At Damascus, instead of presenting himself to the Damascus rulers, to whom the commission of which he was the bearer was addressed,--the first persons, whom, according to this account, Acts 9:19, he sees, are "the disciples," _i.e._, the persons whom, by that commission, he was to arrest: and, with them, instead of arresting them, he passes "certain days." These certain days ended,--does he thereupon, with or without an apology, present himself to these same rulers? Not he, indeed. Not presenting himself to them, does he, by flight or otherwise, take any measures, for securing himself, against their legitimate and necessarily intended vengeance? No such thing:--instead of doing so, he runs in the very face of it. He shows himself in the Jewish synagogues, in the public places of worship: and there, instead of preaching Moses and his law, he preaches Christ,--that Christ, whose disciples he was commissioned to extirpate. This breach of trust--this transgression, which, however commendable in itself, could not but,--in the eyes of all those by whom, or for whom, he was in trust,--be a most flagitious and justly punishable act of treachery,--could it even from the first, for so much as two days, together, remain unknown? Not it, indeed: if, in this particular, to this same conversion story, as related by this same author, any credit is due. For, according to this same account,--in this same journey, and at the very time of his conversion vision, was he alone? No; he had companions: companions, who, whatsoever became of him, would, at the very time of his entrance, unless any cause can be shown to the contrary, have entered thither in due course. Well, then--ask the men in authority,--"This Paul, in whose train you came,--where is he, what has become of him?" Such would of course have been the questions put to these, his companions, even on the supposition, that by these same companions, no visit had, of their own accord, been paid to these same rulers, under whose authority they went to place themselves. At length,--and the days which by this time had elapsed were "_many_,"--he finds it expedient to quit Damascus. He is driven from thence: but by what force? By the exercise of the legal authority of the offended rulers? in a word, by public vengeance? No: but by a private conspiracy--nothing more: for, to these rulers,--so different are they from all other rulers,--whether their authority is obeyed or contemned, has, all the while, been matter of indifference. ACTS ix. 19-30.