IN HIGHER PEOPLES 163 



4. The Instinct of Revenge. 



Revenge is tlie desire in an individual who has 

 been injured to do injury in return. It is the hun- 

 ger to hit back. Revenge prompts us to inflict on 

 any one who has injured us an amount of injury 

 at least equal to what we have suffered. And if 

 the injury we return is a little more than what we 

 have received, our satisfaction is that much more 

 complete. 



Among all higher peoples, forgiveness is gen- 

 erally regarded with real admiration. Forgive- 

 ness is the passing by or ignoring of wrongs that 

 have been done to us. Human nature is weak. 

 We do so many things without thought or inten- 

 tion. It is a mark of greatness not to judge peo- 

 ple too literally. It was said of Abraham Lincoln 

 that his heart was as big as the world, but that 

 he had no room in it for the memory of a wrong. 

 A being who is immense enough to realize the 

 frailties of human nature will not judge men 

 harshly, but will look ^\ith an all-pitying tender- 

 ness on the erring children of this world. 



What a beautiful mantle Charity is to throw 

 over the misdeeds of men. Charity is the dispo- 

 sition to put a good construction on men's actions 

 and to overlook their faults. 



But charity, forgiveness, and the Lincoln-like 

 spirit of forgetting wrongs are not in harmony 

 with the tendencies which we commonly find in 

 the hearts of men when we look into them. A 

 blow arouses a burning desire to hit back — even 



