Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-11-02

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 tie
laundering applause of a great multi
tude that no man can number. being
compassed about with so great cloud
of witnesses. y
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater. ON the day of celebra-
tion, sat Tiherius, or Augustus, or the
reigning king. So in the great arena Of
spectators that watch our struggles. and
in the first divine gallery. Us shall call
it, sits our king, one Jesus. On his head
are many crownsl The Roman emperor
got his place by cold blooded conquests,
but our king hath come 10 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 / 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 mott / viii help thee l
will strengthen thee by the right hand
of my poweri'
They gave to the men in the arena,
in the olden time, food TO thicken theip
blood, so that il would flow slowly, and
that for longer time the people might
gloat over tie scene. But our king has
no pleasure i'll 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 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 end slew the
beast. The king, sitting in the gallery,
said: "That was not fair. The lion
must be slain by a sword. Other lions
We're turned out, and the poor victim
fell You cry, SHANE, shamer" at
such meannoss But the king. in this
case, is our brother, aud he will see
that we have fair play. He will forbid
the rushing cut 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.
II s hand will deliver us blessed are
all they who put their trust in himl''
The Angelic Gallery.
/ look again, and see the angelic
gallery. There they are--the angel that
swung the sword at the gate of Eden.
tho same that Ezekiel saw upholdinQ
the throne of Gcd, ard from which !
look away. for the splendor is insuffer-
able. Here are the guardian angels.
That one watched patriarch; this one
protected 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 Sennacheribs living hosts
into heap of 1876, 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, 900 chariots of God and Of the
ten thousand times ten thousand angels.
/ think God gives command to the arch
angel, and the archangel to the sera-
phini, and the seraphim to the cheIuhim,
| until all the lower orders of heaven hear
the command and 80 forth On the high
behest
Now bring on your lionsl 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 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 crow j with
temptations, we shall, with the angelic
help, strike them down in the name OF
our God and leap on their fallen car
cases Oh, bending throng Of bright,
angelic faces and swift wings and light
ming foot, j hail you today from tho
dust and struggle Of the arenal
| look again. and 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, ws:tiDg for the swearing Of the
angel that time shall be no longer.
| Glorious spirits Ye were howled at yt
were stoned; ye were spit nponi They
have been in the fight themselves, and
they are all with us. Daniel knows al
sbcut lions. Paul fought with beasts at
Ephesus.
The Applause Of the Prophets.
In the ancient amphitheater the poo
pie got SO excited that they would shout
from the galleries to the men in tho
arena: AT it againi" Forward y
cone more stroke p Look out r. Fall
baekF' "Huzzal Huzzai'' So in that
gallery, prophetic and apostolic, they
cannot keep their peace. Daniel cries
out, "Thy God will deliver thee from
the month Of the lionsi" David ex'
claims, "He win not suffer thy foot ts
be movedr" Isaiah calls ont: ''Feal
not / am with theel Be not dis
mayedl'' Paul exclaims, Victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ = Tha
throng of prophets and apostles canno
keep still. They make the welkin rint
with shouting and halleluiahs
/ look again and see the gallery O
the martyrs. Who is that? Hugh Lati
mer, sure enoughl He would not apollo
gize for the truth preached, and so b.
died, the night before swinging from
the bedpost in perfect glee at the though
Of emancipation. Who are that army d
6,GG6s They are the Theban Legion
who died for the faith. Here is. large
host in magnificent array-8S4. 000--
who persisted for Christ in the persecu
tons Of Diocletian. Yonder is famil,
group-Felicitas Of Rome and her chill
I dren. While they were dying for tn
; faith she stood encouraging them. On
s,x, 4r-au ~rhf~.r,ed 20 Hath hr- fhoff,a