Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-11-01


Men think, when they contend against
an evil habit, that they have to fight il
all alone. mol They stand in the center
Of an immense circle Of sympathy. Pau
had been reciting the names Of Abel,
Enoch Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,
Joseph, Gideon and Barak and then
says, "Being compassed about with SC
great a cloud Of witnesses" "
A Cloud of Witnesses.
Before l get through 1 will show you
that you fight in an arena around which
circle, in galleries above each other, all
the kindling eyes and all the sympa-
thetic hearts Of the ages, and at every
victory gained there comes down the
laundering applause Of a great multi
tude that no man can number. "Being
compassed about with so great a cloud
Of witnesses. "
On the first elevation Of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day Of z celebra-
tion, 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 1 shall call
it, sits 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
swordsman or the lion beat, but our
kings sympathies are all with Us. Nay,
unheard Of condescensions l see him
come down from the gallery into the
arena to help US in the fight, shouting,
until all up and down his voice is
heard: Fear not! I will help theel l
will strengthen thee by the right hand
Of my power -
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 his flesh, blood
Of his blood
In all the anguish Of our heart,
The Man Of Sorrows bore q part.
Once, in the ancient amphitheater, 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 gallery,
said: "That was not fair. The lion
must be slain by a sword" Other lions
were turned out, aud the poor victim
fell. You cry, "Shame, sbamep at
such meanness. But the king, in this
case, is our brother, and he will see
that we have fair 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 deliver Us. blessed are
all they who put their trust in himW
The Angelic Gallery.
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 upholding
the throne Of God, and from which l
look away, for the splondor is insuffer-
able. Here are the guardian angels.
That one watched a patriarch; this one
protected a child that one has been
pulling a soul out Of temptation All
these are messengers Of light. Those
drove the Spanish armada on the rocks.
This turned Sennacherib's living hosts
into a heap Of 1s5, 900 corpses. Those
yonder chanted the Christmas carol over
Bethlehem until the chant awoke the
shepherds. 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 20, 600 chariots Of God and Of the
ten thousand times ten thousand angels.
think God gives command to the arch
angel, and the a1changel to the sera-
phim, and the seraphim to the cherubim,
until all the lower orders of heaven hear
the command and 90 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
mp in their hands, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread
upon the lion and adder; the young lion
and the dragon shalt thou trample under
foot.
Though the arena be crowded with
temptations, we shall, with the angelic
help, strike them down in the name Of
our God and leap on their fallen car
casses Oh, bending throng Of bright,
angelic faces and swift wings and light
ming foot, hail you today from the
dust and struggle Of tho arenal
l look again, and l see the gallery Of
the prophets and apostles. Who are
those mighty ones up yonder? Hosea
and jeremiah and Daniel and Isaiah and
Paul and Peter and John and James.
There sits Noah, waiting for all the
world to come into the ark, and Moses,
waiting till the last Red sea shall di-
vide, and jeremiah, waiting for the
Jews to return, and John Of the Apoc-
alypse, waiting for the swearing Of the
angel that time shall be no longer.
Glorious spirits Ye were howled at; ye
were stoned; ye were spit uponl They
have been in the fight themselves, and
they are all with us Daniel knows all
about lions. Paul fought with beasts at
Ephesus.
The Applause Of the Prophets.
In the ancient amphitheater the peo-
pie got so excited that they would shout
from the galleries to the men in the
arena: "At D againw Forward ~
Zone more stroke Z" Look out % Fall
baclzl" "Huzza Huzzaw So in that
gallery, prophetic and apostolic, they
cannot keep their peace. Daniel cries
out, "Thy God will deliver thee from
tho month Of the liOnsp' David ex-