Forgiveness

Let men of hatred aim the blow;
And point the cruel, jealous dart;
I will not fear, if I can know,
The power of Love's forgiving art.

Oh God! Be Thou that living power;
Make Thou my soul with pity strong;
That, in the sad and hostile hour,
Forgiving love may conquer wrong.

They smite; but grant that in return
My heart may seek to do them good;
And with its strongest impulse yearn
To show its love and brotherhood.

In vain is all their angry strife,
If God the mighty love hath given,
Which makes the soul's immortal life,
And conquers hate with power from heaven.

 — Christ in the Soul  LXXMV.

Godly Anger? — or Not.

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:" — Ephesians 4:26 (King James Version).

One of the characteristics of that anger, which is like God’s anger and is holy, is, that it leaves the intellectual perception unagitated and clear. Another mark is this. If our anger is like God’s anger, we shall be in that state of mind, which will enable us to bring our displeasure, and all that relates to it, to God for his direction and assistance. In other words, if we are so displeased, so angry, that we cannot calmly bring the matter before God and ask his direction and blessing in relation to it, we may be certain, that there is something wrong in it. There is nothing, as it seems to us, in joy or in sorrow, nothing in friendship or in enmity, nothing in any state of mind or in any situation of life, which authorizes the omission of prayer. And if we need it at any one time more than another, it must be in a state of mind so full of uncertainty and hazard as that which we are now considering. If, therefore, we are so displeased, so angry that we cannot pray, we may be assured that our anger is not like God’s anger, and is wrong.

Wholly Devoted to God: Mortifications

Reflections on
the Life of
Madame Jeanne de la Mothe Guyon.

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We are to consult our own improvement and good, as well as of others — Desires to be wholly the Lord’s — Efforts to keep the outward appetites in subjection

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“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Our own vineyard is not to be neglected. True Christianity verifies its existence and its character, not merely in doing good to others, but partly, at least, in the regulation of our own inward nature. It is not enough to visit the sick and teach the ignorant, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, while we leave our own appetites and passions unsubdued, unregulated.

Fit Heirs of Heaven

The great objects of that atoning and remedial system, which is revealed in the Gospel, are not secured by forgiveness alone. Christ died not merely to save sinners, but to sanctify them; not merely to rescue them from hell, but to make them, by the purification of their natures, the fit heirs of heaven. 

Salvation is a state, not a locality. It does not consist in dwelling in the new Jerusalem; but in having the right inward state; that is to say, in being fit to dwell there. A soul, that is truly and permanently saved, is a soul, that is made truly and permanently holy. And the hope of salvation, (even in that inferior and secondary form, which consists in freedom or salvation from suffering,) can be sustained only by the consciousness of possessing a heart, which, in some degree at least, is made right with God.

— The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 3.

Justification by Faith

Faith is a principle which does not stand alone. It always has an object; and always has results.

In connection, therefore, with our general doctrine, that faith is the source of feeling both natural and religious, and that it is the great foundation of the religious life, we proceed to say further, that one of the remarkable results of faith, considered as the means of spiritual restoration and renovation, is, that it frees us from that condemnation, which is brought upon us by reason of sin. In other words, we are JUSTIFIED by faith.

Believing themselves to be sinners, believing Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for sins, and accepting salvation through his merits alone, men are forgiven, and are treated, in reference to the law of God, as if they had not sinned against it. In other words, they are justified. The creature, who has violated the divine law, is the subject of justification; God, in connection with the administration of his government and the arrangement of his providences, is the author of it; but still, being justified in the manner which has been mentioned, viz.: by trusting in Christ alone, men are properly said to be justified by faith.

