The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-02-28

March :. iiso$-Ihe sssstag u
stephen.


zen AA4+t NE4G& GIL - I'm AA4- sS-<<s
arc stopgec their ears. ard ran upon him /
with one accord.
"a And cast him out OF the city. and \
stoned him ard the -wltrssses laid Gown /
their Clothes al . Dung man feet whose l
name Was saul
- And they stoned Stephen. calling upon
Coo and saying Lord Jesus. receive my
spirit
% Ard he kreelsc down arc cried with a !
loud voice Lord. .ay not this sin 10 their
charge And wheE IL had said this. he fell
asleep
i Anc Saul was eonsertfrx unto his
csath- And Al that time there Was a great
persecution against the church which VAS
AZ Jerusalem. ard they were all scattered
abroad throughout the regions Of Jucae2
arc sanaria. except the apostles
= And ceycut met carried Stephen 10 his
bcr-ai. ase made great Lamentations over
Lsn
GOLDEN TENT Pray for then
which despis~fulfy use zoe. aaa per-
secute yoo--Mass- 5sss-
NOTES AND COMMENTS
Mariyrcom--A martyr. literally. is
witness and. by historic force,
witness who seals his testimony by
his blood That there should be
martyrs for the Gospel was iney-
table Truth and error cannot come
into contact without a conflict The
secret Of persecution Is hatred of the
truth Stephen revealed il when he
said 10 his malignant hearers: 'Ye
do always resist the Holy Ghost"
" 5i). We have in our lesson. then.
the contrast between one filed with
the Holy Spirit and those who were
resisting Him
Stephens Defense-HThe right to be
heard in ones own defense before
the Sanhedrin was complete and
carefully guarded. Even in the case
of Jesus it was freely accorded.
Jewish ideas. as expressed in the
laws for the procedure of the San
hedrin in criminal cases. were almost.
I If not quite. as strong in favor of
giving the accused every opportunity
as are our own in America In his
/ plea stephen reviewed the history
of the patriarchs and the early years
OF Israel with the purpose of show
ing that the system of worship in the
temple might be changed The Jews
believed in Gods revelation to Abra-
ham, Jacob. Joseph Moses and
Joshua. none of whom ever had .
temple As Gods worship had
changed from altar to tabernacle.
and from tabernacle to temple so il
might change again from temple TO
spiritual worship Verses $3.50 point
out the fact that Gods superiority to
the temple was declared In Scripture
lis 6s:I- p. These words. however,
seemed to the Jews sacrilegious. as
throwing contempt on the temple,
and stephen lost the sympathy and
interest of his hearers when he Ut
tered them
Stonirg of Sfephea words
could only make the feeling Of the
Jews more intense. and the. hatred
showed itself by gesture The hatred
was still further set s-.ow by
STEPHENS bold announcement of his
vision OF Jesus IN glory. Thas vision.
comforting as il was TO th- MARTYR.
was TO the >anhedrIn only greater
and more atrocious blasphcry- The
situation was too tense TO che Dig
nifty Of the Sanhcdrin- Stoppsrg their
ears lest they hear still wors- utter
arces. they themselves ru-h-d upon
stephen not waiting for tN- guards
to remove him. and hustled rim out
to the place of ~xrcufion- H.re the
procedure becare more ords-ly- Ii
was the law (Ds1t- I-:.. ihst when
anyone was ston-d to death -s'r false
worship. the witnesses agair 81 him
should cast the r - stones J he wit
neSses in this csse prepared TO act
L.
which they laid At the feet r Saul,
who TINS appear- first in the history
Of which he soo1 becomes tie ccI-
trail figure Evids nfly he did not take
.nv personal par, in the storing. a
fact which j. ore of the strongest
indications that he had attained "a
the dignity Of membership in the
Sauhedrsn. His enthusiastic yea
would have led him TO enjoy hurting
stones mt the supposed blasphemer
had his position permitted such &C
ton. Stephens first prayer ~ 81
proves Row he kept the faith: his
second ". COZ shows how Christliks
his spirit was This latter is exact
II IN the spirit of Jesus own words
duke s3.3n. while so utterly differ
! cnr in form as 10 be evidently no quo
saricn. but a natural outburst Of gen
, ufne feeling.
Burial Of Stephen--Why the apos
ties could remain in Jerusalem whil'
Others were driven away does not aP
pear. Perhaps they stayed from
sense Of duty and were especially
protected Even So they must have
remained Is much rs possible out o
sight. The phrase .-deroui men" i
used only Of Jews The fact as u
, Stephens burial proves that tn
movement against him had not beer
! unanimously supported BIZ those wh'
had not accepted Jesus as the Christ
: PRACTICAL APPLICATION.
! When . disciple of ChrSt faithful.
, witnesses for Him. he may expect q
: arouse opposition ard hatred
! The faithful Christian may Tool
for the swsete<: visions to be- g1vel