will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear
the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his wit-
ness unto all men, of what thou hast seen and
heard. And now why tarriest thou ? Arise, and
be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on
the name of the Lord." Acts 22 : 10-16.

In the 9th chapter of the same book, the author
of it relates the same story with some other cir-
cumstances not mentioned in these accounts ; as,
that Saul in a vision saw Ananias before he came
to him, coming in, and putting his hand on him,
that he might receive his sight. And that when
Ananias had spoken to him, immediately there fell
from his eyes as it had been scales. Acts 9 : 12, 18.

And agreeably to all these accounts, St. Paul
thus speaks of himself in the epistles he wrote to
the several churches he planted ; the authenticity
of which cannot be doubted without overturning
all rules by which the authority and genuineness
of any writings can be proved or confirmed. ?

To the Galatians he says, " I certify you, breth-
ren, that the gospel which was preached of me is
not after man. For I neither received it of man,



134 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversa-
tion in time past in the Jews' rehgion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God,
and wasted it : and profited in the Jews' rehgion
above many my equals in mine own nation, being
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my
fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, and called me by his
grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach
him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood," etc. Gal. 1 : 11-16.

To the Philippians he says, "If any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in
the flesh, I more : circumcised the eighth day, of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a He-
brew of the Hebrews ; as touching the law, a
Pharisee ; concerning zeal, persecuting the church ;
touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless. But what things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ,"
Phil. 3 : 4-8.

And in his epistle to Timothy he writes thus :
*^ I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath enabled



CONVERSION OF ST. RAUL. 135

me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me
into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer,
and a persecutor, and mjurious ; but I obtained
mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."
1 Tim. 1 : 12, 13.

In other epistles he calls himself ''an apostle by
the will of God, by the commandment of God our
Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ ; and an apostle,
not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ,
and God the Father, who raised him from the
dead." 2 Cor. 1:1; Col. 1 : 1 ; 1 Tim. 1:1; Gal.
1 : "• . All which implies some miraculous call that
made him an apostle. And to the Corinthians he
says, after enumerating many appearances of Je-
sus after his resurrection, ''And last of all he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
1 Cor. 15:8.

Now, it must of necessity be, that the person
attesting these things of himself, and of whom they
are related in so authentic a manner, either was
an IMPOSTOR, who said what he knew to be false,
with an intent to deceive ; or he was an enthu-
siast, who, by the force of an overheated imagina-
tion, imposed on himself; or he was deceived by
the fraud of others, and all that he said must be
imputed to the power of that deceit ; or what he
declared to have been the cause of his conversion,
and to have happened in consequence of it, did all '



136 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

REALLY HAPPEN ; and therefore the Christian relig-
ion is a divine revelation.

I. PAUL NOT AN IMPOSTOR.

Now, that he was not an impostor, who said
what he knew to be false, with an intent to de-
ceive, I shall endeavor to prove, by showing that
he could have no rational motives to undertake such
an imposture, nor could have possibly carried it on
with any success by the means we know he em-
ployed.

First, then, the inducement to such an imposture
must have been one of these two : either the hope
of advancing himself by it in his temporal interest,
credit, or power ; or the gratification of some of his
passions under the autliority of it, and by the means
it afforded.

Now, these were the circumstances in which
St. Paul declared his conversion to the faith of
Christ Jesus : that Jesus who called himself the
Messiah, and Son of God, notwithstanding the in-
nocence and holiness of his life, notwithstanding:
the miracles by which he attested his mission, had
been crucified by the Jews as an impostor and
blasphemer ; which crucifixion not only must,
humanly speaking, have intimidated others from
following him, or espousing his doctrines, but
served to confirm the Jews in their opinion that



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 137

he could not be their promised Messiali, who, ac-
cording to all their prejudices, was not to suffer in
any manner, but to reign triumphant for ever here
upon earth. His apostles, indeed, though at first
they appeared to be terrified by the death of their
Master, and disappointed in all their hopes, yet
had surprisingly recovered tlieir spirits again, and
publicly taught in his name, declaring him to be
risen from the grave, and confirming that miracle
by many they worked, or pretended to work, them-
selves. But the chief priests and rulers among the
Jews were so far from being converted, either by
their words or their works, that they had begun a
severe persecution against them, put some to
death, imprisoned others, and were going on with
implacable rage against the whole sect. In all
these severities St. Paul concurred, being himself
a Pharisee, "bred up at the feet of Gamaliel,"
Acts t : 9, 22, 23, one of the chief of that sect.
Nor was he content, in the heat of his zeal, with
persecuting the Christians who were at Jerusalem,
but "breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the
high-priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus
to the synagogues, that if he found any of this
way, whether they w^ere men or women, he might
bring them bound to Jerusalem." Acts 9:1, 2,
His request was complied with, and he " went to



