A Pardon Rejected
IllustrationHistorical Account★★★★IN 1929, a man named George Wilson robbed a mail carrier and killed him. He was sentenced to die but received a presidential pardon.
To the shock of the Oval Office, he rejected the pardon. The president of the United States had set him free. George Wilson said no. The case went to the Supreme Court and the issue was simply this: If the president of the United States gives you a pardon, aren’t you pardoned?
Can you reject a pardon given by a sovereign? Chief Justice Marshall rendered the decision. It simply read: “A pardon rejected is no pardon at all. Unless the recipient of the pardon accepts the pardon, then the pardon cannot be applied.”
A pardon has two sides—the offeror and the offeree. Unless the offeree accepts the offer from the offeror, then the pardon cannot be mandated.
On the cross, the eternal God, having been satisfied by the death of His Son, has offered every man and every woman and every boy and every girl a pardon. We just have to accept the pardon offered.
Also attributed to: George Wilson
The point
George Wilson rejected a presidential pardon in 1929; the Supreme Court ruled that a pardon has two sides and requires the recipient's acceptance, illustrating how God's pardon also requires our acceptance.