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SECTION 3.

AS TO ASCENSION, ACTS IS INCONSISTENT WITH LUKE.

THUS far, the embellishments, made by our anonymous artist, have had for their ground the work of the original hand: meaning always Saint Luke, with whom the common error has identified him. Here comes an instance, in which the whole is altogether of his own workmanship. This is the story of the "two men in white apparel," by whom, what, in his eyes, were the deficiencies in the instruction offered by Jesus to the witnesses of his ascension, may be seen supplied.

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Still the same delicacy as before: by his own hand no miracle made: only a quantity of matter, fit for this purpose, put into the hands of readers; and to their imagination is left a task so natural and so agreeable.

Scarcely, after finishing his instructions to his Apostles, has Jesus ceased to be visible to them, when, if Acts is to be believed, "two men in white apparel❞— two men, to whom none of them were known, and by whom none of them were known, make their appearance, and from nobody knows where. But these same two men in white, who were they? "Oh!" says Imagination, (for the hints we have already seen given to her are quite sufficient,) "Oh!" (says Imagination) they were angels. Think for a moment, and say "what else they can have been. Had they been men,

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480. Number of days,-during which, as above, they continued seeing and hearing what they saw and heard,-according to Saint Luke, but one: according to Paul's attendant, 40. Multiply together the two improvements, that is to say, the 480 by the 40, you have 19,200 for the sum total of probative force, added by the arguments of the author of the Acts to the amount of the original quantity, as reported by Saint Luke.

"could they have been thus unknowing and unknown? "could their appearance have been thus sudden? not "less sudden than the vanishing of a spirit? not to "speak of the beautiful white clothes you see they "had, and would they have been thus dressed? To "believe them men, would be to believe in direct con"tradiction to Saint Luke; for, in his account of the "matter, as you may see, from first to last, not two

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men were there in the whole party, that were not "in the most intimate manner known to each other. "But though, by Saint Luke's account, so decided a negative is put upon all men-strangers, yet nothing "is said about angels. Angels, therefore, they may "have been, you may venture to say they were: and "the report made by all persons present, remains ne"vertheless uncontradicted."

"Another proof, that they cannot have been men, " and that therefore they were angels. Of these beings, "who were then unknown to all the company, what "was the errand? It was no less than the giving to "the whole company of the companions of Jesus,"of that Jesus, by whom, after giving to them such "instructions as he thought fit to give to them, they "had but that moment been left, the giving to them "some other instructions, which he had not thought "fit, or else had forgot, to give to them. But, as by "no men-strangers could any such conceit have been "entertained, as that, by the party in question, any "such instructions would be listened to,-so, by no "men-strangers can it be that any such instruc"tions were given :—an additional proof that they "cannot have been anything but angels." Thus readily does the imagination of the reader, answer with her logic, the call given to her by the imagination of the author.

Angels if they were, they appear not to have been very knowing ones. Sent, for the purpose of giving in

formation, and such information, nothing of that which was known to all those, to whom they came to give it,-nothing, if they themselves are to be believed, was known to them. Addressing themselves to the company-the company whom Jesus had but that moment left,-" Whom saw ye going up" (say they, v. 11.) "into heaven?" Then comes the information, which Jesus, on his departure, Jesus (we are expected to believe) has not thought fit, or else had forgot, to give. "This same Jesus," (say they, v. 11.)" which is taken up from you into heaven, "shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go "into heaven." Here we have the information, and -they to whom it was given,-what can they have been the better for it ?" Shall so come." Yes: but when and where, and to what end, and what to do? points these, as to all which, the information is altogether mute.

One other proof is yet behind. What has been seen as yet is in the first chapter. The tenth of his eight and twenty chapters is not finished, where, speaking in agreement with Saint Luke, he now disagrees with himself. On this occasion, it is by the mouth of Peter that he speaks. "God" (he makes Peter say, Acts x. 41.) "God showed him" (Jesus) "openly."-Showed him (let any body ask) and to whom? "Not (says he) 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." Thus again it is, that for any men-strangers, not a particle of room is left. But, for angels, considering the materials they are made of, no quantity of room can be insufficient: therefore, once more, nothing can these men have been but angels.

CHAPTER XV.

Law Report.-Jews versus Paul: Trials five, with Observations.

SECTION 1.

INTRODUCTION.

On the occasion of what passed at the Temple, the report of a great law-case,-to speak in modern and English language,-the case of The Jews against Paul, was begun. The judicatory before which he underwent that trial,-partly before the Jewish multitude, partly before the Roman chief by whom he was rescued,—-was a sort of mixed and extempore judicatory, something betwixt a legal and an illegal one: for, as has been seen in the case of Saint Stephen, and as may be seen in the case of the woman taken in adultery, and moreover, in the body of the law itself, a sort of mob-law might, not altogether without ground, be stated as forming part and parcel of the law of Moses. To this sort of irregular trial, succeeded, before the definitive judgment was pronounced, no fewer than four others, each of them before a tribunal, as regular as any the most zealous supporter of what is called legitimacy could desire. In execution of this definitive judgment it was, that Paul was sent, on that half-forced, half-voluntary expedition of his, to Rome: at which place, on his arrival at that capital, the Acts history closes. Of the reports of these several trials, as given in the Acts,-follows a summary view, accompanied with a few remarks for elucidation.

SECTION 2.

TRIAL I. PLACE, JERUSALEM TEMPLE.-JUDICATORY, THE MIXED MULTITUDE.—Acts xxii. 1 to 21. SCENE, the Temple. Judges, prosecutors, and-stated as intended executioners, a Jerusalem multitude. Sole class, by whom any declared or special cause of irritation had been received, the Christianized Jews, provoked by Paul's preachings against the law of the land, to which they as yet maintained their adherence; by his intrusion upon their society, by which, were it only for his former persecution, he could not but be abhorred; and by the notorious perjury he was at that moment committing, having chosen to commit it, rather than cease to obtrude upon them the object of their abhorrence.

Of the particulars of the accusation nothing is said: but, the above circumstances, and the subsequent charges made upon him the next day by the constituted authorities,-who immediately took up the matter, and carried on a regular prosecution against him,— sufficiently show, what, if expressed, would have been the purport of them. By the preparations made for execution, we shall see broken off the defence, before it had come, if ever it was designed to come, to the substance of the alledged offence.

Points touched upon in it are these:

1. Defendant's birth-place, Tarsus; parentage, Jewish; religious persuasion, Pharasaical; education, under Gamaliel, verse 3.

2. Part, borne by him, in the persecution of the Christians, when Stephen was stoned: his commission for that purpose stated, and the High Priest and Elders called to witness, verses 4 and 5.

N.B. Time of that same commission, according to

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