ST. STEPHEN.

Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. ACTS vi. 5.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ST. STEPHEN.

THE Saint of this day is St. Stephen, the leader of" the noble army of" Christian "martyrs:" and being the only martyr, who in that character alone is commemorated by the Church, he may be esteemed the representative of that illustrious body.

The commemoration of men, distinguished for their martyrdom to the faith, is of very early date in the annals of Christianity. The Churches of Antioch and Smyrna instituted festivals in honour of their respective bishops, Ignatius and Polycarp, both disciples of St. John, from the periods of their martyrdom. And the rest of the primitive churches appear to have adopted the same practice with regard to the more eminent of their own martyrs".

a For some of the observations at the commencement of this Article, I am indebted to a Sermon of Archbishop Secker.

But by degrees the multiplicity of these festivals became very improper and inconvenient: persons, distinguished as sufferers in one Church, were adopted into the liturgies of others; other persons were admitted, who had been eminently good, but had not "resisted unto blood;" whilst others again in subsequent ages were allowed to partake of the high distinction, without due inquiry into their pretensions. Meanwhile the manner of celebrating them had been permitted to exceed the bounds of moderation, and even of piety. The feeling effusions of grateful respect and affection, wherein the Saint was at first called upon, as if present, under the rhetorical forms of apostrophe and exclamation, by degrees led to the belief that he was present in reality, and deviated into addresses of literal invocation and adoration. No longer regarded merely as a witness to the faith of Christ, he was admitted to share the Saviour's mediatorial character, if not to infringe the divine attribute of being the sole author and giver of all good things to men. At the Reformation these evils were felt and corrected. Almost all the other Protestant Churches, deterred by the unjustifiable practices of the Church of Rome, abolished both the abuse and the use. But our Church, with her characteristick moderation and discretion, whilst she

removed the evil, retained the good. She perpetuated the commemoration of none but such saints only, and those the principal ones, who are mentioned in the New Testament: and of such the only saint commemorated solely upon the ground of his being a martyr, is St. Stephen, who, as he is distinguished by being the first of that "noble army," so is the only one of the primitive Christians, the manner of whose death is related at large in holy writ. Meanwhile from her commemorative services she excluded every thing exceptionable; and thus made them occasions, not of unduly magnifying the creature, but of glorifying the Creator for the virtues and sufferings of his servants.

The festival of St. Stephen was celebrated in early times: but why it was celebrated at this particular season of the year, is matter of conjecture rather than of certainty. It appears clear indeed, that neither this festival of St. Stephen, nor those of St. John and the Holy Innocents, which immediately succeed, coincide with the periods of the death and sufferings of the persons respectively commemorated. But they are supposed to follow the high festival of our Lord's nativity, because none were thought fitter attendants on the birth of Christ, than the blessed martyrs, who have laid down their lives for him, from whom they have received spiri

tual and eternal life. Accordingly it has been observed by ritualists, that whereas "there are three kinds of martyrdom; the first in will and deed, which is the highest; the second in will, but not in deed; and the third in deed, but not in will; of which the first was undergone by St. Stephen, the second by St. John, and the third by the Holy Innocents; in this order they attend "."

It has also been supposed, that" the first place was assigned to St. Stephen, because he was the proto-martyr; the second to St. John, because his death falling upon the festival of another John, namely the Baptist, and there being good reason why they should be honoured with separate days, no day could be assigned to the Evangelist more proper than that he should be near his Master, he being 'the disciple whom Jesus loved.' And the Innocents might well pretend to the third, because, as St. Cyprian saith, the slaughter of the Innocents was the first considerable consequent of his birth."

Such are the reasons generally given for the concurrence of these three holydays: whilst, specially with regard to the martyrdom of St. Stephen following the great solemnity of Christ

Bishop Sparrow's Rationale.

L'Estrange's Alliance of Divine Offices.

mas, the Church has been said to have "joined these two festivals together, that we might observe the sacred life of our great Master, and the exemplary death of this heroick saint at one view. In Christ's nativity we have all that humility and condescension, which must qualify us for a good life: and in St. Stephen's martyrdom all that faith, hope, and charity, which must be a Christian's exercise at the great and important hour of his death"."

Of the country or kindred of St. Stephen the sacred history gives us no account. That he was a Jew is unquestionable, as appears from his own acknowledgment in his Apology to the people but whether originally of the stock of Abraham, or of parents incorporated by proselytism; whether born at Jerusalem, or among the dispersed in the Gentile provinces, is uncertain. Antiquity reports him with sufficient probability, to have been one of the seventy disciples chosen by our Lord as coadjutors to the Apostles in the ministry of the Gospel: and indeed his knowledge of the Christian doctrine, and his ability in proving Jesus to be the Messiah, are an argument for his having been trained under our Lord's immediate instructions. Doubtless he was, for so the Scripture describes e Dr. Cave's Life of St. Stephen.

d Historia Sacra.

с