Forgiveness

My Gutenberg project this week has been a biography of George M. MacDonald by his son Greville MacDonald. I've never been able to read the father's books, though I wanted to like them upon reading C.S. Lewis's raptures about "Lilith" and other stories. Lewis thought highly enough of MacDonald to make him the central teacher in "The Great Divorce," a favorite of mine. I'm going to try again with "The Princess and the Goblin." In the meantime, here is an excerpt from one of MacDonald's many letters to his wife, which made me see why Lewis was so devoted to the man:

I was preaching last Sunday about forgiveness, and I felt that not to forgive was just to send one to the hell of our little universe. Not to be forgiven and taken in by any human heart is the worst mishap that can befall. May I be taught a lesson hard to learn. You do not need it so deeply as I do--you only break out in thunder and lightning! I have a cold smile deep in my heart like a moth-eaten hole, when I feel really wronged....