justified, nor enlightened. He had been suddenly told his sin in persecuting Christ, and he asked, under this conviction, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" But Christ tells him not: He neither immediately pronounces his forgiveness nor teaches him how it may be obtained, but informs him solely that He has a work for him to perform, that he is now simply to obey, and what he is to do he shall know hereafter. Thus He sends him, his bodily blindness as an emblem of that of his mind, to tarry the Lord's leisure (Acts ix. 6. xxii. 10.) What took place during those three days and nights of bodily and mental darkness, during which, doubtless, in intense anxiety, (through which he "did neither eat nor drink"), with one only cheering look into the future[1], he reviewed the course of his past life, God's guidance, and his own wilfulness, we are not told; nor how this probation of acute suffering was necessary for the framing of this "chosen vessel:" but it is at least implied, that, as yet, in answer to his prayers, there had been conveyed only a general intimation of God's good intentions toward him, of His purpose to remove the outward sign of His displeasure: "Behold, he prayeth, and hath seen, in a vision, a man named Ananias, coming and putting his hand upon him, that he might receive his sight." But as yet neither were his sins forgiven, nor had he received the Holy Ghost; and consequently was not born again of the Spirit, before it was conveyed to him through his Saviour's Sacrament. "And now, why tarriest thou?" says Ananias; "arise, and be baptized, and wash[2] away thy sins." (Acts xxii. 16.) "The
- ↑ Calvin, according to his view of sacraments, could not but paraphrase this—"That you may be assured, Paul, that your sins are remitted, be baptized. For the Lord promises remission of sins in baptism; receive it, and be assured." And this is in answer to the objection, "Why did Ananias tell Paul to wash away his sins by baptism, if sins are not washed away by virtue of baptism?" Instit. iv. 15, de Baptismi, § 15. Such an answer will scarcely satisfy any one. Contrast with this Bucer's simple inference, "In these words, then, there is ascribed to baptism the effect of remitting or washing away of sins."
- ↑ See Note (I) at the end.
