The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-06-07

rest. 10 let me OIL. lou reply Win a.
little impatience: Il did let you off. Don't
bother yourself and bother me with any
more of that discussion" The following
day I come in and say: my dear sir,
about that debt. l can never get over the
fact that l owed you that money. 1t is
something that weighs on my mind IKE a
milestone. Do forgive me that debt" This
time you clear lose your patience and say:
You are Il nuisance. What do you mean
by this reiteration of that affair? l am al
most sorry | forgave you that debt, DO
you doubt my veracity, or do you not I'M
derstand 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 insulting God by asking Him to forgive
sins that long ago were forgiven? God has
forgotten them. Why do you not forget
them? No, you drag the load on with you
day, you ask God to recall occurrences
which He has not only forgiven, but for
gotten.
Quit this folly. I do not ask you less to
realize the turpitude of sin, but | ask you
to q 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
much received on account, but receipt IN
full, God having for Christ's sake decreed,
your sins and your iniquities will l remem-
Der no more" As far as possible, let the
disagreeables of life drop. We have enough
things in the present and there will be
enough in the future to disturb us without
running a special train into the great gone
by. to fetch us as special freight things lett
behind. Some ten years ago, when there
was 4 great railroad strike, l remember see
ing all along the route from Omaha to Chi
cago and from Chicago to New York hun
dreds and thousands of freight cars switch
ed on the sidetracks, those cars loaded with
all kinds Of perishable material, decaylng
and wasting After the strike was over,
did the railroad companies bring all that
persisted material down to the markets?
No, they threw it off where it was de-
stroycd 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 determi-
nation. We do not please God by the Gull
tiyation 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 rather
has no fOndneSS for Mysteries
Not only forget your pardoned trans
gressions, but allow others to forget them
The chief stock on hand of many people
is 10 recount in prayer meetings and pull
pits what big scoundrels they once We're.
They not only will not forget their for
given deficits, but they seem to be deter
mined 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
Il wretch as you were, do so, but do not
70 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 con-
verified. Lump it, brotser; give it to US III
bulk. If you have any scars got IN honor
able warfare, show them; but if you have
in ipDohlp warfare do not 0lSDlnV
them. | know you will quote the Bible
reference to the horrible pit from which
you were dgged. Yes, be thankful for that
rescue, but do not make displays
of the mud of that , horrible aooI pit
Sometimes 1 have felt in Christian meet
ngs discounted and unfit for Christian
service because / had done none OF those
things which seemed to he in the estima-
ton of many necessary for ChTls-
tan usefulness, for l never swore
word, or ever got drunk,
or went to compromising places, or was gull
" of assault and battery, or ever uttered
sIanderous word, or ever did any one a
hurt although | knew my heart was sim
full enough; and ! said to myself There
is no use of my trying to do any good for
| never went through those depraved eXpe-
riences," but afterward l saw consolation
IN the thought that no one gained any or
dination by the laying on of the hands OF dis
SOiuJeneSS anu lH1dulN. AIlO tuouSli VI
binary 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, ii we have never
plunged into outward denominations. 1t
may be appropriate in a meeting of reform
ed drunaiards or reformed debauchees to
quote for those not reformed how desper-
ate and nasty you once were, but do not
drive scavenger's cart into assemblageS
of people, the most OF whom have always
10 4, 10 bx,t
been sometimes in great evangelistic
meetings where people went into particulars
about the sins they once committed so
much so that | felt like putting my hand
on my pocket book or calling for the police
lest these reformed men might fall from
or drunkenness or cutthroatery. If your
sins have been forgiven and your life pvri-
fed, forget the waywardness of the past,
and 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-forgetting
God. Suppose that on the last day-called
the last day because the sun will never rise
upon our earth, the earth itself
being flung into fiery demolition-supposng
that on that last day u group of Internal
spirits should somehow get near enough
the gate of heaven and challenge our en-
trance, and say: "Ilow canst Thou, the
just Lord, let those souls into the realm of
nupCi SldillcSo1 w Hy lHey Sdlu u great
many things they ought never to have said,
aud they did a great many things they
ought never to have done. Sinners are they;
sinners ALL" And suppose God should
deign to answer, He might say: Eyes, but
did not my only Son die for their ransom
Did he not pay the price? Not one drop of
lood was retained in his arteries, not one
nerve of His that was not wrung in the
torture. He took In His own body and soul
all the suffering that those sinners deserve
They pleaded that sacrifice. They took the
full pardon that / promised to all who,
through my, Son, earnestly applied for it,
and it passed out Of my mind that they were
offenders. l forgot all about it. Yes, I
forgot all about it. Their sins and their
iniquities do l remember no more A
sin-forgctting God! That Is clear beyond,
and far above n sin-pardoning God. How
often we hear it said: Il can forgive, but
! cannot forget" That is equal to saying:
Il verbally admit it is all right. but | will
keep the old grudge good" Human for
giveness is often a fmsy affair 1t does
not go deep down. 1t does not reach far up.
1t does not fix things up. The contestants
may shake hands, or, passing each on the
highway. they may speak the good morn
ing"o the good night" but the old cordi-
ality never returns. The relations always
remain strained. There is something in the
demeanor ever after that seems to say:
Il would not do you harm indeed I wish
you well, but that unfortunate affair can
never pass cut of my mind" There may
no hard words pass between them Int nm