The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-11-01

4
firel If all tie martyrs stakes that
/ have been kindled could be set at
proper distances, they would make the
midnight, all the world over. bright as
MONDAY! And now they sit yonder in
the martyrs gallery. For them the
fires of persecution have gone out.
| The swords are sheathed and the mob
hushed. Now they watch, us with an
, all-observing sympathy. They know
all the pain, all the hardship, all the
anguish, all the injustice. all the pri-
walton. They cannot keep still They
, cry: Courage, The fire will not con-
sumo. The fire will not consume.
The floods cannot drown. The lions
cannot devour! Courage! down there
in the arena
l look again and see another gal
lery, that of eminent Christians. What
strikes me strangely is the mixing in
compauionship of those who on earth
could not agree. There | see Martin
Luther, and beside him a Roman Cath
Ollie who looked beyond the supersti-
tiOns of his church and is saved.
There is Albert Barnes, and around
him the presbytery who tried him
for heterodoxyl Yonder is Ly-
man Beecher and the church court
that denounced him! Stranger than
all, there is John Calvin and James
Arminius! Who would have thought
that they would sit so lovingly
together. There is George Whitefield
and the bishops who would not let him
come into their pulpits because they
thought him a fanatic. There are the
sweet singers, Toplady, Montgomery,
Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts and Mrs.
Sigourney. If Heaven had had nc
music before they went up they would
have started the singing. And there,
the band of missionaries: David
Abcel, talking of China redeemed:
and John Scudder, of India saved;
and David Brainerd, of the aborigines
evangelized; and Mrs. AdOniram
Judson. whose prayers for Bur.
nah took Heaven by violence. All
these Christians are looking into the
arena. Our struggle Is nothing to
theirs. Do we, in Christ's cause. suffer !
from the cold? They walked Green
lands lev mountains. Do we suffer 4
from tine heat@ They sweltered in the |
tropics. Do we get fatigued? They |
tainted, with none 20 care for them |
but cannibals Are we prosecuted? |
They were anSthemiZed- As they look /
from their gallery and see us falter in |
the presence of the lions, / seem TO /
hear Isaac Watts addressing us in his
old hymn, only little changed:
Must you be carried to the skies
on fiowery beds Of ease
While others foayht to win the prizs.
Or sailed thro'Rrh bloody seas.
T0pladv shouts in his hymn
Your harp>. We heavenly saints,
Down from the willow take:
Loud to the praise of love divine,
Bid every string awake.
While Charles Wesley. the Methodist, |
breaks forth in his favorite words, ,
little. varied:
y charge to keepyou have
\ God to giorify:
A neVer-dying soul to save.
AID lit ii for the sky
took again and see the gallery Of .
our departed. Many of those in the
other galleries we. have heard of: bur
these we. knew. OH how familiar
their faces. They sat at our tables,
and we walked to the house Of tod in
company. Have they forgotten us2
Those fathers and mothers started us
on the road of life. Are. they careless
as to- what becomes of us% And those
children. do they look on with stolid in
difference. as to whether we win or lose
this battle of eternity Nay; I see
that child running his hand over Your
brow and saying Father, do not
fret Mother, do not worry They
remem Der the day they left us. They
remember the agony of the last fare
well. Though years in Heaven, they
know our, faces. They remember our
sorrows. They speak our names
They watch this fight for Heaven
Nay. see them rise mp and lean over,
and wave before Us their recognition !
and eneoura cement That gallery is |
not full They are keeping places for
us. After we have slain the lion they |
expect the King to call as, saying:
~Come up higher
But here [ pause. overwhelmed with |
the ma jesty and the joy of the scene! /
gels. Gallery of prophets and apostles, |
Gallery of martyrs, Gallery of saints!
Gallery of friends and kindred. Oh, |
majestic circle of light and love!
Throngs, Throngs, Throngs. How
shall we ever feel lonely again2 With
tod for US and angels for us, and
prophets and apostles for us, and the
great souls of the ages for US. and our
glorified kindred for us-shau we give
up :he fight and die? No. Son of
God. who didst die to save us. No! We
angels, whose wings are spread forth
to shelter us No! We prophets and
apostles, whose warnings startle us.
No, We loved ones, whose arms are out |
stretched to receive us. No! we will
never surrender,
Sure / must fight if would reign
Be faithful TO my Lord:
And bear the cross. endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.
Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
And seize il with their eye.
When that illustriouS day shall rise,
And all Thine armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.
My hearers, shall we die in the are
ma, or rise to join our friends in the
gallery? Through Christ we may come
off more than conquerors. A soldier,
dying in the hospital, rose up in bed
the last moment and cried Here!
Here!'' His attendant put him
back on his pillow and asked him