The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-10-05

| nave happened 10 nOGlce, anu IL IL gradually
| spelling that mans character-it is grad.
| ually going to injure his entire influence.
| Others may not see it, but you are anxious
in regard to his welfare, and now you dis.
| cover it. A dead fly in the ointment. a
| spider in the palace.
Again, my text teaches me that perseve-
rance will mount into the kings palace. 1t
must have seemed long distance for that
| spider to climb in Solomon's splendid resi-
| dence, but it started at the very foot OF the
wall and went up over the panels OF Leba-
higher than the highest throne in all the ma
tions-the throne Of Solomon. And SO God
has decreed it that many Of thoss who are
down in the dust Of sin and dishonor shall
gradually attain to the Kings palace. We
see it in worldly things.
Who IS that banker in Philadelphia?
Why, he used to be the boy that held the
horses Of Stephen Girard while tie million
aire went in TO collect his dividends. Ark
wright tolls on up from barber shop un-
til he gets into the palace OF invention.
Sextus Y tolls on up from the cftice OF g.
swineherd until he gets into the palace OF
ROME Fletcher tolls on up from the most
insignificant family position until he gets
into the palace of Christian eloquence. Ho-
garth, engraving pewter pots for q living,
tolls on up until he reaches the palace OF
world renowned art.
The spider crawling up the wall Of Solo,
mons palace was not worth looking after or
considering as compared with the fact thac
we, who are worms Of the dust, may at last
ascend into the palace Of the King Immor-
tai. By the grace OF God may we all reach
it. Oh. heaven is not dull place. 1t la
not wornout manMon, with faded curtains
and outlandish chairs and cracked ware.
No, it is as fresh and fair and beautiful as
though it were completed but yesterday.
The kings of the earth shall bring their honor
and glory into it.
do not know but that Christ referred to
the real juice of the grape when He said that
We should drink new wine in our Father g
kingdom, but not the intoxicating stuff OF
this worlds brewing. I do not say it is so:
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,
really believe the guests are coming now.
The gates swing open, the guests dismount,
the palace is filling, and all the chalices,
| buncle, are lifted to the lips Of the myriad
banqueters, while standing in robes of snowy
white they drink to the honor Of our glori-
GUS King.
"Oh," YOU say. "that is too grand 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
| a guide, we went down in the Mammoth
| cave of Kentucky. You may walk
| fourteen miles and see no sunlight. 1t
is stupendous place: Some places tbs
roof Of the cave is 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-
scending from the roof of the cave, Joining
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
tral, 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
calcium light down into the caverns, and
the light rolls and tosses from rock to rock
and from depth to depth, making at every
plunge O new revelation Of the awful power
chat could have made such place as that.
A sense Of suffocation comes upon you as
you think that you are two hundred and
City feet In straight Inns 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 rocks
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
kindling one Of the lanterns and placing it
In cleft of the rock there, Is q reflection
cast on the dome Of the cave, and there are
stars coming out In constelations-a bril-
liant night heaveus-and you involuntarily
exclain, "Beautifull beautifulr'
Then he takes the lantern down in other
depths Of the cavern and wanders on and
wandsrs of until he comes up from behind
the rocks gradually and It seems r;ehtae hse sne
and brighter. The guide is a skilled ven
triloouist and he initiates the voices OF the
morning, and soon the gloom IS all gone ana
you stand congratulating yourself over the
wonderful spectacle.
Well, there are great many people who
look down into the grave as great cavern.
| They think it is thousand miles suoterran-
eous, and all the echoes seem to be the voices
] or Despair, anu Cu0 CStSCaueo ooo1t W - VIZ
| falling tears that always fall, and the gloom
of earth seems coming up in stalagmite.
and the gloom Of the eternal world seems
| descending in the stalactite, making Pill
lars of indescribable horror. The grave
is no such place as that to me, thank dodi !
Our divine guide takes us down INTO tne
great caverns, and we have the lamp to our
feet and the light to our path, and all tne
echoes in the riffs Of the rock are anthems,
and all the falling waters are fountains OF
salvation, and after awhile we look mp, anc
behold the cavern OF the tomb has become
| q 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-
scending in stalaotite. making pillar on
the other side, and you push against the
gate that swings between the Two pi!ars,
and as that gate flashes open you hnd 1t as
one of the twelve gates which are twelve
| pearls. Blessed be God that through this
| Gospel the mammoth cave Of the sepulcher
has become the Illuminated star chamber oi
the King! Oh, the palaces! the eterna
palacesl the Kings palaces!
CURIOUS FACTS.