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If, in such a state and temper of mind, an enthusiastical man had imagined he saw a vision from heaven denouncing the anger of God, against the Christians, and commanding him to persecute them without any mercy, it might be accounted for by the natural power of enthusiasm. But that in the very instant of his being engaged in the fiercest and hottest persecution against them, no circumstance having happened to change his opinions, or alter the bent of his disposition, he should at once imagine himself called by a heavenly vision to be the Apostle of Christ, whom but a moment before he deemed an impostor and a blasphemer, that had been justly put to death on the cross, is in itself wholly incredible, and so far from being a probable effect of enthusiasm, that just a contrary effect must have been naturally produced by that cause. The warmth of his temper carried him violently another way; and whatever delusions his imagination could raise to impose on his reason, must have been raised at that time agreeably to the notions imprinted upon it, and by which it was heated to a degree of enthusiasm, not in direct contradiction to all those notions, while they remained in their full force.

This is so clear a proposition, that I might rest the whole argument entirely upon it: but still farther to show that this vision could not be a phantom of St. Paul's own creating, I beg leave to observe, that he was not alone when he saw it; there were many others in company, whose minds were no better disposed than his to the Christian faith. Could it be possible that the imaginations of all these men should at the same time be so strangely affected, as

to make them believe that they saw "a great light shining about them, above the brightness of the sun at noon-day,” and heard the sound of a voice from heaven, though not the words which it spake, when in reality they neither saw, nor heard any such thing? Could they be so infatuated with this conceit of their fancy, as to fall down from their horses together with Saul, and be speechless, through fear, when nothing had happened extraordinary either to them or to him; especially considering that this apparition did not happen in the night, when the senses are more easily imposed upon, but at mid-day? If a sudden frenzy had seized upon Saul, from any distemper of body or mind, can we suppose his whole company, men of different constitutions and understandings, to have been at once affected in the same manner with him, so that not the distemper alone, but the effects of it should exactly agree? If all had gone mad together, would not the frenzy of some have taken a different turn, and presented to them different objects? This supposition is so contrary to nature, and all possibility, that unbelief must find some other solution, or give up the point.

I shall suppose, then, in order to try to account for this vision without a miracle, that as Saul and his company were journeying along in their way to Damascus, an extraordinary meteor did really happen, which cast a great light, as some meteors will do, at which they being affrighted, fell to the ground in the manner related. This might be possible; and fear, grounded on ignorance of such phenomena, might make them imagine it to be a vision from God. Nay, even the voice or sound they heard in the air, might

be an explosion attending this meteor, or at least there are those who would rather recur to such a supposition as this, however incredible, than acknowledge the miracle.

But how will this account for the distinct words heard by St. Paul, to which he made answer? How will it account for what followed upon it when he came to Damascus, agreeably to the sense of those words which he heard? How came Ananias to go to him there, and say, "He was chosen by God to know his will, and see that Just One, and hear the voice of his mouth? Or why did he propose to him to be baptized? What connection was there between the meteor which Saul had seen, and these words of Ananias? Will it be said that Ananias was skilful enough to take advantage of the fright he was in at that appearance, in order to make him a Christian? But could Ananias inspire him with a vision in which he saw him before he came? If that vision was the effect of imagination, how was it verified so exactly in fact? But allowing that he dreamt by chance of Ananias's coming, and that Ananias came by chance too; or, if you please, that, having heard of his dream, he came to take advantage of that, as well as of the meteor which Saul had seen, will this get over the difficulty? No: there was more to be done. Saul was struck blind, and had been so for three days. Now, had this blindness been natural, from the effects of a meteor or lightning upon him, it would not have been possible for Ananias to heal it, as we find that he did, merely by putting his hands on him and speaking a few words. This undoubtedly surpassed the power of nature; and if this was a miracle, it proves the

other to have been a miracle too, and a miracle done by the same Jesus Christ. For Ananias, when he

healed Saul, spoke to him thus: "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, has sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." And that he saw Christ both now and after this time, appears not only by what he relates Acts xxii. 17, 18. but by other passages in his epistles, 1 Cor. ix. 1. xvi. 8. Acts ix. 17. From him (as he asserts in many places of his epistles) he learned the gospel by immediate revelation, and by him he was sent to the Gentiles, Acts xxii. 21. xxiii. 11. Among those Gentiles "from Jerusalem, and round about to Illyricum," he preached the gospel of Christ, "with mighty signs and wonders wrought by the power of the Spirit of God, to make them obedient to his preaching," as he testifies himself in his Epistle to the Romans, and of which a particular account is given to us in the Acts of the Apostles; signs and wonders indeed, above any power of nature to work, or of imposture to counterfeit, or of enthusiasm to imagine. Now, does not such a series of miraculous acts, all consequential to, and dependent upon, the first revelation, put the truth of that revelation beyond all possibility of doubt or deceit? And if he could so have imposed on himself as to think that he worked them when he did not, (which supposition cannot be admitted, if he was, not all that time quite out of his senses,) how could so distempered an enthusiast make such a progress, as we know that he did, in converting the Gentile world? If the difficulties which have been shown to have obstructed that work

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were such as the ablest impostor could not overcome, how much more insurmountable were they to a madman? It is a much harder task for unbelievers to account for the success of St. Paul, in preaching the Gospel, upon the supposition of his having been an enthusiast, than of his having been an impostor. Neither of these suppositions can ever account for it; but the impossibility is more glaringly strong in this case than the other. I could enter into a particular examination of all the miracles recorded in the Acts to have been done by St. Paul, and show that they were not of a nature in which enthusiasm, either in him, or the persons he worked them upon, or the spectators, could have any part. I will mention only a few :

When he told Elymas the sorcerer, at Paphos, before the Roman deputy, that "the hand of God was upon him, and he should be blind, not seeing the sun for a season; and immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand"-had enthusiasm in the doer or sufferer any share in this act? If Paul, as an enthusiast, had thrown out this menace, and the effect had not followed, instead of converting the deputy, as we are told that he did, he would have drawn on himself his rage and contempt. But the effect upon Elymas could not be caused by any enthusiasm in Paul; much less can it be imputed to an enthusiastic belief in that person himself, of his being struck blind, when he was not, by those words of a man whose preaching he strenuously and bitterly opposed. Nor can we ascribe the conversion of Sergius, which happened upon it, to any enthusiasm.

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