The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-12-13

were any being In all the earth with
whom I would not gladly shake hands,
lest during the night hours my spirit dis
missed to other realms, should, because
of my unforgiving spirit, be denied divine
forgiveness.
But" says some woman, ''there is
horrid creature that has so injured me
that rather than make up with her I
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 bansihment 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 or by his perfdy
broke up my domestic happiness, forgive
him I cannot, forgive him l will not"
Well, brother, take your choice. You
will never be at peace With God till you
are at 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, II will make him sweat
for that yet; I will make him squirm; l
mean to pursue him to the DEATH" but
you are damaging yourself more than you
damage 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 it will
be shutdown. The dahlias will bloom
against the western sky. Somewhere be-
aween this and that take shovel and
bury the old quarrel at least six feet
deep. LET not the sun go down upon
your wrath"
The Father Knows.
"But," you say, Il have more than
can bear; too much is put upon me, and
| am not to blame if [ am somewhat re-
vengeful and unrelenting" Then l think
Of the little child at the moving of some
goods from a store. The father was put
ting some rolls of goods on the child's
arm, package after package, and some
one said, THAT child is being overloaded,
and so much ought not to be put upon
her." when the child responded, "Father
knows how much / can carry" and God,
our Father, will not allow too much inn
position on his children. In the day Of
eternity it will be found you had not one
annoyance too many; not one exaspera-
ton too many; not one outrage too many.
Your heavenly Father knows how much
you can carry.
Again, we ought not to allow the pas
sage Of the sunset hour before the dismis-
sal of all our affronts, because we may
associate the sublimest action of the soul
with the sublimest spectacle in nature.
1t is a most delightsome thing to have
our personal experiences allied with GER
tain subjects. There is a tree or river
bank where God first answered your
prayer. You will never pass that place
or think of that place without thinking Of
the glorious communion. There was
some gate or some room or some garden
wall where you were affianced with the
companion who has been your chief joy
in life. You never speak of that place
but with smile. Some of you have
pleasant memories connected with the
evening star, or the moon in it's first
quarter, or with the sunrise, because you
saw it just as you were arriving at har-
Dor after a tempestuous voyage. Forever
and forever, o hearer associate the sun
set with your magnanimous, out and out,
unlimited remuneration of all hatred and
forgiveness of all foes.
The Practice of Grace.
1 admit it is the most difficult of all
graces to practice, and at the start you
may make a complete failure, but keep
on in the attempt to practice it. Shak
speare wrote ten plays before he reached
Hamlet" and seventeen plays before he
reached Merchant of Venice" and TWEEN
ty-eight plays before he reached Mac
beth" and gradually you will come from
the easier graces to the most difficult.
Besides that, it is not a matter of per-
sonal determination so much as the lay
ing 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 blame will
have to take the first step at pacifcation
if it is ever effected. The contest be-
tween Aeschines and Aristippus re-
sounds through history, but Aristippus,
who was least to blapme, went to Aes-
chimes and said, "Shall we not agree to
be friends before we make ourselves the
laughing stock of the whole country?"
And Aeschines said, 'Thou art far
better man than 1, for began the quar-
rel, but thou hast been the first in heal
ing the BREACH and they were always
friends afterward. SO let the one of you
that is least to blame take the first step
the wrong will never take it.
Oh, it makes one feel splendid to be
able by Gods help to practice unlimited
forgiveness. 1t improves ones body and
soul. My brother, it will make you meas
ure three or four more inches around the
chest and improve your respiration so
that you can take a deeper and longer
breath. 1t improves the countenance by
scattering the gloom and makes you
somewhat like God himself. He is om-
nipotent, 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 broad sweep all faults, and all
neglects, and all insults, and all wrong
doings, and in that we may copy him
with mighty success. Go harness that
sublime action of your soul to the sun
set--the hour when the gate of heaven
opens to let the day pass into the eterni-
ties, and some of the glories escape this
way through the brief opening. We talk
about the Italian sunsets and sunset amid
the Apenines and sunset amid the COR