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15. For thou shalt be his witness unto all nations of what thou hast seen and heard.

16. And now, why tarriest thou? "why delayest thou?" Arise, and be baptized, rather, "get thyself baptized," and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord, rather, " 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 authorises 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 ascer tained; but it was probably on his first visit to Jerusalem, 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 extacy, i. e. a supernatural state of mind, in which prophets were favoured with visions and revelations.

18. And saw him, saying unto me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; for they will not receive my testimony concerning thee.

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; 20. And when the blood of thy martyr, " thy witness," Stephen was

shed, I also was standing by and consenting to his death.

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 lift 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 intro duced into their place; the crime with which they charged him.

23. And as they cried out and cast off their clothes, or, "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, or, "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.

Vol. 3.]

3 B

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 the Romans to examine by the torture, in order to discover crimes; that this torture was inflicted by scourg ing or whipping; but that it was unlawful to scourge a Roman, especially uncondemned, and not legally convicted 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 straitway they departed from him that should have examined him, rather, "that were about to put him to the torture," the chief captain having satisfied himself that what Paul said

* Lardner, Vol. i. pp. 221-223.

was true; and the chief 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 high-priest or elders take any effectual measures to prove the falschood 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

Wakefield, on the authority of the Ethiopic version, omits this

last clause.

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