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every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

"If you look abroad into the world, you may be satisfied at the first glance, that a vicious and infidel life is always a life of confusion. Thence it is natural to infer, that order is friendly to religion. As the neglect of it co-operates with vice, so the preservation of it must assist virtue. By the appointment of Providence, it is indispensably requisite to worldly prosperity. Thence arises a presumption that it is connected also with spiritual improvement. When you see a man's affairs involved in disorder, you naturally conclude that his ruin approaches. You at the same time justly suspect, that the causes which affect his temporal welfare operate also to the prejudice of his moral interests. "Let every thing therefore," says the apostle, "be done decently and in order."

Thus you will resemble the greatest and best of Beings, who condescends to propose himself as your model. He is the God of order. "He has fixed the bounds of the earth, and given to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment. The day is his, the night also is his. He has made summer and winter. He appointeth the moon for seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down." And under his government, every thing arrives in its proper time and place.

which it displayed. But perhaps no death, recorded in history, approaches so nearly to it as the martyrdom of Stephen. He finished his course with joy, a few weeks after his Lord and master; and near the spot where the one was crucified was the other stoned. Let us bring the whole of his short history under our review.

Stephen was the first of the Christian Church that fell a victim to the rage of per secution. He led the van in the noble army of martyrs that army, that "resisted unto blood striving against sin;" that army, that rose triumphantly to fame, not by the suffer ings of others, but their own; that army, that conquered, but conquered by dying! Stephen was employed in administering the alms of the church. The people had been influenced in their choice of him as a deacon by his acknowledged piety and prudence: he was full of the Holy Ghost and of wis dom." And such qualifications should alone recommend to all sacred offices. For a proper behaviour in a lower and a private condition is the best pledge of, and the best preparation for, a proper conduct in a higher and official situation. He "that is not faithful in little," is not likely to be faithful in much: "but to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly, while from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have."

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May we be followers of him as dear children, and carry away with us this reflection, Advancement in the state commonly proas one of the most important maxims of life duces envy; as it gives a man wealth, power, and religion-That it highly concerns us-authority, influence. But promotion in the and becomes us to be found doing as the duty church only places him more forward in the of every day requires! battle, and exposes him to greater danger. And as of ourselves we can do nothing, but" Then there arose certain of the synagogue, "our sufficiency is of God," on him let us de- which is called the synagogue of the Liber pend, and to him let us apply, that we "may tines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with of need." Stephen." Though they seem to have chal lenged him to this debate, and were certain of victory, they are completely foiled. "They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake." Argument fails them--but malice does not. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. and against God. And they stirred up the And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud people, and the elders, and the scribes, and voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. came upon him, and caught him, and brought And when he had said this, he fell asleep.-him to the council, and set up false witnesses, Acts vii. 59, 60.

DISCOURSE LXVI.

THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN.

which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his We often surround the cross, and contem-face as it had been the face of an angel!" plate the dying of the Lord Jesus; and it is impossible to do it too often. No death is to be compared with his; whether we consider the advantages derivable from it, or the graces

THE words and actions of dying persons are peculiarly impressive. If we have not been present to witness the interesting event of their departure, we anxiously inquire how they behaved themselves; what they did, and what they said.

It is no unusual thing for the judge and the spectators to observe the countenance of a prisoner at the bar. It is frequently an indi cation of guilt or of innocency. Stephen's

countenance would bear remark. It was nei- | pronounced on one of his chaplains: “When," ther flushed with passion, nor pale with fear. says he, "I hear my other preachers, they There reigned in it an unshaken confidence, always lead me to admire them; but Masilan undisturbed serenity; meekness and ma- lon always makes me dissatisfied with myjesty combined. Perhaps there was some- self."-Convinced against their wills, and thing preternatural in the case. Thus we having nothing to answer, these wretches read of our Saviour, that "as he prayed, the discover the very dispositions of the damned, fashion of his countenance was changed, and who are represented as "wailing and gnashhis raiment became white and glistering." ing their teeth." In them we see hell pourAnd it is remarked of Moses, that when he trayed and begun. But let us observe Stecame down from communion with God in Ho-phen, and behold in him the meekness and reb, "his face shone so that the Israelites, gentleness of Jesus Christ. could not steadfastly behold him for the glory of his countenance."

But the effect does not disarm or soften his adversaries. "Then said the High Priest, Are these things so!" We must pass over the speech of Stephen; only observing what has frequently and justly been remarked, that it seems not the whole of what he intended to deliver. He was more anxious to save his audience than himself; he thought a dying testimony would be preferable to a train of reasoning, which they were in no temper of mind to receive; he saw they were full of impatience, and would not suffer him to proceed further; he therefore judged it wise to draw towards a conclusion, by a short but faithful address to their consciences. "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it."

