ney, and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me; 7. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice, saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? 8. And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. The former account of this transaction says, that the persons who accompanied Paul heard a voice, but saw no man; it is probable, therefore, that they heard a noise, although no articulate sound, not being near enough for that purpose. This supposition will reconcile the two accounts. 10. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? and the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. 11. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, for its excessive brightness, being led by the hand of those that were with me, I came to Da mascus. 12. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews that dwelt there, (and therefore not likely to be concerned in an imposture,) 13. Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight; and the same hour, "the same moment," I looked upon him, i. e. my sight was restored. The former account informs us that this visit was made to Paul, in consequence of a vision with which Ananias was favoured, directing him to go. fathers bath 14. And he said, the God of our chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of hist mouth. Jesus of Nazareth is denominated the Just One, more than once in this history, Acts iii. 14, vii. 52; and the appellation seems to have been borrowed from 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, where the Messiah is foretold under that name, when the language is properly translated.* 15. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16. And now, why tarriest thou? "why delayest thou?" Arise, and be baptized, "get thyself baptized," and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord, "calling thyself after the name of the Lord." Two things are worthy of observation in this verse: First, that baptism is said to wash away sins, and that these sins, therefore, could not be moral guilt, but must be some kind of ceremonial uncleanness, something which belonged to all mankind who had not faith in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles, whatever their character might be, the virtuous as well as the vicious. Agreeably to this language, we are said to be justified and saved by faith; and the blood of Christ, which established the truth of the new covenant, is said to be shed for the remission of sins, and to cleanse from all sin. From inattention to this meaning of the word sin, in Scripture, and particularly in the writings of Paul, many professors of Christianity have fallen into the grossest mistakes in interpreting the language of the New Testament. The second thing which deserves notice is, that Paul is not here directed, as some have erroneously supposed, to address his prayers to Christ; for he is exhorted not to call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ after baptism, but to call himself after his name, i. e. to become a follower or disciple of Christ. Nor is there any passage of Scripture, which authorizes or encourages Christians of the present day to address their prayers unto him : on the contrary, when the disciples desired to be taught how to pray, he directed them to say, Our Father, who art in heaven. At what time the apostle was favoured with the vision, mentioned in the next verses, cannot fully be ascertained; but it was probably on his first visit to Jernsalem, after his return from Arabia, at the distance of at least three years from his conversion. He imagined that an account of his conversion, and the reasons of it, after his having so violently persecuted the Christians, could not fail to make a favourable impression upon the minds of his old acquaintance, and induce them to embrace the gospel. With this expectation he came up to Jerusalem; but he was informed by Christ that he would be disappointed, and was ordered to return. 17. And it came to pass, that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance ; The Greek word signifies an ecstasy, i. e. a supernatural state of mind, in which prophets were favoured with visions and revelations. * Grey on the last words of David. 18. And I saw him, saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. To this the apostle replies by mentioning his own violent persecution of the disciples, as a ground for expecting, that the conversion of such a persecutor was likely to awaken their attention to Christianity, and dispose them to embrace it. 19. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned, and beat in every synagogue, them that believed on thee; 29. And when the blood of thy martyr, "thy witness," Stephen, was shed, I, also, was standing by, and consenting, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. 21. And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence, unto the Gentiles. 22. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live. As soon as his mission to the Gentiles was mentioned, all their former rage against him returned, because they imagined that he was going to say, that the Jews were to be rejected, and the Gentiles introduced into their place; the crime with which they charged him. 23. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, "shook their garments," and threw dust into the air, actions expressive of their abhorrence of what he said; 24. The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined, "put to the torture," by scourging, that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. The chief captain, not understanding Hebrew, might not know what it was in Paul's speech which gave them so much offence. 25. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ? These words imply, that it was customary with Romans to examine by the torture, in order to discover crimes; that this torture was inflicted by scourging or whipping; but that it was unlawful to Scourge a Roman, especially uncondemned, and not legally con victed of any crime. So much is implied in the question of Paul; and the truth of what is here supposed has been confirmed by the testimony of Roman writers.* 26. When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman. 27. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman ? He said, Yea. 28. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29. Then straightway they departed from him that should have examined him, "that were about to put him to the torture," the chief captain having satisfied himself, that what Paul said, was true; and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because† he had bound him. REFLECTIONS. 1. It deserves to be noticed what confirmation the account given by Paul, of the manner of his conversion, receives from the circumstances in which it was delivered in the presence of his bitterest enemies, who heard him with patience while relating the transaction, but who would not have failed to contradict and silence him, had it been known to be false in the city of Jerusalem, where the high-priest and elders resided, from whom he had received his commission, and to whom he now appeals for the truth of what he says, where several of his companions were still living, who attended him on his journey. But neither his former companions, nor the highpriest or elders take any effectual methods to prove the falsehood of the narration; for the story prevails, and gains increasing credit. A report, which could pass uncontradicted in such circumstances, must be true. Nothing but truth could have stood such a test. 2. How unjust and cruel the practice of putting men to the torture, to compel them to confession! This is to make suspicion of guilt the ground of punishment, and to inflict suffering where there is a presumption of innocence: it is to tempt men to become involuntary accusers of themselves or others, of crimes which they have never committed, in order to put an end to sufferings which they are no longer able to endure. It is as inconsistent with humanity as with the principles of equity and justice. Wretched, indeed, must be that * Lardner, Vol. I. pp. 221-223. + Wakefield, on the authority of the Ethiopic version, omits this last clause. government which authorizes or encourages such treatment; yet it has prevailed among nations who have called themselves enlightened and civilized, among the professed friends and advocates of freedom, but who had no claim to this character; among the Romans in ancient times, among the modern nations of Europe, and even by some in our own day. But the custom is equally odious by whomsoever practised, and cannot be too much reprobated. SECTION XXXVIII. Paul defends himself before the Sanhedrim. A dissension arising, he is brought back to the castle. ACTS xxii. 30.; xxiii. 1–11. 30. ON the morrow, because he would have known, "because he wished to know," the certainty, wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priest and all the council," the whole Sanhedrim," to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them. As he had been accused of doing things against the law, and against the temple, the charge was of a religious nature, and, therefore, properly cognizable by the Sanhedrim, to whom the care of religion was entrusted. 1. AND Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. He looked steadily at the council, to discover whether he could recollect any of their persons, having been formerly acquainted with them. He might, with good reason, say this of himself while a Jew, no less than while he was a Christian; for he acted from conviction in one case as well as in the other; but, as it was his conduct as a Christian that was called in question upon the present occasion, it is probable, that he refers to that period of his life which succeeded his conversion, and that he meaas to assert, with a solemn appeal to an omniscient Being for the truth of what he says, that he had acted. from the dictates of conscience in embracing the gospel at first, and in preaching it afterwards, and not from any selfish and dishonourable motive. Nothing could be more proper for vindicating himself, than such an assertion before his present audience, who were assembled for the purpose of inquiring into his conduct: but to the highpriest, who was greatly inflamed with prejudice against him, it ap 2 F VOL. III. |