Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-09-16
PICTURES EXAMINED.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE PRESENTS A CLUS-
TER OF RAPHAELS.

Into Five Pictures-A Remarkably Elo-
quent Sermon.
NEW YORK, Sept. 15.-In his sermon
for today Rev. Dr. Talmage has chosen
q theme as picturesque as it is spiritu
ally inspiring. He groups his discourse
into Give Pictures. - The text selected
was, Behold, l 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-kil 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. ne
swoOned 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 a 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 a few moments of heaven, 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 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
III l41O al Sl11CIN, anu UAOAO 4IOu1
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 the gal
lery in which the chief glories are gath
cred. There are the brightest robes.
There are the richest crowns. There are
the highest exhilarations. St. John says
of it, 1.-The kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into 1t. .
And 1 see the procession forming, and
in the 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 mountains,
and the flag they bear is the flame Of
consuming world, and all heaven turns
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. 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 life but there is some one in heaven
with whom he once shook hands AS
man gets older the number of his celes
tial acquaintance very rapidly multi
plies. 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 steam tug,
and watch them, and after awhile the
hulk of the vessel 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. 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 compan-
ionship, and the years and the days go
With SuCn IeO1um tnaG Cney Oreak your
heart, and the vipers of pain and sorrow
and bereavement keep gnawing 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 delights they have, they care as
much for you as they used to when they
gave you helping hand and put their
shoulders under your burdens. You Won