Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-06-16

| to say that: nLord Jesus, receive my
spirit. Oh, fthat prayer is answered how
sweet it will be to die. This world Is clever
] enough to u.s. Perhaps it has treated us a
! great deal better than We deserved to be
treated; but if on the dying pillow there
shall break the light Of that better world, we
shall have no more regret about leaving
this life for the next than man regrets
leaving a small, dark, damp house for one
large, beautiful and capacious. That dying
minister IN Philqdelp phia some years ago
beautifully depicted it when in the last
moment he threw up his hands and cried
out: II move into the light.
One More Picture.
Pass on now and will show you one
more picture, and that is Stephen asleep,
With pathos and simplicity peculiar to the
scriptures, the text says of Stephen: He
fell asleep" "Oh," you say what a place
that was to sleep; hard rock under him,
stones falling down upon him, the blood
streaming, the mob bowling. What place
it was to Sleep And yet my text takes
that symbol of slumber to describe his de
parture so sweet was it, so contented was 1t,
so beautiful was it. Stephen had lived a
very laboriOus life. His chief work had
been to care for the poor. How many
loaves of bread he distributed, how many
bare feet he had sandaled, how many cots
of sickness and distress he blessed with min
istries of kindness and love, do not know,
but from the way he lived, and the way he
preached and the way he died, | know ne
! was laborious Christian But that is all
over now. He has pressed the cup to the
last fainting lip. He has taken the last in
suit from his enemies. The last stone 10
whose crushing weight he is susceptible has
been hurled. Stephen is dead! The dis
ciples come They take him mp. They
wash away the blood from the wounds
They straighten out the bruised limbs. They
brush back the tangled hair from the brow
and then they pass around to look upon the
calm countenance Of him who had lived for
the poor and died for the truth. Stephen
asleep! have seen the sea driven with the
hurricane until the tangled foam caught
in the rigging and wave rising above wave
! seemed as if about to storm the heavens. and
then have seen the TEMPEST drop and the
waves crouch and everything become
smooth and furnished rs though a camping
place for the glorics Of heaven. SO | have
! seen man whose life has been tossed and
driven, coming down at last to an infinite
| calm in which there was the hush OF heav'
ons lullaby Stephen asleep. saw such
an one. He fought all his days against poy
crty and against abuse. They traduced his
name They ratified at the dOOr-kuOb while
he was diving for debts he could not pay;
vet the peace of God broOded over his pill
low and while the world faded heaven dawn
ed, and the deepening twilight OF earth
night was only the opening twilight OF heav
on morn Not sigh. Not tear, Not
a struggle. Hush Stephen asleep.
| have not the faculty of telling the
weather, can never tell by the setting
sun whether there will be drought or not
cannot tell By the blowing of the wind
whether il will be fair weather or foul on the
morrow. But | can prophesy and | will
| prophesy what weather it will be when you
the christian, come 10 die fou may have
it very rough now. 1t may be this week
| one annpyance, the next another bereave
ment Before this year has passed yOr
may have to
Beg for Bread.
or ask for scutrle Of coal or a pair o
shoes; hut spread your death couch annie
| hc leaves of the forest ur make it out o
the straw of pauperS hut, the wolf in the
| Jungle bowling close by or memorable Crcdl
tors Jerking the pillow from under your dy
ing hcad-Christ will come in and darkness:
will go out And though there may be nj
hand TO close your ewes and no breast OF
which to rest your diving head, and no can
die to lift the night, the odors of God
hanging garden will regale your soul anC
at your bedside will halt the chariots Of tn,
King No more rents to pay, no more
agony because -four has gone up, no more
struggle with the world, the flesh and thu
devil but peace-long, deep everlasting
peace. Stephen asleep:
| "Ascep in Jesus, blessed sleep
| From which none ever wake to weep;
| A calm and undiSturbed rep0se
| Uninjured by the last 0f foes.
| Asleep in Jesus far from Thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be;
| But there is still blessed sleep,
| From which none ever wake to weep"
You have seen enough for one service
| No one can successfully examine more thar
five pictures in day. Therefore. we stop
having seen this cluster of divine Raphael
Stephen gazing into heaven; Stepher
looking at Christ; Stephen stoned; Stepher
in his DYING PRAYER Stephen asleep.