POPE has said, "To err is human, to forgive divine."

The measure of purity in our love is evidenced in our willingness to forgive. Thought must ascend to the heights where the vision of the Christ is not dimmed by the shadows of self, if one would wholeheartedly forgive intentional wrongs committed against him by those whom he regards as friends, or by those whom he counts as enemies.

Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, when the world's hatred and malice were poured forth upon her, ungrudgingly forgave. Evil attempted to slay the spiritual idea which she revealed, even as it had done in Jesus' time. But, as a true follower of the Master, she faced every attack of the foe bravely, unflinchingly, steadfastly holding to Truth; and with spiritual calmness, strength, and forgiveness she went forward manifesting unremitting love for mankind. She proved that God is Love, that Love is the only power, and that, therefore, evil is powerless; and on the basis of its nothingness, she rendered it inoperative.

True forgiveness is not merely a forgetting of the violation of one's rights. It implies a tenderness so deep, a compassion so broad, a love so strong, with such an assurance of Love's allness, that the illusive mortal mind picture of suffering, of injustice, of selfishness or unkindness, is effectually obliterated. One can abide in this spiritual height as he consciously dwells in the presence of Love and knows as real only Love's creation. A victory over belief in evil, thus gained, opens for one the very gates of heaven.

We have an unparalleled example of forgiveness by our Master in his hour of agony on the cross. Mrs. Eddy has written of this on page 124 of "Miscellaneous Writings": "The last act of the tragedy on Calvary rent the veil of matter, and unveiled Love's great legacy to mortals: Love forgiving its enemies. This grand act crowned and still crowns Christianity: it manumits mortals; it translates love; it gives to suffering, inspiration; to patience, experience; to experience, hope; to hope, faith; to faith, understanding; and to understanding, Love triumphant!" How diligently, persistently, humbly, and prayerfully we should strive for the Christlikeness which crowns Christianity!

What are the mental arguments which make of themselves a stone wall,; is it were, to hinder one's manifestation of this grace of Spirit? A desire to forgive may be present in thought, a recognition of the duty may be clear, some degree of willingness may be entertained, and yet one may be held back by the delusion that a mortal, being material, sinful, and capable of inflicting injury, does not deserve forgiveness; but this is a falsity of mortal thinking and not the truth of man, created in God's likeness. All must learn that one is responsible only for his own thoughts and acts, whatever another may think and do; that each one is responsible for his own obedience to God.

In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul has given us this wise counsel: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." The beauty of forgiveness is seen in the purification it brings to one who rises spiritually above the belief that he has been wronged.

It requires moral courage to meet a trying situation squarely and then fearlessly, promptly, decisively do what one knows it is right to do. Let us be encouraged with the assurance that moral courage grows proportionately to one's love for God. One cannot love God without loving his fellow man. This is beautifully expressed in the following stanza from a hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 266):

Courage, the outgrowth of love, brings freedom, faith, patience, hope, experience, understanding. Thus equipped, one goes forth to conquer error. But hesitancy, indecision, fear, claim to defeat one if he accepts the false argument that God created a mortal who is selfish, unjust, unreasonable, immoral, untruthful, cruel. Oh, that one's concept of humility would so expand and enlarge, that thought would rise above the sense of self to a clearer recognition of Deity and His manifestation, man, the perfect idea of perfect Principle! Then the so-called stone wall—impenetrable, formidable, towering threateningly between one and his friends or so-called enemies—would dissolve and disappear in Love's reflection, even as ice melts when the warm rays of the sun pour upon it.

Another barrier in our pathway may be a personal sense of suffering. A sense of suffering from hurt feelings may take on the semblance of martyrdom. In the ranks of Christian Scientists there are valiant soldiers with armor on, active in the warfare against error. On page 391 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy has forcibly declared, "It is error to suffer for aught but your own sins." Christian Science teaches us that any phase of evil or suffering is a falsity, for it is not of God. God is All, and God is good. He is unchanging Love. This spiritual, incontrovertible truth, accepted and understood, sweeps from our consciousness the belief that evil is real and has power to produce suffering. It is only through the illusive material senses that the arguments of evil and of suffering claim to present themselves. So when error, under the cloak of broken friendship, betrayal, hatred, enmity, malice—or whatever it calls itself—comes knocking at the door of our mental home, we must master it and prove its falsity with the understanding we have gained through the study of Christian Science that God and His manifestation alone are real. When error is destroyed in our consciousness and we have seen its nothingness, then we shall no longer think it difficult to forgive.

When, through the purification of our hearts and lives, we can readily manifest forgiveness in our homes, our churches, our communities, then we shall be enabled scientifically to overcome the injustice, ruthlessness, hatred, and domination which claim to prevail in the nations today. As we realize that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, we see that there is no place for evil, and that its claim to power and presence is utterly false and unreal. Then can we pray with our whole heart, in the words of our Master, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

In the Lord's Prayer we petition, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." That prayer makes a demand upon the petitioner. Our Leader writes (Science and Health, p. 11): "Jesus' prayer, 'Forgive us our debts,' specified also the terms of forgiveness. When forgiving the adulterous woman he said, 'Go, and sin no more.'" We must destroy our own belief in sin as belonging to persons if we would ourselves be free sinning. We pray to be forgiven "as we forgive." We learn true forgiveness only as we rise in the spiritual discernment of man as God's own likeness.

The spirit of forgiveness comes to us in propotion to our obedience to the command that Jesus gave to the Magdalen. "Go, and sin no more." As the truth floods our consciousness that Love made man Godlike, error cannot make us afraid, wound us, or separate us from our fellow man. Thus shall we heed the admonition given us by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Copyright, 1941, by The Christian Science Publishing Society, One, Norway Street, Boston. Massachusetts. Entered at Boston post office as second-class matter. Acceptance for mailing at a special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 11, 1918. [Printed in U.S.A.]