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!" 66 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.

"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' Stephen was 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

repentance unto life, and be pardoned through that blood which they now despised as a common thing.

“The melting charity of this prayer was sufficient to have softened the hearts of savages. Yet it did not suspend the rage of the murderers of this holy man; but as he closed it, the mortal blow was inflicted, which filled up the measure of their guilt, and dismissed the saint to everlasting rest. 'And when he had said this, he fell asleep.' Nature had suffered violence; but the struggle was over, and its convulsive agitation was succeeded by a calm. He fell asleep. The word is happily chosen to express the peaceful nature of the death of the righteous, who, worn out with labor, and exhausted with sorrow, sink down upon the bed of death to enjoy sweet repose. There let the blessed martyr rest, till the dawn of the last morning, when, awaked by the voice of his Savior, he shall rise to receive an unfading crown, and to participate in the triumph of truth, which, by patience and meekness and blood, shall have overcome the rage of the world and the malice of hell." 27*

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

PRAYER OF CORNELIUS.

There was a certain man in Cesarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band, called the Italian. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always, &c.-Acts x. 1, 2, &c.

We come now to another important era in the history of the Christian Church, where her covenant privileges are to be extended to a people hitherto "without God and without hope in the world," the Gentiles.

Dick's Lectures.

Up to this time, the Gospel had been preached only to Jews. It was the express direction of Jesus Christ, that the proffers of salvation should be first made to them—“ beginning at Jerusalem."

But it was not the design of Infinite Benevolence to confine the blessings and privileges of the Gospel exclusively to them, although the Jews so thought. Christ suffered for all, whether Jews or Gentiles; and his commission to his apostles was, "Go, disciple all nations;" as if he had said

"Behold the way!" ye heralds cry;
Spare not, but lift your voices high;
Convey the sound from pole to pole,

"Glad tidings!" to the captive soul.

Eight years had elapsed, during which no Gentile had been openly called into the kingdom, nor had it been announced that any might enter. The middle wall was still standing. The barriers of exclusion were still strong; nor had it been revealed, even to the apostles, that that wall was to be demolished, or those barriers to be removed.

But the day for the breaking down of this middle wall of partition had now arrived. The waters of life could no longer be restrained. They had been accumulating, in reference to a blessing upon the Gentile world, and, now, we are about to see them gush forth on every side-to spread broader and deeper-and to continue flowing until the end of time.

There was living, at this time, at Cesarea, a man by the name of Cornelius. By birth he was probably a Roman; by profession, a soldier. It is evident that he was not a Jew; nor is there reason to believe that he was in any sense a proselyte to the Jewish religion. It seems probable that he was a Gentile, known and acknowledged as such; otherwise, Peter would have felt less reluctance to extend to him the right hand of fellowship; and it was because he was a Gen

tile, (and that by means of his conversion the barrier between Jew and Gentile was to be broken down,) that such preliminaries were necessary to remove the prejudices and enlighten the minds of the apostles in regard to the introduction of the Gentiles to Gospel privileges.

! But though Cornelius was a Gentile, "he was a devout min, and one that feared God." He was a pious man, and the pious sentiments which he entertained towards Jehovah, he was successful in inculcating upon his family. He was, moreover, a man of prayer. "He prayed to God alway:" i. e. frequently, perhaps at stated seasons. That he maintained private, or closet prayer, is evident. It is also to be inferred, that he maintained family devotion. And such was his sincerity, and such his faith, that we are informed that with his prayers and alms God was well pleased. "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God."

It is not to our purpose to pursue this narrative further; nor shall we attempt to conjecture what were the tenor and burden of his prayers. It is quite evident that he did not pray in the name of Jesus Christ, nor could he plead the promises of a child of Abraham. He had no other light that we know of to direct him, than that which is shed upon all from the works of nature. He might have enjoyed means of knowledge with which we are unacquainted. Possibly some portion of the word of God might have fallen into his hands. Possibly some Jew might have instructed him. Possibly some convert to the religion of Jesus might have given him some outline of the Gospel. But this is only conjecture, and, we must confess, improbable. It seems, rather, from the manner in which the Gospel was made known to him, that he was entirely ignorant of it, and ignorant that the blessings, either of the Abrahamic covenant or of the Christian dispensation, were ever designed to be extended to him or his countrymen.