Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 6, verses 8-10
5 of whom Steven, a man full of faith and the holy Ghost, is oneActs of the Apostles, Chapter 7, verses 54-59
54 whereupon they stone him to death, who commendeth his soul to Jesus, and humbly prayeth for them7
7:55 But he looking steadfastly up to heaven, saw the glory of God - Doubtless he saw such a glorious representation, God miraculously operating on his imagination, as on Ezekiel's, when he sat in his house at Babylon, and saw Jerusalem, and seemed to himself transported thither, Eze 8:1-4. And probably other martyrs, when called to suffer the last extremity, have had extraordinary assistance of some similar kind.
7:56 I see the Son of man standing - As if it were just ready to receive him. Otherwise he is said to sit at the right hand of God.
7:57 They rushed upon him - Before any sentence passed.
7:58 The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul - O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee, that thou thyself shouldst be stoned in the same cause? and shouldst triumph in committing thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou art now blaspheming? His dying prayer reached thee, as well as many others. And the martyr Stephen, and Saul the persecutor, (afterward his brother both in faith and martyrdom,) are now joined in everlasting friendship, and dwell together in the happy company of those who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
7:59 And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit - This is the literal translation of the words, the name of God not being in the original. Nevertheless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus committed into his hands, is such an act of worship, as no good man could have paid to a mere creature; Stephen here worshipping Christ in the very same manner in which Christ worshipped the Father on the cross.
Matthew, Chapter 10, verses 17-22
16 comforteth them against persecutions10
10:17 But think not that all your innocence and all your wisdom will screen you from persecution. They will scourge you in their synagogues - In these the Jews held their courts of judicature, about both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. Mat 24:9.
10:19 Take no thought - Neither at this time, on any sudden call,need we be careful how or what to answer. Luk 12:11.
10:21 Luk 21:16.
10:22 Of all men - That know not God. Mat 24:13.
6
6:9 There arose certain of the synagogue which is called - It was one and the same synagogue which consisted of these several nations. Saul of Cilicia was doubtless a member of it; whence it is not at all improbable, that Gamaliel presided over it.Libertines - So they were styled, whose fathers were once slaves, and afterward made free. This was the ease of many Jews who had been taken captive by the Romans.