The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05

der. He has discarded it even now and
again and again forgiven men their
sins without as much as sending them
to priest TO offer sacrifice, by which end
through which forgiveness can be won from
a reluctant Jehovah. The nation has con-
demned him; but that is not all, Jehovah
has condemned him. God puts the stamp of
approval on men by their prosperity and
victory; he puts the stamp Of disapprova1
on men by their adversely and defeat; and
this man who claimed to be the Messiah OF
israel has suffered the most calling and lg-
nominious defeat. The law declares that
anyone who is exposed on a tree over night
is thereby accursed, and this man has been
crucIned; the curse of God as well as the
co condemnation OF the nation IS upon nun ls
The great and splendid Sanhedrim has con-
demned him for blaspheIny; the Roman
government has condemned him for trea-
son-for he was a Socialist as well as le-
ligious radical. He has denounced the ricn
and condoned and tickled the paiates ana
the fancies of the poor. His death should
have put end TO this strange supersti-
ton. But it has not. His followers have now
started the story that he has risen from the
dead, and, worst of ali, men are believing
it. And this strange and ignomini0uS sect
is growing in numbers. | am ashamed for
my race that such folly and such weakness
could find place IN their esteem
THE STONING OF STEPHEN.
Something like this was Paul's state
ment. He who wrote to the Romans. 1 am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ would
not have so written had he not formerly felt
shame; had he not formerly thought that
this Messiah had brought disgrace upon his
nation He who wrote to the Corinthians
that the folly and weakness of Christ were
to the nation the wisdom of God and the
glory of Cod once also thought Christ
weakness and folly. This man who gloried
in following the one who was crucified,
once looked uDOn Him as accurSed of God
and of xIr1C
when ne was summoned one day to attend
court
Whether he was actually member of the
Sanhedrim we do not know, but the Same
drim had been convened and q Greek was
put on trial. In those times the customary
method of Rabbinical discourse was hlstori-
cal. The rabbi began with the ancient his
tory of Israel and traced it in order Lhat
he might show the glory of Israel rms
Stephen who was originally a Greek ana
a pagan, but who had become proselyte
to Judaism, and then a convert to Chrlstl-
anity, began his speech where the raDDlS
generally began theirs. Nor did his audi
eHce suspect at first his meaning 1t
dawned upon them gradually. 1t was a
very skillful speech, in the beginning OF 1t;
Abraham, your father, he said, was called
out of the land of paganism. Joseph; the
son of Jacob, was seized because or the
envy of the patriarchs and sold into Egypt.
Moses was driven into exile by the pas
sionate unpatriotiSm of a Hebrew man.
And when, after forty years of exile, he
came back to deliver Israel by command
repudiated him, and when at last they FOL
lowed him to the base OF Mount SINAI,
where the law was received, they put up
the golden calf and worshipped 1t under
the very thunderings and mutterings of
Mount Sinai And then the audience be-
gan to see what was meant, and then Ste
phen concluded that it time to make
his application, and he made it with vigor.
You stiff-necked you uncircumcised, you
call us Greeks uncircumcised, you are the
uncircrmcised; you have always resisted
God; you have always fought against Him;
you have always stoned the prophets; you
have always repudiated His law; you have
always scoffed and scorned Him; it is no
strange thing that when the Messiah came
you crucifed Him; it was like your whole
history from beginning to end. Then they
CRASHED their teeth and set themselves to
destroy him. Suddenly light breaks over
his face, light that awes them for q mo-
ment. He says: L see God and see Jesus,
His Son, standing at His right hand. This
crowns the blasphemy of all and the court
becomes mob, and they rush upon him,
without waiting for trial, without waiting
for judgment, seize him and take him out
of the seat. And Saul follows.
Even then, though murder is in the
heart of this people, they do not forget the
ceremonial law. 1t is required that the wit
ness shall cast the first stone. So Paul
takes the upper tunic of the witnesses that
they may cast their stones with the greater
vigOr, with unencumbered hands, and holds
them while they start the execution of the
death sentence On such a man as Paul
such scene as that must have produced
profound and strange effect. Many men
are satisfied to kill an adversary. Saul was
not one of that kind. Nothing would salts
fly him but killing the hereSy, and the
heresy was not killed. The only result of
the persecution that followed on the death
of Stephen was that the Christians men
less able and less Skllful than Paul, went
everywhere; the blow the lighted iron
had sent the sparks a-fying, and wherever
men went they went, telling men the story
of the cross and the story of the resurrec-
ton. And Saul CRASHED his teeth again in
rage, in shame, in indignation and in the
4 IA nc
wicked, blasphemous heresy out. And his
Indignation was increased by the ternporiz-
ing policy of Israel, by the temporizing pol
icy of that much but falsely praised
Gamaliel, at whose feet he had sat. Men
had come to Gamalel and said, What shall
we do? And you remember his answer IF
this IS of God there is no use to oppose it,
and if it is not of God it will die of ITSELF
trimmer, compromiser, coward was he. 1t
is not true that whatever is of God flour
lShes when men that should be loyal are
disloyal. And it is not true that whatever
is not of God comes suddenly to naught if
men who ought to fight it dare not.
AS A PROSECUTOR.
Paul set himself to extirpate this false
religion, nurtured in the-very heart of
Israel. He prosecuted men and women. He
brought them into the synagogue. He de-
manded that they should retract their
faith; he demanded that they should re-
nounce their belief in Jesus as the Messiah
not. And when they did not his passion
grew more passionate than before. The
timid, time-serving, conservative Church of
Israel grew tired of him. They always do
grow tired of earnest men, These priests
dId not care; they wanted their places and
Inelr salaries. Let men talk as they would
Ihey could not understand the spirit of a
Saul that was determined to put down
talsehood at every hazard. And so when
Saul came to the chief priests and said
Give me letters of introduction that / NAV
80 TO Damascus and | may find there men
Vioiatlng the law and teaching heresy' the
hlgh priest was very glad to get rio of him
ana sald, 60, my son, and go in peace ;
And so he started
And yet in all this time he had not him
Sef been at peace. The audacity of Stenhen
was Just the kind of feeling 10 appeal 70
his own native audacity. The boldness Of
a man who dared face a mob was lust the
KIND or holiness that he admired The corr
age or man who clearly saw the Issue and
stood for 1T commended that man more TO
MIN than the cowardice of the time-servers
30 remember, near the close OF his life
John I. calhoun even sent word to Henry
ward Reecher, having read one of his abo-
ltlon speeches: There is young man who
understands the question that is coming he
lore our country. Saul believed that Ste
pnen understood the question.
NOT only that The teaching of Stenhen
and the teaching of others began to nroduce
little impression upon him. He began "a
wonder whether that was not an ASPECT of
Jewish history that he had forgotten He
began TO question with himself whether he
knew ii all as we'll as he thought he had
known 1t. He started for Damascus II was