PART SIXTH. A SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN DUTIES AND VIRTUES, OF A CHARACTER PECULIARLY CHRISTIAN; AND A SIMILAR CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN VICES AND EVILS. Nor only the gross sensual vices, some of which cannot even be named without shocking the ears of a Christian, but hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, idolatry, deceit, malignity, backbiting, hating of God, pride, vain-glory, hypocrisy, uncharitableness, invention of evil things, disobedience to parents, covenant-breaking, implacability, want of understanding, want of compassion, covetousness, absence of natural affection, and the like, are ascribed, in Holy Writ, to the flesh lusting against the spirit, and are denounced as damnable vices, which will exclude those who practise them from all hope of the kingdom of God.† On the other hand, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, are called the fruit of the Spirit, and are ascribed to the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. Giving all diligence, we are required to add to our faith, virtue; and to our virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.§ Christians, as the elect of God, are to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any. And, above all these things, they are to put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.|| # 1 Corinthians v. 1. Galatians v. 22. + Romans i. 29-31; Gal. v. 17-21. || Colossians iii. 12 – 14. § 2 Peter i. 5-7. It is not requisite, that all these virtues and vices should be made the subjects of special consideration in a treatise of moral philosophy; most of them, perhaps all of them, have been occasionally adverted to, as circumstances suggested, and may be so adverted to again; but there are some of them, without the special consideration of which my labors would be too imperfect to expect the approbation of those whose favorable judgment I am anxious to obtain. CHAPTER I. DUTY OF FORGIVING INJURIES. In the prayer prescribed by our Saviour to his disciples, we are authorized to expect the forgiveness of our trespasses, only in the measure in which, and on the condition that, we forgive those who trespass against us. And it is worthy of attention, that, after prescribing this prayer, the Saviour, omitting all notice of the other parts of it, selected this clause, upon which to make a special comment. He says, "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." * As Christians, we are to "recompense to no man evil for evil." We are to "bless those who persecute us; we are to bless and curse not." We are not to "avenge ourselves, but rather to give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." If an "enemy be hungry, we are to feed him; if he be thirsty, we are to give him drink. We are not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good."† Again, "This is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be punished for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." ‡ * Matt. vi. 9-15. Romans xii. 14-21. 1 Peter ii. 19-20. The forgiveness of injuries, therefore, is a preeminent Christian virtue and duty, and the highest place among the virtues. is assigned it by our Saviour. It seems to have been unknown to the ancient heathen moralists; and moreover, even at the present day, it seems to have made comparatively, and surprisingly, small progress in the world. Many men refuse to forgive offences, who would consider themselves very much wronged, by the imputation, that they live in the habitual transgression of one of the fundamental points of Christian morals. The practice of this duty is admitted to be difficult, in the highest degree difficult. It requires a command over those passions, which, of all others, are most violent in their impulses, anger, resentment, revenge, and malice, passions which have filled the earth with every kind and degree of violence and wrong, of sorrow and suffering. Our Saviour knew how difficult the practice of this duty is, how much self-command, how much self-discipline, how much expansion of mind, how much benevolence of heart, how enlightened a conscience, how firm a sense of duty, it requires ; but he has not made this difficulty an excuse for neglecting it. On the contrary, he admits the difficulty, and requires his disciples to rise superior to it. "Ye have heard," says he, "that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.' But 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 and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For, if ye love them (only) that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others do not even the publicans so? Be ye, therefore, perfect (in your benevolence and good-will), even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." * 6 The duty itself, then, of forgiving injuries, and the importance of the duty, are as clear as the bright shining of the sun at noonday; still the nature, measure, and rule of the duty admit and require further illustration. * Matt. v. 43-48. I. The rule of forgiveness, when injury has been done to us, is, of all the rules of conduct, best adapted both to the moral and physical constitution of man. As a general principle, if we wish to know what will be the effect of a certain course of conduct on others, we have only to turn our attention inward, and inquire, what would be its effect on ourselves? We all know, that the natural effect of anger in others towards us is to excite anger in ourselves; of kindness, to excite feelings of kindness. It seems to be a universal law of nature, that like should produce its like. The herb yields seed, and the fruit-tree fruit, each after its kind; and on the regularity and certainty of this law the husbandman relies with the utmost confidence. Something like the same law prevails in regard to many diseases to which the human body is subject. Fever flies from one individual to another, and is, in kind, the same disease. The same law prevails in the intellectual and moral world. In all that is said about the force of example, this is taken for granted. It is upon this principle, also, that we account for the power of sympathy. The natural tendency of mirth is to awaken mirth, and of grief to produce grief. So also of the benevolent and the malignant passions. Does not unkindness towards us from others excite unkind feelings towards them in our own breasts ? As a necessary consequence of this law, therefore, we, by retaliation, or returning evil for evil, are only adding fuel to the flame. It was, probably, some unkindness on our part, either real or imagined, which first excited the hostile feelings towards us. By increasing that unkindness if real, or by making it real. if it was imaginary, do we expect to remove the hostile feelings? We might as well expect to remove an infection from an individual by filling his lungs with the fatal miasma which has caused it. We might as well expect, that, in agriculture, corn will not yield corn, and wheat will not yield wheat. We might as well laugh, and expect others to weep; or weep, and expect others to laugh. There is, then, a two-fold wrong in returning evil for evil. We are cherishing the same angry feelings in our own minds which we condemn in others; and, in the minds of others, we are increasing and perpetuating the same feelings. "As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strifes." * On the other hand, it is equally true, that the natural tendency of kindness from others is to awaken kind feelings in our minds towards them. When a man injures an individual, and he, instead of retaliating, generously forgives him, and, resisting the impulse of his fallen nature, pursues the elevated course prescribed by the rule of forgiveness, embracing every opportunity to do him a kindness, it invariably, if he is not a monster, softens and subdues his hostile feelings. He soon begins to accuse himself of having been in the wrong, and feels disposed to make amends. for the past, and to act otherwise in future. Here, then, we may see how similar conduct on our part will affect the mind of another. "As, in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." Consulting the laws of human nature, therefore, our reason must unite with Scripture in convincing us, that we can overcome evil only by returning good. We must, in the spirit of our religion, rise above the first impulse of our depraved nature, and, ever aiming to do good, pursue the course prescribed by this Christian rule. Further argument to my purpose may be derived from the consideration, that the course of conduct prescribed by this rule is attended by what does not attend an opposite course, to wit, an approving conscience. He who returns kindness for injury, who fills with good the very hand that is lifted to do him harm, feels that he is acting an elevated and magnanimous part. In the gentleness of his own mind there is an inward peace, in the very benevolence of his intention there is a happiness, pure and substantial. There is a voice speaking within him which nothing can silence, and it tells him that he is doing right. Compare this spirit with its opposite, and it may be seen who is the enviable man; he, who, fretting and raging at the injuries which he has received, would hurl vengeance on the aggressor, or he, who, calming down every rising passion, keeps his spirit in subjection, and, looking with benevolence upon one who has wronged him, *Proverbs xxvii. 21. ↑ Proverbs xxvii. 19. Romans xii. 21. |