The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-10-02
PICTURES EXAMINED.
RGv.. DR.: !ALMAee PRESENTS A
CLUSTER OF RAPHAELs.

Life of Stephen-.The Discourse Grouped
Into Five Pictures--i Remarkably Flo
quent Sermon.
New YORK, Sept. 15.-In his sermon
for today Rev. DR.. Talmage has chos-
en- a theme as. picturesque as it is
spirituallyinspitsng.. He groups his
discourse into Five Pictures. The
text selected was. Behold, l see the
heavens opened. Acts vii, $3.50.
Stephen had been preaching a rous-
ing sermon. and the people could not
stand it. They resolved to do as men
sometimes would like to do in this
day, # they dared, with some plain
preacher of righteousness-kill him.
Theouly 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 q take away lise if " s1oning.
: Having hUight Him to the edge of the
cliff, they pushed him off. After he
had fallen they cameand 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 Stephenclambers upon
his knees and folds his hands, while
the blood drips from his temples, and
then looking up, he makes two pray
ers-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 swooned
away and fell asleep.
I want to show you today five pic
tures:: Stephen gazing into heaven,
Stephen looking at Christ, Stephen
stoned, Stephen in is dying prayer,
Step len asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into
heaven. Before you take leap you
want to know where yousase going to
land. Before you climb ladder you
want to know to what point the ladder
reaches. And it was right that Ste
phen, within few moments of heav-
en- should be gazing into it. We would
! 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 statuary in the hall,
and paintings in the sitting room, and
works of art ip 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
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, tes-
sellated aoor Of amethyst, and on the
winding cloud stairs are, stretched out
| canvases on which comingle azure and
purple and saffron and gold. But
heaven is the gallery in which the
chief glories are gathered. There are
| the brightest robes. There are the
| richest crowns. There are the highest
exhilarations. St. John saysi:of it.
The kings of the earth shall bring
their honor and glory into it,. And
I see the procession forming, and in
the line comeSaff 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 flag they bear is the
fame Of a consuming world, and all
heaven turns out. With harps and trum:
pets and myriad voiced aceaaurstion Of
of angelic dominions to welcome them.
| in, and so the kings of the earth .hping
their honor and glory into it. Doyou
wonder that good people often stand,
like Stephen, looking into heaven:
We have many frieads there.
There is not "a man here so isolated
in life but there is some one in heaven
with whom he one shook hands. As a
man gets older the number of his
celestial acquaintances very rapidly
multiplies. 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 steau1tug, aud. watch them,
and after awhile the hulk of the YES
sci disappears, and then there IS only
a patch of sail on the S ky, 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
90 away from US into the future world
we keep looking down through the
Narrows and'gazing as though we ex.
pectedlth they would come out aud
Stand on some cloud and give us one
glimpse Of their blissful and trans6g-
ured faces. :: ): ~.-.:.
While you long to join their COM
panianship, and the years and the days
60 with such tedium that they break
your heart, and the vipers of pain and
sorrow and bereavement keep gnaw'
ing at your vitals, 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 been with trouble.
You wonder if, amid the myriad de-
lights they have, they care as mlash.
for you asthey used to when they gave
you helping hand and put their
shoulders under your burdens. You
wonder if they look any older, and
sometimes in the evening tide, when
the house is all quiet you wonder if
you should:sesll them by their first
name if they would:not answer, and
perhaps sometimes you do make the
experiment, and when no one but God
and yourself are there you distinctly
call their names and listen and sit gaz-
ing into heaven.
Pass on now and see Stephen look
ing upon Christ. Ny text says he saw
the. Son of Man at the right hand Of
God. Just how Christ looked in this
world, just how he looks in heaven,
we cannot say. The painters of the
different ages have tried to imagine
the features of Christ and put them