Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1892-09-08

LOt dpOlO-
- .or the truth preached, and SO he
died lie night before swinging from the
bedpost IN perfect glee at the thought Of
emancipation Who are that army of
six Thousand six hundred and sixty-six?
They are the Theban legion who died
for the faith. Here is larger host in
magnificent array-eight hundred and
eighty-tour thouSand-who perished for
Christ in the prosecutions of Diocletian.
Yonder is family group, Felicitas. Of
Rome, and her children. While they
We're dying for the faith she stood en-
couraging them. One son was whipped
to death by thorns, another was flung
from a rock, another was beheaded. AT
last the mother became martyr. There
they are toSether-a family group in
heaven. Yonder is John Bradford. who
said in the fire. We shall have merry
supper with the Lord tonight Yonder
Is Henry Woes, who exclaimed as he
died, If had ten heads they should all
fall off fer Christ"
The great throng of the martyrs!
They had not lead poured down their
threats: horses We're fastened to their
hands, and other horses to their feet,
and thus they were pulled apart; they
had their tongues pulled out by red hot
pincerS: they We're sewed up in the skins
of animals and then thrown to the dogs;
they We're daubed with conbustibles
81 Is oil IN o,-+,.
stakes that have been kindled could be
set at proper distances they would make
the midnight all the world over bright
as MONDAY.
And now they sit yonder in the mar
tyrs' gallery For them the fires of per-
secution have gone out. The swords
are sheathed and the mob hushed. Now
they watch us with an all observing
sympathy They know all the pain, all
the ha.dship, all the anguish, all the III
justice, all the privation. They cannot
keep still They cry: Courage. The
fire will not consume. The floods can
not drown. The lions cannot devour!
Courage. down there in the arena.
What, are they all looking: This
night we answer back the salutation
they give, and cry, Hail! sons and
daughters Of the fire.
ALL BRETHREN IN CHRIST.
look again and see another gallery,
that of eminent Christians. Whatstrikes
me strangely is the mixing in COM
panionship of those who on earth could
not agree There is Albert Barnes, and
around him the presbytery who tried
him for heterodoxy! Yonder is Lyman
Beecher and the church court that de
nou1red him! Stranger than all, there
is John Calvin and James Arminius!
Who would have thought that they
would SIT so lovingly together? There Is
George Whitefeld. and the ministers
who would not let him cope into their
pulpits because they thought him fa-
natic. There are the sweet singers Top
lady, Montgomery, Charles Wesley,
Isaac Watts and Mrs. Sigourney. If
heaven had had no music before they
went up, they would have started the
singing.
And there the band of missionaries
David Abeel, talking Of Cl.iua redeemed;
al Iol.n, .,. Ss5cc,u1der, Of Inala saved; and
David Brainard, of the aborigines evan
gelized; and Mrs. Adoniran Judson,
whose prayers for Burmah took heaven
by violence All these Christians are
looking into the arena. Our struggle is
nothing to theirs! Do we, in Christ's
cause, suffer from the cold? They
walked Greenland's icy mountains. Do
we suffer from the heat? They swell
tered in the tropics. DOVE get fatigued?
They tainted, with none to care for
them but cannibals. Are we perse-
cuted? They were mathematical. And
as they look from their gallery and see
e-lter in the presence of the lions, l
to hear Isaac: Watts addressing
his old hymn. only a little changed:
Must you be carried to he skies
On fowery beds Of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
Or sailed through bloody seas?
Toplady shouts in his old hymn:
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