The Process of Church Discipline and Restoration - Pt. 2

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying,

Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said,

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come.

But woe to that man by whom the offense comes. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you.

For it is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire.

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.

It is better for you to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my

Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

What do you think if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray?

Does he not leave the ninety -nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?

And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety -nine that he did not go astray.

Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my

Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

I am there in the midst of them.' Then Peter came to him and said,

Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

Up to seven times. And Jesus said to him,

I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10 ,000 talents.

But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

The servant therefore fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.

And the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying,

Pay me what you owe. So this fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying,

Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. And he would not.

But went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what he had done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done.

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?

And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

So my heavenly Father also will do to you, if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

You may be seated. Matthew 18 follows quickly on from Matthew 16.

In Matthew 16 we have the grant of the keys of the kingdom given by the

Lord Jesus Christ in conversation with Peter. What the Lord says is he's talking to Peter in Matthew 16 back at verse 13.

And it says the following, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,

Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So he's asking the central question of the confession of the faith of the church.

So there is, I think about the solos capturing well for us what is the central confession to distinguish the church from a religious assembly, not the church.

The authority of Scripture and then the truth of the gospel, the following solos, right?

We have salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the mediatorial work of Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

Those things, the authority of Scripture and then the gospel, the confession about who Christ is and what he has done.

Who do you say? Sorry, so who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, some say

John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. One of the prophets answers is the answer of Islam, for example.

He said to them, But who do you say that I am? You, you my disciples, who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him,

Blessed are you, Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my

Father who is in heaven. Flesh and blood didn't reveal it. The power of the body as a tool.

Genealogy didn't give it to them. Peter didn't gain this by the natural powers of human nature.

This knowledge of the Christ came by the supernatural grant of knowledge.

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.

The rock that the church is being built on is the confession of faith, the apostolic office through which this doctrine comes, the revelatory office, and it's revelation that it gives.

Peter is used as a representative of the apostles, and the apostles exist for the purpose of their message.

Also I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.

And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Remember everybody that gates are defensive devices.

You don't roll up gates to other people's cities. Other people's cities have gates. So, we're conquering

Satan's cities. We're battering down their doors as we tear down their defensive array and unbelieving men and wicked princes, they will not overcome the church.

Verse 19, And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. One of the great weapons of our warfare is the keys of the kingdom rightly used to bar from the kingdom impenitent sinners and to let in the penitent.

The use of the preached word and the use of the ordinances of the church are weapons of our warfare for conquest.

Verse 20, Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was

Jesus the Christ. There's a waiting for the time of conquest. That was not the time.

Jumping forward to 18, we have the church being told it has the keys.

So, the church being told it has the keys, we're told here that, you know, you see

Peter and you go, oh yeah, okay, so the apostles and maybe Peter's a special apostle. Maybe the keys are there.

The keys are given to wherever two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ. A church of two, a church of three is given the keys of the kingdom.

The keys of the kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to a church of two or three saints and says, here are the keys, not to his house, not just to his porsche, to his kingdom.

Lots of porsches there. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus.

This is chapter 18, verse 1. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Then Jesus called a little child to him. By the way, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Let's think about this one for just a little second. Who is the king in the kingdom of heaven?

Do you think the king in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

So, Jesus could have just answered with, me, dum -dums. Who's the greatest?

And has two thumbs. In this scenario, it's not me. I'm pretending in this scenario to be

Jesus, which is terrible to put on a recording. So, this guy, right? That's the response that he would have.

But what does he do? He says, then

Jesus called a little one to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you're converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name, receives me.

So, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And we are all united to Christ.

And if you receive one of us, you receive Christ. See the logic of what his answer is?

So, the least important of the saints, or the most important of the saints, is united to Christ, and the reception of any of them is the reception of Christ.

So, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus, the King. Our care for little saints in diapers, our care for saints who are in the midst of mess, our care for difficult saints, our care for saints without resources is care for Christ.

It's care for Christ. Jesus called the little one to Him and set

Him in the midst of them and said, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, this idea of entering into the kingdom of heaven by being persuaded of the truth and of the need to learn and be discipled, and to become as a little child in the sense of submitting to learn, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Entering into the kingdom of heaven is acknowledging the need for discipleship and acknowledging that the kingdom of heaven, the visible church, is the place where discipleship occurs.