138 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

Damascus with authority and commission from
the chief priests." Acts 26 : 12. At this instant
of time, and under these circumstances, did he bcr
come a disciple of Christ. What could be his mo-
tive to take such a part? Was it the hope of
increasing his wealth? The certain consequence
of his taking that part was not only the loss of all
that he had, but of all hopes of a(!quiring more.
Those whom he left were the disposers of wealth,
of dignity, of power, in Judea ; those whom he
went to, were indigent men, oppressed and kept
down from all means of improving their fortunes.
They among them who had more than the rest,
shared what they had with their brethren ; but
with this assistance the whole communit}'- was
hardly supplied with the necessaries of life. And
even in churches he afterwards planted himself,
which were much more wealthy than that of Jeru-
salem, so far was St. Paul from availing himself of
their charity, or the veneration they had for him,
in order to draw that wealth to himself, that he
often refused to take any part of it for the neces-
saries of life.

Thus he tells the Corinthians : " Even unto this
present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are
naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwell-
ing-place ; and labor, working with our own hands,"
ICor. 4:11.



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 139

In another epistle he writes to ^hcm, " Behold,
the third time I am ready to come to you ; and I
will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not
yours, but you ; for the children ought not to lay
up for the parents, l)ut the parents for the chil-
dren." 2 Cor. 12 : 14.

To the Thessalonians he says, ''As we were
allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel,
even so w^e speak, not as pleasing men, but God,
which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time
used we flattering words, nor a cloak of covetous-
ness ; God is witness ; nor of men sought we
glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we
might have been burdensome, as the apostles of
Christ. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and
travail : for laboring night and day, because we
would not be chargeable to any of you, we preach-
ed unto you the gospel of God." And again in
another letter to them he repeats the same testi-
mony of his disinterestedness : '' Neither did we
eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with
labor and travail night and day, that we might not
be chargeable to any of you." 2 Thess. 3 : 8. And
when he took his farewell of the church of Ephe-
sus, to whom he foretold that they should see him
no more, he gives this testimony of himself, and
appeals to them for the truth of it : ''I have cov-
eted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea,



140 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

ye yourselves : know, that these hands have min-
istered unto my necessities, and to them that were
with me." Acts 20 : 33, 34. It is then evident,
both from the state of the church when St. Paul
first came into it, and from his behavior after-
wards, that he had no thoughts of increasing his
wealth by becoming a Christian ; whereas, by con-
tinuing to be their enemy, he had almost certain
hopes of making his fortune by the favor of those
who were at the head of the Jewish state, to whom
nothing could more recommend him than the zeal
that he showed in that persecution. As to credit
or reputation, that too lay all on the side he for-
sook. The sect he embraced was under the great-
est and most universal contempt of any then in
the world. The chiefs and leaders of it were men
of the lowest birth, education, and rank. They
had no one advantage of parts, or learning, or other
human endowments to recommend them. The
doctrines they taught were contrary to those
which they who were accounted the wisest and
most knowing of their nation professed. The
wonderful works that they did were either im-
puted to magic or to imposture. The very author
and head of their faith had been condemned as a
criminal, and died on the cross between two thieves.
Could the disciple of Gamaliel think he should gain
any credit or reputation by becoming a teacher in



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. HI

a college of fishermen ? Coiiid he flatter himself
that either in or out of Judea the doctrines he
taught could do him any honor ? No ; he knew
very well that the preaching Christ crucified was
a stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the Greeks
foolishness. 1 Cor. 1 : 23. He afterwards found
by Experience, that in all parts of the world, con-
tempt was the portion of whoever engaged in
preaching a mystery so unpalatable to the world,
to all its passions and pleasures, and so irrecon-
cilable to the pride of human reason. " We are
made," says he to the Corinthians, " as the filth of
the world, the off-scouring of all things unto this
day." 1 Cor. 4 : 13. Yet he went on as zealously
as he set out, and was not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Certainly then, the desire of glory, the
ambition of making to himself a great name, was
not his motive to embrace Christianity. Was it
then the love of power ? Power over whom ? over
a flock of sheep driven to the slaughter, whose
Shepherd himself had been murdered a little be-
fore? All he could hope from that power was to
be marked out in a particular manner for the same
knife which he had seen so bloodily drawn against
them. Could he expect more mercy from the chief
priests and the rulers, than they had shown to
Jesus himself? Would not their anger be proba-
bly fiercer against the deserter and betrayer of



