souls of those who injure him. He is grieved for them"; and would be willing to sustain any temporal evils whatever, if by means of his own sufferings he might bring his enemies to a better mind, and avert from them God's heavy displeasure^. He will even bless his enemies, and pray for them ^, and ren- dering to them good for evil, he will heap coals of fire, as it were, upon their heads, in order to melt them into love ^. He will contend indeed ; but he will use no weapon except that of love : and in this warfare he will fight strenuously, till, instead of being overcome of evil, he overcomes evil with good ^]
Infer —
1. How different is the judgment of God from that of sinful men !
[Men hate and despise the righteous*^; and would pour out their blood as water, if God should withdraw his restraints from them '^. But God declares that, instead of their being unfit to live in the world, the world itself is not worthy of them '^ ; that their blood is precious in his sight ^ ; that whoso toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye ^ ; and that it were better for any man to be cast into the sea with a millstone tied about his neck, than that he should offend one of his little ones^. Moreover the time is fast approaching, when this difference of sentiment shall be made to appear before the whole assembled universe, to the everlasting comfort of his afflicted people, and the eternal confusion of his enemies'^. Let us then learn to " take up our cross daily," and to follow the example of our blessed Lord' ; so shall we approve ourselves his true Disciples'^, and obtain a glorious reward in the day of judgment'.]
2. How superior are the operations of divine grace to all the suggestions of human wisdom, or all the efforts of human power !
[Philosophy never could devise means to eradicate a vin- dictive spirit from the heart : on the contrary, it extolled revenge as a virtue, and regarded the temper that is exhibited in the text, as meanness and pusillanimity. If men had even endea- voured to exercise such a disposition as Paul's, they would have failed in the attempt, because unassisted nature is wholly incompetent to such a work. But what cannot the grace of God effect ? It will turn a lion into a lamb ; or rather, it will
u Ps. XXXV. 7,11 — 17. '' Exod. xxxii. 32. Rom. ix. 1 — 3. y Luke vi. 27, 28. Rom. xii. 14. = Rom. xii. 17, 19, 20.
a Rom. xii. 21. ^ Ps. xxxvii. 32. Isai. lix. 15.
c Ps. Ixxix, 2 — 4. "i Heb. xi. 38. « Ps, cxvi. 15.
f Zech. ii. 8. « Matt, xviii. 6. *> Isai. Ixvi. 5.
> 1 Pet. ii. 21, 23. '^ Matt, xvi. 24, 25. ' Matt. v. 12.