Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-06-16
the MARTYR DEACON.
Painting Biblical Pictures in Human
Blood.
STEPHEN STONED TO DEATH.
An Eloquent Evening Preached Sermon
by BrOOdyn's Great Divine, Rev.
T, Dewitt Talmage.
STEPHEN STONED TO DEATH.
specia1 70 TIE Register

T, Dewitt Talmage.
Special 70 ne Register
BRoOEELYN, June2 l5.-Dr. Talmage
preached very interesting sermon the 9th
er evening on the snbject The Marty
Deacon" The opening hymn of the SER
vicesSwas:
In the Christians nome in glory
There remains uInd Of rest.
The text was AIS vii, $3.50: Behold
| see the heavens opened and the son of
man standing on t6e right hand of God
Then they cried ous with loud voice and
stopped their ears and ran upon him with
one accord and cast him out of the city and
stoned him; aud the witnesses laid down
their clothes at young man 5 feet whose
name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen,
calling upon God and saying: Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And he kneeled down
and cried with loud voice Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge, and when he had
said his he fell asleep Following are
DR.. Talmage's remarkp in full
Stephen bad been preashing a rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand it.
They resolved to do as men sometimes
would ike to do in this day, if they dared,
with some plain preacher Of righteousness
kill him. The only way to silence this man
was to knock the breath out of him. So
they rushed Stephen out of the gates of the
city, and with curse and whoop and below
they brought him to the cliff, as was the
custom when they wanted to take away life
by stoning Having brought him to the
edge Of the cliff they pushed him of. After
ne had fallen they came and looked down
and seeing that he was not yet dead, they
began to drop stones upon him. stone after
stone, stone after stone Amid this hor-
rible
Rain of Missiles,
Stephen chambers up on his knees and folds
his hands while the blood drips from his
temples to his cheeks, from his cheeks to his
garments, from his garments to the ground;
and then looking up. he makes two prayers
-one for himself and one for his murder
crs. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, that
was for himself Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge that was for his assaiants.
Then from pain and loss of blood he
swooned away and fell asleep. | want to
show YOU FIVE pictures: Stephen gazing
into heaven; Stephen looking at Christ;
Stephen stoned; Stephen in his dying pray
er; Stephen asleep.
First Picture.
First, look at Stephen gazing into heaven
Before YOU take leap you want to know
where YOU are going to land Before YOU
climb a ladder YOU want 10 know TO what
point the ladder reaches. And it was right
that Stephen within few moments OF
heaven should be gazing into it. We would
all do we'll to be found in the same posture,
There is enough in heaven 10 keep us gaz,
ing. A man of large wealth may have
staiuary in the hall paintings in the sitting
room. works of art in all parts of the house
but he has the chief pictures in the art gal
lery in there; hour after hour you walk
with catalogues, glasses ever-increasing
admiration. Well heaven is the gallery
where God has gathered the chief treasures
of His realm The whole universe is His
palace. In this lower room where we stop
there are many adornments; tessetated
floor Of amethyst and cOwshp and on the
winding clOud-stairs are stretched out can.
vas on which commingle azure and purple
and saffron and gold. But heaven is the
gallery in which the chief glories are gath
cred. There are the brightest robes; there
are the richest crowns; there are the high
est exhilaratiOus. John says of It, The
kings Of the earth shall bring their homes
and glory into it, And see the procession
forming in the line come from all empires
and the stars spring up into an arch for the
hosts To march under. They keep step to the
The sound of Earthquake,
and the pitch of svalance from the noun
tains, and the flag that thev bear is the
fame Of the consuming world and all heav
en- turns out with harpS and trumpetS and
myriad voiced acclamation of angelic do
minion to welcome them in, and SO the
kings of the earth bring their honor and
their glory into it, Do you wonder that
good people often stand like Stephen look
ing into heaven We have q great MANY
friends there. There is not man in this
house so isolated in life but there SSome one
in heaven with whom he once shook hands,
As a man gets older the number OF his ce-
lrStial acQuaiutanceS very rapidly mulhpheS
We have not had one glimpse of them since
the uIyh we kissed them goodbye and
they vcnt away: but still we stand gazing
at heaven. AS when some of our friends go
across the sea we stand on the dock or on
the steam tug and watch them, and after
awhile the hulk of the vessel disappears and
then there is only patch Of sail on the sky
and soon that is gone and they are all out
sight and vet we stand looking in the same
direction, so when our friends 60 away from
as into
The Future World
and keep looking down through the narrows
and gazing and gazing "a though we eN-
pected that they would come out and stand
on some evening cloud and give us one
GLIMPSE of their bliSSml and transkgured
faces While you long to join their com
paniouship. and the years and the days go
with such tedium that they break your heart
and the viper of pain and sorrow and be
reavement keeps gnswing at your vitals, you
will stand like Stephen gazing into heaven.
You wonder if they have changed since you
saw them last. You wonder if they would
recognize your face now. so changed has it
been with trouble You wonder it, amid
the mvriad delights they have, they care as
much for YOU as they used to when they
gave you a helping hand and put their
shoulder under your burdens, Iou wonder
if they look any older, and sometimes in the
evening tide when the house is all quiet you
wonder if YOU should call them by their first
name if they would not answer; and per
haps sometimes YOU do make the expert
ment, and when no one but God and your
self are there YOU distinctly call their names
and listen and wait ands it
Gazing Into Heaven.
Pass on now and see Stephen looking
unon Christ. Nv text says he saw the Sol