SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, 3 May 1930, Page 19 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

By

REV. A. H. COLLINS

SAINT STEPHEN.

“So they stoned Stephen, who called on tlie Lord, saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” —Acts VII., 59.

The dawn of Christianity was like the coming of a summer morning, calm and still. The sky wad clear. The gong of Bethlehem proclaiming peace and goodwill was in some measure realised. The ages preceding had' been times of great turbulence. Throughout the roll of the prophets we hear the clash, of armed legions; vast empires contended for the mastery; Egypt, Syria and Babylonia came to death grips. Malachi passed with the sky murky dark and blood red. The four centuries that followed witnessed the sublime struggle of the Maccabeans; who battled for home and freedom. Victory rested with the northern kingdom. Rome sat mistress of the world, and there was peace, the peace of defeat, as when the pale moon rises on a battlefield where valour lies dead. The times which followed saw the strife renewed; but the advent of Jesus was a calm between two whirlwinds, and the early days of Christianity were idyllic. Disciples. multiplied, love grew, the Gospel prevailed, and the infant Church was a happy brotherhood, trying its first experiment in Christian communism, with no error to vex and no foe to destroy. “Day by day they continued steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness, and with singleness of heart, praising God, and finding favour with all the° people.” But changes were at hand. The “new wine of the kingdom” was' silently working in the old wineskins, and the old wineskins showed signs of rending. Clouds gathered on the horizon. Suddenly the storm burst, and in the centre of the storm stood Saint Stephen. MARKED FOR MARTYRDOM. Practically all we know of this man is told in this and the preceding chapter. He was appointed with six others to serve in the distribution of alms to the needy disciples in Jerusalem; but his ardour, eloquence, courage, and sanctity speedily raised him to front rank as a preacher to the Greek-speak-ing Jews of the Holy City. “Envy loves a shining mark,” and Stephen was marked for martyrdom. He was brought before the Sanhedrim, charged with blasphemy against the Temple and the law of Moses. He defended himself with astonishing boldness and eloquence, but his judges°were not there to weigh the evidence, but to condemn the prisoner. Seized by a mob of fanatics, he was battered to death not far. from “the place called Calvary.” “He heeded not reviling tones, Nor sold his heart to idle moans, Tho’ cursed and scorned and bruised with stones; But looking upward full of grace, He prayed, and from a happy place, God’s glory smote him on the face.” Thus the first Christian. martyr endured as “seeing Him who is invisible.’ Saint Stephen died, like his Master, praying for his enemies, and commending his.own spirit. “Lord lay not this ein to their charge.” “Lord Jesus receive my spirit,” and so saying he fell on sleep. A LIFE OF GREAT VIRTUE. Stephen was such a noble martyr that we almost - forget that he was anything else. The blaze of glory in which he died hides the train of virtues in which he lived. Hundreds have thrilled at the story of Stephen’s martyrdom, who would regard his defence before tho council as a z tiresome recital of Old Testament history. . But you cannot have a great death unless a great life precedes it. This Holy Book attaches little importance to death-bed scenes, and some of its greatest characters arc dismissed without a line.

To understand Saint Stephen, we need to consider his self-revealing defence. You know what a prism is—a threecornered bar of glass on which, if you cast a ray of light, a sunbeam is broken up into its component parts. Stephen was such a prism. On one side is seen a singularly pure, radiant, strong manhood; on another side he is the humble and devoted servant of the church and bn yet a third side he is broken, scattered, bleeding, yet suffering shows his heart. Stephen the saint is Stephen the martyr. First he is presented as a man supteme in goodness, ‘‘a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” In a book known as the Acts of the Apostles, this man stands pre-eminent not for his words, or his deeds, but for liis character. He was not an apostle, but a layman, and a deacon, yet the man is more than his office, and we think of him as clear, colossal, strong, a 10l ly soul like great mountains that cut the skyline and change the climate. That is the point not to' be missed. The world is not dying for brilliance, but for goodness. It is the heart that takes precedence over brains. The greatest truths are not thought out, but felt out. Love is more than logic. Satantds an intellectualist who prostituted great powers to man’s undoing.

THE WELL-INFORMED o MIND.

