Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-10-17

might wash and coronet Of eternal bless.
edness he might wear?
What are epitaphs in graveyards, what
are eulogiums in presence of those whose
| breath is in their nostriis, what are unread
biographies in the alcoves of city library
| compared with the imperishable records
You have made in the illumined memories
of those to whom you did such kindnesses?
| Notwithstanding all their might and splen.
| dor. there are some things the glori6ed
| of heaven cannot do, and this is one of
| them.
They cannot forget an earthly kindness
| done. They have not cutlass to part that
! cable. They have no strength to hurl into
| oblivion that benefaction. Has Paul for
| gotten the inhabitants of Malta, who ex-
| tended the island hospitalitv when he and
others with him had felt. added to ship
| wreck, the drenching rain and the sharp
| cold? Has the victim of the highwayman
on the road to Jericho forgotten the good
| Samaritan with a medicamrnt of oil and
| wine and free ride to the hostelry? Have
| the English soldiers who went up to God
from the Crimean hattlehelds forgotten
| Florence Nghtingale2
Il is not hall 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 instrumentatity of
| building temple for the sky. We teach
| Sabbath class, or put Christian tract
III the mana OF u paSSeT-DT, OF testify LOT
| Christ in prayer meeting, or preach
! sermon and go home discouraged. as
| though nothing had been accomplished,
| when we had been character building with
| material that no frost or earthquake or
| rolling of the centuries can damage or
| bring down.
| Another defeat of Oblivion will be
| found in the character of those whom we
rescue, uplift or save. Character is eter-
| nal Suppose by right influence we aid
| in transforming bad man into a good
man. dolorous man into happy man, a
| disheartened man into a courageous man,
! every stroke of that work done will be i'm
! mortalized. There may never be so much
| as one line in a newspaper regarding it or
| no mortal tongue may ever whisper it into
human eer but wherever that soul shall
go your work upon it shall go, wherever
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 forget that you invited him to
Christ; that YOU. by prayer or gospel
way to the right way? No such insanity
| will ever smte heavenly citizen.
Oh, this character building! The struc.
ture lasting independent of passing cen
| turies, independent of crumbling mauso-
leums. independent of the whole planetary
|
which seems all bound together like one
| piece of machinery should some day meet
| with an accident that should send worlds
| era shing into each other like telescoped
| railway trains. and all the wheels of con-
atellations and galaxies should stop. and
suns and moons and stars should tumble
| like the midnight express at Ashtabula,
| that would not touch us and would not
hurt God, for God is spirit, and charac-
ter and memory are immortal, and over
that grave Of a wrecked material universe
might trrthfully be written, THE righte-
Gus shall be held in everlasting remem-
| hrance." O time, we defy thee! o death,
we stamp thee in the dust of thine own
! sepulchers 0 eternity, roll on till the last
| star has stopped rotating and the last sun
is extinguished on the sapphire pathway,
| and the last moon has illumined 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
any soul it. glory the memory or anything
we have done to bring it to God and
heaven!
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 a soldier roll
| up his sleeve and show his arm tattooed
| with the figure OF fortress where he was
garrisoned or the face of a great general
under whom he fought You have seen
many hand tattooed with the face Of
loved one before or after marriage. This
custom of tattooing is almost as old as the
world. 1t is some colored liquid pune
tured into the flesh so indelibly that moth
ing 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 tattooed us upon His hands. There
| can be no other meaning in the forty-nlnth
chapter of Isaiah, where God says, "Be..
hold / have craven thee on the palms OF
Il cannot open Ny hand to help but I
think of you. ! cannot spread abroad My
hands to bless but think of you. Wher-
| ever I go up or down the heavens | take
these two pictures of you with Me. They
are so inwrought into My being that [
last the memory of You will last. Not on
the back of My hands,, as though to an
nounce you to Others, but ON the palms
of My hands for Myself to look at and
study and love. Though l hold the winds
in My fist, no cyclone shall uproot the in
| scTiption of your name and your face, and
though hold the ocean in the hollow of
| My hand its billowing shall not wash out
the record 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 mishtiest and most affectionate
being in the universe? Think of ito
hold an everlasting place in the heart of
| God! The heart of God! The most beau
tiful palace in the universe. Let the arch
angel build some palace as grand as that
if he can. Let him crumble up all the
stars of yesternight and tomorrow night
and put them together as mosaics for such
palace floor. Let him take all the sun
rises and sunsets OF all the days and the
auroras of all the nights and hang them
"a upholstery at its windows. Let him
take all the rivers and all the lakes and
all the oceans and toss them into the foun-
tains of this palace court.
Oh. where is oblivion now? From the
dark and overshadowing word that it
seemed when l began it has become some
thing which no man or woman or child
who loves the Lord need ever fear. Oh