Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-09-09

every victory Rdlneu Jnere comes uOWu
the laundering applause of great
multitude that no man can
number. "Being compassed Lbout
with so great cloud of witnesses. 4"
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day of a celebra-
ton, sat Tiberius, or Augustus, or the
reigning King. So, in the great arena
of spectators that watch our struggles,
and in the first divine gallery, as
shall call lists our King, one Jesus. On
his head are many crowns! The Roman
Emperor got his place by cold
blooded conquests; but our King hath
come to his place by the broken
hearts healed, and the tears wiped
away, and the souls redeemed.
The Roman Emperor sat, with folded
arms, indifferent as TO whether the
swordsn4an or the lion beat; but our
Kings sympathies are all with us.
Nay, unheard-of condescension. see
him come down from the gallery into
the arena to help us in the fight, shout
Ing until all up and down his voice is
heard: 'Fear not! will help thee!
will strengthen thee by the right hand
of my power"
They gave to men in the arena, in
the olden time, food to thicl1en their
blood, so that it would flow slowly,
and that for a 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 his
flesh, blood of his blood.
In all the anguish OF our heart
The man OF SORROWS bore part
Once, in the ancient amphithcater, a
lion with one paw caught the combat
ants sword, and with his other paw
caught his shield. The man took his
knife from his girdle and slew the
beast. The King, sitting in the gal
lery, said, THAT was not fair, the
lion must be slain by a sword"
the potr victim fell. You cry.
"Shame! shamev' at such meanness.
But the King in this case is our brother,
and he will see that we have far play.
He will forbid the rushing out of more
| lions than we can meet; he will not
suffer us to be tempted above that we
are able. Thank God! The King is in
the gallery! His eyes are on us. His
heart is with us. His hand will de-
liver us. blessed are all they wl1o
| put their trust in him"
look again, and l see the angelic
gallery. There they are: the angel
that swung the sword at the gate of
Eden, the same that Ezekiel saw up
holding the throne of God, and from
which / look away, for the splendor is
insufferable. Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched a patri-
arch; this one protected child. That
one has been pulling a soul out
of temptation! All these are mes
sengers of light! That drove the
turned Sennacherib's living hosts into
a heap of one hundred and eighty-fve
thousand corpses. Those, yonder,
| chanted the Christmas carol over Beth
lehem, until the chant awoke the shep-
| herds. These, at creation, stood in the
balcony of heaven and serenaded the
newborn world wrapped in swaddling-
clothes of light And there, holier and
mightier than all, is Michael, the arch
angel. To command an earthly host
gives dignity; but this one is leader of
the twenty thousand chariots of God,
and of the ten thousand times ten
thousand angels l think God gives
command to the archangel, and the
archangel to the seraphim, and the
seraphim to the cherubim, until all the
lower orders of heaven hear the COM
mand and go forth on the high behest.
Now, bring on your lions! Who can
fear? All the spectators in the angelic
gallery are our friends. "He shall give
his angels charge over thee, to keep
thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash
thy foot against n stone. Thou shalt
tread upon the lion and adder; the
young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under foot"
Sure must fight II would reign
BE faithful to my lori;
And bear the cross, endure the pain.
Supported by thy word.
Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer though they die:
They see the triumph from afar,
And seize 1t with their eye.
When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all thine armies shine
In robes OF victory through the skies,
The glory shall be thine.
My hearers! shall we die in the arena
or rise to join our friends in the gal
lery? Through Christ we may come
off more than conquerors. A soldier,
dying in the hospital, rose up in bed
the last moment and cried, Here!
Herer His attendants put him back
on his pillow, and asked him why he
shouted "Heren' "Oh! l heard the
roll-call of heaven, and was only an.
swering 10 my name! / wonder
whether, after this battle of life is