Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-03-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"STONING OF STEPHEN" SUM-
DAYS SUBJECT.
From the Text, Acts VII, Verses Sc to
60 as Follows: Behold / See the
Heavens aOpened," Etc. - A Sermon
in Pictures.

Stephen had been preaching rous-
Ing sermon, and the people could not
stand 1t. They resolved to do as 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.
cliff, they pushed 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 gar
ments, from his garments to the
ground; and then, looking up, he
makes two prayers-one for himself
and one for his murderers. Lord Je-
sus, receive my spirit" that was for
himself. Lord, lay not this sin to
their CHARGE" that was for his assail-
ants. Then, from pain and loss OF
blood, he swooned away and fell
asleep.
I want to show you today five pic
int
Stephen looking at Christ. Stephen
stoned. Stephen in his dying prayer.
Stephen asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into
heaven. Before you take the 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 a few moments of
heaven, should be gazing into it. We
would all do we'll 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 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; tes-
sellated floor of amethyst, and on the
winding cloud-stairs are stretched out
acanvases ON which commingle azure,
land 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 rich
est crowns. There are the highest ex-
Vibrations. John says of it: 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
consuming world, and all heaven turns
out with harps and trumpets and myr-
iad-voiced reclamation of angelic do
minion to welcome them in, and so
the kings of the earth bring their
honor and glory into it. Do you won
der that good people often stand. like
Stephen, looking into heaven? We
have many friends there.
There is not a man in this house
today so isolated in life but there is
some one in heaven with whom he
once shook hands. AS man gets old
ed, the number Of his celestial ac-
quaintances 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 gazing 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 a 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 expected that
they would come out and stand on some
cloud, and give us one glimpse of their
blissful and TRANSPORTED faces.
While you long to join their com
partnership, and the years and the days
60 with such tedium that they break
your heart. and the viper of pain and
sorrow and bereavement keeps gnaw-
ing at your vitals, you stand still, like
Stephen, gazing into heaven. You
wonder If they have changed since you
saw them last. You wonder IL they
would recognize your face now, so
changed has it been with trouble. You
wonder If, amid the myriad delights
they have, they care as much for you
as they used to when the gave you a
helping hand and put their shoulder
under your burdens. You wonder II
they look any older; and sometimes in
the eveningtide, when the house Is all
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