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Perr OSTTRONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 BY 
 
 RICHARD HENRY SMITH. 
 
 Meena Th OD WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 PRINTED BY DUNMORE. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 ARTHUR MIALL, 18, BOUVERIE STREET, E.C. 
 
 MDCCCLXVIII. 
 
“< 
 
Meer AC i, 
 
 OME years ago, the writer of the following Expositions of 
 the Cartoons of Raphael began to study in the Gallery at 
 Hampton Court, and found himself continually falling into 
 conversation with the visitors who were constantly courting 
 information about these great pictures. Becoming year after 
 year, more interested in the cartoons, as he became more 
 familiar with them, he was led to search the Scriptures from 
 which Raphael selected his subjects. The present book is 
 the result of his investigation of the sacred record of the 
 various scenes, and of his study of their treatment by this 
 “divine” painter. | 
 There was no difficulty, in the very presence of the originals, 
 to explain to /isteners the bearing and force of his remarks. 
 Seeing for themselves, they could exercise their own judg- 
 ments, and receive or reject what he had to say. It will be 
 as easy for readers, now photography has lent its aid, to judge 
 for themselves the correctness of the various statements. 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 Those who have never seen, and who are never likely to 
 see, the cartoons, will be persuaded, from their knowledge of 
 the fidelity of photography, that it may be safely trusted in 
 a literal translation of the originals. Those who have often 
 seen them, will be induced, by the novelty of this version, to 
 renew their acquaintance with the painter in his best works. 
 
 The cartoons were removed to the South Kensington 
 Museum in 1865. 
 
 The profession will immediately detect the hand of a lay- 
 man in the comments which accompany the illustrations. The 
 writer is no more an artist than a photograph is a picture. 
 He has sought to represent, in his own way, without any 
 pretence, his conception of the purpose of Raphael in this 
 series of Bible pictures. While fully aware of the sombreness 
 of the tone of his expositions, and the comparative exag- 
 geration in their chiaro-oscuro, the writer yet trusts that there 
 may be found in them (as there are to be found in the pho- 
 tographs) some happy accidents, by which the existence and 
 meaning of facts are so evidently set forth, that they can 
 neither be unnoticed nor mistaken. 
 
 It is possible that it may be necessary to remind some 
 that Raphael was not a pre-Raphaelite.. 
 
 September, 1867. 
 
Vir. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 . THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES 
 - LEHE CHARGE TO PETER 
 
 . PETER AND JOHN HEALING THE LAME MAN AT 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE... 
 
 . THE DEATH OF ANANIAS 
 
 THE CONVERSION OF SERGIUS PAULUS 
 
 . PAUL AND BARNABAS REJECTING THE SACRIFICE 
 
 AT LYSTRA 
 
 PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS 
 
 17 
 
 29 = 
 
 45 
 57 
 
 71 
 85 
 
ft 
 
 ae 
 
THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 No. I. 
 Che SMiraculous Draught of Hishes. 
 
 ** And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of 
 God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: 
 but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he en- 
 tered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust 
 out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 
 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and 
 let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we 
 have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let 
 down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of 
 fishes ; and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in 
 the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both 
 the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at 
 Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for Iam a sinful man, O Lord. For he was 
 astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had 
 taken: and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners 
 with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch 
 men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed 
 him.” —LUKE v. I-II. 
 
 ** And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, 
 and John his brother, who also were.in the ship mending their nets. And straightway 
 he called them : and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, 
 and went after him.” —Mark i. I9, 20. 
 
feet ha CULOUS, DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 
 
 “* Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not.”—LUKE v. 10, 
 
 HIS cartoon, being the first of the series, was painted almost 
 
 entirely by Raphael himself. The character in the faces 
 
 of the two principal groups in the foreground, and the care shewn 
 
 in the treatment of the landscape and minor figures, are accepted, 
 on all sides, as sure and certain signs of the master’s own hand. 
 
 A tracing from the drawing made for this composition is in the 
 Queen’s collection. The original, very much torn and injured, is 
 in the Louvre. 
 
 Careful studies of the principal figures would succeed the first 
 sketch, and these would be enlarged and put in out-line on the 
 paper by the scholars. Raphael would paint on each cartoon, 
 more or less, as the case might be; altering and correcting so as 
 to preserve the expression of his sentiment, the unity of the com- 
 position, or the harmony of its colour. In the present instance, 
 we have more of Raphael’s work than is to be found in the other 
 cartoons, he having intended Zhe Miraculous Draught of Fishes 
 to serve as a pattern. 
 
 Looking at this scene, you recognize the scripture story, and 
 can tell the exact moment which the painter has seized. Peter 
 has presented his strange petition, “ Depart from me; for I am 
 a sinful man, O Lord.” The strong tension of his mind yet 
 keeps his body strung, and his arms and his hands are in the atti- 
 tude of prayer. Our Lord has begun His reply, “Simon, fear not ; 
 
 from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” 
 B2 
 
12 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 The words of Peter must sound strangely in some ears. He 
 had been graciously received by our Lord, when he was at the 
 first brought to Him by his brother Andrew; and he must, we 
 should have thought, have come to Jesus because he was a 
 sinner. He has now made his sinfulness the ground of his 
 prayer, that his Saviour should depart from him. 
 
 Some have thought that Peter did not mean what he said. 
 These words have been supposed to be like those uttered after- 
 wards on the Mount of Transfiguration, when “he wist not what 
 to say, because he was sore afraid.’ There are others, however, 
 who have some idea of the apostle’s meaning—they are those 
 who have been in similar circumstances, and have had the same 
 feeling, if they have not said the same words. Our Lord at the 
 time was “shewing forth His glory.’ God manifested Himself 
 to Peter in the same way as He afterwards revealed Himself to 
 Paul, and as He still appears to those who believe. Our sinful 
 race has ever had, and will always have, the same experience. 
 
 Raphael has manifested a wisdom in the choice of this subject, 
 and in the selection of this moment, which is only rivalled by 
 the knowledge which he has displayed in its treatment. The 
 painter lays the foundation of Peter’s new life, in a perception 
 that Jesus is the Son of God. The painter recognises the con- 
 nexion between a call from God and godliness. Grasping this 
 great truth, he still keeps his eye upon any details that may 
 serve to complete its expression. For instance, amongst the 
 figures in the carefully-executed background is a soldier. He is 
 evidently the Capernaum centurion. The centurion had the 
 same conviction of personal unworthiness as Peter, and on that 
 ground, he was doubtless introduced by Raphael. There is 
 nothing accidental in the rest of the landscape. It is all the 
 production of one mighty in the Scriptures. } 
 
 Our Lord is in Peter’s boat; Andrew alone is their com- 
 panion. Zebedee and his two sons have arrived, to rescue the 
 draught of fishes from being lost. They tell you, by the strain 
 on their muscles, that it has been a great catch. They stand 
 
‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 13 
 
 stooping most awkwardly before you, overstrained, hauling at the 
 miraculous multitude that are breaking their net. John and 
 James are thinking only of the fishes. John only half turns his 
 head ; James is.too much absorbed to do even that. Peter and 
 Andrew suffer the fishes to escape over the boat-side. They 
 discern the glory of the omnipotence of Christ. You can see the 
 issues. Peter and Andrew will leave the fish and the nets and 
 the boat, and follow Christ ; James and John will return to the 
 shore, with their father Zebedee and the fish, and mend their nets. 
 
 The figure of our Lord is an incarnation of Divinity. The 
 form and the features, and even the drapery, distinguish Him as 
 some one who is more than man. The contrast between our 
 Lord and Zebedee is very striking. The one is sitting motion- 
 less, having awoke a deathless life in a soul, and seems, by a 
 silent fiat, to have given the waves charge concerning the sinking 
 boats. The other, with averted face, is more anxious for the 
 boat than for the fish; with an utter unconsciousness of his 
 nearness to the source of all power, he is lost in the exercise of 
 his own weakness. The gulls in the air.and the herons on the 
 shore unite to tell their part of the story. They seem not only 
 to anticipate a draught, but that the draught will be large, and 
 that most of it will be left. 
 
 Those acquainted with the locality and the condition of the 
 neighbourhood of the event, testify to the correctness of the out- 
 line of the shore. Any of us can see that the buildings are 
 partly Oriental and partly Roman. The people who had heard 
 our Lord speak are still to be seen; and others have arrived, 
 bringing their sick and those possessed with devils. 
 
 The eye, in looking at this cartoon, is at once arrested by the 
 figure of our Lord. We. are often pained with some verbal, as 
 well as with some pictorial representations of the Redeemer. It 
 is a rare gift to “set Him forth evidently” before men. Raphael's 
 success in painting may be envied by ministers in preaching. 
 Here Christ is the first object of attention; and all the interest 
 of the picture radiates from Him as the great centre. 
 
14 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 Every one, of course, notices the smallness of the boats. Be- 
 fore adding to the countless and thoughtless criticisms that have 
 been made upon this point, it may be well to recollect that we 
 have here the work of a great man, and that even great men 
 cannot perform impossibilities. It will be well to remember that 
 whoever we are, and whatever may be our vocation, we are 
 constantly obliged to choose between two evils. We cannot 
 always do what we wish. 
 
 Raphael had to paint a series. The figures in all were to be 
 of the same size. Had the boats been larger, these figures would 
 have had to be less. The figures being less, spectators might 
 have imagined this subject to be less important than the others. 
 It was a choice between the figures and the boats, and the figures 
 prevailed. 
 
 The extraordinary smallness of the boats may help us some- 
 what to understand the miraculous greatness of the draught. 
 
 We can now better understand the words of Peter, because we 
 have better understood the circumstances in which they were 
 uttered. The interest of the subject will never diminish. The 
 scene here is repeated in the case of every Christian. Every 
 one who follows Christ has been called by Him, The call has 
 ever followed some personal revelation, some special manifesta- 
 tion of His power and glory; and as about Peter’s call, and the 
 manifestation of our Lord to him, there was some peculiarity, so 
 there is always an individuality in His dealings with us all. 
 
 The Great Fisher of men caught the fisherman with a miracu- 
 lous draught of fishes. 
 
eae se 
 
 fis aay) Mira 
 
eae CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 Wo. 
 The Charge to Weter. 
 
 ** After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tibe- 
 rias ; and on this wise shewed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, and 
 Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee. 
 and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I goa fishing. They 
 say unto him, Wealso go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship im- 
 mediately ; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now 
 come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then 
 Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? ‘They answered him, No. And 
 he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. 
 They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of 
 fishes. ‘Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. 
 Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, 
 (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came 
 in a little ship ; for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits), 
 dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a 
 fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of 
 the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land 
 full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, 
 yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of 
 the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then 
 cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third 
 time that Jesus shewed himself to the disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. 
 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou 
 me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. 
 He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, 
 son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I 
 love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, 
 Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him 
 the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all 
 things ; thou-knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”— 
 JOHN xxi, I-17. 
 
as 
 
Baw COARGE TO,PETER: 
 
 “* He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” —JOUN xxi. 16, 
 
 N this cartoon, the eye is at once arrested by the keys in the 
 hands of the apostle Peter. This circumstance has doubt- 
 less originated the mistake that is commonly made in reference 
 to the subject of this picture. The keys are more conspicuous in 
 ' the engravings than they are in the original, so that it is not 
 surprising that those who are only acquainted with the work of 
 Raphael through the medium of the press, should have fallen 
 into the error, especially as many of the prints have received the 
 title of Zhe Giving of the Keys. A superficial observer, seeing 
 Peter kneeling with the keys in his hands, imagines that it was 
 intended to portray the apostle as having just received spiritual 
 authority, overlooking the plain evidence afforded by the body 
 of our Lord, that the scene depicted must have occurred after 
 the crucifixion. 
 
 The photograph is never likely thus to mislead a spectator. 
 Here the keys are almost invisible. They can be discovered, 
 but only by looking into the darkness in which they are obscured. 
 The figure of our Lord is the first object that gains attention. 
 The eye is carried forward by the lines of the outstretched arms, 
 in the one direction, towards Peter, who is found upon his knees, 
 humbling himself before the Saviour whom he has denied ; in 
 the other, towards the sheep which, by artistic licence, have been 
 introduced. The subject of the picture is thus defined, and the 
 
 exact moment clearly indicated. The penitent has just answered 
 the question of our Redeemer, and he is receiving te commis- 
 sion, “ Feed my sheep.” 
 
20 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 Immediately behind Peter, John presses forward and looks 
 upon our Lord with eyes full of love. The four apostles who 
 are grouped with him, share his enthusiasm. The others stand 
 in suspense, and are associated by the feeling of doubt, which is 
 more or less evident in them all. 
 
 The peculiar weird-like effect of photography is in strange 
 keeping with the scene here depicted. Raphael has evidently 
 attempted to represent the body of our Lord after His resurrec- 
 tion, and he doubtless painted it in the light of the words of the 
 evangelist John: “After these things Jesus skewed himself again 
 to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, and on this wise shewed 
 he himself.” You are reminded, as you gaze on this reflected 
 figure, of the terms in which the various evangelists all speak of 
 the manifestations of our Saviour, after He had risen from the 
 dead. Inthe photograph, the body looks more like an appear- 
 ance than a reality. You can now understand why Mary did 
 not at first recognise its identity, and why, at this very time, 
 when “Jesus stood on the shore, the disciples knew not that it 
 was Jesus;” and that even after John had said to Peter, “It is 
 the Lord,” they would have liked to have asked the Saviour, if 
 they had dared to do so, whether they were mistaken. 
 
 It is not often that an idea is improved by translation. An 
 author is generally the best expositor of his own thoughts. It 
 does, however, occur, though rately, that a second mind,. and 
 sometimes another tongue, are required for the entire develop- 
 ment of an original conception. There is, in this case, such an 
 instance. The photograph, in two points, is superior to the 
 cartoon. It is not only less ambiguous, but it is more impressive. 
 Were Raphael to see this new version of his work, he would find 
 that it had removed the possibility of mistaking the subject of 
 his picture, and that it had developed from his cartoon, an effect 
 that he himself could not produce. 
 
 The keys in the hands of the apostle have not only been the 
 occasion of a diversity of opinion as to the purpose of the paint- 
 ing, but they have also originated discussions respecting his 
 
The Charge to Peter. 21 
 
 religion and his art. Connoisseurs have objected to the intro- 
 duction of the symbols. They have questioned the artistic 
 propriety of the keys and the sheep. They have argued that 
 Raphael had no right, in painting such a picture, to turn figurative 
 expressions into palpable objects. A sufficient answer to such 
 affected Puritanism is found in the fact that there are no other 
 means of making the incident intelligible. The keys and the 
 sheep form a great part of the whole story; they tell their tale 
 as it could be told by nothing else, and they are in perfect keep- 
 ing with the metaphorical teaching of our Lord. 
 
 The language of painting partakes of the weakness and poverty 
 of other tongues; and thus artists are sometimes obliged, in 
 common with other authors, to adopt foreign words. 
 
 Just as there are some who allow their sense of artistic pro- 
 priety to interfere with their appreciation of the painter’s work, 
 so there are others who, in their criticism of his effort, suffer their 
 Protestantism to get the better of their Christianity. There are 
 those—the fact is stated on their solemn assurance—who are so 
 shocked with the Papal badge, that they have decreed this picture 
 to be utterly worthless to those who hold the Protestant faith. 
 
 The sectarian error is as manifest and as excusable as the 
 artistic impropriety. Every artist is trammelled more or less by 
 the patron for whom he works, and every religious man is influ- 
 enced—sometimes very much against his will—by the party to 
 which he belongs. The objections that have been raised by these 
 professors of art, and these professors of religion, betray either a 
 want of thought or a lack of charity. Raphael was a Romanist, 
 and he had to decorate that portion of the Sistine chapel which 
 was exclusively set apart for the use of the popes, and he very 
 naturally introduced their heraldry. 
 
