It is clear that if we choose to remit a claim due to us by one who is free and our equal, that may not invalidate or affect his claim on his neighbour--no matter whether that claim be larger or smaller than the one we remitted. But what did our SAVIOUR intend to teach us by the parable of Matthew xviii. 23-35? There the King and Master and Owner of a slave remits His claim in clemency and pity (and does so, as our LORD elsewhere clearly shows, on express condition of His servant's forgiving as he is forgiven--Matthew vi. 14, 15); can that slave, under these circumstances, assert and claim his rights over his fellow? And is not this principle of non-assertion, this aspect of self-denial, a far-reaching one? Did our LORD claim His rights before Pilate's bar, and assert Himself; or did His self-denial and cross-bearing go the length of waiting for His FATHER'S vindication of His character and claims? And shall we, in the prosecution of our work as ambassadors of Him whose kingdom is not of this world, be jealous of our own honour and rights, as men and as citizens of Western countries, and seek to assert the one and claim the other,--when what our MASTER wants is witness to, and reflection of, His own character and earthly life, and illustrations of the forbearing grace of our GOD and FATHER? May GOD work in us, and we work out in daily life, not self-assertion but self-denial--not ease and honour-seeking and right-maintaining, but right-abandoning and cross-taking--and this for the glory of His own holy Name, and for the better forwarding of His interests, whether among His own people or among the unsaved! All Sufficiency "The LORD GOD is a Sun and Shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." --PSALM LXXXIV. 11. How pleasant to the heart of a true child to hear his father well spoken of, and to rejoice that he is the child of such a father. We feel that we can never thank GOD sufficiently for our privileged lot, who have been blessed with true and loving Christian parents. But if this be the case with regard to the dim and at best imperfect earthly reflections, what of the glorious Reality--the great FATHER--the source of all fatherhood, of all protection--of all that is blessed here, and true, and noble, and good--and of all the glories to which we look forward in the future? "The LORD GOD is a Sun and Shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."