Connecticut western news., 1895-09-19
PICTURES EXAMINED.
REV. DR. TALMAGE PRESENTS A CLUS-
 TER OF RAPHAELS.

TER OF RAPHAELS.
 Brilliant Word Painting of scenes In the Life of stephen-The Discourse Grouped Into Five Pictures Remarkably Elo- quent Sermon.
 NEW YORK, Sept. 15.-In his sermon for today Rev. Dr. Talmage has chosen a theme as picturesque as it is spiritu- ally inspiring. He groups his discourse into "Five Pictures. '' The text selected was, Behold, els see the heavens opened. "-Acts vii, 56-60.
 Stephen had been preaching a rousing sermon, and the people could not stand it. They resolved to do as men some- times would like to do in this day, if they dared, with some plain preacher of fighteousness-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 he 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 Amid this horrible rain of missiles Stephen chambers upon his knees and folds his hands, while the blood drips from his temples, and then, looking up, he makes two prayers-one for himself and one for his murderers. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. That was for himself. "Lord, lay notthis sin to their charge" That was for his murderers Then, from pain and loss of blood, he. swooned away and fell asleep.
 Five Pictures.
 want to show you today five pictures: Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen looking at Christ, Stephen stoned, Ste phen in his dying prayer, Stephen asleep.
 First, look at Stephen gazing into heaven. Before you take leap you want to know where you are going to land. Before you climb ladder you want to know to what point the ladder reaches And itwas right that Stephen, within few moments of heaven, should be gazing into it. We wonld-all do we'll to be found in the same posture. There is enough in heaven to keep us gazing. A man of large wealth may have statu- ary inr the hall, and paintings in the sit ting room, and works of art in all parts of the house, bnt he has the chief pie V tures in the art gallery, and there hour .after hour you walk with catalogue and glass ard ever increasing admiration. We'll, heaven is the gallery where God has gathered the chief treasures of his realm. The whole universe is his pal ace. In this lower room where we stop there are many adornments, tessellated floor of. amethyst, and on the winding cloud stairs are stretched out eanvases on which commingle azure and purple and saffron and gold. But heaven is the gal lery in which the chief glories are gath cred. There are the brightest robes. There are the richest crowns. There are the highest exhilarations. St. John says of it, "The kings of the earth shall bring their honor and glory into 1t. !" And see the procession forming, and in the. line come all empires, and the stars spring up into an arch for the hosts to march under. They keep step to the sound of earthquake, and the pitch of avalanche from the mountains, and the flag they bear is the flame of a consuming world, and all heaven turns out with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced exclamation of angelic dominions s to welcome tksm in, and so the kings of the earth bring their honor and g lory into it. sDoyou wonder that good people often stand, like Stephen, looking into heaven ?sWe have many friends there
 There is not man here so isolated in life but there is some one in heaven with whom he once shook hands. As Q man gets older the number of his celes- tial acquaintances very rapidly multi plies. We have not had one glimpse of them since the night we kissed them goodby, and they went 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 of sight, and yet we stand looking in the same direction. So when ou1 friends go away from us into the future world we keep looking down through the Narrows and gazing and gazing as though we expected that they would come out and stand on some cloud and give us one glimpse of their blissful and transfgured faces.
 While you long to join their compan- ionship, and the years and the days gc with such tedium that they break you heart, and the vipers of pain and sorrow and bereavement keep gnawing at you svitals, 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 beer with trouble. You wonder if, amid tn, myriad delights they have, they care a much for you as they used to when the, gave you helping hand and put thei shoulders under your burdens. You won der if they Took any older, and some times in the evening tide, when tn house is all quiet, you wonder if yo1 should call them by their first name 
 sometimes you do make the experiment and when no one but God and yoursel are there you distinctly call their name and listen and sit gazing into heaven.
 Gazing on Christ.
 Pass on now and see Stephen lookin upon Christi My text says he saw tn Son of Man at the right hand of God , Just how Christ looked in this world just how he looks in heaven, we canno say. The painters of the different age have tried to imagine the features ( Christ and put them upon canvas, bu we will have to wait until with our ow eyes we see him and with our own eal we can hear him. And yet there is
 way of seeing him and hearing hi
 now. I have to tell you that unless ye see and hear Christ on earth you wi