The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-10-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rHE NOTED DIvlNRs SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
subIecti "Flve Pletursa. -

They resolved 90 do as men sometimes would
like 90 do IN this day n they dared. with
some plain preacher of righte0usness-kil
him. The only way 30 silence this man was
90 knock the breath out Of him. 80 they
rushed stephen out ni the Rnles OF tho elty.
aud, with curses aud wh00p and hollow.
they brought him Co tina elm. ns was the cue
tom whom they wanted 90 take away ufs hv
stoning. Having brought him 20 the edge
OF the elm, they pushed him on. After he
had Talon they came and looked down. and
seeing that he WAS not yet dead they began
70 drop stones upon him, stone after stone.
Amid this horrible rain of missiles gtephen
chambers upon HIS knees and folds his hands
while the blood dHps from his temples. and
then, looking up. he makes two prayers
one for himself and one for HIS murderera
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" That was
for himself. "Lord. lnynOt this ain 10 their
charge That was Tor his murdoren. Then.
from pain aud loss Of blood, no swooned
away and fell asleep.
want 30 show YOU to-day Eve pictures.
stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen look
ing NJ Christ, stephen stoned, Stephen
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 10 land. Before YOU
climb ladder you want TO know 10 what
point the ladder reaches. And Il was right
that stephen, within few moments OF
heaven. should be gazing into Il. We would
all DO Well to DO found In the same posture.
Ihere Is enough In heaven TO keep ne gaz-
Ing. A man Of large wealth may have statu-
AIRY In the hall, and paintings In the sitting
room. aud works OF art in an PARTS
Of the house, but be has the ohiefplctures Ia
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 palace. In this lower room where we
stop there are many adomments tessellated
hoor Of amethyst, and on the winding cloud
stairs are stretched out canvases on which
eommingle azure and purple and saffron and
gold. But heaven Is the gallery in which
the chief glones are gathered. There are
the brightest robes. There are the richest
crowns. There are the highest CIVILIZATIONS.
81. John says Of II, 1.-THE kings OF the earth
snail bring their honor and glory into II ."
ana 1 see the procession forming and ia the
line come all empires, and the stars sprinR
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 flag they bear Is the flame OF a
consuming world, and all heaven turns out
with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced
reclamation Of angelic dominions to well
come them In, and so the kings OF the earth
bring their honor and glory into II. Do YOU
wonder that good people often stand iike
stephen, looking into heaven2 We 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 a man gets older
the number Of his celestial acduaiptances
very rapidly multiplies. We have not had
one glimpse ofthem 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 ves-
sci disappears, and then there Is only a 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 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 blissful and TRANSPORTED faces.
While you long to join their companions
snip, and the years and the days 20 with
such tedium that they break your heart, and
the vipers OF pain and sorrow and bereave-
ment keep gnewing at your vitals, you will
stand, like Stephen, gazing into heaven.
You wonder If they have changed since Won
saw them last. You wonder II they would
recognize your face now, so changed has II
been with trouble. You wonder II, amid the
myriad delights they have, they care a.
much for you as they used to when they
gave you a helping hand and put theil
shoulders under your burdens. You won.
der If they look any older, and sometime.
in the evening tide, when the house is al
quiet, you wonder If you should cali then
by their first name II they would not an.
sWer, and perhaps sometimes you do make
the experiment, and when no one but GOD
and yourself are there you distinctly cal
their names and listen and sit gazing into
heaven.
Pass on now and see Stephen lookin,
upon Christ. My text says he saw the Sol
| OF Man at the right hand of God. Just how
| Christ looked in this world. just how H,
| looks in heaven, we cannot say. The paint
ers OF the different ages have tried t
imagine the features of Christ and put then
upon canvas, but we will have to wait unit
with our own eyes we see Him and with gu
own ears we can hear Him. And yet Their
is way Of seeing Him and hearing Hin
now. Ihave to tell you that unless you Sc
and hear Christ on earth you will never SCI
and hear Him in heaven.
Look There He is! Behold the Lamb q
God! Can you not see Him? Then pray L
! God to take the scales off your eyes. Loo
that way-try to look that way. His vote
comes down to you this day-comes down t
the blindest, to the deafest soul-saying
'Look unto Me, all ye ends of the earth, an
be ye saved, for am God, ard there is non
else" Proclamation of universal enamel
patton for all slaves. Tell me- ye who know
most of the worlds history, what other kin
ever asked the abandIped and the forlorn
and the wretched, and the outcast 10 com
and sit beside him2 Oh, wonderful invite
tionl You can take it to-day and stand q
the head Of the darkest alley In all this cit
and say, "Come! Clothes for your rags, salv
for your sores, a throne for your eternt
reigning.' A Christ that talks like that an
acts like that and pardons like that-do yo
wonder that Stephen stood looking at Hin
hope to spend eternity doing the sam
thing. must see Him. must look upo
that face once clouded with my sin, but no