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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my
hand made all these things? The place of God’s highest worship was
in Heaven.
When Stephen had reached this point there was a tumult among
the people. The prisoner read his fate in the countenances before him.
He perceived the resistance that met his words, which were spoken at
the dictation of the Holy Ghost. He knew that he was giving his last
testimony. Few who read this address of Stephen properly appreciate
it. The occasion, the time and place should be borne in mind to make
his words convey their full significance.
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When he connected Jesus Christ with the prophecies, and spoke of
the temple as he did, the priest, affecting to be horror-stricken, rent his
robe. This act was to Stephen a signal that his voice would soon be
silenced forever. Although he was just in the midst of his sermon, he
abruptly concluded it by suddenly breaking away from the chain of
history, and, turning upon his infuriated judges, said, “Ye stiff-necked
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.”
At this the priests and rulers were beside themselves with anger.
They were more like wild beasts of prey than like human beings. They
rushed upon Stephen, gnashing their teeth. But he was not intimidated;
he had expected this. His face was calm, and shone with an angelic
light. The infuriated priests and the excited mob had no terrors for
him. “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into
Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of man standing on the right hand of God.”
The scene about him faded from his vision; the gates of Heaven
were ajar, and Stephen, looking in, saw the glory of the courts of God,
and Christ, as if just risen from his throne, standing ready to sustain
his servant, who was about to suffer martyrdom for his name. When
Stephen proclaimed the glorious scene opened before him, it was more
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than his persecutors could endure. They stopped their ears, that they
might not hear his words, and uttering loud cries ran furiously upon