Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-09-04

| - "a olA sCOtItluG SOuIS has g0G
pfe-emlnence over him who should sub
due the earth to his sceptre, bat should
not suodue his own passions. $ 1t is the
glory OF man to pass over transgress-
fon. 10 err is human. To revenge is
oevIiish. To forgive is divine.
IL is mark of peculiar guilt and folly
not TO forgive. The best authority teach
es' That anger rests only in the bosom of
Iools,' and that to hate a man is to be a
murderer
+ forgiveness often concerts foes into
friends. 1t may thus affect your enemies.
u would De very pleasant to secure the
gooa will OF those who dislike you But
resentment will only irritate and enraoe.
| NO enemy is won by hatred. Leviathan
Ils never thus taken. s3Grievous words
Sur up anger 1t is a soft answer that
Turns away wrath Learn TO overcome
EVIL with good.
+ Remember, too, that you are not much
@''Tt ~'etat your soul is hurt. The bitter
ness OF enemies is not the bitterness of
death. Who can harm you if YOU follow
that which is good2 Malignity in strik-
ing one dagger against the bosom of its
onIect burles ten in the heart of the assail-
ant. The most expensive of all methods
OF beng equal to. your toe is 10 hate him
Inc cheapest mode of gaining lawful
ana undonbted advantage over him is TO
forgive him. -
he who does not forgive must prepare
lor strife and every evil work. 1t is q
wise rule to leave off contention before
!. be meddled with Defle not ,hv con.
science, lmbitter not thy life with wars
and fghtings.
Besides, you and your enemy will soon
stand together at the same bar of ommas.
eae@t Judgment If he has to be JUDGED
SO have you. Nor can you DENY that
you have often and very wickedly sinned
against God. Why should you not be
mercltul, that you may obtain mercy o.
You owe your Lord ten thousand talents
Why should you not forgive your fellow
servant fifty pence2 If God bring YOU
INTO Judgment, you cannot answer for one
| of thousand of your heinous sins against
him., Does it then become you to be un-
forglvlng respecting the few and slight of
fences committed against yourself?
christianity is practically worth very
little to him whom it does not enable to
triumph over all sinful enmities. To en-
brace the bitterest enemy in the arms of
holy benevolence is one of the earliest.
and simplest, and grandest achievements
OF vital and evangelical piety. Shall your
religion be wolthless2
Prayer for your enemies will be much
more likely to make them ashamed and
miserable, until they cease their hostility.
than anything that revenge can inflict.-
Even persecution herself has been known
to grow pale, and to quake under the in
1uence OF hearty prayer.
/ ETERNITY as near. Unconceived glories
or terrors will soon strike awe into every
soul OF man. Then all the petty strifes
among the potsherds will be Invested of
their unreal consequence; and MANY
things on earth regarded as great. wifi
consume away like fat of lambs Look
at the grounds of your enmity. Can
you justify 1t In eternity?
Thus are you called and urged to the
duty of forgiveness. More sublime sane
tons attach to no human obligation.
And now do yow torgioe all your enc
maes2 Perhaps You say L can forgive,
but | can't forget If you mean that you
cannot erase from the tablet of your mem
DRY all impression, so as to be wholly I'M
able to recolleet the offence, then you are
not required to forget. In this sense, Je-
hoVah does not forget our offences. Yet
he says, their sin and their iniuuities
Il txyiH / on
required to forgive as he forgives. When
/ you are required to forget as well as for
/ give, the meaning is, that you must not
willingly retain remembrance of the
ofence-thoughts of it must not be cher
ished-the recollection of it must not
awaken luminosity; nor must the recep-
eftion of the offence rekindle old anger or
hatred. You must also forgive, however
often the offence be repeated, though it be
seven times a day. or seventy times sew
5en.' You must love your enemy; pray
| for him; wish well to him; do him good !;
] if he be hungry, feed him if he thirst,
! give him drink if he be naked, clothe
him. And you must do it all sincerely,
habitually, benevolently, willingly; not
for a pretence, nor by constraint of the
lear Of hell. The sorrows and suferings
of your most cruel. unrelenting, persever-
ing foe must be no matter of joy to you.
z He that is glad at calamities. shall not
be unpunished.' You must love your
Eenemies.' To do so is the badge of disci-
lpteship in the school of Christ, and the
token and pledge of eternal life. If you
find no such spirit in you, then you are a
Equity. unpardoned, unholy sinner, in the
gall of bitterness and in the bond of mi
Iquity. Therefore you must be converted.
1-You must be born again. In malice you
= must become a child. Without thor
\ /.