The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-14
STEPHENS DEATH BY STONlNG.
TALMAGE breaches A SERMON ON
THE TRAGEDY.

ond shows Him Looking at Christ
The Third Depicts the stOning.
The Fourth Pictures the Deeiple
I'm His Dying Prayer and the Last
stephen Asleep.
Washington, March 1S-The discourse OF
DR.. Talmage which we send out is VlVid
story of.martyrdom, and rapturous view
of the world to come Text, Acts 1850;
"Behold 1 See the Heavens opened, etc.
stephen had been preaching rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand
ii. They resolved to do as men sometimes
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 TINS
horrible rain of missiles. Stephen chambers
up on his knees and folds mis- hands While
the blood drips from his temples TO mas
cheeks from his cheeks TO his garments,
from his garments to the ground; ana
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 assailants. Then,
from pain and loss of blood, he swooned
away and fell asleep.
/ want to show you to-day five pictures
STEPHEN gazing into heaven. Stephen look
ing at Christ. Stephen stoned. Stephen in
his dying prayer. Stephen asleep
First. look at Stephen, gazing into heay-
en- Before you take leap you want TO
know where you are going to land. Before
you climb ladder you want TO know 10
what point the ladder reaches. And it was
right that Stephen, within a few moments
of heaven, should be gazing into 1t. 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 paintings
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 hour
after hour you walk with catalogue and
glass and ever-increasing admiration. Well,
heaven is the gallery where God has gath
cred the chief treasures of his realm. The
whole universe is his palace. In this lower
room where we stop there are many adorn-
nents; 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 gallery in which the chief
glories are gathered. There are the bright
est robes. There are the richest crowns.
There are the highest eXhilarauons. John
says of it: The kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into it," And
see the procession forming, and in the
line come all empires. and the stars spring
up into an arch for the hosts TO march un-
der. The hosts keep step 10 the sound of
earthquake and the pitch of avalanche
from the mountains. and the flag they bear
is the flame of a. consuming world, and all
heaven turns out with harps and trump
cts and nlyriad-voiced reclamation of an
gelic dominion 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 a man in this house to-day
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 acquaintance very rapidly null
tiplleS. we nave not ndu one glimpse OF
them since the night we kissed them good
by, 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
away from us into the future world we
keep looking down through the Narrows,
and gazing and gazing, as though we ex-
pected that they would come out and
stand on some cloud, and give us one,
glimpse Of their bllssful and TRANSPORTED
faces
While you long to join their companion
ship, and the years and the days so with
such tedium that they break your heart,
and the viper of pain and sorrow and be-
Ieavement keeps knawing at your vitals
you stand still, like Stephen, gazing into
heaven. You wonder If they have chang
ed since you saw them last. You won
der II they would recognize your face now,
so changed has 1t 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 a helping
hand and put their shoulder under your
older; and sometimes in the eveningtide
when the house is all quiet you wonder il
you should call 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 gazing into heaven
Pass on now, and see Stephen looking
upon Christ. My text says he saw the
Son of Man at the right hand of God
Just how Christ looked in this world. inst
how he looks in heaven, we cannot saw.
A writer in the time of Christ saws. de-
scribing the Savior personal appearance
that he had blue eyes and light complex
ion, and very graceful structure; but I
suppose II was all guess work. The paint
ers of the different ages have tired 10 i'm
agine the features of Christ and put them
upon canvas; but we will have 10 wait I'M
Ill with our own eyes we see him and
with our own ears we can hear him. And
vet there is way of seeing and hearing
him now. l have TO tell you that unless
you see and hear Christ on earth. you
will never see and hear him in heaven.
Looki There he is. Behold the Lamb OF
God. Can you not see him? Then pray
20 God TO take the scales off your eyes.
Look that way-try to look that way. tIis