thousands of professed Christians, in the first and purest period of the primitive church, while under the care of the apostles, had imbibed, from hear-say, a degree of coldness and dislike towards one of the Lord's most faithful and most favoured servants. How far the method St. Paul was advised to pursue, for the removal of this misapprehension, was suited to his character and known integrity, is a question not easily determined. The apostles, considered in one light, as the penmen of a large part of the sacred canon of faith and practice, which the Lord was pleased by them to communicate to his church, were doubtless so far. under the full direction and inspiration of his Holy Spirit; but we have no reason to believe that, in every part of their own personal conduct, they were strictly infallible: nay, we have good warrant to conclude the contrary; as St. Paul himself assures us, that, upon a certain occasion, already mentioned, he withstood Peter to his face, because he was to be blamed. It is therefore no way derogatory from the character and authority of Paul, to inquire whether, upon this occasion, the tenderness of his spirit towards weak believers, and his desire of becoming all things to all men (when the foundation-truths of the Gospel were not affected) might not carry him too far. For though a reserve was made by James, in favour of the Gentile converts, that they should not be burdened with the observance of Jewish rites; yet the express end and design for which this step was proposed to him, and for which he seems to have undertaken it, was, that all might know or believe, not only that he was not against others adhering to the Jewish ceremonies, but that he likewise orderly and statedly practised them himself: a circumstance which is far from being clear, or indeed probable, if we consider

the strain of his Epistle to the Galatians, which, though the addition at the close of our copies mentions as sent from Rome, is generally allowed to have been written during his stay at Ephesus at the latest, if not sooner; and further, that for some time past his converse had been almost wholly confined to the Gentile believers, or to those churches of which they formed the largest part. If he became as a Jew amongst the Jews, it was, as he says himself, only with the hope of gaining the Jews; which motive could no longer take place when he had finally withdrawn from their synagogues. Those therefore who suppose that, in this instance, he was over-persuaded to deviate from that openness of conduct which he generally maintained, seem to have some ground for their suspicion. This, however, is certain, his temporizing did not answer the proposed end, but instead of rendering him more acceptable, involved him in the greatest danger; for when the seven days were almost fulfilled, some Jews of Asia seeing him in the temple, pointed him out to the multitude as the dangerous man who had apostatized from his religion, and was using his endeavours, wherever he went, to draw peo ple from the worship of God according to the law of Moses. To this they added, that he had profaned the holy place, by bringing Gentiles with him into the temple. This they conjectured from having seen Trophimus, an Ephesian, with him in the city. This part of the charge was wholly false; he had not brought his Gentile friends into the temple, but he appeared so publicly with them upon other occasions, as to give some room for a surmise of this sort. If he submitted to the proposal of the elders, and attended in the temple

1 Cor. ix. 20.

himself, for the satisfaction of the Jewish converts, he would not go so far as to be ashamed of his friends, to make himself more acceptable to his enemies. It is our duty to avoid giving just offence; but if we boldly and honestly avow the Lord's people upon all proper occasions, without regard to names and parties, we must expect to suffer from the zealots of all sides.

Those who first laid hands on him were soon assisted by great numbers, for the whole city was moved, and the people ran together from all quarters. They dragged him out of the temple, and were upon the point of killing him, without giving him time or leave to speak a word for himself. They thought him absolutely in their power, but they were prevented by the appearance of Lysias, a Roman officer, who had a post near the temple, to prevent or suppress insurrections. Upon the first notice he received of this disturbance, he came down with a party of soldiers, The evangelist observes, that when the Jews ran to kill Paul, the Romans ran to save him. Thus the succour the Lord provides for his people is always proportioned to the case, and effectual to the end. When danger is pressing, relief is speedy. Lysias, though ignorant of the cause of this tumult, judging by its violence that the apostle must have been some great malefactor, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and, when he could obtain no satisfactory information from the people, had him removed to the castle, or Roman station; but such was the violence of the incensed unmeaning multitude, that the soldiers were constrained to carry him in their arms up the steps, or stairs, which led thither from the temple. Here Paul obtained leave to speak for himself; the tribune inclining rather to a more favourable opinion of him, when he found he

could speak Greek; and the people attended with some composure, when they heard him address them in the Hebrew or Syriac language.

In his discourses he told them, that he had been brought up amongst themselves; and, appealing to the high-priest and elders concerning the zeal and earnestness with which he had formerly served their party, he related the extraordinary dispensation by which the Lord Jesus had conquered his heart. This was St. Paul's usualmethod of defence; and though no means are sufficient to reach the heart without a divine influence, yet, humanly speaking, a simple and faithful declaration of what God has done for our souls, seems most likely to convince, or at least to soften and silence, those who oppose. Enraged as the Jews had been, they listened with patience to his relation, till he proceeded to intimate the Lord's designs in favour of the Gentiles, and that he was appointed an apostle to them. Accustomed to despise the rest of mankind, and to deem themselves the only people of God, they could not bear this: they interrupted him instantly; and, with one voice, declared it was not fit such a fellow should live upon the earth. They cast off their clothes, threw dust in the air, and their fury seemed to deprive them of their reason. Lysias, the tribune, secured him from their violence; but commanded him to be examined by scourging, that he might know his crime from his own mouth; according to a barbarous custom of putting those to torture against whom there was no sufficient evidence, that their own extorted confession might furnish some grounds of proceeding against them a custom still prevalent in most countries called Christian, though

contrary to religion, to reason, and to the common sentiments of humanity. Our Lord Jesus was examined in this manner before Pilate; and, though the apostle was ready to follow the steps of his Master in suffering, yet, upon this occasion, he pleaded his right of exemption from such treatment, as being a native of Tarsus, a city honoured with the freedom of Rome. A Roman citizen was not legally liable either to be bound or Scourged therefore, when the tribune understood his privileges, he stopped farther proceedings, and was something apprehensive for himself, that he had in part violated them already, by ordering him to be bound; but being still desirous to know what was laid to his charge, he convened the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrim on the next day, and brought him again before them.

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The apostle, fixing his eyes upon the high priest and council, as one who was neither ashamed nor afraid to appear at their tribunal, began with a declaration that he had lived to that day in the exercise of a good conscience; but Ananias, the high priest, forgetting his character as a judge, commanded those who stood near to strike him on the face. The apostle severely rebuked his partiality, in perverting the cause of justice, and warned him of the righteous judgment of God, the supreme Judge, who would surely punish his hypocrisy." His reply

A Roman citizen might be bound with a chain, but not tied with thongs, or beaten with rods. "Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum, scelus verberari." CICERO.

" Acts, xxiii.

"Thou whited wall!" A clay wall, glossed over with white, is an apt emblem of a man who carries on a malicious design under the pretence and forms of justice. Hateful is the character, and dreadfully dangerous the condition of such.