done, when we prayed God to "turn the hearts of our enemies, persecutors, and slanderers." For how, suppose ye, are the hearts of the wicked most effectually turned? Is it by continuing to heap blessings and prosperity and kindness upon those who are unthankful for what they have already received? No: the human heart requires a more potent remedy. Affliction, as experience shows, is far more likely to subdue the hardened sinner; and, feeling this, the Psalmist does not hesitate to declare, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." (Ps. cxix. 67-71.) Whenever, therefore, we pray for the improvement of our persecuting enemies, and are praying in a good spirit, we ask, in reality though not in words, that, if expedient for their souls' good, sorrow and distress may visit them; not that we may be avenged, but that they may be softened; that they may be induced to seek the Lord while He may be found, and may be taught that He is not to be resisted or disobeyed; but that He, whose name alone is Jehovah, is indeed the Most High over all the earth.

Moreover, when you consider that many of the strong expressions introduced into the Psalms were directed by the writer, not against his own enemies, but against the enemies of the Lord, it will be manifest that the Jews perverted the merciful

doctrines of the Old Testament by exacting in private life "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth;" that the Book of Psalms does not inculcate cruelty and vindictive feelings; and, consequently, that this portion of the Sacred Volume is not at variance with any other. Thus every objection falls to the ground. The unbeliever need not boast, while on the other hand the believer need not take offence; those angry expressions which meet his eye being either prophetic announcements of what will happen to the ungodly, or temporal judgments asked for under circumstances in which the most pious Christian would not hesitate to join.

We have yet to make this work of critical exposition practically useful to ourselves.

Not to dwell upon the evidence we have here of the truth of that book, which has been "written for our learning”—an evidence founded upon the wonderful harmony that pervades the entire volume, though written by different hands and in different ages-I hasten to impress upon your minds the great necessity of forgiving those who injure us, and of cultivating that disposition of heart which would prepare us for the meek endurance of the most painful offences. And I rest my strongest argument for its necessity on the simple fact that the duty is taught, recommended, and enforced in every portion of the Bible; that from the beginning it has been represented as a disposition

B

lovely to cultivate-a condition to be carefully observed a command to be faithfully and implicitly obeyed.

To stimulate us to a strict attention to this duty, appears, from our Saviour's own words (Luke xxiii. 34), to have been the latest thought that occupied His suffering soul; and He has plainly said that our own pardon is inseparably connected with the full and free forgiveness of those who trespass against us (Matt. vi. 14, 15). Oh! could a more affecting example have been exhibited than that of Jesus? or could a more awakening motive be assigned to selfish creatures than that which tells us that, in order to be forgiven, we must forgive? You cannot deny that the Lord has much, very much to require at your hands. You are His helpless creatures; and all you have, you have received from Him. You are His subjects; for often have you pledged your faith to Him as to a king; and He has adopted you as His children. Consequently you owe Him ready obedience, respectful homage, and filial affection. Have you performed these proper and reasonable services? With your hand upon your heart, and with eyes devoutly raised towards heaven, dare you appeal to Him, and say, "O Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that we love thee?" Such an appeal, in the great majority of cases, would be blasphemy; because the worldly tempers, the angry feelings, the envyings, and the jealousies which prevail,

attest too plainly, even to short-sighted man, that the hateful temper of the murderous Cain is alive and active throughout the earth. But does God retain His anger for ever? Has He forgotten to be gracious? Hear for your encouragement, but to your shame, His tender messages to the contrite sinner:- "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa. i. 18): "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Jer. xxxi. 34; Heb. viii. 12). Oh! what are we, or what our mutual injuries, when viewed in the light which shines upon us, as it were, to dazzle and confound! In fact, it is manifest (and I am speaking without exaggeration when I say it) that the most aggravated offence of a fellow-mortal is literally nothing when compared with the insults we offer to our heavenly Father and King. The strongest ties of duty and affection (and, believe me, they are strong) are feeble in comparison with those which are uniting us to God; and, consequently, a violation of those earthly ties is insignificant when we think upon our neglect of spiritual duties. If God, then, is willing to forgive the debt of ten thousand talents, and is waiting to be gracious long before we are wishing to return, is it reasonable for us, under any circumstances, to refuse the remission of one hundred pence-the

pardon of those injuries which, when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, prove lighter than vanity itself? If we consider ourselves disciples, and prize that precious gift of salvation, so dearly purchased, yet so freely offered; if Christ's forgiving conduct in the agonies of a bitter death can affect our hearts and influence our lives; if it is our great desire, as it was the martyr Stephen's, to commend our parting spirits into the hands of God, and to abide with Him in endless glory, we must learn now (for "this is the accepted time ") to be His followers, like dear children, meek and docile, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath promised to forgive us. As we hope for mercy in time of need, let no circumstances, however distressing, induce us to suppose that in our case pardon is impossible. The law of God is peremptory: there can be no exception; and therefore, if we do not comply, each time we kneel in supplication, and address to Him that heaven-taught form of prayer, we invoke upon our heads not a blessing, but a curse. In vain will it be to plead the difficulty of the task; for, being commanded, it is indispensable; and, being indispensable, with God's assistance it can be done. To flesh and blood, indeed-to the unrenewed and unsanctified heart-it is no easy matter to pardon injuries, to endure insults, and to bear with patience the attack of enemies. But we are taught that in our weakness God is strong; and that, with His aid, it is