Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-02-27
That was with wild beasts from the
jungle: this'is with the roaring lion Of

4
jungle: this'i with the roaring lion Of
hell.
Men think. when they contend against
an evil habit. that they have to fight 1t
all alone. No! They stand in the cen
ter OF an immense circle Of sympathy.
Paul had been reciting the names of
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. Sarah,
Isaac. Joseph, Gideon and Barak and
then says, Being comprised about
with 10 great cloud Of witnesses"
A Cloud of witnesses.
Before get through will show you
that you fight In an arena, around
which circle, in galleries above each
other, all the kindling eyes and oil the
sympathetic hearts Of the ages. and at
every victory gained there comes down
the laundering applause Of great
multitude that no man can number.
Being compassed about with so great
cloud of witnesses"
On the first elevation of the ancient
amphitheater, on the day Of celebra
ton, sat Tiberius or Augustus or the
reigning king. SO in the great arena
of spectators that watch our struggles
and in the first divine gallery, as I
shall call 1t. sits our King. one Jesus.
On his head are many crowns The
Roman emperor got his place by cold
blooded conquests, but our King hath
come to his place by the broken hearts
healed and the tears wiped away and
the souls redeemed. The Roman en-
peror sat, with folded arms. indiffer-
! ent as to whether the swordsman or
the lion beat, but our Kings sympa-
thies are all with us-nay, unheard of
condescension. ! see him come down
/ from the gallery into the arena to help
us In the fight, shouting until all up
and down his voice Is heard: Fear
not. l will help thee! I will strength
en- thee by the right hand Of my pow
err"
They gave to the men in the arena in
the olden time food to thicken their
blood. so that il would flow slowly and
that for longer time the people might
gloat over the scene. But our King
| has no pleasure in our wounds, for we
are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh,
blood Of his blood.
In all the anguish OF our heart
The Man Of Sorrows bore a part
! Once in the ancient amphitheater n
lion with one paw caught the combat
ants sword and with his other paw
caught his shield The man took his
knife from his girdle and slew the beast.
/ The king, sitting in the gallery, said.
! That was not fair. The lion must be
slain by a sword" Other lions were
turned out and the poor victim fell.
You cry, Shame! shame!' at such
mennness But the King in this case
is our brother, and he will see that we
have fair play. He will forbid the
rushing out Of more lions than we can
meet. He will not suffer us to be
tempted above that we are able. Thank
/ God. The King Is in the gallery His
eyes are on us. His heart is with US.
His hand will deliver us. Blessed are
they who put their trust in him."
The Angels In the Gallery.
| l look again, and l 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 the throne Of God, and from
which look away, for the splendor is
insufTerable. Here are the guardian
angels. That one watched a patriarch
this one protected a child: that one ha 5
been pulling soul out Of temptation
All these are messengers of light.
Those drove the Spanish armada on
the rocks. This turned Sennncherib's
living host into heap of 1850
corpses. Those yonder chantcd the
| Christmas carol over Bethlehem until
the chant awoke the shepherds. These
at creation stood in the balcony of
heaven and serenaded the newborn
world wrapped In swaddling clothes Of
light. And there holier and mightier
than all, is Michael, the archangel.
TO command an earthly host gives dig
nifty, but this one is leader of the 10000
charots Of God and Of the ten thou
sand times ten thousand angels. |
think God gives command to the arch
angel, ana the archangel to the sera-
phim, and the seraphim to the cher
ubim, until all the lower orders of
heaven hear the command and go forth
on the high behest
Now, bring on your lions! Who can
feur? All the spectators in the angelic
gallery are our friends. HE shall give
his angels charge over thee. to keep
thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt
tread upon the lion and adder; the
young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under foot"
Though the arena be crowded with
temptations. we shall, with the angelic
help. strike them down in the name of
our God and leap on their fallen car
casses! o bending throng of bright
angelic faces and swift wings and
lightning foot, hail you today 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