nought against any one. Forgiveness does not consist in laying up a store of malice and vengeance, till our enemy come and formally ask our forgiveness. No; he might never come, and then we could never forgive him. We are commanded to love and forgive our enemies, whether they ask it or not. So did our Saviour on the cross, and we are to exercise the same spirit of benevolence and meekness. We must, as our context says, put away all malice, wrath, and evil-speaking from among us, and be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving.

Our Father in heaven is the most lovely and adorable of all beings! Under the light of his character, every uncomfortable thought vanishes, and the dawn of a blessed eternity bursts upon us in a flood of glory. By faith we penetrate the veil of immortality, and read our pardon and justification in letters of blood. Within that veil, we anchor our hope. Faith triumphs over the ruins of death, smiles at the darkness of the tomb, and through Christ within, the hope of glory, bids defiance to the crushing hand of death, and lights up its dreary mansions with the cheering beams of immortal day.

SERMON XVII.

WHERE SHALL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?

"For the time is come, that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"-1 PETER IV. 17, 18.

UPON this passage, the believers in endless misery lean for the support of that sentiment, and on many occasions it is quoted with an air of triumph, as though the passage itself, without comment, were sufficient to silence all objections. Here they have one advantage of Universalists; and of this advantage they do not forget to avail themselves; namely, the prejudices of early education. But we sincerely call their application of this passage in question, and shall stand forth in defence of the triumphs of Jesus Christ over all sin, and pain, and death, fully believing, that the hand of heaven "shall wipe tears from off all faces." We will attempt to show,

First, What we are to understand by judgment beginning at the house of God.

Second, Who were the righteous, and in what sense they were scarcely saved.

Third, Show who were the ungodly, and where they appeared.

First, What we are to understand by judgment beginning at the house of God. Jesus Christ chose him twelve disciples, and commenced the great work the Father sent him to do. To them he disclosed many events, that God would in a future day bring upon the world. He pointed them forward with more than human accuracy into the approaching revolutions of time, and painted out in noonday light, those astonishing disasters, that would one day burst like a thunder-clap on the thoughtless nations. He marked their certainty, and warned them accordingly. Among the many things, that lay buried in the vista of future years, was the destruction of Jerusalem. This was a point that most solemnly concerned the disciples of Jesus. It was no less than the destruction of their nation.

Christ was with his disciples in the temple, that splendid edifice which was forty and six years in building, and, in their presence and for the last time, addressed the stubborn Jews. He pointed out the many crimes, of which they and their fathers had been guilty in shedding the blood of the prophets, and persecuting those who were sent unto them as the messengers of Jehovah. They had also made void the law of God through their traditions. While pointing out these things, and

setting them home like a thunderbolt to their hearts, he pronounced them hypocrites, blind guides, devourers of widows' houses, and declared, that all the righteous blood shed upon the earth should be required of that generation. While rehearsing these things to them, Jesus had a perfect view of all their approaching sufferings. Many of them were to be starved to death. He saw by a prophetic eye the indulgent father and fond mother weeping over their infant train, who were begging for bread, but had no way to procure it. Eleven hundred thousand he saw in a state of starvation, who were to fall by famine, sword, and pestilence. He saw their cruel enemies surround the walls of their city, who would allow no sustenance to be given them, but determined to reduce them by hunger and sword to one common grave. All these things, that were coming upon them, rushed at once upon the mind of the compassionate Redeemer of the world. The affecting scene moved so strongly upon his heavenly feelings, that he dropped the melancholy subject and burst into a flood of tears. He beheld the city and wept over it; "O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!" He then left the temple for the

last time; but as he was departing from it, his disciples, astonished at his denunciation, and regretting that such a magnificent edifice should be destroyed, exclaimed; “Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings, are here! And he said unto them, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown. down." The disciples immediately asked him saying, "Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" By the end of the world, we are to understand the end of the Jewish age. As they asked him the signs, portending this terrible destruction, so that they might know when it was nigh at hand, he immediately proceeded to point them out, and warned them to flee to the nountains of Judea for safety.

The signs were as follows; many false Christs should arise, there should be wars and rumors of wars, nation should rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there should be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations, for my name's sake. Then shall there be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. The most prominent sign he gave them, and one that more immediately concerned