The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-03-26
Him to forgive sins that long ago were

90 yol Eot forget them: NO, you Ofa3
tac load On with you, and 365 times year,
ii .yoa pray every day, you ask God to re-
call occurrences which He has not only for
given. but forgotten.
Cult 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 dcliverance OF His mercy. He
does not give a receipt for part payment
CT so ..,uch received on account, but re-
ccipt n full, God having for Christ's sake
decreed your sins and your iniquitics
will remember no more.
As far as fossib!e let the disagreeables
Of life drop. We have enough things in
the present, and there will be enough in
special train into the great Comedy to
fetch US as special freight things left be.
hind. Years ago, when there was q great
railroad strike, ! remember seeing all
alonc the route from Omaha to Chicago
and from Chicago to New York hundreds
and thousands OF freight cars switched on
the sdctracks, those cars loaded with all
kinds of perishablc material, decaying and
wasting. After the strike was over did the
railroad companies bring oil that perished
material down to the markets? No; they
threw it of where it was destroyed and
loaced up with comething else.
throw of the worse than useless freight of
q corrupt and destroyed past and load up
with gratitude and faith and holy deter.
mination. We do not Please God by the
cult, alton of the miserable.
Not only forget your pardoned trans.
grcss:ons, but allow others to forget them.
The chief stock on hand of some people
is to recount in prayer meetings and pull.
pits what big scoundrcls they once we're.
They not only will not forget their for.
given deficits, but they seem to be deter:
mined that the church and the world shall
not forget them.
been the chief Of sinners and extol the
grace that could save such q wretch as
YOU were, do so, but do not go into pa.tic-
ulars. Do not tell how many times you
got drunk or to what bad places You went
or how many free riGes you had in the
prison van before you were converted.
Lump it, brother; give it to US in bulk.
II you have any scars got IN honorable
warfare, show them, but il you have scars
got in ignohle warfare do not display
them.
ence to the horrible pit from which you
were diggcd. 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 l have felt IN
Christian meetings discounted and unfie
for Christian service because I had done
none of those things WI eemed to be,
in the estimation OF necessary TOR
Christian usefulness, for never swore
word or ever got drunk or went to com.
promising places or was guilty OF assault
and battery or ever uttered q slanderous
word or ever did any one hurt, although
knew my heart was sinful enough and
said to myself, There is no use OF my try.
ing to do ary good, for / never went
through those depraved experiences. But
afterward saw consolation in the thought
that no one gained any ordination By the
laying on of the hands OF dissoluteness and
infamy.
A sin forgetting God! That is clear be.
yond and far above sin pardoning God.
How often We hear it said. Il can forgive,
but / cannot forget" That is equal to
saying. II verbally admit it is all right,
but will keep the old grudse good.
There is something in tie demeanor that
seems to say: II would not do you harm.
Indeed, I wish you well, but that unfortu::
nate affair can never pass out of my mind"
There may be NO hard words pass between
them, but until death breaks in the same
coo,ness remains. But God lets our par.
doned offcnses 60 into oblivion. He never
throws them up to Us again. he feels AZ
kindly toward us as though we had been
spot!ess and positively angelic all along. =.
Many years ago family consisting OF
the husband and wife and little girl of two
years lived far out in q cabin on western
prairie. The husband took few cattle to
market. Before he started MS little child
asked him to buy her doll. and be prom.
ised. He could after the sale OF the cattle
purchase household necessities and Ger,
ta;n,y would not forget the doll he had
promised. In the village to which he went
he sod the cattle aad obtained the grocer.
les for his household and the doll for his
little darling. He started home along the
dismal road at nightfall. As he went
alonz on horseback thunderstorm broke,
and in the most lonely part OF the road
aad in the heaviest part OF the storm he
heard a child's cry Robbers had been
known to do some bad work along that
road, and it was known that this herds
man had money with him, the price OF the
cattle sold. The herdsman first thought
it as a stratasem to have him halt and be
despoi.ed of his treasures. but the cniid
cry became more keen ald rending, ana SO
he dsm ,unted and felt around IN tho
darkness and all in vain until he thought
OF a hollow tree that he remembered near
the road where the child might be, and
for that he started, and, sure enough,
found little one tagged out and drenched
of the storm and almost dead. He wrapped
i. up as well rs he could and mounted his
horse and resumed his journey home:
Coming in sight OF his cabin he saw it all
lighted up, and supposed his wife had
kindled all these ligt's so as to guide her
husband through the dar kness. But no.
The house was full os excitement, and the
ne:ghbors were gathered and stood around
the wife of the house. who was lnsenh6le
from some great calamity. On inquiry the
returned husband found tina. the little
child of that cabin was gone. She had
wandered out to meet her fathe. and get
the present he had promised, and the
child was lost Then the father unrolled
from the blanket the child he had found in
the iield,, and, 10, it was his own child
and the lost ore Of the prairie home, and
the cabin quaked with the shout owe: the
lost one found.
How suggestive of the fact that once we
were lost in the open fields or among the
mountain crass, Gods wandering children,
and He found Us, dying in the tempest
and wrapped us in the mantle OF His love
and fetched us home. g.adness and con.
graduation bidding Us welcome. The fact
is that the word does not know God or
thcy would oil flock to Him.
So set open the wide gate OF my text,
in:iting You all to come into the mercy
and pardon of God-yea. still further, into
the ruins OF the place where once was
kent the knowledge Of Your iniquities:
The place has been torn down and the
records destroyed, and yet you will find
the ruins more dilapidated and broken
and PROSTATE thaa the ruins Of Me.rose or
Kcni.worth, for from these last ruins you
can pick up some frasmen. Of sculptured