 Stumbling-blocks may serve as stepping-stones. The keys in 
 the hands of the apostle had better remain where they are. They 
 cannot be spared. They have misled others, but they may guide 
 us. They have been abused, but “the abuse of anything is no 
 argument against its use.” The keys are neither ambiguous nor 
 
22 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 arbitrary. They are necessary and significant. They carry back 
 the mind of the spectator to the time when our Lord entrusted 
 the apostle with spiritual responsibility. Raphael teaches us, by 
 the way in which he has treated the subject, the lesson which we 
 all have great need to learn. The Peter before us is a sample of 
 the race. Men are called by God and entrusted with a divine 
 mission, but they forget their high vocation and fall away through 
 unbelief, self-trust, and cowardice. Backsliders are not cast off 
 and forgotten ; but they are remembered, sought, and restored. 
 The bruised reed is not broken—the smoking flax is not quenched. 
 
 The spiritual insight of the painter is as remarkable in this 
 cartoon, as we found it to be in the last. Raphael evidently 
 understood the origin of true religious conviction, or he could 
 never have painted Peter, as God was manifesting Himself to him 
 in the person of Jesus Christ. Raphael had made himself equally 
 well acquainted with the Divine dealings toward those who have 
 sinned against their conviction, or he could never have depicted 
 Peter, remembering his iniquity before Him whose property it is 
 ever to have mercy and to forgive. 
 
 The great end of our Lord’s appearance to His disciples at the 
 Sea of Tiberias, and especially of His conduct toward Peter, is to 
 teach the long-suffering of the Divine mercy. The cartoon 
 evidently sets forth the Good Shepherd, having laid down His 
 life and taken it again, seeking His frightened and scattered 
 flock, The apostles look like\lost sheep. They are gathered 
 together, but they are evidently not of one mind, They are not 
 ‘yet full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The figure of our Lord is detached from those of His disciples. 
 The drapery is so disposed as to leave His breast and His left 
 arm bare. In a drawing, evidently made for this cartoon, we 
 find Raphael had at first completely covered the body, so that 
 the baring of the breast and the arm was the result of a second 
 thought. In this way, the painter reminds us, that the incident 
 took place subsequently to the crucifixion. The distance be-- 
 tween Christ and His apostles, represents the difference of His 
 
Lhe Charge to Peter. = 
 
 communion with them after His resurrection from what it was 
 before He suffered. As you look at our Lord, He seems to stand 
 as if He were going away. As you look at the disciples, you 
 see the spirit that they are of: they are yet carnal; the mind 
 that is in them is not the mind of Christ. One or two appear to 
 be subdued and affectionate; but the others are displeased, 
 jealous, and discontented. You feel that these men must receive 
 power, and that the Holy Ghost must come upon them. You 
 feel that it is expedient, that our Lord should go away to obtain 
 for them that unspeakable gift. 
 
 The forty days which intervened between the resurrection and 
 the ascension of our Redeemer, not only concluded our Lord’s 
 life upon earth, and His ministry in the body, but they were 
 anticipatory to His spiritual reign in heaven. Our Lord gradually 
 prepared His disciples for the final withdrawment of His earthly 
 presence, manifesting Himself during these shadowy days in a 
 manner that would tend to wean them from their dependence 
 upon their senses. His visits were few and mysterious, and were 
 confined to the first days of the week. The disciples seem to 
 have understood the discipline, for we find that after His ascen- 
 sion they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and continued 
 with one accord in prayer and supplication, waiting for the 
 promise of the Father, of which they had heard through Christ. 
 
 The records of these forty days are most precious to those of 
 us who believe, and “they have been written for our learning, 
 that we, through patience and comfort of these scriptures, might 
 have hope.” We know that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and for ever,” and that He “is no respecter of per- 
 sons.” What our Lord was, when He shewed Himself at the 
 Sea of Tiberias, He is now. The omnipotence He exerted on 
 the behalf of His disciples, He is employing for us. We, like 
 the disciples, labour in vain, and are not aware that our Lord is 
 not very far from any one of us. We find all things working 
 together for our good, and we are as dependent as they were, on 
 the quicksightedness of some disciple whom Jesus loves, for the 
 
24 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 assurance, “It is the Lord.” We are cold and hungry, and 
 through the grace and providence of our Saviour we receive our 
 fire and food. We eat and drink in His presence, sitting down 
 to our meals, only half realising the wonders of His love; and 
 we would, if we dared, ask for some manifestation of our Lord 
 that He has not chosen to give. 
 
 It would appear, from the account that we have of what tran- 
 spired on this, “the third time that Jesus shewed Himself to His 
 disciples after that He was risen from the dead;” that whilst our 
 Lord addressed Himself to the other disciples, the manifestation 
 was intended especially for the one who had thrice denied Him. 
 The miracle that preceded the conversation, would tend to con- 
 firm all of them in the conviction of the greatness of their future 
 work, and it would give them a prophetic glance of their successful 
 labour and abundant reward. The whole narrative, however, 
 leads to the conclusion, that while the works and the words of 
 our Lord were designed to influence the others, they were adapted 
 particularly to affect the apostle Peter. The evangelist John, 
 according to his custom, relates the miracle, not so much for its 
 own sake, as for the conversation that followed it. Raphael, by 
 placing the end of a boat in the corner of the picture, follows his 
 example. The cartoon of The Charge to Peter contains the gist 
 of the twenty-first chapter in the Gospel according to John. 
 
 The time has arrived when the recreant apostle is to be re- 
 stored. Once and again our Lord had appeared to His disciples, 
 but He has reserved the reinstatement of the backslider for this 
 third manifestation of Himself. The Saviour seeks Peter where 
 He had first called him; Peter is not only in the same place, 
 but is engaged in the same employment. There are the same 
 boats, the same companions, the same failure, and the same 
 miracle. 
 
 The first object that is seen, as soon as the land is reached, is 
 a fire of coals. It was at such a fire that Peter had stood and 
 warmed himself, and denied his Lord. , 
 
 The meal appears to have been eaten in silence. The company 
 
The Charge to Peter. 25 
 
 sit down in mysterious awe, wondering at our Lord, while 
 they well know Him. No one hazards a word. At last, when 
 they have dined, the silence is broken by the Saviour. The 
 threefold denial is recalled by the thrice-repeated question. 
 Peter is addressed by the name he bore previously to his con- 
 fession of Jesus as the Son of God. Three opportunities are 
 afforded him of contradicting his three denials. The apostle 
 acknowledges the Divinity of our Lord, and appeals to His 
 omniscience. He brings forth fruit meet for repentance. He no 
 longer compares himself with others. He makes no promise. 
 His answers are as full of godly sorrow as the questions of our 
 Lord are full of love. Our Lord does not upbraid Peter, and 
 Peter does not excuse himself. Hewas as a sheep going astray, 
 but he now returns to the Shepherd and Bishop of his soul. 
 
 This conversation has ever afforded instruction and comfort to 
 the Church. This scripture is often searched by believers who 
 have staggered through unbelief—by professors who have fallen 
 through temptation. It is not our purpose to expound it; every 
 word, especially if the passage be read in the original, will be 
 found to be fraught with strong consolation. The distinctions 
 made by our Lord in His three questions, (which are not 
 apparent in our version,) are most affecting, and His three 
 charges differ as greatly from each other as the three appeals of 
 the apostle. 
 
 The photograph of The Charge to Peter has brought us to that 
 fountain of mercy, where the apostle slaked the thirst of his 
 guilt. We have, “on this wise,’ our Lord shewing Himself to 
 ws. The manifestation is for all, for “all we like sheep have 
 gone astray;” and it may be the Saviour’s purpose, thus to seek 
 and to restore some one who has denied and deserted Him. 
 
 The voice of the Good Shepherd once heard is never forgotten. 
 Those who have been in His fold, and gone in and out and 
 found pasture, still remember and can still recognise the tone of 
 His call, however far they may be in the wilderness, and however 
 long it may be since they lost that sense of strangeness and 
 
26 Lhe Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 terror, which overcame them when they first wandered. “He 
 that hath ears to hear let him hear.” 
 
 The original drawing for this cartoon is in the Royal Library 
 at Windsor. A study for the Christ is in the Florentine collection 
 of drawings. The drapery of the Christ here and in The ~ 
 Miraculous Draught, was originally of a delicate rose color. 
 The present white appearance of the robes is explained by the 
 fugitive nature of the pigment. 
 
 The cartoons are painted in distemper on paper. The pro- 
 portions of the figures, which far exceed the size of life, are in 
 favor of effect in tapestry, which from the thickness of the thread, 
 would give coarseness to smaller figures and features. The 
 broad character of the folds of the drapery is also an advantage 
 in a design that was to be executed in wool: colors of dresses 
 were adopted with like foresight, and hence the frequent intro- 
 duction of shot materials, and of treatment which allowed high 
 lights to be executed in gold thread. 
 
THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 No. TL. 
 
 Weter and Hohn Healing the Lame elan at the 
 Beautiful Gate of the Temple. 
 
 ‘““Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, 
 being the ninth hour. And a certain man, lame from his mother’s womb, was carried, 
 whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms 
 of them that entered into the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into 
 the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, 
 Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 
 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I have give I thee: In the 
 name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he tvok him by the right 
 hand, and lifted him up ; and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. 
 And he, leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walk- 
 ing, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and prais- 
 ing God: and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the 
 temple ; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened 
 unto him, And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the 
 people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wonder- 
 ing.” — ACTS ili, I-11. 
 
rr 
 
PETER AND JOHN HEALING THE LAME MAN AT 
 Thr BEAUTIFUL GATE OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 “* Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as [ have give I thee: In the 
 name of Fesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk,” —ACTs iii. 6. 
 
 HE effect of this cartoon is both ornamental and picturesque. 
 Raphael, in his treatment of the subject, has not only 
 succeeded in representing this distinguishing feature of the place 
 where the scene occurred, but he has also happily united two 
 essentially different styles of beauty. There is here a wonderful 
 combination of a pattern and a picture. 
 
 The painter, like other artists of his day, was an architect; and 
 his. success is to be mainly attributed to the wreathed columns, 
 which he has. introduced throughout the composition. These 
 twisted pillars, (as they have been called,) have elicited the 
 same captious remarks from those who have not known, or 
 have forgotten, the work to be accomplished, as the keys in 
 The Charge to Peter, and the small boats in The Miraculous 
 Draught. 
 
 It has been already shewn that it is only just to the painter, 
 in any judgment that is passed upon the cartoons, that their 
 Papal origin and serial nature should be taken into consideration. 
 It is equally necessary to remember their ultimate purpose. 
 They were intended to serve as designs for tapestry. This cir- 
 cumstance explains many of those points which have excited 
 observation. “In no other of Raphael’s works are the composi- 
 tions so simplified, or the masses kept so large and distinct. 
 The colours are expressly selected, so as to profit by the 
 splendour and variety of the hues of dyed wool and silk, with an 
 
 C2 
 
32 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 intermixture of gold; and the drawing is so executed as to assist 
 the mechanics who were to be employed in weaving these 
 in tissue.” 
 
 The use of a vehicle, which is only equal to express what is 
 strictly ornamental, for the representation of the picturesque, is 
 allowed to be a great mistake. This error is as palpable as the 
 investiture of the apostle Peter with the Papal badge, or as the 
 crowding three men into a boat that is barely sufficient to hold 
 one. These points do not admit of a moment’s debate. It 
 would be impossible, by the exercise of any amount of ingenuity, 
 to vindicate their correctness. They are untrue. Spectators are 
 not requested either to defend or to ignore these inconsistencies. 
 They are, however, asked to remember that they were unavoid- 
 able. We detain our readers—not that they may listen to any 
 idle defence of Raphael, or to any impertinent apology for the 
 methods in which he was obliged to treat his subjects—but 
 rather that they may admire with us the triumph of his genius 
 over the difficulties of his undertaking. These persecuted pillars, 
 by their form, harmonise with the lines of the figures moving 
 between them ; by their position, seem to serve as frames for the 
 various groups; and, by their elaborate detail, must have won 
 golden opinions from the artisans at Arras. | 
 
 The associations connected with the original situation of the 
 tapestries, add to the interest and explain the intention of the 
 cartoons, as much as the facts to which allusion has been made. 
 Some knowledge of the place that Raphael was employed to 
 decorate, is as necessary as some acquaintance with the condi- 
 tions under which he had to labour. Another moment, then, 
 good reader, as we trespass further upon your time, and beg you 
 to turn aside and step into the building where our great painter 
 might have been found, three hundred and fifty years ago, 
 pondering over the commission he had received from Leo X. 
 
 This Sistine chapel received its name from Sixtus 1V., who 
 built it, for the special use of the popes, in 1483. It measures 
 about one hundred and thirty-three feet in length, forty-three 
 
Peter and Fohn Healing the Lame Man. 33 
 
 feet in width, and it is fifty-eight feet high. The white marble 
 balustrade, that divides the area into unequal parts, is the 
 boundary of the Presbyterium. Here the church ceremonies of 
 the first Sunday in Advent and of the Holy Week are performed ; 
 and it is here that the scrutiny of the votes for the popedom is 
 made, when the conclave meets in the Vatican. 
 
 The frescoes immediately below the windows, which extend 
 entirely around the chapel, are the work of Perugino and others, 
 who were employed by Sixtus IV. to represent the various Bible 
 scenes. At the same time, the spaces underneath were painted 
 in imitation of the embroidered hangings, which were used in the 
 ancient Byzantine and Roman churches, 
 
 Nothing further was done till the accession sf Julius IL. the 
 nephew of Sixtus IV. This prelate, remarkable for his vigour, 
 enterprise, and taste, assembled around him the most distin- 
 cuished artists of the day, and employed them in the prosecution 
 of his ruling passion, the embellishment of the various courts and 
 buildings which formed the palace of the successors. of the 
 Galilean fisherman. Under his direction, Michael Angelo covered 
 the vaulted ceiling of the chapel with his frescoes. A certain 
 plan having been already defined, the great painter took up the 
 thread of the Bible history at its commencement—this had been 
 carried on by Perugino; it was afterwards carried forward by 
 Raphael, and it was at last completed by others. 
 
 Leo X., the successor of Julius, conceived the idea of placing 
 real hangings, in the spaces of the walls of the Presbyterium that 
 had been painted in imitation of tapestry. Raphael, who had 
 been summoned to Rome by the aged Julius, and who was at 
 work in another part of the Vatican, was employed by Leo to 
 furnish designs for the Flemish weavers. 
 
 The cartoons are thus traced to their origin, and it may now 
 be easily understood how the painter was determined in the 
 choice of his subjects, by the place he had to decorate, and how 
 his method of treatment was influenced, by the use which was to 
 be made of his work. | 
 
34 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 The walls are divided, at regular intervals, into ten compart- 
 ments, by painted pilasters adorned with arabesques. The 
 tapestries were to hang in these spaces, and to be continued over 
 the high altar. The Papal throne and the gallery of the 
 choristers occupy part of two of the divisions, so that the tapes- 
 tries in those would be much narrower than the others. The 
 number and size of the compartments determined the number 
 and size of the cartoons. There are eleven divisions; and, 
 originally, there were eleven cartoons—eight were large, one 
 larger, and two were small. 
 
 The frescoes on the ceiling represent the creation of man—his 
 fall, and the early history of the world. The advent of the 
 Redeemer is depicted, more or less, beneath the windows. The 
 tapestries told the mission, sufferings, and triumph of the Church. 
 The whole series of pictorial decorations is closed by other works, 
 in which we have the last judgment and the final blessedness of 
 the saints. 
 
