Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-06-24
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DIVINE FORGIVENESS.

Rev. Charles A. Riley.
II have blotted out, as thick cloud,
thy transgressions, and as cloud,
thy sins. lisa. 44:22.
Our best approach to this subject is
by way Of inquiry into the results OF
sin. There are Two penalties attached
to sin, the outward and the inward.
One looks to the external conse-
quences; the other points to the IN
ward feelings and affections. One re-
fers to the visible punishment, the
pain and suffering that is felt; the
other has to do with the guilty con-
science, the closed heart of God and
the separation from Him. External
penalty embraces all the evil cOnse'
quences that are left behind and make
themselves felt in the life; Internal
or subjective penalty is the alienation
of Gods affection, a disturbance of the
personal relation between God and
man. God is grieved and righteously
angry with sin and He withdraws His
approval. Now, forgiveness is the
restoration of this broken personal re-
lation.
We are apt to fall into mistaken no
tions regarding the consequences Of
sin, and to grieve more over the pun
ishment than over the loss of Gods
approval Yet the worst penalty Of sin
is to be separated from. God by our
own sinful desires and actions. TO
be out Of harmony with God is really
the death Of deaths. To be an agent
in the reversion of the moral order of
the universe is to be against God and
to be separated from Him. This is
terrible status as between Creator
and created. Yet it surely follows
sin. Your sins have separated be-
tween you and your God"
Children have keener eyes and truer
hearts than we have. What is it that
makes the child's face fall and tears
punishment or the look of trouble in
the fathers face? The child sees the
real penalty, breads the fathers closed
heart The slave would fear the rod
alone; the child breads the unhappy
relation with it's father, counts a mo-
ment's chastisement small beside an
indefinite period of offended, with
drawn love- The outward conse-
Quences of sin may be terrible in
which no trace of the divine approval
can be found. Recall also the danger,
both for this life and the life to come,
Of alienation from God. The internal
penalty is the worst.
Now, which Of these penalties does
forgiveness do away with? Not the
external, for the sufferings in most
cases remain. David was forgiven,
but that did not exempt him from
punishment. Whatsoever man SOW
eth, that shall he also reap" He will
reap it in his memory, in his con-
science, in his weakness Of will, often
in his worldly position, in his reputa-
ton, sometimes in his health and in
many other ways. To say that God
cannot remove these consequences
would be an arbitrary statement. With
out a doubt, God sometimes removes
the penal consequences of sin. But
while such remission may accompany
forgiveness, it is, not at all, an essen
tial element therein. Forgiveness is
the undisturbed communication Of the
love of God to sinful men; it restores
the offender to his former position of
acceptance and favor.
Legal pardon contains but a poor
analogy to this inward experience.
The civil magistrate may grant par
don, but not forgiveness. He is not
required to exercise a personal rela-
ton with an offender. The Bible in
no instance uses legal analogy in
speaking of the Divine forgiveness.
It cannot be the mere remission of the
penal results of sin. Deeper than that
we must look. What, again, is the
real penalty? AS we have reasoned,
it is the closing Of the heart. Then
the real forgiveness is taking the wan
derer back again to the heart.
In other words, it is a fathers for
giveness. Your heavenly Father will
forgive you your trespasses." In all
the passages of scripture that treat
of forgiveness it is either spoken of
as the Fathers forgiveness, or, if
these words are not used, then the
fact for which fatherhood stands,
namely, the love of God, is emphasized.
Now a father closes his heart against
and sternly holds an offending child
aloof, waiting for an expression of sor-
row Lost without the fathers love
and earnestly desiring TO regain it,
the child expresses sorrow. Forgive
ness is complete when the father says,
Come, you are my child again." But
if one trace of disapproval remains
or one fragment of the fault stands
like the timbers of a dam to block the
stream, the child is not forgiven. He
is forgiven when the last thin film
of mist between him and his father
has faded away And the Heavenly
Father seals His pardon to use when
He declares, 81 have blotted out like
a thick cloud thy sins" In the para
Bile of the prodigal son we read: "And
he fell on his neck and kissed him"