The Penn's Grove record., 1895-09-20
NUMBER 9

| stoned.
When I see a man in some great moral OF
religious reform battling against Rrogshops,
exposing wickedness in high places. by
active means trying to purify the church and
peter the worlds estate, and l find that the
newspapers mathematics him, and men,
even good meE. oppose him and denounct
1im because, though he does good, he DOS
not do 1t in their way, 1 say. ''Stephep
stoned" But you notice, my friends. that
while they assaulted Stephen they did moi
succeed reallyin killing him. You may as
sault a good man, but you cannot kill him.
On the day of his death Stephen spoke be.
lore a few people in the sanhedrin. This
Sabbath morning he addresses Christen.
iOm. Paul, the apostle, stood on Mars
hill addressing a handful of philosophers
who knew not so much about science as a
modern schoolgirl. To-day he talks to all
the millions Of Christendom about the won.
ders of justification and the glories Of the
resurrection. John Wesley was howled
down by the pnb to whom he PREACHED, and
they threw bricks at him, and they de.
nounced him. and they jostled him, and
they spat upon him. and yet to-day. 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
Ford's Theatre there spranG up the new life
of a Nation. Stephen stoned, but StepheD
alive.
Pass on now and see Stephen in his dyinL
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 en- the trap
door, the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grimaee
about the future, but you and l have nc
shame in confessing some anxiety abou.
where we are going to come out. You are
| mot oil hnHy Tbnra iG within Won a cOul
| see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day, and ]
! see it irradiatlng your countenance. Some
times l am abashed before an audience,
not because 1 come under o u physical
eyesight, but because l realize the truth
that 1 stand before so many immortal
spirits. The probability Is that your body
will at last find a sepulcher in some of the
cemeteries that surround this city. There "a
no doubt that your obsequies will be decent
and respectful. and you will be able to pillow
your head under the maple, or the Norway
spruce. or the cypress, or the blossomlnS fir,
but this spirit about which Stephen prayed,
what direction will that take? What guide
will escort it2 What gate will open to re.
ceiveit? What cloud will be cleft for Its
/ pathway? After 1t has got beyond the light
of our sun will there be torches lighted for
1t the rest of the way?
viii the soul have to travel through Ions
deserts before 1t reaches the good land2 Il
we should lose our pathway will there be
castle at whose gate we may ask the waYfc
the city? Oh, this mysterious spirit within
us! 1t has two wings. but 1t is in a cagenow.
1t is locked fast to keep 1t, but let the door
of this cage open the least, and that soul is
on. Eagles wing could not catch 1t. The
lightnings are not swift enough to come uI
with it. When the soul leaves the body II
takes fifty worlds Mt a bound. And have ]
no anxiety about it, Have you no anxiety
about IT.
7 40 mot oora u.boE ,~a,, Ia With n haJ,
when my soul is gone. or whether you be-
lieye in cremation or inhumation. l shall
sleep Just as well in u wrapping Of sackclotl
as in satin lined with eagles down. But my
soul-befOre | close this discourse I will find
out where 1t will land. Thank God for the
intimation 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. WhaI
though there were great Saharas o.
darkness, Jesus could Hume them,
What though l get weary on the way, Chris
could lift me on His omnipotent shoulder.
What though there were ehasms to cross
His hand could transport me. Then lei
Stephens prayer be my dying litany. "Lord
Jesus. receive my spirit" 1t may be in that
hour we will be too feeble to say a long
prayer. 1t may be in that hour we will moi
be able to say the Lords Prayer. for it has
seven petitions. Perhaps We may be too fee.
BILE even to say the infant prayer our mothers
taught us, which John Quincy Adams, sew.
enty years of age. said every night when h.
put his head upon his pillow:
Now 1 lay me down to sleep,
l pray the Lord my soul to keep.
We may 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, II that prayer is answered, how
sweet it will be to die! This world Is clever
enough to US. Perhaps 1t has treated us q
great deal better than wo deserved to be
treated, but If on hedging pillowthere shall
break the light of that better world we shall
have no more regret than about leaving a
Bmall, dark, damp house for one large, beau.
liful and capacious. That dying minister III
Philadelphia, some years ago, beautifully
depicted it when, in the last moment, he
threw up his hands and cried out, ~ move
into the light!'
/ have seen the sea driven with the hurri.
zane until the tangled foam caught in the
rigging, and wave rising above wave seemed
As il about to storm the heavens, and then !
have seen the tempest drop, and the waves
crouch, and everything become smooth and
Furnished as though a camping place for the
klories of heaven. SO / have seen a MAJ
whose life has been tossed and driven com.
ing down at last to an infinite calm in which
here was a hush Of heavens lullaby,
Stephen asleep!
against poverty and against abuse. They
raduced his name. They ratified at the
loorknob while he was dying with duns for
iepts he could not pay. Yet the peace OF
God brooded over his pillow, and while the
world faded heaven dawned. and the deep
sning twilight of earth's night was only the
opening twilight OF heavens morn. Not a
Ugh. Not n tear. Not a struggle. Hush
Stephen asleep.
Ihave not the faculty as many have to tell
The weather. l can never tell by the setting
sun whether there will be a drought or not.
/ cannot tell by the blowing of the vino
whether 1t will be fair weather or foul on the
morrow. But l can prophesy and l will
prophesy h weather 1t will be when you,
he Christian, come to die. You may have
i very rough now. Itmay be this week one
annoyance, the next another annoyance. II
may be this year one bereavement, the next
Rnother bereavement. But at the last Christ
will come in, and darknes will go out. And
though there may be no hand to close your
Eyes, and no breast on which to rest your
dying head, and no candle to lift the night,
the odors Of Gods hanging garden will re-
gale your soul, and at your bedside will halt
the chAriots Of the king. No more rents to
pay, no more agony because lour has gone
up, nj more struggle with ''the world. the
aesh and the devil" but p~eace-long, deep.
everlasting peace. Stephen Rsleepl
Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep;
Acalm and undisturbed repose,
Uninjured by the last of foes.
Asleep in Jesus, far from thee
Thy kindred and thy graves may be,
But there is still a blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep.
You have seen enough for one dav. No
,ne can successfully examine more than five
pictures in a day. Therefore we stop, hav-
-ng seen this cluster Of divine Raphaels-
stephen gazing into heaven, StephenIooking
1t Christ, Stephen stoned, stephen in his
lying prayer. Stephen asleep.
1t has been positively demonstrated