The Lord s Prayer is followed immediately by these words:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6: 14, 15). Their form and position both mark
them as a summary of the prayer. We have seen that the six petitions, together
with the closing ascription For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory constitute as it were a new creation story; and that this is the story of
the creation of the fifth and crowning Church, the new heaven and the new earth,
which, as the Lord s bride and wife, is to endure forever.
This story begins with our turning to the Lord in His
Divine Human for enlightenment and leadership, thus with our making Him our
Father in the heavens and hallowing only that which, bears His name. This is the
beginning of wisdom and the beginning of innocence the willingness to be led by
nothing else and by none other than the Lord. This beginning having been made,
the Lord takes man on a long journey through the valley of the shadow of death
to the mountain beyond, where a table has been prepared for him in the presence
of his enemies, his head is anointed with oil, and a cup running over is given
into his hand (Psalm 23).
Man progresses in this journey by learning to value the
things of heaven more than those of the world, the waters above the expanse more
than those beneath; thus praying that that higher realm, the Divine kingdom, may
come. Then he is faced gently with the price to be paid: he is introduced to
repentance, and the tender herb, the herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing
fruit the first fruits of spiritual life begin to develop in his mind. He now
prays: Thy will be done in earth, as in heaven. Thus he begins to prepare his
external mind for the reception of influx from heaven through the internals of
his mind through the remains of affections and perceptions that in the
foreseeing Providence of the Lord have been held in readiness for this use. That
is the warmth and light of heaven, the two great luminaries of the kingdom that
is not of this world shining upon him. From that warmth and light his knowledges,
too, sparkle as so many stars. His external mind is being fed with the bread of
heaven.
This having been done, the Lord will permit him to face
combat, for he has now been armed with the sword of truth as well as trained in
its use. There is, in the state of his mind, the hope of victory. He must
therefore encounter the foes of his own household, purging himself of the dross
of self-intelligence and mistaken pride. Nay, he must experience a sense of
being lowly, helpless and forsaken; until in the end, when his sword is nearly
falling from his hand, an invisible warrior by his side makes Himself known and,
after all, gives victory to that sword. That is when he knows forgiveness, for
he has sensed the dread of his immense debts; and how could these debts be
remitted unless he was brought into humiliation? So he implores forgiveness, and
knows for the first time what little right he has to deny others that act of
mercy.
This is the day when his faith becomes living, for it has
been made dear to him by his life and death fight for it. The knowledges and
reasonings especially those from the Word in which his intelligence had formerly
taken such pride are now animated by the soul of faith, and are likened to the
fish of the sea and the birds of heaven. Next, his will itself must be cleansed;
that is, he must be separated from his former will and be given a new will. This
is the final ordeal, the one that he fears the most. He is called on to give up
his life in order that he may find it. He would then echo faintly the words
spoken at Gethsemane from the Mary-human: If it be possible, let this cup pass
from Me (Matthew 26: 39). Urged by the life that he is losing, he prays to he
spared temptation, even while he realizes, from the life he is receiving, that
there is no turning back, and that he must indeed be delivered. Thus are the
affections of his heart made alive also, and the human itself with him, the
essential charity, is born. He is now an image after the likeness of the Divine
Human. Then follows the sabbath of peace, the kingdom that is ruled only by the
inflowing Divine good and truth. To these alone are attributed power and glory.
It is in this state that man s very head, that is, his
ruling love, is anointed with oil; and that his understanding, filled to
capacity, runs over with truths of wisdom as a cup with holy wine. The mountain
to which he has been brought is seen to be none other than the mountain of Zion,
on which the new and celestial Jerusalem has been built. There is no other New
Jerusalem than the city of heavenly doctrine, built by Divine grace in
affections that receive. And all who have that city within them will dwell
together internally, and so constitute that boundless kingdom, concerning which
it cannot be said: Lo here! or, lo there! (Luke 17: 21). Nevertheless, if
such and those also who have, perchance, only set their feet on the narrow and
winding path that leads to the mountain will worship together on earth; and work
together for the spread of the internal kingdom, they will have the right to
call their general body by the name of the city, for it will be a body that
lives from its soul.
One might wonder why the Lord, having taught the multitudes
the perfect prayer, and having included in it a petition for forgiveness, should
afterwards repeat only that one theme by way of a summary, saying: For if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if
ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. The reason is that in these words He spoke of the conjunction of
love to the Lord and charity; and these are the two things that pervade the
prayer; its very heartbeat and breath. By obtaining Divine forgiveness for
himself man receives love to the Lord in his heart, for if his sins are forgiven
then the things that hinder love are removed; and by himself exercising
forgiveness he sets his heart on charity. Moreover, the indissoluble of these
two, love and charity, is revealed in the mode by which the Lord knits His words
together, for He permits of no escape from the conclusion that His forgiveness
is conditional on man s forgiving. Love to the Lord and charity are not two
things but one, although spoken of as two. They are two aspects of one love, the
higher aspect turning to the Lord and the lower to man. That is why the Lord
says also: Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My
brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25: 40).
We have already seen that forgiveness consist essentially
in the removal of evil and its replacement by good, and this by real and
purposeful repentance; thus that Divine forgiveness requires an active
initiative on the part of man as of himself. We have seen also that all things
whatever can be forgiven, provided only that man is willing to be led by the
Lord in His Divine Human and to submit to His teaching and His commandments; and
that therefore the only state that cannot be forgiven is the state that denies
the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in one s own life and the authority of
His instruction and guidance, that is of His Word. For if man rejects these two
things, the Lord and His instruction, then there is nothing by which the Lord
can reach the heart of man to effect His work of salvation there. That state is
called the sin against the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the Divine
operation.
