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the rejected Jews fell under (Rom. xi. 8), a spirit of slumber; for Christ will not suffer his own ordinances to be trampled upon, but will say amen to the righteous sentences which the Church passes on obstinate offenders. How light soever proud scorners may make of the censures of the Church, let them know that they are confirmed in the court of heaven; and it is in vain for them to appeal to that court, for judgment is there already given against them. They that are shut out from the congregation of the righteous now shall not stand in it in the great day. Psal. i. 5. Christ will not own those as his, nor receive them to himself, whom the Church has duly delivered to Satan; but, if through error or envy the censures of the Church be unjust, Christ will graciously find those who are so cast out. John ix. 34, 35.

Secondly, In their sentence of absolution- Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Note, 1. No Church censures bind so fast, but that, upon the sinner's repentance and reformation, they may and must be loosed again. Sufficient is the punishment which has attained its end, and the offender must then be forgiven and comforted. 2 Cor. ii. 6. There is no unpassable gulf fixed but that between hell and heaven. 2. Those who, upon their repentance, are received by the Church into communion again may take the comfort of their absolution in heaven, if their hearts be upright with God. As suspension is for the terror of the obstinate, so absolution is for the encouragement of the penitent. St Paul speaks in the person of Christ, when he saith, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also." 2 Cor. ii. 10.

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin "against me, and I forgive him? "till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: *but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and ‡worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

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u Luke xvii. 4.

Chap. vi. 14; Mark xi. 25; Col. iii. 13. † A talent is 750 ounces of silver, which, after five shillings
y 2 Kings iv. 1; Neh. v. 8. Or, besought him.

the ounce, is £187, 10s.
ounce, which, after five shillings the ounce, is sevenpence halfpenny. Chap. xx. 2.
James ii. 13.

The Roman penny is the eighth part of an
Prov. xxi. 13; Chap. vi. 12; Mark xi. 26;

This part of the discourse concerning offences is certainly to be understood of personal wrongs, which it is in our power to forgive. Now observe,—

I. Peter's question concerning this matter (ver. 21)—Lord, how oft shall my brother trespass against me, and I forgive him? Will it suffice to do it seven times? 1. He takes it for granted that he must forgive; Christ had taught his disciples this lesson (chap. vi. 14, 15), and Peter has

not forgotten it. He knows that he must not only not bear a grudge against his brother, or meditate revenge, but be as good a friend as ever, and forget the injury. He thinks it a great matter to forgive till seven times. He means not seven times a day, as Christ said (Luke xvii. 4), but seven times in his life. There is a proneness in our corrupt nature to stint ourselves in that which is good, and to be afraid of doing too much in religion, particularly of forgiving too much, though we have so much forgiven us.

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Christ's reply to Peter is-I say not unto thee, Until seven times (he never intended to set up any such bounds), but, Until seventy times seven-a certain number for an indefinite one. does not look well for us to keep count of the offences done against us by our brethren. There is something of ill-nature in scoring up the injuries we forgive, as if we would allow ourselves to be revenged when the measure is full. God keeps an account because he is the Judge, and vengeance is his; but we must not, lest we be found stepping into his throne.

We have in this passage farther discourse of our Saviour's, by way of parable, to show the necessity of forgiving the injuries that are done to us. The parable is a comment upon the fifth petition of the Lord's prayer, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. Those, and those only, may expect to be forgiven of God who forgive their brethren. The parable represents the kingdom of heaven, that is, the Church, and the administration of the Gospel dispensation in it. The Church is God's family-it is his court; there he dwells, there he rules. God is our master-his servants we are, at least in profession and obligation. In general, the parable intimates how much provocation God has from his family on earth, and how untoward

his servants are.

There are three things in the parable,

The master's wonderful clemency to his servant who was indebted to him; he forgave him ten thousand talents, out of pure compassion to him.

