The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 247

Vers. 55-60.-The glory of the martyr. It is not impossible tba.t the foregoing defence of Stephen may own to some slight ellipses; if so, to be accounted for partly by the fact of his imrneniate martyrdom, which prevented his rehearsal of it to any penman. But if it be not so, and if we have here in due connection all that Stephen said th!!>t is material to a right apprehension of the exact position of things, then bis outburst recorded in vers. 51-53 is indeed full of suggestion, hints at much that lay behind, and invests itself with great additional interest. For we must suppose that his dis- eernment, all on fire at that moment, enabled him to see, both in the eyes of the council of judges and in some of their movements, perhaps of the most unconscious and involuntary charactC'r, that the crisis had arrived when, without another minute's delay, he should deli'<'er himself of truth's sea.thing rebuke. And this superior illumination and quickened intelligence was, perhaps, but the stealing on, and with no very stealthy pace either, of the dawn of hea.'<'enly light itself. Whatever might be coming upon the euraged persecutors, to the brave and dignified persecuted was near at hand the lustre of the perfect day, the perfect truth, the perfect love. Let it be that the "age of miracles" has passed, how often all a.long up to the present have last moments of the servants of Christ, specially of his suffering ones, been visited in sight and sound by quickened perceptions of the eternal realities! With those realities Stephen is already in company in a de,,<TI"ee beyond, possibly not in a manner altogether different from, manifestations vouchsafed in later days. The circumstances surrounding the death of Stephen have ever attracted special attention. The death is a. martyrdom; it is the first distinct martyrdom for the name of Jesus. It is in some aspects of it not an altogether unworthy or unfaithful copy from the great original, and it is, on the other side, a type of many a close to earthly life which should hereafter come to pass. The surroundings of the death of Stephen well justify the gaze of all who pass by the way, the breathless listening of all who have an ear to hear, the deeper inquiry of all who are moved to deeper faith. And they reward these, abundantly reward them. There can be no mistake as to where the closing scene began. It began from the point at which the enemies of Stephen "gnashed their teeth on him." And from this beginning of what may well be ea.lied here "the pain, the bliss of dying," we may notice the things which shall seem chiefly to distinguish the death of the first Christian martyr-a death which is plainly offered for an open vision to all the world. L THE a FULL" POSSESSION" OF THE HOLY GHOST" ON THE PABT OF THE MAR'l'YR, This had long commanded life for Stephen and for his work. This had made him "full of faith" and "full of power," and able to "work great wonders and miracles among the people." This commandti all Christian life, energy, and usefulness. It is the secret of life, but, more than that, the strong, sure force of it. And as the Holy Ghost had been the mighty Quickener of spiritual life and "work and wonder" for Stephen while he lived, so he is with him the strong Director and Supporter when he must face death. None can tell all the force of the Holy Spirit. He who has '"!ost only ~nows up to what he has; but is it not very plain, as the more a man has of him so he 1B the more strong and the more full of spiritual life and work, that we may therefore safely conclude that with him rests the complete transforming of our nature, no doubt, as well body as soul and spirit? Well may it be that we need not to "fear them who kill the body only," when we have with us One, the Holy Spirit, who can, who does vanquish their killing work, even "·Jiile they are yet in the a.et, himself pouring full~r str~ams of life into the soul. Is it nut greatly to be feared that the modern Church 1s gu1lty (though uncon- 1eioualy, yet guilty in that very thing) of dishonouring the Spirit? We dishonour the Oil, VII, 1-60.] 1'HE AC'l'S OF THE APOSTLES. 243