The Bossier banner., 1892-08-11

hand, you can find here and there a man
or woman (for there are not many OF
them) whose disposition is genial and
summery. Why? Have they always
been treated well? Oh, no. Hard
things have been said against them.
They have been charged with
officiousness, and their generosities
have been set down to a de-
sire for display, and they have many
time been the subject of tittle-tattle,
and they have had enough small as
saults like gnats and enough great at
tacks like lions to have made them per-
petually miserable, if they would |
have consented to be miserable. But
they have had enough Divine philosophy
to cast off the annoyances, and they
have kept themselves in the sunlight OF
Gods favor, and have realized that
these oppositions and hinderanccs are
a part of mighty discipline, by which
they are to be prepared for usefulness
and Heaven. The secret of it all is they
have by the help of the Eternal God
learned how to forget.
Another practical thou ght: When
our thoughts are repented of let them
go out of mind. If God forgets them
we have a right to forget them. Hav-
ing once repented of our infelicities
and misdemeanors there is no need of
our reopening of them again. Suppose
| owe you large sum of money and
you are persuaded l am incapacitated
to pay, and you give me acquital from
that obligation. You say: Il cancel
that debt. All is right now. Start
again" And the next day | come. in
and say: "You know about that big
debt l owed you. l have come in to get
you to let me off feel so bad about it
| can not rest. Do let me Off" You re-
ply with littlc impatience: 81 did let
you off Don't bother yourself and
bother me with any more CT that dis
cussion." The following day / come in
and say "My dear sir, about that debt,
I can never get over the fact that |
owed you that money. 1t Is something
that weighs on my mind like mill
stone. Do forgive me that debt"
This time you clear lose your patience
and say: "You are a nuisance. What
do you mean by this reiteration of that
| y y
that debt. Do you doubt my veracity,
or do you not understand the plain Ian.
guage in which | told you that debt was
canceled?" Well, my friends, there
are many Christians guilty of worse
folly than that While it is right that
they repent of new sins and of recent
sins, what is the use of bothering your
self and insulting God by asking Him to
forgive sins that long ago were forgiven:
God has forgotten them. Why
do you not forget them? No; you dare
the load on with you, and three hun.
! dred and sixty-fve times year, if you
pray every day, you ask God to recall
, occurrences which He has not only for
: given, but forgotten. Quit this folly
l do not ask you less to realize the tur
r pitude of sin, but l ask to higher
9 faith in the promise of God and the full
= deliverance of His mercy. He does
;, not give receipt for part pay
! ment, or 50 much received on account
Z but receipt in full, God having for
n Christ's sake decreed, 'your sins ant
, your iniquities will l remember n
+ more" AS far as possible let the dis
A agreeables of life drop. We hav
J. enough things in the present and ther
n will be enough in the future to distur
e us without running a special train int
% the Gone-By to fetch us as specia
a freight things left behind. Some te
$ years ago, when there was great raj
20 road strike remember seeing all a1ofi
.r the route from Omaha to Chicago an
n. from Chicago to New York hundred
and thousands Of freight cars switche
J. on the side tracks, those cars loade
! with all kinds of perishable materia
II decaying and wasting. After tt
m strike was over, did the railroad con
,e panies bring all that perished materii
s down to the markets? No, they thre
n it off, where it was destoyed and loade
Sc up with something else. Let the lor
If train of your thoughts throw off Il
" worse than useless freight of a corrul
ey and destroyed past, and load up wit
Of gratitude and faith and holy determil
re alton. We do not please God by Il
ve cultivation of the miserable. He won
in rather see us happy than to sec us d
o. pressed. You would rather see yo7
An children laugh than to see them or
r. and your Heavenly Father has no fon
IS. ness for Mysteries.
ed Not only forget your pardoned trar
at gressions, but allow others to forg
"a them. The chief stock on hand
in many people is to recount in pray
cir meetings and pulpits what big scou
ne drels they once were. They not on
will not forget their forgiven deficit
Its but they seem to be determined tn
I'm the church and the world shall not fC
lat get them. If you want to declare tn
ak you have been the chief of sinners al
nd extol the grace that could save such
EN- wretch as you were, do SO, but do II
ON go into particulars. Do not tell he
,x- many times you got drunk, or to VIII
ow bad places you went. or how ma
ch free rides you had in the prison V
os- before you were converted. Luz
up 1T, brother; give it to us in bulk
,he you have any scars got in honoral
in warfare show them, but if you ha
ct, scars got in ignoble warfare do not
pi- play them. l know you will quote /
AN Bible reference to the horrible pit fri
md which you were digged. Yes, be thar