Ver. 9. Contrary to the name, &c.] Tertullian testifieth, that in the primitive Christians, nomen damnabatur, non crimen aut scelus: solum nomen innocuum, hominibus innocuis esse pro crimine, &c. And Tacitus to the same purpose, that when Nero had set the city on fire for his pleasure, and then fathered it upon the Christians, a great company of them were presently slaughtered, haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis, convicti: Not for any fault whereof they could be convicted, but out of a general hatred of their persons and religion.

Ver. 10. I gave my voice] So did Gerson to the condemnation of John Huss and Jerome of Prague at the Council of Constance, against his conscience doubtless. (Joh. Manl.) So did the Lord Cromwell to the condemnation of Lambert the martyr; for the which he afterwards cried him mercy. And so did Sir John Cheek, in Queen Mary’s days, out of a base fear of the bishops; he was, saith Mr Fox, through the crafty handling of the Catholics, allured first to dine and company with them; at length drawn unawares to sit in the place where the poor martyrs were brought before Bonner and other bishops, to be condemned; and so to give his voice, or seem to do so by his presence there. The remorse whereof so mightily wrought in his heart, that not long after he left this mortal life; whose fall though it was full of infirmity, yet his rising again by repentance was great, and his end comfortable.

Ver. 11. Compelled them to blaspheme] So the ancient persecutors compelled many not only to renounce their religion, but to curse Christ. (Plin. Epist. ad Trajan.) When the Emperor Heraclius sent ambassadors to Chosroes, king of Persia, to desire peace of him, he received this threatening answer: I will not spare you, till I have made you curse your crucified God, and adore the sun. He was afterwards (like another Sennacherib) deposed and murdered by his son Siroes. And being exceedingly mad, I persecuted] He was not then so mad in persecuting, but when God turned the stream, he was judged by some as mad in preaching, 2 Corinthians 5:13, and pressing toward tbe high prize which he persecuted (that is, his word, διωκω, Philippians 3:14) with as much eagerness as ever he had done God’s poor saints and servants.

Ver. 12. [See Trapp on “Ac 9:2”]

Ver. 13. [See Trapp on “Ac 9:2”]

Ver. 14. I heard a voice] I not only saw a sign. So in the transfiguration, a voice came forth to them from the excellent glory. Signo verbum est coniungendum. God in the sacraments, for the furtherance of our faith, affects both our learned senses, as Aristotle calleth our sight and hearing; giving us his word both audible and visible.

Ver. 15. See Acts 9:5.

Ver. 16. But rise and stand upon thy feet] Thus, “ Deiecit ut relevet; premit ut solatia praestet; Enecat, ut possit vivificare, Deus.”

Ver. 17. Delivering thee from] For though thou art sent to them for their greatest good, viz. “To open their eyes,” &c., Acts 26:18, yet they shall fly at thine eyes, as frantic people fly in the faces of their physicians; they shall fly against the light that thou shalt set up among them, as bats do, because their works are evil; they shall kick and wince, as horse and mule at those that come to cure them, Psalms 32:9. But I will deliver thee, fear not.

Ver. 18. To open their eyes, &c.] An excellent description of St Paul’s commission to preach, by the five ends or effects of it, viz. conversion, faith, remission of sins, sanctification, salvation.

Ver. 19. I was not disobedient] As I should have been if I had taken flesh and blood into counsel, Galatians 1:16 [See Trapp on “Ga 1:16”] but silencing my reason, I exalted my faith, and putting myself into God’s hands, said, ‘ Te duce, vera sequor: te duce, falsa nego. ”

Ver. 20. Works meet for repentance] Gr. “worthy of repentance,” that weigh just as much as repentance doth. The Syriac hath it, works equal and even with repentance. [See Trapp on “Mt 3:8”]

Ver. 21. Went about to kill me] Gr. διαχειρισασθαι, to tear me in pieces, or pull me limb from limb with their own hands, as the Senators di d Romulus, and afterward Caesar. The Italians that served the French king, having taken the town of Barre, did out of hatred of religion rip up a living child, and taking out his liver, being as yet red hot, they did eat it as meat. Many children there at the same time had their hearts pulled out, which in rage those cannibal Papists gnawed with their teeth. (Acts and Mon.)

Ver. 22. Saying none other thing] Truth is one and the same in all ages; it is also ancient, and ever at agreement with itself. As on the other side, error is new, manifold, dissonant, and contradictory to itself, and much more to the truth. Paul delivered no new truths, but stood in the good old way of Moses and the prophets, and followed them, κατα ποδα. Those that stumble from the anc ient ways, to walk in “new paths, in a way not cast up,” they are people that “forget God,” Jeremiah 18:15, to sacrifice to new gods, that came newly up, Deuteronomy 32:17; they are none of God’s ancient people, Isaiah 44:7, but an upstart generation that knew not Joseph.

Ver. 23. That Christ should suffer] This verse may be fitly called a little Bible, a short gospel, a model of the mystery of godliness. The Greek runs thus, “Whether Christ should be a sufferer; ει παθητος ο χριστος, &c.,” “whether he should be the fir st that should rise from the dead.” As if St Paul should hold forth these questions, and offer to prove them out of the prophets and Moses: and hence (haply) that way of expounding the Scriptures, by propounding doubts and questions. Abulensis hath his eight-score questions (and more than a good many sometimes) upon the shortest chapter in the Bible. The schoolmen were great questionists; and they had it from the Artemonites, a sort of heretics, A. D. 220, that, out of Aristotle and Theophrastus, corrupted the Scripture, by turning all into questions. In detestation of whose vain jangling and doting about questions (Jac. Revius, 1 Timothy 6:4), Luther saith, Propre est ut iurem: I dared to swear, almost, that there was not one school divine that rightly understood one chapter of the Gospel. So that we may say of their expositions as one did once, when being asked whether he should read such a comment upon Aristotle? he answered, Yes, when Aristotle is understood, then read the comment.

