Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 «'
 
 Cf/'^^'
 
 \* - ^ 
 
 THE 
 
 FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL.
 
 St. Paul's Journey to Ajipii Furii
 
 THE 
 
 FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 BY TUB AUTHOR OF 
 
 " THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," 
 " THE FAITHFUL PROMISER," 
 
 " ShouM any one ask mo to name the man who, of aU otherB, has been the greatc-t 
 benefactor of our race, I should say without hesitation the Jposlle Pavl. His name is 
 the typo of human activity the most endless, and at tho same time the most useful that 
 history has cared to preserve."— -l/onoti. 
 
 •■ May wo not believe, in a sense higher than Chrysostom ever dreamt of, that the 
 pulses of that mighty heart are still the pulses of this world's life-still beat in thoBO 
 latter ages with greater force than ever."-S£»«Jej/'» Essays on the Jpostohcal Age. 
 
 gift^ ©Mtmn. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JAJVIES NISBET AND CO. 21 BERNEES STREET. 
 
 MDCCOiVL
 
 LONDON : 
 Printed by G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In venturing, in the following pages, to occupy 
 ground whicli has been so often and so well tra- 
 versed, it is perhaps superfluous to disclaim any 
 great attempt at originality. The complaint of 
 Chrysostom is now no longer, or sliould no longer, 
 be true, that St Paul is not known by Chris- 
 tians as he ought to be, ]\Iuch interesting light 
 has been recently thrown by a mass of able authors 
 on the history and character of the Great Apostle ; 
 and good service it was thought might be done 
 by translating into a simpler form what had been 
 so admirably supplied for more advanced and 
 thoughtful minds. All the more valuable Com- 
 mentaries, as was to be expected, are copiously 
 interspersed with learned and valuable disquisi- 
 tions on questions of great moment, and important
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 in themselves, but which are little fitted to interest 
 and instruct younger students. The writer has 
 endeavoured, therefore, in a course of reading on 
 the Life of St Paul, to cull from " treasm^es new 
 and old " what would he serviceable to the latter 
 class of readers. 
 
 He has to acknowledge his obligations to the 
 following among other works : — Howson and 
 Conybeare's " Life and Epistles of St Paul" 
 (London, 1852), especially in the openfng chap- 
 ters ; the less known but able work of ]Mr Lemn, 
 "Life and Epistles of St Paul" (1851), frequent 
 references to which will attest the amount of obli- 
 gation; Cave's "Lives of the Apostles" (1676); 
 Stanley's " Sermons and Essays on the Apostolical 
 Age" (1847); Neander's "Planting of the Chris- 
 tian Chm-ch ; " Olshausen on the Acts of the 
 Apostles ; Stackhouse's " History of the Bible " 
 (1764) ; Benson's " Planting of the Christian 
 Religion " (1750) ; Barnes on the Acts ; Home's 
 *' Litroduction ; " Blunt's " Sermons on St Paul ; " 
 Suetonius' "Lives of the Ceesars;" Josephus' 
 "Wars and Antiquities ; " Kitto's " Bible Cyclo- 
 paedia." Besides these, many books of travel,
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 such as Kiiineir's " Travels in Asia Minor " (1818), 
 Beaufort's "Karamania" (1817), Eustace's "Clas- 
 sical Tour in Italy " (Paris, 1837), &c. &c. 
 
 While following, however, in the wake of these 
 great explorers, and not ashamed to profit by the 
 lights they have hung out astern, it is hoped there 
 will be found sufficient, in what follows, of inde- 
 pendent research and thought, to redeem it from 
 the unattractive character of a mere compilation. 
 
 Another reason may be mentioned for giving 
 these pages a permanent form. Amid the vast, 
 the perplexing multiplicity of " Religious books," 
 and " Books for the Young," of all kinds, in 
 the present day, the writer has felt, by expe- 
 rience, the want of a class of volumes suitable 
 for young men, which would tend, by com- 
 bining historical and biographical interest with 
 religious instruction, to attract them to a more 
 careful and devout study of the Word of 
 God. What nobler model could be selected 
 in this respect for the youthful mind — what 
 history more replete with stirring interest and 
 noble spiritual lessons, than the Life of "the 
 Scholar of Gamaliel?" It has been truthfully
 
 Vm PEEFACE. 
 
 said, that " no romance has ever been written so 
 interesting as the Acts of the Apostles." It is a 
 sort of inspired Picture Gallery of stirring scenes 
 and events. The centre portrait, on which the eye 
 rests, or rather the prominent figure reproduced in 
 all the others, is the Great Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 Since it is for jouthfal readers this volume is 
 mainlj designed, the endeavour has been made to 
 sustain throughout, the pictorial and descriptive 
 character of the narrative, which forms not the least 
 charm in the pages of Messrs Howson and Cony- 
 beare. The writer will be happy should the per- 
 usal of what he has written, lead, at a more advanced 
 stage, to the study of a work in which learning 
 and eloquence have been so successfully brought 
 to bear on the greatest of biographies. 
 
 One other sentence to a Preface which has 
 already outrun its due proportions. The author 
 made use of the substance of these notes at a 
 weekly meeting in a rural parish; and the interest 
 manifested in hearing them has formed an addi- 
 tional inducement to commit them in their present 
 shape to the press. The auxiliary of a large map 
 the reader cannot enjoy, in which he was able
 
 PKEFACE. IX 
 
 to trace the " Footsteps of St Paul;" but it is 
 hoped that this want will be in no small measure 
 compensated by the series of wood engravings 
 illustrative of scenes and incidents in these " oft 
 joui'neyings." 
 
 December 1854. 
 
 *** When the whole of these pages were writ- 
 teUj and one half were finally revised, the writer ob- 
 tained the last volume of (alas ! now) the late Dr 
 Kitto's " Scripture Eeadings" — the "Apostles and 
 Early Church" — in the preface to which, he finds 
 that esteemed and lamented author acknowledges 
 similar obligations to many of those English works 
 to which he has been so largely indebted. 
 
 Although the same groimd has, in some respects, 
 been trodden, yet his object — to write a simple con- 
 secutive liistory of St Paul — has sufficiently pre- 
 vented collision; and any similarities that may 
 occur, must only award to a less skilful hand the 
 credit of discrimination in gleaning what was best 
 from those ample storehouses to which both have 
 been led.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAP. I. THE YOUTH 2 
 
 CHAP. II. THE SCHOLAR 18 
 
 CHAP. III. THE PERSECUTOR 82 
 
 CHAP. IV. THE CONVERT 46 
 
 CHAP. V. THE FUGITIVE 68 
 
 CHAP. VI. THE MISSIONART ..... 92 
 
 CHAP. VII. THE TRAVELLER 114 
 
 CHAP. VIII. THE DELEGATE 140 
 
 CHAP. IX. THE SECOND JOURNEY .... 154 
 
 CHAP. X. THE PRISON 176 
 
 CHAP. XI. THESSALONICA AND BEREA . . . 196 
 
 CHAP. XII. PAUL AT ATHENS 210 
 
 CHAP. XIII. PAUL AT CORINTH 228 
 
 CHAP. XIV. PAUL AT EPHESUS 248 
 
 CHAP. XV. THE TUMULT 262
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XVI. THE FAITHFUL PASTOK 
 CHAP. XVII. THE SEA- VOYAGE . 
 CHAP. XVIII. PAUL IN JERUSALEM 
 CHAP, XLS. PAUL IN CESAREA . 
 CHAP. XX. THE SHIPWRECK 
 CHAP. XXI. PAUL IN ROME 
 CHAP. XXII. PRISON-LIFE . 
 CHAP. XXIII. THE CLOSING SCENE 
 
 PAOE 
 
 274 
 292 
 306 
 326 
 342 
 366 
 384 
 396
 
 ^ 
 
 3
 
 / 
 THE FOOTSTEPS OE ST PAUL. 
 
 \
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 f k ITautlr. 
 
 "Sweetly wild! sweetly wild! 
 
 Were the scenes that charm'd me when a child. 
 
 Rocks — grey rocks, with their tracery dark. 
 
 Leaping rills, like the diamond spark. 
 
 Torrent voices thundering by, 
 
 When the pride of the vernal fioods swell'd high, 
 ***** 
 
 It was sweet to sit till the sun laid down 
 At the gate of the west liis golden crown. 
 
 Sweetly wild ! sweetly wild ! 
 Were the scenes that charm'd me when a child." 
 
 Mrs Sioodrney.
 
 To the north-west of Palestine, 
 washed bv the blue v.aters of the 
 -^ Mediterranean, is situated a portion 
 
 of our globe, which history, sacred and profane, ancient 
 and modern, alike invests with deep interest, — the 
 country of Asia Minor. In the south-east comer of 
 it, running parallel with the coast, are the Alps of 
 that region — the high mountain range of the Taurus. 
 As the snow which covers their summits is melted 
 by the sun's heat, many rivulets flow down to water 
 and refresh the thirsty plains below. A stream larger 
 than the rest is seen to dash its way, first through the 
 rocks and valleys of the upper regions,* and then to 
 
 * The name of the river now is " Kara Su," or " Black water," and it 
 must have greatly changed its course, as it is now more than a mile from 
 the modem Tarsoos.
 
 4 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 wind its dark and sluggish course through the rich 
 level country bordering on the sea. 
 
 The name of the river is the Cydnus, and of the 
 province Cilicia. You may try to form a picture of 
 the animated scenes on its banks at the time of which 
 I am going to write. Women coming down to fetch 
 water, with veils over their faces, and pitchers on their 
 heads ; shepherds playing on their reeds, with their 
 flocks of goats and sheep browsing around them. 
 Now and then, bands or caravans of merchants from 
 distant parts, with camels bearing spices and wools, 
 are glad to pause at mid-day, under the shade of the 
 palm-trees which cast their beautiful reflection in 
 the stream, and there to get refreshment ere they 
 pursue their journey. 
 
 This river in its course from the mountains, flowed 
 through the large town of Tarsus, which, at the same 
 period, formed the capital of the country. It was 
 delightfully situated among luxuriant gardens ; the 
 houses were ranged in the form of a half-circle on 
 either side of the river, giving it something of the 
 shape of the wings of a bird. If you had gone inside 
 its walls, you would have seen a great variety of faces 
 and dress, and heard spoken many different languages 
 Sometimes you would meet with native Cilicians ; at 
 other times you could not mistake the features of Jews, 
 or Greek merchants, or haughty Romans. Like the 
 greater portion of the known world, Cilicia and Tarsus 
 had fallen into the hands of the Emperor Caesar. 
 Roman soldiers would be seen now and then pacing up 
 and down its streets ; Roman ships were sailing up the 
 Cydnus into its harbour, and with Roman names 
 and signs painted on them, filling its docks. It
 
 THE YOUTH. 6 
 
 enjoyed privileges, however, peculiar to several Roman 
 towns. It was one of those cities which was called 
 Libera or free. It was ruled by its own magistrates, 
 and had its own laws, just as is the case with some 
 modern cities on the continent of Europe, such as 
 Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Hamburg, Lubeclc, Bremen, 
 and others. These, for special reasons, while re- 
 maining under the protection of Prussia and Austria, 
 have an independent government of their own, as 
 Tarsus had under the broad shadow of imperial 
 Rome. 
 
 In other and more important respects, Tarsus was 
 "no mean city." One of the three great universities, 
 or seats of learning, in the world, at that time, was 
 within its gates; those of Athens and Alexandria 
 being the other two. Many of the young men trained 
 at the Tarsus schools were found afterwards at Rome, 
 tutors in the highest families of the state, and even 
 in the palace of the emperor on the Palatine. Indeed, 
 at this very time, a philosopher named Nestor, who 
 had been tutor to Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus, 
 ■was ruler of the city. 
 
 Along the banks of the Cydnus there was a 
 lawn of grass, with shady trees similar to our modern 
 parks. Aged philosophers and learned men might 
 be seen walking up and down engaged in deep 
 thought or earnest discussion; while youths of the 
 university, at their holiday hours, were busy prac- 
 tising those athletic games which were so famous 
 among the Greeks. I daresay the young Tarsiaus 
 would have among themselves their o\vn trials of 
 strength — running, leaping, wrestling, boxing. They 
 would have their own mimic crowns of olive or laurel
 
 6 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 to put on the brow of youthful victors ; and doubtless 
 would often talk about the day when they would be 
 able to go to Corinth, and take part in its well-known 
 contests.* 
 
 It was in a house in this Cilician city that " Saul of 
 Tarsus" was born. People go to a great distance to 
 visit the birthplaces of famous men. There are spots 
 on the earth's surface which will be ever memorable as 
 being the scenes of the childhood of Csesar and Alexan- 
 der, Luther and Melancthou, Howard and Wilber- 
 force. We shall find afterwards, that the little reed- 
 thatched cottage, where Romulus the founder of Rome 
 was born, was preserved sacred and untouched among 
 the splendid palaces on the Palatine. What an inter- 
 est must gather around the birthplace of one who, in 
 the highest spiritual sense, was hei'o, scholar, philan- 
 thropist, all in one, — the greatest of those " great men" 
 who have left their "footprints on the sands of time !" 
 
 I remember looking down several years ago in Swit- 
 zerland on the little rill flowing out of that vast wall 
 of ice, " the Rhone glacier." What interest was con- 
 nected with it as the commencement of that giant 
 river which sweeps past the walls of Lyons and Avig- 
 non, and waters the most fertile provinces of France ! 
 From Tarsus and its snow-capped Taurus, we watch 
 the first tiny rill of a moi-e glorious river, " the streams 
 whereof," in every land and under every clime, have 
 " made glad the city of God." 
 
 I cannot tell you the exact year in which Saul's 
 birth took place. It was, however, at a most memor- 
 able era of the world's history. When he was lying 
 
 ■* See Strabo, the geognrapher, who lived in the same age of which we 
 write. — Book xiv. vol. ii.
 
 THE YOUTH. 
 
 an infant in his cradle in Tarsus, there were other httle 
 children training up by God in other places for great 
 duties and great services.* On the banks of a solitary 
 lake in the land of Judea, there were a number of 
 youths about that same time going out day after day 
 with their fathers fishing in tl.eir boats, or helping 
 them to mend their nets on the beach. These were 
 afterwards to become the apostles of Christianity. 
 There was a little child who was recently born in the 
 old city of Hebron, a son of a priest, who was ere long 
 to appear as a great preacher to prepare the way of 
 the Lord, saying, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven 
 is at hand;" and more interesting and solemn still, 
 while Saul was an infant boy at Tarsus, there was a 
 wondrous Being in an infant's form growing up at 
 Nazareth, — it was the holy child Jesus, the promised 
 Messiah ! Little did the proud world know the worth 
 that was contained in these two distant homes — two 
 helpless children unknown to one another; but the 
 one was the Son of the eternal God, the Redeemer of 
 mankind ; the other. His greatest minister and apostle. 
 As regards even the political history of the world, 
 the period of Saul's birth was an eventful one. Augus- 
 tus, the greatest of the Roman emperors, was on the 
 throne of the Caesars ; his vast dominion extended 
 over a large portion of the human race ; the wealth of 
 his capital was unbounded ; its temples were filled with 
 the spoils of conquered nations ; the ruins of vast 
 buildings, aqueducts, arches, bridges, and harbours, 
 remain to this day, to tell the grandeur of what was 
 called by the poets " the golden age." Alas ! it was 
 but a painted glory ; like the whited sepulchres of the 
 
 * Howson and Conybcaie, vol. i. p. 68.
 
 8 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 prophets, "within was full of corruption and wicked- 
 ness." God seemed to read mankind a lesson what a 
 poor world this would be, with all the power and 
 wealth of Rome, and all the learning and wisdom of 
 Greece, if it had not the gospel of Jesus to make men 
 holy and happy. " The world by wisdom," the boasted 
 wisdom of this its greatest and wisest epoch, " knew 
 not God ;" the religion of Rome, such as it was, had 
 become a mere form ; the palaces of the nobles were 
 filled with vice and crime ; the simple morals of her 
 common people were gone ; and thousands of slaves 
 fi'om her conquered provinces were pining in the hard- 
 est drudgery. It was at this mournful period, when 
 the grossest spiritual gloom had settled over the 
 nations, that the great Sun of Righteousness, and His 
 brightest attendant stai', arose. 
 
 You would doubtless like to know all about Paul's 
 parents — what his father's trade was, and whether 
 he was a rich man or a poor man. We are not 
 told. Most probably he was neither the one nor 
 the other, but a respectable merchant or trader, en- 
 gaged like other Jews in traffic with the cities on the 
 coast of the Mediterranean. We may conclude, how- 
 ever, that he could not have been in straitened cir- 
 cumstances, from his being able to bestow on his son 
 an education at Jerusalem. In this respect, yoimg 
 Saul was placed in a more favourable position than 
 other three apostolic men who lived 1500 years after 
 him, and who, both in their mission and character, 
 most nearly resembled him of any since his time. We 
 read that " the Reformer Zuingle issued from the 
 cabin of a shepherd of the Alps; Melancthon, the 
 theologian of the Reformation, from the shop of an
 
 THE YOUTH. 
 
 armourer; and Luther from the hut of a poor miner."* 
 Tliis last (the great German Reformer) is perhaps the 
 individual who, of all others, is most worthy to be 
 placed side by side with the Apostle of the Gentiles, 
 and we shall have more than once occasion to compare 
 them togethez'. 
 
 With regard to Saul's father, we know, from 
 the letters his son afterwards wrote, that he was 
 very strict in his religion. Though he had changed 
 his native countiy, he had not clianged his creed. He 
 still remained a strict Phainsee, and brought up his 
 little boy as such. You know that the Pharisees were 
 the most rigid of all the sects among the Jews. They 
 wore long dresses, and used long prayers ; they 
 fasted, and made a great show about religion; thev 
 loved to be seen of men, and to get the praise of men 
 more than the praise of God. Many of them, however, 
 I believe, were good people — tried to be good and to do 
 good, and brought up their children in the way of truth. 
 I would be inclined to think that Saul's father was of 
 this number. He tells us afterwards that " he served 
 God from h\^ forefathers" This would seem to imply 
 that not only his father but his grandfather, and far- 
 ther back still, were strict Pharisees, serving the God 
 of Israel in their synagogue, in the midst of that Gen- 
 tile city. We are led to infer, too, that one of these 
 ancestors of his had been a brave man, and was re- 
 warded for his courage ; for they had received in some 
 way the honour of Roman citizens, which Paul himself 
 inherited, and which we shall afterwards find proved 
 on many occasions very serviceable to him. It has 
 been a question with many how this citizenship was 
 
 * D'Aubigiie's Reformation, book ii. chap. i.
 
 10 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 obtained. I have just told you that the great houses 
 and palaces at Rome -were supplied with numerous 
 slaves, and these we know, moreover, were principally 
 obtained from the coasts of Asia Minor. It is possible 
 that Saul's father or grandfather may have been in this 
 way purchased, during their youth, by some Roman. 
 Their master may further have taken a fancy to them, 
 and as a reward, perhaps, of good conduct, have be- 
 stowed upon one or other their freedom. I by no 
 means venture to say that this is the accurate expla- 
 nation. I merely state it as one of the more likely of 
 the suppositions which learned writers have made re- 
 garding the possession of this family privilege. 
 
 Most young people who, on growing up to manhood, 
 have become good and great, have owed very much 
 to their mothers. And it would not fail to have been 
 deeply interesting to us to know something regarding 
 the mother of the future Apostle. The sacred narrative, 
 however, is silent regarding her name and history. 
 Perhaps she may have been taken early away from him, 
 and he left in his infancy a motherless orphan ; or, 
 perhaps, the tears may have fallen fast from her eyes 
 when she heard, in future years, that her son had 
 deserted his sect and his creed, and become a disciple 
 of Jesus; or who can tell (may we not speak of the 
 barely possible hope ?) that, before he became " Paul 
 the aged," he was allowed to sit by his mother's dying 
 pillow, and point her sinking eye to the "Lamb of 
 God, who taketh away the sin of the world ?" 
 
 He had, at least, one sister.* We may picture to 
 ourselves in thought the two little ones in their early 
 years, seated on their father's, or, it may be, their 
 • Acts xxiii. 16.
 
 THE YOUTH. 11 
 
 mother's knee, hearing from their lips about all the 
 wondrous deeds of their ancestors. Sometimes their 
 young minds would be turned to the story of Moses in 
 the ark of bulrushes, and the awful plagues of Egypt; 
 at other times, to the passage through the Kdd Sea, 
 and how Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in its 
 waves. At others, they would love to listen to the 
 tale of the wanderings of their fathers in the desert — 
 the arrival in Canaan— and the glories of David and 
 Solomon. We may imagine them hushed to sleep, 
 night after night, with some of the sweet songs of Zion 
 which the great Psalmist King had played upon his 
 harp, or the poor captives had sung by the rivers of 
 Babylon. The Jews were strictly enjoined by Moses, 
 in the 6th and 11th chapters of Deuteronomy, to teach 
 their children the law of God. Five was the age when 
 they generally began to read the law. We have every 
 reason to think that Saul's parents were not slow 
 either in obeying the divine command, or following 
 the usual practice of their countrymen, making their 
 little boy " from a child to know the Holy Scriptures,'' 
 which were afterwards (in a way they never dreamt 
 of) to " make him wise unto salvation." 
 
 Our young readers, then, may imagine "little Saul" 
 in his Hebrew home. Many a league separated him 
 from the city of Jerusalem ; but he was not the less 
 brought up "an Hebrew of the Hebrews." As was 
 the custom with Jewish children, he had been "cir- 
 cumcised the eighth day" after his birth, and then 
 received the name of Saul. You will not wonder at 
 this being a favourite name in the tribe of Benjamin, 
 to which he belonged, when you remember that the 
 first king whom the Jewish people chose was " Saul
 
 12 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 the Benjamite." Some indeed have thought he was 
 called " Saul," because the Hebrew word for Smd liter- 
 ally means ''the desired,'" or "prayed for," and that he 
 was named so ft'om being the fii'st-born child of his 
 parents, and given to them in answer to prayer." Be 
 this as it may, let us think of him in his infancy, a 
 little boy playing, perhaps, as Timothy did, around the 
 feet of another "grandmother Lois and mother Eunice," 
 and they delighting to watch the progress of his mind 
 as his infant lips began the fii'st attempts at speech. 
 What did he speak 1 "What was his language 1 We 
 have reason to believe, from what is told us in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, that he was taught to speak both 
 in Greek and in Hebrew. The Greek was probably 
 the tongue he was most in the habit of using. It was 
 veiy much then what French is now, the language 
 known more than any other among the nations of 
 Europe. It is worth observing, that when at any 
 time he refers in after life to the Old Testament, he 
 quotes the Septuagint,t or Greek version of it, and not 
 the Hebrew. But at the same time, he was far from 
 ignorant of Hebrew — the language of his fathera. 
 Though Greek was chiefly spoken in Tarsus, the Jews 
 there never forgot to teach their children their native 
 tongue. They generally had many friends and kins- 
 folk in Palestine who came from time to time to visit 
 them (Paul, for instance, had himself a nephew at 
 Jerusalem J), and with these they could converse only 
 in Hebrew. 
 
 It was the practice always among the Jews to in- 
 
 * Neander's Planting of the Christian Church, p SO. 
 
 t This is the oldest triuslation of the Old Testament. It was so called 
 from its having beeu trauslated by 70 le;iraed men. 
 J Acts xxiii. 16.
 
 THE YOUTH. 13 
 
 struct their sons iu e:irly youth in some trade. This 
 was not the case amoug tlie very poor only, but with 
 those of a better class. It was a commou proverb 
 auiong them — " If a man does uot teach his sou a 
 trade°hc teaches him to steal ;" and we know that several 
 learued Raijbis, whose writings have come dowu to 
 us, were brought up with the knowledge of some com- 
 mou business. " We have au iustauce of a great aud 
 eiuiuent critic who was a carpenter, another an iron- 
 fouuder, with many simdar examples." "" The custom 
 was a wise aud prudent one. It was to prevent them 
 ever falluig into idleness, and to enable them, if they 
 3ver were in straits, to have the means of earning 
 their bread. Saul's father chose for him a very natu- 
 ral occupation. He taught him, or sent him to learn, 
 to make "tents." This would seem to have been a 
 favourite trade in Cilicia; indeed the material of which 
 these tents were made w-as called Ciliciiim, from the 
 name of the province. The goat was an animal that 
 was common there, as in many other parts of the East, 
 and from its hair, which was long and beautiful, these 
 tents were constructed. Occasionally it would seem 
 that they were made of the hides as well as the hair; 
 and hence an old father of the Church, in speaking of 
 Sard's occupation, calls him sometimes a tent-stitcher, 
 and sometimes a worker in leather, t We shall, by 
 and by, find how fortunate it was that the young Jew 
 of Tarsus had thus early learned this useful trade. It 
 relieved him, for many years of his after life, from a 
 state of poverty and dependence. Many a midnight 
 hour found him hard at work at his web of goats' hair, 
 for he " laboured night and day, that he might be 
 
 • Bluut'.s Sermons on St Paul. t See Olshausen ou Acts.
 
 14 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 chargeable to no man."* I may just add, that this 
 hair-cloth, which was a thick stuflf" Hke felt, seems to 
 have had the property, if not of keeping out wet, at 
 all events of not rotting soon under the influence of 
 damp or moisture. It served very much the purposes 
 which our modem giitta percha and oilcloth do. It 
 was employed in making coats and coverings for those 
 who were much exposed to the variable weather in 
 these mountain districts. Sailors used it, too, for 
 bad weather at sea, and when we come, long after 
 this, to describe Paul tossed for fourteen days and 
 nights, amid black skies and rain-torrents, we may 
 think of the sailors and crew around him, plying the 
 pumps and reefing the sails with their Cilician hair- 
 coats on. 
 
 Very possibly this manufacture formed the greater 
 part of the merchandise of his father in the market 
 towns around ; and it is striking to hear from travellers 
 who have visited these countries in our own times, that 
 at present, during harvest, the rich corn fields may be 
 seen dotted with the very same goats'-hair tents, the 
 peasants and reapers living in them till the harvest 
 work is over.t 
 
 We may imagine, then, the young apostle, when he 
 was the age of many of my readers, spending his 
 happy boyhood in his Tarsus home. We are apt 
 always to think of Paul as the grown-up man — an 
 apostle — not perhaps advanced in life, but still with 
 the marks of hard toil, and "the care of all the 
 churches" on his furrowed brow; but we must remem- 
 ber he had once a boyhood like ourselves, his boyish 
 amusements, and occupations, and pleasures. 
 
 • 1 Thess. i. 9. t Beaufort's Karamania, p. 263.
 
 THE YOUTH. 15 
 
 The youth of the Reformer Luther, which we have 
 already spoken of iu connexion with his, was formed 
 amid much less beautiful scenery. The banks of the 
 Wipper, and the plains of Mansfield in Saxony, were 
 poor and tame compared with the snowy cliff's of the 
 Taurus range, and the verdant banks of tlie Cydnus. 
 Still more cheerless, in other respects, was the infixncy 
 of the young apostle of Germany. He tells us, that 
 often he had to follow his father and mother to the 
 forest to gather bundles of sticks, which they after- 
 wards carried on their backs to the village and sold, to 
 relieve them from their extreme poverty. Even at 
 school he met with anything but kindness. His mas- 
 ter beat him fifteen times successively in one day ! 
 
 We are led to think of a sunnier morning of life in 
 connexion with Saul. We love to follow him iu 
 thought in his boyish rambles amid the beautiful 
 scenery in the midst of which his childhood was cast. 
 We can imagine him gazing often and again on the 
 noble hills which rose like wall above wall behind 
 the city, their white tops sparkling in the rays of the 
 sun. He and his sister would love to watch, from the 
 flat roof of their house, the deep shadows chasing one 
 another across the mountain sides, or, perhaps, on a 
 longer holiday, they would go and climb part of their 
 craggy slopes, and look down on the lovely plains 
 beneath. Often, I daresay, they would like to wander 
 up by the banks of the Cydnus, as you see them in 
 the picture at the beginning of this chapter, to watch 
 the leap of the waterfall a mile north from the town, 
 which grew very large after the melting of the snows 
 in the mountains.* 
 
 • "The extreme coldness of this celebrated river is said to have occa-
 
 16 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 We may think at other times of the Jewish boy, in 
 company with his hardier playmates, going, on those 
 greater holidays when all work in the city and schools 
 was stopped, to the gymnasium to witness the runners 
 and wrestlers in the athletic games. We cannot won- 
 der if we should come afterwards, in reading some of 
 Paul's writings, to find these contests which his child- 
 hood had looked upon lingering in his memory. Or, 
 to change the scene, we may imagine him, during the 
 day, in some Jewish school near the Sanhedrim ; the 
 circle of black-eyed scholars, with their white cloaks, 
 seated on the ground (as was the custom) round about 
 their Jewish teacher, learning them to read and to 
 write, and getting by heart portions of their sacred 
 law. 
 
 We read of Martin Luther, when he was of a similar 
 age, probably a little younger, that a young man of 
 Mansfield, called Nicholas Emler, was in the habit of 
 taking him to the house of George Emilius, and re- 
 turned to fetch him thence. It would, in all likelihood, 
 be the same with young Saul. A slave or servant 
 would be employed to conduct him to school and wait 
 to bring him safe home again ; according to his own 
 beautiful comparison, when he speaks, in one of his 
 epistles, of " the law" being like " the slave who takes us 
 to the school of Christ." '•'' Once more, we may picture 
 him, at other times, perhaps at night, when the day's 
 duties were past, seated by a blazing fire at his father's 
 
 sioned the death of Frederick Barbarossa, and to have proved nearly fatal 
 to Alexander. We found the water undoubtedly cold, but nut more so 
 than that of the other rivers which carry down the melted snow of Mount 
 Taurus, and we bathed in it without feeling any pernicious eflects." — 
 Beauibrt, p. 266. 
 
 * Gal. iii. 24. See Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. p. 54.
 
 THE TOUTH. 17 
 
 feet, giving his help to complete some goats'-hair tents 
 they were wishful to have finished, either in good time 
 for harvest, or in order that they might be able to leave 
 as soon as possible, according to the universal custom, 
 for their abode in the mountaius, to escape the burn- 
 ing heat of the summer plains. 
 
 There would probably be several other schools in 
 Tarsus, but they were Gentile ones. Saul would be 
 brought up, not perhaps with a determined hatred to 
 the youth attending these, as many young Israelites 
 were, but at least with no friendly feeling. As it is with 
 the Jews to this day all over the world, the children 
 of Abraham would dwell in Tarsus " alone," and not be 
 " reckoned " among the rest of the citizens. The young 
 apostle would get what other religious knowledge he 
 possessed from the reading of the law. Sabbath after 
 Sabbath, in the synagogue ; and with reference to his 
 expectations regarding the Saviour promised to his 
 fathers, he must have been taught, like others, to look 
 for some great temporal sovereign who would drive 
 the Romans out of Judea, and make it once more a 
 glorious kingdom, as in the days of David and Solomon. 
 Little did he think, at that very moment, the Messiah 
 was toiling unknown and unnoticed as a carpenter in a 
 workshop of Nazareth.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 f I]e Stljokr. 
 
 Fair 1)07 ! the wand'rings of thy way 
 
 It is not mine to trace, 
 Through buoy.int youth's exulting day. 
 
 Or manhood's bolder race. 
 
 What discipline thy heart may need. 
 What clouds may veil thy sun, 
 
 The eye of God alone can read, 
 And let His will be done.
 
 ,„ hi^Luiidu of the Refoima- 
 uon, m spTakmg of the boyhood of Luther, tells us that 
 his father had, in a little tune, saved as much money by 
 hard labour as enabled him to erect two furnaces at his 
 native Mansfield ; and from the profits arising from his 
 new trade, he began to think of a better education for 
 his boy. " He wished to make his son a man of learn- 
 in- ; the boy's remarkable aptness and persevering 
 industry inspired John (the honest miner) with lively 
 hopes. When Martin, therefore, in 1497, had attained 
 the age of fourteen, he resolved to part with him, and 
 send him to Magdeburg to the school of the Francis-
 
 20 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 cans. His mother was obliged to consent, and Martin 
 prepared to quit his father's house." * 
 
 Such a time had now arrived for young Saul of Tar- 
 sus. He had got what education a Jewish school in 
 the city of his birth could afford. He might doub-„- 
 less have carried on his studies much further in the 
 celebrated Tarsus university ; but his father would 
 probably, for the reason given at the close of last chap- 
 ter, be averse to his boy mixing with Gentile yoviths. 
 He might be afraid, lest in a heathen seminary any 
 influence might be used to abate his love and rever- 
 ence for the faith of his ancestors ; he therefore deter- 
 mined to send him away for some years to complete 
 his education, probably sharing in the ambition of the 
 humble miner of Germany to make him a distinguished 
 scholar ; or rather, what to a Jew was the highest 
 of all honours, that he should become a scribe or doc- 
 tor of the law. 
 
 I daresay some of my young readers may remember 
 with what soiTowful feelings they found theinselves for 
 the first time going far away fi'om the happy scenes of 
 their infancy to a strange place, and among strange 
 faces and friends. I doubt not Saul, who, when he 
 was an older man, chided those who would " make 
 him weep, and break his heart," f had his own mingled 
 thoughts in going from that happy mountain home 
 where the morning of life had been spent. But there 
 were joyous feelings also at the prospect of this long 
 journey ; he was going not so much away from home 
 as to home ; for although he never had seen it, Jeru- 
 salem was always a happy " homeword " to every Jew. 
 From their earliest childhood they were taught to feel 
 
 * D'Aubigiiti's Hiitory, book ii. f "^^^ '"■^^ ^'^-
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 21 
 
 it as such. The gladdest day of their lives was that 
 on which they were able to say, " Our feet shall stand 
 within thy gates, Jerusalem ! " Every thought 
 about Palestiue, its hills, valleys, cities, villages, were 
 holy thoughts. Often would the Jews of Asia Minor, as 
 they returned year after year from the feasts, pause at 
 Saul's fathei''s dwelling, and lodge for the night, before 
 crossing the heights of Mount Taurus to their own 
 homes. While seated there, we may well believe the 
 young listener would often and again have heard them 
 speak of the glories of Zion and the temple. When 
 his school-days at Tarsus, therefore, were about to be 
 concluded, we may imagine, in such an ardent mind as 
 his, with what feelings he would hear his father telling 
 him — " I am going ere long to take you to see all the 
 glorious things spoken of the city of God !" 
 
 It must have been when he was between the age of 
 eleven and fourteen that Saul set out to his new abode. 
 We cannot suppose it likely that one so young would 
 be allowed to go alone. His father would himself most 
 probably be too glad to have the opportunity of visit- 
 ing the city of his people, and would delight to be the 
 first to point out the wonders of the land of promise td 
 his dear boy.* Neither is it likely, when they were so 
 near the sea, that they would attempt the long journey 
 by land. If you look again to the map, you will see 
 how easily they could sail by vessel. We may imagine 
 the Hebrew youth bidding an affectionate farewell to 
 his old friends at Tarsus ; his little sister, it may be, 
 accompanying him to the ship in the docks, and, with 
 a tear in her eye, following him, after the anchor was 
 weighed, till he was lost from her sight amid the other 
 
 * Howson and Conybeare, vol. i. p. 56.
 
 22 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 vessels that crowded the harbour. We may imagine 
 him sailing slowly down the river, which, near the 
 town, was still and motionless ; some hardy Phoeni- 
 cian captain at the helm, perhaps, struck with the 
 sharp and intelligent features of the Jewish boy, de- 
 lighting to give him his first ideas of a seafaring life. 
 We may suppose him wandering on the deck until the 
 sun has set behind the mountains of his childhood. 
 They have now reached the mouth of the Cydnus, 
 twelve miles below Tarsus. Here the river swells out, 
 before joining the sea, into a large basin or lake, which 
 by art had been made into docks, and was called the 
 poii; of Tarsus.* By and by, they have passed the pro- 
 montory which encloses it, and the silvery moon has 
 risen on the great wilderness of waters all around. 
 
 Another day finds them gliding along the waves of 
 the Mediterranean. Its surface may have been the 
 calm, deep blue for which it is remarkable, with an 
 unclouded sky looking down into it. Or the young 
 voyager may have had the words of the Psalmist of 
 Israel often in his mind — " They that go down to the 
 sea in ships, that do business in great waters ; these 
 see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. 
 For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, 
 which lifteth up the waves thereof They mount up 
 to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. . . . 
 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, 
 and are at their wit's end. . . . He maketh the storm 
 a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. "t 
 
 "See!" we may imagine his father saying to him, as 
 he points his eye to something in the far east, " seest 
 thou yonder white mountain peaks like our own 
 
 • Strabo, quoted by Lewin, f P**- cvii. 23-29.
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 23 
 
 Taurus ? — these are the heights of Lebanon ; " and the 
 boy's thoughts wander up and down the hazy steeps, 
 till he imagines he sees them clothed with dark 
 cedars, and then he remembers he is sailing on the 
 very waters by which Solomon got these giants of the 
 forest floated on rafts for the building of the temple. 
 No scene in the holy land can have undergone so little 
 change since the days of Saul as the appearance of 
 this " goodly mountain." The picture given, therefore, 
 by a recent wi-iter, of the view of Lebanon from the 
 sea, describes with accuracy what the eye of the youth 
 of Tarsus then gazed on. " At sea the mountain rises 
 before the spectator as a whole, and the eye can pass 
 leisurely from its snowy peaks to the rich gardens at 
 its bottom. The spectator never wearies in gazing on 
 the goodly prospect before him. The undulating line of 
 its promontories and bays extends for many a mile along 
 the coast. On the mountain itself terrace rises above 
 terrace, displaying at once the industry of the inhabi- 
 tants, and the fertility of the mountain. Villages, with 
 their flat-roofed houses, are seen sweetly placed amidst 
 groves of vines and mulberries, or plantations of sugar- 
 cane, oranges, and lemons."* 
 
 But they have passed Lebanon — its heights are re- 
 ceding in the distance, and by and by they come to a 
 bold moiintain, with rocky front jutting out into the 
 sea. ''This," his father would again say, "is Mount 
 Carmel, — yonder is where our father Elijah stood. 
 From this very sea he brought up his barrels of salt 
 water to pour into his dug trenches, and from yonder 
 top the smoke of his sacrifice ascended to heaven!" 
 Shepherds, who were attracted to Carmel by the " ex- 
 
 * See Wylic's Modem Judea, p. 70.
 
 24 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 cellency" of its pastures, may have been looking down 
 at the moment from its heights of pine and olive on 
 the lonely vessel that was now sailing by its base. 
 Little did they know the value of the youngest mem- 
 ber of that crew, or the influence that one hfe in its 
 manhood was yet to exercise on the world. As little did 
 the young voyager himself foresee with what different 
 feelings he would make the same voyage in after times ! 
 He was now full of boyish glee — a bright w^orld before 
 )iiTn ! Forty years later, a care-worn missionary, his 
 back marked with scourging, and his hands hardened 
 with toil, would be seen, as he bounded over these 
 same waves, lifting up his dimmed eye, not to Carmel 
 nor to Lebanon, but to the " everlasting hills," from 
 whence alone came his aid. 
 
 A few hours more, and the sails are lowered. With 
 a joyous heart, Saul sees the land coming nearer and 
 nearer ; they are within sound of Jewish voices on the 
 shore ; and entering among many vessels into a spa- 
 cious harbour, they find themselves safely moored, pro- 
 bably in the newly-built town of Cesarea, one of the 
 last and greatest of the works of Herod. The Hebrew 
 boy is treading the sacred soil of Judea.* 
 
 Soon he commences the remaining land journey. 
 We need not pause to describe it, — the more so as the 
 last of its many interesting scenes casts all the othei*s 
 into the shade. We may think of the two travellers 
 standing on the eastern slope of a gentle eminence, 
 •where for the first time the glories of Jerusalem open 
 before them. — What three-topped hill is this, its 
 
 * We need not say that, in describing Saul's journey, only a probable 
 account of his route, and the incidents that took place in it, can be given. 
 In this we have followed Howson and C'onybeare in their interesting 
 narration — pp. 57, 58.
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 25 
 
 sides partially clothed with wood, rising immediately 
 behind the city 1 It is the green Mount of Olives — the 
 same mountain across which old King David went 
 weeping and bare-foot, and which was ere long to be 
 trodden (if it had not been trodden already) by Holier 
 footsteps. What stately roof is that, which seems like 
 a sheet of solid gold glittering in the sun, with pillars 
 and porticoes all round about if? It is Solomon's 
 fixmous temple, with the holy of holies, — where the 
 God of Israel dwelt in visible glory ! Perhaps at the 
 moment Saul saw it, the smoke of the morning or 
 evening sacrifice was ascending. And what is that, 
 towering high on the right, nearer where they are 
 standing — a noble pile of building, with ranges of pil- 
 lars, and surrounded with lovely gardens 1 It is the 
 royal palace — the same in which David and Solomon 
 once lived — where the latter erected his house of the 
 forest of Lebanon, and which King Herod had now 
 rebuilt in more than its former splendour. Soon the 
 western gateway is passed, and the feet of the young 
 Cilician boy are standing within " the joy of the whole 
 earth" — " the city of the Great King." 
 
 Without pausing to describe more particularly the 
 sacred spot which Saul was now for several years to 
 make his home, let us at once accompany him to 
 the place where most of his time was to be spent. It 
 was at a celebrated school in Jerusalem. There were 
 several of these within the city famous for their learn- 
 ing. But one of the chief (if not the very chief) was 
 that of Hill el, which dated its origin aboiit sixty years 
 before the birth of Christ. Hillel, the founder, is sup- 
 posed to be the father of old Simeon, who took the 
 child Jesus in his arms in the temple, and blessed him.
 
 26 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 The grandson of Hillel, and probably the son of Simeon, 
 was a very learned and eminent Rabbi of the name of 
 Gamaliel. To shew in what esteem his learning was 
 held by the Jews, we are told that they designated 
 him " the beauty of the law." We know from the 
 Acts of the Apostles that " he was had in reputation 
 of all the people."* We have reason to believe he 
 was a candid, upright, honourable man — amiable in 
 himself, and -beloved by all who were acquainted with 
 him. There is a tradition which says that he was after- 
 wards converted to Christianity by the preaching of 
 Peter and John ; but this does not seem likely. Indeed, 
 it is to be feared he lived and died a zealous Pharisee. 
 Had it been otherwise, we could not well credit what 
 is said in the Targum, that another learned ptipil, 
 named Onkelos, spent seventy pounds of incense at 
 his tomb, out of respect for his memory. 
 
 Such was Saul's teacher. We may follow the pupil 
 to the school, where, morning after morning, he was 
 found " at the feet of Gamaliel," along with a group of 
 other ardent students like himself. Among his other 
 school-fellows was very possibly Barnabas, who was, in 
 future years, his travelling companion and fellow- 
 labourer ; also, the sons of Gamaliel, Jesus and Simon 
 — the former of whom became high priest. The 
 learned teacher, with his quick eye and long flowing 
 beard, is seated in the centre. At one time he in- 
 structs them in Greek, at another in Hebrew; more 
 seldom, pei'haps, in Latin. By far the greater portion 
 of their time is devoted to the well-used scroll he has 
 by him, out of which he teaches the Jewish law. He 
 explains its precepts and promises, its ceremonies, pro- 
 
 * Acts V. 34.
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 27 
 
 phecies, and types ; although the Rabbi, with all his 
 wisdom, had his own eyes blinded to the greatest of 
 the truths he was trying to unfold. 
 
 It was fortunate Saul had a liberal instructor like 
 Gamaliel, who did not object to impart to his scholars 
 a knowledge of the Greek language. Many others in 
 Jerusalem, at that time, would on no account have 
 done so. In the case of Saul, it formed a very im- 
 portant part of his training for the great work of his 
 future life, in preaching to the Gentiles. Greek, as 
 I have already said, was then understood and spoken 
 in many countries of the Roman empire ; and we find 
 him afterwards, when, on difi:erent occasions, he ad- 
 dresses Athenians, Corinthians, and Cretans, making 
 quotations to them from their own poets, shewing that 
 he must have been familiar with their writings. We 
 can trace, also, in his future epistles and letters, the 
 peculiar way in which he had been trained by Gamaliel 
 to argue. When we think of such Jewish schools, we 
 must not imagine them similar to our own, or our own 
 colleges, where the master or professor only is the 
 examinator. The Jewish doctor encouraged the 
 youths under him to question and cross-question one 
 another — he himself, too, being asked by them in 
 turn about anything they did not understand. It was 
 a school for debate, for, in this way, the Jews consi- 
 dered the minds of their youth to be best trained for 
 sharpness and acuteness. A question was started, 
 objections were raised to it, and then these objections 
 were answered. If you look to the Epistle to the 
 Romans, you will see more than one example of how 
 Paul used this form of debate or dialogue for the 
 defence and explanation of Christian doctrine. " What
 
 28 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 advantage, then, hath the Jew, and -what profit is there 
 of circumcision ? " * " What shall we say, then 1 Shall 
 we continue in sin, that grace may abound T't 
 
 We have good reason to imagine that the young 
 Tarsus stranger, as well as his companions in the 
 school of Hillel, loved their master, and listened with 
 attention and reverence to his instructions. The quick 
 mind of Saul grew more in love every day with the 
 law and the religion of his fathers. As he himself tells 
 us, " I made progress in the Jews' religion above many 
 my equals (those of the same age and standing with me) 
 in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of 
 the ti-aditions of my fathers."| The thorough study of 
 the ancient Scriptures in such schools accounts for the 
 readiness he shews in his after life in quoting passages 
 from the Old Testament. Writers have noted no less 
 than eighty-eight quotations, one half of which seem to 
 have been from memory. I doubt not the eye of the 
 old Rabbi, as he surveyed the little countenances that 
 surrounded him, often fell with peculiar hope upon 
 that of the Cilician youth. Perhaps he expected that, 
 when his own head was laid in the grave, the young 
 Tarsian would take his place as a great Jewish doctor. 
 But " God's thoughts are not as man's thoughts." That 
 studious boy was training for a nobler use ! 
 
 The thought may occur — did Saul at this time, 
 when he was in Jerusalem, never meet any of those 
 with whom he was afterwards to be joined in such 
 sacred bonds 1 Did he never see any of the young 
 fishermen of Galilee, when they came with their fathers 
 and friends to attend the great annual feasts 1 Did he 
 
 * Konians iii. 1. 
 
 f Kom. vi. 1. See also Rom iii. 9, iv. 1, ix. 14 ; Lewin, vol. i. p. 11. 
 
 X Gal. i. 14.
 
 THE SCHOLAR. 29 
 
 never see the young Baptist, before his voice was heard 
 in the deserts of Jordan? or, more than all, did he 
 never see the blessed Saviour — "the holy child Jesus" 
 — as he came, year after year, with Joseph and Mary, 
 and mingled in the crowds at the temple? Most 
 probably he did see one or all; but if so, they were 
 unknown to one another. It has been thought by 
 some, that Gamaliel was more than probably one of the 
 doctors in the temple whom Jesus, when he was 
 twelve years of age, astonished by asking questions. 
 If this be the case, possibly Saul may have been there 
 in company with his teacher, and heard the tender 
 voice of one who was afterwards to claim him as 
 his most " chosen vessel." * But, be this as it may, the 
 occasion passed by; and we shall end this chapter by 
 leaving our readers to imagine the future apostle, 
 seated, year after year, at the feet of his instructor, 
 having his head stoi'ed with learning, and his faculties 
 ripened and matured, for great duties and great ser- 
 vices, which at the time he little dreamt of. 
 
 What a bright future must have seemed to his com- 
 panions, and perhaps to himself, to be opening before 
 him! God had given him, as his inheritance, the 
 greatest of all wealth — the wealth of intellect — the 
 riches of a cultivated mind. He was active, bold, 
 eloquent, virtuous, learned. He gives every promise 
 of future greatness. The army of Titus is, in a few 
 brief years, to be with their battering-rams at the 
 gates of Jerusalem ; and if we were asked to point out 
 one in the whole nation of Israel, who gives best pro- 
 mise of acting the hero in that terrible conflict — head- 
 ing the ranks of his desponding countrymen, and keep- 
 
 * Acts ix. 15.
 
 30 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ing back, for a while at least, the Roman eagles from 
 their prey — we should, without doubt, poiut to that 
 quick-eyed youth who has battle-fields marked out for 
 him, nobler far than Roman valour ever contested. A 
 conquest is to be his, greater than the world's greatest 
 victors. Meanwhile, he is learning lessons of bitterest 
 hatred to that truth which he was afterwards to pro- 
 claim with a giant's voice. He was now taught to 
 boast of nothing, save the traditions of his fathers — 
 the pride of his birth — the distinction of his sect — the 
 glory of his natioc . We know not if Gamaliel lived to 
 read in a letter, sent by this boy of Tarsus, in after 
 years, to some poor Christians, " God forbid that I shoidd 
 glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!"
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 f ^e |lmtc«tor. 
 
 Foremost and nearest to His throne, 
 By perfect robes of triumph known, 
 And likest Him in look and tone — 
 The holy Stephen kneels." 
 
 Christian Tear.
 
 K 
 
 We must now pass over a cousiderable 
 number of years. The period of Sauls boy- 
 hood was over, and he was entering on 
 manhood at the age of thirty or upwards. He had, 
 probably, many years before this, left (Tamaliel's scbqol 
 at Jerusalem, and was once more at Tarsus, pursuing 
 in private, or in the schools there, different branches of 
 knowledge. We may take for granted, that, before leav- 
 ing the Holy City, he had received the lowest " detjree" 
 of learning, which was known among the Jews by the term 
 " Rah ,•"' and perhaps, too, from being so distinguished 
 among his fellow-students, he may have received the next 
 highest title, viz.. that of " Puihhi." There was only one 
 higher than these, which was reserved for seven indi- 
 viduals who had attained to a great age, as well as to gr^t 
 learning, sucli as Gamaliel ; it was called " Rabbah " or
 
 34 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 '•' Rahhan." This, also, the young Tarsian scholar might, 
 with confidence, have looked forward to, had he not 
 learned, ere long, to " count all these titles of earthly 
 wisdom as loss" for the excellency of a higher " know- 
 ledge." 
 
 If we have dismissed in silence twenty years of his 
 life, it is not because these years have no interest 
 to us. They were, indeed, the most eventful time in 
 all the 6000 years of this world's history. The Saviour 
 of mankind had lived in them. He had lived his holy 
 life, and died, on Calvary's cross, his bitter death. A 
 new dispensation had been ushered in upon the earth 
 — "old things had passed away, and all things were 
 made new." 
 
 We may imagine the future apostle, then at the 
 age of thirty or upwards, once more at his native 
 Tarsus. He never makes mention, in any of his writ- 
 ings, of the public ministry of Christ, or of his miracles 
 and discourses. It is not probable, therefore, that he 
 had continued to reside at Jerusalem after finishing his 
 education. Had he done so, it is reasonable to think 
 he would often have spoken, like John, of what " he had 
 heard, and seen with his eyes, and looked upon" — the 
 mighty works and the holy words of Him who " spake 
 as never man spake."* If we are correct in supposing 
 that he had once more gone to his native city, many 
 changes, doubtless, had occurred since we last found him 
 there, while yet a boy, climbing the heights of Mount 
 Taurus, or watching the foam as it dashed over the 
 falls of the Cydnus. His sister had now grown to be a 
 
 * We follow in this the view adopted by most, although there are 
 other opinions advanced by learned writers as to the reason of Paul's silence 
 on this subject.
 
 THE PERSECUTOR. 35 
 
 ■woman, and -was probably married — the mother of one 
 we shall find afterwards mentioned towards the close 
 of the apostle's life. The quiet of his home, too, must 
 have been disturbed, during his absence, by civil war. 
 A Roman historian tells us that Piso, a former gover- 
 nor of Syria, made an attempt to conquer the country 
 for himself^that, for this purpose, he gathered the 
 warlike chiefs of Mount Taurus together, and pitched 
 his hostile camp at the town of Celendcris, not far from 
 the mouth of the Cydnus.* We have reason to believe, 
 however, that, before the return of Gamaliel's pupil, 
 all was quiet again. 
 
 Let us leave him for a little under his father's 
 roof, busily carrying on his studies in Gi-eek and 
 Hebrew — or, from time to time, making use of his 
 learning in the synagogue — while we glance at the 
 position and prospect of that Church called "Chris- 
 tian," of which he was ere long to be the great apostle. 
 The Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the grave, 
 and appeared again and again to his disciples. He 
 had taken them up, after forty days, to the top of the 
 Mount of Olives, and, while talking with them " con- 
 cerning the kingdom," and pronouncing a parting bless- 
 ing, " a cloud received him out of their sight." The 
 sorrowing eleven were left alone, and returned with sad 
 hearts to Jerusalem. There was no time to be lost. 
 While it was their dear Lord and Master's last request 
 to preach his Gospel to " every creature," they were to 
 " begin at Jerusalem." They assembled, first of all, in a 
 small upper room. There were but 120 of them. 
 There they began with what all the great and impor- 
 tant duties of life should be begun and ended — 
 
 • Tacitus.
 
 36 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 prayer to God to help them in then- great work, and 
 then they proceeded to proclaim the name and religion 
 of the risen Saviour. Their first sermon was a never- 
 to-be-forgotten one. Peter preached it, and 3000 
 Jews were converted to the new faith. Many of these 
 had come from far distant parts of the world, to attend 
 the great feast of Pentecost, and, when the festival 
 was finished, they returned back to their several 
 homes, and told all the wondrous things they had seen 
 and heard. 
 
 The different sects in Jerusalem were alarmed at the 
 progress the " Nazarenes " (as they called them in 
 mockery) were making. They resolved, if they could, 
 to crush the infant Church. The Sadducees had now 
 the greatest influence. To their party the high priest 
 belonged. And as the apostles of Jesus dwelt, in their 
 discourses, more especially on His resurrection, this 
 sect were more violent in their opposition than any 
 others; for you are aware that the Sadducees denied 
 altogether the doctrine of a resurrection. They saw 
 that, in young Saul of Tarsus, with his energy, and 
 zeal, and learning, they had one in every way quali- 
 fied to carry out their purposes of vengeance against 
 the followers of Jesus. He was willing enough to 
 listen to the call. His proud spirit could not for a 
 moment believe that that meek " Man of sorrows" — 
 whose only birthright seemed poverty — who had lately 
 expired, like a common felon, on the cross, could be the 
 Messiah whom he and his fathers had looked for. 
 Would the great Shiloh, of whom the patriarch Jacob 
 spake — the " Prince of Peace," of whom Isaiah sung — 
 have none but twelve peasants of Galilee for his com- 
 panions, and make these the teachers of the world?
 
 THE PERSECUTOR. 37 
 
 No, no; the manger of Bethlehem, the carpenter's 
 shop at Nazareth, the cross of Calvary, the fishermen 
 disciples — all shocked the pride of the young Pharisee. 
 The very thought of a Messiah so lowly seemed au in- 
 sult to God and to the whole Jewish nation. He had 
 thought, at first, that the new religion of this " one 
 Jesus" would soon be forgotten — that, after this death 
 of shame and humiliation, all his other followers would, 
 like his apostles, have forsaken him and fled. But 
 when he saw the sect growing daily in strength, he 
 resolved to do God service, by entering with his whole 
 soul on the work of persecution. 
 
 There was a holy man who rose into note at this 
 time among the disciples of Jesus ; his name was Ste- 
 phen, one of the seven deacons of the infant Church, 
 chosen to take charge of the money collected for the 
 relief of the poor. He is described by Jerome, and 
 some of the early fathers, as a person of great learn- 
 ing and eloquence. In Scripture he is spoken of as " a 
 man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." He was 
 bold in the cause of his crucified but now exalted 
 Lord. He went day after day into the synagogue, 
 disputing with the learned men and doctors, and try- 
 ing to shew them, from their owti Old Testament scrip- 
 tures, that Jesus was the true Messiah. We are told 
 (in Acts vi. 9, 10) that among these synagogues into 
 which he entered was that of " the Cilicians ; " and we 
 have reason to believe, that among those whom this 
 " devout man " addressed, was one who had again left 
 his native Tarsus and come up to Jerusalem. 
 
 It is more than likely that the "young man Saul"* 
 (who is now again brought before our notice) often 
 
 * Acts vii. 58.
 
 38 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 and again disputed with Stephen ; that all the powers 
 of ai-gument he had learned so well inider Gamaliel's 
 teaching were put in force ; but that he, like the other 
 Jews, " were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit " 
 with which the holy deacon spake.* Their malice was 
 excited, and they resolved to have him condemned. 
 How can they best succeed 1 False witnesses are hired 
 to convict him of speaking blasphemous words against 
 the law and the temple, " against Moses, and against 
 God." No charge could more certainly rouse the pas- 
 sions of the Jews against the accused than this. " What ! 
 this Nazarene to assert that all we love as most sacred 
 is to be destroyed ! — the law, which our great father 
 Moses received from God himself on Sinai, to be abo- 
 lished ! — the great temple of Solomon, the wonder and 
 glory of the world, whither for ages on ages ' the tribes 
 have gone up, even the tribes of the Lord, unto the 
 testimony of Israel,' was all its magnificence now to 
 pass away ! — were they to see no more their high 
 priests in their splendid robes ! — the smoke of their 
 morning and evening sacrifices ! — to hear no more the 
 music of the timbrel, and harp, and stringed insti'u- 
 ments at their sacred feasts, or the silver trumpet of 
 jubilee pealing over the land ! It is the height of blas- 
 phemy ! No sentence can be too severe, no death too 
 terrible for such a scoffer as this." These, doubtless, 
 would be the feelings alike of Pharisees and Sadducees ; 
 and we can readily calculate what the resiilt will be 
 when Stephen is dragged before the Sanhedrim — the 
 great Jewish court of law — to answer to the charges 
 thus preferred against him. 
 
 A great meeting is called of this tribunal. The 
 
 * Acts vi. 10.
 
 THE PERSECUTOR. 39 
 
 place in which they were wont to assemble was a liall 
 called " Giizith," or the " stone chamber" situated close 
 by the wall of the temple, with the rocky side of 
 Mount Moriali immediately beneath. Before this 
 time, indeed, the Jews were forbidden to meet here. 
 They had religious scniples about Gentiles crossing the 
 sacred enclosures ; and the Romans, not unreasonably, 
 dreaded lest the holding of assemblies, in a place ihey 
 were not permitted to enter, might become a danger- 
 ous privilege.* In the present instance, however, the 
 prohibition had been winked at, and the " stone cham- 
 ber " was the place of meeting. 
 
 Our young readers may fancy to themselves the 
 scene. The president of the assembly, the high priest 
 (Theophilus the Sadducee, one of the sons of Annas) 
 occupies a raised seat at the upper end of the room ; 
 other seventy-one members are ranged in a half-circle 
 around him, consisting of the heads of the twenty-four 
 courses of priests, twenty-four elders, and twenty-four 
 scribes. Stephen stands in front of his judges ; but 
 he is not afraid — his God and Saviour is with him. 
 Indeed, at that moment, while the eye of Saul, along 
 with the others, is fixed with rage on the prisoner, the 
 young Tarsian sees what he never afterwards could 
 forget — a bright heavenly light or glory resting on the 
 face of Stephen, as if the flame of truth in his inner 
 soul was seen reflected on his countenance. Said 
 looks on the faces of the judges ; he sees them, as his 
 own was, flashing with fire and indignation ; but the 
 eye of the first martyr is directed up to heaven ; with 
 him, all is peace ! 
 
 The great charge, as we have said, brought against 
 
 * Lewin. C
 
 40 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 him -was, that he had foretold the destruction of the 
 temple, and "the change of the customs which Moses had 
 formerly delivered to them." * The president hears 
 the false witnesses first ; after they state their charges, 
 he turns towards Stephen and puts the usual question, 
 whether he pleads "guilty, or not guilty." " J.?-e these 
 things sof" The prisoner, unmoved, with a calm and 
 clear voice enters on his defence. He begins by mi- 
 nutely rehearsing the leading events in the history of 
 their nation, from the calling of Abraham and the Exodus 
 from Egypt, to the building of the temple during the 
 reign of Solomon ; he declares that he was no enemy 
 to the Old Testament rites — these he loved in common 
 with all Jews ; but, at the same time, shewed that 
 Moses himself had spoken of a time when his law would 
 be displaced by a better dispensation, quoting the very 
 words of the great lawgiver — " A Prophet shall the 
 Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren 
 like unto me; Him shall ye hea7\"f He charged his 
 hearers with trusting too much to outwaixl privileges, 
 and sinfully resisting the grace and Holy Spirit of God, 
 as their fathers did. The whole assembly are roused 
 into fury ! Like wild beasts springing upon their prey, 
 " they gnashed upon him with their teeth." J As their 
 rage, however, increases, so also does his calm compo- 
 sure ; a holier brightness gathers over his countenance. 
 We cannot wonder at it ; for we are told that then 
 " he looked up into heaven, and saw the glory of God, 
 and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."§ He 
 looked far above the cruel assembly gathered in the 
 earthly Jerusalem. He was gazing upon " the gene- 
 
 * Acts vi. 14. t Acts vii. 37. 
 
 1 Acts vii. 54. § Acts vii. 55.
 
 THE PEB8ECDT0R. 41 
 
 ral assembly and church of the first-born in heaven." 
 The veil of the skies had been drawn aside. He saw 
 holy angels smiling upon him ; and, better than all, 
 that blessed Saviour he had probably last seen expir- 
 ing in agony on the cross, " standing on the right hand 
 of God." As an early father says, "not ^ seated,^ but 
 'standing,'' as if he rose from his glorious throne to 
 welcome his first apostle and martyr." 
 Beautifully does a Christian poet say — 
 
 " Well might you guess what vision bright 
 Was present to his raptured sight, 
 Even as reflected streams of light 
 Their solar source betray ; 
 
 " The glory which our God surrounds, 
 The Son of mau — th' atoning wounds — 
 He sees them all, — and earth's dull bounds 
 Are melting fast away." 
 
 But he can expect no mercy from the hands of men ; 
 they saw no such bright heavenly vision ! The seventy- 
 two are all against him. " They cried with a loud 
 voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with 
 one accord." In that loud voice there mingled, doubt- 
 less, the shout of the young rabbi of Tarsus. If there 
 was one event in his life more than another Saul after- 
 wards bitterly wept over, surely it was that mad rush 
 he made on an innocent and holy saint, and when he 
 helped to urge him, unresisting along, from the place of 
 trial to the place of death. It was contrary to the 
 Jewish law to commit murder inside the walls of the 
 city ; they must therefore for some moments repress 
 their rage till they are outside the sacred enclosures. 
 They drag their victim through the gate, which still 
 bears his name, and by which, in ages long after, the 
 brave and victorious Godfrey of Bouillon conducted his 
 armies with loud acclamations in entering Jerusalem.
 
 42 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Soon they reach the scene of violence. It is supposed 
 to be a lonely spot, low down in the valley of Jebosha- 
 phat, not far off from where Stephen's Saviour had suf- 
 fered far more terrible agonies in the garden of Geth- 
 semane.* The brook Kedron is mnrmuring in his 
 ear. He could not fail to remember that Jesus too 
 listened to its sound in that darkest night the world 
 ever saw. What a " mixed multitude," we may 
 imagine, are present ! There are the idle mob from the 
 city, "who are ever hanging on, ready to take part in 
 any tumult, and to be witnesses of savage deeds. 
 There are priests and scribes, by their words and 
 gestures stirring up the passions of the rabble, and 
 hurrying them to execute with all speed the act of 
 cruelty. While, lurking in the crowd, afraid to utter 
 a word which might bring down on themselves similar 
 veugeance, are the trembling disciples of the same 
 Master whose cross Stephen so meekly bears. Who 
 is to begin the bloody work ? A number of stones 
 lying in the channel of the Kedron, or that have fallen 
 from the rocky ridges of Jehoshaphat, are the weapons 
 of death. According to the Jewish law, it is the wit- 
 nesses in the trial who must cast the first. And these 
 seem resolved to effect their purpose thoroughly ; for 
 their upper loose garments are cast aside, tliat their 
 arms may be able to dash the stones with sufficient 
 force. There is one close by, who is ready enough to 
 assist. They lay down their coats at his feet to take 
 charge of them. It is a young man, described by early 
 writers as being " short in stature, of a fair complexion, 
 and with expressive eyes." His name is Saul! The 
 dreadful tragedy is soon over — stone after stone is 
 
 • See the pictvire at the beginniiig of the chapter.
 
 THE PERSECUTOR. 43 
 
 hurled upon that bruised and tortured body. The 
 greeu turf is dyed with the first martyr's blood. But 
 lie litters not one revengeful word — a new spirit has 
 been introduced into the world. Like his Lord before 
 him, he prays with his dying lips for his murderers, 
 and then " falls asleep," 
 
 "With such a Friend and Witness near, 
 No form of death could maUe him fear; 
 Calm amid showers of stones he kneels, 
 And only for his murderers feels I " * 
 
 That prayer was heard for one at least of those who 
 were in that crowd. — There is a cave or grotto still 
 pointed out in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where it is 
 said the murderers dragged the mangled body of the 
 martyr when life was extinct.t 
 
 " The shades of evening closed around that guilty 
 city, which had that day added another sin to her cata- 
 logue of crimes, and maintained her ancient character 
 as a murderer of God's messengers. The multitude had 
 dispersed to their homes. The priests were recounting 
 with jo}'' the events of the day, and the disciples were 
 weeping in secret the loss of one so honoured and be- 
 loved. But everywhere was heard the name of one 
 who had stood prominent in these fearful scenes. 
 Among the gi-oups who lingered at the corners of the 
 streets, and talked over these transactions — at the fire- 
 side, where Jewish mothers heard with glistening eyes 
 of this new triumph of their faith — in that mourning 
 asseml)ly, where the Nazarencs blended their tears and 
 prayers, the deeds of tlie youthful Saul were canvassed 
 with joy on tlie one hand, and terror on the other. It 
 seemed a sad day for the religion that had lost her 
 eloquent and earnest preacher, and not less bright and 
 
 * John Nowton. f Slauudrell.
 
 44 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 promising for that ancient system which had called 
 forth a champion worthy of her happiest times. The 
 rich and poor, the Pharisee and Sadducee, wei"e loud in 
 praise of the rising zealot, and everything seemed to 
 augair for him a career of high distinction. The path 
 was ah'eady open for Saul to the most exalted honours 
 which a Jew could receive from the rulers of his 
 people."* 
 
 The Bible tells us nothing as to how Saul himself 
 must have really felt at Stephen's death. I doubt not, 
 though he concealed it, there were other feelings that 
 mingled with rage and bigotry, as the dead body lay 
 at his feet, and he heard the sound of the " sore lamen- 
 tation" made by sorrowing friends over their " loved 
 and lost " one. He must have thought to himself — Can 
 all that peace, and calmness, and prayer, and forgiveness, 
 and love have been that of a hypocrite 1 Meanwhile, 
 ihowever, we know that he did go away from the place 
 a furious zealot as before. Perhaps he thought he 
 saw in that tranquil death only the power of the evil 
 one at work on a naturally pure and holy mind, tempt- 
 ing him to desert the faith of his fathers for a miser- 
 able heresy. This would only give him the greater 
 desire to extinguish it, and prevent others from falling 
 into the same snare. But there were thoughts and 
 impressions, notwithstanding, made on his heart, which 
 he never could forget, and which he never did forget, 
 when he came afterwards to follow in Stephen's steps, 
 and to pant for Stephen's crown.t 
 
 * 77(6 Apo.itle Paul : a Biography, 1854. 
 t See Acts xsii. 19.
 
 CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 %\lt €mkxt 
 
 " See me, see me — once a rebel, 
 Vanquish 'd at His cross I lie ; 
 Cross ! to tame earth's proudest ahle ! 
 Who was e'er so proud as I ? 
 He convinced me ; He subdued me ; 
 He chastised me ; He renew'd me. 
 The nails that nail'd — the spear that slew Him, 
 Transfix'd my heart, and bound it to Him. 
 See me, see me — once a rebel, 
 Vanquish'd at His cress I lie." 
 
 "Grace came, omnipotent grace, and the rampart of that great 
 soul fell like the walls of Jericho; the impregnable citadel was car- 
 ried in an hour, and all its ample magazines were redeemed for the 
 service of the Lord."
 
 iiE Jlaiues of persecution were now 
 fairly lighted. The Jewish Sanhedrim 
 waxed fiercer than ever in their hatred 
 to tne disciples of Jesus. Soon, alas ! did the Sa- 
 viour's words come true, John xvi. 2 — "They shall 
 put you out of the synagogues : yea, the time cometh, 
 that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth 
 God service." We are not, indeed, warranted to sup- 
 pose that the Sanhedrim were permitted to persecute 
 unto death. Stephen's martyrdom was doubtless an 
 act of treason against the government of the land, and, 
 at other times, would have been dealt with as such. 
 But Pilate had now been deposed, his successor was 
 not yet appointed, and the Jews felt themselves at 
 ii'uiltv libertv to commit this cold-blooded murder.
 
 48 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 Although it is uot probable the repetition of such 
 a violation of law would be allowed, no such inter- 
 ference was made in the case of lesser cruelties. 
 
 The " young man Saul," now advancing to manhood, 
 is elected one of the council • and he seems to exceed 
 all the others in the amount of his rage and fury 
 against the followers of Jesus. " He made havoc of 
 the Church," seizing not only on men, and making 
 them the objects of his cruelty, but women also were 
 bound in chains and put in prison. Sometimes he 
 was not even satisiied with this, but had individuals 
 ready to whip and scourge them. By making them 
 thus suffer torture, he tried to induce them to blas- 
 pheme the name of Jesus. 
 
 Think, in this happy and favoured age and countiy 
 of ours, what all these poor Christians must have been 
 suffering then in Jerusalem ! The old and infirm — the 
 Simeons and Annas — who had had the evening of their 
 days gladdened by that bright Gospel Sun which others 
 had only seen afar off — think of their tottering frames 
 borne down with heavy irons, their hoary locks in vain 
 appealing for mercy ! Think of the daughters of Jeru- 
 salem — the wives and mothers who once had wept for 
 the Lord they so loved, when they saw Him carrying 
 liis cross — now called to weep and carry that cross for 
 themselves — their helpless children torn from them 
 because they would not deny the name of Him who 
 was dearer than the dearest on earth ! In connexion 
 with these dreadful doings, the cruelty of the Rabbi of 
 Tarsus was known hundreds of miles off. " How much 
 evil he had done to the saints of God at Jerusalem ! " •• 
 Little was he aware, at the time, how literally true
 
 THE CONVERT. 49 
 
 the saying of his future Lord and Master would bo in 
 his case — "With what measure ye mete, it shall be 
 measured to you again!" He had taken part in 
 "stoning," "scourging," "imprisoning." In all the 
 three, he himself was yet to " bear, in his own body, 
 the marks of the Lord Jesus !" 
 
 I do not think, however, that we can argue from 
 this, as many have done, that Saul was naturally of a 
 savage and cruel natxire. He was a true and sincere 
 worshipper of God, and a person of correct life. He tells 
 us himself that " as touching the righteousness of the 
 law, he was blameless." It was a blind and erroneous 
 zeal, in what he supposed was the cause of truth, which 
 led him to such acts of oppression. He thought all the 
 time he was " doing God service," and that the more 
 he shewed his hatred to Jesus and his people, God 
 would love him the more. His own words are striking 
 — "I verily thought I ought" — (it was a false sense of 
 duty) — " to do many things contrary to the name of 
 Jesus of Nazareth." * Besides, the principles of tole- 
 ration prized and acted on in our happy country 
 were not known in his time, or at least never mani- 
 fested. We may be struck indeed at the amount 
 and bitterness of his persecuting zeal ; we read that he 
 was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter" (with 
 all the ferocity of a ivild beast, as the word means). 
 This may at -first sight seem strange, if what we 
 have a little ago said be true, that he was impressed 
 with Stephen's holy death. But alas ! this is often 
 one out of many ways that people take to resist con- 
 viction, and thereby to silence the voice of conscience. 
 Just as the sun, shining upon a stagnant pool, draws 
 
 * Acts xxvi. 9.
 
 50 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 forth from it only noxious vapours, so the holy radi- 
 ance on the countenance of the martyr seemed but to 
 exti-act stronger feelings of hatred from the proud heart 
 of the persecutor. As a writer has well said, " The 
 arrow of conviction, when it fails to bring the sinner 
 bleeding to Christ, saying, 'What must I do to be 
 saved V seldom fails to exasperate his natural enmity 
 so as to rouse his violent opposition to Christ and his 
 cause ; insomuch that, when at any time we see a man 
 breathing out violence and threatenings against the 
 ministers or people of God, we are ready to think that 
 at one time that sinner must have had an arrow 
 sticking fast in his conscience, and that he is un- 
 easy and restless and wretched within, in conse- 
 quence of its rankling and festering sore."* These 
 dreadful scenes and cruelties in which Saul now en- 
 gaged, were like scorpion-stings afterwards to his warm 
 and tender heart. They pained and lacerated him 
 more than the thongs of the gaoler, or the rough irons 
 that bound him — " I am the least of the apostles," he 
 says, "that am not meet to be called an apostle, be- 
 cause I persecuted the Church of God."\ " Beyond 
 measure I persecuted the Church and wasted it." J 
 
 Till now the Gospel had been principally, if not alto- 
 gether, preached in the city of Jerusalem ; but these 
 mournful cruelties were beginning to scatter the dis- 
 ciples among the neighbouring provinces of Judea, and 
 even among the countries beyond. Philip, Stephen's 
 old companion and friend, was preaching and working 
 miracles in Samaria, and Peter and John shortly after 
 followed him there on the same errand. Thus the 
 rage of the persecutors was overruled by Divine Pro- 
 
 ♦ Buchanan On the Uoly Spirit, p. 291. f 1 Cor. xv. 9. t Gal. i. 13.
 
 THE CONVERT. 51 
 
 vidence for the spread of the glad tidings of salvation 
 in other lands. The martyrdom of Stephen was like 
 the fall of the forest tree, which, as it comes with a 
 crash to the gi-ound, scatters its seeds on every side. 
 
 These seeds, however, are not to be allowed long to 
 rest in peace. The Christians who had taken refuge in 
 other lands are to be hunted out by this fierce zealot as 
 well as when they were within the walls of Jerusalem. 
 Where is he to begin his new warfare 1 what spot does 
 he fix upon first, in order to spring upon his unoffend- 
 ing prey 1 
 
 There was a city far north of Palestine, Damascus, 
 the capital of Syria, where many of the poor saints had 
 taken refuge, and where many more, by their preach- 
 ing and influence, had become disciples of the Lord 
 Jesus. Saul could of himself exercise no authority at 
 a distance ; but he received from Theophilus, the high 
 priest in Jerusalem, letters to the Jewish synagogues 
 in Damascus, in order that he might seize hold of all 
 the converts he could find there — "any of this way" 
 (as he in words of bitter contempt expresses it), wliether 
 they were men or women, and bring them bound to 
 the prisons in Jerusalem. 
 
 You have heard of the Crusaders of the middle 
 ages, who went to Palestine to fight for the Holy 
 Sepulchre, and how manfully they endured every kind 
 of hardship and suffering in what they thought was a 
 holy enterpiise. You have heard of the poor wretched 
 Hindus in India travelling on their knees for hundreds 
 of miles, under a burning sun, to the temples of their 
 idol deities, thinking thus to obtain their favour. 
 Never, we believe, did Pilgrim, or Crusader, or Hindu, 
 set out with a more honest conviction that he was
 
 52 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 " doing God service," than did Saul of Tarsus at this 
 time to the Syrian capital. 
 
