And Zechariah also, among the twelve prophets, pointing out to the people the will of God, says, “These things does the Lord omnipotent declare: ‘Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion each one to his brother. And oppress not the widow, and the orphan, and the proselyte and the poor; and let none imagine evil against your brother in his heart.’ ” And again, he says, “ ‘These are the words which you shall utter. Speak the truth every man to his neighbor, and execute peaceful judgment in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in your heart against his brother, and you shall not love false swearing, for all these things I hate,’ says the Lord almighty.” Moreover, David also says in like manner: “What man is there who desires life and would long to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak not guile. Shun evil and do good: seek peace, and pursue it.” .
And therefore this question must at once be determined, whether the discipline of patience is enjoined by the Creator? When by Zechariah he commanded, “Let none of you imagine evil against his brother,” he did not expressly include his “neighbor;” but then in another passage he says, “Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor.” He who counseled that an injury should be forgotten was still more likely to counsel the patient endurance of it.
