Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-10-02

Craven on Gods HAM.
There is another and more complete
defeat for oblivion, and that is in the
heart of God himself. You have seen
sailor roll up his sleeve and show you
his arm tattooed with the figure of
favorite ship, perhaps the first one in
which he ever sailed. You have seen
soldier roll up his sleeve and show you
his arm tattooed with the figure of
fortress where he was garrisoned or the
fa> ! Of a dead general under whom he
fought. You have seen many a band
tattooed with the face of loved one be-
fore or after marriage. This custom of
sattooing is almost as old as the world.
1t is some colored liquid punctured into
the flesh so indelihly 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 tatteocd us upon his hands. There
can be no other meaning in the forty
ninth chapter of Isaiah, where God says,
Behold, l have craven thee on the
palms of my handsw 1t was as much as
to say: Il cannot open my hand to help,
but l think of you cannot spread
YOU Wherever | go up and down the
heavens l 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 wiz last. Not on the back of my
hands, as though to announce you to 9TH
ers, but on the palms Of my hands for
myself TO look at and study and love.
Though | hold the winds in my fist, no
cyclone shall uproot the inscription of
your name aud your face, and though
hold the ocean in The hollow of my hand
its billowing shall not wash out the rec
ord of my remembrance. Behold, 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 most affeetionate
being in the universe? Think of it. to
hold an everlasting place in the heart of
God! The heart of Godl The most beau
tiful palace in the universe.
oh, where is oblivion now? From the
dark and oyershadowing word that it
seemed when began IL has become
something which no man 81 woman or
child who loves tle LORI need ever fear.
Oblivion defeated. 0blivicl dead. 0bliy-
ion seplilchered. Bnl 1 must not be so
hard ON that devouring monster, for in %
its grave go all onr sins when the Lo,'d
for Christs sake has forgiven the n.
Just blow resurrection trumpet ever
them when once oblivion has snapped
them down. Not one of them rises. Blow
again. Not a stir amid all the pardoned
iniquities Of lifetime. Blow again. Not
one OF them moves in the deep grave
trenches But to this powerless resurrec-
ton trumpet a voice responds, half hui
man, half divine. and it must be part
man and part God, saying, Their sins
and their iniquities will ] remember no
more" Thank God for this blessed OBJ
livion So you see ! did not invite you
down into cellar, but up on a throne:
not into the graveyard to which all ma
terialism is destined, but into garden
all a-bloom with everlasting remem-
brance The frown Of my first text has
BECOME the kiss Of the second text An
Inhalation has become coronation. The
wrinsing hands of great agony have
become the clappng hands Of great
ioy. The requiem with which we began
has become the grand march with which
we close The tear of sadness that rolled
down cur cheek has struck the lip on
which sits the laughter of eternal tri.
umph.