 To explain this " authority from the high priest," it 
 must be borne in mind that the Roman emperors, 
 though ever jealous about giving their own power to 
 others, had (since the reign of Julius Csesiir) invested 
 the Jewish high priest, as head of the Sanhedrim, with 
 full authority over all Israelites who might be living in 
 foreign cities, — at least to the extent of " excommu- 
 nication, scourging, and imprisonment." When they 
 wished to enforce any of these, " a mandate" was sent 
 by the hands of a special messenger (as was the case 
 now with Saul) to the synagogue of the city where the 
 Jews resided, whom they wished to punish.* 
 
 What a journey was this ! how much hung upon it ! 
 and yet the Bible tlirows no light upon the journey itself 
 — as to what route the future apostle took, or who were 
 with him. There were several ways by which he could 
 reach Damascus ; but as it is more than likely that 
 by this time the Roman roads were made through 
 Judea,t we may suppose that Saiil, mounted on horse- 
 back and surrounded with his companions, proceeded 
 out of the north-western gate of Jerusalem, taking the 
 great paved road, whose remains are traced at the pre- 
 sent day, similar to the paved highways we shall after- 
 wards come to speak of in Italy, and other countries.j 
 
 It has been attempted to give a precise date to this 
 memorable journey — about Nov^ember a. D. 37, a few 
 months after Stephen's martyrdom. It may help to 
 
 * Lewin. 
 
 t For ;i description of the different routes from Jerusalem to Damascus, 
 see Conybeare and Ilowson. We liave adopted the one selected by them 
 as most probable. 
 
 J Biblical Researches, vol. iii. p. 77.
 
 THE CONVERT. 53 
 
 assist our impression of the incidents connected with 
 it, to assume the date to be the correct one. The 
 usual time which modern companies take to travel 
 between Jerusalem and Damascus is a week — the dis- 
 tance being 136 miles. On the supposition that Saul 
 and his companions were a mounted band, they would 
 do it sooner ; but it would seem, from his own descrip- 
 tion, that the party in this respect very nearly resem- 
 bled caravans in the present day, some being mounted, 
 and some on foot.* Ascending the ridge, on the left 
 of which are the tombs of the Judges, they wovdd wend 
 their way across a hill which was to become more me- 
 morable, some years later, as that where the Roman 
 standards were first planted by Titus when he came 
 against Jerusalem. The temple has now sunk from 
 the view of the travellers, and the road lies, with many 
 devious windings, through a mountainous district, till 
 they come to Ramah of Benjamin. Two cities of a 
 similar name open upon them right and left. The for- 
 mer, Gibeah of Saul, could not be without interest to 
 the young Pharisee, who proudly bore the name of 
 Israel's first king. Here was the monarch's birthplace. 
 They could follow in thought his brave son in his mid- 
 night exploit, with his armour-bearer, when he left his 
 father's tent under the pomegranate tree in Gibeah, 
 and by the morning the Philistines were fleeing in dis- 
 order over the plain. The city, towards the right, 
 had recollections equally interesting. It was over the 
 walls of Gibeon that, at the command of Joshua, the 
 sun stood still in the heavens. Here, under David and 
 Solomon, the tabernacle had for many years been set 
 up, and the latter monarch, on ascending the throne, 
 
 • Lewin.
 
 54: THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 offered up his thousand burnt-offerings. They hasten 
 onwards through a rocky country, occasionally relieved 
 by gentle slopes or artificial terraces, where the melon 
 and cucumber are found cultivated along with patches 
 of grain. The eye of the inquisitor is doubtless intent 
 on the great object of his journey; he may have 
 little inclination to gaze on the various spots of renown 
 which are crossing his path ; but surely he could not 
 pass Bethel without a solemn pause and many hallowed 
 remembrances. Was this the spot he had so often 
 read of in his Tarsus home, where father Jacob had 
 taken the stones of the place for his pillow, and saw 
 the ladder stretching down from heaven to earth — the 
 angels of God travelling up and down upon it 1 The 
 impressive typical meaning of that vision was to young 
 Saul yet sealed. He had yet to know the glory of 
 that mediatorial work which connected earth with hea- 
 ven — the sinner with God. Who can tell but these 
 same angels that hovered over the weary patriarch 
 1700 years before, had now "charge given them to 
 encamp " around another erring fugitive ! If there 
 be "joy in heaven among the angels of God over every 
 sinner that repenteth," what must that joy be when 
 they can bear tidings to the throne that there is one 
 weeping at the cross like Saul of Tarsus ! 
 
 But they pursue their way. Shiloh was the last 
 place of note they passed before entering the hills of 
 Samaria. Here they could not fail to think of the 
 touching story of old Eli and the youthful Samuel; 
 but there was nothing in the town itself to attract at- 
 tention. Ever since the " Ark of God " had been taken 
 from it by the Philistines, Shiloh had sunk into insig- 
 nificance. Perhaps, from some height here, the young
 
 THE CONVERT. 55 
 
 Benjamite may have got a glimpse of the blue moun- 
 tains bounding the horizon on the north ; they are the 
 heights of Gilboa. On yonder mountain side, the 
 stately king, whose birthplace he had recently passed, 
 fell, when " the archers hit him, and he was sore 
 wounded of the archers." He might see, or fancy he 
 saw, the direction by which the messenger hurried 
 along to Ziklag with the crown and bracelet of the fal- 
 len monarch, carrying the heavy tidings to David that 
 "the beauty of Israel had been slain \ipon the high 
 places." 
 
 After crossing the hills of Ephraim, we may listen 
 in thought to their horses' hoofs sounding along the 
 winding valley between Ebal and Gerizim, close to 
 Sychar. They may have even possibly paused to re- 
 fresh themselves at the very fountain — the well of 
 Jacob — where a Samaritan woman had the water of life 
 first pointed out to hei'. 
 
 If we have said in a former chapter that the glories 
 of Lebanon and Carmel must have been much the 
 same in the days of Saul as now, we may say the same 
 of this lovely valley ; for while the features of nature 
 in her bold mountains and valleys never can be 
 changed, the old Shecliem of Scripture still survives 
 when many other towns and villages of Palestine have 
 been swept away. As Saul rode through its groves 
 and orchards, scenes which have met the eye of recent 
 travellers were those most likely to meet his own. " A 
 beautiful stream would be running through the valley, 
 and a shepherd might be seen seated on its bank, play- 
 ing a reed-pipe, with his flock feeding quietly around 
 hina." " Along the valley he might behold a company 
 of Ishmaelites coming from Giload, as in the days of
 
 56 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Reuben and Judah, with their camels ' bearing spicery, 
 and balm, and myrrh,' who would gladly have pur- 
 chased another Joseph of his brethren, and conveyed 
 him as a slave to some Potiphar in Egypt. Upon the 
 hills around, flocks and herds might be feeding as of 
 old ; nor, in the simple garb of the shepherds of Sama- 
 ria, would there be anything to contradict the notions 
 he might entertain of the appearance formerly exhi- 
 bited by the sons of Jacob." * 
 
 Samaria is soon passed, and Galilee is entered. They 
 have reached a lofty ridge from which they look down 
 into the deep basin of the Sea of Tiberias — that spot 
 which had become sacred with the presence and deeds 
 of a Greater than the greatest of apostles. It was 
 there that a mighty Voice liad stilled a furious tem- 
 pest, and rescued a sinking disciple ; the same Voice 
 and the same Hand was ere long, by a mightier miracle, 
 to rescue him who now rode unconcerned along its white 
 pebbly beech ! Crossing to its other side, they come 
 in view of Capernaum and Bethsaida. Boats might 
 be flitting, as they passed, to and fro in the calm sur- 
 face of the lake, in which probably Peter, and James, 
 and Andrew, and John, once sat and toiled, and in 
 which Jesus had sat along with them. 
 
 After the hills which rose on the eastern side of the 
 lake have been climbed, the view becomes quite altered ; 
 the land of mountains and valleys is about to be left 
 behind, and one vast plain, extending for miles on 
 miles, stretches before them. Towards the extreme 
 north, the brow of Hermon, white with snow as if 
 hoary with age, towered far up in the blue sky. It 
 formed the highe&t point in the range of Mount Leba- 
 
 » Stephen's Travels, and Clarke's Travels, quoted by Wylie.
 
 THE CONVERT. 57 
 
 noil — the giant boundary-line of the north of Palestine, 
 and which now lay right between the persecutor and 
 his native Cilicia. The journey presently is over a 
 flat and even country, but wasted, dry, and sterile, A 
 hot burning sun pours its rays down upon their heads, 
 and many a league has to be trodden before their eyes 
 are gladdened with cooling streams or welcome shade. 
 At last, in the far distance, a dotted streak of sparkling 
 white greets their vision, and circling lines, glancing in 
 the sun, seem to mark the presence of a flowing river. 
 It is their longed-for city — the towers and pinnacles of 
 great Damascus. 
 
 " The mid-day sun, with fiercest glare, 
 Broods o'er the hazy twinkling air, 
 
 Along the level sand. 
 The palm-tree's shade unwavering lies. 
 Just as thy towers, Damasciis, rise , 
 
 To greet you wearied baud." * 
 
 Damascus, the " head " or capital of Syria, is one of 
 the oldest towns in the world. When the patriarch 
 Abraham lived, Damascus was built. His trusty and 
 faithful servant was " Eliezer of Damascus." In the 
 reign of David and Solomon, it carried on an extensive 
 trade with neighbouring and distant cities. The pro- 
 phet Ezekiel speaks particularly of its commerce with 
 Tyre — " its wares, emci'alds, purple and broidered 
 work, the wine of Helbon, and white wool." While 
 Nineveh can only be dug out of its grave, and the 
 ruins of Babylon can scarcely be found, Damascus 
 remains a great and beautiful city to this day, the 
 wonder of all travellers, with its busy throng of 120,000 
 inhabitants, its same bright white buildings, its long 
 streets, its busy bazaars, its sparkling fountains, its 
 
 * Christian Year, D
 
 58 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 lovely palm-trees and delicious fruits.* It is called by 
 eastern writers, "a pearl surrounded by emeralds." 
 Abana and Pharpar, the rivers which Naaman of old 
 liked " better than all the waters of Israel," and which 
 (united) the ancient geographers knew by the name of 
 "the Golden Stream," t still come tumbling down from 
 the heights of Lebanon, and wind in graceful curves 
 through the long flat plains, carrying beauty and fresh- 
 ness in their course, more especially around the rich 
 gardens and forests of olive-trees in which the city it- 
 self is embosomed. 
 
 It is said of an Arabian prince, that when he was on 
 his way to Damascus, and first beheld it, he stopped 
 his horse and refused to go any further, erecting on 
 the spot where its towei'S first burst upon his view, a 
 monument with the following inscription : — " I expect 
 to enter one Paradise, but if I enter this city, I shall 
 be so ravished with its beauties as to lose sight of the 
 Paradise which I hope to enter." 
 
 " We were looking down," says a recent traveller, 
 "from an elevation of 1000 feet, upon a vast plain 
 bordered in the distance by blue mountains, and occu- 
 pied by a rich luxuriant forest of the walnut, the fig, 
 the pomegranate, tlie plum, the apricot, the citron, the 
 locust, the pear, and the apple, .orming a waving grove 
 of more than fifty miles in circuit. . . . Then conceive 
 ovu" sensations to see, grandly rising in the distance, . . . 
 the swelling leaden domes, the gilded crescents, and 
 the marble minarets of Damascus, while in the centre 
 of all, winding toward the city, ran the main stream of 
 the river Barrada."| 
 
 * Among theso is the well-known Damson, or Damascene plum. 
 t LiOle Cyclopiedia. { Addison.
 
 THE CONVERT. 59 
 
 Truly we need not be surprised at Naaman thinking 
 more of his own native rivers, the Scripture "streams 
 from Lebanon," than all the waters of Syria ; for the 
 former, with their " golden streams," and never-fcdlmg 
 ones, too (as Amana or Abana literally means), make 
 Damascus, though on the borders of a desert, one of 
 the loveliest spots on earth ; while the rivers of Judea 
 (the Jordan excepted), are small and scanty, and their 
 narrow rocky channels generally dry in the summer.* 
 
 It may be further interesting to mention, that Chris- 
 tian missionaries are at this day labouring among 
 the Jewish population of Damascus, which recently 
 amounted to the numl)er of 5000. 
 
 But to i-eturn. We may imagine the band of horse- 
 men, with the fiery Cilician at their head, nearing the 
 walls of this "eye of the east." The sun of the last 
 day of their journey is brightly shining upon them. 
 They are hopeful that they will, ere long, either be 
 screened from the sultry heat in the house of one of 
 their brethren, or at all events attain the cooling shade 
 of one of the many avenues leading to the city. Soon 
 they are riding along among palm, orange, and citron 
 groves, getting, through some occasional openings, a 
 glimpse of Mount Hermon. Natural and artificial 
 streams are murmuring at their feet. Birds with their 
 lovely plumage are hiding themselves among the 
 branches. Creeping flowers in endless variety and 
 beauty, and especially among these the Damascus (or 
 Damask) rose, ai'e diffusing a grateful perfume all 
 around. In the distance, they may see miiles and 
 camels approaching the city from other quarters, laden 
 with goods and merchandise, just as at this day cara- 
 
 * Bible Oi/cloj}cedia.
 
 60 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 vans are still observed carrying Indian manufactnres 
 in great quantities from Bagdad, or from Mecca and 
 Aleppo. The words of a modern writer* may, with 
 little alteration, have described what Saul and his fol- 
 lowers beheld — " The rich turbans and flowing robes 
 of respectable merchants, are finely contrasted with the 
 rude sheep-skin covering of the mountaineer, and the 
 dark abba of the wandering Arab." 
 
 They are riding along with no thought but that 
 their errand will soon be done. They are thinking of 
 the number of their victims, and how they will best 
 be able to return with them through these burning 
 plains — 
 
 " The leader of that martial crew 
 Seems bent some mighty deed to do. 
 
 So steadily he speeds ; 
 With lips firm closeil and fixed eye, 
 Like wan-ior when the fight is nigh. 
 So steadily he speeds." 
 
 And now they have reached a spot half a mile from 
 Damascus, where, at the present day, there is a village 
 called El-Kochaba (caucabe), or " the star" (briglitness), 
 from the marvellous occurrence we are now to relate. t 
 
 But what is this ! In a moment they are stopped on the 
 way. One of them reels from his horse and falls sense- 
 less to the ground. It is mid-day — the sun is right 
 above their heads in the cloudless sky ; but a light 
 brighter than even a bright Eastern sun dazzles their 
 eyes. It is a "great light," and it shines " suddenly" 
 upon them. They are all struck for the moment 
 speechless ! 
 
 The others at least cannot tell why they should 
 tremble so, for they neither " hear any voice nor see 
 any vision." It was different with their chief. The 
 
 * See Biblical Keepsake. t -SJi^e Cijclopadia.
 
 THE CONVEET. 01 
 
 Jew of Tarsus is lying speechless on the earth ; but in 
 his ear there sound some strange and thrilling words. 
 He lifts up his eye towards the awful brightness. It is 
 nothing else than the emblem of God's presence — the 
 "shekinah" or " glory," which he had often heard of as 
 dwelling in the tabernacle of old, and in the Holy of 
 holies in the temple. But it is no mere light — no 
 mere vision which he sees. There is a glorious Person 
 also. It is Jesus of Nazareth whom he persecuted. 
 He leaves us no doubt, in other places where he speaks 
 cf this great event in his history, that it was actually 
 fesus in his glorified person he beheld, — " Have I not 
 seen the Lord?" — and, "Last of all he was seen of me 
 also." And Ananias we shall presently find saying to 
 him, " The Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to thee in 
 the way as thou camest." Saul knows Him at once ! 
 Jesus addresses him in the Hebrew tongue — the same 
 language in which He had conversed with his twelve 
 disciples. He names him ! and in mingled tenderness 
 and rebuke thus speaks, " Saul ! Saul ! why persecutest 
 thou ?He?" as if He said, "It is iiot my poor innocent 
 people you are cruel to, but what you do to them I feel 
 as if you were doing to me, — in hurting the/n you are 
 hurting me." Wliat a gracious, tender word of this 
 gracious Saviour ! What a laying bare of his loving 
 heart ! What even was Stephen's dying love to this 1 
 If we may suppose Saul venturing to reply, and saying, 
 " When persecuted I thee? I took no part in the 
 awful scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary ! I formed 
 not one of the assassin band. I gave thee no traitor's 
 kiss. I weaved for thee no crown of twisted thorns. 
 I plunged no rough iron into thy side. My tongue 
 was not raised to add to thy last agonies, mockery and
 
 62 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 insult." The reply was ready. " Inasmuch as ye did it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it 
 unto me."* The awe-struck horseman, scarce know- 
 ing what he says, replies, " Who art thou, Lord 1 " 
 The ansn-er comes from the same glorified lips, " I am 
 Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest." t "I am 
 that very Jesus whom thou thoughtest to be a despised 
 and crucified malefactor ; but / a77i the Lord of glory — 
 * I am Jesus of Nazareth' — the name thou wert in the 
 habit of using in mockery, calling me and my people the 
 Nazarene-s.'''' The whole current of Saul's thoughts must 
 have been in a moment changed. What! Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, whom he had imagined was a mere pretender and 
 impostor — Jesus, whom he really supposed to have 
 been crucified as a wicked person, dying between 
 thieves, and laid dead in the grave ! Could it be that 
 all this while he had been wi-ong in thinking him a de- 
 ceiver — that he had been all this while guiltily " fighting 
 against God ?" Yes — he looks up to that awful bright- 
 ness, and a glance there tells him that he was wrong — 
 that that glorious Being is " that same Jesus" — risen, 
 exalted, glorified ! It was a silent sermon (but a far 
 more solemn and pov.-erful one than Peter preached to 
 the thousands at Pentecost) on the text, " Him hath 
 God exalted to be a prince and a Saviour." It was the 
 whole Gospel Christ the Son of God is shining above his 
 head in glory brighter than the brightness of the sun ! 
 No wonder the awe-struck persecutor lies powerless 
 on the ground, "trembling and astonished." " What !" 
 we may suppose him saying to himself, "Jesus! 
 to whom all power is committed. May he not have 
 come to seal my blaspheming lips for ever? There 
 
 * Blunt t Acts xxii. 8.
 
 THE CONVERT. 
 
 63 
 
 surely can be no hope for me. I have been rushing 
 with madness against the thick bosses of his buckler. 
 I have been hunting down the innocent sheep of this 
 gracious Shepherd, and in injuring them I have been 
 injuring Him. I can surely listen for nothing from his 
 lips but words of stei-nest rebuke and vengeance !" He 
 listens ; but there is no terror or upbraiding in the 
 voice. Jesus proceeds to sootlie with words and tones 
 of kindness his agitated spirit. 
 
 " It is hard," he says, " for thee to kick against the 
 pricks." Our Lord, when he was on earth, often em- 
 ployed terms taken from common customs to enforce 
 his sayings. He does so here in speaking from heaven. 
 It was the habit in Judea for the man who was at the 
 side of oxen, to have a goad or pointed steel to drive 
 them with. Often these animals would refuse to move ; 
 they would kick and grow restive when their master 
 was goading them on. When they did so, he only 
 applied the pointed steel more severely, and they found 
 it was vain to resist. Jesus says the same to Saul, — 
 " It is hard for ihee" There was fresh discovery here, 
 too, of love. He does not say, "It is hard for me" 
 but, " It is hard for thte ;" as if he had said, " Poor man, 
 thou art wronging thyself, Saul. It is of no use thy 
 attempting to resist my grace ; I have long had great 
 things in store for thee. Tliou need'st try no longer to be 
 my enemy ; I have marked thee out for a great apostle. 
 It is hard for thee to go any longer against my bidding. 
 I have struck thee down a persecutor ; I will raise 
 thee up ' a chosen vessel unto me.' "' It was even so. 
 He can no longer " fight against God." He sees — he 
 trembles — he believes — he rejoices! That look of 
 mingled reproof and love which smote Peter to the
 
 64 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 heart, melted a harder still. As he beholds the 
 vision and listens to the words of mercy, he can say, 
 " He loved me, and gave himself for me." As Benjamin, 
 the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob, was at last 
 brought to see Joseph in Egypt, so Saul, of Benjamin, 
 the youngest of the twelve aposles, " as one born out of 
 due time," has the t7'ue Joseph at last revealed to him. 
 He can say, " This is our brother, he talks kindly to 
 us." The same adorable Lord and Saviour further pro- 
 ceeds to tell him, ere he vanishes from his sight, that 
 He is to send him forth to be His minister " to the Gen- 
 tiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from dark- 
 ness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto 
 God." He had just pleaded with him in tenderness 
 and love, now He speaks to him with the authority of 
 his risen and glorified Master — the Sovereign in whose 
 ranks he was now to fight — "Arise, and go into the 
 city." There he was to be told what in future he 
 was " to be, to do, and to suffer." 
 
 After a few brief moments of terror, the brightness 
 is past — the voice is hushed. He who fell a bigoted 
 Pharisee, is now an humble and humbled follower of 
 Jesus. A glorious light is shining in his soul ; but the 
 dazzling brightness had been too much for his bodily 
 eyes. He rises stone-blind ! What a different entrance 
 through the Damascus gate !* The proud horseman is 
 led by the hand as a little child, along the street 
 called " Straight," t to the house of one named Judas. 
 
 * "On the 25th day of January, annually, the Christians in Damascus 
 •walk in procession to the scene of the conversion, and read the history of 
 it from the Acts of the Apostles, under the protection of a guard furnished 
 by the Pacha." — Biblical Keepsake. 
 
 t To the indifferent crowd that thronged the street, there would be little 
 worthy of attention in a blind Jew being conducted along. Yet w.as there 
 more true interest, more real greatness, and more momentous results con-
 
 THE CONVERT. 65 
 
 Interesting and strange spectacle ! " Whosoever," says 
 Christ, " shall not receive the kingdom of God as a lit- 
 tle child, shall in no wise enter therein." Such a little 
 child had the bold and proud Israelite of Tarsus be- 
 come — "born again" by "the Word of God which 
 liveth and abideth for ever." He is heard engaged in 
 prayer — prayer, the "cry of the new creature" — that 
 blessed means by which he and all who have trodden 
 his steps, "out of weakness have been made strong, 
 waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies 
 of the aliens."* 
 
 We have been already led more than once to 
 mark points of resemblance or comparison between 
 the early history of Luther and that of Saul. We 
 cannot resist adverting, in passing, to a remai'kable 
 similarity in this the great turning point of their two 
 lives. Luther, when in the prime of yoiithful man- 
 hood, was returning one day from his father's house 
 at Mansfield, to resume his labours at the univei'sity of 
 Erfurth. All at once a thunder-storm overtook him. 
 The lightning flashed fearfully and vividly around 
 him, and one bolt fell and burst at his side. That 
 road was to him a Damascus hvjhwayt His troubled 
 conscience was roused from its depths. He threw 
 
 nected with this event than with the most gorgeous of E istem processions 
 or the grandest of Roman triumplis. One cannot help thinliin^, in con- 
 trast with it, of another very different cavalcade whicli takes place la 
 Damascus year after j'ear in lionour of another ' Ai>ostle," whose influence 
 on the human race (thougli an influence of fdsehood and dehision) is only 
 second to that of the Apostle Paul. " E\ ery year the standard of the false 
 prophet (Mahomet) is displayed. It is of green silk, with passages from 
 the Koran embroilered in gold, and the camel which bears it is ever after 
 exempted from labour. The Koran itself is also carried by the piltciims, 
 bound in silk, and borne by a camel richly caparisoned, aroumi which 
 armed Mnssulmeu are stationed, playing ou all kinds of iustrumeuta." 
 » Eeb. xi. 34.
 
 66 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 himself, like Saul of Tarsus, on his knees. Death, 
 judgment, and eternity, were before him ; and with all 
 the terrible thoughts of how unprepared he would be 
 to meet his Judge, he vowed that if it pleased God to 
 rescue him from these " terrors of death," he would 
 leave the world, and give himself entirely to reli- 
 gion. From that hour he was an altered man. The 
 age of miracles and special visions had now indeed 
 gone by. No " Lord Jesus" did appear to him visibly 
 and personally "by the way," as he had done to his 
 other servant ; but He whose "voice is the thunder" 
 had spoken to him in language he could never forget. 
 Humbled and trembling, he puts the very same ques- 
 tion which the awe-struck persecutor put fifteen cen- 
 turies before — " Lord, what wouldest thou have me to 
 do 1" A great work truly God had in reserve for both 
 these " sons of thunder." Those two quiet spots in 
 Asia and Europe — the one on the way to Damascus, 
 the other on the road to Erfurth, must be memorable 
 to all time.* Meanwhile, we shall leave the elder 
 apostle in the lonely chamber of the " Straight street" 
 of Damascus. The owner of the house, and perhaps 
 some of his companions, beheld with amazement the 
 blinded traveller on his knees, calling again and 
 a"ain in some such words as these, he came afterwards 
 to write, " Jesus ! Jesus ! Thou Son of God, whose grace 
 I have so long despised ! This is a faithful saying, and 
 wortliy of all acceptation, that Thou didst come into the 
 world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief !" 
 
 * Rubianus, one of Luther's friends at the University of Erfurth, wrote 
 to him at a later period, — " Divine Provideuce looked to what thou wast 
 one day to becomo. when, on thy return from the house of tliy i)arents, fire 
 from hciven made thee, like another Paul, fall to the grovmd, near the city 
 of Erfurtli, and snatching' thee from our societj', drove thee to enter the sect 
 of Augustine." — U'Aubigue's History of the Reformation.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 %\}t ifugitilj^* 
 
 " And can I be the very same, 
 Wbo lately durst blaspheme Thy name, 
 
 And on Thy Guspel tread ! 
 Surely each one wbo bears my case, 
 Will praise Thee, and confess Thy grace 
 Invincible indeed ! " 
 
 John Newton. 
 
 " Truly these were three memorable days in the life of Paul ; and, 
 if we exce[)t the three days spent in the new tomb in Joseph's gar- 
 den, the most wonderful in the history of the Church and the world."
 
 LONG, straight, but very 
 narrow street, a mile in length, 
 leading from the gate to the palace 
 of the Pacha, stretches at the pre- 
 sent day from east to west, in the 
 town of Damascus. It forms the 
 chief thoroughfare of the city, and 
 is probably the very same through 
 which, eighteen hundred years ago, 
 a blind Jew was led along " trembling and astonished." 
 At the east end of it there was a gate, which now bears 
 the name of " Paul's gate ;" as it is said that by this 
 he entered the ancient town. Travellers who have 
 recently been in Damascus, describe this gateway as 
 having been at one period an imposing one, consisting 
 of a centre arch for carriages and waggons, and two 
 smaller side ones for foot passengers. The central 
 opening, however, and the lesser one towards the 
 south, are now fHled up with stones, forming part of 
 the city wall. At a short distance, on the right, there
 
 70 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 is still pointed, out to the curious stranger, by the 
 monks of Damascus, the " House of Ananias ;" and 
 farther on the left, forming a grotto or cellar below the 
 level of the street, is the reputed house of Judas.* 
 When Saul reached the dwelling which had been pro- 
 vided for him, he was in a state of great helplessness. 
 He could take no meat. He ate nothing and drank 
 nothing, and for three days groped in darkness. We 
 caunot think he had any friends to be kind to him. 
 The Christians would be afraid to go near him, for 
 they had heard of his cruelties, and perhaps of the 
 object of his present journey. " Saul uf Tarsus is on 
 his tvay hither /" — we may well believe what terror and 
 agony such an announcement would produce in many 
 a bosom and home among the refugee converts at 
 Damnsciis. They would suspect the vision and the 
 blindness were all a pretence, and that, if they went to 
 his lodging, his companions might be concealed some- 
 where near, ready to seize them and put them in 
 chains. The Jews, on the other hand, would shun and 
 bate, with a bitter hatred, the man who was now 
 on his knees praying to Jesus, and calling him by the 
 title of God ! 
 
 How many strange thoughts must have been pass- 
 ing, meanwhile, in Saul's own bosom ! He would 
 revert, perhaps, to his Tarsus home. What would his 
 loved father, and sister, and friends think of such a 
 change? auu Gamaliel! how could he meet him again 
 as a Christian? and, worse than all, he would think of 
 his former cruelties to the poor saints at Jenisalem. 
 He would remember, with bitter tears, the heavenlj' 
 look of the martyr Stephen — his unearthly forgiveness, 
 
 • Bae Wilsou's Travels.
 
 THE FUGITIVE, 71 
 
 his holy resignation, his triumphant death — and how 
 he had helped in that scene of blood ! But one 
 thought, rising above all these sore reflections, would 
 comfort his spirit. When no earthly voice was near to 
 cheer him, he would remember those tender tones that 
 were still ringing in his ear, '^ Saul! Saul!" and the 
 last glorious sight his eyes had seen ere they were 
 smitten with blindness. God had seemed purposely to 
 exclude the outer world, that the eye of His dear ser- 
 vant might be taken away from all earthly things, 
 and fixed on his own heart, and on his adorable Re- 
 deemer. "Behold! he prayeth!" What! had he 
 never prayed before 1 Were not the Pharisees famed 
 for their many and their long prayers 1 Can we sup- 
 pose the young disciple of Gamaliel, who, " after the 
 straitest manner of his religion, lived a Pharisee," was 
 a stranger to prayer ? No, not to prayer in its outward 
 foi-m. He had repeated ivords often before; but he 
 had never really, till now, uttered the cry of faith. 
 The Jews of his own sect might often point to him as 
 a man of prayer j but God, the "searcher of hearts," 
 says of him for the first time, when he sees him in that 
 vaulted chamber, " UeJioId! he prayeth!" 
 
 AVliile wrapt in such mingled thoughts as we have 
 supposed, a humble Christian stranger knocked at his 
 chamber door. Saul was prepared for his visit ; for 
 God had told him by a dream or vision that one of the 
 name of Ananias would come and lay his hands on 
 him, and restore his sight. Who Ananias was, we are 
 not specially informed. Probably he was one of the 
 scattered sheep whom Saul, like a ravening wolf, had 
 set out from Jerusalem to destroy. He had known, 
 indeed, the object of the persecutor's visit to Damascus.
 
 72 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Very probably " the men" who had come along with 
 Saul, and whom we lose sight of after he was struck to 
 the earth, had not been aware of the wondrous change 
 that had taken placs on their leader, and were making 
 publicly known in the city the cruel errand they had 
 come to discharge. But God appeared by a vision to 
 Ananias, and instructed him to go and lay his hands 
 on the bhnded Pharisee. " And there was a certain 
 disciple at Damascus, named Ananias j and to him 
 said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, 
 Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto 
 him, Arise, and go into the street which is called 
 Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one 
 called Saul, of Tarsus : for, behold, he prayeth, and 
 hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias com- 
 ing in, and putting his hand on him, that he might 
 receive his sight." * We can hardly wonder at the 
 simple-minded disciple being astonished, and, at first, 
 even afraid to go on so strange a mission. "Then 
 Arianias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of 
 this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints 
 at Jerusalem : and here he hath authority from the 
 chief priests to bind all that call on thy name." t 
 What ! to go to the man who, above all others, was 
 signalized for his cruelties to the people of Christ ! 
 But God's wish is enough. " He is not disobedient to 
 the heavenly vision;" and, although we had known 
 nothing else of this kind messenger, we know enough 
 from one word to see the strength of his faith in God's 
 command, and his love to one whose name he was wont 
 to tliink of only with terror — " Brother Saul!" He 
 is no longer afraid. God has told him that the lion 
 
 * Acts ix. 10-12, t Acts ix. 13, 4.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 73 
 
 has become a lamb — the fierce persecutor a true 
 believer. He goes at once and speaks to him as such. 
 Saul was a bold and courageous man. He was not in 
 the habit of shedding tears ; but I think a tear must 
 have rolled down from his rayless eyes as he listened 
 to the first word that a Christian friend ever spoke 
 to him. It was the kindest word that could be used. 
 It must have put away all his fears if he had any. 
 " Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared 
 unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me 
 that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
 the Holy Ghost." * 
 
 Who can tell but this kindly little word may have 
 at the moment sunk firm and deep into the soul of 
 the great apostle, and taught him those large-hearted 
 views and feelings of Christian brotherhood which led 
 him afterwards so often in closing his letters thus to 
 write, " Grace be with all them that love the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity !" God had owned him as 
 a son, and whenever Ananias knows this, he hastens 
 to own him as a brother. " The Lord, even Jesus." 
 It was the first time he had listened to that name 
 with feelings of unmingled joy. Christ, indeed, had 
 Himself spoken to him, saying, " / am Jesus." But at 
 the moment that comforting word was mingled with 
 many self-accusations. Now it came like a strain 
 of heavenly music. It was the name of one who was 
 henceforward to be better to him than tlie best of 
 of all earthly friends. " The Lord, even Jesus, hath 
 sent me," not to upbraid thee for thy great guilt, and 
 pierce thy heart afresh with new sorrows, but to tell 
 that he has selected thee as a chosen vessel, to bear to
 
 74 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 distant nations "the unsearcliable riches" of his Gos- 
 pel."' 
 
 What a specimen had Saul here of the love and 
 kindness both of Master and disciple ! How specially 
 impressed must he have been with the interest mani- 
 fested in him by the Lord Jesus ! He had been breath- 
 ing out slaughter against one whom he now sees could 
 have struck him dead in a moment, and made him a 
 monument of vengeance! But thut One not only em- 
 ploy's words of love and kindness towards him, but He 
 goes to the street of a city — He selects a particular 
 house in that street, where the new convert is to be 
 lodged — He goes to another disciple, arid tells that 
 disciple to see to the safety of the blind Hebrew, and 
 " speak comfortably unto him." 
 
 While Saul was thus " called to be an apostle by 
 Jesus Christ," it is worthy of notice that he was bap- 
 tized into the faith of Christ, not by any apostle, or 
 boasted " siicces.<or of the apostles," but by a humble, 
 lowly, unknown disciple. In these days, wlien so much 
 is said on tlie subject of what is called " apostolical 
 succession," and that baptism is no real baptism — no 
 real sacrament, unless administered by the hands of 
 priests who can tz-ace their ordination, in an unbroken 
 line, from the apustles — what can be made of the case 
 of the greatest of all converts, the holiest of saints, tlie 
 chiefest of apostles? If there had been any such virtue 
 in the administration of the rite, surely the most 
 valued disciple that ever existed in the Christian 
 Church would not have been denied the benefit of it. 
 But just as if for the purpose of sliewing that there w;is 
 no sucli imaginary cliarm in the dispensers and dispeus- 
 
 * Bluut.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 75 
 
 ing of the ordinance, and that they who hold the view 
 I refer to, " teach for doctrines the commandments of 
 men," God hmseJf specially appoints that his greatest 
 Disciple, ]\Iinister, and Missionary, be baptized, not by 
 the liauds of Peter, or John, or James, but by 
 the hands of "one Ananias" a humble saint whose best 
 "apostolical succession" was his simple faith and 
 brotherly love. How impressively does this tell us, 
 that "neither is he that planteth anything, nor he 
 that watereth, but God that giveth the increase!" As 
 there was nothing in the administrator, so there was no 
 virtue in the element. It is not the waters of the land 
 of his fathers— not Kedron, or Siloam, or Jordan, which 
 are used in the sacred rite, but one of those countless 
 streams of which we have spoken, that Naaman loved 
 so well. Previous to this, there " had fallen from his 
 eyes as it had been scales," and he had his sight 
 restored to him. He was " a new creature." Thicker 
 scales had fallen from his blinded soul. His whole 
 future history is now to be told in a short verse he 
 himself afterwards wrote, — " I have determined with 
 myself to know nothing else save Jesus Christ and 
 
 HIM CRUCIFIED." "'• 
 
 He resolves immediately to shew that he is not 
 ashamed of the Gospel. He had come to Damascus 
 in order that he might go into the synagogue to bind 
 men and women, and drag them to suffer death at 
 Jerusalem. He now stands in these same synagogues 
 proclaiming Jesus the only Saviour of sinners ! How 
 great must have been their astonishment ! " But all 
 that heard him were amazed, and said. Is not this he 
 that destroyed them which called on this name in 
 
 * 1 Cor. ii. 2.
 
 76 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he 
 might bring them bound unto the chief priests?"* 
 We can well imagine the result. The Jews frown 
 upon him. They are enraged to think that the great 
 champion of their religion is now proclaiming the cru- 
 cified Nazarene to be very God. " But Saul increased 
 the more in strength, and confounded the Jews 
 which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very 
 Christ." t 
 
 He was directed, at this time, to go for a little season 
 to Arabia. Writers are not agreed precisely as to what 
 is meant by this country — whether it refers to some 
 place not very far from Damascus, or whether it was 
 what we mure commonly understand by the name 
 Arabia — the desert country near the Red Sea. Among 
 other conjectures, it is supposed Saul may have 
 gone to Aurana, now called Hauran, to the south-east 
 of Damascus. This is a retired and hilly region, 
 where the Arabians are of a peaceful and primitive 
 character, tending herds and flocks, and occupying 
 themselves in the manufacture of goats'-hair tents. If 
 so, we may think of him as possibly returning for a 
 season to his early calling, supporting himself by the 
 work of his hands, and exemplifying in that remote 
 place his own future saying — " Not slothful in busi- 
 ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
 
 It has been thought, and perhaps correctly, that he 
 began now for the fii'st time to suffer from that com- 
 plaint in his eyes of which we shall speak more here- 
 after. It was a complaint common in the city and 
 neighbourhood of Damascus during the damps of sum- 
 mer and autumn, and, being generally followed by 
 
 * Acts ix. 21. t Acts! ix. 22.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 77 
 
 fever, compelled those who were subject to it to seek 
 a healthier climate in the uplands. It is not impro- 
 bable, therefore, that the apostle, suffering in bodily 
 health, and after the severe struggles his mind had 
 undergone, would be glad of a purer and more bracing 
 air than Damascus could afford. 
 
 Though this, however, may be so far true, it was by 
 no means the chief reason for his removal from the 
 Syrian city. These Arabian solitudes doubtless lis- 
 tened to many a fervent prayer from his lips. He had 
 received divine intimation of the groat warfare in 
 which he was to engage ; and not wishing to enter that 
 warfare on his own charges, may we not believe he 
 went thither mainly to I'cceive strength to fit him for 
 his high calling? Although he had for many years 
 studied God's Word, yet how different would its types, 
 and promises, and prophecies appear now ! What a 
 neio book to him in its Gospel meaning ! We may think 
 of him, therefore, in his retirement, with the holy 
 Scriptures in his hands ; the Holy Spirit opening his 
 eyes to behold "wondrous things contained in that 
 law" which ho had never before dreamt of, and pre- 
 paring him, by special gifts and graces, for unfolding 
 it to others. Frequent revelations seem now to have 
 been made to him. God appears to have met him 
 again and again as He did Elijah of old in his lonely 
 cave in the wilderness of Horeb, and made him listen 
 to another " still small voice." He alludes to this 
 on several occasions in the course of his epistles. 
 " But 1 certify you, brethren, that the gospel which 
 was preached of me is not after man. For I neither 
 received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ."* "For I have received of 
 
 * G»^ "- 11, 12.
 
 78 THE FOOTSTErS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 the Lord that which also I dehvered imto you, That 
 the Lord Jesus, the same uight in which he was be- 
 trayed, took bread." * " If ye have heard of the dispen- 
 sation of the grace of God which is given me to you- 
 ward : how that hy revelation He made known unto 
 me the mystery." t "But when it pleased God, who 
 separated me from my motlier's womb, and called me 
 by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I miglit 
 preach Him among the heathen ; immediately I con- 
 ferred not with flesh and blood : neither went I up to 
 Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but 
 I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damas- 
 cus." J 
 
 Wherever, then, this " Arabia" was, to which he 
 refers, although we are told nothing but the fact of his 
 having gone thither, it forms a very interesting period 
 in the life of the " called apostle ;" like his blessed Lord 
 before him, retiring into a lonely solitude to prepare, 
 by fasting and prayer, for the great work that was 
 given him to do. 
 
 Wliat a change on that fierce and energetic spirit ! 
 far away from all the active work of an active life, 
 holding secret fellowship with God alone ! He may 
 have felt that no small grace and strength were needed 
 in his new position. He had given up wealth, fame, 
 friends, country, all, for a despised Saviour. It must 
 have reqidred much prayer and divine fortitude for 
 Gamaliel's pupil to be willing to endure the loss of aU 
 these tilings, and to get in exchange only povei'ty, 
 reviling, suffering, and at last death. After a little 
 while he returned to Damascus, and continued there 
 
 • 1 Cor. ix. 23 t Eph. iii. 2, 3. 
 
 J Gal. i. 15-17. Lewiu, vol. i. p. 02.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 79 
 
 for "three years," or perhaps less, preaching the faith 
 which he once wished to destroy. 
 
 What were the Jews about all this time ? We can- 
 not think their rage would be abated, or that they 
 would be more inclined to listen with patience to the 
 preaching of one they had learnt to hate as greatly as 
 they once loved him. They doubtless tried first to 
 meet liim in argument ; but " they could not resist the 
 power and spirit with which he spake." They formed a 
 cruel design " to kill Saul !" Their purpose of murder 
 seemed successfully planned, and they had little doubt of 
 making sure of their prey. The walls around the city 
 were high and well guarded. The ruler, who was a 
 fi'iend to the Jews, assented to the charge they brought 
 against him, and issued a warrant for his apprelieu- 
 sion. He gave orders to his soldiers to keep a vigilant 
 guard in case the new Christian teacher would escape ; 
 and the Israelites themselves, to make all sure, took 
 their turn of watching him day and night, lest he 
 might elude the vigilance of the soldiers. But a 
 Greater than all was with the object of tJieir rage. The 
 Lord himself is " keeping the city," and His servant 
 within it, and these watchmen " watch in vain." Saul 
 could say, with his great ancestor — " Lord, how are 
 they increased that trouble me! many are they that 
 rise up against me. Many there be wdiicli say of 
 my soul, There is no help fot him in God. But thou, 
 Lord, art a shield for me ; my glory, and the 
 
 lifter up of mine head I will not be afraid 
 
 of ten thousands of people, that have set themnelves 
 against me round about.""" He finds his way probably 
 to one of the houses of his brother Christiaus, where 
 
 * Psalm iii. 1 2. 3. 6.
 
 80 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 doubtless he would be commended in prayer to Him 
 who " bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought, 
 and maketh the devices of the people of none effect." 
 This house happened to be close by the city wall ; 
 probably, like many dwellings in the East, it was built 
 to jut over it, forming what is called a kiosk, from 
 which a view is obtained of the open country. The 
 apostle is put into a basket ; this is slung from a win- 
 dow by means of a rope, as you see represented in the 
 picture, and gradually lowered to the foot of the wall. 
 " As I stood with a friend," says a recent traveller, 
 Avho resided at Damascus, looking at the place re- 
 ferred to, " a couple of men came to the top of the wall 
 with a broad flat basket, full of rubbish, which they 
 emptied over the wall. ' Such a basket,' said my 
 friend, ' the people use here for almost every sort of 
 thing. If they are digging a well, and wish to send a 
 man down into it, they put him into such a basket ; 
 and that those who aided Paul's escape should have 
 used a basket for the purpose, was entirely natural 
 according to the present customs of the country. 
 Judging from what is done now, it is the only sort of 
 vehicle of which men would be apt to think under 
 such circumstances.' Pilgrims are admitted into the 
 monastery at Mount Sinai in a similar manner. A 
 rope, with a basket attached to it, is let down from a 
 window or door about thirty feet above the ground. 
 Those who are to ascend, seat themselves one after 
 another in this basket, and are thus drawn up by 
 means of a pulley or windlass turned by those in the 
 convent."* 
 
 It may have been at a place which the Jews thought 
 
 * Prulessoi- Hackutt. See 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 81 
 
 there was little need of guarding that Saul was let 
 down, or porhaiDS he was favoured by the darkness of 
 the night. We should rather say the same Saviour, 
 who had " appeared to him on the way," had given His 
 angels charge over him to encamp round about him. 
 He would hear a voice saying in that midnight hour, 
 " Fear not, for I am with thee." Assured of safety, 
 ere long he is beyond the reach of his enemies. 
 
 Was there anything cowardly in this midnight escape 1 
 On the contrary, I think there was rather something 
 noble in it. Doubtless, if Saul had consulted his own 
 feelings, his natural fortitude and the remains of his 
 natural pride would have said to him, " No ! brave it 
 out, and die like Stephen, the glorious death of a mar- 
 tyr!" But he acted in what he did more in accord- 
 ance with the will of his Lord — that Lord who had left 
 as a special injunction to his disciples, " When they 
 persecute you in one city, flee ye to another." No 
 one who reads the Apostle's life will ever accuse him 
 of timidity. He who could afterwards hear unter- 
 rified the growl of Nero's lions, and say, in the pros- 
 pect of a violent death, " None of these things move 
 me," would not have been afi-aid now to face " the 
 perils of flilse brethren;" but he felt that, "to abide 
 in the flesh " was as yet needful for the great work as- 
 signed to him. He burned with a holy desire, before 
 finishing his earthly course, to repair those breaches 
 which, while an enemy of the truth, he had made on 
 the walls of the infant Church. 
 
 What an eventful night that must have been to him ! 
 The once proud horseman, so lately riding along these 
 plains, is now a hated and hunted fugitive ! My youno- 
 readers may imagine him hurrying from his first expe-
 
 82 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 rieuce of those " perils of the city" of which he after- 
 wards SO touchingly wrote. Tiie night, as we have 
 supposed, may have been a dark one ; or perhaps, ere 
 he had gone far, the moon had risen in all its clear 
 eastern splendour, lighting up the hoary summits of 
 the distant Lebanon, and making Abana and Pharpar 
 appear like threads of silver winding along the flat 
 plain. How many thoughts must have crowded upon 
 him, and more especially as the first hills of Palestine 
 reveal themselves in the morning light ! He finds 
 himself (now a disciple of the Nazarene) looking across 
 in the direction of that village and name (Nazareth) 
 once despised, which he now so loved, Saul had from 
 his boyhood, like all Jews, learned to value and admire 
 the Psalms of David ; and we know it was the custom 
 of the Israelites, in going up to Jerusalem to their 
 feasts, to cheer themselves on the way by chanting 
 them in company. Perchance, during this solitary pil- 
 grimage, these formed his " songs in the night." If so, 
 with what new zest must he have sung them ! with 
 what new meaning must they have been invested, 
 since he had first learned them at his Tarsus home ! 
 The sweet Psalmist of Israel was once, like himself, a 
 lonely, friendless exile, hunted " like a partridge on the 
 mountains." Who can tell but the heavenly musings 
 of the fugitive king may have proved cheering solaces 
 to the spirit of the fugitive Christian 1 " Why art 
 thou cast down, my soul? and why art thou dis- 
 quieted within me 1 Hope thou in God, for I sliall 
 yet praise Him for the light of His countenance." 
 " My heart is fixed, God ! my heart is fixed ; I will 
 sing and give praise." " The stone which the builders 
 refused, is become the head-stone of the corner. This
 
 Suul's Flij;lil tVoiii Damascus.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 83 
 
 is the Lord's doing, and it is mai'velloiis in oui- 
 eyes." 
 
 We need not follow him further in his old and well- 
 known journey. He turned his steps in the direction 
 of Jerusalem, principally, as he tells us himself, "to see 
 Peter." He wislied to get acquainted witli that great 
 apostle, the companion of his Lord, and the great in- 
 strument in the Pentecostal revival, in order to get from 
 him counsel and advice about his future work. It must 
 have been with a trembling step and faltering heart, 
 when the old towers of the holy city once more rose 
 before his view. The glittering pinnacles of the tem- 
 ple and the altar courts — what different feelings does 
 the first glimpse of them now convey, compax-ed with 
 his y«/>i journey from Tarsus to Jerusalem! Now their 
 glory is all past. He may have seen at the moment 
 the smoke of the sacrifices ascending to heaven. But 
 these wei'e only the shadows — the Substance had come, 
 and with His coming, all the types were done away. 
 These former glories had now in his eyes " no glory, 
 by reason of the glory that excelleth." From the road 
 by which he entered the city, the tiny waters of the 
 Kedron, or at all events the green sward of the valley 
 through which it flowed, must have met his eye. The 
 voice, too, of a brother's blood must have there been 
 sounding mournfully in his ears. How could he meet 
 that dreadful band of murderers who were so lately his 
 bosom friends and companions 1 What a look of scorn 
 and reproach he must expect to be cast upon him, 
 when he next sees the old master whose instructions 
 he still reveres ! How will every Jew hate him ! how 
 must every Christian, for a time at least, suspect nim ! 
 He had left Jerusalem, honoured and caressed — the
 
 84 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 prayers and blessings of many a father and mother in 
 Israel had followed him — priests and people had spoken 
 of him as a young hero. Now his name would be in 
 every lip as a vile apostate and castaway. All these 
 are very painful thoughts ; but he goes manfully on, 
 feeling that " the Lord will stand by him." The words 
 of the Psalmist were, perhaps, often in his lips, — " In 
 God have I put my trust : I will not be afraid what 
 man can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, God : 
 I will render praises unto Thee. For Thou hast de- 
 livered my soul from death : wilt not Thou deliver my 
 feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the 
 light of the living?"* 
 
 Much of what he dreaded does take place. The 
 Jews hate — the Christians are suspicious. He had 
 come to Jerusalem probably supposing that the news 
 of his conversion would have reached long ago, and 
 been well known to them all. We must remember, 
 however, that communications between distant places 
 were neither so frequent, nor so much to be relied on 
 as now ; and very possibly the Christian disciples may 
 have heard only floating rumours about the sudden 
 change, and treated it as a very unlikely story. We 
 cannot wonder, therefore, they give him at first a cold 
 reception. " And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, 
 he essayed to join himself to the disciples : but they 
 were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a 
 disciple." t How cutting to the feelings of the future 
 apostle ! How cheerless and chilling an introduction 
 to his future fellow-labourers and friends ! One of 
 their number, of whom we shall hear more hereafter, 
 comes and speaks a kinder word for him. Barnabas, 
 
 * Psalms Ivi. 11-13. t Acts ix. 26.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 85 
 
 •who proved all that his name implies — " a son of con- 
 solation" — takes him by the hand, and told the others 
 "how the Lord had appeared to him by the way, and 
 spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at 
 Damascus in the name of Jesus." We ought not to 
 place much reliance on mere tradition ; but there is a 
 story, beautiful in itself, and not improbable, that has 
 been handed down to us regarding Barnabas and Saul. 
 It is said that, having been schoolfellows and playmates 
 under Gamaliel, Barnabas, who had become a believer 
 at an early date, had often prayed for the conversion 
 of his friend, and pleaded with him personally to no 
 effect : that he met him on this occasion on the streets 
 of Jerusalem, not aware at the time of what had taken 
 place at Damascus. He once more began, as formerly, 
 to plead with him to renounce Judaism, and become a 
 Christian. Saul threw himself weeping at his feet, and 
 told him the joyful news.* Be this as it may. Gospel 
 love cannot any longer be withheld — Peter and James, 
 who alone of the apostles were then present, gave him 
 the right hand of fellowship. From that moment they 
 were brothers. We seem to hear them saying to him, 
 in his own beautiful language, " Brother ! thou art 
 no more a stranger and a foreigner, but a fellow-citizen 
 with the saints, and of the household of God." It is 
 peculiarly beautiful to see Peter, and very characteristic 
 of him, so ready to welcome Saul, when many of the 
 other disciples were hanging cautiously back. He, 
 doubtless, wou.ld remember his own case — how he, 
 too, had been a denier of his Lord — basely forsaking 
 Him whom once he had loved, and had been so tenderly 
 loved in return. He must have felt that in this respect 
 
 * Bible Ci'dopadia.
 
 86 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 his sin was greater far thau that of the Cihcian, -who 
 "did it iguorantly iu unbelief;" and how much 
 more justly, therefore, the brethren might have re- 
 fused to receive him back again as a disciple, and 
 especially as an apostle. But would he deny to Saul a 
 welcome, when his forgiving Lord had not denied one 
 to him ? Saul had abundantly answered that great 
 question of Jesus, which Peter to his dying hour never 
 could forget — " Lovest thou mel" and, conscious of 
 the same love to the same gracious Shepherd from 
 whom they had both wandered, these stray sheep re- 
 joice together in the same fold. Their common Lord 
 had represented Himself as greeting the returning 
 prodigal while he was yet " a great way off." It was 
 befitting, therefore, that when the two brothers met, 
 " they should make merry, and be glad." Saul's going 
 to Jerusalem at this time must, indeed, have required 
 more than ordinary fortitude. It is no easy matter 
 for those with a natiirally lofty spirit like him to owti 
 that they are wrong, and to find old friends turned 
 against them. Great, too, must have been the 
 courage required to face them iu j)Mic — to stand 
 in the midst of a synagogue where once he could 
 see nothing but smiling faces — now darkened with 
 anger ! But he seems to have felt it his duty, in the 
 city where he had done so much hann, " to deny him- 
 self, and take up his cross and follow Jesus." His 
 yearning love to his Jewish brethren, of which he after- 
 wards so touchingly speaks, and his earnest desire to 
 remove, if possible, the blindness from their eyes, seems 
 to have greatly prompted him to this early visit to 
 Jerusalem. " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, (my 
 conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost),
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 87 
 
 that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in 
 my heart for my brethren, my kinsmen according to 
 the flesh."* Perhaps, in the first ardour of his new- 
 spiritual life, so convinced had he been himself of his 
 own error in rejecting the Saviour, he may have sup- 
 posed that he would have had little difficulty in win- 
 ning over to the same belief those with whom he formerly 
 possessed much influence. Alas ! he soon found that 
 it is nothing but the grace of God that can melt the 
 hard heart, and open the sealed eyes. Thougli his old 
 friends and kinsmen, however, thus disowned him, 
 many Christian hearts and homes were open to him. 
 It is not to be wondered at, after what I have said, 
 that the Apostle Peter's house became his dwelling at 
 this time. Tliere he remained for fifteen days. Tliere 
 is notliing told us regarding this fortnight's intercourse 
 between these two great apostles — tlie fisherman of 
 Galilee, and the pupil of the learned Gamaliel. We 
 can picture to ourselves what their fellowship would 
 be j their talk together, evening after evening, when 
 the day's work was over. Saul would doubtless love 
 to listen to Peter's account of the Saviour's blessed life 
 — the never-to-be-forgotten sayings and doings which 
 he was privileged to hear and to witness. How the 
 fervid soul of the narrator would kindle at the recol- 
 lection of his Master's many acts of personal kindness 
 and love, and the gracious words which proceeded out 
 of his mouth ! Peter, we know, was not afterwards 
 slow to confess and speak of his own failings ; may we 
 not suppose he would even narrate with many tears 
 the story of his fall, that he miglit contrast with it the 
 
 * Romans ix. 1-3. See the reuderiug of these verses iu Haldane On the 
 Romans.
 
 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 tender love of Him Tvho so graciously forgave him ! 
 He would fondly recall the special message sent by the 
 angel, "Go and tell Peter;" and how, when he met face 
 to face the Lord he had denied, he got no harsher 
 rebuke than the thrice-repeated question, " Simon, son 
 of Jonas, lovest thou me ?" We may well believe these 
 two holy men, who had each received in different ways 
 such touching proofs of Jesus' love, would pray ear- 
 nestly together on their bended knees that God would 
 enable them, by their future lives and ministry, to 
 make good the words, " Lord, thou knowest all things ; 
 thou knowest that we love Thee." Sometimes their 
 conversation would turn on matters concerning the 
 welfare of the Church, or it may be, after the stormy 
 discussions in the synagogue, other kindred spirits 
 would be assembled along with them in this quiet 
 home, for mutual prayer and encouragement. 
 
 It has been reckoned to have been now about the 
 time of the Passover (April, 41). Jerusalem was 
 crowded with Jewish strangers from all parts of the 
 world. Savil himself being by birth one of these 
 Hellenists, or Jews of the dispersion, had probably 
 thought it would be a suitable coLamencement to his 
 ministerial work to " dispute against the Grecians," 
 and proclaim to them the name of his crucified Master. 
 "He hoped, no doubt, that an enlarged measure of 
 success would attend Lis ministiy in this city, where 
 his previous life, and habits, and education were so 
 universally known, and that the miracle of his conver- 
 sion would here form an in-esistible argument to the 
 truth of his doctrine. Veiy different, however, are the 
 intentions of God, respecting our future disposal, from 
 the intentions of ourselves and our friends. Saul
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 89 
 
 perhaps expected to spend many years at Jerusalem. 
 The Almighty had appointed that he should remain 
 there ^'een days r* 
 
 The Lord Jesus had other work in reserve for him. 
 His special name from this time was to be " The Apostle 
 of the Gentiles." He was to be the great Missionary of 
 the infant Church, as his Lord had declared to Ananias 
 in Damascus — " He is a chosen vessel unto me to bear 
 my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children 
 of Israel." His remaining any longer at Jerusalem at 
 present would be attended with great danger to him- 
 self; for, unknown to him, there was already a plot 
 laid for his destruction, and no human means could 
 have prevented the early loss of a life so precious. 
 The Jews at this time, as we learn from history, must 
 have had their fiercest passions roused into action, so 
 as to make them ready for any daring crime. This 
 was owing to a threatened violation of their national 
 and religious feelings by the wicked Eoman emperor, 
 Caligula. He had given orders to have his statue 
 erected in the Temple of Jerusalem, — a proposal so 
 abhorrent to the mind of every Israelite, that they re- 
 solved to shed the last drop of their blood in resisting 
 it. Fortunately, however, the news of his death by 
 the hand of an assassin reached the Jewish capital 
 during the very time that Saul was living there in 
 the house of Peter.t Their fury, therefore, now finds 
 vent in another channel, against the devoted apostle, 
 and a Higher than any human friend warns him of his 
 danger. One day Saul went up to the temple, in 
 great sadness of spirit at all this violent opposition, to 
 seek comfort and support in prayer. When he was on 
 
 * Bluul's Lectures, vol. i. p. S9. f Joscphus.
 
 90 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 his knees, the Lord Jesus again appeared to him in a 
 trance or vision. This memorable occasion he speaks 
 of afterwards, as what he might well " glory in," were 
 he given to boasting. He was caught up into the 
 third heavens, and heard " unspeakable words, which 
 it is not lawful (or possible) for a man to utter." In 
 that vision Jesus told him expressly to leave Jerusalem, 
 as " they would not receive his testimony." It may be 
 well to quote his own description. " And it came to 
 pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even 
 while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance ; and 
 saw Him saying unto me. Make haste, and get thee 
 quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will not receive 
 thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they 
 know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue 
 them that believed on thee."* What, we may be led 
 to ask, is Saul's precise meaning in giving this answer 1 
 It is as if he had said, " Lord, if there be any place 
 surely where I will have attentive listeners, it will be 
 in Jerusalem, wliere there are many who knew me well 
 as Saul the perseciitor — the murderer of holy Stephen ; 
 and when they think of me being at one time as fierce 
 and bitter against Thy name as themselves, and see 
 what Thy grace can do, they will not sui-ely refuse my 
 testimony !"t 
 
 " Man proposeth, but God disposeth !" Nay, " but 
 man ! who art thou that repliest against God V His 
 Divine Master, on that same occasion, answers him in 
 a single sentence, telling him what his future work and 
 calling is to be — " Depart, for I will send thee far 
 hence unto the Gentiles." At this vision his drooping 
 spirit revives. ]\Ieanwhilc the brethren become ao- 
 
 * Acts xxii. 17-19. t Blunt.
 
 THE FUGITIVE. 91 
 
 quainled with the conspiracy against his hfe, and they 
 get him persuaded immediately to leave Jerusalem. 
 
 Could he leave it, do you think, without a pang 1 
 As he passed through its gates, I doubt not he wept, 
 like his Lord, over its hardness and unbelief. We 
 may imagine him pausing on the rising ground out- 
 side, and taking one last look of the fated city, undei 
 the feeling that he may never see it again ; and that 
 when he is sleeping in his grave, "l\xr hence among the 
 Gentiles," the proud towers and palaces and temple 
 which now meet his eye, may be blazing under the 
 torch of the conqueror. Willingly would he have 
 lingered for a while in her streets, to try and convince 
 these hard hearts of their guilt, and bring them to re- 
 pentance; but the voice of his God has called him else- 
 where, and he feels he must obey. The disciples take 
 means to have him privately conveyed to Cesarea. He 
 probably takes a ship from thence to Cilicia, and after 
 an eventful absence, the Apostle finds himself once more 
 in the city and scenes of his infancy. There, it is pro- 
 bable, he was actively engaged in preaching the Gospel. 
 From all we can gather, this was his last visit to Tarsus. 
 We shall leave him seated in his old chamber, looking 
 out on the crags of Mount Taurus, and the shadows of 
 the Eoman vessels reflected in the waters of the 
 Cydnus,— talking, perhaps, to his sister about his own 
 great change, and of the Prophet of Nazareth, whom 
 once he scoffed at, now his chiefest boast,— kneehng, it 
 may be, in prayer with her, and asking Jesus to pour 
 his grace into he?- heart, as He had done into /us. We 
 shall leave Saul in thought in this loved retreat, while 
 we trace what work was preparing for him in other 
 cities.
 
 CHAPTER Yi. 
 
 " Up to tliy Master's work ! for thou art call'd 
 To do His bidding, till the hand of death 
 Strike off thine armour. Noble field is thine — 
 The soul thy province, that mysterious thing 
 "Which hath no limit from the walls of sense. 
 
 Oh! live the life of prayer, 
 
 The life of tireless labour for His sake ; 
 So may the Angel of the Covenant bring 
 Thee to thy home in bliss, with many a gem 
 To glov/ for ever in thy Master's crown," 
 
 " Over the vast extent of the Roman empire, Paul everywhere 
 projects his shadow. What are we, preachers or missionaries of a 
 day, before such a man 1 " — Monod,
 
 F my readers will carry their eye along the 
 ooast of Palestine, they will see the names of two cities 
 marked, at a consideral)le distance from each other. 
 The one was Joppa or JafFii, strikingly sitnatod on a 
 rocky ledge, jutting into the sea. From it, you 
 remember, Jonah fled when God wished him to go to 
 Nineveh. It was also famous as the old port of Jeru- 
 salem, to which Solomon floated his rafts of cedar-wood 
 from Lebanon for the building of the temple. The 
 other city was Cesarea, of which we have already 
 spoken. It was situated 35 miles north of Joppa, 
 built by Herod in honour of his royal master, and 
 called after him. He constructed there, at enormous 
 cost and labour, a harbour, where ships might ride in
 
 94 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 safety from the fearful western storms that swept the 
 coast. Also, a large Roman theatre, a remnant of 
 which, at the present day, survives among the other 
 ruins. 
 
 While Saul was at his Tarsus home, there dwelt two 
 celebrated individuals in these two towns. The 
 Apostle Peter was living in Joppa, in the house of a 
 tanner.* A Roman officer, of a great family, called 
 Cornelius, was stationed at Cesarea. He was centu- 
 rion (or captain over a hundred) of a troop of Italian 
 soldiers, which were there in garrison as a body-guard 
 to the Roman governor. Peter one day, as he was en- 
 gaged in prayer on the roof of his house, " overlooking 
 the waves of the Western Sea — the sea of Greece and 
 Rome — the sea of the isles of the Gentiles" t — fell into 
 a trance, which you will find particularly described in 
 Acts X. 3. He heard a voice commanding him to 
 " slay and eat " some of the animals prohibited to be 
 eaten by the Levitical law. X The day preceding this, 
 Cornelius had a vision also in his house at Cesarea, 
 telling him to send messengers to Joppa, to inquire 
 there for "one Simon, whose surname was Peter." 
 The messengers just arrived when the latter was 
 returning from his devotions, and wondering what tlie 
 vision he had witnessed could mean. Their appear- 
 ance furnished him at once with an explanation. It 
 was nothing less than this, that the Gentiles were now 
 to be admitted to share the privileges of the Jews ; and 
 that the distinction between clean and unclean animals, 
 
 * The trade of a tanner was generally despised by the Jews, as binnw 
 connected with dead animals, and many of these in themselves, accordin.tr 
 to their law, unclean. It was generally carried on in the outskirts <:f 
 towns near the sea. 
 
 t Stanley's Sermons and Essaijs, p. 94. t Lev. xi.
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 
 
 95 
 
 which was till this time the sign or badge of separa- 
 tion, was henceforth to be done away. Peter did not 
 hesitate to obey the heavenly voice. Many years 
 before, his Lord had given him the " keys of the king- 
 dom of heaven." He now understood the meaning of 
 the words. The gates of salvation, which had for ages 
 been locked against the Gentiles, were now to be 
 thrown open to " all people ;" and he was to have the 
 privilege of first unbarring them. We find him the 
 following day standing in the house or barrack-room 
 of the centurion, where the good Koman soldier had 
 also gathered his kinsmen and near friends. The Gos- 
 pel of the grace of God is freely proclaimed to Gentile 
 hearers, and, henceforth, "in every nation he that 
 feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of 
 him."* The Holy Ghost descended. The officer of 
 Rome, his house, and believing friends, were all bap- 
 tized. It was a most solemn and joyous moment for 
 the Church of Christ, 
 
 The Gospel ship is now fairly launched in Gentile 
 waters. The Gospel seed has now fairly taken root in 
 Gentile soil. There is one spot— a noted city — upon 
 which, at this time, the mind rests with more than or- 
 dinary interest. If you again examine your mapt of 
 Asia, you will find, far north from Damascus, a little 
 way inland from the Mediterranean, and almost oppo- 
 site the island of Cyprus, the city of Antioch. Antioch 
 was situated on the river Orontes, 20 miles from 
 the sea, and 300 miles from Jerusalem. It formed 
 the great mart of Eastern luxury, and, from its central 
 position, commanded the whole trade of the Mediter- 
 ranean. It was the outlet for merchants and cara- 
 
 * Acts X. 35. t See the green line in the map.
 
 96 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 vans -who travelled from the banks of the Tigris and 
 Euphrates, and ranked third (after Rome and Alexan- 
 dria) among the cities of the Roman empire. Some 
 Jewish converts — natives of Cyprus and Cyrene — had 
 already gone thither and proclaimed the Gospel. Its 
 Gentile inhabitants were beginning to be converted to 
 the faith of Jesus. Many Greeks there " believed and 
 turned to the Lord." Barnabas, whose name has 
 already been favourably before us, crossed from his 
 native island of Cyprus, and preached to them. But 
 the numbers were growing, and he felt the urgency of 
 having an abler minister to argue with Jewish preju- 
 dices, Greek learning, and false philosophy. He, as 
 " the son of consolation," was able enough to comfort 
 and direct young inquirers. But he needed some 
 " son of thunder" to rouse the careless, and overturn 
 the wisdom of men by the wisdom of God.* Where 
 can he look? Who can he think of as the fittest man 
 for such a work? I need scarcely name him! The 
 Cyprian apostle embarked in some trading vessel Avhich 
 was bound for the Cydnus, and went, it is conjectured, 
 about the beginning of the year 43, " to Tarsus to seek 
 Saul." We may picture their meeting. The heart 
 especially clings to the friends who have been kind to 
 us in times of trial. With what joy must Saul have 
 seen the well-known face that had beamed with kind- 
 ness and good- will upon him in Jerusalem, when the 
 other disciples were cold and suspicious ! " The son of 
 consolation" has, indeed, " consoling" news to give his 
 old friend since they last met — that " God had granted 
 to the Gentiles repentance unto life!" He could tell 
 what he had seen with his own eyes in the city he had 
 
 * The Apostle Paul : a Biography.
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 97 
 
 left. Saul does not hesitate to obey his wish. He 
 leaves, possibly for the last time, the home of his 
 youth ; and^the two holy men of God set out together 
 for the great work in store for them at Antioch. 
 
 We cannot omit just noting by the way the unself- 
 ish conduct of Barnabas. He had himself been doing 
 much good in this city— had gained many converts, 
 and formed many Christian friendships. By his la- 
 bours, we read, "much people in Antioch had been 
 added to the Lord." If he had been a jealous or 
 selfish man, he would not certainly have thought on 
 brin'^ing another to supplant him or be his rival. But 
 how far removed he was from any such feeling ! With 
 simple-hearted joy, we read that, " when he saw the 
 grace of God" displayed in the conversion of so many, 
 " he was o-lad !" From that moment, he meekly takes 
 the second place in the sacred narrative, saying, in the 
 spirit of the Baptist, regarding a Greater than Saul, 
 "He must increase, but I must decrease." He had 
 but one thought, and that was, the promotion of his 
 Lord's cause and glory; for this he willingly sacrificed 
 self. His was the contented but beautiful feeling of 
 Jonathan of old, when he said to David, " Thou shalt 
 be king, and I shall be next to thee." * 
 
 We cannot tell whether this was Saul's first visit to 
 a city with which he was afterwards so well acquainted. 
 If it were so, his eye must have gazed with dehght on 
 its vastness and magnificence — its towers and temples, 
 Eoman villas and gardens, baths and theatres. You 
 will be able to form some idea of Antioch from the 
 picture at the beginning of this chapter. The town 
 itself was nearly five miles long, and lay on the north- 
 
 * 1 Sam. xxiii. 17.
 
 98 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 em slope of the rocky Mount Silphius. "Walls of enor- 
 mous height and thickness (fifty feet high, and fifteen 
 "wide) extended round about it — spanning, in many 
 places, the deep ravines of the mountain — and the 
 ruins of which remain to the present day miracles of 
 art and labour. A remarkable island was formed in 
 the centre of the city, on which stood the palace of the 
 Seleiicidee, with a bridge connecting it with the north- 
 ern portion. The crags of Mount Silphius were all of 
 them bold and rugged. One remarkable column of 
 rock overhung the town, which the art of the Greeks 
 had formed into an immense head, with a crown upon 
 it, and which they called " the Head of Charon." If 
 Saul could not see, from the road he travelled, the 
 celebrated temple itself, he must have seen the vast 
 groves of laurels, myrtles, and cypresses, which begirt 
 for ten miles the great shrine at Daphne, erected in 
 honour of Apollo and Diana. In the midst of these 
 thickets, a thousand streams leapt from the neighbour- 
 ing hills, and refreshed the sultry air. Antioch was 
 well entitled to the name which for a long period it bore, 
 " the Queen of the East." 
 
 We may imagine the two brothers in the Lord now 
 entering the town. They have perhaps reached the 
 spacious colonnade in the long centre street, which was 
 erected, at enormous cost, by Herod the Great, and 
 where the citizens could assemble for business or plea- 
 sure, and be protected either from rain or heat. What 
 a strange and motley crowd would greet their view ! 
 — Roman soldiers — servants from the prefect's palace — 
 gay and pleasure-seeking Greeks — the keen dark eye 
 of their brethren according to the flesh ; the latter not 
 arrayed in the poor garb they were often found in^ in
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 99 
 
 other cities, but bearing the evidences of wealth and 
 prosperity, and worshipping the God of their fathers in 
 handsome synagogues.* But there were other glories 
 which gladdened them more. The cause nearest and 
 dearest to their hearts was fast spreading in Antioch. 
 The sect of disciples now began to assume the form of 
 a Church, and, in the year 44, Jews and Gentiles who 
 believed in Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the 
 world, had a new title given to them, which they 
 retain to this day, from the Greek word Christos (" an- 
 ointed," or " the Messiah"), — " the disciples were called 
 Christians first at Antioch." 
 
 A writer of the sixth century — himself a native of 
 the city — mentions the very spot where the two 
 apostles first engaged in their work of preaching the 
 Gospel. Its situation reminds us of St Paul, at a 
 future period of his ministry, when he stood on Mars 
 Hill, close to the Athenian temples. At Antioch they 
 also took their position near to the Pantheon, in a street 
 called " Singon," close to the busiest thoroughfare.t 
 
 Little did Saul think of the wonderful change which 
 the power of God would produce in a few years in that 
 Pagan city. Heathen temples were to give way to 
 Christian churches — hymns to the praise of Jesus were 
 to be heard in every street. In the age of Chrysostom, 
 we find the Christians numbering 100,000, and sup- 
 porting no less than 3000 poor, besides relieving many 
 more ! Antioch became, for many hundred years, the 
 capital of Christendom, and was called by the name of 
 Theopolis, a Greek word which means " the City of God." 
 These facts will explain to our readers why we have 
 
 * Lewin. 
 
 t Makla, quoted by Lewin, p. 115.
 
 100 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 dwelt more minutely than we shonld otherwise have 
 done, in giving an account of this interesting place.* 
 
 An event in the meantime occurred, which required 
 the two Christian ministers to leave Antioch for a 
 little. Owing to a predicted failure in the harvest, in 
 all the surrounding countries, and especially in Judea, 
 thousands of the poor were about to endure famine. 
 The Christians in Jerusalem, from their poverty, were 
 likely to be among the greatest of the sufferers. Ac- 
 cordingly, they sent some " prophets," and among 
 them one Agabus, to Antioch, to acquaint their fellow- 
 Christians of their coming wants, and request from 
 them what relief they were able to afford. The Gentile 
 believers of the city met. They resolved to do what 
 they could to help their starving friends at a distance ; 
 and, having collected some money, they appointed Saul 
 and Barnabas to go with it, and give it to the elders at 
 Jerusalem. God thus overruled this calamity in the 
 world of nature to bring out the spiritual graces of His 
 people, so that Jews and heathen might be brought to 
 say of the Nazarenes they hated, " See how these 
 Christians love one another!" 
 
 Josephus, in his history, confirms the account given 
 in the sacred narrative regarding the famine. Among 
 other things, he relates that Helena, the Queen of 
 Adiabene (a countiy not far from Antioch), having 
 become a convert to the Jewish religion, had taken up 
 her abode in the city of Jerusalem, in order to be near 
 the temple. When the famine broke out, she sent her 
 
 * Lewin Conyheare and Howson, Neander, Bihle Cyclopcedia, <tc. — Antioch is 
 now a small town. It has been six times the scene of fearful eai-thquakos. 
 That of A.D. 526 is said to have destroyed 250,000 individuals, having hap. 
 pened on occasion of a festival. In 1268 it was laid in ruins by a Saltan of 
 Egypt. lu 1822 another earthquake occurred, which destroyed 4000 or
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 101 
 
 servants to Alexandria, in Egypt, to procure a large 
 quantity of corn; others she sent to the island of 
 Cyprus for a store of dried figs, — distributing these 
 among the starving Jews. Her son, the reigning Kino- 
 of Adiabene, followed her charitable example, and for- 
 warded large sums of money to Palestine. 
 
