The Tupelo journal., 1910-07-29
A LESSON ON
FORGIVENESS
Specially Arrsnssd for This Paper

1C0O
Memory verses n, q.
GOLDEN TExT.-'Tf you forgive men
their trospasses, your Heavenly Father
will also forgive you..-Matt. 8:14. i
TIME.-Autumn OF A. d. 20.
PLACE.-Capernaum, hear the Sea Of
0aiilee.
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
The Occasion of Peters Question
Matt. 49,: 100. After the return from
the TRANSPORTATION scene. when Jesus
with his disciples were together In q
house in Capernaum, Jesus gave them
some practical teaching and training
on how they should feel and act In a
time Of growing opposition from un-
godly men among whom they must
live and work
First Of all they must cease ambi-
tious striving for place and honor.
They must fling away ambition, By
that sin fell the angels" This self
seeking spirit was exactly opposite to
the kingdom Of heaven. and II they
did not overcome It, their lives would
be failures. It also tended to awaken
hard feelings between brethren. Cut
on your foot; pluck out your eye, IL
you must, but hold on to the spirit Of
the kingdom
The second lesson was from their
Heavenly Fathers seeking not to de-
stroy those who hate and revile and
disobey him, but to give himself to
seeking and saving the lost.
The third lesson was upon the way
| than chN.xy1 oo~v1 out %hfo dfrInn cpfrff
toward those who sinned against
them.
Peters Question and Jesus Answer,
Concerning the Duty of Forgiving En-
emies.-Vs. 81, 20. "The Rabbis, who
had been the disciples teachers hith-
erto, required an offender to go to
the injured party and obtain forgive
ness by owning his fault; but Jesus
told them that among his disciples
the person wronged was to go to the
wrongdoer, that such humility and
love might strengthen his own graces,
and win the guilty one to contrftion."
-Maclaren.
This was a hard saying, but by
united prayer this spirit. as well as
every other blessing, could be OBJ
tanned. But wrongs to others, real or
fancied, are very common, and Peter
naturally asks how long one must
carry out this instruction toward those
who keep on SHINING and apparently
repeating.
Jesus illustrates His Teaching by a
Parable.-Vs 1894. Contrasting the
debt sinful man owes to God with
man owes to the he has injured.
II therefore God forgives freely the
great debt, forgiven man certainly
should forgive the little debt.
The Two Debts "A certain king,
which would take account Of" Bet
ter as R. ", make a reckoning with"
his servants, his officers, as COVER
nors or mobiles who were farmers Of
taxes. They were all "servants' In
relation to the king. "The picture Isl
drawn from an Oriental court. The
provincial governors, farmers Of taxes
and other high officials are summoned
before a despotic sovereign to give an
account of their administration
Cambridge Bible.
zone was brought unto him." On
willingly; such a debtor would not
come Of his own accord. (which owed
him ten thousand talents"
The Two Methods of Treating the
Debtors. Is. Commanded him to be
sold . and all that he had"
So In Syria now, when the debt grows
till 1t equals in value the entire prop
erty of the debtors, the creditor seizes
all they possess.
"The same servant went out" From
his kings presence. He acted In the
very heat of his own experience of re-
lease. "And found one of his fellow
servants" An inferior officer. Owed
him an hundred pence" When the
common translation Of the Bible was
made the pennies were all silver, cop
per pennies not being coined till 1897.
"Took him by the throat" Literally,
went to choking him "Thus Livy
CIV. 53) relates how, a difficulty hav-
Ing arisen between the consul
Valerius and one Menenius, the
tribunes put an end to the contest,
and the consul ordered into prison
(collum torsisset, twisted the neck)
the few who appealed. And Cicero
(Pro Cluentio, XXI.): Lead him to
the judgment-seat with twisted neck
(collo obtorto).' Compare Cicero in
c. verrem, W, 10."-vincent
HHon SOmp Of hio foot r
VIII pay thee ALL" The very act and
words he himself had so lately en-
ployed to his creditor.
"And he would not: but went
event away "and cast him into
prison"
He had reasons In his own mind.
as (1) that the man deserved the pun
ishment: (a) 1t was his own fault
that he was in debt; (3) it was not
good for the community that such
men go unpublished. But not one Of
these did he want applied to himself.
The Lesson in Daily Life.-v. s5. L.
The Punishment Of Those Who Refuse
to Forgive Those Who Injure Them.
$50 likewise shall my heavenly Father
do also unto you" The torrents must
follow to you III ye from Your hearts,"
really and not merely in words, for
give not every n his brother their
~trespasses." Every such person is go
ing in the straight road to the tor
mentors.
There is no greater torment than
those conscience and the working out
Of the laws Of nature and of spirit
produce In order to make the way of