The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-03

God with man. Perhaps If there were
less abstract philosophy and more con-
crete telling of the great Story that
we find between the covers OF our
Bible, there would be more convincing
sermons. Nothing is more impressive
on the mission field than the fact that
the missionaries do not argue or con-
tend; they chiefly tell the Story, and
that Story is winning the world.
Like a good preacher, Stephen found
common ground with his hearers, even
though he had to go clear back to
Mesopotamia- He got to the applica-
ton in good time, and it certainly was
not remote; for hard upon the heels
of straight quotation from Scripture
he made the application:
I'VE stiffnecked and uncircum-
cised in heart and ears, We do al
ways resist the Holy Spirit: as
your fathers did, so do We. Which
of the prophets did not your faith
ers prosecute? and they killed
them that showed before of the
coming of the Righteous One; of
whom We have now become be-
trayers and murderers; We who re-
ceived the law as it was ordained
by angels, and kept it not
When AFistocrats Became Mob.
Most of us have seen at some time
or other a cultivated man lose his
poise and return to the primitive The
sight is not a pretty one. That is what
happened with the Sanhedrin. Those
learned and reverned doctors of the
law, clothed in robes of state and dig
nifty, began to gnaSh their teeth like
an unrestrained rabble. Imagine the
flower of the aristocracy of the He
brew nation becoming bowling
mob. crying with a loud voice, stop
ping their ears and rushing upon
sanity faced Stephen, and hustling
him outside the city walls, where they
| began to stone him to death.
By the way, there is a gate in the
present city of Jerusalem called est.
Stephens Gate" and there are hosts of
great churches over the world bearing
St Stephens name; the most notable
| of them being the cathedral at Vienna.
But I do not recall any gates or
churches or pillars or ruins named
after these members of the Sanhedrin,
who thought emselves so great. They
had power, but it was only for a day.
Alas, that the custodian of eternal
truth so often falls into the hands of
| the local potentate with the power to
| slay.
Luke, who was an artist and knew
| how to bring out his contrasts, pauses
in his description of the fury of the
Sanhedrin to show again the serene
figure Of Stephen who. being full of
| the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly
into heaven. and saw the glory of God
| and Jesus standing on the right hand
I of God, and said Behold, I see the
heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God"
A Glimpse of Glory.
I once heard Moody say, in a ser
mon on this text, that Stephen saw
| Jesus standing on the right hand of
God, because the Lord of glory could
not remain seated on His throne while
a beloved disciple was going forward
| to martyrdom in His name.
Our ina gination is stirred by the
consideration of what Stephen beheld
through the opened windows of heav-
en-. Various archaeological questions
arise, but we brush them aside to re-
call chiefly that it was Jesus Himself
whom Stephen saw. The ineffab1e
glory of the ei ernal kingdom seemed
not worth speaking about when he
could hold n full view his risen Lord,
''The bride eyes. not her garment,
| But her dear bridegroom'S face;
will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of grace:
Not at the crown he glitch,
But on his pierced hand;
OF Emmanuel's land"
| Some of the commentators suggest
| that Stephen doubtless knew Jesus on
earth; that he must have been one of
| the seventy sent out by the Master,
and SO he recognized Him in heaven.
! The point counts for little There is
not a disciple of Christ in all the
millions since who has not instantly
recognized his Lord when the gates
of glory open to him. There will be
no need for introductionS to the
Lover of our souls
| I know it is out of fashion in these
| days to talk too much about heaven,
but the comfort that came to Stephen
as the rocks of hate pounded against
his flesh and crashed into the shin
| ing face was the comfort of real
heaven and a living Christ. This was
his encouragement to pray in the
| Spirit of Christ he saw, and so long as
| there was a Vestige of his features
left beneath that storm of stones,
there was still the shining of the re-
Elected light of the soul of him who
was true unto death.
Victory by Defeat.
Great as was Stephens sermon, his
martyrdom was greater. The picture
is one that the world would not lose
from its memory: for Christ's man
died in Christ's way. At the very last,
even as when he had walked in min
istry among the poor and lowly,
Stephen reminded people of his Mas
ter His last words were like those
of his Lord-'Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit and Lord, lay not this sin to
their charge"-an echo of Calvary's
| Father, forgive Them, for they know
not what they do
| This parallel in the two death
scenes must have set all Jerusalem
by the ears Behold, how these
Christians die was on many a lip,
and even the stern applicability of
the Sanhedrin must have been shaken
as they saw a faith that martyrdom
could not blot out: the Light shone
the brighter for the wind that blew
upon it.
The Man Who Held the Goats.
There are strange links in history
Stephens was not the only apparent
defeat that led to a real victory.
Most Jealous among the mob of his
murderers was a young man named
SAUL an aristocratic Pharisee of the
stricter sect. It is not recorded Sof
him that he lost control of himself
as some of the elders did, and shouted
and frothed and fumed, but he kept
watch over the coats of those who