Can Not Forgive by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 9, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 41.

“Can Not Forgive.”

By Editor

—In a memorial sermon in honor of President McKinley preached by an “evangelical” minister in San Francisco (the name of minister or church matters not, it is the principle we are after), it was said that the noblest trait in the President’s character—that of forgiveness of the man who shot him—had been omitted in sermons and prayers, “because we have not been thinking of forgiveness. The Lord’s prayer with its ‘And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ has been chanted all over the United States, and yet we have not thought of forgiveness. I’m glad the foul deed was not done in California. There would have been no jail strong enough to hold the prisoner. Our blood is a little hotter than that of our Eastern brothers. . . . The American people could not forgive the murderer of their president, . . . . God alone could forgive such a sin.” And yet the Lord Jesus Christ declares: “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your ‘Father forgive your trespasses.” Matt. 6:15. “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.” James 2:13. The most baneful poison to all goodness that can be conceived is the cherishing of an unforgiving spirit. He who can not forgive has not the Spirit of Christ; and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” He who can not forgive has no faith in God’s ultimate, even justice. Thus much for the individual. The matter of the nation’s dealing with criminals for the protection of life is another thing.