Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1895-09-20
ADAYWITI[ STEPHEN
REV. DR.. TALMAeE PRESENTS FIVE
LIVING PICTURES.

: stephen Gazing Into Heaven = stephe
Looking at Christ stephen stone,
Stephen In His Dying Prayer-stephe
Asleep--A Picturesque Sermon.
NEW YORK, sept. l5.-In his sermon
for today Rev Or. Talmage has chosen
theme as picturesque AS it is spirituall
inspiring. He groups his discourse int
Give Pictures" The text selected was
Behold sec the heavens opened. "-Aot
vii, $500.
Stephen had been preaching q rousins
sermon, and the people could not stand it
They resolved to do as mon sometime.
would like 70 doin 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 tho 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
up on 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 murderefs Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit, ." that was for
himself. Lord, lay not this sin to their
Charge that was for his murdorurs.
Then, from pain and loss of blood, he
swooned away and fell asleep.
i x~u1,t fo chou Won fnfiarr five v,4nfr4.sos
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen
looking at Christ, stephen stoned, Stephen
in his dying prayer, stephen asleep
stephen Looking Into Heaven.
First look at Stephen gazing into heav-
en- Before you take leap you want to
know where you are going to land Be
fore you climb a ladder you want to know
to what point the ladder reaches And it
was right that Stephen, within few mo-
ments of heaven should be gazing into it,
We would all do well to be found in the
same posture. There is enough in heaven
TO keep us gazing. A man Of large wealth
may have statuary in the hall, and paint 1
ings 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 I
hour after hour you walk with catalogue
and glass and over increasing admiration. (
Well, heaven is the gallery where God has /
gathered tho chief treasures Of his realm
Tho whole universe is bis palace. In this
lower room whore we stop there arc niany
tessellated floor of amethyst, I
and on the winding cloud stairs are
stretched out canyasos on which cOmmin-
gle azure and purple and saffron and gold.
But heaven is the gallery in which the
ohief glorios are gathered There are tho
brightest robes. There are the richest
crowns. There arc the highest exhilara-
lions. st. John says Of 1t, "'The kiggs Of
he earth shall bring their honor and glory
INTO it," And SEQ the procession form
ng, and IN the line come all empires, and
he stars spring up into an arch for the
losts to march under. They keep step to
he sound of earthquake and the pitch Of
avalanche from the mountains, and the
lag they bear is the fiamo of a consuming
world, and all heaven turns out with
larps and tTumpets and myriad voiced ac- {
lamation Of angelic doninions to well I
ONE them in, and so the kings of the :
arth bring their honor and glory into it,
% you wonder that coed people often {
tand, like stephen, looking into heaven?
We have many friends there. :
There is not u man here so isolated in y
lfe but there is some ono in heaven with ]
'hom he once shook hands. ASA man I
cts older, the number Of his celestial nc G
uaintances very rapidly multiplies. We t
ave not had ono glimpse Of them since c
ne night we kissed them gOOdby and they
'ent away, but still we stand gazing at /
eaven. As when some OF our friends go S
cross the sea we stand on the dock or on r
lie steam tug and watch them, and after
while the hulk Of the vessel disappears, i
nd then there is only patch of sail on i
Re sky, and soon that is gone, and they {
70 all out Of sight, and yet we stand look q
g in the same direction, so whom our r
lends go away from us into the future b
orld we keep looking down through the t.
arrows and gazing and g1zingas though o
@ expected that they would come out and "
and ON some cloud and give us one a
impse of their blissful and TRANSPORTED
cos. "
While you long to join their companion a
ip, and the years and the days go with
Oh tedium that they break your heart, and "
g vipers of pain and sorrow and beroave- Ii
ent keep gnawing at your vitals, you 81
II stand, like stephen, gazing into heav- O.
You wonder if they have changed B
ace you saw them last You wonder if 1
ey would recognize your face now so G
anged has it been with trouble. You W
,nder if, amid the myriad delights they al
We, they care as much for you as they W
ed to when they gave you a helping G
nd and put their shoulders under your W
rdens. You wonder il they look any ia
Ter and sometimes in the evening tide, tn
len the house is all quiet, you wonder if co
u should call them by their first name if W
" would not answer and perhaps some hi
les you do make the experiment, and st
zen no one but God and yourself are 81
re you distinctly call their names and be
zen and sit gazing into heaven. 81
Looking Upon Christ. WI
Pass on now and see Stephen looking =
On Christ My text says he saw the ,l
n Of Man at the right hand Of God ~
st how Christ looked in this world, just W
" he looks in heaven, we cannot say. *
c painters of the different ages have w
ID to imagine the features Of Christ
! put them upon canvas, but we viii
70 to wait until with our own eyes we
him and with our own ears wo can OF
II him. And yet there is a way of see ST
him and hearing him now l have TO ear
you that unless you see and hear WI
rist ON earth, you will neyer. see and tel
+ him in heaven. ew
look There he Isl Behold the Lamb va