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enemies in the words that immediately follow; "Blefs them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that defpitefully ufe you, and perfecute you :" that is, do not retaliate upon your enemy; do not return his execrations, his injuries, and his perfecutions, with fimilar treatment; do not turn upon him his own weapons, but endeavor to fubdue him with weapons of a celestial temper, with kindness and compaffion. This is of all others the most effectual way of vanquishing an enraged adversary. The interpretation here given is amply confirmed by St. Paul in his epiftle to the Romans, which is an admirable comment on this paffage. "Dearly beloved, fays he, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for vengeance is mine, I will repay, faith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." This then is the love that we are to fhow our enemies; not that ardour of affection which we feel towards our friends, but that lower kind of love, which is called Chriftian charity (for it is the fame word in the original) and which we ought to exercife toward every human being, especially in diftrefs. If even our enemy hunger, we are to feed him; if he thirft, we are to give him drink; and thus fhall obtain the noblest of all triumphs, "we fhall overcome evil with good." The world if they please may call this meanness of spirit, but it is in fact the trueft magnanimity and elevation of foul. It is far more glorious and more difficult to fubdue our own resentments, and to act with generofity and kindnefs to our adverfary, than to make him feel the feverest effects of our vengeance. It is this noblest act of felfgovernment, this conqueft over our ftrongest paffions, which our Saviour here requires. It is what constitutes the highest perfection of our nature: and it is this perfection which is meant in the concluding verfe of this chapter; Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect+;" that is, in your conduct towards your enemies approach as near as you are able to that perfection of mercy which your heavenly Father manifefts towards

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his enemies, towards the evil and the unjuft, on whom he maketh his fun to rife as well as on the righteous and the juft. This fenfe of the word perfect is established beyond controverfy by the parallel paffages in St. Luke; where, inftead of the terms made ufe of by St. Matthew, "Be ye therefore perfed, as your Father which is in heaven is - perfect," the evangelift exprefsly fays, "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father alfo is merciful.*

This then is the perfection which you are to exert your utmost efforts to attain; and if you fucceed in your at tempt, your reward fhall be great indeed; you fhall, as our Lord affures you, be the children of the Moft High.t

Having now brought thefe Lectures to a conclufion for the prefent year, I cannot take my leave of you without exprefling the great comfort and fatisfaction I have derived from the appearance of fuch numerous and attentive congregations as I have seen in this place. That fatisfaction, if I can at all judge of my own fentiments and feelings, does not originate from any felfifh gratification, but from the real intereft I take in the welfare, the eternal welfare of every one here present; from the hope I entertain that fome ufeful impreffions may have been made upon your minds; and from the evidence which this general earnestnefs to hear the word of God explained and recommeded affords, that a deeper fense of duty, a more ferious attention to the great concerns of eternity, has, by the bleffing of God been awakened in your fouls. If this be fo, allow me moft earnestly to entreat you not to let this ardour cool; not to let these pious fentiments die away; not to let thefe good feeds be choaked by the returning cares and pleafures of the world. But go, retire into your closets, fall down upon your knees before your Maker, and fervently implore him to pour down upon you the overruling, influences of his Holy Spirit; to enlighten your underftandings, to fanctify your hearts, to fubdue your paffions, to confirm your good refolutions, and enable you to refift every enemy of your falvation.

*Luke vi, 36. + Matth. v. 45.

The world will foon again difplay all its attractions before you, and endeavor to extinguifh every good principle you have imbibed. But if the divine truths you have heard explained and enforced in these Lectures have taken any firm root in your minds; if you are seriously convinced that Chrift and his religion came from heaven, and that he is able to make good whatever he has promised and whatever he has threatened, there is nothing furely in this world that can induce you to risque you the lofs of eternal happiness, or the infliction of never-ceafing punishment.

