But, however different the circumstances, yet there is a lesson in
this story which is universal and eternal, true for all men, and true
for ever. The same human nature, for good and for evil, is in us, as
was in that Eastern king and his slave. The same kingdom of heaven
is over us as was over them, its laws punishing sinners by their own
sins; the same Spirit of God which strove with their hearts is
striving with ours. If it was not so, the parable would mean nothing
to us. It would be a story of men who belonged to another moral
world, and were under another moral law, not to be judged by our
rules of right and wrong; and therefore a story of men whom we need
not copy.
But it is not so. If the parable be--as I take for granted it is--a
true story; then it was Christ, the Light who lights every man who
cometh into the world, who put into that king's heart the divine
feeling of mercy, and inspired him to forgive, freely and utterly,
the wretched slave who worshipped him, kneeling with his forehead to
the ground, and promising, in his terror, what he probably knew he
could not perform--'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee
all.'
And it was Christ, the Light of men, who inspired that king with the
feeling, not of mere revenge, but of just retribution; who taught him
that, when the slave was unworthy of his mercy, he had a right, in a
noble and divine indignation, to withdraw his mercy; and not to waste
his favours on a bad man, who would only turn them to fresh bad
account, but to keep them for those who had justice and honour enough
in their hearts to forgive others, when their Lord had forgiven them.
Pages:
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184