the same; as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that counsel of the apostle would[1] be prefixed, Ira hominis non implet justitiam Dei:[2] And it was a notable observation of a wise father, and no less ingenuously confessed; that those which held and persuaded[3] pressure of consciences were commonly interessed[4] therein themselves for their own ends.
IV. Of Revenge.
Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Salomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence.[5] That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that
- ↑ Would = should, as frequently in Elizabethan English.
- ↑ "For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James i. 20.
- ↑ Persuade. To commend a statement or opinion to acceptance; to inculcate. "And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing, and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God." Acts xix. 8.
- ↑ Interessed. Earlier form of interested.
- ↑ "The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression." Proverbs xix. 11.
