SERMON VIII.

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES.

MARK Xi. 25, 26.

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your FATHER also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your FATHER which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses."

THE Prayer for forgiveness of sins necessarily arises out of the former petitions in the LORD's Prayer; for neither could the kingdom of GoD come to us, nor could "our daily bread" be any good to us unless our sins be forgiven: and they will be forgiven us in proportion to that forgiveness which we measure out to others. It is on this account that forgiveness of injuries is the one great requisite for availing Prayer. And, as St. Chrysostom well observes, "It is on no other commandment that our LORD dwells after giving us the LORD's Prayer 1." To this point HE returns ; "For if ye forgive, your Heavenly FATHER will forgive you"." On the occasion referred to in the Text, after the withering of the fig tree, when He speaks of the great power of Prayer; on this one point HE speaks as that on which the power of Prayer depends. "And when ye stand praying," HE says, "forgive, if ye have ought against any." In the Sermon on the Mount, He insists on this forgiveness, as the one great requisite in going into the temple of GOD. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

1 Hom. xix. in Matt. vi.

2 Matt. vi. 14.

leave there thy gift, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother "."

3

Again; as the LORD's Prayer is peculiarly the Prayer of Christians, so this is beyond all other things their great privilege and duty. If it be asked, what do we gain by being Christians? it might all be comprehended in this saying,-the forgiveness of sins and if it be asked, what is the one great thing required of Christians, peculiarly as such? it must be said to be the forgiveness of the sins of others. It is in this respect that we differ from the Angels of GOD: among them, those that fell had no door of forgiveness opened, they are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great Day." To the heathen the forgiveness of sins was unknown; there were wise and good men, witnesses from GOD, among them, who spoke of almost every virtue that could adorn a Christian, except this one :-they taught nothing of the forgiveness of injuries. Even to the Jews, under the Old Testament, little was known of this great duty it was said to them, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth "." It was our LORD HIMSELF who set all this aside, and brought in for the first time, as in the Sermon on the Mount, that one great doctrine as peculiarly His, the forgiveness of injuries. And it is very evident why this was not inculcated either on heathens or on Jews; it is because it is founded altogether on the Cross of CHRIST: it is not to be found in human nature, even at its best estate; it is altogether the "new law" of CHRIST; for His sake alone we are forgiven; for His sake we forgive: the two are bound up together, God's forgiveness of us, and our forgiving of each other for CHRIST's sake.

All this is set before us in a very striking and interesting manner by that memorable parable of our LORD's, on the subject of this great duty. He had been speaking of the forgiveness of injuries; St. Peter asked how often he should forgive an offending brother, whether "until seven times;” but our LORD's answer was, that his forgiveness should be altogether without any bounds, or till seventy times seven." Therefore," He adds, "is the kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And one was brought unto

3 Matt. v. 23, 24.

4 Jude 6.

5 Matt. v. 38.

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him which owed him ten thousand talents "." Now as a talent is of itself more than two hundred pounds, this was, of course, a larger sum than any man could possibly pay; such is even the best of men in the sight of GOD, such his numerous sins against infinite Holiness; and not only is the debt so very great, but he has nothing to pay. This debtor has his liberty, and all that belongs to him, now forfeited by the laws of ancient kingdoms; but, on his earnest entreaty, he is forgiven the whole of that debt. This exactly represents the condition of the Christian; having his pardon sealed to him, and "remission of sins" flowing to him from, in, by, and through his Baptism. The kingdom of Heaven is like this man, when he goes forth thus already and entirely forgiven. It is the beginning of the Christian state, which is one of forgiveness. "Every one," says St. Augustine, "beginneth at baptism and goeth forth free." But what follows? "The same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants which owed him an hundred pence," i. e. a very trifling sum, compared with what he had himself owed to the king. 'And he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not." In this manner he shows how utterly unworthy he is of the pardon which his LORD had already given him; and that remission once given is taken away in consequence. What his master had required of him was, Shouldest not thou have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?" This is the very law of that judgment which will be on the Christian at the last Day; the merciful shall obtain mercy; and with the measure which they have meted it shall be measured to them again. And it is therefore the very rule of his duty now; as St. Paul says, "Forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any : even as CHRIST forgave you."

