Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1888-02-18
TEACHING FORGIVENESS.
LESSON Viii, INTERNATIONAL SUM-
DAY SCHOOL SERIES, FEB. te.

liam Newton, ID. ID.
[From Lesson Helper Quarterly by permission of
II. S. Hoffman, Philadelphia, publsher.l
Notes.-My brother, or fellow disciple.
Seventy times seven, or indefinitely for 400
times clearly mark the unlimited exercise of
forgiveness. Take account, sec how much
they owed Servants, officers, or those in
charge Of some trust Talents, talent was
5000 shekels, and shekel of silver was about
fifty cents. Went out, l. e., from his Lords
presence. Hundred pence, pence was the
Roman denarius, valued about fourteen
cents Wroth, very angry. Tormentors,
officers of the prison. Likewise, in the same
way. TrespasSes, sins or wrongs against
you.
V. 81 Moved by our Lords directions as
to the treatment by his disciples of their Of
Tending brethren, Peter comes with the very
practical question as to the extent that for
giveneSs might be required of him. He
wanted to know how often he must forgivea
Clearly he thought there was limit to its
exercise and point beyond upon which he
could not be required togo. Now the rabbis
taught that three was that limit. Peter,
therefore, doubled that number and added
one to it, and then thought that even the
master could ask no more. We can smile at
the earnestness of the man, the darkness that
still shut him in and his struggling toward
the truth But just here, how far-how very
far-do many of the protesting people of the
Lord stand even in this dispensation of the
spirit below Peters "seven times!"
V. %. How heavenly these words are.
Clearly seventy times seven"-49O times
are an unlimited numberl even as had
pity on thee" is the divine measure. And
until that is reached we must forgive as
freely as we have been forgiven.
V. %. The whole doctrine of forgiveness is
illustrated in this parable. Gods forgive
ness of us is the reason why we should for
give.
V. "a No doubt these servants wero
officers to whom some public trust had been
confided. And this special one had prob
ably farmed out some portion of the kings
domain. In no other way is it easy to see
how such an enormous debt could be created.
For talent of silver would be about 81 500,
and "ten thousand talents would sum up to
S15, 100000 A talent of gold would, of
course, be proportionably greater. And if
by this enormous sum the master meant to
represent our sins against God, it is a most
telling point that this great debtor was found
when she had begun to reckon" No ex-
tended search was needed The proof lay
once revealed it. There was the proof of the
debt And there was no escape from it.
And if that great debt represent our sins be-
fore God how fitting is the statement, zone
was brought unto him, etc. For this debtor
would not have come of himself. The kings
messengers brought him. And so in the case
of our sins. The king has many messengers
to bring us into his presence and open before
us the record of our sins. And as we
survey the record, there is no answer to
tho question, 'tIs not thy wickedness
great, and thine iniquity infiniteF" job
xxi, 5.
V. 25-27. All these incidents arc necessary
to the parable as illustrating human trans
action, and are not to be regarded as measur-
ing the divine mode of forgiveness. Two
great truths are illustrated by the para
bic, j. e.,
l. There is no limit to the exercise of for
giveness, and
q He who has received forgiveness from
God, will always extend It to man.
v. $3.50. 1t is a most significant point
that it was when the servant went out, l. e.
from his lords presence-that he found his
indebted fellow servant He had no time for
such search when he stood before his lord.
His own great need occupied him then. But
when he went out from his presence, he could
look up the little matters Of his fellow serv-
ants Indebtedness to himself. And what
contrast is here7 "Ten thousand talents" on
the one side, and a hundred pence" on the
other. Yet this taking by the throat this
Pay me that thou owest; this casting into
prison-how clearly all this tells of one who
has no sense of forgiveness in his own ex-
perienee.
v. 31-34 Here again we have the human
side of the parable, the operations of the
'.man king" Beyond question, V. "a mod
ifies and explains V. q. Clearly the debt
that was forgiven could not be enforced, and
the debt that was enforced could never have
been forgiven. So that the principle here
involved is that the reality of the divine for
giveness in given case will be shown by the
reality of our forgiveness Of those who sin
against us. There is no such thing as re-en-
forcing the penalty of sins that had once
been forgiven. The unmerciful servant was
not troubled by his great debt. lie would
willingly have made it larger if he had not
been brought to the king. It was only the
penalty that troubled him And he whom
that servant represents is the man who
thought he was converted when he was only
terrified, and who had no use for the love of
God beyond the fact that in somc way it
could save him from the penalty of his sin.
And when he gees out from the Lords pres
ence; when his sense of danger is.iost II the
promises of the Gospel the ,ess1TeIIS Of ms old
nature flows on as before Why should he
not have his hundred pences Why should he
NOT claim that which Is his duel AID SO his
claim to be forgiven is proved by tAs ruling
spirit OF his life to have been utterly without
foundation. The principle, therefore, holds
good in every case, that he who refuses to
forgive shows that he himself had never becn
forgiven. And now, in reviewing this para
ble, we learn,
/. That the duty of forgiveness Is sabsolutely
unlimited. How, indeed, can it be otherwise,
If it flows out OF what God has done for rs
8 Even as had pity on thee, is the diFlne
rule. Therefore to one who has been himself
forgiven the right to refuse forgiveness does
not exist How can we reach the limit OF
our seventy times egven a.
a Our sins aNaineh God ara uracticaliv