The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-03-26
MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN
Rov. DR.. Talmage Presents a Sc
rios Of Five Pictures.
stephen Looking Into IIeaven-Stephon
Looking at Christ Stephen stoned
stephen In His Dying Pray
sr-Stephen Asleep.

The following sermon by Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage is selected for delivery
to the great congregation throughout
the land. The subject is the martyr
dom of Stephen, being based on the
tsXt:
Behold 1 500 the heavens opened, etc.--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,
If they dared, with some plain preacher
of rightcousness-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 this horrible rain of missiles,
Stephen chambers up on his knees and
folds his hands, while the blood drips
from his temples to his checks and
from his checks to his garments, from
his garments to the ground; and then,
looking up, he makes two prayers
one for himself and one for his murder
ers 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. h.
want to show you to-day five pic
lures. Stephen gazing into Heaven
looking at Christ, Stephen stoned
Stephen in his dying prayer. Stephen
asleep. ...m
First, look at Stephen getting into
Heaven Before you take leap you
want to know where you are going to-
land. Before you climb n ladder YOU
want to know to what point the ladder
reaches. And it was right that Ste
phcn, within few moments of IIcav-
Ell, should be gazing into it. We
We uld 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 pict-
urcs in the art gallery, and there hour
after hour you walk with catalogue
ana glass and cvcr-increasng admira-
ton. Well, Heaven is the gallery where
God had gathered the chief treasures of |
His realm. The whole universe is Ills
palace. In this lower room where we
stop there are many adornments;
tcSscllatcd floor of amethyst, and on
the winding cloud-stairs are stretched
out canvasSCS on which cOmminplc |
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 cXhilarationS John saws of
1t: 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 under. The hosts keep
step to the sound of earthquake and
the pitch of avalanche from the noun
tains, and the flag they bear is the
hamc OF consuming world, and all
Heaven turns out with harps and trum-
pets and myriad-voiccd reclamation of
angelic 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? 5
We have many friends there.
There is not man in this house to- {
day 80 isolated in life but there is some {
one in Heaven with whom he once l
shook hands. As a man gets older, the |
number of his celestial acquaintance '
very rapidly multiplics. We have not /
had one glimpse of them since the 1
night we kissed them good-by, and d
they went away; but still we stand 6
gazing at Heaven. As when some of S
our friends go across the sea, we stand Y
on the dock, or on the steam tug, and 1
watch them, and after awhile the hull S
OF the vessel disappears, and then there II
is only patch of sail on the sky, and h
soon that is gone, and they are all out il
OF sight, and yet we stand looking in b
the same direction; SO when our friends
go away from us into the future world s
we keep looking down through the h
Narrows) and gazing and gazing, as d
though we expected that they would +
come out and stand on some cloud, and u
give us one glimpse of their blissful S
and TRANSPORTED faces. d
While you long to join their compan- c
ionship, and the years and the DAYS 90 q
with such tedium that they break your Il
heart, and the viper of pain and sorrow b
and bereavement keeps gnawing Mt Il
your vitals, you stand still, like d
Stephen, gazing into Heaven. You n
wonder If they have changed since Won d
saw them last. You wonder il thew Il
would recognize your face now, so b
changed has it been with trouble. You b
wondeIif among the myriads delights O
they have, they care as much for you n
as they dsed to when they gave YOU n
helping hand and put their shoulder n
under yoLr burdens. You wonder IL
they look any older; and sometime in 4
the eveningtide, when the house is all y
quiet, you wonder il you should call :,
them by their first name IL they would a
not answer; and perhaps sometimes ..
H.