He is told by Jesus he should be directed what to do. the Lord said unto him, xix. Lord, what wilt thou able mixture of contending passions; so that SECT. have me to do? And trembling at the thought of what he had done, Arise, and go into the and amazed at the glorious appearance of Jesus, city, and it shall be he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? IX. 6. told thee what thou For instead of carrying my mad opposition any must do. which thou hast seen, Acts Acts 35 XXVI. 16 farther, I with all humility resign myself entirely to thy disposal, and humbly wait the intimations of thy sacred pleasure, determined to submit to whatsoever thou shalt order me. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and stand upon thy feet, and go into the city, and I will take care that it shall there be told thee what thou must do, and thou shalt be instructed in all things which I have appointed concerning thee; (chap. ACTS XXVI.-16. xxii. 10; xxvi. 16.) For I have thus apFor I have appeared peared unto thee for this purpose, to constitute unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a and ordain thee a minister and servant to me, minister and a witness in the great work of propagating my gospel, both of these things and to appoint thee a witness both of those and of those things in things which thou hast now seen, and of those the which I will appear in which I will hereafter manifest myself unto thee: And in the testimony thou shalt give, I17 will be with thee to protect thee by my power and providence, delivering thee in the midst of a thousand dangers from the malice of the Jewish people, and of the Gentiles; to whom, as the one or the other may come in thy way, 18 To open their I now send thee. That I may make thee in- 18 eyes, and to turn them strumental to open their blind eyes, and to turn and from the power of [them] from darkness to light, and from the Satan unto God, that power of Satan unto God; that they may thus they may receive for receive the free and full forgiveness of all their most aggravated sins, and may have an inhethem which are sancti- ritance among them that are sanctified by means fied by faith that is in of that faith which is in me" unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, un to whom now I send thee, from darkness to light, giveness of sins, and inheritance me. among ACTS IX. 7. And speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no Acts And the men who travelled with him, upon the men which jour- their rising from the ground, to which they IX. 7. neyed with him stood had been struck upon the first appearance of the light from heaven, stood in a fixed posture perfectly astonished, and seemed for a while to be turned (as it were) into statues: And they were so confounded, that they uttered not a word, hearing indeed the sound of that voice which man. Stood perfectly astonished.] To stand astonished does indeed sometimes signify merely to be astonished, without any reference to the particular posture, as Beza, L'Enfant, and others have observed. So in our English phrase, to stand in jeopardy is to be in jeopardy, 1 Cor. xv. 30; and to VOL. VIII, E stand in doubt is to be in doubt, Gal. iv. 20. ¡ Hearing 36 xix. Having lost his sight, he is led by the hand to Damascus. SECT. which had spoken to Saul, without distinctly understanding the sense of what was said, (chap. xxii. 9.) but seeing no one, nor perceiving who it was that had been speaking to him. Acts 1X. 8. 8 And Saul arose from the earth; and mascus. saw no But Saul, when he had seen this heavenly vision, arose from the earth; and though his eyes when his eyes were were open, he was incapable of discerning ob- opened, he jects, and saw no one man of those who stood man: but they led him near him; for his nerves were so affected with by the hand, and brought him into Da the glory of that light which had shone from the body of Jesus, that he had lost the power of sight, (chap. xxii. 11.) But they that were with him led him by the hand, as it would not be safe for him to ride in such a condition, and 9 brought him to Damascus. And he was at his lodgings there three days without sight, and days without sight, and during all that time he neither eat nor drankTM, but lay for a considerable part of it as in a trance, in which he saw some extraordinary visions, particularly of Ananias who was to visit him, (compare ver. 12;) and the remainder of it he employed in such deep humiliation and humble earnest prayer, as suited his past guilt, and his present astonishing circumstances. i Hearing the voice,] Beza, Vatablus, and Ciarius think, they heard Saul's voice, But not that of Christ. Dr. Hammoud, that they heard the thunder, not the articulate