■llf.G GIFT OF THE LIFE AND EPISTLES ST. PAUL. ...r ^,,0^ PEOPLE'S EDITION. THE LIFE AND EPISTLES Saint Paul THE IlEV. W. J. OONTBEARE, M.A,, LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ; AND THE REV. J. S. HOWSON, D.D., PniNCIPi\I. OF THE COLLEGIATE INSTITDTIOX, A PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION BT THE REV. LEONARD BACON, D. D. PROFESSOR or REVEALED TIIEI'LOOY IN YALE COLLEGE. I^artforb, Conn. S. S. SCR ANTON & COMPANY. 1877. PREFACE THE PEOPLE'S EDITIOK rr^ HOUGH the death of one of the writers of this book has -^ now thrown the sole responsibiUty of revision on the sur- vivor, the plan of a " People's Edition " was contemplated by both writers from the time when the first edition was published. The survivor, in doing his best, while his life was yet spared, to prepare for a wider circle of readers a book which has been received with remarkable favor, has found, however, the execu- tion of the plan beset with peculiar difficulties. The simplest course would have been to give the text of the work without the notes ; but it was soon seen that many parts of the narrative would thus have been left destitute of important illustration, and many passages of the Epistles would have embarrassed, rather than helped, the mere English reader. On the assumption, then, that some of the notes must be retained, a question arose as to the selection. The writer of this preface might easily have cut down his own notes to a very narrow compass ; but how was he to deal with the notes of a friend whom he could not consult ? To have omitted nearly all the former, and to have retained all the latter, would have been to disturb the whole symmetry of the book. Then came the further difficulty, — that, so far as the V 269538 VI PREFACE TO THE PEOPLE'S EDITION. notes were criticisms of passages in the New Testament, they were, in the two former editions, based on the original text. Ex- clusion or adaptation in all such cases was necessary for the reader who is presumed not to know Greek. But criticisms of this kind are, of course, by far the most frequent in the notes on the Epistles, which were not translated by the present editor : so that some change was most required precisely where, to him, adapta- tion was most diflBcult of execution, or where he was naturally most unwilling to assume the responsibility of exclusion. It is hoped, that, under all these circumstances, general appro bation will be secured for the arrangement which has been adopted. Those readers have throughout been kept in view, who, though well educated, would not find it easy to refer to Greek or German books. Some few technical Greek terms are retained ; and here and there there is a reference to classical authors, which has seemed peculiarly important, or which it was hardly worth while to remove : but, on the whole, there are few citations except from books which are easily within reach. The references to Scripture are very frequent ; and it is believed that such references can hardly be too frequent. It is presumed that the reader has the Authorized Version before him ; at the same time, it is hoped that the notes will continue to be useful to stu- dents of the Greek New Testament. Some criticisms must necessarily, however, be taken for granted ; and, in such cases, occasional reference has been made to the two larger editions.' In Mr. Conybeare's part of the work, no alteration whatever has been made, except as regards the verbal adjustments requisite for leaving out the Greek.- It is impossible to know whether his 1 The first edition, in quarto, and with course of a thorough reperusal : but, besides very numerous illustrations, was completed in the modifications mentioned above, the notes 1852: the second, with fewer illustrations, but in the narrative portion are very considerably after careful revision, was published in 1856. retrenched. Thus each of the three edition! In this edition, the illustrations are still few- has a character of its own. er; the text is unaltered, with the exception ^ This remark applies to the general bodj of slight verba' changes suggested in the of the work. The Appendices, written by Mr PREFACE TO THE PEOPLE'S EDITION. YU translation of some phrases and his interpretation of some texts might have been modified if he had talien part in the revision. Wherever it has been thought worth while to express a difference of opinion, this is separately indicated.^ Such cases are very few. The separate responsibilities of the whole work are clearly stated in the Postscript to the Introduction. The present writer is far from satisfied with the result of what he has done, in this edition, with considerable labor, and to the best of his judgment and ability; but this he can say with truth, that, while he feels the imperfection of his own work, this last revision has left in his mind a higher estimate than ever of the parts written by his fellow-laborer and friend. Conybcare, have been abbreviated in conformity and other retrenchments have been made here with the principles stated above. Such ques- in accordance with the special aim of this tions as the verbal peculiarities of the Pastoral edition. Epistles could hardly be presented with clear- i By notes in square brackets, distinguished BBSS to those who have DD knowledge of Greek; by the letter h. INTRODUCTION. THE purpose of this work is to give a living picture of St. Paul himself, and of the circumstances by which he was surrounded. The biography of the Apostle must be compiled from two sources : first, his own let- ters ; and, secondly, the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. The latter, after a slight sketch of his early history, supplies us with fuller details of his middle life ; and his Epis- tles afford much subsidiary information concerning his missionary labors during the same period. The light concentrated upon this portion of his course makes darker by contrast the obscurity which rests upon the remainder ; for we are left to gain what knowledge we can of his later years from scattered hints in a few short letters of his own, and from a single sentence of his disciple Clement. But, in order to present any thing like a living picture of St. Paul's career, much more is necessary than a mere transcript of the scriptural narrative, even where it is full- est. Every step of his course brings us into contact with some new phase of ancient life, unfamiliar to our modern experience, and upon which we must throw light from other sources, if we wish it to form a distinct image in the mind. For example, to comprehend the influences under which he grew to manhood, we must realize the position of a Jewish family in Tarsus ; we must understand the kind of education which the son of such a family would receive as a boy in his Hebrew home, or in the schools of his native city, and in his riper youth " at the feet of Gamaliel " in Jerusalem ; we must be acquainted with the profession for which he was to be prepared by this training, and appreciate the station and duties of an expounder of the Law. And, that we may be fully qualified to do all this, we should have a clear view of the state of the Roman Empire at the time, and especially of its system in the provinces ; we should also understand the political position of the Jews of the " Dispersion ; " we should be (so to speak) hearers in their synagogues ; we should be students of their Rabbinical theology. And in like manner, as we follow the Apostle in the different stages of his varied and adventurous career, we must strive continually to bring out in their true brightness the half-effaced forms and » pt has been thought better to leave this Intro- duction quite untouched, though the passages re- applicable I X INTRODUCTIOK. coloring of the scene in which he acts ; and while he " becomes all thinj^s to all men, that he might by all means save some," we must fonn to ourselves a living likeness of the things and of the men among which he moved, if we would rightly estimate his work. Thus we must study Chi-istianity rising in the midst of Judaism ; we must realize the position of its early churches with their mLxed society, to which Jews, Proselytes, and Heathens had each contributed a characteristic element ; we must qualify ourselves to be umpires (if we may so speak) in their violent internal divisions ; we must listen to the '-'life of their schismatic parties, when one said, "I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos ; " we must study the true character of those early heresies which even denied the resurrection, and advocated impurity and lawlessness, claiming the right " to sin that grace might abound,"^ "defiling the mind and conscience"^ of their followers, and mak- ing them "abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate;"" we must trace the extent to which Greek philosophy, Judaizing formalism, and Eastern supersti- tion, blended their tainting influence with the pure fermentation of that new leaven which was at last to leaven the whole mass of civilized society. Again : to understand St. Paul's personal history as a missionary to the Heathen, we must know the state of the different populations which he visited ; the character of the Greek and Koraan civilization at the epoch ; the points of intersection between the politi- cal history of the world and the scriptural nan-ative ; the social organization and grada- tion of ranks, for which he enjoins respect ; the position of women, to which he specially refers in many of his letters ; the relations between parents and children, slaves and mas- ters, which he not vainly sought to imbue with the loving spirit of the gospel ; the quality and influence, under the early Empire, of the Greek and Roman religions, whose effete corruptness he denounces with such indignant scorn ; the public amusements of the peo- ple, whence he draws topics of warning or illustration ; the operation of the Roman law, under which he was so frequently arraigned ; the courts in which he was tried, and the magistrates by whose sentence he suffered; the legionary soldiers who acted as his guards ; the roads by which he travelled, whether through the mountains of Lycaonia or the marshes of Latium ; the course of commerce by which his jounieys were so often regulated ; and the character of that imperfect navigation by which his life was so many times ' endangered. While thus trying to live in the life of a bygone age, and to call up the figure of the past from its tomb, duly robed in all its former raiment, every help is welcome which en- ables us to fill up the dim outline in any part of its reality. Especially we delight to look upon the only one of the manifold features of that past existence which still is living. We remember with pleasure that the earth, the sea, and the sky still combine for us in the same landscapes which passed before the eyes of the wayfaring Apostle. The plain of Cilicia ; the snowy distances of Taurus ; the cold and rapid stream of the Cydnus ; the broad Orontcs under the shadow of its steep banks, with their thickets of jasmine and I Rom. vi. 1. ' " Thrice have I suffered shipwreck," 2 Cor. li. • Tit. i. 15. 26; and this wo3 before he was wreckcil upon • Tit. 1. 16. MeUtA. INTBODUCTIOX. XI Oleander; the hills which "stand about Jerusalem,"' the "arched fountains cold" in the ravines below, and those " flowery brooks beneath that wash their hallowed feet ; " the capes and islands of the Grecian Sea ; the craggy summit of Areopagus ; the land-locked harbor of Syracuse ; the towering cone of ^tna ; the voluptuous loveliness of the Cam- pauian shore, — all these remain to us, the imperishable handiwork of Nature. We can still look upon the same trees and flowers which he saw clothing the mountains, giving color to the plains, or reflected in the rivers ; we may think of him among the palms oi' SjTia, the cedars of Lebanon, the olives of Attica, the green Isthmian pines of Corinth, whose leaves wove those " fading garlands " which he contrasts - with the " incorruptible crown," the prize for which he fought. Nay, we can even still look upon some of the works of man which filled him with wonder, or moved him to indignation. The " tem- ples made with hands " ' which rose before him — the very apotheosis of idolatry — on the Acropolis, still stand in almost undiminished majesty and beauty. The mole on which he landed at Puteoli still stretches its ruins into the blue waters of the bay. The remains of the Baian villas, whose marble porticoes he then beheld glittering in the sunset, — his first specimen of Italian luxury, — still are seen along the shore. We may still enter Rome as he did by the same Appian Koad, through the same Capenian Gate, and wander among the ruins of " Caesar's palace " * on the Palatine, while our eye rests upon the same aqueducts radiating over the Campagna to the unchanging hills. Those who have visited these spots must often have felt a thrill of recollection as they trod in the footsteps of the Apostle ; they must have been conscious how much the identity of the outward scene brought them into communion with him, while they tried to image to themselves the feel- ings with which he must have looked upon the objects before them. They who have ex- perienced this will feel how imperfect a biography of St. Paul must be without faithful representations of the places which he visited. It is hoped that the views ' which are contained in the present work (which have been diligently collected from various sources) will supply this desideratum. And it is evident, that, for the purposes of such a biogra- phy, nothing but true and faithful representations of the real scenes will be valuable ; these are what is wanted, and not ideal representations, even though copied from the works of the greatest masters : for as it has been well said, " Nature and reality painted at the time, and on the spot, a nobler cartoon of St. Paul's preaching at Athens than the immortal RafaeUe afterwards has done." ° For a similar reason, maps have been given (in addition to careful geographical de- scriptions), exhibiting with as much accuracy as can at present be attained the physical features of the countries visited, and some of the ancient routes through them, together with plans of the most important cities, and maritime charts of the coasts and harbors where they were required. ■ " The hills stand about Jerusalem : " even so sentence In the tert applies in strictness only to the " Btandeth the Lord round abou". his people." Ps. quarto edition. la the intermediate edition, it was rav. 2. remarked in a note, that, even there, "most of the ' 1 Cor. Ix. 25. larger engravings were necessarily omitted, ou « Acts xvii. 24. «PhU. i. 13. account of their size." — H.] fSee note on p. ix, and the Preface. The < Wordsworth's Athens and Attica, p. 76. Xn LNTKODUCTION. While thus endeavoring to represent faithfully the natural ohjects and architectural remains connected with the narrative, it has likewise been attempted to give such illus trations as were needful of the minor productions of human art as they existed in the first century. For this purpose, engravings of coins have been given in all cases where they seemed to throw light on the circumstances mentioned in the history ; and recourse has been had to the stores of Pompeii and Herculaneum, to the columns of Trajan and Anto- ninus, and to the collections of the Vatican, the Louvre, and especially of the British Museum. But, after all this is done, — after we have endeavored, with every help we can com- mand, to reproduce the picture of St. Paul's deeds and times, — how small would our knowl- edge of himself remain if we had no other record of him left us but the story of his adven- tures ! If his letters had never come down to us, we should have known indeed what he did .and suffered ; but we should have had very little idea of what he was.' Even if we could perfectly succeed in restoring the image of the scenes and circumstances in which he moved ; even if we could, as in a magic mirror, behold him speaking in the school of Tyraunus, with his Ephesian hearers in their national costume around him, — we should still see very Uttle of Paul of Tarsus. We must listen to his words, if we would learn to know him. If Fancy did 'her utmost, she could give us only his outward, not his inward life. " His bodily .presence " (so his enemies declared) " was weak and contemptible ; " but " his letters " (even they allowed) " were weighty and powerful." " Moreover, an ef- fort of imagination and memory is needed to recall the past ; but, in his Epistles, St. Paul is present with us. " His words are not dead words ; they are living creatm-es with hands and feet," ^ touching in a thousand hearts at this very hour the same chord of feeling which vibrated to their fii-st utterance. We, the Christians of the nineteenth century, can bear witness now, as fully as could a Byzantine audience fourteen hundred years ago, to the saying of Chrysostom, that " Paul by his letters still lives in the mouths of men throughout the whole world : by them not only his own converts, but all the faithful even unto this day, yea, and all the saints who are yet to be born until Christ's coming again, both have been and shall be blessed." His Epistles are to his inward life what the moun- tains and rivers of Asia and Greece and Italy are to his outward life, — the imperishable part which stiU remains to us when all that time can ruin has passed away. It is in these letters, then, that we must study the true life of St. Paul, from its inmost depths and springs of action, which were " hidden with Christ in God," down to its most minute developments and peculiar individual manifestations. In them we learn (to use the language of Gregory Nazianzene) " what is told of Paul by Paul himself" Their most sacred contents, indeed, rise above all that is peculiar to the individual writer ; for they are the communications of God to man concerning the faith and life of Christians, which St. Paul declared (as he often asserts) by the iomiediate revelation of Christ him- » For his speeches recorded in the Acts, cbarac- by his Epistles, they become an important part of teristic as they are, would by themselves have been his personal biography. a 2 Cor. x. 10. too few and too short lb add much to our knowl- > Luther, as quoted Li Archdeacon Hare's Jft«. edge of St. Paul; but, il '.Btrated as they now are sion of the Cov\forter, p. 449. IN-TRODUCTIOA. Xin self. But his manner of teaching these eternal truths is colored by his human character, and peculiar to himself. And such individual features are naturally impressed much more upon epistles than upon any other kind of composition : for here we have not trea- tises or sermons, which may dwell in the general and abstract, but genuine letters, writ- ten to meet the actual wants of living men ; giving immediate answers to real questions, and warnings against pressing dangers ; full of the interests of the passing hour. And this, which must be more or less the case with all epistles addressed to particular church- es, is especially so with those of St. Paul. In his case, it is not too much to say that his letters are himself, — a portrait painted by his own hand, of which every feature may be " known and read of all men." It is not merely that in them we see the proof of his powerful intellect, his insight into the foundations of natural theology * and of moral philosophy ; ^ for in such points, though the philosophical expression might belong to himself, the truths expressed were taught him of God. It is not only that we there find models of the sublimest eloquence when he is kindled by the vision of the glories to come, the perfect triumph of good over evil, the manifestation of the sons of God, and their transformation into God's likeness, when they shall see him no longer ' " in a glass darkly, but face to face," — for in such strains as these it was not so much he that spake as the Spirit of God speaking in him,* — but in his letters, besides all this which is divine, we trace every shade, even to the faintest, of his human character also. Here we see that fearless independence with which he " withstood Peter to the face ; '"' that impetuosity which breaks out in his apostrophe to the " foolish Galatians ;'"' that earnest indignation which bids his converts " beware of dogs, beware of the concision,"' and pours itself forth in the emphatic " God forbid " ' which meets every Antinomian suggestion ; that fervid patriotism which makes bim " wish that he were him- self accursed from Christ for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Is- raelites ; " ' that generosity which looked for no other reward than " to preach the Glad- Tidings of Christ without charge," '" and made him feel that he would rather " die than that any man should make this glorying void ; " that dread of officious interference which led him to shrink from " building on another man's foundation ; " " that delicacy which shows itself in his appeal to PhUemon, whom he might have commanded, " yet for love's sake rather beseeching him, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ," " and which is even more striking in some of his farewell greetings, as (for instance) when he bids the Romans " salute Kufus, and his mother, who is also mine ; " " that scrupulous fear of evil appearance which " would not eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that he might not be charge- able to any of them ; " " that refined courtesy which cannot bring itself to blame till it has * Rom. i. 20. express the force of the original by any other En^ « Rom. ii. 14, 15. lish phrase. » 1 Cor. xiil. 12. » Rom. ix. 3. « Matt. X. 20. 10 1 Cor. be. 15 and 18. 6 Gal. ii. 11. u Rom. itv. 20. ' Gal. iii. 1. 12 Philemon 9. ' Phil. iii. 2. u Rom. irri. 13. • Kiim. vi. 2; 1 Cor. vl. 15, &c. It \ss aifScnlt to "1 Thess. 11. 9. JOY INTEODTJCTION. first praised,' and which maies him deem it needful almost to apologize for the freedom of giving advice to those who were not personally known to hun ; ' that self-denying love which " will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest he make his brother to offend ; " ' that impatience of exclusive formalism with which he overwhelms the Judaizers of Galatia, joined with a forbearance so gentle for the innocent weakness of scrupulous consciences ; * that grief for the sins of others, which moved him to tears when he spoke of the enemies of the cross of Christ, " of whom I tell you even weeping ; " ' that noble freedom from jeal- ousy with which he speaks of those, who, out of rivalry to himself, preach CMst even of envy and stril'e, supposing to add affliction to his bonds, — " What then ? notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice ;'" that tender friendship which watches over the health of Timothy even with a mother's care ; ' that intense sympathy in the joys and sorrows of his converts whif.h could say even to the rebellious Corinthians, " Ye are in our hearts, to die and live with you ; " ' that longing desire for the intercourse of affection, and that sense of lond'oess when it was withheld, which perhaps is the most touching feature of all, be- cause it approaches most nearlv to a weakness, — " When I had come to Troas to preach the Glad-Tidings of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother ; but I parted from them, and came from thence into Macedonia." And, " when I was come into Macedonia, my flesh had no rest, but I was troubled on every side : without were fightings, within were fears. But God, who comforts them that are cast down, comforted me by the coming of Titus." " " Do thy utmost to come to me speedily : for Dcmas hath forsaken me, having loved this pres- ent world, and is departed to Thessalonica ; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia ; only Luke is with me." '° Nor is it only in the substance, but even in the style, of these writings, that we recog- nize the man Paul of Tarsus. In the parenthetical constructions and broken sentences, we see the rapidity with which the thoughts crowded upon him, almost too fast for utter^ ance ; we see him animated rather than weighed down by " the crowd that presses on him daily, and the care of all the churches," " as he pours forth his warnings or his arguments in a stream of eager and impetuous dictation, with which the pen of the faithful Tertius can hardly keep pace.'" And, above all, we trace his presence in the postscript to every letter, which he adds as an authentication, in his own characteristic hand^vj-iting," " which is a token in every epistle : thus I write." " Sometimes, as he takes up the pen, he is moved with indignation when he thinks of the false brethren among those whom he addresses : " The salutation of me Paul with my own baud : if any man love not the > Compare the laudatory expressions In 1 Cor. ' 1 Tim. v. 23. 1. 6-7, and 2 Cor. i. 6, 7, with the heavy and almost « 2 Cor. vii. 3. unminglcd censure conveyed in the whole suhse. "* 2 Cor. ii. 13, and vli. 5. quent part of these Epistles. >° 2 Tim. iv. 9. "2 Cor. xl. 28. • Rom. XV. 14, 15. " Rom. x%1. 22. " I Tertius, who wrote tbis » 1 Cor. viil. 13. Epistle, salute you in the Lord." • 1 Cor. viii. 12, and Rom. ilv. 21. " Gal. vl. 11. " Bee the size of the characters In » Phil. 111. 13. which I write to you with my own hand." • Phil. i. 15. " 2 Thesa. lii. 17. INTRODUCTION. XV Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." ' Sometimes, as he raises his hand to write, he feels it cramped by the fetters which bind him to the soldier who guards him : ' " I Paul salute you with my own hand : remember my chains." Yet he always ends with the same blessing, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you ; " to which he sometimes adds still further a few last words of affectionate remembrance, — "My love be with you all in Christ Jesus." ' But, although the letters of St. Paul are so essential a part of his personal biography, it is a difficult question to decide upon the form in which they should be given in a work like this. The object to be sought is, that they may really represent in English what they were to their Greek readers when first written. Now, this object would not be attained if the Authorized Version were adhered to ; and yet a departure from that whereof so much is interwoven with the memory and deepest feelings of every religious mind should be grounded on strong and sufficient cause. It is hoped that the following reasons may be held such : — 1st, The Authorized Version was meant to be a standard of authority and ultimate appeal in controversy : hence it could not venture to depart, as an ordinary translation would do, from the exact words of the original, even where some amplification was abso- lutely r< quired to complete the sense. It was to be the version unanimously accepted by all parties, and therefore must simply represent the Greek te.\t word for word. This it does m'lst faithfully, so far as the critical knowledge of the sixteenth' century permitted. But the result of this method is sometimes to produce a translation unintelligible to the English reader.' Also, if the text admit of two interpretations, our version endeavors, if possil le, to preserve the same ambiguity, and effects this often with admirable skill ; but such indecision, although a merit in an authoritative version, would be a fault in a trans- lation which had a different object. 2d, The imperfect knowledge existing at the time when our Bible was translated made it inevitable that the translators should occasionally render the original incorrectly ; and the same cause has made their version of many of the argumentative portions of the Epistles perplexed and obscure. 3d, Such passages as are affected by the above-mentioned objections, might, it is true, have been recast, and the authorized translation retained in all cases where it is correct and clear ; but, if this had been done, a patchwork effect would have been produced like that of new cloth upon old garments : moreover, the devotional associations of the reader would have been offended ; and it would have been a rash experiment to provoke such a contrast between the matchless style of the Authorized Version and that of the modem translator, thus placed side by side. 4th, The style adopted for the present purpose should not be antiquated ; for St. Paul was writing in the language used by his Hellenistic readers in every-day life. « 1 Cor. rvi. 22. » Yet, had any other course been adopted, every » ColoBs. iv. 18. » 1 Cor. ivi. at. Beet would have had its own Bible : as it is, this one • Being executed at the very beginning of the translation has been all but unanimously received •cventeenth. for three centuries. xn INTRODUCTION. 5th, In order to give the true meaning of the original, something more than a mere Terbal rendering is often absolutely required. St. Paul's style is extremely elliptical, and the gaps must be filled up. And, moreover, the great difficulty in understanding his argu- ment is to trace clearly the transitions ' by which be passes from one step to another. For this purpose, something must occasionally be supplied beyond the mere literal ren- dering of the words. In fact, the meaning of an ancient wiiter may be rendered into a modern language in three ways : either, first, by a literal version ; or, secondly, by a, free translation ; or, thirdly, by a paraphrase. A recent specimen of the first method may be found in tlie corrected edition of the Authorized Version of the Corinthians, by Prof. Stanley ; of the Galatians and Ephesians, by Prof. EUicott ; and of the Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans, by Prof. Jowett ; all of which have appeared since the first edition of the present work The experiment of these translations (ably executed as they are) has confirmed the viev? above expressed of the unsatisfactory nature of such a literal rendering ; for it cannot be doubted, that though they correct the mistakes of the Authorized Version, yet they leave an English reader in more hopeless bewilderment as to St. Paul's meaning than that ver- sion itself. Of the third course (that of paraphrase), an excellent specunen is to be found in Prof. Stanley's paraphrases of the Corinthian Epistles. There is, perhaps, no better way than this of conveying the general meaning of the Epistles to an English reader ; but it would not be suitable for the biography of St. Paul, in which not only his general meaning, but his every sentence and every clause, should, so far as possible, bo given There remains the intermediate course of a, free translation, which is that adopted in the present work : nor does there seem any reason why a translation of St. Paul should be rendered inaccurate by a method which would generally be adopted in a translation of Tliucydides. It has not been thought necessary to interrupt the reader by a note " in every instance where the translation varies from the Authorized Version. It has been assumed that the readers of the notes will have sufficient knowledge to understand the reason of such varia- tions in the more obvious cases. But it is hoped that no variation which presents any real diflSculty has been passed over without explanation. It should further be observed, that the translation given in this work does not adhere to the Tcxtus Keceptus, but follows the text authorized by the best JISS. Yet, though the Textus Receptus has no authority in itself, it seems undesirable to depart from it without necessity, because it is the text familiar to English readers. Hence the translator has adhered to it in passages where the MSS. of highest authority are equally divided > In the translation of the Epiatlea given In the etroyed by such inattention in the Authorized Ver- present work, it has been the especial aim of the sion I—" Who hirth believed our rc;)or« ? So, then, translator to represent these transitions correctly. faith Cometh by hearing." They very often depend upon a word -which sug- ' [See again note on p. IX, and the Preface. In gests a new thought, and are quite lost by a want this edition, no note appended to the translations ha« of attention to the verbal coincidence. Thus, for been altered In meaning. Only such changes are Instance, In Rom. x. 16, 17, — " Who hath given made as is required by the omisaloD ol Qreek faith to our teaching 1 So, then, faith cometh by words. — H.J teaching," — how completely is the connection d«- INTRODUCTION. XVn between its reading and some other, and also in some cases where the difference between it and the true text is merely verbal. The authorities consulted upon the chronology of St. Paul's life, the reasons for the views taken of disputed points in it, and for the dates of the Epistles, are stated (so far as seems needful) in the body of the work or in the Appendices, and need not be further referred to here. In conclusion, the authors would express their hope that this biography may, in its measure, be useful in strengthening the hearts of some against the peculiar form of unbe- lief most current at the present day. The more faithfully we can represent to ourselves the life, outward and inward, of St. Paul, in all its fulness, the more unreasonable must appear the theory, that Christianity had a mythical origin ; and the stronger must be our ground for believing his testimony to the divine nature and miraculous history of our Re- deemer. No reasonable man can learn to know and love the Apostle of the Gentiles without asking himself the question, " What was the principle by which, through such a life, he was animated ? What was the strength in which he labored with such immense results ? " Nor can the most sceptical inquirer doubt for one moment the full sincerity of St. Paul's belief, that " the life which he lived in the flesh, he lived by the foith of the Son of God, who died and gave himself for him." ' " To believe in Christ crucified and risen, to serve him on earth, to be with him hereafter, — these, if we may trust the account of his own motives by any human ^vriter whatever, were the chief if not the only thoughts which sustained Paul of Tarsus through all the troubles and sorrows of his twenty-years' conflict. His sagacity, his cheerfulness, his forethought, his impartial and clear-yudging reason, all the natural elements of his strong character, are not, indeed, to be over- looked : but the more highly we exalt these in our estimate of his work, the larger share we attribute to them in the performance of his mission, the more are we compelled to believe that he spoke the words of truth and soberness when he told the Corinthians, that, 'last of all, Christ was seen of him also;" that 'by the grace of God he was what he was ; ' that, ' whilst he labored more abundantly than all, it was not he, but the grace of God that was in him.' '" « Qal. U. ». > 1 Cor. xv. 8. • Stanley's Sermoru on the Apoatolio Age, p 188. POSTSCRIPT. IT may be well to add, that, while Mr. Conybeare and Dr. Howson have undertaken the joint revision of the whole work, the translation of the Epistles and Speeches of St. Paul is contributed by the former ; the historical portion of the work principally, and the geographical portion entirely, by the latter : Dr. Howson having written Chapters I., n., in., IV., v., VI., VII., Vm., IX., X., XI., Xn., XIV., XVI., XX., XXI. (except the earlier portion), XXII. (except some of the later part), XXIU., XXIV., the latter pages of XVII., and the earlier pages of XX^^., with the exception of the Epistles and Speeches therein contained ; and INIr. Conybeare having written the Introduction and Appendices, and Chapters XHI., XV., XVII. (except the conclusion), XVIH., XIX., XXV., XXVI. (except the introductory and topographical portions), XXVII., XXV 111., the earlier pages of XXI., and some of the later pages of XXTI. • This seems the proper place for explaining (ion. In such references, however, the num- the few abbreviations used. T. R. stand.s fur bering of verses and chapters according to the Textus Heceptm; 0. T. for Old Testament; N. T. Autliorised Ver.«ion (not according to tlie Sep- for New Testament; A. V. for Authorised Vir- tuagint) lias been retained, to avoid tlie causing sion; and LXX. (after a quotation from the Old of perplexity to English readers who may at- Testament) means that tlie quotation is cited by tempt to verify the references. St. Paul, according to the Septuagint transla- CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Pagi. Great Men of Great Periods. — Period of Christ's Apostles. — Jews, Greeks, and Ro- mans. — Religious Civilization of the Jews. — Their History, and its Relation to that of the World. — Heathen Preparation for the Gospel. — Character and Language ot the Greeks. — Alexander. — Antioch and Alexandria. — Growth and Government of the Roman Empire. — Misery of Italy and the Provinces. — Preparation in the Empire for Christianity. — Dispersion of the Jews in Asia, Africa, and Europe. — Proselytes. — Provinces of Cilicia and Judaea. — Their Geography and History. — Cilicia under the Romans. — Tarsus. — Cicero. — Political Changes in Judsea. — Herod and his Fami- ly. — The Roman Governors. — Conclusion t CHAPTER II. Jewish Origin of the Church. — Sects and Parties of the Jews. — Pharisees and Sad- ducces. — St. Paul a Pharisee. — Hellenists and AraraiEans. — St. Paul's Family Hel- lenistic, but not Helleniiing. — His Infancy at Tarsus. — The Tribe of Benjamin. — His Father's Citizenship. — Scenery of the Place. — His Childhood. — He is sent to Jerusalem. — State of Judaea and Jerusalem. — Rabbinical Schools. — Gamaliel. — Mode of Teaching. — Synagogues. — Student-Life of St. Paul. — His early Man- hood. — First Aspect of the Church. — St. Stephen. — The Sanhedrin. — St. Stephen the Forerunner of St. Paul. — His Martyrdom and Prayer 29 CHAPTER III. Funeral of St. Stephen. — Saul's continued Persecution. — Flight of the Christians. — Philip and the Samaritans. — Saul's Journey to Damascus. — Aretas, King of Petra. — Roads from Jerusalem to Damascus. — Neapolis. — History and Description of Damas- cus. — The Narratives of the Miracle. — It was a real Vision of Jesus Christ. — Three Days in Damascus. — Ananias. — Baptism and first Preaching of Saul. — He retires into Arabia. — Meaning of the Term " Arabia." — Petra and the Desert. — Motives to Conversion. — Conspiracy at Damascus. — Escape to Jerusalem. — Barnabas. — Fort- night with St. Peter. — Conspiracy. — Vision in the Temple. — Saul withdraws to Syria and Cilicia TI CHAPTER IV. Wider Diffusion of Christianity. — Antioch. — Chronology of the Acts. — Reign of Caligu- la. — Claudius and Herod Agrippa I. — The Year 44. — Conversion of the Gen- n CONTENTS. tiles. — St. Peter and Cornelius. — Joppa and Csesarca. — St. Peter's Vision. — Bap- tism of Cornelius. — Intelligence from Antioch. — Mission of Barnabas. — Saul with Barnabas at Antioch. — The Name " Christian." — Description and History of Anti- och. — Character of its Inhabitants. — Earthquakes. — Famine. — Barnabas and Saul at Jerusalem. — Death of St. James and of Herod Agrippa. — Return with Mark to Antioch. — Providential Preparation of St. Paul. — Results of his Mission to Jerusa- lem CHAPTER V. Second Part of the Acts of the Apostles. — Revelation at Antioch. — Public Devotions. — Departure of Barnabas and Saul. — The Orontes. — History and Description of Selu- cia. — Voyage to Cyprus. — Salarais. — Roman Provincial System. — Proconsuls and Proprietors. — Sergius Paulus. — Oriental Impostors at Rome and in the Provinces. — Elymas Barjesus. — History of Jewish Names. — Saul and Paul . . . . 121 CHAPTER VI. Old and New Papho^. — Departure from Cyprus. — Coast of Paraphylia. — Perga. — Mark's Return to Jerusalem. — Mountain-Scenery of Pisidia. — Situation of Anti- och. — The Synagogue. — Address to the Jews.y^ — Preaching to the Gentiles. — Perse- cution by the Jews. — History and Description of Iconium. — Lycaonia. — Derhe and Lystra. — Healing of the Cripple. — Idolatrous Worship offered to Paul and Barna- bas. — Address to the Gentiles. — St. Paul stoned. — Timotheus. — The Apostles re- trace their Journey. — Perga and Attaleia. — Return to Syria 139 CHAPTER VII. Controveiiy in the Church. — Separation of Jews and Gentiles. — Difficulty in the Narra- tive. — Discontent at Jerusalem. — Intrigues of the Judaizers at Antioch. — Mission of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. — Divine Revelation to St. Paul. — Titus. — Private Conferences. — Public Meeting. — Speech of St. Peter. — Narrative of Barnabas and Paul. — Speech of St. James. — The Decree. — Public Recognition of St. Paul's Mis- sion to the Heathen. — St. John. — Return to Antioch with Judas, Silas, and Mark. — Reading of the Letter. — Weak Conduct of St. Peter at Antioch. — He is rebuked by St. Paul. — Personal Appearance of the two Apostles. — Their Reconciliation . 17* CHAPTER VIII. rditical Divisions of Asia Minor. — Difficulties of the Subject. — Provinces in the Beigns of Claudius and Nero. — I. ASIA. — II. BITHYNIA. — III. PAMPHYLIA. — IV. GALATIA. — V. PONTUS. — VI. CAPPADOCIA. — VII. CILICIA. — Visitation of the Churches proposed. — Quarrel and Separation of Paul and Barnabas. — Paul and Silas in Cilicia. — They cross the Taurus. — Lystra. — Timothy. — His Cir- cumcision. — Journey through Phrygia, — Sickness of St. Paul. — His Reception in Galatia. — Journev to the jEgean. — Alexandria Troas. — St. Paul's Vision . . 203 CHAPTER IX. Voyage by Samothrace to Neapolis. — Philippi. — Constitution of a Colony. — Lydia. — The Demoniac Slave. — Paul and Silas arrested. — The Prison and the Jailer. — The Magistrates. — Departure from Philippi. — St. Luke. — Macedonia described. — It* CONTENTS. XXIll Condition as a Province. — The Via Efjnatia. — St. Paul's Journey through Amplii]M)- lis and Apollonia. — Thessalonica. — Tlie Synagogue. — Subjects of St. Paul's Preach- ing. — Persecution, Tumult, and Flight. — The Jews at Bcroea. — St Paul again pers©- cated. — Proceeds to Athens 246 CHAPTER X. Arrival on the Coast of Attica. — Scenery round Athens. — The Pi^a^us and the " Long Walls." — The Agora. — The Acropolis. — The " Painted Porch " and the " Gar- den." — The Apostle alone in Athens. — Greek Religion. — The unknown God. — Greek Philosophy, — The Stoics and Epicure.ins. — Later Period of the Schools. — St. Paul in the Agora. — The Areopagus. — Speech of St. Paul. — Departure from Alhens 298 CHAPTER XL I/etters to Thessalonica written from Corinth. — Expulsion of the Jews from Rome. — Aquila and I'riscilla. — St. Paul's Labors. — Arrival of Timothy and Silas. — First EpislletotAe Thessalonians. — St. Paul is opposed by the Jews, and turns to the Gen- tiles. — His Vision. — Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. — Continued Residence in Corinth 333 CHAPTER XIL The Isthmus and Acrocorinthus. — Early History of Corinth. — Its Trade and Wealth. — Corinth under the Romans. — Province of Achaia. — Gallio the Governor. — Tumult at Corinth. — Cenchrea. — Voyage by Kphesus to Caesarca. — Visit to Jerusalem. — Antioch ... 357 CHAPTER Xm. The Spiritual Gifts, Constitotion, Oramances, Divisions, and Heresies of the Primitive Church in the Lifetime of St. Paul 372 CHAPTER XIV. Departure from Antioch. — St. Paul's Companions. — Journey through Phrygia and Gala- tia. — Apollos at Ephesus and Corinth. — Arrival of St. Paul at Ephesus. — Disciples of John tlie Baptist. — The Synagogue. — The School of Tyrannus. — Ephesian Magic. — Miracles. — The Exorcists. — Burning of the Books .... 40S CHAPTER XV. Paul pays a short Visit to Corinth. — Returns to Ephesus. — Writes a Letter to the Corinthian-i, which is now lost. — They reply, desiring further Explanations. — State of the Corinthian Church - St. Fiiu\ wntea the First Epistle to the Corinthians . 418 CHAPTER XVL , Description of Ephesus. — Temple of Diana : her Image and Worship. — Political Consti- tution of Ephesus. — The Asiarchs. — Deinetrius and the Silversmiths. — Tumult in the Theatre. — Speech of the Town-Clerk.— St. Paul's Departure .... CHAPTER XVII. St. Paul at Troas. — He passes over to Macedonia. — Causes of his Dejection. — He meets Titus at Philippi. — Writes the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. — Collection for the poor Christians in Judsea. — Liberality of the Macedonians. — Titus. — Journey by Illyricum to Greece 478 CHAPTER XVni. 8t. Paul's Return to Corinth. — Contrast with his First Visit. — Bad news from Galatia. — He writes the Epistle to the Gatatians 518 CHAPTER XIX. St. Paul at Corinth. — Punishment of contumacious Offenders. — Subsequent Character of the Corinthian Church. — Completion of the Collection. — Phoebe's Journey to Rome. — She bears the Epistle to the Homans 539 CHAPTER XX. Isthmian Games. — Route through Macedonia. — Voyage from Philippi. — Sunday at Troas. — Assos. — Voyage by Mitylene and Trogyllium to Miletus. — Speech to the '- Ephesian Presbyters. — Voyage by Cos and Rhodes to Patara. — Thence to Phoenicia. — Christians at Tyre. — Ptolemais. — Events at Cjesarea. — Arrival at Jerusalem . 585 CHAPTER XXI. Bece{>tion at Jerusalem. — Assembling of the Presbyters. — Advice given to St. Paul. — The Four Nazaritcs. — St. Paul seized at the Festival. — The Temple and the Gam- son. — Ilebrew Speech on the Stairs. — The Centurion and the Chief Captain. — St. Paul before the Sanhcdrin. — The Pharisees and Sadducees. — Vision in the Castle. — Conspiracy. — St. Paul's Nephew. — Letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix. — Night Journey to Antipatris. — Csesarea 620 CHAPTER XXn. History of Judaea resumed. — Roman Govcniors. — Felix. — Troops quartered in Palestine. — Description of Ctesarea. — St. Paul accused there. — Speech before Felix. — Con- ^ tinned Imprisonment. — Accession of Fcstus. — Appeal to the Emperor. — Speech before Agrippa 652 CHAPTER XXm. Ships and Navigation of the Ancients. — Roman Commerce in the Mediterranean. — Corn- Trade between Alexandria and Putcoli. — Travellers by Sea. — St. Paul's Voyage from Csesarca, by Sidon, to Myra. — From Myra, by Cnidus and Cape Salmonc, to Fair Havens. — Phoenix. — The Storm. — Seamanship during the Gale. — St. Paul's Vision. — Anchoring in the Night. — Shipwreck. — Proof that it took Place in Malta. — Win- ter in the Island. — Objections considered. — Voyage, by Syracuse and Rhegium, to Puteoli 677 CHAPTER XXIV. The Appian Way. — Appii Forum and the Three Taverns. — Entrance into Rome. — The PrfEtorian Prefect. — Description of the City. — Its Population. — The Jews in Rome. — The Roman Church. — St. Paul's Interview with the Jews. — His Residence in Rome . . 72a CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. Delay of St. Paul's Trial. — His Occupations and Companions daring his Imprisonment. — He writes the Epistle to Philemon, the Epistle to the Colossians, and the Epistle to the i^ ' Ephesians (so called) 744 CHAPTER XXVI. The Praetorium and the Palatine. — Arrival of Epaphroditus. — Political Events at Rome. — Octavia and Poppasa. — St. Paul writes the Epistle to the Philtppians. — He makes . ^ Converts in the Imperial Household 779 CHAPTER XXVII. Authorities for St. Paul's subsequent History. — His Appeal is heard. — His Acquittal. — He goes from Rome to Asia Minor. — Tlience to Spain, where he resides two Years. — He returns to Asia Minor and Macedonia. — Writes the First Epistle to Tiinotheus. - Visits Crete. — Writes the £'/)is(/e to Tites. — He winters at Nicopolis. — He is again imprisoned at Rome. — Progress of his Trial. — He writes the Second Epistle to Timo- \^ tlieus. — His Condemnation and Death 799 CHAPTER XXVm. The Epistle to the Hebrews. — Its Inspiration not affected by the Doubts concerning its Au- thorship. — Its Original Readers. — Conflicting Testimony of the Primitive Church concerning its Autlior. — His Object in writi,ng it. — Translation of the Epistle . 848 APPENDICES. Appendix I. — (On the Chronology of Gal. ii.) Appendix II. — (On the Date of the Pastoral Epistles) Appendix III. — (Chronological Table and Notes) INDEX /1^S.«. -CUA*,. '/U^AA CKiiy-*^-^ •<•*.. ~ u. 4. (e- •*li!^iAa^.— y {,'7. PEELIMINAEY DISSERTATION. IT is not because this truly great work needs any commendation from me that I consent to stand, as it were, for a little while between the learned authors and their readers, but because I hare ventiired to hope that what I have to say by way of introduction may be accepted as a humble contribution to the usefulness of "The People's Edition." This Life of Paul the Apostle, with his writings incorporated as biographical documents in a free but conscientious translation, was designed originally for the use of scholars conversant in some degree with the sources of the affluent and various learning by which the narra- tive is enriched and illustrated ; but in a People's Edition it will find, I doubt not, many intelligent readers to whom the facts and considerations ofi'ered in these few pages may be helpful. Even an unbeliever, if he be at all intelligent, must admit that the Christian religion is, at this moment, one of the most important facts in the condition of the civilized world ; and that, ever since its first appearance in history, it has been one of the most powerful among the forces that have impelled or controlled the world's progress. The year which was fixed upon, fourteen hundred years ago, as that in which Jesus Christ was bom, has become, by the general consent of civilized nations, the point from which all time is measured, backward to the dimmest antiquity, and forward into the yet unknown future. In other words, the importance of Christianity as a fact and a force in history is recognized in the recognition of the Christian era. Any other method of dating, as, for example, in the British Empire, from the accession of the reigning sovereign, or, in our country, from the Declaration of Independence, is more for form than for use. The attempt of revolutionary France to abolish the Christian era, and to substitute for it the era of the Eepublic, was as futile as the simultaneous attempt to abolish the division of time into weeks, and is already remembered PBELIMIKAEY DIS3EKTATI0N. only as a curiosity of history. Nothing future is more certain than that, in the progress of civilization and of international intercourse, making the knowledge and the arts of Christendom a common possession for mankind, all nations will learn to count their years and centuries from the supposed birthday of Christ. So signally has this Christian religion inserted itself into the world's history. It is not only a marvellous fact; it is a transcendent power : its beginning is the one epoch from which all the centuries before and after must be measured. No thoughtful man, then, can fail to be deeply interested in the inquiry con- cerning the origin of Christianity, however he may doubt or deny its authori- ty as a revelation from God. When, where, and how did this religion begin? It appears to-day under various forms and aspects, but always resting on the same basis of alleged facts. In its dogmas, in its ritual, in its external discipline, it has been modified from age to age ; at one time gradually corrupted by enthusi- asms or superstitions, at another time reformed. What was it in its beginning ? What were the ideas and sentiments, the faith, the expectations, the practices, and the character, of those who were first called Christians ? Such questions, surely, even if considered as historical questions only, are profoundly interesting to a thoughtful mind. What sources of information are there from which we may obtain a satisfactory answer to such questions ? Apart from that little collection of writings which we call the New Testament, we have really no information concerning the origin of Christianity. The great- est of all revolutions in human thinking and in human affairs began, and passed through the earliest stage of its progress, in an obscurity beneath the notice of philosophers and historians. When it first comes into recognition in secular literature, its existence is already a mystery to be accounted for, and no light appears in regard to its origin. Yet that was not a barbarous age. It was just the age in which the old civilization had reached its highest advancement. Over the wide extent of the empire that called itself the world, literature and the arts were in their glory. Grecian culture and the Grecian spirit of speculation had been superinduced upon the sterner qualities of the Eoman race ; and many a provincial city, as well as the great centre of dominion, had its literary men, and its institute or college, in which accomplished teachers gave instruction in philoso- phy and rhetoric to crowds of pupils. But the literature of that age took no careful notice, and made no deliberate record, of a movement, which, as wo now see, was destined to change the history of the world. Three eminent Eoman authors, who lived near the close of the first century and in the beginning of the second, and they only, mention distinctly the fact of Christianity as a new religion ; but they give no intelligent report of how it came into being. PEELIMINABY DISSERTATION. Yxnc It happens that those three authors were related to each other as friends. The oldest of them, Caius Cornelius Tacitus, was born about the year 65 of the Christian era. Caius Plinius C^cilius Secundus, commonly called in English the younger Pliny, was born in 61 or 62. Caius Suetonius Tkan- QUILLUS was bom about the year 70, or two years before the fall of Jerusalem. They were all eminent men, of rare talents, accomplished by the best culture which the time could give, personally conversant with public affairs, employed in various offices of great responsibility, honored with the friendship of such an emperor as Trajan, yet more desirous of winning celebrity with future ages by literary achievements than by rising to the highest honors in the forum or in the imperial court. Two of them were historians, recording with exquisite art, and with something of philosophic sagacity, the events of their own age and of the age immediately preceding. The other survives in a voluminous collection of familiar letters to his friends, — just such memorials of men and times as the stu- dent of history most delights in. What information, then, do these three illus- trious authors give us concerning that most important theme in the history of their century, the origin and early progress of the Christian religion ? The great work of Suetonius is his " Lives of the Twelve Ciesars," beginning with Julius, and ending with Domitian. In his " Life of Claudius Caesar," whose reign began a.d. 42, and continued about eight years, there is one sentence which is commonly understood as referring to disturbances occasioned by Jewish hostility to the belief in Jesus as the Christ : " He [Claudius] expelled from Eome the Jews, who were continually raising tumults at the instigation of Chrestus." * That brief sentence, as the reader of this volume will have occa- sion to observe, describes, no doubt, the expulsion which brought the Christian Jew Aquila and his wife Priscilla from Italy to Corinth.' But at present we need only observe how meagre and unsatisfactory is the notice of a fact about which our curiosity in this nineteenth century demands full information. If the historian heedlessly wrote Chrestus for Christus, without inquiring what any person of that name had to do with the riots, then tlie Christian religion. Borne time after the year 42, and before the year 50, had become a subject of con- troversy among the Jews at Eome, and its enemies had attempted to suppress it by violence ; and farther this witness has nothing to say. But in his "Life of Nero," the successor of Claudius, there is another passage, more explicit. Describing summarily those things done by Nero which were in part blameless and in part praiseworthy, before touching upon the crimes I " Jndseos Impnlsore Chresto assidne tomulta- * Acta xrlil. 2. Bee pp. 335, 336, of thlB polam^t •oto* Soma ezpulit."— Suetonttu, Claud. 