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nacles or a prison : let them not , for the sake of courting the popularity of imperfect Christians , act upon a rule which is contrary to the directions of him who forbad the fire from heaven to fall on the Samaritans ; who declared that man was frequently
ignorant of the real spirit he possessed ; when he shewed a willingness to be the avenger of the Almighty ' s honour ; and which rule , if rigidly acted on towards themselves , might , simply because they form the weaker sect , consign them to a dungeon .
Perhaps , Mr . Editor , your next Repository will teem with such sentiments from your liberal Correspondents : if so , let my effusion be destroyed ; but if not , I beg to record my settled conviction on this affair ,
in the hope that , though an humble individual , I may be , in some degree , useful in preserving among our body that consistent liberality which forms their greatest glory . J . F .
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Mansfield , Sir , September 28 , 1819-IN your Reviewer ' s very excellent and judicious critique upon Dr . Hodgson ' s Sermon 011 Stephen ' s Prayer , £ pp . 505—508 , ] I observe he has adopted the hypothesis stated by
the late Kev . Timothy Kenrick , and , if I mistake not , by other Unitarian writers before him , to explain the scene described , Acts vii . 55 , 56 ,
which , though ingenious , does not appear to me satisfactory . Should the following observations serve to throw any light upon the ( subject , or lead to any better explanation , the writer will think himself gratified by their insertion in your valuable work . The explanation of the historian's
language may , perhaps , be found by referring to the accusation which was brought against Stephen , and to some passages in the histories of the Evangelists . At the close of Acts vi . it is said , that they , 4 € who were not able to resist , the wisdom and the spirit by whicih Stephen spake , suborned men , which said , * We have heard him
speak blasphemous words agaiost 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 to us . " From the
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tenor of this testimony it is < evident however his language had been misi ^ terpreted or misapplied , that Stephen had been speaking of the destru ction of Jerusalem , and the consequent
dispersion of the Jews , involving the discontinuance of many of their sacred customs , undoubtedly predicted by the prophet Daniel , and more pointedly by Jesus himself . When stand .
nig before the high-priest and the council , Stephen entered into a brief history of the Jews , and concluded by asserting , that they had rejected and murdered the Just One , of whom
Moses and the prophets had spoken , and very plainly intimated , that they would bring upon themselves the judgments which had also been predicted as the consequence of their
impenitence and unbelief . This was in fact acknowledging the most aggravating part of the crime , which was laid to Stephen ' s charge , and we accordingly find , " that when they heard these things , they were cut to the heart , and they gnashed on him with their teeth . ' * Let us now refer
to the language in which this event , the destruction of Jerusalem , is spoken of by Jesus Christ , Matt . xvi . 27 , 28 : " For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father , with his angels , arid then shall he reward every man according- to his work . " The
coining to which Jesus refers is particularly evident , for he adds , " Verily 1 say unto you , there be some standing here , which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom . " But his language
is more striking , chap . xxiv . 29 » SO , which is the conclusion of what Jesus had been saying of the destruction of Jerusalem : " Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened , and the moon shall not give her light , and the stars shall fall from heaven , and the powers of heaven shall be shaken , and then shall appear the Son of Man in heaven , and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of fitaven , with power and great glory" This , we may
presume , was the only vision which Stephen saw . The conduct of the high priest and of the Jewish council , not less than that of the v eiders and the Scribes , who w *» re stirred up against him by his accusers and the false witnesses , couvinded Stephen
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723 J 0 W * on Stephen * s Vrayer .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 728, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/12/
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