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.

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