Connecticut western news., 1898-03-17
THE WORLD TO COME
REV. pR. TALMAGE PICTURES LIFE BE-
 YOND THE GRAVE.


 Through the Eyes of the Great Preach er-The Eternal Sleep.
 Eopyright. lS9S by American Press Asso-
 ciation.l
 WASHINGTON, March 13.-The dis course of Dr. Talmage which we send out Is a vivid story of martyrdom and rapturous view of the world to come; text, Acts vii, 56-6O, Behold I see the heavens opened, etc.
 Stephen had been preaching rousing sermon, and the people could not stand 1t. 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 cus- tom 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 look ed down, and seeing that he was not yet dead they began to drop stones upon him, stone after stone. Amid this hor- rible 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 totheir charge;" that was for his assailants. Then from pain and loss of blood he swooned away and fell asleep.
 Tho Martyrs Vision.
 Iwant to show you today five pio- lures = 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 ladder you want to know to what point the ladder reaches. And it was right that Stephen, within few moments of heaven, should
 
 to be found in the same posture. There Is enough in heaven to keep us gazing A man of large wealth may have stat nary 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 cata- logue and glass and ever increasing ad- miration. Well, heaven is the gallery where God has gathered the chief treas ures of his realm. The whole universe Is his palace. In this lower room where we stop there are many adornments, tes- sellated floor of amethyst, and on the winding cloud stairs are stretched out canvases on which commingle azure and purple and saffron and gold. But heav- en Ia the gallery in which the chief glo- xies are gathered. There are the bright est robes. There are the richest crowns. There are the highest exhilarations. John says 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 mountains, and the flag they bear is the flame of consuming world, and all heaven turns out with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced exclamation of angelic dominion to welcome them in, and so the kings of the earth bring their honor and glory fvnk< nr pie often stand, like Stephen, looking into heaven? We have many friends there.
 Friends In Heaven.
 There is not 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 acquaintances very rap- idly multiplies. 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 goacross 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 0 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 ex- pected that they would come out and stand on some cloud and give us one glimpse of their blissful and transfigur- ed faces.
 While you long to join their con- panfonship 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 at your vitals, you stand still, like Stephen, gazing into heaven. You won- der If they have changed since you saw them last. You wonder if they would recognize your face now, so changed has 1t bpen with trouble. You wonder if, amid the myriad delights they have, th0y care aa much for you as they used to N hen they gave you a helping hand and put their shoulder under your bur- dana You wonder if they look any older, and.sometimes in the evening tide, when the house is all quiet, you wonder if should call them by their first name If they would not answer, and perhaps somCtimes you do make the experiment, and when no one but God and yourself sro there you distinctly call their names aud listen and sit gazing into heaven.
 Seeing Christ.
 PRAs on now and see Stephen looking upon Christ My text says he saw the Son of Man at the right hand of God. J4.t how Christ looked in this world, just how he looks in heaven, we cannot cay. A writer in the time of Christ says. describing the Saviour's personal appearance, that he had blue eyes and light complexion, and very graceful structure, but suppose it was all guess work. The painters of the different ages