inspiration, pointed to a Prophet like unto himself, another Lawgiver, another giver of living words, to whom Israel must hearken? This new Moses, this greater Lawgiver and Prophet had come, and the men of that generation had rejected Him as their fathers rejected the mediator of the Old Covenant; had betrayed and murdered him,' as the prophets who foretold His coming had been murdered.

It was an answer full of Divine courage, worthy of a servant of Jesus of Nazareth. The words of

Stephen cut their way like a saw through the hearts of his accusers, till they ground their teeth with helpless rage. The position of the first

Christian who witnessed for Christ at the cost of his life was strikingly similar to that which the Master Himself had occupied at His trial before Caiaphas. Stephen stood before the same court, and doubtless before some of the same judges; the charge was on both occasions one of blasphemy; the truth was confessed on both with equal fearlessness. He had followed the Lord to judgement, and was about to follow Him to death, the forerunner of the noble army of Christian martyrs. Was he to receive no signal support in his hour of dire need? no special token of approval from behind the veil ?

1 οῦ νῦν ὑμεῖς προδόται καὶ φονεῖς ἐγένεσθε.

2 διεπρίοντο ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔβρυχον τοὺς ὀδόντας ἐπ ̓ αὐτόν,

2

The occasion was unique, and it was met by a unique revelation of the invisible. Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold I see the heaven opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God1 The amazing words, spoken with full conviction by one whose face was like an angel's for spiritual beauty and penetration, must have reminded some who were present of the words of Jesus when He stood before the same assembly. Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.3 In Stephen's vision. the first part of this prophecy was seen to be already accomplished. The eternal doors had been flung open before the martyr's spirit, and his eyes had seen the King, the Lord of hosts, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and lo! on the right hand of the Divine Majesty was One in human form, the Son of Man who had been crucified. The picture of the exalted Christ on the right hand of God is not uncommon in the New Testament, but there is one feature in Stephen's representation of it which is not repeated. Elsewhere Jesus sits on the throne, as

1 Acts vii. 55 .

2 Acts vi. 15.

3 Mc. xiv. 62.

4 Cf. Isa. vi. 1, 5.

5 See p. 106.

the Assessor of God: here only He stands at the Father's side. He has risen from His seat to succour His servant in the hour of great need.1 At the moment He is the High Priest and the Advocate with the Father rather than the Divine King; He stands ready to undertake Stephen's cause. The reality of the vision in the sphere of Stephen's own spirit is attested by its effect upon his conduct in the catastrophe that immediately followed. In the Council there was instantly a wild uproar; his last words were drowned in shouts of execration ; forgetting their character of judges, regardless of the Roman's refusal to allow them the right of to death,2 as putting any man. one man they fell upon him, dragging him beyond the gates of the city to the place where he was to be stoned as a blasphemer. In that raging sea of human passions Stephen alone remained unmoved. The vision of the Divine Master was still upon his

3

spirit, and as the stones flew, he spoke only to Him: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit; Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.

What Stephen saw sustained him in the supreme moment of life, and made him more than conqueror1

1 Cf. Heb. iv. 16 eis evкαιрov Bońlelav. S. Chrysostom in Cramer, iii. p. 128: τί οὖν ἑστῶτα καὶ οὐ καθήμενον ; ἵνα δείξη τὴν ἀντίληψιν τὴν εἰς τὸν μάρτυρα.

2Jo. xviii. 31.

3

ὁμοθυμαδόν.

4 Rom. viii. 37 ὑπερνικῶμεν.

in death.

To him it was a reality in the highest sense more real than the yells or stones of his murderers. Was it real also in the sense that it represented actualities ? So Christians have every right to believe. That beyond the veil of sense there exists an Infinite Presence in which the human Christ who suffered and rose again lives, and from which He succours souls that call upon Him in their time of need, is a faith which conquered the world in the first century, and will continue to conquer it till the end of time. All life is transfigured for those who believe what Stephen believed, and as he believed it.

II.

TO SAUL.

AUTHORITIES: (1) Acts ix. 3-9, xxii. 5-11, xxvi. 12-16; 1 Cor. ix. 1, xv. 8.

Stephen stood did not share his vision. Even during the forty days spent on earth after His Resurrection the Lord had not shewn Himself alive

to any declared enemy. Neither Pilate nor Herod, Antipas nor Caiaphas had been permitted to receive ocular proof that He had risen; to him that hath shall be given, but not to him that through his own deliberate refusal of the gift hath not. Yet on one occasion after the Ascension the Lord appeared to a foe, and the most zealous foe that the Gospel ever had.

Saul had taken a leading part in the judicial murder of Stephen. Probably he had heard his defence and his words about seeing Jesus at the right hand of God. This overt blasphemy, as he