But having attended to these things earlier we should now,
keeping them in mind, turn to the state that does forgive and does receive
forgiveness. What is it to forgive? It cannot just be saying, Certainly if
someone says, Forgive me. Nor can real forgiveness be a mere thought that
excuses evil in others in a spirit of external or indifferent tolerance. Must
not true forgiveness be an act of the will? And can the will act by merely
assuming an attitude of benevolence? The Lord never forgives in that way. He
forgives by fighting against the man, that is, against the evil with the man
from which he must be delivered, and at the same time by stirring, enkindling,
and inspiring the good that is with him. A man, in exercising forgiveness, ought
to do likewise. In short, he must appeal to whatever good he sees in his
neighbor, and refuse to be associated or in any way conjoined with the evil that
is manifested in him.
That is why forgiveness signifies charity; and that is why
also, spiritual charity is so immeasurably greater than the sentiment which is
called by that name in the world. No man can have it without regeneration. It is
a new thing created in the mind, in fulfillment of the doctrine that a man is
born to the end that he may become as charity (Char. 126). That charity then,
is the new man, for it is the man s new ruling love. It dominates all things of
the mind and imparts to the understanding an outlook of wisdom. Charity is
circumspect in looking to the things that live and really matter. External
things and circumstances become important to it only in so far as they relate to
the kingdom of love and mercy, wisdom and faith. Charity reaches out for all
things that are beautiful, innocent and useful, in a loving wish to be
associated and conjoined with them: but, while regarding things that are
contrary, and dealing wisely with them according to their merits, it ever keeps
them outside of itself and guards zealously lest they enter in through the door
of its own internal dwelling place. It is like Daniel and his friends, serving
in Babylon, but unwilling to defile themselves with -the portion of the king s
meat, nor with the wine which he drank (Daniel 1: 8).
Once this charity has been established, it becomes self
evident to deal with one s neighbor in accordance with his spiritual good, and
his moral civil and natural good therefrom (Char. 214); or, of course, in
accordance with the lack of these things, if such should be the case. For
charity knows that unless it can reach something spiritual and living within the
neighbor, that is, something of innocence and willingness to be led by what is
good and true, it has not reached at all the man who is to live forever, and
therefore has not performed an act of spiritual charity.
But it is not only after regeneration that man must act
according to this doctrine. The law must be practiced before it can be mastered.
Knowing the doctrine is itself a commission to apply it.
To the natural man, however, this is a hard saying. The
natural man says in his heart, Are we not to do good equally to all, and are we
permitted to judge internal states ; thus making out a case for continuing to
live a routine life without burdening his mind with any spiritual
responsibility. But we are not to do good equally to all! We are to do good,
indeed, but with discretion and discernment, lest the good that we do turn out
to be no good at all. And as for judging states, this is not forbidden! What is
forbidden is to condemn. The Lord indeed says: judge not, that ye be not
judged. But the context shows what judgment He refers to, for He continues:
Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother s eye, but considerest not
the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matthew 7: 1. 3). The judgment that He
forbids is harsh and haughty judgment from self, or in comparison with self,
which by its nature is a judgment of condemnation. True charity has nothing of
this in itself. In fact it abhors the thought that there should be nothing of
internal good, nothing of innocence, in other men; and it looks for these things
with all the hope of love, while at the same time acting with discernment
according to the states of others as they come to open view at the time. And so
doing, man heeds the Lord s other command with reference to judgment: Judge
righteous judgment (John 7: 24): for he is now using discernment according to
doctrine, and in all humility is judging from doctrine and not from self.
This is the state that is described by forgiving others.
For only he who sees can forgive. It must not be believed that it is only the
condemnatory eye, the eye of the proprium, that can discover the neighbor s
trespasses. It is true that it does see. also, but it makes a distorted picture
out of that which it beholds, for it loves to make a beam out of a mote where
other men are concerned. But the eye of charity sees truly. It does not judge
from temporary appearances, but discerns and estimates from truth (John 7: 24),
for it sees in the light of heaven. That light does disclose evil, but does so
with mercy.
Hence charity is seen to be joined with wisdom. Spiritual
charity is, in fact, born of truth; it is the very child of revealed doctrine.
That is why the Lord is in it, and why He conjoins Himself with it.
The truth that makes charity is all contained in the Lord s
Prayer, for rightly understood it is indeed a creative prayer. But what that
prayer intends to create is not the love that existed with the most ancients!
That love was not born of truth, but of inflowing good. Today the Lord creates a
new kingdom, a spiritual kingdom, and He is making it as the crown of all the
ages. It, too, will have its celestial element; but that will ever be the
celestial of the spiritual good from truth. That is the new order. Therefore the
Lord says: The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last
day (John 12: 48). The Word that judges, however, is also the Word that
forgives. Divine truth is never alone; it is the form of good and of mercy.
If, therefore, knowing the truth, we are also able to
forgive, then we will receive the spirit of the Divine prayer into our hearts;
and the Lord will forgive by making each one of us a "charity," for the sake of
becoming which we were born. But if we do not have this charity, or if we do not
strive for it, then the Lord cannot forgive us our trespasses; no matter what we
know, and no matter how much we pray.
