The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-03-23

the emperor of Germany Was GLAD to
hsve our minister, George Bancroft,
sit down with him 81 his table, but
tell me, 7e who know most of the
worlds history, what other king
ever asked she absndoned and
the fcrlcrn and the outcast to come
and sit besides him.
Oh, wonderful invitstionl You can
take it today and stand st the head of
the darkest alley IN any city, and say:
Come! Clothes for your rags, salYe
for your sores, throne for your eter-
nal reiening." A Christ that talks
like that and acts ike that and par-
dons Ike thst-do you wonder that
Stephen stood lookins at him2 Ihops
to spend eternity doing the same
thing. I must see him; I must look
upon that face once clouded with my
sin, but now radiant with my pardon.
I want to touch that hand that knock
ed off my shsckles. 7 want to hear
that voice which pronounced my de-
liverance. Behold him, little chill.
dren, for if you live to threescore
years and len you will see none so
fair. Behold him, ye aged ones. for
he only can shine through the dim-
ness Of your falling eyesight. Behold
him, earth. Behold him, heaven.
What moment when all the nations
OF the saved shall gather around
Christ. All faces that way. All
thrones that way, gazing on Jesus!
His worth If all the nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love him too.
/ psss on now to look at Stephen
stoned. The world has always want
ec 10 get rid of good men. Their very
life is an assault upon wickedness.
Out with Stephen through the gates Of
the city. Down with him over the
precipices. LIST every man came up
and drop a stone upon his head. But
these men did not so much kill Ste.
phen as they killed themselves. Eve y
stone Tebounded upon them. VIII, :
these murderers were transfxed by
the scorn of all good men Stephen
lives in the admiration of all Christen.
dom. Stephen stoned, but Stephen
alive. So all good men must be p,lt-
ed. All who viii live godly in Christ
must suffer persecution. Its no eu,
logy of a maa to say that everybody
likes him. Show me any one who is
doing all his duty to state or church,
and will show you men who utterly
abhor him.
Il all men speak well of you, it's be-
cause you are either laggard or q
dolt. # a steamer makes rapid prog
ress through the waves the water will
boil and foam all around it. Brave
soldiers Of Jesus Christ will hear the
carbines click. When I see a man
with voice and money and influence
all on the right side and some carics.
ture him snd some sneer at him and
some wink at him and some denounce
him and men who pretend to be actu-
ated by right motives conspire to GRIP
pie him, to cast him out, to destroy
him, I say, Stephen stoned!'
When see man in some great
moral or religious reform battling
against grogshops, exposing wicked.
ness in high places, by active means
trying to purify the church and better
the worlds estate, and ] find that
some of the newspapers anathematize
him and men-even good men-op.
pose him and denounce him because,
though he does good, he does not do
it in their way. say, Stephen ston-
ed!" The world, with Infinite spite,
took after Frederick Oberlin, Paul and
Stephen of the text, but you notice,
my friends, that while they assaulted
him they did not succeed really in
killing him. You may assault good
man, but you cannot kill him.
On the day of his death Stephen
spoke before few people in the SAN
hedrin. Now he addresses all Chris
tendon. Paul the apostle stood on
Mars hill addressing a handful of phi
losophers who knew not SO much
about science sss.modern school. girl.
Today he talks to aIl the millions Of
Christendom about the wonders of
justification and the glories OF resur
rection. John Wesley was howled
down by the mob to whom he preach
ed, 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 admitted to
be the great father Of Methodisna:
Booths bullet vacated the presidential
chair, but from what spot Of coagulat.
ed blood on the floor in the box of
Ferd's theater there sprang up the
new Life Of 8 nation. Stephen stoned,
but Stephen alive!
Pass On now and see Stephen in his
dying 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 trapdoor,
the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution, may grim
ace shout the future, but you and 7
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. I see it
gleam from your eyes, and see it ir-
radiating your countenance. Some
times I am abashed before an audience
not because I come under their physi-
cal eyesight, but because I realize the
truth that I stand before SO many i'm
mortal spirits. The probability is that
your body will at last find a sepulcher
in some of the cemeteries that surround
your town or city. There is no doubt
but that your obSequies will be decent
and respectful, and you will be able to
pillow your hesd under the maple, or
the Norway spruce, or the cypress, or
the biossoming Sir, but this spirit about
which Stephen prayed-what direction
will that take2 What guide will es-
cortita What gate will open to re
ceive it? What cloud will be cleft for
its pathways After it has got beyond
the light Of our sun, will there be
torches lighted for it the rest of the
ways Win the soul have to travel