The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-01
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON

Copyright, Davis W. Clark.)

calmly upward at a bsatific vision. The dread denouement follows. Like his Mas ter, commenting his spirit to God, and praying for his murderers. he falls asleep. The Teachers Lantern.
 Stephens defense is a veritable seed.
 bed for the Epistles of St.. Paul. The arguments of the martyr, though he did not consent to them. evidently chung to his memory. He repeats, amplifies, I-
 lustrates. applies and enforces them. They are such as these. The evanescent character of the Mosaic law and ritual: the passing of Jerusalem as a center of religion; the substitution of the spiritua for the literal priesthood, ceremony and sacrifice. Stephen lived again in Paul. He lives forever in the Epistles.
 The inhuman and irrational character of
 religious intolerance has striking illus
 tration in this incident. It has been well
 said that Stephen confounded his ene
 mics with Scripture and reason and they
 beat out his brains with stones. Brute
 force Is always the argument of towards.
 The new faith was making surprising
 progress in the very citadel of the old. Qulte a number. even of the clergy, be- came adherents. It is not surprising that those who were attached to and stood for
 "the Establishment should feel that something must be done. As usual. un- der stress of such a feeling, the worst thing possible was done.
 St. Paul was probably not a mere im- passive witness of the execution of Ste phen. He belonged. Tn all likelihood, to the synagogu of Cihcia-prominently named as among the prosecuting force. It was probably among the student corps Of these synagogues that the infiamma- ble material for this riotous proceeding was obtained It was likely because of his activity in this direction that he was honored in being chosen the official wit ness. For his part, Paul had infinite re- gret afterward.
 Luke shows fine sense and skill in the
 vTTR he dAGa 4En 1a- l.
 not so minute as to become grewsome
 He gives the widest possible silver bor-
 der to this dark cloud The martyr Is
 full of the Holy Ghost sees Heaven
 open. has a beautiful vision of Jesus.
 prays for his mtrderers and then falls asleep"
 It seems almost profantion to name the murderer of Mckinley in any con ner in which the authorities withheld from the press the grewsome incidents. and sent his corpse and all souvenirs of | him to a grave filled with quicklime is worthy of all commendation.
 | Jesus arises to meet the emergencies
 Of disciples. stephen saw the Son of | man standing"
 Receive my spirit literally. take pected an immediate and personal greet | ing from the Lord Jesus after death. God is not the God of the annihilated. but of the living.
 A calculating. conservatism might tax stephen with failure. If he had been | less intemperate in his disputations, he would not have died prematurely. A i long, useful life might have been his. D What. on the other hand. could compen- | sate the Church for the loss of the one 1 page in the New Testament which re-
 cords the character, deeds. defense. and l martyrdom of St. Stephen? And Ste. l phen's apparently brief career did not | really end with his cruel and bloody | death. He unconsciously. but none the
 less really. projected himself into the | character and career of a young man | standing near and consenting to his | death, while he could not but admire | hs dauntess courage. We'll has st. Au- | gustine said. off Stephen had not prayed | Paul would not have preached"