we ignore the fundamental principle of all Christian morality, " Do to others as yon would like to be done by;" we refuse to see that the divine remission of our vast liabilities generates in us an obligation to forgive our fellowman his paltry debts. No, we throttle him, and cast him into prison, till he pay us all. " Mercy," says Shakespeare, " blesseth him that gives and him that takes," and, per contra, vengeance curseth equally its victim and its author. A man never appears to worse advantage — never more contemptible than when he clamors for revenge; whereas the sublimest heroism is patience under insult and wrong. The author of the book of Proverbs voices these sentiments when he says: " The bearing of a man is known by patience, and his glory is to pass over wrongs." Is an injury done or an affront offered; immediately the ignoble rowdy, with a shriek or an oath, rushes to the assault, but the gentleman stands unmoved or gives way, as the poet says, with nobler reason against fury taking part. The noble Christian looks over the present wrong, to a greater good beyond, to which wrongs, patiently borne, are stepping-stones; but the rowdy sees only the wrong here and now, and like a foolish child frets more bitterly over a broken toy than over the loss of his inheritance.
Such incidents are but modern reproductions of the scene on Calvary — the contrast between the mocking, blasphemous thief on his cross and the crucified Saviour — patient and silent — silent, or if He spake at all it was only to utter that gentle
