Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. (4) My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; (5) Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. (6) And now I stand and am judge d for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: (7) Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. (8) Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? (9) I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (10) Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. (11) And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. (12) Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, (13) At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. (14) And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (15) And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. (16) But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; (17) Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, (18) To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (19) Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: (20) But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. (21) For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. (22) Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: (23) That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
The Reader will observe, (and therefrom I hope be led to observe yet more, how much the mind of the Apostle must have been under the blessed influence of the Holy Ghost), that the one great drift of all Paul's defense, was not his own defense, but in the defense of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his full, and finished salvation. This was the great point Paul had in view. And, to establish this, he begins in a most masterly manner to shew, first, his original bitter hatred to and his Gospel; and then, to set forth the wonderful change wrought upon him, by his conversion, immediately from heaven, by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. No plan could have been so happily chosen, as this which Paul adopted. For if, as the Apostle proved, and in proof appealed to all the Jews who knew him from a youth, to confirm, he had been born, and lived, a very strict and rigid Pharisee; the question instantly arose, from whence this wonderful change? Paul answers it by declaring it was a call from Heaven. And how then could the Apostle be disobedient, to the heavenly vision?
But, while the Reader will remark with me these things, which both carry with them the highest, and most decided testimonies, in proof of divine truths; and no less hold forth, in a very blessed point of view, for the comfort of the Church,, the glorious account of Paul's conversion: there is one thing more, which I hope the Reader will not fail I to notice, which is highly important; I mean, the overruling power of God, in affording this renewed occasion, and in so public a manner, for the Apostle to go through the account once more, of his wonderful conversion, Surely this was the Lord's great design all along, in the imprisonment of Paul. Hence, he shall be apprehended at Jerusalem. A multitude shall assemble, both of Jews and Gentiles, upon the Occasion. And, while the one party would have killed him; and the other party would have had him examined by scourging, neither of them shall touch him to his hurt; but he shall boldly stand upon the stairs of the Castle, and rehearse before them all, the miraculous account of his Conversion. See Acts 21:30 to the end, and Acts 22:1; 1-22.
In like manner, upon the occasion, as here related, at Caesarea, what a wonderful coincidence of circumstances are brought together to produce such an audience, as the present? Not only a large concourse of people of Caesarea, but this Agrippa, who was king of a large territory, as the history of those times shew, under the Roman emperor, and Bernice, and, no doubt, the usual attendants of Princes; all shall have rehearsed before them, Paul's history, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; they shall be told of God's sovereignty and grace to this man. And wherefore all this? The Lord Jesus answered this question, when silencing the fears of Ananias, at Paul's conversion. Go thy way, said the Lord unto him, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, Acts 9:15. And, here it is explained. Even though in chains, Paul shall twice deliver, in the most public manner possible, and before an immense congregation, (which, but for an overruling providence of the Lord, leading to it, never could have taken place;) the account of his conversion. The people of Jerusalem, and the people of Caesarea, yea, and strangers from afar, shall be all brought together for this purpose, and shall hear it. Both Jews, and Gentiles, shall be assembled on this occasion, who never would have mingled in any religious worship; and shall receive this testimony to the truth' as it is in Jesus, whether under grace, for their everlasting joy, or in despising the means of grace, to their everlasting shame and confusion, Daniel 12:10
And, Reader, before you pass away from the consideration of these things, as relating to the different audiences before whom Paul delivered in his testimony; I would beg of you to pause, and contemplate, if you can, to what extent this design of God the Holy Ghost then reached to others, not present at those meetings, to whom the wonderful story must have been related, after those assemblies broke up, and the multitudes were scattered abroad, both far and near? Who shall say, what blessed effects followed, in the conversion of numbers, who heard these things; and where that hearing was accompanied with the gifts of the Holy Ghost? Who shall calculate the blessedness, which, from that hour to the present, hath arisen, from God the Holy Ghost, having caused the record of this miraculous conversion of Paul to be in his holy Scriptures, and commissioning the hearing; or the reading of it, in Churches, and families; and among the people? Yea, to ages yet unborn, the precious record of Paul's conversion must, and will have a blessed tendency, of the highest good; for we know, and from God the Holy Ghost' s own assurance concerning this man, that it was for this cause he obtained mercy, that in him, first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, 1 Timothy 1:16 : Hence, among other causes, of which, in the present short-sighted state of our faculties, we have no discernment, we here discover enough to admire, and in that admiration to adore, the wonderful design of God the Holy Ghost, in the government of his Church, in opening such repeated opportunities for his servant proclaiming the circumstances of his conversion; and for causing double records to be made, and handed down, to all ages of his people, of an event, so full of grace to the Church, and of glory to God. Reader! will you not feel constrained, in the view of such rich, free, and unmerited mercy, (the relation of which hath been blessed to thousands), to look up, and bless God the Holy Ghost, for this instance, among numberless others, in giving to his Church, the repeated record of Paul's conversion?
I shall not think it necessary to go over the several parts of the Apostle's sermon; having already noticed some of the more striking passages, in the review of the account: Acts 9:1 and Acts 22:1. I therefore would refer the Reader to the Commentary on both those Chapter s. I shall rather desire, in addition to what is there offered, that the Reader will make the whole review of the subject, somewhat more personal, that the gracious mercy of God the Holy Ghost, in the record, as it concerns himself, may be blessed. Of all the arguments upon earth, as far as written testimonies can go, in proof of any one truth; none can produce greater, and few equal, to this of Paul's conversion. When we contemplate what he here said, of the manner of his life from his youth: his zeal in the Jewish religion: his earnestness to promote it: his extravagant anger at the first, against Christ and his people: the astonishing change wrought by his conversion: and the whole of his eventful life, which followed: such an history, attested as it is, by every evidence that can be desired; cannot but carry conviction wherever it comes, as far as outward testimony can reach, of the truth it is intended to establish. But, my Reader will bear with me while I say, that if it goes no further than this, in obtaining the cold, uninterested consent of the understanding, without influencing by grace the heart; it is of little consequence, whether believed, or not. But, when by divine teaching, Paul's history carries some resemblance, however faint, to our own; and while we read his conversion, we know of a work of grace having passed in our own hearts every tittle of the abundant grace Paul speaks of, which was shewn him, we can fully subscribe to, and say as he did: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, 1 Timothy 1:15.