The Penn's Grove record., 1892-06-10

y "a 10 RNf1sioACt e IA hlStR ftth DltS v
life drop. We have enough things in tn
present and there will be enough in the fu
ture to disturb US without running a specia
train into the great gone-by to fetch us a
special freight things left behind. Some ter
years ago, when there was a great railroad
strike, | remember seeing all alon : the routt
from Omaha to Chicago AMI from Chicago
to New York hundreds AMI thousands O.
freight cars SWITCHED on ths side tracks
those cars loadsI with ali kin Is OF peristfablt
material, decaying and wasting.
After the strike was over did the railroad
companies bring all that persisted material
dow to the markets. No, they threw it
off where it was destroyed, aud loaded up
with something else. Let the long train OF
your thoughts throw off the worse than use
less freight of a CORFU ut anu DESTROYED past,
ami load up with grdtitu 10 and faith and
holy determination. We do not please God
by the cultivation of the miserable. He
would rather see US ha )py than to sse us de-
pressed. You would rather 500 your chill.
dren laugh than to sac them cry, and your
Heavenly Father has no fondness for hys
terics.
Not only forget yonr par1oned transgres,
sions, but allow Others to forget them. The
chief stock on hand of many people is ia
recount in prlyer meetings and pulpits
what big scouu irels they once were. They
not only will not forget their forgiven do.
Hclts, DuJ Jl"S seam TO D6 uGtermlne1 That
the church a ID the world shall not forget
them. Ii You want to declare that you have
been thu clief of sinners and extol the grace
that coui | save such a wretch aS you were
do so, un5 do not go into particulars. Dc
not tel now M any times you got drunk, or
to what bad places you went, or how many
free RIDES you had in the prison van before
you were converted. lnmplt, brother, give
1t 10 US in bulk.
If you have any scars got in honorable
warfare, show them, but it you have scars
got in ignobie warfare, do not display them.
know you will quote the Bible reference to
the horrihle pit from which you were
digged. Yes, be thankful for that rescue,
but do not make displays of the mud OF that
horrible pit or splash it over other people.
Sometimes [ have felt in Christian meetings
discounted and unfit for Christian service
because l hal done none OF those things
which seemed to he in the estimation of
many necessary for Christian usefulness, for
never Swore a word, or ever got drunk, or
went to compromising PLACES, or was guilty
of assault or battery, or ever uttered q
slanderods word, or ever did any one a
hurt, although | knew my heart was sin
Sol enough; and | sail to myself, "rhere is
no use of my trying to do any good, for l
never went through thos9 depraved ex-
periences;' but afterward 1 saw consolation
in the thought that no ons gained any
ordination by the laying on of the hands Of
dissoluteness and infa And thou yh an
ordinary moral life, ending in a Christian
life, may not be as dramatic a story to tell
about, let us be grateful to God rather than
worry about it, il We rave never plunge
into outward denominations.
1t may be appropriate in a meeting of re.
formet drunkards or reformed ~debauchees to
qnote for those not reformed how desperate
and nasty you once We're, but do not drive a
scavenger's cart into assemblages of people,
the most of whom have always been decent
and respectable. But | have been sometimes
in great ~evaugelistic meetings wnAre people
went into particulars about tne sins that they
once committed, so much so that | felt like
putting my han on my pocketbook or call
ing the police lest these Reformed men might
fall from gracs aud go at their Old business
OF theft or drunkenness or cutthroatery. II
! your sins nave been forgiven and your life
purified, forget the waywardnesS of the past
an allow others to forget it.
