Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-09-19

stoned. Tho world has always wanted to
get rid of good mon. Their very life is an
assault upon wickodncss. Out with Sto-
phon through the gates of tho city. Down
with him over the precipices. Let every
man come up and drop a Stone upon his
head. But these men did not SO much
kill stephen us they killed themselves
Every stone rcbounded upon thom. While
these murdcrcrs are transQzed by the
scorn of all good men stephen lives in tho
admiration of all Christendom. stephen
stoned, but stephen alive. So all good
mon must'be pcltod. "All who will live
godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu-
ton" 1t is no eulogy of Il man to say that
everybody likOs him. SHOW INC any ono
who is doing all his duty TO state or
church, and | will show you scores of men
who utterly nbhor him.
If all men speak we'll of you, IT is be
cause you nrc either n laggard or n dolt
If a steamer makes rapid progress through
tho waves, the water will boil and foam
all around it. Brave soldiers of Jesus
Christ will hear the carbines click. When
! see man with voice and money and
influence all on the right sido md some
caricaturc him, and some snoer at him, and
some dcnouncc him, and men who pretend
to be actuatod by right motives conspire to
cripple him, to cast him out, to destroy
him, / say, stephen stoned"
When | see - man in some great moral
or religious reform baltic against grog-
shops exposing wickcdneSs in high places,
by active means trying to purify the
church and better the worlds estate and
l find that the newspapers anathemntize
him, and men, even good mon, oppose him
and dcnOunce him, because, though he
does good, he does not do it in their way,
| say stephen stoned" But you no
ticc, my friends, that while they assaulted
Stephen they did not succeed really in
killing him. You may assault n good man,
but you cannot kill him. On tho day of
his death, stephen spoke before a few pco-
pie in the sanhedrin; this Sabbath morn
ing he addresses all Chrstondom Paul
the apostle stood on Mars hill addressing
IL handful of philosophers who knew not
50 much about science Us a modern school
girl. Today he talks to all the millions of
Chrstendom about the wonders of iu3ti0-
cation and the glories of resurrection.
John Wesley was howlcd 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 today, in all lands, he is ad-
mittcd to he the great father of Mcthodism.
chair, but from that spot OF coagulatcd
blood on the floor in the box Of Ford's
thcater there sprang up the new life of n
| nation. Stephen stoned, but stephen
alive.
A Dying Prayer.
Pass on now and sec Stephen in his dy-
ing 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 Jesus receive my
spirit" The murderer standing on the
tIapdoor, the black cap being drawn over
his head before the execution, 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 soul.
| see II CLEAN from your eyes today, and |
see ii irradiating your countonancc. Some
times | am abashcd before an audience,
not because come under your physical
cyesight, but because / realize the truth
that | stand before so many immortal
spirits. The probability is that your body
will at last find sepulcher in somc of
the cemeteries that surround this city
There is no doubt but that your obsequics
will be decent and respectful, and you
will be able to pillow your head under the
maple, or the Norway spruce, or the cy-
press, or the blossoming fir, but this spirit
about which Stephen prayed, what direc-
tiun will that take? What guide will es-
cort it? What cato will open to receive it?
What cloud will be cleft for its pathway
After it has got beyond the light of our
sun will there be torches lighted for il the
rest of the way?
Will the soul have to travel through
long deserts before it reaches the good
landy II we should lose our pathway, will
there be castle at whose gate we may
ask the way to the city? Oh, this mystic
rious spirit within usl 1t has two wings
but it is in cage now, 1t is locked fast
10 keep 1t, but let the door Of this cage
open the loast, and that soul is off. Eagles
wing could not catch it. The lightnngs
are not swift enough to come up with it,
When the soul leaves the body, it takes 80
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 be-
lieve Ia cremation or inhumation. / shall
sleep Just AS well in wrapping of sack
clotn rs in satin lined with eagles down.
But my soul--before / close this discourse
l WIN find out where it will land. Thank
God for the intimation Of my text, that
] Wien We u'c Jtsus TAKES US. 1 nub answers
all questions for me. What though there
were masS - bars between here and tho
City of LighS, JuJUi could remove them
What though there were great Saharas of
darkness, Jesus could Hume 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 litany,
Ford Jesus, receive my spirit" Ii may
be in that hour we will be too foeble 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 Per
haps We may be too feeble even to say the
infant prayer our mothers taught MS
which John Quincy Adams, 20 years of
age, said every night when he put his head
upon his pillow;
Now 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 surely
will be able to say that Lord Jesus, re-
ceive my spirit" Oh, if that PRAYER sun
swcred how sweet it will be to die This
world is clever enough to us Perhaps IL
has treated us great deal better than we
deserved to be treated but if on the dying
pillow there shall break the light of that
better world we shall have no more regret