The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-06-08


cIared to Be One of the sublimest At
tributes of the Deity-An Eloquent
Plea for Charity and Mercy.
BROOKLYN, June 5.-The enormous audi
ence which thronged the Tabernacle this
morning had fresh evidence of DIR. Tai
IMAGES originality. The value of a retent-
tive memory every one knew by experience
and had heard extolled from their school
days up, but they learned from DIR. Tai
IMAGES sermon that the art of forgetting
IS worth cultivating, and that there is the
highest possible example for its exercise.
His text was Hebrews viii, u, Their sins
and their iniquities will / remember no
more"
The national flower of the Egyptians is
the heliotrope, OF the Assyrians is the
water lily, of the HindoOs is the marigold,
of the Chinese is the chrysanthemum. We
have nOnatiOnal flower, but there is hardly
any flower more suggestive to many of
US than the forgetmenot. We all like TO
be remembered, and one of our misfortunes
is that there are 50 many things we cannot
remember. Mnemonics, or the art of as
sisting memory, is an important art. 1t
was first suggested by Simonides of Cos
five hundred years before Christ.
Persons who had but little power 10 re-
call events, or put facts and names and
dates in proper professions, have through
this art had their memory REINFORCED TO
an almost incredible extent A good
memory is an invaluable possession. By
all means cultivate it. I had an aged
friend who, detained all night at a miser-
able depot in waiting for a rail train fast
in the snowbanks, entertained group of
somc ten OF fifteen clergymen likewise de
Eas-
of presbytery, first, with a piece of
chalk, drawing out on the black and sooty
walls Of the depot the characters of Wal
ter Scott's ''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, 81 do not remember now, but it was
just like me" LET me see" said he TO
me, have ewes seen you before?' Yes
said, you were my guest last night and
/ was with you an hour ago. What an
awful contrast in that man between the
greatest memory l ever knew and no mem
DRY at all.
A SPLENDID FACULTY.
But right along with this art of recollec-
ton, which l cannot too highly eulogize, is
quite important, and yet i never
heard il applaUded i mean the art of for
getting. 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 forget
fulness Is a weakness and ought to be
avoided BY all possible means. So far from
a weakness, my text ascri bes it 10 God. 1t
is the very top Of omnipotence that God is
able 10 obliteraJe part Of his own MEM
DRY. If We repent of sin and rightly seek
the divine forgiveness, the record of the
misbehavior is not only crossed off the
books, but God actually lets it pass out of
memory
Their sins and their iniquities will re-
member no more" To remember no more
is to forget, and You cannot make anything
else out of it. Gods power of forgetting is
so great that If two men appeal to him, and
the one man, after a life all right, gets the
sins of his heart pardoned, and the other
man, after life of abomination gets par
dOned, God remembers no more against
one than against the other. The entire
past of both the moralist, with his imper-
fections. and the prof5aate, with his de-
baucheries, is as much obliterated in the
one case as in the other Forgotten, for
ever and forever Their sins and their
This sublime attribute of forgetfulness
on the part of God you ana l need, in our
finite way, TO initiate. You will do we'll
to cast cut of your recollection all wrongs
done YOU During the course Of ones life
he is sure to be misrepresented, to be lied
about, 10 be injured. There are those who
keep these things fresh by frequent re-
hearsal fittings have appeared in print,
they keep them in their scrapbook, for
they cut these precious paragraphs out Of
newspapers or books, and at leisure times
look them over, or they have them tied up
in bundles, or thrust in pigeonholes, and
they frequently regale themselves and
their friends by an inspection Of these
filings, these sarcasms, these falsehoOds,
these cruelties.
/ have known gentlemen who carried
them in their pocketbooks, so that they
could easily get al these irritations, and they
put their right hand in the inside of the
coat pocket over their heart and say: Look
herei Let me show you something" Sci
entists catch wasps and hornets and poi
sOnOus insects and transfx them in curiOs-
ity bureaus for study and that is we'll
But these OF whom speak catch the wasps,
and the hornets, and poisonous insects, and
play with them, and put them on them
selves and on thei- friends, and see how
far the noxious things can jump, and show
how deep they can sting. Have no such
scrapbook- Keep nothing in your posses
sion that is disagreeable. Tear up the
falsehOOds, and the ISLANDERS, and the hyper
criticisms.
Initiate the Lord in my text and forget,
actually forget, sUblimely forget. There
is no happiness for you in any other plan
or procedure. You see all around you, in
the church and out Of the church, DISPOSE
tons acerb, malign, cynical, pessimistic
Do you know how these men and women
got that disposition' IL was by the en-
balmment Of things pantherine and viper
Gus. They have spent much OF their time
IN calling the roll of all the rats that have
nibbled az their reputation. Their soul is
a cage Of vultures. Everything in them is
sour or imbittered. The milk Of human
kindness has been eurdled. They do not
believe in anybody or anything. If they
see two people whispering. they think it is
about themselves If they see two people
laughing, they think it is about them
selves
Where there is one sweet pippin in their
orchard, there are fifty crab apples. They
have never been able 20 forget. They do
not want TO forget. They never will for
get. Their wretchedness is supreme, for
no one can be happy if he carries perpetu-
ally in mind the mean things that have
been done him. On the other hand. you
- or,H