The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-01

4 ~AaINoAtO(hCC ~ k4G VIII
brave blood? The kindnesses you do to
others will stand as long in the apprecia-
ton Of others as the gates of heaven will
stand, as the "house of many mansions"
will stand, as long as the throne Of God
will stand.
Defeat of Oblivion.
Another defeat of oblivion will be
QUIZ in the character of those whom we
rescue, uplift or save. Character is eter-
nal. Suppose by a right influence we aid
in Transforming a bad man into a good
man, a dolorous man into a happy man.
q disheartened man into a courageous
man, every stroke Of that work done
will be immortalized. There may never
be SO much as one line in a newspaper
regarding it or no mortal tongue may
ever whisper it into human ear, but
wherever that soul shall go your work
upon it shall go, wherever that soul rises
your work on it will rise, and so long as
that soul will last your work on it will
last. Do you suppose there will ever
come such an idiotic lapse in the history
of that soul in heaven that it shall for
get that you invited him to Christ; that
you, by prayer or gospel word, turned
him round from the wrong way to the
right way? No such insanity will ever
smite a heavenly citizen. 1t is not half
as well on earth known that Christopher
Wren planned and built st. Paul's as it
will be known in all heaven that you
were the fundamentally Of building a
temple for the sky. We teach a Sabbath
class or put a Christian tract in the hand
of q passerby or testify for Christ in q
prayer meeting or preach q sermon and
go home discouraged, as though nothing
had been accomplished, when we had
been character building with a material
that no frost or earthquake or rolling OF
the centuries can damage or bring down..
There is no sublimer art on earth than
architecture. With pencil and rule and
compass the architect sits down alone
and in silence and evolves from his own
brain a cathedral or a national capitol or
a massive home before he leaves that ia
BILE, and then he goes out and unrolls his
plans and calls carpenters and masons
and artisans of all sorts to execute his
design, and when it is finished he walks
around the vast structure and sees the
completion of the work with high salts
faction, and on a stone at some corner
of the building the architects name may
be chiseled. But the storms do their
work, and time, that takes down every
thing, will yet take down that structure
until there shall not be one stone left upon
another. But there is a soul in heaven.
Through your fundamentally it was put
there. Under Gods grace you are the
architect of its eternal happiness. Your
name is written, not on one corner of its
nature, but inwrought into it's every fiber
n 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
- Il
fidelity? No. Time is past, and it is an
everlasting now. Built into the founda-
ton of that imperishable structure, built
into it's pillars, built into it's capstone is
your name, either the name you lave on
earth or the name by which celestials
shall call you. l know the Bible says in
one place that God is q jealous God, but
that refers to the work Of these who
worship some other god.
No Cause For Jealousy.
A true father is not jealous of his
child. With what glee you show the pic
| ture your child penciled or a toy ship
your child hewed out or recite the noble
deed your child accomplished, n God
never was jealous of q Joshua, never
was jealous of a Paul, never was jealous
of a Frances Havergal, never was jeal-
Gus of q man or woman who tried to
heal wounds and wipe away tears and
lift burdens and save souls, and while all
1 is of grace and your self abnegating ut
terance will be, Not unto us, not unto
us, but unto thy name, 0 Lord, give
glory!" you shall always feel a 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 amethyst or the jacinth or the chrys-
oprasus your name and just under it the
inscription Of my text, THE righteous
shall be held in everlasting remem-
brance." Oh, this character building!
You and l are every moment busy in
that tremendous 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-
Yards Of the great city who shall say:
You helped me once. You encouraged
me when 1 was in earthly struggle. I
do not know that I would have reached
this shining place had it not been for
you" And you will laugh with heavenly
glee and say: "Ha, ha! Do you really re-
member that Christian invitation? What
a memory you have! Why, that must
have been down there in Washington or
New Orleans at least ten thousand mil
lion years ago." And the answer will be.
Eyes, it was as long as that. but / re-
member it as we'll as though it were yes
terday."
Oh, his character building! The struc-
ture lasting independent of passing cen
turtles, Independent of crumbling mauso-
ieums, independent of the whole planet
airy 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 Ike
fplaSoOnQd railway trains and all the