Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-03-12

S-$ tnSIfaIeu now all OuchucIs may W
emancipated; text. Hebrews viii. T.
''rheir sins and their iniquities will 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 mari
gold. of the Chinese is the chrysanthe-
mum. We have no national flower, but
there is hardly any flower more sugges-
tive to many of us than the forgetmenot
We all like to be remembered, and one
of our misfortunes is that there are so
many things we cannot remember. Nine
monies. or the art OF assisting memory,
is an important art. 1t was first sug-
gested by Simonides of Ceos 500 years
before Christ. Persons who had but
little power TO recall events or put facts
and names and dates in proper process
sions have through this art had their
memory Reinforced to an almost in
credible extent. A good memory is an
Invaluable possession. By all means cul-
tivate it. | had an aged friend who, de-
tanned all night at a miserable depot in
waiting for rail train fast in the snow
banks, entertained group OF some ten
or fifteen clergymen, likewise detained
on their way home from a 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 recting
from memory the whole of that poem OF
some eighty pages in fine print. My old
friend through great age, lost his mem
ory 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 / ever seen you beforeT Yes,
/ said you were my guest last night
and | was with you an hour ago. What
an awful contrast in that man between
the greatest memory l ever knew AND
no memory at all
The Art of Forgetting.
But right along with this art of recol
lection, which / cannot TO highly eulo
gizr, is one quite as important, and YET
| never heard L applauded. l mean the
art OF forgetting. There is a splendid
faculty II that dire ction shat we all need
to cultivate We might through that
process be ten times happier and more
useful than we now are. We have been
told that forgetfulness is a weakness and
ought TO be avoided by all possible
means. So far from a weakness, my
text sscribes it to God. 1t is the very
top of omnipotence that God is abe
TO oblterate a part of his own memory
II we repent of sin and rightly seek the
divine forgiveness, the record of the mis-
behavior is not only crossed off the books
but God actually lets it pass out of mem
DRY. Their sins and their iniquities vii
l remember no more" To remember NJ
more is to forget, and you cannot make
anything else out of it. Gods power OF
forgetting is so great that If two mer
appeal 10 him and the one man, after 4
life all right, gets the sins of his heart
pardoned and the other man, after life
of abomination, gets pardoned God re
members no more against one thar
against the other. The entire past OF
both the moralist, with his imperfections
and the prOfigate, with his debaucheries
is as much obliterated in the one case as
In the other. Forgotten forever and for
ever Their sins and their iniquitief
will | remember no more"
This sublime attribute of forgetfulness
on the part of God you and need, il
our finite way, to initiate, You will dc
well to cast out of your recollections all
wrongs done you. During the course OF
ones life he is sure to be misrepresent
ed. to be lied about, to be Injured. There
are those who keep thest things fresh by
frequent rehearsal. X things have ap
peared in print, they keep them in thei.
scrapbook, for thev cut these preciou:
paragraphs out of newspapers or book,
and at leisure times look them over. OF
they have them tied up in bundles OF
thrust in pigeonholes, and they frequent
ly regale themselves and their friends By
an inspection Of these filings, these sar
casnls, these falsehoods, these cruelties
Have no such scrapbook. Keep nothing
in your possession that is disagreeable
Tear up the falsehoods and the ISLANDERS
and the hypercriticsms.
How to BE Happy.
Initiate the Lord in my text and for
get actually forget, sublimely forget
There is no happiness for you in any 9th
er plan or procedure. You see all around
you in the church and out of the church
dispositions acerb, malign, cynical pes
simistic. Do you know how these mer
and women got that disposition? 1t was
by the embalmment of things panther
inc and viperous. They have spent mucf
of their time in calling the roll of al
the rats that have nibbled at their repu
tation. Their soul is cage of vultures
Everything in them is sour or imbitter
ed. The milk of human kindness la,
en- curdled. They do not believe il
anybody or anything. If they see TIVE
people whispering. they think it is abou
themselves. If they see two peonl,
laughing, they think it is about them
selves Where there is one sweet pipnir
In their orchard there are fifty Graham
pies. They have never been able 70 for
get. They do not want TO forget The,
never will forget. Their wretchedness i,
supreme for no one can be happy If ht
carries perpetually in mind the NEAR
things that have been done him. On til,
other hand. you can find here and there
a man or woman flor there are not many
of them) whose disposition is genial anC
summary. Why? Have they Away,
been treated well? Oh. no. Hard thing.
have been said against them. They hav,
been charged with otficiousness, and theil
gentroslties have been set down to a le
sire for display, and they have many
time been the subject Of little tattle, ana
they have had enough small assaults iikt
gnats and enough great attacks Ike lions
70 have made them perpetually miserable
If they weuld have consented 10 he miser
able. Bat they have had enough divine
philosophy to cast of the anuoyances
and they have kept themselves in th'
sunlight Of Gods favo- and have real
lied that these oppositions AID hin
drances are a part Of 8 mighty discipline
by which they are 10 be prepared fol