The Bl f dnefs of the Peace- makePs: 403 bdification. St. Paul cenfureth the Corin- S t R m thians, for a litigious fpirit; which appeared XIV. in their going to law about fmall matters. `" It is true this offenfive circumflance attended their difputes of that fort, that they were be- fore heathen magifirates; whereby reproach was brought on their religious profefiìon; but 1}i11 a wrangling temper is condemned by the reafons he giveth; and this queflion he putteth will always, to a candid mind, appear to have great force of reafon in it, why do you not fuffer yourfelves to be defrauded, ra- ther than that brother fhould go to law againft brother, at leaft for matters of little moment ? And the expedient he propofeth mutt be own- ed a reafonable One, that chriftians fhould choofe arbitrators among themfelves to com- pofe their differences, rather than implead one another before the publick judges. There are other methods of contention, yet more fcandalous, than even the unneceffary legal ones, fuch as the fame apoftle bath men- tioned, 2 Cor. xii. 20. debates, envyings, wrath!, firifes, backbitings, whifperings, fwell- ings, tumults Thefe are the bane of fociety and of peace. But above all to break peace under the pretence of zeal for religion, is riiofl inexcufable; this was the fault of the yewiJh zealots, for which St. lames feverely D d 2 re-
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