30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

33 Then said the Lord to him, Put

ACTS.

[of Moses. off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer, by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

36 He brought them out, after that

seed, which they interpreted solely in relation to temporal blessings; but he endeavours to demonstrate to them, by "a recapitulation of the history of the Patriarchs, that such could not have been the meaning of the prediction; for even their father, Abraham (he argues), to whom the land [of Canaan] was first promised, had none inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on." The other patriarchs, in the same manner, passed a life of pilgrimage and affliction, and never attained to the blessed inheritance. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and the friend of God, had no possession till his death; then only he began to take possession of his purchase [i.e."the grave which he had bought." Gen. xxv. 9]: clearly intimating the spiritual signification of the promised Canaan. Moses had a prospect of that land, but he died before he could attain to it; and all those who came out of Egypt with him, without even a glimpse of it, fell through unbelief in the wilderness. The righteous only hath hope in his death. The eminent characters here brought forward by Stephen, may be considered (as Mr. Jones, of Nayland, remarks) as sigus so exactly suited to the thing signified, as if the truth itself had been acted beforehand. In Joseph we see a man wise, innocent, and great, hated by his brethren, and sold for a slave to heathen Egyptians. In his humiliation he was exalted. Heathens, to whom he had been given over, bowed the knee before him-his own family were preserved from perishing-he became the Saviour of all-administering to them bread, the emblem of life; and to him every knee bowed, both of his own kindred

and of strangers. He was tempted, and triumphed; he was persecuted and imprisoned under a malicious and false accusation; he was not actually crucified, but he suffered with two malefactors, and promised life to one of them, and delivered himself by the Divine Spirit that was given to him. He was seen twice by his brethren: the first time they knew him not, but the second he was made known unto them. And thus, we trust, it will be at some future day, when the brethren of Jesus Christ shall become, like the brethren of Joseph, sensible of their crime, and say with them, in the bitterness of their souls, "We are verily guilty concerning our bro ther, in that we saw the anguish of his soul.... and we would not hear therefore have all our evils come upon us.(Townsend's New Test. Arr. vol. ii. 53, 54.)

This strain of typical reasoning may seem strange to us, but was perfectly fa miliar to Jewish Priests and Rabbies, and would have been received as demonstration on any point that did not oppose theirworldly prejudices and preconceived opinions. Of this we have sufficient evidence in what follows respecting Moses; for when he avenged his countryman in Egypt, and smote the offender, "He (Moses) supposed his brethren would have understood, how that God by his hand would deliver them." He intended it as an allegorical and prophetic action, such as was com mon among the Hebrews; "but they," having lost their Hebrew notions and modes of reasoning, "understood not" bis design, but said, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?" as the Jews did virtually to the Messiah; and thus the fa

[Israelites.

43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

50 Hath not my hand made all these things!

51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have

slain them which shewed before of the

thers protracted their deliverance, as their descendants have since done, to a long future day. For though the Jews who crucified their Lord, as a nation "brought upon themselves swift destruction;" yet is there

hope in Israel" concerning this matter: for the Lord hath not" finally nor totally "cast away his [ancient] people." (Rom. xi. 1, &c.)

Ver.37. Like unto me.—Marg. “ As myself." See Deut. xviii. 15, and Exposition.

Ver. 38. This is he.-Compare Exod. xix. 19, 20. Ver. 40. Make us gods. See Exod. xxxii. 1, 23. Ver. 42, 43. Then God turned, &c.-See the passage quoted, in Amos v. 25, 26, with Note and Exposition.

Ver. 45. Brought in with Jesus-meaning Joshua, into the possession of the Gentiles-i. e. into Canaan, then in possession of the Canaanites.

Ver. 51. Uncircumcised in heart and ears.-To circumcise the heart, is to remove its obduracy; Ezek. xxxvi. 26. To circumcise the ears, is to remove the backwardness in men to attend to divine things it is compared to removing the hardened wax, which sometimes destroys the hearing. To circumcise these, is to give "the hearing ear, and the understanding heart."

Ibid. Ye do always resist.-See Note on Gen. vi.3.

