Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/80

74 for both. But they that thus received the law, yet kept it not, but by making the golden calf broke it immediately in a capital instance.

2. They received the gospel now, by the disposition, not of angels, but of the Holy Ghost; not with the sound of a trumpet, but, which was more strange, in the gift of tongues, and yet they did not embrace it. They would not yield to the plainest demonstrations, any more than their fathers before them did, for they were resolved not to comply with God either in his law or in his gospel.

We have reason to think Stephen had a great deal more to say, and would have said it, if they would have suffered him; but they were wicked and unreasonable men with whom he had to do, that could no more hear reason than they could speak it.

54. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. 56. And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60. 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.

We have here the death of the first martyr of the christian church, and there is in this story a lively instance of the outrage and fury of the persecutors, (such as we may expect to meet with if we are called out to suffer for Christ,) and of the courage and comfort of the persecuted, that are thus called out. Here is hell in its fire and darkness, and heaven in its light and brightness; and these here serve as foils to set off each other. It is not here said, that the votes of the council were taken upon his case, and that by the majority he was found guilty, and then condemned and ordered to be stoned to death, according to the law, as a blasphemer; but, it is likely, so it was, and that it was not by the violence of the people, without order of the council, that he was put to death; for here is the usual ceremony of regular executions—he was cast out of the city, and the hands of the witnesses were first upon him.

Let us observe here the wonderful discomposure of the spirits of his enemies and persecutors, and the wonderful composure of his spirit.

I. See the strength of corruption in the persecutors of Stephen; malice in perfection, hell itself broken loose, men become incarnate devils, and the serpent's seed spitting their venom!

1. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, (v. 54.) διεπρίοντο, the same word that is used Heb. 11. 37. and translated, they were sawn asunder. They were put to as much torture in their minds as ever the martyrs were put to in their bodies. They were filled with indignation at the unanswerable arguments that Stephen urged for their conviction, and that they could find nothing to say against them. They were not pricked to the heart with sorrow, as those were ch. 2. 37. but cut to the heart with rage and fury, as they themselves were, ch. 5. 33. Stephen rebuked them sharply, as Paul expresses it, (Tit. 1. 13.) ἀποτόμως—cutttngly, for they were cut to the heart by the reproof. Note, Rejecters of the gospel and opposers of it are really tormentors to themselves. Enmity to God is a heart-cutting thing; faith and love are heart-healing. When they heard how he that looked like an angel before he began his discourse, talked like an angel, like a messenger from heaven, before he had done it, they were like a wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord, (Isa. 51. 20.) despairing to run down a cause so bravely pleaded, and yet resolved not to yield to it.

2. They gnashed upon him with their teeth; this speaks, (1.) Great malice and rage against him. Job complained of his enemy, that he gnashed upon him with his teeth, Job 16. 9. . The language of this was, O that we had of his flesh to eat! Job 31. 31. They grinned at him, as dogs at those they are enraged at; and therefore Paul, cautioning against those of the circumcision, says, Beware of dogs, Phil. 3. 2. Enmity at the saints turns men into brute beasts. (2.) Great vexation within themselves; they fretted to see in him such manifest tokens of a divine power and presence and it vexed them to the heart. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved, he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away, Ps. 112. 10. Gnashing with the teeth is often used to express the horror and torments of the damned. Those that have the malice of hell, cannot but have with it some of the pains of hell.

3. They cried out with a loud voice; (v. 50.) to irritate and excite one another, and to drown the noise of the clamours of their own and one another's consciences: when he said, I see heaven opened, they cried with a loud voice, that he might not be heard to speak. Note, It is very common for a righteous cause, particularly the righteous cause of Christ's religion, to be endeavoured to be run down by noise and clamour; what is wanting in reason is made up in tumult, and the cry of him that ruleth among fools, while the words of the wise are heard in quiet. They cried with a loud voice, as soldiers when they are going to engage in battle, mustering up all their spirit and vigour for this desperate encounter.

4. They stopped their ears, that they might not hear their own noisiness; or perhaps, under pretence that they could not bear to hear his blasphemies. As Caiaphas rent his clothes when Christ said, Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man coming in glory; (Matth. 26. 64, 65.) so these here stopped their ears when Stephen said, I now see the Son of man standing in glory; both pretending that what was spoken was not to be heard with patience. Their stopping their ears was, (1.) A manifest specimen of their wilful obstinacy; they were resolved they would not hear what had a tendency to convince them, which was what the prophets often complained of; they were like the deaf adder, that will not hear the voice of the charmer, Ps. 58. 4, 5. (2.) It was a fatal omen. of that judicial hardness to which God would give them up. They stopped their ears, and then God, in a way of righteous judgment, stopped them. That was the work that was now in doing with the unbelieving Jews; Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy; thus was Stephen's character of them answered, Ye uncircumcised in heart and ears.

5. They ran upon him with one accord; the people and the elders of the people, judges, prosecutors, witnesses, and spectators, they all flew upon him, as beasts upon their prey. See how violent