Note here, by the by, one of the many exemplifications, of that confusion which reigns throughout in Paul's discourses: the result, of that mixture, which, in unascertainable proportions, seems to have had place--that mixture of nature and artifice. It is at the end of a long list of labours, sufferings, and perils, that this anecdote presents itself. Was it accordingly at the end of them that the fact itself had taken place?--No: it was _at_ the very commencement: or rather, so far as concerned preaching, _before_ the commencement. Only in the way of allusion--allusion in general terms--in terms of merely general description, without mention of _time_ or _place_, or persons concerned,--are any of the other sufferings or perils mentioned: in this instance alone, is any mention made under any one of those heads: and here we see it under two of them, viz. _place_ and _person_: and moreover, by other circumstances, the _time_, viz. the _relative_ time, is pretty effectually fixed. Immediately afterwards, this same indisputably false colouring will be seen laid on, when the account comes to be given, of his departure for Jerusalem: always for preaching Jesus is he sought after, never for anything else. According to this representation, here are two governments--two municipal governments--one of them, at the solicitation of a functionary of its own, giving him a commission to negotiate with another, for the purpose of obtaining, at his hands, an authority, for apprehending a set of men, who, in the eyes of both, were guilty of an offence against both. Instead of pursuing his commission, and using his endeavours to obtain the desired cooperation, he betrays the trust reposed in him:--he not only suffers the alleged malefactors to remain unapprehended and untouched, but enters into a confederacy with them. To both governments, this conduct of his is, according to him, matter of such entire indifference, that he might have presented himself everywhere, as if nothing had happened, had it not been for his preaching:--had it not been for his standing forth _openly_, to preach to all that would hear him, the very religion which he had been commissioned to extinguish. In such a state of things, is there anything that can, by any supposition, be reconciled to the nature of man, in any situation,--or to any form of government?