Least of all, will you think that this is the precife moment for fetting your affections on this world and its enjoyments; that these are the times for engaging in eager purfuits after the advantages, the honors, the pleasures of the prefent life; for plunging into vice, for diffolving in gaiety and pleasures, for fuffering every trivial, every infignificant object, to banish the remembrance of your Maker and Redeemer from your hearts, where they ought to reign unrivalled and fupreme. Surely amidst the dark clouds that now hang over us,* these are not the things that will brighten up our profpects, that will leffen our danger, that will calm our apprehenfions, and speak peace and comfort to our fouls. No, it must be something of a very different nature; a deep sense of our own unworthinefs, a fincere contrition for our paft offences, a prostration of ourselves in all humility before the throne of grace, an earnest application for pardon and acceptance through the merits of him who died for us (whose death and sufferings for our fakes the approaching week will bring fresh before our view,) an ardent defire to manifeft our love and gratitude, our devotion and attachment to our Maker and our Redeemer, by giving them a decided priority and predominance in our affections and our hearts; by making their will the ruling principle of our conduct; the attainment of their favor, the advancement of their glory, the chief object of our wishes and defires. These are the fentiments we ought to cultivate and cherish if we wish for any folid comfort under calamity or affliction, any confi

* In March 1798.

dence in the favor and protection of Heaven; thefe alone can support and fuftain our fouls in the midst of danger and diftrefs, at the hour of death, and in the day of judg

ment.

And how then, are these holy fentiments, these heaven. ly affections to be excited in our hearts? Moft certainly not by giving up all our time and all our thoughts to the endlefs occupations, the never-ceafing gaities and amusements of this diffipated metropolis; but by withdrawing ourselves frequently from this tumultuous fcene, by retir ing into our chamber, by communing with our own hearts, by fervent prayer, by holding high converfe with our Maker, and cultivating fome acquaintance with that unfeen world to which we are all haftening, and which, in one way or other, must be our portion for ever.

Many of those whom I now fee before me have, from their high rank and fituation in life, full leisure and ample opportunities for all thefe important purposes; and let them be affured, that a strict account will one day be demanded of them in what manner and with what effect they have employed the talents, the time, and the many other advantages with which their gracious Maker has indulged them.

And even those who are moft engaged in the bufy and laborious fcenes of life, have at least one day in the week which they may, and which they ought to dedicate to the great concerns of religion. Let then that day be kept facred to its original destination by all ranks of men, from the highest to the loweft. Let it not be profaned by needlefs journeys, by fplendid entertainments, by crowded affemblies, by any thing in fhort which precludes either ourfelves, our families, or our domestics, from the exercise of religious duties, or the improvement of those pious fentiments and affections which it was meant to inspire. Let me not, however, be misunderstood. I mean not that it fhould be either to the rich or the poor, or to any human being whatever, a day of gloom and melancholy, a day of fuperftitious rigor, and of abfolute exclufion from all fociety and all innocent recreation. I know of

a day to which we ought delight, and enjoy with a But let it be remembered

nothing in Scripture that requires this; I know of no good effect that could refult from it. On the contrary, it is a festival, a joyful feftival; always to look forward with thankful and a grateful heart. at the fame time, that it is a day which God claims as his own; that he has stamped upon it a peculiar mark of fanctity; and that it ought to be distinguished from every other day, in the first place, by refting from our ufual occupations, and giving reft to our fervants and our cattle; in the next, by attendance on the public worship of God; and in the remaining intervals, by relaxations and enjoyments peculiarly its own; not by quotidian tumult, noife, and diffipation; but by the calm and filent pleasures of retirement, of recollection, of devout meditation, of fecret prayer, yet mingled difcreetly with felect fociety, with friendly converfe, with fober recreation, and with decent cheerfulness throughout the whole.

It was to draw off our attention from the common follies and vanities of the week, and to give the foul a little pause, a little respite, a little breathing from the inceffant importunities of business and of pleasure, that this holy festival was inftituted. And if we cannot give up these things for a fingle day, if we cannot make this small facrifice to Him from whom we derive our very existence, it is high time for us to look to our hearts, and to confider very seriously whether fuch a disposition and temper of mind as this will ever qualify us for the kingdom of heaven.

"Could ye not watch with me one hour?" Said our divine Mafter to his flumbering companions*. Can ye not give me one day out of feven? May he now fay to his thoughtless difciples. Let none of us then ever fubject ourselves to this bitter reproach. Let us refolve from this moment to make the Christian sabbath a day of holy joy and confolation; a day of heavenly rest and refreshment; and above all, a day for the attentive perusal of those facred pages which have been the fubject of thefe Lectures, and of your most serious attention. It is to be hoped, in

Mark xiv. 37.

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