 When the two holy apostles, Saul and Barnabas, 
 arrived in Jerusalem, there were other events which had 
 made their poor Christian friends very sad and sorrow- 
 ful. Herod (the grandson of the king who had mur- 
 dered the little children in Bethlehem at the time of 
 the Saviour's birth) Avas still reigning Sovereign of 
 Judea, under Claudius Caesar. Though he was a wicked 
 man, and indulged in many vices, he had always been 
 a strict observer of the Jewish law, and therefore very 
 much hated the new sect of Christians. After ei^^-ht 
 years' freedom from persecution, the dreaded flames once 
 more burst out. James, one of the disciples of Jesus, 
 he had " slain with the sword." He had put Peter, at 
 the time of the Passover, in prison— set sixteen soldiers 
 to guard him, and bound him with two cliains resolv- 
 ing, in a short time, to bring him forth, and have him 
 killed also. What human power can save himi This 
 apostle must have concluded that the hour of hia 
 martyr-death, of which Jesus had forewarned him, had 
 arrived, when he was to "stretch out his hands" like 
 his Lord upon the cross.* But God has work for him 
 to do before he receives his crown. The infant Church 
 could yet ill spare him. No bolts or bars can stop the 
 power of prayer. A prayer-meeting was held in a 
 lowly dwelling in Jerusalem. God heard the voice of 
 hia servants. He sent his angel to open the prison doors 
 
 * John xxi. 18-22.
 
 102 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 and let the apostle free ; -while the king who put him 
 there was brought to a sudden and fearful end. In the 
 same city where Cornelius the Christian Roman dwelt, 
 there was, as we have already told you, a large theatre, 
 erected by the elder Herod. One day about the begin- 
 ning of the month of August, this building was crowded 
 with people. The cause of the immense assemblage is 
 to us an interesting one. The Emperor Claudius had 
 gone to join his armies in Great Britain, and remained 
 there for sixteen days. During this time, he obtained 
 several victories, and took, among others, the city of 
 Colchester, which was then, what London is now, the 
 capital of the empire. On returning to Rome, there 
 was universal rejoicing ; he was called " Brittanicus," 
 after our island ; he had a naval crown put above his 
 palace ; and an annual celebration of the event was 
 instituted at Rome, consisting of the usual barbarous 
 sport of fighting wild beasts, with war-dances and 
 chariot-racing. Herod Agrippa, who was both much 
 indebted to Claudius, and desirous of retaining his 
 favour, resolved to keep the festival also in imposing 
 splendour in the theatre at Cesarea. The stone seats, 
 which rose one above another, were a moving mass of 
 human beings. On the second morning all faces were 
 turned towards a private portico, through which in 
 great pomp Herod entered, clad in sparkling robes of 
 silver. He took his seat on a purple throne. When 
 the people saw him, they shouted and cried, " Behold 
 a god !" adding, according to Josephus, " Be thou 
 merciful imto us ; for although we have hitherto re- 
 verenced thee only as a king, yet shall we henceforth 
 own thee as superior to mortals." The same writer, 
 in his account of it, also relates that at that moment
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 10^ 
 
 the unhappy beuig they were thus foolishly worship- 
 Wm<r looked up and saw an owl (a bird of " evd 
 omen," that is to say, supposed by the superstitious 
 heathen to bespeak calamity) perched on a rope above 
 his head. He was immediately filled with dread. 
 The great God of heaven, who will not give his glory to 
 another, made him to be " eaten of worms !" He was 
 carried away to his palace in the agonies of a dreadful 
 death. Josephus adds, that the assembled multitudes 
 fled from the theatre, and, as was the custom with the 
 Jews rent their clothes and sat in ashes, making a 
 groat lamentation-" And the king being laid m a high 
 chamber, and looking down on the people prostrate on 
 the ground, could not himself forbear weeping. And 
 having continued in agony for five days, .... he de- 
 parted this life." Think of holy Stephen's end, with 
 an<^elshis spectators! Think of this! What a com- 
 xnent on the words of the Psalmist!-" I have seen the 
 wicked great in power and spreading himself like a 
 green bay tree : yet he passed away, and lo ! he was not; 
 ;ea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the 
 perfect man, and behold the upright : for the end of that 
 man is peace." t . , 
 
 We cannot tell what time Saul and Barnabas waited 
 in Jerusalem; probably not long. They would give 
 the money they had collected for the impending 
 famine, and make the minds of the Christians there 
 glad and joyful, by telling them of all that the Lord 
 was doino- at Antioch. When they prepared to return, 
 they did not go alone, but took with them the nephew 
 of Barnabas. 
 
 We have just spoken of a prayer-meetmg of dis- 
 
 * Josephus. b. xix., chap. viii. t P^alm xxxvii. 35-37.
 
 104 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 ciples, in a house at Jerusalem, for the deliverance of 
 Peter. It was the house of Mary, sister to Barnabas, 
 and mother of "John, whose surname was Mark.'"* It 
 is more than probable that one of those present at this 
 prayer-meeting, who had the joy of welcoming back 
 the imprisoned apostle, was Saul of Tarsus ; that 
 there he may have formed his acquaintance with the 
 nephew of liis companion, who was to be a future 
 son and fellow-labourer in the faith. We shall have 
 occasion more than once to mention the name of 
 Mark; and though at one time, as we shall find, there 
 was an unhappy difference between him and the great 
 apostle, it is interesting to read among the very last 
 sentences which Paul, when he became "the aged," 
 wrote, — " Take Mark," said he to Timothy, " and bring 
 him with ih.ee, for he is profitable to me in the ministry"-^ 
 
 After this short visit to Jerusalem, Saul's history 
 becomes more, than it has been yet, a history of 
 preaching among the Gentiles. We shall enter, at this 
 point, on the first of those great missionary tours, 
 with their labours and perils, their joys and sorrows, 
 which only closed when he could say, " I have fought 
 a good fight, I have finished my course." That 
 noble missionary river, whose streams are now fer- 
 tilising the world, had its little fountain-head in 
 Antioch. 
 
 One day, in some house or church in that great city, 
 all the Christians were assembled together. They had 
 met for fasting and prayer. The names of the differ- 
 ent prophets and teachers are mentioned at the begin- 
 ning of the 13th chapter of Acts. There was "Sim- 
 eon, who was also called Niger" — a word which means 
 
 * Acts xii. 12. t 2 Tim. iv. 11.
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 105 
 
 " black," and from which some have supposed that he 
 ■was a black African — a negro — the first of the " Ethio- 
 pians " who are yet to " stretch out their hands unto 
 God j" there was Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod 
 Antipas; and Lucius, probably the same as Luke the 
 Evangelist; "Saul and Barnabas." One or all of these 
 had addressed the assembled disciples, discoursing to 
 them about Jesus and his great salvation. We may 
 imagine the assembled worshippers praising God for 
 all His mercies, or perhaps uniting in supplication, 
 making it the special object of their meeting to receive 
 direction as to their future labours, when suddenly au 
 answer is sent to their prayers. It is one which doubt- 
 less must in many ways have made them sorry ; for it 
 calls on them to part with the two of their number 
 they had most reason to cleave to and love. But to 
 God's will they joyfully submit. His command was, 
 " Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work 
 w^hereunto I have called them."* That work was to 
 obey the parting commission of their great Lord — 
 " Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 Another solemn day was fixed to meet the two mis- 
 sionaries, before they set sail, to bid them fai-ewell — to 
 hear once more the Gospel message from their lips, and 
 to implore anew God's blessing and guidance. Per- 
 haps some of my readers have been at church when 
 a missionary was set apart, and ordained to go to some 
 far off portion of the heathen world to preach " the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ." It is a touching and im- 
 pressive scene, which none can ever forget — a holy man 
 willing to leave home and friends, to " spend and be 
 
 * Acta xiii. 2.
 
 106 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 spent for Jesus." Here was the first of thousands of 
 such scenes which have since taken place — the first 
 consecration of three Christian missionaries ! " They 
 laid their hands on them, and sent them away."* We 
 may imagine the tears in many eyes which followed 
 them down to the harbour where the boat was in readi- 
 ness to embark ; we may almost hear the farewells 
 that are spoken as the vessel or skiff left the shore. 
 Little did the Syrian onlookers understand these tears, 
 or know all the importance attached to that departure. 
 We have supposed, what is most likely, that they 
 sailed by ship down the Orontes, with its vine-clad 
 banks, to the harbour of Seleucia. Possibly, however, 
 they saved time by avoiding the many windings in the 
 river, and took the ordinary road which led across the 
 bridge from the city on its north side. In this case, 
 they would enter the sea-town by what was called the 
 " Gate of Antioch" — a noble archway, on the south-east 
 side, supported by pillars and guarded with towers. 
 Seleucia was in those days a large port, with many gal- 
 lant vessels from all parts of the Mediterranean riding 
 in its harbour. The harbour itself was a famous one. 
 It was built of vast stones ftistened together with 
 cramps of iron to which the ships were moored, and 
 which, in the heavy storms and raging seas which 
 broke at times from the west, kept them from being 
 dashed to pieces. The scenery must have been strik- 
 ing to such a mind as that of Saul, standing, as we may 
 suppose him, with his two fellow-missionaries, either 
 on the heights of the fortress, or on the broad pier, 
 with a forest of masts and the din of commerce aU 
 around. His eye would rest, towards the north, on a 
 
 • Acts xiii. S.
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 107 
 
 bold parapet of Mount Coryphaeus, with its rocky sides 
 cut into numerous sepulchres similar to those in Petra 
 or the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In front he would gaze 
 upon miles on miles of blue sea, whose waters he was 
 afterwards to be familiar with in calm and in terrible 
 storm. In the far distance, the dim hazy tops of the 
 Cyprian mountains rose into view. Barnabas and his 
 relative Mark doubtless loved to look at these, for 
 Cyprus was their old home ; and probably this was 
 one among other reasons which had determined them 
 to direct their pilgrim steps first to its shores. They 
 have now set sail ; the mountains, which at first they 
 saw at a great distance, come nearer and nearer ; their 
 vessel, under a fair gale, is skimming over the waves ; 
 and when they are lowering its sails, they find them- 
 selves, 100 miles from Seleucia, entering the bay and 
 harbour of Salamis. 
 
 Cyprus, known to the Hebrews by the name Chetim 
 or Kittim (from Kittim, the son of Javan), is, next 
 to Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean. The 
 many crooked windings and turnings in its rugged 
 coast gave it the name of "the Horned;" but so 
 beautiful and fertile was it, that it was called also by 
 the name of "the Blest." Its situation, and the num- 
 ber of these creeks and havens, made it a favourite 
 place of resort for merchants from Egypt, Phenicia, 
 and Asia Minor. There were large plantations in 
 the interior whose timber was much valued in ship- 
 building. In the cultivated plains, " corn, wine, and 
 oil " were produced in abundance, and its mines and 
 rivers contained diamonds, emeralds, silver, lead, and 
 copper. More valuable and "unsearchable riches" 
 than these had already been brought to Cyprus by the
 
 108 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Christians who were scattered abroad on the death of 
 Stephen ; but the efforts of these earher missionaries 
 were confined to the Jews alone. A great number of 
 Israelites were always resident in the island, and this, 
 we may well believe, was another reason, in addition 
 to what has already been mentioned, for the apostles 
 turning their steps to its shores. Jesus had himself 
 spoken of the peculiar claims of "the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel;" and Saul and his two companions 
 would doubtless consider that they best fulfilled their 
 Lord's will by seeking first to bring them into the Gos- 
 pel fold. They accordingly began their labours in the 
 Jewish synagogues. 
 
 After spending some little time in Salamis, they 
 resolve to cross to the other end of the island to a 
 town called Paphos, now " Bafi'a,"— a distance of nearly 
 100 miles. This must have been a place of import- 
 ance, from being the residence of the Roman governor. 
 The heathen goddess, under whose protection the island 
 of Cyprus was by its Pagan inhabitants supposed to 
 be, was Venus ; hence she was called Cypria, and was 
 fabled to have sprung from the foam of the sea. 
 Her principal temple was situated close by Paphos, in 
 the midst of delightful groves and delicious fruit- 
 trees. On the streets of this island town these faith- 
 ful missionaries stood and preached the glorious Gos- 
 pel of the grace of God. 
 
 Saul says, at a future time, in one of his letters, 
 " Not many noble are called." Here, however, there 
 was one, — the first of the few "noble" and great of 
 this world who were, through his agency, to embrace 
 the religion of the despised Jesus. The Roman gover- 
 nor or deputy. Sergius Paulus, is described as " a pru-
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 
 
 109 
 
 dent man, who desired to hear the Word of God." He 
 appears to have been a person of an inquiring spirit, 
 an " open-minded" man, as the word " prudent" means. 
 He could get no comfort in the heathen reUgion ; he 
 found it could not meet the wants of his soul Mere 
 curiosity prompted, at a future time, other kings and 
 governors to hear Saul ; but we believe it was from a 
 deeper feeling that Sergius desired to listen to the 
 Gospel tidings. He was brought to believe and love 
 the Saviour. Let us hear what were the means em- 
 ployed to humble this exalted Roman, and bring him 
 to the foot of the cross. He had with him in his royal 
 dwelling a Jew whose name was Bar -Jesus, or, as he 
 was calfed also, Elymas,— an Arabian word which means 
 "the wise one" (just as our English word "wizard" is 
 derived from, or rather is a contraction of, "wise art"). 
 But professing himself to be " wise," this man was a 
 " fool." He was one of those false deceivers or knaves, 
 who at that age of the world used to pretend to work 
 miracles, and prophesy, and perform magical arts in 
 connexion with Satan.* They were often found in the 
 houses of the great, and in the palaces of kings. 
 
 The East has at all times been famed as the region of 
 wild dreams and fairy tales, of magic and fortune-telling. 
 Many during the age of the Apostle, from whom we 
 might have looked for better things, were silly enough 
 to believe in the magical arts of cunning impostors, 
 and to encourage them by gifts of money. It is sad 
 to think how even some among the Jewish nation lent 
 themselves to this wicked trade. These, certainly, were 
 of the " baser sort," unworthy to be called children of 
 Abraham. They pretended to be possessed of the spi- 
 
 * See Home's Introduction, vol. ii. p. 366. G
 
 110 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 rit of their old prophets, and to have the gift of second- 
 sight, foretelling futui'e events. One of this number 
 was Bar-Jesus, who had now found his way to the 
 governor's dwelling at Paphos. Sergius Paulus had 
 been told of the newly-arrived strangers. He had pro- 
 bably heard not a little of the new sect called " Chi-is- 
 tians," which had grown up in Jerusalem, and whose 
 doctrines weis spreading in the capital of Syria. On 
 resolving, thei-efore, to see and hear its three disciples, 
 Elymas did all he covild to prevent their getting into 
 the governor's presence ; for as light has no fellowship 
 with darkness, he knew that if his master came to 
 embrace their doctrines, his power and influence at 
 court would be at an end. All his arts, however, to 
 exclude the apostle-missionaries were unsuccessful ; 
 Saul and his two fi-iends stood in the presence of the 
 high-born Roman. They " preached to him Jesus," — 
 told him of the only true rest for his troubled soul, and 
 that there was neither happiness nor salvation in any 
 other. Bar-Jesus evidently writhed under the apostles' 
 words. We are not told what he did, or what he said ; 
 but we are left in little doubt, from Saul's strong lan- 
 guage, that the impostor-Jew had been blaspheming 
 that holy Name which the apostle counted dearer than 
 life. The noble spirit of the latter is roused within 
 him, and by the power of God he prepares to silence 
 the wicked gainsayer by " terrible things in righteous- 
 ness which he looked not for." In the name of the 
 same Great Being who, on his way to Damascus, 
 had deprived him of sight, "he declared, with divine 
 confidence, that the Lord would punish Elymas with 
 the loss of these organs which he only abused by at- 
 tempting, through his arts of deception, to stop the
 
 THE MISSIONARY. Ill 
 
 progress of Divine truth."* Fixing upon him a stern 
 look, he pronounces the awful sentence, and the miser- 
 able man is sent away groping in darkness. Sergius 
 cannot resist the power of this miracle. He believes ; 
 and many in the town and throughout the island fol- 
 low the example of their noble governor. The mis- 
 sionaries doubtless raise their hearts in humble grati- 
 tude to God for these first-fruits of the great harvest.t 
 As this is the first miracle wrought by the apostle, 
 the question may occur to us, What were the extent 
 of Saul's miraculous gifts'? Could he work a mira- 
 cle at any time he pleased, or was it only the result 
 of some special power given him at particular times 1 
 Evidently it was the latter alone. " He could sti'ike 
 Elymas blind because he was so directed, but he 
 could not cure Trophimus or Epaphroditus when they 
 were sick, or rid himself of the thorn in the flesh, 
 though it so sorely distressed him. So Paul had the 
 gift of tongues, yet his knowledge in this respect was 
 
 * Neander. 
 
 t What would the pilgrim-missionary have thought if he had read the 
 following account of his apostolic successor, given by an English tra- 
 veller in Cyprus 1800 years after? — "I entered the city by the gate of Lar- 
 nica, and was conducted to the Episcopal pulace through a number of 
 narrow lanes, where my horse was nearly buried in mud and filth. The 
 archbishop, dressed in a magnificent purple robe, with a long flowing 
 beard, and a silk cap on his head, received me in the vestibule, and ordered 
 an apartment to be prepared for mc in the palace, — a large and straggling 
 building containing upwards of a hundred chambers. These are all re- 
 quired for the acconmiodatiou of the bishops, priests, and their attend- 
 ants; for the archbishop, botli in power and affluence, is the second per- 
 sonage on the island. ... At seven o'clock, supper being announced, 
 he took me by the hand and led me through a gallery into the refectory, 
 — a long and dirty hall, where about thirty priests and bishops sat down to 
 table The wine and provisions were excellent and abundant, and the 
 breail, which was white as snow, and baked with milk instead of water, 
 was the best I remember to have tasted." — Kinneir's Journey through Asia 
 Minor, p. 188.
 
 112 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 limited, as we shall see at Lystra, where the Lyca- 
 onian dialect was unintelUgible to him. So Paul had 
 the spirit of prophecy as to Antichrist ; and, when 
 tossed by the storm in Adria, could predict that not 
 a life would be lost, and that they should be cast 
 away on a certain island ; but when he parted from 
 the Ephesian elders, on his third circuit, he could 
 not foresee that he should visit them again." * 
 
 It is worthy of note, that from this time forward 
 the great apostle always takes the name of Paul. 
 Saul is never used again, either in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, nor does he use it himself in the course of 
 his own epistles. What was the cause or meaning 
 of this change of name 1 There must have been some 
 reason for it. We know it was a common thing, 
 with many of God's favoured servants, to have an 
 alteration of name at some important periods of their 
 history. Abram's name was changed to Abraham; 
 Simon was changed to Peter (the Rock). Some think 
 that Saul took the name of Paul in honour of Sergius 
 Paulus becoming a Christian — that just as Pagan 
 heroes derived their new titles from the cities or coun- 
 tries they conquered, so Saul adopted a new name from 
 the first conquest he had made by the " sword of the 
 Spirit " in this island. But it is more likely intended 
 to mark his calling as a missionary to the heathen and 
 Gentiles. He dropped his name Saul, which was his 
 Jewish one ; and he takes the title Paul, which was his 
 Roman one, as it was henceforth not among the He- 
 brews, but the Pagan Romans, that his greatest tri- 
 umphs were to be won.t He adopted the change at 
 this particular time, as God had granted him such 
 
 * Lewin, vol. i. p. 143. t Oi-igen. See Calmet's ComrMntary.
 
 THE MISSIONARY. 113 
 
 marked favour and success in Cyprus, — a place which 
 was always considered veiy wicked and sinful. 
 
 Be this, however, as it may, Paxil " thanked God and 
 took courage." Ho prepared to buckle on his armou 
 for new battles and new victories. He was now about, 
 like Abraham, when he received his change of name, 
 to become the spiritual " father of many nations."
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 " Hark the note! 
 The natural music of the mountain reed — 
 For here the patriarchal days are not 
 A pastoral fable — pipes in the liheral air, 
 Mix'd with the sweet bells of the wandering herd." 
 
 "Once was I stoned, in journeyinss often, in perils of 
 
 waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, 
 in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- 
 ness."— 2 Cor. xi. 25, 26.
 
 FTEB this favoured visit to the lovely island 
 of Cyprus, we find Paul and his two com- 
 panions once more on the Mediterranean, sailing north- 
 wards to the coast of Pamphylia, in Asia Minor. We 
 are not told whether God had given them special 
 directions to direct their steps thither, or whether they 
 just took the first vessel they found sailing for another 
 shore, — " the field" being " the world," and perishing 
 heathen souls everywhere equally precious. Perhaps 
 tlie Great Apostle, now that he had preached in large 
 cities, might be desirous of carrying the glad tidings, 
 with the hopes, too, of greater success, into the less 
 frequented regions of Asia Minor, — upland districts 
 similar to many parts of North Wales, the Highlands 
 of Scotland, or the valleys of the Alps, where the in- 
 liabitants were more primitive in their manners, and 
 less corrupted with fashionable vices and sins.
 
 116 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Be this as it may, however, we find the three tra- 
 vellers once more in a Cyprian vessel coming in view 
 of the coast of Pamphylia. On entering, as is pro- 
 bable, the mouth of the Oestrus, their eyes would rest 
 on a flat plain, on either side, running a long way into 
 the interior, till it was hemmed in by a rampart of 
 snowy moimtains. Paul's thoughts were occupied 
 with nobler battles and victories than those of earth ; 
 but it is not improbable that, as they were slowly 
 steering up the river, some of the crew may have 
 pointed out to him spots which had been rendered 
 famous by contending armies, narrating tales of valour 
 connected with the names of Cimon, Antiochus, and 
 Hannibal. In entering the channel of the Oestrus, he 
 would observe the rugged cliffs which rose perpendi- 
 cularly from the sea on the east and west. If he had 
 been a few miles further in a westerly direction, he 
 would have seen the leap which the river Oatarrhactes 
 (as its name imports) takes over the sea-cliffs into the 
 ocean beneath, and which must have been peculiarly 
 grand after the heavy rains, or the sudden melting of 
 the mountain snows. * 
 
 Pamphylia itself occupied about eighty miles along 
 the coast, lying between Lycia on the west, and Cilicia 
 on the east ; and as its name, " a land of all tribes," 
 would lead us to infer, it was inhabited by different 
 races — those principally of Greek extraction. At this 
 time, Pisidia and Lycia formed along with it one pz-o- 
 vince, under a Ptoman governor, having Antioch in 
 Pisidia for its capital.t They have sailed seven miles 
 
 * " The river Cataractes, which Strabo places between the cities of Olbia 
 and Attalia, anfl which, he says, precipitates itself from a lofty rock with 
 a tremendous din "—Beaufort's Karamania, p. 127. 
 
 t Lewiu, vol. i. p 145.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 117 
 
 up tlie river wc have just spoken of, and which bears 
 the modern name of the Aksoo, when they reach the 
 town of Perga. This city was beautifully situated in 
 the valley through which, amid precipitous rocks, 
 the Cestrus winds its way. It occupied chiefly the 
 left bank of the river ; it had a wall surrounding it, 
 with the usual edifices of a Greek town — a theatre, 
 stadium, and temples. As at Antioch and Paphos, 
 the great attraction of the place was a temple built on 
 a lofty eminence to Diana, and a yearly festival held 
 in honour of this heathen goddess. Shepherds and 
 their flocks are now found encamping amid broken 
 shafts and columns, — all that is left to mark the spot 
 where Perga stood, and where Paul and his friends 
 lodged. 
 
 There was a trial waiting the great apostle here 
 which he little expected. John Mark, who had 
 till now accompanied them, got either timid or weary 
 in his work, and, leaving Paul and Barnabas, he took 
 the first ship that sailed to the land of Judea. We 
 have no means of knowing accurately what induced 
 the younger disciple to take this step, and desert his 
 fellow-travellers, just when they had most need of him. 
 Most probably he feared the " perils of floods (waters) 
 and perils of robbers," — the dangex's and fatigues that 
 were so well known in connexion with a journey across 
 the Pisidian ^^ Alps." He could not make up his mind 
 to " endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 It must, at all events, have been cause of deep sorrow 
 and regret to his older companions. May we not con- 
 clude this to have been the reason of their brief stay 
 in Perga? The good cause may there have suffered 
 from the unkind and unmanly conduct of Barnabas'
 
 118 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 young relative. Mark would doubtless have his own 
 sad feelings, when, as he sailed all alone on the mid- 
 night sea, he thought of this desertion from his holy and 
 devoted friends. The words of his divine Lord and 
 Master must have been sounding loudly and reproach- 
 ingly in his ears, — " No man having put his hand to 
 the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of 
 God." Some have been led in charity to plead, in 
 excuse for him, a commendable desire to be with his 
 aged and widowed mother in Jerusalem ; but even 
 this, though it would tend to lessen his blameworthi- 
 ness, would not be sufficient to justify him ; for, after 
 having undertaken his missionary work, he ought to 
 have remembered the woi'ds of Him who said, " Who- 
 soever loveth father and mother more than me, is not 
 worthy of me." We have abundant reason to conclude, 
 as we shall by and by find, that he bitterly repented 
 of the step, and did all in his power to atone for pre- 
 sent ingratitude and timidity. 
 
 The two elder apostles prepare alone to resume their 
 journey. We have already seen them gathered with 
 their fellow-Christians in Antioch (in Syria) ; we are 
 now to accompany them many miles straight north 
 from Perga, to another Antioch (in Pisidia) in the 
 centre of Asia Minor. There are no gently-flowing 
 rivers, like the Orontes or Cydnus, by which they can 
 approach this remote spot. Desolate paths and rugged 
 cliffs must be climbed and crossed before they can 
 reach the distant capital. 
 
 It has been supposed, and perhaps correctly, that 
 the season of the year when the two pilgrims set out 
 from Perga, was about the end of spring or the begin- 
 ning of summer, when the heat began to be so great in
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 119 
 
 and around Perga, that the inhabitants (as still is the 
 custom in many parts of India) left the intolerable 
 warmth of the lower plains, and went np in companies 
 or caravans to the cool breezes of the moiintains.* We 
 are all the more willing to fix this to be the time of 
 their journey, as these lonely passes were infested with 
 thieves, which rendered the route very dangerous to 
 single or unprotected travellers. Many a daring tale 
 of robber chiefs still lingers among these mountain 
 glens ; desperate marauders or freebooters, similar to 
 those who kept, a century ago, the Scottish Highlands 
 in a state of lawlessness, frequently pillaged, by sudden 
 incursions, the plains, and then retreated amid their 
 inaccessible rocks and fastnesses. If even Roman 
 armies and Roman valour had to quail before these 
 savage tribes, we need not wonder at Paul speaking 
 afterwards with such feeling (and evidently with refer- 
 ence to his present journey) of "perils of robbers." 
 
 It is more than probable that our two travellers 
 selected the period of the year for their journey 
 when they would have that protection on the road 
 which was so much needed. Add to this — it was 
 hardly possible to traverse these regions with comfort 
 or safety at any other season of the year, — there was 
 no travelling during the severe cold and drifting snows 
 of winter, and, in early spring, the defiles were either 
 choked with snow, or else the melting of it on the 
 mountains made what roads and bridges there were, 
 in many places, impassable. 
 
 We may imagine, then, the great apostle and his 
 
 * See the eutire interesting chapter in Howson <and Conybeare, where 
 the descriptions of modern travellers are made graphically to illustrate 
 this portion of Paul's life.— Authorities there quoted.
 
 120 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 fellow-traveller, staff in hand, on their way from Perga 
 to the moimtains of Pisidia. Their eyes are uo longer 
 gazing on the walls of a Jewish synagogue or a Roman 
 palace, — the apostle no longer sits wrapped in his 
 warm "cloak" as he floats over the "great sea," but 
 toiling along through difiicult and slippery paths, with 
 huge precipices frowning in terror over his head. Now 
 and then some torrent, swollen by the sudden rains, 
 and occupying the whole breadth of the defile, as it 
 rushes down, may remind us also of the " perils of 
 waters" (or " water-floods"), whicli he couples with the 
 more terrible one of the mountain-freebooters. Those 
 of my readers who are familiar with the floodings of 
 the rivers and mountain-streams in Scotland, when, 
 after the sudden melting of the snows on the higher 
 Grampians, sheep, and trees, and corn-stacks, are often 
 swept along in the furious current, may form some 
 idea of the nature of these " perils" the apostle 
 speaks of. 
 
 The fierce heat of the sun is gradually exchanged 
 for the cooling breeze of the uplands ; the vine, the 
 orange, the pomegranate, and, above all, the oleander, 
 with its bright crimson flowei", at that season must 
 have been carpeting the rocks as they began their 
 ascent.'"'' As they appi'oach the higher regions, these 
 gradually disappear, and the hardier plants and shrubs 
 of the mountain take their place ; at last they come to 
 mark only a few flowers shivering in the snow, and 
 are glad to take refuge now and then in some shep- 
 herd's cave or grotto, or beneath the shade of pines, 
 to screen them from the cutting winds. Any travel- 
 lers that might have accompanied them thus far, are 
 
 * Spratt aud Forbes' Lycia, as quoted by Howson.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 121 
 
 now left behind, and they pursue their journey alone 
 across a flat table-land of dull and dead scenery. They 
 have bid, for the present, at least, farewell both to the 
 riches of the plain and the stern grandeur of the 
 mountains, and are traversing a vast flat wilderness 
 full of lakes and morasses, where storks and wild 
 swans are raising their necks among the reeds and 
 rushes.'' Shepherds' huts and folds are studded here 
 and there, at which fires are kept blazing at night to 
 scare away the wild animals ; and the apostle doubt- 
 less sees also occasionally encampments formed of the 
 well-known "goats '-hair tents," reminding him of his 
 Tarsus days and childhood happiness.t In the fir 
 distance a few scattered specks begin to appear ; and, 
 after an hour or two of further journey, they are glad 
 to find their weary limbs reclining in some humble 
 dwelling in the capital of Pisidia. 
 
 The Pisidian Antioch, founded by Seleucus Nica- 
 nor, stood on an eminence which can still be distin- 
 guished as the site of the old city from the numerous 
 ruins which are strewn around. Among these is a 
 magnificent aqueduct of twenty-one arches, and seve- 
 ral churches and temples.:}: 
 
 One Sabbath day, somewhere between the year of 
 our Lord 45 and 50, we may fimcy ourselves in the 
 inside of a strange, peculiar building in the city of 
 Antioch, It is built in a circular form ; seats, rising 
 one above another, are filled with eager intelligent 
 countenances. In the centre is a raised desk or table 
 of wood, where an individual, with a flowing beard, is 
 
 * Fellow's Asia Minor, p. 155, quoted by Howaon. See the picture at 
 the beginning of tlie chapter. 
 f Fellow's Asia Minor, p. 155. 
 J Bible Cyclopaedia, Aruudell's Asia Minor, lio.
 
 122 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 busy reading from some ancient scroll he holds in his 
 hand ; beside him is an interpreter, who translates 
 what the other has been reading in Hebrew into the 
 Greek language ; close by is an ancient ark or chest, 
 where the roll we have mentioned, along with others, 
 were carefidly kept ; other bearded rulers sit in stone 
 seats in front, facing the people ; and behind a screen 
 or lattice in the gallery, are a number of females — the 
 wives and daughters of those assembled worshippers.* 
 We must not omit to note two other figures in this as- 
 semblage — two men, strangers in dress, and yet wearing 
 the covering for the head which was the badge of every 
 Israelite, and, with features like others around them, 
 are seated by themselves, and attract the attention of 
 their fellow-worshippers. I need not tell you what 
 scene this is, nor who these two strangers are — it is 
 the Jewish synagogue in the Pisidian capital. Paul 
 and Barnabas, as their custom was, resorted to the 
 Jews' place of worship to seek an opportunity of 
 preaching the Gospel of their Divine Master. 
 
 With what different feelings must they, and the 
 others in that synagogue, have listened to the follow- 
 ing prayers which had just been read : — " Blessed 
 be thou, Lord our God, the God of our fathers, . . . 
 w^ho, in thy love, sendest a Ptedeemer to those who are 
 descended from them for Thy name's sake ! King, 
 our Lord and helper, our Saviour and our shield ! 
 Blessed art thou, Lord, who art the shield of Abraham!" 
 " Look, we beseech Thee, upon our afflictions, . . . and 
 make haste to redeem us with a perfect redemption for 
 Thy name's sake ; for Thou art our God, our King, and 
 a strong Redeemer, Blessed art thou, Lord, the Re- 
 
 * Philo, ii. 458.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 123 
 
 deemer of Israel!" " Make the offspring of David, Thy 
 servant, speedily to grow up and flourish, and let our 
 horn be exalted in Thy salvation ; for we hope for Thy 
 salvation every day. Blessed art thou, Lord, who 
 makest the horn of our salvation to flourish!" What a 
 solemn " Amen" must the two Christian missionaries 
 have pronoimced over ♦'hese answered prayers ! 
 
 The " President" has just finished reading, as was 
 the custom, the allotted portion of the Law and the 
 Prophets ; he has carefully rolled back the parchment 
 or vellum scroll, and given it to the officer to be re- 
 placed in the chest. He then sends a messenger to 
 the two strangers to ask them if they have any instruc- 
 tions to give the audience. 
 
 We may wonder at the notice thus taken of these 
 unknown travellers ; but it seems to have been un- 
 derstood in Jewish synagogues, that whenever any 
 strangers took a seat, " sat doivn as Paul and Barna- 
 bas now did, it was an intimation that they were in 
 the habit of addressing their countrymen, and were 
 desirous of doing so," * 
 
 Paul was waiting ready to obey the invitation. We 
 are told that, upon being asked, " he rose and beck- 
 oned with his hand," — his usual mode of imposing 
 silence when he was about to speak. 
 
 His sermon possesses a peculiar interest in being the 
 first and the only one that we have on record as preached 
 during this missionaiy journey. Though in itself only 
 an outline of what he delivered, we may feel assured it 
 contains a complete summary of his address, and much 
 of it in the very words he employed. He secures at its 
 commencement their attention by reminding them how 
 
 * Lightfoot.
 
 124 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 God had selected them to be His peculiar people — re- 
 couutiug His manifold mercies to their nation ; briefly 
 touching on various leading incidents in their miracu- 
 lous history, till he comes to the promise of Messiah 
 given to His servant David, of whom, according to the 
 flesh, Jesus was to be born. He then began to open 
 up the great subject of his teaching, viz., that that 
 Messiah promised to their royal ancestor had already 
 come, and that by faith in Him they were "justified 
 from all things from which they could not be justified 
 by the law of Moses." Neander observes, that the whole 
 discourse is a specimen of the peculiar wisdom and 
 skill of Paul in the management of men's dispositions. 
 We may well be pardoned for quoting this memorable 
 sermon in full. Imagine, then, the great apostle 
 standing up in the synagogue of this distant city, and 
 thus " preaching to them ' Jesus ;' " — 
 
 " Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 
 The God of tliis people of Israel chose our fathers, and 
 exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the 
 land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them 
 out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered 
 he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had 
 destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he 
 divided their land to them by lot. And after that he 
 gave unto them judges about the space of four hun- 
 dred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And 
 afterwards they desired a king ; and God gave unto 
 them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjar 
 min, by the space of forty years. And when he had 
 removed him, he raised up unto them David to be theii' 
 king ; to wdiom also he gave testimony, and said, I 
 have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 125 
 
 own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this 
 man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised 
 nnto Israel a Saviour, Jesus : when John had first 
 preached before his coming the baptism of repentance 
 to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his 
 course, he said, Whom think ye that I am ? I am 
 not he : but, behold, there cometh one after me, whose 
 shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and 
 brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and who- 
 soever among you feareth God, to you is the word of 
 this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, 
 and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet 
 the voices of the prophets which are read every 
 sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning 
 him. And though they found no cause of death in 
 him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 
 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of 
 him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him 
 in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead : 
 and he was seen many days of them which came up 
 with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his wit- 
 nesses unto the people. And we declare unto you 
 glad tidings, how that the promise which was made 
 unto the fiithers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us 
 their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; 
 as it is also written in the second psalm. Thou art my 
 Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concern- 
 ing that he raised him up from the dead, now no more 
 to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will o'ive 
 you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith 
 also in another psalm. Thou shalt not suffer thine 
 Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had 
 served his own generation by the will of God, fell on
 
 126 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Sleep, ana was laid unto his fathers, and saw cor- 
 ruption : but he, whom God raised again, saw no cor- 
 ruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and 
 brethren, that through this man is preached unto you 
 the forgiveness of sins : and by him all that believe are 
 justified from all things, from which ye could not be 
 justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest 
 that come upon you which is spoken of in the pro- 
 phets ; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish : 
 for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall 
 in no wise believ , though a man declare it unto you." * 
 
 When Paul had finished, the Jews and Gentile pro- 
 selytes t came crowding around him. The minds of 
 the latter had been deeply impressed — they had been 
 conscience-stricken, and the good seed sown was ere 
 long to manifest its growth in a Christian church. 
 They were not content with what they had just heard 
 from his lips, they ask the apostle to return again on 
 the next sabbath, and repeat these wondrous glad-tid- 
 ings of great joy. He gladly agrees to do so. Mean- 
 while, ei'e he leaves the synagogue, he entreats them, 
 with fatherly affection, " to abide in the grace of God." 
 
 We may imagine how the two Christian teachers 
 would be employed before the return of another sab- 
 bath ; how busily they would be engaged in going 
 from house to bouse, explaining more fully the 
 great salvation. The strange and startling sermon 
 which this Jew of Tarsus had preached would doubt- 
 less be the topic of general conversation during the 
 week. Greek merchants would talk of it at their place 
 
 * Acts xiii. 16-41. 
 
 f Proselytes were those heathens or Gentiles who had been converted 
 to Judaism, and worshipped the only living and true God.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 127 
 
 of business — peasants, at tlie market — Jews, as they 
 met in groups on the streets. When the next sabbath 
 came round, the fame of the apostle had spread far 
 and wide, and at the hour of service a dense crowd of 
 Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and Pisidians, was collected 
 both in and around the synagogue. " Almost the 
 "whole city came together to hear the word of God."* 
 The greater number of these worshippers were Gentiles. 
 Their presence excited the envy of the Jews, who 
 would not, as on the former sabbath, listen patiently 
 to what Paul had to say. Filled with spiritual pride, 
 they were ofFcuded at the thought of salvation coming 
 in any other way but through their law, and given to 
 any other but their nation. They drowned his voice, 
 therefore, with their clamour, and " interrupted him, 
 contradicting and blaspheming." Paul tried in vain to 
 quiet them. He offered them anew " the grace of 
 God," but when he found all his pleadings were to no 
 purpose, he speaks as the apostle to the Gentiles, "mag- 
 nifying his office." "It was necessary that the word of 
 God should first have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye 
 put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of evei*- 
 lasting life, lo ! we turn to the Gentiles." t There were, 
 however, many sincere converts made to the faith of Jesus 
 as the result of these sabbath-days' services ; indeed, 
 we are told the word of God spread through the region 
 round about. His word never returns to Him void. 
 It is added at the close of the narrative in the Acts, that 
 " the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy 
 Ghost." J 
 
 But the apostle was not allowed to remain and -ratch 
 the bread he had thus cast upon the waters. Some 
 
 * Acts xiii. 44. f -A-cts xiii. 46. ♦ Acts xiii. 52. jj
 
 128 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 women of inflvience in the city prevailed on the chief 
 citizens to take part with the Jews against Paul. He 
 saw that it would be needful for him again, as at Dam- 
 ascus formerly, to obey his Lord's command, " When 
 they persecute you in one city, flee to another." They 
 left, therefore, the gates of the Pisidian capital, and 
 "shakino- the dust from their feet," as a testimony 
 against its unbelieving citizens, made their way to 
 Iconium, 
 
 This town is situated at the foot of Mount Taurus, 
 sixty miles from Antioch, on the great highway con- 
 necting Ephesus with the Syrian Antioch. Under the 
 modem name of Konieh, or Cogni, a corruption of its 
 ancient one, it still exists a Turkish city, but has few 
 remains of its antiquity, saving some slabs, columns, 
 and pedestals, with Greek and Roman inscriptions. 
 Iconium rose many ages after Paul visited it to much 
 greater splendour and importance, under a bold race of 
 eastern princes or sultans. Here they had their 
 palace, and adorned the town with many spacious build- 
 ings. To this day, although there are few ancient 
 remains, its walls are extensive, numbering many 
 towers and eighty gates. A traveller already men- 
 tioned was peculiarly struck with the imposing appear- 
 ance of the mosques and colleges. " Several of the 
 gates of these old colleges," he says, " are of singular 
 beauty. They are formed entirely of marble, adorned 
 with a profusion of fretwork, and a fine entablature in 
 the Moresco fashion, far excelling anything of the kind I 
 have seen."* However altered in many other respects, 
 the natural features of the city and neighbourhood must 
 have undergone little change since the days of Paul. 
 
 * Kiuneir, p. 219.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 129 
 
 The same gardens and pleasant meadows which the 
 modern traveller obsei'ved stretching along the base of" 
 the hills — the same mountains, covered with snow on 
 all sides but one, must have been seen by the apostle. 
 An extensive plain stretches towards the east, the 
 largest in Asia Minor. The Saracens who conquered the 
 country are said to have been forcibly reminded by it 
 of their own eastern deserts ; and modern tourists 
 speak of their camels stooping to crop the same tough 
 herbage these animals are so familiar with in the bound- 
 less and arid plains of Eastern Asia.* It is not impro- 
 bable that the great apostle may have had suggested 
 to his mind its resemblance to the plain of Damas- 
 cus — standing as both cities did like green spots in 
 a waste wilderness; the heights of Taurus, with its 
 scantier streams, reminding him of Hermon and Le- 
 banon, and the dry and dusty plain of Lycaonia recall- 
 ing " the wilderness of Damascus." 
 
 Our two travellers seem to have remained at Ico- 
 nium for some time, preaching in the synagogue and 
 in private dwellings. The same treatment, however, 
 awaited them here as at Antioch. The envious 
 Jews stirred \ip the people — who threatened to stone 
 them ; but, on being informed of the plot against their 
 lives, they resolved yet again to renew their journey, 
 and preach the Gospel in " other cities." 
 
 The two places to which they next directed their 
 steps, seem to differ from any they had yet visited. 
 We have followed them hitherto chiefly into the streets 
 of great capitals, full of wealth and learning. Now their 
 route lies through the desert and little-travelled region 
 of Lycaonia, to the cities of Derbe and Lystra. Here 
 
 * Ainsworth, Col Leake, as quoted by Howson.
 
 130 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 the inhabitants seein to have been a pastoral race, 
 rude, uncultivated, and plunged in gross paganism. 
 There seems, indeed, to have been neither Jew nor 
 synagogue in either city. The very name of the God 
 of Israel was unknown to them. As they approached 
 the gates of Lystra, they saw a large temple, with a 
 statue within it, or before it, of Jupiter, the king of the 
 pagan gods. This shewed at once what the religion of 
 this city of the desert was. Jupiter was patron or 
 presiding deity; the ignorant citizens imagined that 
 he watched over it, and protected it. Day after day 
 these pagans brought animals to the temple for their 
 priests to slay to him in sacrifice. 
 
 We have abundant evidence from pagan writers that 
 Lycaonia was a country wholly given to heathen idol- 
 atry. The very name (Lycaonia) had a strange fabu- 
 lous meaning, which it may be interesting to note, as 
 it bears on the occurrences we shall have presently to 
 mention in connexion with the two apostles. The 
 word Lycaonia is said to be derived from the Gi'eek 
 word XvKos, a icoJf, and the story, as related by the 
 Latin poet Ovid, is in outline as follows : — 
 
 There was a king of Arcadia, by name Lycaon, who 
 was directed by an oracle to found a city in that re- 
 gion. Jupiter, the king of the gods, descended one 
 night in bodily shape to the palace of Lycaon ; and the 
 subjects of the king, recognising the deity, wished to 
 pay him adoration. Lycaon was angry ; he resolved to 
 shew to his people that they were under a delusion in 
 supposing this inmate of his house was really Jupiter, 
 and he took the following method of proving their mis- 
 take. Some legates had been sent to treat with him 
 from a neighbouring kingdom. He issued the cruel
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 131 
 
 order to kill one of these, and to serve up his flesh at 
 dinner to the reputed king of the gods. The horrible 
 order was obeyed ; Jupiter, in dreadful wrath, over- 
 turned the table — caused flames to burst forth in the 
 palace, and laid it in ashes. Meanwhile, Lycaou fled 
 in terror — his speech forsook him — his human form was 
 gradually changed into that of a ivolf, and he turned 
 growling Avith fury on the unprotected flocks browsing 
 on the fields around.* 
 
 Such was the very foolish story and fable currently 
 believed by the blinded pagan citizens, whose gates 
 Paul and Barnabas were now approaching. No 
 sooner did the two apostles arrive in town than they 
 proceeded to sound the Gospel trumpet. It does not 
 seem that in doing so they went into any building or 
 house. Probably in the open streets or squares, in the 
 market place, or under some shady trees, they began 
 to preach the great salvation. We may imagine the 
 strange groups that were gathered around them, — men 
 of rude garb and rougher manners, whose city was 
 rarely visited by learned strangers ; whose ears, though 
 doubtless they understood it, seldom listened to the 
 polished tones of the noble tongue in which Paul after- 
 wards spoke to the philosophers of Athens, and in which 
 he addressed his hearers now. As the preacher, with 
 the stately figure of Barnabas at his side,t waxed in 
 fervour and power, the thought may have occurred to 
 the Lystrian crowd, with the temple of their patron 
 god in view, What ! can it be, that Jupiter can have 
 come from his throne on Olympus, attended with Mer- 
 cury, the god of eloquence 1 The idea, as we have 
 seen, was neither new nor unwelcome to superstitious 
 
 * Ovid, Met. lib. 1. f Described so by Chiysostom and otliers.
 
 132 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 minds, and an incident presently occurred, -which either 
 led to their delusion or confirmed it. 
 
 As Paul was proceeding with his discourse, his eye was 
 attracted by a lame man who lay on the ground unable 
 to walk, but whose face was turned with ardent gaze 
 on the lips of the speaker. The same, we read, " heard 
 Paul speak." He was, doubtless, "hearing him speak" on 
 the great theme of salvation through a crucified but now 
 exalted Redeemer. We have every reason to conclude 
 that he had been brought to believe in that holy name, 
 by which the power of the servant of Christ was about 
 to perform on him a " notable miracle." There are few 
 towns, or even villages, which have not some such help- 
 less object as now met the eye of Paul at Lystra. 
 They are generally well known from their infirmity • 
 and dependent, as they generally are, on public charity, 
 they take their station at any notable place of resort, 
 to be in the public eye. Anything, therefore, per- 
 formed on this poor Lystra cripple in the shape of a 
 cui'e, would be sure to attract attention. Paul saw 
 that "he had faith to be healed." " Stand upright on 
 thy feet," exclaims the great apostle, in a strength 
 mightier than his own. In a moment the limping suf- 
 ferer springs from the ground, and walks whole and 
 restored before the gazing crowd. 
 
 Soon the tidings of the wonderful miracle spread. 
 The town is in an uproar. The people rush away to 
 the temple we have spoken of; they get the priest to 
 adorn some oxen with flowers and garlands, and walk- 
 ing with these in procession, they advance towards the 
 residence of the apostles. What can be the meaning 
 of all this 1 These deluded heathens verily believe 
 that the story of Lycaon has again come true, — the
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 
 
 133 
 
 king of gods and men is once more in their streets, with 
 his constant companion ! They need not worship 
 Jupiter in his temple, for they have him in the person 
 of Barnabas, and Mercurius has come to them in the 
 person of Paul. The people, in the fever of their ex- 
 citement, had made these remarks to one another in 
 the old Lycaonian dialect, so that the apostles were not 
 at first aware what they had been purposing, until, to 
 their amazement, they beheld the procession of garland- 
 crowned oxen close by their lodging. How it grieves 
 and saddens the heart of Paul to see such ignorance 
 and superstition ! He and his companion rush to the 
 door of their dwelling— they rend their clothes— they 
 rebiike the folly of the citizens, assuring them that 
 they are " men of like passions with themselves," and 
 that it is by the power of Jesus alone they can perform 
 such mighty works as had just been witnessed in the 
 case of the lame man. 
 
 Ye men of Lystra, " why do ye these things 1 We 
 also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto 
 you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the 
 living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the 
 sea, and all things that are therein : who in times past 
 suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Never- 
 theless he left not himself without witness, in that he 
 did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful 
 seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."* 
 The conduct of the Lystrians affectingly shews us " how 
 much more willingly the world is led by the power of 
 Satan than by the Spirit of God." The apostles had 
 wrought many miracles to prove the divinity of their 
 Lord and Master ; few, comparatively, beheved on Him. 
 
 * Acts xiv. 15-17.
 
 134 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 But here one single miracle is enough to bring these 
 blinded pagans to worship and serve the creature 
 rather than the Creator ! They refuse to believe in the 
 divinity of Jesus ; but they dishonour His holy name 
 by desiring to pay divine honours to two poor sinful 
 mortals He had redeemed with His blood.* I may 
 just add, if Paul and Barnabas had been impostors, de- 
 signing men, who wished to get for themselves hon- 
 our or wealth or dignity, how easily might they have 
 worked on the credulity and ignorance of the people 
 of Lystra ! Gold and silver were generally stored in 
 abundance in pagan temples — how easily might these 
 two reputed "gods" have got access within the gate 
 of the temple of Jupiter, and demanded the offerings 
 treasured there ! All their thoughts, however, were 
 bent on undeceiving the ignorant minds around them ; 
 their only desire was, that they themselves be nothing, 
 and that their Great Lord might be " all in all." 
 
 But where do we find the apostle next ? We should 
 surely at all events expect the Lystrians to shew him 
 eveiy kindness and respect, to lodge him in a comfort- 
 able home, and listen with solemn earnestness to his 
 preaching. Alas, what a changeable thing the human 
 heart is ! What an instance have we before us of the 
 vanity and emptiness of human applause ! He whom 
 they would have worshipped one hour, is lying the next 
 apparently a lifeless man, covered with wounds and 
 bruises, outside their city wall ! Some wicked Jews 
 had followed the apostles fi-om Iconium. They had 
 made the citizens of Lystra believe that they wrought 
 these miracles by magic, or by the power of the Evil 
 One. The fate of the martyr Stephen very nearly 
 
 • Blunt, p. 178.
 
 Scene oiitsiilc Uk' Walls ..iLvsIn
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 135 
 
 becomes Paul's own. They stone him m the midst of 
 the street. He is dragged, cut and bleeding, outside 
 the ramparts of the town, and left to lie there. The 
 few disciples that loved him ai'e gathered roxmd the 
 dying man with tears. Doubtless many feared he was 
 breathing his last. Barnabas would have all the sad 
 thouglits of preparing a grave for his honoured friend 
 in this far off pagan city, and of a return back alone 
 to Jerusalem with the terrible tidings — " Paul is dead!" 
 But the Lord, in whose hand is the breath of every 
 living thing, had more work yet for his dear servant. 
 " Though cast down, he is not destroyed." The 
 Church could not spare him, and these tears are soon 
 to be turned into joy. We know not the names of 
 those in that mourning crowd who were bathing his 
 throbbing temples, and staunching his wounds ; but 
 we have good reason to think that there was a little 
 boy there, who never forgot that scene and the lessons 
 it conveyed. It was one whom Paul was afterwards 
 proud to call " his own son in the faith." Timothy 
 beheld in that meek but suffering countenance before 
 him, what the grace of God could do. We find the 
 great apostle, when far advanced in life, reminding 
 Timothy, in the second epistle he writes to him, of the 
 persecutions which "he had fully known" at Antioch, 
 Iconium, and Lystra!'' The old saying was here again 
 made true, that " the blood of the martyrs was the 
 seed of the Church." Timothy's young name was that 
 night added to " the glorious company of the apostles." 
 Paul, doubtless, when he thought of the ino-ratitude 
 and cruelty of the Lystrians, would go forth from them 
 " weeping," bearing elsewhere the precious seed they 
 
 * 2 Timothy iii. 10.
 
 136 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 had rejected ; but at his second visit, two years after- 
 wards, he came "with rejoicing" to bear away this 
 precious sheaf with him. 
 
 The apostle, so far recovered from his wounds, pro- 
 ceeds with his companion from Lystra to Derbe. The 
 route between these towns, and indeed their position, 
 is only a matter of conjecture. It has been supposed 
 that the distance between them was twenty miles. 
 They were separated from one another by a huge 
 mountain called Karadagh or the Black Jlfonnt, spoken 
 of by travellers as remarkable both for its sombre 
 colour and great height, rising like a giant in the midst 
 of the boundless plain which, "level as the sea,"* 
 stretches from Iconium. It has its summit capped 
 with snow, and a thousand and one churches are said 
 to be built upon its sides. A recent explorer men- 
 tions having looked down from the top, and seen its 
 slopes covered with these edifices, or ruins of them.t 
 Like the Pisidian mountains, the neighbouring range 
 of the Taurus was infested with robbers. The histo- 
 rian Strabo mentions Derbe as the stronghold of a 
 famous freebooter of the name of Antipater, who made 
 this a central point for his daring feats, and kept the 
 neighbouring country in terror.:}: He was at last killed 
 by Amyntas, King of Galatia. § To the city of Derbe, 
 
 * Kinneir. t See Hamilton's Asia Minor, Kinneir, &c. 
 
 I Strabo, xii. 1. 6, as referred to by Lewin. 
 
 § Modern travellers iu tlie same spot liave to record similar perils of 
 robbers with those Paul experienced. " I was desirous of visiting it" (a 
 place at the foot of the Black Mount), says Kinneir, in ISIS, "but could 
 not prevail upon any person to accompany me, or even to hire me horses, 
 as they said that the country, in addition to being covered with snow, 
 ■was now the resort of a band of Delhi Bashees, who gained a subsistence 
 by plundcrint; travellers, and Inying the adjacent countries under contri- 
 bution." — Kinncir's Travels in, Karamania, p. 212.
 
 THE TRAVELLER. 137 
 
 which we may uote, in passing, was the native town of 
 Gains, the fnture friend and companion of Paul, the 
 apostles now bent their steps. It was but a few hours' 
 journey from Lystra, and here they seem to have en- 
 joyed a short season of quiet after the stirring scenes 
 through which they had passed. If Paul had been a 
 selfish man or a coward, or rather, if love to the Lord 
 Jesus had not burned in his bosom, he might have re- 
 solved from this place to go straight through the moun- 
 tain passes to the south-east, and, like Mark, have 
 avoided further danger and peril by retiring to his old 
 home at Tarsus.* But he was the servant of Him 
 who "pleased not himself;" and already "he counted 
 not his life dear unto him that he might finish his 
 course with joy, and the ministry he had received of 
 the Lord Jesus." 
 
 It has, indeed, been conjectured that the original 
 purpose of the travellers may have been to cross into 
 Cilicia, through the well-known pass called the " Cili- 
 cian Gates," but that they were prevented by the swell- 
 ing of the great lake which lay between them and the 
 mountains. We think it, however, more probable 
 that the apostle, having already proclaimed the Gospel 
 in his native Cilicia, was desirous rather of returning 
 by Icouium and Antioch, to water the seed which had 
 been sown amid much discouragement and persecution, 
 and to strengthen and confirm the disciples there. 
 
 Whatever their motive was, we know that they re- 
 turned by the same way they came, passing through 
 
 • "About twenty hours to the northward of Tarsus there is a remark- 
 able defile through a gi-eat chaiu of mountains, which are everywhere else 
 inaccessible. This pass admits about eight horses abreast, and has been 
 cut through the rock to the depth of forty feet. The marks of the tools 
 are still visible in its sides." — Beaufort's Karamania, p. 26i.
 
 138 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, — there making elders 
 in the Church, choosing among the disciples those they 
 thought best fitted for the ministry, — telling them all, 
 from their own experience, not to expect release from 
 trial, but rather " that through miich tribulation they 
 must enter into the kingdom of heaven." Once more 
 they descended through the precipitous rocky paths 
 to Perga ; and after pausing there for a brief time, 
 instead of sailing, as formerly, down the Cestrus, they 
 journeyed by land south-west to Attaleia, — a city 
 beautifully situated in the curve of a sheltered bay. 
 There they embarked for the Syrian Antioch, to tell 
 with joy that the name "Christian," first known within 
 its walls, was now gloried in within the palace of a Ro- 
 man, and in sight of the temples of Diana and Jupiter !
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 f I]e §eleptf. 
 
 " On ! champions blest, in Jesus' name, 
 Short be your strife — your triumph full, 
 Till every heart have caught your flame, 
 And, lighten'd of the world's misrule. 
 Ye soar, those elder saints to meet, 
 Gather'd long since at Jesus' feet; 
 No vrorld of passions to destroy. 
 Your prayers and struggles o'er, your task 
 
 All praise and joy." 
 
 " It surely is of no slight importance that the history of the first 
 age of Christianity should present us with one undoubted instance of 
 a character which unites all the freedom and vigour of a great re- 
 former with all the humbleness, and holiness, and self-denial of a 
 great apostle." — SiAULEr's Essuys on the Apostolic Age, p. 173.
 
 UR two travellers, then, ai'e ouce more, 
 after a probable absence of a year and 
 a half, approaching the shores of Syria, and looking 
 forward to a happy meeting with their loved disciples 
 and friends at Antioch. The above picture i-epresents 
 them in their vessel, under a bright Eastern moonlight, 
 about to cast anchor at the port of Seleucia. We may 
 imagine with what fond haste they would complete the 
 rest of the land journey ; and, when the " Christian 
 city" was at last reached, liow many things they woidd 
 have to tell ! — their mercies, their escapes, and, above 
 ail, their missionary success. How they would long, 
 also, to hear how the Gospel had been flourishing since 
 they left ! The writer of the " Acts " does not tell us 
 the particulars of the meeting. When a great earthly 
 hero returns from great exploits, he has earthly 
 honours decreed to him, and receives the applause of
 
 142 TnE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 senates and kings. Paul and his brother hero return 
 from the mightiest of victories, but their reception at 
 the Christian capital is thus briefly and simply re- 
 corded ; — "And wlien they had come, and had gathered 
 together the Cliurch, they rehearsed all that God had 
 done with them, and how he had opened the door of 
 faith to the Gentiles."* 
 
 But Paul only comes back to fight a battle of a dif- 
 ferent kind. It is sad to think how, even at this early 
 period of the Church, divisions were beginning to arise, 
 not between Christian and heathen, but between Chris- 
 tian and Christian. Tares were beginning to be sown 
 among the Avheat. " An enemy hath done this ! " 
 That great enemy has well known, in every age, that 
 to disunite believers is the surest way to cripple and 
 weaken the Church. Moreover, how often does he 
 seize upon the very time when a Church is prospering, 
 thus to destroy its peace and mar its usefulness ! It 
 was so now with that at Antioch. When its outward 
 foes were silenced, he takes the opportunity of exciting 
 an unhappy discord among the members themselves. 
 I must explain to you shortly, in this chapter, what 
 these divisions arose from, and what the Apostle Paul 
 did to heal them. 
 
 I daresay you are aware that, at this moment, when 
 our missionaries go to India, one of the great diffi- 
 culties they have to contend with is that of caste. 
 Some Hindus consider themselves of a higher rank 
 than others, and will hold no social intercourse with 
 those they imagine to be beneath them. They will 
 not eat with them, or admit them into their families. 
 Also, in slave states, it is well known that those who 
 
 * Howson, vol. i. p. 218 ; Acts xiv. 27.
 
 THE DELEGATE. 
 
 143 
 
 are either slaves, or have any African blood in them, 
 are (sad to think) frequently not allowed to mingle in 
 company with the rest of the people, or to visit them ; 
 not even to occupy the same cabin in a steamer, or the 
 same seat in a public conveyance.* They are looked 
 upon as a lower and inferior race, and cruelly treated 
 as such. It was with feelings very similar to this that 
 the Jew of old regarded the Gentile. The former was 
 proud of his birth and descent from Abraham, and, 
 when he went into foreign countries, he refused to 
 have any dealings in private life with the Gentiles 
 around him. They might meet in the same market, 
 and transact business together, but their families had 
 no intercourse. They might live side by side in the 
 same street, but there was " a wall of partition between 
 them" in more ways than one. They had, indeed, 
 higher authority than their own for this rigid exclu- 
 sion. The law given by Moses, which commanded 
 them to abstain from different kinds of meat, forbade 
 them to eat with the Gentiles. By doing so, they 
 might become unclean, as the latter were often in the 
 habit of taking various sorts of food which the Jew 
 was not allowed by the law to touch. 
 
 The question then was, Are Jews who have become 
 Christians, and Gentiles who have become Christians, 
 to forget their differences, and to meet together? or must they 
 continue, as before, separate ? Are those who are now 
 baptized into the same Christian name, still to live 
 apart, and eat apart, and keep up, as in former times, 
 the old national distinctions 1 Paul found the whole 
 Church in a very unhappy and divided state about 
 this question. Let us hear how he tries to settle it — 
 
 * So we were informed by a friend lately in the Slave States in America.
 
 144 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 the prudent and discreet method he adopts to bring his 
 brethren to a right mind. 
 
 You will remember what I have already told you 
 about Peter's vision of the great white sheet, contain- 
 ing clean and unclean animals, which he was com- 
 manded to slay and ea^,* and the great truth which 
 God had by this means taught him, viz., that " He was 
 no respecter of persons," but intended now that the 
 separating wall between Jew and Gentile was to be for 
 ever taken down. When the news of Peter's vision, 
 and his conduct afterwards in eating with uncircum- 
 cised Gentiles, reached Jerusalem, the Church there 
 was much displeased. Peter was blamed and caEed 
 severely to account ; but he brought along with him 
 the six brethren who had gone with him from Joppa 
 to Cesarea ; these declared how they had, with their 
 own eyes, seen the gift of the Holy Ghost poured out 
 on the Gentiles. Those who had at first expressed 
 themselves unfavourably to " the apostle of the uncir- 
 cumcision," were obliged to own the Divine hand in 
 the matter, and, indeed, they even " gave thanks that 
 God had also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto 
 life." But, notwithstanding all this outward show of 
 satisfaction, many were still displeased; they could not 
 bear the thought of losing their national distinction ; 
 they remembered that Jesus himself, on one occasion, 
 had said, that He was " sent to the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel." They were slow to believe that, 
 as there was but " one Shepherd," so there was to 
 be but "one sheepfold." Could they not be Chris- 
 tians, and yet still have a separate Jewish and Gentile 
 Church 1 Perhaps these feelings increased in strength
 
 THE DELEGATE. 145 
 
 ■when the accounts reached them of how Paul and 
 Barnabas had been freely mixing with Gentile con- 
 verts in Crete, Antioch, Lystra, and Derbe ; and that 
 " He who had wrought effectually in Peter to the 
 apostleship of the circumcision, the same had been 
 mighty in Paul toward the Gentiles." At that time 
 some Christians, who belonged to the sect of the Pha- 
 risees, had gone down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and 
 did all they could to induce the Jewish Christians there 
 to refuse holding fellowship with Gentile converts. 
 They taught them the dangerous doctrine, that un- 
 less they observed the Jewish law, they could not be 
 saved ; that Christian baptism would be of no avail, 
 unless accompanied with the old Jewish rite of circum- 
 cision. " Except ye be circumcised after the manner 
 of Moses, ye cannot be saved .'" Paul was, like Moses, a 
 meek man of God, gentle and loving ; but whenever he 
 saw the truth of his God assailed, like Moses, too, he 
 could be bold as a lion ; and at present, when he ob- 
 served the damage these false teachers were doing, 
 he tells us " he could not give place by subjection, no 
 not for an hour." He discovered at once the great 
 danger that would arise to the souls of the disciples, if 
 this doctrine were tolerated ; since whatever was thus 
 put upon an equality with the one great sacrifice of 
 our Lord, whether it were ceremonial or moral obser- 
 vances, would dim the glory of the Redeemer's work, 
 and render the cross of Clu.it of none effect.* This 
 most unfortunate dissension continuing thus so sorely 
 to vex and disturb the minds of the Gentile converts, 
 Paul and Barnabas were requested to go up to Jeru- 
 salem, to lay the matter before the apostles and bre- 
 
 ' Blunt, p. 188.
 
 146 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 'sliren there, and get their advice. It is probahle that 
 Paul gladly availed himself of the opportunity, that 
 he might give in to the mother Church the first great 
 missionary report, and tell how the Lord had pro- 
 spered his work among the heathen. Moreover, he 
 had a higher inducement than his own wishes in taking 
 the journey — God himself had told him to go. He 
 mentions expressly, in his epistle to the Galatians, that 
 he went "by revelation."* 
 
 His two companions were well selected. Barnabas 
 was himself a Jew and a Levite. Titus, his other fel- 
 low-traveller, and of whom we shall hear more after- 
 wards, was a young and uncircumcised Greek, and 
 therefore a good sample of a heathen convert. They 
 journeyed along the coast-road through Phenicia; thence 
 to Samaria. It would seem they were not travelling 
 among strangers to the gospel, for we are told that, as 
 they passed through, " declaring the conversion of the 
 Gentiles, they caused great joy to all the brethren." t 
 
 We have the old scholar of Gamaliel, then, once 
 more, after many eventful years, entering the scene of 
 his youth, and of his first persecuting fuiy. He would 
 likely pass by the well-remembered Damascus gate, 
 and skirt the ridges of the valley of Jehoshaphat. 
 Perhaps, since his last visit, some of those who had 
 " sat with him at Gamaliel's feet," had been brought 
 to sit at the feet of Jesus. But if they had, he had 
 come upon the present occasion, it is to be feared, to 
 dispute with many of them, and oppose them. For 
 while they sat at the feet of Christ, they wished to sit 
 at the feet of Moses too. Though they had taken the 
 name of Jesus, they were not willing to part with the 
 
 • Galatiaus ii. 2. t Acts xv. 3
 
 THE DELEGATE. 147 
 
 name of Pharisee, and, like himself, to suffer the loss 
 of " alir 
 
 On reaching Jerusalem, the Great Apostle deter- 
 mined, before meeting the brethren in public, to see 
 Peter, James, and John in private. After holding a 
 meeting with these " pillars of the Church," the Gene- 
 ral Assembly, or, as it is called in Church history, the 
 First General Council, was convened. There seems to 
 have been at first much " disputing" on the question. 
 The Pharisees " who believed " strongly held to the 
 views already stated. We have only, however, four 
 speeches mentioned — those of Peter, Paul, Barnabas, 
 and James. They all took the same view. Peter, 
 who held the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" in the 
 sense I have explained, rose first to address. He was 
 heard with marked attention. He declared again 
 what God had revealed to him by means of the 
 vision at Joppa — that there was now no longer " any 
 difference " — that " the same Lord over all was rich to 
 all that call upon Him." He reminded his hearers that 
 the Holy Spirit had been poured out i;pon the Gentile 
 converts, and that the yoke of the Jewish law was " a 
 burden which neither they nor their fathers were able 
 to bear." Peter's woi'ds made a deep impression on his 
 audience. After a few moments* silence, Paul and 
 Barnabas followed. We may readily imagine the in- 
 terest which pervaded the assembly as the two " foreign 
 missionaries" rose to tell all that God had done in 
 their behalf. The last speaker was James " the Just " 
 — so called, the historian Eusebius mentions, on ac- 
 count of his eminent virtue. Hegesippus (a converted 
 Jew, who lived in the second century) tells us that he
 
 148 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 led a life of great sanctity ;* and other traditions fur- 
 ther picture him as an old and venerable man, with a 
 bald head and long unshorn beard, with his feet bare, 
 and wearing a linen ephod, yet so greatly esteemed 
 that the people vied with each other to touch even 
 the hem of his garment, t He was equally decided 
 with the others in his opinion that nothing should be 
 done to prevent the free admission of the Gentiles 
 into the Christian Church, or to stop a work which 
 God had so evidently favoured, by continuing to im- 
 pose the old ceremonial observances. The glorious 
 truth was then finally proclaimed, that there was to 
 be " neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncir- 
 cumcision, barbarian, Scj^thian, bond or free, but Christ 
 was all and in all." 
 
 The settlement of this question was in every way 
 important. For although Christians have never sought 
 since that time to unite the service of Christ with 
 obedience to the old ceremonial law, there has ever 
 been a tendency in the human heart to combine some 
 good works of our own with the one great work of Jesus. 
 Some would look to their virtues and moral duties, 
 and mix up these with the one only salvation ; others 
 would look to church observances and church forms, 
 to sacraments and penances, and mix these up along 
 with the " one only way." To do so is sadly dishonour- 
 ing to Him w^ho will not give His glory to another. 
 The Fii'st Council in Jerusalem gave forth a decree to 
 the whole world, and to the Church in every age, as 
 to what forms a true Christian in the sight of God — 
 
 * BVAical Cydopadia. 
 
 t See Stanley's Hirmons on the Apostolic Age, p. 295.
 
 THE DELEGATE. 149 
 
 " Neither circnmcision avaUeth anything, nor uncircum- 
 cision, but faith which worketh by love." We may just 
 further note, with reference to this Church Assembly of 
 the brethren, that Paul was publicly acknowledged by 
 them as " the Apostle of the Gentiles." 
 
 One of the three " pillars of the Church" here men- 
 tioned was silent in the Council ! It was " the Apos- 
 tle of Love," John, who leaned on Jesus' bosom ; " who, 
 beyond any other of the sons of men, had received the 
 impression of the Divine character ; . . . . one simple, 
 unadorned spectacle of moral and spiritual excellence, 
 enshrined as if in its own heavenly light, irradiating 
 everything that fell within its sphere .... by the 
 crystal purity of a heart and mind penetrated through 
 and through with the indwelling spirit of Christ."* It 
 is the only time we ever read of Paul and he meeting 
 one another. They were very different in natural dis- 
 position ; but they were one in intense affection for 
 their glorified Master. Though John made no speech, 
 so far as we know, in the Jerusalem Assembly, he gave 
 at the end of the discussion the right hand of fellowship 
 to his " brother Paul," and cordially joined in the de- 
 cision which was given.t A letter was drawn i;p in 
 the name of the Assembly, in order to be conveyed by 
 the hands of Paul to the Gentile brethren at Antioch. 
 It is short, but of much interest, as being the first 
 document of the kind we have given forth by a Church 
 court. 
 
 It was the custom, in these ages of the world, when 
 a letter of any importance was sent, to appoint some 
 noted individuals to be the bearers. This was done 
 not only to prevent any accident befalling such com- 
 
 * Stanley's Sermons, p. 256. t See Howson, vol. i. p. 235.
 
 150 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 munications, and to secure their safety, but that these 
 messengers might be able to enter into any explana- 
 tions which might be required. Judas and Silas 
 (Silvanus) were appointed to accompany Paul, Barna- 
 bas, and Mark for this purpose. 
 
 We may imagine the great interest excited in the 
 Church of Antioch, when the tidings spread, " The 
 brethren with envoys have arrived ! and they have a 
 pastoral letter with them from the assembled apostles 
 at Jerusalem !" We may picture a crowded church in 
 the great Syrian city, where the following communica- 
 tion was read amid breathless silence : — " The apostles, 
 and elders, and brethren, send greeting unto the bre- 
 thren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, 
 and Cilicia : Forasmuch as we have heard that certain 
 which went out from us have troubled you with words, 
 subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, 
 and keep the law ; to whom we gave no such com- 
 mandment : it seemed good unto \xs, being assembled 
 with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with 
 our beloved Barnabas and Paul ; men that have 
 hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who 
 shaU also tell you the same things by mouth. For it 
 seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon 
 you no gi-eater burden than these necessary things ; 
 that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from 
 blood, and from things strangled, and from fornica- 
 tion : from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do 
 well. Fare ye well."* Judas and Silas still further 
 explained the scope and contents of the letter by word 
 of mouth. What was the result 1 It was a very 
 
 « Acts XV. 23-30.
 
 THE DELEGATE. l^^ 
 
 happy one ; the storm \vas immediately changed into 
 a cahn, and the agitated minds of the Antioch dis- 
 ciples soothed. 
 
 Judas, after spending some further time in this city, 
 returned to Jerusalem. Silas, as we shall afterwards 
 find, remained, and became Paul's companion on his 
 second missionary journey, as Barnabas had been m 
 
 his first. 
 
 There was an occurrence which took place at An- 
 tioch, before setting out on this second missionary tour, 
 which gTeatly grieved and troubled Paul. The first 
 of those who had so decidedly spoken in the assembly 
 at Jerusalem, about the necessity of doing away with 
 all distinction between Jew and Gentile, was the Apostle 
 Peter; yet he was himself (on a visit he paid to An- 
 tioch)' the first to act contrary to his public declara- 
 tion. On going there, he mingled freely with the 
 Gentile converts, dining with them at their meals, and 
 sharing with them their " Agape" or love-feasts. But, 
 soon after, when some of the Judaising party had come 
 down from Jerusalem (who he knew would be dis- 
 pleased at seeing him sitting at the same table with 
 his Gentile friends), the apostle began to waver ; he 
 changed his manner altogether towards the converted 
 heathen ; he no longer ate with them, nor would sit 
 at the same Lord's table with them ; he raised, once 
 more, the old wall of separation! He performed, in 
 this, a double and sinful part. It was the same lament- 
 able weakness which led him, three times before, to 
 deny his Lord and Master. Paul was roused to a holy 
 indignation against his erring brother, and "withstood 
 him to the face because he was to be blamed." It was 
 an unworthy fear of man which made the former desert
 
 152 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 the path of duty, and his conduct was Hkely to produce 
 much miscliief, as "even Barnabas was carried away 
 with his dissimulation."* We cannot wonder, there- 
 fore, that Paul was obliged to do what must have 
 pained him much — to "rebuke Peter before all."t 
 We believe that sharp as the rebuke was, it was given 
 and received in love. Peter's character was bold and 
 rash, and this was not the first time in which he had 
 been a traitor to truth, and a coward ; but we have 
 reason to think also that he was kind and forgiving — 
 ready to " weep bitterly" when he saw his faults. This 
 would seem to have been the case now; at all events, 
 he died twenty years after, loving Paul, and speaking 
 of him to all the Churches as a " beloved brother." J 
 We should have been sorry to have wanted this short 
 clause in the end of one of his letters — " Our beloved 
 brother Paul!" We might have been apt, otherwise, 
 to fear that Paul's rebuke had created a sore quarrel 
 between them, which they had carried to the grave ; 
 but no such thing : grace brought about what nature 
 might not have done. 
 
 " It is pleasing," says an able writer, " to trace the 
 traditionary confirmations of their entire unity — the 
 unity which joins St Peter to St Paul, rather than to 
 his own early friend, St John — the legends which repre- 
 sent them as joint rulers of Antioch, Corinth, and 
 Rome — ^both confined in the Mamertine dungeon — 
 both receiving the crown of martyrdom on the same 
 day — and, in all the early works of Christian art, both 
 ever exhibited side by side ; the one with his inverted 
 cross — the other 'with the executioner's sword.' "§ 
 
 ♦ Gal. ii. 13. f Gal. ii. 11. X 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 § Stanlej''s Sermons and Essays on the Apostolical Age, p. 101. See also 
 Howson, p. 243.
 
 THE DELEGATE. l53 
 
 These, doubtless, are no more than vague legends 
 and traditions, and must be received with caution; 
 but they are sufficient to show what the impression of 
 the early ages of the Church was as to the sacred bar- _ 
 mony existing between these two truly great men — 
 that they died faithful to their blessed Masters last 
 bequest — " This is my commandment, that ye love one 
 another."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " Friend after friend departs — 
 
 Wlio hath not lost a friend ] 
 There is no union here of hearts 
 
 That finds not here an end. 
 Were this frail world our final rest. 
 Living or dying none were blest." 
 
