Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-03-24


Witt Talmage is selected for delivery
10 the great congregation throughout
the land. The subject is the martyr
dom OF Stephen, being based on the
text:
Behold see the heavens opened etc, Acts
vii, 30 go
Stephen had been preaching rous-
Ing sermon, and the people could not
stand IT, They resolved to do Ms men
sometimes would like to do In this day,
II 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 Oft. After he had fallen they
came and looked down, and seeing that
he was not yet dead they begun 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 cheeks, 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, lny not
this sin Ia their churge;" that was for
hiA uEauIlIuI Than frntl M and
loss Of blood, he swooned away nnd fell
asleep.
want to show you today i've pic
lures. Stephen gazing into Heaven
looking Mt Christ stephen stoned.
Stephen in his dying prayer, Stephen
asleep.
First, look Mt Stephen getting into
Heaven. Before You take II Temp you
want 10 know whern you are going to
land. Before you climb ladder you
want to know 10 what point the ladder
reaches. And it was right that Ste
phen, within u few moments OF llcnv-
en-, shonlh bc gazing into 1t, We
would MI do well to be found In the
same posture. There is enough In
Heaven to keep us gazing. A mnn OF
large wealth may have statunry In tho
hail. and paintings In the sitting
room, and works of art In oil parts
Of tho house, but he has the chief plot
ares In the nrt gallery, and there hour
after hour you walk with catalogue
aud glass and ever-increaslng admira-
tion, Well, Heaven is the gallery where
God had gathered the chief treasures OF
Ilts realm, The whole universe In His
palace, In this lower room where we
stop there are many adornmcnts;
tessellnted floor of amethyst, and on
the winding cloud.stnirs are stretched
out cnnvnSscs on which cumminglc
azure, and purple, and saffron. and
gold. hut Heaven Is the gallery in
which the chief glorios are gathered.
There are the brightest robes There
are the richest crowns. There are tho
highest cXhilarations. John says of
It: 1.-THE kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into II. :"
And see the procession forming, and
In the line come all empires, and the
stars spring up into IN arch for tho
hosts TO march under. The hosts keep
the pitch of avalanche from the noun
tains, and the flag they bear is tho
flame of consuming world, aud all
Heaven turns out with hnrps and trum.
pets and myrind-voiced reclamation OF
angelic dominion to welcome them in,
and SO tho kings of the earth bring
their honor and glory into 1t. DO YOU
wonder that good people often stand,
like stephen, looking into lleavon2
We have many friends there,
There IN not II mnn in this house to-
day 80 isolated In life but there is some
one in Heaven with whom he once
shook hands. AS II man gets older. tho
number OF his celestial acquuintances
very rapidly mutiplios. We have not
had one glimpse of them since the
night we kissed them good-by, and
they went away; but still we stand
gazing ut Heaven. As when some OF
OH the dock or on the steam tug, and
watch them, and after awhile the hull
Of the vessel disappears, and then there
In only u patch OF sail on tho sky, and
soon that Is gone, aud they are NIL out
Of sight, and yct 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, rs
though we expected thai they would
come OUT and spnnd on some cloud, and
give us one glimpse of their blissful
pnd transhgured faces
While you long TO join their compan-
ionship, and the years and The days go
with such tedium that they break your
heart, and the viper of pain and sorrow
and bereavement keeps gnawing ut
your vitals, you stand still, like
Stephen, gazing into Heaven, You
wonder II 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, among the myriads delights
they have, they care as much for you
rs they used TO when they gnve you II
helping hand and put their shoulder
under your burdens. You wonder II