nature have rarely stifled this tenderness for the good fame of others; then, and not till then, are we entitled to conceive that we have obeyed this precept of the scriptures, and judged our fellow creatures in righte

ousness.

It is from inattention to the motives which may corrupt our judgments, that the art of differing in opinion upon important subjects is so little understood; or, if understood, is so imperfectly exercised ;---a part of conduct, however, in which all the best feelings of a christian may be called into action, and upon the proper exercise of which the happiness of society intimately depends. To look upon mankind, collected either into greater, or lesser, numbers, as members either of kingdoms, or cities, we are delighted with that social combination, that unity of views, and interests, which appears among them; it is only from a more intimate view of their condition that we perceive those interior societies separated from each other by insuperable aversion, and waging the most furious, and implacable war of opinion ;---to see men of acknow

ledged worth, and talents, totally blind to each others perfections, furiously ascribing to each other the most improbable depravity, and shunning each other with the most marked detestation, is, to him who has kept his passions cool, and unbiassed, a lesson upon the infirmities of our nature not easily to be forgotten: differ we must, and upon the most serious topics; but the law of Christ is not a set of words always in our mouths, but a rule to be never absent from our hearts: What is the meaning of being a christian, if it is not to carry into all these differences a candid, liberal, and forgiving spirit? to exhibit towards every opponent the purest, and most impartial, justice? to debar ourselves of the unworthy resource of imputing bad motives, but, upon the most unquestionable evidence? to exercise our own right of deciding, without denying that right to others? and, while we obey the result of our own deliberations, to remember it is not impossible that we may have mistaken, exceeded, or distorted the truth?

To judge our neighbour righteously,

we should remember that, in many instances, a fault once committed may be atoned for; and, that an imputation once true is not always true: we do not derive that useful lesson which we might derive from the consciousness of our own infirmities. If there are very few, even of the best, and most approved among us, who would dare to lay open the secret history of thought, word, and deed, from infancy to this hour; if many are conscious of secret sin, many of those numerous perils on which their virtue has been nearly wrecked; if they are sensible, as they must be, how often they have been indebted to accident, rather than wisdom, for escape; how powerfully do all these considerations inculcate upon our minds, precepts of tenderness, and mercy, for the infirmities of our nature? not that crimes should be sheltered from evil report; but that, when they are not of too deep a dye, they should be forgotten. The faults of youth ought not to follow the same being through every stage of his existence;—there is no cruelty so great as to keep the fallen man for ever in the dust; and to blast his reviving hopes with the malicious memory

of past misconduct; but the misfortune is, we want the vices of others to keep up our own halting virtue; and we cannot afford to lose them; a good man is ever looking inward to the bright image he has formed of christian purity, while it is the genuine habit of baseness to found reputation upon the imperfections of others, and of suspected virtue, ferociously to insult its own vices, in the lives, and conduct of the rest of the world.

Whatever be our opinion of the guilt of others, it is not always necessary to propagate, and diffuse it ;-in the administration of public justice, punishment is separated from accusation: but, at the tribunal of the world, they are often the same things: If men were as ready to investigate calumny as they are to receive it, the evils of its diffusion would be much less; but the disease travels faster than the remedy can follow; to give credit to defamation, though neither the generous, nor the just, is considered as the safe side, and many receive the accusation, who are too careless to listen to the defence, or too timid to admit it.

To promote the righteous judgment of our neighbour, it is our duty to defend him where we can do so with any colour of justice; this we are frequently prevented from doing, because it is unpopular; it checks a source of amusement from which we are all apt, at times, to derive but too much pleasure, it recalls those who hear us from a state of mirth, and compels them to listen to the dry, unamusing, suggestions of justice: But this temporary displeasure it is our duty to incur, from the most exalted motives of Christian duty;—to consider the real degree of credibility due to evil report; the temptations to misrepresentation; and the chances for mistake;-to take the fact with all its favorable colours, and extenuating circumstances; to wait for the answer of the accused party; to insist upon all the good which we have previously known of him ; all this is in the power of the most inconsiderable being among us; and if there can be a proof of a truly good, a truly noble, and a truly Christian disposition, this it is:While others listen eagerly to the narrative of folly and of crime, and every one secretly exults and says, thank God, I am not as this