 "He exhibits to us, notwithstanding an infirm body and a feeble 
 speech, what a man can do, even one single man, when his will is in 
 harmony with the will of God."
 
 ;^\ 
 
 aul continued for some time with 
 Barnabas at Antioch, preaching 
 
 to their converts, and '• building 
 
 them up in their most holy faith." 
 He would not, however, allow himself 
 to forget his special work as a mission- 
 ary. He thought, with fond affection, of the many be- 
 lievers he had left behind in Asia Minor, exposed to 
 dangers and trials ; and of the multitudes elsewhere, 
 stilfstrangers to a Saviour's name. He resolved, ac- 
 cordingly, along with his formei companions, to visit 
 the churches which they had already planted. " Let us 
 go again," he said to Barnabas, " and visit our brethren 
 in every city where we have preached the word of the
 
 156 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Lord, and see how they do."* They would doubtless 
 take along with them the important circular letter, or 
 " decree," lately issued by the Council at Jerusalem, in 
 case the same question which had so disturbed the be- 
 lievers in Antioch might be marring the peace of con- 
 verts elsewhere. This visitation of these churches 
 gives us the first specimen of the tender and affection- 
 ate love which Paul bore to all he had been honoured 
 to call to the faith of Jesus. It is more like the love 
 of a father to his children, than that of a stranger to 
 strangers. 
 
 There is a painful commencement, however, to this 
 second missionary tour. We have spoken, at the close 
 of last chapter, of an unhappy cause of difference be- 
 tween Paul and Peter. A still sadder estrangement 
 took place now between him and Barnabas, showing us 
 that the best of earthly friends, and the holiest of mere 
 Jiuman hearts, can never be depended on. Barnabas 
 was desirous that his nephew, Mark, should go along 
 with them. Paul objected to this. We can easily 
 understand the feelings in the latter apostle's mind 
 which constrained him to act contrary to the wishes of 
 his brother missionary. Mark, you will remember, 
 had already been tried as a companion. He had 
 grown weary of the work, and, on reaching Perga, had 
 retui'ued home. The Great Apostle might be ahaid, 
 and justly so, lest the cause of his Master might suffer 
 by the employment again of so heartless an agent. 
 Barnabas, on the other hand, was naturally fond of his 
 kinsman. He had doubtless received from him assur- 
 ances of penitence and sorrow for his past conduct, and 
 a determination to act better for the future. We can 
 
 • Acts XV. 36.
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 157 
 
 therefore make allowance also for the feelings of the 
 good uncle, in whose character we have seen so much 
 to admire. We are not called upon to decide who was 
 right and who was wrong, in this painful quarrel. 
 They must both have felt the sad truth they told the 
 Lystrians, " We are men of like passions with you ! " 
 As Mark did not disappoint the hopes of his uncle, we 
 may liave reason to regret that Paul adhered so 
 strongly to his determination. On the other hand, as 
 a great writer remarks, " We see, on this occasion, the 
 severe earaestness of Paul's character, which gave up, 
 and wished others to give up, all personal considera- 
 tions and feelings when the cause of God was con- 
 cerned." * Another commentator gives the follow- 
 ing as perhaps the truthful verdict on the case : — 
 " The attempt of many to justify both completely, or, 
 at least, Paul, I cannot approve. If both had been 
 perfect men, no quarrel would have arisen, for there 
 must always be two to a quarrel. Yea, there should 
 have been no contention, if even only one of them had 
 been perfect." t 
 
 God, however, overruled the infirmities of these two 
 apostles for the promotion of His cause. " He can 
 make the wrath of man to praise Him." Meanwhile, 
 we find that the contention grew "so sharp" between 
 them, that they were forced to separate ! It had evi- 
 dently been their intention to have gone over the very 
 same ground which they had traversed in their first 
 journey — together to revisit and confirm the churches 
 they had already planted. They agree, on separating, 
 to begin at the two extreme points. Paul took the 
 northward direction, to the interior of Asia Minor, tak- 
 
 * Neander, p. 169. f Olsliausen— note in loco.
 
 158 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ing with him Silas (one of the brethren sent from 
 
 Jerusalem) ; while Barnabas, with Mark, took the 
 
 island part of the tour, sailing towards Cyprus, which, 
 
 you will remember, was Barnabas' native country. Of 
 
 the latter, we hear no more after this. We know not 
 
 whether he and Paul ever met again. It is supposed 
 
 by some, that reference is made to him by Paul in 2 
 
 Cor. viii. 18, as "the brother whose praise is in all the 
 
 churches ;" but this is uncertain. Tradition gives us 
 
 an affecting account of his death. It is said that, when 
 
 he came with his nephew to Salamis, in Cyprus, he 
 
 entered into the Jewish synagogue, and made many 
 
 converts to the faith of Jesus — that some Jews had 
 
 followed from Syria, under the guidance of Bar-jesus, 
 
 and, rousing the people against him, had cruelly stoned 
 
 him to death ; but his nephew rescued the body, and 
 
 his tomb was shown for centuries after at Salamis. 
 
 Paul and Mark did meet again. We have the same 
 
 assurance with regard to them, as in the case of Peter, 
 
 that they came to speak of one another as esteemed 
 
 fellow-soldiers, fighting under the same great banner. 
 
 Tradition also (although — we deem it necessary always 
 
 to add the caution — no safe guide in general) further 
 
 mentions what we would fondly believe was the case — 
 
 that Barnabas' dying injunction to his nephew was to 
 
 go without delay and rejoin Paul. We love to think 
 
 of the good old disciple, who showed our Apostle so 
 
 much true kindness at the first, and especially on his 
 
 flight from Damascus, going down to his grave with 
 
 the name of one on his lips he had long loved so well ! 
 
 Leaving the island-missionaries, Barnabas and Mark, 
 
 as they sailed down the Orontes, let us follow Paul 
 
 and Silas as they crossed the bridge over the same
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY, 159 
 
 river, and made for the passes of Mount Amanus.* 
 There were various narrow and precipitous gorges 
 leading across this lofty range. The principal of these 
 was a singular defile, called the " Syrian Gates," and 
 which is known by the modern name of the "Beilan 
 Pass."t On reaching the other side, they would doubt- 
 less visit several of the smaller towns of Cilicia, althou'di 
 the names are not given us, and scatter among them 
 the precious seed. There was one which we have every 
 reason for supposing would not be omitted, and which 
 Paul would enter with very peculiar feelings. It was 
 his own native Tarsus — the city and home of Iiis child- 
 hood. Though still heathen — the temples and statues 
 of fiilse gods lining its streets — he must have had a 
 peculiar joy in knowing that many had, by means of 
 his preaching, " been turned from dumb idols to serve 
 the living God." How it must have cheered his heart, 
 when " far hence among the Gentiles," to think that, 
 in his own birth-place, there were some who loved the 
 Saviour, and who prayed on his behalf, that the word 
 he preached might " have free course and be glorified !" 
 We must follow him and his companion as they con- 
 tinued their journey still further north, across Mount 
 Taurus. It was probably in the early part of the year 
 51, when they were wending their way along the banks 
 of the Cyduus on this mountain journey.]: It is with 
 probability supposed that they crossed through the 
 " Cilician Gates," — a gorge much more remarkable than 
 the Syrian, and one, too, through which more than one 
 large army in ancient and modern times has with 
 
 * The reader will now follow the crimson Viae in the map. 
 t Reasons for supposing this to be the probable route of the apostle, see 
 Hovvson and t'onybeare, vol. i. p. 276. 
 t Ibid, p 278.
 
 160 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 difficulty and danger passed. Cliffs several hundred 
 feet high frown on either side above the head of the 
 traveller, the width in some places being only a few 
 yards. Small patches of vegetation are seen here and 
 there among their summits, while rushing torrents 
 come tumbling down, often covering or undermining 
 the road. The old military highway may itself to 
 this day be traced from the many fragments and in- 
 scriptions which have been found by curious travellers. 
 They have now reached an elevation of 4000 feet above 
 the sea, and begin gradually to descend among the 
 wooded uplands of Lycaonia. We may imagine here 
 also the joy of Paul in revisiting the old scenes of his 
 first missionary journey. How his heart must have 
 beat as the well remembered form of the " Black 
 Mount," with its snowy summit, rose in the plain be- 
 fore him ! He was approaching at present in the 
 opposite direction, and therefore he comes to Derbe 
 first. Interested he must have been to see and hear all 
 about his beloved converts there. He would doubtless 
 not be without anxiety. He knew well the deceitful- 
 ness of the human heart, and could not fail to dread 
 lest many of those who had promised well had " fallen 
 from grace." There is no account given us of his re- 
 ception at Derbe ; we may easily imagine, however, 
 what it would be — the kind-hearted man of God, 
 coming once more into the midst of those for whom, 
 night and day, he had " prayed exceedingly," and they 
 with hearts overflowing with gratitude towards the 
 honoured minister who had been the means of rescu- 
 ing them from a blind superstition. Lystra was the 
 town next in order to which they came. You will not 
 have forgotten that it was here the citizens wished first
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 161 
 
 to worship the two apostles as gods ; and then behaved 
 so shamefully — stoning Paul, and leaving him as dead. 
 Lystra was heathen still ! The large Pagan temple 
 rose as it had done the year before at the city gate, 
 and the priest (perhaps as Paul was passing) was offer- 
 ing animals in sacrifice to Jupiter. There was one 
 face which, among others, he had not forgotten since 
 his last visit. I daresay you remember the youth 
 who stood among the crowd when the great apostle 
 lay bleeding from his wounds. That young convert, 
 doubtless, never forgot that night ; — the patience, and 
 resignation, and forgiveness of the cruelly-treated ser- 
 vant of Jesus. We believe that none of all the Chris- 
 tian converts in Lystra welcomed with greater joy the 
 return of the great missionary than this promising 
 young man, whose name was in future ages to be so 
 linked with that of his spiritual father. As I have 
 already said, he had been brought up under the ten- 
 der religious training of his grandmother Lois, and his 
 mother Eunice. Eunice was a Jewess, a Christian 
 convert, and her husband was a Greek. We can picture 
 to ourselves that holy Christian home of the infant 
 apostle. His pious mother, and aged grandmother, had, 
 from his earliest years, instructed him in the know- 
 ledge of the ancient Scriptures. Like Simeon, Anna, 
 and others, they had been waiting in humble faith for 
 the " consolation of Israel " — not unprepared for the 
 glad tidings which Paul had proclaimed to them, that 
 the types and promises of the Jewish dispensation had 
 been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, of whom " all the 
 prophets bear witness." Paul's letters to Timothy at 
 a later time tell how affectionately he loved him. 
 There doubtless must have been something very win-
 
 1G2 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 mug aud engaging about this young stranger, that could 
 induce the apostle at once to fix upon him for so signal 
 an honour as to be the companion of his journeys. 
 Notwithstanding their great difference in age, notwith- 
 standing Paul's great learning and accomplishments, he 
 seems to have esteemed Timothy as the most valued 
 of all his friends. " Son Timothy," " My beloved son," 
 " My own son in the faith," " My work -fellow," " My 
 brother," are expressions which bespeak no common 
 affection. Well has it been said, " What mother ever 
 wrote to her son a letter more full of solicitude than 
 the Second Epistle to Timothy 1" * Hear how he wi'ites 
 of him when he is looking back on the manifold friend- 
 ships of a whole life : " I have no vian likeminded, who 
 will naturally care for your state. ... Ye know the 
 proof of him, that, as a son ivith the father, he hath 
 served with me in the gospel." t He had been con- 
 verted during Paul's former visit. The seed then sown 
 had ripened in his heart to good fruit ; and now, when 
 the apostle returned a second time, he found him all 
 equipped and ready for that " good fight of faith," 
 about which he afterwards discourses. " Him would 
 Paul have to go forth with him." % He was circumcised 
 at Iconium, and there solemnly ordained and set apart 
 for his great work. It was a day never to be forgotten 
 by the young Lystrian. Paul afterwards speaks of it 
 in one of his letters. " Thou hast professed a good 
 profession before many witnesses." § 
 
 From Iconium, they proceeded to the cities farther 
 north, leaving in each of these, where Christian con- 
 verts were, a copy of the decree of the Jerusalem 
 Council. Very considerable difficulty, however, has 
 
 * Mouod. t Phil. ii. 20, 22. % Acts xvi. 3. § 1 Tim. vi. 12.
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 163 
 
 been felt by writers on the life of Paul as to the 
 direction of this journey. The high road he and Silas 
 had now been traversing the length of Antioch, led 
 on to Ephesus, a distance of 230 miles ; and some 
 have supposed they went by it the length of Colosse, 
 a town situated half way. Other writers, of equal 
 authority, assign to him a route more directly north, 
 not supposing that he visited Colosse at all. If yoii 
 examine the map, you will see what his course would 
 be if he and his fellow-travellers followed the great 
 highway of Asia Minor ; they would come to the val- 
 ley which is watered by the river Lycus, and on the 
 south bank of which stands the city of Colosse — a few 
 scattered ruins now only remaining to mark the spot. 
 Had they pursued the same great road twelve miles 
 further along the valley, they would have reached two 
 other famous cities fronting each other on either side 
 of the river. On the right, Hierapolis rose on a com- 
 manding situation ; it crowned the summits of a bold 
 cliff, and had within its walls the temple of Pluto and 
 its famous cavern. Upon the opposite bank, on the 
 slope of Mount Cadmus, and a mile from the river, 
 stood Laodicea, whose vast ruins, at the present day, 
 attest its former extent and greatness. We have 
 every reason to believe, however, that neither of these 
 cities were the apostle and his companions allowed at 
 present to enter ; " they were forbidden of the Holy 
 Ghost to preach the word in Asia." * 
 
 We can^ with greater certainty, follow them as they 
 retrace their steps north-east to Galatia. This pro- 
 vince we know they now visited jt and ft'om the 
 epistle Paul wrote to the churches there, as well as 
 
 * Acts xvi. 6. t Acts xvi. 6. K
 
 164 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 from the peculiar history of its people, it deserves 
 more from us than a passing notice. Much interest- 
 ing light, moreover, has been thrown upon the subject 
 by recent writers. 
 
 The Galatiaus (or Gauhtia,ns) were not the original 
 inhabitants of that country; they were a colony of 
 Gauls. Who were these Gauls f Gaul, as you know, 
 was the ancient name of France. Greek historians, in 
 speaking of the inhabitants of France, call them " Gala- 
 tians." The Gauls, however, seem not to have been 
 confined to this portion of Europe, but to have spread 
 themselves also over Spain, Great Britain, and Ireland. 
 They were a bold, warlike, and manly people ; their 
 name and invasions indeed became so terrible, that 
 the countries they sought to people did what they 
 could to destroy and extirpate them. Those that 
 remained, had to take refuge in fastnesses and wild 
 uninhabited districts, where they could do compara- 
 tively little harm. In France, they were driven into 
 Brittany; in England, into Wales, which was called 
 from them Wallia, or Gallia, (and indeed Wales is 
 called by Frenchmen still, " the country of the 
 Gauls.") In rugged Scotland, they got a suitable 
 refuge among the wild Highland glens and passes — 
 hence the name of the Highlanders and their country, 
 as the Gaels, the land of the Gael, or Gaul; and their 
 language, Gaelic, or Gaulic. The place, however, in 
 the west of Europe which they retained strongest hold 
 of was Ireland ; they peopled the whole of it, with the 
 exception of a portion of the north-east. 
 
 But how came they, it may be asked, to find their 
 way to the province which the Apostle Paul was now 
 treading;, in the centre of Asia Minor? After the
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 165 
 
 death of Alexander the Great, a swarming host of 
 300,000 Gauls, like the Huns and Vandals of the 
 middle ages, made an irruption over the plains of 
 eastern Europe, forcing a passage along the banks of 
 the Danube. We need not pause to describe their 
 march ; suffice it to say, the greater number of them 
 met on the shores of Asia Minor. Their wild war- 
 songs were heard on the plains of ancient Troy, and 
 around the tomb of Achilles. From thence they 
 marched hither and thither on a mission of pillage and 
 plunder, leaving behind nothing but the ashes and 
 smoke of conquered countries. A portion of them 
 (with which we are now principally concerned) had 
 withdrawn from the main body, and were still in 
 Europe ; they were lured, however, at last across the 
 Hellespont by Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, who was 
 at that time engaged in war with his brother. By 
 their means he obtained a complete and decisive vic- 
 tory, and, as a rewai'd for their assistance and valour, 
 granted them the north-east portion of Phrygia, which 
 ever afterwards bore the name of Galatia, or Gallo 
 GrcEcta. Not contented with this royal recompense, 
 they seem to have inspired great fear among the inha- 
 bitants of Mount Taurus by their warlike incursions, 
 and to have exacted tribute from all around. Their 
 numbers at their first settlement, according to a 
 Roman historian, did not exceed 20,000, and the half 
 of these were unarmed. This may give an idea of 
 their power, and of the influence their ferocious name 
 and character exercised over the timid tribes amono- 
 whom they settled. We can imagine, from what is 
 related of them, the terror these barbarians would in- 
 spire, especially in the hour of battle, with their wild
 
 166 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 native war-whoops, clanging their long swords or clay- 
 mores on their targets, and rushing madly against 
 their foes. 
 
 For many centuries this remarkable race retained 
 their language and native manners. Even when Paul 
 now visited them, though they could speak the Greek 
 of the country, they never had forgotten their own 
 tongue, — just as in Wales, or in the Scottish High- 
 lands, ihsct same tongue, with little variation, con- 
 tinues to be spoken. St Paul's epistle to them, how- 
 ever, was written in Greek ; and any inscriptions of 
 the period, found on their sculptures, are in the same 
 language. Their independence, as a people, was, at 
 the age of the apostle, like all the rest of the world, 
 laid low under the iron hand of imperial Rome. They 
 had been suffered, till the reign of Augustus, to retain 
 it nominally, and had at that time a king of their own, 
 called Amyntas ; but a Roman pro-prsetor was now at 
 the head of the province. What their precise religion 
 was when Paul first found them, we cannot say. More 
 than probably their ancestors would carry along with 
 them their Druidical superstitions ; but we know also, 
 that Jupiter and Cybele, the deities of Greece and 
 Rome, were worshipped at two of their principal cities. 
 It is among this strange people, then — strange even in 
 their complexion and appearance, with their tall figures 
 and long flowing yellow hair* — that the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles is now about to sojourn. 
 
 We are not informed to what localities Paul went in 
 Galatia, or how long he remained there ; this, however, 
 is certain, that he preached in many places, and that a 
 
 * See the picture, at the begiimuig of the chapter, of a " Galatiau 
 hero."
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 167 
 
 vast blessing attended his labours. Nay, more, that 
 warm-hearted people seem to have received the " stran- 
 ger apostle" with great readiness and cordiality, and he 
 appears, ever after, to entertain towards them feelings 
 of deepest affection and love. 
 
 If we have spoken of France as the original country 
 of the Gauls, and Ireland as the land in western Europe 
 where they chiefly abounded, we have, in the well-known 
 sprightliness and warm-heartedness of these two coun- 
 tries at this day, a living picture of the character the 
 Apostle Paul had to deal with in Galatia 1800 years 
 ago. In other respects, too, the likeness seems to hold 
 good — while warm and loving in their natures, they 
 were fickle, unsteady, excitable, "carried about with 
 every wind of doctrine." May we not say, in no un- 
 kindly spirit, that the charge which he brings against 
 them might, in a modified shape, be made to apply not 
 inaccurately to others in later years, and nearer our 
 own shores'? — " foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched 
 you that ye should not obey the truths' While at 
 one time " they received the apostle as if he had been 
 an angel," "they were soon removed from him that 
 called them to another gospel."* 
 
 On the occasion of this his first visit, Paul was over- 
 taken with sickness. None but those who have expe- 
 rienced it, can know how painful it is to be laid, in the 
 heart of a foreign land, on a couch of illness ; nor, on 
 the other hand, how grateful, in such circumstances, is 
 the kindness of strangers. The apostle felt deeply the 
 warm and affectionate solicitude which the Galatians 
 manifested towards him at this trying hour. They 
 saw his body bowed with intense suffering ; but when 
 
 * See Mr Lewin's interesting chapter on Galatia.
 
 168 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 they beheld his noble mind rising superior to all, and 
 enabling him joyfully to bear all for the everlasting 
 good of others, they were struck with a heroism that 
 would have done honour to their own bravest and best. 
 We may well believe that Timothy would not be 
 behind in bestowing dutiful attention on one he so 
 loved, while it would doubtless tend to draw out more 
 than ever the heart of the apostle towards him whom 
 "he had begotten in the Gospel." 
 
 Connected with Paul's illness in Galatia, and with 
 many references in his epistle, this seems the proper 
 time to refer to the nature of that bodily infirmity or 
 ailment under which he so often labo\ired, and which 
 he calls " the thorn in the fiesli" * What could this 
 have been 1 The answering of this question may help 
 us in forming our impressions of his personal appear- 
 ance, and account for many allusions he makes in his 
 writings which could not otherwise be explained. 
 
 From this bodily malady, whatever it was, he evi- 
 dently was suffering during this his first visit to Ga- 
 latia; for, in his "Epistle to the Galatians," which 
 was written after his second visit, he says — " Ye know 
 how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gos- 
 pel unto you at the first " {i. e., the former visit). " And 
 my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, 
 nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God. . . . 
 I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye ivould 
 have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to 
 7ne."f These striking words appear to afford a key to 
 the nature of the " thorn in the flesh," to which they, 
 in all probability, allude. 
 
 We have the strongest reason, then, to infer that it 
 
 • 2 Cor. xii. 7-10. t Gal. iv. 13-15.
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. IG'J 
 
 was a disease in his eyes, which gi'eatly injured his sight, 
 and at times his appearance. It has been thought 
 that, ever since being struck blind at his conversion, 
 on the way to Damascus, his eyes and eyesight had 
 been much affected — just as if his Lord had wished him 
 to carry about this continual remembrance, at once of 
 his guilt, and of the grace which saved him. Writers 
 have specially noted besides (what was mentioned in a 
 former chapter), that the climate of Damascus is most 
 injurious to the vision ; many in the neighbourhood of 
 that city to this day suffering severely from its per- 
 nicious effects. What can more naturally explain the 
 verse I have, a few sentences before, quoted from his 
 Galatian epistle, than this 1 He wishes to tell his con- 
 verts there, how greatly he felt their attention and 
 affection ; as if he had said — " So great was your kind- 
 ness to me, a poor half-blind stranger, with my eyes 
 painful to look upon, that you would have willingly 
 plucked out your own, if it had been in your power, and 
 exchanged them for mine, if this could have cured me 
 of my sad malady." 
 
 There are other similar references made in the same 
 epistle: as when he says, at the close of it, "From 
 henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear in my 
 body the marks of the Lord Jesus." The word trans- 
 lated " marks," literally means " brands," and refers to 
 the old custom of branding the forehead or arm with 
 a hot iron, more particularly in the case of runaway 
 slaves. A name or device was thus impressed on the 
 skin as a punishment, as well as to prevent them in 
 future deserting their masters. " In this sense," says 
 Paul, " I, who was a fugitive slave rushing away from 
 my Master, was ' arrested ' by Him on the way to
 
 170 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 Damascus, when he cried after me, ' Saul, Saul, why 
 persecutest thou naeV and when He caught me, or 
 ' aj)prehended me,'* He put His own brand or mark 
 upon me ; these eyes, which He struck blind with the 
 blaze of His glory, I am to bear continually about with 
 me as the ' marks of the Lord Jesus.' " 
 
 There is one other verse in the epistle, to which I 
 shall refer, bearing upon the same ; it is in the con- 
 cluding words of it. He says, " Ye see how large a 
 letter I have written unto you with my own hand."t 
 From the weakness of his eyesight, Paul was always in 
 the habit of employing another to write for him. To 
 show his affection, however, for this warm-hearted 
 people, he says, " See, I have made an exception in your 
 case. Suffering though I am from these eyes of mine, 
 I have sent you a letter in my own handwriting." It 
 has been rightly observed, that the expression, "See 
 how large a letter," does not refer to the length of the 
 epistle, but to the clumsy wiiting. He apologises to 
 them for this. "See," he says, "in what awkward 
 characters I have written unto you; but you cannot 
 expect otherwise from my eyesight. You will pardon 
 their inelegance, and understand what I mean by put- 
 ting myself to this piece of unusual labour ; it is to 
 give you a proof of my cordial love for you, and my 
 interest in your welfare." 
 
 We have strong reason to infer, then, on these and 
 other considerations, that Paul's "thorn in the flesh" 
 was no other than a disease in his eyes ; so bad, too, 
 as to have made him occasionally, when it increased, 
 nearly blind, as we read, in an after-portion of his life, 
 that he was "conducted" by others to Athens. J It 
 
 * Phil. iii. 12. t Gal. vi. 11. J Acts xvii. 15.
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 171 
 
 must indeed have been a severe trial to the great mis- 
 sionary apostle ; not only from the ridicnle which tho 
 bodily defect might draw down at times upon him from 
 his enemies, but think of his constant exposure to the 
 open air, and the sudden changes from the burning 
 heat of the summer plains to the cutting breezes and 
 cold of the mountains. How acute often must have 
 been his sufferings in an organ so sensitive to pain as 
 we know the eye is ! Three times, he tells us, did he 
 pray that his malady might be removed. The prayer 
 was granted ; not, however, in the manner he wished 
 or expected, but in the way which God saw best. The 
 thorn still remained; but his Lord gave him, in answer 
 to his prayer, " more gi-ace." " My grace is sutBcient 
 for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness." * The great and holy man was satisfied ; he 
 saw that all was for his good. He was led triumph- 
 antly to say, " I take pleasure in infirmities ;" " Most 
 gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the 
 power of Christ may rest upon me."t "This giant 
 apostle — this spiritual conqueror of the half of Asia 
 and the whole of Europe, had a bodily weakness which 
 attracted the attention of all, which emboldened his 
 enemies, which troubled himself, and which seemed to 
 render him for ever disqualified for his work. WeU ! 
 God thus made him weak for the express piirpose of 
 glorifying Himself in him."| 
 
 We cannot, immediately after this, very accurately 
 trace the course which the missionary band took. I 
 
 • 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 
 t See on this also the full and satisfactory statement of Mr Lewin, vol. i. 
 p. 213. 
 
 t Jlouod's St Paul, p. 151.
 
 172 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 have already noted that they were forbidden to go to 
 Asia or Bithynia. " The Spirit suffered them not." 
 Why they were not suffered, it is not for us to inquire. 
 It has been thought, from the dedication of Peter's 
 first epistle, that these regions, including Bithynia, 
 were specially allotted to him. "Peter, an apostle of 
 Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout 
 Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."* 
 We need not, however, attempt to explain, where the 
 Word of God is silent. Bending their course directly 
 westward, they probably went to a sea-port town on 
 the ^gean, called Adramyttium ; from thence along 
 the coast to Assos, where a beautiful road, of nineteen 
 miles, brought them through the oak woods that 
 skirted Mount Ida to Troas. This was, and still is, a 
 spot of deep and sacred interest. It was the scene of 
 the oldest and greatest war of antiquity — the Trojan. 
 Greek and Latin poets have vied with one another to 
 celebrate its scenery. Mount Ida rose behind it with 
 its beautiful woods and sparkling streams — the island 
 of Tenedos lay on the bosom of the sea in front of its 
 harbour — while, far off in the blue distance, the near- 
 est land of Europe was in sight — the lofty Grecian 
 Mount Athos. Perhaps the time when Paul ap- 
 proached it answered to the description of a modem 
 traveller, who thus speaks of the close of his first day's 
 visit to Troas : — " The beauty of the evening in this 
 country surpasses all description. The sky glowed 
 with the rich tints of the setting sun, which now, skirt- 
 ing the western horizon, raised, as it were, up to our 
 view the distant summits of the European mountains. 
 We saw Mount Athos distinctly, of a conical form, and 
 
 • Chap. i. 1.
 
 THE SECOND JOURNEY. 173 
 
 SO lofty, that on the top, as the ancients relate, the sun- 
 rising was beheld four hours sooner than by the inha- 
 bitants of the coast ; and, at the solstice, its shade 
 reached into the Agora or market-place of Myrina, a 
 town in Lemnos, which island was distant 87 miles 
 eastward."* 
 
 The town of Troas itself must have been a very con- 
 siderable one. It stood on a height, sloping gently 
 down to the sea. A deep ravine separated it from 
 Mount Ida, and a large plain stretched on either side 
 by the sea-shore.+ Large masses of hewn stone, walls 
 that include a circuit of nine miles, and the ruins of 
 piers and arches, remain to this day to bespeak its 
 former greatness. The situation was so striking in 
 itself, and so renowned in story, that Constautine, before 
 he fixed on Constantinople as the site of his new capi- 
 tal, is said to have wavered between it and Troas •,% in- 
 deed, at this day, it retains the name of Eski-Stamboul, 
 or Old Constantinople. 
 
 We have supposed the apostle and his friends ap- 
 proached this classic city by the winding road that 
 skirted the sea-beach, unless, from the expression, 
 " they came down" to Troas, we are to infer that they 
 crossed one of the shoulders of Mount Olympus, and 
 looked from the summit on the celebrated "Trojan 
 plains." If so, Paul, with his taste and scholarship, 
 could not surely feel unmoved and uninterested on a 
 spot which, while the world lasts, will be remembered 
 in connexion with Homer — its oldest and, in many 
 respects, greatest poet. On those very sandy plains 
 and knolls along which they passed, the prancing war- 
 
 ♦ Chandler's Travels in. Asia Minor, p. 23. t I^^id- P- 20. 
 
 } Gibbon's Decline and lall, quoted by Howsou.
 
 174 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 steeds and chariots of the Trojans and Greeks had 
 rattled along. " But who would recognise, in those 
 shallow reedy streams, the Simois and Scamander of 
 the poet's fancy 1 The storm of war had swept over 
 the spot, and now it was the path of the messengers of 
 peace. Europe had poured forth her thousands to 
 desolate and destroy ; and Asia, in return, sent her 
 three wayworn pilgrims — Paul, Silas, and Timothy — 
 to proclaim to Europe the glad tidings of the Gospel ! 
 They passed on, and entered Troas," * 
 
 That night was one never to be forgotten. When 
 the great apostle lay himself down on his pillow, and 
 composed himself to sleep, a vision appeared at his 
 bed-side, A figure, like " a man of Macedonia," stood 
 over him, and beckoned to him, saying, " Come over 
 and help us!" It was the voice of his God telling 
 him there were perishing millions in Europe, who were 
 waiting to receive the bread of life. He could not 
 resist the solemn pleadings of that nightly apparition. 
 The next day we may imagine the four strangers (for 
 Luke, " the beloved physician," who writes so faithfully 
 his history, had now joined them) — we may picture 
 them by the harbour of Troas, entering some trading 
 vessel about to convey them to Greece. The ship 
 weighs anchor — the sails are spread ; and, on the bosom 
 of the surging ^Egean, riches more precioiis than the 
 gold of Ophir are carried to the civilised countries of 
 Europe. Each of us were deeply interested in that 
 vessel as it flies before the south wind to Samothracia ! 
 Ah ! little did poor heathen Britain think at that 
 moment there was then advancing nearer her shores so 
 rich a prize for her children's children ! 
 
 * Lewin, vol. i. p. 223.
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 %\t |ns0n. 
 
 " When Persecution's torrent-blaze 
 
 Wraps the unshrinking martyr's head ; 
 When fade all earthly flowers and hays, 
 
 When summer friends are gone and fled ; 
 Is he alone in that dark hour 
 Who owns the Lord of love and power ? 
 
 Or waves there not around his brow 
 
 A wand no human arm may yield. 
 Fraught with a spell no angels know, 
 
 His steps to guide, his soul to shield ^'' 
 
 " None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto 
 myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry 
 I have received of the Lord Jesus."— Acts xx. 24.
 
 HE Apostle, when he entered Troas the 
 day before, had probably very much 
 the feelings of his great ancestor Abraham, of whom 
 we read that " he went out, not knowing whither 
 he went." It has been indeed supposed that Paul 
 had some serious thoughts at this time of going to 
 the city of Rome. He wished to carry the gospel 
 of his Divine Master within hearing of the world's 
 capital, and the palace of the Ctesars. God was at 
 a future time to fulfil his wish ; but he graciously 
 " hindered" him now. It shows how far better the 
 Lord knows what is the right path for us than we 
 know ourselves. If Paul had trusted to his own 
 wisdom and guidance, and gone direct at this period
 
 178 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 to Italy, he would have shared in the violent expul- 
 sion which took place of all the Jews from Rome by 
 the edict of Claudius. The time would have beeu 
 wasted which he profitably employed elsewhere. He 
 could feelingly say of a kind Providence afterwards, re- 
 garding his intentions of visiting the city of the Tiber, 
 " Oft times I purposed to come unto you, but was let 
 (or hindered) hitherto." The striking vision mentioned 
 at the close of the last chapter " hindered" him at pre- 
 sent, and determined his journey to the regions of 
 Macedonia.* 
 
 We have also just referred to a new name added to 
 their little band — that of Lulce. As he is not only the 
 companion of the Great Apostle, but his biographer, 
 we may well pause, on this the first mention of him 
 in the narrative, to say a few words regarding his his- 
 tory. If you look at the chapter in the Acts describ- 
 ing their leaving Troas, you will see that the plural 
 pronoun " we" is used for the first time. " After he 
 had seen the vision, immediately we" (indicating that 
 Luke was one of the number) " endeavoured to go 
 into Macedonia." t 
 
 Luke, or Lucius, was most probably, from his name, 
 not a Jew, but a Gentile by birth. The opinion, too, 
 has been hazarded, that he had been once a slave 
 at Rome — that he had there practised the art of medi- 
 cine in his master's family — and that, after a certain 
 period, in reward for his services, freedom had been 
 conferred on him. He seems to have returned thence 
 to his native city of Antioch;^ and while there, carry- 
 ing on his profession as a physician, § he was brought 
 
 * Lewin, vol. i.p. 224. t Acts xvi. 10. 
 
 J Eusebius and Jerome. § Col iv. 14.
 
 THE PRISON. 179 
 
 under the power of the truth as it is in Jesus. Some 
 have thought that he acted as a ship surgeon, or what 
 is equally probable, he was what iu modern days we 
 call (in connexion particularly with China) a " medical 
 missionary" — a physician inspired with love to the 
 " Great Physician of Souls," and who, while he exer- 
 cised his healing art on the bodies of men, at the same 
 time tried to lead them to " the balm in Gilead, and 
 the Physician there." It is interesting thus to think 
 of this earnest man, sailing about from island to island 
 in the vast Archipelago with healing medicines alike 
 for soul and body. It is interesting to think of him, 
 also, as the attendant and friend of our apostle on this 
 and a fature voyage. I have recently spoken of Paul's 
 dangerous illness in Galatia ; it is not at all improbable 
 that he may have sent a message to the beloved physi- 
 cian to meet him at Troas, and give him the benefit of 
 his medical skill and Christian counsel. One of the 
 last short entries in the Great Apostle's life tells us at 
 once of the faithful and devoted friendship of this 
 Christian physician, and Paul's estimate of his services. 
 He is mentioning, with a sorrowing heai-t, how all had 
 forsaken him ; but he adds, " only Luke is with me." * 
 The little band are now fairly on their way. A 
 prosperous wind brings them in two days to the north 
 of Greece. They seem to have anchored for the first 
 night at the island of Samothrace, where the moun- 
 tains rise to a great height above the sea, forming a 
 landmark to the Grecian sailors for a long distance, 
 and regarded by these Pagan mariners of old with a 
 sacred reverence. Neptune, the god of the sea, in the 
 heathen mythology, was supposed to have his throne 
 
 * 2 Tira. iv. 11.
 
 180 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 on the cliffs of Samothrace ; from thence it was thought 
 he had looked down on the scene of the Trojan war, ani- 
 mating its heroes ; and the caves which he made his 
 ordinary dwelhng were imagined to be deep down in the 
 ocean, between Imbros and Tenedos. Such were the 
 false but beautiful dreams of the heathen world, which 
 a feeble pilgrim, who had now moored his bark near 
 these fabled caverns, was to be instrumental more 
 than any other in dispelling for ever ! From thence 
 they sailed north-west to the harbour of Philippi ; it 
 was called Neapolis, or " New City " (now Cavallo), 
 situated in a sheltered bay or haven. Here travellers 
 landed when they wished to pursue the Via Egnatia, 
 the great military road which led to Italy. Between 
 Philippi and this port-town, a distance of ten miles, 
 was a craggy ridge, rising steep from the sea, by 
 which it was necessary for the apostles to cross. We 
 may imagine them pausing when they reached the 
 summit, and seating themselves on one of the masses 
 of rock, which modern travellers speak of, looking down 
 on the prospect on either side. Behind them their 
 eyes would rest upon a vast wilderness of blue waters, 
 with Mount Athos rising in the far distance ; on the 
 inland side they would behold a spacious plain, watered 
 by many little streams, the richly wooded valley of 
 Seres running towards the west. Situated in the 
 midst of these streams, on account of which it was 
 originally called Crenides, or Fountains, is the town of 
 Philippi. The city, I need not say, from its name, was 
 built by Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the 
 Great. In its immediate neighboui'hood there was a 
 famous hill, called " Bacchus-mount," rich in golden 
 treasure, from whose mines the king was said to have
 
 THE PRISON. 181 
 
 gained annually one thousand talents. The town itself 
 was enclosed with a wall, which stretched down on 
 either side from the fortress. Two American mission- 
 aries, who some time ago travelled in that region, give 
 us some interesting details about the present appear- 
 ance of Philippi. They observed the ruins of the castle 
 on the top of the hill, and traces of a forum, the seat 
 of justice — perhaps the very same within which we 
 shall presently find Paul and his companion standing, 
 and submitting to the rods of the lictors. The ruins 
 of a palace, built of the finest white marble, is the 
 gi-andest of the old monuments still existing, although 
 it is fast disappearing imder tlio hands of the Turks, 
 who are despoiling it to form their gravestones.* 
 Those who have read Roman history know well how 
 famous Philippi and its neighbourhood was, from being 
 the scene of a great battle. Here Brutus and Cassius, 
 Octavius and Antony, pitched their camps. The two 
 former were defeated ; and, at their own request, slain 
 by the hands of their comrades, rather than fall into 
 those of the enemy. In honour of the victory, Augus- 
 tus declared Philippi to be in future the capital of the 
 province, and seat of the government. Paul is about 
 to make it renowned as the scene of a greater moral 
 victory, with weapons which are not " carnal, but 
 mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds." Philippi itself was a sort of little Rome, it 
 was peopled by Romans, its citizens spoke the Roman 
 tongue, and prided themselves in Roman manners and 
 customs. There were few Jews, indeed so few, that 
 there was not even a synagogue. Their only place of 
 worship was one of the Proseuchce, — slight and uncostly 
 
 * Dwight aud Schauffler, as quoted by L»r Kitto. t
 
 182 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 buildings for prayer and religious service. Some of 
 these were open at the top, and exposed to the weather. 
 They were most generally situated in a grove, or under 
 a tree, either by the sea-side, or, more commonly still, 
 by the banks of a river, as many of the Jewish cere- 
 monial observances required water for performing 
 ablutions.* The one at Philippi was outside the city, 
 by the banks of the river Gaggitas, or Zygacies,—^ word 
 which means " pole-break," and which is said to have 
 been so called by the Greeks from another absiu'd 
 legend they had, that one of their false gods, Pluto, in 
 crossing it broke the pole of his chariot on the banks ! t 
 A few women, " proselytes of the gate," as they were 
 called, believers in the God of Israel, Sabbath after 
 Sabbath had been accustomed to meet here for prayer, 
 both those who were by birth Jewesses, as well as 
 other residents in the town. Among these there was 
 one of the name of Lydia, a stranger from a province in 
 Asia, for it is expressly said she belonged to " the city 
 of Thyatira." This city had been long celebrated, and, 
 indeed, is to this very day celebrated, % for its pui-ple 
 dye ; and she was one of many who made her hveli- 
 hood by selling it. It was among this handful of lowly 
 women that the glorious gospel of the blessed God was 
 first preached in Europe ! In no splendid temple, or 
 gorgeous cathedral, but at a simple prayer-meeting in 
 an oratory by a river side ! The heart of Lydia was 
 
 * Home's Introduction, Olshausen, Epiphanius, &c.. 
 f Appian iv. 105, as quoted by Levvin. 
 
 t So far back as the time of Homer we read of the Lydian purple— 
 "And as by Lydian or by Cariau maid. 
 The purple dye is on the ivory \a.\A." —Iliad. 
 Dr Kitto gives the following extract from Sir Emerson Tennaut's Lit- 
 ters from the £gean—" Large quantities " (of scarlet or purple clotJis) "are 
 sent weekly to Smyrna for the purposes of commerce."
 
 THE PRISON. 183 
 
 opened as Paul and Silas unfolded the great salva- 
 tion. She was convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was 
 ixideed the true Messiah, and Son of God, and in His 
 name she and her household were immediately bap- 
 tized. It is striking here to observe how God finds 
 out his people, and brings them under the power of the 
 truth. Lydia was an inhabitant of one of those very 
 cities in Asia where Paul had been " forbidden " to 
 preach. Probably she lived almost constantly at Thy- 
 atira ; but her passing visit at Philippi was ordained 
 and overruled by a higher Hand to bestow a nobler 
 " citizenship " upon her ! She was just following her 
 wonted trade as " a seller of purple," when the Lord 
 sent his servants to declare to her the way of life. It 
 is another of the many striking examples given us in 
 His Word, of how He delights to meet His people in 
 the ordinary business and employments of life. He called 
 Matthew when he was seated at his toll-bar — Peter and 
 Andrew at their nets, and here he meets Lydia when 
 in a strange city she has taken up her abode to prose- 
 cute her trade. It teaches us the great lesson — that 
 we do not require to leave the duties of life in order 
 to be religious. With that Christian love and hospi- 
 tality, so common in these primitive ages, this earliest 
 convert at Philippi took the apostles to her own house, 
 and made them take up their abode during their stay 
 at Philippi. This was the first of many proofs of per- 
 sonal kindness Paul received at the hands of the Phi- 
 lippians, Four times we find during his life did they 
 liberally contribute to supply his wants ; and we shall 
 afterwards see how his Roman dmigeon was cheered 
 with the gifts of their bounty. 
 
 God seemed to smile upon these early labours of
 
 184 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 his servants at Philippi. The church gi'ew, men and 
 women were added to it, and for " many days " their 
 teaching was allowed to go on undisturbed. A terrible 
 furnace, however, was at hand — although gi-ace was 
 to be given these faithful men to pass boldly through. 
 I must proceed to tell you the cause of this " fiery 
 trial " which was about to " try them." There were 
 some wicked heathen masters, whose female slave or 
 servant had " a spirit of divination," or " spirit of Py- 
 thon " — that is, the Prince of darkness had sent some 
 of his evil spirits or agents to take possession of her 
 mind ; for at this time, when Jesus, the true light, had 
 come into the world, the powers of darkness seem to 
 have exercised an imusual influence over both the bodies 
 and souls of men. This female, by wild gestui-es and 
 words, and ravings, called "oracles," practised on the 
 weakness of the ignorant by pretending to foretell the 
 events of the future. The Greeks and Romans supposed 
 such unhappy persons to be possessed by the god Apollo, 
 and that through his agency they had this " spirit of 
 divination." Apollo was often called by the title of the 
 " Pythian Apollo," — Python being a serpent which he 
 was said to have destroyed with arrows, so soon as he 
 was born. These masters thus made a gain of this poor 
 girl, getting money from those whose future history 
 or fortune she pretended to read. Paul and Silas 
 seem, after the conversion of Lydia, to have been in 
 the habit of going for some time to the oratory at the 
 river's side. The number of hearers was daily increas- 
 ing, and the devout women had probably brought with 
 them their relatives and friends, to listen to the words 
 of eternal life. The " possessed " slave had followed the 
 apostles several times when they were on their way
 
 THE PRISON. 185 
 
 thither, ciying after them, " These men are the slaves 
 of the Most High God," She may possibly have been 
 herself a Jewess ; she may have had some idea about 
 the coming of the Christ ; and the preaching of Paul 
 may have produced some singular effect on her mind,* 
 for she added, " They show unto us the way of salva- 
 tion." Day after day she seems to have returned to 
 the same spot, repeating her wild ravings. Paul feared 
 lest such a testimony might bring discredit on their 
 cause, and wishing to show the superiority of the Chz'is- 
 tian religion to the powers of imposture, he turned 
 round on one of these occasions, and in the name of 
 his Divine Master rebuked the evil spirit. It imme- 
 diately came out of her, and the sufferer was restored 
 to her right mind. 
 
 You may imagine the rage and anger of her mas- 
 ters when they saw the demon expelled, and all hope 
 of further gain gone. They resolved to have a full re- 
 venge, and they knew the multitude would heartily 
 second them. Accordinglj^, they seized on the apostles, 
 and dragged them before the magistrates in the forum, 
 or market-place. They accused them of having thrown 
 the whole city into confusion, and of unlawfully trying 
 to introduce a new religion among Roman citizens. I 
 have already mentioned that some offending Jews 
 had shortly before been driven from Rome ; the Philip- 
 pians doubtless thought they might well follow the 
 example. The violence of the mob was great, and the 
 magistrates gave orders to the lictors to strip the 
 two apostles and scourge them. What a sad and 
 sorrowful sight, these holy men dragged along to 
 receive this fearful punishment ! Their garments are 
 
 • Lewin.
 
 186 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 torn off their backs ; * the lictors untie their " fasces,' 
 or bundle of rods, made of elmwood, and these descend 
 upon them in heavy blows. Paul may have all the 
 time been calling out, with righteous indignation, 
 " Scourge me not ! It is at your peril if you do, with- 
 out even the form of a tn*?, I am a Roman ! "t But 
 if he did, they refused to hear. His voice was drowned 
 in the clamour. There is no doubt this was regarded 
 by the apostles not only as a severe, but as a degrad- 
 ing punishment. It was much more cruel than the 
 Jewish manner of scourging, which Paul once en- 
 dured. The latter was inflicted with leathern thongs. 
 Moreover, by the Jewish law, they were restricted to 
 forty stripes. The apostle, in referring to the ills he 
 had endured at the hands of his countrymen, says, 
 " Five times I received forty stripes save one^ Thirty- 
 nine seems to have been the usual number ; but in the 
 case of the Roman rod-scourging, he speaks of suffering 
 stripes " ahove meamre^ There was in it no limita- 
 tion. | We have already noted the occasion of the 
 reference in his letter to the Corinthians to the " perils 
 of waterfloods," and "perils of robbers." Here we 
 have another, which he speaks of in the same passage, 
 " Thrice was I beaten with rods." § 
 
 But the Prgetors in the present case were not con- 
 tented with the scourging ; they gave the jailer strict 
 orders to keep them "safely." It was a significant 
 
 * "The lictors being sent to inflict punishment, beat them with rods, 
 fteinjr naked" — Livy, ii. 5. " He commanded the men to be seized, and to 
 be stripped nalied in the midst of the forum, and to be bound, and rods to 
 be brought." — Cicero, quoted by Barnes. 
 
 t Cicero, Vnrr. v. 57. 
 
 { Dr Kitto's Bible Illustrations 
 
 § 2 Cor. xi. 25.
 
 THE PRISON. 187 
 
 hint to deal as harshly with them as he might. 
 Faint and bleeding, they are hurried away to a dark 
 prison ; their limbs, still quivering under the scourge, 
 are thrust into the stocks, and so fastened that they 
 will be unable to move them.* No wonder Paul 
 should, in an after period, when he was writing to the 
 Thessalouiaus, speak of the way in which he was 
 " shamefully treated at Philippi." f It must be observed, 
 too, that it was the inner prison into which the apostles 
 were thrown, — doubtless one of those dark cells that had 
 such a terrible name in the Roman world, where the 
 heavily-bound captives were left to endure the tortures 
 of a living death ! " We must picture to ourselves 
 something very different from the austere comfort of 
 
 an English jail The inner prisons of which we 
 
 read in the ancient world, were like that 'dungeon 
 in the court of the prison' into which Jeremiah was 
 let down with cords, and where *he sank in the mire.' 
 They were pestilential cells, damp and cold, from which 
 the light was excluded, and where the chains rusted on 
 the limbs of the prisoners." J We can think of the 
 apostles, when, under the guidance of a rough jailer, 
 they passed from cell to cell, and heard the clanking 
 which told of miserable beings who were already their 
 inmates. They have reached the appointed dungeon, 
 and have bidden farewell to the cheering light of day; 
 but they are not downcast. Though they have nothing 
 to expect but a dreadful morrow, there is an inner sun- 
 
 * " guAoi', nenms. A wooden block furnished with holes, into which 
 the feet were put, and, according to the severity of the torture, stretched 
 far from one another. Origen, in his extreme old age, was obliged to bear 
 this torture, and for several days to lie in such an instrument, with limbs 
 far spread out from one another." — Olshausen On. Acts, p. 55". 
 
 t 1 Thess. ii. 2. 
 
 t Howson and Conybeare, vol, i. p. 326.
 
 188 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 shine which is lighting up their souls, which the poor 
 jailer, as yet, knows nothing of. The magistrates who 
 so cruelly condemned them, are now perhaps sleeping 
 tranquilly on their pillows, but suflFering seems to have 
 banished sleep from the eyes of the prisoners. We 
 may picture to ourselves the deep darkness that has 
 gathered around them; perhaps the tempest howling 
 piteously through their vaulted cell, and now and then, 
 when there was a pause in the storm, the heavy- 
 measured tramp of the sentinel reminding them of 
 their terrible situation. Or shall we imagine the 
 storm has spent itself? It is the stillness of the mid- 
 night hour ! The other prisoners are startled from 
 their chains by a strange and unwonted sound ; it is 
 the two Jews, brought, on the previous evening, who 
 are making their dvmgeon resound, not with piteous 
 groans and lamentations under the torture of their 
 torn backs and fettered limbs, but with songs of joy 
 and praise. " Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises 
 to God !" What these praises were, we are not told. 
 They probably were the songs of the sweet Psalmist of 
 Israel, many of which were so suitable to their case. 
 Their voices would join together in earnest entreaty, 
 that the same God, who had rescued Joseph of old 
 when " his feet were bound with fetters of iron," would 
 " hear the groaning of the prisoner, and free them that 
 were appointed to death." How strange the feelings 
 of those must have been who were listening to them ! 
 — wretched outcasts, robbera, murderers, thieves, rebels, 
 traitors, profligates.* How strange for them to hear, 
 in such a place, sweet strains of gratitude and love! 
 — no complaining under their torture, but, perhaps, 
 
 * Howson and Conybeare, vol. i. p. 328.
 
 . Ik(A : 
 
 raul aii.l «il;is in llu- |iiin''V"ii nl riiiliiipi
 
 THE PRISON. 189 
 
 like Stephen, or Stephen's Lord, praying for their very 
 enemies, and committing their cause to the God they 
 served. 
 
 At that very moment, when prayer and praise were 
 ascending together at midnight, an earthquake shook 
 the prison walls to their foundations. Tlie bands of 
 all the prisoners are loosed — the doors are shattered 
 on their hinges, and fly open ! It is God Himself, who 
 has " heard them while they are yet speaking" — come 
 to give them release. Do they immediately avail 
 themselves of the opened doors to make their escape ? 
 We might have thought so ; but no ! Paul and his 
 companion had work to do in that prison ; they had 
 troubled souls to comfort and save ; and, forgetful of 
 themselves, they remain quietly in their cell. There is one 
 much agitated spirit, who, roused by the earthquake's 
 crash, comes rushing into them with a flaming torch 
 in his hand: it is the morose and hard-hearted jailer, 
 who feels that his honour and his life are at stake. 
 He knows the terrible vengeance that will wait him 
 on the morrow if one prisoner be missing. In a state 
 of hopeless despair, he draws his sword, and is about 
 to plunge it into his heart, in order to escape certain 
 infamy and disgrace. It was one of the false maxims of 
 ancient Paganism, that there was something meritori- 
 ous in self-destruction. We have, a little ago, noted it 
 in the case of two Roman generals, Brutus and Cassius, 
 Cato was guilty of self-murder in Utica; and it was 
 doubtless the same mistaken idea which prompted, at 
 this moment, the jailer of Philippi to attempt suicide, 
 and rush unprepared into the presence of his God. 
 But Paul cries out, " Do thyself no harm, for we are 
 all here !" The keeper must have been struck with
 
 190 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 the conduct of these nohle- minded prisoners. He had 
 just been listening, doubtless, to their prayers and 
 praises; he may have heard of the good news of salva- 
 tion that had been for several days preached by them 
 in the city; he may have heard the ravings of the " pos- 
 sessed" Pythoness, proclaiming them to be messengers 
 from Heaven; the terrific earthquake shook the walls 
 of his seared and hardened conscience as well as of the 
 prison; he wondered at the conduct of these two suf- 
 fering Jews; he had treated them with nothing but 
 harshness — they had returned nothing but kindness; 
 the door was open for their escape, but they remained 
 still, only to speak words of comfort to him. His hea- 
 then heart wondered, and trembled. Holding a blaz- 
 ing torch (Greek, "lights"), he rushed into their cell 
 ■with the anxious question, "What must I do to be 
 saved?" It was, doubtless, a far higher salvation the 
 poor man was in search of, than mere safety from the 
 vengeance of Roman prsetors. His sins, more terrible 
 than a scourge of scorpions, rose up before him. The 
 answer was joyfully given — "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shcdt be saved, and thy house." 
 
 What a strange scene immediately followed : the 
 trembling jailer and his family were standing, in won- 
 der and terror, in the apostles' inner cell — the glaring 
 torch-light flickering on the damp walls ! Along with 
 them, we may believe, other prisoners, loosed from 
 their fetters, crowded around, and listened to a strange 
 sermon from the lips of the scourged Christians, at 
 that strange hour, and in that strange place. We may 
 imagine what it would be. Jesus! — His work — His 
 hfe— His agony — His death — would be fully unfolded. 
 The storm was changed into a calm. Like Elijah in
 
 THE PRISON". 
 
 191 
 
 the wilderness, after the earthquake and the hurricane 
 came the "still small voice." The jailer grasped that 
 golden assurance which Paul himself had seized at a 
 similar hour, — " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
 of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the 
 world to save sinners." 
 
 The first place Paul preached at in Europe was a 
 river-side ; the second, in a dungeon at midnight ! 
 Truly God is not confined to temples made with hands. 
 He could make a pillow of rude stones to Jacob, and a 
 Ptoman dungeon to "the chief of sinners," the gate of 
 heaven ! Nor is He confined to any particular manner 
 of bringing His people under the power of the truth. 
 Generally He employs means. In the case of Lydia, the 
 means was a prayer-meeting. Prayer ascended — prayer 
 was heard — ber heart was opened. But He can work, 
 too, independently of instrumentality. He sometimes 
 shows how his grace can triumph over every obstacle, 
 — a rough heathen jailer, whose only prayers before 
 were probably his dreadful oaths, is brought in a 
 moment to the foot of the Saviour's cross ! 
 
 We believe that more in that Roman prison than 
 the jailer had their hearts touched that night, — other 
 criminals there, were probably made the monuments of 
 the same wondrous grace. The simple history of Luke 
 completes the interesting account. He, who was so 
 lately a stern jailer, now becomes a Christian friend ; 
 he feels that he owes his two prisoners a debt which 
 never could be repaid ; he does his best to show them 
 how much he felt it ; he takes them first of all to the 
 fountain or well in the prison-court,* and there washes 
 their woimds. In the water of the same cistern, he 
 
 * See the picture, begiuuiug of the chapter.
 
 192 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 and his household are at the same time also baptized. 
 He then conducts them to his own dwelling, and 
 sets food before them. They rejoice together in one 
 blessed Saviour, who, in a nobler sense, " proclaims 
 liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
 to them that are bound." Can we not picture that 
 strange family scene 1 While yet the town of Philippi 
 was hushed in sleep, all ignorant of what had taken 
 place that night in its gloomy prison, — the jailer seated 
 in his own house, with his relatives gathered around 
 him, — his eye every now and then filled with tears of 
 mingled sorrow and joy, as he casts them upon the two 
 holy strangers who had been the means of ushering 
 him into the glorious liberty of the children of God ! 
 
 What takes place in the morning? The tidings of 
 the earthquake reach the ears of the Roman magis- 
 trates. In their fear and terror, they send orders by 
 their lictors, " Let these men go." We know the 
 superstitious ideas attached by Romans of old to an 
 earthquake ; they invariably imagined it to indicate 
 the anger of their gods, and it would not be difficult, 
 in the present instance, to refer it to this cause. The 
 magistrates began to tremble when they reflected on 
 their own conduct. Such an outrage on law ! Indeed, if 
 their doings had been reported to the Proconsul of 
 Macedonia, they might even have been called to an- 
 swer at Rome in the presence of Caesar, and be deprived 
 of the powers of magistracy for life.* They were very 
 anxious, therefore, to hush the matter up ; but Paul 
 was a lion-hearted man as well as a true Christian, and 
 he nobly and bravely sent word back that they would 
 not go ill that underhand way until their judges came 
 
 * Biscoe Ontlte Acts; Livy, iv. 9; Cicero's Oraiions against V.rres, &c.
 
 THE PRISON. 
 
 193 
 
 and made an apology ; for tliey had violated tlie very 
 laws they were there set to uphold. "They had 
 beaten them publicly and uncondemned, being Ro- 
 mans." "Nay," says the apostle, "let them come 
 themselves, and fetch us out ! " * The praetors saw at 
 once that they had exceeded their powers, and might 
 be severely punished for their illegal treatment of 
 " Roman citizens." So they had to go themselves to 
 the jail, and beseech the apostles to depart. What a 
 humiliating position for these proud Roman magis- 
 trates ! See them now coming as suppliants to the 
 prison doors, as Paul had required, and courteously 
 leading out those whom, the day before, they had un 
 mercifully scourged ! 
 
 We must not suppose, from the apostles' resolute 
 conduct on this occasion, that there was anything like 
 revenge, or want of meekness and submission to injury. 
 If they had left the prison merely at the solicitation of 
 the rulers, without asking an apology, it would more 
 than probably have been said, that they had bribed 
 the jailer, whose fears they had worked upon, and 
 thus made their escape. Tliis would inevitably have 
 damaged their own reputation and the success of the 
 gospel in the city and neighbourhood. On the other 
 hand, their bold and manly conduct, followed as it 
 was by the magistrates coming personally to request 
 them to leave their cells, must have told with power- 
 ful effect on the minds of the Romans, and prepared 
 the way for the future preaching of the truth in 
 Philippi. Had Paul, on his return in future years, 
 been ouly known there as a poor Jew, wlio had left the 
 public jail covered with scourging and contempt, he 
 
 * Acts xvi. 37.
 
 194 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 would have attracted little attention ; but Paul, the 
 bold and manly Roman citizen, who had the forti- 
 tude to protest against an unj^^st and iniquitous act of 
 tyi-anny, had the way paved for that happy success 
 among rich and poor which attended his labours, 
 afterwards, in the same town. If he had demanded 
 no such apology, he would have gone away with the 
 name of a " pestilent fellow " and a " coward." As it 
 was, he departed an innocent and a brave man — a 
 holy, patient, and devoted Christian. As an excellent 
 wiiter observes on this subject — "St Paul, in this in- 
 stance, aifords us a remarkable example of the union of 
 the two Christian duties, firmness and forbearance. He 
 compels the magistrates to humble themselves, and to 
 reverse their unjust sentence, by going to the prison in 
 person and fetching him out ; but he does not, as he 
 might have done, institute a rigorous prosecution 
 against them, and subject them to heavy penalties for 
 an obvious violation of the well-known Roman law." * 
 Unmoved by the past cruelties which had been in- 
 flicted on them, Paul and Silas repair to the house of 
 their first convert, Lydia. There they meet other 
 Christian brethren, who have assembled to receive the 
 apostles' farewell blessing. Timothy and Luke are left 
 behind to nourish the infant church planted in the 
 city of Phiiippi. Although Lydia and the jailer, with 
 their houses, are the only converts specially men- 
 tioned, we have reason to believe that many others, 
 during the weeks of that memorable visit, were added 
 to the church. " Paul and his companion, full of 
 gratitude and courage, set out on another stage of 
 their great missionary journey." 
 
 * Bluut's Lectures on St Paid.
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 " As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form 
 Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the stonn, 
 Though round its breast the rolling clouds aire spread. 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 
 
 " He might have filled hundreds of martyrologies with his suffer- 
 ings; . . , all which he generously underwent with a soul as 
 calm and serene as the morning sun. No spite or rage, no fury or 
 storms, could r, file and discompose his spirit; nay, those sufferings, 
 which would have broken the back of an ordinary patience, did but 
 make him rise up with the greater eagerness and resolution for the 
 doing of his duty."— Cave's Life of St Paul, 1676.
 
 ARE soon to meet the Great Apostle in the 
 stree's and halls of the most polished and 
 learned city of the Old World; but before vre follow 
 him thither, let lis briefly track his steps fi-oni the 
 city of Philippi, where we last left him, weary and 
 faint with scourging, but his spirit full of joy at all 
 the great things which God had done for him. 
 
 Travelling still along the Via Egnatia by Amphipo- 
 lis and ApoUonia, he reached, in three days, the city 
 of Thessalonica. Thessalonica was the largest town at 
 that time in Macedonia, and is one of considerable note 
 at the present day, under the slightly-changed name 
 of Salonica. It reckons, indeed, third in importance 
 in the Ottoman empire in Europe. If you look at 
 your map, you will observe that it is situated at the 
 north of Greece, close by the shore near the head of 
 the Thermaic Gulf. It occupies, as you will also see
 
 198 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 from the picture, the slope of a hill at the corner of 
 the bay. It was built by Cassander, one of the gene- 
 rals of Alexander the Great, who was struck with the 
 beauty of the site,* and compelled, at the same time, 
 the inhabitants round about to leave their own cities 
 and villages, and take up their abode in the new sea- 
 port which he called, after his wife, Thessalonica. At 
 the time of St Paul's visit, it was the capital of the 
 province — a Roman proconsul, with his lictors and 
 officers, held his court there. It was what we may call 
 the Liverpool of northern Greece — a great place for 
 commerce — ships sailing from its harbour to all places 
 of the known world. It became very soon a great 
 Christian capital, and continued so for many hundred 
 years; so that the truth of Paul's words was not con- 
 fined to his own age — " From you the Word of God 
 hath sounded forth ; not only in Macedonia and 
 Achaia, but in every place." t Dr Clark visited the 
 city in the year 1801, and describes many ruins of 
 ancient buildings with Roman inscriptions. Among 
 others, he mentions a Turkish mosque, containing an 
 old and singular marble pulpit, from which, tradition 
 says, Paul preached in a vault under ground. 
 
 On arriving at Thessalonica, we may follow in 
 thought the weary apostles as, after their long journey 
 of 90 or 100 miles, and still suffering under their re- 
 cent tortures at Philippi, they approaclied the gates 
 of its terraced walls. We cannot tell whether it may 
 then have possessed the same striking appearance it 
 presents to modern travellers, with its white-painted 
 buildings, its walls glittering in the sun, and, in a calm 
 day, casting their pearly shadows in the beautiful bay, 
 
 * Strabo. f 1 Thess. i, 8.
 
 THESSALONICA AND BEREA. 199 
 
 which, whatever changes the city may have undergone, 
 remains the same now as when Paul and his friend 
 gazed on its spavkhng waves. 
 
 On arriving in the city, they took up their abode 
 with Jason, a Jewish convert ; by some supposed to 
 have been a relative of the apostle;* by others, one 
 of "the brethren" to whom the believers in Philippi 
 had given him " letters of commendation." For three 
 successive Sabbaths (Jewish Sabbaths — our Saturday) 
 Paul spoke in the synagogue. It seems to have been 
 the place of worship to which the Jews all around 
 resorted; for, in speaking of it, he does. not say, " where 
 there was a synagogue," but "the synagogue." The 
 Israelites, at the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia, 
 seem to have been too few or too poor to have a syna- 
 gogue, or even a ijroseuclia of their own, and to have 
 attended, therefore, the one at Thessalonica.t We 
 may picture to ourselves the Great Apostle, bearing in 
 his body some new and recent " marks of the Lord 
 Jesus," standing up in this Jewish church, on the first 
 Sabbath after his arrival, to speak to his " brethren 
 according to the flesh." 
 
 Thessalonica, I may add, is as celebrated at the pre- 
 sent day, for its large Hebrew population, as it was 
 then; fur, out of 70,000 inhabitants, more than one 
 half are Jews.:}: Of these, many are engaged in the 
 manufacture of cloth for tents, — a circumstance which 
 is curious in connexion with the employment of the 
 apostle during his presenfe residence, and to which we 
 shall immetUately refer. 
 
 If you read the letters he wi'ote at an after period 
 to the Thessalouians, you must be struck with a sub- 
 
 * floui. xvi. 21. t Kuiuoel. } Dr Kitto. ji
 
 200 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ject which he dwells much upon in these, viz., "the 
 kingdom and second coming of the Lord Jesus." You 
 are aware that the Jews had long looked forward to 
 the Messiah as a great temporal deliverer. Their 
 country was now under the Roman yoke ; but they 
 clung to the fond hope that once more, under the pro- 
 mised " Prince of Peace," it would regain the indepen- 
 dence and glory it possessed under the reign of David 
 and Solomon. One great object of the apostle, both 
 now in his address in the synagogue and in his future 
 epistles to the Thessalonians, was to correct these mis- 
 taken ideas about the nature of Christ's kingdom. He 
 proved to them from their own prophecies that He was 
 to come, not as a triumphant, but as a lowly suffering 
 Messiah ; and that though a King, His kingdom was 
 "not to be of this world:" it was to be a spiritual, 
 not a temporal one. " He reasoned with them out of 
 the Scriptures ; opening and alleging that Christ must 
 needs have suffered and risen again from the dead ; and 
 that this Jesus, whom he preached unto them, was 
 Christ."* 
 
 As I have just hinted, he again found here the trade 
 he learned in his boyhood at Tarsus of use to him. 
 He did not wish to be "burdensome" to any, and 
 though the converts at Philippi sent him on two occa- 
 sions gifts and presents, he preferred doing what he 
 could for his own support. It is interesting to think 
 of him, evening after evening, when the labour of teach- 
 ing and preaching was over, seated with his bundle of 
 goats' hair at his side, busy at the manufacture of the 
 hair-cloth. 
 
 It is, indeed, a striking picture to see the holy man 
 
 ♦ Acts xvii. 2, S.
 
 THESSALONICA AND BEREA. 201 
 
 of God, the polished scholar, the great missionary, not 
 considering himself demeaned in taking np this lowly 
 occupation ; and, though still sevei-ely smarting under 
 the stripes he received at Philippi, bending with cheer- 
 fulness over his laborious task. It has been supposed, 
 however, that at this time the apostle must have been 
 in great bodily want. Historians of that period men- 
 tion a famine which prevailed throughout Greece, and 
 which raised provisions to six times their iisual price — 
 a peck of wheat costing in their currency four shillings 
 and sixpence.* But the many kind heai'ts Paul had 
 left behind him in Philippi, would not allow him at 
 present to fall into straits ; and on two occasions after- 
 wards, we shall find they sent some Christian messen- 
 gers with a similar supply of money. " Now, ye Philip- 
 pians, know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, 
 when I departed from Macedonia, no church communi- 
 cated with me, as concerning giving and receiving, but 
 ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and 
 again unto my necessity." t 
 
 His success among his own Jewish countrymen does 
 not appear to have been great at Thessalonica. His 
 converts seem to have been principally heathens " who 
 turned from dumb idols to serve the living God." 
 "How new and how comforting to them must have 
 been the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead ! 
 What a contrast must this revelation of life and im- 
 mortality have been to the hopeless lamentations oi 
 their own pagan funerals, and to the dismal teaching 
 which we can still read in the sepulchral inscriptions 
 of heathen Thessalonica, such as told the bystander 
 that after death there is no revival, after the grave 
 
 * Eusebius. t Pliil- iv- 15. 16.
 
 202 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 no meeting of those who have loved each other on 
 earth !"* 
 
 It is more than probable that Paul, in commending 
 the new doctrine to these idolatrous pagans, made use 
 of miracle in proof of his Divine commission. In writ- 
 ing afterwards to them, he says, " Our gospel came to 
 you in jwwei; and in the Holy Ghost." That word 
 "poioer" would seem to imply (as elsewhere) the use 
 of extraordinary and miraculous agency. We know 
 that he did not deceive them by any bright pictures of 
 earthly or carnal glory. He did not say tliat if they 
 left their dumb idols they would become great and 
 powerful and glorious in the world. It was quite the 
 reverse ; for he writes thus afterwards, " Verily when 
 we were with you, loe told you before that we should suffer 
 iribvlation, even as it came to pass, and ye know."t 
 
 The envy of the Jews was stirred up against these 
 " preachers of strange doctrine." The scum and refuse 
 of the city — " lewd fellows of the baser sort," — that is, 
 a number of those dangerous idlers who were always 
 found in a place like Thessalonica, hanging about the 
 pier and the forum ready to join in any tumult, — were 
 easily prevailed on to take part in this assault on 
 the innocent apostles. The house of Jason -nas stormed, 
 but not finding their victims there (they having been 
 previously warned of the attack), Jason and other 
 Christians were seized by the mob, and dragged before 
 the magistrates. They were accused of sedition and 
 rebellion, of harbouring in their house those who were 
 preaching treason against Csesar — speaking of another 
 kingdom and another King, " one Jesus." They thus 
 
 * Howson and Conybeare, vol. i. p. 355. 
 
 t 1 These, iii. 3, 4. See Lewin, vol. i. p. 256.
 
 THESSALONICA AND BEREA, 203 
 
 easily perverted Paul's words about the kingdom of 
 Christ into a meaning to suit their own purposes. 
 The magistrates bound them over to keep the peace, 
 taking money from them as bail or security in the 
 meantime, that the quiet of the town should not again 
 be broken. Paul immediately saw with a sorrowful 
 heart that it would be needful to withdraw elsewhere. 
 The rage alike of the multitude and the Jews was 
 roused, and if they remained, and continued to preach 
 the gospel, their faithful friends, to whom they were 
 indebted for a home, would be sure to become the 
 victims of popular fury. He would, perhaps, leave 
 behind him with his inquiring pagan disciples, as the 
 only substitute for the preacJiing of the gospel, a copy 
 of the Old Testament Scriptures, and probably the 
 Gospel of St Matthew, the only one of the four inspired 
 histories whicli at that time was written. It is to this 
 gospel he is supposed to allude, when he says in his 
 future letter, " But of the times and the seasons, bre- 
 thren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For 
 yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so 
 Cometh as a thief in the night." '^ 
 
 We are not told to what extent Jason and his friends 
 afterwards suffered. Though the magisti-ates had ac- 
 cepted bail from them in the meantime, it is not pro- 
 bable they would be freed from a future trial, and the 
 result, most likely, on a charge of aiding tliose guilty 
 of treason, would be severe fining, or else the forfeiture 
 of their goods. Be this as it may, we know that the 
 danger of the apostles was so great that the very night 
 of the assault they were obliged, under covert of dark- 
 ness, to leave the city. 
 
 * 1 Thess. V. 1, 2. Compare with this Matt. xxiv. 36-43.
 
 204 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAtTL. 
 
 Timothy, probably, may now have rejoined Paul 
 If so, he would accompany him and Silas at their de- 
 parture. Passing out by the arch at the western gate, 
 they proceeded fifty miles' distance to the lovely city 
 of Berea, situated, among its gai'dens, streams, and 
 groves of palm and plane trees, on the eastern slope of 
 the chain of mountains of which Olympus is the chief. 
 
 This town was founded by one Pheres, and called 
 Pherea ; but from a singular difficulty the Macedo- 
 nians had in pronouncing the Ph, it was corrupted by 
 them into Berea. The modern inhabitants, however, 
 who work in the red marble quarries in its neighbour- 
 hood, seem able to pronounce what their forefathers 
 could not, for it has resumed the name of Pheria* 
 
 Berea, at the time the apostle fled to it, was a 
 secluded place. It was a considerable distance from 
 the great Roman road (the Via Eguatia), and probably 
 was selected by him and his companions on that ac- 
 count. Moreover, being in another district of Mace- 
 donia, he was safe from the power of the pi-oconsul of 
 Thessalonica. 
 
 After the treatment he had received at the former 
 city from his Jewish brethren, we could not have won- 
 dered, on reaching this new abode, if he had resolved in 
 all time to come to preach only to the Gentiles. But 
 no ; he was far too true a patriot, to allow ingi'ati- 
 tude or opposition to damp or cool his love for his 
 countrymen; "apostle of the Gentiles" as he was, it 
 was still with him " to the Jew first." It is pleasing 
 to be able to add, that the encouragement he met with 
 among his countiymen at Berea was very different from 
 that which he received at Thessalonica. He found the 
 
 t See Wetstein in loco, &c., quoted by Lewin, vol. i. p. 265.
 
 THESSALONICA AND BEREA. 205 
 
 Jews there "more noble" than those of the former 
 city, because they did not, hke the others, shut their 
 ears against the truth, but " searched the Scriptures" 
 every day, comparing the prophecies about the Messiah 
 with their alleged fultilment in Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 Let us picture to ourselves the scene in the Berean 
 synagogiie. The Rabbis and ministers, attired in their 
 flowing robes, hold in their hands the well-thumbed 
 scrolls of parchment containing the writings of Moses 
 and the Prophets. The apostle directs them in these 
 to reference after reference, proving that Jesus was 
 indeed the Christ. May we not imagine him saying, 
 " Turn to your roll containing our old prophet Micalis 
 predictions — you will find there mentioned the birth- 
 place of the Messiah." The presiding minister reads 
 aloud — " But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou 
 be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee 
 shall He come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in 
 Israel ; whose goings forth have been from of old, from 
 everlasting."* " Jesus," Paul may be supposed to say, 
 " was born there." 
 
 " Turn again to your Pentateuch-scroll, and you will 
 find his predicted tribe, — ' The sceptre shall not depart 
 from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, 
 until Shiloh come ; and unto Him shall the gathering 
 of the people be.'t Our Jesus," Paul might add, 
 "was born of the tribe of Judah. Turn again," 
 might he not say, " to our gi-eat prophet, and see what 
 Isaiah's roll says about his royal line, — 'And there 
 shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
 
 Branch shall grow out of his roots : And in 
 
 that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall 
 
 * Micahv. 2. t Gen. xlix. 10.
 
 206 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 stand for an ensign of the people ; to it shall the Gen- 
 tiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.'* Jesus was 
 born of the Virgin Mary, the lineal descendant of 
 David ! Turn again to the prophet of Babylon — unroll 
 the parchment of Daniel's prophecies — see what was 
 the time your Messiah w^as foretold to come, — ' Seventy 
 weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy 
 holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an 
 end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, 
 and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal 
 up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most 
 Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the 
 going forth of the commandment to restore and to 
 build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be 
 seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks : the street 
 shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous 
 times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Mes- 
 siah be cut off, but not for himself : and the people of 
 the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and 
 the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a 
 flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are 
 determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with 
 many for one week : and in the midst of the week he 
 shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, aad 
 for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it 
 desolate, even until the consummation, and that deter- 
 mined shall be poured upon the desolate.' + Above all, 
 turn again to Isaiah's prophetic roll, and read the very 
 history of this Jesus whom I have embraced as the true 
 Messiah, — 'For he shall grow up before him as a 
 tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground : he 
 hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see 
 
 • Isaiah xi. 1, 10. t Dauiel ix. 24-27.
 