 The tapestries were hung in the following order:— The Coro- 
 nation of the Virgin was placed over the high altar, the subject 
 being chosen as a symbol of the triumph of Christianity. On 
 the left, where it could not fail to catch the eye of “the head of 
 the Church,” was 7he Miraculous Draught of Fishes. The ‘con- 
 viction and the conversion of the apostle, who was regarded as 
 the founder of the Papal dynasty, was selected as the subject to 
 be immediately set before the pontiffs, as they seated themselves 
 on the highest of earthly thrones. Then, following in order, 
 The Charge to Peter, The Martyrdom of Stephen, occupying one 
 of the small divisions; 7he Healing of the Lame Man by Peter 
 and Fohn at the beautiful Gate of the Temple, and The Death of 
 Ananias. The spaces on the right hand of the altar were devoted 
 to the Apostle of the Gentiles. The subjects chosen for the 
 tapestries were Zhe Conversion of Paul, The Blinding of Elymas, 
 The Sacrifice of Lystra, The Imprisonment at Philippi, and Paul 
 Preaching at Athens. 
 
 Raphael received for his cartoons the sum of £650, only a 
 @ 
 
 . 
 
 <* 
 
Peter and Fohn Healing the Lame Man. 35 
 
 hundredth part of the cost of the embroidery. The tapestries 
 were completed in 1519; and the painter, before his death, 
 (which happened shortly after,) had the satisfaction of finding, in 
 the wonder and the applause of the whole city, that his difficult 
 undertaking was considered to be a complete success. 
 
 The tapestries are now no longer hanging in the Presbyterium, 
 the spaces on the walls appearing as they were originally painted. 
 The woven relics are only exhibited once a year, and then they 
 are hung in the great portico of St. Peter, to grace the procession 
 of the Corpus Christi. They are preserved, with a later series, 
 in a corridor of the museum of the Vatican. 
 
 The peculiar richness of the effect, that is felt at the first 
 glance at the cartoon of The Beautiful Gate, not only reminds 
 the spectator of the purpose to which it was to be applied, but it 
 at once attracts his attention to the chief characteristic of the 
 place, where the incident occurred which is here told. 
 
 The temple, in the time of the apostles, had nine gates, and 
 there is a difficulty in fixing upon the one referred to by the 
 sacred historian. All the gates, with one exception, were over- 
 laid with silver and gold. It is possible, though by no means 
 certain, that the gate, which was made of Corinthian brass, and 
 exceeded the rest in the magnificence of its design, was the place 
 where “the cripple was laid daily, to ask alms of them that 
 entered into the temple.” The arbitrary value attached to the 
 material of which it was composed, may be perhaps reckoned an 
 additional argument in its favour. Raphael has taken the 
 benefit of the doubt, and has shewn his wisdom in being 
 governed, in his treatment of the architecture, by the idea of 
 beauty, which has special prominence in the Scripture record. 
 The place, where the first recorded miracle of the Church was 
 wrought, was subordinate to the miracle, just as the miracle 
 itself was subordinate to its results. 
 
 It was impossible, and, as it happened, it was unnecessary, to 
 represent The Beautiful Gate. Raphael, therefore, designed 
 these columns. Their spiral form bespeaks the grace of that 
 
 * 
 
 . 
 
36 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 entrance to the temple, which was daily haunted by that object 
 of deformity, who is presently to receive a boon, without money 
 and without price, which could not be purchased by silver or 
 gold. The size, and perfect perpendicularity of the pillars, are 
 standing proofs of the feebleness of the criticisms that have been 
 made about their insecurity. 
 
 The miracle was not done in a corner. It was wrought in 
 open day, and in the midst of a multitude. The scene occurred 
 within the precincts of the temple at the hour of prayer, when it 
 would be frequented by all sorts and conditions of people. 
 Raphael, by making his architecture to consist mainly of twenty 
 columns, standing four deep at regular intervals throughout the 
 picture, has provided space in which the people can breathe and 
 move; by placing the principal figures between the two centre 
 pillars, has prevented their being lost in the crowd; and, by the 
 double light, reminds us of the openness of the transaction and 
 the sacredness of the place. 
 
 The eye, in the two other cartoons, is arrested by the figure of 
 our Lord; here, though you do not see Him, you feel that you 
 are in His presence. Your eye rests upon His apostles, who are 
 evidently possessed with His Spirit. A great change has passed 
 over Peter and John since we last sawthem. They are evidently 
 very different men to what they were. Their transformation is 
 as remarkable, and as miraculous, as the act in which they are 
 engaged. Both are inexplicable, except we believe that these 
 men have received power, and that the Holy Ghost has come 
 upon them. 
 
 Raphael was, without doubt, in possession of the greatest 
 truths of Christianity. He has portrayed the origin of true con- 
 viction of sin, in Zhe Miraculous Draught of Fishes; he has 
 painted the fountain of mercy, the only hope and help of the 
 backslider, in Zhe Charge to Peter; and here, with equal definite- 
 ness, he bears his testimony to the dispensation of the Spirit. 
 The choice of the subjects of these cartoons, and the method of 
 their treatment, are clear proofs, that whatever might have been 
 
Peter and Fohn Healing the Lame Man. a7 
 
 the real character of Raphael, he knew those truths that were 
 able to make him wise to salvation. He must have perceived 
 wherein the great strength of the Church lay, and he must have 
 understood the laws of the kingdom of heaven, or he would never 
 have selected this incident out of the multitude of the other acts 
 of the apostles. It is not so much for its own sake that this 
 miracle is recorded, as for the sake of its results. It led to the 
 conversion of five thousand men, and to that first tribulation of 
 the Church, which brought it in an agony of earnestness to that 
 fervent effectual prayer which was answered by a second out- 
 pouring of the Holy Ghost, and a most marvellous deliverance 
 from the selfishness of our nature. 
 
 Raphael seems to have anticipated, in the way in which he has 
 represented the apostles healing the lame man, modern Biblical 
 criticism. We are told to regard the book of “the Acts” as sup- 
 plementary to the Gospels. In the Gospels we have “what Jesus 
 began both to do and to teach, wzzz/ the day in which he was taken 
 np.” Inthe Acts, we have the works and the words of our Lord, 
 as He began to act and to speak through those who believed, 
 after He had sat down on the right hand of God. As you look 
 at this cartoon, you see that the act the apostles are performing 
 is not their own; and it is this, as much as the miraculous nature 
 of the work, that makes you conscious of the presence of Him 
 who promised to be ever with them, and who is here evidently 
 working in them to will and to do His good pleasure. 
 
 One of the reasons of the preciousness of this painter’s works 
 with spiritual men, is the strange power that he possessed of ex~- 
 pressing the influence which Christianity has over the human 
 countenance. He has exercised this ability in the cases of Peter 
 and John with inimitable genius. The apostles look as if they 
 were full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost. There is not the 
 slightest trace of any self-sufficiency or pride. You might gather 
 from their countenances that they do not imagine it is by their 
 own power or holiness that they are making the man to walk. 
 There is no anxiety. They are evidently fully persuaded in their 
 
38 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 own minds as tothe result. A child, looking up into their faces, 
 would feel at once that it might trust those benevolent, quiet, 
 and strong men. 
 
 Raphael seems to have remembered and obeyed that law, which 
 the greatest painter of character in words refers to in his lines— 
 
 ** A virtuous or a vicious spirit looks out 
 In every limb and motion of the body,” 
 
 The figures are full of expression from head to foot. Each limb 
 tells its tale, contributing its part to the story of the conduct or 
 the character of the person to whom it belongs. The impression 
 produced by the countenance is confirmed by the concurrent 
 testimony of the various members of the body. 
 
 The apostle Peter stands like a rock. His soul, “strong in the 
 Lord and in the power of His might,” seems to have lent its 
 firmness to the whole frame. Those feet, that once staggered 
 through unbelief, in their attempt to walk on the water, stand as 
 if they had been set upon the marble pavement, in illustration of 
 the quietness and confidence of a man who has faith in God. 
 
 The disciples, after the ascension of our Lord, often remembered 
 His sayings. Their confessions and their quotations prove that 
 the words of Christ “dwelt in them richly in all wisdom.” The 
 promise which our Lord had made to Peter, that he should catch 
 men, must, we imagine, have recurred to the recollection of the 
 apostle when he preached in the streets of Jerusalem, with the 
 thousands crying around him, “ Men and brethren, what shall we 
 do?” It may be that here he remembers the words uttered on 
 the Mount of Olives: “Verily I say unto you, That whosoever 
 shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast 
 into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe 
 that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have 
 whatsoever he saith.” 
 
 The time of the picture is that moment when Peter is saying, 
 “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” 
 Only Peter touches the cripple, and then with but one hand. He 
 
Peter and Fohn Healing the Lame Man. 39 
 
 is not using his hand for the purpose of assisting the cripple in 
 rising, but rather to form a link between one who evidently needs 
 the help of Omnipotence, and himself, who, by his uplifted hand, 
 evidently implores the assistance of the unseen and Almighty God. 
 The steadfast look of Peter and John, similar, perhaps, to that of 
 Paul when he scanned the countenance of the cripple at Lystra, 
 and perceived that he had faith to be healed, has passed away. 
 The lame man, on whose face you read the record of forty years’ 
 helplessness, beggary, and pain, is under the influence of a wholly 
 new class of feelings. His-look of surprise tells you that he has 
 never entertained the idea that he should ever walk. His coarse 
 physiognomy—the result, perhaps to a great degree, of the aggra- 
 vating contempt of those who held opinions that were couched in 
 the question put to our Lord, “Who did sin, this man or his 
 parents, that he was born blind?”—his coarse physiognomy seems 
 to reflect, fora moment, a brightness from those who are lifting 
 up the light of their countenance upon him. 
 
 The repulsiveness that Raphael has succeeded in expressing in 
 the faces and the figures of the crippled beggars, is as remarkable 
 as the exquisite grace of the forms and attitudes of the women and 
 the children whom he has placed beside them. It might be sup- 
 posed, by those who are comparative. strangers to sickness, 
 disease, and deformity, that the painter had here exaggerated 
 the effect of those evils. It may be said, that though this man 
 was a cripple and a beggar, yet he had friends, and that their 
 kindness would have had, by its constant and long exercise, some 
 happy effect upon his character and appearance. A better ac- 
 quaintance with the besetting sins of the class to which the man 
 belonged, and a more thoughtful consideration of the Scripture 
 record concerning him, will enable us to appreciate the truth- 
 fulness of the painter’s conception. The man had friends, but 
 they were either unable or unwilling to bear the burden of his 
 support. To be carried twice a day, for years, to and from the 
 temple at the hours of prayer, by persons who were able, but not 
 inclined to render further assistance, must have been almost as 
 
40 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 insupportable as to lie there, and see the multitudes coming in 
 and going out in the fulness of health and strength. Supposing, 
 which may not be improbable, that those who waited upon the 
 cripple were pitiful, though poor, still it would have been a hard 
 trial for him to have added, and that daily and for years, to the 
 difficulties of those who were weary and heavy-laden with the 
 cares of this world. 
 
 The expression in the beggar’s face, might be attributed, though 
 we hardly can conceive it, to the mental anguish of an inde- 
 pendent spirit. The solution of the matter is, alas! very 
 different. There is an unsightliness in all disease and deformity. 
 There is, for the most part, a peculiar repulsiveness in the looks 
 and appearance of those who have been afflicted with infirmities 
 from their birth. This fact is too well known to those who are 
 acquainted with the inmates of the hospitals and refuges which 
 have been founded by Christian charity for their reception and 
 care. In addition to this natural and, therefore, ordained con- 
 nexion between repulsiveness and deformity, it is necessary to 
 calculate, if it be possible, the force of those temptations of the 
 diseased and deformed which make fearful havoc of what are 
 called our natural good feelings. Only those who are the re- 
 latives, or those who are the nurses of the incurable, can form 
 any correct estimate of the peevishness, selfishness, and tyranny 
 of these miserable beings.* The expression of their countenances 
 may be safely taken as an index of their character. 
 
 Raphael has fairly represented, in the cripple before us, the 
 class to which the man belonged. The painter has, however, 
 evidently wished us to understand that there are happy excep- 
 tions; he has, therefore, introduced a cripple resting upon a 
 crutch, whose countenance is of a wholly different cast. You 
 can see at once that he must have had some other support besides 
 
 * Miss Nightingale says, ‘‘Believe me, almost azy sick person, who behaves 
 decently well, exercises more self-control every moment of his day than you will ever 
 know till you are sick yourself; if he can speak without being savage, and look with- 
 out being unpleasant, he is exercising self-control.” — Votes on Nursing, p. 35. 
 
Peter and Fohn Healing the Lame Man. 4I 
 
 that wooden prop. His life has, indeed, been a walk through a 
 valley of the shadow of death ; but God had been with him, and 
 His rod and His staff have comforted him. You are reminded, 
 as you gaze upon that picture of resignation, of the words of one 
 who went through great tribulation: “Unless Thy law had been 
 my delights, I should then have perished in my affliction.” 
 
 The words of Peter are evidently taking effect. They are 
 mixed with faith by the man to whom they are addressed. The 
 feet and ankle-bones, so palpably the seat of the lameness, will 
 presently receive strength. ‘Everything is possible to him that 
 believes, for with God nothing shall be impossible.” We can see 
 that faith in that Name which is above every name is making the 
 man strong; the faith which is by Him is giving him perfect 
 soundness. “Blessed is he that believeth; for there shall be a 
 performance of those things that are told him from the Lord.” 
 
 We may now turn and notice the surrounding figures, and we 
 shall see how Raphael has provided for the relief of our feelings, 
 after witnessing the miracle. The tension is gradually lessened. 
 Our wonder and our gratitude are shared by many in the crowd. 
 Those who are thronging the apostle John, and the soldier at 
 the right-hand corner of the picture, evidently recognise the 
 finger of God. Others appear to be in ignorance of what has 
 happened, and some look on as if Peter and John had merely 
 been giving money to the beggar, whom they had often noticed 
 receiving alms. These persons are evidently those who are 
 either just arriving at the gate, or those who have been into the 
 temple and are passing out on their way home. | 
 
 Raphael, by the treatment of his subjects, not only succeeds in 
 fixing the attention of the spectator on the present, but he enables 
 him to recall the past and to anticipate the future. The con- 
 nexion of events, and the passing nature of the scenes, are so re- 
 presented as to excite sensations similar to those we experience 
 in real life. After studying this cartoon, we find that we have 
 been overhearing Peter and John discussing the question, whether 
 they ought to go up to the temple to pray after the vail had been 
 
42 The Cartoons of Raphael. ~ 
 
 rent in twain, and they had given up their faith in its sacrifices ; 
 we have met the cripple as he was being carried, and have seen 
 him laid against the column; we have witnessed the whole scene 
 of the miracle. The spell continues upon us; and in the soldier 
 we see the first of the five thousand who will hear and believe ; 
 in the look of the bigot, who stands by the adjoining pillar—a 
 monument of the power of prejudice—we feel the darkening of 
 the sky, and we anticipate the coming of the priest and the 
 captain of the temple, and the imprisonment of Peter and John. 
 
 The accessory figures in this cartoon, like those in the others, 
 have all their purpose. Each one is necessary to the explanation 
 of the painter's meaning. There are no redundant words in the 
 sentence in which he utters his truth. The fulness and richness 
 of the diction, in this instance, makes the expositor’s task almost 
 endless. We must leave the other figures to our readers. Those 
 who have learnt the pictorial alphabet will experience but little 
 difficulty in perceiving why the painter has introduced the third 
 cripple, and the mothers with their children. Those who are only 
 beginning to read pictures, will find that they notice in the car- 
 toons, the same points which attract their attention in common 
 life, and that they will commence making their comments on the 
 persons they see there, as if they had really met them. The 
 young mother, for instance, who, with her attendant is passing the 
 soldier, evidently belongs to the higher class, and she is leaving 
 the temple, after having presented, what appears to be, her first- 
 born son. The mother, on the opposite side, whose boy is old 
 enough to carry her sacrifice, is in humble circumstances ; her 
 offering is the “sacrifice of the poor;” the birds are pigeons, and 
 from the state of their feathers, which are painted with great care 
 in the original, you can see that they are young. 
 
feo CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL, 
 
 No. IV. 
 
