Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-03-18


Can you not see him? Then pray to God
to take the scales off your eyes. Look
that way-try to look that way. His
voice comes down to you this day
comes down to the blindest, TO the deaf
est soul, saying, Look unto me, all ye
ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for |
am God, and there is none else. Proc
lamation of universal emancipation for
all slaves! Proclamation of universal
amnesty for all rebels Belshazzar gath
cred the Babylonish mobiles to his table;
George | entertained the lords Of Eng
land at banquet; Napoleon III well
coined the czar of Russia and the sultan
Of Turkey TO his feast; the emperor Of
Germany was glad to have cur minis
ter, George Bancroft, sit down with him
at his table, hut tell me, ye who know
most of the worlds history, what other
king ever asked the abandoned and the
forlorn and the wretched and the out
cast to come and sit beside him?
Oh, wonderful invitation You can
take it today and stand at the head Of
the darkest alley in any city and say
"Comel Clothes for your rags, salve for
your sores, a throne for your eternal
reigning a Christ that talks like that
and acts like that and pardons like that
do you wonder that stephen stood
looking at him; hope to spend eternity
doing the same thing. must see him.
I met Iool- ,,rop tbot faoa onoq clOudp6
with my sin, but now radiant with my
pardon. | want to touch that hand that
knocked off my shackles. 1 want TO hear
that voice which pronounced my deliv-
erance. Behold him, little children, for
if you live to threescore years and ten
you will see none so fair. Behold him,
ye aged ones, for be only can shine
through the dimness Of your failing
eyesight. Behold him, earth. Behold
him, heaven. What a moment when all
the nations Of the saved shall gather
around Christi 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.
Death of Martyr.
| pass on nae- and look at Stephen
stoned. The world has always wanted
to get rid of good men. Their very life
is am assault upon wickedness. Out with
Stephen through the gates Of the city.
Down with him over the preciplces
Let every man come up and drop a
stone upon his head. But these men did
not so much kill Stephen as they killed
themselves. Every stone rebounded
upon them. While these murderers
were transfixed by the scorn of all good
men, Stephen lives in the admiration
of all Christendom. Stephen stoned, but
Stephen alive. So all good men must be
pelted. All who will live godly in
Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. 1t
is no eulogy of a man to say that every
body 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.
If all men speak well Of you, it is be-
cause you are either laggard or dolt'
If a steamer makes rapid progress
through the waves, the water will boil
and foam all around it. Brave soldiers
of Jesus Christ will hear the carbines
click. When | see a man with voice and
money and influence all on the right
side. and some caricature him, and some
speer at him, and some denounce him,
and men who pretend to be actuated by
right motives conspire to cripple him,
to cast him out, to destroy him, L say,
"Stephen stoned.
When | see man in some great NOR
al or religious reform battling against
grogshops, exposing wickedness in high
places, by active means trying to puri'
fy the church and better the worlds es
tate. and find that some Of the news
papers anathematize him, and men,
even good men, oppose him and de
nounce him, because, though be doei
good, he does not do it in their way,
saw. "Stephen stoned. The world, witt
infinite spite, took after John Frederick
Oberlin and Paul and Stephen Of th'
text. But you notice. my friends, tina
while they assaulted him they did no
succeed really in killing him. Nou MAJ
assault good man. but you cannot hi
him.
The Way TO the City.
, On the day of bis death Stephen spok'
before few people in the sanhedrln
now be addresses all Cbristendom. Pau
the apostle stood on Mars hill address
; ing handful of philosophers who know
not so much about science as moderl
schoolgirl. Today be talks to all tn
millions of ChristendOm about the won
ders of justification and the glories c
resurrection. John Wesley was howle'
down by the mob to whom he preached
3 and they threw bricks at him, and the.
: denounced him, and they jostled him
, and they spat upon him, and yet today
in all lands, he is admitted to be tn
great father of Methodism. Booths bul
! let vacated the presidential chair, bu
e from that spot Of coagulated blood oI
the ficor in the box Of Ford's theate
there sprang up the new life of a nation
Stephen stoned, but Stephen alive.
S Pass OH now and see Stephen IN hi
dying prayer. His first thought was nc
/ how the stones hurt his head nor wha
2 would become Of his body. His frs
e thought was about his spirit. "Lor
r. Jesus, receive my spirit. The murder
Y er standing on the trapdoor, the blac
j cap being drawn over his head befor
5 the execution, may grimace about tn
I, future, but you and | have no shame 1
, confessing some anxiety about wher
d we are going to come out You are nc
d all body. There is within you a soul.
= see it CLEAN from your eyes, and | 81
> it igradiating your countenance. Some
, times am abashed before an audience
i not because l come under their physics
. eyesight but because realize the tru'
. that | stand before so many immorti
I, spirits. The probability is that yo'
i body will at last find sepulcher
- some of the cemeteries that surrour
your town or city. There is no dou
but that your obsequies will be decel
3 and respectful, and you will be able
% pillow your head under the maple
!. the Norway spruce or the cypress or q
!, hlossominp fir. But this eDirit abOl