2i, XXX PRELIMINAKY DISSERTATION. which have made that name forever infamous, he says, " The Christians, a sort of men of a new and mischievous superstition, were severely punished." ' It seems, then, there were Christians at Rome when Nero was emperor. Their reli- gion was at that time new, and was considered (then, and forty or fifty years later, when Suetonius told the story) a mischievous superstition. They were severely punished for being Christians ; and, in the opinion of the historian, one of the good things which Nero did, or at least one of the things in that reign which deserve no reprehension, was the fact that Christians were thus punished. But why did he not tell us something more about those Christians ? Surely he might have told us (had he thought it worth the telling) what their new super- stition was, whence it came, what mischievous practice or tendency there was in it. Could he have had only the faintest anticipation of what was to be about two hundred years from the date of his writing, — a Christian Coesar in the place of Nero, and that " new superstition " everywhere triumphant over the old religion, — surely he would have taken pains to find out and to report some authentic particulars concerning the origin and early progress of a movement that was to bring about so great a change. Of what Tacitus wrote, much has been lost; but there is one memorable pas- sage in which he speaks distinctly of the Christian religion. His " Annals " gave the succession of leading events in the empire, from the death of Augustus, A.D. 14, to the death of Nero, A.d. 68 ; and only about one-third of the great work has been lost. In the composition of such a work, nothing, it would seem, could be more natural than that he should find occasion to describe with some degree of miuuteness, and with careful attention, the beginning and the early propagation of Christianity. Such an occasion occurred to him. He could not avoid speaking of the new religion ; but his account of it is very unsatisfactory to us, who know the historic importance of the facts which he ought to have described. Having narrated with picturesque effect the great conflagration of Eome in the reign of Nero, and the efforts which the emperor made to efface from the minds of men the suspicion that he was himself the author of that destruction, Tacitus says, " Therefore Nero, to get rid of the rumor, substituted as the criminals, and punished with most exquisite tortures, those persons, odious for shameful practices, whom the vulgar called Christians. Christ, the author of that name, was punished by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tibe- rius ; and the deadly superstition, repressed for a while, broke out again not only 1 " Affllcti supplicils Christian], genns hominnm mediocrl laude digna, in unum contuli : ut Pecerne- •operBtltlooiB noTOB ac male&cm." ~ Suet., Nero, 18. rem a probris ao sccleribus ejus, de quibus dehln» " H»c partlm nulla reprehenslone, partim etian non dlcam." — Ibid. 19. PBBLIMINARr DISSERTATION. XXXI through Judaea, the original seat of that evil, but through the city also, whither, from every side, all things horrible or shameful flow together and come into vogue. First, some were arrested who made confession ; then, by the information obtained from them, a great multitude were found guilty, not so much of burning the city as of a hatred of the human race. Even in their dying, they were made sport of, — some covered with skins of beasts, that they might be mangled to death by dogs ; others nailed to crosses ; others condemned to the flames, and, when the day went down, they were burned for illumination in the night. Kero had offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and gave at the same time a circus exhibition, going about himself among the rabble in the dress of a charioteer, or actually driving a chariot. The consequence was, that although the sufferers were wicked, and worthy of extreme punishment, commiseration was awakened, as if they suffered not from any consideration of the public welfare, but for the grati- fication of one man's cruelty." * Tacitus, then, making his record of public events, was compelled to take notice of the Christian religion as a fact in the reign of Nero. He describes more at length, what Suetonius mentions so briefly, the persecution of tlio Christians at Rome by that emperor. He tells us that it followed the great con- flagration, which is known to have been A.D. 64. From him we learn, in addition to what Suetonius has told us, the occasion and motive of the persecution, and what cruelties were inflicted on the sufferers. He even gives some information concerning the origin of that new religion ; that it arose in Judsea under the reign of Tiberius, wliich extended, as we know, from A.D. 14 to A.D. 37 ; that its name was derived from Christ, who was punished by the procurator Pilate, whose term of office began, as is ascertained from other sources of information, in the twelfth year of that reign ; that, instead of being suppressed by the pun- ishment inflicted on its author, it spread through Judaea, and through Rome itselfl Yet the description which he gives of Christianity is no more satisfactory to our reasonable curiosity than the more compendious statement given by Suetonius. The great conflagration, and the torture of Christians in Nero's gardens, were » "Ergo abolendo rumor! Nero Bubdidit reoa, et addlta ludibria, nt ferarum tcrgis contecU lanlatu qnseBitiSBimia pcenis adfecit, quos per flagitia inrl- canum Interirent, aut crucibus aflixi, aut flammandi eofl, vulgua Chrlslianoa appellabat. Auctor nominis atque ubi deiicisset dies in uauni nocturni luminls ejua CbriatU8,Tibcrioimperitante,pcrprocuratorem urerentur. Hortoa Buoa ei spectaculo Nero obtule- Pontium IMlatum, auppliclo affectus erat. Repres- rat, et Circenae ludicrura edebat, babitu aurigseper- eaque in prasaena exitiabilia auperatitio raraua erinn- mlxtua plebi, vel curriculo insistens. Undo qui n- pebat n»n mod6 per Judasam, originem ejua mall, quam adveraua aontea, et noviaaimaesempiamerit-^a, «cd per urbem ctiam qu6 cuncta undique atrocia aut miacratio oriebatur, tanquam non utilitate publica, pudenda confluunt, colcbranturque. Igitur primum aed in axvitiam uniua absumerentur." — Tacit., Ann, correpti.qui fatcbantur, deinde, Indicioeorummulti- xv. 44. — The translation which I have given la as tudo ingcns, baud perinde in crimine Incendii, quam nearly literal aa the difference of the two languages odio human! generia conrtctl aunt. Kt pereunt!bu» and the aententloua brevity of the author will pcrmll. ZXZII PRELmrNABT DISSERTATION. within the reach of the historian's personal memory. As a child, he might haye seen what he describes so vividly. Forty years had passed, and he was writing about Nero in the reign of Trajan ; but he did not think it necessary to recon- sider what he had received in childhood as the common opinion about the Chris- tian religion. Any inquiry concerning its principles or practices seemed to him beneath the dignity of an historian. So, instead of telling us any thing which an historical inquirer at this day, tracing the greatest of revolutions to its origin, would be most eager to know, he dismisses the subject with a few bitter and contemptuous phrases. Christianity — the very name of it was " vulgar : " per- sons of his rank and culture rarely had occasion to mention the " odious " thing ; it was a " deadly superstition." The wretches who in Nero's gardens were torn to pieces by dogs for the amusement of the public, or were set up on crosses that bystanders might enjoy the excitement of seeing so exquisite a form of mortal agony, or were covered with combustible matter, and burned, to give light as evening came on, deserved what they suffered ; though the populace held fast the opinion that Nero was the great incendiary, and began to pity the wicked sufferers, and to deem them the objects not so much of imperial justice as of imperial cruelty. From this historian, then, we obtain only the scantiest infor- mation which he could give without failing to record what he recognized as a significant incident in the reign of Nero. Not far from the time when Tacitus was writing his " Annals," and Suetonius his " Lives of the Ctesars," Pliny, the intimate friend of both, was administering the government of a province on the southern coast of the Black Sea. He had been appointed Propraetor of Bithynia and Pontus by the Emperor Trajan, a.d. 103, — about forty years after the persecution described by Tacitus. The last of the ten books of his collected epistles contains his correspondence with Trajan, mostly ofiicial. One of his despatches to the emperor gives some of that infor- mation concerning Christianity which the great historians disdained to give ; and it has been preserved, not because the author thought that distant genera- tions would desire to know what he had happened to learn about that strange religion, but only because he thought that the letter, like other letters of his about matters of slight importance, would be valued for its literary merit. It was im- possible for him to conceive, that, of all his epistles, the one which in after-ages would be most thought of, and which would make him known to millions of readers, who, but for that, would never hear his name, was his business-like com- munication to the emperor on the question, what to do with Christians. A close translation, with no attempt to represent the literary merit of the original, will answer the purpose of laying before the reader just what Pliny PBELIMINAKY DISSEETATION. reported officially to the emperor about Christianity in Pontus and Bithyuia, some time within the first ten years of the second century : ' — " It is my custom, sir, to refer every thing about which I am in doubt to you ; for who can better direct my hesitation, or remove my ignorance ? " I have never been present at any judicial examination of Christians, so that I am ignorant in what manner and to what extent it is usual to punish them or to examine them. I have also been quite unable to decide whether there is any discrimination on account of difference in age, or those who are of tender age are treated in the same way with the more robust; whether pardon is given to those who repent; or, if one has been at any time a Christian, it is nothing in his favor that he has ceased to be such ; whether the mere name is punished, or only those shameful practices which are connected with the name. " Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been accused before me of being Christians, I have taken this course, — I have put the question to them, whether they were Christians. To those who confessed I put the question again, and the third time, threatening them with punishment. Those who persevered in that confession I ordered to be taken to execution ; for I did not doubt, that, whatever the nature of their confession might be, the pertinacity and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished. There have been some possessed with that sort of mad- ness, whom, because they were Roman citizens, I have set down in the list of persons who must be sent to Rome.^ "Soon, as often happens, the proceedings having caused the accusation to spread in all directions, there came to be many sorts of cases.' An anonymous indictment was offered containing many names. I have thought proper to dis- charge those who deny that they are or have been Christians, when they repeated after me a prayer to the gods, and offered worship, with incense and wine, to your statue (which, for that purpose, I had ordered to be brought with the images of the deities), and, besides all that, reviled Christ ; which things they who are really Christians cannot, it is said, be forced to do. Others, named by an informer,* said that they were Christians, and immediately denied it : they said that they had been, but had ceased to be. Christians ; some three, some more, and a few even twenty years ago. These all venerated your statue and the images of the gods > PliQ., Ep. X. 96. The despatch and the empe- • SifTundente se crimine plureB tpecies iiicide ior'« reply are given at full length in the original, runt. accompanied with Uelmoth's translation, by Dr. * "Indice,"— perhaps the same anonymoai ti; Lyman Coleman, Chr. Antiquities, pp. 2&-30. former. I Compare Acts xvl. 37, ixU. 25-27, xxv. 11, 12, PBELTMryARY DISSEBLATION. they also reviled Christ. But they affirmed that the sum whether of their crime or of their error was this, — that they used to meet on a stated day before light, and to sing among themselves, in turn, a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by an oath, not to any wickedness, but that they would never commit theft, robbery, nor adultery ; that they would never break their word ; that they would never deny a trust when called to give it up : and, after these performances, their way was to separate, and then meet again to partake of food, but only of an ordinary and harmless kind.' Even this they said they had given up after my edict, by which, according to your orders, I had pro- hibited clubs.^ " Having heard so much, I deemed it the more necessary to ascertain the truth by putting to the torture* two women-servants who were called dea- conesses ; * but I found nothing more than a perverse and excessive superstition. Therefore, having postponed the investigation, I betake myself to you for advice ; for the affair seems to me to require such consultation, especially because of the number of persons implicated : for many of every age, of every rank, an "Ad capfendum clbum, promiscnum tamen et for any otJbor purpose. It will not bo difficult to lunoxium." The word " proraiacuum" may signify keep watch over bo few." Trajan, in reply, adverted that the food was distributed to all alike; yet Taci- to the faclioua character of the pro\incc, and espe- tua uses it to signify that which is ordinary. cially of iu cities ; and said that organized socictiea ' This English word seems to represent fairly there, of whatever name, and for whatever object, the word " hetEerias." In a former despatch (x. 42), would certainly become in a enort time hetxriae, op Piiny, having reported to the emperor a cont!agra. sodalities. One characteristic jf the Koman sodali- tlon at Nicomedia, which had been very destructive ties was that they were festive clubs, or lodges, and for want of a competent flrc-dcpartmcnt, asked his were therefore easily perverted to political or fn»- •dvlee about incorporating a lire.company of at least tlous uses. & hundred and fifty mechanics. " I will take care," » Compare Acta xill. 21. lie said, " tbat none but a mechanic shall be a mem- * ** liinistra." ber, and that the privilege conceded shall not be uaed ' Compare 1 Cor. Till. 4-13, Acta xv. 29. PEELIMIKAEY DISSEETATIOK. XXXV shall deny that lie is a Christian, and shall confirm his denial hy worshipping the Eoman gods, however suspected his former conduct may have heen, let his recantation clear him. Anonymous accusations are to be disregarded. How much information concerning the early history of Christianity can we gather from this correspondence ? The question, at present, is, not what light Pliny's letter throws on information derived from other sources, but only how much we should know if the incidental revelations made in this despatch, to- gether with what Suetonius and Tacitus tell us, were all our knowledge on the subject. Suppose the statesmanship of Trajan and Pliny had extirpated that " perverse and excessive superstition," and this correspondence had come down to tell us about an extinct and forgotten religion : how much information would it give us ? 1. In the tenth year of the second century, or earlier, the people called Chris- tians had become very numerous in Pontus and Bithynia, — so numerous, that, by their influence, the resort to the temples of the established religion had been seriously diminished. Nor had that new religion then for the first time invaded the region. Some persons are mentioned who had not only accepted it, but had afterwards apostatized from it, as far back as A.D. 90. 2. The Christian religion was regarded and treated by the Roman Govern- ment as unlawful. It was a crime to be a Christian. At Rome, there had been, -in times then recent, prosecutions and trials of persons charged with that crime ; for so much is very distinctly implied when Pliny says, by way of apology for asking advice, that he had never attended at such trials. 3. It had become well understood that one who was really a Christian might be expected to die rather than to speak ill of Christ, or to comply with the estab- lished religion in an act of worship. No such notion could have obtained cur- rency, unless the attempt had been made often and unsuccessfully to break down the obstinacy of Christians in that respect. In this way, it was settled by the good sense of Pliny, and by the approval of Trajan, that, in the case of an^ person accused of Christianity, the question whether he was guilty might b» peremptorily decided by calling upon him to perform an act of worship to the gods of the established religion, and to pronounce a malediction against Christ 4. Ample testimony is given to the moral character of the Christians at that time in Pontus and Bithynia. Reluctant to punish men for a mere nam^, Pliny, when men and women were brought before him charged with being Chris- tians, thought it necessary to prove against them some of the shameful practices associated with that name in the common belief; but he could find no evidence to convict them of any thing shameful. He received the testimony of renegadef Xtrvi PEELLUINARY DISSEKXATION. ■who escaped punishment hy renouncing their religion ; and th^ir testimo.. y was, that the Christians were hound by a sacred covenant to do nothing wrong, and that, in their assemblies, there was nothing worse than innocently eating together. Not satisfied with this, he used his power as a magistrate to extort the truth from those who were supposed to be keeping it back. He selected from among the accused two female slaves who seemed to )iold some sort of an office in the Christian community ; and, having never thought that slaves could have any rights which Roman chivalry was bound to respect, he examined them by tor- ture : but they could only tell him the particulars of what he called a perverse and unbounded superstition. 5. Who would not like to read, at this day, the questions which were put to those two slave deaconesses on the rack, and the answers which they gave ? History ought to know what that superstition was. Neither Suetonius nor Taci- tus told what it was : nor does Pliny tell us any thing more than what the rene- gades told him ; which was, that the Christians had a custom of meeting on a certain day, at a very early hour, and singing a hymn to Christ as if he were a god. Concerning the beliefs and tenets of the Christians, the origin of their superstition, the methods in which it had been propagated, and the secret of the tenacity with which it had maintained itself for more than forty years since Nero undertook to suppress it at Rome, this correspondence gives no information. We have been inquiring what the contemporaneous literature of the world can tell us concerning the origin and early progress of the Cliristian religion, and we have found little more than a careless recognition of Christianity as a fact that was beginning to attract the hostile attentioii of the Roman Government in the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second. We learn from one author, that, about one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight years ago, it had a great multitude of adherents in that part of Asia Minor which borders on the Black Sea ; from two others, that it was severely perse- cuted at Rome about forty-six years earlier; and, from one of the two, that it had its beginning in Judaea under the reign of Tiberius, whose officer, Pontius Pilate, punished its author, Christ. By vestiges so few and faint, we trace it back to about the thirtietli year of the Christian era, with regret that philoso- phers and historians who saw the fact of the new religion did not suspect how important the fact was. A few years only after the date of Pliny's despatch to Trajan, the new religion begins to make a larger figure in the literature of the Roman Empire ; and at the same time it begins to have a copious literature of its own, from which we may ascertain, quite satisfactorily, what it then was, not only in its doctrines and spirit and its morals, but also in its traditions con- cerning its own origin. PEELIMINAKY DISSEETATIOA. XKXya Now, that Christian literature, commencing not long before the middle of the second century, is full of references to what we may call a more primitive Chris- tian literature, — the writings not indeed of Christ himself, but of his apostles and earliest disciples. Those writings were held in great veneration, as giving the original and authentic report of what Christ was, of what he said and did, of the truth which he brought into the world, of a reconciliation to be effected through him between human souls and God, and of the plan and hope which he inaugurated for the renovation of the world. We may, without any absurdity or contradiction, suppose those primitive writings to have been lost, and the re- ligion of which they «vere the original and authentic record to have come down to us in the living tradition of the Church, in formularies of doctrine or of wor- ship, in rules of government and discipline, and in the writings of the Christian fathers from about the middle of the second century. But what a loss would that have been ! what a loss to history ! what a loss to Christianity ! How diligent- ly would old libraries in Europe, and older monasteries in Arabian and Lybian deserts, be explored and ransacked in the hope of finding those primitive docu- ments of the Christian religion ! History, patiently tracing back the greatest of all revolutions to its origin, would say, " We can spare the lost books of Livy and of Tacitus ; but give us those lost books in which the ' perverse, unbounded, deadly superstition,' as the Eomans called it, portrayed itself at its beginning, and recorded its own earliest conflicts and victories." Earnest and inquiring believers would say, " Give us those lost books ; let us have our Christianity, not from the fathers, but from those apostles and evangelists to whose writings the fathers are continually referring us, not as defined and wrought into sys- tems by theologians, nor as formulated by councils, but as it was first received from Christ himself, as it was first revealed in the story of his life and of his death, as it was first written down by men whom he had personally taught and commissioned." Suppose now, that, as has happened in respect to other books long lost, those books, the primitive documents of Christianity, after having been lost for cen- turies, are at last recovered. Only a few years ago, an enthusiastic scholar, travelling in search of ancient manuscripts, was so happy as to find in a convent on Mount Sinai a copy of the New Testament, written, as indubitable indica- tions prove, full fifteen hundred years ago, — a volume so ancient, that the eyes of Constantine or of Athanasius might have looked upon it. If that " Sinaitic manuscript," when discovered, had been the only extant copy of the primitive) Christian documents, it is not difficult to imagine what would have been tho importance of the discovery, both ia its relation to the earliest history of Chria- IXXvm PEELIMINAKY DISSERTATION. tianity, and in its relation to Christianity itself as a divinely revealed religion. Think with what carefulness the precious book would be transcribed and edited for scholars ! how many translations of it would be made, that Christians every- where might read, every man in his own language, the original and authentic record concerning Christ and his work and kingdom ! what treasures of learn- ing would be expended in the illustration of it ! what commentaries would be made for all sorts of readers, and for various uses, historical, doctrinal, practical, and devotional ! Think how the venerable writings of the fathers, from Justin Martyr do^aiward, would be compared with these more venerable writings, so much nearer to the head-spring of the river of the water of life ! how the theo- logical systems of this nineteenth-century Christianity would be brought into comparison with what Paul and John and Peter and the Master himself taught concerning God and the way of life! what identities and resemblances would be traced out, or what contrasts would be shown, between the various fabrics of church polity now extant, and the societies of " holy persons in Christ Jesus, with the overseers and servants," when Christianity was new ! how the accepted max- ims of Christian morality, and the ordinary standards of Christian character, would be tested by comparing them with what was expected and what was demanded of those who were called Christians in the reigns of Claudius and of Nero ! what diligence would be employed to ascertain how far the Christian consciousness in our day, with all that believing souls now experience of the power of godliness, is accordant with the Christian consciousness of the apostles, and with their experience of what they preached as the power of God to salvation ! Just such is the actual value, such the use we ought to make, and are making, of the writings included in the New Testament ; for our supposition only help? as to realize more freshly a very familiar fact. These writings purport to give ns the testimony of personal witnesses concerning the origin of what is to-day one of the most important elements in the history and condition of the world. With these writings in our hands, we know how and where the Christian religion had its beginning ; what obstacles it encountered and overcame ; by what means, and by what concurrent forces in the providence of God, it was diffused through the civilized world ; how it happened to attract so early the attention of the Roman Government ; and what its relations were to the Jewish people, and to their immemorial and most peculiar religion. Thus the few documents contained in the New Testament enable us to fill up what, without them, would have been a mysterious and hopeless blank in the history of mankind. At the same time, they have for us another and greater value. They bring us historically nearer to the nftTson of Christ than we can be brought by any possible help without them. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. They give us his words as his nearest friends and daily companions caught them from his lips. They show us what impression his unique person made on his immediate disciples, both by all that they heard from him, and by all that they saw in him ; what place he held in their religious consciousness, and in all their thinking about the reconciliation between God and men ; what place he held in their most reverent yet most tender affection, in their self-sacrificing zeal, in their immortal hope ; what they thought of him, and what they said about him, when he had passed away from among them. As we read these writings, we find our- selves brought into the circle nearest to Christ, among his earliest disciples. We sit among those who listened to the Sermon on the Mount. We are with the twelve as they learn from his parables, so slowly, what he teaches so patiently concerning the kingdom of God among men. We are with them on the Lake of Galilee, at Jacob's Well, in the house of the sisters at Bethany, in the grand porches of the Temple. We sit with them on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city while he foretells its destruction. We are with them in the upper room where he keeps his last passover; and we go out with them, under the full moon, into the garden. We look through their eyes upon his cross and his tomb. We share in their amazement at his resurrection. We stand with them, gazing upward, while a cloud receives him out of their sight. Then we are with them in their consultations, waiting and praying, till they are summoned to their work so humble, and yet so august. As we follow them, we presently lose sight of them. The work they are doing is greater than they are : it overshadows them, and they disappear. It is not for their sake that the story is told, but for Christ's sake. It is of little moment to us that the New Testament gives no complete biography of any apostle, — never tells us where Paul died, or Peter, or John, or any of the twelve, save Judas the betrayer, and James the son of Zebedee ; but, what is of great moment to us, it does tell us what they thought of Jesus, and what the gospel was which he gave them for the world. We might like to know all about the apostles, where they severally labored, and how they died, as apocryphal legends falsely report ; but what the New Testament tells is far better than any thing could be which it does not tell. We may use a story as an illustration, without vouching for it as true. Many years ago, it is said, there was published in Ireland, with the design of making an impression on Eoman-Catholic readers, a little tract purporting to be "A Genuine Letter from St. Peter." It was read by many, and heard by many who could not read, with eager and reverent curiosity. Nor was there any deception in the case. The little tract was just what it purported to be, " A Genuine Letter from St. Peter." It was simply the First Epistle of Peter, taken from the New XL PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Testament; and the reading or hearing of it was almost like sitting down with the holy apostle himself to hear him talk to Christians about Christ and salva- tion. Just such is the privilege which we have in read'jig the primitive docu- ments of Christianity. Would you count it a privilege to hear from John the apostle ? You have before you three very characteristic letters from him, one of them quite extended ; and, wliat is more, he has written down for you in his old age, and you have received from him, his oft-repeated stories of things which he remembered about Jesus, but which had not tOl then been written. In like manner, you have two letters from Peter, " e^jistles general," or " catholic," they are called, — one of them addressed, comprehensively, to the "strangers" or sojourners, "chosen," "sanctified," "obedient," and "sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ," who were dispersed through those northern districts of Asia Minor, where Pliny, forty years afterward, found so many Christians ; the other inscribed in yet more general terms " to them who have obtained like precious faith with us." We need not name aU the writers whom this one little volume rif the New Testament brings into direct communication with us ; but we can- not refrain from mentioning distinctly the characteristic letters of Paul, that great apostle, whose labors were so abundant, whose missionary journeys had so wide a circuit, and whose writings, whether addressed to individual friends or to communities of Christians, are so full of his individual life, throbbing, aa it were, in every sentence, with the intensity of his Christian thought and feeling. But are these documents really what they are supposed to be ? Intelligent readers are aware that this question has been discussed with great learning and diligence on both sides, and, on the part of some writers, with great audacity of conjecture and assertion. A full consideration of the evidences which go to prove that we have in the New Testament the primitive and authentic docu- ments of the Christian religion, and tliat such documents taken together, aa we find them, could not have come into being otherwise than contemporaneously with the origin of that religion, would be impracticable within the limits of tliis Preliminary Dissertation. Yet a few thoughts may be suggested which the readers of "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul" wOl find occasion to appreciate and to verify. I. First of all, the remarkable fact, already referred to, that these documents do not give us the means of tracing the life of any apostle to its end, and that neither Paul nor any one of the original twelve (save Judas, and James the brother of John) is mentioned or alluded to in the New Testament as dead, cannot but impress an unprejudiced mind. The earliest authentic Christian PEELIMINAEX DISSERTATION. XU writing, oubjide of the New Testament (a letter from the church at Eome to the church at Corinth, written by Clement, " whose name is in the book of life "),* mentions the deaths of Paul and Peter in a very natural way." How does it hap- pen that neither the death of Paul nor that of Peter is mentioned in any of the New-Testament writings ? We may raise a more particular question on this point. It has been said that the historical book called "The Acts of the Apostles" was not written by Luke, the companion of Paul, but was put together by some unknown compiler of traditions in the latter part of the second century ; and that the " most excellent Theophilus," to whom it is inscribed, was none other than Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch from A.D. 168 to a.d. 183. But, on that supposition, how does it happen that the book terminates abruptly, leaving Paul still a prisoner in his own hired house at Rome two years after his arrival there ? Could not the compiler of traditions, when that apostle had been dead a hundred years, find some tradition that would enable him to carry on the story ? What became of the appeal to Caesar? Did the appellant have a trial? or did he remain a prisoner tiU his death ? Surely such a termination of the story would have been impossible at any date subsequent to the death of Paul. But if the book was written, as it purports to have been, by one who was with Paul on the journey, and arrived with him at Eome ; and if the Gospel according to Luke, and then this book, its sequel, were written while the prisoner was waiting for iiis trial, — there is the best possible reason for such a breaking-off without ending the story ; and that is the only reason that can be conceived of without violating all probability. The narrative is brought down to a point very near the date at which the writing was ended. May not the fact, then, that in these collected writings the apostles disappear without our knowing what became of them, be taken as proof that they were, in their origin, contemporaneous with the apostles ? Had there been time for tradition concerning the apostles to grow into fable, and for a halo of myth to form itself around each saintly name, the story of what they did, and whither they went, and where and how they died, could not have been left so imperfect as we have it in the New Testament. II. The attention of biblical scholars was long ago arrested by a certain peculiarity of language or style, which, in one degree or another, characterizes all the New-Testament writings. It can hardly be denied that the entire volume was written by Hellenist Jews ; that is, by persons who used the Greek language with Hebrew idioms. Of course, then, it was written when the Christian community, for whose use at the first these writings were designed, consisted 1 Phil. It. 3. " Clem. Rom. i. 5. Xm PRELIMXNAKY DISSERTATION. largely of Jewish converts, and when its leaders especially were men of Jewish birth and training. Accordingly, the Hellenistic style or dialect is peculiar to the New Testament. If we find any thing of it in the fathers, even in the earliest of them, we cannot but ascribe the phenomenon to a conscious or unconscious imitation of what is called the biblical or scriptural style, which is really nothing else than the Hebrew style. III. Another characteristic of the New Testament is much more to our purpose. Its contents are an indication of its date. Some of the questions which the Epistles, especially, touch upon distinctly as the live questions of their time, are questions which, in a few years after the apostolic age, had ceased to be controverted or agitated among Christians. In particular, the question whether a Gentile could be a Christian, partaking in the privileges and hopes of Christ's kingdom, without first becoming a Jew, was never a contro- verted question in the Christian community for any considerable time after the fall of Jerusalem. On the contrary, when the separation of the new kingdom of God from the old Mosaic institutions had been visibly completed, the tables were turned ; and the question then was, rather, whether a Jew could be a Christian without renouncing his nationality. But the New Testament was written, as almost every page of it testifies, at a time when Christianity had not yet been completely detached from Judaism, but was still, in the view of Syna- gogue and Sanhedrin, of procurators and proconsuls, and of mobs at Philippi, at Ephesus, and at Jerusalem, a Jewish sect or schism. It shows upon its surface the slow progress of conviction on that subject in the minds of the apostles themselves ; how, while their Master was personally teaching them, they never grasped the breadth of his conception ; how the day of Pentecost did not quite emancipate them from their Jewish narrowness ; how even Peter's vision at Joppa, and the interpretation forced upon him at Csesarea, did not perfectly enlighten them ; and how, at last, the deputation from Antioch, with their report of what Christianity was doing in the great city where it first received its name, brought them to commit themselves in the most formal way for the gospel of a kingdom of heaven in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile. That " mystery," hid from foregoing ages, but revealed at last, crops out in the Gospels ; for it underlies them. It gives unity to the story of the Acts of the Apostles; it shines forth everywhere in the Epistles of Paul, whose "false brethren," Jews professing to believe in Christ, and trying to make the gospel a, monopoly for Judaism, were his most vexatious adversaries. Can any reader of those writings believe that the New Testament, so full of that essentially tran- sient question, was forged, or somehow grew, as a myth grows, after that question had begun to be forgotten ? PEELIMINAEY DISSERTATION. XLin IV. We who receive these writings as not only apostolic but divinely inspired encounter a serious difficulty in our interpretation of them. If they are what they purport to be, they seem to show that the first Christians, under the teaching of the apostles who reported to them the words of Christ, were expect- ing what is now called Christ's second advent, as an event that was to take place before that generation should have passed away; and that, with that expected coming of Christ, they generally associated in their thoughts the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the end of the world. Yet to-day, at the end of eighteen Iiundred years, Christ has not come again in manner and form as he was expected to come in the lifetime of the apostles. We recognize the difficulty, though we hold, that, in one way or another, it can be solved without impairing our reverence for these Scriptures. There is no need of our pausing here to show how it can be solved ; for at present we have to do with it as a fact rather than with the solution of it. Indeed, if the difficulty should even be pronounced incapable of any solution consistent with the inspi- ration of these Scriptures, the fact that there is such a difficulty would be only 60 much the more conclusive in its bearing on the question now before us. Are these collected writings, as they purport to be, the primitive records of Chris- tianity, contemporaneous with its origin ? If they are not, but were forged at some later date (even though it were only a few years later) by writers who thought that the pious fraud of personating the apostles was a service acceptable to God, how was it possible for those pious forgers, after the apostles, and, with them, all the men of the apostolic age, were dead, not to beware of creating such a difficulty ? Is it less than absurd to suppose that they deliberately put into the documents they were forging what was likely to pass for evidence that the apostles were in error about the day of the Lord? Would they not have distinguished more carefully between Christ's coming to judge all nations, and his coming in the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple ? — between the end of the world and the end of the Mosaic dispensation ? V. Any contriver of an hypothesis to account for the existence of the New- Testament documents, without admitting their historic value as contemporaneous with the origin of Christianity, ought to show us where or by whom, prior to the beginning of the third century, such writings could have been produced. Let him compare them with what genuine remains we have of Christian authorship in the age immediately following the apostles, — the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistles of Ignatius. The man who could write the fourth Gospel, without having been a personal disciple of Jesus, must have been a man of mark in his time. To fabricate that book out of loose and mythical XUr PllELIMINAEY DISSERTATION. traditions must have been a much greater achievement of genius than to 'writo it from long-cherished recollections of a dear and intimate friendship with Jesua, though it is a wonderful book to be produced even in that simple manner. In which of three or four generations next after the apostles are we to look for a Christian author capable of such a work ? Could a man like Ignatius, or like the author of the epistle which bears the name of Barnabas, or like Hermas, or even like the literary Justin Martyr, so personate Paul as to produce the Epistle to the Romans ? The man with genius enough to do that had a dramatic power that might have produced a play like one of Shakspeare's. Who was there in those three or four generations that could have written even the First Epistle of Peter? We might ask the same question in reference to almost every book of the collection. But, instead of that, let us ask, once for aU, If the age which produced Christianity was not competent to produce these Scriptures, in what later generation could they have been produced ? In brief, this wide diiference between the primitive Christian literature which we find collected and canonized in the New Testament, and the Christian literature of the next following ages, — apostolical fathers, apostolical canons and constitutions, apocryphal gospels, and every thing of that sort, — is little less than demonstration, not only that the Christians of those early ages were capable of distinguishing the genuine from the spurious, and were careful to exclude from among their Holy Scriptures every thing not authenticated, but also, and quite independently of their verdict, that the New Testament is what it purports to be. Aside from the difference in style and idiom, and in the bearing on questions peculiar to the apostolic age, there is a difference in tone and spirit, a difference in respect to plain and sturdy common sense as opposed to feeble sentimentalism, a difference in respect to healthiness of conscience as opposed to morbid scrupulousness or enthusiastic exaggerations of self-sacrifice ; and such differences show us convincingly, that, in the New Testament, we have not the work of nobody knows who in some post-apostolic ago, but the really primitive documents of the Christian religion. VI. All the foregoing suggestions will find ample illustration in the study of these documents, with such aids as are now more and more within the reach, not of privileged scholars only, but of " the people." This excellent work on " The Life and Epistles of St. Paul " is eminently valuable for the light which it throws incidentally upon almost every topic of the evidence given by the New Testament itself in proof of its own authenticity. But the most copious illustration of that general argument is on a topic not yet mentioned ; namely, the coincidences between the historical and geographical references in these PKELIMINART DISSEETATION. XLT WTiung3, and that Knowledge of facts which we are euabled to gain from other sources. One of the most charming as well as convincing books of argumentation in the English language, or iu any other, is Paley's " Horae Paulinaj." Taking that portion of Paul's personal history which is given in the Acts of the Apos- tles, and comparing it with the collection of epistles bearing his name, if wa find, at one point and another, an irreconcilable discrepancy between the two, we infer with great certainty that either the history is at those points false, and therefore is generally not worthy of confidence, or the epistles are forgeries. If we find a close and obviously careful coincidence at every point, we can hardly Rvoid the suspicion that either the history was compiled from the letters, or the letters were composed as imaginary illustrations of the history. But if the coincidences are of such a sort as to exclude the supposition of their having been contrived ; if there are seeming and obvious discrepancies, which, upon closer examination, are reconciled by the discovery of a latent and undesigned coincidence ; if a fact mentioned in the one is illustrated by some obscure allusion incidentally occurring in the other ; if these latent and manifestly undesigned coincidences are multiplied as we proceed in our study of the documents, — the argument accumulates in its progress, and we arrive at the firmest sort of a conviction that the history is true, and the letters genuine. Nor shall we be moved from that conviction if some apparent discrepancies remain. We may suppose, that, if we had one or two facts not mentioned on either side, the seeming disagreement would be reconciled. We may even admit, that, just there, the historian was mistaken, or that the writer of the letters made an inaccurate allusion ; but the accumulated strength of the argument for the credibility of the historian and the genuineness of the letters will not be seriously impaired. Other writers have applied the same method of examination to other portions of the New Testament. For example, a similar argument has been made by tracing out the latent coincidences between the four Gospels and the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. The field of inquiry and of argument into which Paley introduces us is wide and fruitful ; and the evidence thus obtained is always cumulative. Coincidences that might have been contrived, and that obtrude themselves upon the reader, add little to the argument ; but every latent and undesigned coincidence which we detect between one portion of the Now Testament and another, or between any book of the New Testament and any other authentic source of information, is an additional strand twisted into the cable that holds us to our anchor in the trustworthiness of these documents u the original records of the Christian faith. n.VI PEELIMINAKY DISSEETATION. The authors of the work, which, in this edition, is offered to " the people," have not made it any part of their design to reproduce or to extend the beauti- ful argumentation of Paley. But the ingenuous reader cannot but be impressed with the fact, that the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul, while they do by no means repeat each other, are marvellously supplementary to each other (the history illustrating the epistles, and the epistles illustrating the history); every letter, by perfectly incidental indications of time and locality, finding its place in the history, and the history often explaining with great felicity allusions in the letters which would otherwise have been obscure. But the argument from coincidences is not exhausted by even a complete exhibi- tion of these instances. The principle has a wider reach ; and the work of Conybeare and Hcwson is one great repository of discovered coincidences between the New Testament and all that we can learn from other sources con- cerning the age in which it purports to have been written. Briefly the principle of the argument is this : If the seemingly historical documents of the New Testament were fictions of the second century, or were produced, like the apocrj'phal gospels, by a mythical tendency in the ages fol- lowing the origin of Christianity, they would not be found to harmonize with the authentic history of the age which they pretend to represent, nor (if they were composed elsewhere) with the geography of the country or countries in which the scene is laid. Such is the fact with the apocryphal gospels, as it is also with the fictitious Book of Judith in the Old-Testament apocrypha. If the historical documents collected in the New Testament were of that sort, it would be impossible to make them fit into the known history of the Jewish people and of the Koman Empire during the first seventy years of the Christian era. They could give no illustration to history, nor could history illustrate them. But what is the fact ? The literature of the Roman Empire through the first Christian century knew nothing of Christianity, or alluded to it only with con- tempt. Yet what wealth of Ulustration is poured upon the New Testament from the history which that literature gives us, and even from the coins and monuments of the period ! How is the whole story of Paul, for example, from his birth and early education at Tarsus to his latest epistle from the prison in which he was waiting for a martyr's death at Rome, adjusted and fitted into its place in the history of the Roman Empire as it then was ! The entire New Testament, with the accoant which it gives of Christ, and of the world-move- ment which began in his life and death, finds and fills a gap in the world's history, and is itself a grand coincidence. A few years ago, in one of our cities, a trial for murder was in progress. The PBELIMINABY DISSKRTATION. XLVn accused had able counsel, who had planned for him an ingenious defence. Wit- ness after wdtness had been examined and cross-examined ; and, though the probabilities were accumulating against him, it was felt by the spectators, and it was seen in the countenances of the jury, that as yet there was no conclusive proof of guilt. At last, a knife was exhibited, which had been taken from the prisoner's person. If that knife had been bloody, no trace of blood was left upon it: but there was a gap in the blade; and to that the attention of the jury was directed by the prosecutor. Then was exhibited a little flake of steel, which the physicians who examined the murdered body had discovered in the fatal wound. The Ifuife and the flake were passed to the jury, that the relation of the flake to the gap might be seen by them with the aid of a magnifying glass ; and in the awful silence, as each juror looked through that glass, the change in his countenance was a verdict of " guilty." Such is the nature, and such may be the conclusiveness, of an argument from coincidence. IJFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CHAPTER L Great Men of Great Periods. — Period of Christ's Apostles. — Jews, Greeks, and Romans. — Religious Civilization of the Jews. — Their History and its Relixtion to that of the World. — Heathen Preparation for the Gospel. — Character and Language of the Greeks. — Alexander. — Antioch and Alexandria. — Growth and Government of the Roman Empire. — Misery of Italy and the Provinces. — Preparation in the Empire for Christianity. — Dispersion of the Jews in Asia, Africa, and Europe. — Proselytes. — Provinces of Cilicia and Judaea. — Their Geography and History. — Cilicia under the Romans. — Tarsus. — Cicero. — Political Changes in Judiea. — Herod and his Family. — The Roman Governors. — Conclusion. THE life of a great man, in a great period of the world's history, is a subject to command the attention of every thoughtful mind. j Alexander on his Eastern expedition, spreading the civilization of Greece I over the Asiatic and African shores of the Mediterranean Sea, — Julius I Caesar contending against the Gauls, and subduing the barbarism of ; Western Europe to the order and discipline of Roman government, — i Charlemagne compressing the separating atoms of the feudal world, ; and reviving for a time the image of imperial unity, — Columbus sailing westward over the Atlantic to discover a new world which might receive the arts and religion of the old, — Napoleon on his rapid campaigns, ! shattering the ancient system of European States, and leaving a chasm j between our present and the past : — these are the colossal figures of I history, which stamp with the impress of their personal greatness the centuries in which they lived. Tlie interest with which we look upon such men is natural and in- evitable, even Avhcn we are deeply conscious that, in their char.icter and their work, evil was mixed up in large proportions with the good, and when we find it difficult to discover the providential design wliich drew the features of their respective epochs. But tlrs natui'al feeling 2 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap, i rises into something higher, if we can be assured that the period we contemplate -was designedly prepared for great results, that tlie work we admire was a work of unmixed good, and the man whose actions we follow was an instrument specially prepared by the hands of God. Sucli a period was that in whicli tlie civilized world was united under the first Roman emperors : such a work was tlie first preacliing of the Gospel : and sucli a man was Paul of Tarsus. Before we enter upon the particulars of his life and the history of his work, it is desirable to say something, in tliis introductory chapter, con- cerning the general features of tlie age which was prepared for him. We shall not attempt any minute delineation of the institutions aud social habits of the period. Many of these will be brought before us in detail in the course of the present work. We shall only notice here those circumstances in the state of the world, which seem to bear the traces of a providential pre-arrangement. Casting this general view on the age of the first Roman emperors, which was also the age of Jesus Cfirist aud His Apostles, we find our attention arrested by tln-ce great varieties of national life. The Jew, the Greek, and the Roman appear to divide the world between them. The outward condition of Jerusalem itself, at this epoch, might be taken as a type of the civilized world. Herod the Great, who rebuilt the Temple, had erected, for Greek and Roman entertaiimicnts, a theatre within the same walls, and an amphitheatre in the neighboring plain.' His coins, and those of his grandson Agrippa, bore Greek inscriptions : that piece of money, which was brought to our Saviour (Matt, xxii., Mark xii., Luke xx.), was the silver Denarius, the "image" was that of the empei'or, the " superscription " was in Latin : and at the same time when the common currency consisted of such pieces as these, — since coins with the images of men or with Heathen symbols would have been a profanation to the " Treasury," — there might be found on the tables of the money-changers in the Temple, shekels and half-shekels with Samaritan letters, minted under the Maccabees. Greek and Roman names were borne by multitudes of those Jews who came up to worship at the festivals. Greek and Latin words were current in the popular " Hebrew" of the day : and while this Syro-Clialdaic dialect was spoken by the mass of the people with the tenacious affection of old custom, Greek had long been well known among the upper classes in the larger towns, and Latin was used in the courts of law, and in the official 1 JosErn. Ant. xv. 8, 1. War, i. 21, 8. Jewish War, will be TCiy frequent. Occa' Our reference to the two great works of sionally also wo shall refer to his Life, and Josephus, the Jewish Antiquities, and the his discourse agaiitst Apion. OLu-.i. JEWS, GREEKS, AND KOMAiVS. 3 correspondence of magistrates. On a critical occasion of St. Paul's life,' when he was standing on the stair between the Temple and the fortress, he first spoke to the commander of the garrison in Greek, and then turned round and addressed his countrj'^men in Hebrew ; while the letter^ of Claudius Lysias was written, and the oration' of Tertullus spoken, in Latin. Wo are told by the historian Josephus,^ that on a parapet of stone in the Temple area, where a flight of fourteen steps led wp from the outer to the inner court, pillars were placed at equal distances, with notices, some in Greek and some in Latin, that no alien should enter the sacred enclosure of the Hebrews. And we are told by two of the Evangelists,' that when our blessed Saviour was crucified, " the super- scription of his accusation " was written above His cross " in letters of Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." The condition of the world in general at that period wears a similar appearance to a Christian's eye. He sees the Greek and Roman ele- ments brought into remarkable union with the older and more sacred element of Judaism. He sees in the Hebrew people a divinely-laid foundation for the superstructure of the Churcli, and in the dispersion of the Jews a soil made ready in fitting places for the seed of tlie Gospel. He sees in tlie spread of the language and commerce of the Greeks, and in the high perfection of their poetry and philosoph}', appropriate means for the rapid communication of Christian ideas, and for bringing them into close connection with the best thoughts of unassisted humanity. And he sees in the union of so many incoherent provinces under the law and government of Rome, a strong fz-amework wiiich miglit keep together for a sufficient period those masses of social life which tlie Gospel was in- tended to pervade. The City of God is built at the confluence of three civilizations. We recognize with gratitude the hand of God in the his- tory of His world : and we turn with devout feeling to trace the course of these three streams of civilized life, from their early source to the time of their meeting in the Apostolic age. We need not linger about the fountains of the national life of the Jews. We know that they gushed forth at first, and flowed in their appointed channels, at the command of God. The call of Abraham, when one family was chosen to keep and hand down the deposit of divine truth, — the series of providences which brought tlie ancestors of the Jews into Egypt, — the long captivity on the banks of the Nile, — tlie work of Moses, 1 Acts xxi. xxii 'Acts xxiv. Dean Milman (Bamptan 2 Acts xxiii. A document of this kind, Lectures, p. 185) has remarked on the peculiar- icnt with a prisoner by a subordinate to a ly Latin character of Tertullus's address, superior officer, would almost certainly be in » War, v. 5, 2. Compare vi. 2, 4. LatiD. s Luke xxiii. 38 ; John xix. 20. 4 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PATTL. chap. i. whereby the bondsmen were made into a nation, — all these things are represented in the Old Testament as occurnng mider the immediate direction of Almi;j,hty power. The people of Israel were taken out of the midst of an idolatrous world, to become the depositaries of a purer knowl- edge of tlie one true God than was given to any other people. At a time wlion (humanly speaking) the world could hardly have preserved a spirit- ual religion in its highest purity, they received a divine revelation enshrined in symbols and ceremonies, whereby it might be safely kept till the time of its development in a purer and more heavenly form. Tlie peculiarity of tlie Hebrew civilization did not consist in the cul- ture of the imagination and intellect, like that of the Greeks, nor in the organization of government, like that of Rome, — but its distinguishing feature was Religion. To say nothing of the Scriptures, the prophets, the miracles of the Jews, — their frequent festivals, their constant sacri- fices, — every thing in their collective and private life was connected with a revealed religion : their wars, their heroes, their poetry, had a sacred character, — their national code was full of the details of public worship, — their ordinary employments were touched at every point by divinely- appointed and significant ceremonies. Nor was this religion, as were the religions of the Heathen world, a creed which could not be the common property of the instructed aud the ignorant. It was neither a recondite philosophy which might not be communicated to the masses of the peo- ple, nor a weak superstition, controlling the conduct of the lower classes, and ridiculed by the higher. Tlie religion of Moses was for the use of all and the benefit of all. The poorest peasant of Galilee had the same part in it as the wisest Rabbi of Jerusalem. The children of all families were taught to claim their share in the privileges of the chosen people. And how different vras the nature of this religion from that of the contemporary Gentiles 1 The pious feelings of the Jew were not dissipated and distracted by a fantastic mythology, where a thousand different objects of worship, with contradictory attributes, might claim the attention of the devout mind. " One God," the Creator and Judge of the world, and the Author of all good, was the only object of adoration. And there was nothing of that wide separation between religion and morality, which among other nations was the road to all impurity. The will and approbation of Jehovah was the motive and support of all holi- ness : faith in His word was the power which raised men above their natural weakness : while oven the divinities of Greece and Rome were often the personifications of human passions, and the example and sanc- tion of vice. And still further: — the devotional scriptures of tlie Jews express that heartfelt sense of infirmity and sin, that peculiar spirit of nrayer, that real communion with God, with which the Christian, in CHAP. I. EELIGIOTJS CIVILIZATION OF THE JEWS. 5 bis best moments, has the truest sympathy.' So that, ^hile the best hymns of Greece' are only mythological pictures, and the literature of Heathen Rome hardly produces any thing which can be called a prayer, the Hebrew psalms have passed into the devotions of tlie Cliristiau Church. There is a light on all the mountains of Judaea which never shone on Olympus or Parnassus : and the " Hill of Zion," in which " it pleased God to dwell," is the type of " the joy of the whole earth,'" wliile the seven hills of Rome are the symbol of tyranny and idolatry. " He showed His word unto Jacob, — His statutes and ordinances unto Israel. He dealt not so with any nation ; neither had the Heathen knowledge of His laws."