The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-10-04
RELIGIOUS READING.
A DISCIPLE II A BI.AZE.

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know that the cruel Nero wrapped many
a Chr;stian in a garment of pitch and then
set him on fire But fell i'll iately wlth :;
Disciple in blaze Sure enough he was an
On fire There was little or no smoke IL
WIS TOO hot for that l looked about 1or
some Nero who had done this. but dd Eo'
see any. ,,,,
1t was very sad sight. l do not know
how long the fire had been burning. "nen
saw him; hut was afraid 1t had been some
.i,nc, or else it had burned with great fierce,
noss co. there was never more decisive and
pain!ui marks Of fire on human being. he
had been very handsomely dressed. up 10
the time he look fire. But when saw
him, the beautiful robe OF charity was
burned to q cinder. 1t had teen Tue
bend Of perfcetness.' bnt was all IN
ashes when l saw it. very valuable glrdle,
called truth, was shockingly seorched. ana
YOU can Judge OF the severity OF the neat WHEN
I affirm that breast-plate OF righteousness,
which he had worn, was melted down, anu had
totally disappeared. Hehad before been "snoo
with the preparation OF the Gospel otpeace,
and capital shoes they are, which are madeol
that article; but these were all crlsped hy the
fire. You would not suppose that anything
like peace had ever had anything to 90 WIN
them. And could not but notice tootha the
shield Of faith l had often seen him have, was
pretty much reduced to nonentlty IL n;iu
been given ito quench the fiery darts OF the
wicked" which made it more painful to see 1t
perish in the flames. and the ''helmet OF sal
vation' had grown brittle in the heat, ana
was shivered and the ''sword OF the Spirit
sha-ed.the same fate. In short, there was
nothing left of that comely array. in when.
as "a strong man armed" he was wont 10
move in the various scenes Of the community.
The fire had madesuch havoc that there was
scarcely any appearance OF a man ABOUT MIN
certainly very little likeness to Chrlstlan
man. did think, on close lnspecuon, !hat
there was some faint outlines OF such like
ness. l did not quite like to give
up that there were none.
The active use OF an engine famous lot put
ting out fires Of this kind called the lively
oracles" soon subcued the flames. The DIS
cipie had not suffered much up to this point,
for the heat had very much blunted his SEN
sibilities but as he now began to look ABOUT
him. and especially upon himself, and began
to see in what a blaze he had been ana What
little there was left of hisgoodly apparel, then
did sensibility return, and it was clear that
some of the finest and most tender nerves OF
his moral nature had felt the violence OF the
fire; and he wept bitterly.
Inuuiring about the matter, learned that
he had aforetime carried large quantity Oh
explosive powder about him called PASSION,
but he had not obeyed the great Captains or
der 10 pitch the whole of it overheard, ana
there was enough for u stray spark 10 lail
UPON and DO mischief. Such spark came
. that way. hence the blaze above described;
I could not but think Of the contrast thls
disciple in q blaze made with some others
had read of. The Apostle Paul took fire while
ON iOurnev to Damascus, and when near
that city, The people tried to put the hre
out. The Scribes ran with their buckets, ana
the PhariSeeS turned out with all their en-
rines; the Romans and the Greeks did their
best to put out the love and zeal that was con-
sumirg him. And Satan himself took the
lead Of the whole and most skillfully and
flercely sat every species Of agency at work,
but the blazing Apostle to their Infinite shame
and discomfort kept on blazing.
And was deeply interested to learn that
Paul's apparel instead of being scorched or de-
stroyed by the blaze, as in the case OF the dis
ciple above only become the more comely
and beautiful. / have heard OF garments.
made Of the tibres of stone called asbestos,
which are clearsed by fire Pauls must have
been like those. And il was noticed that the
longer the fire burned-and it was visible
more than thirty years-the more did he. who
was on fire show himself. not heap OF
blackened ruins, but beautiful temple, COM
pact by that which every joint suppieth. the
wonder and Joy OF all the saints. The FIRE
men Of those days thought they should put
out the fire by killing him. but his sun went
down in a blaze Of glory, and shines still,
and will forever, as the brightness Of the
armament.
Satan, as We have seen. tried to put out
Paul when he got on fire. He had no objec-
tior to q mans being in blaze, provided he
may determine the kind Of fire. Paurs fire
did not suit him. So he hastened to put him
out. The disciples fire noticed above suited
him, and he did his best to increase the fuel
and the tiercenesso Of the blaze. So that Satan
puts out fire or puts it up to greater intensity
according to its character. He would extin-
guish every spark of the holy love there is in
the universe, if he could. But as to the fires
of hateful passion. no skill or power of his
shall be wanting to make them blaze in ut.
most iierceness.
trust shall not see another disciple in
blaze--such blaze as the one j have beer
describing, and whose apparel was so badly
ruined. But should like to see more fire.
queEtly such blaze as Holy Love can kindle
in the human heart. This is even a better
sight than tho burning bush, Moses saw
which burned and yet was moi consumed. Sc
saints. burning with love. are not consumed.
Il is the best possible evidence that they shall
live and DC blessed forever From the New
York Observer.