Nor is there any other way of its being done. Justification, in the scripture sense of the term, always implies forgiveness or pardon. Forgiveness or pardon, as the terms themselves imply, is a free gift. At the same time, such are the relations existing among moral beings, that such forgiveness cannot, in the spiritual sense, be made available to the subject or recipient of it without confidence or faith existing on the part of such subject towards the author. A pardon, which is spiritually available, one which is desirable and valuable in the spiritual or religious sense, is a pardon, which results in entire reconciliation between the parties. But it is self-evident, if we could suppose forgiveness or pardon to exist without faith or confidence on the part of the subject of it, (for instance, without faith in the kind intentions of the being offering the pardon and without faith in his power of making it good,) that it would fail to result in mutual reconciliation, in the reciprocation of benevolent feelings, and in true happiness. On a favorable construction of it, it would be merely forgiveness intentional and inchoate; existing exclusively in the mind of the author; without counterpart, and without completion. From the nature of the case, therefore, a man cannot be pardoned or forgiven, to any available spiritual purpose, without faith; and consequently he cannot be justified without faith.

— edited from The Life of Faith (1852) Part 1, Chapter 8.

Subjection to God

"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no God with me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; neither is there any that  can deliver out of my hand." — Deut. 32. 39.

Sometimes doth my uplifted heart suggest
It is not good Jehovah's yoke to bear;
Forgive, oh God, the thought, and teach my breast,
There's safety in thine arm, and only there.
If God be not my master, where's my place?
If I his kingdom leave, where shall I go?
E'en frighted Chaos bows before his face,
And Hell's dark world doth his dominion know.
May my poor will, O God, be bowed to thine,
Each thought, each purpose, feeling, as thine own,
Ever harmonious with thy great design,
And humbly circling round the central throne,
In thee I live, with thee move joyous on,
Without thy power am lost, extinct, and gone.

— The Religious Offering (1835) Scripture Sonnets XI.

Forgiveness and God's Acceptance

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against  us." If we rightly understand these and other passages of similar import, no person can regard himself as accepted of God, who has not the spirit of forgiveness towards his neighbor.

— Religious Maxims (1846) CLXIX.

The Rest of the Soul

Even in the beginning of its renovated life, when it first finds the blessedness of forgiveness, the soul experiences a degree of peace. But, compared with what it is subsequently, it is limited both in degree and permanency. At the early period to which we now refer, the soul finds rest from the condemnation of past sins, without finding rest from the sharpness of inward conflicts, from doubts, uncertainties, and heavy temptations. As it advances in religious experience, the elements of rest develop themselves. When, by the crucifixion of self and the full resurrection of a new and purified spirit, it has become one with its heavenly Father, it then has a peace or rest approaching that of the heavenly world. "Thou wilt keep him in  perfect peace,"  says the prophet Isaiah, "whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”

It is important to understand correctly in what true rest or peace of the soul consists. There is a rest which is more so in appearance than reality; just as there is a semblance, a counterfeit of humility, of benevolence, and of other Christian graces. There are some persons whose apparent rest is to be ascribed to natural inertness or stupidity, and not to the sanctified adjustment of their powers. The true rest, however, is not to be regarded as identical with inaction.

The rest of the soul, in the highest spiritual sense of the terms, is that state of the soul, whether it be in repose or in action, which is in harmony with God. There is only one right position of the soul. All others must necessarily be wrong. And that position is one where the creature is brought into perfect adjustment with the Creator, by deriving its perceptions from God, by merging its affections in God's affections, and by harmonizing its will with God's will. In such a state of the soul there must necessarily be rest, if God has rest.

— edited from A Treatise on Divine Union (1851) Part 8, Chapter 1.

Sorrow for Sin

"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I  will  arise and go to my father, and  will  say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
Luke xv. 17, 18, 19.

In dust and ashes let me humbled lie,
For I have sinned against my God and friend;
Nor ever upward lift my troubled eye,
But only tears let fall and groanings send.
And wilt Thou hear, who, merciful as just,
Dost pity on the bleeding bosom take?
Yes, Thou wilt mark the suppliant in the dust,
The bowed and bruised reed Thou wilt not break!
Here is my hope, and it is only here;
For I have sinned — how much God only knows;
Thy law have broken, put away thy fear,
And caused the sneer and scoffings of thy foes.
Low in the dust my worthless head I lay,
Till God shall hear my prayer, and take my guilt away.

— American Cottage Life (1850) XXIV.

