The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-03-14
STORY OF A MARTYR.
Or. TALMAeE OIScouRSEs ON THE
STONING OF STEPHEN.


Prayer and stephen Asleep.
Copyright 1S9S by American Press Asso-
clation.1
WASHINGTON, March 1s.-SThe discourse
Of DR.. Talmage which we send out Is a
vivid story of martyrdom and rapturous
Wow of the world to como; text Acts
vii, $500, "Behold see the heavens open
ed" etc.
Stephen had been preaching rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand 1t.
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
tho city, and with curse and whoop and
hollow they brought him to the cliff, as
was tho custom when they wanted to take
away life by stoning. Having brought
him to tho edge Of the cliff, they pushed
him off. After he had fallen they camo
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 OH his knees and folds bis 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 ono for his murderers.
lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" That
was for himself. "Lord, lay not this sin
to their charged" That was for his assail-
ants Then, from pain and loss of blood,
he swooned away and foil asleep.
want to show you today five pictures
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen look
ing at Christ, Stephen stoned, Stephen in
his dying prayer and Stephen asleep.
Stephens Glimpse Of Heaven.
First look at Stephen gazing into heav.
en-. Before you take leap you want to
know where you arc going to land. Be-
fore you climb a ladder you want to know
to what point the ladder reaches. And it
was right that Stephen, within fow mo-
ments of heaven, should be gazing into it.
We would all do well to be found in tho
same posture. There Is enough In heaven
to keep us gazing. A man of large wealth
may have statuary in the hall, and paint
ings In tho 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 tho chief treasures of his realm.
The whole universe is his palace. In this
lower room where w0 stop there are many
dornments-tessellated floor Of amethyst,
and OH the winding cloud stairs are stretch
cd out canvases ON which comminglo 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 arc the richest crowns
says of it, "The kings of the earth shall
bring their honor and glory into it," And
see tho procession forming, and in the
line come all empires, and the stars spring
up into m aroh for the hosts to march un-
der. The hosts keep step to the sound of
earthquake and tho pitch of avalanche
from thu mountains, and tho flag they
bear Is the flame Of consuming world,
and all heaven turns out with harps and
trumpets and myriad voiced acclamation
of angelic dominion to welcome them In,
and SO the kings of tho 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 man In this house today
so isolated in'life bVt there is some one in
heaven with whom lie once shook hands.
As man gets older the number of his
celestial acquaintance very rapidly multi
plies We have not had one glimpse OF
them since tho night we kissed them good
by, and they went away, but still we stand
gazing at heaven. AS when some Of our
friends 60 across the soa we stand on the
dock or on the steam tug and watch them,
appears and then there Is only patch Of
sail on the sky, and soon that is gono, and
they are all out Of sight, and yet we stand
looking in the same direction, SO whom our
friends 60 away from us 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 cleud and give us ono
glimpse of their blissful and transfgured
faces
While you long to join their companion
ship, and the years and the days go with
such tedium that they break your heart
and tho viper of pain and sorrow and be-
keeps gnawing at your vitals,
you stand still, like Stephen, gazing into
heaven. You wonder If they have changed
since you saw them last. You wonder If
hey would recognize your face now, SO
changed has ii been with trouble You
wonder IL amid the myriad delights they
nave they care as much for you as they
lsed to when they gave you helping hand
md put their shoulder under your bur-
lens. You wonder If they look any older,
md sometimes in tho evening tide, when
;he house Is all quiet you wonder if you
should call thom by their first name If
hey would not answer, and perhaps some
lines you do mako the experiment, and
when no one but GOD and yourself are
hero you distinctly call their names and
istep and sit gazing into heaven.
Stephen Looks Upon Christ.
Pass on now and see Stephen looking
lpon Christ. My text says he saw the Son
# Man at the right hand of God Just
low Christ looked in this world, just how
10 looks in heaven, wo cannot say. A
writer in the time of Christ says, describ- |
ng the Sayiour's personal appearance,
hat he had blue eyes and light complexion
mo Il very SJFuCUuIc, DuG
'ose it was all guesswork. Tho painters
# tho different ages hayo tried to Imagine
he features Of Christ and put them upon
anvas, but we will have to wait until |
With our own eyes we SEQ him and with !
ur own ears we can hear him. And yet
hero is way of seoing and hearing him
low. have to toll you that unloss you
co and hear Christ on earth you will nev-
r SEQ and hear him In heaven. Look!
There he is. Behold the Lamb Of God.
IAN you not see him? Thon pray to God to
nke the scales off your eyes. Look that
ray-try to look that way. His voice
ONES down to you this day-comcs dowa
0 the blindest, to the deafest soul, saying,
Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth,
nd be ye saved, for l am God, and there
, none else" Proclamation Of universal
for all slaves! Proclamation
universal amnesty for all rebels! Bel
hazzar gathered the Babylonish mobiles to