away his life; but this bloody deed was happily prevented by the vigilance of the Roman soldiery, who, in order to check such tumults, were stationed in the castle of Antonio, which overlooked the Temple, being built at one angle of it'. "Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and demanded who he was, and what he had done." And when he could not learn "the certainty of the tumult" in the confusion, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. "And when Paul was to be led in, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee?" The officer answers him that he did not expect to hear him speak the Greek language; for, by the tumult which he had raised, he took him to be that Egyptian false prophet, who, "before these days, made an uproar." According to Josephus, this man came from Egypt to Jerusalem, saying, that he was a prophet, and persuaded the people to follow him to the mount of Olives, in order to see the walls of the city fall down at his command. On that occasion he had been routed by Felix, and made his escape; and the chief captain thought that Paul was the same person again taken in a similar attempt. "But Paul said, I beseech thee suffer me to speak unto the people; and when he had given him licence, Dean Howard. 8 Pyle. Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with his hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue." St. Paul was a Hellenistic Jew, and therefore usually spake Greek; and it is observed in his writings that he always makes use of the Greek version of the Old Testament. But now to avert the great displeasure which the Jews had conceived against him, he here speaks to them in the language which they best knew and most esteemed; and they, by his compliance in this respect, were so far pacified as to give him audience'. SECT. CCXXXVII.-Paul declareth to the people his Conversion and Call.-Acts xxii. 1-29. PAUL gave them a particular account of his birth and education; of his extraordinary zeal for the rites and customs of their religion; of his violent persecution of the Christians in all parts whereof "the High Priest could bear him witness, and all the estate of the elders;" of the miraculous manner of his conversion; and of the commission which he immediately received from God to preach salvation to the Gentiles2. The Apostle showed great fortitude in thus boldly declaring on this occasion his mission to the Gentiles; but, as the Jews of Asia were his hearers, this expression immediately renewed the cause of their former clamour: "And Abp. Newcome. 1 1 Dr. Hammond. 2 Stackhouse. they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air." They cast off their clothes, as in the instance of St. Stephen, that they might be the more ready to stone him; and they threw dust in the air, to show their rage and abhorrence of him 1. It is still in modern times the practice of some Orientals to throw dust in the air, when they would express their contempt of a person speaking, and their abhorrence of what he publicly pronounced. As the chief captain did not understand Hebrew, he could not tell what was the purport of a speech that occasioned such mad and outrageous behaviour, but guessed it must have been something very provoking against the authority of their Law, or the dignity of their nation; and, therefore, as he would know more about it, "he bade that he should be examined by scourging." This was a kind of examination customary among the Romans and other nations, to force such as were supposed guilty, to confess what they had done, what were their motives, and who were accessary to the fact; but neither by whips nor rods could a citizen of Rome be punished, unless he were first adjudged to be uncitizened: all which shows the great propriety of the Apostle's question to the centurion: "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and unDr. Whitby. 5 Bishop Pearce. condemned?” It is plain, from many unquestionable authorities, that the freedom of Rome was attainable by foreigners in various ways;-by merit, by favour, by money, by being freed from servitude: multitudes of Jews, therefore, had become free from one or other of these causes'; but, as it is doubted that Tarsus was a Roman colony, to have entitled Paul to have been "free born," it is conjectured that some of his ancestors may have had the freedom of Rome conferred upon them in the civil wars, for military services'. SECT. CCXXXVIII.—Paul is brought before the Council. -Acts xxii. 30; xxiii. 1-10. PAUL was immediately "loosed from his bands;" and the chief captain being not a little afraid that he had already done more than he could answer, therefore, "because he would know the certainty whereof he was accused of the Jews," he convened the Sanhedrim, "and brought Paul down, and set him before them"." The circumstances of this story show to what a wonderful degree God makes all things, even those which we may be tempted to call the most accidental circumstances, work together for good to them that love Him, and most especially to those whom He has entrusted to carry out Drs. Whitby and Hammond. • Mant and D'Oyly. 7 Biscoe. 9 Stackhouse. some portion of His great work upon earth. Paul's birth at Tarsus had ensured to him respect on the part of the Roman authorities. We shall now see that his education as a Pharisee procured him favour when before the great council of his countrymen '. He commenced his address by asserting the integrity of his heart and conduct, though he had been apprehended and accused as a criminal, and thus endeavoured to remove the bad impressions occasioned by appearing in the light of a malefactor. "The High Priest," in violation of all the forms of justice, "commanded them that stood by to smite him on the mouth." This command does not seem to have proceeded from any thing asserted by St. Paul, but was probably the consequence of the imperious disposition of Ananias, or the general rancour entertained against him by the Jews'. The language of the Apostle was usually as temperate and decorous, as it was firm and dignified; but this wanton and unmerited insult of Ananias drew forth from Paul an indignant reproach: "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall "." We may conclude, that even if this angry word did constitute an exception to the forbearing language generally adopted by the Apostle, it was not said in offence to the Holy Ghost; for, it is recorded, that, about five years 1 Dean Howard. 3 Dr. Graves. 2 Abp. Newcome. |