Editorial August 18, 1923 Issue

Forgiveness

Duncan Sinclair

It is noteworthy that the longing for forgiveness lies deeper than the desire to sin. Prompted by the base suggestions of the carnal mind, men may commit the worst of crimes; they may wallow in the mire of sensuousness for a period, drinking the cup of material indulgence almost to its dregs; but when the awakening comes, as certainly it must, there goes up to the great heart of Love the cry for forgiveness. That cry is being uttered night and day by blighted, sin-seered hearts, the whole world over. What does it mean? What is its answer?

When Isaiah was exposing truthfully and ruthlessly the corruption of Judah, even in the midst of his bewailing he could hold out to the rebellious children a promise of forgiveness in language almost unrivaled in its simplicity and beauty: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." A wonderful promise; and one that has kindled hope in many sad but repentant hearts in every generation since it was uttered, causing them to sing with the Psalmist, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, ... who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."

Why, then, this craving for forgiveness? May it be a mere, almost childish longing for human sympathy or human condonation of sin? Not at all. It lies far deeper than that. It is actually the wish to be healed of the desire ever to sin again. Men and women who have played fast and loose with life, those who have eaten of "the husks that the swine did eat," having awakened to the fact that even so-called human law is forced to put a bridle on human passions and wickedness, have often come to desire, not merely freedom from physical restraint, but the far more glorious liberty of divine forgiveness. Whenever that spirit is shown by any one, we can be certain he is bordering on the kingdom of heaven. The chastened spirit is closely allied to the repentant heart; and as Mrs. Eddy has said so beautifully in her Message to The Mother Church for 1902 (p. 19), "He entertains angels who listens to the lispings of repentance seen in a tear—happier than the conqueror of a world."

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"Perfect models"
August 18, 1923
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