The Joys of Pentitence

FAREWELL! Thine earthly strife is o'er;

Thine earthly sorrows past;

Jesus, thy friend, hath gone before;

And thou art free at last.

No more the solitude and pain;

No more the bitter tear;

A better land thy soul shall gain,

Than that, which held thee here.

Earth's children did not understand

The sorrows of thy heart;

But spirits of the heavenly land

Shall judge thee as thou art.

A soul that erred, a soul restored,

A soul that sinned, a soul forgiven;

Dear to the Christ, the loving Lord,

And safe, at last, in heaven.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) XXXV.

Good For Evil

THEY DO NOT KNOW US. If they did,

They would not blame and smite us so.

To selfish hearts the light is hid,

And being blind, they cannot know.

Then let us not with anger burn,

Resembling thus our cruel foes;

But, when the cheek is smitten, turn

The other meekly to their blows.

With such forgiving words and deeds,

We claim the aid of that great Power,

Who knows His trusting people's needs,

And guards them in their trying hour.

God is thy battle's mighty arm;

God is thy great, victorious sword.

To him there comes nor fear nor harm,

Whose confidence is in the Lord.

— Christ in the Soul (1872) XXXIII.

Justification and Sanctification Distinguished (Part 2)

We propose to delay a few moments for the purpose of considering the relation between Sanctification and Justification.

There is... a distinction when the matter is considered in reference to Christ. Christ is our justification, considered as hanging upon the cross, and enduring the penalty of the law for us. In other words, Christ is our justification by standing in our stead, and by receiving in his own person the stripes and chastisement, by which those who have sinned are healed. Christ is our sanctification, (that is, the cause or ground of our sanctification,) considered as operating and living in us by the present and efficacious influences of the Holy Spirit, which he has purchased by his blood. In both cases, Christ is the ground or efficacious cause of the result; and in both cases, also, there is something done inwardly as well as outwardly. But it is nevertheless true, that in justification the work, which is done. is done in a peculiar sense exteriorly, or FOR men; while the work of sanctification is done, in an equally peculiar and emphatic sense, interiorly, or  WITHIN  them.

Another mark of distinction is, that sanctification is regarded, and very properly regarded, as an evidence of justification. They have not only the relation of antecedence and sequence in the order of time, but the additional and incidental relation of fact and evidence.  In other words, the sanctification of a person holds the relation of evidence or proof to the alleged fact of his being justified. That there is good foundation for this view, additional to its innate reasonableness, seems to be evident from the repeated instructions of the Savior, that men are known by their fruits. And certainly, we may most reasonably expect, that he, who has been justified, will aim to bear the fruits of a holy life. Having been instructed by the Holy Spirit in the nature and tendencies of sin, and having found in the Gospel that redemption which he could find no where else, how is it possible that he should again sin against God? Hence it is that he seeks for sanctifying grace, and endeavors to purify himself from every form of iniquity. And it is a matter of common and agreed opinion, that he, who is careless in respect to sanctification, has no satisfactory evidence that he is truly justified.

Justification, when it has taken effect, is a thing which is done or completed; at least in such a sense as to exclude the idea of its being a progressive work. As we have already stated, it looks only to the past; but in its relation to the past it is complete. The result of its application, in any given case, is, that the multiplied sins, which have been committed in former times, are blotted out. If we sin at the  present moment, and justification is immediately applied, it is still true, that the sin, in the order of nature and in reference to the time of justification, however closely the justification may follow the sinful act, is a past sin. Justification must necessarily be subsequent, and consequently the sin, relatively to the time of justification, must necessarily be past, even in those cases in which, in common parlance, we speak of the sin as a present  sin. The work of justification, therefore, when it has once taken place, is a thing complete in itself, and is not in its own nature susceptible of progress, although it  may be necessary to have it repeated in every succeeding moment.