(0) Ver. 30-53. The continuation of Stephen's defence.-Taking up this discourse where we left it, Stephen now comes to the delivery of the law at mount Sinai-their passage through the wilderness, and their entrance on the promised land; and he endeavours to prove to his persecutors, that they were following the same perverse course by which their fathers had formerly brought the most awful judgments upon themselves. This they did in rejecting him whom God had sent to be "a Prophet like unto Moses "-" a Prince and a Saviour," to deliver them from their sins. And whereas their fathers were perpetually falling back into idolatry, making to themselves gods of their own choice to worship; and this both when they knew Moses was gone up into the divine presence on mount Sinai, and even during all the forty years they were wandering through the wilderness; when, it seems, they secretly carried their idols with them, even as their mother Rachel had formerly done, unknown to Jacob, when she left her father's house. (Gen. xxxi. 19, &c.)

"It is evident (says Preb. Townsend) that, through every part of this discourse, the object St. Stephen had in view was, to represent to his countrymen the nature of Christ's religion, and to set before them, in the most touching manner, his sufferings, and their own conduct, which was an aggravated completion of the crimes of their ancestors. For which, says the martyr, with indignant eloquence, Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before the coming of the Just One; of whom YE have been now the betrayers and murderers.' The truth and justice of the dying Stephen's appeal was too severely.. felt, for the Jews not to have a

....

perfect knowledge of its intention and individual application; and unless it is con sidered in this light, it will be difficult to account for the powerful sensation it occasioned."

The holy martyr having adverted to the temple built by Solomon, reminds them, that the Most High confines not his presence to temples made with hands; as he has said, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me, saith the Lord, and where is the place of my rest?" Intimating that he was under no obligation to them for their temple, though it had been as splendid as that of Solomon; nor must they trust to it for protection, since it was built by bu man hauds, and might be shivered to atoms in a moment, by Him who made "the earth his footstool."

"The destruction of the Jewish temple (remarks Mr. Townsend farther) imparts this impressive lesson to every Christian nation and individual, that the trueness of a Church does not constitute its safety; but that the continuance of the divine blessing is only secured by the maintenance of a pure faith and consistent conduct. The temple itself was to be esteemed and valued as the habitation of the divine presence, making the building holy-in the same way that our bodies are sanctified and purified, and are made the temples of the Holy Ghost by the spirit of grace within us. If, with the Jews, .... we resist the holy influences of God, his presence will be withdrawn from us, and we shall bring down upon our earthly tabernacle the same fearful and inevitable destruction which was poured down upon the temple of Jerusalem. We shall be delivered over to the hand of the enemy. (N. Test. Arr. p. 55.)

Ver. 53. By the disposition of angels.--Wesley, "by the ministration of angels." Doddr." through ranks of angels." See Gal. iii. 19.

Ver. 54. Cut to the heart.-The same word which

is used in chap. v. 33, with the words, to the heart," inserted in the original, which in the former passage have been supplied.

And is stoned]

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

[to death.

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. (P)

66

(P) Ver. 54-60. The death of Stephen. -The last sentence Stephen was allowed to utter was in connexion with the charge of murdering the Son of God; and this was done by you (as if he had said) who received the law by the disposition of angels, and (yet) have not kept it."-That is, though the law was delivered with so much awful majesty that Moses "exceedingly quaked and trembled" (Heb. xii. 21); yet no sooner had the thunder ceased and the lightnings been withdrawn, than they totally neglected the commands that had been delivered. And thus, at the death of our Lord, though the most stout-hearted must have been appalled, as the Roman centurion was, at the earthquake and the thick darkness; yet, perhaps, they so far misinterpreted the signs of heaven, as to consider these indicative of the frowns of God upon the illustrious sufferer. However this might be, no sooner was the awful scene closed, than these hardened priests went to Pilate, to obtain means to secure the body which they had crucified. This charge of obduracy and rebellion against God, roused all their evil passions. They were "sawn (as it were) to the heart, and guashed on him with their teeth;" while he, "full of the Holy Ghost," and favoured with a celestial vision, calmly said "Behold! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God!”

They could now refrain no longer, but with a loud voice, and stopping their ears against reply, rushed upon him with one accord, and driving him without the gates of the city, stoned him. So "they stoned Stephen, calling upon, and saying, Lord

Jesus, receive my spirit!" and then kneeling down, he added, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge:" after this he fell asleep, and thus died, in the very act of worshipping Jesus Christ.