142 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. •

their cause, than against any other of the apos-
tles ? Was power over so mean and desj^sed a
set of men worth encountering so much danger?
But still it may be said, there are some natures so
fond of power that they will court it at any risk,
and be pleased with it even over the meanest.
Let us see then what power St. Paul assumed
over the Christians. Did he pretend to any supe-
riority over the other apostles ? No ; he declared
himself the least of them, and less than the least
of all saints. Eph. 3 : 8 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 9. Even in
the churches he planted himself, he never pretend-
ed to any primacy or power above the other apos-
tles ; nor would he be regarded any otherwise by
them, than as the instrument to them of the grace
of God, and preacher of the gospel, not as the head
of a sect. To the Corinthians he writes in these
words : " Now this I say, that every one of you
saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Ce-
phas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided ? Was
Paul crucified for you ? Or were ye baptized in the
name of Paul ?" 1 Cor. 1:12, 13. And in another
place, " Who then is Paul, and who is xipollos, but
ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord
gave to every man?" 1 Cor. 3:5. "For we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."
2 Cor. 4 : 5.



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 143

All the autliority he exercised over them was
purely, of a spiritual nature, tending to their in-
struction and edification, without any mixture of
that civil dominion in which alone an impostor can
find his account. Such was the dominion acquired
and exercised through the pretence of divine in-
spiration, by many ancient legislators, by Minos,
Rhadamanthus, Triptolemus, Lycurgus, Numa,
Zaleucus, Zoroaster, Xamolxis, nay, even by Py-
thagoras, who joined legislation to liis philosophy,
and like the others pretended to miracles and reve-
lations from God, to give a more venerable sanction
to the laws he prescribed. Such, in latter times,
was attained by Odin among the Goths, by Mo-
hammed among the Arabians, by Mango Copac
among the Peruvians, by the Sofi family among
the Persians, and that of the Xerififs among the
Moors. To such a dominion did also aspire the
many false Messiahs among the Jews. In short,
a spiritual authority was only desired as a founda-
tion for temporal power, or as the support of it,
by all these pretenders to divine inspiration, and
others whom history mentions in different ages
and countries to have used the same arts. But
St. Paul innovated nothing in government or civil
affairs ; he meddled not with legislation ; he formed
no commonwealths ; he raised no seditions ; he
affected no temporal power. Obedience to then:



144 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

rulers, Romans 13, was the doctrine he taught to
the churches he planted ; and what he taught he
practised himself: nor did he use any of those
soothing arts by which ambitious and cunning men
recommend themselves to the favor of those whom
they endeavor to subject to their power. What-
ever was 'UTong in the disciples under his care he
freely reproved, as it became a teacher from God,
of which numberless instances are to be found in
all his epistles. And he was as careful of them
when he had left them, as while he resided among
them, which an impostor would hardly have been,
whose ends were centred all in himself. This is
the manner in which he writes to the Philippians :
" Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obey-
ed, not in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling." Phil. 2:12. And a little
after he adds the cause why he interested himself
so much in their conduct, " That ye may be blame-
less and harmless, the sons of God in the midst of
a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word
of hfe ; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, thaf
I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and ser-
vice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all."
Phil. 2 : 15-17. Arc these the words of an impos-



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 145

tor, desiring nothing but temporal power ? No ;
they are evidently written by one who looked be-
yond the bounds of this life. But it may be said
that he affected at least an absolute spiritual power
over the churches he formed. I answer, he preach-
ed Christ Jesus, and not himself. Christ was the
head, he only the minister ; and for such only he
gave himself to them. He called those who as-
sisted him in preaching the gospel, his fellow-
laborers and fellow-servants.

So far was he from taking any advantage of a
higher education, superior learning, and more use
of the world, to claim to himself any supremacy
above the other apostles, that he made light of all
these attainments, and declared that he came not
with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, but de-
termined to know nothing among those he con-
verted, save Jesus Christ- and him crucified. And
the reason he gave for it was, that their faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. 1 Cor. 2 : 1-5. Now this conduct
put him quite on a level with the other apostles,
who knew Jesus Christ as well as he, and had the
power of God going along with their preaching in
an equal degree of virtue and grace. But an im-
postor, whose aim had been power, would have
acted a contrary part ; he would have availed him-
self of all those advantages, he would have ex-

Infidelity. 10



146 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

tolled them as highly as possible, he would have
set up himself by virtue of them as head of that
sect to which he acceded, or at least of the prose-
lytes made by himself. This is no more than
what was done by every philosopher who formed
a school ; much more was it natural in one who
propagated a new religion.

