Pride, envy, hatred,
ingratitude, selfishness, and treachery, are evils permitted against
others; as well as plagues and offences in those who cherish them. Like
pain, or decrepitude, hurricanes or drought, poverty or death, they
prove, and purify the servants of God. The wrath of man has an allowed
limit, which it can no more pass, than the raging ocean can the rocks by
which it is bounded. And, if under the trial of moral evil, we behave
wisely, charitably, and devoutly, we shall often find that even fraud
and envy will produce some temporal advantages. Strangers have
frequently stretched out their hands to help those whom friends and
kindred have oppressed and abandoned. The world is ever disposed to look
kindly on persons suffering wrong, provided they are not vehement in
their resentments, and disposed to assist themselves by honest industry
and wise measures. The cruelty of a tyrant has sometimes introduced
superior desert to conspicuous notice; and at the worst, there is an
inward peace, "which passeth understanding," that the oppressor never
can enjoy, nor can he deprive the victim of his hatred from partaking of
it.
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