Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-09-20

tion for all slaves Tell me, ye who
know most of the worlds history what
other king ever asked the abandoned,
and the forlorn, and the wretched, and
the outcast to come and sit beside him?
Oh, wonderful invitation You can take
it today and stand at the head Of the
darkest alley in all this city and say:
"Comei Clothes for your rags, salve for
your sores, throne for your eternal
reigning." A Christ that talks like that
and acts like that and pardons like
that-do you wonder that Stephen stood
looking at him? Ihope to spend eternity
doing the same thing. l must see him.
l must look upon that face once clouded
with my sin, but now radiant with my
pardon. want to touch that hand that
knocked off my shackles. want to hear
the voice that pronounced my deliver
ance. Behold him, little children, for
il you live to threescore years and ten
you will see none so fair. Behold him,
We aged ones, for he only can shine
through the dimness of your failing eye
sight. Behold him, earth. Behold him,
heaven. What a moment when all the
nations Of the saved shall gather around
Christ All faces that way. All thrones
that way, gazing on Jesus.
His worth IL all the nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love him too.
Stoned by the World.
pass on now and look at Stephen
stoned. The world has always wanted
to get rid Of good men. Their very life
is an assault upon wickedness. Out
with Stephen through the gates of the
city. Down with him over the preci
pices. Let every man come up and drop
a stone upon his head. But these men
did not so much kill Stephen as they
killed themselves. Every stone re-
bounded upon them. While these muir
derers are transfxed by the scorn Of
all good men Stephen lives in the ad
miration Of all Christendom. Stephen
stoned, but Stephen alive. So all good
men must be pelted. "All who will
live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer
persecution. 1t is no eulogy Of man
to say that everybody likes him Show
me any one who is doing all his duty
to state or church. and l will show you
scores Of men who utterly abhOr him.
If all men speak well Of you, it Is
because you are either a laggard or a
dolt. If a steamer makes rapid progress
through the waves, the water will boil
and foam all around it. Brave soldiers
Of Jesus Christ will hear the carbines
click. When I see man with voice
and money and influence all on the
right side, and some caricature him,
and some sneer at him, and some de-
nounce him, and men who pretend to
be actuated by right motives cOnsplre
to cripple him, to cast him out, to de-
stroy him, say, "Stephen stoned"
When I see a man in some great
moral or religious reform battling
against grogshops, exposing wickedness
in high places, by active means trying
to purify the church and better the
worlds estate, and find that the news
papers anathematize him, and men,
even good men, oppose him and de-
nounco him because, though he does
good, he does not do it IN their way, l
say, "Stephen stoned" But you notice,
my friends, that while they assaulted
Stephen they did not succeed really IN
killing him. You may assault good
man, but you cannot kill him. On the
day of his death Stephen spoke before
few people in the sanhedrin. This
Sabbath morning he addresses Christen-
dom. Paul, the apostle, stood on Mars
hill addressing a handful Of philoso-
pliers who knew not so much about
science as a modern schoolgirl. Today
he talks to all the millions Of Christen-
dom about the wonders Of justification
and the glories of resurrection. John
Wesley was howled down by the mob to
whom he preached, and they threw
bricks at him, and they denounced him,
and they jostled him, and they spat
upon him, and yet today, in all lands,
he is admitted to be the great father OF
Methodism. Booths bullet vacated the
presidential chair, but from that spot OF
coagulated blood ON the floor in the box
Of Fords theater there sprang up the
new life of a nation. Stephen stoned,
but Stephen alive.
A Dying Prayer.
Pass on now and see Stephen in his
dying prayer. His first thought was not
how the stones hurt his head, nor what
would become of his body. His first
thought was about his spirit Lord
Jesus receive my spirit " The murderer
standing on the trapdoor, the black cap
being drawn over his head before the
execution, may grimace about the fu-
ture, but you and l have no shame i'll
confessing some anxiety about where we
are going to come out. You are not all
body. There is within you soul see
it CLEAN from your eyes today, and see
il irradiating your countenance. Some
times l am abashed before an audience,
not because come under your physical
eyesiQht, but because l realize the truth
| tnAb blduu DtlOlt oo many AAAAHDA 49,
spirits. The probability is that your
body will at last find sepulcher IN
some Of the cemeteries that surround
this city. There is no doubt that
your obsequies will be decent and re-
spectful, and you will be able to pillow
your head under the maple, or the Nor
way spruce, or the cypress, or the bios
soming fir, but this spirit about which
Stephen prayed, what direction will
that take? What guide will escort it'
What gate will open to receive 1t! What
cloud will be cleft for its spathway? Aft
er it has got beyond the light Of our sun
will there be torches lighted for 1t the
rest of the way?
Will the soul have TO travel through
long deserts before it reaches the good
land? II we should lose our pathway
will there be stle at whose gate we
may ask the way to the city? Oh, this
mysterious spirit within us 1t has two
wings, but it is in a cage now. II Is
locked fast to keep it, but let the door