ns
remain in the wounds and become a poison; they must drop off
spontaneously, and so they will be harmless. The native forthwith
prepared a bath for his master, by the decoction of some herbs, and
directed him to lie down in it. As soon as he had bathed in the balsam
the leeches dropped off.

Each unforgiven injury rankling in the heart is like a leech sucking the
life-blood. Mere human determination to have done with it, will not cast
the evil thing away. You must bathe your whole being in God's pardoning
mercy; and these venomous creatures will instantly let go their hold.
You will stand up free.

Two wheels protrude from a factory, and are seen in motion on the outer
wall by every passenger. They move into each other. The upper wheel is
large, the under small. From without and at a distance, you cannot tell
whether the upper is impelling the under, or the under moving the upper.
This question, however, might be settled by an inspection of the
interior. By such an inspection it would be found that the larger and
higher wheel communicates motion to the lower and smaller. If the upper
wheel, which communicates the motion, should stand still, so also would
the lower: but more than this,--if the lower wheel, which receives the
motion, should by some impediment be stopped, the upper wheel also would
stand still.

It is in some such way that God's goodness in forgiving freely for
Christ's sake our sins, impels us to forgive from the heart those that
have trespassed against us. The power is all from above; yet, though we
by our goodness do not set the beneficent machinery in motion, we may by
our badness cause it all to stand still. It is not our forgiveness
accorded to an evil-doer that procures forgiveness to ourselves from
God; the opposite is the truth: yet our refusal of forgiveness to a
brother prevents the flow of pardon down from God to our guilty hearts.
Such is the structure of the covenant. It is only a small part of that
covenant that we can comprehend; but, as far as we are able to perceive
its provisions, behold, they are very good!

While a few acres of cold barren moorland constitute all your heritage,
if a neighbour encroaches on it by a hair's-breadth, you assert your
right and repel the aggression: possibly you may, in your zeal, accuse
him of an intention to trespass, if you see him digging his own ground
near your border. While your property is very small, you are afraid of
losing any of it; and pe