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him, till seven times ?" Evidently this question grows out of verse 15, where the words, "thou has gained thy brother," necessarily imply forgiveness of his trespass. "Flesh and blood" made Peter ask this question. His idea was, there must be limitation to forgiving mercy. Doubtless he thought himself generous in his suggestion of seven times. In the Talmud it is written, that a man may be forgiven his sin till the third time. Seven is the number in the divine law with which the idea of remission is ever linked, and Peter would think most likely, that by suggesting this number, he would please his Master. But Christ's idea about forgiveness is altogether different. Forgiving love is not to be measured with cold, calculating hand; the number of personal offences are not to be counted up. "I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven." That is, any number of times, for we cannot imagine our Lord meant Peter to count four hundred and ninety. No, if there be counting, there cannot be forgetting, and, therefore, no loving forgiving. Jesus Christ here reveals the spirit of His religion. It is forgiving. Oh the grand beneficence of Christianity!-not seven times, but seventy times seven. And all this what for-that your brother may be gained-the erring one brought back. As if too much could not be done! Oh the beautiful human sympathy of Christianity! Thy

Our

Saviour, reader, has not forgiven thee seven times only, but seventy times seventy. It is, as you deeply feel all He has done for you to secure your pardon, as you drink in His spirit, Who in His death agony prayed for His cruel tormentors and murderers, "Father, forgive them," that you can learn to forgive. Further to impress this lesson, our Lord spake the parable which follows. The thought, the lesson which Christ illustrates by this parable is the duty and privilege of the forgiven to forgive. The heart that has received the warm, bright sun of God's forgiving grace, must shed those rays which bless it upon others. Father creates us anew in Christ Jesus" that we may live new lives. Great mystery of redeeming power and love! we are called to be God-like; to do as God does. Be ye holy." Why? "Because I am holy." "Be ye therefore perfect-even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” 66 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet smelling Savour." Let us remember that "in Christ," we are "no longer servants but friends," no more far off, but brought near, so that to imitate God is no presumption; to be co-workers with Him is no assumption; and to forgive as He forgives is not now an impossibility, but

our blessed prerogative. Keeping in mind the lesson of this parable, let us now examine it. "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain King which would take account of his servants." This is the first parable in which God appears as a King. We are the servants with whom He takes account. Evidently the reckoning is not the final one, not identical with the reckoning of Matt. xxv. 19; 2 Cor. v. 10, but rather such as that of Luke xvi. 2. Who has not experienced such a reckoning? When God blighted your earthly hopes and caused the bright flowers of time to wither, making your heart sad and weary, what was He doing but bringing you to account? What is the meaning of many an illness, of many a vacant place in the home? Is it not thus, that our God often sets our sins before our face, awakens our conscience and reckons with us? "And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents." Whatever the kind of talent, the sum represented is very large. If the talent be Hebrew, the amount is enormous; if of silver, more than three millions sterling; if of gold, sixteen times as much. The idea is an immense sum. How truly representative of the sinner. "Who can understand his errors?" The enormous debt who could discharge ? 66 Sinners," as Matthew Henry says, "are insolvent debtors." Over against the Ten Commandments are the ten thousand talents, setting forth the debts