Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-08-04
S. s. S. FOR THE BLOOD


gone. The cancer cured. The erysipe-
las healed. The heart break over. ON,
how fair they are in the ivory palaces.
And your dear little children that went
out from you-Christ did not let one OF
them drop as he lifted them. He did
not wrench one Of them from you. No.
They went as from one they loved well
to one whom they loved better. If !
should take your little child and press
its soft face against my rough cheek,
| might keep il little while. but when
you. the mother. came along II Would
struggle to 20 with you. And so you
stood holding your dying child when
Jesus passed 10y in the room ana the
little one Sprang out greet him. That
is all. Your Christian dead did not 20
down into tie dust and the gravel ana
the mud. Though it rained all that
funeral day. aud the water came mp 10
the wheels hub aS you drove out 10
the cemetery. il made no difference to
them. for they stepped from ihe home
lere 10 the home there. right into th"
worry palaces. al is we'll with them.
I'll is well.
1t is not a dead weight that YOU lift
when yoI carry Christian out. Jesus
makes The bed up soft with velvet
promises, and he says: Put her down
here very gently Put that head which
will never ache again on this pillow
Of hallelujahs. Send Up word that the
procession is coming Ring tie bells
Ring. Open your gates. ye ivory pal
aces And 50 your loved ones are
there. They are just rs certainly there
having died in Christ, as that you are
here. There is only one thing more
they want. Indeed. there is one thing
in heaven they have not got. They
want it. What is it? Your company
But. oh. my brother. unless yOu change
your tack you cannot reach that bar
Dor. You might as well take the
Southern Pacific railroad. expecting
IN that direction 10 reach Toronto. as
TO 20 on in the way some of you are
going and yet expect to reach tie
ivory palaces. Your loved ones are
looking out of the windows Of heaven
now. and yet you seem TO turn your
back upon them. You do not seem to
know the sound of their voices as well
as you used TO or TO be moved by the
sight OF their dear faces. Call louder,
We departed ones, Call louder from
the ivory palaces.
Mystery solved.
When think of that place and think
Of my entering it, feel awkward.
feel as sometimes when | have been
exposed TO the weather, and my shoes
have been bemired. and my coat is
soiled, and my hair is disheyeled, and
1 stop in front Of some fine residence
where | have an erIand. | feel not
fit 10 90 in as | am and sit among the
guests. SO some Of US feel about heav-
en-. We Heed 10 be washed; we need
to be rehabiltated before We 20 into
the ivory palaces. Eternal God, let
the surges Of thy pardOning mercy roll
over US. want not only to wash my
hands and my feet; but. like some
skilled diver, standing on the pier
head. who leaps into the wave and
comes up at far distant point from
where he went in, so want to 30
down. and so l want to come up. o
Jesus. wash me in the waves of thy
salvation,
And here ask you TO solve a mys-
terry that has been depressing me for
80 years. have been asking it Of
doctors OF divinity who have been
studying theology half a century, and
they have given me no satisfactory
answer. have turned over all the
books IN my library, but got no sOlu-
ton to the question, and today l come
and ask you for an explanation. BY
what logic was Christ induced TO ex-
change the ivory palaces Of heaven
for the erucifixiOn agonies of earth?
shall take the first thousand million
years in heaven to study out that prob
lem: meanwhile and now taking il as
the tenderest. mightest OF all facts
that Christ did come, that he came
with spikes in his feet, came with
thOrns in his brow. came with spears
in his heart. to save you and to save
me. "God so loved the world that be
gave his only begotten Son. that who
soever believeth in him should not per
ish. but have everlasting life o
Christ, whelm all our souls with thy
compassion, Now them down Ike
summer grain with the harvesting
sickle Of thy grace! Ride through to-
day the conqueror, thy garments smell
ing "Of myrrh and alOes and cassia
out Of the ivory palaces"