The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-09-20
PICTURES EXAMINED.
REV. DR. rALMAGE PRESENTS A cLus-
TER OF RAPHAELS.

TER OF RAPHAELS.
Rrnfians Word Painting of Scenes In the
Life Of stephen-The Discourse Grouped
Into Five Pictures-A Remarkably Flo
qnent Sermon.
New YORK. Sept 1t.-In his sermon
for today Rev. Dr.. Talmage has chosen
theme as picturesque as it is spiritu-
ally inspiring. He groups his discourse
into Give Pictures. +" The text selected
was, "Behold, ! see the heavens
opened. Acts VII, $500.
Stephen had been preaching 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
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 off. 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 not this sin to their
charge" That was for his murderers.
Then, from pain and loss OF blood, he
gwooned away and fell asleep.
Five Pictures.
Iwant 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 it was right that Stephen,
within few moments of heaven, should
be gazing into it Wewould all do well
10 be found in the same posture. There
is enough in heaven to keep us gazing.
A man Of large wealth may have statu-
airy in the hall, and paintings in the sit
ting room, and works of art In all parts
of the house, but he has the chief pic
lures in the art gallery, and there hour
after hour you walk with catalogue and
glass and ever increasing admiration.
Well, 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 canvases on
which commingle azure and purple and
saffron and gold But heaven is ths gal
lery in which the chief glories are gath
cred There are the brightest robes
There are the richest crowns. There art
the highest exhilarationa St John say
of it, "The kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into IT.
And I see the procession forming, ant
In the line come all empires, and the
stars spring up into an arch for the
hosts to march under. They keep steI
to the sound of earthquake, and the
pitch Of avalanche from the mountains
and the flag they bear Is the flame Of {
consuming world, and all heaven turnt
out with harps and trumpets and myriad
voiced acclamation of angelic dominions
to welcome them in, and so the kings Of
the earth bring their honor and glory
into it. Doyou wonder that good people
often stand, like Stephen, looking int
heaven? We have many friends there
There is not man here 80 isolated
IN life but there is some one In beaver
with whom he once shook hands AS {
man gets older the number Of his celes
tial acquaintance very rapidly mnlti
plies. We have not had one glimpse O
them since the night we kissed then
goodby, and they went away, but still
we stand gazing at heaven AS whel
some Of our friends go across the sea
we stand on the dock. or ON the steam tug
and watch them, and after awhile tn
hulk of the vessel disappears, and the
there is only patch Of sail on the sky
and soon that is gone, and they are a.
out of sight, and yet we stand looktn
in the same direction So when on
friends go away from us into the futur
world we keep looking down throug
the Narrows and gazing and gazing g
though we expected that they woul
come out and stand ON some cloud an
give us one glimpse of their bhssful an
TRANSPORTED faces.
While you long to join their compar
ionship, and the years and the days G
with such tedium that they break yor
heart, and the vipers of pain and sorro'
and bereavement keep gnawing at YOU
vitals, you will stand, like Stephel
gazing into heaven. You wonder If the
have changed since you saw them Las
You wonder If they would recognii
your face now, so changed has 1t bee
with trouble. You wonder If, amid Il
myriad delights they have, they care
much for you as they used to when the
gave you helping hand and put the
shoulders under your burdens You wol
A. tlox, Lob a,,u Oldar and som