Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-05-14
FORGIVENESS.
BY Henry T. Cope.

Perhaps forgiveness is the least I'M
derstood of all the virtues. To many
1t means a willingness to see others
forego vengeance; to others it means
a process Of defeating the ends of jus
tice; to some it seems only an evidence
Of cowardly weakness, 1t is so easy
to be merciful TO those who have
wronged others and also who have in
jured us when they are stronger than
we are.
Forgiveness is the setting aside of
our own selfishness and our own per-
sonal considerations in the attitude we
take toward the wrongdoer. 1t is the
refusal to take vengeance; it is the
setting Of ones self on the side of the
offender in order that we may help
him to recover from his transgression.
1t makes one the friend and not the
enemy Of the one who may have done
us the wrong.
The great common prayer teaches us
all to forgive Just as we hope to be
forgiven. This would be a dark world
If every act of enmity and hostility set
up its eternally sundering chasm be-
tween us If our offense against the in
finite affection set us forever at vari-
ance with the Most High shut out
from all possibility of return, or If the
act Of anger or greed made forever i'm
possible further friendship with the
one injured
Passion, greed, anger, envy, selfish
ness in their many guises prompt us to
wrong our fellows, to wound them and
work them Ill. Sometimes the most
grievous damage is done by simple
want Of thought. If every wrong made
an implacable enemy the whole world
would soon be but battlefield, every
mans hand against his neighbor, and
all progress and peace forever impos-
sible.
Forgiveness among men makes posi-
Bile the doing Of the will and the COM
ing Of the kingdom Of the eternal good
ness. Only as we can bear with one
another, only as we can be patient,
make allowance for weakness and pas
sion, give up the natural desire for
vengeance and seek to heal the
breaches constantly being made by self
1shness can men live together in peace
and good will.
To forgive, then, is to refuse TO take
the attitude Of q foeman toward my
fellows who may do me wrong or In
justice or may leave undone their duty,
and, more, it is to take the attitude
and play the part of friend to them
1t is to turn a deaf ear to the de-
mands of selfishness, self-love and self
pride, and to have a larger considera-
ton for the good of others and for the
well-being Of al than for my own
prestige or personal advantage.
Forgiveness may not always smile
with tenderness on the wrongdOer; it
may wither and scorch like a whirl-
wind. But it will upbraid, 1t will de
nounce and it will punish even all in
love, all with the intent Of bringing
back the wanderer from loves way and
never with the thought of getting even.
Of paying back In kind or of satisfying
vengeance. 1t will by every means
seek to lift to your own level the man
who has degraded himself by injustice
or passion instead of trying to get
even with him.
Forgiveness does not defeat Justice:
it puts another motive in the act. Jus
tice is that process which teaches us
all that this is an orderly world in
which one must reap as he sows, conse.
quences must follow causes. Forgive
ness let's justice take its way; it does
not shield the willful criminal from
the fruitage of his acts, but it lets
them fall on him only in the measure
of education. for his help and restora-
ton, and never in the measure Of per-
sonal pleasure in retaliation.
The old law says, An eye for an eye;
this new law says, Love your neigh
Dor, strive to do good even to those
who would do you i'll, make friends Of
your enemies Vengeance emphasizes
and seals the enmity; forgiveness
breaks down its battlements and makes
friends where there might have been
lifelong foes.
Forgiveness, then, is the antlthesis
Of enmity; it substitutes helpfulness for
hatred. 1t is altogether apart from the
matter Of forgetting the wrong done
sometimes you can only help another
effectually as you remember his yast
acts. Bit forgiveness takes the sting
out Of the memory it remembers with
calm with growing desire to help. 1t
does not overlook it sees through and
beyond the fault to the possibility Of
what the other may be with a little
help and love.
Forgiveness is the attitude which
says, will not be at war iii my own
fellows even though they do wrong me
Will fight, but l viii fight the greed
and wrong along with them. When
man has fallen under temptation, even
though l am thereby injured, l will