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IL SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

TEXT: Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.-Matt. 18, 23-35.

The Christian religion is a religion of forgiveness. Forgiveness in heaven above, forgiveness on earth beneath, forgiveness in general is the sum and substance of our most holy religion. The whole Gospel doctrine may be summed up in these two sentences: From pure grace for the sake of the merits of Jesus Christ, His Son and our Brother; God freely forgives us all our sins, and this forgiveness we are to believe; and because God is so gracious toward us we should also forgive the trespasses of men against us, and this forgiveness we are to practice.

By this the Christian religion is distinguished from all others. All other religions teach nothing of reconciliation and forgive

ness, but only of recompense and reward. The adherents of all other religions, be they Mohammedans, Jews, or Gentiles, hope to enter heaven, not because their sins are forgiven freely by grace, and eternal life is obtained as a free and unmerited gift of God, but because they think to earn the favor of God by their own deeds of worship and piety. And as the heathen does not believe the forgiveness of sin before God in heaven, so he does also not practice forgiveness toward his fellow man. A heathen may be what people call a good-natured man; he may be moved to compassion toward sufferers; he may give alms, help the weak against their oppressors and the like, but freely to forgive evils done unto him by his enemies, of this he knows nothing. As the natural and all invented religions know nothing of Divine grace and free forgiveness with God, but only teach reward of man's own good works and piety, so they also teach only that a man should not do wrong unto others, but do not teach that a man should freely forgive and cheerfully suffer wrongs done unto him by others without seeking to retaliate.

But our Lord Jesus Christ requires more of His followers. Whilst all human religions teach men to do to others as they deserve, Christ commands: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. 5, 44. In the book of Exodus it is said: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," Ch. 21, 24, but that was only a civil law by which civil judges in Israel were to pronounce judgment; but Christ in the prayer which He gave us for our daily use embodied the petition: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." As often as we repeat this prayer we confess that we have trespassed against God and we ask Him to forgive us, not because we deserve it or are worthy of it,-a trespass deserves punishment and not forgiveness, but because in His Son Jesus Christ He is become a good and gracious Father unto us. This petition is the heart's desire of all those who are truly Christians; for in the 32d Psalm it is said: "For this," the forgiveness of sin, "shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found." Any one who does

not ask forgiveness of sin in prayer is not godly; he is not a Christian indeed and in truth.

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In the most forcible manner possible does the Lord emphasize that forgiveness is the very essence of His religion when He adds the words: "As we forgive those who trespass against us.' We do not ask God to forgive us because we forgive others; for that would be basing forgiveness on our own works, but "as we forgive," whereby we declare that we do and will forgive those who sin against us, and that we will forgive them as we desire God to forgive us. So this prayer which the Lord has given us for daily use does not only demonstrate in a general way that Christianity is a religion of forgiveness, it daily reminds us that this is our sacred duty as followers of Jesus Christ, that we walk in love toward others, that we do wrong to no man, and if others do wrong to us that we stand ready to forgive them and to do good unto them. Both are pictured to us in the parable before us. Let us therefore consider:

WHAT SHOULD MOVE US TO FORGIVE MEN THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST US?

Our text answers:

I. The mercy of God toward us;

II.

The dire consequences of not forgiving.
I.

The occasion for the Lord to propound this parable was the question of Peter: "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times?" To this question the Lord replied: "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." In our arithmetic 70 times 7 makes 490, but here the arithmetics composed by our schoolmen are all wrong. In the Lord's arithmetic 70 times 7 makes: Every time. On another occasion the Lord said: "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." Luke 17, 3. 70 times 7 makes every time. Forgive him every time.

This example in arithmetic is illustrated by this parable: "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." This kingdom we must not seek in heaven above or in hell below, but here on earth; for in heaven there are only holy angels and perfected saints, in hell only devils and men who are forever rejected from the countenance of God; but here upon earth there are those with whom God has not yet had a final settlement, men who are to be saved. This king is God; His servants are we and all that are called Christians. Most people, indeed, would rather not have any lord at all over them, but God is the Lord over all. Whether men like it or not, acknowledge it or not, God is Lord over them, and He has the right and power to call them to account.

How does God call men to account? He does it by heralds, and because He is God He appoints such heralds, whose voice reaches every man, whom no man can escape, though he hide in the bowels of the earth, or flee to the uttermost parts of the sea; heralds who accuse the guilty and convict them of being in debt to their Lord. Though wicked servants say: "God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it; " though they argue: "Thou wilt not require it"; (Psalm 10), yet in due time God's heralds find them out and convince them that God does see, that their debts are recorded in God's account-book and are not forgotten. The first of these heralds which God ordained even at the creation is the law implanted into the heart of men: Conscience. This herald dwells in the bosom of every man and follows him all the days of his life, as St. Paul writes of the Gentiles: "They are a law unto themselves: their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing, or else excusing one another." Rom. 2, 14. This herald in his own bosom witnesses to every man, whether or not he is a faithful servant who has done and is doing what he ought to do. But because this herald in his own bosom does no more uncover to man the full account standing against him, and men are inclined to pay little attention to conscience, therefore God appointed another herald, which is yet not another. On Mount Sinai He gave His law in writing and commanded it to be proclaimed on earth, and now

through all His appointed ministers who are bold enough to preach the law, He proclaims: Ye children of men, come and render account to the Lord your God. He has shown Himself a lenient Lord and has given you only ten commandments to keep. If you have kept them, you shall receive from your righteous and just Lord praise and reward; if you have not kept them, acknowledge that you have fallen into debt with your Lord. Thus God calls us to account whilst we are still living on earth through the still small voice of right and wrong in our own bosoms and through the preaching of the law.

What does the account show? Are you in debt with God or not? "And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents." That is the outcome: a debt of " ten thousand talents." Is that much or little? Our powers of intellect are too weak to cipher out the whole amount in full, but let us look at the sum here mentioned. The talent with the ancients was a denomination of money, in our coin about $1,500. Fifteen hundred multiplied by ten thou sand makes fifteen millions. Fifteen million dollars, surely an enormous debt. Do you think within yourself: That is exaggerating things? my debt with God cannot be that great? Friend, I advise you to examine the account-book and to sum up the entries against you. The ten commandments are the book which shows the account against us. But these you must examine carefully, or you will be sure to overlook many an entry. The way to find the amount is, to take each particular point in each commandment and to compare with it the thoughts of your heart, the words of your tongue and the works of your hand since your childhood days. For instance: In the second commandment you are commanded to pray, and to pray diligently and devotedly. Now if you count up how often you have neglected to pray, and how often, when you did pray, your mind, instead of being wholly wrapped up in your conversation with God, was distracted by other thoughts, you will be obliged to charge many a dollar simply for this one thing of neglecting prayer, or praying with little or no devotion. And if in this manner you go through the whole book of the law, you will no

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