The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-11-24

! his own cross ana write somewhere on
the crystal of the amethyst or the
: jacinth or the chrysopasus your name,
| and just under it the inscription of nv
text: 1.-The righteous shall be held in
! everlasting remembrance" Oh, this
character building! You and are every
moment busy in that tremendous oc-
cupation. You are making me better
or worse, and am making you better
or worse. and we shall through all
eternity bear the mark of this
benediction or blasting. Oh, this char
acter building! The structure lasting
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 telescoped railway trains, and all
the wheels of consultations and gal
axies should stop and go down into
one chasm of immensely, all the suns
and moons and stars should tumble
like the midnight express at Ashtabula,
that would not touch us, and would not
hurt God, for God is spirit, and char
acter and memory are immortal, and
over that grave of wrecked material
universe might truthfully be written:
THE righteous shall be held in ever
lasting remembrance"
There is another and more complete
heart of God himself You have seen
a sailor roll up his sleeve and show you
his arm tattooed with the figure of a
favorite ship, perhaps the first one in
which he ever sailed. You have seen d
soldier roll up hisssleeve show you his
arm tattooed with the figure of fort
ress where he was garrisoned or the
face of a great general under whom he
fought. You have seen many a hand
tattooed with the face of a loved one
before or after marriage This tattoo
ing is almost as 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 picture 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 hands" 1t was as
much as to say, 81 cannot open my
hand to help, but l think of you
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 | cannot lose them. AS long as
my hands last, the memory of you will
last. Not on the back of my hands, as
though to announce you to others, but
on the palms of my hands for my
self 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
hand free to protect you, free to strike
back your enemy, free to lift if you
fall Palms of my hands indelibly tat.
toed. And though hold the winds in
my fist, no cyclone shall uproot the in
scription of your name and your face,
and though | hold the ocean in the
ocean in the hollow of my hand, its
billowing shall not wash out the rec
ord of my remembrance. Behold i
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 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 I
as grand as that if he can. Let him
crumble up all the stars of yester-
night and tomorrow night, and put
them together as mosaics for such
palace floor. Let him take all the SUM-
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 'ivers 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 its chande-
Tiers, and all the pearls of all the
seas and all the diamonds of all the
fields. and with them arch the door
ways of that palace, and then invite
into it all the glories that Esther ever
saw at a Persian banquet, or Daniel
ever walked amongst in Babylonian
castles, or Joseph ever witnessed in
Pharaoh's throne room, and then your
self enter this castle of archangeli
construction, and see how poor pa
ace it is compared with the greater
palace that some of you have already
found in the heart of loving and par
doning God, and into which all the
music and all the prayers and all the
sermonic considerations of this day are
trying to introduce you through the
blood of the slain Lamb. 3
Oh, where is Oblivion now? From
the dark and overshadowing word that
it seemed when began, it has become
something which 40 man or woman or
child who loves the Lord need ever fear.
Oblivion defeated. Oblivion dead. OBJ
livion sepulchred. But | must not be
SO hard on that devouring monster, for
into its grave go all our sins when the
Lord for Christ's sake has forgiven
them. Just blow resurrection trum-
pet over them when once oblivion has
snapped them down. Not one of them
rises. Blow again. Not stir amid all
the pardoned iniquities of a lifetime.
Blow again, Not one of them
moves in the deep grave trenches.
But to this powerful resurrec-
ton trumpet voice responds
half human, half divine, and it must be
part man and part God, saying: Their
81 and THAR mi y.-;n I rar,ar,- q