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This parable Our Lord gives as an illustration of his doctrine on forgiveness. It has a twofold force. It shows us that priests should forgive penitents, because they expect to get, or have gotten, forgiveness from heaven themselves. It shows us that ordinary Christians should forgive small offences against themselves, as they expect God to forgive them. The whole parable bears out this. There are some ornamental parts of it which do not exactly come into God's way of dealing-such as selling a man's wife and children, and raking up all the old sores again. This is man's way, but it is not God's, and is brought in, albeit for ornament, yet to show in a finer light the beauty of his mercy.

1A king. The parables begin with the kingdom of heaven is like unto; that is to say, the way things are done there are like this illustration, to a certain extent.

2Ten thousand talents.-This would be more than two-and-a-half millions of pounds sterling. It is a round and immense number which gives an idea of the infinite malice of mortal sin.

3His wife. This need not be the case as observed.

Have patience. This is his confession. He does not deny his guilt. 'Forgave him. This is simple and unconditional.

Pay what thou owest.-He has no mercy for another poor fellow.

"Cast him into prison.-Then his companions complained. All very natural, as they knew the case.

The Lord balances our right to forgiveness by our generosity to fellowsinners.

The torturers . . . . . all the debt.-They torture people in the East, because they sometimes have money and pretend they have not. This torture makes their friends come and pay for them. All the debt.-Some make an argument for purgatory and indulgences out of this. The reasoning is fair enough.

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CHAPTER XIX.

Christ declares matrimony to be indissoluble. He recommends the making of one's self an eunuch for the kingdom of heaven; and parting with all things for him. He shows the danger of riches, and the reward of leaving all to follow him.

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The course of events seems to be this: Our Lord went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles in September, and then crossed the Jordan and stopped on the confines of Judea. The

marriage question being at the bottom of all public morality must engage the attention of every legislator.

Our Lord stated the indissolubility of marriage when he said: "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." Marriage is founded on the law of nature, and monogamy is its state. Polygamy was allowed only after the Deluge. It is the foundation of a new society: a young man and a young woman are drawn to each other. Nature prepares this attraction. They love each other more than father or mother, and start thereby to become a father and mother themselves. This is the natural law confirmed by Our Lord.

1Beyond the Jordan.—This seemed to have often been chosen as a place of retreat or seclusion. Still the multitudes found Him, and were healed by Him.

2The Pharisees wanted to ensnare Him. He had spoken already on the indissolubility of the marriage tie (chap. v. 32.), and they wished to see how He should answer their difficulties. They had a dilemma. If marriage could be dissolved, He spoke wrong; if marriage could not, Moses was wrong.

3 Male and female.—God made one only of each sex when the world wanted peopling.

They two shall be in one flesh,—A consummated marriage is a sacred thing, and used as a figure of the Church by inspired writers.

Let no man put asunder.-This is the doctrine of the Catholic Church. It is not defined as an article of faith, and some old theologians say it would have been, were it not for the Greeks.

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7. They say to him: 'Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away?

8. He saith to them: Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9. And I say to you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he who shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.

What

Divorce is a question which troubles Church and State. That Moses allowed divorce in certain cases is indubitable. cases are those? They could be stoned for adultery. The Jews themselves differed. Hillel taught that a husband could put a wife away if she did not please him. Shamai said only for adultery could he do it. What is Topvéla? It is translated uncleanness; but there is nothing known of it at present.

Experience shows us that Divorce is no remedy for the evils it is supposed to cure. If adultery is ground enough for a Divorce, those who begin to hate each other and like some one else, are tempted to qualify themselves. Divorce a vinculo destroys the family and the home altogether.

In Judaism polygamy was allowed, so that the woman was always the sufferer. Christianity raised woman to her position, and wherever Divorce has been introduced, woman falls, either by being too dependent as in Greece and among the Orientals; or by being too bold and brazen, as in places nearer home.

1 Why did Moses.-This was trying to bring Our Lord's teaching into conflict with the teaching of Moses. Moses gave the leave for divorce as an afterthought.

2Because of the hardness of your hearts. Since the time of the Deluge polygamy seemed to be prevalent among the Jews, and fornication or adultery not a very terrible thing on the part of a man; but almost un

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