The Yale expositor., 1899-12-22


opportunities of usefulness that have
been opened before me were opened by
enemies. So you may harness your
antagonists to your best interests and
compel them to draw you on to better
work and higher character. Suppose,
instead of waiting until thirty-two
minutes after four this evening, when
the sun will set, you transact this glo-
rious work of forgiveness at meridian.
Again We ought not to let the sun
go down on our wrath, because we VIII
sleep better II we are at peace with
everybody. Insomnia is getting to be
one Of the most prevalent OF disorders.
How few people retire at 10 o'clock at
night and sleep clear through to In
the morning! To relieve this disorder
all narcotics, and sedatives, and NOR
phine, and chloral, and bromide or
potassium, and cocaine, and intoxi-
cants are used, but nothing is more
important than a quiet spirit If we
would win somnolence. How is a man
going to sleep when he is in mind pur-
suing an enemy? With what nervous
twitch he will start out of a dream!
That new plan of cornering his foe will
keep him wide awake while the clock
strikes IL, IL, l. 2. l give you an I'M
falling prescription for wakefulness:
spend the evening hours rehearsing
your wrongs and the best way or
avenging them. Hold convention OF
friends on this subject in your parlor
or Office at or 9 o'clock. Close the
evening by writing a bitter letter ex-
pressing your sentiments. Take from
the desk or pigeon hole the papers in
the case to refresh your mind with
your enemy's meanness. Then lie
down and wait for the coming of the
day, and it will come before sleep
comes, or your sleep will be worried
quiescence, and. if you take the pre-
caution to lie fiat on your back,
frightful nightmare.
Why not put bound to your ami
mostly? Why let your foes come into
the sanctities of your dormitory? Why
let those slanderers who have already
torn your reputation to pieces or in
jured your business, bend over your
midnight pillow and drive from you
one of the greatest blessings that God
can offer-sweet, refreshing. all-invig-
Grating sleep? Why not fence out
your enemies by the golden bars of
the sunset? Why not stand behind
the barricade of evening cloud, and
say to them: THUS far and no
farther" Many a man and many
woman is having the health of body as
we'll as the health of soul eaten away
by malevolent spirit. l have in time
of religious awakening had persons,
night after night, come into the in
quiry room and get no peace Of soul.
After while / have bluntly asked
them: us there not some one against
whom you have hatred that you are
not willing to give up?" After a little
confusion they have slightly whis-
pered, Yes" Then have said: You
will never find peace with God as long
as you retain that virulence."
A boy in Sparta. having stolen fox,
kept him under his coat and, though
the fox was gnawing his vitals, he
submitted to it rather than expose his
misdeed. Many a man with a smiling
face has under his jacket an animosity
that is gpawing away the strength of
| his body and the integrity of his soul.
Better get rid of that hidden fox as
soon as possible. There are hundreds
most is needed is the spirit of forgive
ness. Brothers, apart, and sisters
apart, and parents and children apart.
/ Solomon says a brother offended is
| harder to be won than a strong city.
Are there not enough sacred memories
of your childhood to bring you to-
! gether? The rabbins recount how that
Nebuchadnezzar's son had such spite
against his father that after he was
dead he had his father burned to
ashes and then put the ashes into four
sacks and tied them to four eagles
necks, which flew away in opposite di-
rections. And there are now domestic
antipathies that seem forever to have
scattered all parental memories to the
four winds of heaven. How far the
eagles fly with those sacred ashes!
| The hour or sundown makes to that
| family no practical suggestion.
Thomas Carlyle, in his biography Of
Frederick the Great, says the old king
was told by the confessor he must be
at peace with his enemies If he wanted
| to enter heaven. Then he said to his
wife, the queen: Write to your
brother after / an dead tnat l forgive
him" Roloff. the confessor, said:
Her majesty had better write him
| Immediately" NO" said the king.
after l am dead; that will be safer I"
So he let the sun of his earthly ex
istence go down upon his wrath.
Again We ought not to allow the
sun to set before forgiveness takes
place, because we might not live to
see another day. And what if we
should be ushered into the presence
of our Maker with a grudge upon our
soul? The majority of people depart
this life in the night. Between IL
o'clock p. m and o'clock a. m. there
is something in the atmosphere which
relaxes the grip which the body has on