hard lesson; but it is the duty, and the privilege of the Christian. It is his duty, for it is the command of God; "take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek, and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matthew xi. 29. "Whose adorning, let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God, of great price." 1 Peter iii. 4. Again, meekness is a fruit of that wisdom, which in the Holy Scriptures, is placed for the love of God, and obedience to his will and commandments; for, "who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge amongst you? Let him shew out of a good conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom." James iii. 13.

But it is also the Christian's privilege, since "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth;" so powerful is this principle, that victory and conquest are promised to it; so true is it, that the weapons of the gospel are omnipotent; and that while anger would frequently lead to injustice, and passion would be always sinful, and always accompanied with a loss of self-possession, and of influence, and valour would be useless, and courage would be thrown away, and hatred would be a source of constant torment, and the gratification of revenge would be more than equipoised by the misery of remorse; and while the exercise of every one of these passions would be accompanied by a corresponding loss of respectability, of moral dignity, of real worth, of peace of

mind, and of intellectual influence: genuine, humble, modest, god-like meekness" shall inherit the earth;" for the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to him who lives to the glory of God.

In the present world, surrounded by difficulty and danger, with our knowledge circumscribed, and our way rendered dark and obscure by sin, and ignorance, and prejudice, and passion, the greatest boons which we require are to be led into the way of truth, to be preserved from error, and to have the means of our information enlarged. These blessings are promised to the meek; "the meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way," (Psalm xxv. 9.) and “ the Lord lifteth up the meek; but casteth the wicked down to the ground." Psalm cxlvii. 6.

Again, as sinful creatures we need a Saviour; as convinced of our wretchedness, we require deliverance; a prey to the guilt and torment of sin, we seek for peace; enslaved by passion, we require the freedom of those who are ransomed of Christ; obstructed in our path by the material cloud which invests us, we require the aid of the Sun of Righteousness to dissipate that cloud; and so it is the office of Christ "to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isaiah lxi. 1.

And lastly, it is our privilege as well as our duty to imitate the character of Him, who " when

he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously;" (1 Peter ii. 23.) of whom it has been said, that " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Isaiah liii. 7.

With such high authority for the exercise of this virtue, surely meekness will not be stigmatized as want of spirit, even by those who profess to see in the character of Christ only an example for imitation; but in those who do not thus rob the Saviour of his glory, who are really rational Christians, and who rejoice to lay hold of the hope set before them in the gospel, it cannot be that they should neglect to cultivate this spirit, or lightly esteem its influence; it cannot be that they should be laughed or frowned out of their religion; it cannot be that they should be followers of Christ, and yet be imbued with the love of retaliation, the manly temper of resentment, the noble passion of revenge, the benevolent principle of vengeance, the Christian spirit of murder; it cannot be that they should be influenced at the same time by the dispositions of the demon, and by the love of God; it cannot be that they should be slaves of Satan, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven!

SECTION VII. On Justice.

JUSTICE Consists in the unbiassed appreciation of conduct, and in the meed of applause, or disapprobation which results, from the judgment thus formed of human action, and motive, and principle. It is the even-handed award of truth, based on religious principle, uninfluenced by sinister or selfish motives, supported by duty, and proposing no other object for its end, than the punishment of the evil-doer, and the reward of virtuous conduct. But as "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;" (Ecclesiastes vii. 20.) so neither is there a perfect example of justice to be found except in the character of Jehovah; and God alone is essentially righteous and just; He also is the fountain of justice, both in his nature, which is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and in all his proceedings with his creatures; for "justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Psalm lxxxix. 14.

It is then an attribute of justice to be tempered by mercy; but mercy does not supersede justice. To forgive, to blot out the transgressions of his people, to remember them no more against them, to cast them into the depths of the sea; aye, more, even to spare the wicked for the sake

of the good, and to suspend his judgments upon the former, to give them farther space for repentance; to be changed from his fierce anger by the tear of godly sorrow, and to be reconciled to sinners by their turning to God, and faith in the sacrifice of Christ; these are his delight. Thus, in the memorable instance of patriarchal pleading with God, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis xviii. 25. Jehovah promises to spare the cities of Sodom, if there were found in them ten righteous persons, for their sakes. But while the attribute of mercy shines most conspicuously, it is also true, that justice demands the ultimate execution of his wrath upon the finally impenitent; for as God is holy, he must hate sin, and must punish the wilfully obstinate, in order to magnify his law and make it honourable; and " he shall not judge after the light of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness shall be the girdle of his reins." Isaiah xi. 3, 4, 5. This is a most important principle of justice; and it is one on which mistakes are so frequently made, that it cannot be too distinctly marked, or too sedulously inculcated as an early bias of education. There is no cruelty in justice; when a man deliberately pre