N01810:54
The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too…
The right way to shake off a viper. An essay, upon a case too commonly calling for consideration; what shall good men do, when they are evil spoken of? : With a preface of Dr. Increase Mather,
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for S. Gerrish, 1720
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
If I hear that any Person has done me If rong, in Word or Deed, I find, it is often (perhaps not always) the best way in the World, not to let them know that I have any knowledge of it. The best way is to forgive and forget the Wrong, and bury it in silence. For besides the Consideration due to the internal Advantage, reaped by such Christianity, there is this to be Considered; Such is the malignity in the most of Men, that they will hate you, only because you ⟨p. 22⟩know they have wronged you. They will as far as they can, justify the Wrong they have done; and because their wicked Hearts imagine, that you must needs bear a Spite unto them, for the wrong you have received from them, they will bear a confirmed Spite unto you on that vile account. Whereas I have often found, that my concocting with Patience and Silence, a slight or an hurt that has been offered me, has been followed (& rewarded by God,) with this Consequence; that the very Persons who have wronged me, have afterwards been made Instruments of singular Service to me.
If I hear that any Person has done me If rong, in Word or Deed, I find, it is often (perhaps not always) the best way in the World, not to let them know that I have any knowledge of it. The best way is to forgive and forget the Wrong, and bury it in silence. For besides the Consideration due to the internal Advantage, reap'd by such Christianity, there is this to be Consider'd; Such is the malignity in the most of Men, that they will hate you, only because you ⟨p. 22⟩know they have wronged you. They will as far as they can, justify the Wrong they have done; and because their wicked Hearts imagine, that you must needs bear a Spite unto them, for the wrong you have received from them, they will bear a confirmed Spite unto you on that vile account. Whereas I have often found, that my concocting with Patience and Silence, a slight or an hurt that has been offered me, has been followed (& rewarded by God,) with this Consequence; that the very Persons who have wronged me, have afterwards been made Instruments of singular Service to me.