But he "he being full of the Holy Ghost." He was replenished with his influences and joys. It was this that preserved and sustained him. A Christian is not alone in his trials and difficulties: there is something divine that bears him up, when the world expects him to sink. For the world can see his afflictions, but not his succours. These are invisible, but they are real; and they are wisely proportioned to his exigences, so that as the sufferings of Christ abound, the consolations abound also.

He "looked"-not upon the council, to see if any was disposed to favour his cause; nor around the hall, to see if there was any way of escape-but he "looked up steadfastly into heaven"-as one that had already his conversation there, longed to spring from his molehill earth, and to begin the song of Moses and the Lamb! What said that look? "Saviour, it is thy cause in which I am engaged. It is for thy dear name I suffer. On thee I depend, to thee I appeal. O carry me through this trying hour, and be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death!"

"And saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Three This was intolerable. "When they heard things are here observable. First. He did these things, they were cut to the heart, and not see God. No man hath seen God at any they gnashed on him with their teeth." time. He is as invisible as immortal-but he "The word of God is quick and powerful, beheld a splendour, the symbol of his presence, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and that intimated the place where he resides piercing even to the dividing asunder of and reveals himself-he "saw the glory of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; God." Secondly. When of old the prophets and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents saw the glory of God, it was always attended of the heart." And it is a poor sermon that with angelical appearances. Thus we find produces no resentment, either against the seraphim in Isaiah's vision, and cherubim in preacher, or against the hearer. Who can that of Ezekiel. These were then his agents; tell what rage and malice people sometimes ministers of his to do his pleasure. "But to feel against a faithful minister? They wish the angels hath he not put in subjection the to remain asleep, and he rouses them; they world to come, whereof we speak!" Angels, wish to remain in darkness, and he flashes with every other class of creatures, are placed conviction into their minds; he demonstrates under our Redeemer's feet. He is head over their duty, and they hold fast deceit and re- all things unto his body the church. All fuse to return. Were it not for the laws of power is given unto him in heaven and in the land, such a man would often be dragged earth. And this is the source of the Chrisfrom the pulpit to the stake. But it is well tian's consolation and triumph, that his Sawhen people are made enemies to them-viour is now at the right hand of God. Hence selves; when they go home at war with their pride, their avarice, their indifference; when they determine even "to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts." It was a fine eulogium the French monarch Louis XIV.

he knows that his sacrifice is accepted, that his enemies shall lick the dust, and that all those who put their trust in him shall be saved to the uttermost. "Who is he that condemneth? Is it Christ that died, yea,

But oh! with what pain, even after a lapse of years, does he acknowledge the guilt he contracted by his connivance and assistance at this murder. "And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him!""

rather, that is risen again, who is even at the | me first Jesus Christ might show forth all right hand of God, who also maketh interces- longsuffering, for a pattern to them which sion for us." Thirdly. In every other passage should hereafter believe on him to life everof scripture where our Saviour is spoken of, lasting." he is represented as sitting at the right hand of God. Sitting is a posture of rest, of dignity, and of dominion; but here he appeared standing-a posture of attention. The sight of Stephen touched his heart. He could no longer keep his seat-he rose to animate, sustain, receive, crown his suffering servant. This vision he immediately makes known. This shows the animating impression it produced upon his mind. And it may also be considered as a testimony borne to the cause for which he was going to die. "You condemn me for saying that he whom you crucified lives and reigns above. But I see him. There he is. Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.'"

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Their fury now can no longer be restrained. "Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him." Yet in this infamous transaction, they pay some regard to the forms of justice. They do this, pretendedly, in execution of a law enacted by Moses against blasphemers. In this law, the "hands of the witnesses" were to be first upon the offender to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. This circumstance explains what is here added-"the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."

Here first comes in view an individual destined to be the most extraordinary character in the Church of God. Had a prophet stood near on this occasion and said, "Ah! Saul, you will by-and-by be stoned for the same profession, and die a martyr in the same cause;" he would have been filled with surprise and indignation, and have exclaimed, "What! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" O how wonderful are the ways of Divine Providence!-God had his eye upon him at this hour: he had watched over him through life; he had separated him from his mother's womb; and all this with a view to call him by his grace, and reveal his Son in him. He was a chosen vessel unto him, to bear his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For a time Saul seemed beyond the possibility of a reclaim. Even those who had experienced the efficacy of divine grace themselves, seemed unanimously to have despaired of him. When they heard of his conversion, they were astonished even to incredulity; and when he assayed to join himself to them, they were afraid of him. Let us despair of none. He has a mighty arm; strong is his hand, and high is his right hand. “I obtained mercy," says this monument of divine grace, "that in

Stoning was a painful, a dreadful death. Who can think of it without shuddering? The flesh bruised, the bones broken, the skull fractured perhaps in several places, before the soul escapes! But how died he, morally! This is the question. Archbishop Usher said, he hoped to die with the language of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner;" and his wish was indulged. The devotional Mrs. Rowe was found dead on her knees. And "blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Stephen died "calling upon God." And the two petitions he offered are recorded.