Every sin we commit is a debt to God; not like a debt to an equal, contracted by buying or borrowing, but to a superior; like a debt to a prince when a recognizance is forfeited, or a penalty incurred by a breach of the law or a breach of the peace; like the debt of a servant to his master, by withholding his service, wasting his lord's goods, breaking his indentures, and incurring the penalty. We are all debtors; we owe satisfaction, and are liable to the process of the law. There is an account kept of these debts, and we must shortly be reckoned with for them. God now reckons with us by our own consciences; conscience is an auditor for God in the soul, to call us to account and to account with us. There is another day of reckoning coming, when these accounts will be called over, and either passed or disallowed, and nothing but the blood of Christ will balance the account. The debt of sin is a very great debt; and some are more in debt, by reason of sin, than others. For the heinousness of their nature, our sins are talents-the greatest denomination that ever was used in the account of money or weight. The trusts committed to us, as stewards of the grace of God, are each of them a talent (chap. xxv. 15)—a talent of gold; and for every one of them buried, much more for every one of them wasted, we are a talent in debt, and this raises the account. In number, our sins are ten thousand-a myriad-more than the hairs on our head. Psal. xl. 12. Who can understand the number of his errors, or tell how oft he offends? Psal. xix. 12. Sinners are insolvent debtors; the Scripture, which concludeth all under sin, is a statute of bankruptcy against us all. Silver and gold can not pay our debt. Psal. xlix. 6, 7. Sacrifice and offering can not do it; our good works are but God's work in us, and cannot make satisfaction; we are without strength, and cannot help ourselves. If God should deal with us in strict justice, we should be condemned as insolvent debtors. The servant had contracted this debt by his wastefulness and wilfulness, and therefore might justly be left to lie by it. His lord commanded him to be sold, as a bond-slave; his wife and children to be sold, and all that he had, and payment to be made. Those that sell themselves to work wickedness, must be sold to make satisfaction. Captives to sin are captives to wrath. He that is sold for a bond-slave is deprived of all his comforts, and has nothing left him but his life, that he may be sensible of his miseries; which is the case of damned sinners. Thus he would have payment to be made, that is, something done towards it; though it is impossible that the sale of one so worthless should amount to the payment of so great a debt. By the damnation of sinners, Divine justice will be to eternity in the satisfying, but never satisfied.

Convinced sinners cannot but humble themselves before God, and pray for mercy. The servant, under this charge and this doom, fell down at the feet of his royal master, and worshipped him; or, as some copies read it, he besought him. His address was very submissive and very importunate-Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Ver. 26. The servant knew before that he was so much in debt, and yet was under no concern about it till he was called to an account. Sinners are commonly careless about the pardon of their sins, till they come under the arrests of

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some awakening word, some startling providence, or approaching death, and then, Wherewith shall I approach before the Lord? The God of infinite mercy is ever ready, out of pure compassion, to forgive the sins of those that humble themselves before him. Ver. 27. The lord of that servant, when he might justly have ruined him, mercifully released him. The servant's prayer was, Have patience with me; the master's grant is a discharge in full. The pardon of sin is owing to the mercy of God, to his tender mercy (Luke i. 77, 78); He was moved with compassion. God's reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself; he has mercy because he will have mercy. Their is forgiveness with God for the greatest sins, if they be repented of. We never walk at liberty till our sins are forgiven. The pardon of sin doth not slacken, but strengthen, our obligations to obedience; and we must reckon it a favour that God is pleased to continue such wasteful servants as we have been in such a gainful service as his is, and should therefore deliver us, that we might serve him. Luke i. 74. I am thy servant, for thou hast loosed my bonds.

The second thing in the parable is the servant's unreasonable severity toward his fellow-servant, notwithstanding his lord's clemency toward him. Verses 28-30. This represents the sin of those who, though they are not unjust in demanding that which is not their own, yet are rigorous and unmerciful in demanding that which is their own, to the utmost of right, which sometimes proves a real wrong. Push a claim to an extremity, and it becomes a wrong. The exact satisfaction for debts of injury, which tends neither to reparation nor to the public good, but purely for revenge though the law may allow it,-in order to strike terror,-and for the hardness of men's hearts, yet savours not of a Christian spirit. To sue for money-debts, when the debtor cannot possibly pay them, and so let him perish in prison, argues a greater love of money, and a less love of our neighbour, than we ought to have. Neh. v. 7. Observe how small the debt was, how very small, compared with the ten thousand talents which his lord forgave him-he owed him a hundred pence. How severe the demand was-he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat. Proud and angry men think, if the matter of their demand be just, that will bear them out, though the manner of it be ever so cruel and unmerciful; but it will not hold. What needed all this violence? The debt might have been demanded without taking the debtor by the throat, without sending for a writ, or setting the bailiff upon him. How lordly is this man's carriage, and yet how base and servile is his spirit! If he had been himself going to prison for his debt to his lord, his occasions would have been so pressing, that he might have had some pretence for going to this extremity in requiring his own; but frequently pride and malice prevail more to make men severe than the most urgent necessity would do. How submissive the debtor was. His fellow-servant, though his equal, yet knowing how much he lay at his mercy, fell down at his feet, and humbled himself to him for this trifling debt, as much as he did to his lord for that great debt; for the borrower is servant to the lender. Prov. xxii. 7.

