: The remainder of the 8th chapter does not contain anything which has a direct bearing on the subject which I am now going to investigate, that is, what were the instructions given by the apostles and early teachers in the Christian Church; and in what manner its affairs were ordered and directed. I shall transcribe the early part of the 9th chapter, which contains a short account of a very memorable transaction to which I shall have frequent occasions to refer hereafter. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the High Priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven : and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." The account goes on to show how his sight was restored, and that he was baptized; and adds: "And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard were amazed, and said: Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests ?" Such is the account given by Luke of the conversion of St. Paul; and we shall find in the progress of our inquiries that his own account of it on several occasions is consistent with it. I can conceive of no one, who has not resolutely predetermined to resist all rational evidence, doubting that St. Paul fully believed that he had actually seen Jesus Christ, and had been instructed by him to preach the gospel; and that in consequence of that conviction he devoted himself to the propagation of the Christian religion; and, in pursuance of that object exposed himself (as we shall presently see) to a life of severe privation, great danger, and actual persecution. He was a man of great natural abilities, which had been improved by a learned education. It does not appear that he had had any previous knowledge of Jesus; but he was several times in communication with the other apostles; and was well able to judge of the weight due to their testimony when they asserted that they had seen and conversed with Jesus Christ after his resurrection. If Christianity had been indeed a cunningly devised fable, no man could have been placed in a more favourable situation to discover its falsehood than St. Paul, and his early opinions and his strong feelings against the religion of Christ could not have failed to dispose him to exert his best faculties for that purpose. Sincerity marked his character alike as Saul the per secutor, and as Paul the apostle, and the most able and ardent defender and promulgator of the Christian religion. At all times he obeyed the dictates of his conscience; though in the end he was led deeply to repent the errors of opinion, and the persecuting spirit to which an ill-informed and mistaking conscience had led him. The Jews were greatly offended by the conversion of Saul, and by his becoming a preacher of the Christian religion; and "they took counsel to kill him.” He escaped however and went to the apostles at Jerusalem, and taught there; but his life having been in peril in that city, he went to Cæsarea, and afterwards to his native place, Tarsus. I find nothing requiring further notice till the 10th chapter, which contains an account of the first preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles by Peter, who had been directed by a vision to go to the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, for that purpose. Peter makes the following remarks, vv. 28, 29: "Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me ?" Cornelius having informed Peter why he had sent for him, Peter goes on to say, vv. 34-43: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." I have to offer the following remarks on this address of the apostle Peter. In the first place we have distinctly his authority that in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness is accepted of him, in direct opposition to an opinion very extensively held among Christians, that the favour of the Almighty in the world to come will be confined to those only who are believers in the Christian religion. Cornelius was a Roman, and certainly was not a Christian at the commencement of the transactions to which we have been directing our attention. He is, however, described as a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, and gave much alms to the poor, and prayed to God alway. He was a truly pious and good man, and, although unacquainted with Divine revelation, was fully prepared by his honest character to receive it when presented with such assurance of its truth as the case required. An angel is said to have appeared to him, and to have declared that his prayers and his alms had come up for a memorial before God. Peter is then divinely instructed to go to Cornelius, and the discourse quoted above ensues. In no part of the New Testament do I find anything inconsistent with the declaration of Peter which has been just mentioned*. We also find Peter saying in this discourse, what indeed is the uniform doctrine of the New Testament, that the power exercised by Christ on earth was derived from God, "for God was with him;" that it was God who raised him from the dead; that the apostles were appointed to be the witnesses of his resurrection that they were commanded to preach to the people that Jesus was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead; and that the prophets had testified that through his name whoever believed in him should receive remission of sins. Such was the doctrine first preached to the Gentiles by the most eminent of the apostles; and although the peculiar office of apostle to the Gentiles was afterwards delivered to the hands of another, we shall find the same doctrine uniformly taught by that highly gifted and most distinguished person. And now as to Peter himself: he was a Jew, and there is no reason to think that he was less influenced by the peculiar feelings and prejudices of the Jews than his fellow countrymen in general. He informs us that, previously to his vision, he had held it unlaw * See some observations on Mark xvi. 16, ante pp. 79, 80. |