19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. 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. k Luke xvii. 14. ing or displeasing to God, but what is in fact a revelation of God's own will, which is the law of his creatures. The apostles only had that revelation, and they only therefore had the power to declare what was lawful or the contrary, "to bind and to loose." Verses 19, 20. If two of you shall agree, &c. These verses are both connected with the same subject. That plenary inspiration by which the apostles were to be led into all truth, and to be made the infallible instructers of the church and the world, was not to be granted to them without earnest prayer. Accordingly, after the resurrection of Christ, they were directed to "tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high." "And these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." "And when the day of pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place," still engaged in the same exercise. Thus they agreed on earth as touching the thing they should ask, the "power from on high." They were gathered together in the name of Christ, by his authority, professing their faith in him, and waiting the fulfilment of his promise; and he, though he had ascended to heaven, was in the midst of them, in his spiritual presence and the wonderful effusions of his Spirit, and what they asked was done for them of their Father which is in heaven. This is clearly the primary meaning of these verses; but they contain general truths of a most consolatory kind, and in the 66 strongest manner encourage the unity of Christians, and their meeting together for prayer. Where two or three are gathered together," with one accord, "in his name,” and agree to ask what he has promised to bestow, their prayers shall be answered in a spiritual manifestation of the presence of Christ, and the communication of the fulness of all spiritual blessings. Verse 21. Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me?—Peter, rightly judging that what had been enjoined on the subject of gaining a brother who had committed a wrong, necessarily implied that the injured party should be ready to forgive the injury, inquires how often this placable disposition was to be exercised. 66 Till seven times?-If the notions of the Rabbins of our Lord's time on this subject of forgiveness were the same as those of a later date, Peter's charity went beyond the Jewish limit, which extended to three times, and no more." He that says, I have sinned, and I repent, they forgive him to three times, and no more." Probably, however, Peter was not acquainted with the Rabbinical rules, and merely meant by seven times, very often; taking it for granted, that there must be a limit to forgiveness. Our Lord's reply, Until seventy times seven, signifies an indefinite number, a number which has no limit. As often as an offending brother, as stated by St. Luke, shall “turn again to thee, and repent," so often art thou to forgive. By forgiveness is here meant, 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. * A talent is 750 ounces of silver; which, after five shillings the ounce, is £187 10s. + Or, besought him. that which extends to actual reconciliation. Great prominence is given to this duty in the discourses of our Lord; all the angry, and harsh, and malignant passions are utterly inconsistent with the spirit of his religion. His coming into the world was the result of infinite pity and kindness to the race of man, and his own example of placability and benevolence must be followed by his disciples, or they will be at length disowned by him. This is as strongly enforced as it is beautifully exemplified by the parable which follows. Verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaten likened unto a certain king, &c.— That is, the conduct of the sovereign ruler in the new dispensation of the gospel may be likened to that of a certain king, &c. ; ανθρωπῳ βασιλει άνθρωπος being used for Tis. Which would take account of his servants. -The servants here probably are of that class who were entrusted with the collec tion of the king's revenue. To take account, ovverpai Moyov, is a formula which denotes, like the Latin, conferre rationes, to settle an account. The servants here mentioned were not slaves; douλos, like 71, being often used in a larger sense. That here it is not to be taken for slave is plain, the debtor being afterwards appointed to be sold to pay his debt, which would have been of no benefit to the master had he been a slave, and therefore already the property of his owner. Verse 24. Ten thousand talents.-A talent of silver contained three thousand shekels, and was in value £375 of our money. A talent of gold was equal to £4500; but the latter is seldom meant, except where expressed. But the sum in silver was immense, and stands for an indefinitely large amount, to intimate the exceeding greatness of our debt towards God; arising out of obligations of gratitude, obedience, and service, in which we have all so failed that our iniquities are more in number than "the sands of the sea shore." Verse 25. His Lord commanded him to be sold, &c.-This was the custom in several ancient nations beside the Jews. Verse 26. And I will pay thee all-To avert so dire a calamity as to be sold into slavery, the insolvent debtor appeals to the mercy of his lord; he falls at his feet; pays him the lowliest homage; acknowledges the debt, but asks for the indulgence of delay; and promises ultimate payment. All these circumstances complete the picture drawn by the parable, but are to be cautiously interpreted to a spiritual sense. This, however, may be observed, that we are taught that the only way to forgiveness is to acknowledge our debts, and to appeal only to MERCY. The promise of paying so large a debt was, indeed, a futile one; but it probably glances at that too frequent presumption which clings to all penitents in the first instance, that they shall be able, by 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 fellowservants, 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 fellowservant 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 fellowservants 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 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? *The Roman penny is the eighth part of an ounce; which, after five shillings the ounce, is 7 d. future acts of zealous service, to make some compensation for past offences. The free and princely munificence of our Lord, however, spurns all these vain offers of compromise; he "is RICH to all them that call upon him;" he "giveth liberally, and upbraideth not;" or, as his character and acts of grace are here affectingly described, "The Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." Verse 28. The same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants, &c.