The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1901-09-26

| hNt What thS1 Wv auu tuCh VI TIC
martyr st. Stephen: "Lord lay not
this sin to their charge" He said to
those who threatened violence to the
gagressor: "Deal gently with the man"
At such moment words and deeds
are not acted, they spring from the
settled convictions and principles Of
life, and just here is found the value
of the lesson. And later, when the
tragedy is nearing its close, life is eb-
bing away, and it was not an easy
thing to yield. Still it seemed there
was work he might do for his beloved
land and people, and Tor that one
nearer still, bound to his heart and
life, and bending in silent sorrow over
him, that silent partner who had been
so much to him and to whom he had
| also been, o so very, very noble.
With these two objects of his truest
love was it easy to surrender life
Here, once more, my brethren. the
triumph of Christianity is recognized.
No rebellious murmur, no petty re-
pining. A loyal obedience to the
giver of life and Goods will be DONE
And once more, he being dead, yet
speaketh. In probably every church
throughout the land last Sunday, one
or both of those sublime hymns,
which were SO dear to him in life, al
most instinctively came yelling from
the hearts OF myriad worshippers,
and they sang to God, making it their
own prayer in the midst of their pres.
ent shadows:
"Lead, kindly Light, amid tn encircling
gloom,
Lead thou me on"
''Nearer, my God, to thee nearer to thee"
One spontaneous and general move
ment in obedience to the, eternal law
of progress If he did well in life.
o, brethren, believe it, he did well in
death. BY his true exhibition CT ster
ling religion and pious faith, he has
given a fulness of meaning, let us
well realize 1t, 10 the words of the
apostle: "The earnest expectation of
the creature, waitetn for the manifes-
tation OF the children of God" And
does it not seem as though the prayer
implied in the straining forward with
outstretched head and hand which the
word expectation" literally signifies,
were alresdy being heard 4? The
strong, deep feeling of the nation is
intensified in way as never before:
that it is high time to put away child
ish things, and live and act as becomes
men who know their God. Law, Or
der, religion, each in their truest,
deepest and most significant mean
ings, are uppermost In the hearts of
all. The country, yes, we may say
the world, waits for the banishment
of anarchy, Of lawlessness, of irrellg-
ion, and with eager straining, looks
forward to the help and work, not of
the men of evil, but of the sons of
the God.
Whatever may be the praises and
the virtue of the American, and thank
God they are many. an excessive de-
votlon to reverence and what St.
Paul describes as "zeal for religion"
cannot, as yet, be claimed rs one of
his glories. And if the nation has been
called upon to suffer, as it has Just
now, that this golden fruit may come,
well may we thank God for the lesson,
and at the same time, add penitential
tears to our sorrow that the sacrlhce
should at all be needed. A deep,
religious instinct, which was so con-
spicuously characteristic of him we
mourn, surely that is what we need.
And by no more impressive way could
this be taught US than by the noble
evidences of real love and trust in
God which he displayed in death.
The nation, my brethren, will gather
Its lessons to heart as once more it
steadfastly sets its face hopefully to
the future and its work But It will
have forgotten the noblest, if it allows
to pass away, only after spasmodic
and short lived effort, this, the deep
est and most significant, the value of
true religion in every heart. We leave
to others to proclaim his statesman
ship, his patriotism, his success in pol
itlcs, but this we may not, we wish
not to forget-his services to his
country as son of God. Come
what will of the bursts of anarchy, or
schlsm, or treason, or lawlessness, or
disorder, or ilrelgion in any form, and
with whatever battalions of organized
strength they may force against our
life. Come if they will with insidious
treachery, sneaking into our council
chambers, our homes, our churches.
our friendships, in what disguise they
may, or with what attractions, and
ever will creation Qt only its heart be
kept alive and true in that unsullied
and pure religion which has been sent