d as slaves over the face of
the whole earth, and led away into a captivity from which they could not
escape till they had paid the uttermost farthing.

Now let us look at this same parable in the 5th chapter of St Matthew.
Remember first that it is part of the sermon on the Mount, which is all
about not doctrine, but morality, the law of right and wrong, the law of
justice and mercy. You will see then that our Lord is preaching against
the same sins as in the 12th chapter of St. Luke. Against a hypocritical
religion, joined with a cruel and unjust heart. Those of old time, the
Scribes and Pharisees, said merely, Thou shalt not kill. And as long as
thou dost not kill thy brother, thou mayest hate him in thy heart and
speak evil of him with thy lips. But our Lord says, Not so. Whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause is in danger of the judgment.
Whosoever shall say to him Raca, or worthless fellow, shall speak
insolently, brutally, cruelly, scornfully to him, is in danger of the
council. But whosoever shall say unto him, Thou fool, is in danger of
hell fire. For using that word to the Jews, so says the Talmudic
tradition, Moses and Aaron were shut out of the land of promise, for it
means an infidel, an atheist, a godless man, or rebel against God, as it
is written, "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." Whosoever
shall curse his brother, who is trying to be a good Christian man to the
best of his light and power, because he does not happen to agree with him
in all things, and call him a heretic, and an infidel, and an atheist,
and an enemy of God--he is in danger of hell fire. Let him agree with
his adversary quickly, whiles he is in the way with him, lest he be
delivered to God the judge, and to the just punishment of him who has not
done justly, not loved mercy, not walked humbly with his God.

But who is the adversary of that man, and who is the judge, and who is
the officer? Our adversary in every case, whenever we do wrong,
knowingly or unknowingly, is the Law of God, the everlasting laws, by
which God has ordered every thing in heaven and earth; and as often as we
break one of these laws, let us agree with it again as quickly as we can,
lest it hale us before God, the judge of all, and He deliver us over to
His officer--to those powers of nature and powers of spirit, which He has
appointed as ministers of His vengeance, and they cast us into some