The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-10-11

/
i Bat these men did not ao much Kan stephen
/ aa they killed themselves Every stone rH-
/ bounded upon them. While these mnwlertra
| are tfanlnFHd by tho ao0ru of hN good mFn
| Stephen lives Iu the admiration ol all Chris
| tendon. stephen stoned, but stephen alive.
| So all good men must be peted. "All who
viii i've cody On Christ Jesus must suffer
! persecution" 10 q no oulogy of 20 man &C.
| say that everybody likes him. show me
any one who Is doing all his duty 90 state
OF church, and / will show y0u scores Of men
| who utterly abhOr him.
II 81 men speak we'll Of you. q is because
| vgu are either "a lageard or q d0lt ia
| steamer makes mpid progress through the
| waves the water viii boil and foam all
around H. Bravo soldiers OF Jesus Christ
| will hear tho cHrbluHs click. When / see q
man with voice and money and influence all
on the right sldo and some caHcature him.
! and some sheer Ht him, aud some denounco
him. and men who pretend 90 Doe aotuated by
| right motives c1nspirH 20 cripple him. 90 east
him out. 10 destroy hlm, / say, "5tephen
| ston0i."
When soc man 10 some great moral or
| religious reform battling against grogshops
exposing wickedness in high places. by
active means trying 20 purify the church and
better the worlds estate aud find that the
newspapers mathematics him, and men.
even good meE, oppose him and denounce
| him because. though he does good. ho does
not do Il in their way, ! say, "Stephen
stoned" But you notice, my friends that
while they assaulted Stephen they did not
succeed reallyin killing him. You may as
| Flult good man, but you cannot KIN him.
On the day Of his death Stephen spoke be-
fore few people In the sanhedrin. This
Sabbath morning no addresses Chrlsten-
dom. Paul, the apostle stood on Mars
bill addressing n handful OF philosophers
who know not 80 much about science as u
modern schoolgirl. To-day he talks 20 all
the millions OF Chrlstendom about the Won
ders OF justification and the glories Of the
resurrection. John Wesley was howled
down by the mob 10 whom he preached, aud
they threw bricks at him, and they de-
nounced him, and they iostled him, and
they spat upon him, aud 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 oil
Ford's Theatre there spranL up the new life
OF Nation. Stephen stoned, but Stephen
alive.
pnss 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. Ills first thought was
about hts spirit. Lord Jesus receive my
spirit The murderer standing on the trap
door, the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, NAV grlmace
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 soul
see 1t CLEAN from your eyes to-day, and /
see It trradiatlng your countenance. Some
times l am abashed before an audience
not because 1 come under your physical
eyesight, but because l realize the tT-'th
spirits. The probability is that your body
will at last find a seDulcher 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 pillow
your head under the maple, or the Norway
spruce. or the cypress, or the poisoning fir,
but this spirit about which Stephen prayed
what direction viii that take2 What guide
will escort tt2 What gate will open to re-
ceiveit2 What cloud will be cleft for its
pathway After 1t has got beyond the light
Of our sun will there be torches lighted for
il the rest OF the way2
VIII the soul have to travel through long
deserts before ii reaches the good land2 IL
we should lose our pathway will there be a
castle at whose gate we may ask the way TO
the city? Oh this mysterious spirit within
r'> 1t has two wings, but 1t is in a cage now
It is locked fast to keep it, but let the door
of. Eagles wing could not catch 1t. The
'lightnings are not swift enough to come up
with it. When the soul leaves the body It
takes fifty worlds at a bound, And have /
no anxiety about it, Have you no anxiety
about til
l do not care what you do with my body
when my soul is gone. or whether you be-
lleve In cremation or inhumauon. / shall
: sleep just as we'll in a wrapping of sackcloth
az In satin Hnad with aoOlaic dOuvn P,rt N, ~
, soul-before close this discourse 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. What
though there were great Saharas of
darkness, Jesus could illume them
What though 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 ltany. "Lord
; Jesus, receive my spirit" II may be in that
hour we will be too feeble to say 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 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 he
Z put his head upon his pillow;
! Now lay me down to sleep,
Z pray the Lord my soul to keep.
e We may be too feeble to employ either OF
these familiar forms, but this prayer OF
# Stephen is so short, is 50 concise, is so earn
o est, Is so comprehensive, we surely will be
( able to say that, "Lord Jesus receive my
e spirit" Oh, If that prayer is answered, how
o sweet it Will be to die This world is clever
;. enough to us. Perhaps it has treated US a
great deal better than we deserved to be
q treated, but If on the dying pillow there shall
l. break the light OF that better world we shall
' have no more regret than about leaving q
Q small, dark, damp house for one large, beau.
/, tiful and capacious. That dying minister il
8 Philadelphia, some years ago, beautifully
!. depieted it when. in the last moment hl