But he was brought. We oannot escape, we must come, when he requires our presence, The debt was enormous, far more than we can even represent t.o our imagination. Such is the awful debt of sin; we may well say every day 1 anrl many times every day, "Forgive us our debts." 2. TM mercy of the king. Tbe servant was to be sold, be and hie family, and all that he bad. In bis agony be fell down before hie lord and worship1ied him ; "Lord," he said, "have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." He could not pay, be never could have paid, that vast debt. But in bis pre- sumption, or in his deceitfulness, or, it may be, in the frenzy of bis abject terror, be promised the impossible. The king was moved with compassion ; be loosed him, and forgave him the debt. It is a parable of the infinite compassion of the heavenly King; "he pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent.' "li we confess our sins, be is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 3, The cruelty of the servant. He went out from the king's presence. We are only safe while we abide in union with the Lord. He is the Source and Fountain of love, and apart from him there is no true and holy love. When men go out from his presence, from the sphere of his influence, they cease to Jove; they become selfish, hard, unfeeling. That forgiven servant found a fellow-servant who owed him a hundred pence, a. trifling sum compared with his own enormous debt. He caught him by the throat; he would not listen to his prayer (though the prayer was that very same prayer which he himself bad just before poured forth in the bitterness of his soul); he cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So now men forget their own guilt, their own danger; they are hard and unforgiving to others, forgetting their own deep need of mercy and forgiveness. 4. The condemnation. His fellow- servants were very sorry. The sins of others will cause real sorrow to the true Christian; he will grieve over the hard-hearted and impenitent, as the Lord wept over Jerusalem. "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes," said the psalmist, "because men keep not thy Law." They told their lord. The all-seeing God needs no information from men or angels; yet in their prayers bis saints lay before him the oppression and sufferings of his people, as Hezekiah laid the letter of Sennacherib before the Lord, as the disciples "went and told Jesus" of the death of the holy Baptist. The king was wroth: "0 thou wicked servant," he said. He had not called him wicked because he owed the ten thou.sand talents; he pitied him then; now he upbraids him. His want of mercy showed the utter hardness and selfishness of his heart; it showed that bis own cry for mercy implied no sense of the greatness of his debt, but only fear of punish- ment. The king was wroth; he delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him. His cruelty cancelled the forgiveness which had been granted him. His last state was won;e than the first. Those who, having been once enlightened, fall away from grace are in awful danger. "It bad been better for them noi to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to tnm from the holy co=andment delivered unto them." The unhappy man could never pay that tremendous debt; he could not bad he remained free, how much less when he was in the hands of the tormentors I Those words are very awful; they represent awful possibilities; they sound in our ears in tones of awful warning. "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.'' The unloving cannot abide in Christ, who is Love; the bard- hearted and unmerciful cannot continue in union with him who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor; the unforgiving cannot dare to use the prayer which the Lord himself hath taught us, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.'' "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." There is no mercy for the mercilens. We may repeat again and again the words of prayer, "Lord, have mercy upon u11 I" but countless repetitiollB will not win mercy for those who have not mercy in their hearts. .And oh I we shall need mercy in the great day. Then let ue be merciful nc,w: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one anolher, evon as God for Cb.rut's sake bath forgiven you.'' LEBBONB, 1. Let us always remember the great account; God has givon us work to do, let ue work out our own salvation in fear and trembling. 2. Our debt is immense; Jet the remembrance of our sins keep us humble. 3. God's mercy is infinite; let us trust in his forgiving love. 4. He is wroth with the unforgiving; let us learn mercy of the most Merciful. 5. We say the Lord's Prayer daily ; let us ever strive by God'• f24 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [ea. xvrn. 1--35.
f:t'Bce to translate that prayer into practice, to live ea we pray, to forgive, as we hope for forgivene11&,