Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-12-11

Aye, you will not postpone TIL sun
down forgiveness of enemies if you
can realize that their behavior toward
the "all things" that "work together
for good to those that love God" |
have had multitudes of friends, but |
have found in my own experience that
God so arranged it that the greatest
opportunities of usefulness shat 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 80 minutes
after this evening, when the sun will
set, you transact this glorious work of
forgiveness at meridian.
Don't Nurse Wrath.
Again, we ought not to let the sun
go down on OUR wrath, because we will
sleep better if 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 q in
the morning! To relieve this disorder
all narcotics and sedatives and NOR
phine and choral and bromide Of potas-
SUM and cocaine and intoXicantS 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 pursuing 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
II, II, 1, 2. l give you an unfailing
prescription for wakefulness: Spend
the evening hours rehearsing your
wrongs and the best way Of avenging
them. Hold a convention Of friends on
this subject in your parlor or office at
8 or o'clock. Close the evening by
writing a bitter letter expressing your
sentiments. Take from the desk or
pigeonhole the papers in the case to re-
fresh 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 precaution to lie fat on your
back, frightful nightmare.
Why not put a 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 in
vigorating 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 a woman Is
having the health of body as we'll as
the health Of soul eaten away by a
religious awakening had persons night
after night come into the inquiry room
and get no peace of soul. After awhile
1 have bluntly asked them, ''Is there
not some one against whom you have
a hatred that you are not willing to
give up?' After little confusion they
have slightly whispered, Eyes" Then
I have said, "You will never find peace
with God as long as you retain that
virulence."
Forgive Your Enemies.
A boy in Sparta having stolen a fox
kept him under his coat, and, though
the fox was gnaWing his vitals, he sub
mitted to it rather than expose his
misdeed. Many a man with smiling
face has under his jacket an animosity
that is gnawing 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 forgive
ness. Brothers apart, and sisters apart,
and parents and children apart. Solo
mon 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 together?
The rabbins recount how that Neb-
uchadnezzar's son had such a 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 directions.
And there are now domestic antipa~
thies that seem forever to have scat
tered all parental memories to the four
winds of heaven. How far the eagles
fly with those sacred ashes! The hour
of shutdown 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 l
am dead that 1 forgive him." RoloT,
the confessor, said, "Her majesty had
better write him immediately" NO"
said the king, ''after 1 am dead; that