In the Gospels we have suggestions of the money-customs of the day at JIt 21'-"", Mk 11""'", Lk 19«-«, and Jn 2i3-''. There are pictures of indebtedness in the parables of the Two Debtors (Lk 7-""^=^), the Talents (Mt 25'*"»'), and the Pounds (Lk 19""^). Lending and repaying are seen in practice at Lk 6** ; also a credit system at Lk 16*"'', if tlie reference there be to merchants, and not simply to those who paid rents in kind. Imprison- ment for debt appears in Mt 5^"=* ; and in un- mitigated form in the story of the Two Creditors (Mt 18'-'"*>), with selling into slaverj-, accompanied by the horror of 'tormentors' (v.**), although the whole passage is to be interpreted with caution, because Jesus in the fancied features of His tale may be reflecting, not the manners of His o\ra land, but the doings of some distant and barbaric potentate. Enough that in the time of Christ there was seizure of the debtor's person, and the general treatment of liim was ciiiel.
But whatever the law and custom, it was not the manner of Jesus to attack it. Tlie civil code was left to change to higher forms in days to come. The exhibition of a certain spirit in face of it was what His heart craved, a spirit which should do justice to the best instincts of a true humanity. AVe can transcend in loving ways the nether aims even of bad laws ; and it was the evasion of clear duty in this respect, by those in the high places of the religions world, which moved Jesus most. He was the champion of the merciful essence of the old enactments (ilt 5'"), while others around Him, prating of orthodoxy the while, were
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harsh to those unfortunately in their power (Mt 23"), all in the name of an ancient law wliose real inwardness tliey missed. The Sadducees, whose love of money was whetted by enjoyment of the Temple dues, were not the men to show mercy to a debtor, nor were the Pharisees behind them, more Puritanic in zeal, and rigidly enforcing the letter of their writs. ' An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (MtS'"*), as an old catchword, would infect the spirit in ^^•llicll, in the name of 'righteous- ness,' they complacently sued. Jesus lays down no outward rules such as might bear upon the modem business world. There fair and sijuare dealing must be a lirst jiostulatii ; but, in the light of His gospel, men should be keener th.'in they are to note hardships, and their hearts warmer towards cases of distress. In the spirit of the Golden Rule (Mt 7'", Lk 6^''^'') merciful dealings will show them- selves in undefined ways ; and the love of brother- men should counteract the love of money which prompts to stern e.\actions in every case alilif. The soul saved by Christian feeling from surdid views of life adds to its true treasure by making the circumstances of unfortunate ones an exercise- ground for -tender, pitying grace. The metaphors of Jesus in Mt 5'""^- are exceeding bold, and the generous treatment there inculcated may sound almost incredible, not to say subversive of social order ; but the enlightened heart will recognize at once the kindly and sacrificing sjiivit meant to be strongly emphasized. The dynamic in the whole matter, with Jesus, is tlie remembrance of tlie pitiful nature of our own plight before (iod, to whom on the strict requirements of law we are indebted in countless ways. The more this inward situation is brought home to us, the more \\ c sliall outwardly be comjiassionate in turn. Here (omo in the moral grandeur of the Beatitude on mcny (Mt 5'), a principle which melts into prayer w hen we connect it with the tender breathing of the Petition on forgiveness (Mt U'-). The Iiumble and the contrite heart holds tlie key to magnanimitj'. See, further, art. ' Debt ' in Hastings' DB.
Debtor.— There remains the question of debt as the emblem of moral short-coming {6<pel\riij.a, Mt 6'^. See Lord'.s Prayer), and the Supreme Creditor's way with men in this regard, especially as depicted in certain well-known parables. The image is natural wliich pictures the Deity sitting like a civil judge, to try men for defavilts ; and while some think more of the majesty of the law, and what must be exacted to satisfy the interests of order, others love to dwell on the prerogative of mercy, and favour judgments which are ameli- orative as well as punitive. No reader of the Gospels can fail to see the latter characteristic strong in the teaching of the Master. Pardon befits the royal clemency, .and God is known in the kingdom for sovereign displays of grace. Yet due weight is given to the other asjject of the image also — the satisfaction of the law ; for Jesus teaches that it is only the pure in heart who see God (Mt 5") ; the holiness that avails must be inward, not that of the legalist (v.™), and only they who are merciful obtain mercy (v.'). But what is characteristic in the Gospel treatment of the subject is not any dwelling upon absolute judgments — these are left to the Searcher of Hearts ; rather we are taken by Jesus to the sphere of proximate evidence, and shown that in the individual life the presence or absence of the forgiving spirit is sure token of the presence or absence of the Divine condescension as regards the person himself. In other words, principles dis- covered in the relations of men with each other are n fortiori valid for their relationship to God (Mt 6"-i=).