Forgiveness by James White

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 2, 1866

Forgiveness.

By James White

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt. vi, 14, 15.

As we would be forgiven of God, so we must forgive those who wrong us. To cherish a hard, unforgiving spirit against erring mortals, and to murmur against them, is a sin, especially in a follower of Jesus Christ. Christ should be our example. When contending with the Devil he did not rail on him, but meekly said, “The Lord rebuke thee.”

Christ led on the battle at the fall of Satan, and witnessed the fall of hosts of angels, who were once obedient to his command. Human language is utterly inadequate to express the insult of Satan, and the wrong here done to Jesus Christ. And Christ was in the great controversy with Satan—he to save, and Satan to destroy souls—from Adam to Moses; and the abused Leader of Heaven witnessed Satan leading most of the human race during that time to ruin. Yet at the grave of Moses he meekly said, “The Lord rebuke thee.” What a lesson of submission and meekness! If Christ could thus treat the Devil, his followers should be patient, and take with composure the insults of the wicked. And still more, what tenderness and pity they should exercise toward erring brethren.

Christ preached plain doctrine. He rebuked and reproved. He came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword. His truth must be preached by his ministers. The war must come on the account of truth. We must declare the truth of God. But see Christ near the close of his faithful ministry, so marked with plainness and cutting declarations, in tears over Jerusalem where he had received the greatest neglect and insult.

Here, too, let all learn a lesson. From these and other great facts I am learning a precious lesson. For twenty years my experience has been in the battle for truth. And as I review the past, I see that I have let the apostasies, rebellion, and errors of others grieve me beyond measure, which finally led to murmuring against them, and a lack of that forgiving spirit illustrated by Christ.

I rejoice that I have been enabled to take and maintain a firm stand on truth. But when vile men have assailed I should have said in my heart, “The Lord rebuke thee,” and still maintained a happy, hopeful frame of mind. And when brethren have erred, and made my labors grievous, I should have offered prayers for them, and felt pity always, instead of sometimes murmuring at their course. I now wish to say to all Christian friends, God is doing a great work for me, and I want every wrong removed. I have erred, and as a Christian delight to confess my faults, and ask those who have seen me lack patience and forgiveness toward the erring, to forgive me. Pray for me, dear friends, that I may come out of the furnace purified, and prepared to work more efficiently in the cause of truth, and finally reach the mount Zion I have loved for more than a score of years, far more than all things here.

JAMES WHITE.

Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 26, 1865.