1 Robert Louis Stevenson, The Merry Men.
2 Dante, Purg. xv. 106-114, trans, by Dr. Shadwell.
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him. So the one dying word has strangely compacted in it authority and submission ; and the other dying word is the word of a simple waiting servant.
2. How was Stephen strengthened for the trial ? What were the manifestations granted to him, and which sustained him through the bitterness of martyrdom ? You find these recorded in the preceding part of the chapter : " But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." We may not pretend to explain what Stephen saw in seeing the glory of God. We can only suppose that, as with St. Paul caught up to the third heaven, it was not what human speech could express , for it is very observable that when he asserts what he saw he makes no mention of " the glory of God," but confines himself to the opening of the heavens, and the manifestation of Christ at the right hand of the Father. It is not for us to speculate where the martyr is silent. We can only suppose that " the glory of God" that was shown to him was some special display of the Divine presence calculated to reassure the sufferer.
To stretch my hand and touch Him,
Though He be far away; To raise my eyes and see Him
Through darkness as through day; To lift my voice and call Him — This is to pray !
To feel a hand extended
By One who standeth near; To view the love that shineth
In eyes serene and clear;
To know that He is calling —
This is to hear!
3. The supreme thought which these prayers suggest is the great possibilities that lie in faith in Christ. We see the soul of the suffering disciple leaning on the Lord who had suffered. We see that the secret of strength in all trials lies in appealing to the love and power of the blessed Jesus. In the death-struggle St. Stephen had faith to hang upon his Lord, and his Lord bore him through the agonies of that hour. This is what we are most
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likely to think of in reading of the martyr's death. But was this the greatest proof of St. Stephen's faith ? Was his greatest trial in this world ? Did it not lie beyond this world ? The life was nearly crushed out of him. The pains of death were coming thick and fast upon him. But was death the end ? What was awaiting him after death ? He was entering on the unseen state. All was dim, unknown, untried before him. And if his spirit passed away, to whom would it go ? It must return to God, who gave it. It must go before God, meet Him, and give up its account to Him. It is such thoughts as these which add so wonderful a power and force to those words, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." I know not where I go ; all nature seems to open out into vast untried depths beneath me ; take me, hold me in Thine everlasting arms ; I am safe with Thee. I know not who may attack me, how the powers of evil may gather against me ; take me, guard me. I know not how to meet the Judgment. I know only that I have been dear to Thee in this life. Thou hast loved me, died for me, kept me. Take me now ; to Thee do I commit my cause; "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Here is indeed a strange, calm faith in the power of our blessed Lord to keep and bless the soul in that unseen world. One who could speak thus must have felt that our Lord had conquered in that world, as in this, and emptied it of its horrors. He looked, as it were, through the mist and darkness that was gathering around him ; he pierced with the steady gaze of his mind through the veil that was drawn between him and the state on which he was entering, and there he saw his Lord waiting and ready for him. Or rather, with a surer faith, though he did not see, he felt certain that the Lord was King in that realm of the departed, and he was ready to pass into it, because he knew that the Lord had power to keep and uphold him there. It may be that we shall never know the full force of those calm words of St. Stephen till we are on the edge of that unseen world ourselves.
4. His faith was faith in Christ, in the crucified Lord Jesus Christ. Observe the words of the prayers. While they stoned Stephen St. Luke says, according to the Authorized Version, that he was "calling upou God." In the original text the Person upon whom he called is not named. The Authorized Version has
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supplied what seemed to be wanting, " God," intimating that it was the First Person of the Trinity. But the last Eevisers have substituted "The Lord," to indicate that it was the Second Person : and this is certainly more in accordance with the prayer that follows : " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."