sound which attended it. Dr. Benson, as axey often signifies to understand, supposes these attendants were Hellenist Jess, who did not understand the Hebrew, which was the language in which Christ spake. But I think with Dr. Whitby, that the most probable way of reconciling this with chap. xxii 9; is that which is expressed in the paraphrase, and that it is confirmed by John xii. 29, when some, present at the voice from heaven which came to Christ, took it for thunder. See Mr. Biscoe, at Boyle's Lect. p. 665. IMPROVE 9 And he was three neither did cat ΠΟΣ drink. to impress him also with a deeper sense of the almighty power of Christ, and to turn his thoughts inward, while he was rendered less capable of conversing with external objects. This would also be a manifest token to others of what had happened to him in his journey, and ought to have been very convincing and humbling to those bigotted Jews, to whom, as the most probable associates in the cruel work he intended, the Sanhedrim had directed those letters, which Saul would no doubt destroy as soon as possible. m Neither eat nor drank.] Grotius and some later writers think, this was a voluntary fast, in token of his deep humiliation for the guilt he had contracted by opposing the gospel; but it might very possibly be the result of that bodily disorder, into which he was thrown by the vision, and of the attachment of his mind to those new and astonishing divine revelations, with which during this time he seems to have been fas voured. Whether those discoveries, mentioned 2 Cor. xii. 1, and seq. and Gal. 1, 11, & seq. were made at this time, is matter of some debate, and may be examined in a more proper place. Reflections on the miraculous conversion of Saul. IMPROVEMENT. SECT. XIX. LET us pause a little on this most amazing instance of the power and sovereignty of divine grace in our blessed Redeemer, and adore and rejoice in its illustrious triumph. Who of all the enemies of Christ, and of his church seemed ripest for tenfold vengeance? Whose name will be transmitted to posterity as the name of the person who most barbarously ravaged the innocent sheep and lambs of Christ's flock, and, like the ravenous wolf, most in- Ver. satiably thirsted for their blood? Whose very breath was threaten- 1 ings and slaughter against them, and the business of his life their calamity and destruction? Who but Saul; the very man for whom, under another name and character, we have contracted (if I may be allowed the expression) that tenderness of holy friendship, that next to that of his divine Master his name is written on our very hearts; and whom, though once the chiefest of sinners, we reverence as the greatest of the apostles, and love as the dearest of saints! Thy thoughts, O Lord, are not as our thoughts, nor thy ways as our ways. (Isai. Iv. 8.) He had Damascus in view, which was 3 to be the scene of new oppressions and cruelties; he was, it may be, that very moment, anticipating in thought the havock he should there make, when, behold, the light of the Lord breaks in upon them, and Jesus the Son of God condescends in person to 4 appear to him, to expostulate with him! And how tender the expostulation! Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Tender to Saul, tender to all his people; for it expresses his union with them, his participation in their interests; so that he looks upon himself as injured by those that injure them, as wounded by those that wound them. Who, in this view, does not see at once the guilt and madness, and misery of persecutors? They have undertaken a dreadful task indeed, and will find it hard to kick against the pricks; 5 they will surely find it so when Jesus appears to them in that vengeance which he here laid aside; when he sits on his awful tribunal to make inquisition for blood, and to visit upon them all their inhumanities and all their impieties. But here our merciful Redeemer chose to display the triumphs of his grace, rather than the terrors of his wrath; and, behold how sudden a transformation it wrought! Behold Saul, who had so insolently assaulted his throne, now prostrate at his feet! sur-6 rendering, as it were, at discretion; presenting a blank, that Jesus might write his own terms, and saying, as every one who is indeed the trophy of divine grace will say, Lord, what wilt thou 37 38 xix. Christ sends Ananias SECT. have me to do? As ready to employ all his powers for the service of Christ as he had ever before been to arm them for the destruction of his church. 