* But not only was a holy rehgion the characteristic of the civilization of the Jews, but their religious feelings were directed to something in the future, and all the circumstances of their national life tended to fix their thoughts on One that was to come. By types and by promises, their eyes were continually turned towards a Messiah. Their history was a continued prophecy. All the great stages of their national exist- ence were accompanied by effusions of prophetic liglit. Abraham was called from his father's house, and it was revealed that in him " all fami- lies of the earth should be blessed." Moses formed Abraham's descend- ants into a people, by giving them a law and national institutions ; but while so doing he spake before of Him who was hereafter to be raised up ] " a Prophet like unto himself" David reigned, and during that reign, j which made so deep and lasting an impi-ession on tlie Jewisli mind, psalms were written which spoke of the future King. And with the approach of that captivity, the pathetic recollection of which became per- petual, the prophecies took a bolder range, and embraced within tlieir , widening circle the redemption both of Jews and Gentiles. Thus the • pious Hebrew was always, as it were, in the attitude of expectation : and J it has been well remarked that, while the golden age of the Greeks and I Romans was the past, that of the Jews was the future. While other nations were growing weary of their gods, — without any tiling in their , mythology or philosophy to satisfy the deep cravings of their nature, — with religion operating rather as a barrier than a link between the edu- j cated and the ignorant, — with morality divorced from tlieology, — the ■whole Jewish people were united in a feeling of attaclimeut to their Neander observes that it has been justly 350 years before St. Paul was there ; yet it remarked that the distinctive peculiarity of the breathes the sentiment rather of acquiescence Hebrew nation from the very first, was, that in the determinations of Fate, than of resigna- conscience was more alive among them than any tion to the goodness of Providence. See oq other people. Acts xvii. 28. * There are some exceptions, as in the hymn * Ps. xlviii. 2, Ixviii 16. of the Stoic Cleanthes, who was born at Assos * Fs. cxlvii. 19, 20. 6 THE LIFE A^^D EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. i. sacred institutions, and found in the facts of tlieir past history a pledge of the fulfilment of their national hopes. It is true that the Jewish nation, again and again, during several cen- turies, fell into idolatry. It is true that their superiority to other nations consisted in the light which they possessed, and not in the use wliicli they made of it ; and that a carnal life continually dragged them down from the spiritual eminence on which they might have stood. But the Divine purposes were not frustrated. The chosen people were subjected to the chastisement and discipline of severe sufferings : and they were fitted by a long training for the accomplishment of that work, to tlie conscious per- formance of which they did not willingly rise. They were hard pressed in their own country by the incursions of their idolatrous neiglibors, and in the end they were carried into a distant captivity. From the time of their return from Babylon they were no longer idolaters. They presented to the world the example of a pure Monotheism. And in the active times which preceded and followed the birth of Clirist, those Greeks or Romans A'ho visited tlie Jews in their own land where they still lingered at the portals of the East, and those vast numbers of proselytes whom the dis- persed Jews had gathered round them in various countries, were made familiar with the worship of one God and Father of all.' The influence of the Jews upon the Heathen world was exercised mainly through their dispersion : but this subject must be deferred for a few pages, till we have examined some of the developments of the Gi'eek and Roman nationalities. A few words, however, may be allowed in passing, upon the consequences of the geographical position of Judaea. The situation of this little but eventful country is such, that its in- habitants were brought into contact successively with all the civilized na- tions of antiquity. Not to dwell upon its proximity to Egypt on the one hand, and to Assyria on the other, and the influences whicli those ancient kingdoms may thereby have exercised or received, Palestine lay in the road of Alexander's Eastern expedition. The Greek conqueror was there before he founded his mercantile metropolis in Egypt, and thence went to India, to return and die at Babylon. And again, when his empire was divided, and Greek kingdoms were erected in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Palestine lay between the rival monarchies of the Ptolemies at Alexandria and the Seleucids at Antiocli, — too near to both to be salfe from the invasion of their arms or the influence of their customs and their language. And finally, when the time came for the Romans to 1 Humboldt has remarked, in the chapter of Monotheism, and portrays nature, not as on Poetic Descriptions of Nature (Kusmos, self-subsisting, but ever in relation to a Higher Sabine's Eng. trans., vol. ii. p. 44), that the Power, descriptive poetry of the Hebrews is a reflex I CHAF.i. CHAEACTEK AND LAKGUAGE OF THE GREEKS. 7 embrace the whole of the Mediterranean within the circle of their po^ver, the coast-line of Judaea was the last remote portion which was needed to complete the fated circumference.* The full effect of this geographical position of Jud^a can only be seen by following the course of Greek and Roman life, till they were brought so remarkably into contact with each other, and with that of the Jews : and we turn to those other tw<" nations of antiquity, the steps of whose progress were successive stages in what is called in the Epistle to the Ephesians (i. 10) " the dispensation of the fulness of time." If we think of the civilization of the Greeks, we have no difficulty in fixing on its chief characteristics. High perfection of the intellect and imagination, displaying itself in all the various forms of art, poetry, lit- erature, and philosophy — restless activity of mind and body, finding its exercise in athletic games or in subtle disputations — love of the beauti- ful — quick perception — indefatigable inquiry — all these eritsr into the very idea of the Greek race. This is not the place to inquire how far these qualities were due to an innate peculiarity, or how far they grew up, by gradual development, amidst the natural influences of their native country, — the variety of their hills and plains, the clear lights and warm shadows of their climate, the mingled laud and water of their coasts. We have only to do with this national character so far as, under divine Providence, it was made subservient to the spread of the Gospel. We shall see how remarkably it subserved this purpose, if we consider the tendency of the Greeks to trade and colonization. Their mental ac- tivity was accompanied with a great physical restlessness. This clever people always exhibited a disposition to spread themselves. Without aiming at universal conquest, they displayed (if we may use the word) a remarkable catholicity of character, and a singular power of adaptation to those whom they called Barbarians.'-' In this respect they were strongly contrasted with the Egyptians, whose immemorial civilization was confined to the long valley which extends from the cataracts to the mouths of the Nile. The Hellenic' tribes, on the other hand, though they despised foreigners, were never unwilling to visit them and to cul- tivate their acquaintance. At the earliest period at which history en- ' For reflections on the geographical posi- who does not speak Greek. See Acts xxviii. tion of Palestine in relation to its history, see 2, 4 ; Rom. i. 14 ; 1 Cor. xiv. II ; Col. iii. 11. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, Kam's Histori/ '"Hellenic" and "Hellenistic," corrc- of the Old Covenant (in Clark's "Foreign spending respectively to the "Greek" and Theological Lihrary "), and the Quarterly Re- " Grecian " of the Authorized Version, are meu) for October, 1859. words which we muft often use. Sec p. 10, ^ In the N. T. the word " barbarian " is n. 3. used in its strict classical sense, i.e. for a man 8 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. i. ables us to discover them, we see tliem moving about in tlieir ships on the shores ar.d among the islands of their native seas ; and, three or four centuries before the Christian era, Asia Minor, beyond whicli the Per- sians had not been permitted to advance, was bordered by a fringe of Greek colonies ; and Lower Italy, when the Roman republic was just beginning to be conscious of its strength, liad received the name of Greece itself.' To all these places they carried their arts and literature, their philosophy, their mythology, and their amusements. Tliey carried also their arms and their trade. The heroic age had passed away, and ' fabuloiis voyages had given place to real expeditions against Sicily and constant traffic with the Black Sea. They were gradually taking the place of the Phoenicians in the empire of the Mediterranean. They J Avere, indeed, less exclusively mercantile than those old discoverers.] Their voyages were not so long. But their influence on general civiliza-l tion was greater and more permanent. The earliest ideas of scientific navigation and geography are due to the Greeks. The later Greek trav- j ellers, Strabo and Pausanias, will be our best sources of information on the topography of St. Paul's journeys. With this view of the Hellenic character before us, we are prepared to appreciate the vast results of Alexander's conquests. He took up the meshes of the net of Greek civilization, which were lying in disorder on the edges of the Asiatic shore, and spread them over all the countries which he traversed in his wonderful campaigns. The East and the West were suddenly brought together. Separated tribes were united under a common government. New cities were built, as the centres of political life. New lines of communication were opened, as the channels of commercial activity. The new culture penetrated the mountain ranges of Pisidia and Lycaonia. The Tigris and Euphrates became Greek rivers. The language of Athens was heard among the Jewish colonies of Babylonia ; and a Grecian Babylon - was built by the con- queror in Egypt, and called by his name. The empire of Alexander was divided, but the effects of his cam- paigns and policy did not cease. The influence of the fresh elements of social life was ratlier increased by being brought into independent ac- tion within the spheres of distinct kingdoms. Our attention is particu- larly called to two of the monarchical lines, which descended from Alex- ander's generals, — the Ptolemies, or the Greek kings of Egypt, — and the Scleucids, or the Greek kings of Syria. Their respective capitals, Alexandria and Antioch, became the metropolitan centres of commer- cial and civilized life in the East. They rose suddenly ; and their very 1 Magna Grsecia. ' Alexandria. CHAP. I. ANTIOCH AND ALEXAKDEIA. 9 appearance marked them as the cities of a new epoch. Like Berlin and St. Petersburg, they were modern cities built by great kings at a defi- nite time and for a definite purpose. Their histories are no unimportant ohapters in the history of the world. Both of them were connected witli St. Paul : one indirectly, as tlie birthplace of Apollos ; the other directly, as the scene of some of the most important passages of the Apostle's own life. Both abounded in Jews from their first foundation. Both became the residence of Roman governors, and both afterwards were patriarchates of the primitive Church. But before they had re- ceived either the Roman discipline or the Christian doctrine, they had served their appointed purpose of spreading the Greek language and habits, of creating new lines of commercial intercourse by land and sea, and of centralizing in themselves the mercantile life of the Levant. Even the Acts of the Apostles remind us of the traffic of Antioch with Cyprus and the neighboring coasts, and of the sailing of Alexandrian corn-ships to tlie more distant harbors of Malta and Puteoli. Of all tlie Greek elements which the cities of Antioch and Alexandria were the means of circulating, tbe spread of the language is the most im- portant. Its connection witli the whole system of Christian doctrine — with many of the controversies and divisions of the Church — is very momentous. That language, which is the richest and most delicate that the world has seen, became the language of theology. The Greek tongue became to the Christian more than it had been to the Roman or ! the Jew. The mother-tongue of Ignatius at Antioch, was that in which ' Philo ' composed his treaties at Alexandria, and which Cicero spoke at Athens. It is difficult to state in a few words tlie important relation which Alexandria more especially was destined to bear to the whole Christian Church. In that city, the representative of the Greeks of the East, where the most remarkable fusion took place of the peculiarities of Greek, Jewish, and Oriental life, and at the tim.e when all these had been brought in contact with the mind of educated Romans, — a theo- logical language was formed, rich in the phrases of various schools, and suited to convey Christian ideas to all tlie world. It was not an acci- dent that the New Testament was written in Greek, the language whicli can best express the highest thoughts and worthiest feelings of the in- tellect and heart, and which is adapted to be the instrument of education for all nations : nor was it an accident that the composition of these books and the promulgation of the Gospel were delayed, till the instruc- tion of our Lord, and the writings of His Apostles, could bo expressed in the dialect of Alexandria. This, also, must be ascribed to the foreknowl- 1 Wc shall frequently have occasion to was a contemporary of St. Paul. See mention this learned Alexandrian Jew. He p. 34. 10 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. I. edge of Him, who " winked at the times of ignorance," but who " made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the oarlli, and determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of tlieii habitation." ' We do not forget that the social condition of the Greeks had been falling, during this period, into the lowest corruption. Tlie disastrous quarrels of Alexander's generals liad been continued among tlieir suc- cessors. Political integrity was lost. The Greeks spent their life in worthless and frivolous amusements. Their religion, though beautiful beyond expression as giving subjects for art and poetry, was utterly powerless, and worse than powerless, in cliecking their bad propensities. Their philosophers were sophists ; their women might be briefly divided into two classes, — those who were highly educated and openly profli- gate on the one side, and those who lived in domestic and ignorant seclusion on the other. And it cannot be denied that all these causes of degradation spread with the diffusion of the race and tlie language. Like Sybaris and Syracuse, Antioch and Alexandria became almost worse than Athens and Corinth. But the very diffusion and develop- ment of this corruption was preparing the way, because it sliowed the necessity, for the interposition of a Gospel. The disease itself seemed to call for a Healer. And if the prevailing evils of the Greek popula- tion presented obstacles, on a large scale, to the progress of Christianity, — yet they showed to all future time the weakness of man's higliest powers, if unassisted from above ; and there must have been many who groaned under the burden of a corruption which tliey could not shake off, and who were ready to welcome the voice of Him, wlio " took our infirmities, and bare our siclcnesses."^ The " Greelcs," ' wlio are mentioned by St. John as coming to see Jesus at the feast, were, we trust, the types of a large class ; and we may conceive His answer to Andrew and Pliilip as expressing the fulfilment of tlie appointed times in the widest sense — "The liour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified." Such was the civilization and corruption connected with tlie spread of the Greek language when the Roman power approached to the eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea. For some centuries tliis irresistible force had been gathering strength on the western side of the Apennines. Gradually, but surely, and with ever-increasing rapidity, it made to ' Acts xvii. 30, 26. for a Hellenist, or Grecizing Jew — ns in Acts ' Matt. viii. 17. vi. 1, ix. 29 — while the word " Greek" is used * John xii. 20. It ought to be observed for one who was by birth a Gentile, and who here, that the word " Grecian " in the Author- might, or might not, be a proselyte to Judaism, izcd Version of the New Testament is used or a convert to Christianity. CHAP. I. GKOWTH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 11 itself a wider space — northward into Etruria, southward into Campania. It passed beyond its Italian boundaries. And six hundred years after the building of the City, the Roman eagle had seized on Africa at the point of Carthage, and Greece at tlie Isthmus of Corintli, and liad turned its eye towards the East. Tlio defenceless prey was made secure, by craft or by war; and before the birth of our Saviour, all those coasts, from Ephesus to Tarsus and Antioch, and round by the Holy Land to I Alexandria and Cyrene, were tributary to the city of the Tiber. "We i have to describe in a few words the characteristics of this new dominion, and to point out its providential connection with the spread and consoli- dation of the Church. In the first place, this dominion was not a pervading influence exerted by a restless and intellectual people, but it was the grasping power of an external government. Tlie idea of lav.^ had grown up with the growth of the Romans ; and wherever thoy went they carried it with them. Wherever their armies were marching or encamping, there always attended them, like a mysterious presence, the spirit of the City of Rome. Universal conquest and permanent occupation were the ends at which they aimed. Strength and organization were the characteristics of their sway. "We have seen how the Greek science and commerce were wafted, by irregular winds, from coast to coast : and now we follow the advance of legions, governors, and judges along the Roman Roads, which pursued their undeviating course over plains and mountains, and bound the City to the fui-thest extremities of the provinces. There is no better way of obtaining a clear view of the features and a correct idea of the spirit of the Roman age, than by considering the material works which still remain as its imperishable monuments. "Whether undertaken by the hands of the government, or for the osten- tation of private luxury, they were marked by vast extent and accom- plished at an enormous expenditure. The gigantic roads of the Empire i have been unrivalled till the present century. Solid structures of all i kinds, for utility, amusement, and worship, wore erected in Italy and the provinces, — amphitheatres of stone, magnificent harbors, bridges, sepul- 1 chres, and temples. The decoration of wealthy houses was celebrated by the poets of the day. The pomp of buildings in the cities was rivalled by astonishing villas in the country. The enormous baths, by which travellers are surprised, belong to a period somewhat later than that of St. Paul ; but the aqueducts, which still remain in tlie Campagna, were some of tliem now when he visited Rome. Of the metropolis itself it may be enough to say, that his life is exactly embraced between its two great times of renovation, that of Augustus on the one hand, who (to use his own expression) having found it a city of brick left it a city of marble, 12 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cha and that of Nero on the other, when tlie great conflagration afforded an opportunity for a new arrangement of its streets and buildings. Tiiese great works may be safely taken as emblems of the magnitude, strength, grandeur, and solidity of the Empire ; but they are emblems,] no less, of the tyranny and cruelty which had presided over its formation, and of the general suffering which pervaded it. The statues, with which the metropolis and the Roman houses were profusely decorated, had been brought from pluadei-ed provinces, and many of them had swelled the triumphs of conquerors on the Capitol. The amphitheatres were built for shows of gladiators, and were the scenes of a bloody cruelty, which had been quite unknown in the licentious exhibitions of the Greek tliea- tre. The roads, baths, harbors, aqueducts, had been constructed by slave-labor. And the country villas, which the Italian traveller lingered to admire, were themselves vast establishments of slaves. It is easy to see how much misery followed in the train of Rome's advancing greatness. Cruel suffering was a characteristic feature of the close of the Republic. Slave wars, civil wars, wars of conquest, had left their disastrous results behind tliem. No country recovers rapidly from the effects of a war which has been conducted within its frontier ; and there was no district of the Empire which had not been the scene of some recent campaign. None had suffered more than Italy herself. Its old stock of freemen, who had cultivated its fair plains and terraced vine- yards, was utterly worn out. The general depopulation was badly com- pensated by the establishment of military colonies. Inordinate wealth and slave factories were the prominent features of the desolate prospect. The words of the great historian may fill up the picture. " As regards the manners and mode of life of the Romans, their great object at tliis time was the acquisition and possession of money. Their moral conduct, which had been corrupt enough before the Social war, became still more so by their systematic plunder and rapine. Immense riches were accumu- lated and squandered \ipou brutal pleasures. The simplicity of the old manners and mode of living had been abandoned for Greek luxuries and frivolities, and the wliole household arrangements had become altered. The Roman houses had formerly been quite simple, and were built either of bricks or peperino, but in most cases of the former material ; now, on the other hand, every one would live in a splendid house and be sur- rounded by luxuries. The condition of Italy after the Social and Civil wars was indescribably wretched. Samnium had become almost a des- ert ; and as late as the time of Strabo there was scarcely any town in that country which was not in ruins. But worse things were yet to come."' 1 Niebuhr's Lectures mi the Uistorij of Rome, vol. i. pp. 421, 422. CHAP. I. MISERY OF ITAiT AND THE PROVINCES. 13 This disastrous condition was not confined to Italy. In some respects the provinces had their own peculiar sufferings. To talie the case of Asia Minor. It had been plundered and ravaged by successive generals, — by Scipio in the war against Antiochus of Syria, — by Maulius in his Galatian campaign, — by Pompey in tlie struggle with Mithridatcs. Tlie rapacity of governors and their officials followed that of generals and their armies. We know what Cilicia suffered under Dolabclla and his agent Verres: and Cicero reveals to us tl>e oppression of his predecessor Ap- pius in the same province, contrasted witli his own boasted clemency. Some portions of this beautiful and inexhaustible country revived under tlic emperors.' But it was only an outward prosperity. Whatever may have been the improvement in the external details of provincial govern- ment, we cannot believe that governors were gentle and forbearing, when Caligula was on the throne, and when Nero was seeking statues for his golden house. The contempt in which the Greek provincials tliemselves were held by the Romans may be learnt from the later correspondence of the Emperor Trajan with Pliny the governor of Bithynia. We need not hesitate to take it for granted, that those wlio were sent from Rome to dispense justice at Ephesus or Tarsus, were more frequently like Ap- pius and Verres, tlian Cicero- and Flaccus, — more like Pilate and Felix, than Gallio or Scrgius Paulus. It would be a delusion to imagine that, wlicn the world was reduced under one sceptre, any real principle of unity lield its different parts together. The emperor was deiiied,' because men were enslaved. There was no true peace when Augustus closed the Temple of Janus. The Empire was only the order of external government, with a cliaos both of opinions and moi-als within. The writings of Tacitus and Juvenal remain to attest the corruption which festered in all ranks, alike in the senate and the family. The old severity of manners, and the old faith in the better part of the Roman religion, were gone. Tlie licentious creeds and practices of Greece and the East liad inundated Italy and the West: and the Pantheon was only the monument of a compromise among a 1 Nicbuhr's Lrct. on Hist, of Romp, vol. i. " The image of the emperor was at that p. 406, and the note. time the object of r^iigious reverence : he was 2 Much of our best information concerning a deity on earth (iJis ajqua potestas, Juv. iv. the state of the provinces is derived from 71); and the worship paid to him was a real Cicero's celebrated " Speeches against Verres," worship. It is a striliing thought, that in and his own Cilician Correspondence, to which those times (setting aside effete forms of reli- wc shall again have occasion to refer. His gion), the only two genuine worships in the civ- " Speech in Defence of Flaccns " throws much ilizcd world were the worship of a Tiberius or light on the condition of the Jews under the a Nero on the one hand, and the worshiji of Romans. Wo must not place too much confi- Christ on the other. dcnce in the picture there given of this Ephe- sian governor. 14 THE LIFE AITD EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. ch;i multitude of effete superstitions. It is true that a remarkable religious toleration was produced by this state of things : and it is probable that for some short time Christianity itself shared the advantage of it. But still the temper of the times was esseirtially both cruel and profane ; and the Apostles were soon exposed to its bitter persecution. Tlie Roman Empire was destitute of that unity which tlie Gospel gives to mankind. It was a kingdom of this world ; and the human race were groaning for the better peace of " a kingdom not of this world." Thus, in the very condition of the Roman Empire, and the miserable state of its mixed population, we can recognize a negative preparatioQ for the Gospel of Christ. This tyranny and oppression called for a Con- soler^ as much as the moral sickness of the Greeks called for a Healer ; a Messiah was needed by the whole Empire as much as by the Jews," though not looked for with the same conscious expectation. But we ' have no difficulty in going much farther than this, and we cannot hesitate to discover in the circumstances of the world at this period, significant traces of a positive preparation for tlie Gospel. It should be remembered, in the first place, that the Romans had already become Greek to some considerable extent, before they were the political masters of those eastern countries, where the language, mythology, and literature of Greece had become more or less familiar. How early, how widely, and how permanently this Greek influence pre- vailed, and how deeply it entered into the mind of educated Romans, we know from their surviving writings, and from the biography of eminent men. Cicei'o, who was governor of Cilicia about half a century before the birth of St. Paul, speaks in strong terms of the universal spread of the Greek tongue among the instructed classes; and about the time of the Apostle's martyrdom, Agricola, the conqueror of Britain, was receiv- ing a Greek education at Marseilles. Is it too much to say, that the general Latin conquest was providentially delayed till the Romans had been sufficiently imbued with tiie language and ideas of their predecessors, and had incorporated many parts of that civilization with their own ? And if tlie wisdom of the divine pre-arrangenicnts is illustrated by the period of the spread of the Greek language, it is illustrated no less by that of the completion and maturity of the Roman government. When all parts of the civilized woiid were bound together in one empire, 1 Wo may refer here to the apotheosis of contrast will be found in Scheffer's modern Augustus with Tiberius at his side, as repre- picture — " Christus Consolator," — where the sentcd on the " Vienna Cameo" in the midst Saviour is seated in the midst of those who of figures indicative of the misery and enslave- are miserable, and the eyes of all are turned lo ment of the world. An engraving of this Him for relief. Cameo is given in the quarto edition. Its b«st CHAP. I. DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 15 I — when one common organization pervaded the -whole — when channels jof communication were everywhere opened — when new facilities of travelling were provided, — then was " the fulness of time" (Gal. iv. 4), then the Messiah came. The Greek language had already been prepared as a medium for preserving and transmitting the doctrine ; the Roman government was now pi'eparcd to help the progress even of that religion whicli it persecuted. The manner in which it spread through the prov- inces is well exemplified in the life of St. Paul ; his right of citizenship rescued him in Macedonia' and in Judaea;^ he converted one governor in Cyprus,' was protected by another in Achaia,* and was sent from Jerusalem to Rome by a third.* The time was indeed approaching, when all the complicated weight of the central tyranny, and of the provincial governments, was to fall on the new and irx-esistible religion. But before this took place, it had begun to grow up in close connection with all departments of the Empire. When the supreme government itself became Christian, the ecclesiastical polity was permanently regulated in conformity with the actual constitution of the state. Nor was the Empire broken up, till the separate fragments, which have become the nations of modern Europe, were themselves portions of the Catholic Church. But in all that we have said of the condition of the Roman world, one important and widely diffused element of its population has not been mentioned. We have lost sight for some time of the Jews, and we must return to the subject of their dispersion, which was purposely deferred till we had shown how the intellectual civilization of the Greeks, and the organizing civilization of tlie Romans, had, through a long series of remarkable events, been brought in contact with the religious civilization of the Hebrews. It remains that we point out that one peculiarity of •the Jewish people, which made this contact almost universal in every part jof the Empire. j Their dispersion began early ; though, early and late, their attachment I to Judaea has always been the same. Like the Highlanders of Switzer- land and Scotland, they seem to have combined a tendency to foreign settlements with the most passionate love of their native land. The first scattering of the Jews was compxilsory, and began with the Assyrian [exile, when, about the time of the building of Rome, natives of Galilee 'and Samaria were carried away by the Eastern monarchs ; and this was followed by the Babylonian exile, when the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were removed at different epochs, — when Daniel was brought to Babylon, and Ezekiel to the river Chebar. That this earliest dispersion was not 1 Acts xvi. 37-39. * Acts xviii. 14-17. " Acts xxii. 25. 6 Acts xxv. 12, xxvii. 1. ' Acts xiii. 12. 16 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. i. without influential results may bo inferred from these facts ;-- that, about the time of the battles of Salamis and Marathon, a Jew was the minister, another Jew tlie cupbearer, and a Jewess the consort, of a Persian mon- arch. That tliey enjoyed many privileges in this foreign country, and that their condition was not always oppressive, may be gatlicred from this, — that when Cyrus gave them permission to return, the majority remained in their new home, in preference to their native land. Tims that great Jewish colony began in Babylonia, the existence of which may be traced in Apostolic times,' and wliich retained its influence long after in the Talmudical schools. Tliese Hebrew settlements may ba fol- lowed through various parts of the continental East, to the borders of the Caspian, and even to China. We however are more concerned with the coasts and islands of Western Asia. Jews had settled in Syria and Plioenicia before the time of Alexander the Great. But in treating of this subject, the great stress is to be laid on the policy of Sclcucus, wlio, in founding Antioch, raised tliem to tlie same political position witli the other citizens. One of his successors on the throne, Antiochus tlie Great, established two thousand Jewish families in Lydia and Plirygia. From hence they would spread into Pamphylia and Galatia, and along the western coasts from Ephesus to Troas. And the ordinary cliannels of communication, in conjunction witli that tendency to trade which already began to cliaracterize tliis wonderful people, would easily bring them to tlie islands, such as Cyprus" and Rhodes. Tlicir oldest settlement in Africa was that which took place after the murder of the Babylonian governor of Judsea, and which is connected with the name of the prophet Jeremiah.' But, as in the case of Antioch, our chief attention is called to the great metropolis of the period of the Greek kings. The Jewish quarter of Alexandria is well known in his- tory ; and the colony of Hellenistic Jews in Lower Egypt is of greater importance than that of their Aramaic* brethren in Babylonia. Alex- ander himself brought Jews and Samaritans to his famous city ; the first Ptolemy brought many more ; and many betook themselves hither of their free will, that they might escape from the incessant troubles which disturbed the peace of tlieir fatlieiland. Nor was their influence con- fined to Egypt, but they became known on one side in ^Ethiopia, the country of Queen Candace,* and spread on the other in great numbers to the "parts of Libya about Cyrene."* 1 See 1 Pet. V. 13. ' See 2 Kings xxv. 22-2G, Jcr. xliii. 3 The farming of the copper mines in Cy- xliv. prus by Herod (Jos. Ant. xvi. 4, 5) m-iy have * This term is explainert in the next chap- attracted many Jews. There is a Cypriiin ter, see p. 3.3, note 2. inscription which seems to refer to one of the ' Acts viii. 27. Herods. ° Acts ii. 10. The second book of Macca- CHAP.i. THE JEWS IN EUKOPE. 17 Under what circumstances the Jews made tlieir first appearance in Europe is unknown ; but it is natural to suppose that those islands of tho Arcliipclago which, as Humboldt lias said, wore like a bridge for the pas- sage of civilization, became the means of the advance of Judaism. The journey of the proselyte Lydia from Thyatira to Philippi (Acts xvi. 14), and the voyage of Aquila and Priscilla from Corinth to Ephesus (Ibid, xviii. 18), are only specimens of mercantile excursions which must lia\o begun at a far earlier period. Pliilo' mentions Jews in Thessaly, Eoeotia, Macedonia, .^Etolia, and Attica, in Argos and Corinth, in tlie other parts of Peloponnesus, and in the islands of Euboea and Crete : and St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, speaks of them in Pliilippi, Tliessalonica, and Bercea, in Athens, in Corinth, and in Rome. The first Jews came to Rome to decorate a triumph ; but they were soon set free from captivity, and gave the name to the " Synagogue of the Libertines"^ in Jerusalem. They owed to Julius Ca3sar those privileges in the Western Capital which they had obtained from Alexander in the Eastern. They became influ- ential, and made proselytes. They spread into other towns of Italy ; and in the time of St. Paul's boyhood we find tliem in large numbers in the island of Sardinia, just as we have previously seen them established in that of Cyprus.' With regard to Gaul, we know at least that two sons of Herod were banished, about this same period, to the banks of the Rhone ; and if (as seems most probable) St. Paul accomplished that journey to Spain, of which he speaks in his letters, there is little doubt tliat he found there some of the scattered children of his own people. We do not seek to pursue them further ; but, after a few words on tlie proselytes, wq must return to the earliest scenes of the Apostle's career. The subject of the proselytes is sufficiently important to demand a separate notice. Under this term we include at present all who were attracted in various degrees of intensity towards Judaism, — from those who by circumcision had obtained full access to all the privileges of the temple-worship, to those who only professed a general respect for tho Mosaic religion, and attended as heai-ers in the synagogues. Many proselytes were attached to the Jewish communities wherever they were dispersed.^ Even in their own country and its vicinity, the number, both in early and later times, was not inconsiderable. The Queen of Sheba, bees is the abridgment of a work written by gogues mentioned in Acts vi. 9 are discusseil a Hellenistic Jew of Cyrene. A Jew or prose- in the next chapter. lyte of Cyrene bore our Saviour's cross. And ' In the case of Sardinia, however, they the mention of this city occurs more than once were forcibly sent to the island, to die of the in tho Acts of the Apostles. bad climate. 1 See note, p. 9. « In illustration of this fact, it is easy to ' Thij body doubtless consisted of manu- adduce abundance of Heathen testimony. mitted Jewish slaves. The synagogue or syna- 2 18 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap i. in the Old Testament ; Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, in the New ; and King Izates, with his motlier Helena, mentioned by Joscphns, are only royal representatives of a large class. During the time of the Maccabees, some alien tribes were forcibly incorporated with the Jews. This was the case with the Itura;ans, and probably with the Moabitcs, and, above all, with the Edomites, with whose name that of the Herodian family is his- torically connected. How far Judaism extended among the vague col- lection of tribes called Arabians, we can only conjecture from the curious history of tlie Homerites, and from the actions of such chieftains as Aretas (2 Cor. xi. 32). But as wo travel towards the West and North, into countries better known, we find no lack of evidence of the moral effect of the synagogues, with their worship of Jehovah, and their prophecies of the Messiah. "Nicolas of Antioch" (Acts vi. 5) is only one of that " vast multitude of Greeks " who, according to Josephus,' were attracted in that city to the Jewish doctrine and ritual. In Damas- cus, we arc even told by the same authority that the great majority of the •women were proselytes ; a fact which receives a remarkable illustration from what happened to Paul at Iconium (Acts iii. 50). But all further details may be postponed till we follow Paul himself into the synagogues, where he so often addressed a mingled audience of " Jews of the disper- sion" and " devout" strangers. This chapter may be suitably concluded by some notice of the provincfc^ of Cilicia and Judcea. This will serve as an illustration of what has been said above, concerning the state of the Roman provinces generally; it will exemplify the mixture of Jews, Greeks, and Romans in the east of the Mediterranean, and it will be a fit introduction to what must imme- diately succeed. For these are the two provinces which require our attention in the early life of the Apostle Paul. Both these provinces were once under the sceptre of the line of the Seleucids, or Greek kings of Syria ; and both of them, though originally inhabited by a " barbarous " ^ population, received more or less of the influence of Greek civilization. If the map is consulted, it will be seen that Antioch, the capital of the Grseco-Syrian kings, is situated nearly in the angle where the coast-line of Cilicia, running eastwards, and that of Judffia, extended northwards, are brought to an abrupt meeting. It will be seen also, that, more or less parallel to each of these coasts, there is a line of mountains, not far from the sea, which are brought into contact with each other in heavy and confused forms, near the same angle ; the principal break in the continuity of either of them being the valley of the Orontes, which passes by Antioch. One of these mountain lines is the 1 War, Tii. 3, 3. ' See p. 7, note. CHAP. I. CILICIA UNDER THE ROMANS. 19 range of 3Iount Taurus, which is so often mentioned as a great geographi- cal boundary by the writers of Greece and Rome ; and Cilicia extends partly over the Taurus itself, and partly between it and tlie sea. The other range is that of Lebanon — a name made sacred by the scriptures and poetry of the Jews ; and where its towering eminences subside towards the south into a land of hills and valleys and level plains, there is Judcea, once the country of promise and possession to the chosen people, but a Roman province in the time of the Apostles. Cilicia, in the sense in which the word was used under tlie early Roman emperors, comprehended two districts, of nearly equal extent, but of very differeut character. The Western portion, or liovg-Ji Cilicia, as it was called, was a collection of the branches of Mount Taurus, which come down in large masses to the sea, and form that projection of the coast which divides the Bay of Issus from that of Pamphylia. The inhabitants of the whole of this district were notorious for their robberies : the northern portion, under the name of Isauria, providing innumerable strongholds for marauders by land ; and the southern, with its excellent timber, its cliffs, and small harbors, being a natural home for pirates. The Isaurians maintained their independence with such detei'mined obstinacy, that in a later period of the Empire, the Romans were willing to resign all appearance of subduing them, and were content to surround them with a cordon of forts. The natives of the coast of Rough Cilicia began to extend their piracies as the strength of the kings of Syria and Egypt declined. They found in the progress of the Roman power, for some time, an encouragement rather than a hindcrance ; for they were actively engaged in an extensive and abominable slave-trade, of which the island of Delos was the great market ; and the opulent families of Rome were in need of slaves, and were not more scrupulous than some Christian nations of modern times about the means of obtaining them. [ But the expeditions of these buccaneers of the Mediterranean became at last quite intolerable ; their fleets seemed innumerable ; their connections were extended far beyond their own coasts ; all commerce was paralyzed ; and they began to arouse that attention at Rome which tlie more distant pirates of the Eastern Archipelago not long ago excited in England. A i vast expedition was fitted out under the command of Pompey the Great; ' thousands of piratic vessels were burnt on the coast of Cilicia, and the ' inhabitants dispersed. A perpetual service was thus done to the cause of civilization, and the Mediterranean was made safe for the voyages of ; merchants and Apostles. The town of Soli, on tiie borders of the two divisions of Cilicia, received the name of Pompeiopolis,' in honor of the ^ A similar case, on a small scale, is that of the French power, since the accession of of Pliilippeville in Algeria; and the progress Louis Philippe, in Northern Africa, is perhaps 20 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES Of ST. PAUL. ciiaj. i. great conqueror, and the splendid remains of a colonnade which led from the harbor to tlie city may be considered a monument of this signal destruction of tiie enemies of order and peace. The Eastern, or Flat Cilicia, was a rich and extensive plain. Its prolific vegetation is praised both by the earlier and later classical writers, and, even under the neglectful government of the Turks, is still noticed by modern travellers.' From this circumstance, and still more from its peculiar pliysical configuration, it was a possession of groat political importance. Walled off from the neighboring countries Ity a high barrier of mountains, which sweep irregularly round it from Pom- peiopolis and Rough Cilicia to the Syrian coast on the North of Antioch, — with one pass leading up into the interior of Asia Minor, and another giving access to the valley of the Orontes, — it was naturally the high road both of trading caravans and of military expeditions. Through this country Cyrus marched, to depose his brother from the Persian throne. It was here that the decisive victory was obtained by Alexander over Darius. This plain has since seen the hosts of Western Crusaders ; and, in our own day, has been the field of operations of hostile Mohammedan armies, Turkish and Egyptian. The Greek kings of Egypt endeavored, long ago, to tear it from the Greek kings of Syria. The Romans left it at first in the possession of Antiochus : but the line of Mount Taurus could not permanently arrest them : and the lettei-s of Cicero remain to us among the most intei'esting, as they are among the earliest, monu- ments of Roman Cilicia. Situated near the western border of the Cilician plain, where the river Cydnus flows in a cold and rapid sti-eam, from the snows of Taurus to the sea, was the city of Tarsus, the capital of the whole province, and " no mean city " (Acts xxi. 39) in the history of the ancient world. Its coins reveal to us its greatness through a long series of years : — alike in tlie period which intervened between Xerxes and Alexander, — and under the Roman sway, when it exulted in the name of Metropolis, — and long after Hadrian had rebuilt it, and issued his new coinage with the old mythological types.* In the intermediate period, which is the nearest parallel in modern times to the his- Asia Minor contains some hixniiant specimens tory of a Roman province. As far as regards of the modern vegetation of Tarsus ; but the the pirates. Lord Exraouth, in 1816, really did banana and the prickly pear were introduced the work of Pompey the Great. It may bo into the Mediterranean long after St. Paul's doubted whether Marshal Bugeaud was more day. lenient to the Arabs, than Cicero to the Eleu- 2 xhe coin at the end of the chapter was thero-Cilicians. struck under Hadrian, and is preserved in the Chiysippus the Stoic, whose father was a British Museum. The word Mclrojmlis is con- native of Tarsus, and Aratus, whom St. Paul spicuous on it. The same figures of the Lion quotes, lived at Soli. and the Bull appear in a fine scries of silver 1 Laborde's illustrated work on Syria and coins of Tarsus, assigned by the Due da CHAP. I. TARSUS. 21 that of St. Paul, we have the testimony of a native of this part of Asia ]\Iiiior, from which we may infer that Tarsus was in tlie Eastern basin of tlie Mediterranean, ahnost what Marseilles was in the Western. Strabo says that, in all that relates to philosopliy and general edueation, it was even more illustrious than Athens and Alexandria. From his description jt is evident that its main character was that of a Greek city, where the Greek language was spoken, and Greek literature studiously cultivated. But we should be wrong in supposing that tlie general population of the province was of Greek origin, or spoke the Greek tongue. Wlien Cyrus came with his army from the Western Coast, and still later, when Alex- ander penetrated into Cilicia, they found the inhabitants " Barbarians.'" Nor is it likely that the old race would be destroyed, or the old language obliterated, especially in the mountain districts, during the reign of tlie Seleucid kings. We must rather conceive of Tarsus as like Brest, iu Brittany, or like Toulon, in Provence, — a city where the language of refinement is spoken and written, in the midst of a ruder population, who use a diflcrent language, and possess no literature of their own. If we turn now to consider the position of this province and city under the Romans, we are led to notice two different systems of policy which they adopted in their subject dominions. The purpose of Rome was to make the world subservient to herself: but this might be accomplished directly or indirectly. A governor might be sent from Rome to take the absolute command of a prdvince: or some native chief might have a king- dom, an ethnarchy,' or a tetrarchy assigned to him, iu which he was nomi- nally independent, but really subservient, and often tributary. Some prov- inces were rich and productive, or essentially important in the military sense, and these were committed to Romans under the Senate or the Emperor. Others might be worthless or troublesome, and fit only to reward the services of a useful instrument, or to occupy the energies of a dangerous ally. Both these systems were adopted in the East and in the West. We have examples of both — in Spain and in Gaul — in Cilicia and in Judaea. In Asia Minor they were so irregularly comljined, and the territories of the independent sovereigns were so capriciously granted or removed, extended or curtailed, that it is often difficult to ascertain what the actual boundaries of the provinces were at a given epoch. Not to enter into any minute history in the case of Cilicia, it will be enough to say, that its rich and level plain in the cast was made a Roman province by Pompey, and so remained, wliilc certain districts in the western portion were assigned, at different periods, to various native chieftains. Thus the territories of Amyntas, King of Galatia, were ex- Lnynes to the period between Xerxes and ^ See note at the end of Cb. III. Alexander. ZZ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAi>. t tended iu this direction by Antony, when he was preparing for his gresil struggle with Augustus : just as a modern Rajah maybe strengthened on the banks of the Indus, in connection with wars against Scinde and the Sikhs. For some time the wliole of Cilicia was a consolidated prov- ince under the first emperors : but again, in the reign of Claudius, we find a portion of the same Western district assigned to a king called Polemo II. It is needless to pursue the history furthei'. In St. Paul's early life the political state of the inhabitants of Cilicia would be that of subjects of a Roman governor : and Roman officials, if not Roman soldiers, would be a familiar sight to the Jews who were settled in Tarsus.' We shall have many opportunities of describing the condition of prov- inces under the dominion of Rome ; but it may be interesting here to allude to the information which may be gathered from the writings of that distinguished man, who was governor of Cilicia, a few years after its first reduction by Pompey. He was intrusted with the civil and military superintendence of a large district in this corner of the Mediterranean, comprehending not only Cilicia, but Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and the island of Cyprus ; and ho has left a record of all the details of his policy in a long series of letters, which are a curious monument of the Roman procedure in the management of conquered provinces, and which possess a double interest to us, from their frequent allusions to the same places which St. Paul refers to in his Epistles. This correspond- ence represents to us the governor as surrounded by the adulation of obsequious Asiatic Greeks. He travels with an interpreter, for Latin is the official language; he puts down banditti, and is sainted by the title of Imperator; letters are written, on various subjects, to tho governors of neighboring provinces, — for instance, Syria, Asia, and Bithynia ; ceremonious communications take place with the independent chieftains. The friendly relations of Cicero with Deiotarus, King of Galatia, and his son, remind us of the interview of Pilate and Herod iu the Gospel, or of Fcstus and Agrippa in the Acts. Cicero's letters are rather too full of a boastful commendation of his own integrity ; but from what he says that he did, we may infer by contrast what was done by others who were less scrupulous in the discharge of the same re- sponsibilities. He allowed free access to his person ; he refused ex])en- sive monuments in his honor ; he declined the proffered present of the pauper King of Cappadocia;^ he abstained from exacting the customary expenses from the states which he traversed on his march ; he remitted 1 Tarsus, as a " Free City " ( Urhs Libera), ' See Hor. 1 Ep. vi. 39. would have the privilege of being garrisoned by its own soldiers. See next chapter. CHAP. I. POLITICAL CHANGES IN J0D^A 23 to the treasury the moneys which were not expended on his province ; he would not place in official situations those who were engaged in trade ; he treated the local Greek magistrates with due consideration, and con- trived at tlic same time to give satisfaction to the Publicans. From all this it may be easily inferred with how much corruption, cruelty, and pride, tlie Romans usually governed ; and how miserable must liave been the condition of a province under a Verres or an Appius, a Pilate or a Felix. So far as we remember, the Jews are not mentioned in any of Cicero's Cilician letters ; but if we may draw conclusions from a speecli which he made at Rome in defence of a contemporary governor of Asia,' he regarded them with much contempt, and would be liicely to treat them with harshness and injustice.* Tliat Polemo II., who has lately been mentioned as a king in Cilicia, was one of tliose curious links whicii the liistory of those times exliibits between Heathenism, Judaism, and Cliristianity. He became a Jew to marry Berenice,' who afterwards forsook him, and whose name, after once appearing in Sacred History (Acts xxv., xxvi.), is lastly asso- ciated with that of Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem. Tlie name of Berenice will at once suggest the family of the Herods, and transport our thoughts to Judaea. The same general features may be traced in this province as in that whicli we have been attenipting to describe. In some respects, indeed, the details of its liistory are different. When Cilicia was a province, it formed a separate jurisdiction, with a governor of its own, immediately responsible to Rome : but Judaea, in its provincial period, was only an appendage to Syria. It has been said * that the position of tlie ruler resi- dent at Cffisarea in connection with the supreme autliority at Antioch may be best understood by comparing it with that of the governor of Madras or Bombay under the governor-general who resides at Calcutta. The comparison is in some respects just : and British India might supply a furtlier parallel. We might say that when Judaea was not strictly a pror- ince, but a monarchy under the protectorate of Rome, it bore the same relation to tlie contiguous province of Syria which, before the recent war, the territories of the king of Oude' bore to the presidency of Bengal. 1 This was L. Valerius Flaccus, who had Claudius gave him part of Cilicia instead of it. served in Cilicia, and was afterwards made Joseph. AnI. xx. 7, 3. Governor of Asia, — that district with which, * See the introduction to Dr. Traill's Jose- and its capital Ephcsus, we are so familiar in phus, a work which was interrupted by tlie the Acts of the Apostles. death of the translator during the Irish famine, '' See especially Cic. Place. 28 ; and for the and was continued by Mr. Isaac Taylor, opinion which educated Romans had of the ' Another coincidence is, that we made the Jews, see Hor. 1 Snt. iv. 143, v. 100, ix. 69. Nabob of Oude a king. He had previously been ' He was the last King of Pontus. By Ca- hereditary Vizier of the Mogul, ligula he was made King of Bosphorus ; but 24 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OE ST. PAtTL. chap.i. Judasa was twice a monarchy ; and thus its history fui-nish&s illustra- tions of the two systems pursued by the Romans, of direct and indirect government. Another important contrast must be noticed in the histories of theso two provinces. In the Greek period of Judoea, there was a time of noble and vigorous independence. Antioclius Epiphanes, the eightli of the line of the Seleucids, in pursuance of a general system of policy, by which he sought to unite all his different territories tlirough the Greek religion, endeavored to introduce the worship of Jupiter into Jerusalem.' Such an attempt might have been very successful in Syria or Cilicia : but in Judsea it kindled a flame of religious indignation, which did not cease to burn till the yoke of the Seleucidas was entirely thrown off: the name of Antiochus Epiphanes was ever afterwards held in abhorrence by the Jews, and a special fast was kept up in memory of the time when the " abomi- nation of desolation" stood in the holy place. The champions of the independence of the Jewish nation and the purity of the Jewish religion were the family of the Maccabees or Asmonaeans : and a hundred years before the birth of Christ the first Hyrcanus was reigning over a prosper- ous and independent kingdom. But in the time of the second Hyrcanus and his brother, the family of the Maccabees was not what it had been, and JudiBa was ripening for the dominion of Rome. Pompey the Great, the same conqueror who had already subjected Cilicia, appeared in Da- mascus, and there judged the cause of the two brothers. All the country was full of his fame. In the spring of the year 63 he came down by the valley of the Jordan, his Roman soldiers occupied the ford where Joshua had crossed over, and from the Mount of Olives he looked down upon Jerusalem.^ From that day JudiEa was virtually under the government of Rome. It is true that, after a brief support given to the reigning family, a new native dynasty was raised to tiie throne. Antipater, a man of Idumsean birth, had been minister of the MaccabiEan kings : but they were the Rois Faineants of Palestine, and he was the Maire du Palais. In the midst of the confusion of the great civil wars, the Herodian family succeeded to the Asmonaean, as the Carlovingian line in France succeeded that of Clovis. As Pepin was followed by Charlcmange, so Antipater prepared a crown for his son Herod. At first Herod the Great espoused the cause of Antony ; but he cob- 1 Here we may observe that there are ex- from the rclgious movement alluded to in tba tant coins of Antiochus Epiphanes, where the text. head of Jupiter appears on tlie obverse, in ^ Pompey heard of the death of Mithridates place of the portrait usual in the Alexandrian, at Jericho. His army crossed at Scythopolis, Seleucid, and Macedonian scries. Since such by the ford immediately below the Lake of emblems on ancient coins have always sacred Tiberias, meanings, it is very probable that this arose CHAP. I. HEEOD AND HIS FAMILY. 25 trived to remedy his mistake by paying a prompt visit, after tho battle of Actium, to Augustus in the ii^land of Rhodes. This singular inter- view of the Jewish prince with the Roman conqueror in a Greek island was the beginning of an important period for tlie Hebi-ew nation. An exotic civilization was systematically introduced and extended. Those Gi'cek influences, which had been begun under the Selcucids, and not dis- continued under the Asmon^eans, were now more widely diffused : and the Roman customs,' which had hitherto been comparatively unknown, were now made familiar. Herod was indeed too wise, and knew the Jews too well, to attempt, like Antiochus, to introduce foreign institu- tions without any regard to their religious feelings. He cndeavord to ingratiate himself with them by rebuilding and decorating tlieir national temple ; and a part of that magnificent bridge which was connected with the great southern colonnade is still believed to exist, — remaining, in its vast proportions and Roman form, an appropriate monument of the Herodian period of Judaea.