We see that the bishops of Rome have claimed
to themselves a primacy, or rather a monarchy
over the whole Christian church. If St. Paul had
been actuated by the same lust of dominion, it was
much easier for him to have succeeded in such an
attempt. It was much easier to make himself
head of a few poor mechanics and fishermen,
whose superior he had always been in the eyes
of the world, than for the bishops of Rome to re-
duce those of Ravenna or Milan, and other great
metropolitans, to their obedience. Besides the
opposition they met with from such potent antag-
onists, they were obhged to support their preten-
sions in direct contradiction to those very Scrip-
tures which they were forced to ground them upon,
and to the indisputable practice of the whole Chris-
tian church for many centuries. These were such
difficulties as required the utmost ability and skill
to surmount. But the first preachers of the gospel
had easier means to corrupt a faith not yet fully
known, and which in many places could only be



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 147

known by what they severally published them-
selves. It was necessary, indeed, while they
continued together, and taught the same people,
that they should agree,- otherwise the credit of
their sect would have been overthrown ; but when
they separated, and formed different churches in
distant countries, the same necessity no longer
remained.

It was in the power of St. Paul to model most
of the -churches he formed, so as to favor his own
ambition ; for he preached the gospel in parts of
the world where no other apostles had been, where
Christ was not named till he brought the know-
ledge of him, avoiding to build upon another man's
foundation. Rom. 15 : 20. Now, had he been an
impostor, would he have confined himself to just
the same gospel as was delivered by the other
apostles, where he had such a latitude to preach
what he pleased without contradiction ? Would
he not have twisted and warped the doctrines of
Christ to his own ends, to the particular use and
expediency of his own followers, and to the pecu-
liar support and increase of his own power ? That
this was not done by St. Paul, or by any other of
the apostles in so many various parts of the world
as they travelled into, and in churches absolutely
under their own direction — that the gospel preach-
ed by them all should be one and the same, the



148 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

doctrines agreeing in every particular, without any
one of them attributing more to himself than he
did to the others, or establishing any thing even in
point of order or discipline different from the rest,
or more advantageous to his own interest, credit,
or power, is a most strong and convincing proof of
their not being impostors, but acting entirely by
divine inspiration.

If any one imagines that he sees any difference
between the doctrines of St. James and St. Paul
concerning justification by faith or by works, let
him read Mr. Locke's excellent comment upon the
epistles of the latter ; or let him only consider
these words in the first epistle to the Corinthians,
chap. 9:27: " But I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection ; lest that by any means,
when I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway."

If St. Paul had beheved or taught that faith
without works was sufficient to save a disciple of
Christ, to what purpose did he keep under his body,
since his salvation was not to depend upon that
being subjected to the power of his reason, but
merely upon the faith he professed? His faith
was firm, and so strongly founded upon the most
certain conviction, that he had iio reason to doubt
its continuance ; how could he then think it possi-
ble, that while he retained that saving faith, he



CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 149

might nevertheless he a castaumy? Or if he had
supposed that his election and calling was of such a
nature as that it irresistibly impelled him to good,
and restrained him from evil, how could he express
any fear, lest the lusts of his body should prevent
his salvation ? Can such an apprehension be made
to agree with the notion of absolute predestination,
as destroying the motive to good works, by some
ascribed to St. Paul ? He could have no doubt
that the grace of God had been given to him in the
most extraordinary maimer ; yet we see that he
felt the necessity of continual watchfulpess, lest
he should fall, through the natural prevalence of
bodily appetites, if not duly restrained by his own
voluntary care. This single passage is a full an-
swer, out of the mouth of St. Paul himself, to all
the charges that have been made of his depreciat-
ing good works in what he has said concerning
grace, election, and justification.

If, then, it appears that St. Paul had nothing to
gain by taking this part, let us consider, on the
other hand, what he gave up, and what he had rea-
son to FEAR. He gave up a fortune, which he was
then in a fair way of advancing : he gave up that
reputation which he had acquired by the labors
and studies of his whole life, and by a behavior
which had been blameless, "touching the right-



150 CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL.

eousness which is in the law." Phil.^ 3:6. He
gave up his friends, his relations, and family, from
whom he estranged and banished himself for life ;
he gave up that religion which he had profited in
above many his equals in his own nation, and
those traditions of his fathers which he had been,
more exceedingly zealous of. Gal. 1 : 14. How
hard this sacrifice was to a man of his warm tem-
per, and above all men, to a Jew, is worth con-
sideration. That nation is known to have been
more tenacious of their religious opinions than any
other upon the face of the earth. The strictest and
proudest sect among them was that of the Phari-
sees, under whose discipline St. Paul was bred.
The departing, therefore, so suddenly from their
favorite tenets, renouncing their pride, and from
their disciple becoming their adversary, was a most
difficult effort for one to make so nursed up in the
esteem of them, and whose early prejudices were
so strongly confirmed by all the power of habit,
all the authority of example, and all the allure-
ments of honor and interest. ' These were the sac-
rifices he had to make in becoming a Christian ;
let us now see what inconveniences he had to fear :
the implacable vengeance of those he deserted;
that sort of contempt which is hardest to bear, the
contempt of those whose good opinion he had most
eagerly sought, and all those other complicated



.CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. 151

evils which he described in his second epistle to