Nor is there any remedy to be found merely in the forgiveness of man or
of woman. Women are proverbially, and perhaps divinely, willing to
forgive. But a woman's forgiveness does not necessarily make a man able
to forgive himself. Nor does it always cleanse an unclean inner life.
To many a man it has been just the fact that his fianc?e or wife was so
sublimely willing and able to forgive that has revealed to him his own
unworthiness and made it sting the more.
No! there has got to be something much more drastic in our lives if we
are to get free from shame and remorse. We have got to go down into
that stony valley of humiliation where men and women face the naked
facts before their God, and stop all attempt to hide or to deceive. We
have got to stop the sophistries which are so dear to us, and through
which we try to put the blame on others, or on circumstance, or on
fate. We have got to face the fact that the evil things--whatever they
were, either small or great--happened because we were weak--because we
put pleasure before duty--because we gave in to lust, or evil
suggestion, or a craven longing to please the flesh.
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