_THE BLESSEDNESS OF FORGIVENESS_
"_Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven._"
--PSALM xxxii.
It is the blessedness of emancipation. The boat which has been tethered to
the weird, baleful shore is set free, and sails toward the glories of the
morning. The man, long cramped in the dark, imprisoning pit, is brought
out, and stretches his limbs in the sweet light and air of God's free
world. Black servitude is ended; glorious liberty begins.
It is the blessedness of education. For when we are freed we are by no
means perfected. We are liberated babes; and our Emancipator does not
desert us in our spiritual infancy. The foundling is not abandoned.
"Having loved His own He loved them unto the end." He begins with us in
the spiritual nursery, and He will train and lead and feed us until we are
"perfect in Christ Jesus."
Therefore is it the blessedness of exultation. The babe is resting on the
bosom of the Lord, and "the joy of the Lord is his strength." It is not my
emancipation that ensures my joy; it is the abiding Presence of the
Emancipator.