MATTHEW VI. 12.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

THOSE who employ this passage to verify the continued conscious sinfulness of all believers in this life reason thus:---The fact that this petition is found in this prayer implies that all believers at all times have present sins to confess, and for which to seek forgiveness. The necessary inference is that in this life they will never be free from present, actual, conscious sin. The assumption that lies at the basis of this deduction is this, that this form of prayer is to be repeated in substance by all believers under all circumstances to the end of time, and that consequently each blessing designated as an object of prayer will ever lie before the mind in the future as such object, and never as an accomplished fact. Take away this assumption, and no basis whatever remains for this inference. If this inference is correct, the following consequences must be accepted as absolutely valid:---1. The kingdom of God, while the world shall stand, will never come, the occurrence of that which has actually transpired undeniably not being an object of prayer. 2. Our Saviour requires the Church universal at all times and in all circumstances to pray specifically for what He requires all in common to believe will never occur, and that it is not the will of God that it should occur, namely, that "God's will shall be done in earth, as it is in heaven." In other words, Christ, in fact and form, requires us to pray for a specific blessing, and then hangs such weights upon our faith as to render it impossible for us to pray in faith for that blessing, it being impossible for us to" ask in faith, nothing wavering," for that which we believe---that Christ has by a special revelation placed beyond the circle of hope. 3. The time will never come when every believer will not constantly be the subject of wrong-doing from others. If the petition "forgive us our debts" implies that we shall ever continue to sin, the words "as we forgive our debtors" imply that we and every other believer to the end of time will be continuously sinned against. 4. It is absolutely improper for us to pray for the forgiveness of past sins---sins of which we have repented, and which God has forgiven.

Such are the necessary consequences of the deduction which is drawn from the petition under consideration. When we shall have demonstrated any one of these consequences, and especially each of them, to be in itself untrue, we shall have absolutely invalidated this deduction. Now, every one of these consequences, as can very readily be shown, involves a vital error. We will examine all of these consequences, beginning with the last. Let us for a moment consider the following inspired prayers in regard to sins long before repented of and forgiven, prayers dictated and recorded by inspiration of the Spirit of God:---"O remember not against us former iniquities " (Psa. lxxix. 8). " Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy, remember Thou me for Thy goodness' sake, O Lord" (Psa. xxv. 7). We deduce this vital truth from these passages that, while '' the eternal judgment "is before us, it is right, proper, and a duty, as past sins come to remembrance, to confess them anew, and to put up our prayers that they may not be remembered at the present time, nor at that day. Nor does any one know that God does not see reasons why, when we receive injuries from others, we should not recall our own former sins, and pray that God will forgive our debts, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Nor does or can any one know but that it may be right, proper, and best for us---while liable to be sinned against by others, and ---while the hour is approaching when "we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ," even though we, like Paul, may now "know nothing against ourselves"---to pray daily, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;" and this, we believe, is the real lesson which cur Saviour intended to teach us through this petition. No deduction can be more presumptuous, unauthorised, and of more dangerous tendency than is this, to infer from this petition that all believers to the end of time will in this life be in the continuous practice of conscious sin.

In regard to the third consequence, we would observe that the period is distinctly revealed when believers will cease to be subject to injury from others, and when none can have Occasion to say, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The time is coming "when violence shall no more be heard in the land," and "there shall be none to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountains." There will, at that time, be no more occasion for saints on earth than for saints in heaven to pray, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." As the words, "as we forgive our debtors," do not imply that each believer will be continuously sinned against by others, so the words, "Forgive us our debts," do not and cannot imply that every such believer will, while life shall last, be continuously sinning against both God and man. We may safely challenge the world to designate a more unauthorized and presumptious deduction from any passage than is the one under consideration.

In regard to the second consequence, we observe that the petition, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven," presents ground infinitely more solid for the inference that God's will has been, and will be, thus done, than does that under consideration for the dogma which has been deduced from said petition. The former must accord with the will of God. The latter presents not a shadow of a foundation for the inference deduced from it.

In regard to the first consequence we would say, that "the kingdom of God will come." The petition, "Thy kingdom come," therefore, does not imply that it never, in the history of the race, will have come. So the petition, " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," does not, and cannot imply that every believer will to the end of time, as far as this life is concerned, be continuously sinning both against God and man, or will as continuously be sinned against by his fellow men. No, Reader, as long as the sea shall say of wisdom, "it is not in me," and the deep shall respond, "it is not in me," so long will every wise interpreter of the word of God affirm that the petition under consideration is not the dwelling-place of the dogma which has been deduced from that petition.