'Tell me why not.'
'It was a rather hard thing for me,' he said; 'it was very hard at
first, and I had to be persuaded to it; and every now and then I felt as
if I'd take the forgiveness back. I shouldn't like to feel as if our
Father found it a hard thing, or repented of it afterwards.'
'No,' answered Miss Anne. 'He is a God "ready to pardon;" and when He
has bestowed forgiveness, His "gifts and calling are without
repentance." But there is something more, Stephen. Do you not seem in
your own mind to know them, and remember them most, by their unkindness
and sins towards you? When you think of Black Thompson, is it not more
as one who has been your enemy than one whom you love without any
remembrance of his faults? And you recollect my uncle as him who drove
you away from your own home, and was the cause of little Nan's death.
Their offences are forgiven fully, but not forgotten.'
'Can I forget?' murmured Stephen.
'No,' she replied; 'but do you not see that we clothe our enemies with
their faults against us? Should our Father do so, should we stand before
Him bearing in His sight all our sins, would that forgiveness content
us, Stephen?'
'Oh no!' he cried again.
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