The third thing in the parable is the master's just resentment of the cruelty his servant was guilty of. If the servants took it so ill, much more would the master, whose compassions are infinitely above ours. Now observe here, how he reproved his servant's cruelty (verses 32, 33)—O thou wicked servant. Unmercifulness is wickedness-it is great wickedness. He upbraids him with the mercy he had found with his master-I forgave thee all that debt. Those that will use God's favours, shall never be upbraided with them; but those that abuse them, may expect it. Chap. xi. 20. The greatness of sin magnifies the riches of pardoning mercy: we should think how much has been forgiven us. Luke vii. 47. He shows him the obligation he was under to be merciful to his fellow-servant-Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? He revoked his pardon and cancelled the acquittance, so that the judgment against him evived (ver. 34)-He delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Though the wickedness was very great, his lord laid upon him no other punishment than the payment of his own debt. Those that will not come up to the terms of the Gospel, need be no more miserable than to be left open to the law, and to let that have its course against them. See how the punishment answers the sin; he that would not forgive, shall not be forgiven. The utmost he could do to his fellow-servant was but to cast him into prison, but he was himself delivered to the tormentors. Our debts to God are never compounded; either all is forgiven or all is exacted. Glorified saints in heaven are pardoned all, through Christ's complete satisfaction; damned sinners in hell are paying all, that is, are punished for all. The offence done to God by sin is in point of honour, which cannot be compounded for without such a diminution as the case will by no means admit, and therefore, some way or other, by the sinner or by his surety, it must be satisfied.

We may learn from this parable, that it is necessary to pardon and peace, not only to do justly, but love mercy. It is an essential part of that religion which is "pure and undefiled before God and the Father," of that wisdom from above which is gentle, and easy to be entreated. Look how they will answer for it another day, who persist in the most rigorous and unmerciful

treatment of their brethren, as if the strictest laws of Christ might be dispensed with for the gratifying of their unbridled passions; and so they curse themselves every time they say the Lord's prayer.

CHAPTER XIX.

2 Christ healeth the sick: 3 answereth the Pharisees concerning divorcement: 10 showeth when marriage is necessary: 13 receiveth little children: 16 instructeth the young man how to attain eternal life, 20 and how to be perfect: 23 telleth his disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, 27 and promiseth reward to those that forsake any thing to follow him.

AND it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he

departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan; 2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

Anno Domini 33. a Mark x. 1; John x. 40. b Chap. xii. 15.

In Galilee our Saviour had been brought up, and had spent the greatest part of his life in that remote despicable part of the country. It was only upon occasion of the feasts that he came up to Jerusalem, and manifested himself there; and, we may suppose, that, having no constant residence there when he did come, his preaching and miracles were the more observable and acceptable. He came into the coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan, that they might have their day of visitation as well as Galilee; for they also belonged "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Great multitudes followed him. Where Shiloh is, there will the gathering of the people be. The redeemed of the Lord are such as follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. Rev. xiv. 4. When Christ departs, it is best for us to follow him. It was a piece of respect to Christ, and yet it was a continual trouble, to be thus crowded after wherever he went; but he sought not his own ease, nor, considering how mean and contemptible this mob was (as some would call them), his own honour much, in the eye of the world. He went about doing good; for so it follows, he healed them there. This shows what they followed him for-to have their sick healed; and they found him as able and ready to help here, as he had been in Galilee; for, wherever this Sun of Righteousness arose, it was with healing under his wings.

