The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-05-13
THE ART OF FORGETTING
DR.. Talmage illustrates How All Offend.
ers May Be Emancipated.
How to Be Happy - Allow Other to Forget
Come Into Mercy aud
Pardon.

Their sins and their iniquities will L re-
member no more"
The national flower of the Egyptians is
the heliotrope, of the Assyrians is the
| water lily, of the Hindoos is the marigold
| of the Chinese is the chrysanthemum. we
have no national flower, but there is
hardly any flower more suggestive to
many OF us than the forgetmenot. We all
| like to be remembered. and one of our mis-
| fortunes is that there are so many things
we cannot remember Mnemonics or the
| art OF assisting memory is an important
art. 1t was frst suggested by Simonides.
| or Coos, 800 years before Christ. Persons
| who had but little power TO recall events
or put facts and names and dates in proper
professions have through this art had their
memory re-enforced to an almost incredi-
Bile extent. good memory is an invalua-
Die possession. BY all means cultivate it.
| had an aged friend who, detained all
night at miserable depot in waiting for a
| rail train fast in the snowbanks. enter
tanned group OF some ten or fifteen cler-
| gymen,. likewise detained on their way
home from meeting of presbytery, by
| first with piece of chalk drawing out on
the black and sooty walls of the depot the
characters of Walter SCOTS "Marmion"
and then reciting from memory the whole
| OF that poem of some eighty pages in fine
| print. My old friend, through great age.
lost his memory, and when | asked him if
| this story of the railroad depot was true
he said, II do not remember now, but it
was just like me. Let me see," said he to
me. Have l ever seen you before?"
Yes" L said; you were my guest last
night, and 1 was with you an hour ago."
| What an awful contrast in that man be-
tween the greatest memory 1 ever knew
and no memory at all
But right along with this art Of recol-
lection, which cannot too highly eulogize.
| IS one quite as important, and yet / never
heard 1t applauded. l mean the art of for
| getting. There is a splendid faculty in
that direction that we all need to cult
| vate. We might through that process be
ten times happier and more useful than
we now are. We have been told that for
getfulness is q weakness and ought to be
avoided by all possible means. So far
from weakness, my text ascribes it to
God. 1t is the very top of omnipotence
that God is able to oblterate part of His
own memory. If we repent OF sin and
rightly seek the divine forgiveness. the
record of the misbehavior is not only
crossed of the books, but God actually
| lets 1t pass out of memory. Their sins
and their iniquities will / remember no
| more 10 remember no more is to forget
| and yon cannot make anything else out of
1T. Gods power of forgetting is so great
that 1t two men appeal to Him and the
one man, after life all right, gets the
sins of his heart pardoned and the other
man, after a life OF abomnation, gets par
doned God remembers no more against
one than the other The entire past of
| both the moralist, with his imperfections,
| and the profiigate, with his debaucheries.
| is as much obliterated in the one case as
In the other. Forgotten forever and for
| ever. Their sins and their iniquities will
! L remember no more"
Tins sublime attribute of forgetfulness
on the part of God you and need, in our
finite way, to initiate. You will do well TO
cast out OF your recollection all wrongs
! done you. During the course of ones life
mi faI
about, to be injured. There are those who
| keep these things fresh by frequent rebear-
SAL III things have appeared in print, they
Keep them IN their scrapbook, for they cut
these precious paragraphs out of news
! papers or books and at leisure times look
them over, or they have them tied up in
bundles or thrust in pigeonhoies and they
frequently regale themselves and their
ir.et is by an inspection of these filings,
these saTcasms, these falsehoods, these cru
eites. L have known gentlemen who car
RED them III their pocketbooks, SO that
| they could easily get at these irritations
and they put their right hand in the inside
OF their coat pocket over their heart and
say: Look here! Let he show you some
thlng. Scientists catch wasps and hor-
! nets and poisonous insects and transfix
them In curiosity bureaus for study. and
that Is well, but these of whom | speak
catch the wasps and the hornets and pois-
onous insects and play with them and put
| and see how far the noxous things can
Jump and show how deep they can sting.
Have no such scrapbook. Keep nothing
IN your possession that is disagreeable.
lear up the falsehoods and the SANDERS
and the hypercriticisms
Initiate the Lord in my text and FORGET
actually forget, sublimely forget There
Is no happiness for you in any other plan
or procedure. You see all around Won in
the church and out OF the church DISPOSE.
IONS acerD, mahgD,. cynical, pessimistic.
do you know how these men and women
got that disposition? 1t was by the EN-.
balmment OF things pantherine and viper
Gus. They have spent much of their time
| in calling the roll of all the rats that have
nibbled at Their reputation. Their soul is
, cage of vulturos. Everything in them is
sour or imblttered. The milk of human
Kindness has been curded They do not
believe IN anybody or anything If they
see two people whispering they think it is
about themselves, If they see two people
laughing, they think it is about Theirs.
selves. :, Where there is one sweet bippin
m n, their orchard there are fifty crabappies,
They have never been able to FORGET Thev
DO not want TO forget. They never will
forget Their %retchedness is supreme.
Tor no onq can be happy if he carries per,
have been done him. On the other hand,
You can fnd here and there a man or
woman (tor there are not many of then)
whose disposition is genial apd summeryy..
WhyY. Have they always been treated
well? Oh, no. Hard things have been said
against them. They have been charged
with .oificiousness, and their generosities
have been set down to a desire for display.
and they have many time been the sub.
Ject OF title tattle, and they have had
enough = small assaults like gnats and
enough great attacks like lions to have
made them perpctually miserable, If they
would have consepted to miserable -
s6phy TO Cast of the annoyances. and thew
have kept themselves in the sunlight OF
Gods favor and have realized that these
oppositions and hindrances are a part OF a
mighty discipline by which thew 6r6 tx be
prepared Tor usefu,tes3 and heaven. The
secret Of II OK IS they have, by the helm
OF the Eternal God learned how to forget.
rAnother practical thought. When our
faults are repented of let them 20 out of
mind. IL God forgves them, we have a
right TO forget them Having once re.
pented OF our infelicties and misdemean.
ors, there is no need OF our repenting of
them again. Suppose i owe you a large
sum of money. and you are persuaded 1
am lncapacitatcd 60 pay and you give me
acquittal from that obligation You say:
II cancel that debt All is right now.
Start again" And the next day ! come i'm
and say you know about that big debt /
owe you. I have come in 60 get you TO let
me of / feel so bad about it / cannot
rest. Do let mo Of" You reply with
little impatiencc: 81 did let you off Don't
bother Yourself and bother me With any
more Of that discussion" The following
day come in and say: MY dear s,r about