The Princeton union., 1892-06-16
|HOW TO FORGET.
DR.. Talmage Explains The Art Of
Forgetfulness to a Vast Audi
0nce.
There lsino Need Of Repenting More
Than Once if It Is Done Right
At First

BROOKLYN, N. Y.,-Special.- The
enormous audience which thronged
the Tabernacle had fresh evidence OF
Dr.. Talmage's s originality. The value of
retentive memory every one knew
by experience and had heard extol-
led from tneir school days up, but
they learned from DR.. Talmage's SER
mon that the art OF forgetting worth
cultivating, and that there is the
highest possible example for it's exer-
else. His text was Hebrew viii, 12:
"Their sins and their iniquities will l
remember no more"
The national flower of the Egypt
ians is the helitrope, Of the Assyrians
is the water lily, Of the Hindoos is
the marigold, OF the Chinese is the
chrysanthemum. Wehave no nation
al flower, but there is hardly any flow
er more suggestive to many of US than
the "forget-me- not" We all like to
be remembered, and one of our mis-
fortunes is that there are so
many things we cannot remember.
Menmonics, or the art OF assisting
memory, is an important art. 1t
was first suggested by Simonades of
Cos five hundred years before Christ.
Persons who had but little power to
recall events, or put facts and names,
and dates in proper possessions have,
through this art, had their memory
reinforced to an almost incredible
extent. A good memory is an inval-
liable possession. By all means, culti-
vate it.
But right along with this art OF rec
>ollection, which l cannot too highly
@eulogize, is one quite as important
and yet never heard it applauded.
I mean this art OF forgetting. 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 a Weakness my text
ascribes it to God. 1t is
THE VERY TOP OF OMNIPOTENCE.
that God is able to obliterate q part
OF his own memory. 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 a life Of abomination gets par
dOned: God remembers no more
against one than against the 9TH
er.
This sublime attribute of forgetful-
ness on the part of God you and I
need, in our finite way, to initiate.
You will do we'll to cast out OF your
recollection all wrongs doneyou. Dur
ing the course of ones life he is sure to
be misrepresented, to be lied about, to
be injured. There are those who keep
these things fresh by frequent
rehearsal. If things have appeared in
print they keep them in their scrap
book, for they cut these precious par
agraphs out OF newspaper or books
and at leisure times look them over,
or they have them tied up in bundles,
or thrust in pigeon holes, and they
frequently regale themselves ard their
friends by an inspection of these filings
these sarcasms, these falsehoods, these
cruelties. l have known gentlemen
who carried them in their pocket
books, so that they could easily get
at these irritations, and they put their
right hand in the inside of their
coat pocket over their heart, and say:
"Look here! Let me show you some.
thing.'' Scientists catch wasps and
hornets and poisonous insects and
transtix them in curiosity 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
themselves and on their friends and
see how far the noxious things can
Jump and show how deep they can
sting. Have no such scrap book.
Keep nothing in your possession that
is disagreeable. Tear up the false
hoods and the ISLANDERS and the hy-
percriticisms. Initiate the Lord in
my text and forget, actually forget,
snblimely forget. There lis no happi-
ness for you in any other plan or pro
cedure. ..., ... f. '.... =.
Another practical thought: when
our faults are repented OF let them go
out OF mind. If God forgets them, we
have right to forget them. Having
once 'repented OF our infelicties and
misdemeanors there is no need of our
~" REPENTING OF THEM AGAIN.
Suppose I owe you q large sum OF
money, and you are persuaded I am
incapacitated to pay, and you give
acquittal from that obligation. 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 I owed you. |
have come in to get you to let ME off.
feel so bad about it / cannot rest.
Do let me off. You reply with a
little impatience II did let you off.
Don't bother yourself and bother me
with any more OF that discussion"
A Z