 Che Meath of Anantas. 
 
 ** And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled 
 together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of 
 God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and 
 of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was 
 his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles 
 witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 
 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of 
 lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and 
 laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man 
 according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, 
 (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of 
 Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ 
 feet. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 
 and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain 
 part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan 
 filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of 
 the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it 
 not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou 
 hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell 
 down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these 
 things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried 
 him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing 
 what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the 
 land for so much? And she said, Yea, forso much. Then Peter said unto her, How 
 is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of 
 them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then 
 fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men 
 came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband, 
 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.” — 
 PeOre it. 21-37; ¥. I-11. 
 
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THE DEATH OF ANANIAS. 
 
 **And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down,” —ACTS Vv. 5. 
 
 HE spectator, especially if he belongs to the school which 
 refuses to acknowledge the realities of life, should re- 
 member the mission of Raphael, or he may too readily condemn 
 the taste of the artist in choosing to depict this terrible scene. 
 This cartoon was not painted to hang among the pictures at a 
 place of amusement, but it was originally designed for the Sistine 
 Chapel at Rome. It was not intended to disturb those who were 
 seeking relaxation in a day’s pleasure; but it was meant to meet 
 the eye of those who professed to have renounced even the most 
 innocent enjoyments of this world. The choice of the subject, 
 instead of furnishing any ground for disputing the taste of 
 Raphael, should be regarded as a proof of his courage. He was 
 not afraid to place before those who were making the greatest 
 pretensions in Christendom the fearful doom of the first hypocrite 
 in the Christian Church. 
 
 The passage that contains the narrative of this fact is found 
 generally to be as repulsive as its pictorial representation. Very 
 few readers of the Bible search ‘the scripture that records the 
 death of Ananias. If it be read through at all, it is, for the most 
 part, so hastily passed over, that the popular errors that prevail 
 ‘ concerning the occurrence are not discovered. There is also a 
 very general indisposition to believe in the severity as well as 
 the goodness of God, and thus it is that this event is regarded 
 with so much prejudice and perplexity. 
 
 The incorrectness of some of the divisions of the Bible into 
 
 chapters and verses, has often led to a misconception of revealed 
 D 
 
48 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 truth. Very frequently, as in the present case, the text is so 
 mutilated, that the cursory reader receives only a partial, and 
 therefore an erroneous, impression of the Divine record. The 
 Death of Ananias has become one of “those things which are 
 hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and un- 
 stable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own 
 destruction.” 
 
 We do not imagine that our readers are strolling through this 
 world, making their whole life a day of pleasure, having deter- 
 mined to shut their ears to truths, and to turn away their eyes 
 from facts, which might lead them to examine themselves, 
 whether they be in the faith, Had they been merely pleasure- 
 seekers, we should long ere this have become tired of each other. 
 If, however, we had met any of them in the Cartoon Gallery, as 
 they were strengthening themselves by a day of relaxation, we 
 should not have drawn their attention to this cartoon, and most 
 assuredly, we should not have forced upon them any untimely 
 exposition of its fearful subject. We suppose our readers to be 
 at home, and that, looking at the photographs, they read these 
 papers in very much the same spirit as that in which they are 
 written. Wewill not do them the injustice to fancy that it is 
 the opinion of any of them that Ananias was struck dead by 
 Peter, or that Sapphira was led to criminate herself by the 
 questioning of the apostle. The only light in which a picture 
 can be fairly seen is that light in which it was painted ; and we 
 write under the conviction that our readers occupy the same 
 position as ourselves—that they believe in the Divine severity as 
 well as the Divine goodness—that they have discovered hypocrisy 
 to be the sin that most easily besets us as religious men—and 
 that they regard hypocrisy as the lie direct to God. 
 
 If the text of Raphael’s copy of the Scriptures had been 
 separated in the same manner as that in our own version, then 
 the painter deserves credit for a discernment in which even 
 many a Bible expositor has been deficient. He has taken the 
 unbroken narrative, and, working in the light of the context, he 
 
The Death of Ananias. 49 
 
 has represented the scene in a manner which will commend 
 itself to those who read the Bible in paragraphs rather than 
 in chapters. 
 
 The painter had found that it was impossible to reproduce the 
 architecture of the Beautiful gate of the temple, and that its 
 delineation was unnecessary in setting forth the story of the 
 miracle on the lame man. He, however, saw that a represent- 
 ation of the upper room in an Eastern house was absolutely 
 requisite in any picture of 7he Death of Ananias, which would 
 unfold the mystery of his iniquity and the justice of his doom. 
 We have, therefore, in this cartoon, one of those apartments 
 which had been constructed for the use of the Jews who came up 
 to Jerusalem at the various feasts. The railed platform (evidently 
 of late erection) has been introduced by the apostles for the 
 purpose of facilitating the reception and the distribution of the 
 new-born charity of the Church. The commonness of the 
 material of which it is composed, the manifest cheapness of the 
 whole structure, with the meagre curtain which hangs at the 
 back, all shew that the greatest economy has been observed. 
 On the right hand, those enter who are giving up their property ; 
 on the left hand, “distribution is made to every man according 
 as he has need.” The double-minded man mingles with these 
 single-hearted people. He is accompanied by Barnabas, who, 
 with his wife, or some near relative or friend, are represented to 
 have been kneeling and laying their whole fortune at the feet of 
 the apostles. 
 
 The enormity of a sin is dependent not only upon the character 
 and the circumstances of a criminal, but also upon the place 
 where it is committed. If, therefore, as it is probable, Ananias 
 was in the very room where there had been, only very lately, 
 sensible proofs of the Divine presence; if this was the place 
 where the ten-days’ prayer-meeting had been held, and where the 
 apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost; and if, above all, this 
 was the large upper room so strangely marked out by our Lord 
 
 as the place where He would eat the Passover with His disciples 
 D2 
 
50 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 in the night in which He was betrayed; then, “surely, it was 
 none other than the House of God and the Gate of Heaven;” 
 and the guilt of Ananias becomes more apparent, and the awful- 
 ness of his doom less astounding. 
 
 It is for us, however, to remember, that we are utterly unable 
 to form any correct estimate of the iniquity of deceit. We do 
 not understand the sin, and therefore we cannot understand the 
 sentence of Ananias. There are times and seasons when the 
 darkness in which this event is for the most part obscured is 
 somewhat dissipated, just as there are days when the cartoon 
 becomes visible,* but even then we only see through a glass 
 darkly. As long as we are in the twilight of this world, sin and 
 death will remain mysteries to us. We must wait till we stand in 
 the light in which there is no darkness at all, before we can com- 
 prehend either the severity or the goodness of God. “Now we 
 know in part, but then we shall know even as we are known.” 
 
 Whatever may be the popular opinion, we read that “Our 
 God is a consuming fire.” The death of Ananias, the death that 
 is common to all men, the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, are all manifestations of the holiness of God, His hatred 
 of iniquity, and His purpose to put away sin. Light is thrown 
 upon the sin of the world by the death of our Lord,—upon the 
 sin of disobedience by the death that passes upon all men,— 
 upon the sin of hypocrisy by the death of Ananias. 
 
 The judgments of God are past finding out—* His way is in 
 the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are 
 not known.” It is worse than idleness to attempt to be wise 
 above what is written, in order to justify the ways of God to 
 men. No complete explanation can be given of the death of 
 Ananias, or of the death of any man, much less of the atoning 
 death of our Redeemer. ‘“ None can by searching find out God, 
 none can find out the Almighty unto perfection.” “The secret 
 things belong unto the Lord our God? but those things which are 
 
 * This cartoon used to hang in the dark, over the door of the gallery at Hamp- 
 ton Court. 
 
The Death of Ananias. 51 
 
 revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may 
 do all the words of His law.” 
 
 The subject of this picture is as difficult to conoid as it must 
 have been to paint; and any expositor may sit with advantage at 
 the feet of Raphael, and learn the only possible way in which it 
 may be successfully treated. The great artist had evidently no 
 other design than that of representing the fact as he found it set 
 down in the Sacred Record ; and he felt that if he followed the 
 Scripture story, a similar effect would be produced by his picture 
 as that which resulted from the scene it delineates. Raphael 
 painted from revelation as he painted from nature. It is in this 
 that his great strength lies, and it is this which makes the car- 
 toons so precious to those who wish to realise the scenes they 
 delineate, and to learn the lessons they were intended to teach. 
 
 Finding that the narrative had been recorded for the perpetual 
 admonition of the Church against hypocrisy, forgetting the con- 
 ventional laws of taste, Raphael seems to have been wholly 
 swayed, in the composition and treatment of this cartoon, by a 
 desire to echo the Divine Warning. This purpose not only led 
 him to choose this subject, but it governed him also in the 
 selection of the time of the picture. 
 
 The Apostle Peter has just spoken, and Ananias has fallen to 
 the ground. Barnabasand his companion start back with horror, 
 finding that they have been holding communion with one who was 
 of “the fellowship of Satan.’ The body of the hypocrite is 
 writhing in convulsions, and in another moment it will be a corpse. 
 The catastrophe is so sudden, that it is seen and known only by 
 those who happen to be near at the time. Two Christians who 
 have come to present their offerings are the closest figures; neither 
 of them, however, offer to support the dying man, who rests for 
 a moment on his left wrist. The apostles leave him to perish in 
 his iniquity, looking on, as ifthey had been suddenly endued with 
 those feelings which will be given to the redeemed in the last and 
 great day of account. Ananias is dying without mercy, but one 
 person seems to suppose that there is a shadow of hope, and he 
 
52 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 only half stoops to point the insensible man to the Apostle James, 
 who, by his uplifted hand, reminds the disciple that the judgment 
 has been inflicted by One against whom there is no appeal. 
 
 The age and character of Ananias are told with great clearness. 
 He is represented as having been in middle life, and of a coarse 
 appearance. Overacting his part, he had stripped himself of his 
 upper garment, and in that, may be, he is wound up, and hurried 
 to his grave. Perhaps his money was buried with him. 
 
 Turning away from this awful revelation of the severity of God, 
 we come directly into contact with that manifestation of His good- 
 ness, which he was displaying in the conduct of those who really 
 believed. The Apostle John, and another disciple, are attending 
 to the claims made upon the bounty of the Church ; and the dis- 
 tribution of the charity is represented to have been undisturbed 
 at the first part of the scene. The painter thus expresses the un- 
 expectedness of the catastrophe, and at the same time alleviates 
 the feeling of the spectator. There is apparently (and this is, 
 doubtless, the cause of the abstraction of the distributors) some 
 difficulty raised by a claimant, who is evidently, from the expres- 
 sion of his countenance, dissatisfied with the amount which he 
 is receiving. Raphael is thus suggesting, as in his introduction of 
 Sapphira on the opposite side, the future. We have in the 
 beggarly face of the man, who is discontented with the portion 
 allotted to him, the hint of the murmuring of the Grecians against 
 the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily 
 ministrations. Our knowledge of human nature enables us easily 
 to understand, that no distribution of charitable funds, although 
 made by apostolic hands, would give universal satisfaction. 
 
 The scripture recording this awful judgment was written for 
 our admonition who profess and call ourselves Christians; and 
 those amongst us will do well to take heed to it, who have linked 
 the destiny of another with our own. A profession of religion 
 was the ruin of Ananias. That which might have been a savour 
 of life unto life, became a savour of death unto death. The 
 means of grace issued in damnation. Carried by the pressure of 
 
The Death of Ananias. 53 
 
 the multitude into the Holy of Holies, he was detected, denounced, 
 and doomed. “He fell down, and gave up the ghost ;” for he 
 was where only the just can live, and where a foothold can only 
 be maintained by faith. Had Ananias been content to keep the 
 whole of his property, and to make the best of this world, he 
 would, in all probability, have lived on, and died the death that 
 is common to all men. Had he been unmarried, he would have 
 escaped the fearful force of the temptation that besets the closest 
 relationship into which we are brought in this life; the idea of the 
 possibility of making the best of both worlds might have occurred 
 to him, and he might have made some other attempt to serve God 
 and Mammon; the words of the apostle, however, lead to the sup- 
 position that this iniquity was the result of the united influence 
 of the man and the wife over each other, and that, without the 
 strength of this union, their hearts would not have been fully set 
 to do this evil. Which of the unhappy pair was first in the trans- 
 gression, does not appear; no time is allowed the man who 
 introduced hypocrisy into the second Eden, to lay the blame upon 
 his wife. The woman betrays her reprobate mind by her answer 
 to Peter; had she been an unwilling accomplice, she would have 
 seized with gratitude the opportunity for confession which was 
 afforded her by the question of the apostle. Both of them, how- 
 ever, appear to have gone too far to return. Neither had the 
 disposition to repent; making shipwreck of faith and a good 
 conscience, they had become alike hardened through the deceit- 
 fulness of sin. They had united themselves in their hypocrisy, 
 and they were not divided in their death. 
 
 Further light is thrown upon the Szz of Ananias by the re- 
 membrance of the contest, that has lasted for six thousand years 
 in this world, between the God of truth and the father of lies ;— 
 that this man lived at the commencement of the final conflict, 
 which is to end in the destruction of the works of the devil, and 
 the restoration of the redeemed to the uprightness in which the 
 race was at first created ;—and above all, that Ananias had been 
 made partaker of the Holy Ghost, that he had been enlightened, 
 
54 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 and tasted of the heavenly gift, but that, quenching the Spirit, he 
 held the truth in unrighteousness. It was at such a time, and in 
 such a condition, that he came as the people of God came, and 
 knelt where they did; and while they were yielding up themselves 
 and all they had, he presented to the God of truth the offering 
 of a lie. . 
 
 Further light is thrown upon the Death of Ananias when we 
 remember that the severity as well as the goodness of God had 
 been just manifested in a way in which it had never been before 
 displayed. Ananias lived when God was manifest in the flesh. 
 Neither the Divine justice nor the Divine mercy had been ever 
 seen, or ever known, till the only-begotten Son, who is in the 
 bosom of the Father, declared them. A few weeks before this 
 awful visitation, our Lord had come to the Church, to whom less 
 was given, and convicted, warned, and denounced the hypocrites 
 that He found there: the Church of whom more was required, 
 would be forewarned, by the loudness and nearness of the thunder, 
 of the danger that hung over them, if they did not take heed and 
 beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. 
 
 The facts of Scripture, like the events of Providence, should be 
 studied in their connexion. In this way, many narratives and 
 many circumstances become less perplexing, though not less 
 mysterious. The popular surprise and horror, which are occa- 
 sioned by reading the first verses in the fifth chapter-of the Book 
 of the Acts, (and which utterly prevent the wholesome fear 
 which the event was intended to produce,) will never be felt by 
 those who are accustomed to search, remember, and compare 
 the Scriptures. There are passages, both in revelation and 
 in. providence, that should never be contemplated alone. The 
 reading of the record of the doom of the first hypocrite in the 
 Christian Church should be ever preceded, or followed, by the 
 study of the 23rd chapter in the Gospel according to Matthew. 
 
fee CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 No, .¥; 
 The Condberston of Sergius Paulus. 
 
