and the direct caufe of the pleasure. This probability is converted into certainty, if we give credit to the authority which dictated the feveral paffages of the Christian scriptures that condemn revenge, or what is the fame thing, which enjoin forgiveness.

We will fet down the principal of these paffages; and endeavour to collect from them, what conduct upon the whole is allowed towards an enemy, and what is forbidden.

"If ye forgive men their trefpaffes, your

heavenly Father 'will also forgive you; but if ແ ye forgive not men their trefpaffes, neither "will your Father forgive your trefpaffes." "And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him

to the tormentors, till he fhould pay all that

was due unto him: fo likewise, shall my "heavenly Father do alfo unto you, if ye "from your hearts forgive not every one his "brother their trefpaffes." " Put on bowels of

mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek

nefs, long fuffering, forbearing one another, "forgiving one another: if any man have a " quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, fo alfo do ye." "Be patient towards all << men;

ແ

fee that none render evil for evil unto

any man.' Avenge not yourselves, but

" rather

;

"rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, faith the Lord. "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him "if he thirft, give him drink; for in fo do"ing, thou fhalt heap coals of fire on his head. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil "with good."*

I think it evident from fome of these paffages taken separately, and still more so, from all of them together, that revenge, as described in the beginning of this chapter, is forbidden in every degree, under all forms, and upon any occafion. We are likewife forbidden to refufe to an enemy even the most imperfect right; " if he hunger, "feed him; if he thirst, give him drink," which are examples of imperfect rights. If one who has offended us, folicit from us a vote to which his qualifications entitle him, we may not refuse it from motives of refentment, or the remembrance of what we have fuffered at his hands. His right, and our obligation which follows the

* Matt. vi. 14, 15. xviii. 34, 35. Col. ii. 12, 13. Theff. v. 14, 15. Rom. xii. 19, 20, 21.

"If thou meet thine enemy's

+ See alfo Exodus xxiii. 4. ox, or his ass, going aftray, thou shalt surely bring it back “to him again: if thou see the afs of him that hateth thee ❝lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him,

1 "thou fhalt furely help with him.”

right, is not altered by his enmity to us, or by ours to him.

On the other hand, I do not conceive, that thefe prohibitions were intended to interfere with the punishment or profecution of public offenders. In the eighteenth chapter of St. Matthew, our Saviour tells his disciples, "if thy "brother who has trefpaffed against thee, neg"lect to hear the church, let him be unto thee

as an heathen man, and a publican." Immediately after this, when St. Peter afked him, "how oft shall my brother fin against me, and "I forgive him? till feven times?" Chrift replied, "I fay not unto thee until seven times; "but until seventy times feven;" that is, as often as he repeats the offence. From these two adjoining paffages compared together, we are authorized to conclude that the forgiveness of an enemy is not inconfiftent with the proceeding against him as a public offender; and that the discipline established in religious or civil focieties, for the restraint or punishment of criminals, ought to be upheld.

If the magiftrate be not tied down by these prohibitions from the execution of his office, neither is the profecutor; for the office of the

pro

profecutor is as neceffary as that of the magiftrate.

Nor by parity of reason, are private persons withheld from the correction of vice, when it is in their power to exercise it; provided they be affured that it is the guilt which provokes them, and not the injury; and that their motives are pure from all mixture and every particle of that spirit which delights and triumphs in the humiliation of an adversary.

Thus it is no breach of Christian charity, to withdraw our company or civility, when the fame tends to discountenance any vicious practice. This is one branch of that extrajudicial discipline, which fupplies the defects and the remiffness of law; and is expressly authorized by St. Paul, (1 Cor. v. 11.) "But now I have "written unto you, not to keep company, if

66

any man, that is called a brother, be a forni

cator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer,

or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such 66 an one no not to eat." The ufe of this affociation against vice continues to be experienced in one remarkable inftance, and might be extended with good effect to others. The confederacy amongst women of character, to exclude from. their fociety kept mistreffes and prostitutes, con

tributes

tributes more perhaps to difcourage that condition of life, and prevents greater numbers from entering into it, than all the confiderations of prudence and religion put together.

We are likewise allowed to practise so much caution, as not to put ourselves in the way of injury, or invite the repetition of it. If a fervant or tradefman has cheated us, we are not bound to truft him again; for this is to encourage him in his difhoneft practices, which is doing him much harm.

Where a benefit can be conferred only upon one or few, and the choice of the perfon, upon whom it is conferred, is a proper object of favour, we are at liberty to prefer those who have not offended us to those who have; the contrary being no where required.

Christ, who, as hath been well demonstrated,* estimated virtues by their folid utility, and not by their fashion or popularity, prefers this of the forgiveness of injuries to every other. He enjoins it oftener; with more earneftnefs; under a greater variety of forms; and with this weighty and peculiar circumftance, that the forgiveness of others is the condition, upon which alone

* See a View of the internal Evidence of the Chriftian Religion.

we