Sanctification, on the other hand, is a thing which is indwelling, permanent, and always progressive.  It is not only progressive, until all the evils of the heart are subdued, but even when it is in some degree complete, so much so as to occupy the whole extent of our being, and to substitute in the heart everywhere good for evil, it is still progressive in DEGREE. So that in those cases where we speak of sanctification as entire, it is still true that its entireness is not such as to exclude progress. There will never be a period, either in time or eternity, when there may not be an increase of holy love.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 2, Chapter 1.

Justification and Sanctification Distinguished (Part 1)

We propose to delay a few moments for the purpose of considering the relation between Sanctification and Justification.

Among other grounds of distinction between the two, it may be remarked that justification, while it does not exclude the present, has special reference to the past, and does not appear to have that prospective bearing which sanctification has. Sanctification, on the contrary, starting on the basis of justification, and regarding the past as cancelled and settled in the justificatory application of the Atonement, has practically an exclusive reference to the present and future.  Justification inquires, How shall the sin which is past be forgiven? Sanctification inquires, How shall we be kept from sin in time to come? Considered, therefore, in their relation to time, there is good reason for saying that they ought not to be confounded together.

Another mark of difference is this. Justification, in its result upon individuals, removes the condemnatory power or guilt of sin; while sanctification removes the power of sin itself.  He, who is justified, no longer stands in a state of condemnation, in relation to all those past sins, from which he is justified; but he that is sanctified, just in proportion that he is so, is freed from the influence of that which brings condemnation, viz. sin itself. Or the distinction may be concisely expressed in other terms, amounting essentially to the same thing, as follows. The object of justification, considered in reference to the, law, is to free us from condemnation. The object of sanctification, considered in reference to the law, is to secure conformity to it.

Justification and sanctification are distinct, also, when considered in the order in which they present themselves, as subjects of thought and interest, to the human mind. It is very obvious that, in the first instance, they present themselves consecutively and separately, and not simultaneously and identically. It is not the first cry of the sinner, that he may be sanctified, but  that  he may be forgiven. It is his past sins which stare him in the face. It is his past sins which must be washed away. And until this is done, and at the feet of Jesus he has received the remission of his transgressions, he has no other desire, no other thought. But  when he has experienced a release from the bitter memory of the past, and has felt the rising hope of forgiveness, and not till then, is his mind occupied with the distinct subject of the reality, the obligation, and the blessedness of a holy heart, in all time to come.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (1844), Part 2, Chapter 1.

A Desire for the Good of All that Exists

We have already said that love necessarily has its object. The object of pure love (and we regard this as an important remark) is existence;  all percipient and sentient existence whatever. So that love, in distinction from every appearance and modification of affection which is not true or pure love, may be defined to be a desire for the good or happiness of everything which exists. And, in accordance with this view, everything which has a being, from the highest to the lowest, whatever its position, whatever its character, the whole infinity of percipient and sentient existence, simply because it has such an existence, is the appropriate object of pure love.

This is a great truth, and one which, it must be admitted, is difficult to be realized by those who have not an instinct of perception and of affirmation in their own purified hearts. Those who are the subjects of this exalted feeling sincerely desire the happiness of all those, whoever or whatever they may be, who are capable of enjoying happiness while, at the same time, it may be so, that they disapprove and perhaps even hate their character; and, accordingly, they love the evil as well as the good, sinners as well as saints.

We  have a striking illustration of the nature of pure love in the case of the Savior. He loved sinners. "He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." It was not for angels, but for erring men, that he  died. He bowed his head upon the cross for those that persecuted him, reviled him, slew him. He loved men, not because they were good, for such they were not, and certainly not because they were evil, because evil can never be the foundation of love, but because they were existences, — percipient and moral existences. He  saw them created with the elements of an eternal being, but destitute, in their fallen state, of those attributes which would make that being a happy one. He saw them destitute of truth which they might possess, of holiness to which they were strangers, the enemies of God when they might be his friends, the heirs of hell when they might be the heirs of heaven. He loved them, therefore, not because they were good, but because they had a sentient, and especially because they had a moral, existence. It was their existence and not their merit; it was what they were capable of being, and not what they were, which brought him down from heaven.

— edited and adapted from A Treatise on Divine Union (1851) Part 4, Chapter 1.