Becoming as a little child is the admission that you need to learn and is the admission of the source of where you would learn from, the kingdom of God drawing from the word of the

King. And so, those who enter in can say,

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying,

Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called the little child to Him, set Him in the midst of them, and said, assuredly,

I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

You all know small children well enough to think about this. I mean, if you put a little five -year -old in the midst of a group of men, he's either going to be real shy or he's going to be real happy to have the attention of a group of men.

Right? This little one's right there in the middle of them and Jesus is talking about the little one.

You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven unless you're converted and become as little children.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Right? Just the entry point, the littlest of entry points is a point at which there is union with Christ.

A legal union with Christ exists in terms of justification by faith alone and an external covenantal legal union in terms of how we have to deal with each other begins with admission into the visible church.

So therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Notice how obviously this is anti -Baptist by the way.

These little children are part of the visible church. There's not a waiting here for this little child to not be a little child.

Little children are part of the visible church. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he would drown in the depth of the sea.

People tend to expect to get away with crimes against those who are defenseless.

They don't tend to expect to get away with crimes against the great and mighty. This is the idea that God cares for the little children the new in the kingdom of heaven the weak in the kingdom of heaven and the church is to behave in such a manner is to also care for them.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he would drown in the depth of the sea.

Whoa! The Bible has oracles of weal which are statements of blessing of prosperity, wealth and it has oracles of woe.

Oracles of woe call for curse, destruction harm, poverty woe to the world because of offenses.

The world is that which is outside of the kingdom outside of the church.

Woe to the world because of offenses for offenses must come but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.

So the idea of the world if you're removed from the kingdom of heaven where are you placed?

You're placed in the world. Verse 8

If your hand or foot causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you.

Now this is using the idea of the body and it's going to transition to the idea of the body of Christ.

We have this analogy this is talking about it would be better for you to lose a part of your own physical individual personal body than for you to sin with that physical body that you have.

And also it's better for a church if parts of the church are cut off than that part of the church continue in sin.

Verse 8 If your hand or foot causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you.

So how could an individual cause a church to sin? Well if there's ongoing sin if there's ongoing sin then the ongoing sin of the member of the body would be causing that church to participate in sin because of a failure to discipline.

If a part of a body is repentant and ceases from sinning and submits to discipleship then there is a ceasing of a participation in sin.

If your hand or foot causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you.

It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire.

And if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire.

So notice that. Even very useful parts of the body the hand, the foot, the eye worth getting rid of those things worth getting rid of those things if they cause you to sin.

Verse 10 Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones.

For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

The Son of God has come to save that which was lost. There are two ways of despising these little ones.

One way is to fail to protect little ones from harm from those that sin.

To not heed their cause. To not protect them. To not deal with matters that need to be dealt with for their just defense.

The other way is to take one who is repentant and to cast them off and despise them.

Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

God cares so much about His church that He assigns to members of the visible church.

Not just the elect, but members of the visible church. A individual angel that has had prolonged seeing of the manifestation of the glory of God the

Father in heaven. The value... Think about this.

How valuable is something where you would say, I'm going to pay full -time security 24 -7 to watch this thing.

Do you own anything? Do you own anything? That you'd be like, yeah, I'm going to pay security 24 -7 to watch this thing.

And not just security, right? This is security that's been a part of the palace guard. This is security that's watched the glory of the

Father in heaven. So these are like the Praetorian. So take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones.

For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the

Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. Oh, not only that, by the way.

Not only is there a full -time security detail 24 -7 for each of these individual visible saints, but also for the elect ones, the

Lord Jesus Christ came and paid with His blood for them. What do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?

Shepherds have a duty to neglect for a time. Many of their sheep in order to chase down one.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?

And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that did not go astray.

Even so, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

The elect, not every member of the visible church, but every member of the invisible church will be preserved.

Sometimes church discipline is the instrument that God uses, the second cause that God uses to preserve

His saints. Verse 15

Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he hears you, you've gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

What we do when we call people to repent of sin is we're asking them to be like little children, to recognize the need for discipleship, the need for repentance, the need to learn, and to put off sin, assuredly

I say to you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

So the kingdom of heaven manifested here in this little outpost of Puritan Reformed Church or even back when we had two, three households, four households.

I'm not sure we were below four. When you're that low, even there, that outpost of the kingdom of heaven is present, and when a judgment is made in accordance with the will of the king, it is as though the king had made the judgment.

Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my

Father in heaven. This is normally thought of as a prayer text.

This is a church discipline text. We've been reading the context. This is the idea of the court of a church with even two or three saints.

If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my

Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

I am there in the midst of them. A church is existent with the authority of a church with even two saints gathered in the name of the king of the church.

Now, I want to take you to a text in Leviticus because, of course, go to Leviticus 19.

There's a key text here about judgment in Leviticus 19 verses 15 -18.

Leviticus 19, verse 15. You shall do no injustice in judgment.

You shall not be partial to the poor nor honor the person of the mighty.

In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a tailbearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor,

I and the Lord. So, not seeking to circumvent process or bring harm without process, the tailbearer, and not taking a stand unjustly against your neighbor in process.

God watches unjust process and He watches circumvention of process.

Verse 17. You shall not hate your neighbor in your heart.

You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. So, we're not allowed to tailbear.

We're not allowed to falsely use the system. And you might go, well, then I'm just not going to talk about anybody. I'm going to be a hermit because people aren't worth it.

I'm not going to deal with any conflict. Nope. Also forbidden. You shall not hate your brother in your heart.

You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. When you hate your brother for unrepentant sin and you don't bring it to him, you bear sin because of him.

You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. You don't have the right of vengeance.

Vengeance is just. You know who's got the right to vengeance? The Lord. Vengeance is taken by God against men and fallen angels.

Or, vengeance is taken out against Christ for His elect.

There's public authority that's required to administer justice.

And so, we don't take vengeance into our own hands, but in submission to the

God who owns vengeance, we use public judicature to deal with where there needs to be an avenging.

You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people.

And so, we don't hold on. If we can't charitably interpret, if we can't overlook, we must confront and go through a process.

But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Did you expect the most famous text from Leviticus to be in the context of make sure to rebuke each other?

Love your neighbor as yourself. Make sure to rebuke them. Oh, what a wicked generation we live in that thinks that rebukes are acts of hatred.

Go back to Matthew 18. Verse 21,

Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

Up to seven times. In the civil sphere, what is the civil sphere supposed to do to recidivists?

The civil sphere, when somebody commits crime repeatedly, the magistrate's supposed to go, alright, that's about enough of that.

Off with his head. In the ecclesiastical sphere,

Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times.

I mean, this would clearly be a case of recidivism. Jesus said to him,

I do not say to you up to seven times. You can feel Peter's relief. He's like, that's good.

This is going to be good. Something reasonable, right Jesus? Like five times? Or three times?

I mean, not two. That'd be a little rough. I don't expect that. But, I'm glad that Jesus is going to be reasonable on this one.

I do not say up to seven times. But up to seventy times seven.

Therefore, the kingdom of God is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And so, Jesus immediately follows this with a story, right? He makes a point that is meant to make

Peter go, Whoa! The number seven times seventy.

490 times. In case Peter thought it was a literal count, and he was like,

I'm going to have to keep very careful count. Because it's going to take a long time to get through all of this.

Cats have nine lives and apparently members of the invisible church have 490. I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

How do you think the Lord Jesus Christ settles his accounts with his servants? How does a king do it, by the way?

Just a general king. Do you think the king walks around and is like, I would like to check out your ledger book, please. And let's talk about where we are.

He's going to go talk to the exchequer who's going to talk to his accountant who has an apprentice bookkeeper.

And the apprentice bookkeeper is going to go out and collect the books. And as all the books get counted and they go up to the accountants, and the accountants put them into books and the exchequer receives all those collections of books and he puts it up on a

PowerPoint and he says, oh, king, live forever. Let's go to slide five. This is how the accounting would go through.

So this king is going, okay. Therefore, the king of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he'd begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

So this settling of accounts in the kingdom with servants, we are servants, we are slaves of King Jesus.

Paul liked to call himself a slave of Jesus. I think he liked how offensive it was. Talking to Romans who were status -obsessed in the

Roman Empire, Paul, a slave of Jesus. This is a common thing.

So Jesus here is talking about in the kingdom of heaven, there is behavior that's like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

And when he'd begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. A talent of gold, by the way, would kind of be like if you had a backpack, like a rucksack, like a rucksack of gold.

Okay, so you're just going, like what am I going to take on my hike today? A backpack full of gold. That's what a talent is.

Talents like that. So you have this, you're like this is about as much gold as I can carry.

