Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-05-12


spirit" The murderer standing on the
trap door, the black cap being drawn over
his head before the execution, may grimaca
about the future, but you and 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.
see 1t CLEAN from your eyes, and see 1t
irradiating your countenance. Sometimes
am abashed before an audience, Eot be-
cause come under their physical ey yesight.
but because realize the truth that stand
before so many immortal spirits. The
probability is that your body will at last
find sepulcher in some Of the cemeteries
that surround your town or city. !shere IS
no doubt that your obsequies will 20
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 1t? What cloud
Will be cleft for it's pathway? After 1t has
cot beyond the light OF our sun will there
be torches lighted for 1t the rest OF the
way? VIII the soul have to travel through
long deserts before it reaches the good
land? II we should lose our pathway, will
there be castle at whose gate we may
ask the way to the city? oh, this myste-
rious spirit within us! 1t has two wings,
but 1t is in 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, it takes fifty
worlds at q bound. And have l no anxiety
about it? Have you no anxiety about it?
do not care what you do with my body
when my soul is gone, or whether you
believe in cremation or inhumation. 1
shall sleep just as well in Il wrapping of
sackcloth as in satin lined with eagles
down. But my soul before this day passes
l will find out where it 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 il.ume them. What
though l 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 it will be to die! This world Is
clever enough to us. Perhaps 1t mas
treated us a great deal better than we de-
serve to be treated, but If 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
years ago, beautifully depicted it when in
the 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 Il pathos aud simplicity peculiar to
the Scriptures the text says of stephen,
"He fell asleep" "Oh," you say, "what a
place that was to sleep! hard rock under
him, stones falling down upon him. the
blood streaming, the mob bowling. What
a place it was to sleep!' And yet my text
takes that symbol of slumber to describe
his departure, so sweet was 1t, so con-
tented was it, so peaceful was it. stephen
had lived u 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
will ministries of Kindness and love, / do
not know, but from the way he lived, and
the way he preached, and the way he died
1 know be was a laborious Christian. But
that is all over now. He has pressed the
cup to the last fainting lip. He has taken
the last insult from his enemies. The
last stone to whose crushing weight he is
susceptible has been hurled. stephen is
up. They wash away the blood from the
wounds. They straighten out the bruised
limbs. They brush back the tangled hair
from the brow, and then they pass around
to look upon the calm countenance of him
who had lived for the poor and died for
the truth.
Stephen asleep! I saw such n one. He
fought all his days against poverty and
against abuse. They traduced his name.
They ratified at the doorknob while he was
dying with duns for debts he could not pay,
vet the peace of God brooded over his pill
low, and while the world faded heaven
dawned, and the deepening twilight OF
earth's night was only the opening twilight
of heavens morn. Not a sigh, not II tear;
not a struggle. Hush! Stephen asleep!
have not the faculty to tell the weather.
can never tell by the setting sun whether
there will be a drought or not. cannot
tell by the blowing of the wind whether
it will be fair weather or foul on the NOR
row. But 1 can prophesy, and l will
prophesy, what weather it will be when you,
the Christian, come to die. You may have
it very rough now. 1t may be this week one
annoyance, the next another annoyance.
1t may be this year one bereavement, the
next another bereavement. Before this
year has passed you may have to beg for
bread or ask for scuttle of coal or pair
of shoes, but ut the last Christ will come
in and darkness will go out, and though
there may be no hand to 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 regae
your soul, and at your bedside will halt
the chariots of the King. No more rents
to pay, no more agony because -four has
gone up, no more struggle with "the
world, the flesh and the DEVIL" but peace
long, deep, everlasting peace. Stephen
asleep!
You have seen enough for one morning.
No one can successfully examine more
than five pictures in a day. Therefore
we stop, having seen this cluster of divine
stephen looking at Christ, Stephen stoned,
stephen in his dying prayer, stephen
oc