Thus—from everything that appears, by all such persons as had the best means of information—the charge made upon him was believed,—let it now be seen, whether we should not be warranted in saying, known,—to be true.
As to "The Jews of Asia,"—and the mention made of this class of men, as the instigators of the tumult—can any support be derived from it, for the inference, that it was by something else in Paul's conduct, and not by any such perjury as that in question, that the vent, thus given to the indignation, was produced?[59] No, assuredly: altogether inconsistent would any such supposition be, with the main part of the narrative. Whoever were the persons with whom the manual violence originated;—whatever were the reproaches cast upon the invader on other grounds;—the purpose—the sole purpose—for which he entered upon the ceremony, is rendered as plain as words can make it. It was the clearing himself of the charge of teaching Jews to forsake Moses: and, supposing the fact admitted, everything, in the way of justification, being, before such a tribunal, manifestly inadmissible,—of no such charge was it possible for him to clear himself, without denying the truth of it. But, according to the historian, to confirm this denial, by the solemnity, whatever it was,—was the purpose, and the sole purpose, of it: of this, the negative assertion, contained in the denial, being untrue, and, by him who made it, known to be so,—confirming such denial, by the solemnity,—call it oath—call it vow—call it anything else,—was committing an act of perjury: and, to believe that such his denial was false, and yet not believing him guilty of perjury—at any rate, on the supposition of the accomplishment of the solemnity—was not possible. How numerous so ever may have been the other causes of provocation, given by him—how numerous so ever, the different descriptions of persons to whom they had been given;—no disproof could, by all of them put together, be given, by this solemnity, to the denial in question,—supposing it false.
To the present purpose, the only question is—whether, by Paul, on the occasion in question, an act of perjury was, or was not, committed? not—what was the cause, whether that, or any other, of any indignation of which he was the object. Even therefore, might it be allowed, that a vow, in the sense of which it is contradistinguished from an oath, was performed by him, or about to be performed,—still it would not be the less undeniable, that it was for the purpose of converting the simple declaration into a declaration upon oath, that he entered upon the solemnity: and that, therefore, if in the simple declaration there was anything to his knowledge false, the consequence is—that by his converting it into a declaration upon oath, he rendered himself guilty of perjury.
The observation, thus applied, to what is said of the "Jews of Asia," will be seen to be applicable, and, with equal propriety, to what is said about his being charged with "bringing Greeks into the temple:" and, in particular, about his being supposed to have brought in "The Ephesian Trophimus:" and moreover, what may, in this last case, be observable, is—that this about the Greeks is expressly stated as being a further charge, distinct from the main one: nor yet is it so much as stated, that, by any such importation, to what degree so ever offensive, any such effect, as that signified by the word pollution was produced.
Not altogether destitute of probability seems the supposition, that these two circumstances—about the Jews of Asia, and about Trophimus—may have been thrown in, by this adherent of Paul's, for the purpose of throwing a cloud of confusion and obscurity over the real charge: and if so, the two circumstances, with the addition of the three different defences, put into the hero's mouth, on the three several occasions of the endeavour,—must be acknowledged to have been employed, not altogether without success.
Here then closes that part of the evidence, which, to the purpose of a judgment, to be passed at this distance of time from the facts, may be considered as so much circumstantial evidence: in the next section may be seen that part, which comes under the denomination of direct evidence.