-Not immediately, perhaps, but after some time; after those grateful emotions which he ought always to have cherished had been suffered to subside; after he had, through unfaithfulness to the grace given, suffered the example of his Lord's clemency, pity, and munificence to lose its effect upon him; after the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, with all its obdurating influence upon the affections, had been suffered to establish itself in his heart: yes, the same servant, mark the emphasis, THAT servant, himself, whose prayers and tears had moved the compassion of his lord, so that, by a munificent liberality, he had cancelled his debt of immense amount, found one of his fellowservants, who owed him a hundred pence, denarii, each of the value of seven-pence three farthings, and making the paltry sum of £3 2s. 6d., sterling, and laid hands upon him, and took him by the throat, EYE, throttled him, showing equal violence of temper, and hard-heartedness; and refusing to listen to the very same prayer, which he himself had imploringly offered to his lord. And he would not; but cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt; the whole debt, which he relentlessly exacted. This excited the indig nant grief of the rest of the servants, who were not unacquainted with the gracious manner in which he had been treated by the common master, to whom they make known, diaσapei, gave exact information of the affair. 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, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. CHAPTER XIX. 2 Christ healeth the sick : 3 answereth the Pharisees concerning divorcement: 10 sheweth 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. 1 AND it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judæa beyond Jordan; a Mark x. 1. Verse 34. To the tormentors.-Baoavisal may here simply signify the jailors, or keepers of the prison, who, from their harshness, and, indeed, the punishments they were often directed anciently to inflict upon criminals, might have this appellation. It does not, indeed, appear that men were punished by torment simply for debt; but in this case, the man who had conducted himself so unfeelingly towards his fellow-servant, had incurred the strong displeasure of the king, and was to be regarded as a sort of state prisoner as well as debtor; and such criminals, under the despotisms of the east, were usually treated with great severity. Verse 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also to you, &c.-" With what measure we mete, it shall be measured to us again;" if we stand so rigorously upon our rights in our transactions with our fellow-creatures, as to forget the claims of benevolence and mercy, we must ourselves be content to be dealt with by God in the way of exact justice; if we are deaf to the voice of imploring distress, how should we expect God to hear our cry in that day of trouble, which, notwithstanding present prosperity, will come upon us? And if we forgive not every one his brother, and that from the heart, we shall not obtain forgiveness. This is so expressly laid down by Christ, as the rule of the divine conduct towards us, even under the new covenant of grace, that we shall greatly deceive ourselves if we expect that any indulgence will be shown to our morose and uncharitable tempers. It becomes us, therefore, very carefully to cultivate the opposite dispositions, that, not merely from fear, but from the free and generous spirit of our religion, we may show mercy, as we have received mercy, and forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. The example of our heavenly Father ought to engage us to this duty; the comfort of our minds in reflecting, especially at the Lord's table, that we are" in love and charity" with all men; and, finally, our hope of heaven; for this parable plainly teaches that our unforgiving spirit will cancel our own forgiveness with God, and place us under his displeasure, both in time and eternity. CHAPTER XIX. Verse 1. Into the coasts of Judea, beyond Jordan.-No part of Judea was beyond Jordan, unless we suppose Perea to be sometimes designated Judea, which, indeed, was the case with foreigners; but, in the Gospels, the distinction of the districts of Palestine is 2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there. 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, с 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? b Gen. i. 27. accurately maintained. Περαν του Ιορδανου may then be taken to signify, as in Mark, by the farther side of Jordan; that is, through the country which lay along the other side of Jordan. c Gen. ii. 24; Ephes. v. 31. Verse 3. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?—That is, any cause whatever. This was a point in dispute among the learned Jews themselves. The school of Hillel allowed divorce for any cause of dissatisfaction whatever, interpreting the clause Deut. xxiv. 1, "And she find no favour in his eyes," in the freest possible manner, and separate from its connexion with the following clause: "because he hath found some uncleanness in her." On the contrary, the school of Schammah, by a strict interpretation of the whole passage, limited divorce to cases of adultery. The Jews in general followed the most licentious interpretation, and were notoriously guilty of putting away their wives on trivial occasions. Hence Josephus coolly states, that he divorced his wife un apeσκόμενος αυτης τοις έθεσι, "not being pleased with her manners." In putting their question on this subject to our Lord, the Pharisees are said to have tempted him; they not only designed to make trial of his far-famed wisdom as an expounder of the law; but they probably expected that he would decide on the stricter side, and wished to find an occasion of cavilling at the rigidness of his doctrine. Our Lord did not disappoint them, he decided in d 1 Cor. vi. 16. favour of purity and morality, and, in a manner wholly unanswerable, showed how they had departed from the original institution of marriage. "In the beginning," when man was in his purity and perfection, but one male and one female were created, a sufficient proof that polygamy is contrary to the original constitution of human nature and society; and has been confirmed in all ages and countries to this day, by the nearly equal proportion of male and female births. This circumstance alone, which necessarily supposes providential arrangement, strongly indicates polygamy to be contrary to the will of God; and if so, it determines the question of divorce; for divorces at the mere caprice of the parties, "for every cause," by leading to the marrying of many women, though in succession, was but polygamy in another form. But there was not only the original fact, the creation of but one man and one woman; Moses has also recorded the original law, which was made prospectively for the descendants of the first pair, and this our Lord adduces in the next verse. Verse 5. And said, For this cause shall a man leave father &c.-In Genesis these words appear to have been spoken by Adam when Eve was brought to him; but as they were not applicable to himself, who had no father and mother, they are to be considered as spoken to his descendants, and therefore prophetically, and under divine authority as laying down |