The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-10-30


against an evil habit, that they have
to fight it all alone. No! They stand
in the center of an immense circle of
sympathy. Paul had been reciting the
names of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abra-
ham, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Gideon and
Barak, and then says: Being COM
passed about with so great cloud OF
witnesses"
BEFORE get through will show you
that you fight in an arena, around
which circle, in galleries above each
other, all the kindling eyes and all the
sympathetic hearts of the ages; and at
every victory gained there comes down
the laundering applause of great
multitude that no man can number.
being compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses"
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day of a celebra-
tion, sat Tiberius, or Augustus, or the
reignirg king. So, in the great arena
of spectators that watch our struggles,
and in the first divine gallery, as l
shall call it, sits our King, one Jesus.
On His head are many crowns The
Roman emperor got his place by cold
sloQded conquests, but our King hsth
come to His place by the broken hearts
healed, and the tears wiped away, and
the souls redeemed. The Roman EN-
peror sat, with folded arms, indifferent
as to whether the swordsman or the
lion beat; but our Kings sympathies
are all with us. Nay, unheard-of con-
descension! see Him come down
from the gallery into the arena to help
us in the fight, shouting: "FecE not! L
will help thee! l will strengthen thee
by the right hand of my power!'
They gave to the men in the arena,
in the olden time, food to thicken their
blood, so that it would flow slowly, and
that for a longer time the people
might gloat over the scene. But our
king has no pleasure in our wounds
for we are bone of his bone, flesh of
his flesh, blood of his blood.
In all the anguish of our heart,
The Man of Sorrows bore part
: l look again, and ] see the angelic
' gallery. There they are; the angel
than swung the sword at the gate of
Eden, the same that Ezekiel saw up
holding the throne of God, and from
which l look away, for the splendor is
insufferable. Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched patriarch;
this one protected q child. That one
has been pulling soul out of tcmpta-
ton! All these are messengers of light!
Those drove the Spanish Armada on
the rocks. This turned Sennacherib's
living hosts into heap of one hundred
ard eighty-f five thousand corpses,
Those, yon2ar, chanted the Christmas
carol over Bethlehem, until the chant
awoke the shepherds. These, at crea
ton, stood in the balcony of Heaven
' and serenaded the newborn world
wrapped in swaddling clothes of light
And there, holier and mightier thar
all, is Michael, the archangel. To com
mand an earthly host gives dignity
but this one is the leader of the twenty
thousand times ten thousand angels
l think God gives command to the
archangel, and the archangel to th'
, seraphim, and the seraphim to the
cherubim, until all the lower orders o.
Heaven hear the command, and e
| forth on the high behest
Now, bring on your lions! Who cal
fear? All the spectators in the angelo
: gallery are our friends. He shall Civ
His angels charge over thee, to keel
thee in all thy ways They shall bea
5 thee up in their hands, lest thou dasl
\ thy foot against stone. Thou sha!
, tread upon the lion and adder; tn
|, young lion and the dragon shalt tho
trample under foot
l. Though the arena be crowded wit
! temptations, we shall, with the angcli
help, strike them down in the name Q
our God, and leap on their fallen cal
casses Oh, bending throng of brigh
l. angelic faces, and swift wings, an
lightning foot! hail you, to-day, fror
the dust and struggle of the arena!
9 l look again, and | sec the gallery c
the prophets and the apostles. VIII
5 are those mighty ones up yonder
Hosea, and jeremiah, and Daniel, an
c Isaiah, and Paul, and Peter, and Johr
i and James. There sits Noah, waitin
; for all the world to come into the arl
I and Moses, waiting till the last Re
/ Sea shall divide; and jeremiah, waitin
Q for the Jews to return; and John, {
the Apocalypse, waiting for the swear
II ing of the angel that time shall be n
J. longer! Glorious spirits! Ye wei
't howled at; We were stoned; ye wei
spit upon! They have been in the figf
n themselves; and they are all with Il
d Daniel knows all about lions. Pal
e fought with beasts at Ephesus.
g look again, and l see the gallery
r the martyrs. Who is that? Hug
u Latimer, sure enough! He would nj
l. apologize for the truth preached; an
% SO he died, the night before, swingir
8 from the bedpost in perfect glee at IL
" thought of emancipation. Who al
u that army of G,666? They are the Tn
y ban Legion, who died for the faitl
u Here is large host in magnificei
u array-sS4, 0OO-who perished for Chri
u in the prosecutions of Diocletian. Yo
" der is family group, Felicitas,
Rome, and her children. While the
g were dying for the faith she stood e
"a couraging them. One son was whippt
lg to death by thorns; another was fur
III from rock; another was beheade