When he began to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand rucksacks of gold. But as he was not able to pay, understandable, relatable, right?

Who's with me? Oh, it's just me. Okay. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made.

The servant, therefore, fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.

Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

So a certain king went to go settle accounts, and one of the servants owes too much, can't pay it, and asks for forgiveness.

Does the God of heaven, does the Lord Jesus Christ require you to make payment of each of your particular individual sins?

If he does, do you think you can make payment for it? No. Who makes payment for it?

The king does. He forgives you the debt. Now we have certain rights in terms of what we can demand from sinners when they repent.

There's a minimum and a maximum in many cases. If we always demand the maximum, this is an example of the fact that in some cases, the church ought not to always demand the maximum.

And when people will only demand the maximum, they are like a servant who owed 10 ,000 rucksacks of gold and were forgiven the 10 ,000 rucksacks of gold, and then that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.

What we're talking about here is basically a cookie jar full of silver coins. So he's forgiven 10 ,000 rucksacks of gold, and he demands full payment for his cookie jar of silver.

We are forgiven thousands of rucksacks of gold by the

Lord Jesus Christ. And when we go to each other about our offenses, those offenses, even if they're very expensive, 100 denarii is 100 days' wages.

I would pick a fight over 100 days' wages. I'd spend time on that.

100 days' wages. But how many days' wages would the 10 ,000 rucksacks of gold be equal to, do you think?

Probably more. So if it's more, think about this idea of the person going after the cookie jar of silver and saying,

Pay me what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying,

Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done.

This would be like other saints praying and calling upon the power of the king to come and rescue this servant who was being given the maximum penalty by another servant who had been forgiven much.

When both servants gave the same type of repentance, then this master, after he had called him, said to him,

You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?

And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

These stories are extremely memorable. It's so important to remove unrepentant sin from your midst that it's like saying it's worth cutting off your hand to stop sinning.

But also, if we don't forgive the repentant and restore them, we're like people who have been forgiven rucksacks of gold and then clutch over little bags of silver.

Both are true. Church discipline is extremely important.

It is forgotten. And we live in an era when the most gentle of disciplines are viewed as horrific tyrannies.

In the ancient church and the reformation, the intensity of the discipline that was given to people horrifies me.

We must judge rightly. We must use the precepts that are revealed rightly.

We must know when to give towards the minimum and when to give towards the maximum.

And we need to also remember that the Lord always, when there's a giving of forgiveness in terms of the external institutions by men, that forgiveness is always conditioned upon not backsliding.

The king granted forgiveness of the rucksacks of gold and then, when the servant came back and said,

I'm going to go clutch at the pieces of silver from this other servant, the king came back in and said, never mind, canceling the forgiveness of debt.

There is a tendency amongst evangelicals to think two things. One, we should just grant forgiveness without restitution.

That's wicked and stupid. There's another tendency to say that once forgiveness is given, that it can never be retracted in terms of relational forgiveness and that is wicked and stupid.

This makes it so that people never have a sense of resolution without any sort of restitution or requirement of external repentance.

And it also makes it so that people feel like they have to exact all the payments before forgiveness is given because they worry they can never take it back.

That's not true. If the payments stop coming, the forgiveness goes away. The forgiveness comes at the beginning.

And if there's a rejection of the terms of repentance, then you take back the forgiveness.

These are principles for church discipline that allow us to deal with the forgiveness of sins in a sense of safety.

I stand open now to comments, questions, and objections from the voting members and those with speaking privileges.

Mr. Price? Sure. So the question is, is it possible that the guy who owed the rucksacks of gold was trying to figure out how to scramble to get his payments to hit his debt service coverage on the payments to the rucksack credit holder?

I don't think so. I like the creativity. But I think it's clear that he's forgiven.

He's begging and he's forgiven. So there's a resolution of that. And then the king goes,

I forgave you all this and you're still doing this? He's not saying, if only you'd known I had actually forgiven you.

There's this... I think there's nothing in the story that would suggest that. Nothing in the parable that would suggest that. Thank you.

Okay. Let's pray. Father, we ask that You would bless the teaching of Your Word, that You would help us to deal with public process well, that You would help us to not be foolish in failures to deal with matters of sin, and You would help us to also not be a people who exact vengeance for ourselves, to not be a people who fail to recognize the great mercy that we have received, to not be a people who fail to look upon what is equitable, what is within the bounds of the minimum and the maximum that would be prudent.