The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-16

& see none so fair. be uViu lllis - a6tA
ones: for he only can shine through the
I dimaess Of your failing eyesight. Behold
him. earth Behold him, heaven What
I a moment when all the nations Of the
( saved shall gather around Christ! All
faces that way. All thrones that way, gaz-
{ ing on Jesus.
/ His worth If all the nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love him. too
pass on now. and look at Stephen
Z stoned The world has always wanted 10
/ get rid of good men. Their very life is an
Z assault upon wickedness. out with Ste
phen through the gates of the city Down
I with him over the precipices. Let every
man come up and drop a stone upon his
head. But these men did not so much XIII
Stephen as they killed themselves. Every
stone rebounded upon them. While these
/ murderers were transixed by the scorn
I of all good men. stephen lives in the adj
+ miratlou of all Christendom. Stephen
+ stoned bur Stephen alive. So all good men
must be pelted. 'tAll who will live gOdly in
I Christ Jesus must suffer persecution" 1t
I is no eulogy OF a man to say that every
I body likes him Show me any one who Is
+ doing all his duty TO state or church, and
+ / will show you scores of men who utterly
abnor him.
II all men speak well of you. it is be-
cause you are either a laggard or dolt.
If steamer makes rapid progress through
the waves, the water viii boil and foam
all around H. Brave soldiers of Jesus
Christ viii hear the carbines click. When
l see a man with voice, and money. and
influence all on the right side and some
caricature him, and some sneer at him,
and some denounce him, and men who
pretend to be actuated by right motives
conspire TO cripple him, to cast him out,
TO destroy him. 1 say, stephen stoned"
When l see a man in some great moral
or religious reform battling against grog-
uhs freh
active means trying TO purify the church
and better the worlds estate, and find
that the Newspapers anathematize him,
and men, even good men, oppose him and
denounce him, because though he does
good, he does not do it I'm their way, /
say, stephen stoned" But you notice,
my friends, that while they assaulted
Stephen they did not succeed really in
killing him. You may assault a good man
but you cannot kill him. On the day of his
death, Stephen spoke before few people
in the Sanhedrim; this sabbath morning
he addresses all Christendom. Paul the
apostle stood on Mars Hin addressing a
handful of philosophers who knew not so
much about science as modern school
girl To-day he talks to all the millions of
Christendom about the wonders of justi-
hcation 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 to-day, in all lands, he is ad-
mitted TO be the great father of Metho-
dsm. Booths bullet vacated the Presi-
Dental chair; but from that spot of CO.
agulated blood on the floor in the box of
Ford's theater there sprang up the new
life of a nation Stephen stoned, but Ste
phen 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 become of his body. His first
thought was about his spirit. Lord Je-
sus receive my spirit" The murderer
standing on the trap door, the black cap
being drawn over his head before the exc
cution, may grimace about the future
but you and have no shame in confessing
some anxiety about where we are going
to come out You are not all body. There
is within you a soul l see ii CLEAN
from your eyes to-day, and / see 1t trad
iating your countenance. Sometimes l
am abashed before an audience, not be-
cause / come under your physical eye
sight, but because l realize the truth that
| stand before so many immortal spirits.
The probability is that your body will at
| least find a sepulcher in some of the
cemeteries that surround this city. There
is no doubt but that your obsequies will
be decent and respectful, and you viii be
able to pillow your head under the ma
I
or the poisoning fir; but this spirit about
which Stephen prayed, what direction win
that take? What guide will escort it?
What gate will open to receive it?
What. cloud will be cleft for it's path
way? After it has got beyond the light
of our sun. will there be torches lighted
| for II the rest of the way?
WIN the soul have to travel through
/ long deserts before IL reaches the good
land? If we should lose our pathway, will
/ there be a castle at whose gate we may
| ask the way to the city? Oh, this mys-
/ terious spirit within us! 1t has two wings,
! but 1t Is in a cage now. 1t is locked fast
10 keep it; but let the door of this cage
/ open the least and that soul is off Ea-
! gle's wings could not catch it.
/ The lightnings are not swift enough
to come up with it. When the
soul leaves the body 1t takes fifty worlds
/ at bound. And have / no anxiety about
| it? Have you no anxiety about it?
do not care what you do with my body
when my soul is gone, or whether you
| believe in cremation or inhumation. 1
/ shall sleep just as well in a wrapping of
sackcloth as in satin lined with eagles
| down. But my soul-before l close this
discourse l will find out where it will land.
| Thank God for the intimation of my text
| that when we die Jesus takes us. That
! answers all questions for me. What
though there We're massive bars between
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
omnipotent 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 a 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
feeble even to say the infant prayer
our mothers taught u.s. which John Quincy
Adams, 70 years of age. said every night
when he put his head upon his pillow:
Now l lay me down to sleep,
/ 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 earnest, is SO comprehensive, we sure
ly viii be able to say that: Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit" Oh, if that prayer
is answered, how sweet 1t viii be to die!
This world is clever enough to u.s. Per-
] hsarn . hos eaa