The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-11-01

so great cloud OF witnesses.
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day of a celeb bra
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 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 en-
peror sat, with folded arms, indiffer-
ent as to whether the Swordsman or
the lion beat; but our Kings sympa-
thies are 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
not! will help thee! 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 or Sorrows bore a part.
Once, in the ancient amphitheater, a
lion with one paw caught the com bat
ants sword, and with the 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
and the poor victim fell. You cry.
SHANE! Shame!" at such .meanness.
But the King. in this case. is our
brother. and He will see that we have
fair play. He viii forbid the rushing
out of more lions than we can meet;
lie will not suffer Us To he 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 Him
look again. and | 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 tine splendor is
insuffera BILE. Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched patriarch;
this one protected child. That one
haL mi mo Of
ton. All these arr ;uhSSerrers of
light! Those drove the Spanish
Armada on the rocks This turned
Sennacherib's living hosts into a
heap of one hundred and eighty
five thousand cOrpses. Those, yon.
der. chanted the Christmas carol over
Bethlehem, until the chant awolle the
shepherds. These, at creation. stood
in the balcony of Heaven, and serenad-
ed the new born world wrapped in
swaddling clothes of light And there,
holier and mightier than all, is Mi
chael. the archangeL TO command an
earthly host gives dignity: but this
one is leader of the twenty Thousand
chariots of God, and of ten thousand
times ten thousand angels | 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
command. and 90 forth on the high be-
hest.
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 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 tempta-
tions. we shall, with the angelic help,
strike them down in the name of our
God. and leap on their fallen carcassesr
look again and see the gallery of
the prophets and apostles. Who are
those mighty ones up yonder9 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 divide: and Jeremiah. waiting for
the Jews to return: and John, of the
Apocalypse. waiting for the swearing
of the angel that Time shall be no
| longer. Glorious spirits, Ye were
| howled at; We were stoned; We were
spit upon, They have been in the
fight themselves. and they are all with
us Daniel knows all about lions
Paul fought with beasts at Ephesus.
In the ancient amphitheater the peO-
pie got so excited that they would
Shout from the galleries to the men in
the arena: AT it again." ''Forward~
lone more stroke" Look out-' Fall
back .'Huzza! huzza." So in that
gallery, prophetic and apostolic, they
cannot keep their peace. Daniel cries
out: Thy God will deliver thee from
the mouth of the lions David eX-
claims: He will not suffer thy foot
to be moved Isaiah calls out: Fear
not, I am with thee. BE not dis
mayed" Paul exclaims: Victory
| through our Lord Jesus Christ" That
throng of prophets and apostles can
not keep still. They make the welkin
ring with shouting and hallelujahs.
look again, and I see the gallery of
the martyrs Who is that? Hugh
Latimer, sure enough. He would not
apologize for the truth preached; and
so he died, the night before. swinging
from the bedpost in perfect glee at the
| thought of emancipation. Who are that
army of 1905? They are the Theban
legion who died for the faith. Here is
larger host in magnificent array