The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-03-17

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Stephen had been
preaching q rousing sermon, and the
people could not stand 1t. They re-
solved to do as men sometimes would
like to do in this day II they dared.
with some plain preacher Of righteous
ness-kill him. The only way to S.
lence 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 push
ed him of. 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 cheeks, from
his cheeks to his garments, from his
garments to the ground. 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
assailants. Then, from pain and loss
Of blood. he swooned away and fell
asleep.
want to show you to-day five pic
tures-Stephen gazing into heaven.
Stephen looking at Christ. Stephen
stoned, Stephen In his dying prayer
and Stephen asleep.
First look at Stephen gazing into
heaven. Before you take leap you
want to know where you are going to
land. Before you climb a ladder you
want to know to what point that ladder
reaches. And 1t was right that Ste
phen, within few moments OF heaven,
should be gazing into 1t. We would
all do well to be found in the same pos
ture. 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
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-tessella-
ted floor Of amethyst, and on the wind
ing cloud stairs are stretched out can
vases on which commingle azure and
purple and saffron and gold. But
heaven is the gallery in which the chief
glores are gathered. There are the
brightest robes. There are the richest
crowns. There are the highest exhil-
arations. John says OF 1t, "The kings
of the earth shall bring their honor and
glory into it." And l see the process.
sion 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 mountains, and the flag they
bear is the flame Of consuming world,
and all heaven turns out with harps
and trumpets and myriad voiced ac-
clamation of angelic dominion to well
come them in. and so the kings OF the
earth bring their honor and glory in
to it, DO you wonder that good people
often stand. like Stephen, looking in
to 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 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 good-by, and
they went away. but still we stand gaz-
Ing 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. 80 when our friends
go away from 10 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 transfgured 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 sor-
row and bereavement keeps gnawing at
your vitals, you stand still, like Ste
phen, gazing into heaven. You won
anr 20 thay hova oh n God oiu vou q a xu