Ver. 24. Much learning hath made thee mad] Core diminuit harem, the seed is lessened, let it grow, as Ennius hath it. Paul was indeed a man of much learning; for besides the Bible, and the Jewish records, he had read the poets (whom also he citeth), and Plato, from whom he borrowe d that excellent word αναζωπυρειν, 2 Timothy 1:6 “Stir up thy gift,” &c. But if Paul were so great a scholar, why did not Festus show him more favour, or at least do him better justice? Aeneas Sylvius was wont to say of learning, that popular men should esteem it as silver, noblemen as gold, princes prize it as pearls. Festus might possibly have heard or read of Antony the Triumvir, that when Varro (his very enemy, and of a contrary faction) was proscribed for death, he thus gallantly superscribed his name, Vivat Varro vir doctissimus: Let Varro have his life for his learning’ sake. And if Antipater (saith Sir Walter Raleigh, Hist. of the World) upon his conquest had carried all other actions never so mildly, yet for killing Demosthenes, all that read his eloquent orations do condemn him for a bloody tyrant to this day.

Ver. 25. I am not mad] Paul rather pitieth his ignorance than blameth his blasphemy, and allegeth his own words for a proof of his non-madness; like as Sophocles produced a tragedy he had recently made, that was full of art and wit, when his sons would have begged him for a dotard. These real apologies are most powerful; when thus managed, especially, with “meekness of wisdom.”

Ver. 26. For this thing was not done in a corner] Neither Christ’s passion, nor Paul’s conversion. Rome rang of the former, and it was seriously debated in the senate-house, whether Christ should not be received into the number of the gods? Tiberius would have had it so; but it was carried against him, because of the poverty of Christ’s life and the infamy of his death. And as for Paul’s conversion, it was far and near talked of. For as a bell cannot be turned from one side to another, but it will make a sound and report its own motion; so will the turning of a sinner from evil to good; such a sinner especially: his conversion was toto notissima caelo: like the trumpet of God in Mount Sinai, it filled the whole country.

Ver. 27. I know thou believest] sc. The truth of what the prophets spoke concerning Christ, and that are accordingly fulfilled in him. Faith hath for its general object the whole Holy Scripture; but for its special object the promises, or rather Christ revealed in the promises. All the Israelites beheld the wilderness and the whole hemisphere; but such only as were stung, looked up to the brazen serpent, and were healed. Devils and reprobates may believe the truth of the Scriptures, and see far into the mystery of Christ by a common illumination, but true believers only can close up themselves in the wounds of Christ, and by a particular faith receive healing by his stripes.

Ver. 28. Almost thou persuadest me] Here he was nigh God’s kingdom, who yet (for aught we find) never came there. Almost he could be content to be, but altogether may chance bring a chain with it. Jehu will not part with his calves, lest he venture his kingdom. Policy is ever entering caveats against piety. It is thought of Cardinal Pole, that toward his latter end, a little before his coming from Rome to England, he began somewhat to favour the doctrine of Luther, and was no less suspected at Rome, and therefore put by the popedom; notwithstanding the pomp and glory of the world did afterwards carry him away to play the Papist. Such as these Philo calleth semper factae virtutis homines, cakes half-baked, Hosea 7:8. [See Trapp on “Ho 7:8”] To be a Christian] The profane philosophers called the Christians credentes, that is, believers, by way of reproach, because they did not argue by reason, but take things upon trust. “We believe and know” (not, we know and believe) “that thou art the Son of the living God,” John 6:69. Illi garriant, nos credamus, saith Austin. Let them jeer us for our faith, let us believe nevertheless; and our faith shall be one day found “to praise, honour, and glory,” 1 Peter 1:7. If Agrippa had been right, he would have esteemed it the highest honour to he able to say, Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. Those that might well have been his masters and makers, viz. Constantinus, Vatentinianus, and Theodosius (three emperors), called themselves Vasallos Christi, not Christians only, but the vassals of Christ, as Socrates reporteth: and Justinian the emperor styled himself, Ultimum servorum Christi, the meanest of Christ’s servants.

Ver. 29. I would that all] Charity is no churl; there is no envy in spiritual things, because they may be divided in solidum: one may have as much as anothe r, and all alike. Self-love writes, as that emperor did, τα εις εμαυτον, For mine own use only. It makes men like those envious Athenians, who sacrificed for none but themselves and their neighbours of Chios. But true Christian love wisheth well to the com munity. “I would to God” (said Mr Dad) “I were the worst minister in England” (and England had but a few better), not wishing himself worse than he was, but other men better.

Ver. 30. The king rose up and the governor] A little of such sad discourse serve d their turn: they were soon sated, and ready to say as Antipater king of Macedonia did, when one presented him a book treating of happiness, he answered, ου σχολαζω, I have somewhat else to do than to learn or listen to such businesses; when perhaps they might never have the like opportunity of hearing such a persuasive preacher while they breathed again, as Paul was.

Ver. 31. This man doth nothing worthy] Here Festus, consenting with the rest, condemneth himself. See Acts 25:25.

Ver. 32. If he had not appealed] Which if he had not, this freeman of Rome had been “free among the dead,” Psalms 88:5, free of that company ere this time of day. There was a necessity of his appeal, for the saving of his life. And he is the better contented with his present condition, because he had been told in a vision that he must go to Rome also, Acts 23:11; while it was in store, and not yet come to that— tota est iam Roma lupanar, Rome is no better than a great brothel house. That once “faithful city is now become a harlot; it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers,” Isaiah 1:21.

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