Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-12-21
others hsve the thrones Of Heav.n-

Heaven enough for you a. me If ever
and anon we meet some radiant soul on
the bouievards of the great city who
| shall say: You helped me onco. You
encouraged me when was in earthly
struggle. l do not know that / would
have reached this shining place had it
not been for you" And we will laugh
with Heavenly glee and say: "Ha! ha!
Do you really remember that talk? Do
you remember that warning? Do you
remember that Christian Invitation?
What q memory you have! Why, that
must have been down there in Brook
lyn and New Orleans at least ten thou
sand million years ago." And the an
swer will be, "Yes, it was as long as
that, but l remember it as we'll as
though it were yesterday"
Oh, this character building! The
structure lasting Independent of
passing centuries, independent Of
crumbling mausoleums, independent
OF the whole planetary system. Aye,
If the material universe, which seems
all bound together like one piece Of
machinery, should some day meet with
an accident that should send worlds
crashing into each other like tele-'
scOped railway trains, and all the
wheels Of consultations and galaxies
should stop, and down into the chasm
of immensely all the suns and moons
and stars should tumble like the mid,
night express at Ashtabula, that would
not touch us and would not hurt God,
for God is a spirit, and character and
memory are immortal and over that
grave of u wrecked material universe
might truthfully be written, "The
righteous shall be held in everlasting
ramem brancoS
o Time, we defy thee! o Death, we
stamp thee in the dust Of thine own
sepulchers! q Eternity, roll on till the
last star has stopped rotating, and the
last sun Is extinguished on the sapphire
pathway, and the last moon has IL
lumined the last night, and as many
years have passed as all the scribes
that ever took pen could describe by
as many figures as they could write in
all the centuries of all time, but thou
shalt have no power to efface from any
soul in glory the memory of anything
we have done to bring it to God and
heaven!
A Frown Followed by . kiss.
There is another and = more COM
plete defeat for oblivion, and that is in
the heart of God himself. You have
seen a sailor roll up his sleeve and
chow you his arm tattoOed with the
figure of q favorite ship-perhaps the
first ono in which he ever sailed. You
have seen q soldier roll up his sleeve
and show you his arm tattOoed with
the picture Of fortress where he was
garrisoned, or the face Of u great gen.
eral under whom he fought. You have
seen many hand tattOoed with tho
face of loved one before or after mar
riage.
This tattooing is almost as old as the
world. Its some colored liquid pune
nothing can wash it out. 1t may have
been there fifty years, but when the
man goes into his coffin that puncture
will go with him on hand or arm.
Now, God says that he has tattoOed US
upon his hands. There can be no
other meaning in the fOrty-ninth chap
ter of Isaiah, where God says. "Be-
hold, | have craven thee on the palms
OF my hands,"
1t was as much as to say: 81 cannot
open my hand to help, but think of
you. | cannot spread abroad my hands
to bless, but l think of you. Wher-
ever go up and down the heavens I
take these two pictures of you with
me. They are so inwrought into my
being that I cannot lose them. As
|
you will last. Not on the backs of my
hands. as though to announce you to
others, but on the palms of my hands
for myself to look at and study and
| love. Not on the palm of one hand
alone, but on the palms of both hands.
for while am looking upon one hand
and thinking of you. I must have the
other free to protect you, free to strike
back your enemy, free to lift II you
fall. Palms of my hands indelibly tat
tooed. And though hold the winds
in my fist no cyclone shall uproot the
inscription of your name and your face,
and though 1 hold the ocean in the
hollow of my hand its billowing shall
not wash out the record of my remem-
brance. Behold, have craven thee
on the palms of my hands,"
What Joy, what homer can thcre be
comparable to that of being remem-
bered by the mightiest and kindest
and loveliest and tenderest and most
aflectionate being in the universe.
Think 'of ito hold an everlasting
place in the heart of God. The heart
of God! The most beautiful palace in
the universe. Let the archaDgel build
some palace as grand as that ii he can.
Let him crumble up all the stars Of
yesternight and tomorrow night and
put them together as mOsaics for such
"a palace floor. Let him take all the
sunrises and sunsets of all tho days and
the auroras of all the nights and hang
them as upholstery at its windows.
Let him take all the rivers, and all
the lakes, and all the oceans, and toss
them into the fountains of this palace
| court. Let him take all the gold OF all
the hills and hang it in it's chandeliers,
| and all the pearls of the seas and all
the diamonds of the fields, and with
them arch the doorways OF that palace,
and then invite into it all the gloPies
that Esther ever saw at Persian BAN
quet, Or Daniel ever walked among in
Babylonian castles, or Joseph ever
witnessed in Pharaoh's throneroom,
and then yourself enter this castle Of
archange.ic construction and see how
poor a palace it is compared with the
greater palace that some of you have
already found in the heart of loving
and pardoning God. and into which all
the music and all the prayers, and all
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