The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 233

whom he will have mercy;" "He was moved with O'\lll.pa.ssion." (2) So the wiedvm w~ich i~ from above, tru~ religion, is "eas! to be entm1ted." The returning prodigal l:hild will find 11. relenting heart. The msolvent debtor, a compassionate creditor.· The distressed tenant, a lenient landlord. Gratitude to God will make it so. "lam thy servant; for thou hast loosed my bonds." (3) This is a forgiveness which leaves no pique behind, no refusal of friendship. We should keep no account of the offences of a brother, but pass them over, and so forgive and forget until it becomes a habit to do so. !II. 'l'HA.T TRB MA.GNITUDE OF GoD'S MEBCY IS ALSO THE MEA.SUBE OF HIS WBA.TH, 1. There is a timeforr~koningwuh the King. (1) The King reckons with his servants when their regeneration commences. Then they reflect upon their spiritual state, and upon their liability to ruin. (2) There are retributions and rewards in the order of God's pro~idence in this world. (3) The grand reckoning will be in the day of judgment at the end of the age. To this end God keeps account (see Deut. xxxii. 34). 1 Every sin we commit is a debt to God. The aggregate is the "ten thousand talents.". 2. His pardons will be retra&d,from the unmerciful. (1) The same servant went out and throttled his fellow-servant. "Went out." How different may be our conduct when we go out into the world from what it is when we go into our closet I Went· out; not immediately, perhaps, but when by degrees the spirit of the world replaced the grateful emotion. (2) Those who have experienced God's mercy have the greater reason to deprecate his wrath. They will find the "seventy times seven" of the mercy transformed into wrath (cf. Gen. iv. 24). How serious, then, may be the con- sequences of the difference between the attitude of the closet and that of the world t 3. Haw fearful are the trearures of wrath! (1) There are the sufferings of loss. Thtt" debtor is sold up. He forfeits wife, children, property. All ennobling excellences of his nature nre removed. His talents, his trusts, are taken away (cf. eh. xxv. 15, 28). " Those who sell themselves to work wickedness must be sold to make satisfaction,. (Henry). (2) The sufferings of reproach. "Thou wicked servant." This expresses a perception which God will give to the sinner of the enormity of his conduct. "I forgave thee a.1.1 that debt." It is terrible to be upbraided with the mercy we have abused. "Shouldst not thou also," etc.? 'What a contrast is here with the mercy tha, is given liberally without upbraiding (Jas. i. 6) I (3) Torment. Eastern prisons were places of torment (cf. eh. u:v. 46; 2 Pet. ii. 4, 17; Jude 6). The prison-keepers are the tormentors (cf. Rev. :x:iv. 10-12). The tortures are the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched. (4) The sufferer has no voice to reply.-J. A. M. Ver. 3.-Christ's type of the triilg great. We treat this as an abstract question. What is true greatness? Who is the truly great man? But the disciples asked a practical questio~ bearing immediate relation to their temporal. ex~tation~. They, and their conversations, can never be understood unless we keep m mind their earthly ideas of their Lord's mission. Judas, with the grasping disposition, was anticipating his chances in the new kingdom; and even James and John were scheming to secure a promise of the right and left hand places in the new court. Over the expected offices in the new kingdom those disciples quarrelled, until at last they brought their dispute to Jesus for him to decide it by his authority. When they asked, "Who· is the greatest 'in the kingdom of heaven?" they meant, "Who is to have the principal office in the new Davidic kingdom which thou art about to set up?" Their question was childuih ; it would have been framed very differently if it had been childlike• .AB Christ corrected false notioDI!, we look at those false notions first. I. MEN'S IDEAS OF GBEATliEBS. " The things that men deem glorious were of no- account with Christ. He did not measure a man's eminence by the height of the pedestal on which he stood, nor by the stars that shone on his breast ; he had no- admiration for purple and gold, for the flash of jewels, for lofty titles, or any of th& thousand things that dazzle the eye and impose on the carnal heart." "Does true greatness belong to the lion-hearted, to the righteous, to the martyr, to the ascetic, to the saint? la Thomas on the way to it, with his strong, logioal intelloct that will tbke nothing on credit without evidence and hie sturdy fidelity of purpose?" Great~esw must associate either with (1) class; (2) office; (3) wealth ; (4) intellect; (6) genius• or (6) success, in order to be appreciated b1 men. CB. xvm. 1-35.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 237