^ The period when Herod was reigning at Jerusalem under the protectorate of Augustus was chiefly remarkable for great arcliitectural works, for tlie promotion of commerce, tlie influx of strangers, and the increased diffusion of the two great languages of the heathen world. The names of places are themselves a monument of the spirit of the times. As Tarsus was called Juliopolis from Julius Cajsar, and Soli Pompeiopolis from his great rival, so Samaria was called Sebaste after the Greek name of Augustus, and the new metropolis, which was built by Herod on the sea-shore, was called Caesarca in honor of the same Latin emperor : while Antipatris, on the road (Acts xxiii. 31) be- tween the old capital and the new,' still commemorated the name of the king's Idnmasan father. We must not suppose tliat the internal cliange in the minds of the people was proportional to the magnitude of these outward improvements. They suffered much ; and their hatred grew towards Rome and towards the Herods. A parallel might be drawn between the state of Judaea under Hei'od the Great, and that of Egypt under Mahomet Ali,* where great works have been successfully accom- • Antiochus Epiphanes (who was called fragment of the great Christian works con- Epimanes from his mad conduct) is said to structed in this southern part of the Temple- have made himself ridiculous by adopting Ro- area in the age of Justinian. man fashions, and walking about the streets " The tracing of the road by which St. of Antioch in a toga. Paul tr-ivelled on this occasion is one of tho * See the woodcut opposite. The arch ex- most interesting geographical questions which tends about fifty feet along the wall, and its will come before us. radius must have been about twenty feet. It * There are many points of resemblance is right to say that there is much controversy between the character and fortunes of Herod about its origin. Dr. Rol)inson assigns it to and those of Mahomet Ali : the chief differ- the age of Solomon : Mr. Fergusson to that ences are those of the times. Herod secured of Herod: Mr Williams holds it to be a his position by the influence of Augustus; 26 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. i. plislicd, where the spread of ideas has been promoted, traffic made busy aud prosperous, and communication with the civilized world wonderfully increased, — but where the mass of the people has continued to be mis- erable aud degraded. After Herod's death, the same influences still continued to operate in Judtea. Archelaus persevered in his father's policy, though destitute of his father's energy. The same may be said of the other sons, Antipas and Piiilip, in their contiguous principalities. All the Hcrods wei'c great builders, and eager partisans of the Roman emperors : and we are familiar in the Gospels with that Ccesarca (Csesarea Philippi), which one of them built in the upper part of the valley of the Jordan, and named in honor of Augustus, — and with that Tiberias on the banks of the lake of Ge- nesareth, which bore the name of his wicked successor. But wliile Antipas and Philip still retained their dominions under the protectorate of the emperor, Archelaus had been banished, aud the weigiit of the Roman power had descended still more heavily on Judsea. It was placed under the direct jurisdiction of a governor, residing at CiEsar rea by the Sea, and depending, as we have seen above, on the governor of Syria at Antioch. And now we are made familiar with those features which might be adduced as characterizing any other province at the same epoch, — the prsetorium,' — the publicans,- — the tribute-money,^ — sol- diers and centurions recruited in Italy ,^ — Caesar the only king,'* and the ultimate appeal against the injustice of tlie governor." In this period the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ took place, the first preaching of His Apostles, and the conversion of St. Paul. But once more a change came over the political fortunes of Judaea. Herod Agrippa was tlie friend of Caligula, as Herod th-e Great had been the friend of Augustus ; and when Tiberius died, he received the grant of an independent principality in the north of Palestine.' He was able to ingratiate himself with Claudius, the succeeding emperor. Judaea was added to his dominion, which now embraced the whole circle of the territory ruled by his grandfather. By this time St. Paul was actively pur- suing his apostolic career. We need not, therefore, advance beyond this Mahomet All secured his by the agreement of (Acts x. 1) will come umlcr our notice in tJie European [TOwcrs. Chap. IV., and tha " Auijuslaii Band" (Ibid. 1 Joh. x%iii. 28. xxvii. 1 ) in Chap. XXII. 2 Lukeiii. 12, xix. 2. ' Joh. xix. 15. » Matt. xxii. 19. ° Acts xxv. 11. * Most of tlie soldiers quartered in Syria ' He obtained under Caligula, first, the te- See p. 25, n. 3. * 1 Sam. xxxi. 1-6. * 1 Sam. x. 26, xv. 34 * Gen.xxviii. 19 ; Judg. iv. 5; 1 Kings zii. ' Judges xx. 43, &c 29; 3 Kings xxiii. 15. ' Hosca ix. 9. CHAP.n. STATE OF JUD^A. 51 jiouc but a Jew could know. " Our feet stand within thy gates, Jeru- salem. Oh, pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces. God, wonderful art thou in thy holy places : even the God of Israel. He will give strength and power unto His people. Blessed be God.'" And now tliat this young enthusiastic Jew is come into the land of his forefatlicrs, and is about to receive his education in the schools of the Holy City, wc may pause to give some description of the state of Judaja and Jerusalem. We have seen that it is impossible to fix the exact date of his arrival, but we know the general features of the period ; and we can easily form to ourselves some idea of the political and religious con- dition of Palestine. Herod was now dead. The tyrant had been called to his last account ; and that eventful reign, which had destroyed the nationality of the Jews, while it maintained their apparent independence, was over. It is most likely that Archelaus also had ceased to govern, and was already in exile. His accession to power had been attended with dreadful fighting in the streets, with bloodshed at sacred festivals, and with wliolesale crucifix- ions ; his reign of ten years was one continued season of disorder and dis- content ; and, at last, he was banished to Vienna on the Rhone, that Judaja might be formally constituted into a Roman province.' We suppose Saul to have come from Tarsus to Jerusalem when one of the four governors, who preceded Pontius Pilate, was in power, — either Coponius, or Marcus Anibivius, or Annius Rufus, or Valerius Gratus. The governor resided in tlie town of Cffisarea. Soldiers were quartered there and at Jerusalem, and throughout Jud»a, wherever the turbulence of the people made gar- risons necessary. Centurions were in tlie country towns;'' soldiers on the banks of the Jordan.'' There was no longer even the show of inde- pendence. The revolution, of which Herod had sown the seeds, now came to maturity. The only change since his deatli in tlic appearance of the country was that every thing became more Roman than before. Roman money was current in the markets. Roman words were incorpo- rated in the popular language. Roman buildings were conspicuous in all the towns. Even those two independent principalities wliicli two sons of Herod governed, between the provinces of Judaea and Syria, exhibited ' See Ps. Ixviii. and cxxii. The Hcrodian family, after their father's death, * While the question of succession was had gone to Rome, where Augustus received pending, the Roman soldiers under Sabinus them in the Temple of Apollo. Archelaus had had a desperate conflict with the Jews. Fight- never the title of king, though his father had ing and sacrificing went on together. Varus, desired it. the governor of Syria, marched from Antioch ' Luke vii. 1-10. to Jerusalem, and 2,000 Jews were crucified. * Luke iii. 14. 52 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. u. all the general cliaracter of the epocli. Philip, tlie tetrarch of Gaulonitis, called Bethsaida, on the north of the lake of Genesareth, by the name of Julias, in honor of the family who reigned at Rome. Antipas, tiie tetrarch of Galilee, built Tiberias on the south of the same lake, in honor of the emperor who about this time (a.d. 14) succeeded his illustrious step-father. These political changes had been attended with a gradual alteration in the national feelings of the Jews with regard to their religion. Tliat the sentiment of political nationality was not extinguished was proved too well by all the horrors of Vespasian's and Hadrian's reigns ; but there was a growing tendency to cling rather to their Law and Religion as the centre of their unity. The great conquests of the Heathen pow- ers may have been intended by Divine Providence to prepare this change in the Jewish mind. Even under the Maccabees, the idea of the state began to give place, in some degree, to the idea of religious life. Under Herod, the old unity was utterly broken to pieces. The high priests were set up and put down at his caprice ; and the jurisdiction of the Sanhedria was invaded by the most arbitrary interference. Under the governors, the power of the Sanhedrin was still more abridged ; and high priests were raised and deposed, as the Christian patriaixhs of Constantinople have for some ages been raised and deposed by the Sultan : so that it is often a matter of great difficulty to ascertain who was high priest at Jerusalem in any given year at this period.' Thus the hearts of the Jews turned more and more towards the fulfilment of Prophecy, — to the practice of Religion, — to the interpretation of the Law. All else was now hopeless. The Pharisees, the Scribes, and the Lawyers were growing into a more important body even than the Priests and the Lcvites ; ^ and that system of " Rabbinism " was beginning, " which, supplanting the original religion of the Jews, became, after the ruin of the Temple and the extinction of the public worship, a new bond of national union, the great distinctive feature in the character of modern Judaism." ' The Apostolic age was remarkable for tlie growth of learned Rabbinical schools ; but of these the most eminent were the rival schools of Hillel and Schammai. These sages of the law were spoken of by the Jews, and their proverbs quoted, as the seven wise men were quoted by the Greeks. Their traditional systems run through all the Talmudical writ- ings, as the doctrines of the Scotists and Thomists run through tlie Mid- 1 See Acts xxiii. 5. these schools, some were Lcvites, as Samuel ; 2 In earlier periods of Jewish history, the some belonged to the other tribes, as Saul and prophets seem often to have been a more influ- David. ential body than the priests. It is remarkable ' Milman's HUmy of the Jews, vol. iii. that we do not read of " Schools of the p. 100. I.'rophets " in any of the Lcvitical cities In CHAP. 11. GAMALIEL. 53 die Ages.' Both were Pharisaic schools : but the former upheld the honor of tradition as even superior to the law ; the latter despised the tradition- ists when they clashed with Moses. The antagonism between them was 60 great, that it was said tliat even " Elijah the Tishbite would never be able to reconcile the disciples of HiUel and Schammai." Of these two schools, that of HiUel was by far the most influential ia its own day, and its decisions have been held authoritative \)y the greater number of later Rabbis. The most eminent ornament of this school was Gamaliel, whose fame is celebrated in the Talmud. HiUel was the fatiier of Simeon, and Simeon the father of Gamaliel. It has been imagined by some that Simeon was the same old man who took the infant Saviour in his arms, and pronounced tlie Nunc Bimittis.'' It is difficult to give a conclusive proof of this ; but there is no doubt that this Gamaliel was the same who wisely pleaded the cause of St. Peter and the otlier Apostles.' and who had previously educated tlie future Apostle St. Paul.* His learning was so eminent, and his cliaracter so revered, tliat he is one of the seven who alone among Jewish doctors have been honored witli the title of " Rabban."' As Aquinas, among tiie schoolmen, was called Doctor Angelicus, and Bonaventura Doctor Seraphicus, so Gamaliel was called the "Beauty of the Law ; " and it is a saying of the Talmud, that "since Rabban Gamaliel died, the glory of the Law has ceased." He was a Pharisee; but anecdotes* are told of him, which show that he was not trammelled by the narrow bigotry of the sect. He had no antipathy to the Greek learning. He rose above the prejudices of his party. Our impulse is to class him with the best of the Pharisees, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathsea. Candor and wisdom seem to have been features of his character; and this agrees with what we read of liim in the Acts of the Apostles,' that he was " had in reputation of all the people," and with his honest and intelligent argument wlien Peter was brought before the Council. It has been imagined by some that he became a Clu-istian: and why he did not become so is known only to Him wlio uiuljrbtaiids the secrets of the human heart. But he lived and died a Jew ; and a well-known prayer against Christian heretics was composed or sanctioned ' See Prideaux's Connection, part II. pref. die this with tlie Jewish law, he replied, that p. 13, and beginning of book viii. the hath was there belbre the statue; that the ^ Luke ii. 25-35. bath was nol made for the guildess, but the s Acts V. 34-tO. statue for the bath. Tholuck, Hng. transl. p. 17. » Acts xxii. 3. ' Acts v. 34. Yet Nicodemus and Jo^ieph ' This title is the same as " Rabboni " ad- declared themselves the friends of Christ, dfcssed to our Lord by Mary Magdalene. which Gamaliel never did. And wc should * He bathed once at Ptolemais in ^n apart- hardly expect to find a violent persecutor ment where a statue was erected to a Heathen among the pupils of a really candid and no- goddess ; and being asked bow he could recon- prejudiced maa. 54 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. ii. by him.' He died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem,' about tlio time of St. Paul's shipwreck at Malta, and was buried with great honor. Another of his pupils, Onkelos, the author of the cele- brated Targum, raised to him such a funeral-pile of rich materials as had never before been known, except at the burial of a king. If we were briefly to specify the three effects which tlie teaching and example of Gamaliel may be supposed to have produced on the mind of Sf. Paul, they would be as follows: — candor and honesty of judgment, — a willingness to study and make use of Greek authors, — and a keen and watchful enthusiasm for the Jewish law. We shall see these traits of character soon exemplified in his life. But it is time that we should inquire into the manner of communicating instruction, and learn some- ihing concerning the places where instruction was communicated, in the schools of Jerusalem. Until the formation of the later Rabbinical colleges, which flourished after the Jews were driven from Jerusalem, the instruction in tlie divinity schools seems to have been chiefly oral. There was a prejudice against the use of any book except the Sacred Writings. The system was one of Scriptural Exegesis. Josephus remarks, at the close of his " Antiqui- ties,"' that the one tiling most prized by his countrymen was power in the exposition of Scripture. " They give to that man," he says, " the testimony of being a wise man, who is fully acquainted with our laws, and is able to interpret their meaning." So far as we arc able to learn from our sources of information, the method of instruction was some- thing of this kind.* At the meetings of learned men, some passage of the Old Testament was taken as a text, or some topic for discussion pro- pounded in Hebrew, translated into the vernacular tongue by means of a Chaldee paraphrase, and made the subject of commentary : various inter- pretations were given : aphorisms were propounded : allegories suggested : and the oi)inions of ancient doctors quoted and discussed. At these dis- cussions the younger students were present, to listen or to inquire, — or, in the sacred words of St. Luke, " both hearing them and asking them questions : " for it was a peculiarity of the Jewish schooh; that the pupil ■was encouraged to catechise the teacher. Contradictory opinions were expressed with the utmost freedom. This is evident fi'om a cursory cx- 1 The prayer is given in Mr. Home's Intvo- dcstroyest the wicked, und bringest dow.i the duclion to the ScnptHri>s, Sill ed. vol. iii. p. 2G1, proud." as follows : " Let there be no hope to them ^ His son Simeon, who succeeded him as who apostatize from the true religion ; and let president of the Council, perished in the ruins heretics, how many soever tic? be, T>\\ perish of the city, as in a moment. And let the kingdom of ' Ant. xx. II, 2. pride be speedily rooted out and broken in our * See Dr. Kitto's Cychpccdia of Biblical days. Blessed art thou, Lord our God, who Lileratme, art. " Schools and Synagogues." OHAP.u. KABBINICAL SCHOOLS. 55 amiiiation of the Talmud, which gives us the best notions of the scholastic disputes of the Jews. Tiiis remarkable body of Rabbinical jurisprudence has been compared to tlie Roman body of civil law : but iu one respect it might suggest a better compai-ison witli our own English common law, in that it is a vast accumulation of various and often incousistent prece- dents. The arguments and opinions wliich it contains, sliow very plainly that tlie Jewisli doctors must often have been occupied with the most frivolous questions; — that tlie " mint, anise, and cumin" were eagerly discussed, wiiile the " weightier matters of the law" were neglected: — but we sliould not be justified in passing a hasty judgment on ancient volumes, whicli are full of aclinowledged difficulties. Wiiat we read of the system of tiie Cabala has often the appearance of an unintelligible jargon : but in all ages it has been true that " tlie words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies."' If we could look back upon the assemblies of the Rabbis of Jerusalem, with Gamaliel in the midst, and Saul among the younger speakers, it is pos- sible that the scene would be as strange and as different from a place of modern education, as the schools now seen by travellers in the East differ from contemporary schools in England. But the same might be said of the walks of Plato iu the Academy, or the lectures of Aristotle in tlie Lyceum. It is certain that these free and public discussions of the Jews tended to create a high degree of general intelligence among the people; that the students were trained there in a system of excellent dialectics; that they learnt to express themselves in a rapid and senten- tious style, often with much poetic feeling ; and acquired an admirable acquaintance with the words of the ancient Scriptures.^ These " Assemblies of the Wise" were possibly a continuation of the " Schools of the Prophets," which are mentioned in the historical books of the Old Testament.' Wherever the earlier meetings were held, whether at the gate of the city, or in some more secluded place, we read of no buildings for purposes of worship or instruction before the Captivity. During that melancholy period, when the Jews mourned over their sep- aration from the Temple, the necessity of assemblies must have been deeply felt, for united prayer and mutual exhortation, for the suiging of the " Songs of Zion," and far remembering the " Word of the Lord." When they returned, the public reading of the law became a practice of universal interest : and from this period we must date the erection of 1 Eccles. xii. U. tlie punishments were, confinement, flogging, * It seems that half-yearly examinations and excommunication. were held on four sabbaths of the months Adar ^ j gam. x. 5, 6, xix. 20 ; 2 Kings ii. 3, 5, and Elul (February and August), when the ir. 38. srholars made recitations and were promoted : Ob THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. i,. Synagogues ' in the different towns of Palestine. So that St. James could say, in the council at Jerusalem : " Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." ^ To this later period the 74th Psalm may be referred, which laments over " tlio burning of all the synagogues of God in the land."^ — These build- ings are not mentioned by Joseph us in any of the earlier passages of his history. But in the time of the Apostles wo have the fullest evidence that they existed in all the small towns in Judaea, and in all the principal cities where the Jews were dispersed abroad. It seems that the synagogues often consisted of two apartments, one for prayer, preaching, and the offices of public worship ; the other for the meetings of learned men, for discussions concerning questions of religion and discipluie, and for purposes of education.^ Thus tlie Synagogues and the Schools cannot be con- sidered as two separate subjects. No doubt a distinction must be drawn between the smaller schools of the country villages, and the great divinity schools of Jerusalem. The synagogue which was built by the Centurion at Capernaum* was unquestionably a far less important place than those synagogues in the Holy City, where " the Libertines, and Cyrenians,^ and Alexandrians, with tliose of Asia and Cilicia," rose up as one man, and disputed against St. Stephen.' We have here five groups of foreign Jews, — two from Africa, two from Western, Asia, and one from Europe ; and there is no doubt that the Israelites of Syria, Babylonia, and the East were similarly represented. The Rabbinical writers say that tliere were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem ; and tliough this must bo an exaggeration, yet no doubt all shades of Hellenistic and Aramaic opinions found a home in the common metropolis. It is easy to see that an eager and enthusiastic student could have had no lack of excitements to stimulate his religious 1 Basnage assigns the erection of synagogues ' Acts ri. 9. It is difficult to classify with to the time of the Maccabees. Mcnschen says confidence the synagogues mentioned in this that schnoh were established by Ezra ; but he passage. According to Wiosder's view, men- gives no proof. It is probable that they were tioned above, only one synagogue is intended, nearly contemporaneous. belonging to liberlini of certain districts in 2 Acts XV. 21. Northern Africa and Western Asia. Others * Ps. xxiv. 8. conceive that five synagogues are intended, viz. * The place where the Jews met for wor- the Asian, Cilician, Alexandrian, Ci/renian, and ship was called Bct-ha-Cneset, as opposed that of Jewish fretdmen from Italij. We think to the Bct-ha-Midrash, where lectures were the most natural view is to resolve the five given. The latter terra is still said to bo groups into three, and to suppose three syna- used in Poland and Germany for the place gogues, one Asiatic, one African, and one where Jewish lectures are given on the Law. European. An " Alexandrian synagogue," ^ Luke vii. 5. built by Alexandrian artisans who were em- » The beautiful coins of Cyrene show how ployed about the Temple, is mentioned in the entirely it was a Greek city, and therefore im- Talmud. We have ventured below to use the ply that its Jews were Hellenistic, like those phrase " Cilician Synagogue," which cannot of Alexandria. See above, p. 16, note. involve any serious inaccuracy. eoAP.n. MODE OF TEACHING. 57 and intellectual activity, if he spent the years of his youth in that city " at the feet of Gamaliel." It has been contended, that when St. Paul said he was " brought up " in Jci'usalem " at the feet of Gamaliel," he meant that he had lived at the Rabban's house, and eaten at his table. But the words evidently point to the customary posture of Jewish students at a school. There is a curious passage in the Talmud, where it is said, that " from the days of Moses to Rabban Gamaliel, they stood up to learn the law ; but when Rabban Gamaliel died, sickness came into the world, and they sat down to learn the Law." Wo )ieed not stop to criticise this sentence, and it is not easy to reconcile it with other authorities on the same subject. " To sit at the feot of a teacher " was a proverbial expression ; as when Mary is said to have " sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word." ' But the proverbial ex- pression must have arisen from a well-known custom. The teacher was seated on an elevated platform, or on the ground, and the pupils around him on low seats or on the floor. Maimouides says : — " How do the masters teach ? The doctor sits at the head, and the disciples surround him like a crown, that they may all see the doctor and hear his words. Nor is the doctor seated on a seat, and the disciples on the ground ; but all are on seats, or all on the floor." St. Ambrose says, in his Commen- tary on the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians (xiv.), that " it is the tradition of the synagogue that they sit while they dispute ; the elders in dignity on high chairs, those beneath them on low seats, and the last of all on mats upon the pavement." And again Pliilo says, that the children of the Essenes sat at the feet of the masters, who interpreted the law, and ex- plained its figurative sense. And the same tiling is expressed in tliat maxim of the Jews — " Place thyself in the dust at the feet of the wise." In this posture the Apostle of the Gentiles spent his schoolboy days, an eager and indefatigable student. " He that giveth his mind to the law of the Most High, and is occupied in the meditation thereof, will seek out the wisdom of all the ancient, and be occupied in prophecies. He will keep the sayings of the renowned men ; and where subtle parables are, he will be there also. He will seek out the secrets of grave sentences, and be con- versant in dark parables. He shall serve among great men, and appear among princes : he will travel through strange countries ; for lie hath tried the good and the evil among men." ^ Such was the pattern proposed to himself by an ardent follower of the Rabbis ; and we cannot wonder that Saul, with such a standard before him, and with so ardent a tempera- ment, " outran in Judaism many of his own age and nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his Fathers." ' Intellectually, his 1 Luke X 39 : see viii. 35. » Ecclus. iLxxix. 1-4. « Gal. i. 14. 68 THE LIFE ASD EPISTLES OF ST. PA-UL. chap. n. mind was trained to logical acuteness, his memory became well stored with " hard sentences of old," and he acquired the facility of quick and apt quotation of Scripture. Morally, he was a strict observer of the re- quirements of the Law ; and, while he led a careful conscientious life, after the example of his ancestors,' he gradually imbibed the spirit of a fervent persecuting zeal. Among his fellow-students, who flocked to Jerusalem fx-om Egypt and Babylonia, from the coasts of Greece and his native Cilicia, he was known and held in higli estimation as a rising light in Israel. And if we may draw a natural inference from another sentence of the letter which has just been quoted, he was far from indifferent to the praise of men.* Students of tlie Law were called " the holy people ; " and we know one occasion when it was said, " This pcojile who knoweth not the Law are cursed." ^ And we can imagine him saying to himself, with all the rising pride of a successful Pharisee, in the language of the Book of Wisdom : " I shall have estimation among the multitude, and honor with the elders, though I be young. I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the sight of great men. When I hold my tongue, they shall bide my leisure ; and when 1 speak, they shall give good ear xuito me." * Wliile thus he was passing tlirough the busy years of his student-life, nursing his religious enthusiasm and growing in self-righteousness, others were advancing towards their manhood, not far from Jerusalem, of whom then he knew nothing, but for whose cause he was destined to count that loss which now was his highest gain.* There was one at Hebron, the sou of a priest " of the course of Abia," who was soon to make his voice heard throughout Israel as the prcaclier of repentance ; there were boys by the Lake of Gaiilee, mending their fathers' nets, wlio were hereafter to be the teachers of the World ; and there was one, at Nazareth, for the sake of whose love, they, and Saul himself, and thousands of faithful hearts throughout all future ages, should unite in saying : — " He must increase, but I must decrease." It is possible that Gamaliel may have been one of those doctors with whom Jesus was found convei'sing in tlic Temple. It is probable that Saul may have been within tlie precincts of the Temple at some festival, when Mary and Joseph came up from Galilee. It is certain that the eyes of the Saviour and of His future disciple must often have rested on the same objects, — the same crowd of pilgrims and worshippers, — the same walls of the Holy City, — the same olives on the other side of the valley of Jehoshaphat. But at present they were strangers. The mysterious human life of Jesus was silently advancing towards its great ' 2 Tim. i. 3. once I did) to please men, I should not be the ' Gal. i. 10. " Am I now seeking to con- servant of Christ." ^ John vii. 49. ciliate men? . . . Nay, if I still strove (as * Wisdom viii. 10-12. ' See Phil. iii. 5-7. CHAP.n. STUDENT LIFE OF ST. PAUL. 59 conaummation. Saul was growing more and more familiar with the out- ward observances of the Law, and gaining that experience of the " spirit of bondage " which should enable him to understand himself, and to teach to others, the blessings of the " spirit of adoption." He was feeling the pressure of that yoke, wliicli, in the words of St. Peter, " neither his fathers nor lie were able to bear." He was learning (in proportion as his consci- entiousness increased) to tremble at the slightest deviation from tiie Law as jeopardizing salvation : " whence arose that tormenthig scrupulosity which invented a number of limitations, in order (by such seU-imposed restraint) to guard against every possible ti-ansgrcssion of the Law." ' The struggles of this period of his life he has himself described in the seveuth chapter of Romans. Meanwhile, year after year passed away. John the Baptist appeared by the waters of the Jordan. The greatest event of the world's history was finished on Calvary. The sacrifice for sin was offered at a time when sin appeared to be the most triumphant. At the period of the Crucifixion, three of the principal persons who de- mand the historian's attention are — the Emperor Tiberius, spending his life of shameless lust on the island of Capreas, — his vile minister, Sejanus, revelling in cruelty at Rome, — and Pontius Pilate at Jerusalem, min- gling with the sacrifices the blood of the Galileans.^ How refreshing is it to turn from these characters to such scenes as that where St. John re- ceives his Lord's dying words from the cross, or where St. Thomas meets Him after the resurrection, to have his doubts turned into faith, or wiicre St. Stephen sheds the first blood of martyrdom, praying for his murderers ! This first martyrdom has the deepest interest for us ; since it is the first occasion when Saul comes before us in his early manhood. Where had he been during these years which we have rapidly passed over in a few lines, — the years in which the foundations of Christianity were laid ? We cannot assume that he had remained continuously in Jerusalem. Many years had elapsed since he came, a boy, from his home at Tarsus. He must have attained the ago of twenty-five or thirty years when our Lord's public ministry began. His education was completed ; and we may conjecture, with much probability, that he returned to Tarsus. When he says, in the first letter to the Corinthians (ix. 1), — " Huve I not seen the Lord ? " and when he speaks in the second (v. 16) of having " known Christ after the flesh," he seems only to allude, in the first case, to his vision on the road to Damascus ; and, in the second, to his carnal opinions conceniing the Messiah. It is hardly conceivable, that if ho had been at Jerusalem during our Lord's public ministration there, he should never allude to the fact.^ In this case, he would surely have been among 1 Neander. 2 j^„\^q xiii. 1. difficult to write with confidence concerning ' la the absence of more information, it is this part of St. Paul's life. Benson thinks he 60 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. caAP. ii. the persecutors of Jesus, and have referred to this as the ground of his remorse, instead of expressing his repentance for his opposition merely to the Saviour's followers.' If he returned to the hanks of the Cydnus, he would find that many changes had taken place among his friends in the interval which had brought him from boyhood to manhood. But the only change in himself was that he brouglit back with him, to gratify the pride of his parents, if they still were living, a mature knowledge of tlie Law, a stricter life, a more fervent zeal. And here, in the schools of Tarsus, he had abundant opportunity for becoming acquainted with that Greek literature, the taste for which he had caught from Gamaliel, and for studying the writings of Philo and the Hellenistic Jews. Supposing him to be thus employed, we will describe in a few words the first beginnings of the Apostolic Church, and the appearance presented by it to that Judaism in the midst of which it rose, and follow its short history to the point where the " young man, whose name was Saul," re-appears at Jerusalem, in connection with his friends of the Cilician Synagogue, " disputing with Stephen." Before our Saviour ascended into heaven, He said to His disciples: " Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." * And when Matthias had been chosen, and the promised blessing had been re- ceived on tlie day of Pentecost, this order was strictly followed. First the Gospel was proclaimed in the City of Jerusalem, ar,d the numbers of those who believed gradually rose from 120 to 5,000.^ Until the disciples wci-e " scattered," * " upon the persecution that arose about Stephen,"^ Jerusalem was the scene of all tiiat took place in the Churcli of Clirist. We read as yet of no communication of the truth to the Gentiles, nor to the Samaritans ; no hint even of any Apostolic preaching in the country parts of Judaea. It providentially happened, indeed, that the first outburst of the new doctrine, with all its miraculous evidence, was witnessed by " Jews and proselytes " from all parts of the world.* They had come up to the Festival of Pentecost from the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, of the Nile and of the Tiber, from tlie prov- inces of Asia Minor, from the desert of Arabia, and from the islands of the Greek Sea ; and when tboy returned to their homes, they carried with them news which prepared the way for the Glad Tidings about to issue from Mount Zion to " the uttermost parts of tlie earth." But a.« yet was a young student during our Lord's minis- ' 1 Cor. xv. 9 ; Acts xxii 20. try, and places a considerable interval between " Acts i. 8. the Ascension of Christ and the persecution of ° Acts i. 15 ; ii. 41 ; it. « Stephen. Lurdner thinks that the restraint and * Acts viii. 1. retirement of a student might have kept him iu ' Acts xi. 19. ignorance of what was going on in the world. • Acts ii. 9-U, CHAP.n. FIRST ASPECT OF THE CHURCH. 61 the Gospel lingered on the Holy Hill. The first acts of the Apostles were " prayer and supplication " in the " upper room ; " brealviug of bread " from house to house ; " ' miracles in the Temple; gatlierings of the people iu Solomon's cloister ; and the bearing of testimony iu the council chamber of the Sanhedrin. One of the chief characteristics of the Apostolic Cliurcli was the bountiful charity of its members one towards another. Many of the Jews of Palestine, and therefore many of tlie earliest Christian converts, were extremely poor. The odium incurred by adoi)ting tlic new doctrine might undermine the liveliliood of some who depended on tlicir trade for support, and this would make almsgiving necessary. But the Jews of Palestine were relatively poor, compared with those of the dispersion. We see this exemplified on later occasions, in the contributions which St. Paul more than once anxiously promoted.^ And in the very first days of the Church, we find its wealtiiier members placing their entire posses- sions at the disposal of the Apostles. Not that tlierc was any abolition of the rights of property, as the words of St. Peter to Ananias very well show.' But those who were rich gave up what God had given them, in the spirit of generous self-sacrifice, and according to the true principles of Christian communism, wliich regards property as intrusted to tlie possessor, not for himself, but for the good of the whole community, — to be distributed according to such methods as his charitable feeling and conscientious judgment may approve. The Apostolic Church was, in this respect, in a healthier condition than the Church of modern days. But even then we find ungenerous and suspicious sentiments growing up in the midst of the general benevolence. That old jealousy between the Aramaic and Hellenistic Jews re-appeared. Their party feeling was excited by some real or apparent unfairness in the distribution of the fund set apart for the poor. " A murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews," * or of the Hebrews against the Gi'ccians, had been a com- mon occurrence for at least two centuries ; and, notwithstanding the power of the Divine Spirit, none will wonder that it broke out again even among those who had become obedient to the doctrine of Christ. Tliat the widows' fund might be carefully distributed, seven almoners or deacons ^ were appointed, of whom the most eminent was St. Stephen, described as a man " full of faith, and of tlie Holy Ghost," and as one ' Or rather " at home," Acts ii. 46, — i.e. ' Acts v. 4. in their meetings at the private houses of * Acts vi. 1. Christians, as opposed to the public devotions ' The general question of the Diaconate in in the Temple. the primitive Church is considered in Chap. '■' Acis xi. 29, 30 ; and again Kom. xv. 25, XIII. 26, compared with Acts xxiv. 17 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. viii. 1-4. 62 THE LIFE AND EPISTliES OF ST. PAUL. chajp.h. who, " full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." It will be observed that tliese seven men have Greek names, and that one was a proselyte from the Greco-Syrian city of Antioch. It was natural, from the peculiar character of the quarrel, that Hellenistic Jews should have been appointed to this office. And this circumstance must be looked on as divinely arranged. For the introduction of that party, which was most free from local and national prejudices, into the very ministry of the Church, must have had an important influence in preparing the way for the admission of the Gen- tiles. Looking back, from our point of view, upon the community at Jerusa- lem, we see in it the beginning of that great society, the Church, which has continued to our own time, distinct both from Jews and Heathens, and which will continue till it absorbs both the Heathen and the Jews. But to the contemporary Jews themselves it wore a very different appear- ance. From the Hebrew point of view, the disciples of Christ would be regarded as a Jewish sect or synagogue. Tlie synagogues, as we have seen, were very numerous at Jerusalem.' There were already the Cilician Synagogue, the Alexandrian Synagogue, the Synagogue of the Liber- tines,^ — and to these was now added (if we may use so bold an ex- pression) the Nazarene Synagogue, or the Synagogue of the Galileans. Not that any separate building was erected for the devotions of the Chris- tians ; for they met from house to house for prayer and the breaking of bread. But they were by no means separated from the nation:' they attended the festivals ; they worshipped in the Temple. They were a new and singular party in the nation, holding peculiar opinions, and interpreting the Scriptures in a peculiar way. This is the aspect under which the Church would first present itself to tlie Jews, and among others to Saul himself. Many different opinions were expressed in the synagogues concerning the nature and office of the Messiah. These Galileans would be distinguished as holding the strange opinion that the true Messiah was that notorious " malefactor," who had been crucified at the last Passover. All parties in the nation united to oppose, and if possible to crush, the monstrous heresy. The first attempts to put down the new faith came from the Sadducees. The high priest and his immediate adherents* belonged to this party. 1 See p. 56. The fulfilment of the ancient law was the a»- ' See pp. 17, 43, 56. pect of Christianity to which the attention of 8 "The worship of the Temple and the the Church was most directed." — Prof Stan- synagogue still went side by side with the ley's Sermon on St. Peter, p. 92 ; sec James ii. prayers, and the breaking of bread from house 2, where the word " synagogue " is applied to to house. . . . The Jewish family life was the Christian assemblies, highest expression of Christian unity. . . * Acts iv. 1, v. 17. caAP.n. THE SANHEDKIN. 63 They hated the doctrine of the resurrection ; and the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the corner-stone of all St. Peter's teacliing. He and the other Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, who in the first instance were content to enjoin silence on them. Tlio order was dis- obeyed, and they were summoned again. The consequences miglit have been fatal : but that the jealousy between the Sadducees and Pharisees was overruled, and the instrumentality of one man's wisdom was used, by Almighty God, for the protection of His servants. Gamaliel, the eminent Pharisee, argued, that if this cause were not of God, it would come to nothing, like the work of other impostors ; but, if it were of God, tlicy could not safely resist what must certainly prevail ; and the Apostles of Jesus Christ were scourged, and allowed to " depart from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer siiamc for His name." ' But it was impossible that those Phari- sees, whom Christ had always rebuked, should long continue to be protect- ors of the Christians. On this occasion wo find the teacher, Gamaliel, taking St. Peter's part: at the next persecution, Saul, the pupil, is actively concerned in the murder of St. Stephen. It was the same alter- nation of the two prevailing parties, first opposing each other, and then uniting to oppose the Gospel, of which Saul himself iiad such intimate experience when he became St. Paul.^ In many particulars St. Stephen was the forerunner of St. Paul. Up to this time tlie conflict had been chiefly maintained with the Aramaic Jews ; but Stephen carried the war of the Gospel into the territory of the Hellenists. The learned members of the foreign synagogues endeavored to refute him by argument or by clamor. The Cilician Synagogue is particularly mentioned (Acts vi. 9, 10) as having furnished some con- spicuous opponents to Stephen, who " were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spake." We cannot doubt, from what fol- lows, that Saul of Tarsus, already distinguished by his zeal and talents among the younger champions of Pharisaism, bore a leading part in the discussions which here took place. He was now, though still " a young man" (Acts vii. 58), yet no longer in the first opening of youth. This is evident from the fact that he was appointed to an important ecclesiasti- cal and political office immediately afterwards. Such an appointment he could hardly have received from the Sanhedrin before the age of thirty, and probably not so early ; for we must remember that a peculiar respect for seniority distinguished the Rabbinical authorities. We can imagine Saul, then, the foremost in the Cilician Synagogue, "disputing" against Uie new doctrines of the Hellenistic Deacon, in all the energy of vigorous 1 Acts T. ■tl. ' See Acts xxiii. 6, 9, U, 20. 64 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAP.u. manliood, and with all the vehement logic of the Rabbis. How often must these scenes have been recalled to his mind, when he himself took the place of Stephen in many a Synagogue, and bore the brunt of the like furious assault ; surrounded by " Jews filled with envy, who spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming."' But this clamor and these arguments were not sufficient to convince or intimidate St. Stephen. False witnesses were then sub- orned to accuse him of blasphemy against Moses and against God, — who asserted, when he was dragged before the Sanhedrin, that they had heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth should destroy the Temple, and change the Mosaic customs. It is evident, from tlie nature of this accusation, how remarkably his doctrine was an anticipation of St. raul's. As a Helle- nistic Jew, he was less entangled in the prejudices of Hebrew nationality than his Aramaic brethren ; and he seems to have had a fuller understand- ing of the final intention of the Gospel than St. Peter and the Apostles had yet attained to. Not doubting the divinity of the Mosaic economy, and not faithless to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he yet saw that the time was coming, yea, then was, when the " true worshippers " should worship Him, not in the Teinple only or in any one sacred spot, but evei-ywhere throughout the earth, " in spirit and in truth : " and for this doctrine he was doomed to die. When we speak of the Sanhedrin, we arc brought into contact with an important controversy. It is much disputed whetlier it had at this period the power of inflicting death.'^ On the one hand, we apparently find the existence of this power denied by the Jews tliemselves at the trial of our Lord;' and, on the other, we apparently find it assumed and acted on in the case of St. Stephen. The Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, like the Areopa- gus at Athens, was the highest and most awful court of judicature, es- pecially in matters that pertained to religion ; but, like that Athenian tribunal, its real power gradually shrunk, though the reverence attached to its decisions remained. It probably assumed its systematic form under the second Hyrcanus ; * and it became a fixed institution in the Common- wealth under his sons, who would be glad to have their authority nomi- nally limited, but really supported, by such a council.* Under the Herods, 1 Acts xiii. 45. Sanhedrin, at this period of political change ^ Most of the modem German critics arc of and confusion, on this, as well as on other opinion that they had not at this time the points, was altogether undefined. — 11! story of power of life and death. A very careful and Clirisliamty, vol. i. p. 340. Compare the nar- elahorate argument for the opposite view will rative of the death of St. James. Joseph. Ant. be found in Biscoe's Ilistorij of tite Acts con- xx. 9. firmed, ch. vi. Dean Milman says that in his ° John xviii. 31, xix. 6. " opinion, formed upon the study of the con- ' See p. 24. temporary Jewish history, the power of the ^ The word from which '' Sanhedrin " is diAP.n. THE TRIAL OF ST. STEPHEN. 65 and under the Romans, its jurisdiction was curtailed ; ' and wo are in- formed, on Talmudical autliority, tliat, forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was formally deprived of the power of inflicting death. If this is true, we must consider the proceedings at the deatii of St. Stephen as tumultuous and irregular. And nothing is more probable tlian that Pontius Pilate (if indeed he was not absent at that time) would willingly connive, in the spirit of Gallio at Corinth, at an act of unauthor- ized cruelty in " a question of words and names and of the Jewish law,"^ and that the Jews would willingly assume as much power as they dared, when the honor of Moses and the Temple was in jeopardy. The council assembled in solemn and formal state to try the blas- phemer. There was great and general excitement in Jerusalem. " The people, the scribes, and the elders " had been " stirred up " by the mem- bers of the Hellenistic Synagogues.' It is evident, from that vivid ex- pression which is quoted from the accusers' mouths, — "//as place'''' — tliis holy place" — that the meeting of the Sanhedrin took place in the close neighborhood of the Temple. Their ancient and solemn room of assembly was the hall Gazith,* or the " Stone-Chamber," partly within the Temple Court and partly without it. The president sat in the less sacred portion, and around him, in a semicircle, were the rest of the seventy judges.' Before these judges Stephen was made to stand, confronted by his accusers. The eyes of all were fixed upon his countenance, which grew bright, as they gazed on it, with a supernatural radiance and serenity. In the beautiful Jewish expression of the Scripture, " They saw his face as it had been that of an angel." The judges, when they saw his glorified countenance, might have remembered the shining on the face of Moses,' and trembled lest Stephen's voice should be about to speak the will of Jehovah, like that of the great lawgiver. Instead of being occupied with the faded glories of the Second Temple, they might have recognized in the spectacle before them the Shechinah of the Christian soul, which derived being Greek, makes it probable that its ' Sclilen describes the form in which the systematic organization dates from the Greco- Sanhedrin sat, and gives a diagram with the Macedonian (i.e. the Maccabajan) period. "President of the Council" in the middle, ' We see the beginning of this in the first the " Father of the Council " by his side, and passage where the council is mentioned by Jo- "Scribes" at the extremities of the semi- Bcphus, Anliq. xiv. 9. circle. ' Acts xviii. 15. ^ Exodus xxxiv. 29-35; see 2 Cor. iii. 7, ° Acts vi. 12. 13. Chrysostom imagines that the angelic * It appears that the Talmudical authorities brightness on Stephen's face might be intended differ as to whether it was on the south or to alarm the judges ; for, as he says, it is pos- north side of the Temple. But they agree sible for a countenance full of spiritual grace in placing it to the east of the Most Holy to be awful and terrible to those who are full Place. ef hate. 66 THE LIFE AifD EPISTLES OF ST. PATTL. chap.h. is the living Sanctuary of God. But the trial proceeded. The judicial question, to whicli the accused was required to plead, was put by the president : " Are these things so ? " And then Stephen answered ; and his clear voice was heard iu the silent council-hall, as he went through the history of the chosen people, pi-oving his own deep faith in the sacredness of the Jewish economy, but suggesting, here and tlicrc, that spiritual interpretation of it which had always been the true one, and the truth of which was now to be made manifest to all. He began, with a wise discretion, from the call of Abraham, and travelled historically iu his argument through all the great stages of their national existence, — from Abraham to Joseph, — from Joseph to Moses, — from Moses to David and Solomon. And as he went on he selected and glanced at those points whicli made for his own cause. He showed that God's bless- ing rested ou the faith of Abraham, though he had " not so much as to set his foot on" iu the land of promise (v. 5), ou the piety of Joseph, though he was an exile in Egypt (v. 9), and on the holiness of the Burn- ing Bush, though in the desert of Suiai (v. 30). He dwelt in detail on the Lawgiver, iu such a way as to show his own unquestionable ortho- doxy ; but he quoted the promise concerning " the prophet like unto Moses" (v. 37), and reminded his hearers that the Law, in whicji they trusted, had not kept their forefathers from idolatry (v. 39, &c.). And so he passed ou to the Temple, which had so prominent a reference to the charge against him : and while he spoke of it, he alluded to the words of Salomon himself,' and of the prophet Isaiah,- who denied that any temple " made with hands " could be the place of God's highest worship. And thus far they listened to him. It was the story of the chosen people, to which every Jew listened with interest and pride. It is remarkable, as wo have said before, how completely St. Stephen is the forerunner of St. Paul, both iu the form and the matter of this defeuce. His securing the attention of the Jews by adopting the historical method, is exactly what the Apostle did in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia.' His assertion of his attachment to the true principles of tlic Mosaic re- ligion is exactly what was said to Agrippa : " I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come." * It is deeply inter- esting to think of Saul as listening to the martyr's voice, as he anticipated those very arguments which he himself was destined to reiterate in syna- gogues and before kings. There is no reason to doubt that ho was pros » 1 Kings viii. 27 ; 2 Chron. ii. 6, vi. 18 ' Acts xiii. 16-22. ' Is. IxTi. 1. 2. ♦ Acts xxvi. 22. CHAP.il. MAKTYEDOM OF ST. STEPHEN. 67 ent,' although he may not have been qualified to vote ' in the Sauhedrin. And it is evident, from the thoughts which occurred to him in his subse- quent vision within the precincts of the Temple,' how deep an impression St. Stephen's death had left on his memory. And there arc even verbal coincidences which may be traced between this address and St. Paul's speeches or writings. The words used by Stephen of the Temple call to mind those which were used at Athens.* When he speaks of the Law as received " by the disposition of angels," he anticipates a phrase in the Epistle to the Galatiaus (iii. 19). His exclamation at the cud, " Ye stifFnecked and uncircumcised in heart . . . who have received the law . . . and have not kept it," is only an indignant condensation of the argument in the Epistle to the Romans : " Behold, thou callest thyself a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast in God, and kuowesfc His will. . . . Thou, therefore, that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God ? . . . He is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of man, but of God." (ii. 17-29.) The rebuke which Stephen, full of the Divine Spirit, suddenly broke away from the course of his narratire to pronounce, was the signal for a general outburst of furious rage on the part of his judges.' They " gnashed on him with their teeth " in the same spirit in which they had said, not long before, to the blind man who was healed — "Thou wast altogether boi-n in sins, and dost thou teach us ? " * But, in contrast with the malignant hatred which had blinded their eyes, Stephen's serene fai th wao supernaturally exalted into a direct vision of the blessedness of the ^ Mr. Humphry, in his accurate and useful were supposed more likely to lean towards Con mentanj on the Acts, remarks, that it is not mercy. If this was the rule when Stephen imp'ohable we owe to him the defence of St. was tried, and if Saul was one of the judges, Ste>ihen as given in the Acts. Besides the re- he must have been married at the time. Seo semblances mentioned in the text, he points p. 75, n. 3. out the similarity between Acts vii. 44, and ^ jjg gajj ;„ i,is trance, " Lord, they knovr Heb. viii. 5, between Acts vii. 5-8, and Rom. that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue IT. 10-19, and between Acts vii. 60, and 2 them that believed on tliee ; and when ths Tim. iv. 16. And if the Epistle to the He- blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also brews was written by St. Paul, may we not was standing by, and consenting unto hia ■ suppose that this scene was present to his mind death, and kept the raiment of them that slew when he wrote, "Jesus suffered without the him." Acts xxii. 19, 20. gate : let us go forth therefore unto Him with- * Acts xvii. 24. out the camp, bearing His reproach " 1 (xiii. 12, ^ It is evident that the speech was interrupt- 13.) ed. We may infer what the conclusion would ^ One of the necessary qualifications of have been from the analogy of St. Paul'* members of the Sanhedrin was, that they speech at Antioch in Pisidia, Acts xiii. should bo the fathers of children, because such • John ix. 34. 68 THE Lli'E ASD EPISTLES OF ST. PA0L. chap.il Redeemed. He, whose face had been like that of an angel on earth, was made like one of those angels themselves, " who do always behold the face of our Father which is in Heaven."* " He being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." The scene before his eyes was no longer the council-hall at Jerusalem and the circle of his infuriated judges ; but he gazed up into the endless courts of the celestial Jerusa- lem, with its " innumerable company of angels," and saw Jesus, in whose righteous cause he was about to die. In other places, where our Saviour is spoken of in His glorified state. He is said to be, not standing, but seated, at the right hand of the Father.^ Here alone He is said to be standing. It is as if (according to Chrysostom's beautiful tliought) He had risen from His throne, to succor His persecuted servant, and to receive him to Himself. And when Stephen saw his Lord — perhaps with the memories of what he had seen on earth crowding into his mind, — he suddenly exclaimed, in the ecstasy of his vision : "Behold! I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!" This was top much for the Jews to bear. The blasphemy of Jesus had been repeated. The follower of Jesus was hurried to destruction. " They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord." It is evident that it was a savage and disorderly con- demnation.' They dragged him out of the council-hall, and, making a sudden rush and tumult through the streets, hurried him to one of the gates of the city, — and somewhere about the rocky edges of the ravine of Jehoshaphat, where the Mount of Olives looks down upon Gethsemane and Siloam, or on the open ground to the north, which travellers cross when they go towards Samaria or Damascus, — with stones that lay with- out the walls of the Holy City, this heavenly-minded martyr was mur- dered. The exact place of his death is not known. There are two tra- ditions,* — an ancient one, which places it on the north, beyond the Damascus gate ; and a modern one, which leads travellers through what is now called the gate of St. Stephen, to a spot near the brook Kedron, over against the garden of Gethsemane. But those who look upon 1 Matt, xviii. 10. on the North, cin be traced from an early 2 As in Eph. i. 20 ; Col. iii. 1 ; Hcb. i. 3, period to the fifteenth century ; and that the Tiii. 1, X. 12, xii. 2; compare Rom. viii. 34, modern tradition, which pl.aces bolh the gate and 1 Pet. iii. 22. and the martyrdom on the East, can be * As to whether it was a judicial sentence traced back to tlie same century. It is prob- at all, see above, p. 64, n. 2. able that the popular opinion regarding these ♦ It is well known that the tradition which sacred sites was suddenly changed by some identifies St. Stephen's gate with the Damas- monks from interested motives. CU8 gate, and places the scene of martyrdom M fi^ CHAP-n. PRAYER OF ST. STEPHEN. 