But what | most want in the light of this
text to impress upon my hearers and readers
is that we have a ~sin-torgetting God. Sup
pose that on the last day-calle1 the last day
because tue sun will never again rise upon
our earth, the earth itself being fiuag into
fiery denolitiou-suoposing that on thst last
day a group of internal spirits should some
how get near enough the gate of heaven AMI
chall=nge our entrance, and sly: How
canst thou, the jusG Lord, let tnoss souls
into the realm of sup3rnai gla ineSss Why,
they said a great many things they never
ought to have said, and they did a great
many things they gu Int never to have done
Sinners are they: sinners all"
And suppose God SHOULD deign to answer
He might say Yes. but did not Ny only
Son die for their ransom? Did He not pay
the price? Not one drop of blooi was re-
tainet in His arteries. not one nerve OF his
that was not wrung in the torture. He tooS
in His own body and soul all tue suff rings
that those sinners deserve. They pleaded
that sacrifice. They took the full pardon
that 1 promised to all who, through My
Son, earnestly applied for it, and it ptssoi
out OF My mind that they were offenders.
it. Their sins and their iniquitIes do | re.
member no more.," A sin-forgetting God
That is clear beyond and far above a SIN
pardoning God.
How often we hes1 it said: "I can for.
give, but l cannot forget" That is equal
to saying, 81 verbally admit it is all right,
but / will keep the old gruige COOL" HUI
does not go deep down. ItNdoe5 not reacn
far up. 1t does not fix things up. The con.
testants may snake hands, or pas>ng each
other on the highway they may speak tine
Good morning. or Cool night" but the
old coriiaIity never returns. rhs relation;
always remain STRAINED.
There is something in the deneanor ever
after that see ms to say, II would not dc
YOU harm; indeed, | wish you well, but that
Unfortunate affair can never pass out Of my
mind" There may no hard words pass be-
tween them, but until death breaks in thu
same coolneS remains. Bat God let's our
pardoned otfenses go into oblivion. liz
never throws them up to us a gain. He feels
as kindly toward us as thou III We had beer
s.atI,,z and nnsitivaly an Jplic all alauT
Many years ago a family, consisting oil
che husband AMI wife and little girl OF two
wears, lived far out IN a cabin on a western
prairie, The husband took a few cattle Uo
market. Before he started his little chile
asked him to buy for her a doll aud hi
promised. He could after the sale OF the
cattle purchase household necessities, an
certainly would not forget the dol he hac
proniset. In the village to which he Wen
he sold the cattle and obtained the 2roc1rIe
for his household an the doll Tor his little
darling. He started home along the disma
road at nightfall.
As he went along on horseback a thunder
storm broke, and in the most lonely par
Of the road, and in thu heaviest part OF th'
storm. he heard a child cry. Roo erS ha,
been known to do some bad work along TIA
road. and it was known that this herdsnal
had money with him, the prics OF tue catt-'
sold. The her,ls,nan first thou sht 1t was
stratagam to nave MIN halt ami he despoilei
of his treasures, but the chIlh's cry beran
more keen an ~rending, and 50 he ilSmounte'
ami felt around i'll the darkness AMI ali 4
vain. until he thought OF a hollow that h
remembered near the road where the emil
might he. and for that he started, ami sur
enough founl a little one tagged out an
! Irenched of the storm anu almost dead.
He wrapped 1T up as well as he could an
mounted his horse AMI resumed his 1ourne.
home. Coming in sight OF his caoln he sal
it all lighted up and supposed his wife hs
kindled all these light, 80 as to guide he
husband through the darkness. But, No
The house was full of excitement and til
n~eighbors were gathered and stool aroun
the wife of the house. who was insenSlble d
from some great calamity. On inqu ~ til
returned husband founl that the little chill
of that cabin was gone. She had wan lere
out to meet her father and get the preser
he had promised, aud the child was LOS
Then the father ~unrollei from the blanke
the child he ha | found in the fields, AMI 10
it was his owu chilli and the lost one OF th
prairie home, AMI the cabin quaked with til
shout over the lost one fount.
How suggestive OF the fact that once "
were lost in the open fields or smong III
mountain crags, Co.'s wan iering chillrer
and He found US dying In the tempest an
xura nna3 ,a in tho mautIa of His Iowa an