3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, 'Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10 His ¶ disciples say unto him, "If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 11 But he said unto them, 'All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. 12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs,

c Gen. i. 27, v. 2; Mal. ii. 15. d Gen. ii. 24; Mark x. 5-9; Eph. v. 31. Chap. v. 31. g Chap. v. 32; Mark x. 11; Luke xvi. 18; 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11. * 1 Cor. vii, 32, 34; ix. 5, 15.

e 1 Cor. vi. 16, vii. 2. h Prov. xxi, 19.

f Deut. xxiv. 1; i1 Cor. vii. 2, 7, 9, 17.

which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

We have here the law of Christ in the case of divorce, occasioned, as some other declarations of his will, by a dispute with the Pharisees. So patiently did he endure the contradiction of sinners, that he turned it into instructions to his own disciples!

The case proposed by the Pharisees (ver. 3)—Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? This they asked, tempting him, not desiring to be taught by him. Some time ago, he had, in Galilee, declared his mind in this manner, against that which was the common practice (chap. v. 31, 32); and if he would, in like matter, declare himself now against divorce, they would make use of it for the prejudicing and incensing of the people of this country against him, who would look with a jealous eye upon one that attempted to cut them short in a liberty they were fond of. Their question is, Whether a man may put away his wife for every cause 2 That it might be done for some cause, was granted; but may it be done, as now it commonly was, by the looser sort of people, for every cause-for any cause that a man shall think fit to assign, though ever so frivolous?

Christ's answer to this question comes next. Though it was proposed to tempt him, yet, being a case of conscience, and a weighty one, he gave a full answer to it-not a direct one, but an effectual one-laying down such principles as undeniably prove that such arbitrary divorces as were then in use, which made the matrimonial bond so very precarious, were by no means lawful. Christ himself would not give the rule without a reason, nor lay down his judgment without Scripture proof to support it. Now his argument is this: "If husband and wife are by the will and appointment of God joined together in the strictest and closest union, then they are not to be lightly and upon every occasion separated; if the knot be saered, it cannot be easily untied."

He lays down the fundamental law of marriage, which is, that a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife. Ver. 5. The relation between husband and wife is nearer than that between parents and children; now, if the filial relation may not easily be violated, much less may the marriage union be broken. May a child desert his parents, or may a parent abandon his children, for any cause-for every cause? No; by no means. Much less may a husband put away his wife, betwixt whom, though not by nature, yet by Divine appointment, the relation is nearer, and the bond of union stronger, than between parents and children; for that is in a great measure superseded by marriage, when a man must leave his parents to cleave to his wife. See here the power of a Divine institution, that the result of it is a union stronger than that which results from the highest obligations of nature.

What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Husband and wife are of God's joining together. God himself instituted the relation between husband and wife in the state of innocence. Marriage and the Sabbath are the most ancient of Divine ordinances. Though marriage be not peculiar to the Church, but common to the world, yet, being stamped with a Divine institution, and here ratified by our Lord Jesus, it ought to be managed after a godly sort, and sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. A conscientious regard to God in this ordinance would have a good influence upon the duty, and consequently upon the comfort, of the relation. Husband and wife, being joined together by the ordinance of God, are not to be put asunder by any ordinance of man. Let not man put them asunder; not the husband himself, nor any one for him; not the magistrate, God never gave him authority to do it. The God of Israel hath said, that he hateth putting away. Mal. ii. 16.

Our Saviour rectifies their mistake concerning the law of Moses. They called it a command; Christ calls it but a permission, a toleration. Carnal hearts will take an ell, if but an inch be given them. The law of Moses, in this case, was a political law, which God gave, as the Governor of that people; and it was for reasons of state that divorces were tolerated. The strictness of the marriage union being the result, not of a natural, but of a positive law, the wisdom of God dispensed with divorces in some cases, without any impeachment of his holiness. But Christ tells them that there was a reason for this toleration, not at all to their credit. It was because of the hardness of your hearts, that you were permitted to put away your wives. Moses complained of the people of Israel in his time, that their hearts were hardened (Deut. ix. 6, xxxi. 27)-hardened against God. This is here meant of their being hardened against their relations. There is not a greater piece of hard-heartedness in the world, than for a man to be harsh and severe with his own wife. The Jews, it seems, were infamous for this, and therefore were allowed to put them away; better divorce than do worse than that the altar of the Lord should be covered with tears. Mal. ii. 13. A little compliance, to humour a madman or a man in a frenzy, may prevent a greater mischief. Positive laws may be dispensed with for the preservation of the law of nature; for God will have mercy, and

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