CHAPTER XXVII. 6. Alexandria. Vide chap. vi. 9. 7. Salmone.-A seaport and promontory, situated at the eastern extremity of Crete. 8. Lasea. A town situated a few miles from the Fair Havens, the remains of which have been recently discovered. 12. Phenice or Phoenix, modern Lutro. A seaport on the southern coast of Crete, about forty miles west of the Fair Havens. Crete. Vide p. 91. 14. Euroclydon.-A kind of hurricane. These dangerous winds are still too well known in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, and are now called Levanters. 16. Clauda. Modern Gozzo.-A small island situated about twenty miles south-west of Crete. 27. Adria.-Not the modern Adriatic Sea, but that part of the Mediterranean lying between Greece, Italy, Sicily, and Africa. CHAPTER XXVIII. 7. Chief man of the island. Probably the governor. 11. Castor and Pollux.-The Dioscuri of Greek mythology, two semi-gods, who were supposed to preside over sailors and protect them. These semi-deities were regarded as twinbrothers, sons of Jupiter and of Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, King of Sparta. The Alexandrian ship in which St. Paul sailed on his voyage to Rome was named after and ornamented with a sign of these twin brothers, 'probably in the form of a bas-relief representation of them on the prow.' 16. Captain of the Guard.—The commander of the Prætorian cohort, viz., Burrhus Afranius. 30. And Paul dwelt two whole years,' &c.1 Of the time, manner, and result of St. Paul's trial we know nothing. The only information bearing upon this important event in the apostle's life will be found in a brief allusion made by himself in his second Epistle to Timothy. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. that it may not be laid to their charge.' I pray God We owe the following epistles to St. Paul during his present imprisonment in the Roman capital, viz. : 1. His Epistle to Philemon (A.D. 62.) Sent by Tychicus and Onesimus. the Colossians (A.D. 62.) 2. Epaphroditus. Note. After his liberation in A.D. 63, Dr. Howson supposes that St. Paul first passed by way of Macedonia into Asia-that he next visited Spain, and after an absence of about two years that he again returned to Asia, visiting, before his return to Rome, Crete, Nicopolis, &c.2 According to the legends of the Medieval Church, the closing scene of St. Paul's life is to be sought for in connection with the Mamertine dungeon, Rome. During this brief but eventful period the noble Burrhus was succeeded in office by the base Tigellinus, and Octavia the youthful wife of Nero was cast aside and cruelly murdered to satisfy the wishes of one of his infamous mistresses named Poppaa. Felix was now at Rome to answer the accusation of his enemies, and Ishmael the Jewish high priest had come thither on business relating to the Jewish temple. 2 It was during some portion of this period, viz. after A.D. 63, that St. Paul is supposed to have written his remaining Epistles (i.e. 1st and 2nd to Timothy-Titus, and the Hebrews (?)) LIFE OF ST. PAUL. By Bishop Tomline.' 1. History of St. Paul to his Con version. 2. To the end of his First Apo stolical journey. 3. To the beginning of his Second Apostolical journey. 4. To the end of his Second Apostolical journey. 1. St. Paul was born at Tarsus, the principal city of Cilicia, and was by birth both a Jew and a citizen of Rome.3 He was of the tribe of Benjamin, and of the sect of the Pharisees. In his youth he appears to have been taught the art of tent-making; 5 but we must remember, that among the Jews of those days a liberal education was often accompanied by instruction in some mechanical trade. It is probable that St. Paul laid the foundation of those literary attainments for which he was so eminent in the future part of his life at his native city of Tarsus,7 and he afterwards studied the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders, at Jerusalem, under Gamaliel, a celebrated Rabbi.8 St. Paul is not mentioned in the gospels, nor is it known whether he ever heard our Saviour preach, or saw Him perform any miracle. His name first occurs in the account given in the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, to which he is said to have consented. He is upon that occasion called a 1 Bohn, London, 1852. In the Acts of the Apostles he is called Saul till chap. xiii. 9, and afterwards he is always called Paul. No satisfactory reason has been assigned for this change. Vide Benson's History of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 28, and Lardner, vol. vi. p. 234, and the authors quoted by him. Perhaps the best conjecture is that of Bp. Pearce: " Saul, who was himself a citizen of Rome, probably changed his name, i.e. his Hebrew name, Saul, to the Roman name Paul out of respect to this, his first Roman convert, i.e. Sergius Paulus, Acts xiii. 7." Vide Pearce in loc.' 3 Acts xxi. 39-xxii. 25. 