is always open to the addresses of the faithful, send up thy prayers for him, that the wickedness of his heart may be forgiven, and that he may be endued from above with a spirit of peace and charity. And surely he must be little of a Christian indeed, who cannot thus recommend the bitterest enemy he has in the world, to the divine mercy.

But how far, you will say, must this duty of forgiveness extend? Does the obligation lie all on one side? Must I forgive, though my adversary makes no steps towards a reconciliation, or even continues to add injury to injury?

To these questions let our Saviour give the proper answer, in his reply to Peter, who made the same sort of inquiry, how often he should continue to forgive his brother: "I say not "unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy "times seven;" clearly implying, that no transgressions of our brother, however frequent or aggravated, should exclude him from our charity, or place him beyond the bounds of reconciliation. But still it will be said, is not this hard and unreasonable? Does it not contradict the strongest inclinations of human nature? I answer, it contradicts the corrupt passions of human nature, but not that impartial light of

VOL. I.

reason

reason, which ought to be the guide of our conduct for surely it is more agreeable to reason, to be meek and gentle, than to be violent and implacable; to make peace, rather than sow division; to lift up, rather than cast down pity and conceal, rather than expose the infirmities of men like ourselves.

to

and avenge

But, if we still think there is any hardship in the duty of forgiveness, let us weigh well the example of Him who enjoined it, and who requires nothing of us, but what he practised himself in the highest degree. Can we think of his great condescension in coming down from heaven, and conversing with sinners in the most meek and affable manner;-of his astonishing love and boundless compassion to his murderers; -his patient submitting to all the sorrows and miseries of an afflicted life;-his enduring all the contradictions, affronts, and reproaches of enraged malice;-can we think of these things, and suffer ourselves to be proud and haughty, uncharitable and cruel; to be overcome with passion, to be transported with fury, to be actuated by a revengeful and intolerant spirit?

Consider farther the difference between the meek and gentle Christian, and those unhappy men, who are ever devoured with turbulent and impla

implacable passions. They enjoy, indeed, the same mercies and providences in common with other men, but they have not the same blessing and effect upon them :-they do not smooth their tempers or mollify their hearts; they do not raise any devout and grateful sense of that goodness, which is bestowed upon them like the beasts of the forest, they "rise early in the "morning, and seek after their prey, and in the evening lie them down in their dens: but

they regard not the works of the Lord, nor "consider the operations of his hands." But to the meek and gentle, whose hearts are not soured by malevolence, every occurrence of Providence, every mercy of heaven, yields a new argument of gratitude and happiness. In the morning, they rise from their beds, full of devotion and thanksgiving to God, and of charity and good-will to men; and in the evening, the sun goeth not down upon their wrath :-their hearts are as benignant and unconfined as hisbeams-they see God in every providence of the day, and love their fellow-creatures in every thought of their breasts; and, therefore, the night covers them with its shades, secure and unruffled, cheerful and happy.

And now, then, let any revengeful man lay his hand upon his heart, and ask himself, whether

02

whether it is not as much his interest as his duty to forgive, even if the present life only were concerned in it. But the comfort of

the present life is not all that is at stake: God prefers this christian and charitable disposition of spirit before all outward acts of devotion; and, therefore, the man who wants it can have no claim or expectation of the divine favour." I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," is the language of heaven: and we may observe, that both the Old and New Testament are more frequent and exact in stating the mutual offices of good-will and charity from man to man, than in the outward expressions of our devotions towards God. And God himself seldom reproaches the Jews for the want of these; but the defects of the other fill the law and the prophets. And our Saviour, in like manner, proportions the fates of men at the last day, to their observance or neglect of the duty of forgiveness.

It is, therefore, the practice of this duty, which gives us the greatest confidence in the mercies of God, that he will hear our prayers, and accept our persons." Go thy way, first "be reconciled to thy brother, and then come "and offer thy gift ;" then, and then only, will both thy gift and thy repentance be accepted., And to the same purport is the reasoning of

God,

God, where he hath been reproving the Jews for their vain oblations, their new moons and sabbaths, telling them that all these were ineffectual, because their hands were full of the blood of revenge.

But though this christian temper be always thus necessary to recommend us to God, yet we, as Christians, should remember, that we have a peculiar obligation to forgive, as often as we approach the table of the Lord, to commemorate the mercy of a dying Redeemer. It is the wedding garment required by God in scripture; it is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. If we are, therefore, in earnest in commemorating the death of our best friend and benefactor, we cannot but feel the strongest obligations upon our souls, to put on, as the elect children of God, bowels of mercy, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave us. If, then, we have formerly been so unhappy as to forget this great example of mercy and forgiveness; if we have been guilty of any injury or malevolence to our neighbour; if we have wronged him in his estate, if we have wounded him in his good name, if we have wished ill to him in our heart; let us make haste