ourable than his immediate death would have been. How strong and irresistible the evidence which could overcome unbelief supported by the prejudices of birth and education, and fortified by the hope of worldly preferment, by the fear of shame and of suffering! What satisfied the mind of such an adversary may surely be sufficient to satisfy the mind of every candid and rational man, through all future generations.

4. Let all persecutors take a lesson of caution from the example of Saul. No one could be more confident that he was doing right than he: yet he found himself mistaken. How humbling must it be to human pride, to be compelled to applaud those who were once so severely condemned; how painful to the conscience of a virtuous man, to consider himself as an active agent in injuring and depreciating the friends of truth, the greatest benefactors of mankind, the favourite servants and messengers of the Most High! Let others, who are now zealous and active in opposing what they call error, and who scruple not to have recourse to violence for this purpose, beware lest they be found one day guilty of a like mistake, and therefore suffer the same shame and remorse.

Acts ix. 19-32.

In the former part of this chapter, we have had an account of Paul's violent persecution of the Christian church, and of his sudden conversion. We have here an account of some of the fruits of that conversion, in his preaching and defending the doctrine which he had before opposed. But before I enter upon this history, it is necessary that I observe that there is a chasm here in the life of Paul, of no less than three years, of which time Luke takes no notice, but which is mentioned by the apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians, chap. i. 16, &c. where, speaking of his conversion, he says, "Immediately I conferred not with

flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter." These three years some suppose him to have spent in preaching the gospel to the Arabians. But, as this is no where mentioned, either by himself, or by Luke, I think it more probable that the time was employed in acquiring a knowledge of the principal facts and doctrines of the gospel of Christ, which, he tells us, he received by immediate revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ, in reading the scriptures of the Old Testament, and particularly in studying the prophecies which relate to the Messiah, and in receiving miraculous gifts, with which he was endued in as extraordinary a degree as any of the apostles. Being thus qualified for his office, without any communication with the apostles, he returned to Damascus, and began to preach the gospel in that city. Here it is that Luke takes up the history of Paul again*.

19. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Da

mascus.

20. And straitway he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Some of the best manuscripts and versions† read Jesus instead of Christ, in this verse, and the sense seems to require this reading. For, to preach Christ to be the Son of God, would, in the apprehension of the Jews, be quite superfluous; for Christ and the Son of God signified the same thing, and were only different names for the Messiah. Thus John the evangelist says that he wrote his gospel, that they might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Lardner, article Paul, Vol. vi. p. 254, &c.

+ Griesbach adopts Inoon.

Moreover, by the title Son of God, the apostle did not mean a being derived in an ineffable manner from the Father, but merely a highly favoured messenger, one who was entrusted with a more important commission than any preceding prophet.

21. But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name, rather, "which were called after this name," in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? :

So extraordinary a change appeared incredible to them, and their incredulity would have discouraged a mind of less firmness than Paul's; but he was continually acquiring fresh confidence, arising from stronger convictions of the truth.

22. But Saul increased the more in strength, rather," was continually more confirmed," i. e. in the faith, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ, or, "the Christ."

He silenced the Jews and put them to shame, by the arguments which he produced to prove that Jesus was the Messiah.

It is here that some persons place Paul's journey to Arabia, and suppose that the preceding verses relate to his preaching at Damascus, immediately after his conversion. But it is not likely that a proselyte to the Christian religion, such as he was, would begin to

See Paley's Horæ Paulinæ, p. 160, Note.

preach so soon after he became one, without any preparation, or that, if he did preach, he would procure to himself any attention. His retirement, therefore, probably, took place immediately after his call from heaven, and the circumstances which are here related may very well be supposed to have happened after his return from Arabia. But, however this matter be determined, the omission of this journey by Luke, while it is mentioned by Paul, is one of those variations which tends to confirm rather than to destroy the authority of the history; since it shows that it was not written in concert by Luke and Paul. Each of them, therefore, may be regarded as independent evidences for the facts wherein they concur.

23. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel together to kill him ;

That is, after he had spent some time at Damascus, and had met with considerable success in making pro selytes. In so doing they paid involuntary homage to his talents and his zeal; for unless both had been conspicuous, their fury would not have impelled them to so desperate a measure.

24. (But their lying in wait was known of Saul); and they watched the gates, day and night, to kill him.

25. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

Paul gives the following account of this event in 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33. "In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, kept the city with a garison, desirous to apprehend me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands." This Aretas was king of Arabia, and at this time had possession of Damascus, where the Jews prevailed

upon the deputy-governor to grant them the assistance of the garrison to apprehend Paul. But, having intelligence of their design, he escaped from their hands.

26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

It may seem strange that the disciples at Jerusalem should not have heard of the conversion of Paul by this time. But this is accounted for by the violent persecution which happened, not only in Judæa, but also in other places, after the death of Stephen, which prevented the Christians at Damascus from having any communication with those at Jerusalem; by Paul's retired manner of life in Arabia, and by his having but lately begun to preach at Damascus. It is probable too that the High Priest would not be forward to publish the defection of so active an agent as Paul.

27. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

Hence it has been inferred that Barnabas was an old acquaintance of Paul; but no intimation of this is given in the history, which probably would have been the case had it been true. When Paul returned to Jerusalem, the persecution had not ceased; the apostles and other Christians were therefore concealed, and it was difficult for a stranger to gain access to them, especially for one of so suspicious a character aş Paul, Vol. 3.]

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