Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-06-11
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Diyine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject. Forgive and 1sprsot-"

the forgetmenot. Veal like to be remeIn-
bered, and one of our m~isfortunes is that
there are 50 many things we cannot remem-
Der. Mneinon;cs, or the art of assisting
memory, Is an important art. 1t was first
suggested by Simonides OF Cos five hundred
years before Christ.
Persons who had but little power to recall
events, or Put facts and names anil dates in
professions, have through this art had their
memory reinforced to an almost incredible
extent. A good memory is an almost in
valuable possession. By all means cultivate
it. | bad an agel friend who, detained all
night at a miserable depot in waiting for a
rail train fast in the snow banks, entertained
a group of some ten to fifteen clergymen.
likewise detained on their way home from a
meeting of presbytery, first, with a piece of
chalk. drawing out on the black and sooty
walls OF the depot the characters of Walter
Scotts "Marmion, and then reciting from
memory the whole of that poem of some
eighty pages in fine print.
My old friend, through great age, lost his
memory. and when | asked him if this story
OF the railroad depot was true he said, II do
not remem Der now, but 1T was just like me.
Let me see,' SAID he to me, have | ever
seen you before?' Eyes" l said, you were
my guest last night and [ was with you an
hour ago" What an awful contrast in that
mar between the greatest memory | ever
knew and no memory at all.
But right along with this art of ~recollec.
ton, which | cannot too highly eulogize, is
one quite as important and yet l never
heard 1t a%pplaude1. mean the art of for
letting. There is a splendid faculty in that
direction that we all need to cultivate. We
might, through that process, be ten times
happier and more useful than we now are.
We have been told that forgetfulness is a
weakness and ought to be avoided by all
possible means. So far from weakness, my
ext ascribes it to Col. 1t is the very top of
~1mnipotence that God is able to obliterate a
part of His own memory. If we repent of
in and rightly seek the divine forgiveness
he record of the misbehavior is not only
.rossed off the book. but Goo actually lets
Z pass out of memory
Their sins and their ~iniquities will | re-
member no more" To remember no more
S to forget, and you cannot make anything
alse out of ii. Gods power of forgetting is
20 great that if two men appeal to Him, and
The one man, after a life all right, gets the
ans OF his heart pardonei, and the other
nan, after a life of a~bomination, gets par
Toned, God RENE nbers no more against one
han against the other. The entire past of
10Th the moralist, with his imperfections,
md the profiigate, with his debaucheries, is
is much oblterated i'll the one case a in the
lther. Forgotten, forever and forever.
Their sins and their ~iniquities will | re-
member no more"
This sublime attribute of forgetfuluess on
he part OF God you and | need in our finite
way to initiate. You will do well to cast out
If your recollection all wrongs done you.
During the course of ones life he is sure to
pe misrepresented, to be lied about, TO be in
'ured, tnere are those VINO Keep THESE
hingsf fresh by frequent rehearsal. Ii things
lave appeared in print they keep them in
heir scrapbook, for they cut these precious
paragraphs out OF newspapers or books aud
It leisure times Look them over, or they have
A. - - =. - IL - &c.
ioles, and they frequently regale themselves
md their friends by an inspection of these
ings, these sarcasms, these falSeboods, these
Tuelties.
l have known gentlemen who carried
hem in their pocket0ooks, so that they
.ould easily get at these Irritations, and they
)ut their right hand in the inside of the coat
pocket over the heart and say: Loo here!
let mi show you something" Scientists
satch wasps, aud hornets, AMI poisonous in
ects and transfix them in curiosity bureaus
or study. ami that is well. But these of
whom speak catch the wasps, AMI the hor-
lets, and the poisonous insects, and play
With them an put them on tn emse!ves and
IN their friends, and see how far the noXIouS
Insects can jump and show how deep they
an sting. Have no such scrapbook. Keep
lothing in your possession that is disagree
IDLE. Tear up the falsshoods, and the Sian
iers, and the hypercriticisms.
