LECTURE XLI.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.-FIFTH PETITION.

"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us."

LUKE, VI. 37.

Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

THE fifth petition of this holy Prayer, which our blessed Master hath commanded us to use continually, contains a precept of most momentous import for our consideration; and it becomes more essentially valuable in proportion to the difficulty of receiving it and complying with it; for, to forgive with a true Christian spirit, i. e. in the complete sense of the expression, is of all others the hardest of our incumbent du, ties, and that which opposes most the carnal spirit of man.

As there is no subject on which a minister of Christ's Gospel can treat, which it more becomes us to understand, I will use my best endeavours to make a close inquiry into the true nature of forgiveness; and pray God to give his

blessing to what is said, that all present may depart with full conviction, how deeply it concerns us to cultivate these serious terms of our salvation.

To render the present instruction more plain and useful to you, it may be proper to pursue the following method:

First, To inquire into the true cause of the difficulty of forgiving our enemies, which will tend to exalt the blessing of a placable temper.

Secondly, To propose some helps towards removing the difficulty, by showing how we may be benefited, even by evil treatment; which will assist in encouraging the opposite spirit of meekness and forbearance: and,

Thirdly, By the application of what has been advanced, to establish the absolute necessity of possessing such a degree of this Christian virtue, as finally to render us just objects of divine commiseration and favour; this being the very condition on which we can expect to receive the blessing we are taught to pray for by our blessed Lord himself.

First, then, all disinclination to forgive does certainly originate in the pride and weakness of a fallen nature; for pride, which is the foundation of every other evil, is particularly instrumental in feeding unforgiveness: and this base passion is again grounded in weakness; for it is a Christian axiom (i. e. a self-evident thing, or

a thing evident at first sight), that, in proportion as we are advanced in true Christian knowledge, grace, or strength, the less proud we shall be of any thing we possess the more we discover and confess the corruption and perverseness of our carnal nature, the readier we shall consequently become to make every possible allowance for the occasional misconduct of other people, In proportion as we have conquered the effects of pride, by the influence of the Gospel on our hearts, the less will any malevolent usage have to feed upon within us, and the easier we shall find ourselves to forgive. The latent cause of the difficulty, then, may be said to be the degree of opposition we find to our SELF-LOVE, through such treatment as, by giving offence, produces hatred. This prejudice in our own favour renders us partial in our judgment, and blind to the many motives that might help to moderate our dislikes and resentment. Pride is ever haughty, impatient, and captious; that is, easily provoked, and suspicious of intended injury. From a high opinion of a man's own merit, he often arrogates more notice than is his due; he fancies wrongs that never existed. While this passion rules within, and the more we dwell upon any conduct that inflames it, the more will our aversion to the object increase; or, in other words, our hatred growing stronger, we shall become less inclined

to encourage the true spirit of forgiveness. Learn of me, saith Christ (Matt. xi. 29); for I am meek and lowly of heart: and for this reason, doubtless, our Lord joins meekness with humility, because the latter is the source of the former. We must, therefore, pray heartily for this grace, the more we find our constitutional temper disinclined towards it; for, when once we feel the necessity of despising ourselves for possessing such hurtful dispositions, we shall be content to be despised by those to whom those dispositions are justly offensive. He that thinks nothing due to him, will never think himself neglected, or at least will be indifferent about it. There is no possibility of attaining to any valuable degree of meekness, till we have learnt in good measure to renounce ourselves; and then we shall be capable of presenting this petition with sincerity, and to good effect.-The CAUSE of the hardness of our hearts having been thus briefly stated, when a thorough conviction of this hinderance has taken place in us, we shall soon discover the necessity of the condition it holds out, and the great value of the blessings which this petition teaches us to ask of God for our souls.

Now, it consists of two parts: the forgiveness of sins past, and the prevention of them for the time to come. But before we proceed to the second division of the subject, I will offer a

few thoughts on the meaning of these words. 1. The manner we pray to God, to forgive our sins past, is contained in the words of these conditions; "Forgive us our trespasses as we for

give them that trespass against us." By these words we mean, that God would do away, or pardon, all our sins, of what nature or quality soever they be, according to the Psalmist's description of this blessing (xxxii.), Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered; and the necessary preparation for this favour is expressed in the fifth verse: I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so thou forgavest the wickedness thereof. And in Psalm cxxx. 3, 4,he further magnifies God's mercy by his purity and contrition: If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, wHO may abide it? for there is mercy with thee, therefore thou shalt be feared. And the judgment of Solomon upon the same case is exactly similar (Prov. xxviii. 13): He that COVERETH his sins, shall not prosper; but who confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy: which agrees particularly with the declaration of St. John (1 Ep. i. 9), that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness; that is, to remit the punishment our sins have deserved, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God by the sacrifice of his death. All