Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-09-23

Who is that banker in Philadelphia
Why. he used to be the boy that held tine
horses OF Stephen Girard while tte mliion-
aire went in 10 collect his diyiden1s. ARK
wright tolls on up from barber shop UNI
ill he gets into the palace OF invention.
Sextus Y tolls on up from the cfiice Oh
swneherd until he gets into the palace OF
Rome. Fletcher tolls on no from the most
Insignificant family position until ne ger
into the palace of Christian eloquence: no
garth, engraving pewter pots for hvlng,
tolls on up until he reaches the palace Oh
world renowned art.
The spider crawling up the wall OF 500
mons palace was not worth looking AFTER OF
considering as compared with the fac5 ina.
we. who are worms of the dust, may at last
ascend into the palace Of the King lmmor'
tai. By the grace Of God may we all reach
IL. Oh heaven Is not a dull place. Ii
not wornout mansion, VITA faded curtains
and outlan1ish chairs and cracked ware.
No, it is as fresh and fair and beautiful as
though it were completed but yesterday.
The kings CT the earth shall bring their honor
and glory into it.
do not know but that Christ referred to
the real juice Of the grape wien He said that
we should drink new wine in our Father $
kingdom, but not the intoxicating stuff Of
this worlds brewing. do not say it is 50:
but have as much right for thinking it is
so as you have for thinking the other way.
AT any rate, it will be glorious banquet.
Hark the chariots rumbling in the distance,
l really believe the guests are coming now.
The gates swing open, the guests dsmount.
the palace is filling, and all the chalicss.
flashing with pearl and amethyst and car
buncle, are lifted to the lips Of the myriad
bauqueters, while standing in robes Of snowy
white they drink to the honor Of our glori-
Gus King.
oh" you say. "that is too grand a place
for you and me-" No, it is not. If a spider,
according to the text, could crawl up on the
wall of SolomOn's palace, shall not our poor
souls, through the blood of Christ, mount
up from the depths of their sin and shame
and finally reach the palace of the eternal
King?
Years ago, with lanterns and torches and
guide, we went down in the Mammoth
cave of Kentucky. You may walk
fourteen miles and see no sunlight 1t
is a stupendous place. Some places the
roof Of the cave is a hundred feet
high. The grottoes filled with weird
echoes: cascades falling from invisible height
to invisible death. Stalagmites rising up
from the floor of the cave, salactites de-
each other and making pillars Of the Al
mighty's sculpturing. There are rosettes Of
amethyst in halls of gypsum. As the guide
carries his lantern ahead of you the shadows
have an appearance supernatural and spec
trial. The darkness is fearful.
Two people, getting lost from their guide
only for a few hours, years ago, were de-
mented, and for years sat in their insanity.
You feel like holding your breath as you
walk across the bridges that seem to span
the bottomless abyss. The guide throws his
calcium light down into the caverns, and
the light rolls and losses from rock to rock
and from depth to depth, making at every
plunge a new revelation of the awful power
that could have made such place as that.
A sense Of sulfOcatiOn comes upon you as
YOU think that you are two hundred ant
fifty feet in a straight lins from the summit
surface Of the earth.
The guide after awhile takes you into what
is called the star chamber" and then he
says to you, "Sit here" and then he takes
the lantern and goes down under the rocSs,
and it gets darker and darker until the
night is so thick that the hand an inch from
the eve is undesirable. And then, by
kinding one Of the lanterns and placing it
In a cleft Of the rock there, is a reflection
cast on the dome Of the cave, and there are
stars coming out in constelatlons-a bril-
liant night heavens-and you Involuntary
excaim, Beautiful beautiful~
Then he takes the lantern down in other
DEPTHS of the cavern and wanders on and
wanders OFF until he cones up from behind
the rocks gradually, and it seems NE the
dawn OF the morning until it gets brighter
and brighter The guide Is skilled ven
triloduiSt, and he initiates the voices OF tne
morning, and soon the gloom is all gone and
you stand congratuating yourseh over tue
wonderful spectacle.
Well. there are a great many people VINO
look down into the grave as great cavern.
They think it is thousand miles suOterrnu-
cons. and all the echoes seem to be the voices
Of DESPAIR. and the cascades seem to be the
falling tears that always fall, and the gloom
OF earth seems coming up in Stalagmlte'
and the gloom of the eternal world seems
descending in the stalactlte, making phi
lars of Undesirable horror The grave
is no such place as that to me, thank Ooai
Our divine guide takes US down INTO Tue
Great oavernS. and we have the lamp TO our
feet and the light to our path. and all the
echoes in the riffs of the rock are anthems,
and all the falling waters are fountains Oh
salvation. and after awhile we look up, anu
behold the cavern of the tomb has become
a kings star chamber.
And while we are looking at the pomp OF
it an everlasting morning begins to rise and
all the tears of earth crystalline into stalag-
mite, rising up in a pillar on the one side
and all the glories of heaven seem to be de-
sending in a stalactite. making pillar on
the other side, AMI you push against the
gate that swings between the two pillars,
and as that gate flashes open you hud IL as
one Of the twelve gates which are tWeiVe
pearls. Blessed be God that through this
liosnel the mammoth cave of the sepulcher
has become the illuminated star chamber OK
the King Oh, the palacesl the eternal
palacesl the Kings palaces