The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 240

hne been borne. Gou. opens an inner door into heaven to others inaccessihle and speaks of things which cannot be uttered, and offers visions which cannot be desc/iberl. Wo know _little more than the o_utside of others' lives. The bad man in power, the good man m weakness e.nd su:ffermg, each has another side to his life. III. CONY;I0T!ON s_TIFLED_ IN VIOLENCE. Here are two resources of hypocrisy. 1. To pretend m~1gnat1on agamst the person of a_n opponent. It is easy to feign a pious horror of sentiments we do not care to exam1~e, and to _ca?t obliquely the reproach of blasvhemy upon one '!ho u~ters truths which e.re evil m th:ir bearing upon i:s, Jesus, Stephen, Paul, and_ m their turn all reformers, have had to mcur this reproacn. 2. To end the matter by v10lence. Cast the offender out of the synaguJUe; hand him over to the civil power; or put him to death under the show of law and justice. So was Stephen done to death. 'l.'he worst crimes have been done in the name of bw and under the cloke of religion. IV. 'l.'nE IIUBTYB's END. In many features it repeats that of the Master. 1. Stephen is thrust out of the city, like him who suffered "without the gate." Nor can any man expect to live at all places and times the true life, without having to suffer some form of social expulsio!}. In suffering for our convictions we come to know the deeper fel- lowship of the spirit of Jesus. Better to go with Jesus "without the gate "and suffer, than to tarry within the city and to purchase ease at the expense of compliance with evil. 2, Life is yielded up in prayer. As he had sighed, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit," so his servant," Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." As he," Father, forgive them," so Stephen, "Lay not this sin to their charge." Love, the animating principle of the Christian in life, the secret energy which prompts all his words and deeds in the cause of truth,-love is the temper in which he dies. Christ's religion, in teaching us this love and making its practice possible, proves itself Divine. .And this active love is rooted in the sense that we have been loved and sought of God. He who has once found us and blessed us with fatherly hand, gives courage for struggle and resignation in defeat. 3. The effect on others. We think of the young man Saul who stooil by. What effect upon him had not this spectacle of love in death? And what evidence amidst wild scenes of savage life has not the end of the good man blessing, not cursing his foes, given to the love of· God and what it can accomplish in the human heart! 'l'he red Indian, as he binds his captive to the stake, expects hini to prove his manhood, when escape is hopeless, by bitter taunts and blasphemies to the last. And this is the fruit of cruelty in many lands. It is the marvel in human nature, the appearance of the lamb where we looked for the lion-thi;, reaction of love against hatred, which betokens the presence of a power and e. will beyond experience. 'l'he life of the world had passed into a new phase when men could die in the very arms of love and fall asleep with the smile of blessing on their brow.-J. Vers. 1-53.-Stephen's address in the Sanhedrim. The charge was blasphemy and revolution against consecrated authority, The answer was, God by his Spirit has been preparing for this time. Jesus is the Messiah. As in former days our fathers resisted the Holy Ghost, so now this highest manifestation of his graco in "Jesus Christ." .An appeal to repentance and faith. Notice- I. THE TESTIMONY TO THE WORD OF Goo. Christianity is no novelty discarding the past. Yet not a mere development, but a new gift in Christ. A great lesson on the study of the Old Testament, which is too much neglected. A help to trace the line of the spiritual manifestations. A warning against unbelief. A declo.ration of the grace of God, ape.rt from human merit. TI. TnE BOLDNESS OF THE INSPIRED PREACHER. Fearlessness of man. Courage of deep conviction. Freedom from Jewish prejudice. Gospel liberty not rationalistic licence. Spiritual conception of God and bis worship. Charge of the Jews. III. THE POSITION OF CHRISTIANITY plainly set forth as the final revelation, and the ohe.llen"e founded upon it. Receive the gospel or you resist the Spirit. Tbis position evidently rested on the pers?n and work of,, Christ, "t~e -~ighteous O_ne," w_b?se message was above that "oraained by angels (see Heb. 1., 11.). The c1rcumc1s1on of the Old Testament was declared worthless in view of the new circumcision of the " heart and ears,'' otherwise the sign of the new covenant, th? bapti~m ~f the Holy Ghost. .Although evidently broken off by the murderous riot wh·ch ensued, the 216 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [CIH. VD, 1-60