Avenge Not

"DEARLY BELOVED, AVENGE NOT YOURSELVES."— Rom. 12:19
By Gilbert Beebe, 1856 (an excerpt)

"There are several good reasons why the saints should not attempt to avenge themselves, of which we will call the attention of our readers to a few:

1. Because we are forbidden to do so, not only in our text, but also in many other portions of the word. This, in the absence of all other considerations, is a sufficient reason. We cannot avenge ourselves, nor attempt to do so, without involving ourselves in an act of disobedience to our Lord and Master...
2..our incompetency to accurately estimate the amount of injury received, the criminality of the motive of the offender, and the amount of retribution due to the transgressor...
3..because to do so would be a usurpation of a prerogative which belongs only to the Lord...
4. Were we allowed to so avenge ourselves, such are our liabilities to err, we might severely injure those for whom Christ has died, without securing to ourselves anything more than the gratification of a vindictive and revengeful feeling of the flesh, which should rather be denied and crucified...
5. The relationship in which we stand to each other, as dearly beloved brethren, presents another good reason why we should not avenge ourselves. When Moses saw two of the Hebrews striving together, he reproved them, saying, "Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another?"...
6. Aside from the wickedness of disobeying this command, if there were no law against it, should the saints attempt the administration of retributive justice, they would make wretched work, cause trouble for the saints, and make a thorny pillow to recline their own head upon..."