Leviticus 19:18

Thou shalt not avenge.

Forgive and forget

In another place we read, “For vengeance is Mine, and I will repay.” Wrest not God’s sword therefore out of His hand, sit not down in His seat, nor make thyself a god, for fear of the end. Well, let Him go then, I will not avenge, but sure I will remember Him; forgive I may, but never forget, &c. See what followeth in the very next words of this verse, “Neither shalt thou be mindful of a wrong against the children of thy people.” “Remembering,” then, you see, is condemned as well as “avenging,” and therefore it standeth you upon both to forgive and to forget, or else the Lord shall forget you out of His Book of Life. Nay, see more: all this is not yet enough, but we must “love also our neighbours, and that even as ourselves,” or else we perish. For, “I am the Lord,” saith the verse, that is, One that seeth and hateth and will smite thee in that strength that thou canst not resist nor endure. Foolish politic, think, then, of piety, and abhor that policy that devoureth piety and destroyeth thee. Thou canst not live ever, but must die, and come unto judgment. (Bp. Babington.)

Penalty of the desire to avenge

Small birds have an intense natural antipathy of nocturnal birds of prey. If one of these birds happens to be seen out of its lurking-place during the day they assail it vigorously, resent its intrusion, and avenge the oppression exercised over them during the night by combined attacks. This antipathy has been taken advantage of for the purpose of catching birds ever since the days of Aristotle. The catcher imitates, for instance, the voice of an owl about an hour before sunset, when the birds will flock together and perch on the trees or bushes in the suspected neighbourhood. The twigs, &c., having been previously covered with bird-lime, the birds pay their liberty and perhaps life as the penalty of their desire to avenge themselves on the owl. (Scientific lllustrations.)

Brotherly affection

Euclid showed in himself the true symptoms of brotherly affection, who, when his brother in his rage made a rash vow, saying, “Let me not live, if I be not revenged on my brother”; Euclid turns the speech contrary way, “Nay, let me not live, if I be not reconciled to my brother; let me not live, if we be not as good friends as ever we were before.” Shall a heathen thus outstrip us Christians? nature be stronger than grace? the bonds of flesh tie faster and surer than the bonds of grace? We call on God our Father, we acknowledge, or should do, one Church our mother, we are bred up in the same school of the Cross, fed at the same table of the Lord, incorporated into the same communion of saints. If these and the like considerations cannot knit our hearts in love one to another, the very heathens will rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us. (J. Spencer.)

Victory over self the best way to gain others

Winthrop, the Puritan Governor of Massachusetts, had a wonderful control of his own passions. On one occasion, one of the officers of the colony wrote him a “sharp letter,” complaining of his official acts. He sent back the letter--would not keep such a letter of provocation by him. By and by, the writer of the letter, while there was a scarcity of food in the colony, sent to buy some of Winthrop’s cattle. “Receive them,” said the governor, “as a gift in token of my goodwill.” The offender wrote back: “Sir, your overcoming of yourself hath overcome me.” This way of dealing with offenders was loved by him.