Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-05-12
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Martyrdom of Stephen the Theme
For an Able Sermon - Glmpses OF
Heaven Through the Eyes OF tho
Great Preacher - The Eternal Sleep.
TEXT: "Behold see the heavens
opened," etc.--Acts viii, $3.50.
Stephen had been preaching a rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand it.
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 wao 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 off.
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, re-
ceive my spirit;' that was for himself.
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge;"
that was for his assaiants. Then from pain
and loss of blood he swooned away and fell
asleep.
I want to show You to-day five pictures
Stephen gazing into heaven, Stephen look
ing at Christ Stephen stoned Stephen in
his dying prayer and Stephen asleep.
First look at Stephen gazing into heaven.
Before you take a 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 heav-
en-, should be gazing;into it. Wewould all do
well to be found in tn same posture. There
is enough i'll 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 i'll the art gal
lery, and there hour after hour you walk
with catalogue and glass and ever increas-
ing admiration. Well heaven is the gallery
where God has gathered the chief treas
ares of his realm. The whole universe is
his palace. In this lower room where we
stop there are many adornments tessella-
ted floor of amethyst and on the winding
cloud stairs are stretched out canvases on
which commingle azure and 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 richest crowns. There are the highest
eXhilarations. John says Oft, 1.-The kings
OF the earth shall bring their honor and
glory into it, And l see the procession
forming, and in the line come ali 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 Nag they bear is the flame of Il con-
sumlng world, and all heaven turns out
with harps and trumpets and myriad voiced
acclamation of angelic dominion to well
come them in, and so the kings of the earth
nd Ull into n
you wonder that good people often stand.
like Stephen looking into heaven? We
have many friends there.
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 man gets older the number of his
celestial acGuaintances very rapidly null
tiplies. 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. And when some of our
friends go across the sea, we stand on the
dock or Ga 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 vet we
stand looking in the same direction, so
when our friends go way from us into the
future world we keep looking down
through the narrows, and gazing and gaz-
ing. as though we expected that they
would come out and stand on some cloud
and give us one glimpse of their blissful
and transngured faces.
Pass on now and see Stephen looking
upon Christ. My text says he saw the Son
of Man at the right hand of God Just how
Christ looked in this world, just how He
looks in heaven, we cannot say. A writer
in the time of Christ says, describing the
Saviour's personal appearance, that He
mad blue eyes and light complexion and n
very graceful structure but l suppose it
was all guesswork. The painters of the
different ages have tried to imagine the
features of Christ and put them upon can
vas, but we will have to wait uutil with
our own eyes we see Him and with our own
ears we can hear Him. And yet there is a
way OF seeing and hearing Him now. |
have to tell you that unless you see and
hear Christ on earth you will never see and
Behold the Lamb of God! Can you not see
Him? Then pray to God to take the scales
off your eyes. Look that way-try to look
that way. His voice comes down to YOU
this day-comes down to the blindest. to
the deafest soul, saying, ''Look unto Me.
all ye ends of the earth, and be We saved,
for am God, and there is none else.''
Proclamation of universal emancipation
for all slaves! Proclamation of universal
amnesty for all rebels Belshazzar gath
cred the Babylonish mobiles to his table;
George /. entertained the lords of England
at a banquet: Napoleon III. welcomed the
Czar of Russia and the Sultan of Turkey to
his feast; the Emperor of Germany was
glad to have our minister, George Ban
crcft, sit down with him at his table, but
tell me, ye who know most of the worlds
history, what other king ever asked the
abandoned and the forlorn and the wretch
ed and outcast to come and sit beside him?
Oh, wonderful invitation You can take
it to-day and stand at the head of the
darkest alley in any city and say: Come!
Clothes for your rags, salve for your sores,
throne for your eternal reigning.' A
Christ that talks like that and acts like
that and pardons like that-do you wonder
that stephen stood looking at Him?
hope to spend eternity doing the same