Initiate the Lori i'll my t4xt AMI forget,
lctuaily forget, sublimely forget. There is
10 happiness for you in any other plan Of
procedure. You see all around you, in the
.hurch and out of the church, dispositions
lcerb, malign, cynical, pessimiStic. Do you
Inow how these men and women got that
disposition? 1t was by the embalmment OF
hings pantherine and viperous. They have
Ipent much of their time in calling the roll
If all the rats that have niobled at their rep
ltatIOn Thor sOUl Is q. "a "a Of Vnitnr9S
Everything in them is sour or imoittered.
The milk of human kindness has been
.urdled. They do not believe in anybody or
nytting.
1t they see two people whispering they
hink it is about themselves. 1t they see
fvo people lau Ching they think it is about
hemse yes. Where there is one sweet pip
1in in their orchard there are fifty crlo
Gpples. Ihey have never been able to for
ret. They 40 not want to forget. They
lever will forget. Their wretcheinsss is SUI
oreme. for no QUE can be happy il he carries
9erpetuiliy IN mint the mean things that
have teen done him.
On tue other hand, you can find here AMI
here a man or woman flor there are not
many OF them whose dispo sition is genial
and summary. Why? Have ther always
oeen treated weil2 GA, no. Hard things
lave teen said against them. They have
been charged vito oliciousness; an their
generosities have been set down TO a desire
for display, and they have many a time
0een the subject OF tittle-tattle, AMI they
nave had enough small assaults like gnats
and enough great attacks like lions to have
made them psrpetually miserable, it they
would have consented to be miserable.
Butthey have had enough divine philos)-
ply to cast off the anuoyanceS, and they
have kept the nselveS III the sunlight OF
2od's favor, aud have realized that these
9ppositions and hindrances are a part OF a
mighty discipline, by which they are to be
prepared for usefulness an heaven. The
secreto of it all is, they havs by the help Of
the eternal Gollearne1 how to for ret.
Another practical thou ght-when our
faults are repenteI Of let them go out o.
mind. If God forgets them, we have a right
to forget them. Having once repented of
our infelicities and misdemeanorS, there is
90 need OF our repentlng OF them again.
Suppose | owe you a large sum of money.
and you are persuaded 1 am incapacitatsd
to pay. and you give nue. acquittal from that
obligation. You say: 81 cancel that debt.
All is right now. Start again. Ami the
next day 1 come IN and say; :'Iou know
about that big debt Lowell YOU. / have come
in to c,t you to let me off. L feel so ha
about 1t cannot rest. Do let me off" You
reply with a little m patience; 81 did let you
off. Don't bother yourself and bother me
with any more of that discus5Ion.'
The following day / CONT in and say: "My
dear sir, about that debt. | can never get
over the tact that | Dwell you that money.
1t is something that weighs on my mind like
a milestone. Do forgive me that debt. 3"
This time you clear loss your patience and
say; You are a nuisance. What do you
mean by this reiteration of that affair." [
am almost sorry | forgave you that debt.
Do you doubt my v~eracity, or do you not
understand the plain language in which |
told you that debt was canceled?'
Well, my friends, there are many Chris
tiaus guilty of worse folly than that. While
it is right that they repent OF new sins an |
of recent sins, what is the use of bothering
yourself and insulting Col by asking him to
forgive sins that long ago were forgivsni
Goo has forgotten them. Why do you not
forget them? No, you drag the load on with
you and 300 times a year, if you pray every
day, you ask God to recall occurrences which
he has not only forgiven but forgotten.
Quit this folly. do not ask you less to re-
ailze the turpitule of sin, but ask you to a
' higher faith in the promise of God and the
{ full deliverance of his mercy. He does not
give a receipt for part payment, or so mu ID
received on recount. but receipt in full. Col
having for ChriSt's sake decree !. your sin
and your iniquities will | remember no more
AS far as plssible. let the disagreeables OF
. life drop. We have enough things in tia
present and there will be enough in the flu
: ture to disturb us without running a special
J train into the great gons-by tn fetch US as
special freight thiuys left behini. Some ten
7 years ago, when there was a great railroad
%strike, | remember seeing all along the route
: from o naha to Chicago AMI from Chicago
; to New York hundreds AMI Thousands OF
freight cars switche on the side tracks,
those cars loadsi with all kinis OF perishable
: material, decay ing and wastinr.