SERMON V.

St. Matth. xviii. 35th verse.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye, from your hearts, forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.*

WHOEVER has been accustomed to read attentively, or to meditate seriously upon, the parables of our blessed Saviour, cannot fail to have discovered in them a wonderful felicity both in the adaptation of the subject matter to the characters of his auditors, and in the peculiarly simple, yet most appropriate, and even forcible language, in which that subject matter is conveyed. The moral, sentiment, or principle, developed in all these parables, is not less, also, deserving of your attention and meditation. To the Pagan world in particular-devoted to their partial and distorted views of human nature

* Preached at St. Mary's, Feb. 25, 1824.

to

their prejudiced and perverted feelings, and

short sighted deductions

the delivery of such moral, or principle, could not fail to have been equally new, convincing, and astonishing.

Throughout all these parables, my brethren, there is such an acute knowledge of human nature displayed-clothed in language the most simple and forcible, yet destitute of personal offence-there is such an intimate and thorough acquaintance with the perversities of the human mind - yet with all its capabilities of apprehension and of improvement-that however the auditors, to whom such parables were addressed, might not, in the first instance, have assented to positions, or acquiesced in conclusions upon retirement and reflection, and upon communing with their own hearts," they must have admitted that, surely "never man spake as this man spake ; truly this man was the Son of God."

Your recollection of the parable, connected with the words of my text, will immediately convince you of the truth of these preliminary observations: that parable, containing one of the most luminous, argumentative, and irresistibly conclusive, illustrations of the

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great Christian doctrine of forgiveness of injuries-of that doctrine, which our blessed Lord hath interwoven in his incomparable prayer-" forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us "- and of which, indeed, it may be considered as an especial illustration.

You will observe, first, that the parable here alluded to, seems to have been delivered in consequence of an abrupt, but zealous, interposition on the part of St. Peter, to whom indeed, personally, our Lord might have spoken while his auditors were the immediately surrounding spectators. "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?””—that is, in general terms; for the usual acceptation, or sense of the word, brother, is not here meant to be conveyed-but only that of a fellow creature, or any one of the Apostles' brethren. Observe again, that St. Peter, somewhat ungraciously, does not wait to receive the opinion of his Master-of the great Judge, to whose decision he had pointedly deferred - but he goes on to give his own notion of the extent of forgiveness of injuries-and, in proportion, to betray the narrow mindedness of his conceptions. He

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adds-" till seven times ?"-" must I forgive my brother as many as seven times, if he offend, or sin against me?" Our Saviour's reply is an admirable confirmation of the remark submitted to you at the opening of this Discourse. It is a reply at once general and particular sententious and illustrative: for, first, our Lord says, I say not unto thee until seven times-but until seventy times seven." This was his first general, but sententious, reply: an aphorism, or truth, dropping from his lips: and be assured it was accompanied with every mark of dignity, and perhaps with some little severity of rebuke. What!" - might our Saviour have been supposed to remark, addressing himself partly to St. Peter-" do you, one of my most zealous followers and disciples one, who hath so often heard my doctrines, and rejoiced in their consoling efficacy-do you confine your notions of forgiveness of injuries only until seven times?! - I say not unto thee"-(repeating St. Peter's own words, and thus adding greater power to the reply) "until seven times- but until seventy times

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Immediately, therefore, our Saviour subjoins the parable of the king who would take

account of his servants; typifying, in such king, his own Father, which was in heavenand who at the last day will, in like manner, take an account of us--his creatures, his servants, and his debtors.

In order to make the parable more forcible, and to shew in a more striking manner the tender mercies of his Father, and the enormities of our offences, the first servant, who is brought before the King, appears to have been a very considerable delinquent-his deficiencies or debts amounting to no less a sum than 10,000 talents: and he declares himself wholly unable to satisfy his sovereign Master. In consequence, an order is given to seize upon every thing in the shape of compensation he is himself, in the first instance, commanded to be sold-then his wife and children are to be seized upon for the same object—and all that he possesses-and payment to be made. You see, my brethren, the Judge is at first inexorable: the Sovereign's sway is not to be questioned or controled — and the ministers of justice seize upon the hapless victim of delinquency What follows? The man has only one resource left the having recourse to the tender, compassionate feelings, which he knew