Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-02-25
True Repenence


Dear Household: / fear too many do not
know the real meaning OF repentance. Reopen
lance as see II means the complete surrender
ing Of our lives to God and the forsaking Oh
sin. A true repentant is one who hates that
Of which he was once guilty, ana also tnat
which is sinful in the sight Of God. II we only
repent of a few and not all our sins, we are
not any better off than II we had not repented
at all .-,-.
Him. He saws we cannot serve God and NAM
mon This shows cannot live twosldeo
life and be successful. Luke tells us In the
18th chapter that except we repent we snan
perish do not believe In death-oed repen-
lance Too many put IL off till death has ar
rived at the door. In Rev. 22:11 we find pas
sage that speaks against this kind OF repen.
lance: HE that is unjust, let him be unjust
still, and he which is filthy, let him be fitny
still and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still, and he that Is holy let MIN De
To wait till God calls US to die reminds me
of story which / once read in paper. 1t
was something like this; I'm certain nelgh,
borhood there a church whose memoers al
had a grudge against the. other VT, III otner
words Il was divided. And God says mouse
that Is divided against itself cannot stano.
The starting of this was one OF the members
killed a goose that had been intruding upon
him. The goose belonged to one of the other
prominent members of the church. ms nat
urally brought on a heated argument between
the neighbors as to the rights OF tne g9os ..
families lost interest in the church, ana nat
urally their influence spread to other iathilles'
After a while the whole church was lnVolVeu.
They could not get pastor to stay more tnah
a few SUNDAYS before they would want TO
change to another Finally a man or COD was
called to fill this pulpit. After he accepted the
wrong. He began a search. He traced the
cause back possibly 20 years to this goose prop
osition Finally he decided upon plan, ana
he announced to the church that he wouIo on
- Coh hath
Some of course, felt grieved over this Inc
next Sunday he got up and told them that UNI
less they would repent and follow Jesus as they
should that he could no longer De WIN then.
In the meantime he had man hid out In the
woods with a goose. He told them that ne
would 20 out and bring In their God that they
had so long and so devotedly worshiped, ana
that il could henceforth be their pastor. Inc
congregation, of course, had great anxiety 10
know the new god So, while the cnon seiecteu
a piece to sing he went out ana Drought tne
goose in and set him a table In the pulpit
lie introduced il and told them that this goose
question had been hindrance to their salva-
ton and that unless they ceased 10 worship
INN and turned to God and lived right that
he could no longer serve them but would let
the goose take bis place.
OF course all understood: some got mad and
others laughed and finally the whoie Shur ra
was in an uproar of laughter. They all re-
peuted of their fooshness and Ii was the De
ginning Of one of the greatest revtvals that
church had ever had People got on goou
Many of the great church disturbances to-day
are caused by such little things. Instead or
repentiug and trying to live sensible lives when
such is the case with church, many love
and cherish their grudges.
Once there were two families living close TO
each other. and there was fence that oNlu
ed the two lots, and In this renee tnere was
Ia hole that would permit the going through or
chicken. One of the neighbors had chick
en- who learned the whereabouts of this, and
would go in the yard of the nelghbor' She
wx~fk hrOn H.
home. this of course would cause the owner
10 get mad. Finally. one day the chicken iall-
cd TO make good its escape and the lazy
overlook Il and put end TO its life. She
threw II over in the yard Of her neighbor aud
told her there was her chicken. and she threw
il back at her and said that it was hers;
They CARVED this hatred in their hearts TIL
finally one of them got down sick and was
ready to die. She sent for her neighbor and
told her that she had to die and before she
died she wanted her forgiveness and OF course
n was granted. The lady who was ready TO
leave TO go to her home told her that she must
be going. The lady who was sick called TO
her after she had gotten to the front gate and
told her TO come back. She went back ana
She said 10 her. Now you must. remember
that this docs not stand IL get we'll
The great Charles Spurgeon. ! believe it was.
made study OF 1t, ana ne IL was, / uet'ese'
that gave this his estimation OF such re-
pentances True repentance carries with 1t
more than we think. II We repent we have
got 10 get all meanness out OF our hearts, Coo
does not accept halfway religion. We are too
stubborn some Of Us are. at least to give way
20 the other fellow unless we have 20. The
only things our churches need today to progress
and hive the "old-time religion" is TO get the
s'gooae'' out of the way. Too many are sorry
for their sins because they have to be, They
really are not sorry. hut sorry because they
are caught IN with. That Is not repentance
AZ all Too many Join the church 10 hide
their guilt They use the church as a pro
lection. rather than a blessing. Some join. OF
course to carry out political schemes ana
others love affairs When do this we are
sure to be overtaken. Too many OF our high
er officials are cOrruptine the government by
their sinful lives while the other hand MANY
divorces can be traced back to some poor fell
low or girl using Gods house as shield to
their plans TO misrepresent their real ssWes'
let as grow wise for God is not moeked,"
/ notice a lot of letters from the pen OF