Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/613

 repeated the crowning sentence, with which the Lord removed his doubts about engaging in the work of preaching the gospel, when his hands were yet, as it were, red with the blood of the martyred faithful,—"And he said to me, 'Go: for I will send thee far hence, unto the .'" But when the listening multitude heard this clear declaration of his having considered himself authorized to communicate to the Gentiles those holy things which had been especially consigned by God to his peculiar people,—they took it as a clear confession of the charge of having desecrated and degraded his national religion, and all interrupted him with the ferocious cry, "Take him away from the earth! for such a fellow does not deserve to live." The tribune, finding that this discussion was not likely to answer any good purpose, instantly put a stop to it, by dragging him into the castle, and gave directions that he should be examined by scourging, that they might make him confess truly who he was, and what he had done to make the people cry out so against him,—a very foolish way, it would seem, to find out the truth about an unknown and abused person, to flog him until he should tell a story that would please them. While the guard were binding him with thongs, before they laid on the scourge, Paul spoke to the centurion, who was superintending the operation, and said in a sententiously inquiring way, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman citizen without legal condemnation?" This question put a stop to all proceedings at once. The centurion immediately dropped the thongs, and ran to the tribune, saying, "Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman citizen." The tribune then came to Paul, in much trepidation, and with great solemnity said—"Tell me truly, art thou a Roman citizen?" Paul distinctly declared, "Yes."

Desirous to learn the mode in which the prisoner had obtained this most sacred and unimpeachable privilege, the tribune remarked of himself, that he had obtained this right by the payment of a large sum of money,—perhaps doubting whether a man of Paul's poor aspect could have ever been able to buy it; to which Paul boldly replied—"But I was free." This clear declaration satisfied the tribune that he had involved himself in a very serious difficulty, by committing this illegal violence on a person thus entitled to all the privileges of a subject of law. All the subordinate agents also, were fully aware of the nature of the mistake, and all immediately let him alone. Lysias now kept Paul with great care in the castle, as a place