Now the one great point to be here noticed is the vast difference of the two debts-ten thousand to one hundred, and talents to pence. Such is, in reality, the infinite difference between our sins against GoD and any amount of evil which can possibly be

6 Matt. xviii.

7 Matt. v. 7. vii. 2.

8 Col. iii. 11.

committed against us. And yet by the hundred pence our LORD would appear to represent one of the most aggravating cases that could occur between man and man. As in another similar occasion, He says to St. Peter, "If he trespass against thee seven times in a day". In both instances His meaning is, let the case be ever so bad as between mankind, yet it is absolutely trifling compared with the offences of men against GoD. It is the same kind of contrast which St. Paul expresses when speaking of the worst of earthly troubles-" Your light affliction, which is but for a moment," compared with the "eternal weight of glory 1." So likewise, the most grievous case of wrong and offence which can be done to us by a fellow-mortal, is but as a grain of dust on the balance, compared with the overflowing abundance of God's mercy and pardon to us. There is, then, in the sight of Gor, i. e. there is in truth, as we shall one day be brought to know, this great difference between the two. And the first thing we have to do is to come to a due sense of this, to a right knowledge of it. For the fact is, that this true state of the case is very little so understood and considered. We are all of us apt to think a great deal too little of our own sins against ALMIGHTY GOD, and a great deal too much of offences committed against ourselves : and these two wrong estimates go together: being but little impressed with our own need of forgiveness we are not disposed to forgive others. The wicked servant in the parable had evidently cast off all sense of his own vast debt, when he had gone out from his master's presence: it was this forgetfulness and deep ingratitude which was at the bottom of his hard unforgiving heart, when his own fellow-servant lay at his feet.

a

To ask forgiveness does of itself imply, as Tertullian says, confession of sin 2." And one great reason why confession of sin is so acceptable to GOD, is because it brings us to a fuller and deeper knowledge of our own sins. A true knowledge and consciousness of their own sins is rarely to be met with among men. They set them at a distance from them, and therefore they appear but small; they are only discerned at all, as things are at a distance, as confused together; whereas injuries done to them, men bring home and magnify—they have a distinct strong remembrance

9 Luke xvii. 4.

1 2 Cor. iv. 17.

2 De Orat. ix. 7.

of them. And yet if any man is better than another, the difference consists more in this than in any thing else that a good man has a deeper and fuller, and more true sense of his own sins, and that with the same earnestness and sincerity as he asks forgiveness of GOD, he is himself willing to bestow the same on those that offend him. This our LORD has HIMSELF brought before us in another striking parable, which He spake to Simon the Pharisee, who was surprised that He should receive that penitent Sinner which anointed His feet, as mentioned in the seventh chapter of St. Luke, where He spake of two Debtors who were both forgiven; but he who was forgiven most loved most. "But to whom little is forgiven," He added, "the same loveth little." It is not he who hath sinned most who is most forgiven, for sin always hardens the heart; but he is forgiven most who most repents, and most confesses his sins. For on whom most of all rests the full and uncancelled forgiveness of GOD? surely on him who most truly repents and asks forgiveness, and forgives others after the same measure. Thus he that hath most forgiven loveth most: and he that loveth most hath also most forgiven.

Our sins against GoD are in all cases so great, that, I say, the first thing we have to do is to be impressed with a right and due knowledge of this, otherwise we shall neither know God nor ourselves when we come before HIM. We all know that the instance of acceptable Prayer which justified in the sight of GOD, was that of the Publican in the Temple, in distinction from the Pharisee. When he "stood afar off, and would not so much as lift up his eyes to Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner "," he surely felt as one who had owed ten thousand talents, and had not wherewith to pay; or as the penitent Psalmist," My sins have taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up: yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me." St. Augustine has well observed, that this Prayer of the Publican was spoken to the Apostles themselves, those first great leaders of CHRIST's flock. Even to them was given this pattern of humiliation-to them who are among mankind as the best and holiest of men: yet were they sinners in the sight of GoD, and their acceptance with HIM

3 Luke xviii. 13.

4 Ps. xl. 15.

5 Serm. vii. 6.