him." revenge? than this. Does Moses here inculcate hatred and In Job xxxi. 29-31, where the afflicted patriarch is alluding to those circumstances under which he might justly have incurred the anger of the Lord, and assigns the indulgence of revenge as a reason why he should have been severely punished, it is written : "If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him; neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh! that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied." Do these words authorize us in saying that kindness towards an enemy is a grace peculiar to the Christian dispensation? Do they not rather prove that angry retaliation formed no portion of Job's belief? Yes: his spirit, it seems, was refreshed by the consciousness of having done good to those who had done evil to him. He anticipated the injunction of St. Paul: "Recompense to no man evil for evil. . . . Be not overcome of evil; but overcome evil with good." (Rom. xii. 17-21.) In short, so far from hating his enemies, or taking vengeance upon them, Job protested that, as he valued the favour of God, he had not allowed himself to rejoice or triumph when mischief befel them, or to wish them any harm; nay, when his dependents were so enraged at those who injured him, that they were ready to devour them, he would by no means permit them to follow the impulse of their vindictive feelings.* In like manner, with regard to Solomon, we discover that St. Paul, when writing on the subject of charity, in Rom. xii., actually expresses himself in words quoted from Prov. xxv. 21, 22, where we may read that well-known and much-admired Christian precept: "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head; and the Lord shall reward thee." While, again, in Prov. xx. 22, we have the following admonition: “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee." Now, let me ask, Do not these passages, taken from the writings of Moses, Job, and Solomon (one of which, moreover, was adopted by an Apostle of Christ to express his own sentiments, and to remind us, as it were, that there had not been any change in this respect), clearly prove that retaliation and revenge, in the common acceptation of the term, were no more tolerated under the Jewish than they are under the Christian dispensation; that, if forbearance and forgiveness prevailed not amongst the Jews, it was because the doctrine had been perverted through their ignorance and hardness of heart; and that the charge is without foundation which declares that "the Law, the Psalms, and the * See Scott's Commentary, in loco. Prophets," are at variance with the words of Christ and His Apostles? Having cleared up this point, I trust, satisfactorily, it remains, before we enter upon the application of the whole subject, to state, and then to refute, the sole objection to the arguments which have been advanced. Frequently has it been urged that, even admitting upon the whole the Christian spirit of those writings, still there are some declarations, like the one in my text, in the Book of Psalms, which savour strongly of hatred and revenge. But does the Psalmist contradict Moses, the Prophets, Christ Jesus, and St. Paul? If his compositions be inspired, how can this variation be explained? If he has erred, why are not his false lessons discarded? The truth is, the objection can very easily be refuted-the dilemma may be at once unravelled-by referring to the language in which the Psalms were written. It is admitted by those who are skilled in the Hebrew tongue, that expressions in the original Scriptures, which in our version have been rendered "let them be confounded," might likewise have been rendered "they shall be confounded." Now, if we view them in this light, are not these obnoxious passages completely changed? Instead of being malignant curses, they are merely strong and awakening predictions-simple declarations of the sure and certain destruction of the wicked-declarations founded on that prophetic knowledge 66 which this man of God possessed. And an excel- But, besides this, there is another consideration assisting much to soften all the harsh expressions in the Book of Psalms; of which we have a striking example in Psalm lxxxiii., which abounds with angry sentences against enemies. One glance, however, will suffice to show the religious motive which induced the Psalmist to speak in this manner, even admitting that he prayed, and was not predicting. Was it revenge that roused him to desire that the ungodly might be "like a wheel, and as the stubble before the wind?" No: for in the concluding verses it is expressly declared that the conversion of the wicked was the great object of his anxiety: "Let them be confounded," he says, "and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish; that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.” (ver. 17, 18.) My Christian friends, do you condemn this species of intercessory prayer, considering it a harsh and cruel mode of asking God to awaken the enemies of truth? If so, I would propose a simple but analogous case. Conceive a fellow-creature advancing rapidly and carelessly to a deep and yawning precipice, reckless of the consequences, and deaf to all entreaty; and would you not consider him to be a real, yea, a tender friend, who interposes by striking him to the ground, and by thus inflicting a stunning blow, the effects of which are merely temporary, saves the wretched man from certain death? Conceive, too, a fellowsinner rushing headlong from one kind of wickedness to another, sullenly regardless of eternal punishment, and "living without God in the world ;" and would you not deem it an act of charity to pray earnestly for his conversion to the paths of righteousness? Would it not be your duty to entreat your heavenly Father, who, we are assured, never willingly or wantonly afflicts us, to chasten him with heavy judgments, which might arrest him in his mad career of sin-compel him to reflect upon his latter end-warn him of never-ending woe-and thus lead him to a godly and saving sorrow? This we all, in truth, have |