 
 
 THESSALONICA AND BEREA. 207 
 
 him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 
 He is despised aud rejected of men; a man of sorrows, 
 and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our 
 faces from him : he was despised, and we esteemed 
 him not.' " * 
 
 Many were converted ; and among these, Greeks and 
 heathens as well as Jews, and several females of higher 
 rank. 
 
 But the apostle was learning every day to "cease 
 from man whose breath is in his nostrils." He was 
 becoming more faJiiliar with the "much tribulation" 
 through which every saint, and more especially every 
 faithful minister, must enter into gloiy. The " less 
 noble" Jews at a distance, stirred up with envy on 
 hearing of his success, compelled him to leave a city 
 which gave promise of much fruit. He saw that it 
 would be hopeless, from the furious hatred of his own 
 countrymen, to remain for the present longer in Mace- 
 donia. They were tracking, like bloodhounds, his foot- 
 steps from place to place ; he would be sure, humanly 
 speaking, to fall a victim to their malice; he resolved, 
 therefore, to quit it altogether, and make for the near- 
 est point at sea where he could take a vessel to some 
 other field of labour. It was judged advisable to leave 
 Timotliy and Silas behind, to nurse the good seed which 
 had been scattered. But how could the persecuted 
 apostle — perhaps, too, at this time suffering from his 
 eyesight — start by night and travel through an un- 
 known country all alone 1 He was wearied and pained 
 both in mind and body — his stripes, his blindness, his 
 mental sorrow at the sadder spiritual blindness of his 
 brethren, — all forbade a solitary journey. His friends 
 
 * Isaiah liii. 2, 3.
 
 208 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 at Berea, in these circumstances, undei'took to convoy 
 him to the sea-shore. Thev conducted him, doubtless 
 by the nearest road, close by the woods and olive- 
 groves of the great Olympus. Olympus was the spot 
 celebrated in all ancient song as the seat of the gods. 
 Jupiter, whose name is now familiar to us from his 
 temple at Lystra, was thought to have his throne 
 there, and other divinities haunted its groves and 
 temples. Thousands upon thousands of Pagans re- 
 vered that spot as the most sacred on earth. Chris- 
 tians may look back with interest at this moment of 
 which I am now speaking, not to the snow-capped 
 mountain as the haxint of false deities, but to one who 
 was now passing in a little skiff under its shadow. 
 It was a Jew of Tarsus who, by the power of the great 
 God of heaven and earth, was to shatter in pieces 
 many a shrine and temple of Olympian Jupiter — " to 
 tui-n," in a sense the Thessalonian Jews never dreamt 
 of, " the world upside down," and to demonstrate that 
 there was "none other name given under heaven among 
 men by which the sinner could be saved, but the name 
 of Jesus." Paul's companions from Berea had now 
 returned to their own city, taking from him a special 
 message to Silas and Timothy to lose no time in fol- 
 lowing him to the south.
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 Inul at gtljcns. 
 
 " Beliold, tlie Apostle of tlie Cross sulnlirae — 
 Tiie warn'd of Heaven, tlie eloquent, tbe bold! 
 Who sp:ike to Athens in her hour of prime, 
 Braving the thunders of Olympus old. 
 And spreading forth tbe Gospel's snowy fold 
 "Where heathen altars pourM a crimson tide. 
 And stern tribunals their decrtes unroll'd, — 
 How does his zeal our ingrate coldness chide ! " 
 
 " Who can calculate the mighty influence of his life upon maxims, 
 upon manners, upon literature, upon history, — in short, upon the 
 whole development of humanity !"
 
 We have, iu former chapters, followed the 
 " footsteps" of St Paul into regions where 
 both nature and man were seen in their 
 savage state. You remember the rugged mountain- 
 passes of Pisidia, and the still more rugged hearts of 
 the Pagan Lystrians ? We lately accompanied him, in 
 the quiet of a Sabbath morning, to a river-side, where 
 his listeners were a handful of devout females. We 
 found him, immediately afterwards, iu a place more 
 unpromising still, when an inner dungeon and a jailer's 
 iron soul were made as " the house of God and the gate 
 of heaven." We are to follow him now to a grander 
 arena, — amid the philosophers and wise men of the city 
 which then ruled the world of mind and thought, as 
 Rome ruled the outer world by force of arms.
 
 212 THE FOOTSTEPS OF &T PAUL. 
 
 We can easily imagine what his journey thither 
 would be. How many spots of classic interest would 
 open before his eyes ! After passing the long island of 
 Eubffia, on the eastern coast of Attica, we may think 
 of him standing on the prow of his vessel and gazing 
 on the splendid temple of Minerva, on the height of 
 the promontory of Sunium. The vessel has now en- 
 tered the magnificent bay whose waters wash the south- 
 em shores of Attica. Soon a glittering object catches 
 his eye on a distant rock : it is the colossal statue of 
 Minerva, on the Acropolis, with a helmet on her head 
 and a spear in her hand, made out of the brazen shields 
 and spears taken at the battle of Marathon.* Temples 
 and columns gradually unfold themselves. The Great 
 Apostle has got his first glimpse of the civilised capital 
 of the ancient world — the seat and centre of art, elo- 
 quence, philosophy, and science — Athens, " the eye of 
 Greece !" And now they are nearing the shore : — to 
 the left, he sees the well-known island of ^Egina ; to 
 the right, that which has given its own name to one of 
 the greatest naval battles ever fought — the island of 
 Salamis. Behind it rises the hill of Hymettus, famed 
 for its honey; and right in front, as you see in the 
 foreground of our large picture, is the Pirceus, the port 
 of Athens, with its two high moles on either side. 
 " The Piraeus," it is said, in a graphic description of it 
 as it appeared to Paul on his landing, " doubtless re- 
 tained many of the outward features of its earlier 
 appearance, — the landing-places and covered porticos; 
 the warehouses where the corn from the Black Sea 
 used to be laid up; the stores of fish brought in daily 
 
 '* Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. p. 371. The picture we give w the 
 "Athena," from the Hope collection.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 213 
 
 from the Saronic Gulf and the ^gean; the gardens in 
 the watery ground at the edge of the plain j the 
 theatres into which the sailors used to flock to hear 
 the comedies of Menander."* The city and port are 
 distant from one another about five miles. Houses had 
 at one time been built the whole way between, consist- 
 ing of one narrow street, guarded by walls of sixty feet 
 in height, and with towers in various parts of them. 
 These, however, had at this time greatly fallen into 
 decay,t for we must remember, that by this time the 
 political greatness of Athens had ceased. The Roman 
 eagles had hither, as elsewhere, winged their flight, and 
 the seat of government had been changed to Corinth. J 
 And now we may imagine the Great Apostle entering 
 by the gate of the Piraeus. He finds himself in a city 
 of temples — a city literally "wholly given to idolatry." 
 Statues of Neptune, Jupiter, Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, 
 Mercury, and the Muses, meet his eje one after the 
 other; porticos, too, with battle-pieces painted ou 
 their walls, and bronze figures of illustrious Atlionians. 
 On the left is the Pynx, with its tribunal cut from the 
 solid rock, guarded by a statue of Jupiter and the 
 nymphs of the Demus, and which remains to this day 
 unnijured by the ravages of time. Passing further on- 
 wards, the statues of Conou, Epaminondas, and, most 
 illustrious of all, Demosthenes, meet the eye of the 
 Christian pilgrim. The soul of tlie young Tarsian, in 
 bygone days when seated at Gamaliel's feet, had doubt- 
 less often kindled under the burning words of the Gre- 
 cian orator, — now he was gazing on the statue reared 
 
 Howson Hua C'onj-beare, vol. i. p. 375. 
 t Ibid. See the eutire account givou by them ol aucient Athuus. 
 t Dr Kitto.
 
 214 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 on the very spot which had listened to his hving 
 tones. 
 
 It would weary the reader to dwell on this colossal 
 statue-gallery through which St Paul now walked. 
 Warriors were there — the commanding forms of Philip 
 and Alexander of Macedon, Themistocles and Milti- 
 ades ; lawgivers were there — such as Solon, standing in 
 front of a portico richly adorned with the recollections 
 of Troy and Marathon. Well was it said of Athens by 
 Petrouius, that it was then easier to find in it an idol- 
 god than a man. How striking this idol-crowded capi- 
 tal of the world must have been to one who had been 
 so much in Jerusalem as Paul, where not so much as 
 one image was to be found ! * 
 
 The Apostle is all at once in a little world of busy 
 thought. In passing along the great central street, 
 the citizens are listening, or gathering in groups "to 
 hear or tell something new." t When he reaches the 
 end of this thoroughfare, with colonnades on either 
 side, we may suppose him turning to his right hand 
 into the Agora or market-place, — a square surrounded 
 with the same temple buildings and shady porticos ; 
 bazaars filled with every article of luxury ; circular 
 booths, some for the sale of slaves, others for provisions. 
 Flowers and fruits were ranged out on one side to tempt 
 the eye, and books and parchments on another, for 
 those who preferred food for the mind.J Students 
 
 * See Mr Lewin, vol. i. p. 272, with authorities referred to. 
 
 t '"Demosthenes represents ihe Athenians as inquiring in the place of 
 public resort, ' If tliere were anynews ? ' Meursius has shown also tbat there 
 were more than three hundred public places in Athens of public resort, 
 where the principal youth and reputable citizens were accustomed to meet 
 for the purpose of conversation and inquiry." — Barnes On tlie Acts, p. 293. 
 
 t Lewin.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 215 
 
 from all quarters of the world might be found there, 
 taking their hours of recreation, their masters standing 
 close by, discussing weighty points of religion and phi- 
 losophy. Right in front were the rocky crags of the 
 Acropolis, with 'the temples and statue of which we 
 have already spoken, and its beautiful Parthenon built 
 of white Pautelican marble, whose remains are to this 
 hour so much admired. We may imagine what it 
 must have been then, when its mag-nificent friezes 
 were all complete, and the statue of the goddess Min- 
 erva, from the hand of the great sculptor Phidias, 
 was inside, glittering with gold and ivory. We shall 
 find Paul immediately saying in his address, " The 
 Lord of heaven dwelleth not in temples made with 
 hands ;" * as if he had said, " If any temple on earth 
 were befitting for Him to dwell in, it would surely be 
 such a masterpiece as this." 
 
 We must not forget to note two of the buildings in 
 the Agor-a. They were the Schools of Epicurus^and 
 Zeno, the founders of the two sects the Epicureans and 
 Stoics, to whose followers the Apostle was about to un- 
 fold the way of salvation. 
 
 I am sure our young readers will be wearying to 
 hear what Paul thought of this great city, with its 
 temples and schools, and sculptures, and other magni- 
 ficent works of art. He had a mind that was well able 
 to enjoy these treasures of a great people ; but the God 
 he served was so despised and neglected in the midst of 
 all this light of nature and philosophy, that we find 
 the only effect produced upon him was, " His spirit was 
 stirred within him, because it was a city wholly given 
 to idolatry ! " He himself touchingly says, regarding 
 
 * Acts xvii. 2-1.
 
 216 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 this visit, '^ I was left in Athens alone." Timothy and 
 Silas were still at Berea. We may well imagine the feel- 
 ings of a lone Christian stranger, without one single 
 heart to share his sorrow, pacing the streets of that 
 mighty capital, and feeling, amid all the gloiy and 
 world-wide fame of its people, that his God was not in 
 all their thoughts. Somewhat of Jonah's experience in 
 going through the streets of Nineveh, nine hundred 
 years before, must have been that of Paul of Tarsus now. 
 If anything could have added to his sorrow and grief, 
 it was that so much seemed to be done ahout religion, 
 while the unholy, profane, and vicious lives of the 
 Athenians showed that true piety had no place in their 
 hearts. Although they knew something about a deity, 
 *' they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, 
 but they became vain in their imaginations, and their 
 foolish hearts were darkened." 
 
 Anxious, however, as he was for the return of his two 
 fellow-labourers, Paul could not remain idle and silent 
 in the midst of the stirring scenes and throngs around 
 him. Though alone, he resolves to unfurl the Gospel 
 banner. 
 
 The Apostle first of all, as we have invariably found 
 him doing elsewhere, sought out his own " brethren 
 according to the flesh." He commences in the Jewish 
 synagogue. It was not, however, with tliem he came 
 hither to fight the battles of his Heavenly Master, 
 but with the teachers of those false systems of philo- 
 sophy and pagan superstition, which had then in Athens 
 their principal seat, and which formed in many other 
 places the main hindrance to the spread of the Gospel. 
 We may follow him, therefore, once more into the hum 
 of the Agora or market-place, going from one group to
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 217 
 
 another of those who were standing or strolling under 
 the shady plane-trees or porticos, till he joined in the 
 conversation, and introduced the great subject of his 
 thoughts and labours — " Jesus and the Resurrection ! " 
 How was his preaching listened to 1 How did these 
 proud wise-men receive the great Christian ambassa- 
 dor ? They loved oratory. Demosthenes and others, 
 by their marvellous eloquence, 
 
 "Wielded at will that fierce democracy." 
 
 How, then, will the Christian orator and philosopher 
 fai-e when he unfolds things in heaven and earth, that 
 were " never dreamt of in their philosophy 1 " So- 
 crates and Plato had long laboured in vain to discover, 
 by the light of nature, the great realities of the future. 
 Paul is about to unlock the wondrous secret ; to reveal 
 to them One, who is at once the " power of God and 
 the wisdom of God," the " Abolisher of death," the " Re- 
 surrection and the life ! " How will they receive such 
 doctrine and testimony as this 1 How will pi'oud rea- 
 son be content to seat itself at the foot of the cross of 
 Jesus ? Doubtless he would not find it difficult to draw 
 them into converse, as there was nothing these sharp 
 and keen intellects enjoyed more than a discussion 
 upon difficult points, and all the better if these were 
 connected with some new religious system. Moreover, 
 we must remember that Paul was not altogether un- 
 prepared to meet them, as Epicureans and Stoics were 
 found in abundance in his own native town of Tarsus, 
 where doubtless he had acquired a familiarity with 
 their doctrines. The leading doctrines of the Epicureans 
 were, that the world was made, not by an Almighty 
 Framer, but by an accidental or " fortuitous " concourse 
 of atoms ; that pleasure was the highest human pursuit ; 
 
 N
 
 218 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 also, that the soul was matter, and did not survive the 
 dissolution of the body. This sect were truly " without 
 God and without hope." The Stoics had a better creed : 
 they believed in a Supreme Being, the creator and sus- 
 tainer of all things, and in the immortality of the soul ; 
 but they had dim and imperfect notions about the 
 character of a future state. They rejected the idea 
 of coming punishment, and opposed those fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity which demanded true repent- 
 ance, and set forth the nature and method of forgive- 
 ness of sin and justification by faith.* 
 
 It is evident that Paul was not long in gathering 
 around him an attentive knot of hearers. They were 
 struck with the acuteness of the Jewish stranger. He 
 was mean in his bodily appearance, his face wan, and 
 his garb ragged; his speech lacked the rich, mellow, 
 musical tone they were wont to hear. But he was no 
 weakling in other things. Jew as he was, he was a 
 scholar. He could speak their pure Attic tongue — he 
 could quote their poets. If his eyesight was at times 
 dim, he had an inner taste for the sublime and beauti- 
 ful ; for he conversed with them, as he did with the Lys- 
 trians years before, of " Him who had made the heavens 
 and the earth, and the sea ; who had never left Him- 
 self without a witness, in that He was continually doing 
 them good, giving them rain from heaven, and fruitful 
 seasons, filling their hearts with food and with glad- 
 ness." Though his doctrines were strange, he defended 
 them well. He was an acute reasoner. Indeed, they 
 had got so interested in his conversation, that they pro- 
 posed he should go with them, for quiet and retirement, 
 if not for space, to the top of the Areopagus, or Mars' 
 
 * See Xeander, p. ISS.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 219 
 
 Hill. This was another famous spot in the Athenian 
 capital. It was the place of sacred judgment ; and as it 
 was especially intended as a place of arbitration on reli- 
 gious matters, it was all the more suitable for hearing 
 the new doctrines of this Christian missionary. We 
 may imagine to ourselves the spot where Paul now 
 stood and preached. It was where Pericles and many 
 other great men had raised their voices before him. 
 The stone seats of the judges hewn out in the rock 
 were in front, probably occupied now with Dionysius and 
 other Areopagites, who were the noblest of Athenian 
 citizens. In the same rock was the reputed sanctuary 
 of the Furies, which gave additional awe and solemnity 
 to the place; while the temple of Mars rose immediately 
 in view, crowning the rock to which it gave its name. 
 It was a most impressive moment in the history of 
 the Christian faith. The religion of the despised Jesus 
 of Nazareth, preached at first by a few humble fisher- 
 men of Galilee, now finding its way to the very foun- 
 tain-head of the world's boasted wisdom. Paul is 
 placed on the tribunal, and the question is courteously 
 put to him by this courteous people, " May we know 
 what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is 1 — for 
 thou bringest strange things to our ears. We would 
 know, therefore, what these things mean." Christianity 
 had now a bold and fearless advocate. We may imagine 
 him standing up, his face and countenance worn and 
 sad with the traces of recent suftcring and bonds, and 
 sadder still with the spectacle of godless splendour all 
 around. He does not at first openly attack their hea- 
 then divinities ; had he done so, they would at once 
 have refused to listen. He tells that it is his desire to 
 direct them to the God, whom all their religious edi-
 
 220 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 fices showed they were " in ignorance " trying to " wor- 
 ship." He applauds the strength of the rehgious feel- 
 ing among them — that they were " exceedingly devout" 
 (the word which is not so correctly rendered in our 
 translation by " too superstitious "). He makes some 
 of the temples and their inscriptions, which he had seen 
 passing along the street, the test of the following Stir- 
 ling address : — 
 
 " Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye 
 are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld 
 your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, 
 To THE Unknown God. Whom therefore ye igno- 
 rantly worship, him declare I unto you. God, that 
 made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he 
 is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples 
 made with hands ; neither is worshipped with men's 
 hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth 
 to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made 
 of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the 
 face of the earth, and hath determined the times before 
 appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ; that 
 they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel 
 after him, and find him, though he be not far from 
 every one of us : for in him we live, and move, and 
 have oiir being ; as certain also of your own poets have 
 said. For we are also his offspring.* Forasmuch then 
 
 * Paul's quotation occurs in no less than two Greek poets. They are both, 
 of course, celebrating the pi-aise of Jupiter (or Jove), the king of their gods. 
 I subjoin a translation of both, given by Mr Lewin, vol. i. p. 284 : — 
 " He animates the mart and crowded way, 
 The restless ocean and the sheltor'd bay. 
 Doth care perplex ? is lowering danger nigh ? 
 We are his offspring, and to Jove we fly." — Aratvs, 
 "Hail ! unto thee may mortals lift their voice, 
 For we thine offspring are. All things that creep 
 Are but the echo of the Voice divine." — Hpnn oj Cleanllux.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 221 
 
 as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think 
 that the Godhead is hke unto gold, or silver, or stone, 
 graven by art and man's device. And the times of 
 this ignorance God winked at ; but now commandeth 
 all men everywhere to repent : because he hath ap- 
 pointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in 
 righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; 
 whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that 
 he hath raised him from the dead."* 
 
 This is doubtless only an outline of Paul's oration ; 
 but what a scene ! what an auditory ! His pulpit, the 
 tribunal where Socrates had once spoken, at the age 
 of seventy, on the same charge of introducing strange 
 gods — his canopy, the intense blue of an Attic sky — the 
 craggy mountains all around — the blue waters he had 
 lately crossed — the crowded monuments of art before 
 and on every side ! He looks above them all, and pro- 
 claims that his "God, who made the world, and all 
 things therein," owns, as the most hallowed of tem- 
 ples, the hearts of those who devoutly " seek " Him ; 
 and that the noblest forms their marble and gold and 
 silver can assume, are poor mockeries of the majesty 
 of His glory. 
 
 It has been thought by somet — and the opinion 
 seems not unsupported — that the " unknown God " of 
 which he speaks, may have referred to none other than 
 Jehovah, the living and true God of the Jews. More- 
 over, that the fact of no statue being erected on that 
 altar, is sufficiently accounted for by the expressions 
 which Greek writers themselves use when speaking of 
 
 * Acts xvii. 22-31. 
 
 t See Cave, p. 79, with references to Justin MartjT, Plutarch, Tacitus,
 
 222 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 the God of Israel (referring to his spirituahty of 
 nature), — e. g., " not to be expressed ; " " Him that may 
 not be named by you ; " the " All-hidden." If this 
 were the case, what an appropriate and significant text 
 was Paul thus furnished with ! He found the empty 
 altar — he places upon it the revelation of a hidden 
 God ; and, better still, the all-glorious Sacrifice. Jesus 
 he first sets forth as the Saviour, and then as the 
 Judge ! The existence of such an altar, however, may 
 be traced to an altogether different cause. It may be 
 referred to the custom which, in the Athenian capital, 
 was not unfrequent, of erecting shrines to " unknown 
 deities." " At Athens," says Pausanias, " there are 
 altars of gods which are called * the unknown ones.' " 
 We have from one of their own writers a singular 
 accoimt of how one of these was reared 600 years B.o. 
 Laertius informs us regarding Epimenides, that, " tak- 
 ing white and black sheep, he led them to the Areopa- 
 gus, and there allowed them to go where they would, 
 commanding those who followed them to sacrifice to 
 the god to whom these things pertained {without giv- 
 ing the name), and thus to allay the pestilence from 
 which it has arisen." He adds, that " at this day, 
 through the villages of the Athenians, altars are found 
 without any name." * 
 
 But to return to St Paul. Regarding his whole ad- 
 dress, it has been well said by a writer from whom, in 
 this chapter, we have already largely drawn — " Simple 
 throughout as is the language of the preacher, yet, in 
 the compass of these few words, he tells them the 
 noblest truths. That there was one God; that He 
 
 * Diog. Itxer. b. i. § 10, quoted by Barues On the Acts.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 223 
 
 dwelt not in temples ; that the world was not only made 
 but susftained by Him ; that all mankind were of one 
 blood ; that they had fallen away from righteousness ; 
 that God had sent His Son Jesus to redeem them ; that 
 He hud raised Him from the dead as an earnest of future 
 life ; that all men must be judged at the last day."* 
 
 Beautiful and comprehensive, howevei', as the ad- 
 dress of the apostle was, one cannot help being struck 
 with its great simplicity. Although in the presence of 
 the world's sages, he just preaches to them as we heard 
 liim preaching to the rude Lystrians or the fierce 
 jailer ! There is no display, no eloquence, no deep 
 and profound reasoning. In writing afterwards to his 
 Grecian converts, he explains the reason of this un- 
 adorned simplicity. " And I, brethren, when I came 
 to you, came not with excellency of speech, or of wis- 
 dom, declaring unto you the testimony of God : for I 
 determined not to know anything among you, save 
 Jesus Christ, and him crucified. . . . And my speech 
 and my preaching was not with enticing woi-ds of man's 
 wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of 
 power ; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom 
 of men, but in the power of God."t The great Ra- 
 phael, I doubt not, has both truthfully and strikingly 
 treated this eventful scene, in his famous cartoon of 
 "Paul preachiug at Athens." When you next see this 
 well-known picture, if you begin with the figures at the 
 extreme left, and go gradually round to those on the 
 extreme right, you will observe he represents, step by 
 step, from hardened unbelief to full and perfect faith. 
 The figures on the left are frowning with indignation 
 
 * Lewin, vol. i. p. 2S5. 
 
 t 1 Cor. ii. 1-5. — See Blunt's Lectures-
 
 224 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 on the new preacher ; those next in order are beginning 
 to reason with one another ; the next are arrested, the 
 next convinced, till it ends with the hands stretched 
 out in " believing joy." 
 
 The Apostle was stopped in the midst of his dis- 
 course. Some (evidently the Epicureans) laughed and 
 ridiculed, saying, " What can this babbler mean 1 " 
 Others (the Stoics) said " they would hear him at some 
 other time." They affirmed him to be a " setter forth 
 of strange gods." The Greeks had gods and goddesses 
 personating every passion and affection of the soul, such 
 as Pleasure, Hope, Shame, Fear, Peace, Fame, &c. And 
 when Paul spoke of "Jesus and the Resurrection" {Ana- 
 stasis), they imagined these two words indicated some 
 novel and strange deities they never heard of before.* 
 Lovers as they were of " mythology," the punishment 
 of death was decreed in their laws against any person 
 who, without authority of the state, would presume to 
 introduce anew divinity. The court of the Areopagus, 
 before which Paul had just been standing, was that 
 which was empowered to pronounce what were lawful 
 objects of worship, and to punish those who ventured 
 to be " setters forth of strange gods." By it Socrates 
 had the cup of hemlock put into his hands, which he 
 drank without a murmur.t They seem, in the present 
 instance, not to have exercised any of the severities of 
 the law against the Apostle. The court adjourned, the 
 
 * Chrysostom, Pausanias, i. 17. 
 
 t If Socrates, "the apostle of natural reason," had been one of Paul's 
 present hearers, who knows but his noble soul would have opened, like 
 the sunflower, to the light of life ! Had they been spoken of the true God, 
 his own words at his trial were worthy of the Apostle Paul himself, " Ye 
 men of Athens ! I am obliged to you and thank you, but I must obey God 
 rather than you."
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 225 
 
 crowd dispersed, and, so far as we know, Paul never 
 again preached in this city. We read only of two con- 
 verts which he made — " Dionysius the Areopagite, and 
 a woman named Damaris." But who can tell what 
 precious seed may have been sown that day among 
 those who hung on the lips of the apostle of Jesus 1 
 Who can tell what thoughts they may have carried 
 away with them to their homes, as they remembered 
 the closing sentences of the solemn appeal, that " God 
 had appointed a day in which he would judge the world 
 in righteousness by that Man whom he had ordained'"? 
 The expression used regarding his few Athenian con- 
 verts is worthy of note : " Howbeit, certain men clave 
 unto him." It must have cost them a strong effort to 
 be wrenched away from an idolatry to which they were 
 so attached ; but, having made the bold resolution to 
 forsake all and follow Jesus, their faith was strong, and 
 they were enabled "to cleave to the Lord with full 
 purpose of heart." It is of the nature of faith to grow 
 out of difficulties. We have reason to conclude that 
 the saints in Nero's palace, of whom we shall after- 
 wards hear, were the most devoted converts in Rome ; 
 they had much, in their exalted station, to endui-e for 
 the sake of Jesus ; and, unless their faith had been 
 strong and vigorous, they would not so readily have 
 suffered the loss of "all" for it. So also with the 
 converts at Athens. We may well believe that an 
 Areopagite, a member of that proud court of philoso- 
 phers, would not, on slight grounds, have taken the 
 publican's place at the cross of a crucified Redeemer. 
 Regarding Dionysius, we have no further information. 
 If we can credit the traditions of historians respecting 
 him, he had been a witness, when in Heliopolis in
 
 226 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAtJL. 
 
 'Egjj)t, of the supernatural darkness which attended the 
 Saviour's crucifixion, and, on beholding it, exclaimed, 
 " Either the God of nature suffers, or the frame of the 
 world will be dissolved." If aught of this tradition be 
 true, his mind had received a previous training for the 
 happy result which made an Athenian philosoplier 
 become a lowly disciple of Jesus. He was said after- 
 wards to have been appointed over the Church at 
 Athens, and to have crowned his labours with an 
 heroic martyrdom, being burnt alive in the same city, 
 in the year OS."' 
 
 When, however, we witness the effect of the Apostle's 
 labours and eloquence in a city of wise men, we see 
 how true is the Bible saying, that " the world by wis- 
 dom knew not God," and that "not many mighty, 
 not many noble, not many wise after the flesh, are 
 called." Paul's abode at Athens was only for a short 
 season. Originally he does not seem to have had any 
 intention to be there at all. He landed at Philippi, 
 with the purpose of carrying the Gospel to the cities 
 and villages of Macedonia ; but, having been obliged 
 to flee by uight from Berea, he had taken refuge at 
 Athens till he was rejoined there by Silas and Timothy. 
 At last Timothy arrives. It is, however, with no 
 cheering tidings. The rage of the Jews at Thessa- 
 lonica is still unabated, and Paul's fervent desire to 
 return could not be attempted without endangering his 
 life. What was to be done 1 The good Apostle could 
 not bear the tliought of his dear Thessalonian converts 
 being left " as sheep without a shepherd ; " and there- 
 fore, young though Timothy was, and ill as he could 
 spare his company, Paul resolved to remain " at Athens 
 
 * Sec Bhmt's Lectures, p. 260, Cave, Calmet.
 
 PAUL AT ATHENS. 
 
 227 
 
 thus alone," sending him back to comfort them, and 
 bring him tidings of their welfare. Listen to his own 
 words in the letter he sends to them :— " We would 
 have come unto you (even 1 Paul) once and again. . . . 
 Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we 
 thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent 
 Timotheus, our liotliev, and minister of God, and our 
 fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, 
 and to comfort you concerning your faith."* 
 
 After remaining some time in Achaia, preaching the 
 Gospel, the Apostles passed over to the adjoining city of 
 Coriutli. 
 
 * ITbess. ii. 18; iU. 1, 2.
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 jaiil nt €m\\i\i. 
 
 " They have mocked 
 
 At Heaven's high messenger, and he departs 
 
 From the mad circle. Athens ! is it so ? 
 «*«♦•• 
 
 Thou who didst smile to find the admiring world 
 Crouch as a pupil to thee, wert thou blind ? 
 Blinder than he, who, in his humble cot, 
 With hardeu'd hand, his daily labour done, 
 Turneth the page of Jesus and doth read? 
 Yet shall that poor way£aring man lie down 
 With such a hope as thou couldst never teach 
 Thy king-like sages ! " 
 
 *' His letters (say they) are weighty and powerful."— 2 Cor. x. 10. 
 
 " St Hierom cries him up as a great master of composition ; that as 
 oft as he heard him, he seemed to hear, not words, but thunder." — 
 Cave, 167S.
 
 -. ^ 
 
 %^ 
 
 E must now follow our Apostle to 
 another renowned capital of Greece. 
 On the naiTOw isthnaus wliich, like 
 ' T a bridge, connected the northern and 
 
 southern divisions of this ancient kingdom, was situ- 
 ated the city of Corinth, well called, by an old xvTiter, 
 " the city of the two seas." Again and again had 
 Corinth been strongly fortified by high, walls to resist 
 invaders from either side. Nature, too, supplied her 
 with noble fortifications. There is one lofty rock espe- 
 cially, on the south, called Acro-corinthus, with the 
 temple of Venus on its summit, which still towers to 
 a height of two thousand feet above the level of the 
 sea, overlooking the city. From its ridge a magnifi- 
 cent view is obtained on every side. At a distance of 
 forty-five miles the Athenian Acropolis might be dis- 
 tinctly seen,* and appearing in that clear atmosphere 
 
 * Ctmybe-.irii and Howsou
 
 230 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 not to be nearly so far off as it really was. There was 
 a spacious harbour on either side of the isthmus, in 
 which ships of commerce from every shore might be 
 seen riding at anchor, Ceuchrea in the east, and Le- 
 chseum in the west, Lechceum was nearest the city, 
 and was very much to Corinth what the Piraeus was to 
 Athens, a range of long walls connecting them together. 
 Corinth itself was more especially noted for its metals, 
 dyes, and porcelain ; * while the far-flimed Isthmian 
 Games attracted thousands upon thousands every year 
 from all parts of Greece, and gave a celebrity to the 
 spot, independent of every other claim. 
 
 The ancient city had been entirely destroyed before 
 Paul's time. The citadel on Acro-corinthus had been 
 burnt to ashes, and the numerous statues that studded 
 the rock being melted on that occasion by the heat, 
 formed in their fused state the well-known and highly- 
 prized " Corinthian brass." The town lay thus in ruins 
 for one hundred years ; but Julius Caesar, seeing its ma- 
 ritime importance, built it afresh, and peopled it with a 
 Roman colony of freedmen, among whom doubtless 
 were many Jews.t When Paul, therefore, now visited 
 it, it had been restored to its former splendour; not 
 only were its buildings gorgeous, and its wealth great, 
 but its population was vast and varied, consisting of 
 .Jews, Greeks, and Romans. 
 
 We cannot imagine a greater contrast than existed, 
 at the period of which we write, between the cities of 
 Athens and Corinth. The one was the renowned 
 centre of learning, venerable with age, art, and worldly 
 wisdom ; the other was a magnificent mercantile capi- 
 tal, far exceeding the former in wealth and population, 
 
 * Conybeare and Ilowson. t Str.ibo, viii. 0.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 231 
 
 but without any pretensions to learning or philosophy. 
 In its splendid harbours would be seen riding the ships 
 of all nations, and particularly Roman vessels, — the 
 town being included in the empire of the Caesars. 
 
 We may picture the Great Apostle approaching this 
 city after his residence at Athens. As he travels along 
 the isthmus, he must have witnessed, in passing, the 
 celebrated Stadium and Theatre where those famoiis 
 games were celebrated, to which he has such frequent 
 reference in the course of his writings. If his mind 
 had not been so familiarised with the splendid sculp- 
 ture of Athens, he could not fail to be struck with the 
 long line of busts and statues erected along the road in 
 honour of the victors in these world-renowned meetings, 
 — the temple of Neptune, with its sacred grove, over- 
 looking them all.* Avenues, or clumps of pine, shaded 
 or beautified the highway, — those very trees which 
 yielded the "corruptible" wreaths which, in an after 
 letter to Corinth, he so touchingly contrasts with the 
 better " crowns of glory," in the Christian race, which 
 " never fade away." t Close to the gate was a mo- 
 nument to the memory of Diogenes the cynic. The 
 traveller entered the city, and the market-place opened 
 to his view. In the centre was a bronze Minerva, and 
 around were temples and statues, and a fountain gush- 
 ing from " the mouth of a dolphin supporting the 
 figure of Neptune." + Corinth, at that time, was one 
 of the most expensive places to reside at in the east of 
 Europe, — so much so, that it was a common proverb, 
 " Not every man can go to Corinth." Alas ! alas ! if 
 Paul's spirit was stirred within him in Athens, because 
 it was wholly given to idolatry, much more must 
 
 * See tlie picture. f 1 Cor. ix. 25. } Lewm, vol. i. p. 292.
 
 232 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 he have mourned and grieved over a city wholly given 
 to vice in its most debasing form. If we have likened 
 Thessalonica to our modern Liverpool, the comparison 
 made by a writer, of Corinth to modern Paris (in its worst 
 aspect) is perhaps an equally truthful one. It was the 
 world's fashionable capital — full of show and glitter — 
 but all this gilding covering corruption in its worst 
 form. 
 
 What perhaps at first attracted the Apostle the more 
 to it, was the number of Jews who, on account of a 
 severe edict of Claudivis Csesar, had been recently 
 expelled from Rome, and had there taken up their 
 abode. The Hebrew population in Rome had for long 
 — as, we know, is still the case there — occupied a "Jew- 
 ish Quartei'," where they were allowed to have their 
 own " oratories," similar to what we found in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Philippi. The cause of their present ex- 
 pulsion we give in the remarkable words of the his- 
 torian Suetonius: — "The Jews, who were constantly 
 exciting tumults (Chrestus being the mover), he 
 banished from Rome." The word " Chrestus" is more 
 than probably intended for Christus, or Christ. The 
 Roman historian, who was not intimately acquainted 
 with the Jewish religion, might easily fall into the 
 mistake of speaking of a tumult occasioned vnder 
 Christ, when it was only about Christ.* There were 
 other causes, however, which operated in rousing the 
 jealousy of the emperor. Judea itself had been in a 
 state of revolt from the Roman power at this very 
 time. Tacitus informs us, among other acts of vio- 
 lence, of a royal servant, named Stephen, being as- 
 saulted by a gang of Jewish thieves, the baggage 
 
 * Lactantius.
 
 PAUL AT CORfNTH. 233 
 
 plimflered, and the Roman soldiers killed who -were 
 appointed to guard it.* When so great an enmity 
 existed between the nations, the authorities deemed it 
 unsafe to permit so many of the Hebrew people to re- 
 main within the walls of the capital ; hence the edict 
 for tlieir expulsion, which had brought so many of 
 them at present to Corinth. Among tliesc banished 
 Jews were two natives of Pontus, Aquila and Pris- 
 cilla. As we learn afterwards that they returned to 
 the city of the Tiber, we may gather that the lat- 
 ter formed their regular place of residence. They 
 were by trade tent-makers, and probably had made 
 money by their profession. In consequence of their 
 expulsion, like others, they had been making their 
 way to their native place, Pontus, in Asia, by way of 
 the Corinthian isthmus, when all at once, for reasons 
 we are not told, they paused at the Grecian capital, 
 and hired a house and workshop. Perhaps the riches 
 and extent of Corinth gave promise of a flourishing 
 trade. 
 
 It is more than likely that it was their trade also 
 which induced Paul to take up his abode with them, 
 that he might the more easily obtain his own liveli- 
 hood. As there were Jews from Pontus who heai'd 
 Peter preach his first sermon,t it is very possible 
 Aquila and Priscilla may have first heard of the Mes- 
 siah from the lips of that apostle. Be this as it may, 
 it does not seem that they were converted to the truth 
 when Paul first went to reside with them ; but it was 
 while carrying on their joint labours at their tent- 
 looms, that they were led cordially to embrace the sal- 
 vation of the Gospel. It does indeed give us a beauti- 
 
 * Whitby's Annotations. t Acts ii. 9.
 
 234 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 ful specimen of Gospel humility, as well as a pattern 
 for duty iu every sphere of life, to see this great man, 
 who had so lately been keeping company with Athenian 
 philosophers, now plying his needle on the rough hair- 
 cloth along with two refugee Jews ; and, at the same 
 time, during these hours of hard and laborious toil, 
 unfolding the riches of the great salvation! If, as 
 some suppose, Aquila and Priscilla had a workshop at 
 Corinth, with a number of workmen employed, Ave may 
 well believe that Paul would form among them his 
 " church in the house," — preaching, as he advised an- 
 other, " in season and out of season," — " becommg all 
 things to all men, if by any means he might gain 
 some." At all events, with Aquila and Pi'iscilla he 
 now commenced a sacred friendship, which lasted till 
 the Apostle's death. This is not the last time we shall 
 find their names and Christian deeds mentioned to- 
 gether 
 
 There was another new kind of ministerial labour 
 St Paul undertook in the midst of his handicraft. 
 His mind often wandered back in fond solicitude to 
 his beloved Thessalonian converts. He is prevented 
 seeing them or visiting them ; but he resolves to 
 write them a Letter ; and this brings us to a most inter- 
 esting period of the Apostle's history, — the composing 
 of the first of those inspired Epistles, which have so 
 cheered and comforted the Church in every age. 
 " You yourself," says an able living writer, who in- 
 herits much of the great Apostle's spirit, " have never 
 had any connexion with St Paul but by his writings, 
 and yet you seem to know him personally. So much 
 of life and heat palpitate in his words, that it only 
 seems necessary to touch the hand in order to feel the
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 235 
 
 pulsations of that heart which has ceased to beat for 
 eighteen hundred years." * What a blessed consola- 
 tion every Christian feels it, at a time of bereavement 
 or sorrow, to receive a letter of sympathy and solace 
 from a loved friend ! How interesting for us to read 
 the first of such letters ever writteii! It is from the great 
 Apostle of the Gentiles to the Church at Thessalonica, 
 It would do well for my young readers to take up their 
 Bibles and peruse this Epistle for themselves. I shall 
 merely tell you the circumstances in which it was 
 composed : — Timothy and Silas, you will remember, 
 had been left in Macedonia ; Paul — alone in Athens — ■ 
 had been wearying much for their return ; and his 
 anxiety for their coming was increased, as he dreaded 
 lest his converts in Thessalonica might be beginning to 
 fall away, and be forgetful of their " first love." He 
 tells us he was now among the Corinthians " in weak- 
 ness, and in fear, and in much trembling." He may 
 have felt the almost hopeless wickedness of this disso- 
 lute city, and despaired of making any progress in his 
 great work. At last Timothy and his companion did 
 return. The Apostle was indeed glad to see them. In 
 addition to his other trials, he must have been suffer- 
 ing much from the famine at that time prevalent in 
 Greece ; and we know he refused to his dying day to 
 receive any pecuniary assistance from the Corinthian 
 Church, lest they might accuse him of unworthy 
 motives. These two faithful brethren brought him 
 relief from Macedonian Christians. We find him thus 
 referring afterwards to his circumstances, in a letter to 
 the Cormthians . — " And when I was present with 
 you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man : for 
 
 * A. Mouod's Discourses, p. 31.
 
 236 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 that which was lacking to me the brethren which came 
 from Macedonia suppUed ; and in all things I have 
 kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so 
 will I keep myself."* Timothy and Silas also brought 
 the Apostle cheering tidings about the spiritual condi- 
 tion of those he had so recently left. Paul, with a 
 joyful heart, employed what time could be spared from 
 his other labours in writing " The First Epistle to the 
 Thessalonians." In it he expresses his joy and affec- 
 tionate regard for them ; and sends some salutary warn- 
 ings, urging them still to remain faithful in the midst 
 of all the persecutions which, for the sake of Christ, 
 they were called to endure. 
 
 He had commenced his labours in Corinth by preach- 
 ing to the Jews; but here, far more than in any other 
 place, was their envy and hatred manifested against 
 him, and against that holy Name he loved to proclaim. 
 So much so, that at last, with a heavy heart, he was 
 obliged to leave their synagogue altogether, shaking 
 off the dust from his garment — the expressive testi- 
 mony used in these times against the hardened and 
 reprobate. " And when they opposed themselves, and 
 blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, 
 Your blood be upon your own heads ; I am clean : from 
 henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." t 
 
 He and his two friends, who had now joined him, 
 and were strengthening his hands, set themselves to 
 procure another place of meeting where they might 
 address the Gentiles, and such Jews as still chose to 
 attend their ministrations. There was a house or 
 room, next door to the synagogue, which belonged to 
 a proselyte called Justus. This became hereafter the 
 
 ♦ 2 Cor. xi. 9. t Acts xviiL 6.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 237 
 
 place of the Apostle's preaching. He seemed still to 
 continue his residence with Aquila and Priscilla ; but 
 their house had probably no space to contain the in- 
 creasing worshippers. Among those who became con- 
 verts, under his instnictions, were Stephanas and his 
 family, who is called by him " the first-fruits of Achaia 
 unto Christ." A more important and influential con- 
 vert still, was Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, 
 whose high chai'acter and office must have added great 
 weight and influence to his adoption of the religion of 
 Jesus. These, and other things, caused the rage of the 
 Corinthian Jews to increase. It bowed down Paul's 
 spirit with grief, to see that his worst foes were those 
 of his own brethren and household. It was at this 
 ti'ying time he wrote his " Second Epistle to the Thessalo- 
 nians," in which he refers to (what he seldom cai-es 
 dwelling upon) his own vexations and sorrows on their 
 account, and requests an interest in the prayers of this 
 distant church. 
 
 There was One, at least, who was at this moment no 
 unconcerned witness of His servant's struggles and con- 
 flicts : God himself had seen liow sorely and heavily 
 his spirit had been weighed down. He appeared to 
 him in the middle of the night in a vision, and spake 
 ** comforting words" — telling him not to be afraid, nor 
 to hold his peace, for that He would uphold and 
 strengthen him in the midst of every difficulty; and 
 all the more so, " as He had much people in that 
 city."* 
 
 It may be well here to periTse the Second Epistle to 
 the Thessalonians. Tiie messenger he had sent with 
 the First Epistle, had just returned with the singular 
 
 * Acts xviii. 10.
 
 238 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 tidings that the Thessalonians had taken up the strong 
 impression that the end of the world was at hand. 
 You will find that one of the main objects of this 
 second letter was to correct these erroneous views 
 which many of the converts had been entertaining 
 about the second coming of Christ ; some of whom 
 were even giving up their daily trades, under the im- 
 pression that the Lord was about to appear. The 
 Apostle assures them how false this expectation was; 
 for that great advent could not take place until sundry 
 events had occurred, of which he had often before 
 spoken. 
 
 We need only further add, with reference to the 
 Apostle, that he seems to have continued his residence 
 in Corinth for the space of eighteen months; during 
 that time visiting various places in Achaia, and par- 
 ticularly Cenchrea, the busy seaport on the opposite 
 shore of the isthmus. It was an important and inter- 
 esting period in his history, and an important spot in 
 the civilised world. It was either fi^om Corinth, or to 
 Corinth, that his choicest epistles were written. The 
 numbers of his converts there seem to have been very 
 considerable. He speaks, in his Epistle to the Romans, 
 of the churches in Corinth ; and there would appear to 
 have been a special church in Cenchrea, for Phoebe is 
 described as deaconess of it.* 
 
 It was near the end of this year and a-half to which 
 we have referred, that Gallio was made governor (or 
 proconsul) of the province, by Claudius Caesar. He 
 was the adopted son of Junius Gallio. Who had been 
 in the office before him, we are not told; but whoever 
 he was, he must have been lenient towards the Chris- 
 
 » Bom. xvi. 1.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 239 
 
 tians, else Paul could not have continued undisturbed 
 in his teaching and preaching for so long a period as 
 eighteen months. I need not say that the comfort and 
 well-being of the inhabitants of a Roman province 
 greatly depended on their governor. The Corinthians 
 and Achaians had obtained in Gallio one who was re- 
 markably distinguished for his kindness, integrity, and 
 honour. Roman writers tell us, just what we should 
 have expected from what we know of him in sacred 
 story, that he was a man of gentle and amiable dispo- 
 sition, besides being of superior abilities. Seneca, his 
 own brother, who had the responsible office of tutor to 
 the young Emperor Nero, speaks of him as " without 
 a fault, whom every one loved too little, even he who 
 loved him to the utmost. In him there was such a 
 natural power of goodness, that there was no semblance 
 of art or dissimulation." * The Jews, whose envy we 
 have already found was stirred up against Paul, were 
 anxious to test what the feelings of the new proconsul 
 were to themselves and their religion ; or knowing per- 
 haps his easy and obliging temper, they thought they 
 might presume upon it for tb.e overthrow of an adversary 
 they hated. They resolved, therefore, to accuse the Apos- 
 tle at Gallio's judgment-seat. They were enabled with 
 greater plausibility to do so, as their religion was pro- 
 tected to them by Roman statute, and they could charge 
 him with doing violence to the laws of the state. " This 
 fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the 
 law." t It was wisely ordered that so kind and benig- 
 nant a ruler had been sent to Corinth. Had Gallio been 
 stern and rigorous — had he been fired, as many others 
 were, with hatred to the Christian cause, the Apostle 
 
 * Lewiu aud Barnes. f Acts xviii. 13.
 
 240 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 might have been expelled, or imprisoned, and the 
 flourishing little chui'ch left to droop in sadness. But 
 Gallio's verdict contributed greatly to the strengthen- 
 ing of the Gospel cause ; for after Sosthenes (probably 
 the successor of Crispus in the Jewish synagogue) had 
 led the accusation, the governor, without even allowing 
 Paul to speak a word of defence, dismisses the case. 
 He tells the Jews that he was not sent there to act as 
 judge in their petty quarrels, and to be the settler of 
 religit)us disputes. Had it been a question affecting 
 the peace of the province, his conduct would have been 
 different ; but he would certainly not meddle with mat- 
 ters of mere party violence and feeling. " And when 
 Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said 
 unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked 
 lewdness, ye Jews, reason would that I should bear 
 with you : but if it be a question of words and names, 
 and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of 
 such matters."* The Greeks were standing around 
 the tribunal, anxiously waiting the decision ; they 
 heard it with gladness and satisfaction; they even laid 
 hands on Sosthenes and beat him. It is evident, 
 moreover, that Gallio's feelings were by no means of a 
 friendly kind towards these accusing Jews ; for we are 
 told that he "took no notice of any of these things."t 
 Paul, therefore, on account of this important decision, 
 was allowed to remain in safety in the Isthmian city. 
 The assurance he received in the night vision was 
 
 * Acts xviii. 14, 15. 
 
 t This seems to be the true meaning of what is rendered in our versiou, 
 "And Gallio cared for none of these things." "This has been usually 
 chr.rged on Gallio as a matter of reproach, as if he were wholly indifferent 
 to religion. But the charge is unjustly made."— Barnes On Acts ; note in 
 Olshausen, &c.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 241 
 
 already fulfilled, that no man would be allowed to hurt 
 him, and that he might fearlessly proclaim the cause of 
 his Divine Master. A judgment-day only will reveal the 
 fruit of these many months' devoted labour. We know, 
 however, that he had in that city many souls for his 
 hire. Wicked Corinth, with all its dreadful sins, be- 
 came a striking comment on Paul's own words else- 
 where, " Where sin abounded, grace did much more 
 abound." 
 
 It may just be worthy of notice liere, that Sosthenes, 
 ■who appears at this trial a leader of the Jews, and the 
 bitter opponent of St Paul, himself became a convert 
 to the faith of Jesus. He has his name joined with 
 that of the Great Apostle in the 1st verse of the First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians. Nay, as Paul was himself 
 unable to write his own letters, and always employed 
 a scribe, it is more than likely Sosthenes penned that 
 Christian epistle from Ephesus to his old fellow-citizens 
 of Corinth ! 
 
 At the end, however, of " a year and sis months," 
 our Apostle was desirous of paying a visit to Jeru- 
 salem, and there keeping one of the great annual 
 feasts, most probably the Feast of Pentecost. He 
 avails himself of the opportunitv of his two friends, 
 Aquila and Priscilla, going to Ephesvis. They embark 
 together in the same vessel, taking, doubtless, many 
 affectionate farewells, with the solemn feeling that they 
 might never again meet in the flesh. Their road first 
 conducted them to the Eastern port of Cenchrea, 
 where an occurrence took place we must not pass by 
 without notice. It was customary for the Jews, when- 
 ever they had experienced any great mercy or deliver-
 
 242 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ance at the baud of God,* to take the " vow of the 
 Nazarite," which you will find particularly described in 
 the 6th Chapter of the Book of Numbers. It consisted 
 in abstaining for thirty days from the use of wine, the 
 hair and beard being left to grow, and at the end of 
 thi^ period the head was shaven. There were also 
 several appointed sacrifices ; but as they could only be 
 offered in Jenisalem, it was customary for those who 
 made the vow at a distance, to defer presenting them 
 till their next visit to the Holy City. Paul, though 
 he looked in no degree to the law of Moses for salva- 
 tion, still loved to retain any Jewish custom which 
 the higher claims of Christianity would admit of. It 
 has been supposed, indeed, that one great object he 
 had at present in making this vow was, to convince 
 the Jews that he was no enemy to their law, but that 
 he still looked with the veneration of a child of Israel 
 to the rites of the old dispensation ; and feeling at this 
 time the great goodness of God in his merciful preser- 
 vation from the hands of his accusers, he had made, 
 thirty days before arriving at Cenchrea, the vow which 
 I have referred to. The period of keeping it had just 
 expired, and his head was shorn before taking ship 
 from the port of Corinth. It may be worth while 
 further noticing, that Eastern travellers find similar 
 customs, regarding vows, prevalent to this day. " An 
 usage, similar to the vow of the Nazariteship, exists 
 in Persia now. It frequently happens, after the birth 
 of a son, that if the parent be in distress, or the child 
 be sick, or any other cause of grief, the mother makes 
 a vow that no razor shall come upon the child's head 
 
 * Josephus, book i, 2, 15.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 243 
 
 for a certain portion of time, and sometimes for hia 
 whole life, as Samuel was (1 Sam. i. 11). If the child 
 I'ecovers, and the cause of grief be removed, then the 
 mother shaves his head at the end of the time pre- 
 scribed — makes a small entertainment— collects money 
 and other things from her relations and friends, which 
 are sent as netzers or offerings to the mosque at Ker- 
 belah, and are there consecrated." * 
 
 "We may imagine St Paul, with his two Corin- 
 thian friends, also Silas, Timothy, and a third apostle, 
 Titus, here named for the first time, bidding adieu to 
 the coast of Achaia — obtaining now and then, as they 
 sail along, a glimpse of the Athenian Acropolis and the 
 glittering statue of Minerva. Probably, instead of 
 continuing a direct easterly course, he would have pre- 
 ferred sailing northwards again, between the island 
 of Euboea and the mainland, and coming ashore at the 
 base of Olympus, to have visited his beloved church at 
 Thessalonica. He tells us, indeed, how much he 
 wished to do so ; but something in God's good provi- 
 dence " hindered him " for the present, and many 
 years were to elapse till they were to meet again face 
 to face. Soon the voyagers are threading their way 
 among the islands of the Archipelago, — the lovely 
 "isles of Greece," — and reach in safety the city of 
 Ephesus, the great capital of Asia, as Corinth was of 
 Achaia. Here the Apostle paused only for a day or 
 two at this time ; the ship in which they were sailing 
 being destined for the coast of Syria. He had an 
 opportunity, however, to hold a discussion with the 
 Jews of Ephesus, in their synagogue, on Sabbath. It 
 
 * Morier's Second Journey, quoted by Horue in bis Introduction, vol. ii. 
 p. 329.
 
 244 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 was more encouraging than any recent meetings witli 
 his brethren ; they even urged him to prolong his stay, 
 which, however, he declined, as either the vessel which 
 had brought him thither or another was about to saQ, 
 and he had a divine call to attend the approaching fes- 
 tival at Jerusalem — " I must by all means keep this 
 feast ; " * but he gave the promise of a speedy return, 
 if God's will so ordered it. Again embarking, and 
 leaving Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, we may fol- 
 low him and his three companions in thought past the 
 Island of Rhodes and Cyprus, till they land at the 
 military port of Cesarea, with which we are already 
 familiar. 
 
 The sacred oracles are silent about Paul's visit at 
 this time to Jerusalem. It has been supposed his pur- 
 pose of being present at the feast was by delay frus- 
 trated, as he merely speaks o? " saluting the church," 
 and then departing. He would doubtless repair to the 
 temple, offering there the accustomed sacrifices in ful- 
 filment of his vow, and anew tell with a joyous heart 
 to his fellow-Christians and bi-ethren all that the Lord 
 had done in distant heathen lands. He bends his 
 steps once more (probably along the coast road) to 
 the Syrian Antioch, to which town the present was in 
 all probability his last and closing visit. You, doubt- 
 less, have not forgotten that this was the church which 
 first sent him out on his missionary work. He must 
 have had towards it the feeling of a child to a parent. 
 He had gone forth from them but a few years before, 
 " bearing precious seed," and he had now come again 
 " with rejoicing," bringing the tidings of sheaves with 
 him, reaped in the great mission Harvest. 
 
 * Acts xviii. 21.
 
 PAUL AT CORINTH. 245 
 
 Is he here now to rest? is the "good soldier" to 
 repose ou the laurels he has won, and, uugirding his 
 missionary armour, to spend the remainder of his days 
 in inglorious ease on the banks of the Orontesi Hav- 
 ing done so much himself, may he not now leave the 
 work to others 1 He has borne " the burden and heat 
 of the day," — who could wonder if he wished to spend 
 the evening of his life in quiet and peace, and send out 
 younger and hardier wari'iors to fight the battles of 
 the faith? This great standard-bearer in " the glorious 
 company of apostles " had no such thought ; he only 
 comes to Antioch to gird on his armour lor fresh con- 
 quests. " Not as though I had already attained," was 
 the motto of his public as well as his private life. He 
 prepares to set out from this city on his Third Mission- 
 ary Jouiiiey.* 
 
 He begins his new pilgrimage by fulfilling the pro- 
 mise we have just found him making to the church at 
 Ephesus, going direct thither across the interior of 
 Asia Minor. With the exception of Titus, we cannot 
 exactly say who were his travelling companions. Silas 
 he seems to have left behind him at Jerusalem ; per- 
 haps Erastus, Gaius, and Aristarchus, accompanied 
 him.t We have every reason to believe Timothy still 
 continued at his side. Travelling through Cilicia, the 
 Great Apostle might possibly once more visit his native 
 Tarsus, and have the fond memories of his boyhood 
 agaiu revived. Similar, too, must have been the feel- 
 ings of Timothy as he passed with his " father in the 
 faith" through the place of his birth and childhood. 
 Paul must have, on this journey, also •' saluted" his Ga- 
 latian churches. You cannot have forgotten tlie kind- 
 
 • See now the lerinilion line on the map. t -A-Cis xix. 29.
 
 246 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ness he received, on his first visit, from this singular 
 people. I fear, however, by this time, judging from 
 what he says afterwards in his " letter " to them, that 
 they had been corrupted from the purity of the Gos- 
 pel, and that "strifes, seditions, heresies," had taken the 
 place of unity and brotherly love. One of the obj ects the 
 Apostle had in this new missionary tour, was to gather 
 collections in behalf of the poor saints and brethren in 
 Judea, and his old friends in Galatia were not behind 
 in their liberality. After visiting the churches in 
 Phrygia, and getting from them similar contributions, 
 he and his companions probably pursued the great high- 
 way in the direction of Colosse. Though we have no 
 means of determining the precise route they adopted, 
 we have little doubt that they travelled now the 
 region he was " forbidden of the Holy Ghost " to visit 
 before, and that he passed through so me of those seven 
 cities which were afterwards made famous as the sites 
 of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. We 
 shall not, however, pause to describe their journey, but 
 at once take our readers to the town of Ephesus ; or 
 rather we shall leave for a little the newly-arrived 
 missionaries there, until we speak of a new character 
 who presents himself to our notice in connexion with 
 the same place.
 
 CHAPTEE XIY. 
 
 ^ml at €^\p\\$. 
 
 " In tlie proud land of palaces wert thou 
 
 Alone and matchless, as thine own fair queen 
 Shinps 'midst the gems of night's star-crowned brow. 
 
 Veiling their dim rays with superior sheen. 
 Thy countless columns gleam 'd in rich array — 
 
 The gifts of monarchs, and the work of men — 
 Whose nobler names, when regal thrones decay, 
 
 Shall boast the meed of Fame's recording pen." 
 
 "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" — Acts xix. 28.
 
 ■ ',Sjll 
 
 while the Jews of Ephesus 
 
 Onl da; 
 '^W \\ere asbembled in their synagogue, a 
 stiangcr lose up to address them. They 
 were at once struck witli his fervour, learning, and 
 eloquence. He was deeply read in their Old Testament 
 Scriptures, and ably argued from them. ^Vho can this 
 be ? It is a name that occurs now for the first time in 
 our narrative. 
 
 Apollos was a native of Egypt. He had recently 
 come to Ephesus, and. along with twelve others, was " a 
 disciple of John the Baptist." " He knew only of the 
 baptism of John," — that is to say, all the knowledge 
 he had of the true Messiah was derived from the 
 preaching of the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan. 
 He and his associates were ignorant of the fact, that 
 Jesus Christ had really come into the world — had
 
 250 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 died, and risen again. Their minds, liowever, were in a 
 state of "preparation ;" thej knew that "the kingdom 
 of heaven was at hand," and now they were ready to 
 receive, from the hps of the Great Apostle, the joyful 
 intelligence that the Messiah Jiad indeed suffered, and 
 had "entered into His glory."* 
 
 Apollos, born and educated at Alexandria, had his 
 mind stored with the learning of its celebrated uni- 
 versity. To this he added a powerful eloquence. " He 
 was mighty in the Scriptures;" he had studied and 
 pondered with great care the Old Testament prophe- 
 cies relating to the Messiah, and, being convinced him- 
 self, he zealously tried to convince others that the Sa- 
 viour must soon come. With holy ardour, he seems to 
 have travelled about from place to place, and, in the 
 spirit of Elias, preached " the baptism of repentance," 
 — calling on all to forsake their sins, and to prepare 
 their minds for the coming of the Lord. 
 
 Already in the Ephesian synagogue an interest had 
 been excited about the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had 
 very lately been addressing his Jewish brethren there. 
 Aquila and Priscilla had done so since his departure, 
 doubtless instructing their fellow-countrymen in those 
 great truths which they themselves had heard often 
 and again from the lips of the Great Apostle of Tarsus, 
 as he sat with them on the same floor at their tent- 
 making. Upon the day to which I have referred, after 
 listening to the eloquence and earnestness of this Alex- 
 andrian Jew, Aquila and Priscilla, at the end of the 
 service, made themselves known to him. They invited 
 him to their house, where they " taught him the way 
 of the Lord more perfectly," showing him that " the 
 
 * See Olshausen On Acts, in loc.
 
 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 251 
 
 mystery of godliness " had already been revealed — that 
 God had been " manifest in the flesh." 
 
 The disciple of John, now a devoted servant of 
 John's Great Master, went forth to proclaim in Achaia 
 "the unsearchable riches" of a dying, and now ever- 
 living Saviour. Keceiving " letters of commendation " 
 from the Christians at Ephesus, he took ship and sailed 
 direct to Corinth ; there, with his wonted eloquence, 
 he argued with those Jews who had rejected Paul, 
 showing that Jesus was indeed the Christ. They were 
 totally unable to resist the force of his appeals. Taul 
 himself alludes to this in one of his letters to them — 
 " I have planted ; Apollos watered." * His coming to 
 Corinth produced one unfortunate result, which he, 
 doubtless, greatly regretted. The Christians there, 
 forgetful that both he and Paul were only lowly instru- 
 ments in God's hand, separated themselves into two 
 parties, — thereby causing those earnest and devoted 
 brethren in a common Lord, to appear as if they were 
 rivals, and opposed to one another. Some were " of 
 Paul," and others " of Apollos." Our Apostle was also 
 greatly grieved at this spirit. In words of holy re- 
 buke, he writes to them, " Who, then, is Paul, and 
 who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed 1 " 
 " Is Christ divided 1 was Paul crucified for you 1 or 
 were ye baptized in the name of Paul 1 " t 
 
 We shall leave Apollos in his devoted work at 
 Corinth, and once more return to Ephesus. Its im- 
 portance in the life of Paul, and in the early Christian 
 Church, entitles it to special notice. If you look at the 
 picture we have given of it, it may help to give an 
 idea of the city as it was when he now entered its 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 6. t 1 Cor. iii. 5 ; i. 13.
 
 252 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 gates, and was about to gather in some more " first- 
 fruits" of the great Gospel harvest. The city itself 
 ■was at this time the largest and most renowned in 
 Asia Minor. It was built near where the rivers 
 Hermus and Mseander empty their waters into the 
 JEgea.n Sea; and, from its situation, became the resi- 
 dence of many classes from all parts of the East. It 
 >vas called by Pliny one of the " Eyes of Asia," 
 Smyrna being the other. A Roman proconsul go- 
 verned it in great splendour. He was clothed in pur- 
 ple, attended by twelve lictors with their fasces ; and, 
 like our judges in England and Scotland, made his cir- 
 cuit once a year to all the smaller towns in Asia, and 
 held a court of justice.* The original city was built 
 on the side of the hill Coressus, the base of which is 
 nearest you to the left of the picture, sloping gradually 
 into the plain. Mount Pactyas (from which the view 
 is supposed to be taken) bounded it on the east. Mount 
 Gallesius on the north, with a lake at its base ; while 
 the waters of the ocean were on the west (represented 
 in the distance of the picture). All these hills were 
 precipitous, enclosing, like so many ramparts, the plain 
 on which Ephesus stood, except at the north-east, 
 where the river Cayster, which you will observe on 
 the right, wound its way through the plain to the sea. 
 The prominent hill rising in front of Mount Coressus, 
 is Mount Prion, famous for its quarries. In the valley 
 between these two hills, may still be traced the remains 
 of one of the celebrated " gymnasia." Mount Prion 
 itself is overrun at this day with tangled thickets, but 
 we may imagine what it must have been in the days of 
 Paul, when covered with mason-work from its own 
 
 * Lowin.
 
 «i|LWIi JllUti'iui"
 
 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 253 
 
 quarries. Looking down from its summit, what is now 
 a swamp, was then a spacious harbour, or inland basin, 
 called Panormus, or " All-haven," where the ships of 
 the European seas rode at anchor. It was at this har- 
 bour that Aquila, Priscilla, and Paul must have landed. 
 From the same height might be seen the Stadium, or 
 place where those engaged in the games contended, 
 with its tiers of stone seats cut out of the natural rock 
 (see the nearest part of the picture on the left). Also, 
 midway between the Stadium and Mount Prion, the 
 enormous Theatre, of which we shall by and by speak, 
 where the Ephcsiau mob were addressed by the town- 
 clerk.* 
 
 But the crowning glory of Ephesus was its wonder- 
 ful temple to the goddess Diana, which I shall leave 
 my young readers to find out for themselves. This 
 was considered one of the wonders of the Old World; 
 and well it might be called so. It was said that the 
 sun, in all his course through the heavens, looked down 
 ou nothing so glorious.t It was composed of all that 
 was magnificent in Asiatic art. The states round about 
 had shared the cost of its erection. It was built of 
 marble, found in the quarries of Mount Prion, and was 
 said to be so pure and bright as to dazzle the eyes of 
 mariners at a distance. 
 
 The story is worth giving as to how these marble 
 quarries were discovered. A shepherd, named Pixo- 
 dorus, was feeding his flock on the hill ; two of his 
 
 * Chandler mentions, that among the pile of ruins which the Theatre 
 has now become, ho discovered an arcli, next to the Stadium, ou which 
 was an inscription iuvitiug the reader, if ho did not join in tlio i>purts and 
 festive scenes, at all events to be pleased with tlie areUilcct's device. What 
 a Icssun would be read to him if he gazed on the triumph of his genius 
 now! 
 
 t Chandler, p. 133. P
 
 254 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 rams began to fight with one another ; the one of 
 these, in making a rush at his enemy, missed his mark 
 and struck his horn through the turf, goring some 
 white substance with it. The shepherd dug up a spe- 
 cimen of the rock, and ran into the city with his prize. 
 It was just what the Ephesians were in search of — ■ 
 marble for the building of their temple! The lucky 
 shepherd was amply rewarded, and even got divine 
 honours paid him at his death.* 
 
 The temple stood at the eastern end of the noble 
 harbour of which we have just spoken. You may 
 imagine what a pile it was, when you hear that it was 
 220 years in building, 425 feet in length, by 220 in 
 breadth. The shrine of the goddess was surrounded 
 by a colonnade, open to the sky, of 127 columns of 
 Parian marble, each weighing 150 tons, 60 feet high, 
 and each the gift of a king. It was decorated and 
 beautified inside with cedar, cypress, gold, jewels, and 
 precious stones ; the roof was supported with columns 
 of green jasper. Eight of these still remain entire in 
 the great mosque of St Sophia, in Constantinople, to 
 which they were removed, along with other remains 
 of its glory, in the reign of Justinian. Art must have 
 attained great perfection in Ephesus. Apelles and 
 Parrhasius, the two gi-eatest painters that ever lived, 
 were natives of the city. One picture of Apelles, 
 which represented Alexander the Great grasping a 
 thunderbolt, was hung in the temple of Diana, pur- 
 chased at a cost of twenty talents of gold, — a sum which 
 Chandler estimates at i;38,750.t The magnificent 
 altar was from the chisel of Praxiteles; the staircase 
 was made of a single vine from the island of Cyprus; 
 
 • See Chandler, p. 126. f See Mr Lewin, p. 35S.
 
 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 255 
 
 the noblest pictures were hung on the walls; and, 
 among many other statues, one of pure gold was 
 erected to Autcmidorus.* Besides these, much of the 
 wealth of Asia was deposited for safety within this 
 sacred shrine. 
 
 You may easily suppose how imposing the temple 
 must have appeared, approaching from the sea — look- 
 ing down on the ships wliich crowded the wharves of 
 Panormus, and how justly proud every Ephcsian must 
 have been of this world-renowned edifice! It stood 
 untouched for many ages. At last, like many other 
 splendid relics of antiquity, it fell into the hands of 
 the invading Goths, in a.d. 260, and was pillaged by 
 them. Modern travellers have visited its remains, and, 
 by means of torches, have threaded their way under 
 the dark vaulted chambers on which it was built. 
 Bats of large size struck against them, roused from the 
 darkness and desolation which reigns within.t All 
 combine in the testimony, that Ephesus is at this day 
 a total wreck. " Its streets," says Dr Chandler, whose 
 visit was in 1764, "are obscured and overgrown. A 
 herd of goats was driven to it for shelter from the sun 
 at noon, and a noisy flight of crows, from the quarries, 
 seemed to insult its silence. We heai-d the partridge 
 call in the area of the Theatre and the Stadium." 
 " Nothing is seen, in its dripping marble quarries, but 
 the marks of the tools of former days." J Alas for 
 Ephesus ! it did not listen to the warning voice — " Re- 
 
 * This full description of Epliesus is given by the historians Strabo and 
 Pliny. See also Pocoke's Travels, Anacharsis' Trarels, and the interesting 
 narrative of Dr Chandler, who was sent out by the Dilettanti Society for 
 the express purpose of exploring the remains of antiquity in Asia Minor, 
 pp. 109-137. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 } Howson.
 
 256 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 member, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and 
 repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto 
 thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of his 
 place, except thou repent," That light, which burned 
 for a while so brightly, is now quenched in total dark- 
 ness — a "chaos of noble ruins!" "Even the sea has 
 retired from the scene of desolation, and a pestilential 
 morass, covered with mud and rushes, has succeeded 
 to the waters which brought up the ships laden with 
 merchandise from every country." * 
 
 On arriving, eighteen hundred years ago, at this 
 city, the Apostle met those twelve disciples of John we 
 have already alluded to. Not only were they, as I 
 have told you, altogether ignorant of Christ ; they 
 were also ignorant of the Holy Spirit, the third j^erson 
 in the blessed Trinity, and of His outpouring on the 
 day of Pentecost. "Have ye received," he asked 
 them, " the Holy Ghost since ye believed 1 " They 
 answered, "We have not so much as heard whether 
 there be any Holy Ghost." t Paul expounded to them 
 the glorious " truth as it is in Jesus." They received 
 his testimony; were baptized; and by the layiug-on of 
 his hands, they prophesied and spake with various 
 tongues. The Apostle, we have every reason to think, 
 took up his abode again with Aquila and Priscilla. 
 With them, too, he probably resumed his work at the 
 tents ; at all events, we know, from one of his own 
 letterSjj that, during the three years he lived at 
 E^ohesus, he earned his bread by the " labour of his 
 own hands." And he could at an after period extend 
 these hands, rough with daily labour, before the elders 
 
 * Arundell's Visit to llie Seven Churches. 
 t Acts xii. 'J. X 1 Cor. Ti. 11, 12.
 
 PAUL AT EPHE3US. 
 
 of Ephcsus, and make the appeal, « Ye yourselves 
 know that these have niiuistered to my necessities." -' 
 « For three months " he continued to speak boldly in 
 their synagogue, till at last the old Jewish enmity 
 manifested itself. His brethren falsely accused and 
 derided him in the presence of the people. This led 
 him openly to leave their synagogue; and for two 
 years he preached in a separate place of meeting, in the 
 " school " (or lecture-room) " of Tyrannus,"— probably 
 a teacher or doctor, who had been by his means con- 
 verted to Christianity. We have no certain informa- 
 tion as to Paul's success during this long period of resi- 
 dence ; but in the same address to the elders of Ephe- 
 sus at Miletus, we see the more than tender affection 
 borne for those he was now teaching, and among whom 
 he had gone about from house to house, instruct- 
 ing and warning them " night and day with tears." 
 We know that, before he left, a large and flourishing 
 church was formed at Ephesus, not only in the city, 
 but numbering many converts throughout tlie province. 
 " The Word of God mightily grew and prevailed." t 
 As was to be expected, however, he encountered still 
 the envy of the Jews. This seems to have been great, 
 if we may judge from the manner he refers to "the 
 many tears and temptations which befell him by the 
 lying in wait of the Jews." His preservation was 
 itself a miracle. It was only the good and gracious 
 hand of his God which could have protected him. His 
 own short history of himself and his perils at this time, 
 when he vrntca from Ephesus to the Corinthians, is 
 this—" I die daily." t Death every day seemed to 
 stare him in the face. 
 
 * Acts XX. 34. t Acts xix. 20. t 1 Cor. xv. 3).
 
 258 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 There is a striking occurrence at this time mentioned 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, which we cannot pass over 
 in silence. I have already told you that the patron 
 goddess of the city of Ephesus was Diana.* Her image 
 was supposed to have fallen from the sky. An un- 
 shapely block it was ; not like the beautiful forms we 
 have been accustomed to think of among the statues 
 of Athens, but a figure more like what is seen at this 
 day in the pagodas of India.t To prevent its tottering, 
 a bar of metal — some say of gold, others of iron — was 
 placed under each hand. A veil, hanging from the 
 roof of the temple, concealed it, unless on the great 
 occasion of the festival, when it was exposed to pub- 
 lic view. " Mutianus, a noble Roman, affirmed that the 
 figure was made of vine, and had many holes, filled 
 with nard, to nourish and moisten it, and to preserve 
 the cement." J This hideous goddess was, however, 
 gorgeously apparelled. She had a crown on her head, 
 and a girdle round her waist ; on the crown, girdle, 
 and feet, there were engraven sundry curious letters, 
 on which the Ephesians looked with superstitious awe. 
 Copied and written out on rolls of parchment, these 
 " letters " used to be carried about on the persons of 
 many of the people, who foolishly considered that they 
 would prove a sort of charm, protecting them from all 
 kinds of evil. Many large books or scrolls were to be 
 had, describing these same " Ephesian Letters," pre- 
 tending to explain their secrets, and, as such, sold for 
 
 * It was a matter of policy often to keep up in the minds of the people 
 the idea of such protectors over their city. The Tiojaus imagined their 
 city's safety depended on the Palladium, an image of Pallas-JIiuerva, also 
 believed to have fallen from heaven. Tlie same with the Ancilia, or Sacred 
 Shields ; Ceres, in Sicily, &c. — See Barnes, in loc. 
 
 t See pictm 0, Chap. xv. J Chandler, p. 134.
 
 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 259 
 
 enormous prices. There is a story told of an Ephesiau 
 and Milesian wrestling with one another at the 
 Olympic games. The Ephesian got the better of 
 his opponent, but the cause was soon discovered, the 
 former having some of those magic letters bound 
 round his heel ! As soon as the other found out the 
 reason, he insisted on their removal, and he was said 
 to be instantly victorious! So says a grave old writer.* 
 Indeed, there was no city in all the East where sorcery 
 and magic were practised to such an extent as at Ephesus; 
 and those, too, who believed in these, were not among 
 the lowest of the people, but men and women of birth 
 and reputation. God seems to have given his apostolic 
 servant at this time a special power to work miracles, 
 and that in the way best calculated to confound the 
 arts of the sorcerers. For multitudes, we are told, 
 brought " handkerchiefs and aprons " with which to 
 touch the Apostle's person, and then they applied these 
 to the bodies of their sick or diseased friends, and they 
 were immediately healed. 
 
 Paul, like Aaron and Moses of old before the magi- 
 cians of Egypt, met the magicians and sorcerers of 
 Ephesus face to face. Among them were some Jewish 
 exorcists, or pretended sorcerers, who professed to have 
 the power of casting out devils by the use of certain 
 words or incantations, many of which were believed to 
 have been composed and used by King Solomon. 
 Josephus, the historian, seems himself to have been 
 carried away with these delusions. He gives a curious 
 account of one Eleazar, a Jew, in the presence of the 
 Emperor Vespasian and the officers of his army, curing 
 a demoniac by holding a ring under his nose, in which 
 
 * Eustatliius.
 
