To forgive without upbraiding, even by manner or look, is a high exercise of grace—it is imitation of Christ.
If I have been injured by another, let me bethink myself—How much better to be the sufferer than the wrongdoer!
The flesh would punish to prevent a repetition of wrongs; but Grace teaches us to defend ourselves without weapons. The man who “seventy times seven” forgives injuries, is he who best knows how to protect himself.
If one do me a wrong, let me with the bowels of Christ seek after him, and entreat God to move him to repentance.
We partake in the guilt of an offending member of Christ, until we have confessed his sin as our own (Dan. 9), mourned over it, prayed for its forgiveness, and sought in the spirit of love the restoration of the erring one.
If our tongue have been betrayed into speaking contemptuously or even slightingly of an absent brother, let us quickly say, Alas! we have wounded Christ.
If in love I speak to a brother of his fault, it is because I hate the sin. If I speak of it with backbiting tongue, it is self-pleasing that moves me.
If under the law, when the bond was only in the flesh, the Israelite must not suffer sin upon his brother (Lev. 19:17), how much less should it be suffered under the Gospel, which binds the saints together spiritually and eternally!
The figure of the mote in the eye shows what skill and tenderness he has need of who would be a reprover to his brother. Who would trust so precious a member as the eye to a rough, unskilful hand?
The Lord loves to manifest peculiar tenderness towards those who have been brought low, even though it may have been through their own folly. “Go tell His disciples, and Peter.” (Mark 16:7.)