Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-09-30
and love and pardon and grace; yet spider

ness, loVe, peace, Datlence aud forbearanoe
ought to be the princes residing there, and
yet sometimes dissipation cr4wls up into
that home. and the jealous eye comes up,
and the scene OF peace and plenty becomes
the scene Of domestic jsrgon and dissonance.
You say, what Is the matter with the
house." | will tell you what Is the matter
with it. A spider in the palace.
A well developed Christian character Is Q
grand thing TO look at You see some man
portions. You say, How useful that man
must beT But you find amid all his splen-
dor OF faculties there is some prejudice.
some whim, some evil habit that a great
many people do not notics but that you
have happened to notics, and 1t Is gradually
spelling that mans chsracter-it is grad
ually going to injure his entire influence.
Others may not seeit, but you are anxious
in regard to his welfare, ami now you dis
Cover il. A dead fly In the ointment A
spider in the palace.
Again. my text teaches me that psrseve-
rance will mount into the kings palace. lie
must have seemed long distance for that
spider to climb in Solomon's splendid resi-
dence, but 1t started at the very foot Of the
wall and went up over the panels OF Leba-
non cedar, higher an higher, until It stood
higher than the highest throne in all the na-
tions-the throne OF Solomon And 30 God
has decreed 1t that many OF those who are
down in the dust OF sin and dshonor shall
gradually attain to the Kings palace. We
see 1t in worldly things.
Who Is that banker in Philadelphia,
Why, he used to be the boy that held tho
horses of Stephen Grard while tie million
aire went in b collect his dividenis. Ark
wright tolls on up from a barber shop un-
til he gets into the palace OF invention.
Sextus V tolls on up from the office OF a
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 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 that
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 q dull place. 1t
not wornout mansion, with faded curtain,
and outlan ish chairs and cracked ware.
No, It is as fresh and fair and beautiful az
though it were completed but yesterday.
The kings of the earth shall bring their honor
and glory into ii.
l do not know hut that Christ referred to
the real juice OF the grape when He said that
we should drink new wine in our Fathers
kingdom, but not the intoxicating stuff OF
this worlds brewing. do not say it is 80:
but have as much right for thinking it Is
SO as you have for thinking the other way.
At any rate, It will be u glorious banquet.
Hark the chariots rumbling In the distance
really believe the guests are coming now.
The gates swing open, the guests dsmount
the palace is filing and all the chalices
flashing with pearl and amethyst and car.
hYtn NnI - H. q A
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 a place
for you and me-" No, it Is not. IL 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
kingH
Years ago, with lanterns and torches and
guide, we went down in the Mammoth
cave of Kentucky. You may walk
fourteen miles AMI see no sunlight. II
Is 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-
scending from the roof ot 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 pearance supernatural and spec
traI. The darkness is fearful.
Two people, getting lost from their guide
only FOR few hours, years ago, were de-
mented, and for years sat in their insanity.
You feel like holding your brelth 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 tosses from rocx to rock
and from depth to depth, making at every
plunge q new revelation of the awful power
that could have made such place as that
A sense of suffocation comes upon you az
you think that you are two hundred and
fifty feet in a straight Inns from the summit
surface of the earth.
The guide after awhile takes you into what
is calied the "star chamber" and then he
says to you, "Sit here" aud then he takes
the lantern and gees down under the rocks
and 1t gets darker and darker until the
night is 50 thick that the hand an inch from
the eye is UNDESIRABLE. And then, by
kindling one Of the lanterns and placing 1t
In cleft of the rock there, Is reflection
cast on the dome of the cave and there are
stars coming out in constellations-a bril-
exclaim, "Beautifuli beautifulp
Then he takes the lantern down in other
depths of the cavern and wanders on and
wanders Off until he comes up from behind
the rocks gradually, and 1t seems like the
dawn of the morning until 1t gets brighter
and brighter. The guide Is a skilled ven
triloauist, and he initiates the voices Of the
morning, and soon the gloom is all gone and
you stand congratulating yourself over the
| wonderful sDectAcle,
Well, there are q great many people who
look down into the grave as great cavern
They think 1t Ia thousand miles subterran-
eous, and all the echoes seem to be the voices
| of despair, aud the cascades seem to DO the
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 ma, thank God
| Our divine guide takes US down into the
great uaverns, and we have the lamp 70 our
| fset and the light to our path, and all ths
echoes Ia the ritts OF the rock are anthems,
aud all the falling waters are fountains OF
salvation. and after awhile we l0ok mp and
beholdI the cavern OF the tomb has bsooms
kings star chamber.
And while We are looking ct the pomp ol
II al everlasting morning begins 70 rise. and
all the tears OF earth crystallizs Into stalAg.
mlts rising w In Q pillar on tbs ons slds,
and ali the glorleI Of heaven sssm 20 be Dc
sosnding IN . stalaelte, making . pillar %
the other side, an you push against thi
gate that swiags bstsssa the two pillars
and ~ tbat gate flashes opsa you had 10 q
ono Vt the twelve gatss whleh are twslvs
pearls Blssssd bs Uod that thvoaah thl
Gospel the ulamnot cave of the sspplehsi
has bseonls tbs illuinlaaLat star gAainhas o
tbs Kingi uu, tas pslaea~i tbs stsrna
pslasssI tbs Kias's psissssI