Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-10-09


from important documents We talk
about indelible ink, but there is no
such thing as indelible ink. 1t is only
question Of time, the complete oblitera-
tion Of all earthly signatures and en-
grossments But your name put in the
heavenly record, all the milleniums Of
heaven cannot dim it. After you have
been so long in glory that, did you not
possess imperishable memory, You
would have forgotten the day Of your
entrance, your name on that page will
glow as vividly as on the instant it was
traced there by the finger Of the Great
Atoner.
There will be new generations coming
into heaven, and thousand years from
now, from this or from other planet,
souls may enter the many mansioned
residence, and, though your name were
once plainly on the books, suppose it
should fade outl How could you prove
to the newcomers that it had ever been
written there at all? Indeliblel Incapa-
bic Of being cancelled Eternity as help
less as time in any attempt at erasurel
What a reinforcing. uplifting thought
Other records in heaven may give out
and will give out. There are records
there in which the recording angel
writes down our sins, but it is a book
full Of blots, SO that much Of the writ
ing there cannot be read or even guessed
at The recording angel did the writ
ing, but our Saviour put in the blots,
for did he not promise, 81 will blot out
their transgressions And if some one
in heaven should remember some Of our
earthly iniquities and ask God about
them the Lord would say: "Oh, for
got theml l completely forgot those
sins, for promised. Their sins and
their iniquities will l remember no
more. I" In the fires that burn up our
world all the safety deposits, and all
the title deeds, and all the halls Of rec
ord. and all the libraries will disappear,
worse that when the 200, 900 volumes
and the 100000 manuscripts OF the
Alexandrian library went down under
the torch Of Omar, and not leaf or
word will escape the fame in that last
confagration, which | think will be
witnessed by other planets whose in
habitants will exclaim: Look There
is a world Oh fire. But there will be
only one conAagration in heaven, and
that will not destroy, but irradiate.
mean the conhagration Of splendors that
blaze on the towers and domes, and
temples and thrones, and rubbed and
diamonded walls in the light Of the sun
that never SETS Indeliblel
More Light.
There is not on earth an autograph
letter or signature of Christ. The only
time he wrote out a word on earth,
though he knew so well how to write,
he wrote with reference to having IT
soon shufied out by human foot, the
time that he stopped down and with his
finger wrote on the ground the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees. But when he writes
your name in the heavenly archives, as
| believe he has or hope he may, 1t is TO
stay there from age to age, from cycle
TO cycle. from con to con. And so for
all you Christian people do what John
G. Whittier, the dying poet, said he
wanted done in his home. Lovely man
he wasl sat with him in haymow a
whole summer afternoon and heard him
tell the story of his life. He had for
many years been troubled with insomnia
and was a very poor sleeper, and ne al
ways had the window curtain OF his
room up so as to see the first intimation
of sunrise. When he was breathing his
last, in the morning hour, in his home
in the Massachusetts village, the nurse
thought that the light Of rising sun was
too strong for him and 30 pulled the
window curtain down. The last thing
the great Quaker poet did was to wave
his hand to have the curtain up de
wanted todepart in the full eush OF the
morning. And / thought it might be
helpful and inspiring TO all Christian
souls to have more light about the fu-
ture, and so pull up the curtain in the
glorious sunrise Of my text and say
"Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven" Bring on your doxClogiesl
Wave your palmsl Shout your victories'
Pull up all the curtains Of bright expec-
tationsl Yea, hoist the window itself,
and let the perfume Of the morning
elories" of the kings garden come in
and the music of harps all a-tremble
with symphonies, and the sound of the
surf of seas dashing to the foot OF the
throne Of God and the Lamb
In Red Ink.
But there is only one word on all this
subiect of divine chirography in heaven
that confuses me, and that is the small
adyerb which St John adds when he
ouotes the text in Revelation and speaks
OF some ''whose names are not written
in the book Of life OF the Lamb slain. "
| Oh. that awful adverb "not! BY full
ubmission to Christ the Lord have the
way all cleared between You and the
sublime registration of your name this
moment. Why not look up and see that
they are all ready TO put your name
among the blissful immortalsg There Is
the mighty volume. 1t is wide open.
There is the pen. IL is from the wing OF
the "angel Of the new covenant. There
is the ink. 1t is red ink from Caivarean
sacrifice. And there is the divine Scribe
tho glorious Lord who wrote your Ia
theirs name there, and your mother s
name there, and your child's name
there, and who is ready to write your
name there. Will You consent that he
do it? Before l say Amen" to this
service ask him TO do it. wait mo-
ment for the tremendous action OF your
will, for it is only an action OF your
will Here some one says, Lord Jesus,
with pen plucked from angelic wing ana
dipped in the red ink of Golgotha, write
there either that which is now my
earthly name or that which shall be my
heavenly name" pause second
longer, that all may consent The pen
of the divine Scribe is in the fingers
and is lifted and is lowered, and u
touches the shining page, and the WORD
is traced in trembling and bold and IN
mistakable letters He has put 1t down
in the right place.
sT,. donei The great Transactions donsi
lam my Lord's, and he Is mine.