by the Evangelist; a consideration which, while it imposes the necessity of much diffidence, tends also to excite a desire that the two accounts should be carefully compared ; since it would be an interesting subject of reflection, if the particulars in which the two relations differ, could be reconciled, and we might be authorized to conclude, that Josephus was a fellow passenger with St. Paul during a part of the voyage.

As the account in the Acts of the Apostles is familiar and accessible to all, it is unnecessary to exhibit it at full length here, or to give more than an abstract of the chief circumstances.

The Apostle, when accused before Felix and Festus, having appealed to Cæsar, was ordered to be sent to Rome. He is described as having embarked in conformity to this order, in a ship of Adramyttium. It is not stated from what port he sailed, but as the vessel touched next day at Sidon, it was possibly from Ptolemais (first called Acon *,) or as Grotius supposes from Cæsareat.

After having arrived at Myra, in Lycia, he was put on board a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy; many vessels being usually Pliny, lib. ii. c. 73. +Acts xxv. 4-13, and xxvii.

employed from that port to convey corn and other productions to Italy, which generally frequented Puteoli, as Bryant has observed.

The circumstances of the voyage are described with an animation and a detail particularly affecting, so as to carry with them the lively evidence of truth and exactness. When on board this vessel, St. Paul seems, by some Divine intimation, to have perceived that the voyage would be attended, not only with damage to the ship and its burden, but to the lives of the passengers; and to have, in consequence, advised the centurion to pass the winter in a haven of Crete; but the advice not having been followed, and a tempestuous wind having arisen, the vessel, after exposure to many perils, struck; and the hinder part was broken by the violence of the waves; upon which the whole crew, consisting of two hundred and seventy-six persons, casting themselves into the sea, escaped in safety, agreeably to the assurance of St. Paul, who had foretold that not an hair should fall from the head of any of them.

The island of Melita, which the Apostle with others reached, has generally been sup posed, on the authority of Bochart, Cellarius, and others, and by local tradition, to have been Malta. Grotius mentions an an

cient incription in that island, in which the first magistrate is styled, as by St. Luke, the chief man of the island, (πρῶτος τῆς νήσε,) and the Romanists have grounded many legends and superstitions on the supposition. There is, however, good reason to believe, as Bryant has shewn, that it was not Malta; and that it really was Melita Illyrica, which was in the direct course of the voyage, being situated in the Adriatic between Corcyra Nigra and the main land *. Malta, though Bochart has endeavoured to represent it + as being in the Adriatic, cannot properly be included within the limits of that sea.

After remaining three months in the island which they had happily reached, the Apostle and his companions again departed in a ship of Alexandria, and after having for a short time landed at Syracuse, at length disembarked at Puteoli, where they found brethren, and from thence, after being met by more brethren at Appii Forum and the three Taverns, they proceeded to Rome, where St. Paul was allowed to dwell in a private house under the care of a soldier appointed to remain with him.

The account in the life of Josephus written

* Bryant on the Island of Melita, Polyb. Stephen. + Geogr. Sac.

by himself, appears to relate to this voyage, and seems to prove that Josephus was a companion in a part of it with St. Paul. There are, indeed, difficulties which interfere with this opinion, which, as the subject is of some moment, may be proposed for critical investigation. The relation is as follows: "After the 26th year of my age, it hap

pened that I went up to Rome on the oc

"casion that I shall now mention. At the "time when Felix was procurator of Judea, "there were certain priests of my acquaint

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ance, 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 Cæsar. For these I "was desirous to procure deliverance, and "that especially because I was informed "that they were not unmindful of piety to"wards God, even under their affliction, "but supported themselves with figs and "nuts: accordingly I came to Rome, though "it was often through great hazards by sea, "for our ship being wrecked in the midst "of the Adriatic Sea, we that were in it, "being about six hundred in number, swam "for our lives all the night, when, upon the "first appearance of the day, a ship of Cyrene

bearing to us, by the providence of

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"God, I, and some others, eighty in all, preventing the rest, were taken up "into the ship; and when I had thus

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escaped, and had come to Dicæarchia, "which the Italians call Puteoli, I became acquainted with Aliturus, an actor of plays, a Jew by birth, and much beloved by Nero, and through his interest became "known to Poppæa, Cæsar's wife, and took care as soon as possible to entreat her to procure that the priests might be set at liberty*.

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The reasons which might lead us to suppose that this account refers to the voyage and shipwreck, which St. Paul describes, are as follows: In the first place, it is to be observed, that the period of time which is assigned by the best supported calculations, namely, A. D. 63†, corresponds with that mentioned by Josephus, since the historian relates himself to have been born in the third year of Caligula, A. D. 37, and to have undertaken his voyage in the 26th year of his age, which will bring his arrival at Rome to A. D. 63.

It is not improbable that Josephus, who

See Life of F. Josephus, Whist. Transl.

+ Hales's New Analys. vol.ii. p. 11. 13. Lardner, vol. i. c. 3. p. 30.