(3) And there are moral reasons. The penalty which follows transgression deepens our sense of sin, it strengthens our reliance on God, and it tests the reality of the repentance itself. As the old wounds reopen, and new sorrows spring from our old sins, we acknowledge our transgression, our sin is ever before us; we recognize the evil that is in us, and hate it with a more perfect hatred. Moreover, we can no longer trust ourselves. And so, drawn by our very straits and necessities, attracted and won by the very stroke which seemed to repel us, we come to God for a clean heart and a right spirit : we put our trust in Him, the God of our salvation. And if our repentance is sincere, if it is the evil and the alienation of our hearts that we really hate, and not the painful issues of our evil conduct, we shall take our pimishment, not as the angry blows and rebukes of an offended God, but as the corrections of a loving Father who, because He desires nothing so much as our well-being, puts our penitence and our recovered obedience to a decisive test.
^ If Kant emphasized the starry heavens and the moral law ; if Daniel Webster emphasized the thought of personal responsi- bility to God, Hawthorne believed the greatest thought that can occupy the human mind is the thought of justice and its retribu- tive workings through conscience. Doubtless there are a thousand problems that compete for the attention of youth ; but for men grown mature and strong, life offers no more momentous question than this: Can the soul, injured by temptation and scarred by sin, ever recover its pristine strength and beauty? Is it true that the breach that guilt has made in the soul can never be repaired, but only guarded and watched, while always by the broken wall there lurks " the stealthy tread of a foe who waits to renew his unforgotten triumphs " ? Is there no place of recovery, though man seek it long with tears ? " I do not know," answers the old Greek ;" I do not know that God has any right to for-
344 REPENTANCE AND RETRIBUTION
give sins." But Dante, having affirmed that man cannot forgive himself, thinks that sin may be consumed, and therefore makes the transgressor walk up a staircase of red-hot marble that pain may consume his iniquities. Though Hawthorne lived in a grim dark era, for him there was light on the top of the mountains. The summer shower, falling softly upon the banks of violets, cleanses the soot from the blossoms. In the deep forest glen a pure spring gushes, and into the deep pool wild birds plunge to brighten their dull plumage. And Hawthorne felt that somewhere life holds a fountain Divine for cleansing the dust from the soul's wings. Baring to us all the secrets of the human heart, and portraying the gradual unfolding of pain and penalty, he at last affirms that the sinning soul may recover its native simplicity and dignity through repentance and confession. Therefore, at the very gates of the jail into which the prisoner enters, Hawthorne made a rose-bush grow, with thorns indeed to typify the sharp pains that society inflicts upon the wrong-doer, but with blossoms, too, offering fragrance to the prisoner as he goes in, and suggesting that if the petals fall through the frosts of to-day, these falling petals, passing into the root, will reappear in the richer blossoms of to- morrow; as if another life might recover the disasters of this; as if, no matter what man's harshness, great nature and nature's God hold a wide, deep pity that can atone, forgive, and save.^
4. And so there is danger lest the walls we build to keep the truth in keep the souls of men out. Let us not be afraid to be as free as Christ. A whole confession must bring a true for- giveness. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us. The moment we cry, " God be merciful to me a sinner," the reply is ready, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
Magdalen at Michael's gate
Tirled at the pin ; On Joseph's thorn sang the blackbird,
"Let her in, let her in!"
"Thou bringest no offering," said Michael,
" Nought save sin " ; Sang the blackbird, " She is sorry, sorry, sorry ;
Let her in, let her in ! "
' N. D. Hillis, Great Books as Life Teachem, 93.
2 SAMUEL XII. 13, 14 345
"Hast thou seen the wounds?" said Michael,
"Knowest thou thy sin?" "She knows it well, well, well," sang the blackbird;
" Let her in, let her in ! "
When he had sung himself to sleep,
And night did begin. One came and opened Michael's gate,
And Magdalen went in.^
* Heury Kingaley.
An Exceeding Bitter Cry.
Literature.
Belfrage (N.), Sacramental Addresses, 28.
Bosanquet (C), The Man after God's Own Heart, 364.
Greenliough (J. Q.), Half -Hours in God's Older Picture Gallery, 115.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : 2 Samuel and Kings, 106.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, ii. 465.
Pentecost (G. F.), Bible Studies : Mark and Jewish History, 346.
Skrine (J. H.), The Heart's Counsel, 134.
Taylor (W. M.), David, King of Israel, 249.