The Sussex Republican., 1899-12-16

| lcf. or Wltn the sunrise. because you
saw II just ms you werp arriving at
harbor after tempoatuous voyage.
Forever and forever. o nearer. asso-
riate the sunset with your magnani-
nous, out and out, unlimited renun-
ciation of all hatreds and forgiveness
of all foes
admit 1t Is the most difficult of all
graces to practice. and at the start you
may make complete failure. but keep
on in the attempt to practice 1t. Shakes.
peare wrote ten plays before he reach
ed "Hamlet." and II plays before he
reached Merchant of Venice" and %
plays before he reached Macbeth"
And gradually you will come from the
easier graces to the most difficult Be-
sides that, 1t Is not "a matter of per-
sonal determination 80 much as the
laying hold of the almighty arm of
God. who will help us TO do anything
we ought to do. Remember that in all
personal controversies the one least to
plane will have to take the first step
at pacification If it is ever effected.
The contest between Hschines and
Aristippus resounds through history,
but Aristippus, who was least to
blame, went to Alschines and said.
''Shall we not agree to be friends be-
fore we make ourselves the laughing
stock OF the whole countryp And
H1schines said, "Thou art far better
man than /, for | began the quarrel,
but thou hast been the first in healing
the breach" And they were always
friends afterward. So let the one of
you that is least to blame take the
first step toward reconciliation. The
one most in the wrong will never
take 1t.
Practice Forgiveness.
oh, 1t makes one feel splendid to
be able by Gods help to practice un-
limited forgiveness. 1t improves ones
body and soul. My brother, 1t win
make you measure three or four more
inches around the chest and improve
your respiration so that you cSn take
u deeper and longer breath. IL i'm
proves the countenance by scattering
the gloom and makes you somewhat
like God himself. He is omnipotent,
and we cannot copy that. He is indie
pendent of all the universe. and we
cannot copy that He is creative, and
we cannot copy that. He is omnipres-
ent, and we cannot copy that. But he
forgives with a broad sweep all faults,
and all neglects, and all insults and all
wrongdoings. and liz that we may copy
him with mighty success Go harness
that sublime action of your soul to the
20 ~
heaven opens to let the day pass into
eternities and some of the glories es-
cape this way through the brief open
ing. We talk about the Italian sun
sets, and sunset amid the Apennines,
and sunset amid the cordilleras, but |
! will tell you how you may see a
grander sunset than any mere lover of |
nature ever beheld-that Is. by filnging |
into II all your hatreds and animosi- |
ties, and let the horses Of fire tram
pie them, and the chariots of fire roll |
over them, and the spearmen of fire |
stab them, and the beach of fire CON
sumo them, and the pillows of fire over
whelm them.
Again, we should not let the sun go |
down on our wrath, because IL is of
little Importance what the world says
of you or does to you when you have
the affluent God of the sunset MS your
provIder and defender. People talk as
though 1t were fixed spectacle of ma
ture and always the same. But no one
ever saw two sunsets alike. and IL the
world has existed 6.O00 years there
have been about 2, 100000 sunsets, each
of them as distinct from all the other
pictures In the gallery of the sky as
Titian's "Last Supper" Rubens' .De-
scent From the Cross" Raphaers
TRANSPORTATION" and Michael An
gelo's ~Last Judgment" are distinct
from each other. If that God of such
the wall of the sky each evening more
than the Louvre and Luxembourg gal
leries all in one is my God and your
God, our provider and protector, what
is the use of our worrying about any
human antagonism? II we are misin-
terpreted, the God of the many colored
sunset can put the right color on our
action. If all the garniture Of the
western heavens at eventide Is but
the upholstery of one Of the windows
of our future home, what small busl-
ness for us to be chasing enemiesl
Let not this sabbath sun go down up
on your wrath.
Mohammed said, 'The sword is the
key of heaven and hell" But, my
hearers, in the last day we will find
just the opposite of that to be true,
and that the sword never unloeks
heaven, and that he who heals wounds
is greater than he who makes them,
and that on the same ring are two keys
Gods forgiveness of us and our for
giveness OF enemies-and these two
keys unlock paradise.
And now I wish for all of you a
beautiful sunset to your earthly exist
ence. With some of you II has been a
long day or trouble, and with others of
you 1t VIII be far from calm. When
the sun rose at G o'clock, 1t was the
morning OF youth, and fair day was
but by the time the noon
day or middle life had come and the
clock OF your earthly existence had
struck 12 cloud racks gathered and
tempest beloved in the track of
tempest But as the evening of old age
| pray God the skies may
and the clouds he piled up In
to pillars as Of celestial temples to
which you 20 or move as with mounted
cohorts come to thke you home. And
as you sink out OF sight below the hori-
zon may there he radiance of Chris
tlan example lingering long after you
are gone, and on the heavens be writ
ten in letters of sapphire, and ON the
waters In letters Of opal. and on the
hills in letters Of emerald, THY sun
shall no more go down, neither shall
Inv mnnn Withdraw itself for the Lord