 ‘* And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their 
 ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now there were in 
 the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and 
 Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been 
 brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and 
 fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
 I have called them, And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on 
 them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed 
 unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at 
 Salamis they preached the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews: and they 
 had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto 
 Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was 
 Bar-jesus : which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent | 
 man ; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But 
 Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to 
 turn away the deputy from the faith, Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, 
 thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert 
 the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, 
 and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell 
 on him a mist and a darkness ; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the 
 hand. ‘Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at 
 the doctrine of the Lord.” —AcTs xii. 25, xili, 1-12. 
 
Poe ON VERSION OF SERGIUS PAULUS. 
 
 “Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the 
 doctrine of the Lord,” —ACTS xiii. 12. 
 
 Y this time, our readers must be finding themselves somewhat 
 at home amongst the cartoons,—able, in some measure, to 
 understand the secret of Raphael’s power over them, and ready 
 to anticipate the profit and the pleasure which are still in reserve. 
 They will remember that the three cartoons which have yet to 
 be studied, form part of the series of five, in which the painter 
 represented the leading events in the. life of Paul, and that the 
 first and the fourth are lost. 
 
 Some twelve years transpired between the Death of Ananias 
 and the Conversion of Sergius Paulus. It may be well just to 
 glance at the connexion of these events. The dissatisfaction 
 that was manifested, in the last cartoon, amongst some who were 
 receiving alms, led to the election of special officers for dispens- 
 ing the charity of the Church. One of these deacons, “Stephen, 
 a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost,” made himself obnoxious 
 to the Sanhedrim, and met with a violent death at the hands of 
 a Jerusalem mob. His murder was followed by the persecution 
 of the Church, and the conversion of Saul. The apostles re- 
 mained mostly at Jerusalem. The scattered believers went 
 everywhere, even as far as Cyprus, preaching the word, but 
 “preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.” | 
 
 Saul appears to have spent in Arabia the first three years after 
 his conversion, and there he doubtless received that revelation of 
 “his” gospel, of which he afterwards makes such frequent mention 
 in his letters. Returning to Damascus, he is driven thence by 
 
60 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 the hostility of the Jews; and going up to Jerusalem, where—by 
 the mediation of Barnabas—he obtains an acknowledgment from 
 the apostles of his Christianity, he is again persecuted and 
 obliged to flee for his life. Saul had been spending several years 
 at Tarsus, when he is at last sought out by Barnabas, who had 
 been commissioned by the Church at Jerusalem to visit Antioch. 
 In this city, where Gentiles were received into Christian fellow- 
 ship with Jews, Paul and Barnabas “assembled themselves a 
 whole year with the church, and taught much people.” It was 
 at this place, and at this time, that “the disciples were first called ~ 
 Christians ;”—at the place where “the middle wall of partition 
 was first broken down”—at the time when, moved by the Holy 
 Ghost, the Church began to see that “Jesus Christ was the pro- 
 pitiation not for their sins only, but also for the sins of the whole 
 world.” 
 
 Raphael, with his accustomed spiritual insight, has selected 
 this era in the history of the Church for illustration; and we 
 have, standing before us in this cartoon, the man who first began 
 to go throughout the whole world, and to preach the gospel to 
 every creature. The first cartoon in the series which was devoted 
 to the history of the life of Paul, depicted his conversion and his 
 call. That has been lost; this, which is the second, represents 
 him at the commencement of his first missionary journey. 
 
 The ordinary title of this cartoon would lead the spectator to 
 suppose that its subject was The Llinding of Elymas, rather than 
 that which has been placed at the head of this paper. We are 
 not alone, happily, in an opinion that this picture was painted 
 with the same purpose as that for which the scripture was written 
 in which we have the record of the event it describes. A careful 
 reader of the 13th chapter of the Acts, will gather from the 
 narrative that the sacred historian is giving an account of The 
 Conversion of Sergius Paulus. The Blinding of Elymas is re- 
 ferred to, but only as a subsidiary fact. Zhe Conversion of 
 Sergius Paulus is the subject of the Bible paragraph, and the 
 attentive spectator will find it to be the subject of the cartoon. 
 
The Conversion of Sergius Paulus. OI 
 
 At first sight there appear to be three principal figures—the 
 apostle, the proconsul, and the sorcerer. The eye, instinctively 
 following the direction in which the attention of the whole com- 
 pany is turned, rests for a time upon Elymas, who is crouching 
 under the sudden judgment of blindness; unsatisfied, it is led 
 away by the index finger, which is pointing over the sorcerer’s 
 head, towards Paul; dwelling, at last, on the central figure, 
 (perhaps because it is the only one that is seated,) the spectator 
 begins to feel that he must study Sergius Paulus, if he would 
 discover the event that is taking place. He studies in vain, till, 
 a little under the line of the eye, he discovers the printed direc- 
 tions of the artist, and reading them, he understands, at last, the 
 scene that is passing before him. We approach this picture 
 much in the same way as we are sometimes drawn to a crowd; 
 we look on, and though we have a good view of the passing 
 transaction, we are utterly unable to understand what is taking 
 place, till we are distinctly told by some bystander. 
 
 It would seem that the device was beneath the genius of the 
 painter, and that by a different method of treatment, he might 
 have obviated the humbling necessity of a verbal explanation. 
 Raphael appears to have been free from the anxieties that are 
 ever disturbing inferior men. He had no petty ambition to 
 appear to be omnipotent. He knew, and was not afraid to 
 acknowledge, the limit of his art. He, of course, lays himself 
 open to the imputation of weakness, but he does so with the 
 same unconcern as, in taking his figure of Paul from Masaccio, 
 he exposes himself to the charge of plagiarism. Raphael was so 
 well known to be rich, that he could afford to borrow, and with 
 his well-earned reputation for strength, he might be careless 
 about any appearance of weakness. 
 
 The inscription, which occupies so prominent a place, was of 
 course intended to attract the attention of every spectator, and 
 we have but to read it to admire the humility and the wisdom of 
 the painter. Holloway, in order, perhaps, to preserve the title of 
 his engraving, Elymas the Sorcerer struck with Blindness, has, 
 
62 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 very consistently, omitted Raphael’s explanation. The photo- 
 graph, with its incorruptible fidelity and unreasoning wisdom, 
 has given every word. 
 
 There is now no question about the principal figure, or the 
 subject of the cartoon. The scene before us is no more 7he 
 Llinding of Elymas than it is The first Appearance of Paul as the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles. Both those events were subsidiary. The 
 apostle and the sorcerer are represented in the cartoon as they 
 are brought before us in the Scripture narrative, as secondary 
 figures. The conversion of the proconsul is declared by the 
 sacred writer to be the issue of the conflict between Elymas and 
 Paul. The cartoon echoes the words in which the historian 
 closes his account, “Then the deputy, when he saw what was 
 done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” 
 
 The great and ineffable change that was passing over Sergius 
 Paulus was beyond the power of Raphael to paint. He has, 
 nevertheless, done what he could. We have before us the 
 persons who were present at the time, and we can witness the 
 event that was the means of his turning to the faith. 
 
 The artist has adopted the same circular arrangement of the ~ 
 various figures as in the last cartoon, elevating those that are 
 - more distant, so that every one can see and be seén. But while 
 this point of similarity may be observed, we cannot help noticing 
 the striking difference between the two companies, and the two 
 places where they are gathered together. Barnabas, who is half- 
 hidden between two of the pillars of the Roman court, and who 
 ever occupies a subordinate position in this novel mission to the 
 Gentiles ;—Mark, who peers over the shoulder of one of the 
 lictors, and looks as if he were half inclined to run away from. 
 Paphos, as he did presently from Perga;—seem to remind us, 
 that a step has been taken, which was completely at variance 
 with the doctrine and the practice of the Church at Jerusalem. 
 
 As we look at Paul, “called of God and separated by the 
 Holy Ghost to bear the name of Christ before the Gentiles and 
 kings,’ we feel that he has commenced a career which will 
 
Lhe Conversion of Sergius Paulus. 63 
 
 estrange him from his fellow-believers, and which will issue in 
 his persecution, imprisonment, and death. 
 
 Paul has been travelling across the island of Cyprus—doubtless 
 walking, “carrying his baggage;”—-and he has no sooner arrived 
 at the seat of government, than he is sent for by “one in 
 authority,” whose heart the Lord must have opened, for “he 
 desires to hear the word of God.” Personal defects are frequently 
 forgotten in times of excitement. We are unconscious of any 
 bodily infirmity in that draped figure, as we gaze upon it, stand- 
 ing before us with its outstretched arm, as one having convictions 
 and an opportunity to express them. The apostle himself, for 
 the moment, has evidently lost sight of “his thorn in the flesh.” 
 
 Turning to the opposite corner, we find Bar-jesus, one of those 
 wandering Jews who infested the Roman empire, trading upon 
 the universal scepticism and superstition of the times. The 
 false prophet, evidently one who has not been carried away by 
 his own delusions, seems to be accompanied by his wife and a 
 disciple. He feels that, as Paul reasons of righteousness, the 
 proconsul is evidently listening, and is disposed to believe. The 
 hope of his gains is going, and, “full of all subtilty and mischief,” 
 he withstands the apostle, “seeking to turn away the deputy 
 from the faith.” 
 
 Sergius Paulus, supported on the one hand by lictors bearing 
 the fasces, and on the other by some superior officer, has been 
 seated listening first to Paul, and then to the attempt made by 
 the sorcerer to regain his loosened grasp, when a mist and a 
 darkness from the Divine hand silences with blindness “the 
 enemy of all righteousness, who is perverting the right ways of 
 the Lord.” The judgment upon Elymas is the means of the 
 conversion of the proconsul. While the mist has been changing 
 into a darkness over Elymas, a light has shone into the heart of 
 the deputy. His face, as yet, betrays no sign of his having 
 escaped from the thraldom of sin and Satan. It expresses his 
 mingled feelings of contempt for the impostor and self-reproach 
 for having been misled by him. He still retains his seat. He 
 
64 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 appears as if he would have risen, but is kept from doing so, not 
 from the habit of official etiquette,—for the time is too serious 
 for such a recollection—but from horror, lest he come into con- 
 tact with the detected deceiver, as he gropes about “ eS 
 some to lead him by the hand.” 
 
 There are difficulties connected with this event, as there are 
 with most others. Many objections may be urged by those who 
 are not “slow to speak,” against the judgments of God. Those who 
 are inclined, can stay and listen to the angry clamour of the 
 woman, who points to Paul as if he had been the author of the 
 calamity, and who seems to forget that the blindness was to be 
 only “for a season.” Let us hope that those who hear what this 
 foolish woman has to say, will receive her vociferations in the same 
 manner as that company of quiet, thoughtful men, whom she is 
 endeavouring to inflame with her passion. If we be ever moved, 
 by some sudden and severe stroke, to murmur against God, let us 
 pray that there may be as near to us as there is to this woman, 
 some one who shall point out to us the goodness that is ever to 
 be seen in the severity of God. 
 
 A Christian will be reminded by this cartoon of what may have 
 transpired at his own conversion, and of a fact that he may have 
 verified as he has sought the conversion of others. He may re- 
 member, that when divine grace began to work upon his mind, 
 leading him to “desire to hear the word of God,” there was, on 
 the one hand, some one in whom the Spirit of the Lord was— 
 it might have been a mother, a minister, a friend, or a teacher— 
 who sought to turn him from the error of his way, and to save 
 his soul from death. In direct antagonism to this heavenly 
 agency, there was, on the other hand, some companion who had 
 gained power over him, and who was using that power to prevent 
 his salvation. The same attempt is ever repeated ; and this re- 
 cord of the conversion of Sergius Paulus seems to have been 
 written for the special admonition of those who are being thus 
 hindered in their own salvation, or in the salvation of others, 
 “that they, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might 
 
The Conversion of Sergius Paulus. 65 
 
 have hope.” The Son of God has been, and ever will be, 
 manifested in the destruction of the works of the devil. 
 
 As soon as we are able to disengage the attention which 
 Raphael has concentrated upon this scene, we begin to notice 
 some of those details in the design and execution of the cartoon, 
 which, almost as much as the unity of its effect, betray the hand 
 of a master. The disciple of the sorcerer, deaf to the clamour 
 of his master’s wife, looks into the blinded face of the baffled 
 man, and tells us as he does so, not only that it is too true that 
 Elymas cannot see, but that he feels the judgment to be as just 
 as he finds it to have been effectual. The same knowledge of 
 the connexion which exists between the countenance and the 
 character that is displayed in the representations of Elymas and 
 his follower, is shewn again in the low, brutal expression in the 
 faces of the lictors. The hands and feet of the various figures 
 are marvellous instances of masterly drawing. 
 
 There is, however, no time for us. to lose. Following the 
 dictate of an instinct which teaches us the wish of the majority 
 of our readers, who have been arrested, like ourselves, with the 
 figure of Paul, we turn back to gaze upon it. This ideal portrait 
 is by no means popular. Most regard it with feelings of surprise 
 and disappointment. Every one, of course, admires the idea, 
 but many question its truth. A few of the spectators, who be- 
 long to the growing school of muscular Christianity, will be 
 gratified to find that the apostle, who has had most influence 
 over them, is so represented by Raphael, that they may very 
 fairly quote both the painter and his subject in favour of their 
 theory. The rest regard it as a mistake and an offence. 
 
 It may be necessary for those who would hastily condemn this 
 embodiment of the apostle as unnatural, to remember that often, 
 in real life, we are mortified, and even shocked, when we have 
 been for the first time introduced to some one whose image has 
 long lived in our fancy; that we are all portrait-painters, and 
 exposed to the besetting sin of the profession ; that we vary in 
 
 taste and talent, and necessarily produce our pictures in such a 
 E 
 
66 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 way as to make it highly probable that our likenesses of a 
 person will differ as greatly from each other as they often do 
 from the original. 
 
 Much of the surprise which this representation creates may be 
 attributed to the fact that, for the most part, the ideal portraits 
 of the apostle consist merely of a few confused lines, mingled 
 with some doubtful traditionary touches; whereas, here, we have 
 a full-length figure, actually and elaborately painted. There is 
 not only this great difference in the size and finish of the picture, 
 but it appears to have been produced on principles very different 
 to those which govern us in our compositions. In forming our 
 idea of a person whom we have never seen, we use chiefly our 
 knowledge of ourselves, our acquaintance with those around us, 
 and very often we put in some hints which have been taken from 
 eye-witnesses. In this way we try to compose a countenance 
 and figure which we conceive to be in harmony with a character. 
 Masaccio and Raphael, to whose united talent we owe this por- 
 trait of the apostle, were amongst the first—as those of our 
 readers who visited the Manchester Exhibition will remember— 
 to escape from the conventional school that, through tradition, 
 distorted the human body, much in the same way as the pro- 
 fessors of theology in the time of our Lord, wrested the 
 Scriptures. In this picture there is no trace of those vain 
 guesses, or crude conclusions, which,- entering as they do so 
 largely into the ideal portraits of the apostle, seem to remind us 
 of those grotesque and impossible beings which inspired the 
 devotees of the Middle Ages. 
 
 There is no historical information about the personal appear- 
 ance of the Apostle Paul. A sitting can only be obtained from 
 his Acts and his Epistles. Any fancy portrait-painter who 
 brings to his work a tolerably-correct acquaintance with the 
 general rules of his art, and a special remembrance that a man 
 who has succeeded in any arduous undertaking, is, as a law, in 
 possession of a bodily frame in some kind of keeping with the 
 purpose of his life, will produce, if he forgets himself and “the 
 
The Conversion of Sergius Paulus. 67 
 
 traditions of the elders,” and draws from Scripture, a result which 
 will, perhaps, contradict some of his former opinions. 
 
 There is more material for an ideal portrait of the apostle than 
 might be supposed. We have, for instance, many details about 
 his sufferings. We can learn from those references, that he was 
 forced by his detractors to make to the hardships and indignities 
 which he had endured, that he must have been in the possession 
 of a bodily frame of a very different order to the one which is 
 popularly allotted to him.* He once and again speaks of temp- 
 tations that are only known to those who possess a full physical 
 development. | We know that he was “in labours more 
 abundant ” than any of his cotemporaries, and that these /abours 
 involved the possession of bodily as well as spiritual power. 
 
