therefore, the immediate and explicit declaration to the Sanhedrim, that they would not obey. They were apostles of a triumphant and an enthroned Redeemer, and his authority they should respect; they should and would preach in his name. The apostles were safe. Exasperated as the council were to the highest pitch, they could do nothing more than dismiss them. The popular voice was in their favor; hundreds and thousands were in the process of believing, and turning unto the Lord. Five thousand had joined their standard.

They went forth, therefore, from the Sanhedrim, with the maledictions of rulers and priests upon their heads. But they went in triumph-filled with holy admiration and gratitude at their deliverance from the eminent peril in which, for the cause of Jesus, they had been involved. They returned to their fellow-disciples; they reported what had befallen them, and the grace of God which had enabled them to vindicate the cause of their Master.

It was an hour of joy—of solemn joy. It was a time for thanksgiving for mercies received; a time for prayer for future help in similar trials which might come upon them. They spent a season in prayer-prayed for themselvesprayed for their enemies-prayed for the cause in which they were engaged.

Nor did they pray in vain. God gave them immediate evidence that he did hear, and did accept them. The place where they were, was shaken by some sudden and remarkable convulsion, like that of an earthquake, or the rapid and violent movement of the Spirit of God. But whatever it might be, there was an exhibition of great power; and such power as carried the delightful conviction to their bosoms, that God was on their side, and would protect them. Moreover, they had the further evidence that God heard; for they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and were endowed with new power, by which they were enabled to speak the word of God with still greater boldness.

The heralds of the Cross, at the present day, may not anticipate such miraculous interposition, in times of peril and persecution, as these apostles enjoyed, if on such times they fall. But the glorious assurance has been made them: "Lo! I am with you unto the end of the world." And, in accordance with this assurance, Christ has ever watched over and supported his faithful servants. They have not, indeed, been exempted from opposition, or even persecution. Nay: many of them have been appointed to services which, with all their prudence, have involved them in severe trials and intense sufferings. Not a few have been called to yield up life for the name of Jesus. What then? Such sacrifices have redounded to the honor of their Master, and to the triumph of his cause, while they have added to the eternal joy of those who have thus cheerfully taken up the cross. Struggle on, then, ye servants of the living God! Toil as you have strength! Resist the machinations of the arch adversary, and thwart, while you are able, the evil counsel of the adversaries of the Cross; and, by so doing, you will secure to yourselves a victory as glorious as it will prove lasting!

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

PRAYER OF STEPHEN.

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.-Acts vii. 59, 60.

AMONG the first converts in Jerusalem, there seems to have been many in necessitous circumstances. Their wants, however, were cheerfully and liberally supplied by the more wealthy believers; who "sold their possessions, and laid the price at the apostles' feet, that distribution might be made to every man according as he had need." Some Grecian widows, however, were neglected in the daily ministration. To

prevent a recurrence of such neglect, the apostles proposed the institution of a new order of men, whose duty it should be to look after the poorer disciples, and make provision for their wants.

This proposal was unanimously approved, and was executed without delay. Seven men, qualified for the office, were selected, who were set apart for that service by prayer and the imposition of hands. In passing, we may remark, that the disciples adopted no important measures without seeking the divine blessing. Prayer mingled in all their movements, and gave life and spirituality to all their

conduct.

Among the seven deacons selected, Stephen seems to have been preeminent—“ a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost;" who did great wonders and miracles among the people. These attracted the notice of the adversaries of the Church, who challenged him to a public disputation about the new religion, in the hope that they should be able to confute his arguments; or, at least, to draw from him some unguarded words, for which they might accuse him to the rulers. But they were unable to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. His antagonists were confounded. They could obtain no advantage over him. But where argument failed, malice succeeded. Under a pretext of zeal for the glory of God, they charged him before the Sanhedrim with speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God. To substantiate this charge, they hired witnesses, and instructed them what to swear. It was further affirmed, that he had been heard to say that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy that place, (Jerusalem,) and change the customs which Moses delivered them.

Stephen had every thing to fear from the furious zeal of his judges. They were Jews, imbued with all the bigotry and prejudice of their nation, and exasperated at the success of the new religion, which they had confidently believed had

perished with its founder. The confidence of Stephen, however, did not forsake him, nor was his tranquillity disturbed. "All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel." There was doubtless something preternatural in his countenance—a divine splendor, perhaps, similar to that on the face of Moses, when he came down from the mount-a manifest token of the presence and approbation of God. He was as a rock in the midst of the ocean, upon which the tempests blow and the waves dash in vain.

Stephen having liberty to reply to the charge against him, addressed the Sanhedrim at length; but his speech seems only to have increased the hatred and the rage of his accusers. They were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. Like infuriated beasts of prey, they were eager to devour the man who had dared to attack them. On the other hand, Stephen was filled with the Holy Ghost, and was vouchsafed with a view of the glory of God—such a view as is seldom granted to mortals—of that glory, as it shines in unclouded splendor in the temple of God; and also was granted to him a view of Jesus, standing on the right hand of God-of Jesus, risen, as it were, from his throne, to observe the courage, the faith, and patience of his disciplerisen to meet and welcome his spirit, as it should escape his mangled body, and to introduce him into the presence of his Father, and to a crown of unfading glory.

Such a vision was granted to this faithful servant of God, now ready to be sacrificed by his cruel persecutors. Nor could he be silent in regard to it. He must speak of it; he must thus honor the Savior, who was so honoring him. "Behold!" exclaimed the martyr, "I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" These words settled the fate of Stephen. The passions of the mob burst forth with ungovernable fury. with a loud voice; they stopped their ears;

They cried out, they ran upon

him with one accord; they cast him out of the city; and here they stoned him, calling upon God, and saying: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "Father!" said Jesus, as he died, "into thy hands I commend my spirit." "Lord Jesus," said the proto-martyr, "receive my spirit." And, like his divine Master, who, as he expired, cried: "Father! forgive them, for they know not what they do ;" so Stephen utters the unnatural and sublime prayer: "Lord! lay not this sin to their charge!" We say unnatural: for, in such circumstances, numan nature is not apt to harbor such sentiments, or utter such language. Our natural feelings would rather invoke revenge: blood for blood; life for life. "Lord!" cries exasperated nature, "Lord, reward them according to their deeds!" "Lord," says the heaven-born soul, "lay not this sin to their charge!"

We are aware that such language as Stephen uttered is not now uncommon. "Almost every profligate," observes a writer, "who is brought to the scaffold for his crimes, professes to forgive his enemies, and to die in peace with all the world. But the difference is great between the unmeaning cant of virtue and the real practice of it. It is no vulgar attainment to love the man who hates us; to divest ourselves of a wish to retaliate upon him, who has poured bitterness into our cup; sincerely to desire the salvation of those who, if their power were equal to their malice, would consign us to the flames of hell. Such benevolence never lodged in a soul, whose ideas and affections the Spirit of love had not first purified and elevated.

Stephen was

"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' fully apprised of the atrocious nature of the conduct of his persecutors, which implied the complicated guilt of murder and impiety; and of the dreadful punishment which was prepared for them by the justice of an insulted Savior. Yet to that Savior he made intercession in their behalf. The words must be understood as a prayer that they might receive