The life and work of St. Paul

78 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
It was the/at^ of Stephen, together with his loving eiiergy and blameless
sanctity, which led to the choice of him as one of the Seven. No sooner was
he elected than he became the most prominent of thsin all. The grace which
shone in his colleagues shone yet more brightly in him, 1 and he stood on a
level with the Apostles in the power of working wonders among the people.
Many a man, who would otherwise have died unknown, has revealed to others
his inherent greatness on being entrusted with authority. The immense part
played by Stephen in the history of the Church was due to the development
of powers which might have remained latent but for the duties laid on him
by his new position. The distribution of alms seems to have been a part only
of the task assigned him. Like Philip, he was an Evangelist as well as a
Deacon, and tho speech which he delivered before the Saiihedrin, showing as
it does the logical force and concentrated firo of a great orator and a
practised controversialist, may explain tho stir which was caused by his
preaching.
The scenes of that preaching were the Hellenistic synagogues of Jerusalem,
To an almoner in a city where so many were poor, and to a Hellenist of
unusual eloquence, opportunities would constantly recur in which he was not
only permitted, but urged, to explain the tenets of the new society. Hitherto
that society was in full communion with tho Jewish Church. Stephen alone
was charged with utterances of a disloyal tendency against the tenets of
Pharisaism, and this is a proof how different was his preaching from that
of the Twelve, and how much earlier ho had arrived at the true appreciation
of the words of Jesus respecting tho extent and nature of His Kingdom,
That which, in the mind of a Peter, was still but a grain of mustard seed,
sown in the soil of Judaism, had already grown, in the soul of a Stephen,
into a mighty tree. The Twelve were still lingering in the portals of the
synagogue. For them the new wine of the kingdom of heaven had not yet
burst the old wine-skins. As yet they were only regarded as the heads of a
Jewish sect, 2 and although they believed that their faith would soon be the
faith of all the world, there is no trace that, up to this time, they ever dreamed
of the abrogation of Mosaism, or the free admission of uncircumcised Gentiles
into a full equality of spiritual privileges. A proselyte of righteousness one
who, like Nicolas of Antioch, had accepted the sign of circumcision might,
indeed, be hold worthy of honour but one who was ;
only a " proselyte of the
gate," 3 one who hold back from the seal of the covenant made to Abraham,
would not be regarded as a full Christian any more than he would be regarded
as a full Jew.
Hence, up to this time, the Christians were looked on with no disfavour
by that Pharisaic party which regarded the Sadducees as intriguing apostates.
They were even inclined to make use of the Pvesurrection which the Christians
proclaimed, as a convenient means of harassing their rivals. Nor was it they
1 \-opiTo? (**, A, B, D, &.), not irt Acts xxiv. 5 ; xxviii. 22, o'pto-tt.
The ncwie did not arise till later, but is hsro adopted for convenience* sake.