Stephen's Testimony
“Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken,” etc. — Acts vii. “1/T ^K the Perfect manp and behold the upright.” That JjJL object is worthy of regard anywhere; but here it is placed in a position peculiarly fitted to display its grandeur. Everything about the faith of Christians is interesting; but the trial of their faith especially is found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. i. 7). The flame may live throughout the day, if the supply of oil be constant; but it is by night that the flame is seen. So, though a disciple’s faith may survive through a period
Stephens Testimony. of prosperity., as a secret bond between him and his Saviour, it is not observed by other men until the night of adversity settles down. “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright;” but choose the time for marking him. The beauty of his course is generally best seen towards its close: “The end of that man is peace.” The sufferings which enemies have inflicted become the darkness which reveals his light.
Stephen stands before the Sanhedrim, not to be tried, but to be condemned. When he distributed alms to the poor widows, I suppose his face was pleasant to look upon — as that of a loving, benevolent man; but when he stands before his murderers, in the immediate prospect of martyrdom, it is like the face of an angel. The sun is more beautiful at his setting than at his meridian; and if dark clouds cluster on the horizon round him, they serve to receive and reflect his light, and so to increase the loveliness of the departing moment.
The specific charge preferred against Stephen is, that he spoke blasphemous words against the Temple and the Law. The presiding judge, conducting himself in the first instance with at least external propriety, intimates to the accused that he is put on his trial, and invites him to plead: “Then said the high priest, Are these things so?” Not wanting in courtesy, the accused begins with a general salutation of respect.
A question of much interest has been raised regarding the sources whence Luke, the historian, obtained a report of this address. Besides the Church in Jerusalem, where a record of all the circumstances may have been kept, the narrator had a competent reporter at hand in the person of the Apostle Paul. Saul of Tarsus was present at this trial: and every word of the martyrs defence was graven on his capacious memory, as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond. After he became a preacher of the faith, which at that time he persecuted, he would still recall the same facts, though invested with a new meaning. Doubtless the beloved physician took the opportunity of the enforced i leisure of a long sea voyage to learn authentically from Paul’s lips all the particulars of this extraordinary history.
It is in the spirit of a devout believer that Stephen traces the course of Hebrew history. He touches tenderly, and with devout reverence, all the great events in God’s dealing with Israel. His speech, in this aspect, must have gone far to refute the accusations that were brought against him. This is not a reviler of the Temple and the Law. This is not a renegade Jew who abjures the authority of Moses. It was not by his historical discourse that Stephen offended his judges; it was rather by his unsparing application of the Word to their consciences. His elegant apologetic essay would have pleased his judges, as the story of the ewe lamb pleased the guilty king; it was his concluding onslaught, “Thou art the man,” that enraged the persecutors, and sealed the doom of the intrepid witness.
Whether he had reached the point whence he could most effectually launch his premeditated bolt, or whether he was interrupted by some commotion in the audience, we cannot; with certainty determine; but at the 51st verse the discourse takes a sudden turn. From an abstract disquisition on the Divine plan, as shown in the Old Testament history, he changes in a moment to a bold, personal denunciation of his judges: “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers j did, so do ye.” This sudden charge must have produced a great excitement in the court. Hitherto, there is good reason to believe they had listened with rapt attention. 1
Stephens Testimony.
The sketch of their own history, given by the accused, must have been grateful to their ears. Perhaps they may have begun to think, “This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” He had honoured Abraham and Moses and David. He had spoken reverently of God, and acknowledged Israel as the chosen people. As far as he had yet gone, they would have found it hard to convict him of blasphemy. Stephen, I suppose, had a well-defined plan in his mind. He desired to win their attention, and soften their hearts. When at last he saw the gates open and the watchmen off their guard, he made a sudden rush, in the hope of taking the city by assault, and leading its defenders captive — captive to Christ.
The preacher’s plan was in the first instance successful The word in Stephen’s lips proved quick and powerful. The sword ran into their joints and marrow. The immediate object is gained: there is conviction. The judges are “cut to the heart.” This is one step of progress, but it is not the end. For those who seek to win souls, as well as for those who try to make a fortune, there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. Conviction goes before conversion; but conversion does not always follow conviction. When such a home-thrust takes effect on the conscience, a great anger is generated. That anger burns like fire, and it must have some object to consume. It will either burn inward to consume your own sins, or outward to persecute the preacher who exposed them. In such a case there must be a victim. You will wreak your vengeance either on your sins or on your reprovers. Such a word as Stephen preached to his judges will be a savour of life or a savour of death. It makes the hearer better or worse.
In this case the anger which the word generated went the wrong way; instead of going inward to crucify their own lusts, it went outward to take the life of the faithful reprover: “They gnashed on him with their teeth.”
As the fury of the persecutors increased, so did the ecstasy of the martyr. The blast of their wrath against him, like the wind against a kite, carried him higher toward heaven: “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus.” These two sights lie close together. Stephen, I suppose, saw them blended into one, and could not separate them. If the glory of God should appear without Jesus, the spirit would fail before him, and the souls that he has made. In the Apocalyptic vision of the blessed state, it is said that “the Lamb is the light thereof.”
It is noticed with interest by all the commentators from the earliest times, that Jesus was standing on the right hand of God when the first martyr obtained a supernatural foresight of his exalted Redeemer. He was not sitting, as in peace and ease; but standing up, as one who felt the pain that his member on the earth endured. This attitude of the Lord in heaven already foreshadows his own subsequent word: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” The preparation for stoning Stephen stirred the heart of his Lord. He stood up in anticipation as well as in sympathy. He was preparing to receive with suitable welcome the first witness who should, after himself, ascend in a fiery chariot.
Stephen’s ecstatic exclamation was the signal for an uproar in the court. What had up to this point seemed, externally at least, an orderly trial, degenerated now into a fanatical disturbance. The peace and triumph of the martyrs has always fanned the persecutors into a fiercer flame. The murderers have never been able to bear the dying testimony of the victims. In an age comparatively recent, they beat the drums to drown the last words of the Scottish
Stephen’s Death.
Covenanters. “Argyle’s sleep,” on the night before his execution, made the blood run cold in his enemies’ veins.
While the rude executioners were doing their work under the eye of a zealous young Pharisee, lately appointed the chief agent of the inquisitors, Stephen himself is occupied too. He is praying. Finding himself in the valley of the shadow of death, he addresses Jesus, present to faith, as David long ago had done: “I will not fear, for thou art with me.”