heart was enlarged, and his views carried forward to the extent of his duty: but the moment the Prophet left him to himself, he fell short. Happy for us, when we act in all cases under the direction of our Divine Prophet! In the present case, presuming to act without direction, we shall give little punishment to whom much, and much to whom little is due.

Christians do not persecute, because they know persecution doth no good. To punish before the commission of sin is a perversion of all justice. To punish after it, is wise only when pain is likely to reclaim the offender, or to deter others when the offender himself is become incorrigible, and so bad as to be beyond all means of amendment. No enemy of Christ is in this last condition during the present life. As a king of Judah was in one part of his life an oppressor of his people, and imprisoned his reprovers in a rage: but Asa was recovered from his folly, destroyed idolatry, burnt the idol of his own mother, and reformed the worship of God; and therefore on the whole is said to be "perfect with the Lord all his days." Manasseh was a hardened cruel man, and "before he was humbled," committed many great crimes against God, and even "shed innocent blood very much :" yet" when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and the Lord heard his supplication." Afflictions from the hand of Providence humble men: but punishments from their fellow-creatures irritate and provoke them. "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:" for if "he maketh sore he bindeth up;" if "he woundeth, his hands make whole :" but when men oppress and punish one another, they are wicked, and "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Well might David pray, "Let me not fall into the hands of man: let me fall into the hand of the Lord: for his mercies are very great!" As persecution can never proceed on suppo sition the persecuted are incorrigible, so neither can it be applied as a proper method of reformation. Can persecution inform the judgment; can it change the heart? Let us then dethrone reason, destroy Scripture, divest the Holy Spirit of his office, provide "weapons,?

not spiritual, but "carnal," and "bring every thought to the obedience of Christ!" If nothing of this can be done, let us renounce this "hidden thing of dishonesty," and let us leave all such practices to the workers of iniquity.

Christians cannot persecute, because they are taught to "love their enemies," to "bless such as curse them," to "do good to those that hate them," and to " pray for all who despitefully use and persecute them." Such is the love of a good man to his master, that he cannot help saying, O Lord, "I count them that hate thee mine enemies." And what saith the Lord in answer to your sincere and consistent love of him? He saith, Do not hate thine enemies: "it hath been said, hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies." Love them, because there is something lovely in the worst: love them, because your heavenly Father sets you an example: love them, because I command you love them, because they may be won by your love to become friends: love them because I loved you, when you was an enemy to me. This, my brethren, is reason and religion; this is the "word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it." Let not this word be the less respected by us because it is a "still small voice," and doth not come in wind, and earthquake, and fire, rending the mountains and slivering the rocks! It is man, great man, mighty man, who in the "glory of his high looks," speaks thus, or affects to speak thus as well as he can; it is he, whose "stout heart saith, I am prudent, I have removed the bound of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man." It is 66 Lucifer, the son of the morning, who saith, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, I will be like the most high." I felt no more plundering a nation, than at spoiling a bird's nest, for "there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." This is the language of a tyrant in religion: this is not the style of the just and gentle Jesus: he, the righteous judge, will indemnify the sufferers, and say to the ty rant, A fire shall consume the glory of both soul and

body. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ?”

Finally, the certainty of the day of judgment deters good men from persecuting. The wicked will not go unpunished. No class of bad men will escape. There, tyrants of every age, and of every description, must appear, and answer a question like this, "Whose ox, or whose ass hath he taken ?" "Whom hath he defrauded?" "Whom hath he oppressed?" "Of whose hand hath he received any bribe to blind his eyes therewith?" Happy, infinitely happy the man, who can say, "The Lord is witness, and his anointed is witness, that you have not found aught in my hand! I am pure from the blood of all men!" There, bigots shall appear, and answer for their ignorance, injustice, and partiality. There, they will be required to answer questions like these: "Why have ye stolen the king away? Why did you despise us, that our advice should not be had in bringing back our king?" Why did you "hate and cast out your brethren" in the name of God, “saying, Let the Lord be glorified?" Why did you ❝ forsake the right way, and follow the way of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness?" Why did you do worse than he, and curse whom the Lord hath blessed? There, the wicked of all sorts will be collected, and every individual will receive for the deeds done in the body. The Christian foresees all this, restrains his passions, bears long and is kind, and saith, as David of Saul, when a rash friend said, "Let me smite him, even once, and I will not smite him a second time." No, said David, "the Lord forbid! The Lord shall smite him. Either his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish: but mine hand shall not be upon him." He persecutes me, but "the Lord be judge between him and me." Sentiments not of policy merely, but of humanity, justice, and religion.

