Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-03-01
are scores of men wearing themselves out
in the nnhlic service

the welfare Of the nation. under the
weight of great responsibilities, their vi
tally is being subtracted. In almost every
village of the country YOU find some bro
ken down State or National official.
There is woman who has suffered do.
nestle injustice of which there is no cog
nizance. She says nothing about it. An
inquisitors machine of torture could not
wiring from her the story of domestic woe.
Ever since the day of orange blossoms and
long white veil she has done her full duty
and received for it harshness and blame
and neglect. The marriage ring that was
supposed to be a sign of unending affec-
ton, has turned out to be one link of a
chain of horrible servitude. A wreath of
nettle and nightshade of brightest form
would have been a more accurate prophe-
cy. There are those who find it hard to
believe that there is such place as hell,
nifty and find more than one hell of domes-
tic torment. There is no escape for that
woman but the grave, and that. compared
with the lie she now lives, will be an ar
Dor of jasmine and of the humming birds
song poured into the ear of the honey
suckle. Sears! If there be none on the
brow showing where he struck her arriv-
ing home from midnight carousal, never
theless there are scars all up and down
her injured and immortal soul which will
be remembered on the day when there
shall leap forth for her avengement the
live thunderbolts of an incensed God.
When we see veteran in any land who
has lost limb in battle, our sympathes
are stirred: but. Oh how MANY have in
the domestic realm lost their life and yet
are denied a pillow of dust on which to
slumber! Better enlarge your roll of mar
tyrs: better adopt a new mode of count
ing human sacrifcations. A broken bone
is not half as bad as broken heart.
There are many who can in the same
sense that Paul uttered it say. II bear in
my body the marks of the Lord jesus
that is. for the sake of Christ and His
indenture through all time and all eter-
nifty Do you think that Paul was accur-
ate when he said that? If YOU have stud
led his career YOU have no doubt of it. In
his youth he learned how to fashion the
hair Of the Cilician goat into canvas,
quiet trade, and then went to college, the
President of which was Gamaliel, an in
stitution which scholars say could not have
been verv thorough because of what they
call PauPs imperfect command of Greek
syntax. But his history became exciting
on the road to Damascus. where he was
endorsed and blinded. His conversion was
4 CONFUSION Whether that fall from the
horse may have left mark upon him,
know not but the mob soon took after
him and logged and imprisoned and NAL
treated him until he had scars more than
enough to assure the truthfulness OF his
utterance, Il bear in my body the marks
Of the Lord Jesus"
All We who bear in your body the marks
of the Lord Jesus, have you thought what
use those marks will be in the heavenly
uorlS9 What source of pIOrlOuS remlnlS-
cence! In that world you will sit to-
gether and talk over earthly experiences;
''Where did you get that SCARF" saint will
saw to saint. and there will come back a
story of hardship and struggle and perse-
cution and wounds and victory through
the grace of the gospel. a.,
"Where did you get that mark" says
another spirit to listening spirit, and the
answer comes: '"That is a reminder OF
hold, Of deep grave, of all the heart
strings at one stroke snapped altogether.
But YOU see it is no longer liberation,
for the wound has been healed, and my
once bereft spirit is now in companion
ship with the one from whom for awhile
was separated"
"Where did you set that long, deep
scar" says another immortal to listening
immortal and the answer comes: THAT
was the awful fatigue of Lifetime .strug-
gle in attempting amid adverse clrcum-
stances, to achieve Livelihood. For
thirty years / was tred-oh, SO tired!
have found rest at last for body and soul,
the complete rest. the everlasting rest
that ] heard OF before ] came here as the
rest that remaineth for the people OF
God"
Some one in heaven will say to Martyr
John Rogers, "Where did you get that
-car on your foot" and the answer will
come, ooh. that was burn l suffered
wnen the flames Of martyrdom were kin
died beneath me- Ignatas o what ats is that
was thrown by the order of Trajan."
Some one will say to Paul, Great apos-
tie. that must have been deep cut once
the mark which [ see on your neck.
And Paul says, "That was made by the
sword which struck me at my beheadment
on the road to Ostia." But we all have
scars of some kind, and those are some OF
the things we will talk over in the heav-
emily world while we celebrate the grace
that made us triumphant over ali antag-
onism.
Now, what is the practical use of this
subject? 1t is the cultivation OF Christian
heroics The most OF us want to say
things and do things for God when there
is no danger of getting hurt. We are all
ready for easy work, for popular WORK,
for compensating work, but we all greatly
need more courage to brave the world and
brave satanic assault when there is some
thing aggressive and bold and dangerous
to be undertaken for God and righteous
ness. And if we happen to get hit what
an ado we make about it! We all need
more of the stuff that martyrs are, made
out OF. We want more sanctlted grit,
more Christian pluck, more holy reckless
ness as to what the world may say and 90
right, and all earth and hell combined can
not nut you down.
The same little missionary who wrote
nv text also uttered that piled up mag
nifcence to be found in those words which
ring like battleaxes on splitting helmets:
"In all these things we are more than con-
ouerors, through Him that loved us, for l
am persuaded that neither death nor life
nor angels nor principalltles nor powers
nor things present nor things to come nor
height nor depth nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord"
How do you like that, you towards, who
shrink back from aggressive work, and II
so much as a splinter pierce your flesh cry
out louder than many one torn IN auto
da-fe. Many a soldier has gone through
long war, been in twenty battles, led a
regiment up a hill mounted by cannon and
swept by musketry, and yet came home
without having been once hit and without
mark upon him. But it will not be. so
among those who pass in the grand review
of heaven. They have all in the holy wars
been wounded, and all bear scars; And
what would the newly arrived in heaven
do with nothing to show that he had ever
been struck by human or diabolic weap-