The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-09-11

Will he forget his covenant with Is
rael? Let Deuteronomy 4: 81 be the
answer "For the Lord thy God Is a
merciful God: he will not fail thee
nor destroy thee, nor forget the Gov
enant OF thy fathers. " Will he for
get his tender compassion and love:
Let the eloquent Isaiah answer "Can
a woman forget her sucking child
yea they may forget yet will | moi
forget thee" Isaiah 40: Is.
What you and | do is Of such i'm
portance in Gods sight that a memo
randum is made of it, in a book pro-
vided for the purpose. ''Then they
that feared the Lord spoke often one
to another and the Lord hearkened
and heard it and book of remem-
brance was written before him for
them that feared the Lord and that
thought upon bis name" Malachi 3:lt
Now since God SO easily remembers
and We so easily forget he has given
us his word as an aid to memory. In
it we are reminded not to forget his
Word psalm 1916; His Day (Exo-
dus 20:s); His Name psalms 2O:7
His House PSALMS 1870; His Dene-
fits psalms 1922; His service He
brews 1870: His messengers die.
brews 1922.
And yet the very very Scriptures
that warn man against forgetfuness
are filled with illustrations of it Oh
the part Of prophets, priests and
apostles. Did Moses forget?
Let the story Of his petulant an
ger as he slnites Gnstead Of spe ak
ing toy the Rock be sufficient an.
swer. Did Elijah forget? Hear
him as under the juniper tree
fugitive from duty, he forgets the
1000 others who like himself had
not bowed 10 Baal. Did David Tor
get? Yes, he forgot that he was
only king aud that even he must
be subject TO the King of Kings,
until the Thou art the man Of
the prophet calls him to remem.
brance-and to repentance. Did
Peter forget? Yes, YES. He not
only forget but declared he never
knew his Lord. He afterwards Ie-
membered and repeuted with bitter
tears. John, the beloved disciple
also forgot. He forgot the meaning
OF his name and in anger wanted
to call down lightning from heaven
10 consume rebellious village
and thereby got the name of "son
Of Thunder
1t would not be difficult to spe ak
of at least twelve things arranged
in complete form, any one of which
the temptation to forget God
might arise from success or
failure, from Joy or sorrow, from
poverty or riches, from famine or
plenty, from liberty or bondage,
from companlonshlp or loneliness.
But there are three things Of
which this chapter speaks aud
which even a cursorY examination
would discover. And the first is
monotonv. Israel was directed to
keep Gods commandments and
judy men,s and statutes. The daily
repetition of the round of duties
would lead Israel either to depend
in them for grace or to despise
them Tor their irksomeness.
Monotony-doiug the same thing
over and over-wIIl often lead the
hosts of God to forget Him. do
not know but that the present day
trend to ritualism, the constant de-
sire for routine 10 church services
is the cause Of the everywhere no.
ticeabie spiritual decline. The sim-
pie service OF the past seemed to
accompany a simple plety.
Prosperity is another temptation
to forgctfulness. The rich man of
Luke 10 is so absorbed in his daily
leastng that he forgets Lazarus
daily hunger, until at last the al
most ironical words Of Abraham
in whose bosom the poor man nes-
tied, reminds him that IN his life
time he had received good things
and Lazarus evil, but that now this
is exactly reversed.
Ia not this the warning OF our
present context, Beware lest when
thou hast eaten and art full and
hast built goodly houses and dwelt
therein, and when thy herds and
they Aoeks multiply. thy silver
and thy gold \ thou for
get the Lord thv God, which brought
thee forth out of the land OF Egypt,
from the house Of bondage.
Pride also may lead to forgettul-
ness Of God. In the passage just
quoted lsrael's goodly houses are
referred to.
In the wilderness, Israel dwelt ir
tentsand no sooner are his wanderings
over than not only houses, but goodly
houses must lie built for his pleasure.
Pride of form or acquisition Of pos
sessions or learning, may lead a man
to forget the God whose voice is sti
sounding insuch passages as this will
war ming exhortation.
The sin Of forgetfulness is the Sill
of ingraditude. God does so much fol
US, aud we seem perfectly willing tt
let him do it, without acknowledge.
ment.
TO take from Gods open han {
daily blessingsto satisfy daily needs
without so much as saying, "By thy
leave" or with no murmured "Fathel