. This does not mean disparagement of mind, for Stephen added to goodness a well furnished and thoughtful mind, as his masterly defence before the council is proof. We have heard far too much about “the unlettered fishermen/' and too little about the brainy Saint Paul, and the gifted Apollo. Distrust of scholarship in the service of religion ia a blunder. We are bidden love the Lord “with all our mind,” and we do the Gospel disservice when we make it not “simple” but silly. Stephen knew the ancient Scriptures, not the letter alone, but the spirit which is mon than the letter. He saw God in history, and so his reading was broad and practical. Briefly Stephen’s argument is this — God is the living and unchanging Guide of His people, God fulfils Himself in many ways, lest one good custom corrupt the truth; new conditions demand new outlook, new ideals, and new duties, and we are sometimes compelled to turn our back on things our fathers believed and reverenced in order that we may trust and follow God

more, faithfully and intelligently. We must reject some things to the glory of God. Saint Stephen distinguished between the temporal a d the eternal in the religion of our fathers. He held ,to the latter and allowed the former |to go down to the wind. That is the lesson the modern Church needs must learn, if she is to keep her hold on« thoughtful people. We need to discriminate 0 between changing forms and unchanging principles, between essentials and accidentals of religion. We do not need a new Bible, but we desperately need a new reading of the old Book. “The Bible is read by only a few inside the Churches. The superficial acquaintance with it which was acquired at school or in the Sunday School .is assumed to be quite sufficient. In multitudes of Christian homes—l speak from knowledge—a Bible is scarcely discoverable. The comparatively few who read "it do so almost always on conventional lines. They are, as a rule, content with the ‘Authorised’ Version, without note or comment, Even what is known as ‘devotional’ reading is too often merely another name for the unthinking repetition of a pious habit. The ensuing ignorance is very little, if at all, helped by the reading of what are called ‘lessons’ in public worship.” So writes Dr. Frank Ballard in his “Christian Findings after 50 Years,” and what he says is true. THE FAITHFUL WITNESS. For such a man as Stephen the end was inevitable. The rulers could not answer his argument or controvert his life, so they sought the bigot’s ban and “tho syllogism of violence.” We often forget that the New Testament is really the first Book of Martyrs, to which each generation of the faithful writes a fresh appendix. In every age there are those who inherit their Lord’s beatitude of them that are persecuted for His Name’s sake, and who "find the Lord’s promise literally fulfilled: “Some of you they shall put to death.”. Within our own memories thousands of Christian men and. women have been massacred, in Armenia and in China, simply. . because they were Christians, and because they would not save themselves by renouncing their Redeemer. Originally, this word “martyr” meant no more than witness. In the New Testament it is the common word for & Christian who bears open and public witness to 'his faith. But those who testified for Jesus Christ against His enemies had a perilous duty. They witnessed the good confession, in spite of sufferings and imprisonment. And many a time they sealed their testimony by death. “The custom of the brotherhood” (says an early Christian writer) “calls those alone properly martyrs who have testified to th mystery of godliness by the shedding of their own blood.” In the early Ch irch their bones were treasured as sacred relics, and in honour of each a festival was kept on the anniversary of his martyrdom, which was called his. “birthday,” the day when he began the life of heaven.

THE COURAGE OF THE CHRISTIAN.

In our modern mood of universal tolerance, we disparage and neglect the records of martyrdom. Yet even a man like Arnold of Rugby wrote in his journal: “Divide the sum total of reported martyrs by 20 —by 50, if you will; after all, you have a number of. persons of all ages and sexes suffering cruel torments and death for conscience sake and for Christ’s ..sake; and by their sufferings manifestly with God’s blessing ensuring the triumph of Christ’s Gospel. Neither do I think that we consider the excellence of this martyr-spirit half enough. I do not think that pleasure is a sin; but though pleasure is not a sin, yet surely the contemplation of suffering for Christ’s sake is a thing most needful for us in our days, from whom in our daily life suffering seems so far removed.” The Russian proverb declares that the man who is not a soldier has never really said his prayers. Certainly much of the New Testament never becomes real and intelligible until you read it by the graves of the martyrs. We may say of Christ, that “His friends are exultations, agonies, and love, and man’s unconquerable mind.” His Divine Passion reveals its meaning to hearts which can vibrate to passionate deeds of human heroism and devotion, hearts which understand that for the sake of loyalty and conscience men must still freely dare to die. Very few of those who read these lines will run any serious personal hazard by confessing Christ. The kind of courage we Christians need to-day is fortitude to face scorn and contempt. As someone puts it: “A man who has faith must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool. One crowning reward of martyrdom is that it can be contagious; it has' power to engender its own spirit in others. “Oh, God, to us may grace be given “To follow in their train.”