Meditations, Meditation 81
81
The wisedome of man and the wisedome of God are exceeding different, and no maruaile: one being infinitely pure, and purely infinite; the other narrow, but great in corruption. As in all things therefore wee should forsake our owne wisedome, and leane vntounto Gods; so not with the least care in the matter of reuenge; when thou hast suffered some euill, thine own wisedome bids thee returne euill to the doer, but the wisedome of God bids thee to returne him good notwithstanding this euill. Hereat thou wondrest, and thy flesh finds no wisdome in this to returne good for euill, to helpe him who hurts thee: yet is the counsell of thy wisedom, indeed folly, & this of Gods, excellently wise. For 1. in reuenging thy self, thou dost foolishly; for God hauing taken to him self alone, the name & power of being iudge of the world, thou steppest into this place and wilt bee thy owne iudge. And God hauing delegated part of this power for a time vntounto Magistrates, thou intrudest into their place, and so art Rebellious both against God and man. And indeed, as thou hast made thy selfe a iudge, so thou makest thy selfe an executioner, and art the hangman to execute the sentence of thy own malice: surely if a man had robbed thee though with some blowes, and were apprehended and condemned by the Magistrate, thou wouldest take it a great disgrace to be appointed for a hangman, or executioner of him, who thus offendeth thee; yet heere is nothing but iustice: but when thine owne wrath vsurping the place of Iudgement, condemnes a man for a blow or a word to die, then it is a part of honour, to bee the executioner of thy own vniust and vnlawful sentence. Be not deceiued, this latter is the worse hangman of the two. But to examine thy folly neerer, how art thou indeede auenged by this, which thou thinkest and callest reuenge? By intruding into Gods office, thou hast taken the matter out of Gods hands into thine owne: but so where before a God, and an offended God was thy enemies Iudge, who in his wrath could cast both soule and bodie into hell fire; now a man hath vndertaken him, who hath onelyonly power on the bodie, if yet he hauehave so much: so instead of a reuenger, thou hast done the part of a redeemer, and goest about to helpe him, whom thou thoughtest to hurt. Againe, where God was before angry with him alone, now he is angrie with thee also, and so hast thou lost thy aduantage, which thou hadst vponupon him. Thou hadst the best friend in the world for thee, and against him: and now thou hast by thy reuenge, lost him equally with the other. And lastly, him whom thou censurest to hauehave done euill, thou goest about to imitate, and to make thy selfe as bad as he. And now that Gods counsell to recompense good for euill, is excellently wise, it appeares hereby: certaine it is, and to the godly certainly knowne, that the eies of God behold al things done on earth; and he which beholdeth all things certainly, shall as certainely iudge all men, for all things done in their flesh. Therefore if a man wrong thee, know that this wrong is seene, that it is recorded, that it shall bee iudged. And if thou couldest now but see, or rightly imagine that terrible iudgement, which shall bee inflicted on those which touch Gods anointed, thou wouldest pitty them, whom now thy vengeance would punish. Surely fire and brimstone, cries and torments, darknesse and diuels are their portion; though it bee not present, yet it shall be present, and the weight of the paine shal recompence the stay. Again, the moore good thou art, the more God will pitty thee, the more God will plague him that wrongeth thee. For the more good, the dearer to God, and the more odious are those that offend thee. Therefore if thou wilt bee reuenged on thy enemie, bee still doing of good as to all, so to him among all; and thy goodnesse shall bring God the auenger vponupon him, and shall heape coales of fire vponupon his head, in the day of the highest vengeance. Possesse thy soule in goodnesse, in patience, and bee not mooued from thy place to doe euill; then shalt thou dwel assuredly in happinesse, and shalt see thy desire vponupon thy enemies; whatsoeuer the wicked do, thou knowest thy part; though he doth the works of a wicked man, thou still art to bring forth the fruits of a good man; hee doth what belongs to a seruant of his master: do thou what belongs to the seruice of thine, and at last thou shalt see his Lord and himselfe made the foote stoole of thy Lord, and cast downe into vtter darkenesse, where shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall this thy Lord, who casteth him into hell, exalt thee into heauen: and as your waies in this life were diuers, so shall they bee in the next; and then shall it be no griefe of mind to thee, when thou art in that glorious kingdome, that thy hand hath not shed blood, nor wickedly auenged thy wrongs.