olutions, render it as turbulent as it is terrible. The man who gives himself to the control of malice, makes himself unhappy to no purpose. It turns his attention from his true interest and his important duties, and when it has done, he is not half so satisfied as the man who studies only "the things which make for peace." Which, think ye, enjoyed the most substantial delight -the sons of Israel, when, burning with envy, and perplexed to accomplish and conceal their iniquity, they sold their brother? or the amiable Joseph, when, unmindful of their cruelty, he preserved them from famine and covered their shame? Which, think ye, discovered the surest dignity, and felt most approved to himself, Lot contending for mistaken privileges, or Abraham replying, "Let there be no strife I pray thee between thee and me. Is not the whole land before us? if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then will I go to the left."

There remains another consideration which, more than all that has been said, should deter us from harbouring malice in our bosoms. It is the incompatibility of a malicious disposition with the Christian character.

The spirit of the gospel, such as we should expect it from its Author, God, breathes nothing but peace and love. The genius of Christianity is irreconcileable with malice. To restore harmony to a discordant world, to correct the selfish and malevolent passions, and bind men with the bonds of amity, are its benevolent design. It contains no party principles, no seeds nor sanctions of dissension; but embracing the whole family of man, chaunts in each ear its aim and end, "Peace on earth and good will to men!"

Conformable with its spirit and design are its precepts, and the bright example in which they are illustrated and enforced. If upon one duty more stress be laid in the gospel than upon another, that duty is love. Hear what its divine Author says, "Hereby shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." "If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?"

"I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you." Observe this injunction of St. Paul, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." The beloved John declares it impossible that an indifference to the happiness of our fellow-beings, much more, hatred toward any of them, should abide in the bosom in which the love of God dwelleth. Love may indeed be said to be the fount from which all Christian duties are made to flow. When malice is indulged, this fount of celestial origin is disturbed, and its streams cease to be pure.

Hence our blessed Lord, amidst all the provocations and wrongs he sustained, did not permit malignant resentment to infuriate his heart against any of his foes. And what are our provocations and affronts compared with his? We may not plead our inferiority to him in the strength he could oppose to the approaches of vice. Our succours are not less in proportion to his succours, than the wrongs we meet to the injuries he endured. Yet, "when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not," but uniformly strove to {{ overcome evil with good." How are we his disciples, if we cherish dispositions opposite to his? Where is the consistence of our conduct, if, professing ourselves followers of the peaceful Immanuel, we carry on our tongues the imprecations of the malevolent, and in our hearts the rage and madness of the revengeful? Surely, our religion, if it require anything of us, requires meek and quiet spirit," and in that sublime superiority to provocation, that patience of love, that tender anxiety for the wel fare of the bitterest of his enemies, which shone conspicuous in the life of our Master, he gave us an example that we should follow his steps.

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Indeed the genius and design of the religion we profess, its precepts and the examples which enforce them, the views of life

which it gives us, and the prospects beyond life, which it displays, are so directly opposed to personal hatreds, and the violence of party strife, that a malicious Christian is as gross a solecism as can be conceived.

Let us then, my brethren, ponder the truths which have been delivered. Let us look into our own hearts, whether malice have gained any ground there. Are we incensed against any of our fellow-men to such a degree that their harm is more pleasant to us than their prosperity? Do we find more delight in hearing their faults than in seeking and proclaiming their good qualities? Do we feel an exultance if they seem destitute of good qualities, instead of rejoicing to cover the imperfections of humanity-unless we can amend them? If so, let us consider the odiousness of this disposition; its tendency to impair the good principles of our hearts, and to hurry us into words and deeds, which in others we detest; the disquietude to which it subjects us without bringing us one generous qualification; and its incompatibility with our profession as Christians. A moment's reflection will convince us that anger and strife, hatred and malice, are equally to be deprecated and deplored. We are journeying with our brethren of the human race in the same vale of tears; and, heaven knows, its asperities, cares, and sorrows are sufficiently numerous without our "falling out by the way.' We are journeying together under the same infirmities, and encompassed with the same temptations, and have reason to "have compassion one of another," rather than to be filled with animosities. We are journeying together as candidates for the same immortality, for the same celestial inheritance, for admittance into the presence of the same benevolent Parent of all; and we must either wish the objects of our malice excluded from the mercies of the Redeemer, or hope to pass an eternity with them in the reciprocal endearments of brotherly love. How solemn inducements are these considerations to a compliance with the precept in the text.

One, more impressive, remains. Shortly, the journey we are performing here will be accomplished by us all, when we shall

lie down together in the dust, and the opinions and rights which have caused our strife, will be no more to us than the contentions of our childhood, which we do not care to remember. All that will interest us then will be the sentence respecting our admission into that "city of our God," which we are explicitly taught, "nothing that defileth" shall enter. Surely then. it behooves us to cultivate a mild and peaceful, a benevolent and forgiving disposition. Among the questions which should present themselves to you in your preparations for coming to the supper of the Lord, it should not be the last, whether that spirit of love predominates in your bosoms, which fills you with forgiveness towards your enemies, and good will and charity towards all men. "God is love," and Christ was an example of love even towards the severest of his foes, and the Holy Spirit. prompted the most perfect Christian to demand, "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ?”

SERMON LII.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF PEACEMAKERS.

ST. MATTHEW, v. 9.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

IT is a peculiar excellence of our holy religion, that it aims at

once to elevate man's nature, and secure his happiness both in this world and the next. To these great ends all its instructions are directed, and the accomplishment of either of them is the promotion of the rest. This is eminently the case with all those precepts, whose object and tendency is to remove from our nature, the operation and existence of the contentious and malevolent passions. Who is not struck with this high scope of Christian morality, when he ponders that passage of our Saviour's sermon on the mount, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God;" a passage of holy writ, worthy my brethren, of attentive consideration; whether we regard its Author, or importance; its respect to the pleasure of the Almighty; the character of man; the well-being of society; or the happiness of individuals. In discoursing from it we will show, in the first place, who are the peacemakers, and in the second place will illustrate their blessedness.

We may first observe, that they are peacemakers who are peaceable themselves,-who endeavour to repress in their bosoms the angry and revengeful passions, and cherish the meek and forgiving, the gentle and compassionate dispositions, which are the parents and protectors of peace. Such by the "soft answer"