The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-03-14

1 10 dOOuI IAClnSclNCS- IL luCN SCC wv
people laughing, they think it is about
themselves. Where there is one sweet
| pippin in their orchard there are so
crabapples. They have never been able
| to forget. They do not want to forget.
They never will forget. Their wretch
| edness is supreme, for no one can be
happy if he carries perpetually in mind
the mean things that have been done
| him. On the other hand, you can find
| here and there man or woman (for
there are not many of them) whose
disposition is genial and summery.
| Why? Have they always been treated
we'll? Oh, no. Hard things have been
said against them. They have been
| charged with officiousness, and their
| generosities have been set down to
| desire for display, and they have many
a time been the subject of little tattle,
and they have had enough small as
saults like gnats and enough great at
| tacks like lions to have made them per-
petually miserable if they would have
consented to be miserable. But they
have had enough divine philosophy to
cast off the annoyances, and they have
| kept themselves in the sunslight of
Gods favor and have realized that these
| oppositions and hindrances are part
of mighty discipline by which they
are to be prepared for usefulness and
heaven. The secret of it all is they
have, by the help of the Eternal God,
learned how to forget.
Another practical thought: When
our faults are repented of let them go
out of mind. If God forgets them, we
have a right to forget them. Having
once repented of our infelicities and
misdemeanors, there is no need of our
repenting of them again. Suppose 1
owe you a large sum of money, and you
are persuaded I 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 l owe you. have come in to get
you to let me off. 1 feel so bad about
| it 1 cannot rest. Do let me Off" You
reply with little impatience: 81 did
| let you off. Don't bother yourself and
bother me with any more of that dis
| cussion." The following day 1 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 a mill
| stone. 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? I am almost sorry 1 forgave
you that debt. Do you doubt my
veracity or do you not understand the
plain language in which 1 told you
| that debt was canceled?" 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
| 365 times a 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 higher faith in the prom
! ise of God and the full deliverance of
His mercy. He does not give 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 1 remem-
Der no more" AS far as possible let
| the disagreeables of life 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.
Years ago, when there was a great
railroad strike, I remember seeing all
along the route from Omaha to Chica-
GO and from Chicago to New York
hundreds and thousands of freight
cars switched on the sidetracks, those
cars loaded with all kinds of perishable
| material, decaying and wasting. After
| the strike was over did the railroad
| companies bring all that perished
material down to the markets? No;
they threw it off where it was de-
| stroyed and loaded up with something
else. Let the long train of your
thoughts throw off the worse than use
| less freight of a corrupt and destroyed
| past and load up with gratitude and
faith and holy determination. We do
not please God by 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.
Not only forget your pardOned
transgressions, but allow others to
forget them. The chief stock on hand
of some people is to recount in 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
forget them. If you want to declare
that you have been the chief of sin
ners and eXtol the grace that could
save such wretch as you were, do so,
but do not go 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 convert
ed. 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 war
fare do not display them. l know you
will quote the Bible reference to the
horrible pit from which you were
digged. Yes, be thankful for that res
cue, but do not make displays of the
mud of that horrible pit or splash it