on of the Lord's own words, to consider
the spiritual meaning and the practical use of the narrative. The
creditor is God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being--from
whom we derive all, and to whom we must account for all; the debtors
sinful men; and the debts the sins which they have severally done.

Of the two, while both are in debt, one owes ten times as much as the
other. A comparison of this proportion, with that which appears in the
parable of the unmerciful servant, is interesting. Between the debt
which the servant owed to his master, and the debt which a
fellow-servant owed to him, there is no assignable proportion: so vast
is the difference that we cannot form a definite conception of the
relation. This is precisely what we should expect in order to show the
disproportion, or want of all proportion, between sins against God and
sins against a neighbour. In this parable, on the other hand, the debt
in both cases is due to the master, and not in either due by one servant
to another. We accordingly do not expect, and do not find a
disproportion so vast; and yet, there is a great difference between the
two sums. In the one case the debt is five hundred pence, and in the
other fifty: the less is only one-tenth of the larger sum. Although
there are aggravations in one case, and alleviations in another, I think
the disproportion would not have been so great as in the parable it
actually is, if it had been the design of the Lord here to teach us how
much the guilt of one man may exceed that of another in the sight of
God. From the circumstances of this case we may safely gather that these
sums represent not the absolute quantity of sin-debt that stood against
these men severally in the book of divine justice, but the estimate
which they severally made of their own shortcomings. The fifty and the
five hundred pence indicate the amounts which the debtors severally
acknowledged, rather than those which the creditor might have claimed.

The plan of providence in the present life permits every man to keep his
own accounts of debt to God: no neighbour is empowered to record the
items, and sum them up, and keep a record of their amount against you.
The Romish priesthood attempt to usurp this prerogative, but in its
purpose it is boldly unjust, and in its results miserably ineffectual.
They ought not, in point of principle, to make the attempt; and they are
not able, in point of fact, to accomplish their object. Eve