The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-11-09

. jan celebration. where ten thousant
gladiators fought, and eleven thou
sand wild beasts were slain, was no
SO terrific struggle as that which a
this moment goes on in many soul
That combat was for the life of tn,
body; this Is for the life of the soul
That was with wild beasts from tn,
jungle; this is with the roaring lior
of hell.
Men think. when they contend agains
an evil habit, that they have to fight il
all alone. Mol They stand in the cen
ter Of an immense circle of sympathy
Paul had been reciting the names o.
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah
Isaac. Joseph, Gideon and Baralx, and
then says: Being compassed about
with so great a cloud of Witnesses
Before l get through, i will show
you that You fight in an arena, around
which circle, in galleries above each
other. all the kindling eyes and all the
sympathetic hearts of the ages, and at
every victory gained there comes down
the laundering applause of great
multitude that no man can number.
Being comprised about with SO great
q cloud of witnesses"
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day of celebra-
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 I
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 smpa :
thies 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 notl will help thee! 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 now slow
ly, and that for longer time the peo-
pie 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 part.
Once, in the ancient amphitheater, a
lion with one paw caught the COM
batant's 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 gal
lery, said: THAT was not fair; the
lion must be slain by a sword. I"
Other lions We're turned out, and
the poor victim fell. You cry:
"Shame! shame" at such mean
ness. But the .King, in this case, is
our brother, and lie will see that we
have fair play. He will forbid the
rushing out of more lions than we can
meet; He will rot suffer us to be
tempted above that we are able.
Thank God! The King is in the gall
| lery! His eyes are on us. His heart
is with us. blessed are all they who
put their trust in Him."
l look again, and l see the angelic
gallery. There they are; tho 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 the splendor is
| insuffcrable Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched u patrarch;
this one protected a child. That one
has been pulling a soul out of tempta-
ton! All these are messengers of light!
Those drove the Spanish Armada on
the rocks. This turned Senna-
cherib's living hosts into heap
of one hundred and eighty-Gve
thousand 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 serenad-
ed the newborn world wrapped in
swaddling clothes of light. And there,
holier and mightier than all is Michael,
the archangel. To command an earth
ly host gives dignity; but this one is
leader of leader of the twenty thou
sand 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-
phim, and the seraphim to the cher
ubim, until all the lower orders of
Heaven hear the command, and go
forth on the high behest.
Though the arena be crowded with
temptations, we shall, with the an
gelic help, strike them down in the
name of our God. and leap on their
fallen carcasses. Oh, bending throny
of bright, angelic faces, and swift
wings and lightning foot! hail you,
to-day, from the dust and struggle of
the arena!
look again. and I 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
NIL the world to come into the ark;
and Moses, waiting till the last Red
sea shall divide; and jeremiah, wait
ing 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
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