The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-02-27
en- thee by the right hand of my pow

en- thee by tie right hand of my pow
err
1 look again, and 1 see the angelic
gallery. There they are-the angel
that swung the sword at the gate of
Eden, the same that Ezekiel saw up
holding tue throne of God, and from
which look away, for the splendor is
insufferable. Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched patriarch;
this one protected child; that one has
been pulling soul out of temptation!
All these are messengers of light!
Those drove the Spanish armada on
the rocks. This turned Sennacheribs
living hosts into heap of $4,000
corpses. Those yonder chanted the
Christmas carol over Bethlehem until
the chant awoke the shepherds. And
there, holier and mightier than all. is
Michael, the archangel. To command
an earthly host gives dignity, but this
one is leader of the 10000 chariots of
God and of the ten thousand times ten
thousand angels. l think God gives
N~.--AAASAAANA
archangel to the seraphim, and the
seraphim to the cherubim, until all the
lower orders of heaven hear the COM
mand and 81 forth on the high behest.
Now bring on your lions! Who can
fear? All the spectators in the angelic
gallery are our friends. Though the
arena be crowned with temptations we
shall, with the angelic help, strike
them down in the name of our God
and leap on their fallen carcasses! o
bending throng of bright angelic faces
and swift wings and lightning foot,
nail you to-day from the dust and
struggle of the arena.
look again, and see the gallery of
the prophets and apostles. Who are
those mighty ones up yonder? Hosea
and jeremiah and Daniel and Isaiah
and Paul and Peter and John and
James. There sits Noah, waiting for
all the world to come into the ark and
Moses. waiting till the last Red sea
shall divide, and jeremiah, waiting for
the Jews to return, and John of the
apocalypse, waiting for the swearing
OF the angel that time shall be no
longer. Glorious spirits! Ye were
hevled at. We were stoned, We were spit
upon! They have been in this fight
themselves, and they are all with us.
Daniel knows all about lions. Paul
fought with beasts at Ephesus.
look again, and I see the gallery. of
the martyrs. Who is that? Hugh Lat
liner, sure enough! He would not
apologize for the truth he preached, and
so he died, the night before swinging
from the bedpost in perfect glec at the
thought of emancipation. Who is that
army of $3.50? They are the The
ban legion who died for the faith.
Here is a larger host in magnificent
array, $4,000, who persisted for Christ
IN the prosecutions of Diocletian. Yon-
der is family group, Felicitas of
Rome and her children While they
were dying for the faith she stood en-
couraging them. One son was whipped
to death by thorns; another was flung
from rock; another was beheaded. At
last the mother became martyr.
There they are together, family group
in heaven! Yonder is John Bradford.
who said in the fire, 1--WE shall have
merry supper with the Lord tonight"
Yonder is Henry Woes, who exclaimed
as he died, IF had ten heads, they
should all fall off for Christi" The
great throng of the martyrs! They had
hot lead poured down their threats;
horses were fastened to their hands
and other horses to their feet, and thus
they We're pulled apart; they had their
tongues pulled out by redhot pinchers;
they We're sewed up in the skins of an
imals and then thrown to the dogs;
they were daubed with combustibles
and set on fire! If all the martyrs
stakes that have been kindled could be
set at proper distances, they would
make the midnight all the world over
bright as MONDAY! And now they sit
yonder in the martyrs gallery. For
them the fires of persecution have gone
out; the swords are sheathed and the
mob hushed. Now they watch us with
an all observing sympathy. They know
all the pain, all the injustice all the
privation. They cry: Courage! The
fire will not consume; the floods can
not drown; the lions cannot devour.
Courage down there in the arena!"
What? Are they all looking? This
hour we answer back the salutation
they give and cry, Hail, sons and
daughters Of the fire!"
look again and see another GAL
lery-that of eminent Christians. What
strikes me strangely is the mixing in
companionship of those who on earth
could not agree. There is Albert
Barnes and around him the presbyterv
who tried him for heterodoxy! Yon-
der are Lyman Beecher and the church
court that. denounced him! Stranger
than all, there are John Calvin and
James Arminius! Who would have
thought that they would sit SO loving
L. together? There are George White
field and the ministers who would not
LOT him nOnn into thoir p,,1p;fc hoo,,,,o