The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-29

christian lnvltationy what a 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. eyes, it was rs long as that,
but remember it as we'll as though it were
yesterday"
Oh. this character building The structure
lasting Independent OF passing centuries, in
dependent of crumbling mausoleums, inde.
pendent Of the whole planetary system. Aye,
II the material universe, which seems al!
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 one chasm OF immensity
all the suns and moons and stars should
tumble like the midnight express at Ashta.
bula, that would not touch us and would not
hurt God, for God is spirit. and character
ana memory are immortal, and over thae
grave of wrecked material universe might
truthtully be written, "The righteous shall
be held in everlasting remembrance"
b, Time, we defy thee! o, Death, we
stamp thee in the dust OF thine own sepul-
chers! o, 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 Alumined 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!
There is another and mora complete de-
feat for oblivion, and that is In the heart OF
God himself. You have seen sailor roll I'D
MS sleeve and show you his arm tattooed
with the figure Of q favorte ship-perhaps
ShaQ Qrrfo jy,S ioh hn
have seen soldier roll up his sleeve and
show you his arm tattoosd with the figure
of a fortress which he was garrisoned, or
the face OF n great general under whom ne
fought. You have seen many hand tat
tooed with the face OF loved one before or
after marriage.
This tattooing is almost az old as the world.
It is some colored liquid punctured into the
flesh so indellbly that nothing can wash 1t
out. It may have been there fifty years, but
when the man goes into his coffln that pic
ture will go with him on hand or arm. Now,
God says that he has tattoosd US upon his
hands. There can be no other meaning in
the forty-ninth chaEte OF Isaiah, where God
says. "Behold, have craven thee on the
palms Of my hands"
It was as much as to say. 81 cannot open
My hand to help, but think Of you. I can
not spread abroad My hands to bless, but I
the heavens take these two pictures OF YOU
with Me. They are so inwrought into MY
being that I 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 Myself to look at and study
aud love. Not on the palm OF one hand
alone, but on the palms OF both hands, for
while am looking upon one hand andthin
fncp ~ fr-N,t n ,yuf ho1ya hn
to protect you, free to strike back your
enemy, free TO lift if you fall. Palms OF NV
hands indelibly tattooed! And though l
hold the winds in My f1rst no cyclone shall
uproot the inscription Of your name and
your Tace, and though hold the ocean IN
the hollow OF My hand its billowlng shall not
wash out the record OF My remembrance.
Behold, hare craven thee on the palms OF
My hands,"
What Joy, what honor can there be COM
parable to that OF being remembered BY the
mightiess and kindest and loVeliest and ten
1erest 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 archsngei build some palace rs
grand as that II he can. Let him crumble up
all the stars OF yesternight and tomorrow
night and put them together as mosatcs for
such palace floor Let him take all the sun
rises and sunsets Of all the days and the
aurorus OF all the nights and hang them as
upholstery at its windows.
Let him take all the rivers, AMI all the
lakes. and all the oceans, and toss them into
the fountains Of this palace court. Let him
take oil the gold otall the hills and hang 1t In
It's chandeliers, ani oil the pearls OF all the
seas, an all the diamonds OF oil the fields.
and with them arch the doorways OF that
o,iooa opd fhon invite infn n n1i fhn pOria1
that Esther ever saw OF Persian banquet, or
Daniel ever walked among in Babylonian
castles, or Joseph ever witnessed In Pharaohs
throneroom. and then yourself enter this
castle OF archangelic construction, and see
how poor palace 1t is compared with the
greater palace that some OF you have already
found in the heart OF loving and pardontng
God, and into which all the music, and all
the prayers, AMI all the sermonic considera-
tions of this day are trying to introduce you
through the blood OF the slain lamb.
Oh, where is ooliyion now? From the
dark and overshadowing word that It seemed
when I began, it has become something
which no man or woman or child who lovas
the Lord need ever fear; obiiyoa de deteated
I must not be so hard on that devouring
monster, for into its grave 20 all our sins
when the Lord for Christ's sake has forgiven
them. Just blow resurrection trumpet
over them when once oblivion has snapped
them down. Not one Of them rises. Blow
again. Not a stir amid ell the parjonsd in
iquities of lifetime. Blow again. Not one
OF them moves in the deep grave trenches.
But to this powerless resurrection trumpet
a voice responds, half human, half divine,
and it must be part man and part God. say
ing, "Their sins and their iniquitiss will re-
member no more"
Thank God for this blessed oblivion So
you see dtd not invite you down into cell
lar, but upon throne; not into the grave
yard to which all materialism is destined.
but into garden all abloom with everlasting
remembrance. The frown OF my first text
has become the kiss OF the second text. An
initiation has become coronation. The wiring
ing hands Of 4 great agony have become the
clapping hands Of q 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 the laughter OF
eternal truuipG.