CHAPTER II.

Outward Conversion-how produced-how planned.

SECTION 1.

MOTIVE, TEMPORAL ADVANTAGE-PLAN.

How flourishing the state of the church had at this period become, will be seen more fully in another place. Long before this period,-numbers of converts, in Jerusalem alone, above three thousand. The aggregate, of the property belonging to the individuals, had been formed into one common fund: the management-too great a burthen for the united labours of the eleven Apostles, with their new associate Mathias-had, under the name so inappositely represented at present by the English word deacon, been committed to seven trustees; one of whom, Stephen, had, at the instance of Paul, been made to pay, with his life, for the imprudence, with which he had, in the most public manner, indulged himself, in blaspheming the idol of the Jews-their temple*.

Of that flourishing condition, Paul, under his ori

* Acts vii. ver. 47. Speech of St. Stephen. "But Solomon "built him an house. 48. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not "in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49. Hea

ven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will "ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?" In itself, perfectly conformable all this, to the dictates of reason and the instruction of Jesus: but not the less clear blasphemy against the Mosaic law.

ginal name of Saul, had all along been a witness. While carrying on against it that persecution, in which, if not the original instigator, he had been a most active instrument, persecuting (if he himself, in what he is made to say, in Acts xxii. 4, is to be believed)—"persecuting unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women ;"—while thus occupied, he could not in the course of such his disastrous employment, have failed to obtain a considerable insight into the state of their worldly affairs.

Samaria-the field of the exploits and renown of the great sorcerer Simon, distinguished in those times by the name of Magus-Samaria, the near neighbour and constant rival, not to say enemy, of Jerusalem ;is not more than about five and forty miles distant from it. To Paul's alert and busy mind, the offer, made by the sorcerer, to purchase of the Apostles a share in the government of the church, could not have been a secret.

At the hands of those rulers of the Christian Church, this offer had not found acceptance. Shares in the direction of their affairs were not, like those in the government of the British Empire in these our days, objects of sale. The nine rulers would not come into any such bargain; their disciples were not as cattle in their eyes by those disciples themselves no such bargain would have been endured; they were not as cattle in their own eyes.

But, though the bargain proposed by the sorcerer did not take place, this evidence, which the offer of it so clearly affords,—this evidence, of the value of a situation of that sort in a commercial point of view, could not naturally either have remained a secret to Paul, or failed to engage his attention, and present to his avidity and ambition a ground of speculation-an inviting field of enterprize.

From the time when he took that leading part, in the condemnation and execution, of the too flamingly zealous manager, of the temporal concerns of the associated disciples of that disastrous orator, by whom the preaching and spiritual functions might, with so much happier an issue, have been left in the hands of the Apostles-from that time, down to that in which we find him, with letters in his pocket, from the rulers of the Jews in their own country, to the rulers of the same nation under the government of the neighbouring state of Damascus, he continued, according to the Acts (Acts ix. 1.) "yet breathing out threatenings "and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord."

Of these letters, the object was the employing the influence of the authorities from which they came, viz. the High Priest and the Elders, to the purpose of engaging those to whom they were addressed, to enable him to bring in bonds, to Jerusalem from Damascus, all such converts to the religion of Jesus, as should have been found in the place last mentioned.

In his own person the author of the Acts informs us-that, by Saul, letters to this effect were desired*. In a subsequent chapter, in the person of Paul, (viz. in the speech, to the multitude by whom he had been dragged out of the Temple, in the design of putting him to death) he informs us they were actually obtained +.

It was in the course of this his journey, and with these letters in his pocket, that, in and by the vision

*Acts ix. ver. 1 and 2.-1." And Saul (yet breathing out "threatenings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord) "went unto the High Priest,- -2. And desired of him letters to "Damascus to the Synagogues, &c."

:

† Acts xxii. ver. 5. "As also the High Priest doth bear me "witness, and all the estate of the Elders from whom also I re"ceived letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring "them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished."

seen by him while on the road-at that time and not earlier his conversion was, according to his own account of the matter, effected.

That which is thought to have been already proved, let it, at least for argument's sake, be affirmed. Let us say accordingly-this vision-story was a mere fable. On this supposition, then, what will be to be said of those same letters ?-of the views in which they were obtained?-of the use which was eventually made of them?-of the purpose to which they were applied? For all these questions one solution may serve. From what is known beyond dispute-on the one hand, of his former way of life and connexions-on the other hand, of his subsequent proceeding-an answer, of the satisfactoriness of which the reader will have to judge, may, without much expense of thought, be collected.

If, in reality, no such vision was perceived by him, no circumstance remains manifest whereby the change which so manifestly and notoriously took place in his plan of life, came to be referred to that point in the field of time-in preference to any antecedent one.

Supposing, then, the time of the change to have been antecedent to the commencement of that journey of his to Damascus-antecedent to the time of the application, in compliance with which his letter from the ruling powers at Jerusalem the object of which was to place at his disposal the lot of the Christians at Damascus, was obtained;-this supposed, what, in the endeavour to obtain this letter, was his object? Manifestly to place in his power these same Christians to place them in his power, and thereby to obtain from them whatsoever assistance was regarded by him as necessary for the ulterior prosecution of his schemes, as above indicated.

On this supposition, in the event of their giving him that assistance, which, in the shape of money and other necessary shapes, he required-on this suppo

sition, he made known to them his determination, not only to spare their persons, but to join with them in their religion; and, by taking the lead in it among the heathen, (to whom he was, in several respects, so much better qualified for communicating it than any of the Apostles or their adherents), to promote it to the utmost of his power. An offer of this nature-was it in the nature of things that it should be refused? Whatsoever was most dear to them- their own personal security, and the sacred interests of the new religion, the zeal of which was yet flaming in their bosoms, concurred in pressing it upon their acceptance.

With the assistance thus obtained, the plan wasto become a declared convert to the religion of Jesus, for the purpose of setting himself at the head of it; and, by means of the expertness he had acquired in the use of the Greek language, to preach, in the name of Jesus, that sort of religion, by the preaching of which, an empire over the minds of his converts, and, by that means, the power and opulence to which he aspired, might, with the fairest prospect of success, be aimed at.

But, towards the accomplishment of this design, what presented itself as a necessary step, was-the entering into a sort of treaty, and forming at least in appearance, a sort of junction, with the leaders of the new religion and their adherents-the Apostles and the rest of the disciples. As for them, in acceding to this proposal, on the supposition of any thing like sincerity and consistency on his part, they would naturally see much to gain and nothing to lose: much indeed to gain; no less than peace and security, instead of that persecution, by which, with the exception of the Apostles themselves (to all of whom experience seems, without exception, to have imparted the gift of prudence), the whole fraternity had so lately been driven from their homes, and scattered abroad in various directions.