The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-03-11

mud OF that horrible pit or splash Ii
over other people. Sometimes | have
felt in Christian meetings discounted
and unfit for Christian service be-
cause ! had done none OF those things
which seemed to be. in the estimation
or many. necessary for Christian use
fulness. FOR | never swore n word or
ever got drunk or ven to compromis-
ing places or was guilty OF assault and
battery or ever uttered a slanderous
word or ever did any n a hurt. al
though I knew my heart was sinful
enough. and said to myself. There
is no use of my trying to do any good.
for ! never went through those de-
PRAYED experiences" But afterward I
saw consolation in the thought that No
n gained any ordination by the lay
ing on of the hands OF dissoluteness
and infamy.
And though an ordinary moral life,
ending I'm a Christian life. may not be
as dramatic q story to tell about, let US
be grateful to God rather than worry
about ii IL we have never plunged into
outward denominations. 1t may be ap-
propriate I'm q meeting Of reformed
drunkards or reformed d~ebauchees to
quote for those not reformed how des-
perate and nasty you once WERE, but do
not drive n ~scavengcr's cart into assem-
blages Of people the most Of whom
have always been decent and respecta-
BILE. But ! have been sometimes in
great evangelical meetings where peo-
pie vent into particulars about the sins
that they nee committed, SO much so
that | felt like putting my hand on my
p~ocketbook 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.
A Sin Forgetting God.
But what l most want in the light of
this text to impress is that we have a
sin forgetting God. Suppose that on
the last d~ay-called the last day be-
cause the sun will again rise up
OF our earth. the earth itself being
bdbS Ihko hCly uCllolltlOD- upDOSluS
that on that last day a group of in
fernal spirits should somehow get near
enough the gate OF heaven and chal-
lenge our entrance and say: How
canst thou, the just Lord, let those
souls into the realm of supernal glad
ness! Why, they said a great many
things they eve ought to have said,
and they did a great many things they
ought never to have done. Sinners
are t~hey-SinnerS ALL"
And suppose God should deign to an
swer. He might say: Eyes, 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 N nerve of his that was not
wrung in the torture. He took in his
own body and soul all the suffering
that those sinners deserve. They plead
ed that sacrifice; they took the full
pardon that / promised to all who,
through my Son, earnestly applied for
it. and it passed out of my mind that
they were offenders. / forgot all about
it Yes, l forgot all about it. Their
sins and their iniquities do | remem-
Der no more" a sin forgetting Godi
That is clear beyond and far above a
sin pardoning God. How often We
neal it said, 81 can forgive. but I can
not forget" That is equal to saying,
Il verbally admit it is all right, but I
will keep the old grudge good" There
is something in the demeanor that
seems to say: 81 would not do you
harm. Indeed ! wish you well, but
shat unfortunate affair can never pass
ont of my mind" There may no hard
words pass between them. but until
death breaks in the same coClness re-
mains. But God lets our pardoned of
I lenses go into oblivion. He never
! throws them up TO us again. He feels
as kindly toward us as though we had
beer spotless and positively angelic all
along.
Many years ago q family consisting
Of the husband and wife and little girl
of two years lived far out in a cabin
| on q western prairie. The husband took
q few cattle to market. Before he
| started his little child asked him to
buy for her n coll, and he promised.
| He could after the sale of the cattle
| purchase household necessities anu GER
| tainly would not forget the doll he had
promised. In the village to which he
| went he sold the cattle and obtained
| the groceries for his household and the
doll for his little darling. He started
home along the dismal road at night
fall. Az he went along on horseback
| a thunderstorm broke. and in the most
lonely part of the road and 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 il was known that this herdsrnan
had money with him. the price of the
cattle sold. The herdsman first thought
it was n stratagem to have him halt
and be despoiled of his treasures. but
the child's cry became more keen and
rending. and so he dismounted and felt
around In the darkness and all in vain
,yr;t Ha tln,,G< - 4, haIIoxy chat he