Page:Sermons preached in the African Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia.djvu/75

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

SERMON IV.

mutual forbearance and forgiveness.

"Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."—Col. iii., 13.

In this world, where sin has dominion over the hearts of the great mass of mankind, and influences in some measure the regenerate, there will always be numerous occasions that will call for the exercise of mutual forbearance, and the spirit of forgiveness. Occasions will arise not only among the ungodly, but also among those who, in the general tenor of their lives, are governed by Christian principles. To resent injuries, either real or supposed, is natural to man. The obvious design of this characteristic of our