Excerpt from The Martyr: A Discourse, in Commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, Delivered in Broadway Tabernacle, New York; And in the Bleecker Street Church, Utica When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on 'him With their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out With a loud velce, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him With one accord, And cast him out of the City, and stoned him; and the Witnesses laid down thelr clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud vorce, Lord, lay not this sm to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. - Acts on. 54 - 60. The primitive Christians, as witnesses to the truths of the Gospel, seem at first to have been known as martyrs. It was not long before some of them were called to seal their testimony with their blood. Of these, Stephen and Antipas seem to have been distinguished for the ex cellence of their character and the extent of their usefulness. Since their death, the awful circumstance of sealing one's testimony to the truth with his blood, has entered into the definition of a martyr. When Isay to the truth, I do not deny, that the advocate of error may main tain his bad cause at the expense of his life. His, too, may be a death of violence, inflicted by wicked hands. But, though he may thus be a victim, he is not a martyr. Strong claims he may justly have on our compassion, but he is not entitled to our heart-felt esteem and pron found reverence. These gems befit only the martyr's crown. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.