Stephen

ight see his righteousness! My heart burneth within me

rk of thine hand." Annas uttered these words in a low, smooth voice, drawing his long silvery beard through h

ng man, rising and pacing restlessly up and down the floor, h

n. They rested approvingly on the strong athletic figure, on the bent head crisped wi

fended. Of the two hundred and forty-eight commands and the three hundred and sixty-five prohibitions, I have not broken one knowingly for many days. But there has always been failure, a drop of unclean water, perchance, on the dish from which I have eaten, or my robe has touched

ations in so young a man. Now do I know that God was with me when I was moved to send for Saul of Tarsus. As for me, I am an old man. I can no longer support all t

nce perfectly keep the Sabbath of the Lord our God, then--then the Messiah would come. Then would the Lord dwell once more among his people in visible form. Then would we tread our enemies under our feet, then would the Holy of Holies be filled with glory so that J

will tell thee how thou shalt hasten this day of which thou hast spoken. 'With thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.' He speaks to thee, my son

solemnly. "I will utterly crush them and cast them out, even as did E

Only must thou submit thyself to my direction in the matter, for I know the ways of this people and of

n me. I long to come up to the he

n he called his disciples. Then went he forth and began to teach strange and ungodly doctrines to the people. He taught them that the Sabbath was not to be observed after the law, that the priests and rabbis were hypocrites; yea, he even said that we were as whited sepulchres, fair to look upon, but within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Extortioners also he called us and unjust." And the speaker's voice shook with passion. "He pretended to do wondrous mirac

ung man, knitting his dark brows

at length, dropping his eyes to the floor. "But--" and his voice gathered firmness, "it is all lies--all lies. The man pa

man from the dead," said Saul, fixing his candid

arvel. The High Priest sent his servan

he not go

the man wa

hus? I should like

"The man hath died sin

d he of t

carpenter build anew the life which God hath taken out of a man? But I hav

a moment, broken only by the qui

drim that he was the Son of God, the King of Israel, and that her

within his eyes. "Blasphemer!" he cried in a choked

k! I hear a sound of turmoil; what hath befallen? Alas for Jerusalem! she is sorely vexed by the heathen within her gates. Ever and anon

people are running from every direction," he

t needs sanctify myself

an soon found himself in the meaner and more crowded portions of the city. Here the narrow

rabbis, the red-bronze faces of Egyptian camel drivers, and the gay robes of Asiatic merchants all mingled in the shifting mazes of the multitude. A jargon of tongues also, like th

essed in the garb of a Greek sailor, who, like himse

e followers of the Nazarene," repli

ly perished on the cross?" said Saul, regardless for once of the def

"The man Jesus was a worker of miracles. He revived after being buri

rt accursed because thou art a Gentile, but dou

in a wicked laugh. "Thou also art accursed, and thy temple shall be torn down, so that not o

s tongue cut from thy head," hissed Saul between h

hed his garments from the grasp of the Pharisee and fled away into the crowd, doubling and twi

him for a moment i

oice at his side, "and knowest not what wonders hav

I have heard all," he said shortly. "But what hath befallen the followers of the man? The knave yonder said th

was a fire that enlightened their understanding, for even now they are preaching to the peop

he men are drunken with new wine, and babble a

then do ye, who are in authority, suffer such unseemly conduct in these

ve of his hand, "is a beast, which hath not been tamed either by the church nor yet by the Romans. When it hath tired of these babblers it will rend them, even as it rent the Nazar