Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-05-04

| PROBABILITY is that your body win at iass
| find n sepulcher in somc of the cemeteries
/ that surround your town or city. There is
no doubt that your obseques will be
| decent and respectful, and you will be able
/ to pillow your head under the maple or the
| Norway spruce or the cypress or the bloom
/ ing fir But this spirit about which
! Stephen prayed-what direction will that
| take? What guide will escort it? What
\ gate will open to receive it? What cloud
/ will be cleft for its pathway? After ii has
/ got beyond the light of our sun will there
/ be torches lighted for it the rest of the
way? Will the soul have to travel through
long deserts before 1t reaches the good
land? II we should lose our pathway, Will
there be a castle at whose gate We may
ask the way to the city? oh, this myste-
rious spirit within usl 1t has two wings.
but it is IN a cage now. 1t is locked fast to
keep it, but let the door of this cage open
the least and that soul is off. Eagles wing
could not catch it. The lightnings are
not swift enough to take up with 1t. When
the soul leaves the body, 1t takes fifty
worlds at bound. And have no anxiety
about it? Have you no anxiety about it?
l do not care what you do with my body
when my soul Is gone, or whether you
believe in cremation or inhumation. l
shall sleep just as we'll in u wrapping of
5ackcloth as in satin lined with eagles
down. But my soul before this day passes
will find out where 1t will land. Thank
God for the intimation Of my text, that
when we die Jesus takes us. That answers
all questions for me. What though there
were massive bars between here and the
city OF light, Jesus could remove them.
What though there were great Saharas OF
darkness, Jesus could Hume then. What
though 1 get weary on the way, Christ
could lift me on His Omnipotent shoulder.
What though there were chasms to cross
His hand could transport me. Then let
stephens prayer be my dying litany,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"
We may be too feeble to employ either
Of these familiar forms, but this prayer Of
stephen is SO short, is so concise, is so earn
est, is SO comprehensive, we surely will be
able to say that LORD Jesus, receive my
spirit" Oh, if that prayer is answered,
how sweet 1t will be to dlel This world is
clever enough to us. Perhaps ii has
treated us a great deal better than we de-
serve to be treated, but il on the dying pill
low there should break the light OF that
better world we shall have no more regret
about leaving a small, dark. damp house
for one large, beautiful and capacious.
That dying minister in Philadelphia, some
gears ago, beautifully depicted 1t when In
he last moment he threw up his hands
and cried out, II move into the light"
Pass on now, and l will show you one
more picture, and that is stephen asleep.
With pathos and simplicity peculiar to
:he Scriptures the text says of stephen,
He fell asleep" "Oh," you say, what
place that was to sleep! hard rock under
lim, stones falling down upon him, the
blood streaming, the mob bowling. What
1 place it was to sleepr' And yet my text
AXE, that symbol of slum5er to describe
n's departure, so sweet was ii, so con-
:eutad was it, so peaceful was it. stephen
lad lived very laboriOus life. His chief
work had been to care for the poor. How
many loaves of bread he distributed, how
many bare feet he had sandaled, how many
| cots OF sickness and distress he blessed
With ministries of kindness and love, l do
/ lot know, but from the way he lived, and
| he way he preached, and the way he died
know he was laborious Christian. But
/ hat Is all over now. He has pressed the
/ .up to the last fanting lip. He has taken
/ he last insult from his enemies. The
| asst stone to whose crushing weight he is
nsceptible has been hurled. stephen is
lead. The disciples come. They take him
up. They wash away the blood from the
| wounds. They straighten out the bruised
| limbs. They brush back the tangled hair
| rom the brow, and then they pass around
| o look upon the calm countenance of him
Who had lived for the poor and died for
| he truth.
| stephen asleepl I saw such a one. He
/ ought all his days against poverty and
| against abuse. They traduced his name.
They ratified at the doOrknob while he was
lying with duns for debts he could not pay,
/ ret the peace of God brooded over his pill
ow, and while the world faded heaven
iawned, and the deepening twilight OF
,arth's night was only the opening twilight
# heavens morn. Not a sigh. not tear;
lot a struggle. Hush stephen asleepi
have not the faculty to tell the weather.
can never tell by the setting sun whether
here will be "A drought or not. | cannot
ell by the blowing of the wind whether
t will be fair weather or foul on the NOR
'ow. But | can Prophcsy. AMI l will
lropheSy. what weather it will lee when you,
he Christian, come to die. You may have
[ very rough now. 1t may be this week one
lnnOyauce. the next another annoyance.
t may be this year one bereavement, the
lext another bereavement. Il fore this
'ear has passed you may have to beg for
)rcad or ask for Il sruttle of coal or pair
# shoes, but Mt the last Christ will come
and darkness will go out, and though
here may be no hand to close your eyes,
md no breast on which to rest your dying
lead and no candle to lift the night, the
,dors of Gods hanging garden will regale
rour soul, and at your bedside will halt
he chariots of the King. No more rents
o pay, no more agony because flour has
gone up, no more struggle with "the
world, the flesh and the devil" but peace
long, deep, everlasting peace. stephen
,seep!
You have seen enough for one morning.
10 one can successfully examine more
han five pictures in day. Therefore
We stop, having seen this cluster of divine
2aphaels-Stephen gazing into heaven,
stephen looking at Christ, stephen stoned,
stephen in his dying prayer, Ste.' IN
lsleepi