'Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine;
I will repay, saith the Lord. 20. Therefore if thine
enemy hunger, feed him: if he thirst, give him drink;
for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his
head. 21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil
with good.'--ROMANS xii. 19-21.
The natural instinct is to answer enmity with enmity, and kindliness
with kindliness. There are many people of whom we think well and
like, for no other reason than because we believe that they think
well of and like us. Such a love is really selfishness. In the same
fashion, dislike, and alienation on the part of another naturally
reproduce themselves in our own minds. A dog will stretch its neck to
be patted, and snap at a stick raised to strike it. It requires a
strong effort to master this instinctive tendency, and that effort
the plainest principles of Christian morality require from us all.
The precepts in our text are in twofold form, negative and positive;
and they are closed with a general principle, which includes both
these forms, and much more besides. There are two pillars, and a
great lintel coping them, like the trilithons of Stonehenge.