I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?" There were those who uttered their malignant imprecations with all virulence and without restraint. When the Lord pronounces his blessing on those who are "evil spoken of," let not his disciples forget the qualifying word:-it must be "falsely, for his sake." If the charge be true, there is no blessing. But how provoking soever to the natural spirit of pride and resentment, to be falsely calumniated and reviled, here is the duty : "Bless them which persecute you:-bless and curse not." To "bless" is to speak mildly and kindly to them in return, and to seek God's blessing upon them,especially His converting and saving mercy. It is opposed to "cursing," which is the wish and imprecation of evil in return for the evil done to us. The precepts of Jesus himself are the same as that of this Apostle by his Spirit.* So are those of other Apostles.t And the spirit and letter of the precept are beautifully and impressively exemplified—by Him especially who lays upon us the injunction, when for those who nailed him to the tree he breathed the prayer"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."‡ And his general character was in uniform harmony with this remarkable illustration of it—“Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." §-We have other examples, too, of a piece with his own. Stephen died in the same spirit with his Master, exclaiming, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." || Paul and his fellowapostles maintained the same temper towards their persecutors-"Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat."¶ There is, in the verse before us, an emphatic repetition well worthy of notice. It implies that the duty is important, and at the same time that it is far from easy :-- "Bless them which persecute you: bless and curse not." The force of the language is-Let no provocation, however great and however *Matth. v. 43, 44. ? 1 Pet. ii. 23. + 1 Pet. iii. 9. Acts vii. 60. Luke xxiii. 34. T1 Cor. iv. 12—13. curse. long persisted in, prevail over you:-"Bless;" continue to bless; persist in blessing while your enemies persist in persecuting and cursing: bless on-and let nothing tempt you to Should you be called even to "die for the name of Jesus," to "resist unto blood,”—let your latest breath be spent in blessing!—This is a temper of mind not among the principles and tendencies of corrupt nature: and because it is opposite to these, men have chosen to decry and vilify it as cringing servility, tameness, and mean-spiritedness. But it is in truth the sublime of principle. It is more; it is divine. God blesses while men curse; He is "kind to the evil and unthankful." He bestows His favours even on blasphemers of His name. He invites to himself and to life those who ungratefully disown and despise Him and say, "Thy gifts be to thyself, and thy rewards to another." All day long He "stretches out his hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." O! if the Almighty were to act towards those who affect to hold in contempt the tameness, and to spurn at the unreasonableness of the spirit He here enjoinsif the Almighty were to act towards them on the principle on which they proudly claim the right and assert the propriety of their feeling and acting towards those who in word or in deed trespass against them,—if He were to apply the rule of equity, "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,"-how sad would be their case!-the immediate withdrawment of every expression and indication of kindness; the drawing back of the sceptre of grace; the final closing of the lips of mercy; the fearful denunciation and awful execution of all the curses that are written in this Book. So little do men think of having their own principles applied to themselves.-The conduct recommended, I have said, is divine; and there can be nothing that raises human nature so high in true honour as what brings it into likeness to God. When God gives a man the means of doing good, He puts him into a capacity of resembling Himself in being the steward and almoner of His bounty. So when He places a man in circumstances of provocation,―circumstances that tempt him to feel resentment and to give utterance to the feeling, He puts him in a capacity of exercising the divine virtue of forbearance. O! who can calculate the amount of provocation which the divine Being has every day, every hour, every moment to bear! and if we had nothing to bear, we should never be in circumstances to resemble God-to be "merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful." What, in conclusion, is the effect-what the sentiment, what the feeling, which persecution should engender in the bosom of the persecuted? Is it not lively compassion towards the infatuated man who, by the very spirit which he is indulging and manifesting, is giving evidence of being still "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." And ought not this pity to prompt the fervent prayer for such, that they may be brought to know the excellence of what they are now despising, and the happiness of those whom they are cursing, and whose names they are casting out as evil. Nothing, as we shall see afterwards, is better fitted for disarming and subduing the rage of an enemy, and nothing, in spite of all that men can say, tends more to recommend our religion than the manifestation of "the meekness and gentleness of Christ" amidst the revilings and buffetings of the ungodly. And if enmity against the Gospel should fill even the hearts of friends and kindred with gall and wormwood, of which the bitterness should pass from the heart to the lips, and that tongue in which there ought to be "the law of kindness" should utter the words of cutting sarcasm, of contumelious reviling, of unmerited reproach, and angry imprecation; there is nothing for the Christian but to bear it patiently, to repay it with the smile and the tear of love, and with the persuasive eloquence of silent practical kindness." BLESS AND CURSE NOT." LECTURE LVII. ROMANS XII. 15, 16. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits." PROCEEDING in his enumeration of the practical virtues of the Christian character, the Apostle, in the first of these verses, inculcates that of sympathy-of sympathy, understood in its most comprehensive acceptation, as signifying a fellow-feeling with both the joys and the sorrows of others. In the preceding part of the chapter, the figure is used of the body with all its parts and organs, to represent the unity of the church in all its members, and the duty of each to fulfil its appropriate function. When using the same figure elsewhere, the Apostle beautifully applies it in illustration of the sympathy here enjoined-"That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."* Every one feels the truth of this. A wound, or a disease, that affects directly any one part of the frame, affects the frame throughout. The foot cannot be injured, and the hand be indifferent to the hurt a bone cannot be broken, and the muscles be insensible to the fracture: one eye cannot be lost without * 1 Cor. xii. 25-27. the other participating in the pain, and straining itself to supply the deficiency. Lacerate a nerve,-puncture the brain, and you may convulse the whole body. And, on the other hand, "Whether one member be honoured: "—that is, have special attention bestowed upon it-special favour shown it,-"all the members rejoice with it." There is the one description of sympathy as well as the others. When the hand is sound, it can follow steadily and accurately the tracings of the eye; and when ths eye is sound, it guides the operations of the hand. When a pleasant sensation is produced in any one member or part of the body, the pleasure is not confined to that spot; the thrill goes through the entire frame. There is thus "no schism in the body:" all the members have the same care one for another:-for in truth they are all sensible that in caring for each other they are at the same time caring for themselves. And thus ought it to be among the members of the body of Christ. must be no indifference to one another's circumstances. no description of union should that generous sensibility and kindliness of spirit be more intensely experienced and cherished, which makes the joys and the woes of others its own. There are two parts of this sympathy-two departments, rather, of the operation of the same principle: There "Rejoice with them that rejoice." Perhaps the remark usually made has truth in it, that we are less inclined to this kind of sympathy than to the other; that it requires a greater degree of disinterestedness and self-control, there being certain powerful evil principles by which it is resisted. At the prosperity of others, the malignant principle of envy is ever in danger, in some form and in some degree, to get possession of our hearts, and if not entirely to suppress, at least to damp the ardour of generous and open-hearted fellow-feeling. It is true that the sympathy with joy or the sympathy with sorrow will predominate in individuals according to the respective constitutional tendencies or induced habits of their minds :—but still our self-love is more generally in danger of degenerating into selfishness, when we compare our circumstances with those of the more prosperous than when we |