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"Kindness" and "forgiveness" may be, and often are, natural virtues. But you at once take them out of the natural, and elevate them into the spiritual — you Christianize them, and the old commandment becomes the new — when you make this both the reason of the exercise and the measure of the degree — "as God in Christ hath forgiven you." Now take care that you read this verse aright. I have often heard it quoted — I have read it often in books — "as God for Christ's sake will forgive you." But that is not the basis from which the apostle's argument here, and his argument everywhere, springs. "Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." So that if you are not a "forgiven" man, the argument drops. How can a machine go, if you take out the mainspring? How can love in the heart of a man move aright, without its motive power? And what motive power can move a man to bear all he has to bear, and to do all he has to do, in such a world as this, but love? And where is love if you are not forgiven?" Nobody really knows God till he is "forgiven"; and how shall a man practise love till he knows God? Is not all love, God? Here, then, we take our beginning. As a mathematician claims a certain first principle, and assumes it is granted, and calls it his axiom, so we make it our axiom, "You are forgiven." I cannot carry on my reasoning a single step without that. Now, in the character of this "forgiveness" — which is the elementary principle of all religion — there are three points, which I would ask you to look at in detail.

1. It was originating. I mean, it was not you went forth to it; but it went forth to you. It was ready before you thought of it. It was ready before you were born. It sought you. At the best, you can do nothing but accept it.

2. It is universal. It cannot, in the nature of things, be partial. I mean, there is no such thing as being "forgiven" for one sin, while, at the same time, you are not "forgiven" for another sin. It is all or none. The blood of Christ never washes one sin out. The robe of Christ never covers one part of a man. Everything is "forgiven."

3. The "forgiveness" is absolute. There is not a vestige of displeasure. There is no resurrection of "forgiven" sins. They shall never be mentioned any more. They are "cast into the depths of the sea." O brethren! what an atmosphere of love we ought all to be living in, as many of you as know Christ. What a practical rule and measure we have, by which to draw our line, every day, into thousands of little acts and thoughts. It is simply this — "How did God act to me, when He stood in a corresponding relation to me?" But I ask, Is any one of us living up to that standard? I think not. Therefore let us now look at our measurement. "You see there are three things God tells us to be: kind; tender-hearted; forgiving. I am not sure that I know the exact distinction which is intended between those three words; but, I think it is something like this: — "Kindness," is an affectionate feeling, always going out into action. The Greek word used has something o! "using" or "serving" in it. A "tender heart," is a soft, impressible state, which predisposes to think and act kindly. And "forgiveness" is that loving spirit, which, preferring to suffer rather than to pain, sees no fault in another because it is so conscious of its own. It is important to notice that the "tender heart" is placed between "kindness" and "forgiveness" — the keystone of the little sacred arch. Everything depends upon it — a soft, "tender" state of "heart." Need I remind you, that everything in the world, every day, is tending to brush off the bloom, and leave the substance underneath hardened? But whoever wishes to be a real Christian must, at all times, and in all places, be jealously watchful to keep his heart "tender." The great business of life, it seems to me, is to keep the heart "tender." But how is it that we are not all "kind," "tender," and "forgiving"? There are many causes; but they resolve themselves into one — pride! pride!

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

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KJV: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

WEB: Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.