 260 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ■was placed a small portion of a plaut prescribed by 
 Solomon. At the smell of the plant, he solemnly tells 
 us the demon took to flight, and overtui'ned a fnll cup 
 of water as he left the room where the feat was per- 
 formed ! * These Ephesian exorcists, when they saw 
 that Paul, by the name of " Jesws," performed many 
 miracles, impiously tried, by the use of the same holy 
 name, to perform arts and wonders themselves. There 
 were seven sons of a Jew named Sceva particularly 
 mentioned, who attempted, by pronouncing the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, to expel some demons from one who 
 was possessed, saying, "We adjure you by Jesus, whom 
 Paul preacheth." t The evil spirit in a loud voice re- 
 buked their presumption. "Jesus I know, and Paul I 
 know ; but who are ye 1 " The man, goaded on to 
 frenzy by the power of the demon Avithin him, sj^rang 
 upon the profane sorcerers, and made them in terror 
 fly out of the house, "naked and wounded." Soon 
 the tidings of what had taken place spread through 
 the city ; the dark heathen art fell immediately into 
 discredit. Many of the sorcerers and magicians, trem- 
 bling and astonished, came to the Apostle, mourning 
 over their delusions. They sought repentance, and 
 began to honour the name they and their fellows bad 
 so daringly blasphemed. 
 
 Their conduct is worthy of all mention and praise ; 
 not only did they give up and abandon their magical 
 arts, but fearful lest they might be tempted at some 
 future time to return to them, they resolved to put out 
 of their reach anything likely to become a temptation, 
 or to remind them of their former method of obtaining 
 unlawful gain. What did they do? They brought 
 
 * Jos. Ant. viii. 2, quoted by Lewin. t Acts xix. 13.
 
 PAUL AT EPHESUS. 
 
 261 
 
 to<^ethcr all their magical books and burnt them ! We 
 know how valuable and expensive such written scroUs 
 were in those days; perhaps in destroying them many 
 parted with the most costly and valuable part of their 
 property. Indeed, the estimated value was about 
 £1800 or £2000 of our money — some even say 
 £7000 ! But they had learned " to count all things, 
 but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
 Jesus ;" and now they showed how willing they were to 
 "suffer the loss of all things, that they might wm 
 Him" Never would these strange "burnings" be 
 forgotten in Ephesus. The Word of God quickly 
 spi^ad. The name of Jesus was magnified. Paul thus 
 " out of weakness was made strong, waxed valiant in 
 fight," and not only " turned to flight," but by God's 
 g?ace turned to repentance and faith, and true conver- 
 sion, " the army of the aliens."
 
 CHAPTEE XY. 
 
 %h %m\\lt 
 
 " Oft with the Spirit's force 
 
 His arm hath quell'd the foe. 
 And laid resistless in his course 
 The alien armies low. 
 
 Bent on such glorious toils, 
 
 The world to him was loss; 
 Yet all his trophies — all bis spoils, 
 
 He hung upon the Cross." 
 
 " Behold Bs at Ephesus in the year 65 ! . . . Twenty years later, 
 and an event, both insignificant and mighty, takes place in this city. 
 A Christian Church has been born, separated from the bosom of 
 Paganism like an isle in the midst of the sea." — Mokod.
 
 -^T 
 
 ALTHOUGH Luke makes no mention in the 
 'i Acts of the Apostles, we gather, from a 
 _ . ' lew expressions in the course of the 
 l^pistles, that Paul, some time during his 
 (i^,.' residence at Ephesus, paid a visit to the city 
 1^ of Corinth. " Of all the churches which he 
 ' planted," it has been well said, " in none was 
 there so much evil mixed up with so much good; and 
 the training of so wayward a child, reqiiired the ut- 
 most care of the watchful parent."" 
 
 Apollos had now come back from that Greek city, 
 and doubtless would have much to tell the Apostle 
 about the state of his converts there — much that 
 would cause him joy; but, we fear, more that made 
 him sad and sorrowful. Corinth, we have found, was 
 a very wicked place ; and even after many of its hea- 
 then citizens had been baptized into the Christian 
 name, they continued to live in the indulgence of their 
 
 * Lewiu, p. 37i.
 
 264 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 former awful sins. Paul, deeply grieved at the stain 
 their conduct affixed on the character of the religion 
 they professed, himself sailed across from Ephesus to 
 make personal inquiries on the matter. Alas! he 
 found the report of ApoUos too true! It was even 
 worse than he expected. It would not appear that 
 he tarried long among them on this occasion — perhaps 
 not more than a few days or weeks. He had hoped, 
 doubtless, by this visit, to check the growth of these 
 crimes for the future. Not long after his return to 
 Ephesus, however, he learnt that the offenders were 
 increasing in their daring guilt. He resolved to adopt 
 harsher measures, and wrote a severe letter of rebuke, 
 which is now lost. 
 
 Nor was it one description of sin alone of which the 
 Corinthians were guilty. Some members of a Corin- 
 thian family — "the house of Chloe" — had at this time 
 come to reside afc Ephesus. They informed the Apostle 
 that a sad party-spirit was continuing among his con- 
 verts in the capital of Achaia. Some Jewish Chris- 
 tians from Palestine, who bitterly disliked Paul, had 
 been successful in stirring up the church there against 
 him. They induced some to look up to Peter (Ce- 
 phas) as their head; others, to St James; others, who 
 boasted of their learning and wisdom, to Apollos. 
 " It hath been declared unto me of you, my breth- 
 ren," he writes, "by them which are of the house of 
 Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now 
 this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, 
 and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ."* 
 Add to this, instead of settling their disputes and 
 differences, as they ought to have done, with one an- 
 
 *lCor. i. H, ]2.
 
 THE TUMULT. 265 
 
 other, they had been going to the courts of law, and 
 that, too, publicly before the heathen citizens of Cor- 
 uith. Even in their own meetings for religious wor- 
 ship, there had been much vanity and show; they 
 seemed to be loving and courting the praise of man 
 more than the praise of God. The very hour of com- 
 munion was profaned with their sins. In that age, it 
 would seem that the celebration of the Lord's Supper 
 generally took place after the agape, or concluding 
 meal of the day. The Corinthians had impiously got 
 into the habit of partaking of it just as a common 
 feast, — the rich bringing their dainties, and the poor 
 often not having enough to eat. 
 
 In the mean time, Paul selected Timothy and Eras- 
 tus to go to Corinth, and wait there his own arrival, 
 
 endeavouring, in the interval, to bring the church 
 
 to a sense of its many sins, and to heal its party-divi- 
 sions. Timothy you already well know. Erastus 
 seems to have been a citizen of Corinth, converted to 
 the faith of Jesus, and one of some standing there. 
 We find him, the following year, chamberlain of the 
 city. Though it was a circuitous way of reaching 
 Corinth, Paul asked these two fiiithful men to visit, in 
 going thither, the churches of Macedonia — to acquaint 
 them of his own intended coming, and to request them 
 to be ready with their money-collection fur the poor 
 Christians in Judea. Other messengers from Corinth 
 — Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus — had by this 
 time arrived, bearing a reply to the Apostle's letter, 
 and also bringing from their church a number of ques- 
 tions on difficult points of conduct, duty, and doctrine, 
 upon which thoy wished his judgment. Paul set him- 
 self immediately to answer these. His answer consists
 
 266 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 of what is known to us by the name of " The First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians." It was written, probably, 
 some time or other in March, or April, and during the 
 third year of his residence at Ephesus. This letter is 
 full of sharp rebukes for the many and grievous sins 
 which disgraced that much-loved church. It does not 
 seem to bear his wonted tender affection for them, but 
 threatens them with "the rod" if they still continue in 
 their guilt. He afterwards, however, lets us into the 
 true state of his feelings while writing it, — "Out of 
 much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote inito you 
 with many tears."'* It contains much important and 
 precious truth. Its beautiful 15th chapter especially, 
 has afforded joy and consolation to millions — opening 
 up to them hopes which are "full of immortality." 
 We gather, from the close of the letter, that the Apostle 
 was planning the journey to which we have referred, 
 through the churches of Macedonia to Corinth, and 
 from thence he purposed to go to Jerusalem ; indeed, 
 he even looked farther before him, intending to pro- 
 ceed, were it his Lord's will, to visit the world's dis- 
 tant capital itself — imperial Eome, 
 
 Meanwliile he sent Titus, and probably Trophimus, 
 with the answer to the Corinthian letter, requesting 
 the former to use all his influence in putting matters 
 to rights in that erring church. Titus was himself a 
 native of Corinth. He seemed to have shrunk from 
 this difiicult mission, knowing too well the sad repute 
 of the city; but Paul encouraged him to go, and he 
 seems to have had no cause to regret having obeyed j 
 for we thus find the Great Apostle, in an after Corin- 
 thian epistle, referring to the way they had received 
 
 * 2 Cor. ii. 14.
 
 THE TUMULT. 267 
 
 Titus : — " Therefore we v>ere comforted in your com- 
 fort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the 
 joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you 
 all. For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I 
 am not ashamed ; but as we spake all things to you in 
 truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, 
 is found a truth. And his inward affection is more 
 abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obe- 
 dience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye re- 
 ceived him. I rejoice therefore that I have confidence 
 in you in all things." * 
 
 Meanwhile the Apostle himself lingered a little while 
 behind at Ephesus, hopeful that Timothy and Titus, 
 meeting together at Corinth, and using their joint 
 exertions, would prepare the minds of the professmg 
 converts there for his coming to them " in peace." 
 Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, Gains, and Aristarchus, 
 remained with him at Ephesus, and perhaps also 
 Luke. The latter we have for some time lost sight of. 
 It has been thought that he had been busy meanwhile 
 in writing his Gospel, which he soon after published in 
 Macedonia, t 
 
 It was at this period that a new event took place in 
 the city of Ephesus, which at the moment threatened 
 to bring the Apostle into great danger, but which, in the 
 end, turned out "rather for the furtherance of the 
 Gospel." A large and lucrative trade seems to have 
 been carried on there m the manufiicture of copies or 
 models of the shrme of the goddess Diana. At one 
 season of the year, in particular, — the month of May, — 
 multitudes from ail parts of Asia, and even of Europe, 
 crowded to the great annual festival in honour of the 
 
 ♦ 2 Cor. vii. 13-16. t Lewiii.
 
 268 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 deity. If von look at Paul's first letter to the Co- 
 rinthians, of which I have just been speaking, you 
 will find one reason he gives for not leaving Ephesus 
 at present was, " that a great door and effectual was 
 opened unto him, and there were many enemies." * 
 Might he not — or rather, doeshe not — in this, allude to 
 the glorious opportunity afi"orded him of preaching the 
 Gospel when " all the world " were collected together 
 at these memorable games 1 — just as the honoured 
 Whitfield more than once erected his tent on the race- 
 course, to proclaim in the ears of those who were 
 " minding eai'thly things," the better and more endur- 
 ing substance. A whole month, called " AiHemisius" or 
 the " month of Diana," was allotted every year to this 
 great festival-gathering. What a concourse it must 
 have been ! You can look at the picture of the city, 
 and imagine the hundreds of vessels crowding the har- 
 bour — gaily-painted boats flitting up and down the 
 basin of Panormiis — crovv-ds of pilgrims looking from 
 the heights of Mount Prion — pleasure-hunters in all 
 directions — the Theatre, with its shows — the Hippo- 
 drome, with its horse-racing — the wrestling and beast- 
 fighting in the huge Stadium to the left — individuals 
 dressed up in fancy costume — mock gods and mock 
 goddesses — Jupiters, with their glittering crowns, bolts 
 of war, and white sandals — Apollo, with his wreath 
 of laurel and white robes — and Mercury, with dress 
 appropriate to the swift-footed messenger of the deities 
 of Olympus.t To complete the picture, you may 
 imagine thousands of eyes, old and young, entranced 
 with wonder as they gazed on the Ionic columns of the 
 
 * 1 Cor. xvi. 9. 
 
 t Domninus. See the quotation in full by Mr Lewin, vol. i. p. 441.
 
 THE TUMULT. 269 
 
 great temple, or as they followed thither the bleating sa- 
 crifices, crowned with garlands. Goats'-hair tents, too, 
 would be dotted over the plain outside the city walls 
 for the accommodation of the vast number of strangers. 
 Who can tell but some of these may have been the 
 handiwork of the Great Apostle, who was still night 
 and day " labouring that he might be chargeable to no 
 man " 1 
 
 You can imagine, too, how the shops and bazaars 
 would be filled with everything attractive for the visitors. 
 Parents, who had left their children behind, were in the 
 habit of buying for them little memorials of their visit. 
 Among these souvenirs there was one that commanded 
 a more especial sale — few pilgrims returned home with- 
 out carrying along with them one of the copies or 
 models of the famous shrine. They were made either 
 of gold, silver, or wood, as the purchaser could aff'ord, 
 and were called Aphidrumata.''' There was one maker 
 of these who had many workmen under him — his 
 name was Demetrius. He was beginning to find that 
 the influence and preaching of Paul in town and round 
 about was seriously interfering with the sale of his 
 images. The Apostle had been pointing the people, 
 not to Diana, but to Jesus Christ as their only Saviour; 
 doubtless telling them, as he had done the Athenians, 
 that " the Godhead was not like to wood or stone, or 
 brass, graven with man's device," and that there wa^, 
 but " one name given under heaven among men by 
 which sinners could be saved." Demetrius resolved to 
 do what he could to crush those who were so ruining his 
 trade. The month of May had by this time returned. 
 The lonians were already crowding again with their 
 
 * Diouysius ii, 22.
 
 270 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 wives and children to the city to take part in the 
 games and other festivities of the season. Demetrius 
 called his own and other workmen together, and ad- 
 dressed them on the subject. It was an easy matter 
 to get the crowd increased in such a place as Ephesus. 
 He began by telling of the serious loss incurred in 
 their lawful trade; pointing, as we may suppose him, 
 with his finger, to the vast temple in their view, 
 he sought to rouse their vengeance against Paul, 
 whom he represented as "causing the great goddess 
 Diana to be despised, and her magnificence destroyed." 
 The speech had the desired effect ; they were filled 
 with wrath, and one long and loud shout arose, " Great 
 is Diana of the Ephesians ! " * The whole city was 
 filled with confusion ; the crowd was still increasing, and 
 with one accord they cry out, " To the Theatre ! to the 
 Theatre ! " dragging along with them Paul's two com- 
 panions. Gains and Aristarchus. The theatre was the 
 place where great assemblages on political matters 
 generally convened. It was surrounded with stone- 
 seats, rising one above the other all around. You may 
 imagine the rush which now took place to it, each 
 anxious to get the seat most advantageous for hear- 
 ing. But where was Paul all this time ? When he 
 heard of the commotion, how his Master's name was 
 assailed, and the truth he himself proclaimed, we need 
 not say he would be the first in desiring to answer 
 publicly the charges brought against him. How joy- 
 fully would he have availed himself of the opportunity 
 of preaching the glorious Gospel before that vast con- 
 course ! But his wiser Christian converts, and the 
 " chief of Asia" (or the Asiarchs, men of high rank and 
 
 * Acts xix. 27, 28.
 
 THE TUMULT. 271 
 
 standing in the kingdom),* prevented him exposing 
 himself to certain danger and death. The mob had 
 rushed to the house of Aquila, expecting to find him 
 there, but they had secured his escape. It is to be 
 feai-ed his faithful friends Aquila and Priscilla must 
 have been rudely handled on this occasion: Paul tells 
 us that they had " for his life laid down their own 
 necks." t He talked afterwards of having " fought with 
 wild beasts at Ephesus." If he had gone now to the 
 Theatre, he would have been obliged to encounter wild 
 beasts in a human form ; his kind friends, however, 
 knowing better than he did the fury of an Ephesian 
 mob, would not allow him to hazard himself It has 
 been supposed, indeed, if he had ventured to the 
 Theatre, the base passions of some of the crowd, and 
 the love of cruel sport among others, would have ui-ged 
 that the Apostle be given up to one of those terrible 
 conflicts with wild animals, with which many of the 
 eai'ly martyrs were so sadly familiar. Often, we know, 
 were the Christians in an after age accustomed to hear 
 the shout of the em-aged populace, " Ad bestias ! ad 
 leonem ! " May it not be to this Paul refers in the 
 verse I have just quoted : " After the manner of men," 
 or rather, " according to the intention of men," — the 
 intention of this Ejjhesus mob, — " I have fought with 
 wild beasts " — I had all the fearful prospect of such a 
 death ! Fortunately for the Apostle, the " Asiarchs " 
 interfered for his safety With them rested the 
 power of entertaining the people with such savage 
 sport. Old Polycax-p was Drought mto the Theatre at 
 
 " The Asiarchs had the oversight of tne sacred places of the city, and 
 were required to manage the sacred games at their own expense." — Ols- 
 hausen, in loc. 
 
 t Horn. xvi. 4. (I
 
 272 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Smyrna to be torn thus by lions; but the Asiarch, or 
 governor there (Philip), would not consent to let the 
 animals loose on the aged man.* Be this as it may, 
 however, we may well imagine Paul's agony of miud 
 when he heard the distant tumult, and thought of his 
 two devoted friends, Gains and Aristarchus, about 
 perhaps to be cruelly martyred, while he had escaped. 
 Indeed, we know, for many weeks he did not recover 
 the effects of this agitation. For him, however, to 
 have ventured, would only have added fuel to the fire, 
 and been certain destruction to all. When the people 
 were assembled in their seats, the Jews, who wished 
 to show that they hated Paul as much as the heathen, 
 put forward one of their own number, Alexander the 
 coppersmith, a man of fluent speech, and bearing a 
 stern hatred to the Apostle. Whenever the mob saw 
 he was a Jew, his voice was drowned with their clamour. 
 They would not hear him speak, and for two hours the 
 air was rent with the ciy, " Gr^eai is Diana of the Ephe- 
 sians ! " When they could cry no longer, and their 
 spirits and voice began to flag, the town-clerk, or " re- 
 corder," next presented himself in the midst of the ex- 
 cited assembly. He was an individual of great official 
 influence, and had the charge of the vast sums of 
 money and other treasures which were kept in the 
 temple. In his speech, he shows great prudence and 
 tact in dealing with those he addressed. He began by 
 telling them of the greatness and glory of their temple 
 and goddess ; that its fame filled the world, and that 
 one or two poor Jewish strangers would never for a 
 moment be able to inflict upon it any injury; moreover, 
 that Paul had not, as was alleged, sought in any way 
 
 * See Fleetwood's Lives of the Apostles.
 
 THK TUMULT. 273 
 
 to profane the shrine, or blaspheme the patron deity. 
 He closes his address by reminding them of the danger 
 of such tumultuary meetings as the present. His 
 powerful words had the desired efibct. The voices of 
 the dense crowd were stilled. The Theatre gradually 
 emptied, and they dispersed to their several homes. 
 
 We have no further notice after this of Paul's do- 
 ings at Ephesus. It continued for long an impor- 
 tant city in infant Christendom. The Apostle John 
 is believed here to have closed his mission of love in 
 peace, and his dust was said to repose, along with that 
 of Timothy,* among the thickets and ruins of Mount 
 Prion. To this day, a little mound nearly opposite 
 Mount Prion has a small village on its crest, bearing 
 the name oi Aiasaluk, a corruption of Agios Theologos 
 (the Holy Divine), t In Ephesus, probably, he wrote 
 his Gospel and Epistles. Here it was, looking down 
 on the noblest temple ever made with human hands, 
 that -he " remembered the words of the Lord Jesus, 
 how he said," " God is a Spirit : and they that worship 
 him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Tra- 
 dition adds, that Mary the mother of Jesus closed her 
 honoured life in the same city, the disciple of love be- 
 ing faithful to the last in the saci'ed trust committed 
 to him by his Lord on the cross : — " Son, behold thy 
 mother; and from that hour, that disciple took her 
 Tinto his own home." 
 
 * "The body of Timothy was afterwards translated to Constantinople 
 by the founder of that city, or his son Coustantius, and placed with St 
 Luke and St Andrew in the Church of the Apostles."— So says Chandler, 
 p. 126. 
 
 t Stanley's Sermons on the Apodollc Aje,
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 f |e im\\M lister* 
 
 ' ' I'm not ashamed to own m}- Lord, 
 Or to defend His cause, 
 Maintain the glory of His cross. 
 And honour all His laws." 
 
 " * Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour 
 the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.' This prophetical 
 character, Tertullian, and others after him, will have to be accom- 
 plished in our apostle. As a ravening wolf in the morning devour- 
 ing the prey — that is, as a persecutor of the churches — in the first 
 part of his life destroying the flock of God. In the evening dividing 
 the spoil — tliat is, in his declining and reduced age, as doctor of the 
 nations, feeding and distributing to Christ's sheep." — Life of St Paztl, 
 by William Cave, D.D., Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty. 
 London, 1676.
 
 
 Tyou look at the twentieth chapter of the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and first verse, you will find a 
 very short account, given by St Luke, of the 
 next nine or ten months of Paul's life :— " He 
 departed for to go into Macedonia. And 
 when he had gone over those parts, and had given 
 them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and 
 there abode three months." Although the evangelist, 
 in his narrative, says little about this important period 
 of the Apostle's history, we may gather, from Paul's 
 own Epistles, much that is interesting regarding it. 
 From these, we find that he went from Ephesus to 
 Troas, probably by sea,— his two Ephesiau converts, 
 Tychicus and Trophimus, most likely accompanying
 
 276 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 him. Aquila and Priscilla had meanwhile returned to 
 Rome, — the edict of Claudius, which banished them, 
 being now removed. 
 
 You may remember his former hurried visit to 
 Troas, when he was called so suddenly away elsewhere 
 by the vision of the man of Macedonia. Now he re- 
 mained a longer time ; not so long, however, as he had 
 intended, in consequence of Titus not making his ap- 
 pearance with tidings about the church at Corinth. 
 Titus was sent thither by Paul from Ephesus, not only 
 to make a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusa- 
 lem, but also to discover what effect his own letter had 
 produced upon them. The Apostle seems to have 
 waited, week after week, in great anxiety for the re- 
 turn of his younger brother. Days passed heavily 
 away without any tidings of him. He was greatly 
 disquieted because of the delay. " My spirit," he says, 
 " had no rest because I found not Titus." * During 
 his stay in Troas, he had much encouragement. " A 
 door was opened to him of the Lord," and he very soon 
 after came back again to carry on the good work which 
 he had now commenced. 
 
 Meanwhile he set sail for Macedonia, expecting to 
 meet Titus the sooner, who was coming to Troas by 
 that route. Landing at Neapolis, he went thence to 
 Philippi. From his Philippian converts he had re- 
 ceived more kindness, and less cause of distress, than 
 from any other church. He never uses towards them 
 a word of censure. They were a poor people. He 
 speaks of the "depths of their poverty;" and yet, 
 three several times, when he was at Thessalonica, 
 Corinth, and Rome, they forced him to take money 
 
 * 2 Cor. ii. 13.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 277 
 
 they had collected for his support. " The Philippians 
 are in the Epistles v?hat that poor woman is in the Gos- 
 pels, who placed two mites in the treasury. They gave 
 much, because they gave of their poverty; and wher- 
 ever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, 
 there shall this liberality be told for a memorial of 
 them."* Their example proves that it is not the 
 wealthiest church which is always the most liberal in 
 the cause of God; but that wherever there is a will- 
 ing and boimteous heart, there will be a generous and 
 giving hand. 
 
 We may imagine Paul's feelings when once more 
 among his much-loved, I was going to say, his most- 
 loved church. Six years had passed since he was last 
 there. The remembrance of the shameful treatment 
 he had then experienced — the lictors' rods — the cruel 
 stocks — the dark dungeon, — must all have come 
 vividly to his mind; but his sorrow was now turned 
 into jov, in finding himself among homes and hearts so 
 cherished. The load, however, was still on his spirit ; 
 Titus had not arrived, and he could not help feeling 
 great uneasiness about the state of the church at Cor- 
 inth. He knew, indeed, at this time, that not the 
 Corinthian church alone, but all the others, were in no 
 small peril. This was principally on account of those 
 Jewish teachers who were jealous of their old national 
 privileges, and who wished Christianity not to be the 
 great religion of the world, but a mei-e branch and off- 
 shoot of Judaism. We can understand, therefore, how 
 the " care of all the churches" was no slight matter to 
 a mind like that of Paul ; and with what anxiety he 
 waited to hear how his remonstrances had been received 
 
 • See Conybeare aud Howson, vol. ii. pp. 89, 124.
 
 278 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 by a body so influential as that of the believers at Cor- 
 inth. 
 
 At last, his time of painful suspense terminates, — 
 Titus arrives. " God, who comforteth them that are 
 cast down, comfoi'ted me by the coming of Titus."* 
 He brings much more joyful intelligence than the 
 Apostle expected. The far greater number of the Cor- 
 inthians had submitted with meekness to his rebukes, 
 and had cast out from their communion the offender 
 who had been special cause of trouble. They longed 
 for the Apostle's presence among them again, and were 
 deeply affected at the thought of having cost him so 
 much pain. StiU there remained, however, a small 
 party of these Judaising Christians, who were doing 
 what they could to sow the seeds of dissension. They 
 had ranged themselves under some designing ring- 
 leader, who had probably been sent by the sect in 
 Jerusalem. He had come in as a wolf into the fold, 
 doing what he could to undermine tlie Apostle's autho- 
 rity, and even turn his outward appearance and im- 
 paired eyesight into ridicule.t It is needful that we 
 keep in mind these two parties into which the church 
 at Corinth was now divided, in order to understand 
 aright the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, which 
 the Apostle now wrote. This was sent back to them 
 by the hands of Titus, accompanied by two other 
 deputies, who were proceeding, at any rate, to renew 
 the collection for the Jerusalem Christians. 
 
 You remember, I daresay, how unwilling Titus was, 
 on a former occasion, to go to so wicked a place as 
 Corinth ; it is different, however, with him now. The 
 Apostle thus expresses his happiness at the change of 
 
 • 2 Cor. vu. 6. t See 2 Cor. x. 1, 2, 10, ]1.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 279 
 
 feeling in his young bi-other's mind, — " But thanks be 
 to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart 
 of Titus for jou. For indeed he accepted the exhorta- 
 tion; but, being more forward, of his own accord he 
 went unto you."* In reading the epistle for your- 
 selves, you will find Paul addresses both parties. To 
 the one, in the first half of the letter, he speaks in lan- 
 guage of kindness and consolation ; to the other, in 
 words of stern remonstrance and rebuke. 
 
 After Titus left, the Apostle proceeded to visit 
 some of the churches in the northern part of Greece. 
 While making this circuit, he fulfilled his promise 
 to the poor saints at Jerusalem regarding the " col- 
 lection." He seems, as you must have noted, to have 
 been very zealous in this matter. He felt that, since 
 the apostles of Christianity were Jews, and had mini- 
 stered to the Gentiles in spiritual things, they ought 
 to minister in return to them in " carnal thiugs."t 
 The method he seems to have enforced on his converts 
 was to lay by a sum of money every Sabbath morning 
 (the first day of the week). The Corinthians, who 
 were the most able to give of all the churches, had 
 been thus gathering their contributions for a whole 
 year, and their readiness was held up to the Mace- 
 donians for imitation — " For I know the forwardness 
 of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of 
 Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago ; and 
 your zeal hath provoked very many." J The zeal of 
 the Macedonians, however, poorer though they were, 
 so exceeded that of the Achaians, that we find the 
 Apostle afterwards making the less opulent churches 
 read a lesson of liberality to the wealthy one : — 
 
 * 2 Cor. viii. 16, 17. t K^m. xv. 27. J 2 Cor. ix S.
 
 280 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 " Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of 
 God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia ; how 
 that in a gi-eat trial of affliction, the abundance of their 
 joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches 
 of their liberahty. For to their power, (I bear record,) 
 yea, and beyond their power, they were wilUng of 
 themselves ; praying us with much entreaty that we 
 would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellow- 
 ship of the ministering to the saints. And this they 
 did, not as we hoped ; but first gave their own selves 
 to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. . . . 
 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and 
 utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in 
 your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace 
 also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion 
 of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sin- 
 cerity of your love."* We find soon afterwards, when 
 the money was all collected, that Luke, and probably 
 Trophimus, were to be the bearers of it to Jerusa- 
 lem. They are spoken of as " the messengers of the 
 churches." t 
 
 Paul seems at present to have travelled farther west 
 than on any of his former joiu-neys. It is possible he 
 may even have gone to the shores of the Adriatic Sea; 
 for we read "that he fully preached the Gospel of Christ 
 round about unto Illyricum."^ What the particular 
 towns were he visited, we are not informed, as Luke was 
 no longer with him as an eye-witness. Pursuing, in a 
 westerly direction, the Via Egnatia, from Berea (from 
 which town, you will remember, he was formerly 
 obliged to take flight), he would probably come to 
 Pella, the birth-place of Alexander the Great, and Pela- 
 
 • 2 Cor. viii. 1-8. t 2 Cor. viii. 23. J RoQi. xv. 19.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 281 
 
 gonia, the capital of that district of Macedonia. He 
 turned his steps, pi-obably about the beginning of win- 
 ter, towards Corinth. How he journeyed thither it is 
 also impossible to determine ; whether he would take 
 the high-road from Berea to the Isthmus, or, what is 
 pei-haps more probable, return to Tliessalonica, and 
 take vessel from that sea-port. On the Isthmian city 
 his fondest thouglits — his hopes and fears — had been 
 long, as you have seen, centred. We may imagine with 
 what emotions he now approached it, as its spacious har- 
 bour opened to his view, and the rocky citadel wliich roso 
 above it. His feelings, in many respects, must have been 
 of a saddening kind as he once more trod its busy streets; 
 and yet how much cause, too, for gratitude had he 
 since his first visit ! Then he was all alone — solitary 
 and friendless. He had come from a disheartening 
 visit to Athens, where a mere handful and no more 
 had listened to his teaching. Now, he was no longer 
 a stranger — he was on his way with some faithful 
 companions to a house which his former visit had 
 opened to him, — that of Gains, — a kind and good 
 Clu-istian, whom, as you already know, the Apostle had 
 baptized with his own hand, and whose mau}^ charities 
 were known to all the churches. Though greatly 
 grieved to think of the sins which had crept in among 
 his converts, and the violent opposition raised by 
 others against himself, still Paul must have rejoiced 
 in knowing that within these walls were many M'arm 
 Christian hearts — many true sons of the faith. It is, 
 besides, a deeply-interesting circumstance, that so noble 
 a band of faithful ministers — standard-bearers of the 
 Cross '^^ — were now assembled at Corinth, who had to- 
 
 * Set Lewiu, vol. ii. p. 530.
 
 282 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 gether, there and elsewhere, proved mighty throiigh 
 God to the puUing down of Satan's strongholds. There 
 was Luke, the polished physician ; there was the gentle 
 and pious Timothy ; there was Titus, the calm and 
 discreet adviser ; there was Jason, who had risked his 
 life for the Apostle at Thessalonica ; there was Tychi- 
 cus, a faithful brother to the last, when others grew 
 faithless ; there was Erastus and Sosthenes, miracles of 
 grace from Corinth itself; and not to make mention of 
 others, there was the Great Apostle, a befitting chief, 
 at the head of this noble army. How different when 
 he approached Damascus, many years before, at the 
 head of another band ! — the haughty young Pharisee, 
 burning with false zeal — proud of his sect and of his 
 national descent. Now, he is poor, weary, weighed 
 down " with the care of all the churches," but " the 
 peace of God," which he himself speaks of as " passing 
 all understanding," is " garrisoning his heart ; " though 
 he walks in the midst of trouble, "the Lord revives 
 him," and a bright crown of joy and rejoicing is wait- 
 ing him on "that day ! " 
 
 There were, however, tidings of sorrow of another 
 kind, waiting him on his arrival, which he did not ex- 
 pect. The Church of Galatia, which had promised so 
 well at first, was beginning to be sorely afiected by the 
 doctrines and influences of these same Judaisers. They 
 were doing all in their power to weaken the hold which 
 Paul had over his affectionate " Gauls." They had 
 tried to persuade them that he was not " an apostle," 
 in the true sense of the word, — not one of the twelve 
 who were appointed by the Lord Jesus, but a mere 
 teacher, not worthy of the credit due to the others. 
 The influence of these " false brethren " was great ;
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 283 
 
 they got many of the "fickle Galatians" to turn from 
 the " simphcity of the truth." Several underwent the 
 rite of circumcision, imagining that it was necessary to 
 their salvation. It was a proof of wliat we described 
 them to be — a strangely fitful people ! A few years 
 before, they would gladly, if they could, have " torn 
 out their own eyes," and given them to Paul as a token 
 of their attachment, and worshipped him as an angel ; 
 but now they had listened to artful seducers, who had 
 " troubled them and perverted the Gospel of Christ." 
 How different to the steady, fixed Christian principle 
 of the Great Apostle himself ! They were like the 
 waves of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed, — he, 
 like the rock which nothing could shake. What is he 
 to do ? will he take vessel, once more, and go person- 
 ally to rebuke them 1 The distance is, for the present, 
 too great ; and, besides, he has other work in hand in 
 the disorders at Corinth j but the pen must do what 
 the human voice cannot. He writes, from Corinth, his 
 '^Epistle to the Galatians." In sharp and severe terms 
 he therein reproves his converts " for being removed 
 so far unto another gospel." It must have been under 
 the influence of deep feeling he could pen such words 
 as these, — " foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched 
 you, that ye should not obey the truth 1" "But 
 though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other 
 gospel unto you than that which we have preached 
 unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so 
 say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel 
 unto you than that ye have received, let him bo 
 accursed."* 
 
 After the messengers were sent to Ephesus with this 
 
 • Gal. i. 8, 9.
 
 284 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 letter of reproof, Paul proceeded to expel from the 
 church at Corinth those individuals who had been 
 the cause of so much evil in it. The " signs of au 
 apostle " were wrought before them, in order to show 
 the Divine authority by which he taught. He ex- 
 hibited his Divine mission by the working of miracles ; 
 and by this means many who had before questioned 
 his authority must have been silenced. But he must 
 make an example of those who had not only so deeply 
 distressed himself, but who had wrought such mischief 
 in the Church of God. A solemn assembly is convened 
 — the wicked and unholy members are cast out, no 
 longer permitted to hold communion with their bre- 
 thren. Whether they ever sincerely repented, and were 
 again restored to the privilege of church-fellowship, 
 we cannot tell. There is no more mention made after 
 this of " the church at Corinth." We have reason 
 to hope that Paul's present visit had been much blest 
 to many, and that the casting out of this " unholy 
 leaven" had not only saved, but purified the remain- 
 ing lump. We have a letter remaining still, written 
 by the same Clement whom Paul calls his " fellow- 
 labourer," in which he refers to the consistency, for 
 many years at least, of their walk and conduct. " Who 
 that visited you," says this good man, whose name 
 Paul tells us is in " the Book of Life," " did not ad- 
 mire your sober and gentle piety in Christ 1 For ye 
 did all things without respect of persons, and walked 
 in the laws of God, obeying those who were set over 
 you, and ye were all humble-minded, subjecting your- 
 selves rather than subjecting others." 
 
 The Great Apostle seems in this closing visit to have 
 spent about three months in Corinth and Achaia.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 285 
 
 « watering the churches," and collecting money for 
 that great object so near his heart, to which we have 
 so often referred. 
 
 There was one never-to-be-forgotten occupation 
 which at this time engaged his spare moments. A 
 wealthy lady of the neighbourhood, a widow, and dea- 
 coness of the church, whose house was at Cenchrea, 
 was about to go to Rome. A rising and promising 
 church of Christians, cliiefly Gentiles, was already 
 formed in the world's great capital. Paul had long 
 meditated a visit thither, on his way to Spain, after 
 accomplishing his journey to Jerusalem; but being a 
 comparative stranger personally to the members of 
 the Roman church, he thought it would be well to 
 send them by her a letter beforehand, to assure them 
 of his affection, touching also on the points in which 
 he knew they needed most direction. It was dictated 
 to Tertius the scribe, with the exception of the closing 
 benediction, which, as usual, was written by Paul in his 
 own hand. We have had again and again occasion to 
 speak of the evil influence the Judaising teachers were 
 exercising in the different churches the Apostle had 
 founded." He seemed anxious to have some written 
 treatise that would be serviceable in putting down 
 their false doctrines, and which would be regarded as 
 a rule of faith for all his churches. The Spirit of God 
 wiselv guided him in composing that wondrous " body 
 of divinity," contained in the " Epistle to the Romans," 
 where the grand central doctrine of the Gospel, what 
 Luther called " the doctrine of a standing or a falling 
 Church," is brought so beautifully out— viz.. Justifica- 
 tion by Faith. It forms, indeed, a noble manual on 
 the great peculiar truths of Christianity. Chrysostom
 
 286 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 may well call it "the golden key of Scripture;" and 
 the older my readers become, the more they will value 
 and admire it. It sometimes interests us to know 
 where a great General penned his despatches, or a great 
 poet his immortal strains ; we read these with greater 
 zest by connecting them with the spots where they 
 were written. Yoa may in future think of the Great 
 Apostle, during his present residence at Corinth, seated 
 in some quiet chamber in the house of Gains ; his win- 
 dow, it may be, looking out on the heights of Acro- 
 corinthus, or on the blue waves of the Ionian sea, and 
 with Tertius seated, pen in hand, at a table by his 
 side, dictating to him his most precious Epistle to the 
 Romans. It is evident from the close of the epistle 
 that, although he himself had never been in Rome, he 
 was acquainted with several Christian families there. 
 The reason of this may probably be, that many, like 
 Aquila and Priscilla, who had been expelled by the 
 edict of Claudius, had met with the Apostle at Corinth, 
 Ephesus, and elsewhere, and contracted a valued friend- 
 ship with him. You will observe, in the messages or 
 salutations in the concluding chapter, that he mentions 
 two whole families, and twenty-six individuals, with 
 some distinct allusion to their individual characters.* 
 Although, therefore, he had never " seen their face in 
 the flesh," he seems to have felt no common interest in 
 their welfare — " he made mention of them always in 
 his prayers." t 
 
 The time had now come when St Paul had to bid 
 farewell to the church and converts at Corinth. His 
 first purpose seems to have been to take ship, like 
 Phoebe, and sail direct to Jerusalem ; but his plans 
 
 * Lewin, vol. i. p. 536. f Bom. i. 9.
 
 TUE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 287 
 
 were changed on discovering a new plot for his dcstinic- 
 tion, secretly concocted by the Jews, who had been 
 greatly irritated against him ever since the decision of 
 Gallio. What the precise nature of the plot they had 
 laid was, we cannot tell : possibly they had hired an 
 assassin to despatch him on the road to Cenchrea ; or, 
 perhaps, they had conti-ived some plan to seize him 
 after he had embarked, and plundering him of his col- 
 lection-money, to make the vEgean Sea his grave. To 
 escape from their fury, he resolved to go round for 
 safety by the north of Greece; this would enable him 
 also to visit all his churches by the way — Thessalonica, 
 Apollouia, and Amphipolis. He must have painfully 
 felt the continual peril to which he was exposed. He 
 could not look without fear to the future ; for if the 
 enmity of distant Jews was so great, what might he ex- 
 pect on reaching Jerusalem itself? He thus refers to 
 his danger in his letter just written to Eome : — " Now 
 I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's 
 sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive to- 
 gether with me in your prayers to God for me ; that 
 I may be delivered from them that do not believe in 
 Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem 
 may be accepted of the saints."* The companions of 
 this journey, we are told (in the 20th chapter of Acts, 
 ver. 4), were Sopater, the Berean ; Aristarchus and 
 Secundus, of Thessalonica ; Gains, of Derbe, and 
 Timotheus; also Tychicus and Trophimus, of the pro- 
 vince of Asia. These, however, the better to effect 
 the escape of St Paul, took ship direct to Troas, while 
 he and Luke proceeded in haste by land to the north 
 of Greece. When they reached his favouiite city and 
 
 * Bom. XV. 30, 31.
 
 288 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 church of Phihppi, it was the time of the Jewish pass- 
 over, which lasted eight days. Here the Apostle and 
 his historian lingered, during the celebration of the old 
 Jewish rite, now fulfilled in the great Antitype, " Christ 
 our passover, sacrificed for us." They then hasten to 
 follow the steps of their friends ; this more especi- 
 ally as Paul was desirous of reaching Jerusalem before 
 the feast of Pentecost. Coming down, therefore, to 
 Neapolis, they embarked on board some ship bound 
 for Troas, — a voyage which, under favourable circum- 
 stances, ought not to have taken two days, but which, 
 in the present instance, either by reason of adverse 
 winds or a calm, was lengthened to five.* The Apos- 
 tle's previous visit to Troas, you will remember, was a 
 hurried one ; his anxious spirit could get no rest or 
 comfort from Titvis not being there to meet him as he 
 expected. Now he hopes to be able to add to the 
 church, whose foundation he had formerly laid. He 
 seems to have arrived at an early part of the week. 
 How he occupied it, we are not informed ; we may 
 well believe he was actively engaged in proclaiming 
 his great message, and all the more so as his time was 
 precious. In order to attend the feast at Jerusalem, 
 he required to be in Palestine by the 9th of May. He 
 evidently remained at Troas longer than he intended. 
 His detention probably was caused by being obliged to 
 wait the sailing of the ship, which might have taken 
 all that time to unload her cargo and get in a fresh 
 one ; possibly he may have been retarded in sailing by 
 adverse winds. We have an interesting account, how- 
 ever, left us of his Sabbath duties in this old city. The 
 little church at Troas were convened together in a 
 
 * See Howsou, vol. ii. p. 210.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 289 
 
 small and confined upper chamber on the evening of 
 that day. The place was intensely hot, from the dense 
 crowd collected and the many lights burning in the 
 chamber. The Apostle, feeling that, as he was to leave 
 on the morrow, this might possibly be the last oppor- 
 tunity he would ever have of speaking to them about 
 their souls, continued his address until midnight. Mid- 
 night arrived ; but still the earnest man of God, tak- 
 ing no note of time, proceeded to urge his high lessons 
 on a breathless audience. Thei'e was a young hearer 
 seated at one of the open windows or balconies, which 
 are common in the houses of the East, overhanging 
 the court below. He had ventured too near the ledge ; 
 and being overcome, partly with the heat and partly 
 with sleep, he fell down to the pavement, and was 
 " taken up dead." Paul immediately ceased speaking. 
 He descended to the anxious crowd, who were now 
 gathered round the youth ; and in the spirit and power 
 of his Master, he brought him back to life. You may 
 imagine the joy, not only of the friends and relatives 
 of Eutychus, but of all the other converts ; for, be 
 assured, if it had been known that a violent death had 
 taken place in this meeting of " the Christian sect," it 
 would have been too good an opportunity for the 
 enemies of the Cross to call in the authorities of the 
 place to put a stop to all such assemblages in future. 
 But the sorrow of the disciples was turned into joy. It 
 was a new testimony that God was with His servant 
 of a truth. They returned to their chamber ; and after 
 the excitement was allayed, they partook together, as 
 was often the case with the early Christians before 
 they parted, of the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, as it 
 was called, — a word which means "joy," or " thanks-
 
 290 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 giving ; " — and their hearts at present were doubtless 
 full of gratitude and thankfulness for the miraculous 
 restoration of this life. All the scene in that Troas 
 chamber beautifully accords with the description given 
 us of the Sabbath meetings of the early Cliristians, in 
 a letter written by the younger Pliny to the Emperor 
 Trajan, from a place not far from Troas, a century 
 later. He says — " The Christians were wont to meet 
 together on a stated day, before it was light, to sing 
 aiuong themselves alternately a hymn to Christ and 
 God, and bind themselves by an oath not to be guilty 
 of the commission of any wickedness ; . . . . and when 
 these things were ended, it was their custom to sepa- 
 rate, and then to come together again to a meal, which 
 they ate in common without any disorder." * The 
 other friends and companions of the Apostle early iu 
 the morning went on board their vessel, sailing round 
 by Cape Lectum to Assos. Paul, however, waited be- 
 hind them, remaining as long as he could with his 
 converts, imparting to them instruction and comfort. 
 He then set out alone on the Roman road, which 
 skirted the base of Mount Ida on the one hand and 
 the sea-shore on the other, on his way to Assos. + It 
 forms a striking and pleasing incident in the history of 
 the Great Apostle. We have him generally brought 
 before us amid the bustle of cities, or reasoning and 
 disputing in schools and synagogues; but here we 
 
 * See Pliny's Letters, where a remarkable account is given of the rapid 
 spread of Christianity in Asia Minor. 
 
 f If what we have elsewhere supposed about the Apostle's eyesight be 
 correct, we have here at least one instance in which he seems to have 
 been so far recovered as to allow of his travelling alone. We have no 
 grounds, however, for supposing that the disorder iu his eyes made him at 
 all times so helpless as to be unable to take such a journey as the present 
 without the guidance of others.
 
 THE FAITHFUL PASTOR. 291 
 
 have a glimpse of " Paul in solitude." The scene 
 recalls the lines of a favourite poet — - 
 
 " There was a dell. 
 Whose woven shades shut out tlie eye of day. 
 While, towering near, the rugged mountaius made 
 Dark back-grouud 'gainst the sky. 
 
 Thither I went, 
 And bade my spirit taste that lonely fount, 
 For which it long had thirsted 'mid the strife 
 And fever of the world." 
 
 We see a lone figure walking slowly along amid the 
 oak-copse of Ida.* It is an early day in spring ; the 
 groves are filled with singing-birds ; the trees are 
 feathered with green leaves ; the ocean is murmuring 
 at his right hand; the rocky heights of the sacred 
 mountain rise on his left, glittering with a hundred 
 jojous streams. May we not imagine him, as the sun 
 had just risen, pausing at times at some opening by 
 the pebbly beach, and gazing across that great and 
 wide sea, whose waters were washing ten thousand un- 
 seen and unknown shores, — perhaps thinking of it as 
 an emblem of that glorious Gospel which, under the 
 rising of a " Better Sun," was yet to send its ripples 
 of love and peace on every spot where the trace of 
 human footstep could be found 1 He walked on, a dis- 
 tance of twenty miles. It was a season of quiet com- 
 munion with his God in the temple of nature, which, 
 we may believe, he would often recall with pleasure. 
 These shady woods, on that spring afternoon, doubtless 
 listened to earnest prayers, which the last eighteen 
 hundred years have been answering. 
 
 * See the picture at the beginning of the Chapter. See also Fellow's 
 Asia Minor, and the description by Howson, p. 214
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 f I;e f ^^i0pp. 
 
 " The warring winds have died away. 
 And clouds, beneath the glancing ray, 
 Melt off, and leave the lands and sea 
 Sleeping in bright tranquillity. 
 
 Instead of one unchanging breeze, 
 There blow a thousand gentle airs, 
 And each a different perfume bears — 
 
 As if the loveliest plants and trees 
 Had vassal breezes of their own 
 To watch and wait on them alone, 
 Aud waft no other breath than theirs.'' 
 
 "Food and raiment was his bill of fare; and more than this he 
 never cared for,— accounting, that the less he was clogged with these 
 things, the lighter he should march to heaven — especially travelling 
 through a world overrun with troubles and persecutions." — Cave's 
 Life of St Paul, 167Q.
 
 ' B may imagine our Great Ai)OStle reaching 
 now the old arched gate at the northern 
 entrance of Assos, and hastening to the harbonr to see 
 if the ship, which had his companions on board, had 
 arrived. He would have to descend through abrupt 
 and steep streets before reaching the sea-shore ; so pre- 
 cipitous, indeed, was the way from the town to the 
 port, that it was a common proverb — " Go to Assos 
 and break your neck."^' Probably he may have stood 
 for a while on the shore watching the vessel gradually 
 approaching. If it had already reached, no time was 
 to be lost in getting on board. Probably, towards the 
 evening of Monday, he once more found himself and 
 his companions surrounded with the voices of Grecian 
 sailors, spreading their sails to the breeze. 
 
 We may imagine the beauty of the scene as the,i| 
 
 " See L,e\viu.
 
 294 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 retired from the harbour of Assos, — its own long line 
 of buildings ; its stiiking citadel, perched on a rock ; 
 and, higher still, melted among the tints of the even- 
 ing sky, was beautiful Ida, with her crags, and groves, 
 and waterfalls. For some time the course of the ves- 
 sel was not in the open sea ; their voyage lay among 
 creeks and islands where the navigation was difficult, 
 and where safety required that they should cast anchor 
 for the night. Modern travellers unite in describing 
 the extreme beauty of the scenery through which, for 
 several successive days, St Paul must have passed. 
 The first place at which they paused was Mitylene, 
 the chief city of the beautiful island of Lesbos, the 
 largest in the ^Egean Sea. The town was built on 
 a narrow neck of land, with a port on the east and 
 west side of it, and still remains, under the modern 
 name of Castro. Here they waited over night, as 
 there was at present no moonlight, and the intricate 
 passage between the island and the mainland rendered 
 it only safe to venture by day. 
 
 The nest morning (Tuesday) they directed their 
 course to Chios, where the straits between the island 
 and the coast become narrower still. On the left, 
 lofty precipices towered in terror over their heads — to 
 the right, the lovely gardens of the island were bright 
 with blossom. 
 
 Passing through similar scenery as they skirted the 
 eastern shores of Samos, they reached Trogyllium, 
 where they again cast anchor. On approaching the 
 latter, Paul could not fail to cast an affectionate 
 and longing look towards a spot much endeared to 
 him, and which could not have been above a few miles 
 distant. It was Ephesus, where, a brief year before,
 
 THE SEA-VOYAGE. 295 
 
 he had witnessed the terrors of a fanatical mob, and 
 yet experienced the fliithfulness of Christian friendship. 
 His imminent danger had compelled him to hurry away 
 in haste, without a word of benediction or farewell, and 
 he could willingly now have landed, and gone direct to 
 its gates to " salute" his attached friends there. Doubt- 
 less he could discern its site, at least, from the prow of 
 his vessel ; but it was either impossible for him to di- 
 vert the ship from its course, or, what is equally pro- 
 bable, he was unwilling to allow anything to interfere 
 with his purpose of being in time for the feast of Pen- 
 tecost at Jerusalem. He could not, however, pass this 
 much-loved place, where so many brethren and sisters 
 of the Lord were, without trying to hold some inter- 
 course with them. He knew that his ship would be 
 detained for a day or two at the port-town of Miletus. 
 Could he not send a messenger to Ephesus (not more 
 than thirty miles) to tell the presbyters of the church 
 to come and see him 1 He would hear from their lips 
 about his dear converts, and both he and they would 
 have the privilege, at all events, of uniting in prayer, 
 and getting a mutual blessing. He saw, moreover, 
 that dangers and trials, more especially from the wiles 
 of the Judaising Christians, were waiting them; and he 
 was anxious to take the only opportunity he was likely 
 ever to have on earth of uplifting his warning voice. 
 He lived to see how needful the warning was; for, 
 among the very last words he dictated, probably a few 
 days before his death, he tells us, what was not the 
 least of his closing trials, — " This thou knowest, that 
 all thei/ which are in Asia be turned away from me; of 
 whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." * 
 
 « 2 Tim. i. 15.
 
 296 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, we may imagine the joy of the 
 Christians at Ephesus when they were told — " Our be- 
 loved Paul is at Miletus, and is waiting for our com- 
 ing!" We may imagine their journey — their meet- 
 ing ! It is one of the most touching scenes in all the 
 Apostle's life, or indeed throughout the Bible itself. 
 They are gathered (probably from the time that had 
 elapsed since leaving Troas) on the Sabbath day. It 
 is in no house — no church ; their place of assem- 
 bling is on the solitary beach, within sound of the rip- 
 pling sea. It was a little prayer-meeting like the one 
 by the river-side at Philippi, beneath the canopy of 
 nature; but never, we believe, did sermon tell with 
 more touching power, or were hearts united in more 
 fervent supplication. The sermon is still left to tis. * 
 It is short ; but it is one of those beautiful passages of 
 Scripture which no one, to this day, can read without 
 being touched by its beauty and tenderness. They 
 kneeled down at its close on the shore — tears fell fast 
 • — old and young flung their arms around Paul's neck, 
 embracing and kissing him — " sorrowing most of all 
 for the words which he spake to them, that they would 
 see his face no more; and they accompanied him to 
 the ship." There is no time for delay; the Great 
 Apostle, with a bursting heart, is once more on the 
 blue deep — his eye wistfully following his downcast 
 friends, till distance has separated them for ever. 
 
 Before leaving the to-\vn of Miletus, we may just 
 remark, that, when Paul knelt by its sea-shore, he 
 must have gazed, close by, on a busy city — a forest of 
 masts crowding its four ports. Already was it begin- 
 ning to interfere with the trade of Ephesus. If he 
 
 ♦ Acts XX. 18-36.
 
 THE SEA- VOYAGE. 297 
 
 looked towards the sea, a cluster of islands would be 
 right iu view, well-known haunts of smugglers and 
 pirates. Owing to the quantity of soil carried down 
 by the stream of the Meander, these islands are now 
 no longer washed by the ocean, but are little eleva- 
 tions rising in the midst of a fertile plain ; and Miletus 
 itself has shared in the altered face of nature.* 
 
 Chandler visited it, among other places, in his tour 
 in Asia Minor, and was struck with its desolation, 
 thovigh still retaining, in its name (Palat, or Palatia, 
 the Palaces), the remembrance of its ancient greatness. 
 "Miletus," he says, "was once exceedingly powerful 
 and illustrious. Its early navigators extended its com- 
 merce to remote regions; the whole Euxine Sea, the 
 Propontis, Egypt, and other countries, were frequented 
 by its ships and settled by its colonies It after- 
 wards fell so low as to furnish a proverbial saying — 
 * The Milesians were once great.' .... The whole site 
 of the town, to a great extent, is spread with rubbish 
 and overrun with thickets. The vestiges of the hea- 
 then city are pieces of wall, broken arches, and a few 
 scattered pedestals and inscriptions, a s.-nare marble 
 urn, and many wells." t 
 
 The Greek sailors and their holy voyagers pursue 
 their course towai'ds the island of Cos, which has been 
 called " the garden of the ^gean," celebrated for wine 
 and silkworms. Among the groups of smaller islands 
 which they passed, they may have got a glimpse of one 
 we have already alluded to, unknown then in sacred 
 gtory — the island of Patmos, from whose lonely rock 
 there sounded forth the last messages of Deity to our 
 world. 
 
 * Lcwiu, in loc. t Chandler, pp. 148, 149.
 
 298 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Rhodes was the next place to which they sailed, 
 DoubliDg its northern pi'omontory, they came in sight 
 of the beautiful town and harbour, rising in the midst 
 of gardens and hills. It was celebrated for its roses, 
 "which gave the name to the island — its Temple of the 
 Sun, and great Colossus. This last was said to stand 
 across the harbour, and was so high that vessels passed 
 under its legs. Every finger of the image was as big 
 as a man. It was reckoned the greatest of the seven 
 wonders of the world while it stood ; but, in the time 
 of Paul, it was a huge ruin — nothing remaining but the 
 limbs; the vast monument of human labour, 105 feet 
 high, which attracted from afar the eye of the mariner, 
 had been overthrown by an earthquake. As the Apostle 
 passed into the port, the brazen monster was lying 
 prone on the beach, where it continued for ages, until 
 the Saracens took possession of the island, when the 
 brass of the Colossus was sold to a Jew, who carried it 
 away on the backs of 900 camels.* 
 
 It is not said whether the ship landed at Rhodes. 
 Most probably it only cast anchor for the night, and, 
 at early dawn, proceeded along the Lycian coast, with 
 a "knot of high and rugged mountains in view,"t 
 which the writer we quote calls ]\Iount Cragus, the 
 haunt of the fabled Chimsera. A little way east of 
 this, they come in sight of Patara, the port of the river 
 Xanthus, ten miles from the city of the same name. 
 The vessel in which they were now sailing seems not 
 to have been bound for Syria ; but, fortunately, on 
 reaching Patara, they found one just about to start for 
 Tyre. Without loss of time, the Apostle seized the 
 favourable opportunity, and once more, under a bright 
 
 * Cedrenus. f Beaufort's Karamania.
 
 THE SEA-VOTAGE. 299 
 
 full-moon and a favouring breeze, we may imagine him 
 out on the broad ocean— no longer now any creeks or 
 currents to render anchorage for the night necessary. 
 
 It is worse than vain and unprofitable, in Bible nar- 
 rative, to imagine things that are not described ; but 
 it may be pardonable for us to picture, in the present 
 voyag-e, the weather-beaten Apostle standing on the 
 deck°of his vessel, " in the great and wide sea,"— the 
 clear moonbeams playing on its white sails, or on the 
 rippling foam of its wake. Every traveller who has 
 been on the Mediterranean by moonlight, has spoken 
 with rapture of the scene. Paul had left his warm 
 cloak behind him at Troas; and we shall afterwards 
 find him wishing much that he had it to protect his 
 shivering frame in the damps of a Roman dungeon. 
 But he can dispense with it now, in a summer night 
 in these genial climes, and under such a canopy. 
 Nature, we know, in her intense repose, has a wonder- 
 ful i)ower on the human spirit. Those glittering stars 
 above his head, looking down from their quiet heaven 
 like so many ministering angels, may have whispered 
 peace to his lonely spirit. If the rude heathen sailors 
 around were beguiling the hours by their wonted 
 songs, may not the Apostle- voyager and his companions 
 hav'e had also their "songs in the night?" One of 
 these, we know, was often on the lips of pilgrims like 
 himself going up to the Passover ;— may it not now 
 have soothed his spirit in that moonlit sea, and led 
 him to cast his burden on a faithful God 1 " The 
 Lord is thy keeper ; the Lord is thy shade upon thy 
 right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor 
 the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee 
 from all evil ; he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord
 
 300 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from 
 this time forth, and even for evermore." * Perhaps you 
 may remember the first time he sailed along this same 
 sea — it was while, a brave-hearted boy, he stood on 
 the deck of some Phoenician trader, with his father or 
 some other friend at his side, pointing out, one by one, 
 the objects of interest in the land of promise. How 
 different this voyage ! That father had, for aught we 
 know, long ere now sunk into his grave, reposing with 
 his dead in the Jewish sepulchre in Tarsus ; — pei'haps 
 gone down to the tomb in sadness because the child 
 of high promise had become an apostate and a Naza- 
 rene ! It may be so ; but Paul felt that better than 
 father or friend was with him. If his "father and 
 mother had forsaken him," the Lord had " taken him 
 up." A mother's smile may possibly have never fal- 
 len upon her boy ; but amid the stillness of that mid- 
 night hour, a voice would break upon the ear of the 
 orphaned Apostle, as he drew nigh, with a trembling 
 heart, to the city of God. " As one whom his mother 
 comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be com- 
 forted in Jerusalem .'" A few days, as we shall see, 
 fulfilled the promise. 
 
 The distance from Patara to Tyre was a considerable 
 one, — about foiu' hundred miles ; but with a favouring 
 north-west wind, the voyage might easily be made in 
 forty-eight hours.t TIae first land he would descry 
 would be the round-topped mountain of Cyprus, with 
 its summit of snow; and, not long after, he would 
 catch his first glimpse, in the hazy distance, of the 
 peaks of Lebanon. 
 
 They have now reached Tyre, the once '^ great city," 
 
 * Psalm CKxi 5-8. f Howsou, vol. i. p. 233.
 
 THE SEA- VOYAGE, 301 
 
 all that remains of which, at the present day, is a 
 few rocks and miserable huts, on which the fishermen 
 spread their nets. When Paul visited it, it was far 
 past the height of its glory, though still large. It was 
 originally situated on the mainland, but the conquer- 
 ing army of Nebuchadnezzar drove the Tyrians to an 
 island close by. Here they fortified themselves, and 
 built a new city, jutting into the sea a mile long. 
 Alexander the Great was only able to take it by con- 
 necting, at great labour, the mainland with the island- 
 town. Its port, into which the Apostle entered, was 
 situated on the north of the peninsula. 
 
 Since the Phoenician territory, between the sea and 
 the mountain range of Lebanon, was small, Tyre was 
 still indebted to neighbouring countries for various 
 commodities which she received in exchange for her 
 manufactures; and it has been conjectured, with great 
 probability, that this vessel from Patara, in which 
 Paul now was, may have been laden with grain or 
 wine from the rich provinces of Asia Minor or the 
 islands of the iEgean.* She was bound for Ptolemais, 
 but, before proceeding thither, had to unlade in the 
 Tyrian harbour. This occupied several days ; and as 
 the Apostle found he was in ample time for the Jeru- 
 salem festival, he willingly spent the leisure thus 
 aflforded him with the " brethren at Tyre." A church 
 seems to have already existed here, and among its 
 members at present were some "prophets,'' to whom 
 had been imparted a knowledge of coming events. 
 These used their influence with Paul to try and pre- 
 vent him from going to Jerusalem, as they had a fore- 
 sight given them of his coming trials. Their efforts, 
 
 ♦ See Howson, vol. i. p. 235.
 
 302 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 however, were vain. I need not say if there had 
 been any express divine command in the matter, Paul 
 ■was not one who would be found "to fight against 
 God." But it was only a prophetic warning on the 
 part of these Christians, " that if he vakied his own 
 liberty and safety, he ought not to ventiire, since it 
 would certainly expose him to very great hazard." * 
 He had, however, like his Lord before him, " set his 
 face steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem," and no danger 
 would divert him from what he considered his path of 
 duty, although he had frankly owned to the elders of 
 Ephesus that his spirit was clouded with the many 
 intimations he had received of coming " bonds and im- 
 prisonment." After spending seven da5^s at Tyre, 
 including a Sabbath, the master of the vessel availed 
 himself of the first fair wind to proceed to Ptolemais. 
 Paul was followed to the seaside, as at Miletus, by many 
 affectionate friends, their wives and children miughng 
 in the sorrowing group who had come to bid him fare- 
 well. After uniting in prayer on the shore, the can- 
 vas is again spread to the breeze, and in a few hours 
 they are sailing up the spacious bay, at the bend of 
 which is situated the modern Acre, the ancient Ptole- 
 mais. We need not stop to describe this illustrious 
 town. It was famous in the time of the Crusades, 
 when England's lion-hearted king fought under its 
 walls. It defied the power of Napoleon. In more 
 recent times, it was less successful in withstanding the 
 might of our own gallant fleet. Mount Carrael casts 
 its shadow on the south part of the bay, where the 
 principal anchorage was, and hei'e, we may conclude, 
 St Paul ended his present sea- voyage. At Ptolemais, 
 
 • Doddridge.
 
 THE SEA-VOYAGE. 
 
 303 
 
 he only remained a single day, visiting the disciples 
 resident there, and then took the road which skirts 
 the base of Mount Carmel to Cesarea,— a distance 
 of thirty-five miles. There were in this latter city 
 many endeared Christian disciples,— one especially, 
 under whose roof he had taken " sweet counsel" before 
 now. Pliilip the Evangelist and his four daughters 
 dwelt in the town of Herod. These four females seem 
 to have been devoted servants of Jesus, on whom also 
 the gift of prophecy had descended, as in the case of 
 Deborah and Miriam in Old Testament times, and 
 also in accordance with the prediction of Joel. Here 
 the same mournful intimations met the Apostle, of 
 approaching trials and persecution if he ventured to 
 go to Jerusalem. Agabus, a convert and a prophet, 
 the same who had years before predicted the famine 
 in Judea, hearing of Paul's arrival, had come down all 
 the way from the Holy City to lift his voice of pro- 
 phetical warning. His former prediction relative to the 
 dearth had been so accurately fulfilled, that the disciples 
 would naturally listen with anxiety to what he would 
 say regai-ding the future destiny of their revered 
 father. The prophets, in olden time, had a peculiar 
 way of foretelling coming events by acting these in 
 expressive signs or symbols before the eye. Thus Jere- 
 miah foretold the coming Jewish captivity by burying 
 his girdle on the banks of the Euphrates ; and Isaiah 
 walked naked and barefoot to proclaim the humbling 
 bondage which awaited Egypt and Ethiopia by the 
 King of Assyria. Agabus used the same striking 
 method now of making known his prediction. He 
 took off Paul's girdle, binding his own hands and feet 
 with it, and saying, " Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So
 
 304 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man to whom 
 this girdle belongs, and they shall deliver him into the 
 hands of the Gentiles." Luke, Aristarchus, Tro- 
 phimus, and his interested friends at Cesarea, im- 
 plored the Great Apostle to listen to the voice of warn- 
 ing and abandon his purpose of proceeding to Jeru- 
 salem. But Paul's lofty spirit would allow no fears or 
 threats to terrify him ; he was bold in his Master's 
 work. It pained him much to resist the advice of 
 affectionate brethren, but he had been forewarned by a 
 voice of love what " great things he must svjfer for His 
 sake." Is he to shrink from the cross 1 No ! he acts 
 up to his own advice to a younger believer — "Endure 
 hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." He had 
 counted the cost, and found it worthy of martyrdom, 
 " What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ? 
 for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at 
 Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." * When 
 they saw they could not move him from his purpose, 
 they submitted ; and with hearts filled with gloom at 
 all these manifold warnings, said, " The will of the Lord 
 be done." There was much, indeed, that might well 
 have filled the bold soul of our Apostle with dread ; all 
 throughout this journey we cannot fail to mark a dejec- 
 tion that was not usual to him. The Holy Ghost had 
 witnessed in every city that bonds and afflictions were 
 in store for him. He knew he could expect little jus- 
 tice at the hands of the worthless Governor of Judea, 
 the abandoned Felix ; and there were low assassins at 
 this time in Jerusalem, who would be ready, for the 
 basest bribe, to sacrifice the noblest life in the world.t 
 
 * Acts xxi. 13. t Neander.
 
 THE SEA-VOYAGE. 305 
 
 But the baggage is put in order ; his resolution is 
 taken. 
 
 The distance to Jerusalem was seventy-five miles, — 
 a three days' joui-ney. As many of his personal friends, 
 and Christians from Cesarea, were going up to the Pen- 
 tecost feast, they must have formed together a goodly 
 company or caravan. 
 
 We close this chapter by leaving the noble-minded 
 servant of God in the house of Mnason, an old disciple 
 of Cyprus, looking out on the same streets and scenes 
 with which his eye had been formerly familiar, when, 
 as the boy of Tarsus, he had day by day gone to sit at 
 the feet of the learned GamalieL
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 |a«l in Icnisalcm. 
 
 "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! 
 
 Enthroned once on high, 
 Thou favour'd home of God on eaxtii — 
 
 Thou heaven below the sky ! 
 
 » * * « * 
 
 Till to the Saviour of mankind 
 
 Thou humbly bow the knee, 
 Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! 
 
 Our tears shall flow for thee." 
 
 " And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not 
 knowing the things that shall befall me there : save that the Holy 
 Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide 
 me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 
 unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the minis- 
 try which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of 
 the grace of God," — Acts xx. 22-2i.
 
 T was now the lo\el} month of May 
 The hills aud valleys of old Palestme 
 were clothed in their summer beauty. 
 The husbandman saw the labours of 
 early spring rewarded with fields of 
 plenty. It was the time of year 
 when good King David's pastoral 
 song must have been on many Hps — " Thou crownest 
 the year with Thy goodness ; and Thy paths drop 
 fatness. . . . The pastures are clothed with flocks; 
 the valleys also are covered over with com; they 
 shout for joy, they also sing."=!= Thousands upon 
 thousands from all parts of Judea, and Israelites 
 from distant lands, were assembling at the feast of 
 Pentecost, to offer to Jehovah thanksgiving for the 
 bounties of harvest. Already, when the Apostle 
 
 • Psalm Ixv. 11, 13.
 
 308 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 arrived in Jerusalem, multitudes of stranger- Jews were 
 crowding the streets ; and the slopes of Mount Olivet, 
 and the valley of the Kedron, as far as the eye could 
 reach, were dotted over with the well-knov/n goats'- 
 hair tents. Many a young Hebrew youth, doubtless, 
 had come up, for the first time, from his distant home, 
 to see the city of the Great King — his heart bounding 
 with joy. Many, too, unknown to themselves, had 
 made their last pilgrimage to the place of ordinances. 
 Among the latter, was the sojourner in the house of 
 old Mnason, who was now, we have every reason to 
 believe, spending his last Pentecost in the earthly 
 Zion. 
 
 Let us think of him, then, once more in the " city of 
 God," within sight of the splendid temple and the 
 green Mount of Olives. Many changes had taken 
 place since his last visit. Four years before, his old 
 teacher, Gamaliel, had gone the way of all the earth, 
 and been laid in the sepulchre of his fathers. His two 
 sons still survived, Simon and Jesus. With them Paul 
 doubtless had been acquainted in former years. The}'- 
 had probably been his companions during his school- 
 days. Their path in life, however, fi'om that time 
 became very different. The sons of the Rabbi were 
 afterwards exalted respectively t^ the chair of the San- 
 hedrim and the ofiice of high priest, while their old 
 Cilician friend and playmate arrives in their city a care- 
 worn traveller, with no thought but that of bonds and 
 imprisonment. Theophilus (the same to whom " Saul 
 the persecutor " had applied for lettei's to seize the 
 Damascus Christians) was still alive. Felix was resid- 
 ing in his gorgeous palace at Cesarea; and the Roman 
 officer in command at Jerusalem, as we shall presently
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 309 
 
 see, was Claudius Lysias. It was often the case then, 
 as it is now when multitudes are gathered together in 
 one place, that breaches of the peace were committed. 
 Any such I'iots were best suppressed by the presence of 
 military; and for this purpose, Claudius, during the 
 feast of Pentecost, had, like his predecessors, soldiers 
 ready armed to max'ch, in case of disturbance, from 
 the fort of Antonia. 
 
 The Apostle arrived (for even the date may with 
 probability be given) on the 8th day of May, a.d. 56. 
 He was kindly received, and seems to Have spent the 
 evening in company with the disciples. The next day 
 was an anxious one to him ; he was then to meet all 
 the presbyters, in order to deliver the contributions he 
 had brought for the relief of the poor Hebrews. He 
 well knew that there were among them many " Juda- 
 isers," who regarded him with bitter dislike, as one 
 who was doing all he could to destroy their national 
 glory, and abolish their legal rites and ceremonies. 
 One great purpose for which he came at present to 
 Jerusalem was, to try and soothe their bitterness, and 
 to convince them that he was but a single-minded dis- 
 ciple, who had no interest at heart but that of his dear 
 Lord. However much, therefore, he dreaded the com- 
 ing storm, he was resolved boldly, in the strength of 
 his God, to meet it. 
 
 The venerable Apostle James at present presided 
 over the assembly of presbyters. These met the next 
 day, in order to receive Paul and the other brethren 
 from a distance. They greeted one another with " the 
 kiss of charity," common in these times as a symbol of 
 brotherly affection. The strangers first laid down the 
 money which had been collected in distant countries
 
 310 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL, 
 
 for the poor saints, and then Paul proceeded to address 
 the meeting. He rehearsed all that had been done by 
 himself and his companions, during the last four years, 
 among the Gentiles. He would probably enlarge on 
 the many promising churches he had founded — the 
 perilous and trying scenes, more especially that at 
 Ephesus, through which he had passed. Moreover, 
 that he was not come now among them to seek an idle 
 repose; but that, though his face was beginning to be 
 deeply furrowed with wrinkles, he was still resolved to 
 "spend and be spent" in the service of his Master. 
 
 " How must his hearers have i*ejoiced to listen to 
 every detail of those wonderful achievements, far more 
 interesting than were ever told to admiring senates by 
 the conquerors of the earth, and of the power of Divine 
 grace, which, by the foolishness of preaching, had over- 
 come the pride of the Areopagite, and subdued the 
 rugged nature of the barbarous jailer, with as much 
 facility as it had melted the heart of the tender Lydia ! 
 Surely few eyes were dry in that assembly."* 
 
 His address, indeed, seems to have been listened to 
 with intense interest by the bulk of those present ; 
 for we are told, that the first thing they did, after 
 hearing him speak, was to glorify God for the things 
 He had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 
 
 There were many deep prejudices, however, in the 
 minds of " thousands of Jews which believed," which 
 would not be so easily allayed. Many of these, as you 
 remember in a former chapter, could not brook the 
 thought of a gospel proclaimed to the heathen. They 
 imagined that, as Israel had all along been the favom-ed 
 and peculiar people of God, Christianity was only in- 
 
 » Bluut
 
 TAUL IN JERUSALEM. 311 
 
 tended for them. This question had been finally dis- 
 posed of and settled by the decree of the Jerusalem 
 Council — copies of which, you will recollect, were 
 carried by Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, to Antioch, and 
 distributed through the different cities in Asia Minor. 
 Another equally strong feeling, however, had now 
 taken hold of their minds, — viz., a dread that the 
 Jews, who had been converted to Christianity, might 
 be induced or compelled to give up the observance of 
 the Mosaic law. What were Paul's views on this sub- 
 ject? He distinctly held that the Jewish Christians 
 might still, if they chose, observe their ancient rites ; but 
 these were in no respect to come in the place of the 
 great work of Christ, by which alone both Jew and 
 Gentile are "justified from all things, from which they 
 could not be justified by the law of Moses." But the 
 Jewish believers had accused him of going much far- 
 ther, and of absolutely prohibiting the Hebrew con- 
 verts among the heathen from having their children 
 circumcised, and retaining any of the institutions of 
 Moses. " Thou seest, brother," said the elders at this 
 conference we refer to, " how many thousands of Jews 
 there are which believe, and they are all zealous of the 
 law ; and they are informed of thee that thou teachest 
 all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake 
 Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their 
 children, neither to walk after their customs." 
 
 Paul's friends knew well that there would be many 
 Asiatic Jews present at the feast from a far distance, 
 whose feelings of national pride and glory would be 
 roused by treading once more the city of their fathers. 
 These friends of the Apostle considered it desirable if 
 he could in some way give public -"^roof that he was
 
 312 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 not the enemy of the Hebrew rites which he had been 
 represented to be. The following was the device they 
 fell upon. There were four Jewish Christians among 
 themselves who had taken the " Nazarite vow." This, 
 I have already explained, consisted in not cutting or 
 shaving the hair or beard, nor taking wine for thirty 
 days. I told you that at the end of that period, those 
 who thus vowed were expected to repair to the temple, 
 •where they had their hair cut off and burnt on the 
 altar. If they were poor, they generally got the as- 
 sistance of some wealthy friend to pay the necessary 
 expense ; and nothing so raised a man in the estima- 
 tion of the Jews as this act of charity towards a poor 
 brother. Josephus tells us that King Agrippa, on re- 
 turning to Jerusalem after having undergone many 
 dangers and escapes, gave orders that the expense of 
 shaving several Nazarites be paid out of his own pri- 
 vate purse.* 
 
 These four Nazarites had fulfilled the " days of sepa- 
 ration ;" but they had not sufficient to pay the charge 
 of the wonted sacrifices. The proposal of the Apostle's 
 advisers was, that he should go in company with these 
 four men to the courts of the temple, and defray the 
 expense incun-ed according to the law. Being poor 
 himself, his friends would likely furnish him with 
 money sufficient for the purpose; and thus, in a way 
 most gratifying to Jewish feeling, he would show his 
 good-will to the Jewish Church. 
 
