The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-06-17

nOSI sorry IOESdFc you THAT utOt. ~
you doubt my veracity, or do you not
understand 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 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 for
gotten them Why do you not forget
them? No; you drag the load on with
you. and SOS times year, if YOU pray
every day. You ask God to recall occur
renee which he has not only forgiven
but forgotten. Quit this folly. l do
not ask you less to realize the turpitude
of sin, but l ask you to 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 Christ's sake
decreed. your sins and your iniquities
will remember DO more"
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 for
get them If you want to declare that
you have been the chief of sinners and
extol the grace that could save such a
wretch as You were, do SO, but do not
go into particulars. Do not tell how
many times you got dunk, or 70 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
| ignoole warfare, do not display
them. 1 know you will quote
the Bible reference 70 the horrible pit
from which YOU were digged. Yes, be
| thankful for that rescue, but do not
make displays of the mud of that hor-
rible pit. or splash it over other people
Sometimes l have felt in Christian meet
ings discomftted and unfit for Christian
service because had done none of those
things which seemed 20 be necessary for
| Christian usefulness, for I never swore
word, or ever got drunk, or went TO
compromising places, or was guilty of
assault and battery, or ever uttered a
| slanderous word. or ever did anyone a
hurt, although I knew my heart was
| sinful enough. and l 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 nc
one gained any ordination by the laying
on OF the hands of dissoluteness and
infamy. And though 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, if we have never
plunged into outward abomination- II
may be appropriate in meeting of re-
| formed drunkards or reformed de-
| bauLhees to quote from those not re-
formed how desperate and how nasty
you once were, but do not drive scav-
enCer's cart into assemblaTes Of people,
the most OF whom have always been de-
cent and respectable. But l have been
sometimes IN great evangeliStic meet
iuCs where people went into particulars
about the sins that they once committed
so much that I felt Ike putting my
hand on my pocketbool1 or calling fol
the police lest these reformed mer
might fall from grace and go At theil
Il I
cutthroatry. II your sins have beer
forgiven and your life purified forge
the wayyvardness of the past and allow
others 10 forget it
But. what I most want in the line O.
this text TO impress upon nv nearer:
, and readers is that we have sin-fOr
getting God Suppose that on the las
day-called the last day because tn,
sun Will never again rise upon oul
earth, the earth itself being flung int
fiery demOlition-supposing that OF
that last day z group of internal spirit
should somehow get near enough tbs
gate OF heaven and challenge our en-
trance and say: How canst Thou, tn,
lust Lord. let those souls into the realm
Of superual Cladness? Why they said
great many things they never ought .
have said and did 4 great many thing:
they ought never TO have done Sin
ners are they; sinners all" And sup
= pose God should deign 70 answer
He might say: Yes. but did no
: nv only Son die for their ran
: SON? Did He not pay the price? No
: one drop OF blood was retained in hi
2 arteries. not one nerve of his that Wa.
2 not wrunr in the torture. He took i
/ his own body and soul all the su1ferini
that those sinners deserve. The
| pleaded that sacrifice They took tn
full pardon that promised TO all who
= through nv son. earnestly applied 70
: it. and II passed out Of my mind tina
, that they were offenders. l forgot a
: about It. Their sins and their IL
EQUITIES do I remember no more. -"
: sin-forgetting God. That is far beyon
: and far above a sin-pardouing Goo
: How often we hear il said: Il can foi
: give. but I cannot forget" That
equal TO saying: Il verbal; ADM
= it IS all right, but I will kee
e the old grudge good Human for
: giveness is often fImsy affair
| does not go deep down 1t does nc
5 reach far up 1t does not fix things VI
I The contestants may shake hands OF
: passing each other on the highway
: they may speak the Good morning
: or the Good night" but the old col
e diality never returns The relation
: always remain strained There Is some
: thing in the demeanor ever after tina
: seems 70 say: 4 would not % 20
: harm: indeed, wish you well, but tina