STEPHEN STONED.


 COULD anything but hate have made those furious
looking men so angry as to hurl those great stones?
They have even taken off some of their clothes, that their
strong arms may be freer, and they may throw with more
force. What had that man been doing that such a crowd
should help to murder him? His name was Stephen;
he was a good man, who had been preaching about Jesus.
He had done miracles too, and many people said he was
like the Master he talked so much about.
 But some of the priests said he had spoken wicked
things against Moses and against God. They pretended
to try him and got some men to tell what he had done.
When the high-priest asked if he had done these things,
he answered by talking about Jesus again, and told how
the Jews had treated Christ himself, and called them
murderers; they were so angry they stopped their ears so
as not to hear his words. Some who saw him sitting in
the council said that while they talked against him, his
face looked like the face of an angel.
 They were afraid to kill him close by the temple, but