34 Saul is struck with trembling and astonishment, xix. Acts 4 And he fell to a voice, saying unto SECT. the lustre of the meridian sun; (chap. xxii. 6. 5 Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And 5 And he said, Who 6 6 And he trembling Lord, And when Saul heard and saw, that he who had so often been affronted and despised by him, and astonished, said, even that Jesus of Nazareth whom he had so blasphemously and virulently opposed, was such a glorious and powerful person, and yet that, instead of destroying him immediately as he might with ease have done, he had condescended thus compassionately to expostulate with him, his mind was almost overborne with an unutter of Jesus, though Stephen had, probably in f I am Jesus the Nazarene.] So it is that g It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.] Dr. Hammond truly observes, that this is a proverbial expression of impotent rage, which hurts one's self, and not that against which it was levelled.It is no great matter, whether the latter part of able this cerse and the beginning of the next, (which clause is omitted in many ancient copies and versions,) were originally here, or whether (as Dr. Mill supposes) it were not, since it certainly is found in the parallel passages, chap. xxii. 8. xxvi. 14. But I think it most probable, it was accidentally omitted in some very old copy, whence the rest were taken, and that the omission was occasioned by the transcriber mistaking the words, a xuşi, ver. 6, for the like words in ver. 3, a thing which might easily happen in transcribing.-I hope, I need make no apology for giving the reader, in the first view of this wonderful and delightful story, a full account of it in a kind of compound text, in which all the circumstances, added by Paul himself elsewhere, are inserted in one continued narration. But I reserve the notes on the passages so brought in, till we come to the chapters to which they belong. Stood He is told by Jesus he should be directed what to do. Lord, what wilt thou able mixture of contending passions; so that SECT. bave nie to do? And trembling at the thought of what he had done, the Lord said unto him, xix. Acts 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. 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 which thou hast seen, unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, un to whom now I send thee, from darkness to light, Acts 35 XXVI, 16 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 eves, 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 inheritance among them that are sanctified by means of that faith which is in me" giveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ACTS IX. 7. And voice, but sceing 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 bim stood had been struck upon the first appearance of speechless, hearing a 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. i Hearing 36 Having lost his sight, he is led by the hand to Damascus. SECT. which had spoken to Saul, without distinctly xix. understanding the sense of what was said, (chap. xxii. 9.) but seeing no one, nor perceiving who Acts it was that had been speaking to him. IX. 8. 8 And Saul arose when his eyes were saw no the hand, and brought him into Da mascus. But Saul, when he had seen this heavenly vision, arose from the earth; and though his eyes from the earth; and 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 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 9 And he was three 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 Clarius think, they heard Saul's voice, But not that of Christ. Dr. Hammond, that they heard the thunder, not the articulate sound which attended it. Dr. Benson, as axxv often signifies to understand, supposes these attendants were Hellenist Jews, 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. 666. k But seeing no one ] So it was with the men who were with Daniel, when he saw the vision, (Dan. x. 7.) And the Heathens, however they came by the notion, thought their deities often rendered themselves visible to one only, in a company consisting of many. See Eisner, Observ. Vol. I. p. 403-405. I Without sight.] Scales grew over his eyes, not only to intimate to him the blindness of the state he had been in, but IMPROVE neither did cat nor 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. SECT. IMPROVEMENT. 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 E 2 have 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. 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 era 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. 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. ACTS IX. 10. ACTS IX. 10. NOW while Saul lay blind at Damascus, in AND there was a those melancholy circumstances which have been just described, it pleased the Lord, on the third day, to provide for his comfort and instruction for there was a certain disciple at Damascus, whose name was Ananias, and he certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, and to him said difficult to determine who he was. Dr Benson thinks him to have been a native of |