II. THIS GREAT SUBJECT OF UNBOUNDED FORGIVENESS IS ENFORCED BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE GREAT GOD. The "certain king" here represents the Almighty; and see how He acts towards the man who owed him 10,000 talents. Sin is an enormous debt. The sum here stated, if the silver talent was meant, would be about £3,431,875 sterling; but if the gold talent, about sixteen times as much. The idea is an immense sum. "Who can understand his errors?" This enormous debt the sinner cannot discharge. The debtor was unable to pay a fraction towards this overwhelming amount. “Sinners" says Matthew Henry, "are insolvent debtors; the scripture, which concludeth all under sin, is a statute of bankruptcy against us. Silver and gold will not pay our debt. Sacrifice and offering would not do it; our good works are but God's works in us, and cannot make satisfaction." This enormous debt unless removed will entail the utmost ruin. lord commanded him to be sold and his children and all that he had, and payment to be made." What misery is involved in all this! Only a faint picture, however, of hell. True penitence will obtain full and instant relief. This is the reigning truth here, and the most glorious truth to man,-the gospel itself. The debtor offered the penitential prayer, "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all;" and what followed? "Then "-at once, without a moment's delay"Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." He forgave all; cancelled every fraction of the mighty sum. Here, then, in the example of God, you have illustrated the doctrine of unbounded forgiveness.

"His

But this example is brought out here in bold and magnificent relief, by being placed side by side with the conduct of a mere human creditor towards his debtor; and that creditor, too, the very man whose enormous debt the king had just cancelled. "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," &c. Think of three things:

First That the man who thus severely treated his debtor, had been a debtor himself; but the heavenly King has never been under obligation to any one. One might have expected that he, a debtor so mercifully dealt with, would have been tenderly considerate of others similarly circumstanced. Secondly: That the man who thus severely treated his debtor had but a very insignificant claim compared with that of the heavenly King. The one owed only a hundred pence, the other ten thousand talents. Thirdly: That the man who thus severely treated his debtor was of the same class in life as the debtor, a fellowservant; the other infinitely superior to either, the glorious sovereign of heaven and earth. How does God's forgiving mercy shine forth by the comparison !

III. THE GREAT SUBJECT OF UNBOUNDED FORGIVENESS IS HERE ENFORCED BY THE TERRIBLE DOOM OF THE UNFORGIVING. Mark the conduct of the sovereign towards the servant who treated his debtor, a fellowservant too, not only with an unforgiving spirit, but with cruel severity. "His lord"-the very sovereign who, with munificent generosity, had cancelled his debt of ten thousand talents-"said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredest me: shouldest not thou, also, have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So, likewise, shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Four general truths are discoverable here :-First: That the great God marks the actions of our social life. The king had his eye upon the conduct of his servant, not merely in its relation to himself, but in its relation to his fellowservant. Heaven sees how we act towards each other. Secondly: That His mercifulness towards us heightens the enormity of our severity towards others. "I forgave thee all that debt"-"That debt," &c. Therefore, the peculiar aggravation of thy severity. Thirdly: That the punishment

"And

which will overtake the unmerciful will be very terrible. his lord was very wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due to him." Two things here suggest the terribleness of the punishment :—(1) Its exquisite fitness to the sufferer's sense of justice. He only received that which he himself had inflicted upon his own fellowservant. He had laid hands upon his fellowservant, taken him by the throat, and, notwithstanding all the heartrending entreaties of his victim, cast him into prison. He only gets back what he had given. He has no ground for complaint. His conscience must say Amen to his doom. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." This congruity of doom with conscience is a primary ingredient in the punishment of the damned. (2) Its utter destitution of any prospect of relief. How long is he to remain in the prison? "Till he should pay all that was due to him." How long will that be?-Ah how long! Fourthly: That any merciful conduct to be virtuous, must be virtuous in spirit. "So, likewise, shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

Germs of Thought.

SUBJECT:-Abijah: or, The Pious Youth in an Ungodly Family.

"In him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel."-1 Kings, xiv. 13.

Analysis of Homily the Four Hundred and fifty-fifth.

“WHATSOEVER things were written aforetime, were written for our learning." "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." While all Scripture is instructive, the biography of the book is specially so. Nothing is

more interesting and suggestive than the life of individuals, -nothing more profitable than the study of human character. Now, in the Bible we have the history of all kinds of characters, some of them very good, and some very bad ;some so advanced in goodness as to resemble angels and redeemed spirits, rather than imperfect men on earth; others so sunk in vice and pollution as to resemble demons, or lost spirits.

In the short passage at the head of this homily we have an epitome of the life of a lovely character; in it we have the moral picture of a pious young man in a wicked family; the only good character in that household. He stands alone in the midst of evil influences; faithful amongst the faithless, a lovely rose amongst thorns, a beautiful flower in the desert, a fruitful branch growing on a corrupt tree! He stands firm and true to principle in the midst of evil example,-virtuous in spite of all the counteractions presented to his holy life. He is found "on the Lord's side," when all others had deserted him. He has to fight his way to heaven through storms of opposition.

His parents were both idolators; his father was a very bad man—one of the blackest characters portrayed by the pencil of inspiration—no name is mentioned with greater contempt than his. The dark blot upon his reputation is idolatry ;-idolatry of the grossest form, and of the most repulsive nature. Jeroboam is the name of the father of

this young prince.

When the name of this depraved character is quoted by the inspired biographer, it is generally with this additional stigma," who made Israel to sin." "Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin," He was not satisfied with being a great sinner himself, he must induce his subjects also to walk in the same downward road. We learn too, that he made greater progress in sin than all the other wicked kings who had preceded him. Many of the rest were bad enough, but he surpassed them all. "Thou hast done evil above all that went before thee." Jeroboam made greater advances in

evil than the many others who had "done evil in the sight of the Lord." God had highly favored this man. He had smiled upon his path in the morning of life-He had raised him from the lowest condition in society to the very highest, -from being a servant (or slave) to be a king in Israel.

The history of his exaltation is very suggestive. We read that the prophet Ahijah met him on the road one day, and told him that at some future period he should be made a king; adding some advice as to his future conduct. After passing through many dangers and vicissitudes, Jeroboam made his way to the throne: he became a king according to the words of the old prophet; but he did not follow the advice he received from the man of God. Mournful to relate, one of the first steps he took after ascending the throne was this :-he attempted to put an end to the worship of Jehovah throughout the entire land. He took counsel with some of his dependents and made two golden calves, and "he set the one in Bethel and the other put he in Dan." "And he said to the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." As if he had said—“It is too far for you to go-too laborious, too expensive we will have worship nearer home, a cheap, free and easy religion, that will do quite as well." (This worship would suit many in this material age of ours-t s—the worship of the golden calf is very popular in our own land.)

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In his idolatrous course he was warned and threatened by a prophet of the Lord-by a man of God who came out of Judah." But all threatenings and signs were lost upon Jeroboam;-all God's dispensations proved the "savor of death unto death" to him. He thus continued to depart from the Great Sun into regions of spiritual darkness; he sank deeper and deeper in the slough of pollution every day. At last he was visited by a great trial :—the "arrows of the Almighty" reached his heart. His lovely son, the pious prince of our text, was taken very ill one morning. Jeroboam was in great distress on his account :-parental love was not burnt out of his heart yet. He was anxious to know what