 These facts would lead us to accept, as probably correct, this 
 representation of the apostle “in the flesh.” We do not, however, 
 forget that there was something in his appearance which was felt 
 by many to be despicable, and that. Paul himself was painfully 
 aware of the unfavorable impression that his presence often pro- 
 duced. There is no evidence, however, that the apostle was a 
 dwarf. We know that the apostle made “the thorn in the flesh ” 
 a matter for prayer. There are none, perhaps, who can think that 
 he asked to have a cubit added to his stature. Raphael, by 
 painting him in profile, seems to suggest that the face was the seat 
 of his infirmity. It would seem that Paul never fully recovered 
 from “the great light” which smote him to the ground at 
 Damascus, and that some disfigurement and weakness of the 
 eyes ever bore testimony to the fact. It might be to this that he 
 refers, when he says, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord 
 Jesus.” Great force is lent to Paul’s erect figure, by the strong 
 shadows on the pavement, thrown at a right angle. 
 
 Before turning away, we must observe one of those quiet hints 
 of the painter, by which he is always reminding us of some point 
 which we shall do well to notice. The book under the apostle’s 
 arm, perhaps one of those which in after years he left at Troas, 
 
 * 2 Cor, xi, 23-28, 4-4 Corte: 35-27. 
 E2 
 
68 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 seems to be only a trifle, but it is a striking index of purpose and 
 character. Any one may see that Raphael has not studied the 
 chronology of binding, but every one who knows Paul from his 
 Acts-and his Epistles will understand that the painter would have 
 us to remember that the apostle gave himself to reading. Those 
 who criticise the binding of the book are likely to urge the ob- 
 jection of the unlikelihood of the apostle being in possession of a 
 book, and especially at a time when he had just arrived from a 
 long journey. It would seem that Paul, though occasionally the 
 medium of supernatural works, never neglected the culture of 
 his natural abilities ; and while exhorting others to be diligent in 
 the use of ordinary means, practised himself what he preached. 
 He was a man of like feelings and passions with others. In his 
 Acts and his Epistles we find him acting and speaking as if he 
 were beset with the same temptations as ourselves. The book 
 under his arm will hardly need any explanation to those who 
 know anything of a missionary career. The apostle has felt, that 
 being called to go about and preach everywhere, he must, at the 
 very commencement, adopt a plan that will save him from that 
 desultoriness of character which is apt to grow upon any who 
 lead a wandering life. 
 
 The original drawing for this cartoon is in the Royal Library 
 at Windsor. 
 
fee ARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 Waul and BWarnabas Wejecting the Sacrifice 
 at Lystra, 
 
 ** And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the syna- 
 gogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also 
 of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made 
 their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they 
 speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and 
 granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city 
 was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when 
 there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, 
 to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled unto Lystra 
 and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: and there 
 they preached the gospel. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his 
 feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: the same heard 
 Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be 
 healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and 
 walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, 
 saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of 
 men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the 
 chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen 
 and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which 
 when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in 
 among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? 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. Nevertheless 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. 
 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done 
 sacrifice unto them. And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, 
 who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, sup- 
 posing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose 
 up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.” 
 —ACTS xiv. 1-20, 
 
5 
 
PAUL AND BARNABAS REJECTING THE SACRIFICE 
 750) be pg ee 
 
 “* Then the priest of Fupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands 
 unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the 
 apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes.” — ACTS xiv. 13, 14. 
 
 HE air of confusion which pervades this picture may be 
 regarded as one of its chief characteristics. It is almost 
 as distracting to look at this cartoon as it must have been to 
 witness the conflict which it represents. The whirlpool, created 
 by the meeting of the opposite tides of feeling, bewilders, and, 
 for the time, blinds the spectator. The masses of the Lystrians, 
 as they pour through the streets of their ancient city, are re- 
 ceiving the first check to their wild and impetuous fanaticism. 
 They stagger, and eddy, and foam under the shock. A few 
 converts may be observed amongst the multitude; one disciple 
 being very conspicuous, as, anticipating the mind of the apostles, 
 he stretches over the ox, barely in time to arrest its death-blow. 
 Paul and Barnabas are rushing out of the house, where they 
 have been resting, in utter unconsciousness of this issue of the 
 miracle upon the lame man. Paul meets, at the very door-step, 
 a priest bringing a ram, and, overcome with horror, is rending 
 his clothes. This is the moment chosen by the painter. The 
 apostles have not yet run in amongst the people. The time is 
 given to the instant, for you can see, by the half-lifted foot of 
 Barnabas, that he is poising himself, having been hindered by 
 the sudden stopping of Paul. 
 One other cartoon in the series pau tae: at first sight, a 
 similar impression of confusion; but, in that, the spectator 
 
74 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 presently loses the distraction which, in this, seems to grow upon 
 him as he stands and gazes. The mob that is gathering here 
 after the healing of the heathen cripple is altogether a different 
 assemblage to the crowd that we noticed about Zhe Beautiful 
 Gate, when Peter and John made the Jerusalem beggar to walk. 
 The people who were frequenting the temple at the hour of 
 prayer were insulated by the columns, and kept apart in all the 
 individuality of their separate errands; and it was very evident 
 that many of them were ignorant of the cure that was being 
 effected. Here, however, the prodigy has been noised abroad, 
 and the swarming multitudes press upon each other in an 
 unbroken mass. 
 
 Raphael always laid his architecture under contribution. The 
 associations connected with the prztorium and the conversion of 
 Sergius Paulus,—the upper room and the sin and death of 
 Ananias,—are only rivalled by the power with which we shall see 
 that the painter compels the buildings around Paul, as he 
 preaches at Athens, to tell their part in the tale. In the car- 
 toon of Zhe Beautiful Gate, by the device of the pillars, Raphael 
 has subdued*the effect of confusion; here he has intensified it, 
 by placing buildings in the background which seem half asleep 
 with very age. 
 
 The idea of haste is also a very prominent feature in this com- 
 position. There was a reason, as will presently appear, why 
 there should be no delay made by the Lycaonians in the 
 acknowledgment of the appearance of their gods. The im- 
 pression of hurry is given by the uplifted axe, just as the air of 
 confusion is conveyed by the maze of intricate lines, formed by 
 the moving figures which surge, swell, and break like the waves 
 of a troubled sea. 
 
 The photograph has exaggerated the chiaro-oscuro of the 
 original, and by this manceuvre has succeeded in gaining golden 
 opinions from embarrassed and impatient spectators. They are 
 placed at once, unlawfully, and somewhat abruptly, in possession 
 of the circumstances which have occasioned the tumult. Without 
 
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 75 
 
 trespassing upon their time, or asking them to think, photo- 
 graphy, with the unscrupulousness of popular oratory, has 
 sacrificed truth to effect. Raphael evidently intended that we 
 should, for a time, be kept in ignorance, just as we can see that 
 he has made it possible for us, if we are patient and thoughtful, 
 to find out for ourselves the clue to the mystery. We are first 
 to be sufficiently impressed with the perplexity of the scene, and 
 then we may learn, gradually, the exact state of the case. The 
 broken light, scattered over the whole picture, serves, as well as 
 the fretwork of lines, to dazzle the sight and dissipate the atten- 
 tion; giving up ourselves to the painter, we are quickly lost in 
 the forest of people, and we remain bewildered till our eye 
 catches the line of the uplifted axe, which has been used by 
 Raphael to connect the statue of Mercury with the figure of its 
 gospel antitype; and we then understand that the apostle has 
 been mistaken, by the superstitious and unsophisticated in- 
 habitants of Lystra, for the fabled messenger of their tutelar 
 deity. 
 
 A necessity was laid upon the photograph to reproduce the 
 convoluted forms of the various objects; it has, however, done its 
 best, by deepening the shadows, to deaden the distracting effect of 
 the original, and by concentrating and heightening the light that 
 falls upon those who are hastening and those who are interrupting 
 the sacrifice, it gives a premature revelation of the secret. By 
 accident, the yellow Mercury of the original, working necessarily 
 black in the photograph, comes forward, and forces itself upon 
 the spectator, compelling him to notice the satisfaction with which 
 it is receiving the homage of its devotees. 
 
 Whilst the disciples of Raphael must be annoyed with this 
 exaggeration they will readily perceive, and thankfully appreciate, 
 the kindness with which the photograph has hidden the diminu- 
 tive head of the axe, and the cleverness with which it has 
 restored the battered altar. The axe is, of course, the weapon 
 of destruction, but its head, to have been effective, should have 
 been much larger than it is. It lacks also the fatal spike. 
 
70 The Cartoons of Raphael 
 
 It was lessened by pictorial licence, much in the same way as the 
 boats in the cartoon of The Miraculous Draught. In the photo- 
 graph, this inconsistency of size is lost in the obscurity of the 
 shadow ; and the altar, which is in a sad state of decay through 
 time and ill-usage, has, because it was painted in monochrome, 
 and is now nearly colourless, yielded itself up implicitly to the 
 restorative process of the sunbeam. 
 
 The subject of this cartoon is taken, in common with The 
 Conversion of Sergius Paulus, from the first missionary journey 
 of the Apostle Paul; and we shall be better able to understand 
 the event, and to form a fairer estimate of Raphael’s treatment, 
 if we recall the intermediate history. 
 
 Paul, Barnabas, and Mark, in the true spirit of missionaries, 
 did not stay long at Paphos; but, taking one of the small craft 
 which lay in the harbour bound for the opposite gulf of Attaleia, 
 they cross over to the mainland of Asia Minor, and, travelling a 
 few miles, they arrive at Perga in Pamphylia. It would seem 
 that the apostle is referring to this route when he is speaking to 
 the Corinthians of “the perils of waters, and the perils of 
 robbers,” to which he had been exposed as he went about every- 
 where preaching the gospel. The district abounded in waterfloods, 
 and its inhabitants added to the difficulties and dangers of 
 travellers by their lawless and predatory habits. These toils and 
 risks doubtless influenced Mark, and were the occasion, quite as 
 much as any yearning after home, or any lack of hearty 
 sympathy in the new movement, for his departure to Jerusalem.* 
 As we see him turning back after having put his hand to the 
 plough, we are thankful to learn, from the subsequent record in 
 the Acts and the Epistles, that he repented, and returned to the 
 work. 
 
 Except on their way back, the apostles did not stay at Perga, 
 but pushing their way over the rugged mountain-passes, they 
 
 * Below the cartoons, as they hung in the’ Sistine Chapel, there were pedestal 
 pictures executed in a gold metallic colour. The Departure of Mark was the subject 
 represented beneath Zhe Rejection of the Sacrifice at Lystra.” 
 
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. a7 
 
 came upon the central table-land, and reaching Antioch in 
 Pisidia, they worship in the synagogue of the Jews. Paul seems 
 often to have availed himself of his rabbinical status, (for he had 
 not been excommunicated by the Sanhedrin,) whenever he came 
 into contact with his countrymen, much in the same way as we 
 find him, once and again, standing upon his Roman rights. 
 Availing himself of the opportunity afforded him by the rulers of 
 the synagogue, he commences a discourse which bears a strong 
 resemblance to the one delivered by Stephen before the council 
 at Jerusalem. There is not only the same train of thought, but 
 the same sudden change of style at the close, produced doubtless 
 by a similar manifestation of anger and malice on the part of 
 the Jews. 
 
 The preaching of Paul leads to the breaking up of the congre- 
 gation. Most of the Jews go out of the synagogue. The 
 proselytes remain, and beg the apostles to repeat their message 
 the next Sabbath. Paul and Barnabas are followed, as they 
 leave, by a mixed multitude of “ Jews and religious proselytes, 
 and speaking to them, they persuade them to continue in the 
 grace of God.” The next Sabbath, the whole city assembles, and 
 a riot ensues. Jewish exclusiveness is exasperated by the 
 liberalism of Christianity. The gospel is rejected by the Jews, 
 and the apostle, shaking the responsibility of his mission to them 
 from his soul, as he presently shakes the dust of their city from 
 his feet, turns to the Gentiles. The envy of bigotry that led 
 them first to contradict-and blaspheme, grows into the malice of 
 persecution, and through the influence of some of their proselytes, 
 who were the wives of persons in authority, Paul and Barnabas 
 are expelled out of their coasts. 
 
 Traversing the bare uplands that lie between Antioch and the 
 plain of Iconium, the apostles preach in the synagogue of that 
 city, and so speak, that a great multitude, both of the Jews and 
 the Greeks also believe. “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up 
 the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the 
 brethren.” The former persecution is repeated. The contest 1s, 
 
78 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 however, prolonged in this instance, and many signs and won- 
 ders are granted as a Divine testimony to the mission. The 
 whole city becomes interested. At first there is a schism— 
 “part holding with the Jews, and part with the apostles.” At 
 last there is an assault, and the apostles, to escape death by 
 stoning, are compelled to flee. 
 
 Paul and Barnabas now retire into a wilder region, and coming 
 to Lystra, a city of Lycaonia, they find themselves amongst a 
 people untouched either by Jewish prejudice or Roman 
 civilisation. : : 
 
 There was no synagogue at Lystra, and its rude and credulous 
 population retained their belief in the traditions, and their use of 
 the dialect of their ancestors. At Paphos, the apostles had 
 preached where the Cyprian goddess had first landed when she 
 rose from the sea; they are now where, as the legend ran, 
 Jupiter had once appeared in human shape, and had visited 
 Lycaon, a king of Arcadia. The people were prepared to offer 
 the god divine honours, but they were prevented from doing so 
 by Lycaon, who was metamorphosed by the enraged deity into 
 a wolf. 
 
 Having no synagogue as a starting point, the proceedings of 
 the apostles would be somewhat altered, and they must have 
 adopted the plan that is common amongst modern missionaries, 
 and have entered into conversation in the streets with bystanders. 
 While, however, there was no place of Jewish worship in Lystra, 
 there was a Jewish family. One of its inhabitants had married a 
 Jewess, and the woman, with her mother and son, were living in 
 this outlandish city when Paul came there preaching the gospel. 
 The sacred historian, in one of those verses in which much time 
 is contained in a very few words, refers to the fact that some 
 interval elapsed before the incident occurred which is represented 
 in this cartoon. It is probable that it was during this period 
 that Paul first became acquainted with Lois, Eunice, and 
 Timothy. The necessary isolation in which this family would 
 live,—far removed from all their past hallowed associations, and 
 
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. 79 
 
 shut out from anything like friendly contact with their neighbours, 
 —would dispose them, in a measure, to receive with favour the 
 strange tidings of their countryman; and a remembrance of the 
 fact will serve somewhat to explain the personal regard the 
 apostle had for them, and his high estimate of their faith. They 
 are not the last exiles who have been given as seals to mission- 
 aries, nor are they the only believers whose faith has owed much 
 of its purity and power to the solitude of a foreign land. 
 Raphael appears, as we shall see, to have supposed that they had 
 become believers before the miracle was wrought upon the cripple. 
 
 It was while preaching at Lystra, in some place of public 
 resort, that the attention of Paul was attracted by a certain man 
 impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb. 
 The lame man had been listening with a faith that betrayed 
 itself in his countenance. He seems to have argued—inferring 
 from the love of God to all, the love of God to him—inferring 
 from the power of God over the soul, the power of God over the 
 body. The expression of his‘face interrupts the apostle, who 
 leaves off speaking, and for a moment stays steadfastly scru- 
 tinising the features of the believer. By the light of a divine 
 physiognomy, he reads that the man has faith to be healed ; and 
 by an impulse within, he finds that the lame man has pleased 
 God, and that it is His will “that it shall be to him according to 
 his faith.” With a loud voice, the effect of the sudden inspiration, 
 he bids the cripple, who has till now done nothing more than 
 creep, to stand upright on his feet. The faith of the man saves 
 him. He stands—and leaps—and walks. 
 
