The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-02-27

~O0NO-
81. when they heard" 1t is disputed
whether the speech was finished or not
His abruptness in closing and the anger
Of the jews at that moment render it prob
able that he was interrupted. "Cut te
the heart" Literally, they were sawD
through, or asunder. A fguratiye expires,
sion for being greatly enraged. "Gnashed
on him" They were filled with rage and
thirsted for his blood.
s.. "Being full" The Greek ''beins
fu1l'' implies, not a sudden inspiration
Ghost" While his hearers yielded more
and more to their violent passions, and
were filed with carnal fire, and indeed
with spirit from the bottomless pit, the
soul of this faithful witness was filed, by
the grace of God, with q heavenly fire.
sIooked up" We would see more heav
emily visions if we would "look up" oft
ener "Steadfastly." Fixed his eyes in
tently Their rawlings did not distract hei
been asked how he could see into heaven
from that council chamber, but we should
remember that the Spirit revealed to him
this scene in heaven. The eye of faith
can see heaven from any spot on earth
Moses beheld it from the land of Egypt
Heb. IL: 81, Isaiah from the temple lisa
g. u. Ezekiel from the banks of the Che
bar (Ezek /: u, Peter from the house TOP
{Acts 10: ny, John from Patmos, Rev
4: /. "And saw" There is no indefinite
ness about this statement: 'The glory Of
God" Saw the Shekinah, for with the
jews the GLORY" and the "Shekinah" are
similar terms. 1t was some visible mani
festation of the divine splendor, such as
Moses saw on Horeb and Ezekiel at CHI.
bar. 1t first filled the tabernacle and at
terward the temple, and shone round the
L oorooroa 10 ba onoctIas
upon Hermon. EAnd Jesus" he was
permitted to see Jesus triumphing in the
flesh in which He had been cruciied. He
saw Jesus Sin His official character al
mediator between God and man" Stand
ing" In other places Jesus is represented
as sitting on the right hand of God lsee
Matt. 26; 81, but here Stephen sees Him
standing He arose to show the great in
terest with which He watched His dis.
tressed servant and to pour glory and
blessing into his soul until it shone out
from his very countenance. "The right
hand" Christ was exalted to place Of
honor and power.
Sc. Heavens opened" A fgurative ex
preston denoting that he. was permitted
to see into heaven, as il the eye was per
mitted to penetrate the eternal world.
our Lord is by human lips called the Son
of man after His ascension. And why
here? Stephen speaking by the Spirit is
led to repeat the very words in which
Jesus Himself, before this same council,
had foretold His glorifcation. See Matt.
49, g.. This would tend to exasperate
them still more, They are now told tina,
He whom they had crueihed was exalted
to the right hand of God.
81. "Cried out" Among other things,
perhaps, that he should be silent or that
he should be put to death. stopped theiil
ears" AS a proof that he had uttered
blasphemy, because he saw Jesus standing
on the right hand of God. Fearful proof
against them; for if Jesus was at the right
hand of God, then they had murdered an
innocent person tI and a Gods justice r must
upon him. (R. W This was the act of
mob. Under the Roman laws the Jewa
had no authority to infict capital punish,
ment. In this case they did not wait tc
take the legal course, but before any SEN
tence was pronounced rushed him to his
death.
IS. "Out of the city" According to the
law of Moses. Lev: "a: a., The person to
be stoned was required to be carried with
out the camp "Stoned him" The per
son to be stoned was placed on an eieva'
ton twice the height OF a man, from
whence with his hands bound he was
thrown down and then a stone as much
as two men could carry was rolled down
upon him by the witnesses, after which all
the people present cast stones upon HIM
An old tradition places the scene outside
crucifed. "TRe witnesses" The false
witnesses who had accused Stephen Of
blasphemy. Laid down their clothes"
According to Moses law (Deut. IT. g., -
the witnesses were required to cast the
first stone, probably to prevent any care
less or unjust shedding of blood, and be-
fore they entered upon their murderous
work they laid off their outer garments,
"At-feet." They put their garments here
This is the first mention of the one who
was afterward the great apostle of the
Gentiles.
50. "Receive my spirit" They stoned
him while he was praying. This is the
prayer that Christ Himself had
offered on the cross. Here is clear proof
that it is proper to offer prayer to Jesus
the immateriahty of the soul, for he could
not have commended his spirit to Christ
had he believed that he had no spirit, or
in other words that his body and soul were
one and the same thing: -.
60. "Kneeled down" a good position
in which to pray or to die. Cried. II
Stephen had not prayed the church would
nOC nave ndQ dul. Lay uOl. NSiSh
not, reckon not, place it not in thy, bal
ance against them. The best will and tes
lament of the Christian is that which
l. The soul to heaven. 2; The
body to earth. 3. Friends to the divine
protection. 4. Enemies to divine compass
sion. "To their charge" Comparing, this
with nearly the same request of his dying
Lord it will be seen how very richly this
martyr of Jesus had drunk into his Mas,
ter's spirit in its divinest form. Fell
asleep" He died. "But sleep implies an
awakening" His spirit was welcomed
into heaven and his body sleeps until the
l. "Saul was consenting." So terrible
was the hatred which this man bore to
Christ and His followers that he delighted
in their destruction. "a great persecu-
ton" AS the rulers had caused the
death of Stephen, without exciting an in
of the people or the resentment
of the governor, they ventured to carry on
the persecution with increasing violence.
2. "Devout men," Pious Jews. 'To his
burial" They did not hesitate to give an
honorable burial to man of whose limo
cence and godliness they were convinced.
"Great lamentation." They engaged in a
solemn mourning for him. This is evi.
dence that Stephen was not condemned