God's Life in Humanity

From God all things come. To God, as the universal originator and governor, all things are in subjection. In ascertaining what God is, we necessarily ascertain the position and responsibilities of those beings that come from God, and are dependent on him. The life of his moral creatures, so far as it is a right and true life, is a reproduction, in a finite form, of the elements of his own life. "God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him." (Genesis 1:27.) The Savior, in speaking of himself, in his incarnate state, says, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me." (John 13:11.) God, in carrying out and perfecting the great idea of a moral creation, subjects the infinity of his being to the limitations of humanity, and reproduces himself in the human soul. So that man's life may truly be described, as God's life in humanity.

Nor, in the strict sense of the terms, can any­ thing but the DIVINE LIFE, or the life of God in the soul, be called life. Those who have gone astray from God, just so far as they have lost the divine life, and have sunk into the natural life, are dead. Hence, the expressions of the apostle: — "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1.) The eternal vitality, the breath from the Infinite, the life of God in the soul, ceases to be in them. And being dead, by the absence of God as an indwelling principle, they must be recreated, or born again, by his restoration. It is not enough, that provision has been made, in the death of Christ, for man's forgiveness. Forgiveness, it is true, has its appropriate work. It cancels the iniquity of the past; but this is not all that is necessary. It is not without reason, that the learned Schlegel commences his profound work on the philosophy of history by saying, that "the most important subject, and the first problem of philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of God." The immortal nature must be made anew, must be re-constituted, if we may so express it, on the principle of life linked with life, of the created sustained in the uncreated, in the bonds of divine union.

— A Treatise on Divine Union (1851) Part 1, Chapter 1.

Strong Emotions or Right Emotions?

Many persons seem to be more solicitous for strong emotions than for right emotions. It would perhaps be a fair representation of their state to say the burden of their prayer is, that their souls might be like "the chariots of Amminadib," or that, like Paul, they may be caught up into the third heavens. They seem desirous, perhaps almost unconsciously to themselves, to experience or to do some great as well as some good thing. Would it not be better for them in a more chastened and humble temper of mind, to make it the burden and emphasis of their supplication, that they may be meek, forbearing, and forgiving; that they may have a willingness to wash the disciples' feet, and have great love even for their enemies; in a word, that they may bear the image of Christ, who came, not with observation, but was "meek and lowly of heart?"

— Religious Maxims XLVIII.

God's Life in Humanity

From God all things come. To God, as the universal originator and governor, all things are in subjection. In ascertaining what God is, we necessarily ascertain the position and responsibilities of those beings that come from God, and are dependent on him. The life of his moral creatures, so far as it is a right and true life, is a reproduction, in a finite form, of the elements of his own life. "God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him." Gen. 1:27. The Saviour, in speaking of himself, in his incarnate state, says, "I am in the Father, and the Father in me." John 13:11. God, in carrying out and perfecting the great idea of a moral creation, subjects the infinity of his being to the limitations of humanity, and reproduces himself in the human soul. So that man's life may truly be described, as God's life in humanity.

Nor, in the strict sense of the terms, can any­ thing but the DIVINE LIFE, or the life of God in the soul, be called life. Those who have gone astray from God, just so far as they have lost the divine life, and have sunk into the natural life, are dead. Hence, the expressions of the apostle: — "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Ephes. 2:1. The eternal vitality, the breath from the Infinite, the life of God in the soul, ceases to be in them. And being dead, by the absence of God as an indwelling principle, they must be recreated, or born again, by his restoration. It is not enough, that provision has been made, in the death of Christ, for man's forgiveness. Forgiveness, it is true, has its appropriate work. It cancels the iniquity of the past; but this is not all that is necessary. It is not without reason, that the learned Schlegel commences his profound work on the philosophy of history by saying, that "the most important subject, and the first problem of philosophy, is the restoration in man of the lost image of God." The immortal nature must be made anew, must be re-constituted, if we may so express it, on the principle of life linked with life, of the created sustained in the uncreated, in the bonds of divine union.

— A Treatise on Divine Union Part 1, Chapter 1.