St. Paul's allusion in this place to the melting of metals need not surprise us, if we reflect that it was an art familiar to the Jews, nay, one in which they were pre-eminently skilled; and it is a very natural assumption that the luxurious Romans, to whom he here addresses himself, and who had by this time attained to a degree of luxury perhaps never exceeded by former or subsequent generations, were equally well instructed in an art which administered so much to the pomps and vanities of

men.

The interpretation, then, here given, of the words under discussion, will bring them into complete agreement with those numerous precepts which the Saviour and his holy Apostles have left us as to our conduct towards our enemies. They thus confirm the words of the same Apostle in the very same epistle in which they appear-" Bless them which persecute you; bless, and curse not.” If, on the contrary, the expression of the text were read as embracing a signification of punishing our enemies, they would undoubtedly contain a counterposition, absolutely contradicting this clear and literal injunction.

We find, that although the writings of St. Paul usually perhaps abound less in metaphor than those generally of the age in which he lived, he nevertheless oftentimes employed it; more especially when he found it calculated to illustrate and enforce those sublime doctrines which he, under

The

Providence, so successfully propagated. metaphors used by him were commonly made up of images taken from the most familiar scenes of life, or borrowed from circumstances then intimately known to the generality of men. And thus it is, that, at the distance of nearly eighteen hundred years, they become less intelligible to us, than they were to those for whose instruction they were more immediately designed. Now, since, in the lapse of eighteen centuries, the habits, manners, and notions of civilized communities, must have essentially changed; and although, therefore, at this distance of time, some of the Apostle's allusions may appear remote, tortured, or obscure, they were nevertheless, no doubt, perfectly clear to the apprehensions of those to whom they were originally addressed.

If, however, after all, we cannot bring our minds to accept even the best interpretations which have been given of the inspired writer's meaning in some passages of his epistles, we are not therefore rashly to put our own crude constructions upon them; more especially if those constructions should set him at variance with himself; since it is far better to leave him in the obscurity in which we find him, than by any undigested exposition of our own, make him contradict his own principles. We may, too, always rest satisfied that the same doctrine is to be found in some other part of his writings, free from all obscurity; so that we shall

really lose nothing of the vital efficacy of our christian faith, by not exactly comprehending every passage in which its doctrines are unfolded.

However you may be disposed to receive the interpretation just given of the passage before us; whatever difficulties it may appear to present to your understandings; you may, nevertheless, rest assured, that it was designed to inculcate the duty of kind offices towards our enemies, not, indeed, from sinister motives, but in perfect accordance with the divine precept of Christ himself-"Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." St. Paul further illustrates this doctrine in his first epistle to the Corinthians, where he describes his sufferings for righteousness sake-"Being reviled," says he, "we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat." The protomartyr Stephen, too, prayed for his enemies while they were stoning him, "crying out with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." And the last prayer of the dying Redeemer was, for those by whose "wicked hands he was crucified and slain ""Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

That precept which inculcates the moral necessity of doing good to our enemies, is the more essential, because, we are but too apt to rank among our enemies, those who have never seriously wronged us, and whom we might often secure in the firmest

bonds of attachment, by an expression and exercise of good-will towards them. How are friendships interrupted, and enmities most commonly excited? Not so much by any reciprocation of positive injury, as by those petty jealousies, those mean envyings, those foolish caprices of temper, and sallies of passion, which constitute the chief sum of all the discords and strifes that abound among us. The personal enmities of men, excited by such or similar causes, are frequently even more virulent than those which have been moved or aggravated by the most wanton injuries. We are too apt to suffer ourselves to become the slaves of temper and caprice, and to scrutinize rather the vices than the virtues of our fellow probationers. We take our dislikes, and give way to prejudice upon the most insufficient grounds, and often steel our hearts against many who are striving for the same prize of immortality with ourselves, only because they do not happen to reach that measure of excellence which we may think proper to fix, as indispensable to the character of a good Christian ; though, at the same time, we are ourselves, probably, very far from coming up to the elevation of our own standard. But we should ever bear in mind, that to him whom we so judge "God gave the like gift that He did unto us, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." "Who art thou, then, that judgest another?"

For one instance in which hostilities arise among

us from the commission of mutual injury, there are, I doubt not, ten thousand, in which they originate from the most trivial causes, and are fomented by very trifling aggravations; and it will but too frequently be observed, that those enmities are the most inveterate which have arisen from the least provocation. What shall we suppose would be the consequences, if, under prejudices so hastily entertained, and dislikes so foolishly cherished, there were no law to restrain the uncharitable dictates of our hearts? Should we keep ourselves free from hatred and malice, and from the sad effects of these ungovernable passions, which would, more than probably, be truly and indeed terrible, were there no law, either human or divine, to control our rash impulses? On the other hand, what would be likely to follow from an implicit conformity to the precept of the text, as we have now considered it? Would not the exercise of such a christian benevolence towards one whom we had, perhaps, too hastily considered an enemy, naturally tend to quell all hostile feeling betwixt us? Would it not be likely to restore a right understanding, to promote social harmony, to induce gratitude on the one part, and general goodwill on the other? Let us remember, that "when a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh his enemies to be at peace with him." Our good offices towards them will do Him pleasure; and whatever else might be the issue, this is, or ought to be, our