corruption, both in principle and practice, which, originating at the fall, had arrived at full maturity, when the Stronger than the strong man armed came to bind him and spoil him of his goods. It is therefore no cause for surprise that the powers of earth and hell rose up in furious opposition to the Messiah and His followers, and that, having "killed the Prince of life," they laboured to exterminate all who professed themselves His followers.

The first of those who fell victims to the rage of hell after the death of Christ, was St. Stephen. Of the birth, parentage, or education of this highly favoured man, neither Scripture nor ecclesiastical history has given us any account. It is certain that he was a Jew; but whether originally descended from Abraham, or united to the Jewish church by proselytism, we have no means of determining. Antiquity records that he was one of the seventy disciples whom our Lord selected to be coadjutors of His Apostles.

The primitive church was endowed in an eminent degree with the spirit of Christian charity. And while its members were chiefly anxious to build up each other in their most holy faith, they were not unmindful of the bodily wants which were felt by the poor among them. "Love and charity were the common soul "which animated the whole body of believers, "and conveyed heat and vital spirits to every "part." The rich sold their possessions, and laid the sums obtained for them at the Apostles' feet, that, being thrown into one common treasury, an equal distribution might be made as every one's wants required. But this harmony which prevailed in the church received a

temporary interruption from a partiality shewn by the conductors of this business. "The Gre"cians murmured against the Hebrews, because "their widows were neglected in the daily minis"tration." Acts vi. 1. These Grecians or Hellenists were not of the Hebrew race, but Greek or Gentile proselytes, who had, either themselves or in their ancestors, deserted the pagan superstitions, and embodied themselves into the Jewish church, taking upon them circumcision and the rites of the Mosaic law.*

For the purpose of restoring peace and quiet to the church, the Apostles, whose time was too much occupied by higher concerns to be able to attend to the distribution of alms, proposed the election of a set of officers who might superintend this business. This was accordingly done, and seven deacons were solemnly ordained by the hands of the Apostles, of whom St. Stephen was the first, "a man full of faith "and of the Holy Ghost." And as these deacons were authorised by the solemnities of consecration which were used, not only to manage the affairs of the poor, but also to preach the gospel, the zeal of St. Stephen, and the doctrines which he preached enforced by the unquestionable miracles which he performed, soon excited the fierce animosity of the unbelieving Jews. From among the various synagogues with which Jerusalem abounded, and which were

* On this point Dr, Cave and Dr. Prideaux are at issue. As the object of these pages is practical and not critical, the reader who wishes to see what these learned men have said on the subject is referred to their works. See Cave's Life of St. Stephen, and Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament. Part II. book 1. § 8. and notes.

appropriated to the Jews and proselytes of various countries in which they were dispersed, the professors and students of five different colleges offered themselves as opponents of the Christian Deacon. But notwithstanding their advantage in numbers, and probably in age and experience, they were not able to resist the "wisdom and spirit by which St. Stephen spake;" and no wonder, for the Spirit of God spake by him.

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Being foiled in the disputation, they had recourse to the most dishonourable method of silencing the zealous advocate for Christianity. "They suborned men which said, we have heard "him speak blasphemous words against Moses "and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders and the scribes, and "came upon him and caught him, and brought "him before the council. And they set up false "witnesses which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say, That this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy "this place, and shall change the customs which "Moses delivered us." Acts vi. 9-14.

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The court being set and the accusation brought, Stephen was permitted to answer for himself, which he did in a most eloquent and convincing speech; while the Sanhedrim, looking steadfastly upon him, discovered an extraordinary splendour in his countenance, which made him to resemble an angel of God. The drift of his argument is to shew that the previous dispensations of God, under the patriarchal and Mosaic œconomies, were introductory to a purer and everlasting dispensation which the Lord Christ, who had been

rejected by His brethren and countrymen in the same manner as Joseph and Moses had been before Him, was now come to establish. *

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The Jewish magistrates felt the application of St. Stephen's apology too strongly to suffer him to finish it. They were cut to the heart, and gnashed on him with their teeth," being bent on his immediate destruction. But St. Stephen had his heart and his eyes "surely fixed there, where true joys are to be found;" for "being full of the "Holy Ghost," under His Divine influence, and filled with His Divine consolations, "he looked up "steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of "God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of "God, and said, Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." "I see that Jesus whom “ you reject and blaspheme, whom you have "crucified and slain, exalted to the highest glory, "and in a posture which proves that He is both "able and ready to protect and save His faithful "servants and followers." On hearing this declaration, the Jewish Sanhedrim and their attendants, their rage being wrought up to the highest pitch, proceeded to immediate violence. They "stopped their ears" that they might hear no further blasphemies, and be deaf to any application for mercy. Without waiting for a warrant of execution from the Roman governor, "they "rushed upon him with one accord;" and, lest the holy city should be polluted with his blood, they cast him out of it, and then stoned him to death; a mode of execution which, with three others, was used among the Jews for the most

* See a striking elucidation of St. Stephen's discourse, in the Works of the late Rev, Wm. Jones, vol. iv. p. 179, &c.

enormous crimes. The witnesses, who, according to the Mosaic law, were to cast the first stones at the criminal, (Deut. xvii. 7.) gave their upper garments, which would have impeded their activity, into the custody of a young man whose name was Saul.

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Thus they stoned Stephen calling upon God "and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! And "he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! And "after he had said this, he fell asleep." "So "soft a pillow is death to a good man, so willingly, so quietly does he leave the world, as a

weary labourer goes to bed at night. What "storms or tempests soever may follow him while "he lives, his sun, in spite of all the malice and "cruelty of his enemies, sets serene and calm. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; " for the end of that man is peace. Admirable "was the protomartyr's zeal for God and for re

ligion, for the propagating whereof he refused "no pains, declined no troubles nor difficulties: "his courage was not baffled, either with the angry "frowns or the fierce threatenings of his ene

mies; nor did his spirit sink, though he stood "alone and had neither friend nor kinsman to "comfort him; his constancy was firm and un"shaken, notwithstanding temptations on the one "hand and the dangers that assailed him on the "other. In all the oppositions that he met with, "under all the torments and sufferings that he "underwent, he discovered nothing but the meek "and innocent temper of a lamb, never betraying

one passionate or revengeful word, but calmly "resigning up his soul to God. He had charity "large enough to cover the highest affronts, and the greatest wrongs and injuries that were put