| J.R. MIller | Page 8 |
We should forget also the sins of the past. Somehow, many people think that their sins are the very things they never should forget. They feel that they must remember them so that they shall be kept humble. But remembering our sins, weaving their memories into a garment of sackcloth and wearing it continually is the very thing we ought not to do. Do we not believe in the forgiveness of our sins, when we have repented of them? God tells us that our sins and our iniquities he will remember no more forever. We should forget them, too, accepting the divine mercy, and since they are so fully forgiven by our Father, our joy should be full. One of the Psalms tells us of being brought up out of a horrible pit, and our feet set upon a rock. Then comes the song beginning: “He hath put a new song in my mouth,” — rejoicing instead of hopeless grief over sin. Brood not a moment over your old sins. Compass the mountain no longer, but turn northward. Turn your penitence into consecration. Burn out the shame of your past evil in the fires of love and new devotion.
These are suggestions of the meaning of St. Paul’s secret of noble life. Of course we should never leave behind us and throw away anything that is good and beautiful. The blossom fades and falls, but from it comes the fruit. In the most transient experiences there are things that remain, — influences, impressions, inspirations, elements of beauty, glimpses of better things. These we should keep as part of life’s permanent treasure. George Eliot said, “I desire no future that shall break the ties of the past.” St. Paul did not mean that in forgetting the things that were behind, he threw away the avails of experience. In leaving the mountain and turning northward, the people did not leave the mountain behind them — they carried it with them. One never can forget a mountain nor lose the gifts it puts into one’s life.
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