Editorial January 26, 1924 Issue

Forgiving and Forgetting

Ella W. Hoag

Many and many a time have men desired to forgive,—yes, and forget, too! But how rarely have they seen how to accomplish true forgiving and forgetting! Indeed, so difficult has this generally seemed that mankind has appeared almost to relegate to the impossible Jesus' admonition to forgive "until seventy times seven." Many a one calling himself a Christian has convinced himself, under stress of an injury inflicted upon him, that resentment and retaliation were Christly virtues, and were even necessary for the good of the one who had committed the wrong.

When Moses taught "eye for eye, tooth for tooth," it was because he believed in God as a God who could both love and hate. He saw from this standpoint what he called the justice of God. Consequently, he was convinced that men had enemies and that it was quite right that men should hate them. His understanding of the great I am was, however, transcendentally in advance of the heathen peoples around him, who had no sort of belief in the one and only God.

Jesus came lifting the world higher and telling men that they must love their enemies. He not only taught this, but he practiced his own precept. He understood and demonstrated the power to forgive perfectly, for he knew that God is Love. The world at that time was not prepared to have the way in which Jesus had accomplished this unfolded to them. It was not until the Holy Comforter—who, Jesus promised, should lead men "into all truth"—was revealed in Divine Science that the way to forgive and forget was completely explained.

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