 For aught that the apostle says to the contrary, the spectators 
 of the miracle would imagine that by his own power and holiness 
 he has made the man to walk. 
 
 The fact of the cure is told in the cartoon with admirable tact. 
 We are assured of the truth by an eye-witness. Raphael has 
 introduced in the left-hand corner a group of four figures, whose 
 business it is to explain the present by the past. They tell their 
 tale well. The man who was lame, standing with his foot 
 
80 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 between the crutches, (that now lie useless on the ground,) is 
 evidently lost in adoring gratitude. His face, bearing the 
 indelible marks of the class of patients to which he has for such 
 a length of time belonged, glows with an expression of his in- 
 describable feelings. He is utterly unconscious of the inspection 
 that is taking place. In his ecstasy, he raises and clasps his 
 hands, and gazes upon Paul. An elderly man, with an air that 
 convinces us at once of his trustworthiness and respectability, is 
 gently lifting the border of the garment, so that the unclothed 
 limb stands fully revealed. He does this in a manner which 
 shews that he is conscious that he is taking a liberty which the 
 circumstance of the case would alone justify. It is possible 
 that he may be the Greek, the father of Timothy. The two 
 others are attempting to avail themselves of this rare opportu- 
 nity of obtaining ocular demonstration of the fact which has 
 caused such sudden and extraordinary excitement in their city. 
 
 The effect of the cure upon the citizens was terrific. The 
 Jews, under similar circumstances, had been ready to attribute 
 Divine power to Peter and John, although Peter had distinctly 
 prefaced his address to the beggar with the words, “In the name 
 of Jesus of Nazareth.” The Lystrians, hearing nothing to con- 
 tradict the notion, conceive the apostles to be gods, and believing 
 in their divine nature, prepared to offer them Divine worship. 
 Living as they did in a city that was under the tutelage of 
 Jupiter, having also a temple dedicated to him at the very gates, 
 which had been founded in commemoration of a manifestation in 
 former ages—still holding most implicitly those delusions which 
 were becoming obsolete in the more refined and sceptical circles 
 of heathendom—swayed by their faith—remembering how their 
 forefathers had perished through unbelief—they rend the air with 
 their cries, “The gods are come down in the likeness of men. 
 And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because 
 he was the chief speaker.” 
 
 The news spreads, for it is published in the native dialect. The 
 language that reveals their notion to their fellow-citizens hides it 
 
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra. SI 
 
 from the apostles. Paul and Barnabas must have received the 
 terrible tidings from some converts. Meanwhile, the priest of 
 Jupiter hastens to give official form and power to the popular 
 phrensy, “and bringing oxen and garlands to the gates, would 
 have done sacrifice with the people.” 
 
 Raphael has laid the scene where it doubtless occurred, not at 
 the gates of the city, but, in accordance with the term used in the 
 original text, at the gate or vestibule, which gave admission from 
 the public street into the court of the house in which the apostles 
 were staying. He is said to have taken his representation of the 
 heathen sacrifice from an ancient bas-relief. 
 
 In the cartoon, you can tell, by the position of the hands, that 
 the priest has this very moment swung up the axe. He is inter- 
 rupted by a young disciple, who stretches out his arm just in time. 
 In another moment the hands would have been brought together, 
 (as they are found in the bas-relief), and the interference would 
 have been too late. No one then could have stayed the blow. 
 This opportune service is supposed to have been rendered by 
 Timothy, perhaps at the quick-witted suggestion of a woman, for 
 there is a female figure introduced at his side, which may be taken, 
 because of the resemblance, for his mother. 
 
 The quietness of the two aged priests who stand abeeried in 
 devotion, one having his brow bound with the sacred fillet, 
 together with the official routine of the three attendants, who 
 are half-kneeling in a row by the side of the ox, form a strong 
 contrast to the energy of their companion, and to the excitement 
 of the mob. This effect is increased by the two children at the 
 altar, both pictures of juvenile perfunctoriness; the one is carrying 
 the box of sacrificial flour, the other is piping to his heart’s content. 
 
 A close observation will enable the spectator to detect an 
 alteration which Raphael has made in the figure which is holding 
 the victim. In the drawing made for the cartoon of 7he Charge 
 to Peter, we saw that, upon second thoughts, the painter deviated 
 from his first plan in the disposition of the drapery on the figure 
 of our Lord. Here, the alteration can be traced on the very 
 
Ba7 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 cartoon. At first, the man held the horn with his left hand; but 
 he has now a better purchase, having hold of both those points 
 which will give him power over the ox, should it struggle. By 
 this exchange, Raphael lost an angle and gained a curve. A 
 similar instance may be discovered in the hand of the figure of 
 our Lord in The Miraculous Draught. 
 
 Tidings have reached the apostles. Rushing out of the house, 
 they are seen fora moment upon the steps. In another instant, 
 Paul will have turned, allowing Barnabas room to move—and 
 they will run in amongst the people, and endeavour to arrest 
 their proceedings by a few well-chosen, burning words. Their 
 actions would speak more loudly than anything they could say. 
 They place themselves on the same level as the people. They 
 shew by deeds, as well as say by words, that they are but men. 
 Trembling with shame, wild with horror, they are in the midst 
 of the mob with rent clothes, heated earnestness, and excited 
 speech. The Lystrians can see for themselves that they are not 
 passionless deities, but men of like feelings and passions with 
 themselves. 
 
 Happily, bitter bigots bent upon the destruction of Paul arrive 
 at this crisis. They crowd around the attendants who have the 
 second ox in charge, and, availing themselves of the vindictiveness 
 of disappointment, the scene that occurred in the streets of Jeru- 
 salem before the crucifixion of our Lord is repeated in the city of 
 Lystra. The mob turns upon the apostles, headed by women 
 and men breathing threatening and slaughter. Barnabas escapes. 
 The stones of the streets are torn up, and the barbarous Lystrians, 
 led by the bloodthirsty Jews, bear down upon Paul. It must 
 have been with him one of those moments in which thought and 
 feeling acquire supernatural clearness, force, and velocity. He 
 falls; in the same instant, realising that the measure he had 
 meted out to others is about to be measured to him—living over 
 again the stoning of Stephen—conscious that he has obtained 
 mercy—and thankful that, instead of being worshipped, he is 
 only stoned by the people. 
 
Coe, ETA De 
 
 x 
 
 paseo 
 
 a 
 4 
 
 ~ 
 
eee ARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 Waul Wreaching at Athens. 
 
 ‘*But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was 
 preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And 
 then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas 
 and Timotheus abode there still. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto 
 Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him 
 with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his 
 spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore 
 disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the 
 market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicu- 
 reans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler 
 say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods: because he 
 preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought 
 him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou 
 speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know 
 therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were 
 there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) 
 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive 
 that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devo- 
 tions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom 
 therefore ye ignorantly 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 anything, 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 
 
 F 
 
86 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 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 our being ; 
 as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch 
 then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like 
 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: be- 
 cause he hath appointed a day, in the which he wil! 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. And when they heard of the resurrection 
 of the dead, some mocked : and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. 
 So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and 
 believed : among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named 
 Damaris, and others with them.”—ACTS xvii. 13-34. 
 
frei PREACHING AT ATHENS. 
 
 **And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, 
 We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. How- 
 beit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the 
 Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris.” —ACTS xvii. 32-34. 
 
 HE spectator, as he turns away from the confusion and 
 riot of the Lystrian mob, will be thankful for the com- 
 parative quietness of this cartoon. He may be reminded of that 
 sense of sudden relief which he has experienced in attending a 
 week-day service, which was being held in the midst of the 
 business of a crowded city. Entering some sacred enclosure, 
 set apart for Divine worship, he has found himself, in a moment, 
 shut out from the din and distraction of this world, and brought 
 face to face with the stillness and power of the world to come. 
 Here, although there is not that perfect calm which characterises 
 the ordinary gatherings “in the name of the Lord,” yet, in a 
 measure, that strange and ineffable peace—which is the constant 
 token of the invisible Presence—begins at once to steal upon 
 him, filling and possessing his heart and mind. The present 
 meeting is being held out of doors, and from the voices of some 
 of the congregation, we find that the usual licence of open-air 
 services has been taken. A knot of persons are discussing 
 -amongst themselves the statements which they have heard. 
 
 The upright figure of the preacher, who has enchained the 
 greater part of his audience in wrapt attention ; the multitude of 
 parallel perpendicular lines in the various buildings ; the harmony 
 of colour; the large proportion of unoccupied space which has 
 
 been reserved for Paul; his impassioned utterance; and the 
 F 2 
 
88 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 circle which the people have formed as they stand around him, 
 all combine to suggest the earnestness and tranquillity which 
 seem to be essential and peculiar to Christian worship. 
 
 This cartoon completed the original series, and while it is to 
 be regretted that time and chance have stolen away three of the 
 intermediate cartoons, it is a satisfaction to find that they have 
 spared the first and the last. The unity of the painter's purpose, 
 though somewhat marred by the loss of the missing cartoons, is 
 still apparent, being easily discovered in those which remain. 
 
 Losses are seldom without profits. Through the absence of the 
 cartoon of The Imprisonment at Philippi, the scene at Lystra is 
 brought into juxtaposition with The Sermon at Athens, and by 
 this accident the apostle is portrayed, in a pair of pictures, pre- 
 senting the gospel, in the one case, to those whose faith in 
 heathenism had been shaken, and, in the other, to those who 
 were still heathens in deed and in truth. 
 
 The three cartoons in which the subjects are taken from the 
 career of the apostle of the Gentiles, form a triad, representing 
 three conflicts of Christianity. At Paphos, there is a contest 
 with the kingdom of darkness. At Lystra, there is a renewal of 
 hostilities with religious bigotry. At Athens, the struggle is 
 inaugurated between reason and faith. 
 
 Including the two other events which belong to the Book of 
 the Acts, there is a further and fuller manifestation of the 
 antagonism of the gospel, as it comes into contact with natural 
 deformity and natural depravity. Or, leaving the cartoon of 
 The fealing of the Lame Beggar, and the cartoon of The Hyfo- 
 crite, to form a pair by themselves, there is in them the earnest 
 of our redemption from all evil; the prophecy of that land where 
 “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick,” and where “there 
 shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever 
 worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. 
 
 In the whole series,—remembering that in the seven there is 
 the representation of the acts of our Redeemer, either before His 
 death, after His resurrection, or since His ascension,—we have 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. 89 
 
 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,” mani- 
 festing the almighty power, the infinite mercy, the overruling 
 providence, and the just judgment of God. Our Lord is, by 
 them all, evidently set forth, In The Miraculous Draught, re- 
 vealing the Father. In The Charge to Peter, reproving and 
 pardoning sin. At The Beautiful Gate, redeeming the body. 
 In Lhe Upper Room, dooming the hypocrite. In The Blinding 
 of E:lymas, defeating the work of the devil. At Lystra, making 
 the wrath of man to praise Him. And at Athens, casting down 
 imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against 
 the knowledge of God. | 
 
 Paul preached at Athens during the second missionary 
 journey, and it will be necessary to resume the thread of his 
 _ history, in order to sympathise with the apostle in the new 
 position in which we here find him. A recollection of inter- 
 vening events, and some acquaintance with the Athenians of the 
 time, is due to the painter before considering his treatment of 
 this scene. We left Paul in the hands of the murderous mob at 
 Lystra, who having, as they thought, effected their purpose, 
 drew him out of the city supposing that he had been dead. He 
 was “cast down, but not destroyed.” Immortal till his work was 
 done, he rises up, as the disciples stand around him; and the 
 next day, with the perseverance of a true saint, and in the spirit 
 of a true missionary, departs to Derbe. The apostles, after 
 preaching in this city, retrace their steps, and braving, with their 
 Master’s courage, the danger of a return, make their way home- 
 ward, revisiting Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, “confirming the 
 souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the 
 faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the 
 kingdom of God.” 
 
 It was during a temporary rest from their missionary labour 
 that the discussion of a subject,—which had become the topic of 
 the day,—was forced upon the apostles. The question was fairly 
 raised by the arrival of Judaizers at the free Church of Antioch, 
 who insisted upon the necessity of circumcision to salvation. 
 
90 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 This was formally debated by a council at Jerusalem. The 
 narrative of the whole proceeding is not only deeply interesting, 
 as a manifestation of the condition and conduct of the early 
 Church, but it is also of great importance in the information it 
 supplies respecting the difficulties of the position of the apostle 
 Paul, and the light which it throws upon his separation from 
 Barnabas. 
 
 The point in dispute was not the relation of the gospel, but the 
 relation of the /aw to the Gentiles. Jewish prejudice had been 
 obliged, by the vision of Peter, to concede that the blessings of 
 the gospel were to be shared with the Gentiles; it was now fighting 
 hard to burden them with the requirements of the Mosaic law. At 
 first, as was to be expected, there was no small dissension and 
 disputation. The controversy led to the appointment of a depu- 
 tation from the Church at Antioch, including Paul and Barnabas, 
 to the Church at Jerusalem. Paul describes his feelings and con- 
 duct at this time in his letter to the Galatians, and the second 
 chapter of that epistle should be studied in connexion with the 
 fifteenth chapter of the Book of the Acts. 
 
 It would appear that, after some preliminary interviews with 
 the apostles and with the Church, a general meeting was called. 
 The meeting opened with considerable confusion, the most insigni- 
 ficant and, not unlikely, the most troublesome speaking first. Peter 
 at last rose, and secured silence by a short and striking speech. 
 He met with universal deference, because of his peculiar claim to 
 be heard upon the matter in hand. He referred to the fact, that 
 the question had been settled long since by Divine interference ; 
 that the same Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles as 
 upon themselves ; and that they had already confessed that there 
 was no salvation by the law, but only through the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Paul and Barnabas then related the story of 
 their enterprise, referring not only to the free gospel which they 
 had preached, but to the conversions and the miracles that had 
 accompanied their mission. James then suggested a practical 
 conclusion, which was unanimously adopted, and the deputation 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. QI 
 
 returned, bearing a written document, and accompanied by 
 “ Barnabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren.” In the 
 letter, the Church at Jerusalem disowned any connexion with the 
 Judaizing party ; acknowledged the Christian worth of Barnabas 
 and Paul; and recommended abstaining from certain practices 
 common amongst the heathen. 
 
 It might have been expected that this formal settlement of the 
 question would have been final, and that the middle wall of parti- 
 tion would have been entirely broken down. Peter, however, 
 comes to Antioch, and led astray by his fears, denies, by his con- 
 duct, the statement he had made in the council at Jerusalem. 
 Barnabas is carried away with his dissimulation. Paul is obliged 
 publicly to withstand the influence of Peter, and to expose the 
 blameworthiness of his conduct. After a while, (perhaps to allow 
 Barnabas time to recover himself,) Paul proposes to his former 
 missionary colleague that they should revisit the scenes of their 
 labours. Barnabas makes the company of Mark a condition. 
 Paul objects to Mark as unsuitable. The uncle, a man of great 
 kindness, as may be proved from the sale of his property, and 
 his patronage of Paul when no one believed in him, would 
 easily forgive the defection of the nephew, and readily afford him 
 a fresh trial. He would also (for Mark was a member of the 
 Jerusalem Church) find his relative somewhat likeminded with 
 himself upon the vexed question of the day. Paul knew, how- 
 ever, that a full and complete conviction of the perfect liberty of 
 the gospel was imperatively required in those who came into 
 contact with the heathen converts ; and that fickle men were not 
 to be intrusted with difficult duty. The difference of opinion led 
 to division of labour. Barnabas and Mark sailed to Cyprus. 
 Paul chose for his companion Silas, a man in the same social 
 position as himself, “being a Roman,” and holding similar con- 
 victions of the freeness and sufficiency of the gospel. 
 
