The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-12-15

But" says one woman, there is |
horrid creature that has so injured me |
that rather than make up with her
would die first" Well, sister. you may
take your choice, for one or the other it !
will be-your complete pardon of her
or Gods eternal Punishment of you.
But" says some man, that fellow who
cheated me out of those goods or dam
aged my business credit or started that
lie about me in the newspapers by
his perfidy broke up my domestic hap
piness, forgive him | cannot, forgive
him | will not" Well. brother, take
your choice. You will never be at peace
with God till you are al peace with man.
Feeling as you now do, you would not
get so near the harbor of Heaven as to
see the lightship. Better leave that man
with the God who said: vengeance Is
mine, | will repay" You may say: 81
will make him sweat for that yet; | will
make him squirm | mean to pursue
him to the DEATH" but you are damag-
ing yourself more than you damage
him, and you are making Heaven for
| your soul an impossibility. If he will
l uOI bt lttOutlltN W y Ous bN lNNbhNlltb
to him. In five or six hours it will be
shutdown. The dahlias will bloom
against the western sky. Somewhere
between this and that take a shovel and
bury the old quarrel at least six feet
deep. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath"
Oh, it makes one feel splendid to be
able by Gods help to practice unlim-
tied forgiveness. 1t improves ones body
and soul. My brother, it will make you
measure three or four more inches
around the chest and improve your
respiration so that you can take deep
er and longer breath. II improves the
countenance by scattering the gloom
and makes you somewhat like God
himself. He is omnipotent, and we
cannot copy that. He is independent
of all the universe, and we cannot copy
that. He is creative, and we cannot
copy that. He is omnipresent, and we
cannot copy that. But He forgives with
a broad sweep all faults, and all neg
lects, and all insults, and all wrong
doings. and in that way we may copy
Him with mighty success. Go harness
that sublime action of your soul to the
sunset-the hour when the gate of
Heaven opens TO let the day pass into
the eternities, and some of the glories
escape this way through the brief open
ing. We talk about the Italian sunsets
and sunset amid the Apprentices and
sunset amid the cordilleras, but | will
tell you how you may see a grnuder sun
set than any mere lover of nature ever
beheld; that is. by Ainging into it all
your hatrcds and auimosities. and let
the horses of fire trample them, and the
chariots of fire roll over them. and the
spearmen of fire stab them. and the
, beach of fire consume them. and the bill
lows Of fire overwhelm them.
> Again, we should not let the sun 60
! down on our wrath, because il is OF lit
tie Importance what the world says OF
you or does to you when you have the
afIiuent God of the sunset as your pro-
wider and defender. People talk as
= though it were fixed spectacle of ma
. ture and always the same. But no one
r ever saw two sunsets alike, and II the
e world has existed 5000 years there have
e been about 2100,0OO sunsets, each oil
! them as distinct from all the other pic
: lures in the gallery Of the sky as
e Titian's Last supper" Rubens' DE
, scent From the Cross" Raphaers
I TRANSPORTATION" and Michael Augelo''
/. Last Judgment" are distinct from
I each other. If that God is of such infinit,
e resources that he can put on the wall o.
S the sky each evening more than thu
l. Louvre and Luxembourg galleries al
I in one is my God and your God, oul
n proyider and protector, what is the us'
5 of our worrying about any human an
i tugonism? If we are misinterpreted
+ the God of the many-colored sunse
= can put the right color on our action
Ifall the garniture Of the western heav
e ems at eyeutide is but the upholstery o
i one of the windows of our future home
- what small business for us to be chas
o ing enemies! Let not this Sabbath SUI
i go down upon your wrath.
S Mohammed said: THE sword is tn
Il key of Heaven and hell" But, my hear
n ers, in the first day we will find jus
l. the opposite of that TO be true, and tina
e the sword never unlocks Heaven, AM
l. that he who heals wounds is create
# than he who makes them, and that o.
= the same ring are two keys-God's for
Is giveuess of us and our forgiveness o
Re enemies-and these two keys unloc
l. paradise.
It And now | wish for all of you beau
It bful sunset TO your earthly existence
o With some of you ii has been a Ion
'e day of trouble, and with Others of 20
d it will bo far from calm. When the su
!; rose at six o'clock, it was the mornin
s. of youth, and fair day was prophesie'
r but by the time the MONDAY or midi
life had come and the clock of you
re earthly existence had struck ~, clou
ID racks gathered, and tempest believe
g in the track of tempest. But as th
r evening of old age approaches, pra
% God the skies may brighten and III
IT clouds be piled up into pillars as of q