It is not enough not to persecute the enemies of Christ; we are bound by every solemn tie to perform every duty, yea more, every kind office of friendship towards them. This is not only expressly commanded, If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give

66

him drink: be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good:" I say these duties are not only commanded, and lie in our books to be read; but they live in the examples of all good men in some degree, and of some good men in a very high degree. Of all examples, that of our heavenly Father is the brightest, and ought to have most weight with us. It will be so, if we enter into the spirit of the Christian religion, or feel what the apostle Paul calls the "the love of God shed abroad in our hearts:" a love commended towards us by the very principle we are inculcating. The apostle considers mankind in three classes. In the first he puts righteous men, who just perform what the law requires, and asks, Who will die, to obtain a right of living for such a man? Scarcely one; for the life of such a man is of little use to society. In a second class he puts good men, who not only discharge all duties to society, but moreover abound in all kind offices, to which they are not obliged, and which are the generous dictates of their own goodness. Peradventure (it is only peradventure), some may know the worth of this man so well, and love society so much, that they would "even dare to die," were it possible by dying in his stead to lengthen a life so valuable. But here is a third class, neither good nor righteous, but sinners, enemies. Who will die for them? Who indeed? "But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, when we were enemies, Christ died for us." When the love that did this is "shed abroad in our hearts," we have learnt the doctrine of the text, the conduct of a good man towards the enemies of Christ, which is not only to suspend anger, but to be "full of mercy and good fruits."

Let us not abuse this doctrine by applying it to other things beside religion. The enemies of Christ, subtle enough in their generation, have sometimes gone beyond good men, and have been "wiser than the children of light." They have examined the peaceable principles of our holy religion, and ingeniously turned the doctrines of Christ to purposes of sin. Say they, You are forbidden to persecute, you must not resist us

when we persecute you. You are commanded to be humble, your religion forbids you to exercise civil offices in a state. You are commanded to do all kind offices to us, and we expect them at your hands: your religion requires you to set your hearts on the world to come, and the management of this world you should leave to us. There is here and there an honest simpleton, who admits all this, and calmly suffers himself to be plundered of all his birthright. A wise Christian makes a distinction between truth and the application of it; and when the truths of religion are applied to purposes of sin, cries Treason, treason, high treason against the majesty of the King of kings, against the security of the Commonwealth, high treason to counterfeit the great seal of heaven. Suppose a thief should come in the night, break into your houses, steal your money, and with the bag in one hand, and the Gospel in the other, should awake you out of your sleep and read, Jesus said, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;" would you calmly turn and compose yourselves to sleep again, or would you rise and cry, Stop thief? A very little discernment is sufficient to convince us that mankind have natural and civil rights, and that, though it is wrong to punish mere enmity against the Christian religion, yet it is just to resist, and proper to punish open acts disturbing society, and the order of good government. The magistrates of Philippi whipped and imprisoned Paul and Silas for teaching. Next day they sent to the jailer, saying, "Let those men go," and he advised them to accept the favour "and go in peace." No, said Paul, they have acted illegally, and they shall "come themselves and fetch us out." The same principles, that obliged us yesterday to teach the Gospel, bind us to day to maintain the honour of the law, for "the law is made for the lawless and disobedient." Human law is good or bad as it is used; bad if applied to religion and conscience, and good if a man use it lawfully.

The Christian religion is so far from preparing men to resign the benefits of society, that it is itself the best