The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-02
Sunday Study
THE DEATH OF STEPHEN.

The International Sunday school lesson
for March is found in Acts, vii,54, to
viii, 2, and tells Of the courage and
death of stephen. But. he. being full
| of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
| into heaven" With great power and
holiness, being filled with the Spirit,
Stephen had spoken the truth and, like
Peter, had accused the council of being
| the murderers of Jesus.
and said, Behold, I see the heavens
! opened and the Son of Man standing on
the right hand of God" This is one
! OF the seven times that we find the
! phrase in Scripture ''heaven opened"
! The more we look into heaven the more
| heavenly we become and there is 50
| much room for Improvement IN that dl-
| rection.
."Then they cried out with loud voice
and stopped their ears and ran upon him
| the four lone accords" in this book Of
the Acts. We are wise when we stop
| our ears as David did and refuse to hear
| speak; but to stop ones ears from hear
| ing the things of God is evil work. Re
| fusing the truth, they were believing
| lie, and, believing that Jesus was an i'm
| postor, they judged Stephen to be guilty
| of blasphemy, and in stoning him
| thought they were obeying their law,
while they themselves were, before God.
the blasphemers and the guilty ones;
but they were blinded by worldly desire.
| This is our first introduction to the
young man named Saul, unless he Is the
sAAAiC yOtllS iIIdH WHO went away lIOAAl
Jesus one day sorrowfuIy because he
loved his possessions.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" Thus
said Stephen as they were stoning him
to death, for he knew whom he believed
and saw Him even before he went out
to be with. Him. When our Lord Him
self was dying, He said, Father. into
Thine hands [ comm end Ny spirit. " And
similar words came from David by the
same spirit long before. for he also could
truly say: 81 trusted in Three, o Lord"
my times are in Thy hand =
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"
Like his Lord and Master, he prayed
for his murderers. The Lords instruc-
tons are, Love your enemies; bless
them that curse you; do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you and prosecute you"
And while this is well nigh impossible
to the natural man, yet If any man be
in Christ he is a new creature, temple
of the Holy Spirit mansion in which
the Father and son have come to dwell.
And saul was consenting unto his
death" Hear his own account of what
he said long afterward. And I said.
Lord, they know that | imprisoned and
peat IN every synagogue them that be-
1eVed on Thee, and when the blood Of
Thy martyr stephen was shed I also was
standing by and cOnsenting unto his death
and kept the raiment of them that slew
him" Before 'Agrippa he said. 81 verify
thought with myself that / ought to do
many things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth. which thing L also
| did in Jerusalem" And then he tells
| how not only in Jerusalem, but in other
| cities, being exceedingly mad against the
| Christians, he was the means of their
| imprisonment, punishment and death.
| The lesson tells of the greatness of the
persecution in Jerusalem after the death
of Stephen and how all the believers ex-
cept the apostles were scattered through
one of two sections of the Holy Land.
The Lords commend was to Ego into
| all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature '"Fo be His witnesses
unto the uttermost parts of the EARTH"
but up to this time they seem to have
! confined their testimony to Jerusalem,
and it required a persecution to scatter
! them that they might obey His command.
| And devout men carried Stephen to
| his burial and made great lamentatio
! over him." Stephen himself was absent
| from the body present with the Lord"
| but his body was asleep, even as Jesus
| had said of Lazarus when speaking Of
| his death, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.'
I There was no occasion to lament for Ste
/ phen, for to him it was a great gain, but
| it seemed that the church could i'll afford
| to lose such a witness and worker.
THE JOY OF SERVICE"
! The Christian Endeavor topic for March
is found is Psalm cxxxvi., Sc; Matthew
! XIV, 1923. The sources Of a Christian
| joy are numerous. He may rejoice that
| he has been redeemed and saved by Je-
| sus Christ. 1--WE joy in God through our
| To- TaSnC Christ nv haV