 Paul seems willingly to have complied with the sug- 
 gestion. If he had thought it in any degree inconsistent 
 with right principle, and the duty he owed to his Lord, 
 we may be very sure he would never have agreed to it. 
 
 * Josephus, ant. xix. 6, 1.
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 313 
 
 He viewed it, doubtless, as a mere outward compliance 
 with a custom imimportant in itself, but which would 
 tend to calm the feelings of those whom he was de- 
 sirous of counting one with him in Christ Jesus. He 
 ever sought, as he tells us elsewhere, to become " all 
 things to all men, if by any means he might gain 
 some." Circumcision in itself was nothing to him, 
 neither was uncircumcision, " but faith, which work- 
 eth by love." 
 
 It is only fair, however, to mention, that many good 
 men have considered the Apostle was, in this instance, 
 guilty of an unwise compliance ; and it is striking to 
 observe, which we shall immediately do, that instead of 
 soothing his enemies, his visit to the temple at this time 
 threatened him with serious consequences. " He was 
 brought," says John Knox, " into the most desperate 
 danger that he ever sustained — God designing to show 
 thereby that we must not do evil that good may come." 
 AVe may picture to ourselves the Great Apostle, ac- 
 companied with his four friends, with their haggard 
 looks and unshaven beards, ascending to the temple, 
 entering by the Corinthian or Beautiful gate to the 
 place allotted to the Nazarites to undergo their seven 
 days' purification. It was customary, after each day's 
 purification had taken place, for the Nazarite to re- 
 main in the temple. Paul in this way must have been 
 daily in the court of the Gentiles, although he wisely 
 abstained from entering into religious discussion with 
 any of the worshippers. As I have said, multitudes of 
 Jews from all parts of Asia, (and among these from 
 Ephesus, to whom the Apostle's face was well known,) 
 were mingling in the crowd around him. They had 
 not forgotten his victoiy in their synagogue in the city
 
 314 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 of Diana, and they thought that now would be a befit- 
 ting opportunity to have their revenge. They at once 
 spread the intelUgence that this false and traitor apos- 
 tate was present, and had ventured to take Trophimus, 
 his companion, a Greek, within the holy place. Pro- 
 bably they had seen Paul and Trophimus walking to- 
 gether on the streets, and had inferred that he had 
 brought him also within the sacred coui-ts. The intro- 
 duction of any Gentile there, I need not tell you, was 
 strictly forbidden. Josephus informs us that tablets 
 were hung out in sight of all, with words upon them 
 to caution those who might not be aware of the sacred- 
 ness of the enclosure.* In a moment he is surrounded 
 with an infuriated mob and frantic cries. The whole 
 scene of Stephen's martyrdom must have flashed across 
 him. They are almost within sight of the spot. Could 
 a like terrible end be now in prospect for himself? 
 They have laid fast hold of him, and are shouting aloud, 
 " Men of Israel, help ! this is the man that teacheth 
 all men everywhere against the people and the law and 
 this place. "t We can readily imagine their fury. Soon 
 their madness turns into blows. They drag him down 
 the steps from the court of the women. The Levites 
 "within, afraid that murder might be committed, and 
 their sanctuary thereby profaned, closed the weighty 
 brazen gates, and left him to his fate. Fortunately the 
 little time that elapsed in taking him from one court to 
 the other saved his life. The Roman sentries, some of 
 whom were pacing the colonnade of the temple, and 
 others on the towers of Antonia, heard the noise of the 
 tumult, and rushed with their arms to quell it. They 
 saw it was no trifle, and therefore sent in haste to 
 
 * Sue Olshausen. t Acts xxi. SS.
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 315 
 
 Claudius Lysias, the governor of the castle, to acquaint 
 him of the uproar. The Castle of Antonia was a strongly 
 fortified place at the north- western side of the temple.* 
 It contained large barracks for the Roman troops, in 
 which a thousand were generally stationed. Its form 
 was a vast square, described as having " the magni- 
 ficence of a palace, and the conveniences of a city." A 
 wall 300 cubits high and several fortifications were 
 around it, and a tower at each corner to defend it. It 
 was a sort of citadel of the temple.t One of these lofty 
 turrets overlooked the temple courts, and Roman sen- 
 tinels were always on watch to give intimation of any 
 disturbance that might occur within the sacred pre- 
 cincts. 
 
 Claudius Lysias lost no time, after he received the 
 message, in ordering out some oSicers and troops. He 
 rushed down himself sword in hand. The sight of the 
 Roman legion overawed the furious mob, and for the 
 time they " left off beating Paul." Their object, how- 
 ever, was so far gained, for Lysias gave orders that his 
 wrists be bound with two chains, these chains fastened 
 to a soldier on either side. Hurried along, with a 
 maddened crowd behind him, in the direction of the 
 castle, he is taken to the barracks within the fortress. 
 While led up the flight of stairs between the two places, 
 so great was the pressure, he was literally carried off 
 his feet, and borne upon the shoulders of the throng, 
 who were crying out, " Away with him." 
 
 Lysias, in the confusion, could get no account of 
 who his prisoner was. He imagined that he had cap- 
 
 * Seo the tower, in the picture of Jerusalem, at tlie farther extremity 
 of the temple. 
 f Calm at.
 
 316 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 tured a different victim. A violent impostor and false 
 prophet — a native of Egypt — had, at the preceding 
 Passover, come to Jerusalem, pretending that he had 
 been sent by God to restore the kingdom to Israel. 
 FoTir thousand deluded people had at first followed 
 him ; they had, ere long, increased to 30,000. These 
 he led to the brow of Mount Olivet, and gave them to 
 believe that they would see the walls of Jerusalem fall- 
 ing to the ground, and a way miraculously made for a 
 triumphant entry into the city. Felix resolved to 
 quell the tumult and disperse the fanatics. Putting 
 himself at the head of the Roman troops, the motley 
 crowd were scattered in every direction, and four hun- 
 dred of them slain. The artful leader succeeded in 
 escaping; but, at the very time when Paul was now in 
 the temple, a rigid search was being made, and rewards 
 offered for his apprehension. This explains the conver- 
 sation which was now held between Claudius Lysias 
 and his prisoner, as they were ascending, in the crush, 
 the stairs of the castle.* 
 
 Paul, in calm composure, requests a word of the 
 chief officer, " May I speak unto thee 1 " Lysias allows 
 him. To the astonishment of the latter, he speaks 
 not in Hebi-ew, but in Greek. The Governor then 
 asked him if he was under a mistake in thinking him 
 that Egyptian impostor who had led out into the 
 wilderness a multitude of fanatics, to be slain by the 
 troops of Felix 1 Paul assured him he was no Egyptian, 
 but a citizen of Tarsus, and begged he might be per- 
 mitted to address the people. We almost wonder that 
 Lysias so readily complied with his request : but he 
 
 • See Lewin and Olshausen, with the references to the passage in Jose- 
 pbus.
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 317 
 
 seems to have been impressed by the whole bearing of 
 his prisoner. At once silence appears to have been 
 obtained. We have seen Paul unfolding his great 
 Gospel message to the crowd of philosophers on Mars 
 Hill in Athens ; and we feel that the scene must have 
 been deeply impressive ; but never, perhaps, did he 
 address so vast and strange an audience as at present 
 from the castle stairs at Fort Antonio — never was the 
 power of his words more deeply felt. The storm was, 
 in a moment, changed into a deep calm. Every voice 
 was hushed into stillness as the gentle tones of the 
 greatest of then living men broke over the turrets of 
 th'.^ temple, — " Brethren and fathers, hear me!" What 
 helped still more to lull the tumult and secure atten- 
 tion was, that he no longer spoke in Greek, but in 
 their own much-loved Hebrew tongue. It was like oil 
 thrown on a fretful sea ! He commenced by telling 
 them of his birth and education — his strong Jewish 
 feelings and partialities — his wonderful conversion 
 while in the very act of persecuting. He then passed 
 to other events subsequent to that great turning-point 
 in his history. They listen to him with patience and in 
 silence, till he comes to speak of his special destination 
 as the Apostle of the Heathen; but whenever the words 
 were uttered which he tells them he had received as 
 a special command from God, " Depart : for I will 
 send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," there was no 
 controlling their rage : " Away," they cried, " with 
 such a fellow from the earth ; for it is not fit that he 
 should live." * They dared not at present attempt 
 any violence, as the prisoner was in the hands of Roman 
 soldiers ; and the only way, therefore, of exhibiting 
 
 * Acts xxii. 22.
 
 318 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 their "wrath was bj threats and menaces. The Jews 
 had their own pecuhar way of expressing passionate 
 anger or malice. You remember when King David 
 was going along by the side of Mount Olivet, weeping 
 and barefoot, and when Siiimei came out to curse and 
 revile him, he further showed the vehemence of his 
 hatred by casting stones and throwing dust. The 
 enraged and agitated Hebrew mob now thronging 
 around the stairs of the castle do the same thing. 
 They tore oflf their upper garments and cast dust into 
 the air, as if really preparing for a repetition of the 
 murderous scene which Paul had, many years before, 
 "consented to" in the valley below. Lysias, not 
 knowing, from the Hebrew language in which the 
 speech was given, what the cause was of the renewed 
 uproar, concluded that the speaker must have been 
 guilty of some great crime. He commanded that he 
 shou.dbe taken back again to the castle, and examined 
 there by torture, so as to get a confession of his guilt. 
 The command of the Roman is speedily obeyed ; he 
 is even stretched on the rack, ready to be scourged. 
 A wooden post, slightly inclined, is driven into the 
 ground, and the holy Apostle is bound tightly to it by 
 his hands and feet. A centurion stands by him to see 
 that the order is duly executed, when Paul, summoning 
 up his wonted fortitude, demanded, " Is it lawful for 
 you to scourge one Avho is a Roman un condemned ? " 
 The centurion immediately informed Lysias of the pri- 
 soner's question. The governor felt he had placed him- 
 self in imminent peril by the act. " He was afraid after 
 he knew that he was a Roman." We have found before 
 now that, by the Sempronian law, those were liable to 
 severe punishment who, however high their rank, pre-
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM, 319 
 
 sumed to beat a Roman citizen. He gave orders in- 
 stantly that the cords which bound him be untied, but 
 that he be kept in safe custody within the fortress. He 
 ■was again secured by chains between two soldiers. His 
 conscience, however, was void of offence ; he had the 
 fear of God, and no other fear ; and he laid him down 
 in that strange place "in peace and sleep," feeling 
 that God enabled him " to dwell in safety." 
 
 Next day a new persecution awaited him. Lysias 
 called together the Jewish Sanhedrim to try his case, 
 in the same hall, Gazith, where Paul himself in former 
 days had sat as one of the judges in condemning the 
 martyr Stephen. There was only a short way be- 
 tween the steps that led down from the tower of 
 Antonio to those which conducted up to the Jewish 
 court.* Strange must have been the Apostle's feelings 
 in entering this place ! and stranger still the feelings of 
 those who were now called together to sit in judgment 
 on him ! Ananias, though he had been deposed from 
 the office of high priest by the Eomans, presided on this 
 occasion, as his successor, Jonathan, had been lately 
 murdered by assassins. Simeon and Jesus, Paul's old 
 schoolfellows, were also doubtless there, and Theo- 
 philus, the old high priest, — perhaps even some of 
 those who had journeyed along with him to Damascus ! 
 What a change from that day ! — the persecutor now 
 the persecuted ! — twenty full years he had been boldly 
 " preaching that faith" which he had sought then " to 
 destroy !" 
 
 The innocent Apostle looked steadfastly upon those 
 seventy senators, in whose presence he now was, affirm- 
 iua with boldness that he had ever maintained "a 
 
 * Howson, vol. ii. p. 268.
 
 320 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 good conscience before God." The rage of the presid- 
 ing high priest vented itself in a base action. He 
 commanded those that stood near Paul to smite him 
 on the mouth. The Apostle, naturally of a quick tem- 
 per, was roused to indignation, and exclaimed, " God 
 shall smite thee, thou whited wall!" The saying was, 
 ere long, fearfully fulfilled. At the commencement of 
 the siege of Jerusalem, in after years, Ananias and his 
 followers took refuge in the upper city from the fury 
 of the opposing faction. His palace being burnt, he 
 fled to the Pretorium, but it too had to yield to the 
 enemies' assault. The wretched fugitive was disco- 
 vered hiding in an aqueduct in the gardens, and fell 
 by the daggers of the Sicarii. " Righteous art thou, 
 Lord ! " 
 
 Paul, on this occasion, remarkably followed the 
 injunction of his divine Master, " Be ye wise as ser- 
 pents, and harmless as doves." He soon observed how 
 hopeless his cause would be, argued before so pre- 
 judiced an assembly. With his usual tact and pru- 
 dence, he turns the discussion on another point. He 
 observed that the meeting around him was composed 
 partly of Phaxisees and partly of Sadducees ; and as he 
 knew there was a far more violent opposition existing 
 between these sects than between either of them and 
 the Christians, he started the great topic of their 
 rivalry, declaring, " I am a Pharisee, and the son of a 
 Pharisee: for the hope of the resurrection from the dead 
 I am called in question." * The result proved as he 
 had expected. He had cast a spark amid combustible 
 materials, which set the whole in a blaze. The two 
 factions turned their weapons against one another ; 
 
 * Acts xxiii. 6.
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 321 
 
 and in the midst of the turmoil, Claudius Lysias, fear- 
 ing it might end seriously, seut down his troops from 
 the castle to bring back his prisoner in safety. 
 
 We may now think of the solitary Apostle, after the 
 agitation of the few last days, left all alone to his 
 solitary meditations in the cell of a Roman barrack. 
 The future must have appeai'cd painfully dark to him. 
 The thought wliich had for long been near his heart, 
 to " see Rome," and preach the Gospel in the world's 
 capital, seemed now well-nigh hopeless. Could it be 
 that his apostolic work was to be so soon terminated 
 by a martyr's death 1 But God, when his favoured 
 servants are in gloom and despondency, has always 
 visited them with some special encouragement and 
 comfort. He did so now. In the depth of midnight, 
 whoa the weary prisoner was stretched on his bed of 
 straw, the Lord appeared to him, and said, " Be of 
 good cheer, Paul ; for as thou hast testified of me in 
 Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Home." * 
 
 Great need, truly, was thex'e for such a welcome 
 assurance, as fresh plots were concocted to eifect his 
 destruction. At break of day, forty Jews made a vow 
 together, that " they would neither eat nor drink till 
 they had killed Paul." They made known their infam- 
 ous design to the chief priests and elders. It gives us 
 an awful idea of the state of public morals, when these 
 leaders of the people could become a party to so hor- 
 rible a crime. Their plan was to get Claudius Lysias 
 to request another meeting of the Sanhedrim, in order 
 that a fresh trial might take place, and then they 
 would murder him on his way from the castle of An- 
 tonio to the hall. The Apostle's life was in the great- 
 
 * Acts xxiii. 11.
 
 322 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 est danger ; but God mercifully warded off the blow, 
 by means of a new personage, whose name is brought 
 before us here — the son of that sister of Paul's whom 
 we have already spoken of at the commencement of 
 this volume, as sharing the pleasures of infancy with 
 him at Tarsus. Lysias had, in kind consideration, 
 granted free admission to any of the prisoner's friends, 
 and this nephew (whose name is not given) hastened to 
 tell his uncle the fearful secret which had reached his 
 ears. When Paul was seated in his lonely place of 
 concealment, a footstep is heard; the door opens; his 
 young nephew enters with an anxious look ; when he 
 ascertains that they are all alone, he informs him of 
 the plot which had been devised against his life. What 
 is to be done 1 The Great Apostle does not hesitate ; 
 he has confidence in the kindness and prudence of the 
 commander of the garrison, and instantly asks a centu- 
 rion to take the young man to the presence of Lysias, as 
 he had something important to tell him. The meeting 
 was a kind one on the part of the Roman soldier. He 
 " took him by the hand," and leading him aside, asked 
 him in private what he had to say. No sooner did Ly- 
 sias receive the dangerous intelligence, than he dismissed 
 the youth, with the injunction to tell no one of what 
 had passed between them. And then, calling several 
 of his officers, he told them to be ready at nine in the 
 evening with two hundred soldiei's, seventy cavalry, 
 and two hundred lancers or spearmen, to take Paul 
 down to the town of Cesarea, where Felix, the gover- 
 nor, was then residing. He further ordered them to 
 have more than one horse for the prisoner, probably 
 one for each of the soldiers who rode on either side of 
 him, and to whom he was to be chained, The horses
 
 PAUL IN JERUSALEM. 323 
 
 and horsemen were ready at the hour appointed at the, 
 gates of Fort Antonio. Bands of Jews may have been 
 still lingering on the streets, talking about the suc- 
 cess of the plot against a life they all hated, when 
 the troops swept past them. They may have wondered 
 at so large a detachment of soldiery at that hour of the 
 night, but they would little dream that the central 
 horseman was the victim of their fury, thus " escaping 
 like a bird out of the snare of the fowler." We may 
 imagine the journey of seventy-sis miles.* The foot 
 soldiers went no further than Antipatris, and then re- 
 turned to Jerusalem. The rest, after two hard days, 
 would be seen with tired and jaded horses entering the 
 gates of the seaport town of the Ccesars. 
 
 The centurion in command took his prisoner at once 
 to the Pretorium, or Palace of Herod, where Felix 
 lived, and presented, along with him, the letter from 
 Lysias. The letter was as follows : — " Claudius Lysias 
 unto the most excellent governor Felix, sendeth greet- 
 ing. This man was taken of the Jews, and should 
 have been killed of them : then came I with an army, 
 and rescued him, having understood that he was a 
 Roman. And when I would have known the cause 
 wherefore they accused him, I brouglit him forth into 
 their council ; whom I perceived to be accused of ques- 
 tions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his 
 charge worthy of death or bonds. And when it was 
 told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I 
 sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to 
 his accusers also to say before thee what they had 
 against him. Farewell." t It was a letter worthy of 
 the generous-hearted writer. If Lysias had been actu- 
 
 • See the picture. f Acts sxiii. 26-30.
 
 324 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 ated by unworthy motives, if he had wished to please 
 the Jews, and increase his popularity with them, he 
 might have represented the prisoner as a " pestilent 
 fellow," and worthy only of death. Had he done so, 
 moreover, we can have little doubt as to the result. 
 No mercy was to be expected from the hands of the 
 abandoned Felix ; but the letter expressly mentions 
 that his crime was merely holding opinions contrary 
 to the Jewish law ; nothing was laid to his charge de- 
 manding a severe sentence. Felix having read it, 
 looked at the prisoner who had been the cause of the 
 disturbance, and put the question to him, " What 
 province art thou from 1 " Being told it was Cilicia, 
 he gave orders that he should be taken to Herod's 
 judgment-hall, and kept there until, in accordance with 
 law, his accusers made their appearance.
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 "^ml m €mm, 
 
 " These are the tones to brace and cheer 
 The lonely watcher of the fold. 
 When nights are dark and foemen near— 
 When visions fade, and hearts grow cold." 
 
 " x\nd ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, 
 for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deli- 
 ver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak ; for it shall 
 be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not 
 ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." 
 —Matthew x. 18-20. 
 
 " When I consider this Apostle as appearing either before the witty 
 Athenians, or before a Roman court of judicature, in the presence of 
 their great men and ladies, I see how handsomely he accommodateth 
 himself to the appi-ehension and temper of those politer people." — 
 LoED SHAFTESBUKr's Characteristics, vol. i. p. 30.
 
 <<^ 
 
 teum. 
 
 ^-:^>, N tlie times of St Paul, a sailor on the Mediter- 
 ^ ranean, approaching the city of Cesarea, must 
 have been struck with its greatness and gran- 
 deur. The first thing which caught the eye in 
 sailing into its port, was the Temple of Sebas- 
 It was perched on a lofty rock in front of the 
 town, dedicated to Rome and her great emperor, and 
 mainly intended as a sea-mark for mariners. The site 
 of the city had evidently been selected owing to the 
 spaciousness of the natural harbour. The coast was 
 terribly swept by westerly winds, and there being no 
 refuge for ships between Dora and Joppa, Herod the 
 Great, at enormous labour, turned the natural advan- 
 tages, of what was originally a little fishing-town, into 
 a great capital. " He drew his model," says Josephus, 
 " and set people to work, and, in twelve years' time,
 
 328 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 finished it. The buildings were all of marble, private 
 houses as well as palaces; but his master-piece was the 
 port, which ho made as large as the Pirajus of Athens 
 — a safe station against all winds and weathers."* 
 Immense blocks of stone, fifty feet long, were sunk to 
 twenty fathoms, on the south and south-west, to form 
 a breakwater, leaving a free passage only by the north. 
 
 Cesarea seems to have risen rapidly to importance, 
 and as rapidly to have dwindled into insignificance. 
 Not long after the period of which we write, it began 
 to decline. It now lies, as you see in our picture, 
 a pile of ruins sunk in the sands. It is far distant 
 even from the common coast-road, and therefore com- 
 paratively little known or visited by travellers. At 
 the time of St Paul, many heathens and foreigners 
 mingled with the Jewish population. In a Roman- 
 named town, where the Roman procurator lived, it 
 was natural to suppose that there would be many 
 habits, tastes, and customs, introduced from the great 
 Roman capital. 
 
 In this city we left the Apostle, by the orders of 
 Felix, in confinement in Herod's judgment-hall (the 
 guard-room adjoining his magnificent palace), till his 
 accusers arrived from .Jerusalem. He had not to wait 
 long. In five days, Ananias, his heart still burning 
 with revenge, and other members of the Sanhedrim, 
 made their appearance. They were accompanied by 
 an advocate named Tertullus, or Tertius, whose name 
 tells us he was of Latin origin — one versed in the 
 usages of the Roman law, and also able to speak in the 
 Latin tongue, both of which were necessary qualifica- 
 tions in cases similar to the present. Paul was sura- 
 
 * Josophus' Antiquiiies, book xv. chap. 13.
 
 PAUL IN CESAREA. 
 
 329 
 
 moned forthwith to appear before his accusers in tlie 
 procurator's court, or place of judgmeut— the floor of 
 which, if it were Uke othei-s in the empire, was beauti- 
 fied with a tesselated pavement— square pieces of mar- 
 ble, or stones of various colom-s, disposed with art and 
 elegance.* 
 
 Felix takes his pla'je on his tribunal, and Tertullus 
 delivers a speech, which, even in the brief outline we 
 have of it, showed great power and dexterity. He 
 begins by words of flattery to the judge, complimenting 
 him on the only praiseworthy act of his government — 
 the suppression of robbers and religious fanatics, who 
 had recently, as in the case of the Egyptian impostor, dis- 
 turbed the peace of Palestine.t Truly it required some 
 ingenuity to say anything praiseworthy of a man like 
 Felix, whom Josephus and Tacitus concur in denounc- 
 ing as a monster of iniquity and injustice. " He ex- 
 ercised," says the latter, " the royal authority with the 
 spirit of a slave, and indulged himself in every species 
 of cruelty and lust." Tertullus then details in succes- 
 sion the charges brought against the Apostle. These 
 were threefold -.—Ist, That he had been the means of 
 creating disturbances among the Jews ; 2d, That he 
 was the ringleader of a sect called Nazarenes ; and, 3d, 
 That he was g-uilty of profaning the Jewish temple, 
 which Roman law was bound to protect from insult. 
 The object of his accusers evidently was, to get Felix to 
 consent to deliver him up to be tried by their own 
 Jewish courts — in which case they could, with the ut- 
 most ease, have effected his murder. The Jews pre- 
 
 * Home's Introduction, vol. ii. p. 131. 
 t Josephus' Antiquities, book xjc. chap. 8.
 
 330 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 sent applauded violently the speech of their hired ad- 
 vocate, declaring that all he said was just. 
 
 If Felix had posesssed the honourable feelings which 
 we formerly found in Gallic, he would, on charges so 
 false and frivolous, have driven the Jews from the 
 judgment-seat, and dismissed the prisoner; but the 
 Roman purple did not always cover true greatness of 
 soul or rigid equity. 
 
 Paul was now called on to make his defence. He 
 did so, answering the accusations of Tertullus one by 
 one; and concluded by complaining, that the Asiatic 
 Jews, who had first accused him, and with whom the 
 uproar in the temple had begun, had not, according to 
 the usage of law, come forward as witnesses against 
 him. You may read for yourselves the brief account 
 which St Luke gives of the Apostle's reply. You will 
 find it in chapter xxiv. 10-22. 
 
 The speech of the Great Apostle seemed to make a 
 decided impression on the mind of the governor; but, 
 from all we can gather of the character of Felix, we 
 need have no expectation on his part of leniency, or 
 even fair dealing, if this were to interfere with his own 
 private ends. As to the innocence of the Apostle, and 
 the unfounded nature of the accusations brought against 
 him, he could now, after having heard both sides, en- 
 tertain little doubt ; but Paul was a poor, persecuted, 
 hated man. Felix would be no sufferer by oppressing 
 him; but he might be so by offending the leaders of 
 the Jewish people. He declined, therefore, at present 
 giving any decision. He told them he would defer 
 until " Lysias came down," who was shortly expected 
 from Jerusalem. Till that time he gave orders that
 
 PAUL IN CESAEEA. 331 
 
 his prisoner be confined, enjoining, at the same time, 
 that no severity or harshness be sliown towards him, 
 but that any of his friends might have free hberty to 
 go and visit him. 
 
 If Lysias came to Cesarea, we have no mention 
 made of it. But a few days after the public trial, 
 FeUx and his wife Drusilla sent for Paul to come to 
 the audience-chamber (or a private apartment in the 
 palace), to have an interview with them. Drusilla was 
 the sister of King Agrippa — herself a Jewess. She is 
 spoken of as a young woman of great beauty, at this 
 time only eighteen years of age. She had married 
 Azizus, King of Emesa ; but by the wicked influence 
 of Simon Magus, the friend of Felix, she deserted her 
 husband, and became the unlawful wife of the old pro- 
 fligate Felix. Paul's eloquence, power, and earnest- 
 ness seem evidently to have arrested the attention of 
 the governor ; and Drusilla being a Jewess, and from 
 her infancy having heard much of Paul, she was doubt- 
 less from curiosity anxious to see him. Lehold, then, 
 the Great Apostle called again to speak the word of his 
 Master! Two wicked, hardened, selfish individuals 
 were seated before him, probably on benches of Tyrian 
 purple, and under a fretted ceiling. Remembering 
 the manifold vices which lurked under all that out- 
 ward grandeur, he directed the arrow of conviction to 
 these seared consciences — reasoning of " righteousness, 
 temperance, and the judgment to come." It was a 
 bold thing for Paul to do; for the aged reprobate 
 before him had his life in his hands—" he had power 
 to crucify him, and power to release him;" and to irri- 
 tate his savage temper would be to bring down upon 
 himself certain vengeance- but he felt that if he
 
 332 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 " pleased man, he was not the servant of Christ." It 
 was no time to preach smooth things ; by " the terrors 
 of the Lord" he sought to persuade this ruler, revealing 
 to him all the dread realities of that day of wrath, 
 when small and great, mighty and mean, governor and 
 apostle, would stand before God. " To penitent hearts 
 he was in the habit of preaching the crucified Jesus as 
 the Mediator ; but to these worldly individuals, he 
 displayed him as the Judge."* 
 
 " No more lie feels upon his high-raised arm 
 The ponderous chain, than does the playful child 
 The bracelet, form'd of many a flowery link. 
 Heedless of self, forgetful that his life 
 Is now to be defended by his words. 
 He only thinks of doing good to them 
 That seek his life." f 
 
 " Felix trembled ! " conscience was aroused, and for 
 the moment shook the iron frame of the debased 
 Roman ; but it was only for the moment. Conviction 
 was suffered to pass away, — " Go thy way," said the 
 procrastinator, " for this time, when I have a convenient 
 season I will call for thee." Alas ! we fear that more 
 convenient season never came. Indeed, we find him, 
 immediately after, guilty of the meanest and most dis- 
 honourable conduct towards the Apostle — conduct un- 
 worthy of his name and his office. He seems to have 
 held many conversations and private conferences with 
 Paul, to induce him to give a bribe in order to secure 
 his release. He had heard, probably, that his rela- 
 tions were independent or perhaps he remembered 
 that the prisoner in his defeiice had hinted at a collec- 
 tion he had broiight from a distance to Jerusalem ;| 
 and from the known generosity of the Nazareue sect, 
 
 * Olshausen. | Graham's Poems. J Cave, p. 96.
 
 PAUL IN CESAREA. 333 
 
 he knew there might be httle difficulty in getting them 
 to subscribe hberally to purchase the freedom of their 
 champion. But the high-minded Christian principle 
 of the Apostle scorned the base and impious attempt 
 thus to evade the law. He would rather wear his 
 chains than stoop to dishonour. The consequence, how- 
 ever, was a continuance of his imprisonment for two 
 long years in the town of Cesarea. How he occupied 
 himself during this lengthened interval in his life we 
 know not. It must have been a precious season for 
 turning his eye inwards on his own soul, and foster- 
 ing the work of grace there. It was, as a wi'iter has 
 called it, "the school for his own personal improve- 
 ment"* — ^the Patmos of his active life, where in silence 
 and solitude he was permitted to hold communion with 
 his God. We may imagine him seated in his prison 
 or private house, chained by the right hand to the left 
 arm of a Roman soldier, who was held responsible for 
 the safety of his charge. Much of his time may pro- 
 bably have been spent in writing epistles to his various 
 churches, which are now lost to us, — and also in re- 
 ceiving visits from Christians in Cesarea and Judea, 
 who, as we have said, were allowed to come and cheer 
 the hours of his solitude. 
 
 Little did the believers at Cesarea, who, a little while 
 before, wept so touchingly at his going to Jerusalem, 
 think that that very journey was to lead to a personal 
 residence among them for two whole years. Among 
 the friends who thus visited him, probably Timothy 
 was, as formerly, a frequent and an always welcome 
 guest. We know that Philip and his pious daughters 
 were citizens of Cesarea, and more than likely Cornelius 
 
 * 01shau"en.
 
 334 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 the centurion was still stationed in the Roman bar- 
 I'acks, rendering still to " Caesar the things which were 
 Csesar's, and to God the things which were God's." 
 Luke, too, we may believe, was much with him. It has 
 even been supposed by many that the beloved physi- 
 cian occupied these years of leisure in writing his Gos- 
 pel, with the inspired Apostle at his side, to guide him 
 in the momentous task. 
 
 During this same period, Felix was recalled by the 
 Emperor to Rome. His rapacity and violence had 
 made him universally hated; and a cruel massacre of 
 the Jews he had ordered in the streets of Cesarea, at 
 the very time Paul was confined in the Pretorium, had 
 added to the popular hatred which eight years of 
 cruelty and selfishness had fostered. Before leaving, 
 the selfishness of his character was still further dis- 
 played. He wished to appease and conciliate the Jews. 
 He succeeded in doing so by an act which cost him no- 
 thing, — " he left Paul bound." " We are rather tempted 
 to wonder, that to show them a still greater favour, he 
 did not order Paul for execution. But here the provi- 
 dence of God interfered : God had said to Felix, as he 
 said once before to Satan, ' Behold, he is in thine 
 hand, but save his life.' The lion can only go the 
 length of his chain ; and thanks be to God, that chain 
 is held by One, who, although he is almighty to de- 
 stroy, is yet ' almightiest to redeem.'"* V/e know 
 little more of this " bold, bad man." A number ot Jews 
 followed, at his departure, to accuse him before the 
 Emperor at Rome ; but by the powerful mediation of 
 his brother Pallas, he escaped in this world the severe 
 punishment his many crimes deserved. 
 
 * Blunt, vol. ii. p. 181.
 
 PAUL IN CESAREA. 335 
 
 Festus succeeded Felix in the Governor's house at 
 Ccsavea. He seems to have been a just and honour- 
 able man — a favourable contrast to his predecessor. At 
 the outset of his official career, he was very properly 
 anxious to get an insight into the character, customs, 
 tastes, and feelings of those he had come to govern.* 
 Accordingly, after he had been only three days in his 
 new residence, he set out for Jerusalem. This, more- 
 over, may probably have been a customary mark of 
 respect on the part of a new imperial Prefect. 
 
 Ismael, the son of Fabei, had by this time been 
 appointed to tlie vacant office of high priest,t inherit- 
 ing all the bitter feelings of those who went before him 
 towards the Nazarenes. No sooner did Festus arrive 
 in the Jewish capital, than the chief priests and the 
 leaders of the nation, along with many of the 
 people, renewed in his eai's the accusation against 
 Paul. They were especially desirous that he would 
 grant liberty to have him brought up for trial again at 
 Jerusalem before the Sanhedrim — their real and covert 
 purpose being to have hired assassins ready to despatch 
 him on the road thither. Festus, however, in a spirit 
 wort,hy of a noble-minded Roman, refused to give up 
 his prisoner in this unlawful way ; adding, if they had 
 anything of which to accuse him, they must come 
 down to Cesarea, and there meet him face to face. On 
 the return of Festus, in a few days, to the seat of his 
 government, the accusers of the Apostle followed him ; 
 the day after his arrival, we find Paul once more 
 brought before the judgment-seat, and his relentless 
 foes preferring their old charges. Festus, with a 
 number of assessors or jury at his side, heard the 
 
 * Howson, vol. ii. p. 297. t 3o%. book xx. chap. viii.
 
 336 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 pleadings. He at once saw that they had reference, 
 not to any pohtical offences, but to differences in reh- 
 gious matters, which, he felt, lay beyond his province ; 
 moreover, that in all their accusations there was no- 
 tliiug that made the prisoner worthy of death. How- 
 ever, with a desire probably to gratify the accusers, 
 and alleging the difficulty he had in settling the ques- 
 tion, he proposed to Paul to go up under his pro- 
 tection to Jerusalem, and be tried there before the 
 Sanhedrim. He promised that he would himself 
 take part in the proceedings, and secure that these 
 should be impartial. The Apostle saw the certain 
 destruction awaiting him if this were determined upon. 
 There was only one way left by which he could save 
 himself from the "lion's mouth." But his clear judg- 
 ment does not permit him for a moment to hesitate. 
 He claims his privilege as a Roman citizen. He pro- 
 uounces one little sentence which changes his whole 
 history : he must have felt, while uttering it, that it 
 involved the issues of life or death :— " I appeal unto 
 
 C^SAR." 
 
 These words, I repeat, not only changed in a moment 
 the whole case, but gave a new character to the 
 Apostle's future. It was not the first time we have 
 found him availing himself of his right of citizenship. It 
 was a privilege peculiarly valuable at the present crisis, 
 protecting him, as it did, fi'om the abuse of authority. 
 His suit now must be tried before the Emperor himself, 
 and in the Roman capital. Festus was doubtless aston- 
 ished at the new turn which events had taken ; perhaps, 
 'ooo, affronted at the great boldness of the prisoner. He 
 consulted those around him if the plea were a sound 
 one, and in every way admissible. Discovering that
 
 PAUL IN OESAREA. 
 
 337 
 
 he had no power to set it aside, he declared, as 
 the decisioa of the court, and as if he seemed right 
 glad to get rid of the entire matter, "Hast thou 
 appealed unto Caesar 1 unto Csesar shalt thou go." * 
 
 It only further remained for Festus to send to the 
 supreme tribunal in Rome the necessary official docu- 
 ments about the case that was thus appealed, and to 
 keep the person of the accused in safety before an 
 opportunity occurred to forward him for his final trial. 
 He was, however, in difficulty as to what charges he 
 could specify against Paul, and which he could send 
 along with him to the Emperor. In his perplexity, a 
 thought occim-ed to him : Agrippa II., King of Chal- 
 Ois, with his sister Bernice (sister also to Drusilla), had 
 just come from Cesarea Philippi to offer their respects 
 to Festus on his accession to the supreme power in 
 the other Cesarea. As Agrippa had, from his ear- 
 liest years, been familiar with Jewish customs and 
 laws, Festus resolved to consult with him on this 
 matter. He mentioned to him the opinions the 
 prisoner was charged with holding, and especiaUy 
 '■' concerning one Jesus, who had died and was alive 
 again." t Agrippa had often before heard of the fame 
 of St Paul ; curiosity made him desirous of seeing him 
 personally, and next day Festus resolved to gratify his 
 
 * Among other testimonies, " a passage in Pliny's Epistle to Trajan 
 jonfirms this right and privilege which Roman freemen enjoyed, of appeal- 
 ing from provincial courts to Rome. lie thus writes :- The method I 
 have observed towards those who have been brought before me as Chris- 
 tians is this • I interrogated them whether they were Chnstuuis. If they 
 confessed, I repeated the question twice again, adding threats at the same 
 time when, if they still persevered, I ordered them to be immediately 
 punished There were others also brought before me, possessed with the 
 same infatuation, but being citizens of Rome, I directed them to be earned 
 thither: "—Home's Introdiution, vol. ii. p. 129. 
 t Acts XXV. 19.
 
 338 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 •wish. The Apostle, chained to the soldier who guarded 
 him, was ushered into the audience-chamber in the 
 Pretorium, where Agrippa, Bernice, and Festus were 
 waiting in pomp to receive him. Roman officers quar- 
 tered in the barracks and some leading people of the 
 city were also invited to be present. Paul must have 
 remembered the words of his Lord, which were now 
 strikingly fulfilled as he stood in bonds before this 
 royal audience — " Ye shall be brought before kings 
 and rulers for my name's sake." * Festus began by 
 making a formal speech, stating the case of the pri- 
 soner, and his perplexity in knowing how to represent 
 it to the Emperor. Agrippa then asked Paul to speak 
 for himself The Apostle willingly complied. He went 
 minutely over the circumstances of his own conver- 
 sion, declaring that the faithful performance of his 
 Divine mission to preach to the Gentiles had drawn 
 down upon him the hatred and revenge of the Jews ; 
 that all his teaching and preaching was not contrary 
 to, but in accordance with, Moses and the prophets, 
 who had testified "that Messiah should suffer, and 
 that He should be the first to rise from the dead, and 
 should show light to the house of Israel, and also to the 
 Gentiles." t 
 
 Festus had listened with silent attention. He could 
 not have failed to admire the simple but impressive 
 way in which the accused had stated his case — the 
 grace of his manner, and the sincerity of his views. 
 But when he heard about the bright light on the road 
 to Damascus, the voice from heaven, and worse than 
 all, his reference to the resurrection, he at once put 
 the prisoner down for a fanatic or enthusiast, who had 
 
 * Matt. X. 18. + Acts xxvi. 1-23.
 
 PAUL IN CESAREA. 339 
 
 overworked his brain with severe study ; and, interrupt- 
 ing him, said, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much 
 learning doth make thee mad." He was evidently sur- 
 prised that a man so well educated and talented, and 
 more than all, a Roman citizen, could give heed to such 
 "cunningly devised fables" — submitting to evil, po- 
 verty, scourging, imprisonment, and all without hope of 
 reward. To a selfish man of the world, there was no- 
 thing but insanity in all this. The Apostle calmly 
 replied, " I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak 
 forth the words of truth and soberness." Then turning 
 to Agrippa he made the appeal — " King Agi'ippa, be- 
 lievest thou the prophets 1 I know that thou believ- 
 est ; " I know that thou believest the testimony of 
 those holy men who have told that Christ must needs 
 suffer. The reply of Agrippa showed how deeply moved 
 he was — " Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris- 
 tian." What a confession for a monarch to make to one 
 standing before him in chains ! In answer, Paul held 
 up his hands, clanking with these fetters, and made 
 the noble and bold reply, " I would to God, that not 
 only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both 
 almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." 
 Never was there a finer protestation — never a more 
 glorious testimony to the happiness of the soul at peace 
 with God. With all his chains, and the dark prospect 
 of trial before him, the Apostle not only felt, but 
 boldly avowed in the presence of a king, that he was 
 the happier of the two ! 
 
 But, alas ! Agrippa was not " altogether persuaded." 
 The name of Jesus, which was the boast of Paul, was 
 hated by Agrippa's rroud countrymen. He would not
 
 340 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 make up his mind to part with a corruptible crown, 
 and thus, we fear, he lost the incorruptible. 
 
 The meeting thus ended. As the listeners talked 
 the case over, they came to the conclusion that the 
 accused had committed no crime worthy of death or 
 of imprisonment, — indeed, Agrippa gave it as his 
 opinion that he might have been released at once, if 
 he had not already appealed unto Csesar. That appeal, 
 however, having been made by law, it could not be 
 departed from ; the first ojiportunity that occurs, the 
 prisoner must be sent to Rome. His own ardent 
 wish was thus at last to be fulfilled — not that he had 
 ever doubted that, in some way or other, the hand of 
 God would bring it about ; for in the Castle of Antonio, 
 you remember, two years before, his Saviour had ap- 
 peared to him, and told him, that as he had witnessed 
 for him at Jerusalem, so also was he to witness in the 
 great city of the empire. In his voyage to the world's 
 mighty capital, therefore, we must trace in the next 
 chapter " the footsteps of St Paul."
 
 CHAPTEli XX. 
 
 fire ^Mpiumli. 
 
 "Borne upon the Ocean's foam. 
 Far from native land and home, 
 Midnight's curtain, dense with wrath. 
 Brooding o'er our venturous path, 
 While the mountain wave is rolling, 
 And the ship's bell faintly tolling — 
 Saviour ! on the boisterous sea 
 Bid us rest secure in Thee. 
 
 Blast and surge conflicting hoarse. 
 Sweep us on with headlong force ; 
 And the bark, which tempests urge, 
 Moans and trembles at their scourge: 
 Tet should wildest tempests swell. 
 Be Thou near, and all is well — 
 Saviour ! on the stormy sea 
 Let us find repose in Thee." 
 
 " If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost 
 parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Tliy right 
 hand shall hold me." — Ps. cxxsix. 9, 10.
 
 T was probably about the end of summer 
 that Paul and his two companions, Luke 
 and Aristarchus of Macedonia, set sail for 
 Rome from the port of Cesarea. They em- 
 barked in a coasting vessel, bound for Adra. 
 ■ myttium, a place in the north-west of the 
 
 province of Asia Minor. We have no means of ascertain- 
 ing what the cx'ew consisted of, whether many or few. 
 Julius, a centurion of the Augustan cohort, was the offi- 
 cer in charge of the prisoners ; and he had a number of 
 soldiers under him to guard them. It is not improbable 
 there were several othei-s on board, being conveyed, like 
 these Christian missionaries, for trial to the capital. 
 They coasted along the shores of Palestine and Phe- 
 nicia till they arrived at Sidon. This was a distance of 
 eighty miles, which, however, could be easily accom-
 
 344 THE rOOTSTE±'S OF ST PAUL. 
 
 plished in twenty-four hours. Here, while the vessel 
 was at anchor, Paul received permission to go on shore 
 and visit any Christian friends or brethren. It is pro- 
 bable the officer had received orders, before leaving, to 
 treat the Apostle with respect and kindness ; at all 
 events, we read " that he treated him courteously, and 
 gave him liberty to go to his friends and refresh him- 
 self."* It is more than probable, also, that Julius had 
 become intimately acquainted with Paul during his 
 two years' residence at Cesarea, and had then formed 
 that deep regard for his character which is manifested 
 throughout the eventful voyage on which they have 
 just entered. t 
 
 No sooner had ihej set sail again from Sidon, than 
 the wind became unfavourable, blowing from the west- 
 ward. Their direct route to Asia Minor was by the 
 southern side of Cyprus (keeping it on their right), 
 and taking a straight course, as had been done two 
 years before by the Apostle; but, in consequence of 
 the wind being right against them, they had to coast 
 along the shore, taking a circuit by the north of the 
 Island, They must at many points have been within 
 sight of land. Paul, for the last time, may have 
 caught a glimpse of the lofty tops of Mount Taurus, as 
 he sailed along the bold headlands of his native Cilicia. 
 By the influence of some favouring breezes, which pre- 
 vail at that season of the year, they made rapid pro- 
 gress along the Cilician and Pamphylian coasts. The 
 first place they anchored at was Myra, a town in the 
 south of the province of Lycia. Its situation was a 
 
 * Acts xxvii. 3. 
 
 t The reader is now requested to follow the line mai'ked in blacl: on the
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 345 
 
 remarkable one — at the mouth of a narrow and preci- 
 pitous valley which formed the outlet from a vast pile 
 of mountains beyond. The town was built on a height 
 about two and a half miles up the river, whose broad 
 channel was guarded by a heavy chain which stretched 
 across from shore to shore. Though now an utter 
 ruin, Myra seems to have been, in Paul's time, a well- 
 known and favourite port for merchant- vessels of the 
 Mediterranean. It is not at all to be wondered at, 
 that here our voyagers found a corn-ship of Alexan- 
 dria on its way to Italy, as the Alexandrian vessels 
 often put into its port from stress of weather. 
 
 We may wonder how these ships would take such a 
 round-about way as this, in going to Italy. Why not 
 skirt along the coast of Africa, and then direct north- 
 wards? The reason was, that at that season of the 
 year a strong north-west wind always blew along the 
 coast; and, therefore, although increasing the distance, 
 they generally preferred going first northwards to tiie 
 shores of Asia Minor, thence westwards among tlie 
 iEgcan islands. These islands, moreover, in the ab- 
 sence of the modern compass, served as landmarks to 
 enable them to shape their course. 
 
 It would seem that the original intention had been 
 to take the prisoners the whole way to Adramyttium, 
 then to conduct them by land through the Via Egna- 
 tia to the port of Dyrrachium, and tiience across the 
 Adriatic to Rome. This was the route by which, in 
 after years, one who bore the martyr-spirit of the 
 Great Apostle, (Polycarp,) was taken from Antioch to 
 the city of the Tiber.* But the centurion now decided 
 on a different plan ; he abandons all idea of the land 
 
 * See Lewiu, p. 713. ij
 
 346 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 journey, and places his prisoners in the Alexandrian 
 corn-ship. 
 
 It is probable that this new vessel was considerably 
 larger than the one which brought them from Cesarea. 
 The Egyptian ships of commerce were the largest in 
 the Mediterranean. We must not, therefore, think 
 of Paul in this voyage — as some of us, perhaps, have 
 been accustomed to think of him — sailing in a rude 
 bark, or small trading-vessel, with a handful of com- 
 panions ; he was within vast wooden walls, not unwor- 
 thy of many of our own merchantmen.* 
 
 Lucian, who lived in the next century, gives an 
 amusing description of one of these Alexandrian corn- 
 ships coming into the port of Athens. It is lying at 
 the Pirseus, and the Athenians, with their well-known 
 love of " seeing things new," come crowding down to 
 inspect the floating monster. They are described as 
 being greatly struck with its size — 180 feet long, and 
 45 wide. Its masts, yards, cables, cabins, anchors, cap- 
 stans, windlasses — all about it formed subject of com- 
 ment and wonder ; from the goddess on its prow, to 
 the golden goose on its stern ; and the corn in its store, 
 which was enough to "keep all Attica for a year."t 
 
 They sail from the port of Myra, and they had good 
 reason to calculate on a favourable voyage; for this 
 being the beginning of September, the Etesian winds 
 might be expected to cease. These, however, had con- 
 tinued longer than usual. He who holdeth the ele- 
 ments in His hands, had some wise reason for detain- 
 ing the south wind, wliich would have brought them 
 in due time to a quiet haven. 
 
 A distance of 130 miles, to Cnidus, is performed 
 
 * Howson. f See the passage givcu iu full by llr Lewia.
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 347 
 
 slowly — after " many days." Tossed about with con- 
 trary weather, they resolve to run down to the south- 
 em shores of Crete, where they would be protected 
 from the fury of the north-west wind, and take refuge, 
 if needed, in some of its harbours. By tacking and 
 beating about, they accomplished the voyage without 
 difficulty till they came to Cape Matala; but, when- 
 ever they doubled that promontory, the full force of 
 the westerly gale met them in the face, and no vessel 
 could ride out the blast. They gladly ran into a place 
 called Fair Havens, and anchored behind some bold 
 rocks. It now became a question whether it would be 
 advisable to winter there, or to proceed to another 
 harbour, and a more secure one — the port of Phoenix, 
 or Lutro, forty miles westward. A council seems to 
 have been held on board the ship. It shows the confi- 
 dence reposed already in the good judgment of Paul, 
 that he was not only permitted to be present, but 
 allowed to give his opinion as to what was best to be 
 done in the present " perils of waters." He was clearly 
 of opinion they should not proceed, but avail them- 
 selves of the roadstead in " Fair Havens." " Sirs," 
 said he, " I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt 
 and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, 
 but also of our lives." * But the advice, which so soon 
 turned out a wise one, was not assented to. The cen- 
 turion naturally thought the captain and pilot were 
 better judges, and he decided that they should pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 Towards the close of October, the wind all at once 
 suddenly changed ; the sky cleared, the sails were 
 hoisted, and the crew, little aware of coming dangers, 
 
 * Acts xxvii. 10.
 
 348 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 were proceeding round Cape Matala to this new anchor- 
 age. All at once, after rounding the Cape, another 
 violent wind came sweeping down from the mountains 
 of Crete. It was a peculiar hurricane, known to the 
 sailors by the name of Euroclydon. So furious was it, 
 that they were utterly unable either to retrace their 
 steps or proceed. They were at the mercy of the 
 storm. The helmsman lost all command over the ves- 
 sel. They were involved in a sort of whirlwind, which 
 lashed the sea into fury, and drove them in the direc- 
 tion of Clauda, now Gozzo, a small island to the south- 
 west of Crete. There being, however, no anchorage 
 there, there was nothing for it but to make every pre- 
 paration for weathering the storm. Large ropes, which- 
 they had on board just to meet such an emergency as 
 now occurred, were taken for " undergirding " the 
 ship ; that is to say, they were tied round and round 
 the under-part of the vessel, meeting on the deck, the 
 design being to prevent the consequences of springing 
 a leak;* perhaps the storm had raged so violently, 
 when her sails were up, as to have already strained her 
 and started her timbers. They "lowered the gear," 
 took down a number of sails, some of which were 
 doubtless already shivered to pieces, and others which, 
 by remaining up, added to their danger. 
 
 The vessel now drifted from Clauda west by north. 
 They must beware, however, of scudding before the 
 wind, else twenty-four hours will sweep them a wreck 
 on the great sandbank of Africa. These sandbanks 
 
 * Au instance of the same kind is mentioned in Lord Anson's Voyage 
 Round the World. Speaking of a Spanisli man-of-war in a storm, ho says, 
 " They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-deck guns, and 
 take six turns of the cable round the ship to preveJ'*. her oj>^"iug." — 
 Quoted by Barnes.
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 349 
 
 •were constantly shifting their position by the action of 
 the sea, so that they could not be sure how near they 
 might be to danger. The storm rages fiercely as ever. 
 The second and third day pass, and no prospect of 
 abatement. The day after Clauda was left, they took 
 the precaution to lighten the ship by casting overboard 
 what was least valuable. More than probably she had 
 now " sprung a leak," water was fast getting in, and, 
 on the third day, all hands on deck were employed in 
 throwing whatever could be spared overboard. In this 
 was included the tackling of the ship ; and when Luke 
 tells us, "we cast'^it out with our own hands," we may 
 picture the Great Apostle and Evangelist lending their 
 assistance in these awful moments. The vast main- 
 yard would require every effort to plunge it into the 
 roaring sea. 
 
 Days of svispense and hardship followed. The sky 
 was quite dark ; no observations could be made. My 
 readers may picture the terrible scene. The creaking 
 of the timbers — the howling of the storm — the pas- 
 sengers, with exhausted bodies, plying the pumps night 
 and day, and all seemingly in vain. " Neither stars 
 nor sun were seen for many days." Whero they were, 
 they could not tell ; for the valuable compass, as I 
 have a little ago said, was not discovered at that time, 
 and they were wholly dependent on the observation 
 of the heavenly bodies. The next moment they might 
 strike on some rock, or be driven on some unknown 
 shore. Add to all this, the provisions were so injured, 
 that they began to suffer from want of food ; and so 
 fast was the water gaining ground, that the crew seem 
 to have resigned themselves to hopeless despair.
 
 350 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 Where was Paul all this while 1 Doubtless he bore 
 his part nobly in all these sufferings and endurances ; 
 but there was one duty which he specially engaged 
 in, in those hours of terror. As at Damascus, in the 
 quiet chamber of the street called "Straight," so here, 
 amid the meanings of the storm, "behold, he prayeth !" 
 
 " Behold the man of God ! 
 
 His hrtllow'd voice of prayer 
 Bises above tbe stifled gi-oan 
 Of that intense despair. 
 
 How precious are those tones 
 
 On that sad verge of life, 
 Amid the fierce and freezing storni. 
 
 And the mountain-billows' s.rifel" 
 
 His prayer is heard ! He had been wrestling with that 
 God who commandeth the winds and the sea, and they 
 obey him. God, at midnight, gives his honoured ser- 
 vant another of those visions with which he had already 
 more than once favoured him in his hour of trial. An 
 angel wings his flight across these dark waters — visits 
 that labouring vessel — and, amid the roar of the piti- 
 less storm, whispers, " Fear not, Paul." The Apostle, 
 at the dawn of the next day, calls the heathen passen- 
 gers and crew around him ; and, lifting up his own 
 voice amid the din of the waters, told the glad news : 
 "Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have 
 loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and 
 Joss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer : for 
 there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but 
 of the ship. For there stood by me this night the 
 angel of God whose I am, and whom I serve, saying. 
 Fear not, Paul , thou must be brought before Csesar : 
 and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 
 
 351 
 
 thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer : for I beheve 
 God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit 
 we must be cast upon a certain island." * 
 
 There is something very sublime in this. To see a 
 poor bound prisoner, on his way to the bar, a convict, 
 in a convict ship, standing forth at this awful crisis, 
 alone able to comfort and sust^uu a sinking crew. He 
 had known in the past the faitlifalness of God's word, 
 and he believes it now. He looked around him on the 
 mountain billows, but he rejoiced in the Psalmist's 
 assurance, " The Lord sitteth on the floods, yea, the 
 Lord' sitteth King for ever." " Though the waters 
 thereof roar and be troubled,— though the mountains 
 shake with the swelling thereof,"— "the Lord on high 
 is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than 
 the mighty waves of the sea." The night before, " all 
 hope that they should be saved was taken away." The 
 next day no ray of light fringed these dark clouds ; 
 but, though the sea was still running mountains high, 
 he was no°t afraid,—" his heart was fixed, trusting in 
 
 the Lord." 
 
 His speech soothed the agitated spirits around. The 
 crew were nerved by his words of encouragement, and 
 set themselves with new vigour to weather the tempest. 
 It was raging still with unabated violence. Fourteen 
 days in succession they drifted along the trough of the 
 ocean. At the close of the fourteenth day, about mid- 
 night, the well-known sound of "breakers" fell on the 
 ear of the trembling mariners, and warned them that 
 they must be drawing near to land. Through the hazy 
 darkness they descried to the left a fringe of white foam. 
 They let down the sounding-lead — the depth of the sea 
 
 Acts xxvii. 21-2G.
 
 352 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 was twenty fathoms ; they sounded shortly after, it was 
 only fifteen ! As they were so rapidly coming to shal- 
 low water, they saw that their only hope of safety was 
 to get the ship anchored till day-dawn, and then to 
 mn in the best way they could to some creek or bay 
 in this strange coast. Orders were given to cast out 
 four anchors by the stern ; but after this was done, as 
 they had good ground to fear she might break from 
 these and be driven on shore, every eye "looked 
 anxiously for the day." 
 
 And what land was this they were now approaching? 
 All the description we have of it in the Acts is, " a 
 certain island." Able writers, who have turned their 
 attention to the subject, have most satisfactorily proved 
 that this could be none other than the island of Malta, 
 which the youngest reader knows to be situated to the 
 south of Sicily. You may picture to yourselves these 
 terrible moments — land close at hand, but death and 
 destruction between ! The sea rolling mountains high, 
 the vessel pitching all the more heavily b}' the strain 
 from her anchors. The bi-eakers were roaring ahead — 
 the leak was increasing — the rain or sleet poured down 
 from a black sky. The sailors, fearing that the ship 
 would go to pieces before daylight, were making an 
 unmanly attempt to save themselves and leave the 
 others to the mercy of the storm. They lowered the 
 small boat from the side of the vessel under a false pre- 
 tence, saying that another anchor would require to be 
 let down to steady the pitching ship, but that it would 
 be needful, for this purpose, to convey it first of all in 
 the boat to a little distance. Paul detected their cow- 
 ardly purpose, and saw that, if they did not wait and 
 assist, they would all perish. " Except these abide in
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 353 
 
 the ship," said he, " ye cannot be saved." The Apostle 
 directed his remonstrance, not to the sailors, but to the 
 soldiers and the centurion. It showed the influence 
 this great man had acquired. They instantly decided 
 the matter by cutting the ropes by which the small 
 boat was let down — it plunged into the sea, and was 
 left to drift away in the dark, and become the sport of 
 the breakers. 
 
 The dawn of day broke wildly in the eastern horizon. 
 It was a gladsome sight, but only served to disclose to 
 them more fearfully the reality of their peril. The 
 clouds of spray still screened from view the adjoining 
 shore. Of many shipwrecks, doubtless, we all have 
 read ; but there is something of terrible interest surely 
 in the one before us. Imagine 276 individuals, wan with 
 terror, and faint from want of food and rest, clustered 
 together on the deck, which they expected to see every 
 moment shivered under their feet. As the gi-ay dawn 
 of morning is lighting dimly up these countenances, 
 one figure stands conspicuous in the midst of them. 
 He began that voyage a prisoner — he is now their ac- 
 knowledged director and counsellor ; even the heathen 
 sailors and crew have seen that a nobler spirit than 
 that of earth animates him. He again raises his voice 
 in the storm — he reminds them that for fourteen days 
 they had gone without food • that it was a duty to sus- 
 pend for a little their labour, and partake of the gifts 
 which God had given them — adding, moreover, as a 
 reason, that a hair of their head would not perish. He 
 himself set the example, and in the dim light of that 
 eventful morning, in presence of the crow, he said 
 grace, asked the divine blessing on the food of which
 
 354 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 he partook, and, in accordance with his advice and 
 example, they partook also. 
 
 Their next occupation was to unburden the vessel of 
 the cargo of wheat, which not only added to the diffi- 
 culty of running safely ashore, but probably it had also 
 been so soaked with sea- water as to be rendered use- 
 less. This done, the lingering shades of night had aU 
 dispersed, and the land appeared. 
 
 On looking towards the shore, they observed a small 
 creek, or bay, with a sandy beach ; here they were 
 anxious, if possible, to effect a landing. After making 
 necessary preparations for the hazardous attempt (set- 
 ting up the foresail, taking up the anchors, and loosing 
 the rudder-bands), in a place where two seas meet, 
 they ran the ship aground. A sand bank, a little in 
 front of the shore, had been concealed by the waves ; 
 on this the forepart of the vessel stuck fast, but the 
 hinder part was driven to pieces by the violence of the 
 billows. It was quite evident now that nothing pos- 
 sibly could save the ship, — a few minutes more, and her 
 shivered planks would be strewed over the waters. In 
 this perilous moment the thought struck the soldiers, 
 what shall we do with our prisoners, Paul among the 
 number 1 If they escape from our hands, we shall be 
 responsible for their safety. Their first proposal, under 
 a stern sense of duty, was to kill them at once ; and 
 there seems little doubt this would have been carried 
 into effect, had it not been for the influence the Apostle 
 had gained over the centurion. It would indeed have 
 been an unpardonable act to have dyed these raging 
 waters with the blood of those who had struggled so 
 bravely in behalf of the crew; and more especially
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 355 
 
 to sacrifice the life of one whose presence and manly 
 bearing had so greatly contributed hitherto to their 
 safety. The centurion, therefore, " willing to save 
 Paul," gave orders that all who could swim should 
 plunge into the water, and make the best of their way 
 to the shore. His advice was immediately obeyed — 
 some swam, others on broken boards and pieces of the 
 vessel surmounted the angry breakers, and they got all 
 safe to land.* 
 
 " The name of the island was Ilelita." Malta was 
 then a thinly-peopled place, and its inhabitants were 
 of Phoenician origin. The bay where they landed was 
 a few miles to the north of the present capital, Valet ta, 
 and is screened on the north by the rocky island of 
 Salmonetta. It is remarkable that the soundings at 
 the eastern entrance of the bay at this day exactly corre- 
 spond with those given in the Acts. A number of the 
 islanders, who had witnessed the labouring of the 
 Alexandrian corn ship, now crowded down to the creek 
 where the faint and weary crew were huddled together, 
 drawing breath, after so long a period of terrible tor- 
 ture. They are called " barbarians," but their natural 
 kindness got the better of any baser passions. They 
 sympathised with the shivering sufterers ; and in some 
 sheltered hollow they lighted a fire to restore warmth. 
 We may imagine how grateful this would be, when we 
 remember that most of them must have been soaked 
 and dripping with sea-water. Some had no clothes at 
 all ; the rain was pelting from above ; and all this 
 \mder the chill and wintry winds of November. The 
 Apostle himself had been assisting in collecting sticks 
 to kindle the blaze, and was casting these into the 
 
 * See the picture.
 
 356 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 flames, when a viper came " out of the heat," and 
 fastened on his hand. The natives, when they beheld 
 this, immediately drew the conclusion that Paul must 
 be a murderer — that, though he had escaped the sea, 
 vengeance still pursued him, and would not suffer him 
 to live. How remarkable, that even among barbari- 
 ans there is a conviction of the certainty of vengeance 
 overtaking the sinner, — nature confirming the Bible 
 truth, that, " though hand join in hand, the wicked 
 shall not escape unpunished!" The Apostle shook the 
 reptile into the flames. They expected every moment 
 to see his body swelling with the poisonous sting, and 
 falling lifeless to the groimd ; but when they saw that 
 he remained unharmed, they gazed with wonder, and 
 pronounced him to be a god. An objection has been, 
 raised by some to the accuracy of the incident here 
 recorded, that no poisonous vipers or snakes are now 
 foimd in Malta. The answer, however, is quite satis- 
 factory. At the time of St Luke, Malta was an un- 
 cultivated, unpeopled island ; whereas, now, it is, with- 
 out exception, for its size, the most densely crowded 
 spot in Europe; and population and civilization always 
 tend to rid an insular country of dangerous tribes of 
 animals. We have seen the Highlanders on a Scottish 
 loch point with pride to the hill on which the last wolf 
 in Britain was killed. We cannot, at all events, re- 
 ceive the silly and superstitious explanation which tra,- 
 dition gives us, and which is believed in by some of 
 the islanders to this day. They think that the same 
 kind of vipers still exist, but that they ceased to be 
 poisonous reptiles ever since the Apostle flung the one 
 which fastened on him into the fire. They tell a story 
 of an islandei', from curiosity, caiTying one of these
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 357 
 
 vipers into Sicily, and tliat it immediately became 
 poisonous, but on coming back again to the charmed 
 land of Malta, its venom left it ! * 
 
 But to return to the narrative. We are not told 
 what further effect this miracle had upon the minds of 
 the people. It was not the only exertion of mii'aculous 
 power on the part of the Apostle. Near the spot 
 where the vessel was wrecked, Publius, the governor 
 of the island, had his residence and possessions. He 
 received kindly the shipwrecked crew, and entertained 
 them for three days. His humanity and pity did not 
 go unrewarded. His aged father was, at the time, 
 lying dangerously ill of fever. St Paul went and laid 
 his hands on him, and prayed, and his recovezy 
 ensued. Others who had diseases heard of the marvel- 
 lous cure, and came themselves to be healed. Before 
 the strangers departed, they were laden with proofs of 
 the gratitude of the islanders. 
 
 We cannot resist mentioning, in passing, that there 
 is a name we have often had occasion to refer to in the 
 notes at the foot of the page, which possesses some in- 
 terest in connexion with Paul's voyage and shipwreck, 
 — it is that of the Jewish historian Josephus, whose writ- 
 ings tend to throw so much valuable light on that period. 
 There seems, at least, a prohabllitij that he formed one 
 of the crew in the Alexandrian corn-ship ; and, if 
 so, that he met the Apostle, and was witness of the pri- 
 soner's noble bearing throughout the storm. Without 
 offering any opinion on the subject, I shall quote to 
 you the words of the young historian himself, who, at 
 the age of twenty-five, made a voyage to Home, and 
 gives the following account of it : — "At the time when 
 
 * See note in Stackbouse's History of the Bible, vol. vi. p. 421.
 
 358 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Felix was procurator of Judea, there were certain 
 priests of my acquaintance, good and worthy persons, 
 whom, on a small and trifling occasion, he had put into 
 bonds and sent to Rome to plead their cause before 
 Caesar, For these I was desirous to procure deliver- 
 ance, and that especially because I was informed that 
 they were not unmindful of piety towards God even 
 under their affliction, but supported themselves with 
 figs and nuts. Accordingly, I came to Rome, though 
 it was often through gi-eat hazards by sea ; for our 
 ship being wrecked in the midst of the Adriatic Sea, 
 we that were in it swam for our lives all the night, 
 when, upon the first appearance of the day, a ship of 
 Cyrene appearing to us by the providence of God, I 
 and some others, eighty in all, going before the rest, 
 were taken up into the ship. And when I had thxas 
 escaped and came to Puteoli, I became acquainted 
 with Aliturus, an actor of plays, a Jew by birth, and 
 much beloved by Nero, and, through his interest, be- 
 came known to Poppaea, Caesar's wife, and took care, 
 as soon as possible, to entreat her to procure that the 
 priests might be set at liberty." We shall immedi- 
 ately find this was the same direction Paul and his 
 friends followed from Malta. 
 
 Three months had been spent on the hospitable 
 shores of that island home, the Apostle doubtless taking 
 every opportunity, in exchange for their temporal, to give 
 its people of " spiritual things." It is unlikely that he 
 who would not pass a night in a dungeon without preach- 
 ing the gospel, could now continue twelve weeks with 
 his lips silent regarding the truth. Tradition even says 
 that Publius himself not only became a Christian, but 
 died Bishop of Malta. We know that, ever since the
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 359 
 
 shipwreck of Paul, the religion of Chi-ist has had a 
 footing in that island. My young readers may have 
 heard that, in 1838, our former good Queen Adelaide 
 visited Malta, and that, among the fii'st objects which 
 meet the eye of the voyager in landing, is a Christian 
 church, a memorial of her piety and generosity. 
 
 The season of the year when our voyagers could, with 
 favourable winds, prosecute their route, had now set 
 in, and Julius was desirous, without delay, of reaching 
 the capital. Here the Alexandrian ship, called the 
 " Castor and Pollux," had wintered at Malta, and was 
 again about to sail for Italy. Castor and Pollux, it is 
 scarcely necessary to add, were two fabled twin brothers 
 among the Roman deities. They were supposed to be 
 sons of Jupiter, who, at their death, were translated 
 to heaven, and formed into a constellation under the 
 name of Gemini (or twins). Sailors were considered to 
 be specially under their protection ; hence it was a 
 favourite name for Roman vessels, and their image 
 was often placed on the ship's prow, as was possibly 
 the case with the one in which the Apostle now 
 embarks. 
 
 The voyage was completed in safety without any 
 memorable occurrence. They put in for three days 
 into the famous harbour of Syracuse in Sicily, one 
 hundred miles distant from Malta. We are not told 
 whether Paul landed ; but it is more than probable 
 that the permission granted him by Julius before, 
 would not be refused him here,* and that he preached 
 in this sea-port of the West " the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ." 
 
 Syracuse was, at that time, a great mercantile city. 
 
 * Howson, vol. ii. p. 358.
 
 360 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 It was situated on a bold promontory, jutting out at 
 the east of the island ; and the bay, in which hundreds 
 of ships rode at anchor, was screened on the south by 
 the island of Ortygia. The Apostle must, at all events, 
 have gazed on the beautiful buildings which lined the 
 shore, " the fair walls of white marble " which sur- 
 rounded the town ; also the temples of Jupiter, Diana, 
 and Minerva, — the latter towering high in the centre 
 of Ortygia, — these testifying too plainly to its Pagan 
 worship. It was, however, greatly shorn, by this time, 
 of its ancient extent and splendour, although the love- 
 liness of the surrounding scenery, both by sea and 
 land, no changes could alter. 
 
 Again they set sail, and after beating about for 
 some time, they reached, under less favourable wea- 
 ther, the town of Rhegium, situated on the extreme 
 south of Italy, just before entering the Straits of Mes- 
 sina. After one day spent here, they availed themselves 
 of a fair wind from the south, passed through the 
 Straits, and the favourable breeze still continuing, they 
 were at anchor "next day" in the harbour of Puteoli. 
 
 Puteoli, now Pozzuoli, was situated at the northern 
 curve of that loveliest of all bays, the Bay of Naples, 
 which extends from twenty-five to thirty miles across : 
 the northern promontory being called the Promontory 
 of Misenum; the southern, that of Minerva. As Paul 
 and his fellow-passengers passed the latter, the rocky 
 island of Caprese, with its white cliffs and rugged out- 
 line, must have been close at their right. It seemed 
 to liave been placed by nature as a barrier to check the 
 tempest, and protect the interior of the bay from its 
 fury.* But it recalled sadder thoughts, as blackened 
 
 * Eustace.
 
 THE SHIPWRECK, 
 
 361 
 
 with the dreadful sins and crimes of the Emperor Tibe- 
 rius. He was one of those of whom the Apostle speaks 
 as " being past feeling, having given themselves over 
 to heentiousness to work all uncleanness with greedi- 
 ness." Paul must have gazed with horror on the pre- 
 cipice from which the monster used to hurl, after fear- 
 ful torture, the victims of his cruelty, while hired 
 ruffians were waiting in boats at the foot of the rock to 
 despatch them with oars and bludgeons.* 
 
 They have entered the lovely Bay of Naples. No 
 wonder the Romans selected Venus, the fabled goddess 
 of love and beauty, to preside over the baths, foun- 
 tains, and groves of this delicious shore. " A sky for 
 ever 'serene— seas never ruffled— perpetual spring and 
 eternal verdure, may be supposed to have allured the 
 goddess to her new abode." t The most prominent 
 object in the landscape was Vesuvius,— not, as now, 
 the angry guardian of the scene, but a soft and beaxi- 
 tifal mountain with vine-clad sides. Herculaneum 
 and Pompeii, now dug from their bed of lava and 
 ashes, were then sleeping in quiet grandeur at the 
 foot of the mountain. But a short time after Paul 
 gazed on them from the " Castor and Pollux," they 
 were entombed in their lava sepulchre; and the his- 
 torian Josephus mentions that, among others who were 
 buried in this living grave were Drusilla and her 
 httle one, before whom and her husband Felix the 
 Apostle had so recently reasoned of a still more terrible 
 "judgment to come." % 
 
 We may imagine the scene as the Egyptian corn- vessel 
 
 * Suotonius's Li/e of Tihivius. 
 
 t Eustiice's Clamcal Tour, vol. i. p. 374. 
 
 ; Uowsoii aud Conybourc, vol. u. p. 300. ^
 
 362 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 approached the harbour of Puteoli. Crowds of people 
 would be loitering about the docks, watching its ap- 
 proach. This old seaport was situated on a smaller 
 but scarce less beautiful bay of blue water, running five 
 miles northward from the larger one, sheltered by the 
 promontory of Misenum from the south wind. While 
 Puteoli was built on the eastern side, the well-known 
 Baise (the great resort for people of fashion at particu- 
 lar seasons from Rome) occupied the west. Puteoli 
 looked across to the elegant villas of this "Roman 
 Brighton," — the marine palace of Nero rising conspicu- 
 ously^ among myrtle-trees and orange-groves, to the 
 left. 
 
 Paul must have gazed upon those magnificent 
 buildings, the remains of which the modern traveller 
 sees in fine weather down in the clear water, which has 
 now encroached upon the old shore ; or rather, they are 
 parts of those dwellings to which Horace humorously 
 refers, when he speaks of the Romans as not being 
 content witii the space the land gives them, they must 
 needs encroach on the territory of the sea : — 
 
 " And though the waves indignant roar, 
 Forward j-ou urge the Baian shore ; 
 While earth's too narrow bounds in vaiu 
 Your guilty progress would restrain." * 
 
 From Puteoli, an artificial mole jutted out far into 
 the sea, worthy, from its dimensions, of belonging to 
 the port of the world's capital. Puteoli indeed was the 
 gi-eat "sea-gateway" to the imperial city. The grain- 
 waggons, that fed the many thousands within the walls 
 of Rome, passed through its streets ; others were filled 
 with the finer sorts of wood, brought by vessels fi'om 
 
 * See Eustace's Classical Tour, p. 373.
 
 THE SHIPWRECK. 363 
 
 Africa to make furniture for the Roman houses ; others 
 •with blocks of marble and granite, from African and 
 Asiatic quarries, to be fashioned into baths or statuary 
 for the adox'nment of Roman palaces. There are still 
 seventeen piers of the ancient mole remaining, within 
 which the merchant-vessels rode at anchor, and on 
 which stood the lighthouse. 
 
 We are told by Seneca, that when an Alexandrian 
 com-ship hove in sight, they were, unlike other vessels, 
 pi-ivileged to enter the bay in full sail; all others were 
 compelled to lower their topsail. When the " Castor 
 and Pollux," therefore, was seen entering with her sails 
 fully spread to the breeze, we may imagine the crowd 
 at the pier assembling to receive her, and see her cargo 
 and crew disembarked. We may picture to ourselves 
 the Great Apostle standing on the deck of the vessel, as 
 the shores of illustrious Italy first opened to him ! In 
 entering the Pirceus at Athens, he had felt himself going 
 among the world's sages and philosophers ; here, it was 
 amid the lavish opulence and splendour of the Mistress 
 of Kingdoms. The power and wealth of Rome glit- 
 tered around that beautiful bay. The first object pro- 
 bably his eye rested on, after passing the promontory 
 of Misenum, was the Roman navy riding at anchor, — 
 next, the palace of Baulos, which we have just men- 
 tioned, — then villa on villa at Baite. If the day was 
 calm, hundreds of pleasure-boats and yachts would be 
 studding the bay, with their white sails and gaily- 
 coloured pennons. At last, entering the harbour of 
 Puteoli, amid the clattering of ship-hammers and the 
 heavy roll of laden waggons, the busy hum of ten thou- 
 sand voices in the Latin tongue intimated that they 
 were nearing one of the two " Liverpools of Italy," of
 
 364 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 ■which Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, was the other. 
 Of the two, however, PuteoU was the more important ; 
 it admitted to its port vessels of dimensions of which 
 Ostia could not boast.* 
 
 Josepbus informs lis, that from the connexion of its 
 trade with Alexandria and the surrounding eastern 
 countries, there were many Jews residing at Puteoli. 
 The Great Apostle found also Christian disciples. 
 They had been long anxiously expecting to see his 
 face ; now their fondest wishes were gratified. He 
 came, indeed, " bearing in his body the marks of the 
 Lord Jesus." He was not then the bold and vigorous 
 Roman citizen who had stood, a few years before, on 
 Mars' Hill among Grecian sages; he was now a pri- 
 soner chained to a soldier's arm, wan and weaiy after 
 a voyage cheqiiered with so many disasters ; but he was 
 still "strong" as ever "in the Lord, and in the power 
 of His might;" and though moral storms, more fearful 
 far than what he had undergone in the Sea of Adria, 
 might be in reserve for him, he could look calm and 
 undismayed, amid them all, towards the better haven 
 above, and feel that that God, who had made good His 
 promise in the one, would be equally faithful regarding 
 the other. 
 