It may need, and I freely offer, an apology for quoting a work of imagination in commenting on the Scriptures; but I quote the words of a man deeply read in human nature the eccentric, but admirable, Lavater—who thus depicts the feelings of Saul on this occasion:

"Stephen, I confess, was such a man as I never before beheld: he appeared as innocent as a child, wise as grey-headed age, courageous as a hero, and true to what he deemed the truth as a prophet of old. His learning was great, his eloquence powerful, his conviction inflexible, his fortitude unshaken. His love for Jesus, the Son of man (as he called him), was most pure. Could I have forgotten he was a Nazarene, I would have fallen on his neck and kissed him. What most affected me (I tell thee all, even what appears to make against me) was his look in the assemblies of the priests; still more when he was led out to death: but, above all, when the witnesses against him took off their garments; that look which he cast on those, who, as I believe, were with justice most inveterate against him. On me, in particular, he turned his eyes more than once with such affection, so sorrowfully tender, so tremblingly compassionate, as if he would have called me, with his looks, from the brink of an abyss. I cannot, I will not deny, that this look pierced me to the heart; that for a moment I seemed to forget myself, and shuddered, while the thought

Ver. 59. They stoned Stephen.-Dr. Lardner, whose opinion we have before cited, John xviii. 31, considers this, and all other similar instances, as riotous and unlawful acts. He says, "the Jewish people, at this time, seem to have made no scruple of stoning a man immediately, without any trial." Cred. vol. i. p. 109. Mr. Milner accounts for their conduct in the following manner. He says," Pilate

having been disgraced, Judea seems at this time to have been without a procurator; and Vitellius, the governor of Syria, was a man of great moderation toward the Jews.... who were now left to them. selves, at least in religious concerns, and Stephen was their first Christian victim." Ch. His. vol. i. p. 17.

darted like a flash of lightning through my mind: 'Thus a holy one of God might look: thus one of the prophets, whom Israel put to death! But as we instantly draw back our foot when we see an adder in the path, I shuddered at these thoughts and feelings, the natural effects of huma nity. I collected all the strength of religion and virtue I possessed, to quell whatever might move me toward the worshipper of one who denied God for a mere man, who makes himself a God, denies God." (Lavater's Letters of St. Paul, Lett. IV.)

If such were the feelings of Stephen's persecutors, they must naturally consider him as a blasphemer, when they heard his prayer to the Lord Jesus. "I shall always insist (says Bp. Horsley in his answer to Priestley) that the blessed Stephen died a martyr to the Deity of Christ. The accusation against him was 'his speaking blasphemous things against the temple and the law.' You have forgotten to add the charge of blasphemy against Moses and against God.' The blasphemy against the temple and the law, probably consisted in a prediction that the temple was to be destroyed, and the ritual law, of course, abolished. The blasphemy against Moses was, probably, his assertion that the authority of Moses was inferior to that of Christ. But what could be the blasphemy against God? What was there in the doctrine of the apostles which could be interpreted as blasphemy against God, except it was this, that they ascribed divinity to one who had suffered publicly as a miale. factor? That this was the blessed Stephen's crime, none can doubt who attends

to the conclusion of the story :-' He looked up steadfastly into heaven,' says the inspired historian, and saw the glory of God (that is, he saw the splendour of the Shechinah; for that is what is meant when the glory of God is mentioned, as something to be seen), and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.' He saw the man Jesus in the midst of this divine light. His declaring what he saw, the Jewish rabble understood as an assertion of the divinity of Jesus. They stopped their ears; they overpowered his voice with their own clamours; and they hurried him out of the city, to inflict upon him the death which the law appointed for blasphemers. He died as he had lived, attesting the Deity of our crucified Master. His last breath was uttered in a prayer to Jesus; first for himself, and then for his murderers. They stoned Stephen, calling upon (God) and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit: and he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' (Horsley's reply to Priestley, Lett. xi.)

"

Only one other circumstance in this chapter calls for our remark, namely, the vision which Stephen had of the Lord Jesus, which we consider of a nature similar with those of the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, and certainly intended for his support and encouragement in the hour of death; and it is remarkable that, in this instance, the Lord Jesus is not represented in the usual posture of sitting, but as standing, as if in the act of intercession; or, perhaps, as intimating to the dying martyr, that he was ready to receive the precious deposit he was committing to his hands.

CHAP. VIII. Verse 3. He made havock of the church.-The word which our translators have rendered "made havock," properly signities to ravage as

a wild beast. It is thus used in the Septuagint Dan. vi. 22, of lions; and in Psalm 1xxix. 14, of the wild boar. Townsend.