The first regards himself. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Some people are afraid to honour the Son as they honour the Father. But we are commanded to do this. And we have here an instance of it; a prayer addressed to our Saviour, and by a man who was in circumstances to render his example unexceptionable; full of the Holy Ghost, and dying too.-What does this prayer teach us! It teaches us that there is a separate state between death and the resurrection. Had Stephen believed that the soul would either die or sleep with the body, would he have uttered such language as this; "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit?"

It teaches us that Stephen considered our Saviour as the Lord of glory, and as possessing supreme power and authority in the other world. "I know," as if he had said, "whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day."

It shows us that Stephen was principally concerned for the security and welfare of his soul. He thought little of the body. The reverse of this is commonly the case. The body engrosses all the attention. There are many who even seem to die as regardless of their souls as if they had none. They only think and talk of the physician and lawyer; of their disorder and their temporal concerns. One is sometimes surprised to hear with what composure persons who cannot possibly possess a good hope through grace speak of their dissolution; and arrange the circumstances of their funeral. You would conclude they had no souls to be disposed of or provided for. Not a word escapes them concerning these! But the soul is the man. This is the immaterial, the immortal part.

"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Oh! says the Christian, I feel comparatively indifferent as to the destiny of my body. Let wild beasts devour it; let the flames consume it, let the winds scatter itif I may but conclude that my soul shall be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus!

And, be it remembered, this is his concern in life as well as in death. From the hour of his conviction, the chief inquiry with him has been, not what shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or wherewithal shall I be clothed? -But, "what must I do to be saved?" How are my sins to be pardoned? How to be subdued?Is this your concern?-If he does not receive your departing spirits at death, they will be seized by the powers of darkness, and become the prey of devils. But if you receive him in life, he will receive you at death; receive you to glory; receive you to himself, that where he is there you may be also.

Oh! that when we come to die we may feel the sentiments of Stephen, and be able to say, "Lord Jesus,

"Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, And cut up all my follies by the root, I never trusted in an arm but thine, Nor hoped but in thy righteousness divine." Thou art all my salvation and all my desire. In every difficulty thou hast been my guide; in every danger my refuge; in every distress my consolation. My happiest moments have been passed in communion with thee. I cannot look back upon a well-spent life. Every view I take of myself is humbling. But I review with thankfulness the instances of thy goodness. By thy grace I am what I am. And now I come to thee; and this soul of mine, which thou hast redeemed with thy blood, and won by thy love, I surrender.

"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arm I fall;

Be Thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus and my all."

actuates the Master and his disciples. The difference only lies here: he received the Spirit without measure, while we possess it in a limited degree. In him the exercise of it met with no counteracting depravity; but in us it is resisted by adverse powers: and hence a perpetual warfare; "the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other: so that we cannot do the things that we would." But, if we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his. The same principles that resided in him must be found in us; and as far as they prevail, they will produce the same effect.

Having said this, "he fell asleep." Sleep has nothing formidable in it. A weary man, after a day of toil, feels no reluctance to lie down in his bed. The disease of the babe awakens all the anxiety of the mother, and she cries, "Let me not see the death of the child;" but it is otherwise when she views him asleep. She knows that it is in her power to awake him at pleasure; and to embrace him refreshed and improved. And this is the soft representation given of the believer's death in the Scriptures; and it is so essentially just, that we here find a death of violence and anguish expressed by it. When David had served his generation, he "fell asleep"-but he died in a palace, in a fine bed, and surrounded with every indulgence. Stephen dies under a shower of stones; but he, even he fell asleep!

I see his body left on the ground, mangled with blows, and covered with gore. But let it not be despised. That body is the workmanship of God: it is the purchase of the Redeemer; it is the temple of the Holy Ghost; it shall be renewed, and fashioned like the Saviour's own glorious body.-Accordingly we find that "devout men carried Stephen-to his burial," says our translation; but this is not in the original: they carried him from the place of execution to his house, and from his house to his grave; "and made great lamentation over him."

