Acts 24

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXIV.—Profane clergymen and abandoned lawyers stick at nothing to gain their own vile ends. Falsehood, flattery, and slander, go hand in hand. The purest innocence will not protect men from the most abominable aspersions; and the most infamous characters will not render some men ashamed of flattery. Spiteful malice generally represents faithful ministers as enemies to the state. And, as it is in the power of every villain to propagate falsehood, and lay the heaviest charges against the noblest characters, it becomes the innocent meekly to vindicate themselves and their doctrines from invidious reproach, and that with due deference to the magistrates, who give them an opportunity. But, in vindicating ourselves, it becomes us to own the truths of God, particularly the general resurrection of the dead, in which both good and bad have so deep and everlasting a concern. Never will the enemies of the gospel be able to prove their injurious charges against such ministers as are enabled by God to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man. And it is very shameful when infamous Heathens manifest more regard to common equity, and more awe of God’s truth, than high-flown professors.— Amazing is the power of divine truth.—Uttered by a prisoner, it makes a wicked Heathen judge to tremble, though his wife, an abandoned professor, feels it not. But, if sharp convictions be stifled, the love of this world, and the deceitfulness of sin ordinarily prevent their return. Many, who have been once terrified by convictions, die slaves to their lusts. And a sinful desire to please men makes many, to no purpose, act contrary to their own conscience, and injure the people of God