"And Stephen," (the Deacon,) "full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." His success among the people stirred up enemies against him. Every considerable synagogue among the Jews, had an academy or school belonging to it, where young persons were instructed by the Rabbis: and it would seem that Stephen visited different synagogues, and tried to convince the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. "Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians (Jews from parts of Africa), and of them of Cilicia and of (other parts of) Asia, disputing with Stephen," and trying to contradict him; but as Stephen spake as the Holy Spirit guided him, "they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake." When these Rabbis found that they could bring no proofs against the truth of what Stephen taught, "they suborned (or bribed) men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God"--an accusation as false as the similar one brought against our blessed Lord Himself. By this false charge, the people and the elders and the scribes were stirred up against Stephen, and they "came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council." Stephen now stood before the Sanhedrim, and the Rabbis "set up false witnesses, 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." Stephen had, no doubt, taught that the ceremonial part of the law, given to keep the people in mind of the promised Messiah, need no longer be observed, since the Messiah _had_ come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Probably, too, he had warned the Jews, that the temple, and even Jerusalem itself, would shortly be destroyed, because the inhabitants refused to acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah. We have seen before, how easy it is to give to true and good words a false and bad meaning, if people are wickedly bent upon doing so. The Lord God Almighty now seems to have given a remarkable sign, that this man now accused of blasphemy, a sin directly against God Himself, was, on the contrary, one of His favoured servants, and under His peculiar care and protection: for we read that, "all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." To compare in this way the face of a man to that of an angel, was a Jewish way of saying, that there was something more than commonly pleasing and majestic in the countenance of such a man; and most likely the Lord now gave to Stephen's face, some particularly bright and holy look, so as to fill all who beheld it with surprise. The false witnesses, having made their accusation, "Then said the high priest, Are these things so?" Instead of answering as to the