The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-12-11


aay 10 item, sIhus far snd ~ farther
Many man and many . woman d hav
Ing the health II body ~ we'll q th'
health Of soul eaten away BY Q malev-
olent spirit. have IN time Of religious
awakening had persons night after nigh
come into the inquiry room and get M
peace Of soul. After awhile ! have blunt
~ asked them, is there not some one
against whom you have hatred tina,
you are not willing to give upY' After
q little confusion they have slightly wills
pered, "Yes" Then l have said, "You
will never find peace with God a. long
a. you retain that yirulence."
Get RID of Hidden Resentment.
A boy In Sparta having stolen foz
kept him under his coat aud. though the
fox was gnawing his vitals, he submitted
to II rather than expose his misdeed
Many a man with smiling face has I'M
der bis Jacket an animosity that Ii gnaw.
ing 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 Of domestic circles
where that which most Is needed Is the
spirit of forgiveness. Brothers apart
and sisters apart and parents and chill
dren apart. Solomon says q brother of.
Tended is harder to be won than strong
city. Are there aot enough sacred mem.
cries Of your childhood to bring you to.
sether?
The rabbins recount how that Nebu-
chadnezsar's son had such spite against
his father that after he was dead be had
his father burned to ashes and then put
the ashes into four sacks and tied them
to four eagles necks, which few away in
opposite directions. 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 ay with those sacred ashes! The
hour of 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 con-
fessor he must be at peace with his enc
mics II he wanted to enter heaven. Then
he said to his wife, the queen, Write to
your brother after | am dead that for
give him." Roloff, the confessor, said,
"Her majesty had better write him i'm
mediately." "No," said the king: after
! am dead. That will be safer" So he
let the sun Of his earthly existence 20
down upon his wrath.
Again. we ought not to allow the sun
to set before forgiveness takes place. be-
cause we might not live to see another
day. And what IL 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, ut. Be-
tween II O'Clock p. m. and 3 o. ok a. m.
there Is something in the atmosphere
which relaxes the grip which the body
has on the soul, and most people enter
the next world through the shadows Of
this world. Perhaps God may have ar
ranged it in that way so as to make the
contrast the more glorious. l have seen
sumshiny days in this world that must
have been almost like the radiance Of
heaven. But as most people leave the
earth between shutdown and sunrise they
quit this world at Its darkest. and heav-
en-, always bright, will be the brighter for
that contrast. Out Of darkness into ira
diation.
Shall we then leap over the roseate
bank of sunset into the favorite hunting
ground of disease and death, carrying
our animosities with us? Who would
want to confront his God, against whom
we have all done meaner things than any
body has ever done against us, carrying
old grudges? How can we expect his
forgiveness for the greater when we are
not willing to forgive others for the less
Napoleon was encouraged to undertake
the crossing of the Alps because Charlie
magne had previously crossed them. And
all this rugged path of forgiveness bears
the bleeding footsteps of him who con-
quered through suffering, and we ought
to be willing to follow. On the night of
our departure from this life into the next
our one plea will have to be for mercy,
and 1t will have to be offered in the pres
ence of him who has said, "If you for
give not men their trespasses, neither will
your Heavenly Father forgive your tres
passes"
.,,What sorry plight il we stand there
hating this one and hating that one and
wishing that one damage and wishing
some one else calamity, and we our
selves needing forgiveness for 10000
obliQuities of heart and life. When our
last hour comes, we want it to find US all
right.
lIate Brings Unhappiness.
Hardly anything affects me so much in
the uncovering of Pompeii as the account
Of the soldier who, after the city had for
many centuries been covered with the
ashes and scorip of Vesuvius, was found
standing in his place on guard, hand on
spear and helmet on head. Others fed Mt
the awful encouragement, but the explor-
or, LOO years after, found the body of
that brave fellow in right position. And
II will be grand thing II, when our last
moment comes, we are found In right po-
sition toward God, on guard and unaf
frighted by the descending ashes from
the mountain of death. l do not suppose
that | am any more of coward than
most people, but declare to you chat
would not dare to sleep tonight II there
were any being In all the earth with
whom | would not gladly shake hands,
lest during the night hours my spirit dis
missed to other realms. should, because
of my unforgiyng spirit, be denied divine
forgiveness.
But" says some woman, there Is
horrid creature that has 50 injured me
fnat fntnef tnan make up Win ner
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 damaged my
business credit or started that lie about
me in the newspapers of by his perfidy
broke up my domestic happiness, forgive
him cannot, forgive him l will not" !
Well, brother, take your choice. You
will never be at pcece with God till you
are at peace with man. Feeling as you
how 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, II will make him sweat
for that yet; will make him squirm; l
mean to pursue him to the DEATH" but
you are damaging yourself more than you
him, and you are making heaven
for your soul an impossibility. If he
will not be reconciled to you, be recon
ciled to him. In FIVE or six hours 1t will
be shutdown. The dahlas will bloom
against the western sky. Somewhere be-
tween this and that take shovel and
bury the old quarrel at least six feet :
deep. Let not the sun 60 down upon
your wrath"