Not Paul, But Jesus - Bentham Jeremy

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the inquiry, and in conclusion to go his way – this is all to which the commands given to him in the direct way extend themselves. To accomplish the object of this intercourse – to do anything towards it beyond the making of this inquiry – he has to take hints and to draw inferences: – inferences from the Lord's speech, which is thus continued, Acts ix. 12: "And (Paul) hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight." From having been told what – in a vision, to wit, this contained or included vision– this same Paul had been fancying he had seen him (Ananias) do – from this he was to conclude that it was the Lord's will that he (Ananias) should do in reality that which Paul had been fancying him to have done; though the only effect, for the doing of which it had so been fancied to have been performed, had never been produced. This was what he was to conclude was the Lord's will; although the Lord himself, who (if any person) should have known how to speak plainly and beyond danger of misconception, had forborne to tell him as much.

      On the occasion of this important visit – this visit of Ananias to Paul, – the double light – the light cast by the first of the two oratorical accounts – to wit, the supposed unpremeditated one, upon the historical one – recommences.

      Follows now – and from both sources – the account of the interview, and of the cure performed in the course of it.

ACTS' ACCOUNT. – Ch. ix. ver. 17-22

      And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him, said: Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. – And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. – And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. – And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. – But all that heard him were amazed, and said: Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the Chief Priests? – But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

PAUL'S ACCOUNT. – Acts, Ch. xxii. ver. 12-16

      12. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, – Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me: Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. – And he said: The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. – For thou shalt be his witness 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.

Topic 1. —On visiting Paul, Ananias's Introductory Speech – Preliminary Recital

      I. In the historical account, the speech has in it several distinguishable parts.

      I. "Brother Saul."

      First comes the address, in which Saul, the future Paul, is addressed by disciple Ananias by the name of brother. If, as between Jew and Jew, this was a common form of salutation, – so far everything is in order. But, if it was only in consideration of his having been denominated a disciple, to wit, of Jesus, – the salutation is rather premature: the conversion, supposing it effected, is, at any rate, not yet declared. Not only in the historical account is this appellation employed, but likewise in the oratorical one.

      The attention of Paul being thus bespoken by his visitor, mention is thereupon made of the purpose of the visit.

      I. In the first place comes a recital. "The Lord (says he), even Jesus, that appeared unto thee on the way as thou camest, hath sent me"… Unfortunately, according to the historian himself, this assertion, as we have seen already, is not true. In no manner or shape did the Lord Jesus, or any other person, make his appearance; – all that did appear was the light – the light at midday: so he has just been writing, and before the ink, if ink it was that he used, was dry, already had he forgotten it.

      This, however, is but a collateral averment: – a recital, an episode, matter of inducement, as an English lawyer would phrase it.

Topic 2. —Declared Purposes or Objects of the Visit

      Purpose the first. "That thou mightest," says Ananias, "receive thy sight." Thus says Ananias in the historical account: in the supposed oratorical one he is more concise. No supposed past occurrence referred to: – no purpose declared. "Receive thy sight" are the words.

      Purpose the second. That thou mightest "be filled with the Holy Ghost," says the historical account. But in a succeeding passage what is the purpose, which, in the supposed oratorical account Ananias is made to speak of, in the design that it should be taken for the purpose which the Lord by his commandment meant to be accomplished? Not the being filled by the Holy Ghost; only the being baptized. "And now, why tarriest thou? (Acts xxii. ver. 16) Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Well but (says somebody) receiving the Holy Ghost, and being baptized, – by these two expressions, is not one, and no more than one effect – one and the same effect – to be understood? No, in truth, if the historian himself is to be believed. Turn to another chapter – the very next chapter before this, Acts 12 to 17, and there you will see, that the being baptized was one thing, the receiving the Holy Ghost another thing, and much more. For administering the ceremony of baptism, a single Apostle, Philip, was sufficient: whereas, for the causing the Holy Ghost to be received, nothing less was requisite than the cooperation of two Apostles, and those two commissioned by the rest.

      So serious always, according to this historian, was the difference, that it was after he had been already baptized, and baptized gratis in a crowd, that for the power of conferring this benefit, whatever it was that it was composed of, Sorcerer Simon made to the two Apostles, those offers – those pecuniary offers – which are said to have been no sooner made than rejected. Acts 13 to 24.

Topic 3. —Actual Effects of the Visit, and the Application in consequence made in the course of it. Effect 1. Scales fall from Eyes, and Sight is received in consequence

      In the historical narrative, the effect is as complete as it is remarkable. Fall from his eyes a portion of matter of the nature or resemblance of scales: whereupon he receives sight forthwith.

      In the supposed oratorical account, whatsoever had been meant by scales, nothing is said of them. Neither is the declaration made of the completeness of the case quite so explicit. One look he gave – gave to his wonder-working surgeon – and instead of its being given forthwith – to give this one look required, it should seem, if not a whole hour, at any rate so little less, that any time less than an hour could not – such, in this supposed unpremeditated speech, was the anxiety felt for correctness – could not be ventured to be particularized.

      The more closely these scales, or things resembling scales, are looked at, the more difficult will it be to find them amount to anything. In no cure, performed upon eyes in any natural way, in these our days – upon eyes that have lost their sight – do any scales fall off, or anything in any degree resembling scales; – in no disorder of the eyes, known to have place in these our days, do scales, or anything like scales, come over the eyes. By the taking of matter from the eyes, sight, it is true, is every now and then restored: but this matter is not matter, foreign in relation to the eye and exterior to it; but one of the component parts called humours of the eye, which, by losing its transparency having suspended the faculty of vision, is let out by a lancet; whereupon not only is the faculty of sight restored, but the part which had been extirpated restored likewise; and without any expense in the article of miracles.

      On the supposition of falsity, – quere the use of this circumstance? Answer. To afford support to the conception, that memory and not imagination was the source from which the story was derived. True it is, that, instead of support, a circumstance exposed to contradiction would be an instrument of weakness: if, for example, on the supposition that Paul had no companions on the road, names indicative of

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