4 Phil. iii. 5. 6 Vide Doddridge's notes upon Acts xviii. 3. among the Jews, that "he who teaches not his son to be a thief."" 5 Acts xviii. 3. There was a maxim a trade teaches him Strabo, lib. 14, tells us that at this time Tarsus was distinguished as a place of education. 8 Acts xxii. 3. 9 Acts viii. 1. young man, but we are nowhere informed what was then his precise age. The death of St. Stephen was followed by a severe persecution of the church at Jerusalem, and Paul became distinguished among its enemies by his activity and violence.2 Not contented with displaying his hatred to the gospel in Judea, he obtained authority from the high priest to go to Damascus, and to bring back with him bound any Christians whom he might find in that city. As he was upon his journey thither, his miraculous conversion took place, the circumstances of which are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and are frequently alluded to by himself in his Epistles.4 2. Soon after St. Paul was baptized at Damascus, he went into Arabia, but we are not informed how long he remained 5 This persecution is supposed to have lasted about four years, A.D. 34-38.' This journey into Arabia is not noticed in the Acts. It is mentioned by St. Paul himself, Gal. i. 17. It seems equally doubtful whether he preached at Damascus before he went into Arabia, and whether he preached while he was in Arabia, as Scripture is silent upon both points. St. Luke says (Acts ix. 20) that he "straightway preached Christ," but he may possibly mean after he returned from Arabia; and some have thought that it was ordered by Divine Providence that there should be an interval of retirement and quiet between Paul's violent *Writers are not agreed precisely as to what is meant by this country (Arabia)—whether it refers to some place not very far from Damascus, or whether it was what we more 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.' 'It has been thought and perhaps correctly, that he began now for the first time to suffer from that complaint in his eyes of which we shall speak more hereafter. It was a complaint common in the city and neighbourhood of Damascus during the damps of summer and autumn, and being generally followed by fever, compelled those who were subject to it to seek a healthier climate in the uplands. It is not improbable, 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.' (Footsteps of St. Paul.) there. He returned to Damascus, and being supernaturally qualified to be a preacher of the gospel, he immediately entered upon his ministry in that city. The boldness and success with which he enforced the truths of Christianity so irritated the unbelieving Jews that they resolved to put him to death; but this design being known, the disciples conveyed him privately out of Damascus, and he went to Jerusalem. The Christians of Jerusalem remembering Paul's former hostility to the gospel, and having no authentic account of any change in his sentiment or conduct, at first refused to receive him, but being assured by Barnabas1 of Paul's real conversion and of his exertions at Damascus, they acknowledged him as a disciple. He remained only fifteen days among them,2 and he saw none of the apostles except Peter and James. It is probable that the other apostles were at this time absent from Jerusalem, exercising their ministry at different places. The zeal with which Paul preached at Jerusalem had the same effect as at Damascus; he became so obnoxious to the Hellenistic Jews that they began to consider how they might kill him,3 which when the brethren knew, they thought it right that he should leave the city. They accompanied him to Cæsarea, and thence he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, where he preached the faith which once he destroyed.' 4 Hitherto the preaching of St. Paul, as well as of the other apostles and teachers, had been confined to the Jews; but the conversion of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, having convinced all the apostles that 'to the Gentiles also had been granted repentance unto life,' Paul was soon afterwards conducted by Barnabas from Tarsus, which had probably been the principal place of his residence since he left Jerusalem, and they both began to preach the gospel to the Gentiles at Antioch. Their preaching was attended with great success. The first Gentile church was now established at Antioch; and in that city, and at this time, the disciples were first called persecution of Christians and his zealous propagation of the gospel. "Nec hoc," says Jerome, "segnitiæ apostoli deputandum si frustra in Arabia fuerit; sed quod aliqua dispensatio et Dei præceptum fuerit ut tacerit." In Gal. i. 17. 1 Acts ix. 27. It does not appear in what manner Barnabas was himself informed of St. Paul's conversion. 2 Gal. i. 18. 5 Acts xi. 25. |