For God says, “Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven;” [Luke 6:37] I have first forgiven, forgive you then after Me; for if you forgive not, I will call you back, and will require again all that I had remitted to you. For Christ neither deceives nor is deceived; and He adds here, “Thus will my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” It is better that you should cry out with your mouth, and forgive in your heart, than that you should speak smoothly, and be unrelenting in your heart. For the Lord adds, “From your hearts,” to the end that though, out of affection you put him to discipline, yet gentleness should not depart out of your heart.
What is more beneficial than the knife of the surgeon? He is rough with the sore that the man may be healed; should he be tender with the sore, the man were lost.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).
Also cites: Serm., 83, 7