The Epic of Saul

by William Cleaver Wilkinson

With fixéd look impassible, he gazed
At Stephen, while, in altered phase, that pure
Effulgence of apostleship burned on:
"Nor, brethren, let this word of mine become
Scandal before your feet to stumble you
Headlong to ruin—'gave Himself for me
To bitter death'—implying it the Christ's
To suffer death in sacrifice for sin.
This is that thing of wonder prophesied,
Confounding to the wisdom of the wise;
A suffering Saviour, a Messiah shamed,
Monarch arrayed in purple robes of scorn,
With diadem of thorns pressed on His brow,
And in His hand for sceptre thrust a reed—
The Lord of life and glory crucified!

"Dim saw perhaps our father Abraham this,
Through symbol and through prophecy contained
In smoking furnace and in blazing torch
Beheld, that evening, when the sun went down
And it was dark. The smoking furnace meant
The mystery of the Messiah's shame
To go before His glory typified
In the clear shining of the torch ablaze.

"Of the same mystery of agony
In sorrow, shame, and death, forerunning dark
The bright and brightening sequel without end
Of the Messiah's work, Isaiah spake,
When he foresaw His coming day from far.
The eagle vision of that seer was dimmed
With tears, like Jeremiah's, to behold
What he beheld—Messiah's visage so
Marred more than any man's, and so His form
More than befell the sons of men. He read,
Within the mirror of his prophecy,
Astonishment depicted in the eyes
Of many—in the eyes of which of you,
My brethren?—at a spectacle so strange.
The melancholy prophet saw a gloom
Of unbelief darken the world. 'What soul,'
Wails he, 'is found to credit our report?
To whom has been revealed Jehovah's arm
In such a wise outstretched to save?' Heart-sick
At what, too clearly for his peace, he sees,
Isaiah, turning from his vision, cries
In pain—consider, brethren, whether ye
Unwittingly fulfil what he portrays!—
'He was despised, rejected was of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted well
With grief; as one from whom men hide their face,
Despised was He, and we esteemed Him not.'

"Now our own gospel hear Isaiah preach,
The good news that such sufferings borne by Him,
Messiah, were for you, for us, for all:
'Surely our griefs they were Messiah bore,
He carried sorrows that were due to us.
Yet we, alas, of Him as stricken thought,
Smitten of God, and for affliction marked!'

"Would God, my brethren, ye who hear these things,
This day, were minded as the prophet was
Who thus from God reported them to you!
He but foresaw them, and he saw them; ye
Saw them, and did not see! And yet, even yet,
Look back, as forward he; lo, touch your eyes
With eyesalve that ye be not blind, but see!
See, with Isaiah, how Messiah was
'Wounded for your transgressions, bruised so sore
For your iniquities, how chastisement
On Him was laid that peace should bring to you,
How stripes whereby He bled to you were health.'

"Meekly and thankfully Isaiah sinks
Himself, one drop, into the human sea,
And says 'we,' 'our,' and 'us'—do ye the same.
O brethren, if this day ye hear His voice,
A whisper only in your ear from heaven,
I pray you, harden not your heart. Confess
Your fault, and say with your own prophet, 'We,
All we, like sheep, have gone astray, astray,
And God on Him hath laid the sin of all.'"

At such expostulation and appeal
Ineffable, found hidden in the words
Of prophecy, Rachel her heart felt fail
Into a pathos of repentance sweet
With love and soft sense of forgiveness, bought
For her at cost so dear!—and she dissolved
In sobs and tears of sorrow exquisite,
Better than joy, and uncontrollable.
The mastership of Jesus now to her
Merged in the sweetness of His saviorship;
The duty of obedience to a Lord
All taken up, transfigured, glorified,
In the transcendent privilege of love.
Never such grief in joy, such joy in grief,
Was hers before—for self was wholly slain
And her whole life grew love unutterable.

Yet longed she, with a hope that half was pain,
For Saul, while Stephen brokenly went on:
"O ye to whom for the last time I speak,
My heart is large for you, it breaks for you,
And melts to tears within me while I plead.
I pray you, I beseech you, in Christ's stead,
Be reconciled to God. Hearken this once
And answer, Were it set your task, in choice
Few words to frame the image and the lot
Of Jesus whom ye slew, how otherwise
More fitly could ye do it than was done
Aforetime by Isaiah when he wrote
Prophetically thus of Christ to be:
'Oppressed He was, yet He abased Himself
And opened not His mouth; even as a lamb
Led to the slaughter, as a sheep before
Her shearers speechless, so He opened not
His mouth. His grave they with the wicked made,
And with the rich they laid Him in His death.'
Say, brethren, was not Jesus very Christ?

"But, that ye err not, Messianic woe
Is not the end; a glorious change succeeds.
Isaiah chanted it in sequel glad
And contrast of the sorrow-laden strain
That mourned Messiah's sufferings; hear the song:
'When thou, Jehovah, shalt His soul have made
An offering for sin, Messiah then
The endless issue of His pain shall see;
Still on and on He shall His days prolong,
And in His hand the pleasure of the Lord
Shall prosper; of the travail of His soul
He shall see fruit and shall be satisfied.'
So, with rejoicing too serenely full
For exultation, sang Isaiah then
Of Messianic glory following shame.

"And now, concerning Jesus whom ye slew,
Know, brethren, that He burst the bands of death,
Which could not hold the Lord of life in thrall.
Know that He, having risen, rose again,
Ascending far above all height, and led
Captive captivity; attended so
With retinue of deliverance numberless,
He entered heaven a Conqueror and a King;
Before Him lifted up their heads the gates,
The everlasting doors admitted Him.
There sits He now associate by the side
Of His Almighty Father, Lord of all.
For to Him every knee shall bow, in heaven,
On earth, and every tongue confess that He,
Jesus, is Lord; Jehovah wills it so.