you for the sake of Christ u." And to the whole Ephesian Church it was proclaimed, " God, for Christ's sake, hath for- given you."]
But it is not merely as comforting the soul that I insist on this, but chiefly and principally,
III. As operating in the life —
A sense of God's pardoning love should operate on us generally —
[Nothing but this will ever call forth our energies fully in the service of our God. It is " the love of Christ that must constrain us :" and that, duly apprehended, will cause us to live altogether unto Him who died for us, and rose again x ]
More particularly should it produce in us a for- giving temper against our offending brethren —
[A spirit of forbearance and forgiveness is insisted on by the inspired writers, as indispensable to the Christian cha- racter ; insomuch, that a person who is not under its influence has no hope of obtaining mercy at the hands of God. The mercy which we ourselves have received for Christ's sake, is proposed in my text as a powerful motive for the exercise of a forgiving disposition on our part, and as a pattern which, in the exercise of it, we should resemble. The same important truth is taught us in the parable of the unforgiving servant ; who, when forgiven by his master ten thousand talents, seized a fellow-servant by the throat, and cast him into prison for the trifling debt of one hundred pence. For such merciless conduct his lord was justly incensed against him; as he will be against all who know not how to imitate the goodness of their Gody. It is on this principle that our Lord requires us to " forgive an offending brother, not seven times in a day, but seventy times seven z." For, if we call to remembrance our own offences, and consider for a moment how great and multiplied they have been, we shall see, that no injury which a fellow-creature can do to us can bear any proportion to the offences which we have committed against God: and, conse- quently, that there should be no disposition in us but to render to our fellow-creatures according to what we ourselves have received at the hands of God.]
u 1 John ii. 12. x 2 Cor. v. 15.
y Matt, xviii. 23 — 35. There was no proportion between the debts, the one being about three pounds, and the other nearly seven millions.
z Matt, xviii. 21, 22.
2114.] Christ's love a pattern for ours. 371
Application —
1. Be sensible of your obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ —
[It is not for your own sake that God has forgiven you, but for his dear Son's sake. And if Christ had not interposed for you, to reconcile you unto God by his own death upon the cross, you would to all eternity have been in the condition of the fallen angels, who are receiving in hell the due recompence for their sins. Reflect, then, on your desert before God, and on the mercy you are receiving at his hands ; and then direct your eyes to the Saviour, and give him the glory due unto his name. Of course, it is here supposed that you have deeply repented of your sins, and " fled for refuge to Christ, as to the hope set before you:" for, if you have not thus come to Christ, you are yet " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, and without any
scriptural hope of salvation" But if, indeed, you
have believed in Christ, then should every faculty of your soul be called forth in grateful and continual praises for all that you now enjoy, and all that you hope for in a better world ]
2. Endeavour to requite them in the way that he himself has enjoined —
[Look, not to your conduct merely, but to the inmost dispositions of your souls. His love to you should be the model of your love to others. Let his image, then, be seen upon you. And, as men are known by the very form of the characters they write, so "be ye epistles of Christ, known and read of all men3." " Let the same mind be in you as was in himb;" and, "as he has loved you, see that ye also love one another0."]