Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-09-27
.TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BY THE
NV YORK PHEACHER-
Subject: Five Pictures"

some plain preacher % riEhtrousness-kii!
\ him. The only wHv 90 silence this maa was
| 20 knock the breath ont q him. So they
| rushed stephen out 1f the gates Of the CITY.
| aud, with curses and who0p and below.
! they brought him 90 the clilI a. wa, the GU
| tom when they wanted 20 take away life by
| stOning. Having brought him 20 the "a "a
| OF the cliff. they pushed him N. After he
! had fallen thew came aud looked down. and
seeing that hr was MT vr: dead they began
| 10 drop stones upon him, sion" after stone.
| Amid this horrible rain II missiles stephen
; chambers vH1n Iis ku"H, 49, folds h's hands.
| while the ui0ud iuu- from hl, temples, and
then, looking up, he makes two prayers
! one for himself aud one for MS mUrlerers.
! Lord Jesus. receive my spirit That was
| for himself Lord iaynot this sin to their
| charge" That was for his murderers. Then
from pain aud loss Jt blood, no swoonai
away and fell asleep.
want TO show YOU to-day Eve pictures.
| stephen gazing into heaven. stephen look
ing ut Christ, stephen stoned Stephen
IN his dying prayer. stephen asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into heaven.
| Before you take a leap you want 10 know
where yOu are going % land. Before YOU
| climb ladder you want to know to what
| point the ladder reaches. And it was right
/ that Stephen, within a few moments Of
/ heaven, should be gazing into It, We would
! all do well 70 be found in the same posture
! There is enough in heaven 70 keep us gaz-
ing A man of large wealth may have statu-
AIRY in the hall, and paintings in the sitting
room. and works Of art IN all parts
OF the house but he has the chief pictures in
the art gallery, and there hour after hour
you walk with catalogue and glass and aver
increasing admiration. Well. heaven is tho
gallery whore God has gathered the chief
treasures Of His realm. The whole universe
Is His palace. In this lower room where we
| stop there ar many adOrnments, tessalated
floor of amethyst, and on the winding cloud
stairs are stretched out canvases on which
! commlngle azure and purple and saffron and
gold. But heaven Is the gallery in which
I the chief glories are gathered. There are
the brightest robes. There are the richest
crowns. There are the highest CIVILIZATIONS.
st. John says oft, The kings OF the earth
shall bring their honor and glory into it.
And see the procession forming and in tho
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 noun
tains, and the nag they bear is the flame Ola
consuming world, and all heaven turns out
with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced
acciamation Of angelic dominious 70 wei
come them in, AMI 80 the kings of the earth
bring their honor and glory into it. Do YOU
wonder that good people often stand, like
Stephen, looking into heaven We have
many friends there.
There Is not man here so isOlated in lie
but there is some one in heaven with whom
he once shook hands. As man gets 0, lar
the number OF his celestial acquaintHnreS
very rapidly mUltiplies. We have not had
one glimpse Of them since the night we XII ssnd
them gOodby, and they went away, but --iN
we stand gazing at heaven. As when ,1.uA
OF our friends so across the sea we stand IN
the dock, or on the steam tug. and watch
them, and after awhile the hulk Of the ve.-
sci 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. 50 when our
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 bllssul and TRANSPORTED faces
While you long to Join their companion
ship, and the years and the DAYS 20 with
such tedium that they break your heart, and
the vipers Of pain and sorrow and beraave-
ment keep gnawing at your vitals. YOU wilt
stand, like Stephen, gazing into heaven
You wonder if they have changed since YOU
saw them last, You wonder II they would
recognize your face now, so changed has it
been with trouble. You wonder if amid the
myriad delights they have, they care As
much for YOU As they used to when they
gave you a helping hand and nut their
shoulders under your burdens. You Won
der If they look any older, and sometimes
In the evening tide, when the house il ali
quiet you wonder if YOU should call them
by their first name If they would not An
swer, and perhaps sometimes YOU DO make
the experiment, and when no one but CD
and yourself are there You distinctly cal.
their names ana listen and sit gazing into
heaven.
Pass on now and see stephen looking
upon Christ. Ny lext SAYS he saw the Son
of Man ut the right hand Of Cod Just how
Christ looked III this world. Just how He
looks IN heaven, we cannot say. The paint
ers of the different ages have tried 20
imagine the features OF Christ aud nut them
upon canvas, but we Will have to wait until
with our own eyes weSee Him and with our
own ears we can hear Him. And yet there
is way Of seeing Him and hearing Him
now. have to tel YOU that unless you sea
and hear Christ on earth you will never see
and hear Him in heaven.
Look! There He is! Behold the Lamb Of
! God Can you not see Him2 Then pray to
God to take the scales off your eyes. Look
that way-try to look that way. His voice
comes down to you this day-comes down to
the blindest to the deafest 3oUl-Savin-
look unto Me, all We ends of the earth, and
be ye saved, for am God ard there is none
else. Proclamation of universal amanci-
patton for all slaves. Tell me, We VINO know
most OF the worlds history, what other king
ever asked the abandoned and the forlorn
and the Wretched, and the outca5t to come
and sit beside him? Oh, wonderful invita-
ton! You can take it to-day and stand at
the head of the darkest alley in all this city
and say, Come! Clothes FOR your rags, salye
for your sores, throne for your eternal
reigning.' Christ that talks like that and
acts like that and pardOns like that-do you
wonder that Stephen stood looking at Him?
hope to spent eternity doing the same
thing. [ must see Hin. [ must look upon
that face once cIouded with my sin, but now
radiant with my pardon. [ want to touch
that hand that knocked of my shacIes I
want to hear the voice that pronounced nv
deliverance. Behold Him, little children
for 1t you live to threescore years and ten
you will see none 50 fair Behold Him, We
aged ones, for He only can shine through the
dimness Of your failing eyesght Behold
Him, earth. Behold Him, heaven What a
moment when all the Nations Of the saved
shall gather around Christ, All faces that
way. All thrones that way, gazing on Jesus.
His worth if all the Nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love Him too
lpass on now and look at Stephen stoned.
The world has always wanted to get rid OF
good men. Their very life is an assault
upon wickedness. Out with Stephen
through the gates of the city. Down with
him over the precipices. Let every man
come up and drop stone upon his head.
But these men did not so much kill stephen
as they killed themselves. Every stone re-
| bounded upon them. While these murderers
| are transfixed by the scorn Of all good men
| stephen lives in the admiration of all Chris
tendon. Stephen stoned, but stephen alive.
So all good men must be pelted. "All who
will live cody in Christ Jesus must suffer
| persecution" 1t is no eulogy Of man ia
say that everybody likes him. Show me
any one who is doing all his duty to state
| or church, and | will show You scores OF men
| who uttnrlN nhhnr him