The second petition regards his enemies; Honour is to be valued according to the and seems to have been offered up with pe- quarter whence it comes. Who would like culiar solemnity and earnestness: for he now to be deemed the favourite of Satan! And "kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, why should we wish to be admired and Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Be- caressed by the world-the very world that hold here a proof of the grandeur of soul real" crucified the Lord of glory," when he was religion inspires: "It is the glory of a man to on earth; and would willingly do it again! pass by a transgression." Behold an exam- You do not wish to stand high in the estimaple of obedience to a command, which infi- tion of vagrants, traitors, idiots, and madmen dels have ridiculed, and which thousands-and what, as to religious concerns, are look upon to be impracticable: "I say unto numbers better-and yet how many things you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you often conceal, or sacrifice, or pursue, to you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Behold an instance of conformity to the temper of a dying Saviour, who prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The same spirit

gain their favour! But "devout men;" "the saints that are in the earth"-these are "the excellent, in whom is all my delight." To belong to them; to hear them coming around me and saying, "My brother;" for them to rejoice when I rejoice, and to weep

when I weep; to be loved and esteemed by them in life, in death;-this is delightful; it is, to use the words of a beautiful writer, “like walking in an eastern spice grove."

And such were the men who testified their regard to Stephen; and bedewed his sepulchre with their tears. In no other way could they mourn for him. They knew that death was his gain; but it was their loss. And the removal of such a man is a loss; a loss to the world, and a loss to the Church: the loss of a protector, an intercessor, a benefactor, an example. As they retire, we feel the earth poorer; and if all of them were withdrawn, who would wish to live here another day! Our world would be a cage of unclean birds, a den of dragons, an emblem of hell. Oh! how the death of such a friend "cools our brainless ardours!" How it detaches us from

"These low grounds where sorrows grow,

And every pleasure dies !"

How it induces us to say, with Thomas, "Let us go away, that we may die with

him!"

a character! Who would not rather have been in the condition of the martyr than of the persecutor! Surely his enemies were compelled to venerate him, and inwardly to pray, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!"

We may be losers, says Mr. Henry, in the service of God, but we cannot be losers by it. And says our Saviour, "There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.'

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Though he does not crown his servants on this side Jordan, he owns them: and he will be sure to stand by those that stand by him. The world may frown upon them, but he will smile. They may be reproached and "persecuted for righteousness' sake;" but he is near that justifieth them;" and "he that toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye." They tive trials; but "he will be with them in may expect a succession of personal and relatrouble," and deliver them and honour them. Do we pass through the world so as to at the approaching event. He will be "the They must die; but they need not shudder draw forth the blessings while they live, and strength of their heart, and their portion for the tears of many when we die! Are tyrannical masters, are selfish neighbours, are As "the earthly house of this tabernacle dis "when every worldly resource fails. hard-hearted and close-fisted professors of re-solves, they will have a building of God, a ligion thus lamented?" When the wicked perish," says Solomon," there is shouting." This is dreadful.-For a man to think that there is no individual upon earth that wishes his continuance; that if he were removed, no one being would sigh; and could he endeavour to come back, he would find the door of life bolted against him-why there is something in this more chilling than death, and more cruel than the grave. And yet how many are there, who, if they were carried to their burial to-morrow, would excite no lamentation over them-unless indeed a lamentation

that they had not died sooner. One perhaps would be ready to say-"O that the wretch had died before: by his wanton speculations

house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Though invisible to the eye of within the vail; yea, by faith" they see the sense, they know that he is pleading for them heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." And while to the ear of sense, by faith they hear his looking down upon them, though inaudible voice saying, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life!"

DISCOURSE LXVII.

WITH THE WORLD.

he had ruined the substance that was to rear A CHRISTIAN IS NOT A FAVOURITE my babes." Another-"O that the wretch had died before he had seduced my daughter, the glory of my family." A third-"O that the wretch had died before, by his infidel principles he had poisoned the mind of my darling son."

Let us hasten to conclude by inquiringWhether an inflexible adherence to the cause of God be not wisdom; and whether wisdom be not justified of all her children? How amply was Stephen indemnified by the glory he immediately enjoyed in heaven-by the usefulness which his example has produced on earth-by the testimony of Divine approbation-by the satisfaction of his own mind!

Who could help feeling interested in such

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution.-2 Tim. iii. 12.
WHO can help admiring the frankness of
the Scripture!

We find nothing like this in the methods employed by the enemy of our souls. He deceives in order to destroy. He keeps his followers in ignorance. He allures them on by flatteries and lies. He conceals from them the dreadfulness of the end, and the hardships of the way: he cries, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."

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But the Gospel hides nothing. It shows us the difficulties as well as the enjoyments of religion; the sacrifices it requires, as well as

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