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For the Epistle. Acts vii. 55.
STEPHEN, being full of the Holy Ghost,
looked up sted-fastly 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 voice, 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 their 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 voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he
fell asleep.
The Gospel. St. Matthew xxiii. 34.
BEHOLD, I send unto you prophets, and
wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and per-secute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed
upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Ba-rachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
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