The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-06-10

osophy 10 cast on the annoyances, anC
they have kept themselves in the sun
light of Gods favor, and have realized
that these oppositions and hindrance,
are part of mighty discipline, by
which they are to be prepared for use
fulness and heaven, The secret of it all
is, they have by the help of the eternal
God learned how TO forget.
| FORGIVE AND FORGET.
| Another practical thought--when our
faults are repented of let them go ont OF
mind. If God forgets them, we have a
right to forget them, Having once re-
pented of our infelicities and misde-
meanors, there is no need of our repent,
ing of them again, Suppose owe you
a large sum of money, and you are per.
suaded am incapacitated to pay, and
you give me acquittal from that obliga-
ton. You say: II 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.
| | have come In to get you to let me off.
| feel SO bad about 1t cannot rest. Do
let me off," You reply with little i'm
patience; II did let you off. Don't
bother yourself and bother me with any
more of that discussion"
The following day come in and say:
my dear sir, about that debt. | can
never get over the fact that | owed you
that money, 1t is something that weighs
on my mind like a milestone Do for
give 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 affair? l am almost
sorry l forgave you that debt. Do you
doubt my veracity, or do you not under
stand the plain language in which 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 of recent sins, what is
the use of bothering yourself and insult
ing God by asking him to forgive sins
that long ago were forgiven? God has
forgotten them. Why do you not for
get them? No, you drag the load on
with you and 1865 times a 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 turpi-
tude of sin, but l ask you to a higher
faith in the promise of God and the full
deliverance of his mercy. He does not
give receipt for part payment, or SO
much received on account, but receipt
in full, God having for Christs sake de-
creed, ''your sins and your iniquities
will remember no more"
AS far as possible, let the disagree
ables of life drop. We have enough
things in the present and there will be
enough in the future to disturb us with
out running a special train into the great
gone-by to fetch us as special freight
things left behind. Some ten years ago,
when there was great railroad strike,
l remember seeing all along the route
from Omaha to Chicago and from Chi
cago to New York hundreds and thou
sands of freight cars switched on the
side tracks, those cars loaded with all
kinds of perishable material, decaying
and wasting.
After the strike was over did the rail-
road companies bring all that persisted
material down to the markets? No,
they threw it off where it was destroyed,
and loaded up with something else. Let
the long train Of your thoughts throw
off the worse than useless freight of
corrupt and destroyed past, and load up
with gratitude and faith and holy de-
termination. We do not please God by
the cultivation of the miserable. He
would rather see us happy than to see
us depressed. You would rather see
your children laugh than to see them
cry, and your heavenly Father has no
fondness for Mysteries.
GLORYING IN wICKEDNEss.
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 forget
them. If you want to declare that you
have been the chief of sinners and extol
the grace that could save such wretch
as you were, do so, but do not go into
particulars. Do not tell how many
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. 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 dis
play them. | know you will quote the
Bible reference to the horrible pit from
which you were sigged. Yes, be thank
full for that rescue, but do not make dis
plays of the mud of that horrible pit OF
splash it over other people. Sometimes |
have felt in Christian meetings discomft-
ed and unfit for Christian service because
l had done none of those things which
seemed to be in the estimation of many
necessary for Christian usefulness, for
never swore a word, or ever got drunk,
OF went to compromising places, or was
guilty of assault and battery, or ever
slanderous word, or ever did
any one hurt, although knew my heart
was sinful enough; and said to myself,
There is no use of my trying to do any
good, for | never went through those de-
PRAYED experiences" but afterward saw
consolation in the thought that no one
f;sined any ordination by the laying on
II the hands of dissoluteness and infamy
And though an ordinary moral life, end
ing 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, if we have never plunged into out
ward denominations.
1t may be appropriate in a meeting of
reformed drunkards or reformed de-
hauchees to quote for those not reformed
low desperate and nasty you once We're,
but do not drive q scavenger's cart into
assemblases of people, the most of whom
have always been decent and respect
able. But | have been sometimes in
great oyaugelistic meetings where peo-
pie went into particulars about the sins
that they onceScomlnitted SO much so