St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-04-16

COul. ALopA uAto .AS~ GA e
ends of the earth, and be We saved. for
/ am God, and there is none else
Proclamation of universal emar.
cipation for all slaves. Procla.
nation Of universal amnesty for all
rebels Belshazzar gathered the Ba.
bylonish mobiles to his table; George /.
entertained the lords of England at a
banquet; Napoleon III. welcomed the
czar of Russia and the sultan of Tur.
key to his feast; the emperor of Ger.
many was glad to have our minister,
George Bancroft, sit down with him at
his table; but 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 to-day. and stand at the head OF
the darkest alley in any city, and say:
''Come! Clothes for your rags, salve
for your sores, a throne for your eter-
nal reigning." A Christ that talks
like that. and acts like that, and par
dons like that-do You wonder that
Stephen stood looking at Him? hope
to spend eternity doing the same thing.
/ must see Him; must look upon that
face, once clouded with my sin, but
now radiant with my pardon. want
to touch that hand that knocked off
my shackles. l want to hear that
voice which pronounced my deliver
ance. Behold Him, little children, for
if you live to three-score years and ten,
you will see none so fair. Behold
Him, We aged ones, for He only can
shine through the dimness of your fail
ing eyesight. Behold Him, earth. Be
hold Him. Heaven. What a moment
when all the nations of the saved shall
way. All thrones that way, gazing on
Jesus
His worth IL all the nations knew.
Sure the whole earth would love Him. too.
pass on now, and look at Stephen
stoned -Thesworld has always wanted
to 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
precipice. 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. Ste
phen stoned, but Stephen alive. So all
good men must be pelted. All who
live godly in Christ Jesus must
suffer persecution. 1t is no eulogy of
a man to say that everybody likes him.
Show me anyone 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
because you are either a laggard or a
dolt. If a steamer makes rapid pro-
gress through the waves, the water
will boil and foam all around it.
Brave soldiers of Jesus Christ will hear
the carbines click. When see n man
with voice, and money, and influence
all on the right side, and some car
feature him, and some sneer at him,
and some demo Aace him, and men who
pretend to be actuated by right mo-
tives conspire to cripple him. to cast
him out, to destroy him, say: stephen
stoned"
When / see man in some great
or religious reform battling against
grog-shops, exposing wickedness in
high places, by active means trying to
purify the church and better the
,v.1r1l.c t,&a
newspapers anathematize him, and
men, even good men, oppose him and
denounce him. because, though he does
good, he does not do it in their way, l
say: stephen stoned The wo;ld,
with infinite spite, took after John
Frederick Oberlin, and Paul, and
Stephen of the text. But you notice,
my friends, that while they assaulted
him they did not succeed really in kill
ing him. You may assault good man,
but you can not kill him.
On the day Of his death Stephen
spoke before few people in the san
hedrim: now he addresses all Christen-
dom. Paul the Apostle stood on Mars
Hill addressing a handful of philoso-
piers who knew not SO much about
science as n modern schoolgirl. To-
day he talks to all the millions Of
Christendom about the wonders of JUS
tification and the glories of resurrec-
ton. John Wesley was howled down
by the mob to whom he preached, and
they threw bricks at him, and they
denounced him, and they jostled him,
and they spat upon him, and yet to-
day, in all lands, he is admitted to be
the great father of Methodism. Booths
bullet vacated the presidential chair;
but from that spo. of coajulated blood
on the floor in the box of Ford's the
ater there sprang up the new life of a
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 trap-door,
the black cap being drawn over his
head before the execution. may grimace
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 it glcam from your
eyes, and l see it irradiating
your countenancc. Sometimes l am
abashed before an audience, not
because l come under their physical
cyesight. but because l realize the
truth that stand before so many inn
mortal spirits. The probability is that
your body will ut last find 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 head under the maple. or
the Norway spruce. or the cypress or
the blossoming 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 it's path
way? After it has got beyond
the light of our sun. will there be
torches lighted for it the rest of