The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-26

and evil leaders poasted of their power.
hesitating king, "Shall the ak and tho
saw boast against him that driveth"
So Herod and Pilate, and the high
priest, and the Gentiles, and the people
oonspire together to cruelty Jesus; so
they cruelty him. And thus evil opens
the way of life by which evil shall be
destroyed and captivity led captive.
BEACON LIGHTS.
So in the history Of the church Of
Christ. Martyr fires have been beacon
lights that have guided the race to safety
and to new and vaster worlds of free
dom and strength. They burn old Wye
liffe's body, scatter his ashes in the
brook, and the brook carries them to the
sea, and the sea to every shore, and
whole world catches the spirit of Wye
life. Evil triumphs within the church.
The edict of Nantes is revoked. 1t must
have been sad and an awful day for
the few truo spirits that were left after
that awful massacre. They left the
bodies of the dead unburied and fed for
life to caves and mountains.
AS they looked out upon the leaden
sky of that day Of sorrow and of horror
they must have felt that truth was
crushed to earth never to rise again.
They must have felt that such power
had triumphed at last over all. There
was no ear to hear, no heart to pity, no
arm to save. Alba marched into the
Netherlands ordained with his awful
edict. He laid waste the fair land; he
burned, imprisoned, tortured, butch
cred. AS the few poor wounded spirits
gathered themselves together and looked
over the track Of his desolation they
must have felt that there was no hope
for the future; that evil, with fame and
sword, had utterly destroyed the possi-
bility of good and truth and righteous
ness. Such was the near view.
BLOOD SPILLED.
Now we look back and see that awful
massacre of st. Bartholomew was Gods
saw and flame with which he was MAX
ing the tomb of ecclesiastical tyranny.
Every martyr fire today is cleaning
torch lifted high in the darkness of
human history, showing the race the
way of life and of liberty and of saliva
tion and of truth. Every martyr fire in
the Netherlands, every drop of blood
spilled, every shrek and groan and sigh
are so many index fingers that point a
world to the way Of safety and of free.
dom and of light.
And these dark pages of history hang
as an eternal cloud over the machinery
of the great church at Rome. 1t cannot
be explained away. 1t cannot be gain
said. 1t cannot be denied. 1t is Gods
everlasting judgment against ecclesias-
tical tyranny. These were the instru-
ments-these evil hearts and hands-that
God used to purify his church and teach
tho nations of earth the way of freedom
and truth. In fact, the story of human
liberty is the story Of the thumbscrew,
and the rack, and the torch, and the
prison, and the chains Let any man
start with the stars and stripes that
float over the American nation and
write the history Of the flag. Every
star, every stripe, every fold and every
thread in its silken form will tell its
story of suffering, and of wrong, and of
oppression.
NUREMBURG.
In the ancient city of Nuremburg
stands an old castle built in the Eleventh
century. In this heather tower the peo-
pie of Nuremburg with grim significance
havo gathered the implements of torture
which their ancestors used upon each
other. Every conceivable and incon-
ceivable instrument that fiendish ingen-
uity could construct of wood and iron
is found here, arranged to infiict every
kind of suffering of which the human
body is capable. There are machines
for removing the skin, or taking out
eyes, crushing the thumbs, the tongue.
the whole body, for stretching every
muscle, each machine constructed so as
to inflict unspeakable torture without
causing death.
The janitress of the heather tower is
now a rosy faced, smiling girl. She
opens the dark closet and shows the Wis
itor each hideous object, and one notes
the contrast between her smiling face
and the sad, dark history which every
implement symbolizes. The freedom
and peace which sit upon her face were
wrought by these rude implements
after all. They were Gods ak and saw
and flame. Unconscious hands welded
them. They were doing unconsciously
Gods work.
Therefore let the Christian be full of
patience and joy and hope. Let him al
ways be about and doing, full of cour-
age, over renewing the fight-it matters
not what tho odds, it matters not what
may be the outlook. Let him strike
Strike till the last armed foe expires,
Strike for his altars and his fires,
Ills God, his native landl ~
Whether victory come or defeat, it is
the same in the long run. Defeat or
victory are one with God in his ways,
for out of defeat he is sure to bring VIC
tory. 1t may not be today, but it will
come on tomorrow. Let us not be de-
ceived even by outward appearances.
The enemy may be apparently invin-
chile, but the time may be right for
divine moving upon the people.
KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
When the knights of Labor were first
organized in New York city there were
only thirty-siX members, and they de-
cided to hold u great mass meeting in
Cooper union. 1t was bold venture.
They hardly dared to hope for success,
and yet they hoped that the time was
ripe for the movement. They an
nounced the meeting: that the knights
and their friends would assemble in the
Cooper union. They did assemble, and
5000 men were turned away from the
doors unable to obtain entrance. There
were only thirty-six men enrolled, but
the time was ripe in the history of the
masses Of the people for such move
mepk. So in the history of the develop
ment of truth and righteousness. The
odds may be oil against you apparently,
and yet unconsciously the time may
have ripened. We may stand in the
very fullness of the hour of possible tri-
unph.
There is also a warming in this thonrht