Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-09-27

On the DAY or MS uedtn DtOP"S", nut
fore a few people in the sanhedrin. ms
sabbath morning he addresses Christen-
lom. Paul. the apostle, stood on mars
hill addressing a handful of philosophers
who knew not so much about science as -
modern schoolgirl. To-day he talks 10 ab
jhe millions of ChristendOm about the Won
1ers of justification and the glorles OF the
resurrection. John Wesley was howlea
down by the mob to whom he preached, ana
they threw bricks at him, and they de
nounced him. AMI they iostled MN, anu
they spat upon him. and yet to-day, ia al
lands, he is admitted TO be the great IatneI
of Methodism. Booths bullet vacated 'ne
Presidential chair, but from that spot OF
coagulated blood on the floor in the box OF
Fords Theatre there spran6 up the new life
of a Nation. Stephen stoned, but stephen
alive.
Pass On now and see Stephen in his dying
prayer His first thought was not how the
stones hurt his head. nor what would be-
come of his body. His first thought was
about his spirit. "Lord Jesus receive my
spirit" The murderer standing on the trap
door; the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grimace
about the future, but you and l have no
shame in 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 to-day, and L
see it irradiating your countenance. Some
times L ahashed before an audience.
not because come under your physical
eyesight. but because l realize the truth
that I stand before so many immortal
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 respectful. and you will be able TO pliioW
vour head under the maple, or the Norway
spruce. or the cypress, or the poisoning HI'
hut this spirit about which Stephen prayed,
what direction will that take? What gulde
will escort in What gate will open to re-
ceiveit? What cloud will be cIeft LOT It's
pathway? After it has got beyond me iight
of our sun will there be torches hgnteo lor
1t the rest of the way?
Will the soul have TO travel through long
deserts before it reaches the good landI Ii
iva should lose our pathway will there be
castle at whose gate we may ask the way 10
the CITY? Oh. this mysterious spirit WITHIN
usl 1t has two wings, but 1t is in cage now.
It is locked fast to keep it, but let the door
of this cage open the least, and that soul is
off. Eagles wing could not catch it. The
lghtnings are not swift enough to come up
with it, When the soul leaves the body 1t
takes fifty worlds ut bound. And have
no anxiety about it? Have you no anxiety
about il?
l do not care what you do with my body
when my soul is gone. or whether you pc
leve in cremation or Illumination. shall
sleep just as well in wrapping OF sackcloth
as in satin lined with eagles down. But my
soul-berore close this discourse will find
out where it will lan1. Thank God for the
ntimation of my text that when we die
Jesustakes us. That answers all questions
for me- What though there were massive
bars between here and the City OF Light,
Jesus could remove them. What
though there were great Saharas OF
darkness, Jesus could illume them.
What though l get weary on the way, Christ
could lift me on His omniDotent shoulder.
What though there were chasms to cross,
His hand could transport me. Then let
Stephens prayer be my dying litany, Lord
Jesus. receive my spirit" 1t may be in that
hour we will be too feeble to say Il long
PRAYER. 1t may be in that hour we will not
be able to say the Lords Prayer. for it has
seven petitions. Perhaps we may be too lee
BILE even to say the infant prayer our mothers
taught us, which John Quincy Adams, sew
enty years of age, said every night when he
/ put his head upon his pillow:
Now lay me down to sleep,
l pray the Lord my soul to keep.
We NAV be too feeble to employ either OF
these familiar forms, but this prayer OF
| Stephen is so short, is so concise, is so earn
est, is so comprehensive, we surely will be
| able to say that, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit" Oh, if that prayer is answered, how
| sweet it will be to die This world is clever
enough TO us. Perhaps it has treated us
| great deal better than we deserved 10 be
| treated, but if on the dying pillow there shall
| break the light of that better world we shall
have no more regret than about leaving a
| small. dark, damp house for one large, beau
| tiful and capacious. That dying minister in
Philadelphia, some years ago, beautifully
| depicted it when. in the last moment, he
| threw up MS hands and cried out, 81 move
into the light"
Pass on now, and l will show you one
more picture, aud that is Stephen asleep
| With a pathos and simplicity peculiar to the
| Scriptures the text says of Stephen, HE fell
asleep ooh" you say, "what place that
was to sleep A hard rock under him,
stones falling down upon him. the blood
streaming, the mob bowling. What place
it was to Sleep And yet my text takes that
symbol OF slumber to describe his departure,
go sweet WAS it. SO contented was it, 50
peaceful was it. Stephen had lived very
| iaberious life. His chief work had been to
care for the poor. How many loaves OF
breal he had distributed, how many bare
| feet he had sandaled, how many cots OF sick
| ness and distress he had blessed with minis
| tries of kindness and love, do not know.
| Yet from the way he lived, and the way he
preached, and the way he died, L know ne
was a aborous Christian. But that IS all
over now. He has pressed thu cup to the
| last fanting lip. He has taken the last IN
suit from his en9nies. the last stone 10
whose crushing weight he is sus'ep,ibie ha,
been hurled. Stephen is dead! The ais
ciples come. They take him up. They wash
away the blood from the wounds. Iney
straighten out the bruise limbs. Ihsy
! brush back the tangled hair from the brow
and then they pass around to look upon the
calm countenance Of him who had lived fol
the poor AMI died for the truth. SteQhel
asleep!
7 have seen the sea driven with the hurrl
| cane until the tangled foam caught Ill INT
| rigging, and wave rising above wavs seemed
as if about to storm the heavens, and then
have seen the tempest drop, aud the waves
crouch. and everything become smooth anf
FURNISHED as though camping place for tn
glories of heaven. 50 | have seen mar
whose life has been tossed and driven com
ing down at last to an infinite calm in wbicf
there was hush OF heavens lullaby
Stephen asleep!
[ saw such 4 one. He fought all his day:
against poverty and against abuse. They
traducei his name. They ratified at tb'
door2nob while he was dying with duns fol
dents he could not pay. Yet the peace o
God Erooded over his pillow, and while thu
world faded heaven dawned. and the deep
ening twilight OF earth's night was only TN
onening twilight Of heavens morn. Not
Sigh. Not n tear. Not a struggle. Hush
Stephen asleep.
have not the faculty as many have 10 tel