News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-11-16

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of its eternal happiness. Your name is
written, not on one corner of its nature,
but inwrought into its every fiber and
energy. Will the storms of winter wash
out the story of what you have wrought
upon that spiritual structure? No. There
are no storms in that land, and there is no
winter. Will time wear out the inscrip-
ton which shows your fidelity? No. Time
is past, and is an everlasting now. Built
into the foundation of that imperishable
structure, built into its pillars, built into
its capstone, is your name-either the
name you have on earth or the name by
which celestials shall call you.
know the Bible says in one place that
God is a jealous God, but that refers to
the work Of those who worship some 9TH
er god. A true father is not jealous of
his child. With what glee you show the
picture your child penciled, or toy ship
your child hewed out, or recite the noble
deed your child accomplished. And God
never was jealous of a Joshua, never
was Jealous of Paul, never was jeal-
Gus of a Frances Havergal, never was
jealous of man or woman who tried
to heal wounds and wipe away tears
and lift burdens and save souls;
and while all is of grace, and
your self abnegating utterance will be,
"Not unto US, not unto us, but unto thy
name, o Lord, give gloryr' you shall
always feel heavenly satisfaction in
every good thing you did on earth, and
if iconoclasm, borne from beneath,
should break through the gates of heaven
and efface one record Of your earthly
fidelity, methinks Christ would take one
of the nails of his own cross and write
somewhere on the crystal, or the anne
thyst, or the jacinth, or the chrysoprasus,
your name and just under it the inscrip-
ton of my text, 1.-THE righteous shall be
held in everlasting remembrance"
Oh, this character building! You and
1 are every moment busy i'll that ire
mendous occupation. You are making
me better or worse, and l am making
you better or worse, and we shall
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 the truth-but it will be heaven
enough for you and me if ever and anon
we meet some radiant soul on the boule-
wards of the great city who shall say:
"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 we will laugh with heavenly
glee and say: "HGi hal Do you really
remember that talk? Do you remember
that warning? Do you remember that
you havel Why, that must have been
down there in Brooklyn and New Or
leans at least ten thousand million years
ago." And the answer will be, Eyes, it
was as long as that, but remember it
as well as though it were yesterday"
Oh, this character buildingl The struc-
ture lasting Independent of passing CEN
turtles, 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
immensely 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 are i'm
mortal, and over that grave of wrecked
material universe might truthfully be
written, F'The righteous shall rs held in
everlasting remembrance"
o Time, we defy theel o Death, we
stamp thee in the dust of thine own
sepulchers! 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 as many
figures as they could write in all the GEN.
turtles 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 heaven!
There is another and q more complete
defeat for oblivion, and that is in the
heart of God himself. You have seen a
sailor roll up his sleeve and show you his
arm tattooed with the figure of favor
tie ship-perhaps the first one in which
he ever sailed. You have seen a soldier
roll up his sleeve and show you his arm
tattooed with the picture of fortress
where he was garrisoned, OF the face of
great general under whom he fought.
You have seen many hand tattooed
with the face of a loved one before or
after marriage.
This tattoomg 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 so 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 chapter of Isaiah,
where God says, ''Behold, have craven
thee on the palms of my handsr
1t was as much as to say: II cannot
open my hand to help, but think of
you. I cannot spread abroad my hands
to bless, but think of you Wherever
] go up and down the heavens take
these two pictures of you with me- They
are so inwrought into my being that l
cannot lose them. AS long as my hands
last the memory of you will last. Not
on the backs of my hands, as though to
announce you to others, but OH 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 and thinking
of you, | must have the other free to pro-
tect you, free to strike back your enemy,
free to lift if you fall. Palms of my hands
tattooed. And though I hold
the winds in my fist no cyclone shall up
root the inscription of your name and
your face, and though l hold the ocean
in the hollow of my hand its billowing
shall not wash out the record of my re-
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 ito
hold an everlasting place in the heart of
God. The heart of God! The most beau
tiful palace in the universe. Let the
build some palace as grand as
that if he can. Let him crumble up all
the stars of yesternight and tomorrow
night and put them together as mosaics
for such palace floor. Let him take all
the sunrises 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
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