The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-22
STEPHEN AND HIS WORK.
Rev. j. f. Stout On the Type of Obe-
dience.

Rev. J. Frank Stout, D. D., preached
at the First NJ. E. church. yesterday
morning on Stephen, or Develop
ing by Obedience" taking as his text,
And Stephen, full of faith and power
did great wonders and miracles among
the people. Acts vi, 8. He said in part
There We're two distinguished marks
OF the presence Of the Holy Spirit in
the early church, a pains-ta be-
neVOience which was obedience to the
Golden Rule, and an intense spirit of
evangelism which was obedience to the
great commission. Stephen came to
notice in connection with the first,
when he was set apart as one of the
seven deacons who should have charge
of the distribution of the beneyolences
While his great work was done in re-
lation to the second, for he was easily
the first among the great evangelists
of his time. His was a rounded charac-
ter; he was an enlightened man of bus
mess, mighty preacher, a wise dis
puter, broad thinker, and an heroic
saint. Stephen was chosen because he
was of honest report, because of his
character for goodness, which is al
ways the foundation of all true sue
cess in the kingdom of God. Whatever
man may fail to have, he must not be
wanting in character. The second rea-
son for his conservation to this work
was that he was full of faith and DOW
err. and this too is of necessity to him
who would do good service for Jesus
Christ. At theh very inception Of
Christian life, development always de-
ponds on these things. This then was
Stephens capital.
In the first field in which Stephen
comes to notice, there was merely a de-
mand for honesty and discriminating
fairness in distributing the bounty of
the church to the needy in it's
humbie f is Wh ae It exat seems field
and uplifting = to- him who takes
part in it. There is something
in personal contact with Gods people
in the varying conditions Of human life,
that helps to an understanding of truth
and a realization Of divine love. 1t
is not astonishing then that Stephen by
faithfulness in this became too valua-
bic to God and the church to be con-
fined to this alone.
The next opening field received him
and he became the doer Of great Won
ders and miracles among the people,
This Is not at the summit but it Is
sign Of the divine approval. This man,
the first outside of the apostles who
rose to such a height Of faith and
power that he was able to work the
miracles that attest the presence Of
God with His people in this time Of first
things, attained this as a step toward
the higher mission which was before
him.
From the working Of signs and WON
ders Stephen came to be the great
champion of the truth. With convic-
tions settled, love intensified faith trI-
umphant, divine promises tested, intel
ligence enlarged by study and illumi-
mated by the Spirit of God, he appear
ed as the heroic champion Of the Cos
pei before all enemies Of Jesus. He
overcame in his argument, the Lib
ertines, representatives Of whom found
ed the church in Rome; the Cyrenians,
who declared the, gospel in North At
RIGA; the AlexandFians., who laid the
foundations of the church in that
greatest city of Stephens day, Alex
andria. None of them, according to the
record, were able to resist the wisdom
and spirit with which be spake.
Stephen is next found a step in ad-
vance of his age IN laying the founda-
Ing world gospel, He himself was
Greek, and so was not narrowed In
vision by Jewish apreconceptions. He
understood, through the Spirit, the in
tention of Jesus apd boldly proclaimed
Him to all. Paul WAS the champion at
the council at Jerusalem years after.
when it was decided that a Christian
llVCu HOI lIISt DcCOiLic Jew, out
argument used at that council had been
first outlined by Stephen in his argu-
ments with DIRECTORS to the gospel.
Stephen graduated into martyrdom.
Truth is two-edged, and when men are
overcome and will not yield, then their
wrath issues in persecution. When the
Jews could not resist the wisdom and
power with which he spake, so as to
refute his arguments. then as they did
with his Master, they compassed his
death After his great speech In the
presence Of his accusers, their hate