injuries inflicted on him by Semei. [1] To this also applies an argument which St. Chrysostome has ably and learnedly handled: it is that no man is injured but by himself. [2] Let the man, who considers himself injured by another, consider the matter calmly and dispassionately, and he will feel the justness of the observation: he may, it is true, have experienced injury from external causes; but he is himself his greatest enemy, by wickedly contaminating his soul with hatred, malevolence, and envy.
The second consideration to be explained by the pastor embraces two advantages, which are the special rewards of those, who, influenced by a holy desire to please God, freely forgive injuries. In the first place, God has promised that he who forgives shall himself obtain forgiveness; [3] a promise which proves how acceptable to God is this duty of piety. In the next place, the forgiveness of injuries ennobles and perfects our nature; for by it man is, in some degree, assimilated to God, " who maketh his sun to shine on the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust." [4]
Finally, the disadvantages which arise from the indulgence of revenge are to be explained. The pastor will place before the eyes of the unforgiving man a truth which has the sanction of experience, that hatred is not only a grievous sin, but also that a continued habit of indulgence renders it inveterate. The man, in whose heart this passion has once taken deep root, thirsts for the blood of his enemy: day and night he longs for revenge: continually agitated by this perverse passion, his mind seems never to repose from malignant projects, or even from thoughts of blood; and thus phrensied by hatred, never, or at least not without extreme difficulty, can he be induced generously to pardon an offending brother, or even to mitigate his hostility towards him. Justly, therefore, is revenge compared to a festering wound, from which the weapon has never been extracted.
There are also many evil consequences, many sins which follow in the train of this gloomy passion. Hence these words of St. John: " He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, be cause the darkness hath blinded his eyes." [5] He must therefore frequently fall; for how, possibly, can any one view in a favourable light the words or actions of him whom he hates? Hence arise rash and unjust judgments, anger, envy, depreciation of character and other evils of the same sort, in which are often involved those who are connected by ties of friendship or blood; and thus does it frequently happen that this one sin is the prolific source of many.
Hatred has been denominated " the sin of the devil," and not without good reason: the devil was a murderer from the