69 Jerusalem from an elevated point on the north-east, have both these positions in view; and any one who stood there on that day might have seen the crowd rush forth from the gate,. and the witnesses (who accord- ing to the law were required to throw the first stones') cast off their outer garments, and lay them down at the feet of Saul. The contrast is striking between the indignant zeal which the martyr^ had just expressed against the sin of his judges, and the forgiving love which he showed to themselves, when they became his murderers. He- first uttered a prayer for himself in the words of Jesus Clirist, which he knew were spoken from the cross, and whicii he may himself have heard from those holy lips. And then, deliberately kneeling down, in that posture of humility in which the body most naturally expresses the supplication of the mind, and which has been consecrated as the attitude of Christian devotion by Stephen and by Paul himself,^ — he gave the last few moments of his consciousness to a prayer for tlie forgiveness of his enemies ; and the words were scarcely spoken when death seized upon him, or rather, in the words of Scripture, " he fell asleep." " And Saul was consenting* to his death." A Spanish painter,' in a picture of Stephen conducted to the place of execution, has represented Saul as walking by the martyr's side with melancholy calmness. He con- sents to his death from a sincere, though mistaken, conviction of duty; and the expression of his countenance is strongly contrasted with the rage of the baffled Jewish doctors and the ferocity of the crowd who flock to the scene of bloodshed. Literally considered, such a representation is scarcely consistent either with Saul's conduct immediately afterwards, or with his own expressions concerning himself at the later periods of his life.' But the picture, though historically incorrect, is poetically true. The painter has worked according to the true idea of his art in throwing upon the persecutor's countenance the shadow of his coming repentance. 1 See Dcut. xvii. 5-7. The stoning was above (p. 67) that this scene made a deep always outside the city, Levit. xxiv. 14; 1 impression on St. Paul's miad; but the power Kings xxi. 10, 13. of the impression was unfelt or resisted till ' The Christian use of the word martyr after his conversion, begins with St. Stephen. See Mr. Hum- ' Vicente Joannes, the founder of the Va- phry's note on Acts xxii. 20. See also what lencian school, one of the most austere of the he says on the Christian use of the word ceme- grave and serious painters of Spain. The pic ten), in allusion to Acts vii. 60. ture is one of a series on St. Stephen ; it wa ' At Miletus (Acts xx. 36) and at Tyre once in the church of St. Stephen at Valen- (Acts xxii. 5). See Acts ix. 40. cia, and is now in the Royal Gallery at Madrid * The word in Acts viii. 1 expresses far See Stirling's Annals of the Artists of Spain, more than mere passive consent. St. Paul i. 363. himself uses the same expression (Ibid. xxii. « See Acts xxii. 4, xxvi. 10 ; Phil. iii. 6 20) when referring to the occurrence. Com- 1 Tim. i. 13. pare ix. 1, and xxvi. U. We have said 70 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAP.a Wo cannot dissociate the martyrdom of Stephen from the coiivcrsiou of Paul. The spectacle of so much constancy, so much faith, so much love, could not he lost. It is hardly too much to say with Augustine, that " the Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen." SI STEPHANUS NON ORASSET ECCLESIA PAULUM NON HABERET. CHAPTER III. Funeral of St. Stephen. — Saul's continued Persecution. — Flight of the Christians. — Philip and the Samaritans. — Saul's Journey to Damascus. — Aretas, King of Petra. — Koads from Jerusalem to Damascus. — Ncapolis. — History and Description of Damascus. — The Narratives of the Miracle. — It was a real Vision of Jesus Christ. — Three Days in Damas- cus. — Ananias. — Baptism and first Preaching of Saul. — He retires into Arahia. — Mean- ing of the Term Arabia. — Petra and the Desert. — Motives to Conversion. — Conspiracy at Damascus. — Escape to Jerusalem. — Barnabas. — Fortnight with St. Peter. — Conspiracy. — Vision in the Temple. — Saul withdraws to Syria and Cilicia. THE death of St. Stephen is a bright passage in the earliest history of the Church. Where, in the annals of the world, can wo find so perfect an image of a pure and blessed saint as that which is drawn in the concluding verses of the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles? And the brightness which invests the scene of the martyr's last moments is the more impressive from its contrast with all that has preceded it since the Crucifixion of Christ. The first Apostle who died was a traitor. The first disciples of the Christian Apostles whose deaths are recorded were liars and hypocrites. The kingdom of the Son of Man was founded in darkness and gloom. But a heavenly light re-appeared with the martyr- dom of St. Stephen. The revelation of such a character at the moment of death was the strongest of all evidences, and the highest of all encour- agements. Nothing could more confidently assert the Divine power of the new religion ; nothing could prophesy more surely the certainty of its final victory. To us who have the experience of many centuries of Christian history, and who can look back, through a long series of martyrdoms, to tliis, which was the beginning and example of the rest, these thoughts are easy and obvious ; but to the friends and associates of the murdered Saint, such feelings of cheerful and confident assurance were perhaps more difficult. Though Christ was indeed risen from the dead, His dis- ciples could hardly yet be able to realize the full triumph of the Cross over death. Even many years afterwards, Paul the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, concerning those who had "fallen asleep'" more peace- ably than Stephen, that they ought not to sorrow for them as those •without hope ; and now, at the very beginning of the Gospel, the grief 1 1 Thess. It. 13. See Acts vu. 60. 72 THE LIFE AXD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. ra. of the Christians must have been great indeed, when the corpse of their champion and their brother lay at the feet of Saul the murderer. Yet, amidst the consternation of some and the fury of others, friends of the martyr were found,' who gave him all the melancholy honors of a Jewish funeral, and carefully buried him, as Joseph buried bis father, " with great and sore lamentation." '^ After the death and burial of Stephen the persecution still raged in Jerusalem. That temporary protection which had been extended to the rising sect by such men as Gamaliel was now at an end. Pharisees and Sadducees — priests and people — alike indulged the most violent and ungovernable fury. It docs not seem that any check was laid upon them by the Roman autliorities. Eitlicr tlie procurator was absent from the city, or he was willing to connive at what seemed to him au ordinary religious quarrel. The eminent and active agent in this persecution was Saul. There are strong grounds for believing tliat, if he was not a member of the Sanhedrin at the time of St. Stephen's death, he was elected into that powerful senate soon after ; possibly as a i-eward for the zeal he had shown against the heretic. He himself says that in Jerusalem he not only exercised the power of imprisonment by commission from the Iligh Priests, but also, when the Christians were put to death, gave his vote against them.' From this expression it is natural to infer that he was a member of that supreme court of judicature. However tliis might be, his zeal in conducting tlie persecution was unbounded. We cannot help observing how frequently sti-ong expressions concerning his sliarc in the injustice and cruelty now perpetrated are multiplied in tlie Scriptures. In St. Luke's narrative, in St. Paul's own speeches, in his earlier and later epistles, the subject recurs again and again. He " made havoc of the Church," invading the sanctuaries of domestic life, " entering into every house : " * and those whom he thus tore from tlieir homes lie "committed to prison;" or, in his own words at a later period, when 1 Acts yiii. 2. Probably they were Hello- it is probable that his wife and children did nistic Jews impressed in favor of Christian- not long survive ; for otherwise, some notice ity. It seems hardly likely that they were of them would have occurred iu the subsequent avowed Christians. There is nothing in the narrative, or some allusion to them in the expression itself to determine the point. Epistles. And we know that, if ever he had ■^ See Gen. 1. 10. a wife, she was not living when he wrote his 3 The word "voice" in the Auth. Vers. first letter to the Corinthians. (1 Cor. vii.) should be " vote." Acts x.Kvi. 10. If this It was customary among the Jews to marry at inference is well founded, and if the qualifica- a very early age. Baron Ciinsen has expressed tion for a memljer of the Sanhedrin mentioned his belief in the tradition that St Paul was a in the last chapter (p. 67, n. 2), was a necessa- widower. Ilippol. ii. 344. ry qualification, Saul must have been a mar- * Acts viii. 3. See ix. 2. Tied man, and the father of a family. If so, CHAP. in. SAUL'S CONTINTJED PERSECUTION. 73 be had recognized as God's people those whom he now imagined to bo His enemies, " thinking that he ought to do many things coatrury to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ... in Jerusalem ... he shut up many of the saints in prison." ' And not only did men thus suffer at his hands, but women also, — a fact tln-ee times repeated as a great aggrava- tion of his cruelty.- These persecuted people were scourged — '• often " scourged — "in many synagogues."^ Nor was Stephen the only one who suffered death, as we may infer from the Apostle's own confession.* And, what was worse than scourging or than death itself, he used every effort to make them " blaspheme " that Holy Name whereby they were called.* His fame as an inquisitor was notorious far and wide. Even at Damascus Ananias had heard ^ " how much evil he had done to Christ's saints at Jerusalem." He was known there ' as " he that destroyed them which call on this Name in Jerusalem." It was not without reason that, in the deep repentance of his later years, he remembered how he had "persecuted the Church of God and wasted it,"' — how he had been " a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; "" — and that he felt he was " not meet to be called an Apostle," because he had " per- secuted the Church of God." " From such cruelty, and such efforts to make them deny that Name which they honored above all names, the disciples naturally fled. In consequence of " the persecution against the Church at Jerusalem, they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria." The Apostles only remained.'* But this dispersion led to great results. The moment of lowest depression was the very time of tlic Church's first missionary triumph. " They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word." " First the Samaritans, and tlien the Gentiles, received that Gospel, which the Jews attempted to destroy. Thus did the providence of God begin to accomplish, by unconscious instruments, the prophecy and command which had been given : — "Ye shall be witnesses upon Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." " ' Acts xxvi. 9, 10. See xxii. 3. the .ittempt was made; so in Gal. i. 23, alluded ^ Acts viii. 3, ix. 2, xxii. 4. to at the end of this chapter. ° Acts xxvi. 10. ^ Acts ix. 13. * "I persecuted this way unto the death, ' Acts ix. 21. binding and delivering into prisons both men ' Gal. i. 13 ; see also Phil. iii. 6. and women " (xxii. 4) ; " and when they were ' 1 Tim. i. 13. put to death, I gave my vote against them " '" 1 Cor. xv. 9. It should be observed that (xxvi. 10). in all these passages from the Epistles the same * (Acts xxvi. 11.) It is not said that he word for " persecution" is used, succeeded in causing any to blaspheme. It ^' Acts viii. 1. may be necessary to explain to some readers i^ Acts viii. 4. See xi. 19-21. that the Greek imperfect merely denotes that '' Acts i. 8. 74 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. m. The Jew looked upon the Samaritan as he looked upon the Gentile. His hostility to the Samaritan was probably the greater, in propor- tion as he was nearer. In conformity with the economy which was observed before the resurrection, Jesus Christ had said to His disciples, " Go not into the way of tlie Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not : but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ' Yet did the Saviour give anticipative hints of His favor to Gentiles and Samaritans, in His mercy to tlie Syrophcenician woman, and His interview with the woman at tlie well of Sychar. And now the time was come for both the " middle walls of partition " to be destroyed. The dispersion brought Philip, the companion of Stephen, the second of the seven, to a city of Samaria.^ He came with the power of miracles and with the message of salvation. The Samaritans were convinced by what they saw ; they listened to what he said ; " and there was great joy in that city." When the news came to Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent by the Apostles, and the same miraculous testimony attended their presence, which had been given on the day of Pentecost. The Divine Power la Peter rebuked the powers of evil, which were working' among the Samar- itans in the person of Simon Magus, as Paul afterwards, on his first preaching to the Gentiles, rebuked iu Cyprus Elymas the Sorcerer. The two Apostles returned to Jerusalem, preaching as they went " in many villages of the Samaritans " the Gospel which had been welcomed in the city. Once more we are permitted to see Philip on his labor of love. We obtain a glimpse of him on the road which leads down by Gaza * to Egypt. The chamberlain of Queen Candace * is passing southwards on his return from Jerusalem, and reading in his chariot the prophecies of Isaiah. .Ethiopia is " stretching out her hands unto God," ^ and the suppliant is not unheard. A teacher is provided at the moment of anxious inquiry. The stranger goes " on his way rejoicing ; " a proselyte who had found the Messiah ; a Christian baptized " with water and tlie Holy Ghost." The Evangelist, having finished the work for which he had been sent, is 1 Matt. X. 5, 6. {Ant. xx. 7, 2), as connected with Felix and ^ (Acts viii. 5.) This was probably the Drusilla. See Acts xxiv. 24. ancient capital, at that time called " Sebaste." * For Gaza and the plirase " which is des- The city of Sychar (John iv. 5) hiid also re- crt " we may refer to the .irticle in Smith's ceived a Greek name. It was then " Neapo- Did, of the Bible. lis," and is still " Nablous." ' Candace is the name, not of an individual, ' The original word shows that Simon was hnt of a dynasty, like Arctas in Arabia, or like in Samaria before Philip came, as Elymas Pharaoh and Ptolemy. By ^Ethiopia is meant was with Sergius Paulus before the arrival of Meroc on the Upper Nile. Queens of Meroe St. Paul. Compare viii. 9-24 with xiii. 6-12. with the title of Candace are mentioned by There is good reason for believing that Simon Greek and Roman writers. Probably this Magus is the person mentioned by Josephus chamberlain was a Jew. ' Ps. Ixviii. 31. CHAP. in. AEETAS, KING OF PETRA. 75 called elsewhere by the Spirit of God. He proceeds to Cfesarea, and we hear of him no more, till, after the lapse of more than twenty years, he received under his roof in that city one who, like himself, had travelled in obedience to the Divine command " preaching in all the cities." ^ Our attention is now called to that other traveller. We turn from the " desert road " on the south of Palestine to the desert road on the north ; from the border of Arabia near Gaza, to its border near Damascus. " From Dan to Beersheba " the Gospel is rapidly spreading. The dispersion of the Christians had not been confined to Judaea and Samaria. " On the persecution that arose about Stephen " they had " travelled as far as Phoe- nicia and Syria." ^ " Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," ' determined to follow them. " Being exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even to strange cities." * He went of his own accord to the high priest, and desired of him let- ters to the synagogues in Damascus, where he had reason to believe that Christians were to be foxmd. And armed with this " authority and com- mission," ' intending " if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women," * to " bring them bound unto Jerusalem to be punished,"'' he journeyed to Damascus. The great Sanhedrin claimed over the Jews in foreign cities the same power, in religious questions, which they exercised at Jerusalem. The Jews in Damascus were very numerous ; and there were peculiar circum- stances in the political condition of Damascus at this time, which may have given facilities to conspiracies or deeds of violence conducted by tlie Jews. There was war between Aretas, who reigned at Petra, the desert-metropolis of Stony Arabia,' and Herod Antipas, his son-iu-law, the Tetrarch of 1 " But Philip was found at Azotus ; and, great mercantile city at Petra, and were ruled passing through, he preached in all the cities, by a line of kings, who bore the title of " Are- till he came to Csesarea." (Acts viii. 40.) tas." The Aretas dynasty ceased in tho " And the next day we that were of Paul's second century, when Arabia Petrtea became company departed, and came to CiEsarea ; and a Roman province under Trajan. In the we entered into the house of Philip the Evan- Roman period, a great road united Ailah gelist, which was one of the seven, and abode on the Red Sea with Petra, and thence di with him." (Ibid. xxi. 8.) verged to the left towards Jerusalem and tha 2 Acts xi. 19. ' Acts ix. 1. ports of the Mediterranean ; and to the right * Acts xxvi. 11. 6 Acts xxvi. 12. towards Damascus, in a direction not very ^ Acts ix. 2. different from that of the modem caravan-road ' Acts xxii. 5. from Damascus to Mecca. This state of things ' In this mountainous district of Arabia, did not last very long. The Arabs of this which had been the scene of the wander- district fell back into their old nomadic state, ings of the Israelites, and which contained the Petra was long undiscovered. Burckhardt graves l}Oth of Moses and Aaron, the Naba- was the first to see it, and Labordc the first to thaean Arabs after the time of the Babylonian visit it. Now it is well known to Orienta. captivity (or, possibly, the Edomites before travellers. Its Rock-theatre and other remains them. See Robinson, Bib. Res. vol. ii. pp. still exist, to show its ancient character of a 657. 573> grew into a civilized nation, built a city of the Roman Empire. 7d the life and epistles of SJ. PAITL. CHAP.m. Galilee. A misunderstanding concerning tlie boundaries of the two principalities had been aggravated into an inveterate quarrel by Herod's unfaithfulness to the daughter of the Arabian king, and his shameful attachment to " his brother Philip's wife." The Jews generallj sym- pathized with the cause of Ai'etas, rejoiced when Herod's army was cut off, and declared that this disaster was a judgment for the murder of Jolni tlic Baptist. Herod wrote to Rome and obtained an order for assist- ance from Vitellius, the Governor of Syria. But when Vitcllius was on his march through Judaea, from Antiocli towards Petra, he suddenly heard of the death of Tiberius (a.d. 37) ; and the Roman army was withdrawn, before the war was brought to a conclusion. It is evident tliat the relations of the neighboring powers must have been for some years in a very un- settled condition along the frontiers of Arabia, Judsa, and Syria ; and the falling of a rich border-town like Damascus from the hands of the Romans into those of Aretas would be a natural occurrence of the war. If it could be proved that the city was placed in the power of the Arabian Ethnarch^ under these particular circumstances', and at the time of St. Paul's journey, good reason would be assigned for believing it probable that tlie ends for which he went were assisted by the political relations of Damascus. And it would indeed be a singular coincidence, if his zeal iu persecuting the Christians were promoted by the sympathy of the Jews for the fate of John the Baptist. But there are grave objections to this view of the occupation of Damas- cus by Aretas. Such a liberty taken by a petty chieftain witli tlio Roman power would have been an act of great audacity ; and it is difficult to believe that Vitellius would have closed the campaign, if sucli a city were in the hands of an enemy. It is more likely that Caligula, — who in many ways contradicted the policy of his predecessor, — wlio banished Herod Antipas and patronized Herod Agrippa, — assigned the city of Damascus as a free gift to Aretas.^ Tliis supposition, as well as the former, will perfectly explain the remarkable passage in St. Paul's letter, where he distinctly says that it was garrisoned by the Ethnarch of Aretas, at the time of his escape. Many such changes of territorial occupation took place under the Emperors,' which would have been lost to history, 1 2 Cor. xi. 32. On the title "Ethnarch" corded. The strength ofWieselcr's argument see note at the end of this Chapter. consists in this, that his ditfcrcnt lines of rea- 2 This is argued with great force hy Wiese- soning converge to the same result. ler, wlio, so far as we know, is the first to sug- ' See, for instance, what is said by Josephus gest this explanation. His argument is not {Ant. xviii. 5, 4), of various arrangements in quite conclusive ; because it is seldom easy to the East at this very crisis. Similar changes give a confident opinion on the details of a in Asia Minor have been alluded to before, campaign, unless its history is minutely re- Ch. I. p. 21. CHAP.m. JOURNEY FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS. 77 were it not for the information derived from a coin,' an inscription, or the incidental remark of a writer who had different ends in view. Any attempt to malie tliis escape from Damascus a fixed point of absolute chronology will be unsuccessful ; but, from what has been said, it may fairly be collected, that Saul's journey from Jerusalem to Damascus took place not far from that year whicli saw the death of Tiberius and the accession of Caligula. No journey was ever taken, on which so much interest is concentrated, as this of St. Paul from Jerusalem to Damascus. It is so critical a pas- sage in the history of God's dealings with man, and we feel it to be so closely bound up with all our best knowledge and best happiness in this life, and with all our liopes for the world to come, that the mind is de- lighted to dwell upon it, and we are eager to learn or imagine all its details. The conversion of Saul was like the call of a second Abraham. But we know almost more of the Patriarch's journey througli this same district, from tlie north to the south, than we do of the Apostle's in an opposite direction. It is easy to conceive of Abraham travelling with his flocks and herds and camels. The primitive features of the East con- tinue still unaltered in the desert; and the Arabian Sheik still remains to us a living picture of the Patriarcli of Genesis. But before the first century of the Christian era, the patriarchal life in Palesthie had been modified, not only by the invasions and settlements of Babylonia and Per- sia, but by large influxes of Greek and Roman civilization. It is difficult to guess what was the appearance of Saul's company on that memorable occasion." "We neitlier know how he travelled, nor who his associates were, nor where he rested on his way, nor what road he followed from the Judsean to the Syrian capital. His journey must have brought him somewhere into the vicinity of the Sea of Tiberias. But where he approached the nearest to the shores of this sacred lake, — whether he crossed the Jordan where, in its lower course, it flows southwards to the Dead Sea, or where its upper windings enrich the valley at the base of Mount Hermon, — we do not know. And there is one thought which makes us glad that it should be so. It is remarkable that Galilee, where Jesus worked so many of His miracles, is the scene of none of those transactions which are related in the Acts. The blue waters of Tiberias, with their fishing-boats and 1 Wicsdcr jnstly lays some stress on the the reason why Lord Lyttelton, in his ohser- circumstance that there are coins of Augustus rations on St. Paul's conversion, nses the and Tiberius, and, again, of Nero and his phrase — "Those in company with him ftU successors, but none of Caligula and Claudius, down from their horses, together with Saul," which imply that Damascus was Roman. p. 318. {Works, 1174.) There is no proof that - In pictures, St. Paul is represented as on this was the ease, though it is very proba- horseback on this journey. Probably this is ble. 78 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAXIL. chap.iii. towns on the brink of the shore, are consecrated to the Gospels. A greater than Paul was here. When we come to the travels of the Apostles, the scenery is no longer limited and Jewish, but Catholic and widely-extended, like the Gospel which they preached : and the Sea, whicli will be so often spread before us in the life of St. Paul, is not tlie little Lake of Genesareth, but the great Mediterranean, which washed the shores and carried the ships of the historical nations of antiquity.' Two principal roads can be mentioned, one of which probably con- ducted the travellers from Jerusalem to Damascus. The track of the caravans, in ancient and modern times, from Egypt to the Syrian capital, has always led through Gaza and Ramleh, and then, turning eastwards about the borders of Galilee and Samaria, has descended near Mount Tabor towards the Sea of Tiberias ; and so, crossing the Jordan a little to the north of the Lake by Jacob's Bridge, proceeds through the desert country which stretches to the base of Antilibanus. A similar track from Jerusalem falls into this Egyptian road in the neighborhood of Djenin, at the entrance of Galilee ; and Saul and his company may have travelled by this route, performing the journey of one hundred and thirty-six miles, like the modern caravans, in about six days. But at this period, that great work of Roman road-making, which was actively going on in all parts of the empire, must have extended, in some degree, to Syria and Judaea; and, if the Roman roads were already constructed here, there is little doubt that they followed the direction indicated by the later Itineraries. This direction is from Jerusalem to Neapolis (the ancient Sliechcm), and thence over tlie Jordan to the south of the Lake, near Scythopolis, where the soldiers of Pompey crossed the river, and where the Galilean pilgrims used to cross it, at the time of the festivals, to avoid Samaria. From Scythopolis it led to Gadara, a Roman city, the ruins of which are still remaining, and so to Damascus.^ Wliatever road was followed in Saul's journey to Damascus, it is almost certain tliat the earlier portion of it brought him to Neapolis, the Shechem of the Old Testament, and the Nablous of the modern Samaritans. This city was one of the stages in the Itineraries. Dr. Robinson followed a Roman pavement for some considerable distance 1 The next historical notice of the Sea of which harbored Christian fugitives. Here, Tiberias or Lake of Genesareth after that too, he would be in the footsteps of St. Peter ; which occurs in the Gospels is in Josephus. for here the great confession (Matt. xvi. 16) ^ It is very conceivable that he travelled by seems to have been made ; and tliis road also Csesarea I'hilippi, the city which Herod Philip would probably have brought him past Neapolis. had built at the fountains of the Jordan, on It is hardly likely that he would have taken the natural line of communication between the Petra road (above, p. 75, n. 8), for both Tyre and Damascus, and likely to have been the modem caravans and the ancient itincra- one of the "foreign cities" (Acts xxvi. 11) ries cross the Jordan more to the north. CHAP. m. DAMASCUS. 79 in the neighborhood of Bethel.' This northern road went OTcr the elevated ridges which intervene between the valley of the Jordan and tiie plain on the Mediterranean coast. As the travellers gained the high ground, tlie young Pharisee may have looked back, — and, when he saw the city in the midst of its hills, with the mountains of Moab in the distance, — confident in the righteousness of his cause, — he may have thought proudly of the 125th Psalm : " The hills stand about Jerusalem : even so standeth the Lord round about his people, from this time forth forevermore." His present enterprise was undertaken for the honor of Zion. He was blindly fulfilling the words of One who said : " Whoso- ever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service."^ Passing through the hills of Samaria, from which he might occasionally obtain a glimpse of the Mediterranean on the loft, he would come to Jacob's Well, at the opening of that beautiful valley which lies between Ebal and Gerizim. This, too, is the scene of a Gospel history. The same woman, with whom Jesus spoke, might be again at the well as the Inquisitor passed. But as yet he knew nothing of the breaking-down of the "middle wall of partition.'" He could, indeed, have said to the Samaritans : " Ye worship ye know not what : wo know what we wor- ship : for salvation is of the Jews." * But ho could not have understood the meaning of those other words : " Tlie hour cometh, when ye shall neither in Jerusalem, nor yet in this mountain, worship the Fathe-r : the true worshippers shall worship Him in spirit and in truth. " * His was not yet the Spirit of Christ. The zeal which burnt in him was that of James and John, before their illumination, when they wished (in this same district) to call down fire from heaven, even as Elias did, on the inhospitable Samaritan village.* Philip had already been prcacliiug to the poor Samaritans, and John had revisited them, in company with Peter, with feelings wonderfully changed.' But Saul knew nothing of the little Church of Samaritan Christians ; or, if he heard of them and delayed among them, he delayed only to injure and oppress. The Syrian city was still the great object before him. And now, when he had passed tlirough Samaria and was entering Galilee, the snowy peak of Mount Hermon, the highest point of Antilibanus, almost as far to the north as Damascus, would come into view. This is that tower of " Leba- non whicli lookoth towards Damascus." ' It is already the great land- mark of his journey, as he passes through Galilee towards the sea of Tiberias, and the valley of the Jordan. 1 Bib. lies. iii. 77. More will be said on * John iv. 22. this sulijeet, when we come to Acts xxiii. 23- ' John iv. 21, 23. 31. See p. 25. « Luke ix. 51-56. ' John xvi. 2. » Eph. ii. 14. ' See above, p. 74. » Song of Sol vii. i. 80 THE LIFE AJfD EPISTLES OF ST. PAXIL. CHAp.m. Leaving now the " Sea of Galilee," deep among its hills, as a sanctuary of tlie holiest thoughts, and imagining the Jordan to he passed, we follow the company of travellers over the barren uplands, which stretcli in dreary succession along the base of Antilibanus. All around are stony hills and thirsty plains, through which the withered stems of the scanty vegetation hardly penetrate. Over this desert, under the burning sl^y, the impetuous Saul holds his course, full of tlie fiery zeal with wliich Elijah travelled of yore, on his mysterious errand, through the same " wilderness of Damascus." ' " The earth in its length and its breadth, and all the deep universe of sky, is steeped in light and heat." When some eminence is gained, the vast horizon is seen stretching on all sides, like the ocean, witliout a boundary ; except where the steep sides of Lebanon interrupt it, as the promontories of a mountainous coast stretch out into a motionless sea. The fiery sun is overiiead ; and that rcfresliing view is anxiously looked for, — Damascus seen from afar, within tlie desert circumference, resting, like an island of Paradise, in the green enclosure of its beautiful gardens. This view is so celebrated, and the history of the place is so illustrious, that we may well be excused if we linger a moment, that we may de- scribe them both. Damascus is tlie oldest city in the world.^ Its fame begins with the earliest patriarchs, and continues to modern times. While other cities of the East have risen and decayed, Damascus is still what it was. It was founded before Baall)ec and Palmyra, and it has outlived them both. While Babylon is a heap in the desert, and Tyre a ruin on the shore, it remains what it is called in the prophecies of Isaiah, •' the head of Syria." ^ Abraham's steward was " Eliezer of Damascus," * and the limit of his warlike expedition in the rescue of Lot was " Ilobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus." * How important a place it was in the flourishing period of the Jewish monarchy, we know from the garrisons which David placed therc,^ and from the opposition it pre- sented to Solomon.' The history of Naaman and the Hebrew captive, Elisha and Gehazi, and of the proud preference of its fresh rivers to the thirsty waters of Israel, are fiimiliar to every one. And how close its relations continued to be with the Jews, we know from tlie chronicles of Jeroboam and Ahaz, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Amos.' Its 1 1 Kings xix. 15. ^ Joscphus makes it cTcn older than Abra- ham. {Aiit. i. 6, 3.) Fertile traditions of the events in the infancy of the human r.ace, which are supposed to have happened in its vicinity, see Pococke, ii. 115, 116. The story that the murder of Abel took place here is alluded to by Shakspeare, 1 A'. Hen. VI. i. 3. » Isai. vii 8. * Gen. XV 2. 5 Gen. xi . 15. « 2 Sam. •iii. 6; 1 Chron. XV ii. 6 ' 1 Kings xi. 24. 8 See 2 K ngs xiv. 28, xvi 9 10 2 Chr. xiv. 23, xxviii. 5, 23; Isai. vii. P; AmoB I i >> CHAP. m. DESCRIPTION OF DAMASCUS. 81 mercantile greatness is indicated by Ezckiel in the remarkable words addressed to Tyre:' — "Syria was tliy merchant by reason of tho multitude of the wares of tliy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Damascus was thy merchant in tho multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool."'- Leavhig the Jewish annals, we might follow its history through continuous centuries, from the time when Alexander sent Par- mcnio to take it, while tho conqueror himself was marching from Tarsus to Tyre — to its occupation by Pompey,' — to the letters of Julian tlie Apostate, who describes it as " the eye of the East," — and onward through its golden days, when it was the residence of tlie Omuiiad Caliphs, and the metropolis of the Mohammedan world, — and through the period when its fame was mingled with that of Saladiu and Tamer- lane, — to our own days, when the praise of its beauty is celebrated by every traveller from Europe. It is evident, to use the words of Lamar- tine, that, like Constantinople, it was a " predestinated capital." Nor is it difficult to explain why its freshness has never faded through all this series of vicissitudes and wars. Among the rocks and brushwood at the base of Antilibanus are the fountains of a copious and perennial stream, which, after running a course of no great distance to the south-east, loses itself in a desert lake. But before it reaches this dreary boundary, it has distributed its channels over the intermediate space, and left a wide area behind it, rich with prolific vegetation. These are the " streams from Lebanon," which are known to us in the imagery of Scripture;^ — the "rivers of Damascus," which Naaman not unnaturally preferred to all the " waters of Israel." ' By Greek writers the stream is called Chrysor- rhoas,' or " the river of gold." And this stream is the inestimable unexhausted treasure of Damascus. The habitations of men must always have been gathered round it, as the Nile has inevitably attracted an immemorial population to its banks. The desert is a fortification round Damascus. The river is its life. It is drawn out into water- courses, and spread in all directions. . For miles around it is a wilder- ness of gardens, — gardens with roses among the tangled shrubberies, and with fruit on the branches overhead. Everywhere among the trees 1 The port of Beyroot is now to Damascus the Romans ; hence we find it less frequently what Tyre was of old. mentioned than we might expect in Greek and 2 Ezek. xxvii. 16, 18. Roman writers. This arose from the building ' See above, Ch. I. p. 24. Its relative im- of Antioch and other cities in Northern Syria. portance was not so great when it was under * Song of Sol. iv. 15. a Western power like that of the Scleucids or '2 Kings v. 12. ^ gtrabo aniPtclemy. fi2 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. in. the murmur of unseen rivulets is heard. Even in the city, which is in tlie midst of tlie garden, the clear rushing of tlie current i*: a perpetual refreshment. Every dwelling has its fountain : and at night, when the sun has set hehind Mount Lebanon, the lights of the city are seen flash- ing on the waters. It is not to be wondered at that tlie view of Damascus, when the dim outline of the gardens lias become distinct, and tlie city is seen gleaming white in the midst of them, should be universally famous. All travellers in all ages have paused to feast their eyes with the prospect : and the prospect has been always the same. It is true that in the Apostle's day there were no cupolas and no minarets : Justinian had not built St. Sophia, and the caliphs had erected no mosques. But the white build- ings of tlie city gleamed then, as they do now, in the centre of a verdant inexliaustiljle paradise. The Syrian gardens, with their low walls and waterwheels, and careless mixture of fruits and flowers, were the same then as tliey arc now. The same figures would be seen in the green approaches to the town, camels and mules, horses and asses, with Syrian peasants, and Arabs from beyond Palmyra. We know the very time of the day wlien Saul was entering these shady avenues. It was at mid- day.' The birds were silent in the trees. Tlie hush of noon was in the city. The sun was burning fiercely in the sky. The persecutor's companions were enjoying the cool refreshment of the shade after their journey : and his eyes rested with satisfaction on those walls which were tlie end of his mission, and contained the victims of his righteous zeal. We have been tempted into some prolixity in describing Damascus. But, in describing the solemn and miraculous event which took place in its neighborhood, we hesitate to enlarge upon the words of Scripture. And Scripture relates its circumstances in minute detail. If the impor- tance we are intended to attach to particular events in early Christianity is to be measured by the prominence assigned to them in the Sacred Records, we must confess that, next after the Passion of our blessed Lord, the event to which our serious attention is especially called is the 1 Acts xxii. 6, xxvi. 13. Notices of the (3) two miles south on the same roa;l ; (4) half traditionary place where the vision was seen a mile from the city : and this he prefers on the are variously given hoth by earlier and later strength of earlier authorities, and because it travellers. The old writer, Quaresmius, men- harmonizes best with what is said of the Apos- tions four theoretical sites: (1) twelve miles tie being led in by the hand. In one of these south of Damascus, where there is a stream cases there is an evident blending of the scene on the right of the road, with the ruins of a of the Coiicersion and the Escape : and it church on a rising ground; (2) six miles south would appear from Mr. Stanley's letter Cquo^ on the left of the road, where there arc traces ed below, p. 9.'J) that this spot is on the east of a churuh and stones marked with crosses ; and not the south of the city. CHAP. in. THE NARRATIVES OP THE MIRACLE. 83 Conversion of St. Paul. Besides rarious allusions to it in liis own Epistles, three detailed narratives of the occurrence are found in the Acts. Once it is related by St. Luke (ix.), — twice by the Apostle him- self, — in his address to his coimtryraen at Jerusalem (xxii.), — in his defence before Agrippa at Cassarea (xxvi.). And as, when the same thing is told in more than one of the Holy Gospels, the accounts do not verbally agree, so it is here. St. Luke is more brief than St. Paul. And each of St. Paul's statements supplies something not found in the other. The peculiar difference of these two statements, in their relation to the circumstances under which they were given, and as they illustrate the Apostle's wisdom in pleading the cause of the Gospel and reasoning with his opponents, will be made the subject of some remarks in the later chapters of this book. At present it is our natural course simply to gather the facts from the Apostle's own words, with a careful reference to the shorter narrative given by St. Luke. In the twenty-second and twenty-sixth chapters of the Acts we are told that it was " about noon" — "at mid-day" — when the "great light" shone " suddenly" from heaven (xxii. 6, xxvi. 13). And those who have had experience of the glare of a raid-day sun in the East, will best understand the description of that light, which is said to have been " a light above the brightness of the sun, sliiuing round about Paul and them that journeyed with him." All fell to tlie ground in terror (xxvi. 14), or stood dumb with amazement (ix. 7). Suddenly surrounded by a light so terrible and incomprehensible, " they were afraid." " They heard not the voice of Him that spake to Paul" (xxii. 9), or, if they heard a voice, "they saw no man" (ix. 7).' The whole scene was evidently one of the utmost confusion : and the accounts are such as to express, in the most striking manner, the bewilderment and alarm of the travellers. But while the others were stunned, stupefied and confused, a clear light broke in terribly on the soul of one of those who were prostrated on the gi-ound.^ A voice spoke articulately to him, which to the rest was a sound mysterious and indistinct. He heard what they did not hear. He ' It has been thought both more prudent permitted to suppose that the stupefied com- and more honest to leave these well-known panions of Saul fell to the ground and then discrepancies exactly as they are found in the rose, and that they heard tlic voice but did not Bible. They will be differently explained by understand it. Dr. Wordsworth and Prof, different readers, according to their views of Hackett point out that the word " stood " in the inspiration of Scripture. Those who do ix. 7, need only mean that their progress was not receive the doctrine of Verbal Inspiration arrested, will find in these discrepancies a confirmation ^ It is evident from Acts ix. 6, 8, xxvi. 16, of the general tnith of the narrative. Those that Saul was prostrate on the ground when who lay stress on this doctrine may fairly be Jesus spoke to him. 84 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAT7L. chap. in. saw wliat they did not see. To them the awful sound was without a meaning: he heard the voice of the Son of God. To them it was a blight light which suddenly surrounded them : he saw JEsas, whom he was persecuting. The awful dialogue can only be given in the lan- guage of Scripture. Yet we may reverentially observe that tlie words which Jesus spoke were " in the Hebrew tongue." Tlie same language,' in which, during His earthly life, He spoke to Peter and to John, to tlie blind man by the walls of Jericho, to tlie woman who washed His feet with her tears — the same sacred language was used when He spoke from heaven to His persecutor on earth. And as on earth He had always spoken in parables, so it was now. That voice which had drawn lessons from the lilies that grew in Galilee, and from the birds that flew over the mountain slopes near the Sea of Tiberias, was now pleased to call His last Apostle with a figure of the like significance: " Saul, Saul, why per- secutest thou me ? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad." As the ox reljcls in vain against the goad^ of its master, and as all its struggles do nought but increase its distress — so is thy rebellion vain against the power of my grace. I have admonished thee by the word of my truth, by the death of my saints, by the voice of thy conscience. Struggle no more against conviction, " lest a worse thing come unto thee." It is evident that this revelation was not merely an inward impression made on the mind of Saul during a trance or ecstasy. It was the direct perception of the visible presence of Jesus Christ. This is asserted in various passages, both positively and incidentally. In St. Paul's first let- ter to the Corinthians, when he contends for the validity of his own apos- tleship, his argument is, " Am I not an Apostle ? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, tlie Lord ?" (1 Cor. ix. 1.) And when he adduces the evidence for the truth of the Resurrection, his argument is again, " He was seen ... by Cephas ... by James ... by all the Apostles . . . last of all by me ... as one born out of due time" (xv. 8). By Cephas and by James at Jerusalem the reality of Saul's conversion was doubted (Acts ix. 27); but "Barnabas brought him to the Apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and had spoken with Him." And similarly Ananias had said to him at their first meeting in Damascus: " The Lord hath sent me, even Jesus who appeared to thee in the way as ' It is only said in one account (xxvi. 14) Ananias (whose name is Aramaic) seems to that Jesus Christ spoke in Ilehrew. But this have addressed Saul in Hebrew, not in Greek appears incidentally in the other accounts from (ix. 17, xxii. 13). the Hebrew form of the name " Sanl" being ^ The "prick " of Acts xxvi. 14 is the goad used where our Lord's ou-n words are given or sharp-pointed pole, which in southern Eu- 'ix. 4, xxii. 8). In the narrative portion (ix. rope and in the Levant is seen in the hands of I, 8, &c.) it is the Greek, a difference which is those who are plougliing or driving cattla. not noticed in the Authorized Version. So CHAP.ni. EEAL VISION OF JESUS CHRIST. 85 tliou earnest" (ix. 17). "The God of our fathers hath ehoseii thee that thou shouldest see that Just One, and shouldest licar the voice of Ilis mouth" (xxii. 14). The very words which were spoken ly the Saviour, imply the same important truth. He does not say,' " I am tlie Son of God — the Eternal Word — the Lord of men and of angels:" — but, "1 am Jesus" (ix. 5, xxvi. 15), " Jesus of Nazareth " (xxii. 8). "I am that man, wliom not having seen thou hatest, tlie despised prophet of Naza- reth, who was mocked and crucified at Jerusalem, who died and was buried. But now I appear to thee, that thou mayest know the truth of my Resurrection, that I may convince thee of thy sin, and call tliee to be my Apostle." The direct and immediate character of tliis call, without the interven- tion of any human agency, is another point on whicli St. Paul himself, in the course of his apostolic life, laid the utmost stress ; and one, therefore, which it is incumbent on us to notice here. " A called Apostle," " an Apostle by the will of God,"^ " an Apostle sent not from men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead;"' — these are tlie plirases under which lie describes himself, in the cases where his authority was in danger of being questioned. No human instrumentality intervened, to throw the slightest doubt upon the reality of the communication between Christ Himself and the Apostle of the Heathen. And, as he was directly and miraculously called, so was the work immediately indicated, to which he was set apart, and in which in after years he always gloried, — the work of " preaching among tlie Gen- tiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."* Unless indeed we are to con- sider the words which he used before Agrippa' as a condensed statement* of all that was revealed to him, botli in his vision on the way, and after- wards by Ananias in the city: " I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest: but rise, and stand upon thy feet; for to this end I have appeared unto thee, to ordain thee a minister and a witness both of these things whicli thou bast seen, and of those things wherein I will appear unto tiiee. And tliee > Chrysostom. have been sent at the same time. See Phile- ^ See Rom. i. 1 ; 1 Cor. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; mon, 1. Eph. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1. These expressions are ' Gal. i. I. not used by St. Peter, St. James, St. Judc, or * Eph. iii. 8. See Rom. xi. 13, xv. 16 ; St. John. And it is remarkable that they are Gal. ii. 8 ; 1 Tim. ii. 7 ; 2 Tim. i. 11, &c. not used by St. Paul himself in the Epistles * Acts xxvi. 15-18. addressed to those who were most firmly at- * It did not fall in with Paul's plan in his tached to him. They are found in the letters speech before Agrippa (xxvi.) to mention An- te the Christians of Achaia, but not in those anias, as, in his speech to the Jews at Jcrussi- to the Christians of Macedonia. (See 1 Thess. lem (xxii.), he avoided any explicit mention 1. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1). And though of the Gentiles, while giving the narrative of in the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians, not in that to Philemon, which is known to 86 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. in. have I chosen from the House of Israel, and from among the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darknfss to light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among the sanctified, by faith m Me.'" But the full intimation of all the labors and sufferings that were before him was still reserved. He was told to arise and go into the city, and tliere it should be told him what it had been ordained- tliat he should do. He arose humbled and subdued, and ready to obey whatever might be the will of Him who had spoken to him from heaven. But when he opened his eyes, all was dark around him. Tlie brilliancy of the visiou had made him blind. Those who were with him saw, as before, the trees and the sky, and the road leading into Damascus. But he was in dark- ness, and they led him by the hand into the city. Thus came Saul into Damascus; — not as he had expected, to triumph in an enterprise on which his soul was set, to brave all difficulties and dangers, to enter into houses and carry off prisoners to Jerusalem ; — but he passed himself like a prisoner l)eneath the gateway; and through the colonnades' of tlie street called "Straight," where he saw not the crowd of tliose wlio gazed on him, he was led by the hands of others, trembling and helpless, to the house of Judas,^ his dark and solitary lodging. Tliree days the blindness continued. Only one other space of three days' duration can be mentioned of equal importance in the history of the world. The conflict of Saul's feelings was so great, and his remorse so piercing and so deep, that during this time he neither ate nor drank.' He could have no communion with the Christians, for they had been terri- fied by the news of his approach. And the unconverted Jews could have no true sympathy with his present state of mind. He fasted and prayed in silence. The recollections of his early years, — the passages of the ancient Scriptures which he had never understood, — the thoughts of his own cruelty and violence, — the memory of the last looks of Steplien, — all these crowded into his mind, and made the three days equal to long years of repentance. And if we may imagine one feeling above all otliers to have kept possession of his heart, it would be the feeling siiggested by Christ's expostulation : " Why persecutest thou Me?'"* This feeling 1 See notes on the pass.i;je in Chap. XXII. (where a triple Kom;in archway remains). ^ This is the expression in liis own speecli. Mr. Porter oh.serves tli.it tliis arrangement of (xxii. 10.) Sec ix. 6, anil compare xxvi. 16. the street is a counterpart of tliose of Palmyra ' See Mr. Porter's Flee Years in Damascus and Jsrash. We m.iy perhaf s aJd Antioch. (1856). Recent excav.ition^i show that a mag- See below, p. Il.i. nificent strei>t with a threefold colonnade ex- ' Acts ix. II. tended from the Western gate to the Eastern ' Acts ix. 9. ' See Matt. xxv. 40, 45. CHAP. m. ANANIAS. 87 would be attended with thoughts of peace, with hope, and with faith. He waited on God : and iu his bUndness a vision was granted to him. He seemed to be'.iold one who came in to liim, — and he knew by revelation that liis name was Ananias, — and it appeared to him that the stranger laid his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.' The economy of visions, by which God revealed and accomplished His will, is remarkably similar in the case of Ananias and Saul at Damascus, and in that of Peter and Cornelius at Joppa and Cffisarea. The simul- taneous preparation of the hearts of Ananias and Saul, and the simultaneous preparation of those of Peter and Cornelius, — the questioning and hesita- tion of Peter, and the questioning and hesitation of Ananias, — the one doubting whether he might make friendship with the Gentiles, the other doubting whether he might approach the enemy of the Church, — the un- hesitating obedience of each, when the Divine will was made clearly known, — the state of mind in which both the Pharisee and the Centurion were found, — each waiting to see what the Lord would say unto him, — this close analogy will not be forgotten by those who reverently read the two con- secutive chapters, in which the baptism of Saul and the baptism of Cornelius are narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.^ And iu another respect there is a close parallelism between the two liistories. The same exact topography characterizes them both. In the one case we have the lodging with " Simon the Tanner," and the house " by the seaside " (x. 6), — in the other we have " the house of Judas," and " the street called Straight (ix. 11)." And as the shore, where "the saint beside the ocean prayed," is an unchanging feature of Joppa, which will ever be dear to the Christian heart ; ' so are we allowed to bear in mind that the thoroughfares of Eastern cities do not change,* and to believe that the " Straight Street," which still extends tlirough Damascus in long per- spective from the Eastern Gate, is the street where Ananias spoke to Saul. More than this we do not venture to say. In the first days of the 1 Church, and for some time afterwards, the local knowledge of the Chris- 1 tians at Damascus might be cherished and vividly retamcJ. But now that through long ages Christianity in the East has been weak and do- ' Acts ix. 12. covered over, a mile long ana .\s straight aa ao 2 Acts ix. and x. Compare also xi. 5-18 arrow. He adds that tlicre the house of Jtidat with xxii. 12-16. is shown, a commodious dwelling, with traojf ' See The Christian Year ; Monday in Eas- of having been once a church, and then a ter week. mosque. The place of Baptism, he says, is a * See Lord Nugcnt's remarks on the Jeru- fountain not far off, near the beginning of the ss,\emSeaiLaT,in his Sacredand Classical Lands, street, where a handsome church has been vol. ii. pp. 40, 41. Quaresmius says that the turned into a mosque. He enters also very Straight Street at Damascus is the bazaar, fully into the description of the traditionary which he describes as a street darkened and house of Ananias, and gives a ground plan of it 558 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CHAP.m. graded, and Moliamracdanism strong and tyrannical, wo can only say that the spots still shown to travellers as the sites of the house of Ananias, and the house of Judas, and the place of baptism, may possibly be true.' AVe know nothing concerning Ananias, except what we learn from St. Luke or from St. Paul. He was a Jew who had become a " disciple " of Christ (ix. 10), and lie was well reputed and held to be " devout accord- ing to the Law," among " all tlie Jews who dwelt at Damascus" (xxii. 12). He is never mentioned by St Paul in his Epistles ; and the later stories respecting his history are unsupjiortcd by proof.^ Tliougli he was not ignorant of the new convert's previous character, it seems evident that he had no personal acquaintance with him ; or he would hardly have been described as " one called Saul, of Tarsus," lodging in the liouse of Judas. He was not an Apostle, nor one of the conspicuous members of the Church. And it was not without a deep significance,' that he, who was called to be an Apostle, should be baptized by one of whom the Clmrch knows notliiug, except that he was a Christian " disciple," and had been a " devout" Jew. Ananias came into the house where Saul, faint and exhausted * with three days' abstinence, still remained in darkness. When lie laid his hands on liis head, as tlic vision had foretold, immediately he would be recognized as tlie messenger of God, even before the words were spoken, " Brotlicr Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." These words were followed, as were the words of Jesus Himself when He spoke to the blind, witli an instantaneous dissipation of darkness : " Tliere fell from his eyes as it had been scales : * and he received sight forthwitli (ix. 18) : " or, in his own more vivid ex- pression, " tlic same hour he looked up on the face of Ananias (xxii. 13)." ' Comp.irc, among the older travellers, attached by God to baptism. Olshausen, after Thevcnot, parts i. and ii. ; MaundrcU (1714), remarking that Paul was made a member of p. 36 ; Poeocke, ii. 119. Mr. Stanley says, in the Church not by his Divine Call, but by a letter to the writer, tliat there is no street simple baptism, adds that this baptism of Paul now called Slraight except by the Christians, by Ananias did not imply any inferiority or and that the street so called by them docs not dependence, more than in the case of our Lord contain the traditional house of Judas or of and John the Baptist. Observe the strong An.anias, which are bo!h shown elsewhere. expression in Acts xxii. 16. See below, p. 93, n. 8. * See Acts ix. 19. 2 Tradition says that he was one of the ' It is difficult to see why the words " there icvcnty disciples, that he was afterwards fell from his eyes as it had been scales," should Bishop of Damascus, and stoned after many be considered merely descriptive by Olshausen tortures under Licinius (or Lucianus) the and others. One of the arguments for taking Governor. them literally is the peculiar exactness of St , ^ Ananias, as Chrysostora s.iys, was not Luke in speaking on such subjects. See a one of the leading Apostles, because Paul was paper on the medical style of St. Luke in the not to be taught of men. On the other hand. Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1841. this very circumstance shows the importance . j I cBAP.m. BAPTISM AND FIKST PREACHING OF SAUL. 89 It was a face he had never seen before. But the expression of Christian love assured liim of reconciliation with God. He learnt that " the God of his fathers" had. chosen him "to know His will," — "to sec that Just One," — " to hear the voice of His mouth," — to be " His witness unto all men."' He was baptized, and " the rivers of Damascus" became more to him tlian " all the waters of Judah " ^ had been. His body was strengthened with food ; and his soul was made strong to " suffer great things " for the name of Jesus, and to bear that Name " before the Gen- tiles, and kings, and tlie children of Israel." ' He began by proclaiming the honor of tliat name to the children of Israel in Damascus. He was " not disobedient to the heavenly vision " (^xvi. 19), but " straightway preached in the synagogues tliat Jesus was the Son of God,"* — and " showed unto them tliat tliey should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." His Rabbinical and Pharisaic learning was now used to upliold the cause which he came to destroy. Tlje Jews were astounded. They knew what he had been at Jerusalem. They knew why he had come to Damascus. And now they saw him con- tradicting the whole previous course of his life, and utterly discarding that " commission of the high priests," which had been the authority of his Journey. Yet it was evident that his conduct was not the result of a wayward and irregular impulse. His convictions never hesitated ; his energy grew continually stronger, as he strove in the synagogues, main^ taining the truth against the Jews, and " arguing and proving that Jesus was indeed the Messiah." ^ The period of his first teaching at Damascus does not seem to have lasted long. Indeed it is evident that his life could not have been safe, had he remained. The fury of the Jews when they had recovered from their first surprise must have been excited to the utmost pitch ; and they would soon have received a new commissioner from Jerusalem armed with full powers to supersede and punish one whom they must have regarded as the most faithless of apostates. Saul left the city, but not to return to Jerusalem. Conscious of his Divine mission, he never felt that it was necessary to consult " those who were Apostles before him, but he went into Arabia, and returned again into Damascus."* Many questions have been raised concerning this journey into Arabia. The first question relates to the meaning of the word. From the time when the word " Arabia " was first used by any of tlie writers of Greece 01- Rome, it has always been a term of vague and uncertain import. • Acts xxii. 14, 15. " Christ " is the true reading. Verse 23 ' See 2 Kings v. 12. would make this probable, if the authority of • See Acts ix. 15, 16. the MSS. were not decisive. • Acts ix. 20. Where " Jesns" and not » Acts ix. 22. • Gal. i. 17. 90 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CHAP.m. Sometimes it includes Damascus ; sometimes it ranges over the Lebanon itself, and extends even to the borders of Cilicia. The native geographers usually reckon that stony district, of which Petra was the capital, as belonging to Egypt, — and that wide desert towards the Euphrates, where the Bedouins of all ages have lived in tents, as belonging to Syria, — and have limited the name to the Peninsula between the Red Sea and tl»e Persian Gulf, where Jcmen, or " Araby the Blest," is secluded on the south. In tlie threefold division of Ptolemy, whicli remains in our popular language when we speak of this still uuti'avelled region, both the first and second of these districts were included under the name of the tliird. And we must suppose St. Paul to have gone into one of the former, either that which touched Syria and Mesopotamia, or that which touched Palestine and Egypt. If he went into the first, we need not suppose him to have travelled far from Damascus. For though the strong powers of Syria and Mesopotamia might check the Arabian tribes, and retrench the Arabian name in this direction, yet the Gardens of Damascus were on the verge of the desert, and Damascus was almost as much an Arabian as a Syrian town. And if he went into Petrasan Arabia, there still remains the question of his motive for the journey, and his employment when tlicrc. Eithei retiring before the opposition at Damascus, he went to preach the Gospel-, and then, in the synagogues of that singular capital, which was built amidst the rocks of Edom,' whence " Arabians" came to the festivals at Jerusalem,^ he testified of Jesus : — or he went for the purpose of con- templation and solitary communion with God, to deepen his repentance and fortify his soul with prayer ; and then perhaps his steps were turned to those mountain heights by the Red Sea, which Moses and Elijah had trodden before him. We cannot attempt to decide the question. The views which different inquirers take of it will probably depend on their own tendency to the practical or the ascetic life. On the one hand it may be argued that such zeal could not be restrained, that Saul could ' not be silent, but that he would rejoice in carrying into the metropolis of King Aretas the Gospel whicli his Ethnarch could afterwards hinder at Damascus.' On the other hand, it may be said that, with such convic- tions recently worked in his mind, he would yearn for solitude, — tliat a time of austere meditation before the beginning of a great work is in con- formity with the economy of God, — that we find it quite natural, if Paul followed the example of the Great- Lawgiver and the Great Propliet, and > Stralio, in Iiis description of Pctra, says he says that it was distant three or four days' that his friend Athcnodorus found great num- journey from Jericho. See above, p. 75. n. 8. , bers of strangers there. In the same paragraph, "Aetsii. 11. after describing its cliffs and peculiar situation, ' See 2 Cor. xi. 32. CHAP.ni. SAUL EETIEES INTO ARABIA. 91 of one greater than Moses and Elijah, who, after His baptism and hcfoie His ministry, " returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." ' While Saul is in Arabia, preaching the Gospel in obscurity, or prepar- ing for his varied work by the intuition of Sacred Truth, — it seems the natural place for some reflections on the reality and the momentous sig- nificance of his conversion. It has already been remarked, in what we nave drawn from the statements of Scripture, tliat ho was called directly by Christ without the intervention of any other Apostle, and that the pur- pose of his call was clearly indicated, when Ananias baptized him. Ho was an iVpostle " not of men, neither by man,"* and the Divine will was " to work among the Gentiles by his ministry."' But the unbeliever may still say that there are other questions of primary importance. He may suggest that this apparent change in the current of Saul's thoughts, and this actual revolution in the manner of his life, was cither the contrivance of deep and deliberate imposture, or the result of wild and cxtravgant fanaticism. Both in ancient and modern times, some have been found who have resolved this gr'^at occurrence into the promptings of self- interest, or have ventured to call it the olTsprlng of delusion. There is an old story mentioned by Epiphanius, from which it appears tliat the Ebionites were content to find a motive for the change, in an idle story that he first became a Jew that he might marry the High Priest's daugh- ter, and then became the antagonist of Judaism because the High Priest deceived him.* And there are modern Jews, who are satisfied with saying that he changed rapidly from one passion to anotlier, like those impetuous souls wlio cannot hate or love by halves. Can we then say that St. Paul was simply a fanatic or an impostor ? The question has been so well answered in a celebrated English book,' that we are content to refer to it. It will never be possible for any one to believe St. Paul to have been a mere fanatic, who duly considers his calmness, his wisdom, his prudence, and, above all, his humility, a virtue which is not less inconsistent with I'anati- cism than with imposture. And how can we suppose tliat he was an im- postor who changed his religion for selfish purposes? Was ho influenced by the ostentation of learning ? He suddenly cast aside all that he had been taught by Gamaliel, or acquii'ed through long years of study, and took up the opinions of fishermen of Galilee, wliom he had scarcely ever ^ Luke iv. 1. iii. and 2 Cor. xi. Barnabas, tliough a Cypri- ^ Gal. i. 1. Tills retirement Into Arabia an, was a Lcvite, and wliy not Paul a Jew, is itself an indication of his independent call. though a Tarsian? And are we to believe. See Prof. EllicoU on Gal. i. 17. he adds, what Kbion says of Paul, or what ' Acts xxi. 9. Peter sajs of him? (2 Pet. iii.) * Epiphanius, after telling the story, argues ' Lord Lyttclton's Observalions on the Con- its impossibility from its contradiction to Phil. version and Apostleskip of St. Paul. 92 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CHAp.m. seen, and who had never been educated in the scliools. Was it the love of power which prompted the change ? He abdicated in a moment the authority which he possessed, for power "over a flock of sheep driven to the slaughter, whose Sheplierd himself had been murdered a little before ; " and " all he could hope from that power was to be marked out in a particular manner for the same knife, which he had seen so bloodily drawn against them." Was it the love of wealth ? Wliatever might be his own worldly possessions at the time, he joined himself to those who were certainly poor, and the prospect before him was that which was actually realized, of ministering to his necessities with the labor of his bauds.' Was it the love of fame ? His prophetic power must have been miraculous, if he could look beyond tlie shame and scorn which then rested on the servants of a crucified Master, to that glory with which Christendom now surrounds the memory of St. Paul. And if the conversion of St. Paul was not the act of a fanatic or an impostor, then it ought to be considered how much this wonderful occur-, rence involves. As Lord Lyttelton observes, " the conversion and apostle- ship of St. Paul alone, duly considered, is of itself a demonstration suflicient to prove Christianity to be a Divine revelation." Saul was arrested at the height of his zeal, and in the midst of his fury. In the words of Clirysostom, " Christ, like a skilful physician, healed him when liis fever was at the worst : " and he proceeds to remark, in tlie same elo- quent sermon, that the truth of Christ's resurrection, and the present power of Him who had been crucified, were shown far more forcibly Uian they could have been if Paul had been otherwise called. Nor ought we to forget the great religious lessons we are taught to gather from tliis event. We see the value set by God upon honesty and integ- rity, when we find that he, "who was before a blasphemer and a perse- cutor and injurious, obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly in unbelief."^ And we learn the encouragement given to all sinners who repent, when we are told that "for tiiis cause he obtained mercy, that in him first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. " ' We return to the narrative. Saul's time of retirement in Arabia was 1 Acts XX. .33, 34; 1 Cor. iv. 12 ; 1 Thess. verted state was like a sick man who through ii. 9, &c. madness tries to kill Ills physician. 2 1 Tim. i. 13. See Luke xii. 48, xxiii. » A. Monod's " Cinq Discours " on St. Paul 34; Acts iii. 17; 1 Cor. ii. 8. On the other (Paris, 1852) were puhlished shortly before hand, " unbelieving ignorance " is often men- the completion of the first edition of this work, tioncd in Scripture as an aggravation of sin : Wc have much pleasure here in referring to «. J. Eph. iv. 18, 19; 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. A man the third of these eloquent and instructive is deeply wretched who sins through ignorance ; sermons, on the character and results of St and, as Augustine says, Paul in his uncon- Paul's conversion. CHAP. m. COKSPIEACY AT DAMASCUS. 93 not of long continuance. He was not destined to be the Evangelist of the East. In the Epistle to the Galatians (i. 18),' the time, from his conver- sion to his final departure from Damascus, is said to have been " three years," which, according to the Jewish way of reckoning, may have been three entire years, or only one year with parts of two others. Meantime Saul had " returned to Damascus, preaching boldly in the name of Jesus." (Acts ix. 27.) The Jews, being no longer able to meet him in contro- versy, resorted to that which is the last argument of a desperate cause : ^ they resolved to assassinate him. Saul became acquainted with the con- spiracy: and all due precautions were taken to evade the danger. But the political circumstances of Damascus at the time made escape very diiScult. Either in the course of the hostilities which prevailed along the Syrian frontiers between Herod Antipas and the Romans, on one side, and Aretas, King of Petra, on the other, — and possibly in consequence of that absence of Vitellius,' which was caused by the Emperor's death, — the Ai-abian monarch had made himself master of Damascus, and the Jews, who sympathized with Aretas, were high in the favor of his officer, the Ethnarch.* Or Tiberius had ceased to reign, and his successor had as- signed Damascus to the King of Petra, and tlie Jews had gained over his officer and his soldiers, as Pilate's soldiei's had once been gained over at Jerusalem. St. Paul at least expressly informs us,' that " the Ethnarch kept watch over the city, with a garrison, purposing to apprehend him." St. Luke says," that the Jews " watched the city-gates day and uight, with the intention of killing him." The Jews furnished the motive, the Ethnarch the military force. Tlie anxiety of the " disciples " was doubt less great, as when Peter was imprisoned by Herod, " and prayer was made without ceasing of the Churcli unto God for him." ' Their anxiety became the instrument of his safety. From an unguarded part of the wall,* in the darkness of the night, probably where some overhanging ' In Acts ix. 2.3, the time is said to have imagines that ho was an officer of Aretas acci- bcen " many days." Dr. Palcy has observed dentally residing in Damascus, who induced in a note on the Uone PaulituE a similar in- the Roman government to aid in the conspira- stance in the Old Testament (1 Kings ii. 38, cy of the Jews. Neither hypothesis seems 39), where " many days" is used to denote a very probable. Sehrader suggests that the space of "three years:" — "And Shimei Ethnarch's wife might, perhaps, be a Jewish dwelt at Jerusalem mantj Jays ; and it came to proselyte, as we know was the case with a vast pass, at the end of three years, that two of the number of the women of Damascus, servants of Shimei ran away." ^ 2 Cor. xi. 32. - Chrysostom. " See above, p. 76. « Acts ix. 24. ' Acts xii. 5. * Some have supposed that this Ethnarch * Quaresmius leaves the place in doubt. was merely an officer who regulated the affairs We conclude our notices of these traditional of the Jews themselves, such as we know to sites, by an extract from a letter received from have existed under this title in cities with the Rev. A. P. Stanley, shortly before the pub- ' many Jewish residents (p. 100). See Joseph. lication of his Sinai and Palestine. "The Ant. xix. 7, 2, and 8, 5 ; War, ii. 6, 3. Anger only spot now pointed out is a few hundred 94 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. houses, as is usual in Eastern cities, opened upon the outer country, they let hira down from a window ' in a basket. There was something of humiliation in this mode of escape ; and this, perhaps, is the reason why, in a letter written " fourteen years " afterwards, he specifies the details, " glorying in his infirmities," when he is about to speak of " his visions and revelations of the Lord." ^ Thus already the Apostle had experience of " perils by his own country- men, and perils in the city." Already " in journeyings often, in weariness and painfulness," ' he began to learn " how great things ho was to suffer " for the name of Christ.'' Preserved from destruction at Damascus, he turned his steps towards Jerusalem. His motive for the journey, as he tells us in the Epistle to the Galatians, was a desire to become acquainted with Peter.* Not that he was ignorant of the true principles of the Gospel. He expressly tells us that he neither needed nor received any instruction in Christianity from those who were " Apostles before him." But he must have heard much from the Ciiristians at Damascus of the Galilean fisherman. Can we wonder that he should desire to see the Chief of the Twelve, — the brother with whom now he was consciously united in the bonds of a common apostleship, — and who had long on earth been the constant companion of his Lord ? y.irds from the town w.ills, on the eastern side of the city, near the traditional scene of the Escape over the wall. It is only marked by a mass of cement in the ground, with a hollow underneath, which the Damascus guides repre- sent as a hole in which after his escape the Apostle concealed himself — and this is the only tradition which in the popular mind at- taches to the place. All knowledge or imagi- nation of the Conversion or of its locality has entirely passed aw.iy. But the French monks in the Latin convent maintain (and no doubt truly) that this w.is the spot in earlier times believed to be the scene of that event, and that the remains of cement and masonry round about are the ruins of a Christian church or chapel built in memorial. It is, if I remember right, the fourth of the four places mentioned by Quaresmius. It is highly improbable that it can be the true place [of the Cont-ersion], because there is no reason to believe that the road from Jerusalem should have fetched such a compass as to enter Damascus on the east, inste.id of (as at present) on the west or south." Mr. Porter (p. 43) says that it is only within the last century that the scene of the Conversion has been transferred, from inter- ested motives, to the east from the west side of the city. His plan of Dam.iscus now gives the means of seeing the traditionary localitiei very clearly. 1 2 Cor. xi. 33. So Rahab let down th« spies ; and so David escaped from Saul. St. Paul's word is used in the LXX. in both instances. The preposition " through " bcina nsed both in Acts and 1 Cor., it is possible that the most exact explanation is that sug- gested by Piof. Hackett. He observed at Damascus " windows in the external face of, the wall, opening into houses on the inside of the city." ( Comm. on Acts.) In the largei editions is a view of a portion of the wall of modem Damascus, supporting houses whicl: project and face the open country. ^ 2 Cor. xi. 30, xii. 1-5. Both Schradei and Wiescler are of opinion that the visioi mentioned here is that which he saw at Jem salera on his return from Damascus (Act xxii. 17; see below, p. 97), and which wa naturally associated in his mind with the re< ollcction of his escape. 3 2 Cor. xi. 26, 27. j « Acts ix. 16. if ' Gal. i. 18. m ciiAP.in. HIS EMOTIONS OK EETtJENING TO JERUSALEM. 95 How changed was every thing since he had last travelled tliis road be tween Damascus and Jerusalem ! If, when the day broke, lie looked back upon that city from which he had escaped under the shelter of night, as his eye ranged over the fresh gardens and the wide desert, how the remembrance of that first terrible vision would call forth a deep thanks- giving to Him, who had called iiim to be a " partaker of His sufferings ! " ' And what feelings must have attended his approach to Jerusalem ! " Ho was returning to it from a spiritual, as Ezra had from a bodily, captivity, and to his renewed mind all things appeared new. What an emotion smote his heart at the first distant view of the Temple, that house of sacrifice, that edifice of prophecy! Its sacrifices had been realized, the Lamb of God had been offered : its prophecies had been fulfilled, the Lord had come unto it. As he approached the gates, he might have trodden the very spot where he had so exultingly assisted in the death of Stephen, and he entered them perfectly content, were it God's will, to be dragged out through them to the same fate. He would feel a peculiar tie of brotherhood to that martyr, for he could not be now ignorant that the same Jesus who in such glory had called him, had but a little while before appeared in the same glory to assure the expiring Stephen. The ecstatic look and words of the dying saint now came fresh upon his memory with their real meaning. When he entered into the city, what deep thoughts were suggested by the haunts of his youth, and by the sight of tlie spots where he had so eagerly sought that knowledge which he had now so eagerly abandoned ! What an intolerable burden had he cast off! Ila felt as a glorified spirit may bo supposed to feci on revisiting the scenes of its flcslily sojoui'n." ^ Yet not without grief and awe could he look upon that city of his fore- fathers, over which he now knew that the judgment of God was impending. i And not without sad emotions could one of so tender a nature think of the alienation of those who had once been his warmest associates. The grief of Gamaliel, the indignation of the Pliarisees, the fury of tlie Hellenis- tic Synagogues, all this, he knew, was before him. The sanguine hopes, 1 however, springing from his own honest convictions, and liis fervent zeal to commuiucate the truth to others, predominated in his mind. He (thought tliat they would believe as he had believed. He argued thus with himself, — that they well knew that he had " imprisoned and beaten in every synagogue them that believed in Jesus Christ," — and that " when the blood of Ilis martyr Stephen was shed, he also was standing by and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him," * ' 1 Tct. iv. 13. Temple (Acts xxii. 17-21), when it was re- " Scripture Biographtj, by Archdeacon Ev- ve.ilcd to him that those in Jerusalem would ans, second series, p. 337. not receive his testimony. ° The argument used in his ecstasy in the 96 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. ciiAp.ni. — and that when tliey saw the change which liad been produced in him, and heard the miraculous history he could tell them, they would not refuse to " receive his testimony." Thus, with fervent zeal, and sanguine expectations, " he attempted to join himself to the disciples " of Christ.' But, as the Jews hated him, so the Christians suspected him. His escape had been too hurried to allow of his bringing " letters of commendation." Whatever distant rumor might have reached them of an apparition on his journey, of his conduct at Damascus, of his retirement in Arabia, they could not believe that he was really a disciple. And then it was that Barnabas, already known to us as a generous contributor of his wealth to the poor,' came forward again as the " Son of Consolation," — " took him by the hand," and brought him to the Apostles.^ It is probable that Barnabas and Saul were acquainted with each other before. Cyprus is within a few hours' sail from Cilicia. The schools of Tarsus may naturally have attracted one who, thougli a Levite, was an Hellenist : and there the friendship may have begun, which lasted through many vicissitudes, till it was rudely interrupted in the dis- pute at Antioch.'' When Barnabas related how " the Lord " Jesus Christ had personally appeared to Saul, and had even spoken to him, and how he had boldly maintained the Ciu-istian cause in the synagogues of Damas- cus, then the Apostles laid aside their hesitation. Peter's argument must have been what it was on another occasion : " Forasmuch as God hath given unto him the like gift as He did unto mo, who am I that I should with- stand God ? " * He and James, the Lord's brother, the only other Apostle ' who was in Jerusalem at the time, gave to him " the right hands of fellow- ship." And he was with them, " coming in and going out," more thau forgiven for Christ's sake, welcomed and beloved as a friend and a brother. This first meeting of the fisherman of Bcthsaida and the tent maker of Tarsus, the chosen companion of Jesus on earth, and the chosen Pharisee ■who saw Jesus in the heavens, the Apostle of the circumcision and the Apostles of the Gentiles, is passed over in Scripture in a few words. The Divine record does not linger in dramatic description on tliose passages which a mere human writing would labor to embellish. Wliat took ])lace in the intercourse of these two Saints, — what was said of Jesus of Naza- reth who suffered, died, and was buried, — and of Jesus, the glorified Lord, who had risen and ascended, and become "head over all things to 1 Acts ix. 26. Apostles . . . and lie was with tlifin cominf 2 Acts iv. 36. in nnd going out at Jerusalem." (Acts ix « Acts ix. 27. 26-28.) "After three years I went up ti, * Acts XV. 39. Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode witli liin ' Acts xi. 17. fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw , « " When Saul was come to Jerusalem . . . none, save James the Lord's brotlicr." (Gii Barnabas took him and brought him to the i. 18, 19.) CHAP. in. SAUL WITHDRAWN FROM THE HOLY CITY. 97 the Cluircli," — what was felt of Christian love and devotion, — what was learnt, under the Spirit's teaching, of Christian trutli, has not l)een re- vealed, and cannot be known. The intercourse was full of present com- fort, and full of great consequences. But it did not last long. Fifteen days passed away, and the Apostles were compelled to part. The same zeal which had caused his voice to be heard in the Hellenistic Synagogues in the persecution against Stephen, now led Saul in the same Syna- gogues to declare fearlessly his adherence to Stephen's cause. The same fury which had caused the murder of Stephen, now brouglit the murderer of Stephen to the verge of assassination. Once more, as at Damascus, the Jews made a conspiracy to put Saul to death : and once more he was rescued by the anxiety of the brethren.' Reluctantly, and not without a direct intimation from on high, he re- tired from the work of preaching the Gospel in Jerusalem. As he was praying one day in the Temple, it came to pass that he fell into a trance,^ and in his ecstasy he saw Jesus, who spoke to him, and said, "Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me." He hesitated to obey the command, his desire to do God's will leading him to struggle against the hindcranccs of God's providence — and the memory of Stephen, which haunted him even in his trance, furnishing him with an argument.' But the command was more peremptory than before : " Depart ; for I will send thee far hence nnto the Gentiles." The scene of his apostolic victories was not to be Jerusalem. For the third time it was declared to him that the field of his labors was among the Gentiles. This secret revelation to his soul conspired with the outward difficulties of his situation. The care of God gave the highest sanction to the anxiety of the brethren. And he suffered himself to be withdrawn from the Holy City. They brought him down to Caesarea by the sea,* and from Cassarea they sent him to Tarsus.* His own expression in the Epistle to the Galatians > Acts ix. 29, 30. posing that Csesarca Philippi is meant. When- ^ See Acts xxil. 17-21. Though Schrader ever " Caesarea " is spoken of absolutely, it is sometimes laboriously unsuccessful in ex- always means Csesarea Stratonis. And even plaining the miraculous, yet we need not if it is assumed that Saul travelled by land entirely disregard what he says concerning the through Syria to Tarsus, this would not have oppression of spirit, under the sense of being been the natural course. It is true enougii mistrusted and opposed, with which Saul came that this Ctesarea is nearer the Syrian frontier to pray in the Temple. And we may compare than the other ; but the physical character o< the preparation for St. Peter's vision, before the country is such that the Apostle would the conversion of Cornelius. naturally go by the other Csesarea, unless, ' Compare the similar expostulations of indeed, he travelled by Damascus to Antioch, Ananias, ix. 13, and of Peter, x. 14. which is highly improbable. * Olshausea is certainly mistaken in sup- ' Acts ix. 30. r 98 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chat. in. (i. 21) is that he went " into the regions of Syria and Cilicia." From this it has been inferred tliat he went first from Csesarca to Antioch, and then from Antioch to Tarsus. And such a course wouLl have been per- fectly natural ; for the communication of the city of Ctesar and the Herods with the metropolis of Syria, either by sea and the harbor of Seleucia, or by the great coast-road through Tyre and Sidon, was easy and frequent. But the suppositieai is unnecessary. lu consequence of the range of Mount Taurus (p. 19), Cilicia has a greater geographical affinity with Syria than with Asia Minor. Hence it has existed in frequent politi- cal combination with it from the time of the old Persian satrapies to the modern pachalics of the Sultan : and " Syria and Cilicia " appears in history almost as a generic geographical term, the more important district being mentioned iirst.' Within the limits of this region Saul's activities v\?ere uow exercised in studying and in teacliing at Tarsus, — or in found- ing those Churches "■ which were afterwards greeted in the Apostolic lette: from Jerusalem, as tlic brethren " iu Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia," and which Paul himself confirmed after his separation from Barnabas, travelling through "Syria and Cilicia." Whatever might be tlie extent of his journeys within these limits, we kuow at least that he was at Tarsus. Once more we find him in the home of his childhood. It is the last time we are distinctly told that he was there. Now at least, if not before, we may be sure that he would come into active intercourse with the Heathen philosophers of the place.* In his last residence at Tarsus, a few years before, he was a Jew, and not only a Jew but a Pharisee, and he looked on the Gentiles around him as outcasts from the favor of God. Now he was a Christian, and not only ' This is well illustrated by the hopeless every place th.it could be mentioned, where feeling of the Greek soldiers in the Anabasis, schools of philosophers are found. And the when Cyrus had drawn them into Cilicia ; by dilTcrenee amounts to this. Here, those who various pass.iges in the history of the Scleu- are fond of learuins? arc all natives, and stran- cids ; by the arrangements of the Romans gers do not willingly reside here: and they with Antiochus ; by the division of provinces themselves do not remain, but finish thair in the Later Empire ; and by the course of the education abroad, and gladly take up their Mohammedan conquests. residence elsewhere, and few I'eturn. Where- 2 Acts XV. 23, 41. When we find the ex- as, in the other cities which I have just men- istence of Cilician Churches mentioned, the tioned, except Al.xandria, the contrary takes obvious inference is that St. Paul founded place: for many come to them and live there them during this period. willingly ; but you will see few of the natives ^ The passage in Strabo, referred to above, cither going abroad for the sake of iihilosophy, Ch. I. p. 21, is so important that we give a or caring to study it at home. The Aloxan- free translation of it here. " The men of this drians have both characters ; for they receive : place are so zealous in the study of philosophy many strangers, and send out of their own. nnd the whole circle of education, that they people not a few." surpass both Athens and Alexandria and CHAP. in. SAUL IN SYRIA AND CILICIA. 99 a Christian, but conscious of liis mission as the Apostle of the Gentiles. Therefore he would surely meet the philosophers, and prepare to ai'gue with them on their own ground, as afterwards in the "market" at Athens with " the Epicureans and the Stoics.'" Many Stoics of Tarsus were men of celebrity in the Roman Empire. Athenodorus, the tutor of Augustus, has already been mentioned.'^ He was probably by this time deceased, and receiving those divine honors, which, as Luciau informs us, were paid to him after his death. The tutor of Tiberius also was a Tarsian and a Stoic. His name was Nestor. He was probably at this time alive : for ho lingered to the age of ninety-two, and, in all likelihood, survived his wicked pupil, whose death we have recently noticed. Now among these eminent sages and instructors of Heathen Emperors was one whose teach- ing was destined to survive, when the Stoic philosophy should have per- ished, and whose words still instruct the rulers of every civilized nation. How far Saul's arguments had any success in this quarter we cannot even guess; and we must not anticipate the conversion of Cornelius. At least, he was preparing for the future. In the Synagogue we cannot believe that he was silent or unsuccessful. In his own family, we may well im- agine that some of those Christian "kinsmen,"' whose names are handed down to us, — possibly his sister, the playmate of his childhood, and his Bister's son,* who afterwards saved his life, — were at this time by his exertions gathered into the fold of Christ. Here this chapter must close, while Saul is in exile from the earthly Jerusalem, but diligently occupied in building up the walls of the " Jerusalem which is above." And it was not without one great and important consequence that that short fortnight had been spent in Jerusalem. He was now known to Peter and to James. His vocation was fully ascertained and recognized by the heads of the Judsean Christians. It is true that he was yet " unknown by face " to the scattered Churches of Judtea.^ But they honored him of whom they had heard so much. And when the news came to them at intervals of all that he was doing for the cause of Christ, they praised God and 1 Acts xvii. 17, 18. ' See Gal. i. 21-24. The form of the Greek ' See p. 42. words seems to imply a continued preaching of ' Rom. xvi. See p. 44. the Gospel, the intelligence of which came now ' About twenty years after this time {Acts and then to Judaja. From what follows, how- xxiii. 17, 23) he is called " a young man," the ever (" Then fourteen years afterwards "), St. very word which is used of Saul himself (Acts Paul .appears to describe in i. 23, 24, the effect vii. 58) at the stoning of Stephen. It is justly produced by the tidings not only of his Libors remarked by Ilemsen that the young man's in Tarsus, but of his subsequent and mora anxiety for his uncle (xxiii. 16-23) seems to extensive labors as a missionary to the Hea- imply a closer affection than that resulting then. It should be added, that Wieseler thinks from relationship alone he staid only half a year at Tarsus. 100 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PADX. said, " Behold ! he who was once our persecutor is now bearing the glad tidings of that faith which formerly he labored to root out ; " " and they glorified God in him." Coin of Aretas, King of Damascus.' i 1 Three members of this dj-nasty come prominently before us in history. The first is mentioned in the annals of the Maccabees. The second was contemporary with the last of the Seleucids. Damascus was once in his power (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 13, 3 ; War, i. 6, 2), and it is bis submission to the Roman Scaurus ■which is represented in the coin. The third is that of St. Paul. As to the Aretas, who is mentioned in 2 Mace. V. 8, the words used there of the inno- vating high priest Jason are so curiously appli- cable to the case of St. Paul, that we cannot forbear quoting them. " In the end, therefore, he had an unhappy return, being accused be- fore Aretas the king of the Arabians, fleeing from city to city, pursued of all men, hated as a forsaker of the laws, and being had in abomination as an open enemy of his country." A few words concerning the meaning of the word Ethnarch may fitly conclude this note. It properly denoted the governor of a dependent district, like Simon the high priest under Syria (1 Mace. xiv. 47), or Herod's son Archelaus under Rome (Joseph. Ant. xvii. U, 4). But it was also used as the designation of a magistrate or consul allowed to Jewish residents living under their own laws in Alex- andria and other cities. (See Strabo, as quot- ed by Josephus, ^n(. xiv. 7, 2.) Some wri- ters (and among them Mr. Lewin, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, vol. i. p. 70) think that the word is used in that sense here. But »uch a magistrate would hardly have been called " the Ethnarch of Aretas," and (as Dean AI- ' ford observes on 2 Cor. xi. 32) he would not have had the power of guarding the city. CHAPTER IV. Wider Diffusion of Cliristianity.— Antioch. — Clironology of tlie Acts. — Reign of Caligula. — Claudius and Herod Agrippa I. — The Year 44. — Conversion of the Gentiles. — St. Peter and Cornelius. — Joppa and Ccesarea. — St. Peter's Vision. — Baptism of Cornelius Intelligence from Antioch. — Mission of Barnabas. — Saul with Barnabas at Antioch. — Tha Name " Christian." — Description and History of Antioch. — Character of its Inhabitants. — Earthquakes. — Famine. — Barnabas and Saul at Jerusalem. — Death of St. James and of Herod Agrippa. — Return with Mark to Antioch. — Providential Preparation of St. Paul. — Results of his Mission to Jerusalem. HITHERTO the history of the Christian Church has been confined within Jewish limits. We have followed its progress beyond the walls of Jerusalem, but hardly yet beyond the boundaries of Palestine. If any traveller from a distant country has been admitted into the commu- nity of believers, the place of his baptism has not been more remote than the " desert " of Gaza. If any " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel " have been admitted to the citizenship of the spiritual Israelites, they have been " strangers " who dwell among the hills of Samaria. But the time is rapidly approaching when the knowledge of Christ must spread more rapidly, — when those who possess not that Book, which caused perplex- ity on the road to Ethiopia, will hear and adore His name, — and greater strangers than those who drew water from the well of Sychar will come nigh to the Fountain of Life. The same dispersion which gathered in the Samaritans, will gather in the Gentiles also. The " middle wall of partition " being iitterly broken down, all will be called by the new and glorious name of" Christian." And as we follow the progress of events, and find that all movements in the Church begin to have more and more reference to the Heathen, we observe that these movements begin to circulate more and more round a new centre of activity. Not Jerusalem, but Antioch, — not the Holy City of God's ancient people, but the profane city of the Greeks and Romans, — is the place to which the student of sacred history is now directed. During the remainder of the Acts of the Apostles our atten- tion is at least divided between Jerusalem and Antioch, until at last, after following St. Paul's many journeys, we come with him to Rome. For some time Constantinople must remain a city of the future ; but we 102 THE LIFE AST) EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.iv. are more than once reminded of the greatness of Alexandria : ' and tlius eveu ill the life of the Apostle we find prophetic intimations of four of the five great centres of the early Catholic Churcli.* At present we are occupied witli Antioch, and tiie point before us is that particular moment in the Church's history, when it was first called " Christian." Both the place and the event are remarkable : and the time, if we are able to determine it, is worthy of our attention. Though we are following the course of an individual biography, it is necessary to pause, on critical occasions, to look around on what is passing in the Empire at large. And, happily, we are now arrived at a point where we are able distinctly to see the path of the Apostle's life intersecting the general history of the period. This, therefore, is the right place for a few chronological remarks. A few such remarks, made once for all, may justify what has gone before, and prepare the way for subsequent chapters. Some readers may be surprised that up to this point we have made no attempts to ascertain or to state e.^act chronological details.' But theo- logians are well aware of the difficulties with which such inquiries are attended, in the beginnings of St. Paul's biography. The early chapters in the Acts are like the narratives in the Gospels. It is often hardly possible to learn how far the events related were contemporary or consecu- live. We should endeavor in vain to determine tlie relations of time, which subsist between Paul's retirement into Arabia and Peter' -j visit to the converted Samaritans,* or between tlie journey of one Apo,'iie from Joppa to Caesarea and the journey of tlie other from Jerusalem to Tarsus.' Still less have we sufficient data for pronouncing upon the absolute chronology of the earliest transactions in the Churcli. No one can tell what particular folly or crime was engaging Caligula's attention, when Paul was first made a Christian at Damascus. No one can tell on what work of love the Cliristians were occupied when the emperor was inaugurating his bridge at Puteoli," or exhibiting his fantastic pride on the shores of the British Sea.' In a work of tliis kind it is better to place the events of the Apostle's life in the broad light cast by tlie lead- ' iiig features of the period, than to attempt to illustrate them by tlie help of dates, which, after all, can be only conjectural. Tims we have been 1 See Acts vi. 9 (with ii. 10), xxvii. 6, ^ Acts ix. and Acts x. xxviii. U ; and compare Acts xviii. 24, xix. 1, 6 ^yhere St. Paul afterwards landed, Acts with 1 Cor. i. 12, iii. 4-6, and Tit. iii. 13. xxviii. 13. 2 The allusion is to the Patriarchates of ' Ilcrod was with Caligula in this progress. Jerusiilem, Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, and This emperor's triumph had no more meaning Constantinople. than Napoleon's column at Boulogne ; Init in * See above, pp. 42, 76, 77, and 93. the next reign Britain was rcall/ conquered * Acts viii. and Acts ix. (with Gal. i.) See below. chap.it. EEIGKS of CALIGtTLA AND CLAUDIUS. 103 content to say, that he was born in the strongest and most flourishing period of the reign of Augustus ; and that he was converted from the religion of the Pharisees about the time wlien Caligula succeeded Tiberius. But soon after we enter on the reign of Claudius we encounter a coincidence which arrests our attention. Wo must first take a rapid glance at the reign of his predecessor. Though the cruelty of that reign stung the Jews in every part of the empire, and produced an indignation which never subsided, one short paragraph will be enough for all that need be said concerning the abominable tyrant.' In tlie early part of the year 37 Tiberius died, and at the close of the same year Nero was born. Between the reigns of these two emperors are those of Caligula and Claudius. The four years during which Caligula sat on the throne of the world were miserable for all the prov- inces, both in the west and in the east.^ In Gaul his insults were aggra- vated by his personal presence. In Syria his caprices were felt more remotely, but not less keenly. The changes of administration were rapid and various. In the year 36, the two great actors in the crime of the crucifixion had disappeared from the public places of Judtea. Pon- tius Pilate' had been dismissed by Vitellius to Rome, and Marcellus sent to govern in his stead. Caiaphas had been deposed by the same secular authority, and succeeded by Jonathan. Now, in t'.ie year 37, Vitellius was recalled from Syria, and Petronius came to occupy the governor's residence at Antioch. Marcellus at Caesarea made way for Marullus : and Theophilus was appointed high priest at Jerusalem in place of his brother Jonathan. Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, was brought out of tlie prison where Tiberius liad confined lum, and Caligula gave a royal crown,^ with the tetrarchies of two of his uncles, to the frivolous friend of his youth. And as this reign began with restless change, so it ended in cruelty and impiety. The emperor, in the career of his blasphemous arrogance, attempted to force the Jews to worship him as God.* One universal feeling of horror pervaded the scattered Israelites, who, though they had scorned the SIcssiah promised to their fatliers, were unable to degrade themselves by a return to idolatry. ' The reader is here requested to refer to * Tiberius had imprisoned him, because of pp. 26, 27, 42, 43, 51, 52, 59, 65, and the a conversation ovcrlieard by a slave, when Ca- no'<^s. ligula and Herod Agrippa were together iji a ^ The best portraits of this emperor are on carriage. Agrippa was much at Rome both at the large copper imperial coins. the beginning and end of Caligula's reign. ' He elid not arrive at Rome till after the See p. 26, n. 7. death of Tiberius. Like his predecessor, he 'It appears from Dio Cassius and Siieto- had governed Judsea during ten or eleven nius that this was part of a general system for years, the emperor having a great dislike to extending the worship of himself through the frequent changes in the provinces. empire. 104 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.it Pctroniiis, who foresaw what the struggle must be, wrote letters of expostulation to his master : Agrippa, who was then in Italy, implored his patron to pause in what he did : an embassy was sent from Alexan- dria, and the venerable and learned Philo * was himself commissioned to state the inexorable requirements of the Jewish religion. Every thing appeared to be hopeless, when the murder of Caligula, on tlie 24th of January, in the year 41, gave a sudden relief to tlie persecuted people. With the accession of Claudius (a.d. 41) the Holy Land had a king once more. Judoea was added to the tetrarchies of Pliilip and Antipas, and Herod Agrippa I. ruled over the wide territory which had been governed by his grandfather. With the alleviation of the distress of the Jews, pro- portionate suffering came upon the Christians. The " rest " which, in the distractions of Caligula's reign, the Churches had enjoyed " throughout all Judcea, and Galilee, and Samaria," was now at an end. " About tliis time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of tlie Cluirch." He slew one Apostle, and " because he saw it pleased tlie Jews," he pro- ceeded to imprison another. But he was not long spared to seek popularity among the Jews, or to murder and oppress the Christians. In the year 44 he perished by that sudden and dreadful dcatli which is i-ecorded in detail by Josephus and St. Luke.'' In close coincidence with this event we have the mention of a certain journey of St. Paul to Jerusalem. Here, then, we have one of those lines of intersection between tlie sacred history and the general history of tlie world, on which the attention of intelligent Christians ought to be fixed. This year, 44 a.d., and another year, the year GO a.d. (in which Felix ceased to be the governor of Judasa, and, leaving St. Paul botind at Csesarea, was succeeded by Festus), are tlie two chronological pivots of the apostolic history.' By help of them we find its exact place in the wider history of the world. Between these 1 See abore, pp. 9, 34, and 60. Philo's ac- (see below, p. 117). Anger has shown that count of this embassy is, next after Josephus, this famine must be assigned to the interval the most important writing of the period for between 44 and 47 ; and Wieseler has A.-ccd tlirowing Ught on tlie condition of the Jews in it more closely to the year 4.'). Sec the Chron- Caligula's reign. The Jewish enroys had ological Table at the end of the volume, their interview with the emperor at Puteoli, in * It ought to bo stated, that the latter d.ite of the same year (40 a.d.) in cannot be established by the same e.xaet proof which he had made his progress through Gaul as the former; but, as a political fict, it must to the shore of the ocean. always be a cardinal point of reference in any 2 Ant. xix. 8. Acts xii. The proof that his system of Scripture chronology. Anger and death took place in 44 may be seen in Anger Wieseler, by a careful induction of particulars, and Wieseler; and, indeed, it is hardly doubted have made it jighly probable that Festus sue- by any. A coincident and corroborative proof ceeded Felix in the year 60. More will be of the time of St. Paul's journey to Jerusalcra said on this subject when we come to Acta iit afforded by the mention of the Famine, xxiv. 27. which is doubtless that recorded by Josephus CHAP. IV. DATE OP ST. PAUL'S CONVERSION. 105 two limits the greater part of what wc are told of St. Paul is situated aud included. Using the year 44 as a starting-point for the future, we gain a new light for tracing the Apostle's steps. It is evident that we have only to ascer- tain the successive intei'vals of his life, in order to see him at every point, in his connection with the transactions of the Empire. Wc shall observe this often as we proceed. At present it is more important to remark that the same date throws some light on that earlier part of the Apostle's path which is confessedly obscure. Reckoning backwards, we remember that • "three years" intervened between his conversion and return to Jerusa- lem.' Those who assign the former event to 39 or 40, and those who fix on 37 or some earlier year, differ as to the length of time he spent at Tarsus, or in " Syria and Cilicia." ^ All that we can say with certainty is, that St. Paul was converted more than three years before the year 44.* The date tlius important for all students of Bible chronology is worthy of special regard by the Christians of Britain. For in that year the Emperor Claudius returned from the shores of this island to the metropo- lis of his empire. He came here in command of a military expedition, to complete the work which the landing of Ccesar, a century before, had begun, or at least predicted.* When Claudius was in Britain, its inhabit- ants were not Christian. They could hardly in any sense be said to have been civilized. He came, as he thought, to add a barbarous province to his already gigantic empire ; but he really came to prepare the way for the silent progress of the Christian Church. His troops were the instru- ments of bringing among our barbarous ancestors those charities wliich were just then beginning to display themselves ^ in Antiocli and Jerusalem. A " neiv name " was faintly rising on the Syri.in shore, which was destined to spread like the cloud seen by the Propliet's servant from iho brow of Mount Carmcl. A better civilization, a better citizenship, than tliat of the Roman Empire, was preparing for us and for many. One Apostle at Tarsus was waiting for his call to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles. Another Apostle at Joppa was receiving a divine intimation that " God is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation lie that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Ilim." " ' Gal. i. 18. very early, is forced to allow nine or ten years 2 Acts ix. 30 ; Gai. i. 21. Wicselcr, with for the time spent in Syria and Cilicia. Schrader, thinks that he staid at Tarsus only ' ^Vicsclcr places the Conversion in tha half a year or a year ; Anger, that he was there year 39 or 40. two years, hctwecn 41 and 43; Ilcmsen, that * It may be gathered from Dio Cassius, he spent there the years 40, 41, and 42. Among that the emperor left Rome in July, 43, aud the English writers, Bp. Pearson imagines that returned in January, 45. great part of the interval after 39 was passed ' See Acts xi. 22-24, and 27-30. in Syria ; Burton, who places the conversion ^ Acts x. 34, 35. 106 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap.it. If we could ascertain the exact chronological arrangement of tlicso passages of Apostolical history, great light would be thrown on the circum- stantial details of the admission of Gentiles to the Clmrch, and on the growth of the Cliurcli's conviction on this momentous subject. We should then be able to form some idea of the meaning and results of tlie fortnight spent by Paul and Peter together at Jerusalem (p. 97). Cut it is not permitted to us to know the manner and degree in which the different Apostles were illuminated. We have not been informed whether Paul ever felt the difficulty of Peter, — whether he knew from the first the full significance of his call, — wliether he learnt tlie truth by vii-ions, or by the • gradual workings of his mind under the teaching of the Holy Spirit.' All we can confidently assert is, that he did not learn from St. Peter the mystery " whicli in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it was now revealed unto God's holy Apostles by the Spirit ; that tlie Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel." ^ If St. Paul was converted in 39 or 40, and if the above-mentioned rest of the Churches was in the last years of Caligula (a.d. 39-41), and if this rest was the occasion of that journey to Lydda and Joppa which ulti- mately brought St. Peter to Cassarea, then it is evident that St. Paul was at Damascus or in Arabia when Cornelius was baptized.' Paul was sum- moned to evangelize the Heathen, and Peter began the work, almost simultaneously. The great transaction of admitting the Gentiles to the Church was already accomplished when the two Apostles met at Jerusa- lem. St. Paul would thus learn that the door had been opened for him by the hand of another ; and when he went to Tarsus, the later agree- ment* might then have been partially adopted, that he should "go to the Heathen," while Peter remained as the Apostle of " the Circum- cision." If we are to bring down the conversion of Cornelius nearer to the year 44, and to place it in that interval of time which St. Paul spent atTai'sus,* • then it is natural to suppose that his conversations prepared Peter's mind for the change which was at hand, and sowed the seeds of that revolution ; of opinion, of which tlie vision at Joppa was the crisis and completion. ■ Paul might learn from Peter (as possibly also from Barnabas) many ot the ' The question touched on here, viz. u-lim ' Tliis is Wicscler's view ; but liis arp;u- the complete truth of Christ -n-as commuiiicTt- mcnts arc not conclusive. By some (as hy ed to St. Paul, evidently opens a wide field Schrader) it is hastily taken for granted tliat for speculation. It is well treated by Dr. St. Paul preached the Gospel to Gentiles at Davidson [Iiilrod. vol. ii. pp. 75-80), who Damascus, believes that the full disclosures of the gospel * Gal. ii. 9. were made to him in Arabia. ^ On tlie duration of this interval see aboTC^ 2 Eph. iii. 4-6. See Col. i. 26, 27. p. 105, n. 2. CHAP. IV. ST. PETER AND CORNELIUS. 107 details of our blessed Saviour's life. And Peter, meanwhile, miglit gather from Paul some of those higher views concerning the Gospel which pre- pared him for the miracles which he afterwards saw in the household of the Roman centurion. Whatever miglit be the obscurity of St. Paul's early knowledge, whether it was revealed to him or not that tlie Gentile converts would be called to overleap the ceremonies of Judaism on tlicir entrance into the Church of Christ, — he could not fail to have a clear understanding that his own work was to lie among the Gentiles. This had been announced to him at his first conversion (Acts xxvi. 17, 18), in the words of Ananias (Acts ix. 15) : and in the vision preceding his re- tirement to Tarsus (Acts xxii. 21), the words which commanded him to go -were, " Depart, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." In considering, then, the conversion of Cornelius to have happened after tliis journey from Jerusalem to Tarsus, and before the mission of Barnabas to Antioch, we are adopting the opinion most in accordance with the independent standing-point occupied by St. Paul. And this, moreover, is the view which harmonizes best with the narrative of Scrip- ture, where the order ought to be reverently regarded as well as the words. In the order of Scripture narration, if it cannot be proved that the preaching of Peter at Cassarea was chronologically earlier than the preaching of Paul at Antioch, it is at least brought before us theologi- cally, as the beginning of tlie Gospel made known to the Heathen. When an important change is at hand, God usually causes a silent preparation in the minds of men, and some great fact occurs, which may be taken as a type and symbol of the general movement. Sucli a fact was the conversion of Cornelius, and so we must consider it. The whole transaction is related and reiterated with so much minute- ness,' that, if we were writing a history of the Church, we should be required to dwell upon it at length. But here we have only to do with it as the point of xmion between Jews and Gentiles, and as the bright start- ing-point of St. Paul's career. A few words may be allowed, which are suggested by this view of the transaction as a typical fact iu the progress of God's dispensations. The two men to whom the revelations were made, and even the places where the Divine interferences occurred, were charac- teristic of the event. Cornelius was in CiEsarea and St. Peter in Joppa ; — the Roman soldier in the modern city, which was built and named ia the Emperor's honor, — the Jewish Apostle in the ancient seaport which associates its name with the early passages of Hebrew history, — with the voyage of Jonah, the building of the Temple, the wars of the Maccabees.' ' See the whole narratire, Acts x. 1-xi. 19. the Apociypha, 1 Esd. v. 55 ; 1 Mace. x. 75, ^ Jonah i. 3; 2 Chr. ii. 16. See Josh. xiv. 5; 2 Mace. xii. 3, &c. six. 45 ; Ezra iii. 7, and various passages in 108 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PATJL. CHxp.ir. All the splendor of Caesarea, its buildings and its ships, and the Temple of Rome and the Emperor, which the sailors saw far out at sea,' all has long since vanished. Herod's magnifi(Knt city is a wreck on the shore. A few ruins are all that remain of the harbor. Joppa lingers on, like the Jewish people, dejected but not destroyed. Caesarea has perished, like the Roman Empire which called it into existence. And no men could well be more contrasted with each other than those two men, in whom the Heathen and Jewish worlds met and were recon- ciled. We know wliat Peter was — a Galilean fisherman, brought up in the rudest district of an obscure province, with no learning but sucli as he might have gathered in the synagogue of his native town. All his early days he had dragged his nets in the lake of Genesareth. And now he was at Joppa, lodging in the house of Simon the Tanner, the Apostle of a religion that was to change the world. Cornelius was an officer in tlie Roman army. No name was more honorable at Rome than that of the Cornelian House. It was the name borne by the Scipios, and by Sulla, and the mother of tlie Gracchi. In the Roman army, as in the army of modern Austria, the soldiers were drawn from different countries and spoke different languages. Along the coast of which we are speak- ing, many of them were recruited from Syria and Judaea.'' But the corps to which Cornelius belonged seems to have been a cohort of Italians sep- arate from tlie legionary soldiers,' and hence called tlie " Italian cohort." He was no doubt a true-born Italian. Educated in Rome, or some pro- vincial town, he had entered upon a soldier's life, dreaming perhaps of military glory, but dreaming as little of that better glory which now sur- rounds the Cornelian name, — as Peter dreamed at the lake of Genesa- reth of becoming the chosen companion of the Messiah of Israel, and of throwing open the doors of the Catholic Church to the dwellers in Asia and Africa, to the barbarians on the remote and unvisited shores of Europe, and to the undiscovered countries of the West. But to return to our proper narrative. When intelligence came to Jerusalem that Peter had broken through the restraints of the Jewish Law, and had even " eaten " at the table of the Gentiles,* there was gen- eral surprise and displeasure among " those of the circumcision." But when he explained to them all the transaction, they approved his conduct, and praised God for His mercy to the Heathen. * And soon news came ^ A full account of Ciesarea will be given, be certain " Italian volunteers," mentioned in when we come to the period of St. Paul's an inscription as serving in Syria. Akcrmann't imprisonment there. Numismatic III. of the New Test. p. 34. 