The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-06-22

| y oe&>A
strike. I remember seeing all along the route
from Omaha to Chicago and from Chicago
to New York hundreds and thousands of
freight cars switched on the side tracks
those cars loaded with all kinds Of perishable
material, decay ing and wasting.
After the strike was ovar did the railroad
companies bring all that perished 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 of the worse than use
| less freight Of corrupt ana destroyed past.
! and load up with gratitude and faith ana
by the cultivation of the miserable. He
would rather see US happy than to see us de-
| pressed. You would rather see your chill
| dren laugh than to see them cry, and your
| Heavenly Father has no fonduess for hys-
terics.
Not only forget your parjoned transgres.
| sions, but allow others to forget them. The
| chief stock on hand Of many people Is to
recount in prayer meetings and pulplts
what big scoundrels they once were. They
not only will not forget, their forgiven de.
the church and the world shall not forget
them. If you want to declare that you have
been the chief Of sinners and extol tho grace
that could save such wretch as you were
do so, but do not 60 into particulars. DO
not tell how many times you got drunS, or
to what bad places you went, or how many
free rides you had in the prison van before
you were converted. Lumpit, brother; give
it TO us in bulk. .
If you have any scars got IN honorable
warfare. show them, but il you have scars
cot in ignoble warfare, do not display them.
fknow you will quote the Bible reference to
the horrible pit from which you were
digped. Yes, be thankful for that rescue,
but do not make displays OF the mud OF that
horrible pit or splash it over other people.
Sometimes have felt in Christian meetings
discounted and unfit for Christian service
because T 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, or
want to compromising places, or was guilty
of assault or battery, or ever uttered
slanderous word, or ever did any one
hurt. although I knew my heart was sin.
full enough; and said to myself, There IS
no use of my trying to do any good, for
never went through those depraved ex.
periences:" but afterward I saw consolation
In the thought that no one gained any
ordination by the laying on Of the hands Of
dissoluteness and infamy. And though an
ordinary moral life, ending in Christian
about let US be grateful to God rather than
worry about it, if Wa have never plunged
into outward denominations.
1t may be appropriate in q meeting OF re-
formed drunkards or reformed debauchees to
ouote for those not reformed how desperate
and nasty you once were, but do not drive
scayengers cart into asssmblages Of people,
the most Of whom have always been decent
and respectable. But I have beep sometimes
in great evaugelistic meetings where people
went into particulars about the sins that they
once committed, so much 80 that felt like
putting my hand on my pooketbook or call
Ing the police lest these reformed men might
fall from grace and 60 at their old business
Of theft or drunkenness or cutthroatery. II
your sins have bsen forgiven and your life
purified, forget the waywardness Of the past
and allow others to forget 1t.
But what most want in the light Of this
text to impress upon my hearers and readers
Is that we have q s:n-forgetting God. Sup
pose thaton tho last day-called the last day
because the sun will never again rise upon
our earth, the earth itself being flung into
fiery emolition-supposingt that on that last
day group Of informal spirits should some
how get near enough the gate OF heaven aud
challenge our entrance, and say: SLOW
canst thou, the just Lord, let those souls
into the realm OF supsrnal gladness? Why,
they said great many things they never
ought to have said, and they did q great
many things they ought never to have dons.
Sinners are they: sinners all"
And suppose God should deign to answer,
He might say: Yes but did not My only
Son die for their ransom? Did He not pay
the price? Not one drop Of blood was re.
tanned in His arteries, not one nerve Of His
that was not wrung in the torture. HetooA
-, u,e tr>dpy md oor11 al m
that those sinners deserve. They pleaded
that sacrifice. They took the full pardon
that T promised to all who, through My
Son, earnestly applied for it, and 1t asscd
out of My mind that they were offenders.
forgot all about it. Yes, forgot all about
it. Their sins and their iniquit,es do re-
member no more'" A sin-forgetting Godl
That is clear beyond and far above o sim
pardoning God.
How often We hear it said: 81 can for
give, but cannot forget" That Is equal
to saying, "l verbally admit 1t Is all right.
but I will keep the old grudge good" Hu-
man forgiveness is often 1insy affair. 1t
does not 60 deep down. II doss not reach
far up. It does not fix things up. The con-
testants may shake hands, or passing each
other on the highway they may speak the
Good mornsuy" or "Good night" out the
old cordiality never returns. The relations
always remain strained.
There is something in the dsmeanor ever
after that seems to say, II would not do
you harm; indeed, wish you well, but that
unfortunate affair car never pass out OF my
mind" There may no hard words pass be-
tween them, but until death breaks in the
same GOODNESS remains. But God let's our
pardoned .offsnses 60 into oblivion. be
never throws them uo to us again. He feels
as kindly toward us as though We had been
spotless and positively angelic all aisny.
Many years ago family, consisting OF
the husband and wife and little. girl of two
years, lived far out in cabin on western
prairie. The husband took few cattle 20
market. Before he started his little child
asked him to buy for her doll and he
promised. He could afte- the sale Of the
cattle purchase household necessities, and
certainly would not forget the doll hs had
promised. In the village 10 which he went
he cold the cattle and obtained the groceries
for his household and the doll for his little
darling. He started home along the dismal
road at nightfal.
As he went along on horseback a thunder
storm broke, and in the most lonely part
OF the road, and in the heaviest part Of the
storm, ke heard child cry. Robbers had
been known to do some bad work along that
road, and it was known that this herdsman
had money with him, the price or tne cattle
sold. The herdsman first thought it was
stratagem to have him halt and be despoiled
Of his treasures, but the child's cry became
more keen and rending, and 80 he dismounted
and felt around in the darkness and all in
vain, until he thought Of hollow that he
remembered near the road where the child
might be, and for that be started, and sure
enough found a little one tagged out and
drenched of the storm and almost dead.
He wrapped it up as we'll as he could and
mounted his horse and resumed his journey