Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/801

 Ashamed of  their  defeat,  they  stirred  up  the  people  against him. He was  seized  and  brought  before  the  Council. They then brought up  false  witnesses,  who  testified  that  he  ceased  not  to speak  against  the  holy  place  and  the  law. All the  members  of the  Council  looked  angrily  upon  him,  but  they  saw  his  face shining like  that  of  an  angel.

Filled with  divine  love  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  Stephen  reminded them of  the  wonders  which  God  had  wrought  for  their  fathers  in Egypt  and  other  places. After showing  them  how  ungrateful their fathers  had  been,  he  concluded  with  these  words:  “With  a stiff  neck  and  uncircumcised  heart  and  ears,  you  always  resist the Holy  Ghost,  as  your  fathers  did. Which of  the  prophets have not  your  fathers  persecuted? And they  have  slain  those  who foretold the  coming  of  the  Just  One,  of  whom  you  have  been now betrayers  and  murderers.”

When they  heard  him  speak  thus,  they  raged  and  gnashed their teeth  with  fury. But Stephen,  being  filled  with  the  Holy Ghost, looked  steadfastly into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of  God, and Jesus  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God. When the  Jews heard him  tell  his  vision,  they  cried  out  with  a loud  voice,  and stopped their  ears,  and  rushing  upon  him  with  one  accord,  drove him out  of  the  city  and  stoned  him.