Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-03-12
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meanors, there is no need Of our repent
| ing them again. Suppose | owe you a
| large sum of money and you are per
suaded | am incapaeitated TO pay and you
/ give ma acquittal from that obligation.
You say: Il cancel that debt All is
right new. Start again" And the next
| day come in and say: You know about
| that big debt l owe you. l have come
in to get you TO let me off. feel so bad
about it [ cannot rest. Do let me off. y
| You reply with a little Impotence: Il
| did let you off. Dou't bother yourself
and bother me with any more of that dis
cussion." The following day l come in
and say: MY dear sir. about that debt
i 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 a nuisance. What do you mean
! by this reiteration of That affair? | am
almost sorry l forgave you that debt. Do
you doubt my yeracity or do you not un'
derstand the plain language in which
| told you that debt was canceledF' Well,
my friends. there are many Christians
guilty of worse folly than that. While
it is right that they repent 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 forgiven; God has forgotten them,
| Why do you not forget them? No: you
drag the load on with you, and 800 times
year, if you pray every day. you ask
| God TO recall occurrences which he mas
.lws
| Quit this folly. l do not ask you less
to realize the turpitude of sin, but | ask
| you TO higher faith in the promise of
| God and the full deliverance of his mer-
| cy. He does not give a receipt for part
| payment or so much received on account,
but receipt in full, God having for
| Christ's sake decreed your sins and
your iniquities will remember no more"
AS far as possible let the disagreeables
of fife drop. We have enough things in
the present. and there will be enough in
| the future. to disturb US without running
| a special train into the great Comedy TO
| fetch US as special freight things left
behind.
! Allow Others 70 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 in prayer meetings
and pulpits what big scoundrels they
once were. They not only will not for
get their forgiven deficits. but they seem
to be determined that the church and
the world shall not forget them. If you
want to declare that you have been the
cbief of sinners and extol the grace that
] Ns.lA .anh n.
| do so. but do not go into particulars Do
not tell how many times you got drink or
| to what bad places you went or how
many free rides you had in the prison
! van before you were converted. Lump
| it. brother; give it to us in bulk. If you
| have any scars got in honorable warfare,
show them, but if you have scars got in
| ignoble warfare do not display them.
know you will quote the Bible reference
70 rhe horrible pit from which you were
digged. Yes, be thankful for that rescue.
but do not make displays of the mud of
| that horrible pit or splash it over other
people. Sometimes / have felt in Chris
tian meetings discounted and unfit for
Christian service because | had done
none of those things which seemed TO
be, in the estimation of many, necessary
| for Christian usefulness, for ] never
swore a word or ever got drunk or went
to compromising places or was guilty Of
assault and battery or ever uttered a
| slanderous word or ever did any one a
hurt, although / knew my heart was sin
full enough, and | said to myself, ''These
is no use OF my trying to do any good,
for | never went through those deprayed
1 experiences" But afterward saw con-
ISOLATION in the thought that no one gain
ed any ordination b. the laying on OF
the hands of dissoluteness and infamy.
And though an ordinary moral life, end
| ing in a Christian life, may not be as
dramatic a story to tell about, let US be
! grateful to God rather than worry about
it if we have never plunged into out
ward denominations. 1t may be appro-
pirate in a meeting of reformed drunk
ards or reformed debauchees to quote for
those not reformed how desperate and
/ nasty you once were, but do not drive a
scavenger's cart into assemblages of peo-
pie the most of whom have always been
decent and respectable. But have been
sometimes in great evangelical meetings
where people went into particulars about
the sins that they once conSmitted, SO
much so that | felt like putting my hand
on my pocketbook or calling for the po-
lice lest these reformed men might fall
from grace and go at their old business
of theft or drunkenness or cutthroatery.
If your sins have been forgiven and
your life purified, forget the hayward
ness of the past, and allow Others to for
get it.
A Sim Forgetting God.
But what / most want in the light of
I this text to impress is that we have a sin
forgetting God. Suppose that on the last
day-called the last day because the sun
will never again rise upon our earth. the
earth itself being flung into fiery demoli-
| tion-supposing that on that last day q
group of internal spirits should somehow
get near enough the gate of heaven and
challenge our entrance and say: How
canst thou. the just Lord, let those souls
| into the realm of supernal gladness
why. they said great many things they
never ought to have said, and they did
a grea many things they ought never 10
have done. Sinners are they-sinners
all"
And suppose God should deign to an
swer He might say: Yes. but did not
my only Son die for their ransom? Did
he not pay the price? Not one drop Of
blood was retained in his arteries; not
one nerve of his that was Tot wrung in
torture. He took in his own body and
sonl all the suffering that those sinners
deserve. They pleaded that sacrifice;
they took the full pardon that promised
| al ,.brs ~ mo Son earnestly /,