^ Take the case of some human act of forgiveness. A man does me a wrong. The act being once done is irremediable, and the loss or injury of it must be borne by some one. If he makes me amends, though the evil originally done is not annihilated, yet the sentiment of justice is satisfied. In some cases of wrong- doing, however, he cannot make amends, or he may entirely refuse even to try to make amends. Thereupon I forgive him, that is to say, I virtually take upon myself the penalty which he ought to have suffered. We see clearly that this is what forgiveness means in the case of a money debt: where the creditor forgives the debt, he suffers the loss himself. And so it is with forgiveness of other kinds of injury. By freely forgiving the wrong-doer I do not undo his act, but I consent to suffer the injury and waive my right to compensation. If I go beyond this and refuse all his offers of satisfaction, I voluntarily take upon myself the wrong-doer's burden, and set him free from every obligation except that of gratitude.
From human forgiveness to Divine forgiveness is a long step, but they both seem to be regarded as on the same footing in the Lord's Prayer, where we are taught to say, " Forgive us, as we forgive." May we not therefore believe that up to a certain point the analogy holds, and that Divine like human forgiveness involves vicarious suffering ? Man has duties towards God which he has not fulfilled. God forgives him. God thus willingly takes the loss upon Himself. Without this there can be no forgiveness, for even God, so far as our finite intelligence is able to conceive the matter, cannot annihilate the past. God has been despised and rejected by His creatures. How can they be forgiven ? Only by God's consenting to be despised and rejected. That they may escape — sooner than that they should suffer — God foregoes His right. Men deny His existence : He consents to be denied, in order that He may forgive. Men do all kinds of evil against Him : He submits to them, not because He must, but of His own will. He Endures everything because He forgives. It is only by enduring that He can forgive. His last prayer is for the forgive- ness of His murderers.^
^ When a few years ago, a Mohammedan convert at Calcutta came to Lai Behouri Sing for baptism, the missionary asked him what was the \dtal point in which he found Mohammedanism most defective, and which he found tliat Christianity satisfactorily supplied. His prompt reply was, " Mohammedanism is full of the mercy of God; and while I felt no real consciousness of guilt as the breaker of God's law this satisfied me ; but when I felt my
1 H. G. Woods, At the Temple Church, 226,
244 RIGHTEOUS FORGIVENESS
guilt I felt that it was not with God's mercy, but with His justice, that I had first to do. Now to meet the claims of God's justice Mohammedanism had made no provision, but this is the very thing that I have found fully accomplished by the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross ; and, therefore, Christianity is now the only adequate religion for me, a guilty sinner." ^
Weigh all my faults and follies righteously, Omissions and commissions, sin on sin ; Make deep the scale, 0 Lord, to weigh them in;
Yea, set the Accuser vulture-eyed to see
All loads ingathered which belong to me ; That so in life the judgment may begin, And Angels learn how hard it is to win
One solitary sinful soul to Thee.
I have no merits for a counterpoise : Oh vanity my work and hastening day,
What can I answer to the accusing voice?
Lord, drop Thou in the counterscale alone
One Drop from Thine own Heart, and overweigh
My guilt, my folly, even my heart of stone.^
IV.
Ensueing Cleansing.
1. God is faithful and just, not merely to forgive us our sins ^but to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need something else besides forgiveness. Forgiveness of sins is much, but cleans- ing from the defilement of sin is more. Yet this spring of evil in the heart may be dried up, and what was once the sepulchre of living death transformed into a sanctuary of Divine life. The essence of the Gospel is not the remittance of condemnation, but the sanctification of the soul.
^ The germs of disease may lurk in our system and necessitate care, yet be so controlled by a healthy constitution as not to over- come us, just as an enemy who has invaded a country may be practically dispossessed, though he may retain a stronghold here and there, and make destructive sallies into the surrounding districts. So, sin may be in us, though it may not have dominion over us; and though it have no dominion it may yet enfeeble, obstruct, and distract us. In fact, not to struggle against sin is
^ C. Stanford, Synibols of Christ, 301. ^ Chiistina G. Rossetti.
I JOHN I. 8, 9 245
the direct evidence of our being completely under its subjection, as there is no slavery so abject as that which tamely acquiesces in its servitude. To struggle against it, but unsuccessfully, betokens an awakened conscience, but a heart not yet strengthened by the grace of Christ. To struggle against it successfully, though with a certain measure of loss and damage — like an army which conquers though at the cost of many wounded and slain — is the case of the Christian who knows sin is always present with him, to be watched and fought against, and imposing the constant necessity of confession and prayer for forgiveness and cleansing.^