Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-20
NEXT TO INCREDIBLE,
But Plainly True When Viewed
Through the Proper Light.
ONE OF THE STARTLING PHRASES
Which Are by No Means Uncommon in the
New Testament Books.
RULES WITH EXCEPTIONS MANIFOLD

| RULES WITH EACEPTlONS MANlFVLl
WRITTEN. FOR THE D1srATcH.1
"Whosesoever sins ye forgive, they ar,
forgiven; and whosesoever sins ye retain,
they are retained"
Jesus Christ said that. But is it no
| amazing? Is it not next to incrediblet
We will forgive your sins, and they are for
given; or we will retain your sins, and they
are retained. Who will believe it?
Let us not forget, however, that this il
not the only startling wordthat Jesus spoke
Partly, perhaps, for the sake of attention
and still more for the sake of making those
to whom he spoke remember what he said,
and most Of all that he might make men
think, he expressed himself, not once or
twice, but many times, in sentences strange,
paradoxical, and hard to understand. More
than once he seemed to contradict the COM
mon sense of men.
AS, for example, in the Sermon on the
Mount: "Resist not evil" "give to him
that asketh thee;" 'judge not" ''ask, and
it shall be given you." These words need
explanation. We recite them, and at once
a score of difficulties drawn out of expert
ence confront us. Are they to be taken
literally and followed exactly as they read?
Or, are We to understand them as the direct,
unqualified statements of great principles,
which are to be applied as best we may, and
are to be studied in the light of other great
principles which on this side and on that
hedge them. about with limitations? That
is, are we to read them each apart, as if
Jesus said just that and never q word else?
Or are we to interpret them according to the
spirit of Him who spoke them, as it is re-
vealed in all His other words together?
Deeper Than the Surface.
It is evident, I think, that these words
are deeper than they seem. The meaning
does not lie altogether upon the surface.
Often the meaning seems not to lie upon
the surface at all, but to be hidden away
underneath where We must diligently search
for it, we would really understand His
will. Every one of these hard sayings
touches the heart of truth, but we must do
some studying before we see Just how.
Every one teaches a profound principle,
but it is not SO evident in what way the
principle is to be applied. These are the
rules of Christian living, but they are rules
with exceptions manifold. And the appli-
cation of the exceptions, Jesus Christ de-
sires to leave with us They are not to be
obeyed slavishly in the letter, but wisely in
the spirit. And we are left to learn that
wisdom. Because one of the purposes for
which Christ came into the world was to
make people think.
And so we come back to this hard saying
which we will take tor our study. And we
find that it is like great many other hard
sayings of the Master, and that we must
think about it il we wish to understand it.
To be contented with the surface meaning
is probably to miss the real meaning alto
yether.
Whosesoever sins We forgive, they are for
given: and whosesoever s1ns We retain they
ire retained The Lord ct truth said that,
md it is true. But how?
We do not get any nearer, the meaning by
that He said it to his apostles.
For, after all, the apostles were but men
ike the rest of us. They were better men.
10 doubt, than the most of us. But still,
hey were men. And, because men, there
ore ignorant, as the wisest are ignorant;
md prejudiced as the fairest are prejudiced;
md not able to look with perfectly clear
light into anybody's heart. The apostles
'ould make mistakes, as we can. They
we're not by any means infallibIe. And vet
hev were to forgive mems sins, and to re-
ain mems sins.
The Same Meaning Now as Then.
If that is an awful thing to say to-day in
he case of man before whose name the |
tile reverend" is written, it was lust as
.wful thing to say good many hundreds
# years ago in the case of men bofore whose
lames We write the title saint" Shall |
Peter forgive mems sins? Shall John for |
live mems sins? 1t matters not what Peter
lor what John. 1t may be Peter or
[ohn who lives in Palestine, or it may be q
Peter and John who live in Pennsylvania;
t makes no difference. The words mean
low what they meant then, and neither
more nor less. 1t is evident that they are
words which Jesus Christ felt to be
altogether fitting to be spoken to COM
,any of plain, good men. They did not |
xceed the abilities of men. And the in |
erence Is that if they could be spoken to
nen once, they can of right be spoken |
lnder similar conditions, to any men and
anywhere. /
The words were addressed to the apostles,
It their ordination; that is, at their formal |
nd final commission to be the ministers of |
christ. And they are used to-day upon the |
ccasion OF an ordination; and with Christ's |
meaning and no other meaning We can
ardly hope to find better pattern for an
service than that which was set |
" the Lord Christ himself
The only question, then, is as to what
Jhrist meant. If we can find that meaning
We have found the truth. And we can find
t only by dint of thinking.
Let us determine, first, what the words do
lot and cannot mean. For the truth is
ever inconsistant with itself. When We
ave learned one truth of Jesus Christ, and
ave mastered it, then we have a clew to
1hatever else He said. Because He evil
emily did not mean to contradict that. ALI
ew truth is true under the conditions of
he truth we knew before.
1t is plain, then, that this hard saying
annot mean any contradiction to the will
f God, nor any contradiction to the con-
itions of release from sin, nor any contra
iction to the true definition of forgiveness.
Set Among the Negatives.
Whatever commission our Lord gave to
be apostles it was not such as to leave out
f account the will OF God Neither Peter,
or James, nor John, nor the whole apos-
olic company together, could free from the
urden OF sin any man whom God had not