Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-11-13


"You helped me once. You encouraged
me when was in earthly struggle.
DO not know that l would have reached
this shining place had it not been for
YOU" And wo will laugh with heavenly
glee and say: "IIal ha! Do you really
remember that talk2 Do you remember
that warning? Do you remember that
Christian invitationp What memory
you havel Why, that must have been
down there in brooklyn and New Or
Isans at least ten thousand million years
Ego." And tho answer will be, Yes, it
WAS as long as that, but / remember it
ss well as though it were yesterday"
Oh, this character buildingl Thest
ture lasting independent of passing CEN
turies, independent of crumbling mauso-
leums, independent of the whole plane
tary system. Aye, if the material uni
verse, 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 galaxies
should stop, and, down into the chasm of
immensity all the suns and moons and
stars should tumble like the midnight ex-
press at Ashtabula, that would not touch
us and would not hurt God, for God Is
spirit, and character and memory arei i'm
mortal. and over that grave Of wrecked
material universe might truthfully be
written, "The righteous shall be held in
everlasting remembrance"
o Time. we defy theel o Death, we
stamp thee in the dust of thine own
sepulchersl o 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 ms many
figures as they could write in all the CEN
turies of all time, but thou shalt haveno
power to efface from any soul in glory
the memory of anything we have done
to bring it to God and heavenl
A FRowN FOLLOWED BY A KISS.
There is another and more complete
defeat for oblivion, and that is in the
heart of God himself. You have seen
sailor roll up his sleeve and show you his
arm tattooed with the figure of a favor
ite ship-perhaps the first one in which
he ever sailed, You have seen q soldier
roll up his sleeve and show you his arm
tattooed with the picture of a fortress
where he was garrisoned, or the face Of o
great general under whom he fought.
You have seen many hand tattooed
with the face of loved one before or
after marriage.
This tattooing is almost as old as the
world. 1t is some colored liquid pune
tured into the flesh so indelibly that
nothing can wash it out. 1t may have
been there 90 years, but when the man
goes into his coffin that puncture will 60
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 chapter of Isaiah.
where God says, Behold, ! have craven
thee on the palms Of my handsP'
1t was as much as to say; Il cannot
open my hand to help, but ! think Of
you. | cannot spread abroad my hands
to bless, but think of you. Wherever
go up and down the heavens l take
these two pictures of you with me. They
are so inwrought into my being that /
cannot lose them. AS long as my hands
last the memory of you will last. Not
Oh 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
nalms of both hands, for while /
am looking upon one hand and thinking
of you, must have the other free to pro-
tect you, free to strike backyou enemy,
free to lift if you fall. Palms Of my hands
indelibly tattooed. And though l hold
the winds in my fist no cyclone shall up
root the inscription Of your name and
your face, and though / hold the ocean
in the hollow of my hand its binowing
shall not wash out the record OF my re-
membrance. Behold, l have craven thee
ON the palms Of my hands,
What Joy, what honor can there be
comparable to that Of being remembered
by the mightiest and kindest and love
hest and tenderest and most affectionate
being in the universe. Think Of it--tc
hold an everlasting place in the heart oi
God. The heart Of God! The most beau
tiful palace in the universe. Let the
archangel build some palace as grand Al
that II he can. Let him crumble up al
the stars Of yesternight and tomorrow
night and put them together as mosaics
for such a palace floor. Let him take al
the sunrises and sunsets Of all the day.
and the auroras Of all the nights and
hang them as upholstery at its windows
Let him take all the rivers, and all thu
lakes. and all the oceans, and toss then
into the fountains Of this palace court
Let him take all the gold Of all the hill
and hang IL In its chandeliers. and al
the pearls Of all the seas and all the dia
monds of all the fields, and with then
arch the doorways Of that palace, ant
then invite into it all the glories tha
Fstber ever saw at a Persian banquet
or Daniel ever walked among In Baby
loniau castles, OF Joseph ever witnessed
In Pharaoh's throneroom, and then your
sslf enter this castle Of archangelic con
strnctiou and see how poor a palace ID 4
eonpared with the greater palace tha
come Of YOU have already found In TIA
| t..s..f, orI HARDENING fand