The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-03-23
Now l lay nc down to sleep.

We may be too feeble to en9:oz
either of these familiar forms, but thiS
prayer of Stephen is so short, IS s.
concise, is so earnest, is so comp2eJe4
sive, we surely will be able to say tas
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" Oh
if that prayer is answered, how swee,
it will be to die, This world is clevel
enough to US. Perhaps it has treated
US 8 grea. deal better than we deserve
to be treated, but if on the dying pillo7
there should break the light Ct the,
better world we shall have no Nor;
regret about leaving 2 small, GarS
damp house for one large, bs2Q:ita
and capacious. That dying E2!niz.e2
in Philadelphia some years ago 5ear..i
fully depicted it when IN the Isst go
ment he threw up his hands a2G cTl2Z
out. ''I move into the light
Pass on now, and I will show you
one more picture, aud that IS Stephen
asleep. With g pathos and simplicity
peculiar to the Scripturest the text say!
OF Stephen, He fel! asleep" ''Oh.
you say, "what place that Tas r
sleep, A hard rock under him, stone:
falling down upon him. the blocc
streaming, the mob bowling. VIVA
g place It was to sleep!' And ye
my text take that symbol OF slumoe,
| to describe his departure, 50 sweet wa:
| it, so contented was it, so peaceful
was it. Stephen had lived
very laborious life. His chic.
work had been to care fer tht
poor. How many IoaTes Of bread 1t
distributed, how msny bare feet Et
had sandaled, how many cots Of SEX
ness and distress he blessed with min
isteries OF kindness and love 7 do no
know, but from the way he lived sno
the way he preached and the way he
died I know he was 8 laborious Chris
tisn. But that is all over now. H
| has passed the cup to the last faintine
lip. He has taken the last insult from
his enemies. The last stone to whcae
crushing weight he is susceptible ha:
been hurled. Stephen is dead. This
| disciples come. They take him up.
They wash away the blood from the
| wounds. They straighten out the
bruised limbs. They brush back tbs
tangled hair from the brow, and then
they pass around to look upon the calm
countenancs of him who had ivadfol
the poor and died for the truth. Ste
phen asleep!
have seen the sea driven with The
hurricane until the tangled foam
caught in the rigging, and wave rising
above wave seemed as if about to storm
the heavens and then I have seen the
tempest drop and the waves crouch
! and everything become smooth and
FURNISHED SIS though a camping place
for the glories of heaven. So
have seen man whose life has been
tossed and driven coming down st las:
to an infinite calm, in which there
was the hush of heavens lullaby.
Stephen asleep! Isaw such one.
He fought all his days against power
ty and against abuse. They trsduced
his name. They ratified at the door
knob while he was dying with duns
for debts he could not pay. yet the
peace of God brooded over his pillow,
and while the world faded heaven
dawned, and the deepening twilight
of esrth's night was only the opening
twilight of heavens morn. Not 8
sigh; not tear; not struggle. Hush
Stephen asleep!
Ihave not the faculty to tell the
weather. I can never tell by the set,
ting sun whether there will BIS
drought or not. I cannot tell by the
blowing OF the wind whether 1t VII
be fair weather or foul on the morrow.
but can prophesy, and ! will proph
esy, what weather it will be when you
the Christian, come to die. You may
have it very rough now, It may be
this week one annoyance, the next
another annoyance. It may be this
year one bereavement, the enext an
other bereavement. Before this year
has passed you may have to beg fcr
bread or ask for a scuttle of coal or a
pair of shoes, but at the last Christ
will come in, and darkness Will go out,
and, though there may be no hand 10
close your eyes and no breast on which
to rest your dying head and no candle
to lift the night, the odors OF Gods
hanging garden will regale your soul,
and st your bedside will halt the
chariots of the King. No more rents
to pay, no more agony because tour
has gone up, no more struggle with
''the world, the flesh and the devil, "
but peace-long, deep, everlasting
peace. Stephen asleep!
Asleep in Jesus. Blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep.
A calm and undisturbed repose,
Uninjured by the last Of foes.
Asleep in Jesus! Far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be,
But there IS still blessed sleep
From which none ever wake to weep.
You have seen enough for enc morn
ing. No one can successfully examine
more than five pictures in day.
Therefore We stop, having seen this
cluster of divine Raphaels-Stephen
gazing into heaven, Stephen looking
at Christ, Stephen stoned, Stephen IN
his diving PRAYER, Stephen asleep.