The last Source of Injustice is Revenge. I have said before, that pure Morality teaches us to throw a Veil over others Faults; I may with equal Truth say, it obliges us to forgive Injuries. For altho’ it is a Justice due to ourselves to maintain our Right, yet the same Self-Justice requires us to forgive those by whom we have been wrong’d. If we can remove an Injury, we may, and ought; but Revenge is not the Weapon we are to use for that Purpose. Whatever fires our Revenge, is apt to cloud our Reason; Men therefore who meditate Revenge, seldom have Reason for their Guide; and he who forsakes Reason, is a bad Judge how far Revenge should be carried. If we mentally survey a revengeful Man, how melancholy is the View! What Agitations in his Mind! what Flutterings in his Heart! All Nature seems convulsed within him! and, in the Midst of his Self-torture, his only Thoughts are, whether he shall ruin, or be ruined; murder, or be murdered! But if we go farther, and behold this Man in the Action he has so eagerly sought for, or carry our Ideas to the Consequences of it, we must tremble with Pity. His Countenance is an Index of his Mind: what Fury on his Brow; what Fire darts from his Eyes; what Malice, in confused, imperfect Accents, flows from his Lips; and what frantic Rage possesses his Soul! Sometimes a Duel is to repair the Injury; dreadful Situation! since whichsoever falls, the Calamity is inexpressible. Who can recall the Blood once spilt, the Life once lost? who can console the wretched Survivor, when Revenge is glutted, and Reflection calls him back to himself? or can the Receiver of the Challenge draw Consolation in his future Life, from a false Point of Honour? no, no; it is all Delusion; and independent of the Crimes which gave rise to it, the Deed itself is gross Injustice. Revenge puts on many Shapes: some seek it not in Blood, yet, with equal Fury, hunt another to Ruin and Death by unjust Law-suits. What Havock does this make! How many fall from Affluence to Want, from Splendor to a Goal, thro’ the Inveteracy of Revenge! Not all the Concessions of the opposite Party, not all the Tears of his Wife, nor the impending Ruin of his Children, can appease the Revengeful: Savage-like, he quits not his Hold till his Fury is glutted, till his Adversary is destroyed. Besides these, there are many other Species of Revenge, less obvious indeed, but perhaps not less criminal: there are Men whose Fury is less, but whose Malice is equal: Men with cooler Heads, but with inveterate Hearts. Injuries, whether fancied or real, seize the Heart of the Revengeful, and having once taken place, a thousand things are machinated for Retaliation of the Offence: every good Office ceases; ill Offices take place of them; cruel to their Character when absent; arrogant and disdainful to their Person when present; their Reputation torn to Pieces; false Constructions put on their most innocent Actions; and every sinister Means used to strip them