 The subject of the third lost cartoon is taken from the second 
 missionary journey of Paul, representing an event which is re- 
 corded at unusual length in the sacred history, and which has only 
 
g2 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 to be carefully considered, and we shall perceive the special 
 importance of the narrative, and the profound spiritual insight of 
 the painter. The record seems to have been written for our learn- 
 ing, that we, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might 
 have hope in God as the Hearer and Answerer of prayer. 
 
 Paul and Silas having visited the churches in Syria and Cilicia, 
 and enlisted the services of Timothy at Lystra, are brought before 
 us attempting to break new ground. They are at their wits’ end. 
 Forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in proconsular Asia, they 
 travel on towards Mysia, and there, attempting to turn northwards 
 to Bithynia, they are again arrested by a Divine impulse. 
 Journeying eastwards, the only direction in which they are not 
 interrupted, they at last reach the port of Troas. Meanwhile some 
 women had been praying without ceasing on the banks of the 
 small stream Gangites, which ran by the Macedonian city of 
 Philippi. The humble prayer-meeting was evidently connected 
 with the supernatural direction of the movements of the mis- 
 sionaries. Pauland his companions are led by the Hearerand An- 
 swerer of prayer to the place where prayer was wont to be made. 
 
 It is not surprising, after this remarkable instance of the power 
 of prayer, that Paul and Silas are to be found, in the same night 
 after they had been shamefully entreated at Philippi, praying. 
 Raphael has chosen this midnight scene as one of his subjects. - 
 Behind the grating of the prison, the apostle is to be seen in 
 prayer, and in strict harmony with the narrative, the earthquake is 
 represented as cotemporaneous. This instance of faith is identical 
 with that on the part of Hezekiah, of which we have a threefold 
 record. It is to such cases as these that the promise applies, 
 “ And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, 
 and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” 
 
 Time would fail us, if we attempted to explore further this 
 mine of events. We turn away, only asking the reader to.study 
 the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, in connexion with the his- 
 tory of the mission to Thessalonica and Berea. 
 
 ‘Paul, again a refugee, leaving behind him Silas and Timothy at 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. 93 
 
 Berea, has been hurried away from the reach of his persecutors. 
 The brethren who had aided his flight, and had accompanied him 
 as far as the Piraeus, have been dismissed with a message to his 
 fellow-labourers in the gospel to come to him with all speed, and 
 the apostle is left at Athens alone. 
 
 It will be almost as difficult to understand the feelings of Paul 
 as he tarried at Athens, as it is to appreciate his sermon. The 
 apostle, notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, was a man 
 of great social feeling. Obliged to separate from “his brethren 
 according to the flesh,” his heart yet yearned strangely after them.* 
 Called to witness to a truth, and to adopt a line of conduct which 
 was very unacceptable to most of his brethren in Christ, he is 
 constantly, in his letters, regretting his loneliness.t Many a 
 passage in the Book of the Acts, and many a reference in the 
 various epistles might be quoted, proving that the most isolated 
 of the apostles was “not a whit behind the very chiefest,” in the 
 greatest of the Christian graces. This disposition will account 
 for the fact, to which prominence is given by Luke, and to which 
 the apostle himself refers in his first letter to the Thessalonians, 
 that he felt it to be a burden and a grief to be left at Athens alone. 
 
 There is in Raphael’s portrait of the preacher, notwithstanding 
 his excitement, a lonesomeness lingering over his face and figure, 
 which reminds us of the lamentation, “I have trodden the wine- 
 press alone, and of the people there was none with me.” 
 
 Timothy appears to have obeyed the summons of Paul, and 
 after having arrived at Athens, to have been sent back again to 
 Thessalonica.t Only those who have felt the loneliness of great 
 cities will be able, in any measure, to sympathise with the apostle, 
 as he lives on, day after day, depressed with a sense of solitude, 
 in the midst of a multitude of people. Only those who have 
 anxiously trod the streets of a city, pressed in spirit with a 
 necessity that has been laid upon them to preach the gospel, are 
 at all likely to form any conception of the working of the mind of 
 the apostle, as he attempts to win a hearing for truths, which he 
 
 * Rom. ix..1-3, x. I. + 2 Tim. iv. 10-16, { 1 Thess, ili. I. 
 
94 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 knows only will excite disgust or ridicule. No citizen of the 
 world would ever be able to read the heart of this stranger. No 
 popular preacher could believe in the travail of his soul. The 
 cartoon was not painted either for those who are always at home 
 in the pulpit, or for those who can be at home in their travels, in 
 any place and with any people. ; 
 
 The architecture is not intended to be an imitation of the 
 buildings which were around Paulas he stood upon the Areopagus. 
 The painter will grievously disappoint any who, having studied 
 some of the numerous hand-books and guides to Athens, expect 
 to find in Raphael the detail and preciseness of pre-Raphaelism. 
 
 He has, first, nearly enclosed the whole scene with idolatrous 
 edifices, only leaving two narrow outlets, and even through them 
 fresh views are obtained of the city, in which every public building 
 had its religious associations. The oppressive nearness of the idol 
 temples, with the heavy gloom of the shadows which are resting 
 upon them, distress and darken the mind of the spectator, till he 
 is somewhat relieved by a comparatively high and warm light 
 shining upon the broken arch which partially overhangs the 
 preacher. 
 
 The mystery that has hung about this broken arch may per- 
 haps be thus explained. The keystone of heathenism, at any 
 rate, in the most intelligent circles of heathendom, had given 
 way. Educated people had lost faith in their religion. They 
 still made a profession of idolatry, but it was no longer a power, 
 but only a form. Any one might see from their works, that 
 though they had a name that they lived, they were dead. 
 
 The apostle breaks ground, first by reasoning with the Jews in 
 their synagogue, and then by arguing in the Agora with the 
 Athenians who had embraced Judaism. This plan of public dis- 
 putation was evidently adapted to excite the interest of the idlers, 
 who frequented, for mere gossip, the scene of past glorious 
 memories. He appears, according to his invariable custom, to 
 have been insisting upon the fact of the resurrection of our Lord, 
 and being overheard by followers of the two philosophical sects 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. 95 
 
 that yet retained some vitality, he was invited by them, partly in 
 derision and partly in curiosity, to deliver a discourse. 
 
 Raphael has not represented Paul in the act of pleading before a 
 tribunal, but, most distinctly, in the act of preaching. The hill 
 of Areopagus had been indeed the scene of a long series of awful 
 causes, connected with crime and religion, beginning with the 
 legendary trial of Mars, which gave to the place the name of 
 Mars’ Hill.* There is, however, nothing in the record which 
 would lead us to suppose that Paul was placed on his defence, 
 and there is no trace of a trial in the cartoon. Instead of the 
 judges sitting upon seats hewn out in the rock, and the accuser 
 and the criminal standing on the rough stones, (which, according 
 _ to Euripides, were assigned to them,) there is in the gathering, 
 the well-known aspect that is common to all congregations who 
 are listening to a sermon. 
 
 Sixteen stone stairs cut in the rock, at its south-east angle, 
 lead up to the hill of the Areopagus from the valley of the Agora, 
 which lies between it and the Pnyx. The solemnity of the place 
 was increased by the neighbourhood of the Temple of Mars, and 
 the sanctuary of the Eumenides. Raphael suggests these recol- 
 lections by his flight of steps, his sombre buildings, and his statue 
 of the god of war. 
 
 The apostle stands like a Atlee This similitude is evidently 
 the key to much of the meaning of the picture. The comparison 
 is suggested by the repeated alliteration of lines formed by the 
 columns of the temples, and is indicated still more clearly by the 
 pillar which has been curiously introduced above the head of 
 Paul, and of which his body may be conceived to be the con- 
 tinuation. The idea originated by form is sustained by colour. 
 The complementary green marble of the columns attracts and 
 cools the eye, which has been riveted by the blazing drapery of 
 the apostle. 
 
 By faith Paul stands, and stands alone. He is not merely the 
 only believer in the midst of those who were staggering through 
 
 * Pausanias, Xxvili. 5. 
 
96 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 unbelief, but he was the only Christian of his day who acted as 
 if he believed in the last command of our Lord. The apostle 
 was the main support of the missionary movement, and he was 
 left to stand as much alone in the Church as he did in the world. 
 
 The congregation is small. As a working man lately said to 
 us, “He has not got many to hear him.” There might have 
 been more present at the beginning of the sermon, for we can see 
 some that are now going away. The apostle is represented as 
 having reached that point, so distressing to a-preacher, where he 
 has given a fearless utterance to a truth, which has enraged (as 
 he had expected) the greater part of his audience. In the agony 
 of-his earnestness, he has unconsciously worked his way to the 
 very brink of the step, as if he would have imparted to the 
 people not only the gospel of God, but his own soul also. In 
 another moment or two, the under-tone of argument, which we 
 distinguished as we came up to look and to listen, will have 
 broken out into open mockery. At first, because the younger 
 men are evidently the more hopeful portion of the congregation, 
 it might be supposed that the two young men who are sitting 
 near the disputants and turning round toward them, are attempt- 
 ing to silence the indecent interruption. They are, we are afraid, 
 being led away by their seniors. 
 
 Before the congregation breaks up, we may take the oppor- 
 tunity of looking round, and attempt to estimate the varied 
 feelings. We must be guided wholly by ‘our physiognomical 
 instincts, for only two in the congregation are personally known 
 to us. On the one side, at the right, are the most hopeful; on 
 the other side, at the left, are the most hopeless. 
 
 The three figures behind Paul, two of which we can hardly see 
 for the darkness, may be taken torepresent Jews. Each of them 
 bears the mark of his residence in a foreign land. All of them 
 have the look of beasts of prey, and shrinking from the gaze of 
 the apostle, they seem to have chosen their dark corner, slinking 
 away at his back, as evil-doers who hated the light. The corpu- 
 lent fellow, with those lines of pain in his sensual face, which are 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. Q7 
 
 often to be ‘seen in those who are in subjection to their body, 
 may remind. spectators who have studied Holman Hunt’s pic- 
 ture, of the burly doctor of the law in The Finding of Christ in 
 the Temple. Wis neighbour with the unshorn locks and the 
 solemn beard is evidently one of those religious impostors of the 
 day, who lived upon the shipwrecks of faith, which were con- 
 stantly occurring. The third man, who has seated himself on 
 the corner of the top step, is a fair sample of the stiff-necked 
 race to which he belongs. In neither of these three is there the 
 slightest trace of religious or philosophic interest. 
 
 The difference in the ages of the audience is very conspicuous. 
 The young men, with the exception of the two already noticed, 
 stand together in an outer circle. Most of them have not formed 
 any opinion for themselves. Some, as we have seen, will side 
 with those who cavil; others will draw off with those who wish to 
 hear again of the matter. The knot of elder men, who are now 
 becoming heated with argument, are enveloped in darkness. by 
 the photograph, and appear in the original as enh faded speci- 
 mens of Stoics and Epicureans. 
 
 The three men who stand immediately in front of the preacher 
 can be as easily distinguished from each other in the photograph 
 by the expression of their countenances, as they may be in the 
 original by the colour of their clothes. There is the same aid 
 called in here by the painter as we noticed in the group of the 
 apostles in Zhe Charge to Peter. They are not, perhaps, to be 
 regarded as exponents of particular schools of philosophy. 
 Raphael, it may be conceived, has represented the surviving 
 power of the Porch and the Garden in the group of debaters, and 
 in the scorner who stands behind the youngest of these three 
 listeners. The first man is in middle life, and as he lifts up his 
 open, candid face, you see that the seed is falling into good ground. 
 He is hearing the word with an honest and good heart. 
 
 The old man leaning on the crutch is not now listening. His 
 inattention to the sermon may be the result of pain, for his face 
 and half-lifted foot betoken suffering. Or, what is more probable, 
 
98 The Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 —for, with such a forehead as he has, he must often have reflected 
 upon men and things,—he is endeavoring to form an estimate of 
 the apostle, and he will not allow his scrutiny to be disturbed by 
 listening to what he says. Familiar with the pride of the impas- 
 sive Stoic, and the vanity of the pleasure-loving Epicurean, he 
 has toiled up the hill to see more of a man whose conduct was 
 even more remarkable than his creed. He is evidently puzzled 
 with the display of Christian earnestness and Christian love. 
 
 The figure with his chin on his breast is lost in thought. He 
 has been listening, but he now debates with himself the conclu- 
 siveness of the arguments of the apostle. He has folded his 
 arms, and his hands are hidden in his mantle ; so that we are, at 
 first, somewhat reminded of his neighbour who is receiving the 
 truth in the love of it. There is all the difference between them. 
 In the one case, the arms have been folded ; but they have been 
 relaxed as the man has gradually given up himself to believe 
 what he hears. His arms are now drooping, and if we could see 
 his hands, we should discover them to be open. In this instance, 
 we should find the hands clenched. The different angle at the 
 elbow bespeaks the resistance to the force of truth. The brow 
 belongs to the logician. He is testing the logic of the sermon. 
 You can see that he is not hearing what Paul is now declaring 
 about the resurrection of our Lord. He is weighing the three 
 statements that the apostle had previously made respecting the 
 worship of God. 
 
 There are but two of the congregation whom we have not 
 noticed, and we have only to look at them, and we shall feel that 
 it would have been worth while for Paul to have endured a far 
 ereater amount of agony and shame, as the price of their salvation. 
 They are evidently believers. Their joy is the proof of their faith. 
 They not only believe, but they “also joy in God through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom they have now received the atone- 
 ment.” Their names are connected in the record, and they are 
 placed together in the cartoon. They have been brought by the 
 preaching of Paul into the same fellowship. 
 
Paul Preaching at Athens. 99 
 
 A. little while ago, there could not, perhaps, have been found, 
 in all Athens, two persons between whom there was a wider 
 gulf of separation. The woman is supposed to have been an 
 hetera. The seclusion of the Greek women in respectable life 
 renders her presence in the crowd on the Areopagus very sus- 
 picious. The mention of her name by Luke would suggest the 
 idea that there was something remarkable in her conversion. 
 Other persons were converted under this sermon besides Damaris 
 and Dionysius, but we can easily understand why their names 
 should have been passed over in silence, and prominence given 
 to the fact, that an Areopagite and a woman of the town were 
 amongst the first-fruits of the gospel at Athens. 
 
 Dionysius appears as if he would ascend the stairs to meet 
 Paul. He opens his arms and hands, as if he desired not only 
 to receive the faith, but also to embrace the person of the 
 apostle. A member of the most august assembly in the world, 
 among the first politicians and orators of his day, sprung from the 
 noblest blood of Greece, he is one of the wise, and rich, and 
 noble, who entered with publicans and harlots into the kingdom 
 of God. i 
 
 There is reason to believe, from the hardness in some of the 
 faces, and the absence of detail in the extremities and drapery, 
 that Raphael left a large portion of this cartoon to be finished by 
 his disciples. He reserved, however, to himself the apostle and 
 his converts. His hand may be traced in the countenance of 
 Dionysius, and his initials can be read on the drapery over the 
 shoulder of Damaris. 
 
 This cartoon is the most popular of the seven, and its popu- 
 larity may be attributed partly to the plainness of the subject 
 and the simplicity of its treatment; partly to its harmony of 
 colour, and the comparatively high state of its preservation. 
 
 The original study for the principal group is in the Uffizj, at 
 Florence. 
 
 Printed by Fosiah Smith, Bicester and Winslow. 
 
UNIFORM WITH EXPOSITIONS OF THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 
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