Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-11-24
and we gtiafi tbronrh ALL eternity hear tho

| and we stl8ii through all eternity bear the
| mark of this benediction or blasting.
Let others have the thrones Of heaven
those who have more nightly wrought for
| God and tho truth-but it will be heaven
| enough for you aud me If ever and anon we
meet some radiant soul on the boulevards of
/ the great city who shall say you helped
me once. You encouraged me when l was
| in eatthiy Struggle. did not know that I
! 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 remem-
Der that warning? Do you remember that
| Christian invitation? What memory you
| have! Why. that must have been down there
| in Brooklyn or New Orleans at least ten
thousand million years ago And the an
| swer will be, ''Yes, it was as long as that,
! but remember it as well as though it Were
| YESTERDAY"
Oh. this character buiIding The structure
| lasting Independent Of passing centuries. in
| dependent of cr1mbling mausOleums. inta-
! pendent 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 teLescOped railway trains, and all the
| wheels of consultations and gaaxies should
| stop, and down into one chasm of immensely
| all the suns and moons and stars should
| tumble like the midnight express at Ashta-
| bula, that would not touch and would not
| hurt God. for God is A spirit, and character
| ana memory are immortal, and over that
| grave of a wrecked material universe might
| truthfully be written, 'The righteous shall
| be held In everlasting remembrance"
| o, TimC, we defy thee! o, Death, we
| stamp thee in the dust Of thine own sepul~
| chers! 0, Eternity, roll on till the last star
| has stopped rotating, and the last sun is ex-
! tinguished on the sapphire pathway, and
| the last moon has illumned the last night,
and as MANY years have passed as all the
scribes that ever took pen could describe by
qs 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 tho
memory of anything we have done to bring
it to God and heaven
There is another aud more complete de-
feat for oblivion, and that is in the heart of
God himself. You have seen a sailor roll M
his sleeve and show you his arm tattooed
with the figure of a favOrite ship-perhaps
the first Cne in which he ever sailed. You
have seen a soldier roll up his sleeve and
show you his arm tattOooi with the figure
of Il fortress which he was garriSOned or
the face of great general under whom he
fought. You have seen many a hand tat
tOOed with the face of u loved one before or
after marriage.
This tattooing is almost az old as the world.
1t is some colored liquid punctured into the
flesh so indelibly that nothing can wash it
out. 1t may have been there fifty years, but
when the man goes into his coffin that pic
ture 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
tic forty ninth chap ter of Isaiah, where God
says. "BehOld. have craven thee on the
palms of my hands -
1t was much as to say ~ cannot open
My hand to help but think of you. [ can
not spread abroad My hands to bless, but
think of you. Wherever | go up ard down
the heavens take these two pictures OF YOU
with Me. They so inwrought into My
being that l cannot lose them. AS long as
Ny hands last the memory of you will last.
Not on the back of Ny 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 l am looking upon one hand andthink-
ing of you, must have the other hand Tree
to protect you. free to strike back your
enemy, free to lift if you fail. Palms of Nv
hands indelibly tattooed And though l
hold the winds in My first no cyclone shall
uprOOt tho inscription of your name ana
your race, and though [ hold the ocean in
the hollow of My hand its billowing shall not
wash out the record Of My remembrance.
Behold, have craven thee on the palms OF
My hands,"
What JOY, what honor can there be COM
parable to that of being remembered by the
mghtiest and kindest and lOveliest and ten
derest and most affectiOnate being in the
universe? Think Of it, to hold an everlasting
place in the heart of God. The heart of God!
The most beautiful palace in the universe.
Let the archangel build some palace
grand as that If he can. Let him orumble up
all the stars of yesternight and tomorrow
night and put them together mosaics for
such a palace floor. Let him take all the sun
rises and sunsets of all the 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 paface court Let him
take all the gold of all the hills and hang it in
its chandeliers, and all the pearls of all the
seas and all the diamonds of all the fields,
and with them arch the doorways of that
palace, and then invite into it all the glories
that Esther ever saw at a Persian banquet, or
Daniel ever walked among in Babylonian
castles, or Joseph ever witnessed in PharaOn's
throneroom. and then yourself enter this
castle of archangelic construction, and see
how poor palace it is compared with the
greater palace that some of you have already
found in the heart of a loving and pardOning
God. and into which all the music, and all
the prayers, and all the sermonic considera-
tOns of this day are trying to Introduce you
through the blood of the slain lamb.
Oh where is oblivion now? From the
dark and overshadowing word that it seemed
when I began, it has become something
which no man woman or child who loves
the Lord need ever fear. Oblivion defeated.
Oblivion deal. Oblivion sapulcl5r7L But
[ must not be 50 harl on that devouring
monster, for into its grave go all our sins
when the Lord for ChriSt'S sake has forgiven
them. Just blow a resurrection trumpet
over them when onco oblivion has snapped
them down. Not one OF them rises BIO"
again Not stir amid all the plrdonei III
iGuities OF a lifetime. Bow again. Not one
UI them moves in ths deep grave trenches
But to this powerlesS resurrection trumpet
a voice responds, half human, halt DIVINE
and it must be part man an part 60 |. say
ing. "Their sins and their iniqutties Will re-
member no more.
Thank God for this blessed oblivion so
YOU see did not invite you down into Il c9l-
lar but upon throne ; not into the grave
yard to which all materiaiSm is Destined
but into q garden all abloon with everlasting
remembrance. The frOwn OF my first text
has become the kiss OF the second text. Au-
initiation has become coronation. The Wr!ng-
ing han Is of great agony have become the
clapping hands of Il great JOY. The requiem
with which we began has become the grand
| march with which We close. The tear OF
| sadness that rolled down our cheek has
struck the lip on which sits tho hughter OF
eternal triumph.