Thus far the great Hellenist was heard with patience. “It was the story of the Chosen People, to which every Jew listened with interest and pride[730].” But now,――perhaps perceiving that his hearers had caught the real drift of this review of their national history,――perhaps carried away by the retrospect of their narrow and persistent opposition to the divine counsels which it suggested,――in a strain of holy indignation he rebuked the unbelieving hypocritical disposition of the Jews, whose conduct in reference to the divine communications had been the same from the time of Moses up to that very moment[731]; who had always resisted the Holy Ghost, persecuted the prophets, and slain those that had predicted the coming of the Just One; who had betrayed and murdered Him, and had not kept the Law which they had received by _the disposition of angels_ (Acts vii. 50–53). This severe though just rebuke was the signal for an outburst of wrath and fury on the part of his judges. They were _sawn asunder_[732] in their hearts, _and gnashed upon him with their teeth_. Perceiving what was coming, and unaffrighted by their tumultuous rage, he looked up to heaven, and exclaimed, _Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man[733] standing[734] on the right hand of God_ (Acts vii. 56). This last declaration was more than the Sanhedrin could bear. Breaking forth into a loud yell (Acts vii. 57), they stopped their ears, as if to close them against any more words of blasphemy, and rushing upon him with one accord led him forth outside the city gate to stone him[735] (Lev. xxiv. 16). The instruments of punishment were collected, the witnesses threw off their loose outer garments (Deut. xvii. 7), laid them at the feet of a young Pharisee, a prominent member of the Cilician synagogue, named Saul, and hurled the first stones. As they fell, the martyr cried to Him whose form he had so lately seen standing at the right hand of God, _Lord Jesus, receive my spirit_ (Acts vii. 59). Then falling on his knees, he exclaimed with a loud voice, in the words of his Master on the Cross, _Lord, lay not this sin to their charge_, and――in the touching language of the narrator, “who now uses for the first time the word, since applied to the departure of all Christians, but here the more remarkable from the bloody scenes in the midst of which the death took place――_he fell asleep_[736] (Acts vii. 60).” PART II. THE CHURCH OF PALESTINE. CHAPTER I. _DISPERSION OF THE CHRISTIANS――ACTIVITY OF PHILIP._ A.D. 36.