Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-03-14

you large sum of money, and you are
persuaded L am incapacitated to pay
and you give me acquittal from that
obligation. You say: 81 cancel that
debt. All is right now. Start again.
And the next day 1 come in and say:
You know about that big debt owe
you. 1 have come In to get you TO let
me of. feel SO bad about 1t 1 cannot
rest. Do let me off," You reply with a
little fmpatience: SCI did let you of.
Don't bother yourself and bother me
with any more OF that discussion" The
following day come in and say: "My
dear sir. about that debit can never
get over the fact that owe you that
money. 1t is something that weighs on
my mind like milestone. Do forgive
me that debt" This time you clear
lose your patience and say: "You are
nuisance What do you mean by this
reiteration OF that affair? 1 am almost
sorry forgave you that debt. Do you
doubt my veracity or do you not under
stand the plain language in which i
told you that debt was Cancelled p
Well, my friends, there are many
Christians guilty of worse folly than
that. While IL is right that they re-
pent OF new sins and OF recent sins.
what is the use of bothering yourself
and insulting God by asking him to
forgive sins that long ago were for
given? God has forgotten them. Why
do you not forget them? No; you drag
the load on with you, and 365 times q
year, if you pray every day, you ask
God to recall occurrences which he has
not only forgiven, but forgotten.
Quit this folly. do not ask you less
to realize the turpitude of sin, but ask
| you to a higher faith in the promise OF
God and the full deliverance OF his
mercy. He does not give a receipt for
part payment or so much received on
| account, but receipt in full, God hav-
| ing for Christ's sake decreed "your sins
and your iniquities viii 1 remember no
more" As far as possible let the dis
agreeables of life drop. We have
enough things in the present. and there
| will be enough in the future, TO dis
turb us without running special train
into the great Comedy to fetch us as
special freight things left behind.
Years ago. when there was a great
railroad strike, | remember seeing all
| along the route from Omaha to Chi
cago and from Chicago to New York
hundreds and thousands of freight cars
switched on the sidetracks. those cars
loaded with all kinds of perishable ma
terial, decaying and wasting. After
the strike was. over did the railroad
companies bring all that persisted ma
terial down TO the markets. No; they
threw IL Off where il was destroyed and
loaded up with something else. Let the
long train of your thoughts throw off
the worse than useless freight Of a
corrupt and destroyed past and load
up with gratitude and faith and holy
determination. We do not please God
10y the cultivation of the miserable.
He would rather see us happy than to
see us depressed. You would rather see
your children laugh than to see them
cry, and your Heavenly Father has no
fondness for Mysteries.
Allow Others to Forget.
Not only forget your pardoned trans
gressions. but allow others TO forget
them. The chief stock on hand of
some people is TO recount Ia prayer
meetings and pulpits what big scoun-
drels they once were. They not only
will not forget their forgiven deficits,
but they seem to be determined that
the church and the world shall not for
get them. If you want TO declare that
you have been the chief OF sinners and
| extol the grace that could save such n
wretch as you were, do so. but do not
so into particulars. Do not tell how
many times you got drunk or to what
bad places you went or how many free
rides you had In the prison van before
you were converted. Lump II. brother;
give IL TO us I'm bulk. If you have any
scars got In honorable warfare. show
them. but IL you have scars got in igno-
BILE warfare do not display them. know
you will quote the Bible reference to
the horrible pit from which you We're
digged. Yes, be thankful for that res
cue, but do not make displays OF the
mud OF that horrible pit or splash it
over other people. Sometimes 1 have
felt In Christian meetings discounted
and unit for Christian service be-
cause 1 had done none of those things
which seemed TO be, in the estimation
many, necessary for Christian use
fulness, for l never swore a word or
ever got drunk or went to comprdmis-
ing places or was guilty OF assault and
battery or ever uttered a slanderous
word or ever did any one a hurt. al
though l knew my heart was sinful
enough, and | said TO myself, There
is no use OF my trying to do any good,
for l never went through those de-
PRAYED experiences" But afterward /
saw consolation In the thought that no
one gained any ordination by the lay
ing on or the hands OF dissoluteness
and infamy.
And though an ordinary moral life,
ending In n Christian life, may not be
as dramatic story TO tell about, let us
he grateful TO God rather than worry
about 1t IL we have never plunged into
outward denominations. 1t may be ap-
propriate In meeting OF reformed
drunkards or reformed debauchees to
quote for those not reformed how des-
perate and nasty you once were, but do
not drive scavenger's cart into assem-
blages of people the most of whom
have always been decent and respecta-
bic. But l have been sometimes in
great evangelical meetings where peo-
pie went into particulars about the sins
that they once committed, so much so
that felt like putting my hand on my
pocketbook or calling for the police
lest these reformed men might fall
from grace and go at their old business
OF theft or drunkenness or cutthroat-
cry. If your sins have been forgiven
and your life purified, forget the way
wardness of the past. and allow others
to forget it.
San Forgetting God.
But what1 most want in the light of
this text To impress is that we have a
sin forgetting God. Suppose that ON
the last day-called the last day be-
cause the sun will never again rise up-