for any proper.

such thing;-it would have been im

For what his countrymen before whom he is vindicating himself laid to his charge, was not any thing done by him whilst he was a Jew only with his conduct, then, they were entirely satisfied; but what they accused him of, was, his quitting their religion, and becoming a leader of the sect of the Nazarenes, as they called the christians by way of derision; in which they believed him to have been actuated by the very worst motives.

Paul, on the contrary, contrary, in this in this respect maintained, that he had acted throughout most deliberately, and with a clear approving conscience, in the change that he had made, to that very moment that he was speaking before them, although they laid such heavy things to his charge, and was ready to submit his reasons to them for believing Jesus to have been the Christ, the great prophet promised of God to them, if they would only have the patience to hear him.

It was this bold assertion of his innocence in this matter only of which he was accused, that incensed the judge of the court, a bad arbitrary

bitrary man, so much against him, and incited him to such an unwarrantable abuse of his power, as to order the prisoner to be struck upon the face for it; thus prejudging him before he was heard, and showing himself resolved at all events to condemn him.

That this is a true state of the case further appears from the apostle's defence of himself, thus rudely interrupted, in the next chapter, where he recapitulates nothing of his former life when a Jew, but only defends the part he had taken in embracing christianity; and that he had lived as one that assuredly looked for another life after this, where he was to give account of himself and his actions to God that placed him here.

But what must for ever acquit Paul of the least tendency to justify himself, or to think that he had not been greatly sinful in the cruel and wicked part he had taken against the christians, is a digression which he makes concerning himself in the beginning of his first epistle to Timothy; where, having mentioned the singular favour done to him by Almighty God, through the ministry of Christ, in making choice of and qualifying him by the gifts

VOL. II.

2 D

of

of the holy spirit, to be a preacher of the gospel to the heathen world lost in sin and darkness, he cannot refrain from magnifying the divine goodness, and owning with deep humility that such a favour towards him was particularly enhanced in being conferred on him, who was most unworthy of it for his outrageous opposition to the gospel, and most barbarous usage of its professors.

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry: who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious." 1 Tim. i. 12, 13.

He that says such things of himself, that he had such enormous guilt upon him, could never say that he had lived in all good conscience all his life; a good conscience is not consistent with such practices. He could therefore only use such language concerning himself after he became a christian.

It may deserve to be noticed that, after the above acknowledgement of his former guilt and criminality, it follows; "But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief." Here, by the way, we may observe the great blessing of having had a sense of God

early

early impressed upon his mind, which he never lost. During his persecution of christians, he believed Jesus to be an impostor: had he believed or suspected him to have been a divine prophet and teacher, he owns that his case would have been beyond the limits of the divine forgiveness; i. e. it would have indicated a temper quite hardened against God and goodness, and incapable, by any ordinary means, of being amended.

The apostle, therefore, is very far from throwing in this remark as any excuse for himself: on the contrary, he therein intimates that there could be no greater sinner than he had been, except those whose enormous guilt placed them out of the reach of mercy.

I should now proceed to examine some points of great moment, belonging to the subject before us, namely;

Whether sincerity will always justify a man before God.

The nature and obligations of an erroneous conscience.

How far ignorance will excuse in rejecting the gospel, or in any gross violation of moral duty.

But the discussion of these subjects would

carry us much beyond the space of time allotted to us at present; I shall therefore conclude now with laying before you a few incidental remarks, leaving the rest to some future opportunity. First then,

III.

1. No one will look upon these sad stains in Paul's character before he was a christian, as set down to detract from or depreciate his great worth and excellence.

When I contemplate his life and conduct after his conversion: his steady virtue; his undissembled piety to God; his indefatigable labours in preaching, and his sufferings for the gospel, i. e. to make all mankind good and happy for ever; his earnestness in behalf of us christians of the gentile race, to deliver the gospel to us as plain a doctrine and as unincumbered as possible with any burdensome superstitious mixtures; the spirit of piety, and of the most sublime morality breathing through all his writings ;-I cannot help consi dering and admiring him, as having become one of the first and most excellent of human kind, after his Lord and Master Jesus, and ever to be honoured and imitated by us.

But,