2 Joseph. ^n(. xiv. 15, 10; TTar, i. 17, 1. < Acts xi. 3. Seex.48. No such freedom ' Not a cohort of the " Legio Italica," and of intercourse took place in liis own reception which was raised by Nero. See above, p. 26, of his Gentile guests, x. 23. note. Possibly the corps of Cornelius might ' Acts xi. 18. CHAP. IV. MISSION OF BARNABAS. 109 from a greater distance, which showed that the same unexpected change was operating more widely. Wc have seen that the persecution, in whicli Stephen was killed, I'esulted in a general dispersion of the Christians. Wherever they went, they spoke to their Jewish brethren of their faith that the promises had been fulfilled in the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This dispersion and preaching of the Gospel extended even to the island of Cyprus, and along the Phcenician coast as far as Antioch. For some time the glad tidings were made known only to the scattered children of Israel.' But at length some of the Hellenistic Jews, natives of Cyprus and Gyrene, spoke to the Greeks^ themselves at Antioch, and the Divine Spirit gave such power to the Word, that a vast number "believed and turned to the Lord." The news was not long in travelling to Jerusalem. Perhaps some message was sent in haste to the Apostles of the Church. The Jewish Christians in Antioch might be perplexed how to deal with their new Gentile converts : and it is not unnatural to sup- pose that the presence of Barnabas might be anxiously desired by the fellow-missionaries of his native island. We ought to observe the honoi'able place which the island of Cyprus was permitted to occupy in the first work of Christianity. We shall soon trace the footsteps of the Apostle of the Heathen in the beginning of his travels over the length of this island ; and see here the first earthly potentate converted, and linking his name forever with that of St. Paul.' Now, while Saul is yet at Tarsus, men of Cyprus are made the instru- ments of awakening the Gentiles ; one of them might be that " Muasou of Cyprus," who afterwards (then " a disciple of old standing") was his host at Jerusalem ;* and Joses tlie Levite of Cyprus,' whom the Apostles had long ago called " the Son of Consolation," and who had removed all the prejudice which looked suspiciously on Saul's conversion,^ is the first teacher sent by the Mother-Church to the new disciples at Antioch. " He was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." He rejoiced when he saw what God's grace was doing ; he exhorted ' all to cling fast to the Saviour whom they had found ; and he labored himself with abun- ' See xi. 19, 20. nearly BimnltaneouJ, that of Cornelias being ^ Acts xi. 20. We are strongly of opinion the great typical transaction on which our that the correct reading here is not " Grecians " attention is to be fixed. (A. v.), but Greeks, probably in the sense of ^ Acts xiii. 6-9. proselytes of the Gate. Thus they were in * Acts xxi. 16. the same position as Cornelius. It has been ' Acts iv. 36. See, howcTCi-, the next note doubted which case was prior in point of time. but one. Some are of opinion that the events at Antioch * Acts ix. 27. tools place first. Otliers believe that those who ' Acts xi. 23. The " Son of Consolation," Jpoke to the Greeks at Antioch had previously of iv. 36, ought rather to be translated " Sou heard of the conversion of Cornelius. There of Exhortation" or " Son of Prophecy." See aeems no objection to supposing the two cases xiii. 1. 110 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. ciiap.it. danl success. But feeling the greatness of the work, and remembering the zeal and strong character of his friend, whose vocation to this par- ticular task of instructing the Heathen was doubtless well known to him, " he departed to Tarsus to seek Saul." Whatever length of time had elapsed since Saul came from Jerusalem to Tarsus, and however that time had been employed by him, — whether he had already founded any of those churches in his native Cilicia, which we read of soon after (Acts xv. 41), — whether (as is higlily probable) he had there undergone any of those manifold labors and sufferings recorded by himself (2 Cor. xi.) but omitted by St. Luke, — whether by active intercourse with the Gentiles, by study of their literature, by travelling, by discoursing with the philosophers, he had been making himself acquainted with their opinions and their prejudices, and so pre- paring his mind for the work that was before him, — or whether he had been waiting in silence for the call of God's providence, praying for guid- ance from above, reflecting on the condition of the Gentiles, and gazing more and more closely on the plan of the world's redemption, — liow- ever this may be, it must have been an eventful day when Barnabas, having come across the sea from Scloucia, or round by the defiles of Mount Amanus, suddenly appeared in the streets of Tarsus. Tiie last time the two friends had met was in Jerusalem. All that they then hoped, and probably more than they then thought possible, had occurred. " God had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life " (xi. 18). Barnabas had " seen the grace of God " (xi. 23) with his own eyes at Antioch ; and under his own teaching " a great multitude " (xi. 24) had been " added to tlie Lord." But he needed assistance. He needed the presence of one whose wisdom was higher than his own, wlioso zeal was an example to all, and wliose peculiar mission had been miraculously declared. Saul recognized the voice of God in the words of Barnabas : and the two friends travelled in all liaste to the Syrian metropolis. There they continued " a whole year," actively prosecuting the sacred work, teaching and confirming those who joined themselves to the assem- blies^ of the ever-inereasuig Cluirch. As new converts, in vast numbers, came in from the ranks of the Gentiles, the Church began to lose its ancient appearance of a Jewish sect,^ and to stand out in relief, as a great self-existent community, in the face both of Jews and Gentiles. Hitherto it had been possible, and even natural, that the Christians should be considered, by the Jews themselves, and by the Heathen whose notice they attracted, as only one among the many theological parties., ■which prevailed in Jerusalem and in the Dispersion. But when Gen- i See Acte xi. 26. ' See above, pp. 29 and 62. CHAP.nr. THE NAME " CHKISTIAN." Ill tiles began to listen to what was preached concerning Christ, — when they were united as bretln-en on equal terms, and admitted to baptism without the necessity of previous circumcision, — when the Mosaic features of this society were lost in the wider character of the New Covenant, — then it became evident that these men were something more than the Pharisees or Sadducees, the Essencs ' or Herodians, or any sect or party among the Jews. Thus a new tei-m in the vocabulary of the human race came into existence at Antioch about the year 44. Thus Jews and Gentiles, who, under the teaching of St. Paul, believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Saviour of the world, " were first called C/iristians." It is not likely that they received this name from the Jews. The " Children of Abraham " ^ employed a term much more expressive of hatred and contempt. They called them " the sect of the Nazarenes."' These disciples of Jesus traced their origin to Nazareth in Galilee : and it was a proverb, that nothing good could come from Nazareth.* Besides this, there was a further reason why the Jews would not have called the disciples of Jesus by the name of " Christians." The word " Christ " Las the same meaning with " Messiah ; " and the Jews, however blinded and prejudiced on this subject, would never have used so sacred a word to point an expression of mockery and derision ; and they could not have used it in grave and serious earnest to designate those whom they held to be the followers of a false Messiah, a fictitious Christ. Nor is it likely that the " Christians " gave this name to themselves. In the Acts of the Apostles, and in their own letters, we find them designating them- selves as " bretliren," " disciples," " believers," " saints." ^ Only in two places' do we find the term " Christians ;" and in both instances it is implied to be a term used by those who are without. There is little doubt that the name originated with the Gentiles, who began now to see that this new sect was so far distinct from the Jews, that thoy might : naturally receive a new designation. And the form of the word implies , that ii came from the Romans,' not from the Greeks. The word i "Christ" W2s often in the convei"sation of the believers, as we know it to I have been constantly in their letters. " Christ " was the title of Him, ; whom they avowed as their leader and their chief. They confessed that 1 See a1)0vc, p. 32. ' So we read in the Civil Wars of "Mari- ^ Matt. iii. 9 ; Luke iii. 8 ; John viii. 39. ans " and " Ponipeians " i'or tlio ]}artisans of = Acts xxiv. 5. Marius and Pompey ; and, under the Empire. ' John i 46. See John vii. 41, 52; Luke of " Othonians " and " Vitellians " for the par- i. 2, &c. tisans of Otho and Vitcllius. The word " He- ' Acts XV. 23, ix. 26, v. 14, ix. 32; Eom. rodians " (Matt. xxii. 16 ; Mark iii. 6, xii> 13J -. 25 ; Col. i. 2. &c. is formed exactly in the same way. ' Acts xxvi. 28, and 1 Pet. iv. 16. 112 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. it. this Christ had been crucified ; but they asserted that He was risen from the dead, and tliat He guided them by His invisible power. Thus " Christian " was the name wliicli naturally found its place in the reproachful language of their enemies.' In the first instance, we have every reason to believe that it was a term of ridicule and derision.' And it is remarkable that the people of Antioch were notorious for inventing names of derision, and for turning their wit into the channels of ridi- cule.' In every way tliere is something very significant in the place where we first received the name we bear. Not in Jerusalem, the city of the Old Covenant, the city of tlie people who were chosen to the exclusion of all others, but in a Heathen city, the Eastern centre of Greek fashion and Roman luxury ; and not till it was shown that the New Covenant was inclusive of all others ; then and there we were first called Christians, and the Chui-ch received from the world its true and honorable name. In narrating the journeys of St. Paul, it will now be our duty to speak of Antioch, not Jerusalem, as his point of departure and return. Let us look, more closely than has hitherto been necessary, at its character, its history, and its appearance. The position which it occupied near the abrupt angle formed by the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor, and in the opening where the Orontos passes between the ranges of Lebanon and Taurus, has already been noticed.* And we have mentioned the numer- ous colony of Jews whicli Seleucus introduced into his capital, and raised to an equality of civil rights with the Greeks.^ There was every thing in the situation and circumstances of this city, to make it a place of concourse for all classes and kinds of people. By its harbor of Se- leucia it was in communication with all the trade of the Mediterranean; and, through the open country behind the Lebanon, it was conveniently approached by the caravans from Mesopotamia and Arabia. It united the inland advantages of Aleppo with the maritime opportunities of Smyrna. It was almost an oriental Rome, in which all the forms of the civilized life of the Empire found some representative. Througli the 1 It is a Latin derivative from tlie Greek " Christian " is used so proverbially for aH term for the Messiah of the Jews. It is eon- that is good, that it has been applied to benev- nected with the office, not the name, oi our olent actions in which Jews have participated. Saviour ; which harmonizes with the impor- - It is needless to remark that it soon tant fact, that in the Epistles He is usually became a title of glory. Julian tried to sub- called not " Jesus " but " Christ." The word stitutc the term " Galilean " for " Christian." "Jesuit" (which, by the way, is rather Greek ^ Apollonius of Tyana was driven out of than Latin) did not come into the vocabulary the city by their insults, and sailed away (like, of the Church till after the lapse of 1 ,500 years. St. Paul ) from Seleucia to Cyprus, where he It is not a little remarkable that the word " Jes- visited Paphos. See Ch. X. nit" is a proverbial term of reproach, even in * P. 19. Roman- Catholic countries; while the word ' P. 16. CHAP. IV. AKTIOCH. 113 first two centuries of the Cliristian era, it was what Constantinople became afterwards, " the Gate of the East." And, indeed, the glory of the city of Ignatius was only gradually eclipsed by that of the city of Chrysostom. Tliat great preacher and commentator himself, who knew them both by familiar residence, always speaks of Antiocli with peculiar reverence,' as the patriarchal city of the Cliristian name. There is something curiously prophetic in the stories which are told of the first founding of this city. Like Romulus on the Palatine, Seleucus is said to have watched the flight of birds from tlie summit of Mount Casius. An eagle took a fragment of the flesh of his sacrifice, and carried it to a point on the seashore, a little to the north of the mouth of the Orontes. There he founded a city, and called it Sdcucia^' after his own name. This was on the 23d of April. Again, on the 1st of May, he sacrificed on the hill Silpius ; and then repeated the cere- mony and watched the auguries at the city of Antigonia, which his vanquished rival, Antigonus, had begun and left unfinished. An eagla again decided that this was not to be his own metropolis, and carried the flesh to the hill Silpius, which is on the south side of the river, about the place where it turns from a northerly to a westerly direction. Five or six tliousand Athenians and Macedonians were ordered to convey the stones and timber of Antigonia down the river ; and Antioch was founded by Seleucus, and called after his father's name.' This fable, invented perhaps to give a mythological sanction to what was really an act of sagacious prudence and princely ambition, is well worth remembering. Seleucus was not slow to recognize the wisdom of Antigonus in choosing a site for his capital, which should place it in ready communication both with the shores of Greece and with liis eastern territories on the Tigris and Euphrates ; and he followed the example promptly, and completed his work with sumptuous magnificence. Pew princes have ever lived with so great a passion for the building of cities ; and this is a feature of his character which ought not to be unnoticed in this narrative. Two at least of his cities in Asia Minor have a close connection with the life of St. Paul. Tlieso arc the Pisidian Antioch* and the Plirygian Laodiciea,' one called by the name of his father, the other of his mother. He is said to have built in all nine Seleucias, six- teen Antiochs, and sis Laodicaeas. This love of commemorating the 1 In his homilies on St. M tthew he tells ^ Sec Acts xiii. 4. the people of Antioch, that though they hoasted ' Some say that Seleucus called the city of their city's pre-eminence in having first en- after his son. joyed the Christian name, they were willing * Acts xiii. 14, xiv. 21 ; 2 Tim. iii. 11. enough to be surpassed in Christian virtue by ' Coloss. iv. 13, 15, 16. See Rev. i. U, more homely cities. ill. 14. < 114 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. ciiap.it. members of his family was conspicuous in his worlds by the Orontes. Besides Seleucia and Antioch, he built, in the immediate neigliborliood, a Laodictea in honor of his mother, and an Apamea in honor of hig wife. But by far the most famous of these four cities was the Syrian Antioch. "We must allude to its edifices and ornaments only so far as they are due to the Greek kings of Syria and the first five Csesars of Rome.' If we were to allow our description to wander to the times of Justinian or the Crusaders, though these are the times of Antioch's greatest glory, we should be trespassing on a period of history which does not belong to us, Strabo, in the time of Augustus, describes the city as a Tctrapolis, or union of four cities. The two first were erected by Seleucus Nicator himself, in the situation already described, between Mount Silpius and the river, on that wide space of level ground where a few poor habita- tions still remain by the banks of the Orontes. The river has gradually changed its course and appearance, as the city has decayed. Once it flowed round an island which, like the island in the Seine,* by its thor- oughfares and bridges, and its own noble buildings, became part of a magnificent whole. But, in Paris, tlie Old City is on the island ; in Antioch, it was the New City, built by the second Seleucus and the third Antiochus. Its chief features were a palace, and an arch like that of Napoleon. The fourth and last part of the Tctrapolis was built by Antiochus Epiphanes, where Mount Silpius rises abruptly on the south. On one of its craggy summits he placed, in the fervor of his Romanizing mania,' a temple dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus ; and on another, a strong citadel, which dwindled to the Saracen Castle of the first Crusade. At the rugged bases of the mountain, the ground was levelled for a glorious street, which extended for four miles across the length of tho city, and where sheltered crowds could walk through continuous colon- nades from the eastern to the western suburb.* Tho whole was surrounded by a wall, which, ascending to the heights and returning to the river, does not deviate very widely in its course from the wall of the Middle Ages, which can still be traced by the fragments of ruined tow- ers. This wall is assigned by a Byzantine writer to Tiberius, but it seems more probable that the Emperor only repaired wliat Antiochus Epiphanes had built.* Turning now to the period of the Empire, we find ' In onr larger editions is a plan of the ' See above, p. 25, n. 1. ancient city, adopted (with some mollifications) * A comparison has been instituted aboTO from the plan in the work mentioned below, n. between Paris and Antioch : and it is hiirdly 6. See a fuller account of Antioch in Dr. possible now (1860) to revise this paragraph Smith's Did. of Geoj. for tho press without alluding to the Rue de * Julian tho Apostate suggests a parallel Eivoli. between Paris and Antioch. See Gibbon's ' See Miiller, Antiq. Antioch. jip. 54 and 19th and 23d chapters. 81. CHAP. IV. CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS OF ANTIOCH. 115 that Antioch had memorials of all the great Romans whoso names havo been mentioned as yet in this biography. Wlien Pompey was defeated by CiEsar, the conqueror's name was perpetuated in this Eastern city by an aqueduct and by baths, and by a basilica called C^sarium. In the reign of Augustus, Agrippa ^ built in all cities of the Empire, and Herod of Judaea followed the example to the utmost of his power. Both found employment for their munificence at Antioch. A gay suburb rose under the patronage of the one, and the other contributed a road and a portico. The reign of Tiberius was less remarkable for great arcliitectural works ; but the Syrians by the Orontcs had to thank him for many improvements and restorations in their city. Even the four years of his successor left behind them the aqueduct and the baths of Caligula. The character of the inhabitants is easily inferred from the influences which presided over the city's growth. Its successive enlargement by tho Seleucids proves that their numbers rapidly increased from the first. The population swelled still further, when, instead of the metropolis of the Greek kings of Syria, it became the residence of Roman gov- ernors. The mixed multitude received new and important additions in the officials who were connected with the details of provincial admin- istration. Luxurious Romans were attracted by its beautiful climate. New wants continually multiplied the business of its commerce. Its gardens and houses grow and extended on the north side of the river. Many are the allusions to Antioch, in the history of those times, as a place of singular pleasure and enjoyment. Here and there, an elevating thought is associated with its name. Poets have spent their young days at Antioch,' great generals have died there,^ emperors have visited and admired it.* But, for the most part, its population was a worthless rab- ble of Greeks and Orientals. The frivolous amusements of the theatre were the occupation of their life. Their passion for races, and tlie ridic- ulous party quarrels* connected with them, were tlie patterns of those which afterwards became the disgrace of Byzantium. The oriental cle- ment of superstition and imposture was not less active. The Chaldean astrologers found their most credulous disciples in Antiocli.'' Jewish ^ This friend of AugusUis and Maecenas to G«rraanicu3 and his nolileminded wife, must be carefully distinguished from that And yet they were the parents of Caligula, grandson of Herod who bore the same name, * For all that long scries of emperors whose and whose death is one of the subjects of this names are connected with Antioch, see Miiller. chapter. For the works of Herod the Great ^ The Dlae Faction and the Grem Faction at Antioch, see Joseph. Ant. xvi. 5, 3 ; War, were notorious under the reigns of Caligula i- 21, 11. and Claudius. Both emperors patronized the ^ See Cic. pro Archia Poeta. latter. ' All readers of Tacitus will recognize the * Chrysostom complains that even Chris- allusion. (See 4nn. ii. 72.) It is not possible tians, in his day, were led away by this passion to write about Antioch without some allusion for horoscopes. Juvenal traces the supersti- 116 THE LIFE Ai^'D EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cdap.it impostors,' sufficiently common tlirougliout the East, found tlicir l)cst opportunities here. It is probable that no populations have ever hten more abandoned than those of oriental Greek cities under the Roxan Empire, and of these cities Antioch was the greatest and the wcrnt.^ If we wish to realize the appearance and reality of the complicated Heathenism of the first Christian century, we must endeavor to im- agine the scene of that suburb, the famous Daphne,^ with its foxrnviins and groves of bay-trees, its bright buildings, its crowds of liceii-ious votaries, its statue of Apollo, — where, under the climate of Syria and the wealthy patronage of Rome, all that was beautiful in nature a- id in art had created a sanctuary for a perpetual festival of vice. Thus, if any city, in the first century, was worthy to be callec: the Heathen Queen and Metropolis of the East, that city was Antioch. &he Avas represented, in a famous allegorical statue, as a female figure, si-uted on a rock and crowned, with the river Orontes at her feet.* With ihis image, which art has made perpetual, we conclude our descripiion. There is no excuse for continuing it to the age of Vespasian and Titus, when Judaea was taken, and the Western Gate, decorated with the spoils, was called the " Gate of the Cherubim,"^ — or to the Saracen age, when, after many years of Christian history and Christian mythology, we find the " Gate of St. Paul " placed opposite the " Gate of St. George," and when Duke Godfrey pitched his camp between the river and the city- wall. And there is reason to believe that earthquakes, the constant enemy of the people of Antioch, have so altered the very appearance of its site, that such description would be of little use. As the Vesuvius of Virgil or Pliny would hardly be recognized in the angry neighbor of mod- ern Naples, so it is more than probable that the dislocated crags, which still rise above the Orontes, are greatly altered in form from the fort- crowned heights of Seleucus or Tiberius, Justinian or Tancred. Earthquakes occurred in each of the reigns of Caligula and Claudius.' And it is likely that, when Saul and Barnabas were engaged in their tions of Heathen Rome to Antioch. " In * For this celebrated statne of the Ti>xv Tiberim dcfluxit Orontes." 'AvTioxriac, or Genius of Antioch, so constantly ' Compare the cases of Simon Magus (Acts represented on coins, see Miiller, Aniiq. Anti- viii.), Elymas the Sorcerer (Acts xiii ), and ocA. pp. 35-41. The engraving bore given is tlie sons of Sceva (Acts xix.). We shall have from Pistolesi's Valicano. occasion to return to this subject again. ' Tlie Byzantine writer Malalas says, that 2 Ausonius hesitates between Antioch and Titus built a theatre at Antioch where a syna Alexandria, as to the rank they occupied in gogue had been. I and vice. " One earthquake, according to Malalas, ' Gibbon's description of Daphne (ch. occurred on the morning of March 23, in the xxiii.) is well known. The sanctuary was on year 37, and another soon afterwards. the high ground, four or five miles to the S W. of Antioch. See Smith's Die. ofths Bible. Allogovionl Statue of Antioch In Syria cBAP.rv. FAMINE. —MISSION TO JERUSALEM. 117 apostolic work, parts of the city had something of that appearance which still makes Lisbon dreary, new and handsome buildings being raised in close proximity to the ruins left by the late calamity. It is remarkable how often great physical calamities are permitted by God to follow in close succession to each other. That age, which, as we have seen, had been visited by earthquakes, was presently visited by famine. The reign of Claudius, from bad harvests or other causes, was a period of general distress and scarcity " over the whole world."' In the fourth year of his reign, we are told by Josephus that the famine was so severe, that the price of food became enormous, and great numbers perished.^ At this time it happened that Helena, the mother of Izatcs, king of Adiabeno, and a recent convert to Judaism, came to worship at Jerusalem. Moved with compassion for the misery she saw around her, she sent to purchase corn from Alexandria and figs from Cyprus, for distribution among the poor. Izates himself (who had also been converted by one who bore the same name ' with him who baptized St. Paul) shared the charitable feelings of his mother, and sent large sums of money to Jerusalem. While this i-elief came from Assyria, from Cyprus, and from Afiica to the Jewish sufferers in Judsea, God did not suffer His own Christian people, probably the poorest and certainly the most disregai-dcd in that country, to perish in the general distress. And their relief also came from nearly the same quarters. While Barnabas and Saul were evangelizing the Syrian capital, and gathering in the harvest, the first seeds of which had been sown by " men of Cyprus and Cyrene," certain prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus an- nounced that a time of famine was at hand.* The Gentile disciples felt that they were bound by the closest link to those Jewish brethren whom though they had never seen they loved. " For if the Gentiles had been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty was also to minister unto them in carnal things." * No time was lost in preparing for tlie coming distress. All the members of the Christian community, according to their means, " determined to send relief," Saul and Barnabas being chosen to take the contribution to the elders at Jerusalem." About the time when these messengers came to the Holy City on their errand of love, a worse calamity than that of famine had fallen upon the ^ Besides the famine in Jadcea, we read of the court of Adiabene, and thus obtained influ- three others in the reign of Claudius; one in ence witli the king. (Joseph. Ant. xx. 2, 3.) Greece, mentioned by Eusebius, and two in See what has been said above (pp. 18, and 93, Rome, the first mentioned by Dio Cassius, the n. 4) about the female proselytes at Damascus second by Tacitus. and Iconium. ^ Ant. iii. 15, 3, xx. 2, 5, and 5, 2. * Acts xi. 28. ' This Ananias was a Jewish merchant, ' Rom. xv. 27. who made proselytes among the women about ' Acts xi. 29, 30. 118 ■ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PATTL. chap. nr. Church. One Apostle had been murdered, and another was in prison. There is something touching in the contrast between tlie two brothers, James and John. One died before the middle of the first Christian cen- tury; the other lived on to its close. One was removed just when his Master's kingdom, concerning which he had so eagerly inquired,' was be- ginning to show its real character; he probably never heard the word " Christian " pronoimced. Zebedee's other sou remained till the anti- Christian ^ enemies of the faith were " already come," and was laboring against them when his brother had been fifty years at rest hi the Lord, lie who had foretold the long service of St. John revealed to St. Peter that he should die by a violent death.^ But the time was uot yet come. Herod had bound him with two chains. Besides the soldiers who watched his sleep, guards were placed before the door of the prison.* And " after the passover"' the king intended to bring him out and gratify the people with his death. But Herod's death was nearer than St. Peter's. For a moment we see the Apostle iu captivity and the king in the plenitude of his power. But before the autumn a dreadful change had taken place. On the 1st of August (we follow a probable calculation," and borrow some circumstances from the Jewish historian) '^ there was a great commemora- tion in Cffisarea. Some say it was in honor of the Emperor's safe return from the island of Britain. However this might be, the city was crowded, and Herod was there. On the second day of the festival he came into tlie theatre. That theatre had been erected by his grandfather,* who had murdered the Innocents ; and now the grandson was there, who had mur- dered an Apostle. The stone seats, rising in a great semicircle, tier above tier, were covered with an excited multitude. The king came in, clothed in magnificent robes, of which silver was the costly and brilliant material. It was early in the day, and the sun's rays fell upon the king, so that the eyes of the beholders were dazzled with the brightness which surrounded him. Voices from the crowd, here and there, exclaimed that it was the apparition of something divine. And when he spoke and made an oi'ation to the people, they gave a shout, saying, " It is the voice of a God and not 1 See Mark x. 35-45 ; Acts i. 6. ' See Joseph. Ant. xr. 9, 6. It is from 2 1 John ii. 18, iv. 3; 2 John 7. his narrative (xix. 8, 2) that we know llie * John xxi. 18-22. See 2 Pet. i. 14. theatre to have been the scene of Agrippa's * For the question of the distribution of deatli-strokc. The "throne" (Acts xii. 21) Boldiers on this occasion, we may refer to is the official " tribunal," as in Acts xviii. 12, Hackett's notes on v. 4 ond v. 40. 10, 17. Josephus says notliing of the qiiancl ^ Inadvertently transhited "after Easter" with the Tyrians and Sidonians. Probably in the A. V. Acts xii. 4. it arose simply from mercantile relations (see ° That of Wieseler. 1 Kings v. 11; Ezck. xxvii. 17), and their ' Compare Acts xii. 20-24 with Josephus, desire for reconciliation (Acts xii. 20) would Ant. xix. 8, a naturally be increased by the existing famine. CHAP. IV. DEATH OF HEBOD AGEIPPA I. 119 of a man." But in the midst of this idolatrous ostentation the angel of God suddenly smote him. He was carried out of the theatre a dying man, and on the 6th of August he was dead. Tliis was that year, 44,' on which we have already said so much. The country was placed again under Roman governors, and hard times were at hand for the Jews. Herod Agrippa had courted their favor. He had done much for them, and was preparing to do more. Josephus tells us, that " he had begun to encompass Jerusalem with a wall, which, had it been brought to perfection, would have made it impracticable for the Romans to take the city by siege : but his deatli, which happened at Caesarea, before he had raised the walls to their due height, prevented him." ^ That part of the city, which this boundary was intended to enclose, was a suburb when St. Paul was converted. The work was not completed till the Jews were preparing for their final struggle with the Romans : and the Apostle, wlien he came from Antioch to Jerusalem, must have noticed the unfinished wall to the north and west of the old Damascus gate. We cannot determine the season of the year when he passed this way. We are not sure whether the year itself was 44 or 45. It is not probable that he was in Jerusalem at the passover, when St. Peter was in prison, or that he was praying with those anxious disciples at the " house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark." ^ But there is this link of interesting connection between that house and St. Paul, that it was the familiar home of one who was afterwards (not always * without cause for anxiety or reproof) a companion of his journeys. When Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch, they were attended by " John, whose surname was Mark." With the affection of Abraham towards Lot, liis kinsman* Barnabas withdrew him from the scene of persecution. We need not doubt that higher motives were added, — that at the first, as at tiio last,* St. Paul regarded him as " profitable to him for the ministry." Thus attended, the Apostle willingly retraced his steps towards Antioch. A field of noble enterprise was before him. He could not doubt that God, who had so prepared him, would work by his means great conversions among the Heathen. At this point of his life, we cannot avoid noticing those circumstances of inward and outward preparation, which fitted him for his peculiar position of standing between the Jews and Gentiles. He 1 Roman-Catholic writers here insert vari- to have held the See of Antioch for seven year» ous passages of the traditionary life of St. before that of Rome. Peter; his journey from Antioch through ^ IFai, ii. 11, 6. Asia Minor to Rome ; his meeting with Simon ' Acts xii. 12. Magus, &c., and the other Apostles ; their * See Acts xiii. 13, xv. 37-39. general separation to preach the Gospel to the ' Not necessarily " nephew." See i future Gentiles in all parts of the world ; the formation note on Col. iv. 10. of the Apostles' Creed, &c. St. Peter is alleged « 2 Tim. iv. 1 1 . See below. 120 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PATJL. chap. w. ■was not a Sadducee, he had never Hellenized, — he had been educated at Jerusalem, — every thing conspired to give him authority, when he ad- dressed his countrymen as a " Hebrew of the Hebrews." At the same time, in his apostoHcal relation to Christ, he was quite disconnected with tlie other Apostles ; he had come in silence to a conviction of the truth at a distance from the' Judaiziug Christians, and had early overcome those prejudices which impeded so many in their approaches to the Heathen. He had just been long enough at Jerusalem to bo recognized and welcomed by the apostolic college,' but not long enough even to be known by face " unto the churches in Judsea.'"^ He had been withdrawn into Cilicia till the baptism of Gentiles was a notorious and familiar fact to those very churches.^ He could hardly be blamed for continuing what St. Peter had already begun. And if the Spirit of God had prepared him for building up the United Church of Jews and Gentiles, and the Providence of God had directed all the steps of his life to this one result, we are called on to notice the singular fitness of this last employment, on which we have seen him engaged, for assuaging the suspicious feeling which separated tlie two great branches of the Church. In quitting for a time his Gentile converts at Antioch, and carrying a contribution of money to the Jewish Chris- tians at Jerusalem, he was by no means leaving the higher work for the lower. He was building for aftertimes. The interchange of mutual benevolence was a safe foundation for future confidence. Temporal com- fort was given in gratitude for spiritual good received. The Church's first days were christened with charity. No sooner was its new name received, in token of the union of Jews and Gentiles, than the sympa- thy of its members was asserted by the- work of practical benevolence. We need not hesitate to apply to that work the words which St. Paul used, after many years, of another collection for the poor Christians in Judsea : — " The administration of this service not only supplies the need of the Saints, but overflows in many thanksgivings xmto God ; while they praise God for this proof of your obedience to the Glad Tidings of Christ."* Coin of Claudius and Agrippa 1 Acts ix. 27. 2 Gal. i. 22. * 2 Cor. ix. 12-U. 8 Tlicse were the churches of Lyclda, S.iron, ' From the British Jruscum. Sec p. 130. Joppn, &c., wliich Peter had been visiting when We may refer here to Dr. Wordsworth's useful he was summoned to Ciesarea. Acts ix. 32-43. note on Acts xii. 1. r CHAPTER V. Second Part of the Acts of the Apostles. — Revelation at Antioch. — Public Devotions. — De- parture of Barnabas and Saul. — The Orontes. — History and Description of Seloucia. — Voyage to Cyprus. — Salamis. — Roman Provincial System. — Proconsuls and Propraetors. — Scrgius Paulus. — Oriental Impostors at Rome and in the Provinces. — Elymas Bar- jcsus. — History of Jewish Names. — Saul and Paul. THE second part of the Acts of the Apostles is generally reckoned to begin with the thirteentli chapter. At this point St. Paul begins to appear as the principal character ; and the narrative, gradually widen- ing and expanding with his travels, seems intended to describe to us, ia minute detail, the communication of the Gospel to the Gentiles. The thirteenth and fourteenth chapters embrace a definite and separate sub- ject : and this subject is the first journey of the first Christian missiona- I ries to the Heathen. These two chapters of the inspired record are the i authorities for the present and the succeeding chapters of this work, ia which we intend to follow the steps of Paul and Barnabas, in their cir- cuit through Cyprus and the southern part of Lesser Asia. The history opens suddenly and abruptly. We are told that there I were, in the Church at Antioch,' " prophets and teachers," and among j the rest " Barnabas," with whom we are already familiar. The others j were " Simeon, who was surnamcd Niger," and "Lucius of Cyrene " and I " Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch," — and " Saul ' who I still appears under his Hebrew name. We observe, moreover, noi only i that he is mentioned after Barnabas, but that he occupies the lowest place in this enumeration of "prophets and teachers." The distinction between these two olBces in the Apostolic Church will be discussed lieroaftcr.* At present it is sufficient to remark that the "prophecy" of tlie New Testament does not necessarily imply a knowledge of things to come, but rather a gift of exhorting with a peculiar force of inspiration. In tha Church's early miraculous days the " prophet " appears to have beea ranked higher than the " teacher."' And we may perhaps infer that, up to this point of the history, Barnabas had belonged to the rank of " prophets," and Saul to that of " teachers : " which would be in strict lAetsxiii. 1. 2 See Ch. XIII. • Compare Acts xiii. I with 1 Cor. xii. 28, 29 ; Eph. it. 11. 121 122 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OE ST. PAUL. chap. v. conformity with the inferiority of tlie latter to tlie former, wliich, as wo have seen, lias been hitherto observed. Of the other three, who are grouped with these two chosen missiona- ries, we do not know enough to justify any long disquisition. But we may remark in passing that there is a certain interest attaching to eoch one of them. Simeon is one of those Jews who bore a Latin surname in addition to their Hebrew name, like " John whose surname was Mark," mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter, and like Saul himself, whose change of appellation will presently be brought mider notice.* Lucius, probably the same who is referred to in the Epistle to the Romans," is a native of Cyrene, that African city which has already been noticed as abounding in Jews, and which sent to Jerusalem our Saviour's cross-bearer.' Manaen is spoken of as the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch : this was Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee ; and since we learn from Joscphus^ that this Herod and his brother Arche- laus were children of the same mother, and afterwards educated together at Rome, it is probable that this Christian prophet or teacher had spent his early childhood with those two princes, who were now both banished from Palestine to the banks of the Rhone.' These were the most conspicuous persons in the Church of Antioch, when a revelation was received of the utmost importance. The occasion on which the revelation was made seems to have been a fit preparation for it. The Clu'istians were engaged in religious services of peculiar solemnity. The Holy Ghost spoke to them, " as they ministered unto the Lord and fasted." The word here translated " ministered," has been taken by opposite controversialists to denote the celebration of the " sacrifice of the mass " on the one hand, or the exercise of tlie office of " preaching " on the other. It will be safer if we say simply that the Christian community at Antioch was engaged in one united act of prayer and humiliation. That this solemnity would be accompanied by words of exhortation, and that it would be crowned and completed by tlie Holy Communion, is more than probable ; that it was accompanied 1 See Acts xiii. 9. Compare Col. iv. 11. of his obscurity, botli his future power and ' Eom. xvi. 21. There is no reason what- future wickedness. The historian adds, that ever for supposing that St. Luke is meant. Herod afterwards treated the Esscnes with The Latin form of his name would be " Luca- great kindness. Nothing is more likely than nus," not " Lucius." that this Manaen was the fiithcr of the com- ' See above, p. 16, n. 6. panion of Herod's children. Another Jew of * Their mother's name was Malthace, a the same name is mentioned, at a later period Samaritan. TFur, i. 28, 4. See.4n(. xvii. 1, 3. ( PTar, ii. 17, 8, 9 ; ii/p, 5), as having encour- One of the sect of the Essenes (see p. 32), aged robberies, and come to a violent end. who bore the name of Manaen or Manaem, is The name is the same with that of the King mentioned by Joscphus {Ant. xv. 10, 5) as of Israel. 2 Kings xv. 14-22. having foretold to Ilerod the Great, in the days ' See abov«, pp. 26 and 51. CHAP.v. DEPAETUKE OF BAKNABAS AND SAUL. 123 I -with Fasting' we are expressly told. These religious services might ' have had a special reference to the means which were to be adopted for i the spread of the Gospel now evidently intended for all ; and the words " separate me now ^ Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them," may have been an answer to specific prayers. How this revelation was made, whether by the mouth of some of the prophets i who were present, or by the impulse of a simultaneous and general I inspiration, — whether the route to be taken by Barnabas and Saul was at this time precisely indicated,^ — and whetlwr tliey had previously received a conscious personal call, of which this was tlie public ratifi- cation,^ — it is useless to inquii-e. A definite work was pointed out, as now about to be begun under the counsel of God ; two definite agents in this work were publicly singled out: and we soon see them sent forth to their arduous undertaking, with the sanction of the Church at Antioch. Their final consecration and departure was the occasion of another religious solemnity. A fast was appointed, and prayers were offered up ; and, with that simple ceremony of ordination' which we trace through the earlier periods of Jewish history, and which we here see adopted under the highest authority in the Christian Church, " they laid their hands on them, and sent them away." The words are wonderfully simple ; but those who devoutly reflect on this great occasion, and on tlie posi- tion of the first Ciiristians at Antiocli, will not find it difficult to imagine the thoughts which occupied the hearts of the Disciples during these first " Ember Days of the Church* — their deep sense of the importance of the work which was uow beginning, — their faith in God, on whom they could rely in the midst of such difficulties, — their suspense du- ring the absence of those by whom their own faith had been forti- \ fled, — their anxiety for the intelligence they might bring on their I return. I Their first point of destination was the island of Cyprus. It is not I necessary, though quite allowable, to suppose that this particular course was divinely indicated in the original revelation at Antioch. Four ^ Tor the association of Fasting with Ordi- * St. Paul at least had long been conscious nation, see Bingham's Antiq. of the Christ. Ch. of his own vocation, and could only be waiting ' IV. vi. 6, XXI. ii. 8. to be summoned to his work. ^ This little word is important, and should ^ It forms no part of tlie plan of this work ; have been in the A. V. to enter into ecclesiastieal controversies. It is ; " It is evident that the course of St. Paul's sufficient to refer to Acts vi. 6 ; 1 Tim. iv U. ! journeys was often indeterminate, and regu- v. 22 ; 2 Tim. i. 6 ; Heb. vi. 2. 1 lated either by convenient opportunities (as in ® See Bingham, as above. Acts xxi. 2, xxviii. U), or by compulsion (as in xiv. 6, xvii. 14), or by supernatural admo- nitions (xxU. 21, xvi. 6-10). 124 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. v. reasons at least can be stated, which may have induced the Apostles, in the exercise of a wise discretion, to turn in the first instance to this island. It is separated by no great distance from the mainland of Syria ; its high mountain-summits are easily seen .' in clear weather from the coast near the mouth of the Orontes ; and in the summer season many vessels must often have been passing and repassing between Salamis and Scleucia. Besides this, it was the native-place of Barnabas.'' Since the time when " Andrew found his brother Simon, and brought him to Jesus," ^ and the Saviour was beloved in the house of " Martlia and her sister and Lazarus," * the ties of family relationship had not been without effect on the progress of the Gospel.* It could not be unnat- ural to suppose that the truth would be welcomed in Cyprus, when it was brought by Barnabas and his kinsman Mark * to their own connec- tions or friends. Moreover, the Jews were numerous in Salamis.' By sailing to that city they were following the track of the synagogues. Their mission, it is true, was chiefly to the Gentiles ; but their surest course for reaching them was through the medium of the Prose- lytes and the Hellenistic Jews. To these considerations we must add, in the fourth place, that some of the Cypriotes were already Christians. No one place out of Palestine, with the exception of Antioch, had been so honorably associated with the work of successful evangelization.* The palaces of Antioch were connected with the sea by the river Orontes. Strabo says that in his time they sailed up the stream in one day ; and Pausanias speaks of great Roman works which had improved the navigation of the channel. Probably it was navigable by vessels of some considerable size, and goods and passengers were conveyed by water between the city and the sea. Even in our own day, though there is now a bar at the mouth of the river, there has been a serious project of uniting it by a canal with the Euphrates, and so of re-establishing one of the old lines of commercial intercourse between the Mediterranean ' and the Indian Sea. The Orontes comes from the valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and does not, like many rivers, vary capriciously between a winter-torrent and a thirsty watercourse, but flows on continually to the sea. Its waters are not clear, but they are deep and rapid. Their course has been compared to that of the Wye. They wind round the bases of high and precipitous cliffs, or by riciily 1 Colonel Chcsney epcaks of "the lofty Panl himself. Acts xxiii. 16-33. Compare island of Cyprus as seen to the S. W. in the 1 Cor. vii. 16. distant horizon," from the bay of Antioch. ^ Acts xiii. 5. See xii. 25, and p. 120, a " Acts iv. 36. 4, above. ' John i. 41, 42. * John xi. 5. ' Acts xiii. 5. See below, pp. 129, 130. ' See an instance of this in the life of St. ' See Acts iv. 36, xi. 19, 20, xxi. 16. CHAF.T. DESCRIPTION OF SE4/EtTCIA, 125 cultivated banks, where the vegetation of the south, — the vine and the fig-tree, the myrtle, the bay, the ilex, and the arbutus, — is mingled with dwarf oak and English sycamore.* If Barnabas and Saul came down by water fi-om Antioch, this was the course of the boat which conveyed them. If they travelled the five or six leagues'- by land, they crossed the river at the north side of Antioch, and came along the base of the Pierian hills by a route which is now roughly covered with fragrant and picturesque shrubs, but which then doubtless was a track well worn by travellers, like the road from the Pirajus to Athens, or from Ostia to Rome.' Selcucia united the two characters of a fortress and a seaport. It was situated on a rocky eminence, which is the southern extremity of an elevated range of hills projecting from Mount Amanus. From the south- east, where the ruins of the Antioch Gate are still conspicuous, the ground rose towards the north-east into high and craggy summits ; and round the greater part of its circumference of four miles the city was protected by its natural position. Tiie hai-bor and mercantile suburb were on level ground towards tlie west; but here, as on the only weak point at Gibraltar, strong artificial defences had made compensation for the deficiency of nature. Soleucus, who had named his metropolis in his father's honor (p. 113), gave his own name to this maritime fortress ; and here, around his tomb,^ his successors contended for the key of Syria.' " Selcucia by the sea " was a place of great importance nnder the Seleucids and the Ptolemies ; and so it remained under the sway of the Romans. In consequence of its bold resistance to Tigranes, when he iwas in possession of all the neighboring country, Pompey gave it the privileges of a " Free City ; " " and a contemporary of St. Paul speaks of it as having those privileges still.'' The most remarkable work among the extant remains of Selcucia is an immense excavation, — probably the same with that which is mentioned by Polybius, — leading from the upper part of the ancient city to the sea. |It consists alternately of tunnels and deep open cuttings. It is difiicult |to give a confident opinion as to the uses for which it was intended. But 1 For views, with descriptions, sec Fisher's * Seleuctis was biiricJ here. [Si/ria, I. 5, 19, 77, II. 2S. ^ Wo may refer cs])ecially to the cliapters ^ Colonel Chcsney says, " The windings in which Polybius gives an account of tha ;ive a distance of al)Out forty-one miles, whilst siege of Seleucia in the war of Antioehus the 'the journey by land is only sixteen miles and Great with Ptolemy. In these chapters we :a half," — R. G. J. viii. p. 230. find the clearest description both of its militaiy I ' Dr. Yates observed traces of Eoraan pave- importance and of its topography, ment on the line of road between Antioch and ^ Strabo. See p. 43. Compare p. 22, n. 1. 'Seleucia. See his comprehensive paper on ' Pliny. Seleucia, in the Museum of Classical Antiquities "or June, 1852. 126 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap, r the best conjecture seems to be that it was constructed for the purpose of drawing off the water, wliicli might otherwise have done mischief to the houses and shipping in the lower part of the town ; and so arranged at the same time, as, when needful, to supply a rush of water to clear out the port. The inner basin, or dock, is now a morass ; but its dimensions can be measured, and the walls that surrounded it can be distinctly traced.' The position of the ancient flood-gates, and the passage through wliich the vessels were moved from the inner to the outer harbor, can be accurately marked. The very piers of the outer harbor are still to be seen under the water. Tlie southern jetty takes the wider sweep, and overlaps the northern, forming a secure entrance and a well-protected basin. The stones are of great size, " some of them twenty feet long, five feet deep, and six feet wide ; " * and they were fastened to each other with iron cramps. The masonry of ancient Seleucia is still so good, that not long since a Turkish Pacha' conceived the idea of clearing out and repairing the harbor. These piers * were unbroken when Saul and Barnabas came down to Seleucia, and the large stones fastened by their iron cramps protected the vessels in the harbor from the swell of the western sea. Here, in tlie midst of unsympathizing sailors, the two missionary Apostles, with their younger comjianion, stepped on board the vessel which was to convey them to Salamis. As they cleared the port, the whole sweep of the bay of Antioch opened on their left, — the low ground by the mouth of the Orontes, — the wild and woody country beyond it, — and then the peak of Mount Casius, rising symmetrically from the very edge of the sea to a height of five thousand feet.' On the right, in the soutli-west horizon, if the day was clear, they saw the island of Cyprus from the first. ^ The! current sets north-east and northerly between the island and the Syrian j coast.' But with a fair wind, a few hours would enable them to run downi 1 Pococke gives a rude plan of Seleuci.i, tiful feature of tliis bay. St. Paul must havej with the harbor, &c. A more exact and seen it in all his voyages to and from Antioch.' complete one will be found in the memoir of * See above, p. 124, n. 2. I Dr. rates. ' " In sailing from the southern shores ofl '^ Pococke, p. 183. Cyprus, with the winds adverse, you should] ' Ali Pasha, governor of Bagdad in 1835, endeavor to obtain the advantage of the set! once governor of Aleppo. of the current, which between Cyprus and the! * It seems that the names of the piers still mouths of the Nile always runs to the east-i retain the memory of this occasion. Dr. ward, changing its direction to the N. E. anci Yates s.iys that the southern pier is c.iUed N. as you near the coast of Syria." — Norici after the Apostle Paul, in contradistinction to p. 149. " The current, in general, continue' Us fellow, the pier of St. Barnabas. easterly along the Libyan coast, and E. N. E' ^ "The lofty Jebel-el-Akrab, rising 5,318 off Alexandria; thence advancing to the cosis feet above the sea, with its abutments extend- of Syria, it sets N. E. and more northerly; s- ing to Antioch." — Chcsney, p. 228. This that country vessels bound from Dnmictta t mountain is, however, a conspicuous and beau- an eastern port of Cyprus have been carric CHAP.v. SAL AMIS. 127 from Seleucia to Salamis ; and the land would rapidly rise in forms well known and familiar to Barnabas and Mark. Tlie coast of nearly every island of the Mediterranean has been minutely surveyed and described by British naval officers. Tlie two islands which were most intimately connected with St. Paul's voyages have been among the latest to receive this kind of illustration. The soundings of the coast of Crete are now proved to furnish a valuable commentary on the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts : and the chart of Cyprus sliould at least be consulted when we read the thirteenth cliapter. From Cape St. Andrea, the north-eastern point of the island, the coast trends rapidly to the west, till it reaches Cape Grego,' the south-eastern extremity. The wretched modern town of Famagousta is nearer the latter point than the former, and the ancient Salamis was situated a short distance to the north of Famagousta. Near Cape St. Andrea are two or three small islands, anciently called "The Keys." These, if tliey were seen at all, would soon be lost to view. Cape Grego is distinguished by a singular promontory of table land, whicli is very familiar to the sailors of our merchantmen and ships of war : and there is Httle doubt that the woodcut given in one of their manuals of sailing directions ^ represents that very " rough, lofty, table-shaped eminence " wliich Strabo mentions in his description of the coast, and which has been identified witli the Idalium of the classical poets. ■ The ground lies low in the neighborhood of Salamis ; and the town was situated on a bight of the coast to the nortli of the river Pedi!ii place between the towns of Pamphylia and tliose of Cyprus.^ It is tombs. Sevci-al monasteries and churches sail in either to the eastward or westward of now in ruins, of a low Gothic architecture, it, but the eastern passage is the widest and ;aremore easily identified; but the crumbling best." — Purdy, p. 251. The soundings may ;fragments of the sandstone with which they be seen in the Admiralty Chart. ;were constructed, only add to the incongruous ^ ^^t^ xxvii. 5, 6. * Acts xxviii. 11-13. |hcap around, that now covers the palace of ' And perhaps Paphos more especially, as !the Paphian Venus." — MS note by Captain the scat of government. At present Khalan- Graves, R.N. dri (Gulnar), to the south-east of Attaleia and ' Captain Graves, MS. Perga, is the port from which the Tatars ' "A great ledge of rocks lies in the entrance from Constantinople, conveying government 10 Papho, extending about a league ; you may despatches, usually cross to Cyprus. 142 THE LIFE A2TD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cha». vi. possible that St. Paul, having already preached the Gospel in Cilicia,* might wish now to extend it among those districts which lay more im- mediately contiguous, and the population of which was, in some respects, similar to that of his native province.