Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1895-11-01

| R1%tSH long presided over
eNSTN. by one of the most
| remarkable men of
the century. There are plenty of good
ministers beside DR.. Sunderland. but
l do not know of any man except him
self with enough brain to have stood
successfully and triumphantiy forty
three years In this conspicuous pulpit.
Long distant be the year when that
Gospel chieftain shall put down the sill
yer trumpet with which he has mar
shaied the hosts OF Israel. or sheathe
the sword with which he has struck
such mighty blows for God and right
eousness. l come TO you with the same
Gospel that he has preached and to join
you in all kinds of work for making the
world better, and I hope TO see you all
in your own homes and have you all
come and see me. but don't all come at
once. and without any preliminary dis
courses as to what l propose 10 do.
begin here and now TO cheer sou With
the thought that all heaven is SYM
| patheticaiiy looking on. Seeing we
also arc compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses"
Crossing the Alps by the Mont Gems
pass, or through the Mont Gents tun-
mel, you are in few hours set down at
Verona, Italy, and in few minutes be-
gin examining one OF the grandest ruins
OF the old world~-the Amphitheater
| The whole building sweeps around you
III circle. You stand in the arena
where the combat was once fought or
the race run. and on all sides the seats
rise, tier above tier, until you count 20
! elevations, or galleries. as shall see AZ
/ TO call them, in which sat the senator's,
| the kings. and the twenty-five thou
sand excited spectators. AZ the sides of
| the arena. and under the galleries. are
the cages in which the lions and tigers
| are kept without food, until, frenZied
with hunger and thirst, they are let
| out upon some poor victim. who. with
| his sword and alone, is condemned 10
meet them. / think that Paul himself
| once stood in such place, and that il
was not only figuratiyely, but literally,
| that he had fought with beasts at
| Ephesus."
The gala day has come. From ali the
world the people are pouring into Vero-
ma. Men. women and children. orators
and senator's, great men and small
| thousands upon thousands come, until
the first gallery is full. and the second,
| the third, the fourth, the tifth-all the
| way up to the twentieth, all the way mp
| to the thirtieth. all the way up TO the
| fortieth. Every place is filed. Immensi-
| ty of audience sweeping the great cir
Gle. Silence! The time for the contest
| has come. A Roman official leads forth
| the victim into the arena. Let him get
| his sword, with firm grip, into his right
| hand. The twenty-five thousand sit
| breathiessiy watching. | hear the door
| at the side OF the arena croak open. Ont
| piunses the haif-starved lion. his
| tongue athirst for blood, and, with q
roar that brings all the galleries to
| their feet, he PUSHES against the sword
| of the combatant. Do you know how
] strong a stroke a man will strike when
/ his life depends upon the first thrust
of his blade? The wild beast. lame and
bleeding, sinks back toward the side Of
| the arena: then, rallying his wasting
| strength, he comes up with fiercer eye
! and more terrible roar than ever, only
| to be driven back with a fatal wound
| while the combatant comes in with
stroke after stroke. until the monster
| is deld at his feet, and the twenty-five
| thousand people clap their hands and
| utter a shout that makes the city trem-
BILE.
Sometimes the audience came TO see
| a race; sometimes TO see gladiatOrs
| fight each other, until the people, COM
| passionate for the fallen, turned their
| thumbs up as an appeal that the van
uuished be spared; and sometimes the
| combat was with wild beasts.
To an amphitheatricai audience Paul
refers when he says: 1--WE are COM
passed about with so great cloud of
witnesses"
The fact is, that every Christian man
has a lion to fight. Yours Is bad tenn
per. The gates OF the arena have been
opened. and this tiger has come ont TO
destroy your soul. It has lacerated you
with many wound. You have been
thrown by it time and again. but in the
strength OF God you have arisen to
drive it back. verify believe YOU will
conquer. think that the temptation is
getting weaker and weaker. You have
given IL so many wounds that the pros
pect Is that 1t will die. and you shalt
be victor. through Christ. Courage,
brother! DO not let the sands of the
arena drink the blood of your soul.
Your lion is the passion for strong
| drink. YOu may have commended
against II twenty years; but il is strong
Of body and thirsty OF tongue. You have
| tried TO fight it back with broken bot
tie or empty wine flask. Nay! that is
not the weapon. With one horrible roar
he will seize thee by the throat and
rend thee limb from limb. Take this
| weapon, sharp and keen reach up and
get it from Gods armory--the Sword
of the Spirit, With that thou mayest
drive him back and conquer,
But why specify, when every man
and woman has lion to fight. If there
| be one here who has no besetting sin
let him speak out. for him have of
Tended. III you have not fought the liop