God does. How is that--To hold a grudge one day, and if
they ask our pardon, to forgive them the next? No, we must uniformly
possess a kind, tender-hearted, forgiving spirit, laying up 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 XIX

"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--viz: the prejudices of early education. But we sincerely
call their application of this passage in question, and shall stand
forth in defense 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_, an