Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-05
HEAVENLY SYMPATHY.
Our Fight to the Death With Our
Numerous Besetting Sins Is
WITNESSED BY FRIENDS ABOVE,
The hing, His Angels, Martyrs, Eminent
Saints and Loved Qnes
ALL LOOKING DOWN WITH INTEREST

~fNN@A'-'N DS"&t H11n
LONDON, Sept 4-DE Talmage's ser.
mon selected for publication this week is
entitled: Celestial sympathizers," the
text being taken from i Cor. 1889: 'I
have fought with beasts at Ephesus." and
Hebrews 12:1: ''Seeing we also are COM
passed about with SO great cloud of wit
nesses.''
Crossing the Alps by the Mont Cents Pass,
or through the Mont Gents Tunnel, you are
In lew hours set down at Verona, Italy.
ana In few minutes begin examining one
OF the grandest ruins OF the world-the
Amphitheater. The whole building sweeps
around You In circle. You stand in the
arena where the combat was once fought
or the race run, and on all sides the seats
rise, tier above tier, until you count 40 ele-
Natlons, or galleries. as / shall see flt to call
them, in which sat the Senators, the Kings
and the 5000 excited spectators.
At the sides OF the arena and under the
galleries are the cages in which the lions
and tigers are kept without food, until,
frenzied with hunger and thirst, they are
let out upon some poor victim, who, with
MS sword and alone, is condemned to meet
them. think that Paul himself once stood
In such place, and that it was not only
nguratively, but literally, that he had
fought with beasts at Ephesus"
The Barbarous Sport of the Olden Time.
The gala-day has come. From all the
world the people are pouring into Verona
Men, women and children, orators and sena-
tors, great men and small, thousands upon
thousands come, until the first gallery is
full and the second, the third, the foruth,
tile fifth-all the way mp to the twentieth,
all the way up to the fortieth Every place
is filed 1mmensity OF audience sweeping
the great circle.
silence! The time for the contest has
come. A Roman official leads fortht he vic
tim into the arena. Let him get his sword,
with firm grip, into his right hand. The
25,OUo sit breathlessly watching. 1 hear the
door a the side of the arena creak open.
Out plunges the half-starved lion, his tongue
athirSt for blood and, with a roar tIat
brings all the galleries to their feet, he
Do you know how strong stroke a man
will strike when his lie depends upon the
first thrust Of his blade? The wild beast
lame and bleeding. sinks back toward the
side of the arena: then, rallying his wasting
strength, he comes up with fiercer eye and
more terrible roar than ever, only to be
driven back with fatal wound, while the
combatant comes in with stroke after stroke
until the monster is dead at his feet, and the
25,OOO people clap their hands and utter
shout that makes the city tremble.
Sometimes the audience came to see a
race; sometimes to see gladiators fight each
other, until the people, compassionate for
the fallen, turned their thumbs down as an
appeal that the vanQuished be spared; and
sometimes the combat was with wild
beasts.
The Lions You HIVE to Fight
To one Of the Roman amphftheatrical
audiences Of Isl. coo people Paul refers when
he says: 1--WE are compassed alb out with so
great crowd of witnesses" The direct
reference in the last passage is made to a
race; but elsewhere. having discussed that,
/ take now Paul's favorite idea of the |
Christian life as q combat.
The fact is, that every Christian man has |
lion TO fight. Yours Is a bad temper. The |
gates OF the arena have been opened and |
this tiger has come out to destroy your soul. |
1t has lacerated you with many a wound. |
You have been thrown by it time and again,
but in the strength of God you have arisen
to drive it back. l verify beIieve you will /
conquer. l think that the temptation is /
getting weaker and weaker You have /
given it SO many wounds that the prospect |
is that it will die, and you shall be the vic |
tor, through Christ, Couraga brothcr! Do |
not let the sands of the are la drink the |
IN is the passion for strong drink
have contended against ft for 20 /
It il is strong of body and thirsty OF /
You have tried to fight it back |
okel bottle or empty wine glass. /
{ is not the weapon. With one hor-
II he will seize tbee by the throat /
d thee limb from limb. Take this /
1. SldI I'D anu ke6n-r6aCn up ana get J.
Gods armory, the sword of the 1
With that thou mayest drive him /
nd conqueri
why specify, when every man and wo-
has a lion to fight! If there be one /
who has no besetting sin let him speak
for him have offended. If you have
fought the lion, it is because you have |
the lion eatyou up.
We Do Not Fight Single Handed.
lIen think when they contend against an
,T,ge %1,-
o! They stand in the center of an immense
.iIcle Of sympathy. Paul had been reciting
lie names of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Gideon. and Barak,
and then says: being compassed about with
great cloud of witnesses"
They gave to the men in the arena, in the
Olden time, food to thicken their blood, so |
that it would flow slowly, and that for |
longer time the people might gloat over the
scene. But our King has no pleasure in our
wounds, for we are bone of His bone, flesh OF
dis flesh, blood of His blood.
Thank God! The King is in the gallery!
His eyes are on MS. His heart is with us. His
hnd will deliver us. Now, bring on your
lOnsl Who can fear? All the spectators in
the angelic gallery are our friends. Though
the arena be crowded with temptations, we
snhll, with the angelic help, strike them down
IN the name OF our God, and leap on their
fallen carcassesl bending throng OF
bright angelic faces, and swift wings, and
lightning iooti hail you, to-day, from the
F7A
look again and 1 see the gallery of the |
prophets and apostles. Who are those
mighty ones up Yonder? Hosea, and Jere-
lniah, and Daniel, and Isaiah and Paul, and
Peter, and John, and James. There sits
Noah, waiting for ali the world to come into
the ark; and Moses, waiting till the last Red
Sea shall divide: and jeremiah, waiting for
the Jews to return: and John, of the Apoca-
lypse, waiting for the swearing of the angel
that Time shall be no longer.
Glorious spiritsi Ye were howled at, We |
were stoned: ye were spit upon! They have
been in this fight themselves and they are
all with US. Daniel knows all about lions.
Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus.
The Martyrs Look Down From the Gallery,
Hook again, and see the gallery of the
martyrs. Who is that? Hugh Latimer, sure
enough lie would not apologize for the
truth preached; and so he died the night
before swinging from the bedpost in perfect
Elee at tue thought of emancipation. Who
are that army of 1866? They are the Theban
Legion who died for the faith. Here is a
larger host in magnificent array-SS4 000-
Sho perished for Christ in the prosecutions
d Diocetian. If all the martyrs stakes
tNat have been kindled could be set at
pipper distances. they would make the
nicp light all the world over bright as noon
dayN And now they sit yonder in the mar
tyrs' gallery. For them the nres OF perse-
Cutlon have gone ont The swords are
sheathed and the mob hushed. Now they |
watch Us with an aIl-observing sympathy.
look again, and i see another gallery, |
that Of eminent Christians. What strikes |
lne strangely is the mixing in companion
sup OF those who on earth could not agree. |
There is Albert Barnes, and around him the
Presbytery who tried him for heterodoxyl
oudcT Is Lyman Beecher and the church |
court that denounced biml Stranger than
al, there is John Calvin and James Armin-
lus. Who would have thought that they |
" ould SIS so lovingly togetherR There is