Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-11-25

real truth, aud will always remain so, S
long as they remain in evil. But if the
will consent to be drawn by the Lord OF
of tLeir evil, they viii than see that tn
Lords vengeance was only She natura
and inevitable effect of the evils they IN
dulged. Such is the nature of the ven
geance which the Lord takes; 7eug
eance which is sure to oyertake those VIII
do evil. This should be sufficient t
satisfy US. We should not wish to adj
to it. Evil will surely punish itself
We let it alone. By returning evil 70
evil, we enly put off the day of yengeanc.
to those who do evil, while we invoke til,
Lord 'svengeance on ourselves, in addition
By returning evil for evil, so far from over
coming those who do US evil, we putourscl
YES on a level with them, or below them
We can notovercom evil with evil, butwt
may overcome evil with good, for gooc
alone is powerful. We never truly con.
quer, except when we maintain right
spirit Those who wishus evil will always
gain their end, in part, at least, if they can
succeed in making us give way to a wrong
spirit, and thus lose our peace of mind.
Those who wish tomake us unhappy will
only really succeed whenthey can make US
do eorony. The man who, from malice or
hatred, wishes to injure you, will be in
the heigut Of his hellish delight, if he
can only succeed in making you be
angry and hate, like himself. He
enjoys the very essence of his pleas
ure when he finds himself powerful
enough to make you lose your temper.
On the other hand, preserve your chris
ttan spirit, and you viii be invulnerabIe.
He VIII have no real power over you. 1t
is 50 with bodies of men as churches or
governments. If false church, by its
abuse Of true one, makes it lose itg
christian spirit, it makes it also false like
itself. \ true church is only defended
by as 50 far as we maintain a christian
spirit in repolling assaults made upon it /;
for, when we cease to do this, We are no
longer representatives Of a true church
So, if, in our zeal for defending true
government, we lose our christian temper
towards those who are, or seem to be,
friends and sympathisers with a false one,
we then cease to represent the true GOV
ernment and become its enemies rs. well
as those we oppose Ii is in vain to at
tempt to overcome evil by evil; for, as I
said before, g0orl alone is powerful The
hosts Of Iseral could only conqme in
Tie name Of the lord" which neams, in
its application to us, that we should not
expect TO conquer our enemies if we act
in spirit of revenge toward them. Who
ever does this, but does his part to pro-
long the national struggle in which we
IRE engaged. Every wrong thing that
We do only strengthens the enemy; and
hose who act in a revengeful, unchrist-
IN, manner, either towards the ayowed,
II suspected, enemies Of our country,
however loud may be their professions Of
oyalty, are, whether consciously or not
lmong the number Of those who are Sc
.retly stabbing the very government they
pretend to uphold; and they need not
expect it will be long, before they will
IS with good reason they might, them
elves, be arraigned before the bar Of an
christian judgment far trea-
on.
In nothing, perhaps, is cur christian
haraoter more seyerly tested than in
UT conduct under injuries. We are CON
tantly liable to come in contact with
hose whc wish US evil, and who do it to
s, so far as the fear Of the laws does
ot restrain them and, sometimes, cir
may be such as to give an
nemy opportunity to try US to the ex-
-emest point Of endurance. But temp
alton of this kind is purifying in pro
ortiOn to its severity. The reason why
lch things are hard to bear in a chris
an temper, is owing to our imperfectIy
eveloped christian character. They af-
'ct US less and less as our spiritual WIS.,
IN becomes clearer, and our love of spir-
ual realities becomes purer and strong
r. 1t IS comparatively easy to preserve
christian temperwhen we are not tempt
/. We need help where it is difficult.
he Lord will always give US spiritual
Sht enough and strength enough to en-
ure the temptation to which we are sub
cted, but we shall frequently be brought
ITO circumstances which viii call for the {
ighest resources of faith, in order that
e may preserve a christian spirit with
1t yielding.
As 1t Is important to preserve a chris
an spirit more especially when we are
led, as any one could do it at other
mes; and as at such times we need all {
le help the gospel affords, I will mention '
few Of the resourcesapd helps which the
1spel does afford to enable TO bear in .
ries in christian spirit and toayoid an