THE RELIGIOUS LIFE members of their race to themselves, the true Israel. The idea of a mission to the Gentiles outside Judaism was equally alien to the thought of the Twelve, although they would doubtless have welcomed proselytes who came to them, even as did the strictest of the Jews. Acts 512-16 suggests that in time they had fallen into an entanglement which Jesus in the early Galilean days had carefully avoided. The reputation which the apostles had gained through healing the lame man in the temple courts attracted to them credulous multitudes of men and women afflicted with physical and mental maladies. If the narrative be accepted as strictly historical, it is evident that this popular credulity passed over into superstition. It is significant that at this point the record of the successful preaching work of the Twelve in Jerusalem suddenly ceases. Henceforth the interest centres in the group of Hellenistic Jews, gifted with a larger outlook, whose work led ultimately to the breaking of Jewish bonds and the expansion of Christianity into a world religion. The important fact to be noted, however, is that the vital force in the life of the primitive church was not its ritual or its ceremonial forms but the common beliefs and the mutual love and spirit of service which bound all together into one great family and attracted to their ranks the many who felt the crying spiritual and social needs that Christianity, thus simply and concretely interpreted, was able to supply. The early Christian church was but an extension of the unique brotherhood which Jesus had established during his active Galilean days. What was true of Christianity at first has proved true throughout its history: its significant and lasting conquests have been won through the personal touch and through fellowship in faith, in love, and in service. § CXLVIII. THE WORK AND DEATH OF STEPHEN ap of the (Acts Now during those days, when the disciples were increas- The ing in number, the Hellenists (the Greek-speaking Jews) pointbegan to complain against the Hebrews (who were natives ment and residents in Palestine) because their widows were seven being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. There-fore the Twelve called together the main body of the disciples and said, It is not fitting that we should neglect preaching the word of God in order to serve meals. Brothers, select seven of your own number, men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will place in In crease charge of this matter; but we will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. This plan met with the approval of the whole body. Accordingly, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaüs, a proselyte from Antioch. These men they set before the apostles, who after praying laid their hands upon them. And the word of the Lord spread and the number of the of dis- disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. ciples The charge Now Stephen, who was full of grace and power, performed against great wonders and miracles among the people. But some Ste- of those who belonged to the so-called synagogue of the phen (8-14) His address before the Sanhe drin (615-75, 8b Libyians and Cyrenians and the Alexandrians, and also the natives of Cilicia and the Roman province of Asia began to dispute with Stephen, and they were not able to meet the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke. Then they instigated certain men to say, We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. Thus they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes so that they rushed upon him and seized him and took him before the Sanhedrin. They also set up false witnesses who said, This man never ceases talking against this holy place and the law. Indeed we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs handed down to us by Moses! Then all who were seated in the Sanhedrin fixed their eyes on him and saw that his face shone like the face of an angel. But the high priest said, Are these things so? Stephen replied, Brothers and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, 'Go forth from thy land and from thy kinsmen and come to the land which I will show thee.' Then, leaving the land of the Chaldeans, he stayed in Haran. After his father's death, God moved him into this land where you now dwell. But he did not give him any inheritance in it nor even a foot of land. He did, however, promise that he would give it as a possession to him and to his descendants after him, STEPHEN'S ADDRESS although as yet he was childless. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised on the eighth day. And Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. leader And the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him God's into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out ship of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the of the people presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him by governor over Egypt and over all his own household. But Joseph (9-158) a famine came over the whole land of Egypt and Canaan and great misery so that our forefathers could find no food. But Jacob, hearing that there was food in Egypt, sent our forefathers there for the first time. And on their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed regarding Joseph's lineage. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his family, amounting to seventy-five persons. So Jacob went down into Egypt. erance Moses But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the prom- Their ise made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in deliv Egypt, until another king arose in Egypt who knew not by Joseph. He, adopting a crafty policy toward our race, op- (17-37) pressed our forefathers by making them expose their infants so that they might not live. At this time Moses was born, a divinely beautiful child, and for three months he was cared for in his father's house. Then he was exposed but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians and was a man strong in speech and action. When he had completed his fortieth year, it occurred to him to visit his kinsmen, the children of Israel. Seeing one of them being unjustly treated, he took his part and avenged the man who was being unjustly treated by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his kinsmen knew that by him God was going to bring them deliverance: but they did not understand. Next day he came upon two of them fighting. And he tried to make peace between them, saying, Men, you are brothers! Why injure one another?' But the man who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you ruler Their rebellion in the wilderness (38-42) God's provi their and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' At this speech Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. At the close of forty years an angel appeared to him in the flame of a burning thorn bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw this he marvelled at the sight; but as he went up to look at it, the voice of the Lord said, 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' Trembling with fear, Moses did not dare to look. And the Lord said to him, 'Take thy sandals off thy feet, for the place where thou art standing is sacred ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and I have come down to deliver them. Come now, I will send thee back to Egypt.' That Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?'-that was the very man whom God sent to rule and redeem them by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He it was who led them forth, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brotherhood, as he raised me.' This was the man who at the assembly in the wilderness intervened between the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our fathers; he received living words to be given to us. But our forefathers would not submit to him, but pushed him aside and in their hearts hankered for Egypt. They said to Aaron,' Make for us gods that they may march in front of us! As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!' Moreover they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to this idol, and rejoiced over what their own hands had made. So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the host of heaven. In the wilderness our forefathers had the tent of testision for mony, made as he who spoke to Moses had instructed him to make it after the pattern he had seen. This also our forefathers in their turn brought in with Joshua when they took possession of the territory of the nations whom God wor ship (44-50) THE WORSHIP OF THE EARLY ISRAELITES drove out before them. So it remained until the days of David. He found favor with God and asked that he might provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built him a house. Yet the Most High doth not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, And the earth is a footstool for my feet! What kind of house will ye build for me, saith the Lord? The defiant, unre ceptive atti Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always resisting the Holy Spirit! As with your forefathers, so with you! Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? They also killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Just One, whose betrayers and murderers you have become you who re- Jews ceived the law given through angels and yet have not obeyed it! tude of the (51-53) phen's When they heard this they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into Ste heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the death (754-60, right hand of God. Behold, I see heaven open, he said, 8) and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they with a loud shriek shut their ears and rushed at him in a body. Dragging him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a youth called Saul. So they stoned Stephen while he prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit! Then kneeling down he cried with a loud voice, Lord, let not this sin stand against them! And when he had said this, he fell asleep. But certain devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. I. The Story of Stephen's Martyrdom. This story marks an important stage in the history of the Apostolic Age. It contains the first suggestion of a rift between the Jewish and Hellenistic elements in the Jewish Christian community. The only explanation of its presence in a writing, the irenical purpose of which is so evident as |