 It was indeed a memorable day, in the annals of the 
 infant Church, which brought its great ambassador to 
 the shores of imperial Italy — to the very bay, also, 
 which was fresh with the footprints of Augustus and 
 Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and Maecenas. The harbour of 
 Puteoli had, 250 years before the time of Paul, wit- 
 nessed an imposing spectacle in the landing of the em- 
 bassy from Cartbage at the close of the second Punic 
 
 * See Howson, Lewin, and Olsbausen.
 
 THE SHIPWEECK. 365 
 
 war, to sue foi' peace at the gates of the capital ; but 
 there was a truer moral grandeur in the arrival of this 
 poor Voyager, whose errand, from a mightier than 
 earthly court, was, not to sue for peace, but to pro- 
 claim, in the name of the King of kings, the only true 
 peace for men and for nations — " peace through the 
 blood of the Cross." 
 
 No sooner did he arrive, than tidings were sent of 
 the event to the brethren in Rome. The Puteoli 
 Christians requested that he might be allowed to re- 
 main a few days with them. Julius, who owed, in 
 common with all the crew, such a debt of gratitude to 
 the prisoner, consented. 
 
 We shall close this chapter, leaving the Apostle to 
 enjoy this short while of quiet in this bustling city, 
 before setting out on the last stage of his journey to 
 the world's great capital.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 \ml k %mL 
 
 " Jesus ! avenger of our fall. 
 Thou faithful lover above all 
 The cross has ever borne ! 
 tell me — life is in Thy voice- 
 How much afflictions were Thy choice, 
 And sloth and ease Thy scorn 1 
 
 Thy choice and mine shall be the same, 
 Inspirer of that holy flame. 
 
 Which must for ever blaze ! 
 To take the cross and follow Thee, 
 Where love and duty lead, shall be 
 
 My portion and my praise." 
 
 COWPEK. 
 
 " The Apostle prisoner; but, though a prisoner, an Apostle. , , . 
 A spiritual Atlas— Paul carries the whole heathen world upon his 
 shoulders. That Roman empire, the most powerful on the face of the 
 earth, which required seven ages to be established, this man takes 
 only a quarter of an age to regenerate." — Monod.
 
 What a change of scene now waited tlie 
 Apostle ! All at once, from the dreary 
 experiences of his sea-voyage, he found 
 himself travelling, under the escort of soldiers, along 
 one of the great public highways leading to the 
 
 capital. 
 
 We have no means of knowing what particular road 
 was selected. There was one that led in a northern 
 direction by Capua; hut it is more probable they 
 adopted the route along the coast, as the most direct, 
 by Vulturnum and Sinuessa to Minturnae. In either 
 case, however, the little band would be treading the 
 famous Appian Way, which still remains, like other 
 monuments of antiquity. It is from 13 to 14 feet 
 broad, having a hewn foundation, with regularly-formed 
 stones above, smooth and square, fitting in to one an- 
 other, and many of which; after 2000 years, are com-
 
 365 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 paratively little worn,* As in our modern turnpikes, 
 milestones were set up on this great highway eveiy 
 twenty miles, where were erected also inns or taverns 
 for the baiting of horses and mules, and the accommo- 
 dation of travellers.t Many objects of interest must 
 have passed before the Apostle's eye. The vine-clad 
 plains of fertile Campania ; the villas and terraces of 
 beautiful Formiae, where the illustrious Cicero had 
 his favourite retreat ; the walls, now seen scattered 
 over the fields, and half covered with vines, olives, and 
 hedges, must then have been entire, and full of the 
 memory of the great orator. The road continued 
 thence through the narrow passes of the Coecuban 
 hills, touching once more the sea, where the splendid 
 villas and palaces of the ancient Auxur crowned the 
 cliffs which towered above. Paul must have observed, 
 conspicuous above the rest of the buildings, the Temple 
 of Jupiter, standing on the summit of the rock, and 
 looking over the vast country, on every side of which 
 he was regarded as the protector and guardian. 
 Crossing the mountains immediately above Auxur, 
 the travellers would find themselves again in an ex- 
 tensive level, stretching miles on miles in the far dis- 
 tance, with patches here and there of luxuriant pas- 
 ture, grazed on by numerous herds of cattle and 
 horses. Here were the celebated Pomptine marshes, 
 through which, in the time of the x^postle, a canal (still 
 remaining, and called Cavata) had been formed by 
 Augustus, mainly with the view of draining the morass. 
 At its commencement, a few paces from the road, there 
 was a fountain in the midst of a grove, with a temple, 
 sacred to Feronia, the goddess of freedom. One soli- 
 
 • Eustace's Classical Tour. t See Lcwiii.
 
 PAUL IN ROME. 
 
 369 
 
 tary ilex, hanging over the fountain, is all the modem 
 traveller can discover of the old thicket. The temple 
 has sunk into the dust, and not even a stone remains. 
 Slaves who were about to obtain their freedom were 
 brought to this shrine ; they were seated within on a 
 sacred chair, and on rising were declared free. Such 
 was the iorm of religious rite in obtaining eavthhj free- 
 dom. Some may have been at the moment kneeling 
 or coming forth rejoicing in the assurance that they 
 were slaves no more, when the Apostle of a nobler spirit- 
 ual freedom was passing by. That chained prisoner 
 could have told them of a nobler and purer fountain, 
 washing in which they could be made " free indeed," 
 rejoicing in " the glorious liberty of the sons of God." 
 
 We are not informed whether Julius and his band 
 continued their journey on the paved road, or in track- 
 boats dragged by mules. It is probable they would 
 use the latter, which were most commonly employed ; 
 and if so, the time of travelling would be the same 
 as that spoken of by other wayflirers. Horace, in 
 his Satires, gives a vivid description of a night journey 
 along the canal. He complains of the buzzing of gnats, 
 the croaking of frogs, and the still more vexatious tar- 
 diness of the muleteer, who took sixteen hours to a 
 distance of twenty-seven miles. Night was the time, 
 as Strabo relates, when passengers were in the habit of 
 commencing their journey, because the vapours, con- 
 tinually arising from the swamps, are less noxious then 
 than during the heat of the day.* At the end of tlie 
 canal, eighteen miles from Terraciua, and fifty-one 
 miles from Rome, was a place called Appii Forum, filled 
 with low taverns, where the mules were unyoked after 
 
 Eustace's Tour, p. 321.
 
 370 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 a long stage. It was called, probably, after the con- 
 sul Appius Claudius, who had constructed this famous 
 Appian Way, and to whose memory a statue had been 
 erected in the busy town which bore his name.* It 
 was a well-known place of refreshment for travellers 
 passing north or south, and enjoj^ed no very favom'able 
 reputation. It was the noted resort, in that age, of what 
 we may call the " swell mob " of the Italian London. 
 Thieves, pickpockets, and pedlars had always a promis- 
 ing trade amid its bustle and confusion.t 
 
 In the dense and busy crowd of idlers and traffickers 
 there, we are led to wonder if Paul would meet one 
 friend to cheer his drooping spirit 1 Strange to say, in 
 that unlikeliest of places. Christian friends discover him, 
 and amid the rude voices and jostling of the multitude, 
 the disciples of a crucified Jesus embrace one another ! 
 The Christians from Rome had heard from their breth- 
 ren at Puteoli of the Apostle's arrival. They had come 
 down to this meeting-place, fifty-one miles from the 
 capital, to welcome him. They might probably have 
 gone even further ; but not knowing whether he would 
 travel by the road or the canal, they waited at the 
 common terminus of both, Appii Forum. 
 
 Ten miles farther on, at a place called " The Three 
 TaA^erns," + a second band of Christian friends met him 
 — perhaps the older and more infirm, who had tarried 
 behind their more robust and younger brethren. The 
 spirit of the Aged Apostle revived. He had for long 
 
 * Calmet. t See Horace Sat., v. 3. 
 
 X 111 the time of Constaiitine we find that the Three Taverns had be- 
 come the seat of a bishop. That emperor appointed nineteen bishops 
 througliout his dominions, to settle tlie controversy between Donatus and 
 Ccccilianus, and among these we find the name of Felix a Tribus Tabernis 
 (Felix from "The Tliroe Taverns''^. — Hammond's Annotations.
 
 PAUL IN ROME. 
 
 371 
 
 been accustomed to nothing but a prison life ; for two 
 years frowns mora than smiles had been famdiar to 
 him; but prisoner though still he was, he had much 
 of the aspect of a hero returning in triumph. Never 
 did a nobler champion tread the Appian Way, nor one 
 more truly entitled to the term of " Great." There is 
 a world of touching meaning in Luke's short statement, 
 « When Paul saw the brethren, he thanked God, and 
 took courage." His sensitive heart was deeply touched 
 by the kindness of those who, in a strange land, thus 
 welcomed him. He was doiibtless cheered also by see- 
 incr the liberty they appeared to enjoy. Seventeen 
 miles farther brought him to the base of the Alban hills. 
 These separated the plains we have just spoken of 
 from the Campagna of Rome. Here he would pass 
 through the lovely valley of Aricia, and see probably 
 the same dark background spoken of by modern tra- 
 vellers, " formed by the groves and evergreen forests 
 that clothe the higher regions of the mountains." * 
 Gay equipages would be increasing on his view, and 
 crowded villas and gardens studding the slopes of the 
 Alban mount. After two other gentle elevations, he 
 would get his first glimpse of the Great Capital of the 
 world, with its two millions of human beings ! Perhaps 
 he saw it first at the hour the poet describes — 
 
 " 'Tis sunset on the Palatine. A flood 
 Of living ulory wraps the Sabine hills, 
 Aiid o'er the rough and serrate Apeuuinea 
 Floats like a burning mantle." 
 
 Wliat his impressions were when its domes and 
 columns rose before him, we cannot say. His feelings 
 regarding it must, at least, have been very different 
 
 * Eustace.
 
 372 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 from those recorded of the St Paiil of the sixteenth 
 century, whom we have more than once ah'eady com- 
 pared with our Apostle, To the former, with all its 
 glory and grandeur, as mistress of the nations, Rome 
 was a heathen city in the saddest sense, full of dreadful 
 vice, her boasted virtues only what an old writer calls 
 " splendid sins." When the Saxon monk, on the 
 other hand, first saw the city of the Tiber, the chains 
 of superstition were still binding him. He was yet 
 a devoted son of the Papal Church, his eyes closed to 
 those enormous evils which he was yet to expose 
 before Christendom. Rome, therefore, was still to him 
 what Jerusalem was to the child of Abraham. It was 
 the mother of all Churches — the Zion of the gospel age 
 — the " city of God." The historian of the German 
 Reformer thiis describes Luther's first approach to it : — 
 " After a painful journey in the beginning of summer, 
 under the burning sun of Italy, he approached the 
 seven-hilled city ; his heart was stirred, his eyes sought 
 the Queen of the World and of the Church. As soon 
 as he caught sight in the distance of the eternal city 
 — the city of St Peter and St Paul — the metropolis of 
 Catholicity — he prostrated himself on the groimd, ex- 
 claiming, ' Holy Rome, I salute thee ! '" Paul's excla- 
 mation, if he had any, must have been very different. 
 We may well suppose it would ratlier have been this, 
 " Unhappy Rome ! I pity thee ! but, in the name of my 
 divine Lord and Master, I come proclaiming to thee 
 a freedom which all thy boasted glory knows nothing 
 of!" 
 
 Soon they were in the vast suburbs, among villas, 
 gardens, and tombs. The houses became denser, the 
 streets narrower. At last they come to the Porta
 
 PAUL IN ROME, 373 
 
 Capena, the great arch through which often and again 
 triumphant legions had marched. Continuing their way- 
 through the streets, they reached the Forum, the great 
 centre of interest, where the golden milestone stood, at 
 which the various roads, leading to different parts 
 of Italy, met.* Gigantic buildings rose all around 
 it — arches, colonnades, temples, and statues. Porticoes 
 lined either side ; under one stood, in bronze, the Latin 
 and Roman kings, from iEneas down to Tarquinius 
 Superbus ; on the other were ranged the Eomau heroes, 
 all in triumphal robes. In the centre rose a colossal 
 statue of Augustus.t How striking a contrast is the 
 description of the same scene by a traveller eighteen 
 hundred years later, who, in describing its " colonnades 
 encumbering the pavements buried under their ruins " 
 — " shattered porticoes, broken shafts, and vast frag- 
 ments of marble capitals, and cornices heaped together," 
 concludes by saying, " A herdsman seated on a pedes- 
 tal, while his oxen were drinking at the fountain, and 
 a few passengers moving at a distance in different 
 directions, were the only living beings that disturbed 
 the silence and solitude which reigned around !" J The 
 Capitoline hill terminated the other end of the Forum; 
 and if we are correct in describing the Apostle's route, 
 it must have now risen straight before him. It had on 
 its summit the parent temple of the imperial city. A 
 hundred steps led up to the shrine of Jupiter Tonans. 
 It is described as having been " adorned with all the 
 refinements of art, and blazing with the plunder of the 
 world. In the centre of the temple, with Juno on his 
 left, and Minex'va on his right side, the Thunderer 
 
 • See Eustace's Tour, vol. ii. p. S3. f Eustace, vol. ii. p. 83. 
 
 X See our picture of the Forum as it now is, in ruius.
 
 374 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 sat on a throne of gold, grasping the lightning in 
 one hand, and in the other wielding the sceptre of the 
 universe." On the Apostle's left rose the palace of the 
 Cfesars on the Palatine ; where was preserved, in the 
 midst of the gorgeous b\uldings, the lowly cottage 
 of Romulus thatched wuth reeds. The dominion of 
 the founder of Rome extended no further than the 
 seven hills. But in the time of Paul, this Palatine hill 
 alone was found too small for the imperial palace ; and 
 no wonder ! when we read of its avenues, triple porti- 
 coes, and thousand columns, extending for a mile in 
 length. A flight of steps led up from the Forum to 
 the royal residence. Sentries paced in front of the 
 gates, and the palisades were crowned with laurel, in 
 token of victory. A temple of Apollo stood within 
 the royal precincts, and spacious gardens stretched 
 down towards the circus behind. 
 
 It is more than probable that the place to which 
 Paul was conducted was the camp or barrack of the 
 Pretorians, — a large square with buildings all round, 
 erected during the reign of Tiberius, outside the city 
 walls. The Pretorian troops were the picked favourites 
 in the Roman army. There were ten thousand of them 
 in all. They were in receipt of double pay, besides 
 other privileges not possessed by the rest of the soldiers. 
 We may imagine, then, the Great Apostle conducted 
 outside the gate of the city, and entering through strong 
 fortifications into these imperial barracks. He and his 
 guard would cross a deep ditch, or vallum, which en- 
 closed the camp, and tlien by a gatewa}^ they would 
 reach the interior of the barracks. His eye would pro- 
 bably rest on a large field immediately in front for mi- 
 litary exercise, and where, a few years before, the Bri-
 
 PAUL IN ROME. 375 
 
 tish king Caractacus had been led in triumph. Many 
 prisoners from distant parts of the empire were within 
 these same walls. He might hear the clank of the 
 chain by which they were fastened to the attendant 
 soldier, giving him intimation of what might be wait- 
 ing himself ! God, however, had in his mercy ordered 
 for his servant a kindlier treatment. Afranius Burrus 
 was at this time the Pretorian Prefect.'^ He was a 
 hardy, but noble-minded Roman, whom Tacitus de- 
 scribes as having his one hand maimed with honourabk 
 wounds. To him Paul was surrendered by Julius. 
 The latter, it is evident, had mentioned favourably to 
 the Roman Prefect the character and heroic spirit of 
 his prisoner, and peculiarly commended him to his cle- 
 mency. Burrus was convinced that he had been guilty 
 of no crime worthy of bonds. But as it was needful 
 for him to undergo the form of a trial, the Prefect 
 could not with safety grant him his liberty. He so far 
 relaxed, however, the severity of imprisonment by al- 
 lowing him to live in his own hired lodging in the city, 
 with the usual precaution of having a soldier by him, 
 to whom he was chained. These soldiers probably re- 
 lieved one another. Who can tell but that under the 
 instructions of their prisoner, their hardened spirits may 
 have learned to " fight the good fight of faith, and to lay 
 hold of eternal life " ] What sort of an apartment 
 Paul occupied, of course we can form no conjecture. As 
 silver and gold he had none, most probably the expense 
 of it was defrayed by the " devout brethren" who had 
 come to welcome him at Appii Forum. If so, they 
 would probably secure a room of sufficient dimensions 
 to form " a churcli in the house," where they might 
 
 * Tiicit. Ann. xii. 42. 1.
 
 376 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 meet often, and listen to his heart-stirring words. 
 Here he was left in custody, to be tried in due 
 time before the emperor. 
 
 ISTero was now sovereign of the Roman world. He 
 was still but a youth of twenty-one, but his life of guilt 
 and infamy had already begun. His beauty, among 
 other things, had proved a snare to him. He delighted 
 to deck himself out in finery, and his light glossy 
 hair hung in ringlets, like a woman's, over his shoulders. 
 His whole education gives us a painful specimen of 
 the follies of what was thought a brilliant age. His 
 early guardians and instructors were his aunt Lepida, 
 a dancing master, and a barber ! and when, as a mere 
 youth, he was exalted to the throne of the world, the 
 frivolity of his early training showed itself in public 
 exhibitions in the theatre, where the emperor played 
 on the harp, sang, and recited verses of his own, 
 amid thunders of applause. Upon one of these re- 
 hearsals, a solemn thanksgiving to the gods was de- 
 creed, and still further to flatter his vanity, it was 
 resolved to dedicate a part of the verses in letters of 
 gold to Jupiter Capitolinus; — a folly trifling in compa- 
 rison with his own; on the day of the athletic games, 
 he shaved his beard, put the hair into a box of pure 
 gold, enchased with precious stones, and consecrated it 
 to the same " Father of gods and men ! " * Miserable 
 as all this was, it would have been well for himself and 
 the world if his puerilities had never gone further. 
 There is scarce the cxime, however, that can be named, 
 into which this wicked emperor did not plunge. He 
 had murdered many courtiers in cold blood ; and when 
 the Great Apostle arrived in Rome, Octavia, his beauti- 
 
 * Suetonius's Lifi of Nero, pp. 347, 349.
 
 PAUL IN ROME, 377 
 
 ful and noble-minded queen, was living in cruel exile. 
 The infamous Poppaia was residing with him as his 
 unlawful wife, in his splendid Palatine Palace. 
 Shortly after, he not only gave orders for Octavia's 
 murder, but had her head brought to Rome, savagely 
 to witness it ! A few weeks later, he committed the 
 most enormous of his many fearful crimes, in the 
 assassination of his own mother. His first purpose was 
 to loosen the rafters of her bed-chamber, and to bury 
 her as she was asleep under the ruins of the ceiling. 
 This failing, he next arranged to drown her on her 
 way to her villa on the Lucrine Lake, when on board 
 an ornamental yacht, so contrived as, on a given 
 signal, to fall to pieces. This also having failed, she 
 was despatched the same night with daggers ! " The 
 freedmau, Anicetus, undertook the mission ; and on 
 entering the chamber where Agrippina reclined with 
 a single female slave, and solitary lamp, she said to 
 him, ' If you bring a message from my son, to in- 
 quire after my health, tell him I am better; if 
 your purpose be murder, do it quickly;' then baring 
 her bosom, with a design of shortening her sufferings, 
 or reproaching the parricide, she exclaimed, ' Strike 
 here,' and was despatched with repeated wounds." * 
 
 It gives a mournful picture of his hardened levity, 
 that a short time after, he was seen singing to the guitar, 
 and acting in presence of crowds of Romans, the nobler ol 
 whom shed teai's when they saw the imperial honour so 
 tarnished. When the tidings of revolt among his svxb- 
 jects on one occasion came to his ears, he threatened to 
 poison the whole senate, consume the city by fire, and let 
 loose wild beasts among the people in the streets. No 
 
 * Lempriere's Dictionary.
 
 378 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 wonder Paul afterwai'ds speaks of him as a " Lion," aud 
 thanks his God who had rescued him from his jaws.* 
 
 Perhaps never in the history of our race did there 
 live at one time two such opposite specimens of hu- 
 manity as now in the city of Piome — Nero aud Paul, 
 The one, the nominal master of the world, but an awful 
 mixture of the beast and the fiend ; the other, a "perse- 
 cuted tent-maker," but possessing a nature with all that 
 was lofty, pure, lovely, and of good report. 
 
 It was then under the reign of this " bold, bad man," 
 and while some of the scenes we have described were 
 transacting in the palace, that our Great Apostle lived 
 for two years in the capital.t 
 
 There were many Jews resident in Rome then as 
 now. They were confined, however, as at this day, to 
 a "Jewish Quarter." This was situated on the other 
 side of the Tiber. Here they were allowed to have 
 their own synagogues, aud to collect their annual tri- 
 bute of two drachmee on each head, for the support of 
 the temple treasury in Jerusalem. There were also, 
 as we have seen, at present in the imperial city not a 
 few Christians. Many of the latter, like Aquila and 
 Priscilla, had been driven from Rome to cities border- 
 ing on the Mediten-anean, in consequence of the edict 
 of Claudius. While sojourning in these eastern coun- 
 tries, as I before observed, some of them had seen Paul 
 personally. Their faith and devoteduess had been 
 deepened. They had returned to the great capital 
 with their minds much impressed by the holy teaching 
 they had received from his lips. The long list of 
 names in the closing chapter of his Roman epistle in- 
 forms us how many devoted believers were in the city 
 
 * 2 Tim. ir. 17. f Lempriere. See also Mr Lewin, vol. ii. p. 71i.
 
 PAUL IN ROME, 379 
 
 of the Tiber, waiting to welcome their spiritual father 
 and friend. 
 
 As was the Apostle's custom in other cities, he 
 preached in Rome to the "Jews first." After occupy- 
 ing for three days his solitary room, he sent for the prin- 
 cipal people among the Israelites to have a conversation 
 with them. Probably he was anxious to explain his 
 conduct, and get their feelings enlisted on his side be- 
 fore they were prejudiced against him by communica- 
 tions from their brethren at a distance. We perhaps 
 could not have wondered if they had been unprepared 
 to meet the Apostle in a kindly spirit. , The very fact 
 of his having come thither, appealing to the Roman 
 Emperor against their own Sanhedrim, was, in itself, 
 enough to rouse their suspicions and prejudices. When 
 " the heads of the nation" — the leading Jewisli citizens 
 — therefore, arrived at his lodging, he endeavoured at 
 first to remove from their minds any unjust and un- 
 founded impressions. He showed that it was they, his 
 own countrymen at Jerusalem, who had in the first 
 instance done him the cruel injustice of handing over 
 one of their own nation to the Roman power. Even 
 the Roman Governor had been ready to let him go, 
 but his Jewish enemies had refused. In these circum- 
 stances, he could do no otherwise than appeal unto 
 Coesar. He concludes by telling them that his only 
 crime had been preacliing the great expectation given 
 to his fathers of a coming Messiah. " For the hope of 
 Israel, I am bound with this chain." 
 
 They assured liim, in reply, that they had got no 
 tidings regarding him from their countrymen in the 
 East, nor had they ever heard any evil concerning him. 
 His vessel, wrecked as it was, had evidently brought
 
 380 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 its crew more speedily to Rome than other ships which 
 had embarked at the same time from Syria, aud which 
 had beeu kept back by stress of weather during that 
 stormy winter. 
 
 Although, however, the Jewish brethren at Rome 
 had no charge of a personal kind to bring against Paul, 
 it was different about the cause he was pleading, as 
 they added, that the sect to which he belonged, called 
 " Christians," was " everywhere spoken against." * 
 There was nothing in their reply to discourage the 
 Apostle ; if anything, he might conclude they were 
 disposed to hear him in a more candid spirit than he 
 could have expected. A day, therefore, was fixed for 
 a meeting at his own lodging, where, to all willing to 
 come, he would unfold the great doctrines for which he 
 had been called in question. 
 
 A large body of Jews assembled at the time speci- 
 fied. From morning to evening the Apostle continued 
 his argument, trying to convince them from their own 
 Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. There was a 
 division among the hearers; some (the honest portion, 
 open to conviction) believed ; but others, as is ever 
 the case, continued in their bigotry and prejudice, and 
 went away unbelieving as they came. Paul coidd 
 not suffer them to depart without a word of awful 
 warning — the doom pronounced against obstinate and 
 wilful unbelievers by the Prophet Isaiah. " Go unto 
 this people, and say. Hearing ye shall hear, and shall 
 not tmderstand ; and seeing ye shall see, and not per- 
 ceive : for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and 
 their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they 
 closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear 
 
 • Acts xxviii. 22.
 
 PAUL IN BOME. 381 
 
 with their ears, and understand with their heart, and 
 should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it 
 known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is 
 sent unto the Cxcntiles, and that they will hear it." * 
 
 As the Apostle now commenced unfolding that gos- 
 pel to the Gentiles which his own countrymen in Rome 
 rejected, the unbelieving Jews began among themselves 
 an active opposition. He, however, remained for two 
 years in his own hired house, proclaiming faithfully 
 to all who would hear regarding the kingdom of his 
 Lord. The kindness of Burrus, which he experienced 
 when he first came, was still continued. He was 
 spared the ignominy and discomfort of being shut up 
 with other prisoners in the Pretorian barracks, but 
 was allowed to remain in his own lodging, and to see 
 there what friends he chose. It was necessary, however, 
 that the Roman law should be enforced in his being 
 strictly guarded ; day and night he was chained by 
 the arm to a Roman soldier, but this was his consola- 
 tion and joy, that " the Word of God was not bound." 
 The effects of his preaching appear first among the 
 Pretorian guards ; — probably the soldiers who had the 
 charge of him, carried back day after day to the camp 
 the tidings of the truth he proclaimed. Though his 
 weapons were not like theirs, carnal, they proved to be 
 " mighty through God to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds." When he writes to his old Philippian friends, 
 he tells them, with a joyful heart, that his " bonds in 
 Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other 
 places." t 
 
 It is worthy of remark, in passing, that probably to 
 Paul's intercourse with Roman soldiers at this time, 
 
 * Acts xxviu. 26-28. t Pliil- >• 13.
 
 382 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 we may trace the references in his letters written 
 from liome, to armour, and battle, and military Hfe. 
 Both the Epistle to the Ephesians and the Epistles to 
 Timothy were composed during his Roman captivity. 
 They are just what we might naturally expect from a 
 man living daily chained by the wrist to a soldier of 
 the Imperial Guard — ^listening to the clank of their 
 heavy armour, and hearing the sound of their bugles 
 in the Pretoriau tent. He tells Timothy to " act the 
 part of the good soldier of Jesus Christ ;" and the Ephe- 
 sians have every part of the Roman armour spiritual- 
 ised : — the " breastplate " — the " helmet "—the " san- 
 dals " — the " shield " — the " sword" — that they might 
 be able " to stand in the evil day." * 
 
 But to return. The tidings of the gospel reached 
 not merely the military camp, but the imperial palace. 
 Though wicked Nero's heart remained untouched, Paul 
 sends Christian greetings from the " saints in Csesar's 
 household." Even before the Apostle reached Rome, 
 some noble women among the higher ranks had taken 
 up the cross of Jesus, amid the frowns and ridicule of 
 the "gi-eat and mighty." The wife of the conqueror 
 of Britain, Pomponia Grsecina, was only one of several 
 who had embraced "the truth as it is in Jesus;" and 
 now that Paul had himself come among them, we need 
 not wonder that the good seed should spread. Among 
 other converts, the Roman martyrology mentions Tor- 
 pes, an officer of note; and Chrysostom speaks of one of 
 Nero's cupbearers.t It is even said, although we have 
 only tradition for it, that the aged philosopher Seneca, 
 the tutor of Nero, in his old age, laid aside " philoso- 
 phy falsely so called," for the glorious simplicities of the 
 
 * Eph. vi, n to end. t Cave, p. 102.
 
 PAUL IN ROME. 383 
 
 faith of Jesus. Seneca was the intimate friend of Bur- 
 rus ; and it is by no means improbable that he would 
 introduce him to one so like-minded, gifted, and learned 
 as Paul of Tarsus.* 
 
 "The sacred historian tells us, that the door of 
 Paul's lodging was open to every comer, and he tells 
 us no more ; but curiosity would fain ask many an in- 
 teresting question as to the personages then at Rome. 
 What was Gallio about, who had known Paul at Cor- 
 inth 1 . . , Under the auspices of his brother Seneca, 
 did he now investigate the truth 1 How did Felix 
 demean himself? did he renew the intimacy he had 
 begun at Cesarea ? or had he not the hardihood to look 
 in the face the man whom he knew to be innocent, 
 and ought to have acquitted, but had left bound to 
 serve his own selfish purposes? Where were Caracta- 
 cus and his family — his wife, and daughter, and bro- 
 thers, who had, a few years before, been prisoners in 
 the Pretorium ? Were they still detained at Home as 
 hostages? and if so, did a British king ever have an 
 interview with one of the apostles? Questions such 
 as these cannot be solved, and it is idle to pursue 
 them."t 
 
 At this period of Paul's life, as detailed in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, the curtain falls — the history of Luke 
 comes abruptly to a close. It is from the Apostle's 
 after-epistles that we are able to get some knowledge 
 of his future career, now that his ardent wish was at 
 hist fulfilled — " to preach the gospel at Rome also." 
 
 * See Lewin, p. 760. t Ibid, vol. ii. p. 762.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 |ns0n-ftf^. 
 
 " Look in and see Christ's chosen saint 
 In triumph wear his Christ-like chain! 
 Nor fear lest he should swerve or faint, — 
 * His life is Christ— his death is gain.'" 
 
 Keble. 
 
 ''Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not of Thy -work. 
 Let me go and speak for Thee once more, . . . seal Thy truth, and 
 then die." — Whitfield's Life.
 
 When piibonei^ \\ere biought to Rome, as Paul now 
 was, a long period often elapsed before their cases were 
 finally tried. It not only was necessary that the ac- 
 cusers be present, but time was given them to summon 
 their witnesses ; and as these, in the case of the Apostle, 
 would require to be brought from such a distance, it might 
 easily be shown that his trial could not well have been 
 concluded before the end of two years. This is the period 
 mentioned by Luke during which he remained a prisoner 
 in his hired house. The legal documents and papers, 
 which were forwarded by Festus from Cesarea, were pro- 
 bably destroyed at the time of the shipwreck. Add to 
 this, there were always such numbers of cases of the same 
 kind to be heard, that the delay was often very long ; the 
 judges had their frequent holidays ; prisoners were left for 
 weeks in their chains, when the fagged and wearied law- 
 yers and praetors were down refreshing themselves at the
 
 386 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 baths and sea-breezes of Baise. Moreover, Paul's ac- 
 cusers had no object in hastening the trial, as, from the 
 private judgment which Festus had already pronounced, 
 they could have little expectation of success. If they 
 desired anything, therefore, it would be delay, in the 
 hope of being able to work on the feelings or passions 
 of the empei'or. 
 
 The Apostle's own imprisonment, as we have said, 
 was not irksome or severe, and, doubtless, " the things 
 which happened to him, had fallen out rather to the 
 furtherance of the gospel." His house was evidently 
 of considerable • size, capable of containing the multi ■ 
 tudes which flocked to liear him. The sympathies of 
 many must have been called forth as they saw the old 
 man, his face wrinkled with cares and sorrows, lifting 
 the hand that was chained to a rude soldier, and pro- 
 claiming those truths for which he suffered, and of 
 which, " nevertheless, he was not ashamed." * 
 
 But it was not his converts at Rome only to whom 
 he was now of service ; he was the spiritual father of 
 many churches scattered in different parts of the em- 
 pire; and the old and faithful friends who came to 
 visit him in his imprisonment, were sent with letters 
 of comfort to all round about. Luke, Timothy, Tychi- 
 cus, Demas, and Mark, were the bearers, every now 
 and then, to churches and individuals, of messages 
 and epistles. It is pleasing to hear of Mark, whose 
 unfaithfulness led to such unpleasant consequences in 
 separating Paul from Barnabas, again the devoted 
 friend and attendant of his great spiritual father. 
 Many of the Roman converts, too, began to take an 
 active part in proclaiming the gospel. " Many of the 
 
 * See Howson and Conybeare, vol. ii. pp. 386, 387.
 
 PRISON-LIFE. 
 
 387 
 
 brethren in the Lord," he writes to the Philippians, 
 " waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold 
 to speak the Word without fear." * 
 
 There was another of Paul's many converts in the 
 capital, whose history possesses peculiar interest, not 
 from his wearing the livery of Ctesar's dependants or 
 courtiers, but from his being one of those apparently 
 hopeless castaways in the lowest scale of life, who are 
 ever and anon made the monuments and miracles of 
 grace :— I refer to Ouesimus. He was a runaway slave 
 from Asia ; his master's name was Philemon, a rich 
 Gentile, a Christian, and member of the church of 
 Colosse. Onesimus had plundered him, and taken 
 refuge at Rome. We can well imagine the debasing 
 companions among whom this man's lot must have 
 been cast in the lowest streets of the capital. " Profli- 
 gate and unprincipled as we know even the highest 
 and most educated society to have then been, what 
 must have been its dregs and offal ! " t But what can- 
 not grace dol He was brought, we know not how, 
 along with the crowd that went day after day to hear 
 the Great Apostle. He may not unlikely have seen 
 Paul previously, through whose ministry his master 
 Philemon had been converted; at all events, as he 
 listened now to the preaching of the Apostle, he was 
 led to feel his guilt, and to embrace Jesus as his only 
 Saviour. The rude and debased slave became possessor 
 of a liberty he in vain sought by deserting an indul- 
 gent master. He saw Paul alone, told him of his be- 
 haviour to Philemon, and besought his intercession for 
 pardon. The Apostle seems ardently to have loved 
 this peniteit stranger ; he saw that he was fitted for 
 
 ♦ Phil. i. U. t Howson.
 
 388 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 nobler duties than to return again as a slave to Co- 
 losse, and was desirous therefore of retaining him in the 
 service of the gospel at Rome. He would not, however, 
 do his lawful master injustice by keeping him there, 
 without first of all receiving the sanction of the former; 
 he resolved to send Onesimus immediately to Phile- 
 mon, with a letter and ''promissory note" for the sum of 
 money of which he had been robbed by his slave. The 
 letter contained the intimation of his earnest wish, that 
 Onesimus might be allowed to leave his master's ser- 
 vice for the good of the Church at large. The " note " 
 referred to is in the concluding part of the letter (ver. 
 18), " If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, 
 put that on my account. /, Paul, have written it with 
 ■mine own hand, I will repay it." The whole epistle itself 
 is a beautiful one, and though well known to all our 
 readers, it may be well for them here to peruse it, before 
 proceeding further. It has been universally admired 
 as a perfect specimen of kindness, courtesy, honourable 
 and delicate feeling, and Christian love. " In it," says 
 an old writei', " are some of the finest strokes of true 
 rhetoric — it may be called the j^olite epistle. Such a gen- 
 teel and admirable address appear in every sentence, 
 that it alone might be sufficient to convince us that 
 Paul was not that weak, visionary, enthusiastic man, 
 which the minute philosophers and little critics among 
 the Deists have sometimes represented him to be." * 
 We may imagine the mingled feelings with which One- 
 simus, when he arrived at Colosse, went to the house of 
 his old master. He might well have trembled if he 
 had been going back to any other than a Christian. It 
 is, indeed, a beautiful example of the confidence one 
 
 * Beusou.
 
 PRISON- LIFE. 389 
 
 believer may place in the forgiving spirit of another ; 
 for " all masters were looked upon, not only by the 
 Roman laws, but by the laws of all nations, as having 
 an unlimited power over slaves ; so that, without ask- 
 ing the magistrates' leave, or any public or formal trial, 
 they might adjudge them to any work or punishment, 
 even to the loss of life itself." * What effect the 
 Apostle's letter produced we cannot tell ; we may rea- 
 sonably hope, however, that the good Colossian not 
 only pardoned his penitent slave, but granted him his 
 liberty, and that he returned to Paul, in order to la- 
 bour with him as (shall we call it 1) the first " ctti/ 
 wissionari/" among the degraded outcasts in Rome. 
 We read, fifty years afterwards, of one Onesinms being 
 bishop of Ephesus. It has been conjectured that the 
 pardoned and liberated slave of Colosse may thus have 
 become the head of the Christian church in the great 
 city of Diana ! 
 
 But it was not a single letter to a solitary Chi'is- 
 tian of Asia that found its way, at this time, fi'om 
 Paul's " hired liouse." Learned writers, from different 
 references in these epistles themselves, have inferred 
 that two others, at least, were written by him at this 
 time.t Epaphras, the founder of the church of Colosse, 
 where Philemon was, had come all the way to Rome to 
 see Paul about the lamentable errors which were fast 
 creeping in among his converts. It would appear that 
 some Alexandrian Jew had taken up his abode among 
 the Colossians, and had contrived to draw tliem sadly 
 away from the simplicity of their first faith. The 
 Apostle, on learning this, thought it right to address 
 them without delay, warning them of their danger, 
 
 * Cave's Lives of the Apostles. f Neauder, p. 318.
 
 390 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL, 
 
 entreating them to return to the purity of the true 
 gospel, and not to be led away with " enticing words 
 of philosophy and vain deceit." 
 
 The other letter to which I refer is perhaps the 
 richest and tenderest of all his epistles : it is that 
 which is called in our Bibles the " Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians." There seems strong reason to doubt whether 
 this epistle was written expressly for the church at 
 Ephesus. There are many reasons which we shall 
 not now detail for concluding rather that it was in- 
 tended for a number or cluster of ch\irches, of which 
 that of Ephesus was one. Tychicus was about to visit 
 this district in Asia Minor; and in consequence of Epa- 
 phras having been made prisoner at Rome, along with 
 Paul, he had been entrusted with the epistle to the 
 Colossians. He and Ouesinms more than probably 
 travelled together. It would naturally occur to the 
 Apostle that it might be subject of great joy and com- 
 fort to the many Christians in these regions, if he were 
 to send by him also a circular letter. It has been sup- 
 posed that a copy was written out for each church, 
 and that each of these was subscribed in his own hand- 
 writing in the usual form, " The salutation of me Paul 
 by my own hand." * 
 
 It is supposed that these last three letters were 
 written by Paul after the first year of his imprison- 
 ment, or eai'ly the following spring. Tychicus had 
 scarcely left, when the Philippian church sent a trusty 
 messenger to inquire for the welfare of the Apostle, 
 and present him with a gift of money. This, we have 
 
 * Tliis STipposition, we believe, was first S'igg'ested by Archbishop Usher, 
 and has been very generally ;idopteii. See the whole question discussed 
 in Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, art. "Epistle to the Ephesiaus."
 
 PRISON-LIFE. 
 
 391 
 
 seen, was not the first occcasion that devoted people 
 had 'shown their liberahty. It must have been very 
 welcome, doubtless, to the Apostle at this time. He 
 could not conveniently now, as formerly, labour with 
 his hands to minister to his wants. These hands were 
 chained; perhaps we may add, that, though as willing, 
 they were not so able for hard toil as when he held 
 them up before the elders of Ephesus, and told them 
 they were all he had or wished to trust to. Epaph- 
 roditus was the Philippian messenger's name. On 
 reaching Rome, he was seized with a severe illness, 
 probably brought on by the length and fatigues of the 
 journey, or it may be from arriving at the sick and un- 
 healthy season of the year, so well known to this day 
 by those who have visited the " Eternal City." " He 
 was sick," Paul wrote immediately afterwards, " nigh 
 unto death ; but God had mercy on him, and not on 
 him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow 
 upon sorrow."* 
 
 The devoted Apostle met daily fresh encouragement 
 in the great capital. Multitudes were added to the 
 Christian Church, and the once despised doctrines were 
 cordially embraced. Strangest of all was it, as we 
 have seen, that the royal palace itself should have 
 become the dwelling-place of believers in Jesus— those 
 who were slaves of the most hideous vice having their 
 spiritual fetters broken, and exulting in the liberty 
 wh :rewith Christ made them free. We have also sup- 
 po^^ed as more than likely, that not a few of those rude 
 aud barbarous soldiers, to whom Paul was chained, 
 ^Fere among the number of his spiritual children. It" 
 their hearts were not as hard as the iron mail that 
 
 * Phil. ii. 27.
 
 392 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 covered them, they could not help being struck with 
 the holy and peaceful calm which reigned in the house 
 and heart of the Jewish prisoner : — what a contrast to 
 the guilt and brutality wliich, in the praetorian barrack, 
 must have constantly met their eye ! 
 
 Our Apostle now lost one heathen friend, whose 
 clemency had made imprisonment easy — viz., Burrus. 
 His successor was a vicious, profligate courtier of 
 Nero's. He does not seem, however, to have sub- 
 jected Paul to any additional cruelties. The Apostle- 
 prisoner had more to dread from Nero and his wicked 
 wife Poppcca, who, being herself a proselyte to Judaism, 
 would doubtless have it in her power to crush, by a word, 
 the man who was so hated by the house of Israel. 
 
 When Epaphroditus had recovered, and was able to 
 return home again to Philippi, Paul entrusted him 
 with a letter to the church there — The Epistle to the 
 Philippians. Had the Apostle consulted his own feel- 
 ings, he would doubtless have detained this good Phi- 
 lippian in Rome, to cheer his own hours of captivity ; 
 but he saw not only that it would be desirable for 
 Epaphroditus to return to his i)0st of duty, but that 
 his shattered frame required a change from the un- 
 healthy damps of a Roman climate. " I have deemed 
 it necessary," he writes to them, " to send to you 
 Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labour, 
 and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that 
 ministered to my wants." * From the whole epistle 
 we obtain a very favourable idea of the character of 
 the Macedonian believers. They had, as yet, escaped 
 the errors that were creepi)ig into other churches ; and, 
 with the exception of a few words of reproof, to some 
 
 * Phil. ii. 25, 26.
 
 PRISON-LIFE. 393 
 
 who were not cultivating humility and lowliness of 
 mind as they ought, the epistle is full of joyful com- 
 mendation, and written in the strain of a father to his 
 affectionate children. When Epaphroditus had re- 
 turned to Philippi, Tychicus to Colosse, and Mark had 
 probably become the attendant of Peter in Asia Minor, 
 the Apostle's immediate personal friends were dimin- 
 ished. He had probably still, however, Timothy his 
 " own son," Luke, and Aristarchus. His own pro- 
 spects seemed to look brighter — a gleam before the 
 gathering storm ! He seems even to hint at what his 
 plans would be when set at liberty. His eyes were 
 turned westwards to the original lands of the old " Ga- 
 latians," but before accomplishing such a visit, he 
 appears to intimate a desire, if it were God's will, of 
 going first to Lesser Asia, and mentions to Philemon 
 his purpose of making his house his home. He would, 
 doubtless, often long for release. He might perhaps 
 think with regret, " What two important years of my 
 life I have spent in this hired house ! Might I not 
 have been all this time preaching the gospel, or build- 
 ing up my churches V Nay, in addition to the fruits 
 of his preaching, God had other work for him to do. 
 But for these two years of quiet and seclusion, when 
 his mind and Christian experience were most matured, 
 we should not now have been in the possession of those 
 precious epistles, which have been the treasure, not of 
 one age, but of the Church till the end of time. This 
 is the most likely period to fix the date of that valuable 
 and noble epistle, the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, 
 though considered by some writers not to have been 
 the work of Paul, lias by far the greatest amount of 
 evidence in its fovour, as proceeding from no hand but
 
 394 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 his.* As we read it, we may think of its author dic- 
 tating its sublime words during the last of the quiet 
 hours he passed in " the solitude of a great city." The 
 period of repose is soon to be over. The crisis is 
 at hand. Is it to issue in a new lease of life and call 
 of duty ? Is he yet, " as Paul the aged," to be again 
 summoned to bear the cross 1 or is he at once to get 
 his crown ? 
 
 * See note to Stackhouse, vol. vi p. 487.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 "Servant of God, well done! 
 Rest from thy loved employ ; 
 The battle fought — the victory won. 
 Enter thy Master's joy." 
 
 " He stood upon the brink of the grave, calm and unmoved, like 
 the conqvieror in the Capitol, waiting for the crown to be placed 
 upon his brow." — Blunt's Lectures on St Paul, vol. ii. p. 250.
 
 ' B liave now come to the last chapter 
 in the history of the Great Apostle. 
 We could have wished that more 
 particulars had been left to complete 
 the account of so eventful and interesting a life; but 
 these materials are very few. As Irenseus says, 
 " Luke, at tlie close of his history, leaves us thirsting 
 for more." Indeed, we are left very much to fill up 
 in our own minds how he "finished his course with 
 joy." Why his faithful friend and biographer records 
 so little regarding these concluding years, we cannot 
 say. We have no cause, however, to complain. We 
 have rather reason for gratitude, that the Holy Spirit 
 moved him to transcribe so fully and faithfully what 
 throws so much light on the infant Church, and the 
 doings of her brightest Luminary.
 
 398 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 There is a question which has much divided learned 
 men, as to whether Paul was only once or twice im- 
 priaoned in Rome. Some think that his condemna- 
 tion and death took place immediately after the events 
 recorded in last chapter ; others, we think with 
 better grounds, have supposed that he was acquitted 
 at this his first trial; that, on being set at liberty, he 
 travelled to the extreme ivcst of the Roman empire, 
 and preached the gospel in Spain; also that he visited 
 Asia Minor, and other churches in the East; and after 
 being imprisoned a second time in Rome, he was sen- 
 tenced to death, probably in the last year of the reign 
 of Nero.* 
 
 We are left to imagine the scene of Paul's first trial 
 before the emperor. It has been supposed to have 
 taken place about March, 61, — the same year when the 
 Roman ai'ms in Britain received a signal repulse under 
 the brave Queen Boadicea, and our own London was 
 burnt to ashes by the infuriated legions of Nero.t 
 Although such causes as that of the Apostle were 
 sometimes heard by the consular-legate, most fre- 
 quently the emperor liimself was in the habit of pre- 
 siding at them in his imperial palace on the Palatine 
 HiU. We may think, then, of Nero, the monarch of 
 the civilised world, himself a brutalised heathen, seated 
 at the end of a gorgeous hall, "lined with the precious 
 marbles of Egypt, and of Lybia,";}: in raiment of pur- 
 ple and gold, surrounded with his twelve lictors, cour- 
 tiers, and assessors. His face at one time had been 
 
 * Much diversity of opinion exists about the probable direction of Paul's 
 concluding journeyings, (and all must be conjecture where there is nothing 
 but brief hints in his epistles to guide us.) We have adhered to the order 
 adopted by Messrs Howsou and Couybeare in their closing chapters. 
 
 t Lewiu. t Howson and Conybeare.
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 
 
 399 
 
 handsome, but it now bore the marks of youthful pro- 
 fligacy. Suetonius adds, that the size of his body was 
 considerable, his neck thick, and his eyes grey and 
 dull. Before him stood, cahn and unmoved, confident 
 in his own integrity, and in the grace and strength of 
 his God, the Jewish prisoner. He was loaded with 
 fetters; but, captive as he was, with the almost cer- 
 tainty of a cruel death before him, he would not for 
 worlds change places with the miserable being before 
 him, whose hands were already, at the age of twenty- 
 five or thirty, so deeply stained with blood. Paul might 
 well have trembled in his presence ; but he knew that 
 there was One at his side " mightier than the mighti- 
 est;" and even should the ravenous "lion" be permitted 
 to tear him in pieces, it would only be the sooner to 
 receive his heavenly crown. 
 
 The witnesses would be called. Doubtless many had 
 by this time been gathered from all parts of the East 
 where Paul had sought to proclaim the gospel. The 
 Sanhedrim, also, would not be idle. It is remarkable 
 that Josephus, in his Histori/, mentions that the high 
 priest at Jerusalem, Ishmael, and many of the leading 
 Jews, were at this time in Rome. He speaks of the 
 main object of their journey being with reference to 
 the building of a wall in the temple. May it not have 
 more likely been, that they had in view the ruin of St 
 Paul?* These collected Jews would doubtless have 
 some chosen Roman orator hired to plead their cause ; 
 nor would it have been difi&cult to make out a strong 
 case against the Apostle. They might have urged be- 
 fore Nero, that the prisoner was not only a ringleader 
 of a new sect, but a subverter of his own power; and 
 
 * Lewiu. Josephus' Antiq. book xx. chap. S.
 
 400 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 that this Jesus whom he preached, aspired to the tem- 
 poral sovereignty of Judea, and of the world. 
 
 We may imagine the Apostle rising calmly in the 
 midst of the court to make his reply. Many of his 
 judges would understand Greek, and in this language 
 probably he would address them. What he said, we 
 know not. There may have been solemn things spoken 
 home to their consciences. Like Felix, some may have 
 ti-embled; but we fear, at least, that the monarch, on 
 whom he kept his eye, only despised, and perished! 
 So far as we could judge, everything combined to make 
 Paul's a hopeless case. His enemies were many and 
 powerful, their pleas were strong in such an ear as 
 Nero's, and, above all, the influence exercised by his 
 base queen, over whom Ishmael had great power, must 
 have combined to seal the Apostle's fate. Moreover, 
 Nero did not require to abide, as in our courts of law, 
 by the opinion of the jury; he could pronounce what 
 sentence he chose. His partiality for cruelty was too 
 well known to give such a prisoner much hope of 
 mercy; more esj)ecially when we think how the holy 
 life and holy words of the Apostle must have rebuked 
 the crimes of the judge. But He who turns the hearts 
 of kings, and queens, and rulers, " even as he turns the 
 rivers of waters," did, by His overruling providence, 
 avert the threatened stroke. Paul once moi'e is liber- 
 ated — he is dismissed from the bar, and is free to preach 
 the gospel where he pleases ! 
 
 New thoughts of missionary zeal begin to fill his 
 aged bosom. His first desire is to go to the East, and 
 revisit some of the churches there, which seemed to 
 stand in need of his presence and counsel. 
 
 There were many of these which he had never yet
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 401 
 
 seen; and from the wish he expresses in his letter, 
 both to Philemon and the PhiUppians, we may well be- 
 lieve he would turn his steps immediately towards Ma- 
 cedonia and the churches in Asia Minor. How joyful 
 would be his meeting with his Philippian friends! 
 But it must only have been a passing " salutation," as 
 he was anxious to hasten to other places still farther 
 east. What he did visit, we know not. Possibly he 
 would direct his course for the first time to Co- 
 losse. We may pictui-e his probable interview with 
 the wealthy but Christian-hearted Philemon. Who 
 can tell but Onesimus his old slave may have joined 
 them, and, under the same roof, three, so different 
 from one another, may have rejoiced now in being 
 all " one in Christ Jesus ! " From Colosse, on his 
 way to Ephesus, it is more than likely he would pause 
 at Laodicea and Hierapolis. 
 
 The year following his acquittal at Rome, he made 
 out his loug-thought-of journey to Spain. Clemens, 
 his own contemporary and fellow-labourer, tells us 
 that " he went to the utmost bounds of the west." In 
 going thither, it is most probable he woidd avoid 
 the " perils of false brethren," by committing himself 
 again to the waters of the Mediterranean. The perse- 
 cutions of Nero were at their height, and he would 
 feel that it were " better to fall into the hands of 
 God than into the hands of men." Many vessels 
 were continually plying between the east and the mo- 
 dern Marseilles, and from thence he would easily find 
 his way by ship to Spain. How long he remained in 
 the Peninsula we cannot even guess ; most probably 
 two years were spent tnere preaching the gospel of his 
 Lord.
 
 402 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Some, indeed, Lave tboiiglit that the Apostle went 
 further west still, and that the shores of our own 
 island, and even the streets of our own London, were 
 trodden by the " footsteps of St Paul !" Early writers 
 in the fourth and fifth centuries speak of such a visit. 
 However pleasing it would be for us to think of this as 
 the case, of course it is a mere matter of conjecture. 
 Claudia, whose name is mentioned by the Apostle in 
 2 Tim. iv. 21, has been supposed by some to have been 
 the daughter of Caractacus, King of Britain, who was 
 brought prisoner to Eorae in a. d. 51, and who, with 
 her grandfather Bran, was converted to Christianity. 
 We have already mentioned that Pomponia Grcecina, 
 the Avife of Aulus Plautius, the first Roman governor 
 of Britain, was accused of having become a convert 
 to a " strange foreign superstition," in other words, of 
 being a Christian, and probably through her instru- 
 mentality the daughter of the British king and others 
 were led to receive the truth. It is also said that the 
 aged Briton Bran afterwards returned to his native 
 shores, along with other converts, and that by them 
 the religion of Jesus was taught to the Pagan sa- 
 vages. There is much, however, in this of tradition, 
 and which it becomes us to receive with caution.* 
 
 If the dates we have already given be at all correct, 
 we may imagine it was in the year 66 that our Apostle 
 again returned from the west, and sailed back to Eph- 
 esus. It was a journey, or rather visit of sorrow. He 
 found (according to the fears he had many years before 
 expressed to the elders who met him at Miletus), that 
 wolves had entered among his sheep. False teachers, 
 among whom were Hymensus and Philetus, were 
 
 * See Cave; aud Aiiosihs (Tract Society).
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 403 
 
 scattei'ing the seeds of deadly eiTor, and multitudes of 
 his converts had thereby been led astray. 
 
 The epistles to Timothy and Titus were written 
 about this time. From them we gather that his pre- 
 sent visit to the east was a short one. His spirit 
 seems to have been greatly bowed down by the errors 
 and heresies which had sprung up like noxious weeds in 
 a garden which once promised so well. We may believe 
 he had lost none of his ardour and zeal in his Hea- 
 venly Master's cause, but his strength was not so able, 
 at the age of nearly seventy, to cope with the hard- 
 ships he once could encounter. We may feel assured, 
 had it been so, he would not have employed others to 
 grapple with these errors, but would have been on the 
 field himself with the same " sword of the Spirit " he 
 had so often wielded in the battles of the Lord. 
 
 There is something touching in the message which 
 he sends during these later years of his life to bring 
 back " the cloak that he had left behind him at Troas." * 
 It had been his companion, perliaps, amid the cutting 
 winds of the Pisidian mountains, and now, again, in 
 the prospect either of a new sea-voyage, or the sadder 
 one of a damp cell, he felt his aged frame could not 
 dispense so easily as once it might with these aids to 
 artificial warmth. He had left it in summer at Troas, 
 with the prospect of getting it again on a return, which 
 he never accomplished. What the books and parch- 
 ments were he speaks of along with the cloak, we are 
 not told ; probably copies of the Law and the Prophets, 
 with, perhaps, the Gospels of IVLatthew and Luke, 
 which were the only two now written. The parch- 
 ments may have been copies of his own epistles, 
 
 * 2 Tim. iv. 13.
 
 404 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 with, perhaps, " the diploma of his Roman citizen- 
 ship."* 
 
 Leaving Timothy to contend with the errors of the 
 false teachers I have spoken of at Ephesus, Paul seems 
 to have gone first to Macedonia, and then to Crete. If 
 he returned to Ephesus, it was to leave it finally for 
 Rome, taking Corinth on his way. It was when at 
 Macedonia he wrote his first Epistle to Timothy, in 
 which he gives him various directions about the 
 government of the church at Ephesus, denounces and 
 opposes the heretical teachers and doctrines, and adds 
 many faithful counsels to his " own son" individually, 
 and to ministers of Christ in every age. 
 
 Soon after writing this epistle, we find the Apostle 
 in the island of Crete. It is more than pro- 
 bable the gospel had been introduced there before 
 Paul's visit. This we are given to infer from the 
 Epistle to Titus. Moreover, you will remember, at the 
 day of Pentecost, Cretans are spoken of among the 
 number of those who received the gift of tongues, and 
 heard Peter preach the gospel. It is not unlikely that 
 some of these may have carried the glad tidings from 
 Jerusalem to their own island. The Apostle visited 
 them now along with Titus, probably remaining for 
 some months, and leaving this companion of his mis- 
 sionary tour behind him on his departure. Paul 
 wrote to him afterwards (as we have jiTst found him 
 doing to Timothy) a letter of directions about the 
 government of the church in that island ; also, in order 
 to silence some opposition which had arisen to his 
 teaching. He seems to have sent it from Ephesus 
 just when about to leave that city for the west. In 
 
 * Lewiu.
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 405 
 
 reading the epistle, you will see that Paul asks Titus 
 to come and join him at Nicopolis, where he was to 
 " spend, the winter." Tliis town in Epirus, in Greece, 
 was built b}'' Augustus in memory of the famous battle 
 of Actiura, which he gained over ]\Iark Antony, on 
 2d September, b. c. 31. It was situated on a narrow 
 isthmus ; a temple to Apollo marked the spot where the 
 tent of Augustus had been pitched, and every five years 
 famous games were celebrated close by. It is notable 
 to us, as the last scene of Paul's public labours before 
 his final trial. It has been supposed, indeed, that it 
 was here he was arrested, and sent again to imprison- 
 ment at Rome — arriving there very possibly at the 
 beginning of the year."* 
 
 There is sui'ely something touching about this jour- 
 ney ! The old mau — with furrowed brow and feeble 
 steps — with few friends to cheer him, and some of those 
 few deserting him in the hour of danger : — Demas left 
 him; Crescens "departed to Galatia 3" even Titus 
 went (though this may have been at Paul's request) to 
 Dalmatia. One, at least, however, we know remained 
 faithful to the last — Luke the evangelist, the writer 
 of his history, followed with trusty fidelity his aged 
 father in the faith, to comfort him in his coming 
 sorrows, and share his cross. It was indeed an honour- 
 able office to accompany such a man, who had now for 
 a quarter of a century been the bold ambassador of 
 Christ. During all that period he had never grown 
 weary in his Lord's service. What was said of John 
 Knox, might with truth have been said of him, " he 
 
 * Neander and others have supposed that his visit to Spain was after his 
 
 eastern journey ; that there he was seized and talieu prisoner to Rome 
 
 Ncander's Planting, p. 344.
 
 406 THE FOOTSTEPS OP ST PAUL. 
 
 never feared the face of man." The thongs and the 
 scourge, the stocks of the prison, the rude language 
 and buffetings of soldiers, the rage of mobs, tedious 
 journeys, four shipwrecks, — all he had endured with 
 heroical equanimity, and, if it pleased God, he was 
 willing to endure teiifold more. 
 
 He once more enters Rome ! We shall presently 
 note how changed the outward aspect of the city was 
 since he last was there, — whole streets and buildings 
 had been swept away and restored, and new palaces 
 were looking down from the heights of the Palatine. 
 Among these new buildings, conspicuous must have 
 been the golden palace of Nero, with his statue in the 
 vestibule, 120 feet in height, the golden stalls for his 
 chariot horses, and the porticoes and columns extend- 
 ing a mile in length. " It was richly overlaid," says 
 Suetonius, " with gold, and everywhere adorned with 
 the dazzling glitter of precious stones, aud mother-of- 
 pearl. In the vaulted roofs of his banqueting rooms 
 were several little tables of ivory, so contrived as to 
 turn round and scatter flowers, and hollow pipes to 
 shower down sweet-scented oils upon the guests. His 
 principal dining-room was round, and in perpetual 
 motion, day and night, like the celestial sphere. His 
 baths continually flowing, either with sea-water, or 
 else fed from the sulphureous springs of Tivoli." But 
 why, after all, linger in the description of these 1 
 They were little to the man who, we are supposing, 
 was passing near them, and who had in his view " a 
 building of God, an house not made with hands, eter- 
 nal in the heavens." 
 
 Imagine Paul, then, amid what Horace calls " tho 
 smoke, the riches, and the noise of Rome," passing
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 407 
 
 on, as in former years, chained to a soldier by the 
 wrist, to the place of confinement. We found that, 
 during his previous imprisonment, he had received kind 
 and considerate treatment. He was allowed then to 
 live in his own hii-cd lodging, and, though chained, 
 was permitted to see what friends he chose. Now he 
 was confined to a dungeon, and treated as a malefactor. 
 
 The Mamertiue prison is still pointed out as the 
 scene of his incarceration. Its position is not far from 
 the large pillars which occupy the foreground in our 
 picture of the " Roman Forum." It is considered the 
 oldest relic and building in the city, deriving its name 
 from Ancus Martius, the fourth king of ancient Rome. 
 It is reached, in the present day, by a vault under the 
 Church of St Giuseppe, where the visitor finds himself 
 in two dismal cells ; the lower is only six and a half 
 feet in height, and the stones of which it is built are 
 " strangely united by cramps of iron." * There was 
 a circular opening or aperture above, through which 
 prisoners, on their condemnation, were lowered, either 
 to starve or be strangled to death. Jugurtlia suffered 
 the former of these cruelties within these terrible walls. 
 No wonder Paul wrote, as we have seen, so anxiously 
 for his winter cloak to protect him from the pestilen- 
 tial damps and cold of such a place ! Friends are 
 still allowed to see him, but his mouth is shut in 
 preaching the gospel; and those who do go, seem to 
 venture with fear and trembling, lest, by showing sym- 
 pathy, they might be involved in the fate which 
 seemed so surely hanging over their reverend father. 
 
 But we must pause for a moment to inquire into 
 the cause of this renewed imprisonment. 
 
 On the night of the 19th of July, a. d. 64, a ter- 
 
 * Sir William Gell.
 
 408 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 rible fire broke out in the Circus Maximus of Rome, 
 between the Palatine and Aventine Mount. It raged 
 fiercely for six days and seven nights, spreading with 
 amazing rapiditj'^, — the people being forced to seek for 
 shelter among the monuments and tombs of the dead. 
 No besieging army could have so effected the work of 
 destruction. The citizens saw, with bitter sorrow, 
 their homes and noble buildings becoming a prey to 
 the furious element ; and it must have added much 
 to their indignation to find (what it is to be feared 
 was too true) that the monster Nero was the cause of 
 this fearful calamity. " He was offended," says Sue- 
 tonius, " with the deformity of the ancient buildings 
 and the narrow passages and turnings of the streets. 
 
 Besides the vast number of ordinarj'- houses, 
 
 the palaces of the great captains of former ages, 
 adorned with the spoils of foreign conquests — were all 
 consumed to ashes, together with the temples of the 
 gods, which the ancient kings of Rome had raised, and 
 had afterwards been consecrated to the memory of the 
 Roman victories." It is even said the unfeeling tyrant 
 gazed down with a smile on his face, playing on his 
 musical instrument, from the tower of Maecenas, while 
 his capital was consuming, and the shrieks of his people 
 were borne to his ear ! 
 
 He soon came to find that so wanton and cruel an 
 outrage had roused, as it might justly have done, the 
 anger of the Romans. What is he to do 1 The base 
 expedient occurs to him to fasten the guilt of the 
 burning on the innocent Christians, whose purity he 
 hated, because it condemned his own unblushing 
 vices. The plot answered too well. The tyrant suc- 
 ceeded, by this malicious lie, in rousing the popular
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 409 
 
 feeling against the followers of Jesus ; saving himself 
 by involving the innocent. Cruelties beyond descrip- 
 tion followed. The suffering Christians were besmeared 
 with pitch, and then set fire to at night to lighten the 
 darkness. Others were sewed up in the skins of beasts, 
 hunted down by dogs, and torn to pieces. Nero exulted 
 also in this spectacle. He moved about, as Tacitus tells 
 us, in a circus erected in his own gardens, "in the dress 
 of a charioteer, sometimes on foot and sometimes view- 
 ing the spectacle from his car." 
 
 We may imagine what the feelings of the mob were 
 likely to be, towards the great "ringleader" of the 
 hated sect of Nazarenes. Indeed, this was probably the 
 main charge laid against Paul now, that before he last 
 left Rome he had put this foul deed of burning the city 
 into the minds of his converts. How the Apostle 
 would mourn over the loss of Burrus and Seneca ! The 
 Prefect of the Pretorium was now a very different man. 
 Tigellinus, the sharer of Nero's crimes and cruelties, 
 we may feel assured would speak no kindly word for 
 the prisoner. 
 
 The storm is fast gathering over his devoted head. 
 It is likely that no time would elapse before his new 
 trial. In the former one, we have supposed that he 
 was summoned before the emperor. This, however, as 
 we saw, was often the cause of considerable delay. At 
 present he was brought probably before the "Prefect of 
 the city," — an officer appointed by his imperial master 
 with supreme authority over criminal cases. How 
 touching the position of the Apostle when standing in 
 this court ! " At my first answer," says he to Timo- 
 thy, " no man stood with me, but all men forsook me : 
 I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
 
 410 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strength- 
 ened me!"* 
 
 He could get no advocate to plead his cause, and 
 challenge his accusers. The terrible flames in the gar- 
 dens of the emperor had struck terror into many other- 
 wise brave hearts. There was One, and only One, with 
 him ; but // at one was better than all ! It was " the Cap- 
 tain of the Lord's host :" " who could be against Him ?" 
 
 It has been supposed that the place of his trial was 
 one of those spacious halls or basilicas (a king's bench) 
 in the Forum. They were of vast size, and admitted 
 great multitudes to see and hear. A row of columns 
 ran down each side of the interior, and they were so 
 well adapted for a large congregation, that when Pagan 
 Rome became Christian, and churches were needed, 
 these basilicas were used for this purpose, and became 
 patterns for others throughout Christendom. The 
 presiding magistrate sat on his tribune (an elevated 
 chair of ivory at one end of the hall), surrounded with 
 assessors or jurors to give him advice in questions of 
 law. Before him stood the prisoner, and the other 
 parts of the building would be crowded with eager 
 listeners, both below and in the galleries. The aged 
 Apostle, with sixty-eight years on his head,t is now 
 brought up from the temporary cell under the basi- 
 lica. When he appears, a hum goes through the 
 crowded court. Every breath is stilled, and none can 
 tell in the dense mass who are friends and who are foes. 
 The jurors one by one lay their hand on the adjoining 
 altar before the tribune, and in an audible voice swear 
 that they will pronounce a righteous decision. 
 
 Paul pled his own cause, and that of his injured 
 
 * 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. t Chrysostom.
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 411 
 
 Lord, before these malicious foes. He preached to 
 them (it was his last time) of Jesus ! He defended 
 himself against the charge of being accessory to the 
 burning of the city, and thus escaped the lingering 
 agonies that might otherwise have been his. 
 
 He was sent back to prison to await a second stage 
 of his trial. We know well how he spent this time, 
 and what his feelings were. He knew what was in 
 prospect, but he was unmoved. He himself tells us 
 how his soul was nerved for the coming day of martyr- 
 dom. " The shades of evening are beginning to slope; 
 the gleam of a brighter sky is seen beyond ; and with 
 the assured conviction that the object of his life 
 was fully accomplished," * he can say, " I am now 
 ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is 
 at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there is 
 laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the 
 Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; 
 and not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
 his appearing." f 
 
 Such were the triumphant feelings of the criminal 
 shivering in his dark dungeon! An inner light, how- 
 ever, was there, which turned the shadow of death into 
 the morning. Can we pause, just for a moment, to 
 hear what the historian has to say of the mind of 
 Nero 1 How affecting the contrast ! " Not all the 
 congratulations of the soldiers, the senate, and the 
 people, could release him from the horrors of a guilty 
 conscience, which, from that time forward (since the 
 burning of the city), never would permit him to rest 
 either awake or sleeping. Full often he confessed 
 that the furies lashed him with their whips, and some- 
 
 • Stanley's Sa-mons and Essays. | 2 Tim. iv. 6-8
 
 412 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 times seared his skin with their bm*ning torches." 
 His last hours are full of awful lessons. The senate, 
 wearied of his crimes, at length rose up against him. 
 They resolved to scourge him to death and hurl him 
 over the Tarpeian rock. When the resolution came to 
 his ears, he rushed for his golden box of poisons to put 
 an end to himself, but his servants had hidden it. In 
 an agony of rage and terror, he found himself friend- 
 less. Barefoot, and coveiing his face with a napkin, he 
 flung himself at midnight on his horse, and galloped in 
 the dark from his capital with only four attendants, a 
 storm of thunder and lightning increasing his panic. 
 On passing the Pretorian camp we know so well, he 
 heard a noise among his soldiers cursing him. He 
 took refuge in a vault, four miles from the city, and, 
 on hearing the hoofs of his pursuers' horses, he plunged 
 a dagger, with the help of an attendant, into his 
 throat, and expired; ridding the world of the foulest 
 of her tyrants, at the early age of thirty-two!* 
 
 But to return from so sad a contemplation. Few, 
 very few, of Paul's friends were still left to cheer 
 him. The beloved Luke, we have already men- 
 tioned, was faithful to the last. Onesiphorus, too, had 
 come all the way from Asia — forgetful of danger — to 
 see his venerated father, and cheer the gloom of the 
 Mamertine prison. "He sought him out diligently, 
 and found him." It was a dangerous mission of Chris- 
 tian friendship ; for, if his creed had been known, he 
 would have shared the Apostle's coming fate. We 
 leai'n, also, from the greetings in the Second Epistle 
 to Timotliy, that Linus, Pudens, the son of a senator, 
 and his wife Claudia, whom we have already mentioned, 
 had come to visit him in his dungeon. One, however, 
 
 * See Suetonius' Life of JS'ero, pp. 374^395.
 
 THE CLOSING SCEXE. 413 
 
 more than all, he longed to see, to give him his parting 
 blessing, and receive, in return, his presence and sup- 
 port at the hour of death. This was Timothy, his own 
 dear son in the fiiith. They seem to have taken a 
 parting farewell before this, under an impression that 
 they would never meet again. The faithful "son" of 
 siich an aflfectionate father had wept bitterly at the 
 thought of seeing his face no more. " I thank God, 
 whom I serve from my forefathers with pure con- 
 science, that without ceasing I have remembrance of 
 thee in my prayers night and day ; greatly desiring to 
 see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be 
 filled with joy."* But God had still spared him. 
 They may yet meet again. The spirit of the old man, 
 like another Jacob, revives at the thought ! He was 
 far distant in Asia, but Paul earnestly urges that he 
 would come to him with all speed ; and, fearing lest 
 even he might be deterred, from the many dangers 
 around, from giving his dying sympathy, he exhorts 
 him, in this most touching and beautiful letter, the 
 " Second Epistle to Timothy," to boldness in the cause 
 of Jesus. The words at the close — " Grace be with thee. 
 Amen" — were probably the last words the Great Apos- 
 tle's trembling hand penned ! 
 
 Whether Timothy was able to comply with this ear- 
 nest wish, we cannot pronounce. We have reason to 
 suppose, however, that he did succeed in reaching his 
 aged father in his cell, and was with him in his closing 
 hours. 
 
 For the rest, we have only tradition and common 
 history to trust to. We left the prisoner standing be- 
 fore the tribune in the crowded basilica ; the jurors 
 were speaking together, advising what was to be the 
 
 * 2 Tim. i. 3, 4.
 
 414 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 sentence. Each writes liis own verdict on a separate 
 tablet, either A (absolvo, not guilty), or the letter C 
 (condemno, or guilty). The Apostle can easily foresee 
 the result • the tablets are given into the hands of the 
 presiding judge, and the significant word, " Condemno," 
 rings through the pillared hall, and the breathless audi- 
 ence ! He would be led back to his cell. His Roman 
 citizenship ought to have saved him from the cruel 
 custom of scourging the condemned before death, but 
 this seems doubtful on the present occasion. " Baro- 
 nius tells us, that in the church of St Mary, beyond 
 the bridge in Rome, the pillars are yet extant to which 
 Paul is said to have been bound and scourged."* 
 What time elapsed between the condemnation and the 
 last fatal blow, we can also only conjecture. It was 
 the usual custom for ten days to intervene, in order 
 that the emperor, if he chose, might alter or reverse 
 the sentence. But it is equally well known that Nero 
 often hurried his victims from the bar to the place of 
 execution, within an hour after judgment was given. 
 It is probable, therefore, that but a short breathing 
 time would be permitted the Great Apostle, before he 
 finally passed to a more righteous judgment-seat, from 
 the trials and persecutions of a world he had so long 
 and so meekly borne. Tradition has fixed the 29th of 
 June, A. D. 66, as the memorable day when the Church 
 in heaven was to receive the greatest of her " cloud of 
 witnesses." Paul's citizenship now, however, saved 
 him once more from the cruel and lingering death of 
 crucifixion he at one time expected. He was led out- 
 side the city walls, tied to a stake, and then beheaded. 
 It was at Aquae Salvise, on the road to Ostia, the 
 port of Rome, that the blood of the Apostle was 
 
 * Cave, p. 100.
 
 THE CLOSING SCENE. 415 
 
 slied. If there be a hallowed spot on earth, it is surely 
 here ! 
 
 Let us imagine the scene ! Crowds to and from Ostia 
 were hurrying along, little knowing all that was con- 
 nected with that band of soldiers, who, under a burning 
 sun, were hurrying their unresisting prisoner to the 
 place of execution. Of those who attended him and 
 witnessed his last moments, we have no information. 
 Many converts, doubtless, who had heard him years 
 before in " his own hired house," and who had wel- 
 comed the shipwrecked prisoner at Appii Forum, were 
 now following the steps of their spiritual father 
 with weeping eyes, feeling that their next meeting 
 would be with tearless ones in heaven. We may only 
 think of the possibility of Luke and Timothy lingering 
 in the crowd, and giving that sympathy by looks and 
 silent expression, which they dared not do by words. 
 "VVe need not, however, dwell on the closing spectacle. 
 Soon all is over! He has willingly, like his Lord, 
 borne his cross " without the gate." One stroke of the 
 fatal weapon, and the soul of the glorious Hero is car- 
 ried up by angels to Paradise ! 
 
 The Church on earth never had such cause to weep 
 since her Lord himself had left. But tears are unavail- 
 ing. They take up the dead body, and either bury it 
 on the spot, or, as tradition says, place it in the cata- 
 combs of the Roman city. 
 
 There was something befitting and appropriate in the 
 Great Apostle of the Gentiles thus dying in the Gentile 
 capital ; nor can we regret the uncertainty that exists 
 in marking the place of his burial. His true mauso- 
 leum is in the souls of the millions on millions who 
 have read, and prayed, and rejoiced over his words- 
 In one of the noblest of human temples — one, too, 
 
 2 A
 
 416 THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PAUL. 
 
 which bears the name of the Apostle-martyr (our own 
 St Paul's in Loudon) — few have failed to note the in- 
 scription on the monument to its ilhistrious architect, 
 placed immediately under the dome. The spot where 
 the dust of Paul reposes is under no temple made 
 with hands, but under the blue vault of an Italian 
 sky, in the centre of the civilised world ; — that world 
 which, in one sense, he has made "consecrated ground ;" 
 for its remotest shores have listened, or are listening, 
 to the echoes of his xmdying voice, and receiving his 
 apostolic benediction. The Church may well inscribe 
 on his Roman tomb, as she looks to the nations he has 
 thus Christianised — the wide realms which, under Cod, 
 he has made happier — 
 
 " SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS, CIRCUMSPICE ! '" 
 
 His own humility was content with a lowlier motto — 
 
 " To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ! " 
 
 ' The pains of death are past ; 
 Labour and sorrow cease ; 
 And, life's long warlare closed at last. 
 His soul is found in peace ! 
 
 ■' Soldier of Christ, well done ! 
 Praise be thy new em[)loy ; 
 And wliilo eternal ages run. 
 Rest in thy Saviour's joy." 
 
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