Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1892-06-11

tate the Lord in my text and forget,
actually forget, sublimely forget
There is no happiness for you in any
other plan or procedure.
Another practical thought: When
our faults are repented Of let them 60
out of mind. If God forgcts them, we
have right to forget them. Having
once repented of our infelicities and
misdemeanors, there is no need Of our
repenting of them again. Suppose /
owe you large sum of money, and you
are persuaded / am incapacitated to
pay, and you give me acquittal 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 / owed you. have come in to get
you to let me off. l feel so bad about 1t
/ cannot rest. Dolet me OFF," You will
reply with little impatience: II did
let you off. Don't bother yourself and
bother me with any more of that dis
custom" The following day / come in
and say: "My dear sir, about that
debt. / can never get over the fact
that 1 owed you that money. 1t is
something that weighs on my mind like
n milestone. Do forgive me that debt"
This time you clearly loose your pa
thence and say: You are n nuis-
ance. What do you mean by this
reiteration of that affair? I am al
most sorry forgave you that debt. Do
you doubt my veracity, or do you not
understand the plain language in which
l told you that debt was cancelled"
Well, my friends. there are many
Christians guilty of worse folly than
that While it is right that they repent
of new sins and recent sins, what is the
use of bothcring yourself and insulting
God by asking him to forgive sins that
long ago were forgiven? God has for
gotten them. Why do you not forget
them? No: you drag the load on with
you, and SG5 times year, if you pray
every day, you ask God to recall occur
renee which he has not only forgiven
but forgotten. Quit this folly. / do
not ask you less to realize the turpitude
of sin, but ask you to higher faith
in the promise of God and the full
deliverance of His mercy. He does not
give n receipt for part payment, or so
much received on account, but receipt
in full, God having for Christ's sake
decreed, "your sins and your iniquities
will remember no more"
Not only forget your pardoned trans
gressions, but allow others to forget
them The chief stock on hand of
many people is to recount in prayer
meetings and pulpits what big scoun-
drels they once were. They not only
will not forget their forgiven deficits,
but they seem to be determined that
the church and the world shall not for
get them. If you want to declare that
YOU have been the chief of sinners and
eXtol the grace that could save such a
wretch as you were, do so, but do not
go into particulars. Do not tell how
many times you got dunk, or to what
bad places you went, or how many free
rides you had in the prison van before
You were converted. Lump it, brother;
give it to us in bulk. If you have any
scars got in honorable warfare, show
them; but if you have scars got in
ignoble warfare, do not display
them. 1 know you will quote
the Bible reference to the horrible pit
from which you were digged. Yes, be
thankful for that rescue, but do not
make displays of the mud of that hor-
rible pit, or splash it over other people.
Sometimes have felt in Christian meet
ings discomfitted and unfit for Christian
service because had done none of those
things which seemed to be necessary for
Christian usefulness, for never sworc
a word, or ever got drunk, or went to
compromising places, or was guilty OF
assault and battery, or ever uttered
slanderous word, or ever did anyone u
hurt, although I knew my heart was
sinful enough, and l said to myself:
There is no use of my trying to do any
good for never went through those de-
PRAYED experiences" but afterward l
saw consolation in the thought that no
one gained any ordination by the laying
on of the hands of dissoluteness and
infamy. And though an ordinary moral
life, ending in Christian life, may
not be rs dramatic n story to tell
about, let us be grateful to God rather
than worry about it, if we have never
plunged into outward abomination. 1t
may be appropriate in meeting of re-
formed drunkards or reformed de-
bauchees to quote from. those not re-
formed how desperate and how nasty
you once were, but do not drive n scav-
enger's cart into assemblages of people,
the most of whom have always been de-
cent and respectable. But have been
sometimes in great evangelistic meet
ings where people went into particulars
about the sins that they once committed
so much that l felt like putting my
hand on my pocketbook or calling for
the police lest these reformed men
might fall from grace and go ut their