Pagina 786 van 1118

and what advantage would their silence have been to you? Would

you have been the gainer from their cause having been committed

entirely to the judgment of God? Is it not an additional reason

to love them, that they have afforded you the occasion to hear

the sincere voice of your pastor; that they have provided for you

the means to understand more clearly, and quite as far as may be

in your power, the great debt you have contracted to them? Ah! if

they had even been the aggressors, I would tell you to love them

for that very reason. Love them, because they have suffered, and

do suffer; love them, because they are a part of your flock,

because you yourself have need of pardon and of their prayers."