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I. ITS NATURE.

1. Negatively. It does not consist in —

(1)  Mere external ceremony.

(2)  The mere utterance of any prescribed forms of prayer.

(3)  Any special attitudes of devotion.

(4)  Mere devotional feeling.

2. Positively. The true conception of worship is realised only in the vision of Jesus.This view —

1. Respects His Divine-human character.

2. Is centred in Jesus as Mediator.

3. Is directed to Christ in His position of official dignity.

III. ITS CHARACTERISTICS. Stephen —

1. "Looked." This was —

(1)  Personal.

(2)  Present.

(3)  Anxious.

(4)  Intelligent.

(5)  Glorious.

2. "Steadfastly." The soul was in the act. It was no mere " vacant stare"; no idle, curious glance.

3. "Into heaven." He entered within the veil and worshipped with the spirits before the throne. He was not content to look merely at its burnished gates.

4. "Saw the glory of God." The instrument of vision was the eye of the soul. He saw by faith not the outer, but the inner, glory, of the temple of God.

IV. ITS MORAL CONDITION. He was "full of the Holy Ghost." It is the power of the Holy Ghost that purifies the heart, spiritualises the conceptions, and develops the true worshipping faculty in man. Worship is a dead letter without such power.

(John Tesseyman.)

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KJV: But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

WEB: But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,