The morning times., 1895-10-28

| hem, until the chant awoke the shepherds
| These. at creation, stood in the balcony OF
| Heaven, aud serenaded the newborn world
| wrapped in swaddling clothes ofiight. And
| there, hoiler ann mightier thau all, Is
| Michael, the archangel.
To command an earthly host gives dig
| nifty; but this one is leader of the twenty
| thousand chariots of God, nd OF the ten
thousand times ten thousand angels. 1
| think God gives command TO tue arch
angel, and the archangei TO the seraphim,
and the seraphim TO the cheru BIN,
until all the lower orders OF Heaven hear
| the command, and go forth On the high be-
| hest.
VICTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN.
Now, bring on your lionsl Who can
| fear? All the spectators i'll the angelic
| gallery are our friends. He shall give
| His angels charge over thee, TO keep thee
| in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up
IN their hands, lest tiou dash thy foot
| against stone. Thou shalt tread upon
| tie lion and adder: tine young lion and
drag gon shalt thou traDlple under foot
Though the arena be crowded with temp
tations, we SHALL with the angelic help,
strike them down in the name OF our God,
and leap on their fallen carcassesi oh,
bending throng OF bright, angelic faces, and
swift wings, and lightning foot, / hail
YOU to-day from tue dust and struggle OF
the arena!
Il look again, and see the gallery of the
prophets and apostles. Who are those
mignty ones up yoHder? Hosea, and Jere-
miah, and Daniel, and Isaiah, and Paul,
and Peter. and John, and James. There
sits Noah, waiting Tor all the world to come
into the ark; and Moses, waiting till the
aEstN.
waiting for the Jews to return; and John,
of the Apocalypse, waiting for the swear
ing of the angel that Time shall be no
longer Giorious spirits. Yc were howled
at; ye were stoned; we were spit upon. They
have been in the fight themselves, and
they are all with us. Daniel knows all
about lions. Paul fought with beasts at
Ephesus.
I'm the ancient, ,amyhitheater, the people
got so excited thai they would shout from
the galleries TO ihefmen in the arena: AT
il again.. .Forwardli 'one more stroke,'
Look outr Fail hackr 'Huzzai huzzal'
So In that gallery, prophetie and apostolic,
they canuot Keep their peace. Daniel
cries out: Thy God will deliver thee
from the mouth of the lionsl' David
exciainis: He will not suffer thy foot to
be pioved,' Isaiah calls out: Fear mott
l am with theel Be not dismayed! Paul
Christi That threng OF prophets and
apostles cannot keep still. They make
the welkin ring with shouting and halle
lujahs.
IN THE GALLERY OF MARTYRS.
II look again, and see the gallery of the
martyrs. Who is that? Hugh Latimer,
sure enough! He would not apologize for
the truth preached; and so he died, the
night before swinging from the bedpost in
perfect glee at the thought of emancipation.
Who are that army of six thousand six hun
dred and sixty-six? They are the Theban
Legion who died for the faith. Here is
a larger host in magnificent array-eight
hundred and eighty-four thousand-who
perished for Christ in the prosecutions of
Diecletian.
.YoBder is a family group, Felicitas, OF
Rome, and her children. While they were
dying for the faith she stood encouraging
them. One son was whipped to death by
thorns; another was flung from a rock;
another was beheaded. At last the mother
became a martyr. There they are together
"a family group in heaven. Yonder Is john
Bradford, who said in the fire: We shall
havea merry supper with the Lord tonight
Yonder is Henry oes. who exclaimed as he
died: If lad ten heads, they should all
fan off for Christi
HTtdt VI IHtl
mad hot lead poured down their throats;
horses were fastened to their hands, and
other horses to their feet, and thus they
were pulled apart; they had their tongues
pulled out by red-fot pincers; they were
sewn up in the skins of animals and then
thrown to the dogs; they were daubed with
conbustibles and then set on firel If all
the martyrs stakes that have been kindled
could be set at proper distances, they
4. iltn mi D al thfa rId
over, bright as nooudnyl
"And now they set there In the martyrs
gallery. For them the fires of persecu-
ton have gone out. The swords are
sbeatbed and the mob hushed Now they
watch us with an all-absorbing sympathy.
They know all the pain, all the fardships,
all the anguish. all the injustice, all the
privation. They cannot keep still. They
cry: Courage! The fire will not consume.
The floods cannot drown. The lions cannot
devour. Courage! down there in the arena
REWARD OF BELIEvER
'.what, are they all looking? This night
we answer back the salutation they give,
and cry, Hail! sons and daughters of the
firei a19
Il look again, and see another gallery,
that of eminent Christians. What strikes
me strangIy is the mixing of companion
There is Albert Barnes, and around him
the PresbyteryswhO tried him for hetero-
doxyi Yonder is Lyman Beecher and
the church court that denounced himi
Stranger than all there is John Calvin and
James Arrninius! Who would have thought
that they would sit so lovingly together!
There is George Whitefieid. and the
bishops who would not let him come into
their pulpits because they thought him a
fanatic. There are the sweet singers,
Toplady, Mont gomery, Charles Wesley,
Isaac Watts, and Mrs. Sigourney. II
heaven rad had no music before they
went up, they would have started the
singing. And there, the band ofmissionaries:
Davm Abeel, talking of China redeemed;
and Johl ScCdder, of India saved; and
David Braincrd. of the aborigines evan
gelized; and Mrs. Adohiram Judson. whose
PRAYERS for Rurreah took heaven by vio-
lence! All these Christians are looking
into the arena.
"Our struggle is nothing to theirs. Do we,
In Christi s cause, suffer from the cold? They
walked Greenland's icy mountains. Do
we suffer from the heat? They swclterei
in the tropics. DO we get fatigued? They
tainted with none to care for them but
cannibals. Are we perseccted? They were
mathematical. And as they look from
their gallery and sec US faltez in tac pres