SffiRM.
XL1
LIVING
ABOVE THE 1E-AH.
171
slow
to
anger,
and
swift
to
forgive,
as
God your
Father
is.
When
you
hear a
word
of
offence
or
reproach
spoken, and
feel
the rising ferment
of
the blood, watch
against
it,
subdue
it
:
this
is
the
hour
of
battle,
see
that
ye come off
conquerors:
When
there
is
a
word
of
bit-
terness upon
your
tongue,
stifle
it,
and keep silence,
sub-
due
the temptation,
and prevent
that
sin
;
give
glory to
God
in this
manner,
which
the saints in
heaven
cannot
do.
Dearly
beloved, avenge
not
yourselves,
but rather
give
place
unto wrath
:
Be
not
overcome with
evil
;
but
overcome
evil
with good
:"
Rom.
xii.
19,
'2
1.
Love
is
a virtue
that
flourishes in
heaven,
it
grows
high,
it
spreads
wide,
and
it
shines
bright
in
the
upper
world. Love
is
a
grace
that out
-lives
faith
and
hope,
and
endures for
ever.
There
is
no
such union
ofhearts,
no
such sacred bonds
of
affection, as
are found
among
the
saints
on high.
Heaven
is
the
very
element
and regipn
of
love
but
it
is
all love to
God,
love to
Christ, and
to
our
fellow-
saints
:
For
love to enemies
is
not
known
in
that
country,. because
there
is
no enemy there.
To
love
them
that
hate
us, to
bless
them
that
curse
us
;;
to
pity,
and
.forgive,
and pray
for those
that
injure
us;
these
are
not
only noble
singularities
of
the christian
religion, which
are not
known amongst
all
the
catalogues
of
heathen vir-
tues,
but neither are
they
practised
in the heavenly
world.
As
glorious and sublime
as
they
are,
yet they
.
are
never found among the spirits
of
the
just
made
per
-.
feet
:
Those
holy
souls,
are
all
far above the
reach
of
malice,
hatred, and enmity
:
there are no
objects
there
for
them to exercise these divine
virtues upon. Love to
enemies therefore
dwells
only
amongst the
living
saints:
To
forgive
injuries,
is
the
glory
that
is
peculiar to
Christians
in
this
mortal state, and our
blessed
Saviour
has
a most
peculiar revenue
of honour
from
it
But
besides the
honour
that
Christ
and
his gospel
re-
ceive from such
a
kind
and charitable conduct, there
is
s;
pleasure
in this
victory over resentment,
that
far ex-
ceeds the
pleasure
of
revenge
which
is
the delight
.of
the
wicked
:
And
it
is
a pleasure
also, which
the saints above
,cannot
partake
of;
for there are
no
offences,
no
inju-
ries, no
provocations
there:
This
life
alone
is
the
time
to
forgive,
and
to
be
forgiven.
Now
who
is
there among
us,
that
would
not
seize'the
opportunity
'of
every
injury