7 What must the attendants of his journey think on such an occasion? If they were also converted, here were farther witnesses added to Christianity, and more monuments of divine grace erected; but if they were not converted, what an instance was this of their hardness and obstinacy? and even though their bodily sight was 8 continued, how much was their blindness worse than his! Let us pray that we may all be taught of God; and if we are brought to resign ourselves to God in sincerity and truth, let us acknowledge the internal operations of his grace, as that to which the victory is owing, even where external circumstances have been most remarkable. 9 The situation in which Saul lay seems indeed to have been very melancholy, his sight lost, his appetite for food gone, and all his soul wrapt up in deep astonishment, or melted in deep contrition and remorse; but though he might sow in tears, he reaped in joy, (Psal. cxxvi. 5.) It appears that light and gladness were sown for him. He came refined out of the furnace, and these three dark and dismal days are, no doubt, recollected by him in the heavenly world, as the æra from whence he dates the first beamings of that divine light in which he now dwells. Let us never be afraid of the pangs of that godly sorrow, which, working repentance to salvation not to be repented of, will soon be ten thousand times overbalanced by that exceeding weight of glory, and those full transports of eternal joy, for which it will prepare the soul. SECT. XX. Acts IX. 10. SECT. XX. Christ sends Ananias to Saul to restore his sight; Saul is baptized, and having preached the gospel at Damascus and Jerusalem, to avoid the rage of the Jews is sent by the disciples to Tarsus. Acts IX. 10-31. Acrs IX. 10. ACTS IX: 10. certain disciple at NOW while Saul lay blind at Damascus, in AND there was a said difficult to determine who he was. Dr Benson thinks him to have been a native vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold I am here Lord. unto him, Arise, and go into the street, which To cure Saul of his blindness. xx. 39 said the Lord in a was a pious man according to the strictest pre- SECT. cepts of the law, and had an honourable character among all the Jews who dwelt in the city, Acts as well as among the disciples of Jesus, to IX. 10. whom he was allied in the strictest bonds: (chap. xxii. 12.) And the Lord appeared and said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here,] Lord, ready to receive and execute 11 And the Lord said thy commands. And upon this the Lord [said] 11 to him, Arise, and go to that which is called the is called Straight, and Straight Street, and inquire in the house of Judas inquire in the house of for a man of Tarsus, whose name is Saul; for Saul of Tarsus: for be- behold, he is now praying with great earnestness hold, he pray eth, and affection; and I have compassion upon him, and am determined to send him immedi12 And hath seen in ate relief: And accordingly he hath just now 12 seen thee in a vision, as a man whose name it has been intimated to him is Ananias; and this person has been miraculously represented to him, as coming in, and laying his hand upon him, that he might recover his sight, which by a very extraordinary occurrence he has for the present Judas, for one called a vision a man named Ananias, coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 13 Then Ananias an lost. And Ananias, astonished to hear such a name, 13 swered, Lord, I have mentioned in such a connection, answered, Lord, heard by many of this man, how much evil is it possible thou shouldst send me on any mesbe hath done to thy sage of favour to Saul of Tarsus? I have heard saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests, to bind all that call on thy naine. 15 But the Lord said for of many concerning this man even at this distance, how violent a persecutor he has been, and how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; And I am credibly informed, that he is now come 14 hither to Damascus with an intent to persecute thy people here, and that he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name, and to carry them prisoners to Jerusalem to be tried there. But the Lord said unto him, Ananias, thou 15 unto him, Go thy way: canst not imagine that I am ignorant of any of these things, or that it is for thee to debate my sovereign of Jerusalem, and one who had carried the gospel from thence to Damascus. (Hist. Vol. I. p. 168.) Some of the ancients say, he was one of the seventy disciples. Others, from his being called a devout man according to the law, (chap. xxii. 12,) have thought he was a proselyte of righteousness, as it is usual now to speak. Perhaps he was a native of Damascus, converted at the first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended, and honoured with this embassy to Saul, as a Christian of the oldest standing in that place, and so, very b And he hath seen, &c.] Mr. L'Enfant |