him, and if he thirst, give him drink." This is the advice of S. Paul, and he adds, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." If you attempt to revenge any wrong done to you, you allow yourself to be overcome of evil; on the other hand, if you give up all thoughts of chastising your enemy for the wrong he has done you, and leave the righting of your cause to God, you overcome the evil and transform it into a goodyou use the stones thrown at you, to build up out of them the edifice of your salvation. According to the edict of your King, all private punishment of those who injure is taken out of your hands "Vengeance is Mine." He insists on acting as umpire in all disputes. You are too hot and impetuous to judge in your own quarrels, God seems to say to us, therefore I appoint myself as umpire. I will consider both sides, hear what each has to say, and decide according to righteousness, and punish in measure as the transgressions are wilful and unprovoked. But it is essential, when an umpire undertakes a case, that each side shall abide by his decision. Therefore "Avenge not yourselves -Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." The distinction between the Christian

and the Jew or the Heathen is this, the latter redress their own wrongs, the former leaves the matter in the hands of God. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" (S. Matt. v. 44-5).

III. The reason why we are not to act as judges in our own case, and also as executioners of our own sentences is, that in all men there is good-the image of God, and bad-the corruption of Satan. In the blindness of our resentment, we overlook the former. We see only a mass of evil, of spite, anger, jealousy, hatred, and we will not believe that there is a good substance behind all this. We are so eager to attribute evil motives, that we fail to suppose any other motives can explain conduct which we resent.

An old rector of Beaumaris had himself represented in stained glass, and set up in the window of his church, with the inscription under it, "Nunc primum transparui"-Now for the first

time I am seen through. That is, just as a stained glass picture looks when laid out on a table, or when seen from the outside of a church, a mass of incoherent and inconsistent pieces, so does man when he is alive, and looked at by his neighbours, they see this here, and that there, and they cannot explain their meaning, or their relation to the rest. Afterwards, when the whole is held up, and the pure light of God shines through, when God's judgment illumines it— then it is seen that there was beauty and consistency undreamt of, in the form. The light explains the puzzle, and shows order where we saw confusion, and beauty where we saw stains.

In every man there is some good. There are some traces of the Divine image in which he was made, obscured, it may be, but not effaced. As in the Church there are mingled good and bad, and the separation between them is not made now, but must be left to the future, and to a just Judge, lest the wheat should be plucked up with the tares; so is there good mixed with the bad, good motives and bad motives, generous impulses, as well as those that are unworthy, and no man is able to distinguish in this life between them. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until

the Lord come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts" (1 Cor. iv. 5.).

III. Once more. As we judge others, so shall we be judged ourselves. With what measure we mete out punishment to others, punishment will be meted out to us. "Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same things" (Rom. ii. 1). "Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more" (Rom. xiv. 10 12 13).

Yes, brethren, this thought should be ever present with us, and hold us back from judging those who have wronged us,-Are we guiltless ? and can we with open face and without fear face the judgment of God? As we judge others we shall be judged. If we have been forgiving to others, we shall be forgiven. If we have been extreme to mark what is done amiss against us, God will spy narrowly into our ways also.

If we have been harsh and implacable, God will be severe with us. The servant who owed his lord much was pardoned, but when he took his fellow-servant by the throat, threw in his teeth the personal wrongs under which he suffered, and showed him no pity, then his lord delivered him over to his tormentors, and exacted from him the uttermost farthing of his debt.