338 The NEw and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD he proceeded againft the prifoner, becaufe he was a Roman. On this information, the governor him- felf came into the prifon, and aired Paul, whether he was really a- free citizen of Rome? And being told he was, he an- fwered, that he himfelf procured that great privilege by a large fum of money: but Paul anfwered, I was free born. On re- ceiving this account, the governor com- manded the centurion,not to fcourge him, being terrified at whathe had already done, in chaining a free denizonof Rome. The next day therefore he ordered his chains to be taken off; and that he might thoroughly fatisfy himfelf of the caufe of fo unufual a tumult the preceding day, fummoned the Sanhedrin to meet, and brought down Paul before them, that they might hear his defence. Being thus placed before the high coun- cil of the Jews, Paul told them, that in all the paffages of his life, he had taken care to govern his aétions by the fevereft rules of duty and confcience : Menand brethren, I have lived in all good confcience before God until this day. How great is the fecurity ofa trulygood man ! How ftrong, though invifible, a fupport does innocence become in the greatendanger ! With how generous a confidence does virtue and ho- nefty guard the breaft of a true profeffor of Chriftianity ! Nothing elfe indeed can lay a folid foundation 'for fatisfaEtion and tranquillitywhen any:calamity overtakes us; religion and a good confcience fill the breaft with a heavenly ferenity, which all the little accidents of this world, can neither ruffle nor difcompofe. And, accordingly, Seneca compares the mind of a wife and good man to the fiate of the upper region, which is always calm and ferene, though all around is tumult and confufion. However this expreffion of the apoflle might tend to fhew the true 'late of his mind ; the high-prieft Ananias was fo of- fended at it, that he commanded thole who ftood'next tohim, to ftrike him on the face; at which the apoffle fmartly replied, God (hall finite thee, thou whited wall. Thou art placed on the feat of judgment to de- termine according to the law, and com- mandeft me to be:fmittenindireíl oppofition to it's precepts: On which force of the fpeetators replied, it is not lawful to revile the high-prieft of the Almighty. And Paul anfwered, I did not know that Ananias was appointed by God to be an high-prieft ; but as he is invefted with authority, it is unjuft to revile him, God himfelf having commanded, that no man íhould freak evil of the ruler of the people. St. Paul, now perceiving the council confifted partly of Sadducees and partly of Pharifees, cried aloud, "Menand brethren, I am a Pharfee, thefonof aPharifèe, and am now brought before this tribunal, for aflerting the refurrerion from the dead." This declaration threw the whole court into confufion ; the Pharifees, being zealous patrons of that tenet, declared the pri- foner innocent, and that in all probability he had received force intimation from hea- ven by an angel, or the filent whifpers of the -Holy Spirit ; and if fo, they really fought againft Omnipotence himfelf, by oppofing his doétrine. While the Saddu- cees, who denied the refurreetion, together with the exiftence of either angel or fpirit, ftrenuoufly infifted that the apoftle was a turbulent perfon, and ought to be punifhed for his mifcondu&. Hereupánthe council was greatlydivided, and theirdiffentions increafed to that degree, that the captain feared Paul would have been pulled in pieces by them, and there- fore took him from the bar, and carried him back to the caille. But during the filence of the night, the great Redeemer of mankind, to comfort his faithful fervent under all the terrors he had fuffered the two preceding days, appeared to him in a vifion, encouraging him to conflancy and refolution, affu ring him, that as he had borne witnefs of him at Jerufalem, he fhould, notwithftanding all the malice and wicked defigns of hisenemies, live to bear his tefti- monyeven inRome iìfelfbefore the Gentiles. The
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