November 20

Lobe coberth all sins. — PROV. X. 12.

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent: thou shalt forgive him. — LUKE xvii. 3. 4.

I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. — MATT. xviii. 22.

THIS parable teaches the lesson of unbounded forgiveness. The Jews, it is said, forgave the third offence, but not the fourth. Peter doubles the number, and thinks, perhaps, he has reached the limit of Christian forgiveness. But Christ says, "I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven."

By this he does not mean "seventy-seven times," nor four hundred and ninety times. He uses a definite number for an unlimited multitude. Boundless forgiveness is the divine law. But this boundless pardon has its condition. "If he repent, forgive him." "I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me."

To the penitent only is forgiveness boundless. Forgiveness is a test of character: it is an index of the new birth. The unrenewed heart does not thus forgive. "Take heed to yourselves," an unforgiving spirit is proof of ungodliness: "O thou wicked servant, etc." It is a forerunner of doom: "His lord was very wroth, etc.;" "so likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

M. H. Bixby

Oh, may I learn the art,

With meekness to reprove:

To hate the sin with all my heart,

But still the sinner love.

C. WESLEY.