HOMILETICS. VerB. ~-12.-P~tent hatred. There is a bittorness and a dogg<!d. persistcnoy in the enm1ty of an Onental, and o.n inextinguishable thirst for l'CVengc, which o.re unlike anything we l.:now of among ourselves. Some knowledge and perception of this are necessary to enable us to understand J11.A.ny things in the Old Testament, includina allusions to his enemies in some of the Psalms of David. The conduct of the Jews~ St. Panl is a remarkable example of this pel'l!evering hatred, which nothing could avert or mollify. Passing over the previous displays of it at every place in Asio. o.nd Enrope where the apostle preached the gospel, from the first outbreak of it at DaID11BOus to the last conspiracy against him at Corinth (eh. ix. 23; xx. 3), we notice the allusion to its existence, and to the cause of it, by James in eh. xxi. 21. We then saw the steps taken by St. Paul to concili&to those enemies, and to convince them that their prejudice against him was unfounded. But how vain these efforts were soon appears. In the very temple court where he was taking psins to humour their prejudices and to soften their ha.trod, that hatred broke out into a flame of unparalleled violence, In an instant the whole city was upon him, and would have tom him to pieces had not the Roman soldiers rescued him from their hands. A momentary lull while they listened to Paul's Hebrew speech was followed by & more furious burst of passion than before, When violence had failed to take away the hated life, they had recourse to guile and to the arts of the secret assassin. Baffled again at Jerusalem, they followed him to Cmsarea. They hired an advocate to vilify him before the Rome.u judge, They heaped charge upon charge and lie upon lie in hope to compass his condemnation, and when for two whole years their ma.lice had been defeated, while the object of their hatred remained a prisoner out of their reach, and at a time when the miseries of their country called for all their attention and solicitnde, far from time having dulled the edge of their malice, or the calls of patriotism having diverted their thoughts from the object of their revenge, they were more intent than ever upon Paul's destrnction. Their first thought on the change of government seems to have been, not thankfulness for the cessation of the oppressive tyranny of Felix, but the hope of working upon the. inexperience of Festus so as to get Paul into their power. Again the baffled assassins were ready to fall upon the doomed man by the way; again the restless hatred of the chief priests carried them to ClllS8.l"ea to try what false accusations could bring about. But this spectacle of unwearied and unscrupulous hatred and persistent me.lice, hideous as it is, acquires a valne of its own when we contrast with it the love and the kindness of the gospel of Christ. Whence must those precepts of patience and forgiveness and love for our enemies have sprung, which shine like precious jewels in the pages of the Bible? Or look at St. Paul He was a Jew like them: were they Hebrews? so was he, And yet, while they were cursing, and conspiring, and persecuting, and blaspheming, he was loving, enduring, forgiving, striving to overcome evil with good. 'l'hey were moving heaven and earth to take away his life who had never done them any wrong; and his heart's desire and prayer to God for them, hi.a cruel persecutors, and the labour of his whole life as well, wAB that they might be saved. It is a wonderful contrast. It sets out the Divine ori.,,ai.n of the gospel and its heavenly character with singular force. It is a most luminous comment on our Lord's words, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above" (John viii 23). The bright star of love shines ell the brighter in our eyes from 'being thus, aa it were, surrounded by the thick darkness of a persistent hatred. Vers. 13-27.-" .Audi altertJm partem." It is a noble principle here ascribed by Featwi to Boman justice, never to condemn upon the accusation of any one without giving the acclllied the power to face hi.a accusers and answer for himself. English law is 110 conspicuous for its fairn888 to prisoners that there is no need to insist upon thiJ, maxim in regard to court.a of juaiice. But there is great need to urge that the same juat principle shool.d rule our private censures and judgments upon our neighbours. It should not be the manner of Christians to believe evil of others, still less to spread reports against them, upon one-sided statements and undefended charges. An accused person has a right to defend himself before he is condemned. A fair judge will suspend his judgment till he haa heard the defence. 'l'he English law is unwilling to condemn OH, UV. 1-27,J THE AOTB OF THE APOSTLES. 255
except upon the clearest evidence of guilt. Let there be the BSme nnwillingneBB to censure a neighbour unless blame be unavoidable. Some charges are made in malice, eomo in ignoTBnce; some things are positively false; some are true, but lose their truth by being separated from their concomitants; some things are bad if done from one motive, but good If done from another; an explanation may make the whole difference in the aspect of an action. Therefore it should be a settled principle with every just mnn to condemn no man unhee.rd,even in thought,and to give everyone ag?..inst whom o charge is made an opportunity of defence before the charge is believed to his hurt, or acted upon to his prejudice. "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned."