The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-04-21
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON ", SECOND QUARTER, INTER
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL "a.
Text of the Lesson, Math. xvii, 21-35e
Memory Verses, FL, 22 - Golden Text,
Luke vi, 81 Commentary by the Rev.
ID. M. Stearns.
ICopyright. 1898. by D. M. Stearns.l
FL. "Then came Peter to Him and said:
Hord, how oft shall my brother sin against
me, and forgive hims Till seven times?"
1t is so difficult, much as we may read and
talk about it, to believe and live out the
belief that it is no longer that live, but
Christ who liveth in me (Gal. Ii, 2O) Pc
1er's difficulty here is ''me" and IL for
getting the lesson of chapter xvi, "a, about
denying self and following Christ A bet
ter way Of putting His question would be,
Lord, how often would you forgive one
who would sin against you? 1t should
never be a question Of what would or
would not do, but always what would
to dor As His redeemed ones, we are here
to manifest His life in these mortal bodies
lU Cor Nv, 11) and make Him known.
g. Jesus saith unto him, say not I'M.
to thee, Until seven times, but until sew.
senty times seven" His thoughts and
ways are as far above ours as e.eaven is
above the earth. He gives us eternal re-
<demption, blotting out all our sins, and
assuring us of eternal glory, then teaches
ms that we are to overcome self and sin
and the devil, submitting meekly to many
an unjust demand Of the world for His
sake lest we prove q stumbling block.
1927. Therefore is the kingdom OF
heaven Hkened unto u certain king, which
would take account Of his servants" In
these verses we have an illustration from
Our Lords own lips Of His forgiveness,
which He freely bestows upon every peni.
tent sinner The parallels of the kingdom
sometimes have reference to the mystery
..of this present age when the kingdom it.
self, which was at hand, is postponed till
He shall come again because of His peo-
piles rejection of Him Sometimes they
refer to the end of this age and the events
connected Herewith. There is one thing
that all should lay to heart, and that is
that there Is a day of reckoning for every
one, for every one of us shall give account
of himself to God, for God shall bring ev-
cry work into judgment with every secret
thing whether it be good or whether it be
evil (Rom. xiv, IL; Feel. xii, 14). The
judge is appointed, even Him whom God
raised from the dead (Acts xvii, 81, the
same who speaks to us in this parable. I
cannot say that the verses we are consid-
-ering refer to any period of the time OF fu-
til. L,,x hon <Dy
igiveness, for God may be said to be always
in some sense reckoning with people. 1t
seems to me that the main point of this
part Of the parable is the full and free for
igiveness which He bestows upon every
penitent The debtor was greatly in debt,
owing 10, 600 talents, which, according to
the estimate in the margin, would be over
30, ZOO, 600, and he could not pay, as we
say, a cent ON the dollar, for he had moth
ing, yet he was presumptuous enough to
ask for patience, promising to pay all.
His lord, moved with compassion, forgave
him the whole debt Our Indebtedness to
God for life and care and mercies since we
had any being is beyond computation. If
we should count but one mercy a minute
for only 20 years, they would be over TO-,
aO00, 900, but who can estimate the mercies
OF a moment9
$3.50. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants which
owed him an hundred pence. According
to the margin, debt of not over $25, yet
see his treatment of his fellow as compared
with his lords treatment of him. But do
not condemn him unless you are sure that
you are not guilty. Mans inhumanity to
man is as marvellous as Gods compassion.
Great as is Gods forgiveness, SO great is
mans lack of it. Have you never said of
any one Il cannot forgive him, or "In
forgive, but l cannot forget?" If you have
said such things, you have no right to con-
denim this man. Remember the words of
our Lord in a certain case, "He that is
without sin among you let him first cast
stone" (John viii, y.
81 49, when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry and
came and told unto their lord all that was
done" In this case there was nothing that
they could do but tell their lord, for he
alone had power to deal with the wicked
servant But here is an application which
every believer may with profit lay to heart.
We, if we have received Christ Jesus as our
Saviour, are truly forgiven, washed, sane
titled, justified, but there are millions who
are not and who do not know anything
&SGOuo UAO AOAu OCouo e1uu t1AO AAoOAO W w
cast forever into the hands of the great ad-
versary who now Expresses them. Are we
sorry enough for them to say to our Lord
who has saved us: Here am I. Send me to
tell them of Thee and of Thy salvation?"
1924. "And his lord was wroth, and
delivered him to the tormentors till he
should pay all that was due unto him."
We must not think of our Lord in this
STORY as If He was speaking of Himself,
for we are nowhere taught that He ever
forgives and then takes back His forgive
ness The gifts and calling of God are
without repentance (Rom. II, 29). He
never changes His mind. We must notice
that our Lord is telling Of a certain man
and his servants, and the lord in the story
is the master of these servants, not our
Lord. See the small letter !, not capital
l. So in the story of the unjust steward
the question is repeatedly asked, How
could our Lord ever commend such frauds
Our Lord never did, but the mans master
or lord (small u commended his fraudu-
dent servant for being clever enough to
provide future welcome for himself In
the homes of those whom he had befriend-
ed at his lords expense. Our Lord taught
that we ought to make such use of present
opportunities - lawfully, Of course - as
would be for our benefit in the life to come.
R5 $50 likewise shall NV Heavenly ia