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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
councils.” God had given them a token of his care, and an assurance
of his presence, by sending the angel to them; it was now their part to
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suffer for the sake of that Jesus whom they preached. The people were
so wrought upon by what they had seen and heard that the priests and
rulers knew it would be impossible to excite them against the apostles.
“Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without
violence; for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
And when they had brought them, they set them before the council;
and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straitly command
you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood
upon us.” They were not as willing to bear the blame of slaying Jesus
as when they swelled the cry with the debased mob: “His blood be on
us and on our children!”
Peter, with the other apostles, took up the same line of defense he
had followed at his former trial: “Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” It was
the angel sent by God who delivered them from prison, and who
commanded them to teach in the temple. In following his directions
they were obeying the divine command, which they must continue to
do at any cost to themselves. Peter continued: “The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given
to them that obey him.”
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The spirit of inspiration was upon the apostles, and the accused
became the accusers, charging the murder of Christ upon the priests
and rulers who composed the council. The Jews were so enraged at
this that they decided, without any further trial, and without authority
from the Roman officers, to take the law into their own hands, and the
prisoners to death. Already guilty of the blood of Christ, they were
now eager to imbrue their hands in the blood of his apostles. But there
was one man of learning and high position whose clear intellect saw
that this violent step would lead to terrible consequences. God raised
up a man of their own council to stay the violence of the priests and
rulers.