^ He might also reflect that the natives of a comparatively unsophisticated district might be more likely to receive the message of salvation, than the inhabitants of those provinces which were more completely penetrated with the corrupt civilization of Greece and Rome. Or his thoughts might be turning to those numerous families of Jews, whom he well knew to be settled in the great towns beyond Mount Taurus, such as Antioch in Pisidia, and Iconium in Lycaonia, with the hope that his Master's cause would be most successfully advanced among those Gentiles, who flocked there, as everywhere, to the worship of the Synagogue. Or, fuially, he may have had a direct revelation from on high, and a vision, like that which had already appeared to him in the Temple,' or like tliat which he afterwards saw on the confines of Europe and Asia,* may have directed the course of his voyage. Whatever may have been the calculations of his own wisdom and prudence, or whatever supernatural intimations may have reached him, he sailed, with his companions Barnabas and John, in some vessel, of which tlie size, the cargo, and the crew, ai-o unknown to us, past the promontories of Drepanum and Acamas, and then across the waters of the Pamphylian Sea, leaving on the right the cliffs' which are the western boundary of Cilicia, to the innermost bend of the bay of Attaleia. This bay is a remarkable feature in the shore of Asia Minor ; and it is not without some important relations with the history of this part of the world. It forms a deep indentation in the general coast-line, and is bordered by a plain, which retreats itself like a bay into the mountains. From the shore to the mountains, across the widest part of the plain, the distance is a journey of eight or nine hours. Three principal rivers intersect tliis level space: the Catarrhactes, which falls over sea-cliflfs ■ near Attaleia, in the waterfalls which suggested its name ; and farther to the east the Oestrus and Eurymedon, which flow by Perga and Aspen-' dus to a low and sandy shore. About the banks of these rivers, and on' the open waters of the bay, whence the eye ranges freely over the ragged mountain summits which enclose tlie scene, armies and fleets had engaged in some of those battles of which tiie results were still felt in the day of St. Paul. From the base of tliat steep shore on the west, where a 1 See pp. 98-100. ' About C. Anamour (Anemuriiira, th * Strabo states this distinctly. southernmost point of Asia Minor), * Acts xxii. 17-21. See p. 97. (the ancient Coracesium), there a * Acts xvi. 9. 500 and 600 feet high. ira, tn( id Ala.T. cliffs o: I II CHAP. VI. THE CITY OF PERGA. 143 rugged knot of mountains is piled up into snowy heights above the rocks of Pliaselis, the united squadron of the Romans and Riiodiaus sailed across the bay in the year 190 B. C. ; and it was in rounding that promontory near Side on the east, that they caught sight of the ships of Antiochus, as tliey came on by the shore with tlie dreadful Hannibal on board. And close to the same spot where the Latin power then defeated the Greek king of Syria, another battle had been fought at an earlier period, in which the Greeks gave one of their last blows to the retreating force of Persia, and the Atlienian Cimon gained a victory both by land and sea ; thus winning, according to the boast of Plutarcli, in one day the laurels of Plataea and Salamis. On tliat occasion a large navy sailed up the river Eurymedon as far as Aspendus. Now, the bar at the mouth of the river would make this impossible. The same is the case with the river Oestrus, which, Strabo says, was navigable in his day for sixty stadia, or seven miles, to the city of Perga. Ptolemy calls this city an inland town of Pamphylia ; but so he speaks of Tarsus in Cilicia. And we have seen that Tarsus, though truly called an inland town, as being some distance from the coast, was nevertlieless a mercantile har- bor. Its relation with the Oydnus was similar to that of Perga with the Oestrus ; and the vessel which brought St. Paul to win more glorious victories tlian those of the Greek and Roman battles of the Eurymedon 3ame up the course of the Oestrus to her moorings near the Temple of Diana. ; All that Strabo tells us of this city is that the Temple of Diana was on in eminence at some short distance, and that an annual festival was held a honor of the goddess. Tlie cliief associations of Perga are with the ijrreck rather than the Roman period : and its existing remains are iescribed as being " purely Greek, there being no trace of any later inhabitants." ^ Its prosperity was probably arrested by the building of ittaleia- after the death of Alexander, in a more favorable situation on the hore of the bay. Attaleia has never ceased to be an important town since he day of its foundation by Attains Philadelplius. But when the traveller itches his tent at Perga, he finds only the encampments of shepherds, I'ho pasture their cattle amidst the ruins. These ruins are walls and bwers, columns and cornices, a theatre and a stadium, a broken aque- lUCt incrusted with the calcareous deposit of the Pamphylian streams, nd tombs scattered on both sides of the site of the town. Nothing se remains of Perga, but the beauty of its natural situation, " be- vcen and upon the sides of two hills, with an extensive valley in front, ' Perhaps some modification is requisite tural details of the theatre and stadium ar« re. Mr. Falkener noticed that the architec- Koman. " Acts xiv. 25. 144 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAT7L. chap. ti. watered by the river Oestrus, and backed by the mountains of the Taurus." ' The coins of Perga are a lively illustration of its character as a city of the Greeks.'' We have no memorial of its condition as a city of the Romans ; nor does our narrative require us to delay any longer in describing it. The Apostles made no long stay in Perga. This seems evident, not only from the words used at this point of tlie history,' but from the marked manner in wliich we are told that they did stay,^ on their return from the interior. One event, however, is mentioned as occurring at Perga, which, though noticed incidentally and in few words, was attended with painful feelings at the time, and involved the most serious consequences. It must have occasioned deep sorrow to Paul and Barnabas, and possibly even then some mutual estrangement : and afterwards it became the cause of their quarrel and separation.' Mark " departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to tho work." He came with them up the Oestrus as far as Perga ; but there he forsook them, and, taking advantage of some vessel wliich was sailing towards Palestine, he "returned to Jerusalem," * wliich had been his home in earlier years.'' We are not to suppose that this implied an absolute rejection of Ohristianity. A soldier who has wavered in one battle may live to obtain a glorious victory. Mark was afterwards not unwilling to accompany the Apostles on a second missionary journey ; * and actually did accompany Barnabas again to Oyprus.'-* Nor did St. , Paul always retain his unfavorable judgment of him (Acts xv. 38), but j long afterwards, in his Roman imprisonment, commended him to the ■ Colossians, as one who was " a fellow-worker unto the Kingdom of God," and " a comfort " to himself:'' and in his latest letter, just before hia death, he speaks of him again as one " profitable to him for the ministry." " Yet if we consider all the circumstances of his life, we shall not find it difficult to blame his conduct in Pamphylia, and to see good reasons why Paul should afterwards, at Antioch, distrust tbei steadiness of his character. The child of a religious mother, wlio had sheltered in her house the Christian Disciples in a fierce persecution, he: had joined himself to Barnabas and Saul, when they travelled from 1 This description is quoted or borrowed Perga, they went down, &.c." — Acts JtiT from Sir C. Fellows's Asia Minor, 1839, pp. 25. 190-193. 6 Acts XV. 37-39. ^ One of them, with Diana and the stng, is ^ Acts xiii. 13. given in the larger edition. ' Acts xii. 12, 25. ' This will be seen by comparing the Greek ' Acts xv. 37. of Acts xiii. 14 with xiv. 2i. Similarly, a » Acts xv. 39. 1" Co rapid journey is implied in xvii. 1. ii Or rather, "profitable to * " When they had preached the Word in him. 2 Tim. iv. 11. CHAP. VI. PERILS OF TEAVEL IN PISIDIA, 145 Jerusalem to Aiitiocli, on their return from a mission of charity. Ho had been a close spectator of tlie wonderful power of the religion of Christ, — he had seen the strength of faith under trial in his mother's home, — he had attended his kinsman Barnabas in his labors of zeal and love, — he had seen the word of Paul sanctioned and fulfilled by miracles, — he had even been tlie " minister" of Apostles in their suc- cessful enterprise ; ' and now he forsook them, when tliey were about to proceed through greater difficulties to more glorious success. We are not left in doubt as to the real character of his departure. He was drawn from tlie work of God by the attraction of an earthly home.- As he looked up from Perga to the Gentile mountains, his heart failed him, and he turned back with desire towards Jerusalem. He could not resolve to continue persevering, " in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers.'" "Perils of rivers" and "perils of robbers" — these words express the very dangers which St. Paul would be most likely to encounter on his journey from Perga in Pamphylia to Antioch in Pisidia. Tlie law- less and marauding habits of the population of those mountains which separate the table-land in the interior of Asia Minor from the plains on. the south coast, were notorious in all parts of ancient history. Strabo uses the same strong language both of the Isaurians^ who separated Cappadocia from Cilicia, and of their neighbors the Pisidians, whose native fortresses were the barrier between Phrygia and Pamphylia. We have the same character of the latter of these robber-tribes in Xenophon, who is the first to mention them; and in Zosimus, who relieves the history of the later empire by telling us of the adventures of a robber- chief, who defied the Romans, and died a desperate dcatii in these mountains.' Alexander the Great, when he heard that Memnon's fleet was in the ./Egean, and marched from Perga to rejoin Parmenio in Phrygia, found some of the worst difficulties of his whole campaign in penetrating through this district. The scene of one of the roughest campaigns connected with the wars of Aiitiochus tlie Great was among the hill-forts near the upper waters of the Oestrus and Eurymedon. No population through the midst of which St. Paul ever travelled, abounded more in those " perils of robbers," of which he himself speaks, than tho wild and lawless clans of the Pisidian Highlanders. 1 See Acts xiii. 5. ' The beautiful story of St. John and the ^ Matthew Henry pithily remarks: "Ei- robber (Euscb. Eccl. Nisi. in. 23) ivill natsi- ther lie did not like the work, or he wanted to rally occur to the reader. See also the fre- fio and see his mother." qucnt mention of Isaurian robbers in tbs 2 Cor. xi. 26. latter part of the life of Chrysostom, prefixed ' See p. 19. to the Benedictine edition of his works. 10 146 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.ti. And if on this journey he was exposed to dangers fi'om the attacks of men, there might be other dangers, not less imminent, arising from tho natural cliaractcr of the country itself. To travellers in the East there is a reality in " perils of rivers," which we in England are hardly aJble to understand. Unfamiliar with the sudden flooding of thirsty watercourses, we seldom compi-ehend the full force of some of the most striking images in the Old and New Testaments.' The rivers of Asia Minor, like all the rivers in the Levant, are liable to violent and sudden changes.' And no district in Asia Minor is more singularly characterized by its " water floods " than the mountainous tract of Pisidia, whore rivers burst out at the bases of huge cliffs, or dash down wildly through narrow ravines. The very notice of the bridges in Strabo, when he tells us how the Cestrua and Eurymedon tumble down from the heights and precipices of Selge to the Pamphylian Sea, is more expressive than any elaborate description. We cannot determine the position of any bridges which the Apostle may have crossed ; but his course was never far from tho channels of these two rivers : and it is an interesting fact, that his name' is still traditionally connected with one of tlicm, as we learn from the information recently given to an English traveller by the Archbishop of Pisidia.^ Such considerations i-especting the physical peculiarities of the country now traversed by St. Paul, naturally lead us into various trains of thought concerning the scenery, the climate, and the seasons.' And there aro certain probabilities in relation to the time of the year wlien tlie Apostle may be supposed to have journeyed this way, which may well excuse some remai'ks on these subjects. And this is all the more allowable, because we arc absolutely without any data for determining the year in which this first missionary expedition was undertaken. All that we can assert with confidence is that it must have taken place somewhere in the interval between the years 45 and 50.* But this makes us all tlic more desirous 1 Thus the true mc.ining of 2 Cor. xi. 26 had continued its course so far, is lost in tha is lost in the English translation. Similarly, mountains, &c." — Amndell's ^sm jV/nor, vol. in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 25, ii. p. 31. The river is probably the Euryme- 27), the word for " rivers " is translated don. " floods," and the image confused. See Ps. * The descriptive passages which follow xxxii. 6. are chiefly borrowed from "Asia Minor, 1839," " The crossing of the Halys by Croesus, as and " Li/cia, 1841," by Sir C. Fellows, and told by Herodotus, is an illustration of the " jTraoe/s m Z^ycia, 1847," by Lieutenant Spratt, difficulties presented by the larger rivers of K.N., and Professor E. Forbes. The writer Asia Minor. desires also to acknowledge his obligations to ^ " About two hours and a half from Is- various travellers, especially to the lamented barta, towards the south-east, is the village of Professor Forbes, also to Mr. Falkcner, and , Sav, where is the source of a river called the Dr. Wolff. Sav-Sou. Five hours and a half beyond, and ' See the Chronological Table in Ap- still towards the soutb-e.ist, is the village of pcndix III. Paoli {i)t. Paul); and here the river, which CHAP. VI. MOUNTAIN-SCEKEKY OF PISIDIA. 147 to determine, by any reasonable conjectures, tbe naovements of the Apostle in reference to a better chronology than that which reckons by successive years, — the chronology which furnislies us with the real imagery round his path, — the chronology of the seasons. Now we may well suppose that he might sail from Scleucia to Salamis at the beginning of spring. In that age and in those waters, the com- mencement of a voyage was usually determined by the advance of the season. The sea was technically said to be " open " in the month of March. If St. Paul began his journey in that month, the lapse of two months might easily bring him to Perga, and allow sufficient time for all that we are told of his proceedings at Salamis and Paphos. If we suppose him to have been at Perga in May, this would have been exactly the most natural time for a journey to the mountains. Earlier in the spring, the passes would have been filled with snow.' In the heat of summer the weather would have been less favorable for the journey. In the autumn the disadvantages would have been still greater, from the approaching difficulties of winter. But again, if St. Paul was at Perga in May, a further reason may be given why he did not stay there, but seized all the advantages of the season for prosecuting his journey to the interior. The habits of a people arc always determined or modified by the physical pe- culiarities of their country ; and a custom prevails among the inhabitants of this part of Asia Minor, which there is every reason to believe has been imbroken for centuries. At the beginning of the hot season they move up from the plains to the cool basin-like hollows on the mountains. These yailahs or summer retreats are always spoken of with pride and satisfac- tion, and the time of the journey anticipated with eager delight. When the time arrives, the people may be seen ascending to the upper grounds, men, women, and children, with flocks and herds, camels and asses, like the patriarchs of old.^ If then St. Paul was at Perga in May, he would 1 " March 4. — The passes to the Yailahs seer make of such a pilgrimage ! The snowy from the upper part of the valley being still tops of the mountains wore seen through the shut up by snow, we have no alternative but lofty and dark-green fir-trees, terminating in to prosecute our researches amongst the low abrupt cliffs. . . . From clefts in these gushed country and valleys which border the coast." out cascades . . . and the waters were carried — Sp. and F. i. p. 48. The valley referred to away by the wind in spray over the green is that of the Xanthus, in Lycia. woods. ... In a zigzag course up the wood " "^;)nY 30. —We passed many families fn lay the track leading to the cool places. In route from Adalia to the mountain plains f»r advance of the pastoral groups wore the strag- the summer." — Sp. and F. i. p. 242. Again, gling goats, browsing on the fresh blossoms of p. 248 {May 3). See p. 64. During a halt the wild almond as they passed. In more in the valley of the Xanthus {May 10), Sir steady courses followed the small black cattle C. Fellows says that an almost uninterrupted . . . then came the flocks of sheep, and the train of cattle and people (nearly twenty fami- camels . . . bearing piled loads of ploughs, lies) passed by. " What a picture would Land- tent-poles, kettles . . . and amidst ti>is rustic 148 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. find the inhabitants deserting its hot and silent streets. Tliey -would be moving in the direction of his own intended journey. He would be under no temptation to stay. And if we imagine liim as joining ' some such company of Pamphylian families on his way to tlie Pisidian mountains, it gives much interest and animation to the tliought of this part of his prog- ress. Perliaps it was in such company that tlie Apostle entered the first passes of the mountainous district, along some road formed partly by artilicial pavement, and partly by the native marble, with high cliffs frowning on either hand, with tombs and inscriptions, even then ancient, on the pro- jecting rocks around, and with copious fountains bursting out " among thicliets of pomegranates and oleanders."^ The oleander, " the favorite flower of the Levantine midsummer," abounds in tlie lower watercourses ; and in the month of May it borders all the banks with a lino of brilliant crimson.' As the path ascends, the rocks begin to assume the wilder grandeur of mountains, the richer fruit-trees begin to disappear, and the pine and walnut succeed ; though the plane-tree still stretches its wide leaves over the stream which dashes wildly down the ravine, crossing and recrossing the dangerous road. Tlio alteration of climate which attends on the traveller's progress is soon perceptible. A few hours will make the diffei'ence of weeks, or even months. Wlien the corn is in the ear on the lowlands, ploughing and sowing are hardly well begun upon the highlands. Spring flowers may be seen in the mountains by the very edge of the load was always seen the rich Turkey carpet and damask cushions, the pride even of the tented Turk." — Lycia, pp. 238, 239. 1 It has always been customary for travel- lers in Asia Minor, as in the patriarchal East, to join caravans, if possible. ^ In ascending from Limyra, a small plain on the coast not far from Phaselis, Spratt and Forbes mention "a rock-tablet with a long Greek inscription ... by the side of an an- cient paved road, at a spot where numerous and copious springs gush out among thickets of pomegranates and oleanders." (i. p. 160.) Fellows, in coming to Attaleia from the north, " suddenly entered a pass between the moun- tains, which diminished in width until cliffs almost perpendicular enclosed us on cither side. The descent became so abrupt that we were compelled to dismount and walk for two hours, during which time we continued rapidly descending an ancient paved road, formed principally of the native marble rock, but which had been perfected with large stones at a very remote age ; the deep ruts of chariot- wheels were apparent in many places. The road is much worn by time ; and the people of a later age, diverging from tlie track, have formed a road with stones very inferior both in size and arrangement. About half an hour before I reached the plain ... a view burst upon me through the clilTs. ... I looked down from the rocky steps of the throne of winter upon the rich and verdant plain of summer, with the blue sea in tlie distance. . . . Nor was the foreground without its interest; on each projecting rock stood an ancient sar- cophagus, and the trees half concealed the lids and broken sculptures of innumerable tombs." — A. M. pp. 174, 175. This may very proba- bly have been the pass and road by which St. Paul ascended. 8 See the excellent Chapter on the " Bota- ny of Lycia " in Spratt and Forbes, vol. IL ch. xui. CHAP. VI. TABLE-LAND OF ASIA MINOR. 149 snow,' when the anemone is withered in the plain, and the pink veins in the white asphodel flower are shrivelled by the heat. When the cottages are closed and the grass is parched, and every thing is silent below in the purple haze and stillness of midsummer, clouds are seen drifting among the Pisidian precipices, and the cavern is often a welcome shelter from a cold and penetrating wind.^ The upper part of this district is a wild region of cliffs, often isolated and bare, and separated from each other by valleys of sand, which the storm drives with blinding violence among the shivered points. The trees become fewer and smaller at every step. Three belts of vegetation are successively passed through in ascending from the coast : first the oak-woods, then the forests of pine, and lastly the dark scattered patches of the cedar-juniper : and then we reach the treeless plains of the interior, which stretch in dreary extension to the north and the east. After such a journey as this, separating, we know not where, from the companions they may have joined, and often thinking of that Christian companion who had withdrawn himself from their society when they needed him most, Paul and Barnabas emerged from the rugged mountain- passes, and came upon the central table-laud of Asia Minor. The whole interior region of the peninsula may be correctly described by this term ; for, though intersected in various directions by mountain-ranges, it is, on the whole, a vast plateau, elevated higher than the summit of Ben Nevis above the level of the sea.' This is its general character, though a long journey across the district brings the traveller through many varieties of scenery. Sometimes he moves for hours along the dreary margin of an inland sea of salt,* — sometimes he rests in a cheerful hospitable town 1 "May 9. — Ascending through a winterly Sp. and F. i. p. 242. Again, p. 293, "Every climate, with snow by the side of our path, step led us from spring into summer ; " and and only the crocus and anemones in bloom . . . the following pages. See also Fellows : " Two we beheld a new series of cultivated plains to months since at Syria the corn was beginning the west, being in fact table-lands, nearly upon to show the 'Car, whilst here they have only in a level with the tops of the mountains which a few places now begun to plough and sow." form the eastern boundary of the valley of — A. M. 158. " The corn, which we had the the Xanthus. . . . Descending to tlie plain, day before seen changing color for the har- probably 1,000 feet, we pitched our tent, after vest, was liere not an inch above the ground, a ride of "J hours. . . . Upon boiling the and the buds of the bushes were not yet burst- thermometer, I found that we were more than ing." — Li/cia, p. 226. 4,000 feet above the sea, and, cutting down " The yailah of Adalia is 3,500 feet above Bome dead trees, we provided against the the sea: Sp. and F. i. p. 244. The vast plain, coming cold of the evening by lighting three " at least 50 miles long and 20 wide," south large fires around our encampment." — Fell. of Kiutayah in Phrygia, is about 6,000 feet tyci'a, p. 234. This was in descending from above the sea. Fell. J^. j1/. p. 155. This may Almalee, in the great Ljcian yailah, to the be overstated, but the plain of Erzeroum is louth-east of Cibyra. quite as much. * For further illustrations of the change of * We shall have occasion to mention the feason caused by difference of elevation, see salt lakes hereafter. 150 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAP.vi. by tlie shore of a fresh-water lake.' la some places the ground is burnt and volcanic, in others green and fruitful. Sometimes it is depressed into watery hollows, where wild swans visit the pools, and storks are seen fishing and feeding among the weeds : ^ more frequently it is spread out into broad open downs, like Salisbury Plain, which alTord an inter- minable pasture for flocks of sheep.' To the north of Pamphylia, tlie elevated plain stretches through Phrygia for a hundred miles from Mount Taurus to Mount Olympus.* The southern portion of these bleak up- lands was crossed by St. Paul's track, immediately before his arrival at Autioch in Pisidia. Tlie features of human life which he had around him are probably almost as unaltered as the scenery of the country, — dreary villages with flat-roofed huts and cattle-sheds in the day, and at night an encampment of tents of goat's hair, — tents of cilicium (see p. 45), — a blazing fire in the midst, — horses fastened around, — and in the distance the moon shining on the snowy summits of Taurus.^ The Sultan Tareek, or Turkish Royal Road from Adalia to Kiutayah and Constantinople, passes nearly due north by the beautiful lake of Buldur.* The direction of Antioch in Pisidia bears more to the east. After passing somewhere near Selge and Sagalassus, St. Paul approached by the margin of tlie much larger, though perhaps not less beautiful, lake of Eyerdir.' Tlie position of the city is not far from the northern shore of this lake, at the base of a mountain-range which stretches through Phrygia in a south-easterly direction. It is, however, not many years since this statement could be confidently made. Strabo, indeed, de- scribes its position with remarkable clearness and precision. His words are as follows: — "In the district of Phrygia called Parorcia, there is a certain mountain-ridge, stretching from cast to west. On each side there is a large plain below this ridge : and it has two cities in its neigh- borhood ; Philomelium on the north, and on the other side Antioch, called Antioch near Pisidia. The former lies entirely in the plain, the latter (which has a Roman colony) is on a height." With this description 1 The two lakes of BulJur and Eyerdir many stately wild swans {near Almalfe, 3,000 ' are mentioned below. Both are described as feet above the sea)." — Fell, i^cia, p. 228. Tery beautiful. ^ We shall have occasion to return prc»- ■ ^ " ilarch 27 (near Kiutwjah). — I counted ently to this character of much of the interior 180 storks fishing or feeding in one small of Asia Minor when we come to the mention Bwampy place not an acre in extent. The of Lycaonia (Acts xiv. C). land here is used principally for breeding and * Fellows's Asia Minor, p. 155, &.c. grazing cattle, which arc to be seen in herds ^ See Fellows's Asia Minor, p. 177, and 03-, of many hundreds." Fell. Asia Minor, p. 155. pccially the mention of the goat's-hair tents. " May 8. — The shrubs are the rose, the bar- ^ See above, n. 1. bary, and wild almond ; but all are at present ' See the descriptions in Arundell's A$if fully six weeks later than those in the country Minor, ch. xiii., and especially ch. xv. we have lately passed. I observed on the lake CHAP. VI. SITUATION OF ANTIOCH. 151 before him, and taking into account certain indications of distance furnished by ancient authorities, Colonel Leake, who has perhaps dono more for the elucidation of Classical Topography than any other man, felt that Ak-Sher, the position assigned to Antioch by D'Anville and other geographers, could not be the true place : Ak-Sher is on the north of the ridge, and the position could not be made to harmonize with the Tables.' But ho was not in possession of any information which could lead liim to the true position ; and the problem remained unsolved till Mr. Arundell started from Smyrna, in 1833, witli the deliberate purpose of discovering the scene of St. Paul's labors. He successfully proved that Ak-Sher is Philomelium, and that Antioch is at Yalobatch, on the other side of the ridge. The narrative of his successful journey is very interesting : and every Christian ouglit to sympathize in the pleasure with which, knowing that Antioch was seventy miles from Apamea, and forty- five miles from Apollonia, he first succeeded in identifying Apollonia ; and then, exactly at the right distance, perceived, in the tombs near a fountain, and the vestiges of an ancient road, sure indications of his ap- proach to a ruined city ; and then saw, aci'oss the plain, the remains of an aqueduct at the base of the mountain ; and, finally, arrived at Jalobatch, ascended to the elevation described by Strabo, and felt, as ho looked on the superb ruins around, that he was "really on the spot con- secrated by the labors and persecution of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas." '^ The position of the Pisidian Antioch being thus determined by the con- vergence of ancient authority and modern researcli, we perceive that it lay on an important line of communication, westward by Apamea with the valley of the Maeander, and eastward by Iconium with the country behind the Taurus. In this general direction, between Smyrna and Ephesus on the one hand, and the Cilician Gates which lead down to Tarsus on the other, conquering armies and trading cai-avans, Persian satraps, Roman proconsuls, and Turkish pachas, have travelled for cen- turies.' The Pisidian Antioch was situated about half way between these extreme points. It was built (as we have seen in an earlier chapter, IV. 1 See Leake's Asia Minor, p. 41. The * In illustration of this we may refer to the same difficulties were perceived by Mannen. caravan routes and Persian military roads as ^ See Arundell's Asia Minor, cli. xii., xiii., indicated in Kicpcrt's IlfJIas, to Xenophon'a xiv., and the view as given in our quarto cdi- Anabasis, to Alexander's campaign and Cice- tion. There is also a view in Laborde. The ro's progress, to the invasion of Tamerlane, opinion of Mr. Arundell is fully confirmed by and the movements of the Turkish and Egyp- Mr. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, vol. tian armies in 1832 and 1833. I. ch. xxvii. The aqueduct conveyed water to the town from the Sultan Dagh (Strabo's "mountain ridge"). 15£ THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap, vj, p. 113) by the founder of the Syrian Antioch ; and in the age of tha Greek kings of the line of Selciicus it was a town of considerable impor- tance. But its appearance had been modified, since the campaigns of Scipio and Manlius, and the defeat of Mithridates,' by the introduction of Roman usages, and the Roman style of building. This was true, to a certain extent, of all the larger towns of Asia Minor: but this change had probably taken place in the Pisidian Antioch more than in many cities of greater importance ; for, like Philippi,^ it was a Roman Colonia. Without delaying, at present, to explain the full meaning of this term, we may say that the character impressed on any town in the Empire which had been made subject to military colonization was particularly Roman, and that all such towns were bound by a tie of peculiar closeness to the Mother City. The insignia of Roman power wei-e displayed more conspicuously than in other towns in the same province. In the prov- inces where Greek was spoken, while other towns had Greek letters on their coins, the money of the colonies was distinguished by Latin super- scriptions. Antioch must have had some eminence among the eastern colonies, for it was founded by Augustus, and called Cajsarea.' Such coins as that represented at the end of this chapter were in circulation here, though not at Perga or Iconium, when St. Paul visited these cities: and, more than at any other city visited on this journey, he would hear Latin spoken side by side with the Greek and the ruder Pisidian dialect.'' Along with this population of Greeks, Romans, and native Pisidians, a greater or smaller number of Jews was intermixed. They may not have been a very numerous body, for only one synagogue' is mentioned in the narrative. But it is evident, from the events recorded, that they were an influential body, that they had made many proselytes, and that they had obtained some considerable dominion (as in the parallel cases of Damascus recorded by Josephus,^ and Beroea and Thessalonica in the Acts of the Apostles)' over the minds of the Gentile women. On the Sabbath days the Jews and the proselytes met in tlie synagogue. ' See p. 13. o.xen, which illustrate the Koman mode of ^ Acts xvi. 12. The constitution of a Co- marking out by a plough the colonial limits. hnia will be explained when we come to this * We shall have to return to this subject passage. of language again, in speaking of tiie " speech » We should learn this from the inscription of Lycaonia." Acts xiv. 11. on the coins, COL. CjES. ANTIOCHLE, if ' See remarks on Sakmis, p. 127. we did not learn it from Strabo and Pliny. ' The people of Damascus were obliged to. Mr. Hamilton found an inscription at Yalo- use caution in their scheme of assassinating baUh, with the letters ANTIOCH EAE the Jews ; — " through fear of their women, CAESAUC. Another coin of this colony, all of whom, except a few, were attached tc exhibiting the wolf with Romulus and Remus, the Jewish worshippers." — War, ii. 20, 2. is engraved in this volume. Others exhibit two ' Acts xvii. 4, 12. euAP. Ti. THE SYNAGOGUE. 155 It is evident that at this time full liberty of public worship was permitted to the Jewish people in all parts of the Roman Empire, whatever limita- tions might have been enacted by law or compelled by local opposition, as relates to the form and situation of the synagogues. We infer from Epiphanius that the Jewish places of woi'ship were often erected in open and conspicuous positions.' This natural wish may frequently have been checked by the influence of the Heathen priests, who would not will- ingly see the votaries of an ancient idolatry forsaking the temple for the synagogue : and feelings of the same kind may probably have hindered the Jews, even if they had the ability or desire, from erecting religious edifices of any remarkable grandeur and solidity. No ruins of the synagogues of imperial times have remained to us, like those of the tem- ples in every province, from which we are able to convince ourselves of the very foi-m and size of the sanctuaries of Jupiter, Apollo, and Diana, There is little doubt that the sacred edifices of the Jews have been modi- fied by the architecture of the remote countries through which tiiey have been dispersed, and the successive centuries tlirough which tlicy have con- tinued a separated people. Under the Roman Empire it is natural to suppose that they must have varied, according to circumstances, through all gradations of magnitude and decoration, from the simple proseucha at Philippi'^ to the magnificent prayer-houses at Alexandria.' Yet there are certain traditional peculiarities which have doubtless united together by a common resemblance the Jewish synagogues of all ages and coun- tries.* The arrangement for the women's places in a separate gallery, or behind a partition of lattice-work, — the desk in the centre, where the Reader, like Ezra in ancient days, from his " pulpit of wood," may " opeu the Book in the sight of all the people . . . and read in the Book the Law of God distinctly, and give the sense, and cause them to under- stand the reading," * — the carefully closed Ark on the side of the build- ing nearest to Jerusalem, for the preservation of the rolls or manuscripts of the Law — the seats all round the building, whence " the eyes of all them that are in the synagogue " may be "fastened" on him who speaks,* — the " chief seats," ' which were appropriated to the " ruler " or 1 He is speaking of the synagogue at Na- * Besides the works referred to in the notes blous. Such buildings were frequently placed to Ch. II., Allen's Modern Judaism and Ber- by the water-side for the sake of ablution. nard's Synagogue and Church may be consulted Compare Acts xvi. 13, with Joseph. Ant.xiv. with advantage on subjects connected with 10, 23. the synagogue. ^ Acts xvi. 13. The question of the iden- ' Nehem. viii. 4-8. tity or difference of the proseucha and synagogue ^ See Luke iv. 20. ■will be considered hereafter. Probably the ' These chief seats (Matt, xxiii. 6; seem to former is a general term. have faced the rest of the congregation. See ' Mentioned by Philo. Jam. ii. 3. 154 THE LITE A^D EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. t«. "rulers" of the synagogue, according as its organization might be more or less complete,^ and which were so dear to the Ijcarts of those who professed to be peculiarly learned or peculiarly devout, — these are some of the features of a synagogue, whicli agree at once with tlie notices of Scripture, the descriptions in the Talmud, and the practice of modern Judaism. The meeting of the congregations in the ancient synagogues may be easily realized, if due allowance be made for the change of costume, by those who have seen the Jews at tlieir worsliip in the large towns of Modern Europe. On tlieir entrance into the building, the four-cornered Tallilh ^ was first placed like a veil over the head, or like a scarf over the shoulders.' The prayers were then recited by an officer called the " Angel," or " Apostle," of the assembly.^ These prayers were doubtless many of them identically the same with those which are found in the present service-books of the German and Spanish Jews, though their liturgies, in the course of ages, have undergone successive developments, the steps of which are not easily ascertained. It seems tliat the prayers were sometimes read in the vernacular language of the country where the synagogue was built ; but the Law was always read in Hebrew. The sacred roll* of manuscript was handed from the Ark to tlie Reader by the Chazan, or " Minister ; " ' and then certain portions were read according to a fixed cycle, first from the Law and theu from the Proph- ets. It is impossible to determine the period when the sections from these two divisions of the Old Testament were arranged as in use at present ; ' but tlie same necessity for translation and explanation existed then as now. The Hebrew and English are now printed in parallel columns. Then, the reading of tlie Hebrew was elucidated by the Targum or the Septuagint, or followed by a paraphrase in the spoken 1 With Luke xiii. 14, Acts xviii. 8, 17, veil their heads during their exhortations in compare Luke vii. 3, Mark v. 22, and Acts the synagogues." It is quite possible that the xiii. 15. Some are of opinion that the smaller Tallith, though generally worn in the congre- Bynagogucs had one " ruler," the larger many. gation, might be removed by any one who It is more prohable that the " chief ruler " rose to speak or who prsiycd aloud. with the "elders" formed a congregational * Vitringa, who compares Rev. ii. 1. council, like the kIrk-session in Scotland. ^ The words in Luke iv. 1 7, 20, imply 2 The use of the Tallith is said to have the acts of rolling and unrolling. See 1 arisen from the Mosaic commandment direct- Mace. iii. 48. ing that fringes should be worn on the four " Luke iv. 17, 20. corners of the garment. ' A full account both of the Piiraschiolh oi, 3 When we read 1 Cor. xi. 4, 7, we must Sections of the Law, and the Uaphtaroth oi feel some doubt concerning the wearing of the Sections of the Prophets, as used both by thi Tallith on the head during worship at that Portuguese and German Jews, may be seen n period. De Wette says that " it is certain Home's Introduction, vol. iii. pp. 254-258. that in the Apostolic age the Jews did not CHAP.Ti. THE SYNAGOGUE. 155 language of the country.* The Reader stood ^ while thus employed, and all the congregation sat around. The manuscript was rolled up and returned to the Chazau.' Then followed a pause, during which strangers or learned men, who had " any word of consolation " or exhortation, rose and addressed the meeting. And thus, after a pathetic enumeration of tlie sufferings of the chosen people * or an allegorical exposition ^ of some dark passage of Holy Writ, the worship was closed with a benediction and a solemn " Amen." ° To such a worship in such a building a congregation came together at Antioch in Pisidia, on the Sabbath whicii immediately succeeded the arrival of Paul and Barnabas. Proselytes came and seated themselves with the Jews : and among tiie Jewesses behind the lattice wore " honor- able women " ' of the colony. The two strangers entered the synagogue, and, wearing the Tallith, which was the badge of an Israelite,^ " sat down " " witli the rest. The prayers were recited, tlie extracts from " the Law and the Prophets " were read ; '" the " Book " returned to the " Minister," " and then we are told that " the rulers of the synagogue " sent to the new-comers, on whom many eyes had already been fixed, and invited them to address the assembly, if they had words of comfort or instruction to speak to their fellow-Israelites. li The very attitude of St. Paul, as he answered the invitation, is described to us. He " rose " from his seat, and, with the animated and emphatic gesture which he used on other occasions,''* " beckoned with his hand." '* After thus grapliically bringing the scene before our eyes, St. Luke gives us, if not the whole speech delivered by St. Paul, yet at least the substance of what he said. For into however short a space he may have condensed the speeches which he reports, yet it is no mere outline, no dry analysis of tbem, wliich he gives. He has evidently preserved, if not all the words, yet the veri/ words uttered by the Apostle ; nor can we fail to ^ See p. 34. In Palestine the Syro-Chal- « Sec Nch. viii. 6 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 16. daic language would be used ; in the Disper- ' Acts xiii. 50. sion, usually the Greek. Lightfoot seems to ' " As I entered the syna-ogue [at Blidah think that the Pisidian language was used in Algeria], they offered me a Tallith, saying here. Strabo speaks of a dialect as peculiar in French, ' Etes-vous Israelite? ' I could not to this district. wear the Tallith, but I opened my English - Acts xiii. 16. On the other hand, our Bible and sat down, thinking of Paul and Lord was seated during solemn teaching, Barn.abas at Antioch in Pisidia." — £x(;ac« Luke iv. 20. " Sec Luke iv. 20. * The sermon in the synagogue in " He- len's Pilgrimage " is conceived in the true Jew- ish feeling. Compare the address of St. Stcpheu. ' We see how an inspired Apostle uses al- legory. Gal. It. 21-31. mm a pr. ivate Jour iml. 9 Acts xiii. 14. 10 Acts xiii. l.'j. " Li ike iv. 20 12 Acts xiii. 15. The word is the same as lat lam which abas. 1 is used p. 115. in the descripl live title of 13 Acts xxvi. 1, xxi. 40. See : XX. 34 u Acta xiii. 16. 156 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. n. recognize in all these speeches a tone of tliouglit, and even of expres- sion, which stamps them with the individuality of the speaker. On the present occasion we find St. Paul beginning his address by connecting the Messiali whom he preached witli the preparatory dis- pensation which ushered in His advent. He dwells upon tlie previous history of the Jewish people, for the same reasons which had led St. Stephen to do the like in his defence before the Sanhedrin. He endeav- ors to conciliate the minds of his Jewish audience by proving to them that the Messiah whom he proclaimed was the same whereto their own prophets bare witness ; come, not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil ; and that His advent had been duly heralded by His predicted messenger. He then proceeds to i-emove the prejudice which the rejection of Jesus by the authorities at Jerusalem (the metropolis of their faith) would naturally raise in the minds of the Pisidian Jews against His divine mission. He shows that Christ's death and resurrection had accomplished the ancient prophecies, and declares tliis to be the " Glad Tidings " which the Apostles were charged to proclaim. Thus far the speech contains notiiing which could offend the exclusive spirit of Jewish nationality. On the contrary, St. Paul has endeavored to carry his hearers with him by the topics on whicli he has dwelt ; the Saviour whom he declares is " a Saviour unto Israel ; " tlie Messiali whom he announces is the fulfiUer of the Law and the Prophets. But having thus concili- ated their feelings, and won their favorable attention, he proceeds in a holder tone to declare tlie Catholicity of Christ's salvation, and the antithesis between the Gospel and the Law. His concluding words, as St. Luke relates them, might stand as a summary representing in outline the early chapters of the Epistle to the Romans ; and therefore, con- versely, those chapters will enable us to realize the manner in which St. Paul would have expanded the heads of argument which his disciple here records. The speech ends with a warning against that bigoted rejection of Christ's doctrine, which this latter portion of the address was so likely to call forth. The following were the words (so far as they have been preserved to us) spoken by St. Paul on this memorable occasion : — ^^^ " Men of Israel, and ye, proselytes of the Gentiles, who j^^l^H^" 16 worship the God of Abraham, give audience. r.oseiytea. God's choice 17 " The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and raised "''*'■»<'' '", up His people, when they dwelt as strangers in the land of foSe'tifepr'^ Egypt ; and with an high arm brought He them out therefrom, m "asiai.? 18 And about the time of forty years, even as a nurse beareth her child, CHAP.Ti. ADDEESS TO THE JEWS. 157 BO bare He them' through the wilderness. And He destroyed seven 19 nations in the land of Canaan, and gave their land as a portion unto His people. And after that Ho gave unto them Judges about the 20 space* of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the Prophet; then desired they a king, and He gave unto them Saul, the son of 21 Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin,' to rule them for forty years. And when He had removed Saul, He raised up unto them David to be 22 their king; to whom also Ho gave testimony, and said: ^ Ijabe fouixb' gabiir, lljc son of |esse, n nun after mn oixin Ijearl, fobitlj sball fulfil all mir foill.* Of this man's seed hath God, according to His 23 promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour Jesus. U8?°va*mr "-^nd John was tin mcsscitcjcr lufjo fcoent btforc D'lS fcltC* 24 predicted . qi-v. Y r ^ir * io«runner. to ptcparc |)13 mi\) Dtfoxt gjlUX, and he preaclicd the bap- tism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course ° his saying was, ' Wliom think ye that I am? I am not He. But 25 behold there cometh one after me whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to (oose.' ' The rill en Jenisalpm .,.,- pbetVbj^iaut Abraham, or proselytes of the Gentiles, to you have been sent o"^.ksu5!'^'"'' the tidings of this salvation : for tlie inhabitants of Jerusalem, 27 and tlieir rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read in their synagogues every Sabbath day, have ful- iilled the Scriptures in condemning Him. And though they found in Him 28 10 cause of deatli, yet besouglit they Pilate that He should be slain. And ^ The beauty of this metaphor has been the tribe of Benjamin, see pp. 41, 42, and ;3St to tlie Authorized Version on account of 49. — H.] ;he reading adopted -in tlie Received Text. * Compare Ps. l.-cxxix. 20, with I Sara, rhere is an evident allusion to Ueut. i. 31. xiii. 14. The quotation is from tlie LXX., ■ ^ We need not trouble our readers with the but not verbatim, being apparently made from I ifficulties which have been raised concerning memory. le chronology of this passage. Supposing '' Mai. iii. 1, as quoted Matt. xi. 10, not I could be proved that St. Paul's knowledge exactly after the LXX., but rather according ■f ancient chronology was imperfect, this need to the literal translation of the Hebrew. ot surprise us ; for there seems no reason to ' [Here, and in the speech at Miletus (xiii. ;ippose (and wo have certainly no right to 25), it is worthy of notice that St. Paul uses . isumc a priori) that Divine inspiration would one of his favorite and characteristic metaphors struct the Apostles in truth discoverable by drawn from the foot-race. — H.] imspired research, and non-essential to their ' The imperfect is used here, ligious mission. See note on Galatians iii. ' Literally "mm that are my brethren." So in Acts xvii. 22, — "men ofAt/wns." It might , ' [For the speaker's own connection with be rendered simply " Brethren." 158 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. vi. 29 •when tliey had fulfilled all which was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree, and laid Him iu a sepulchre. 80 " But God raised Him from the dead. his resur. KECTION. 31 " And He was seen for many days by them who came up with a,,^,^^ ^ t Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now ' His witnesses to nS.*"' the people of Israel.'' 82 " And while they' proclaim it in Jerusalem, we declare unto JlJfi^,'" ^f „,e you the same Glad Tidings concerning the promise which was Announce-"^* made to our fathers ; even that God hath fulfilled the same unto Christ's rcsu^ rection had us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus from the p"romi'^e?.°'*'' 33 dead;* as it is also written in the second psalm, S^I^Olt art mil Soit, 34 tijrs ban Ijafac J bigottciX lljce.* And whereas He hath raised Him from the grave, no more to return unto corruption. He hath said on this wise, ®Ijc blessings of Qabib fo'rll | gibe gou, tbm llje blessings tobit^ 35 staniJ fast in bolincSS.' Wherefore it is written also in another psalm, 36 ^Ijou sbalt not suffer tijinc ^oln ©nc to sec rorrnption-'' Now David, after he had ministered in his own generation' to the will of God, fell 37 asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption ; but He whom God raised from the dead saw no corruption.' 38 " Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that catholicity of ^ ' ' ' Christ's salva- through this Jesus is declared unto you the forgiveness of sins, e^r between'" 39 And in Him all who have faith are justified from all transgres- the Law. sions, w\erefrom in the Law of Moses ye could not be justified. 40 " Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken Fijai warning. 1 The word for "now," evidently very ' Ps. xvi. 10 (LXX.). important here, is erroneously omitted by the ° David's ministration was performed (like Textus Receptus. that of other men) in his own generation ; bnt ' "The people" always means the JeifisA the ministration of Christ extended to all people. generations. The thought is similar to Hcb. ' Observe, "we preach to you " emphati- vii. 23, 24. We depart here from the Autlior- cally contrasted with .te preceding " they to ized Version, bccansc the use of the (Jreek the Jewish nation " (Humphry). words, for " to serve one's own generation," * " Raised up from the. dead." We cannot does not accord with the analogy of the N. T. agree with Mr. Humphry that the word can ' We arc here reminded of the arguments here (consistently with the context) have the of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, just as game meaning as in vii. 37. the beginning of the speech recalls that of ' Ps. ii. 7, according to LXX. trans. St. Stephen before the Sanhedrin. Possibly, ' « Isaiah Iv. 3 (LXX.). The verbal connec- St Paul himself had been an auditor of the tion [holt/ — Iloly One) between vv. 34 aiid first, as he certainly was of the last. 35 should be carefully noticed. CHAP. VI. ADDRESS TO THE JEWS. 159 in the Prophets, ^tljolij, |)c besjobtrs, anb faonbtr, aiib perislj ; for 40 I ixiorh a toorh in goitr bans, a foorh tob'u^ gc sljall tit ito lirisc hlictrf, iljou^Ij a ittait bwlarc it iinta gou." ' This address made a deep and thrilluig impression on the audience. '< While tlic congregation were pouring out of the synagogue, many of them ^ crowded round the speaker, begging that " these words," which liad moved their deepest feelings, might be repeated to them on their next occasion of assembling together.' And when at length the mass of the people had dispersed, singly or in groups, to their homes, many of the Jews and proselytes still clung to Paul and Barnabas, who earnestly exhorted them (in the form of expression which we could almost recognize as St. Paul's, from its resemblance to the phraseology of his Epistles) " to aoide in the grace of God." * " With what pleasure can we fancy the Apostles to have observed these bearers of the Word, who seemed to have heard it in such earnest ! How gladly must they have talked with them, — entered into various points more fully than was possible in any public address, — appealed to them in various ways which no one can touch upon who is speaking to a mixed multitude ! Yet with all their pleasure and their hope, their knowledge of man's heart must have taught them not to be over-confident ; and therefore they would earnestly urge them to continue in the grace of God ; to keep up the im- pression whicli had already outlasted their stay within the synagogue ; — to feed it, and keep it alive, and make it deeper and deeper, that it should i'emain with them forever. What the issue was we know not, — nor does Aiat concern us, — only we may be sure that here, as in other instances, ■here were some in whom their hopes and endeavors were disappointed ; fhere were some in whom they were to their fullest extent realized."® ! The intervening week between this Sabbath and the next had not only jts days of meeting in the synagogue," but would give many opportunities pT exhortation and instruction in private houses ; the doctrine would be joised abroad, and, through the proselytes, would come to the hearing of jie Gentiles. So that " on the following Sabbath almost the whole city 1 Habak. i. 5 (LXX.). meeting during the week. The Jews were ^ The words rendered "Gentiles" (Auth. accustomed to meet in the synagogues on :;rs.) in tlie Textus Eeceptus have caused a Monday and Thursday as well as on Saturday. 1 |.eat confusion in this passage. They are * Acts xiii. 43. Compare Acts xx. 24 ; 1 . nitted in the lest MSB. Sec below, p. 164, Cor. xv. 10 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1 ; Gal. ii. 21. i' ■is. 6 Dr, Arnold's Twenty-fourth Sermon on I i' It is not quite certain whether we are to the Interpretation of Scripture. I tderstand the words in v. 42 to mean " the ' See n. 3 on this page. ( Ht Sabbath " or some intermediate days of 11 160 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAT. n. came together to hear the Word ofGod.'' The synagogue was crowded.^ Multitudes of Gentiles were there in addition to the Proselytes Th . was ^: e than the Jews could bear. Their spiritual pnde and exchisive bigotry was immediately roused. They eould not endure the notion of others bein.^ freely admitted to the same religious privileges with hem- s Iv s Tlds was always the sin of the Jewish people. Instead of realising hd posLn in the wodd as the prophetie nation for the goo of the whc^ earth^they indulged the self-exalting opinion, that God's highest blessings were only for themselves. Their oppressions and their dispersions had not destroyed this deeply-rooted prejudiee ; but they rather found comfort under the yoke, in brooding over their religious isolation: -d even in their remote and scattered settlements, they clung ^vlth the utmost tenacity to the feelincr of their exclusive nationality. Thus, m the Pisidian Antioch, they who on one Sabbath had listened with breathless interest to the teachers who spoke to them of the promised Messiah, were on the nex Sabbath filled with the most excited indignation, when they found hat this Messiah was " a light to lighten the Gentiles," as well as "Uie glory of His people Israel." Tliey made an uproar, and opposed th^ words of PauP with all manner of calumnious expressions, "contradicting and '^?t:XCstles,promptlyrecogni.inginthewillingi.sso^Gen^ and the unbelief of the Jews the clear mdicaUons of the P^^l ^f duty followed that bold' course which was alien toall the prejudices of a Jewi^. education. They turned at once and without reserve to the Gentiles. St M was not'unprepared for the events which called for tins d^ci.om The prophetic intimations at his first conversion, his vision m the Temple at Jerusalem, his experience at the Syrian Antioch, his recent success m he tLd of Cyprus^ must have led him to expect the Gentiles tc>is..a to that message which the Jews were too ready to scorn, '^l- -f ^^^ ' which he turned from his unbelieving countrymen were these . U was Teeiful that the Word of God should first be spoken unto you : but inas- mucVas ye reject it, and deem yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo we to to the G utiles." And then he quotes a prophetical passage from S'r own sacred writings. " For thus hath the Lord commanded us ay nM have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shoudst be Xtion to the ends of the earth." ^ This is the first recorded mstan e of a scene which was often re-enacted. It is the course which St^Fau Jmself defines in his Epistle to the Romans, when he describes the Gospel 8 Compare 1 Thess. ii. 2, wliere the circum „,„ to. P.U1 ™ ,1.. ■• .b- .F.!-". •• ,„„■- tS Zl I..i. •.«'■■ ■•* "■ " we are told, xiv. 12. OHAP.vi. PREACHING TO THE GENTILES. 161 as coming first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile ; ' and it is the course which he followed himself on various occasions of his life, at Corinth,^ at Ephesiis,' and at Rome.* That which was often obscurely foretold in the Old Testament, — that those should " seek after God who knew Him not," and that He should be honored by " those who were not a people ; "* — that which had already seen its first fulfilment in isolated cases during our Lord's life, as in the centurion and the Syrophcenician woman, whose faith had no parallel in all the people of " Israel ; " ' — that which had received an express ac- complishment through the agency of two of the chiefest of the Apostles, in Cornelius, the Roman officer at Caesarea, and in Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor at Paphos, — began now to be realized on a large scale in a whole community. While the Jews blasphemed and rejected Christ, the Gentiles " rejoiced, and glorified the Word of God." The counsels of God were not frustrated by the unbelief of His chosen people. A new " Israel," a new " election," succeeded to the former.' A Church was formed of united Jews and Gentiles ; and all who were destined to enter the path of eternal life ^ were gathered into the Catholic brotherhood of the hitherto separated races. The synagogue had rejected the inspired missionaries, but the apostolic instruction went on in some private house or public building belonging to the Heathen. And gradually the knowl- edge of Christianity began to be disseminated through the whole vicinity.' The enmity of the Jews, however, was not satisfied by the expulsion of the Apostles from their synagogue. What they could not accomplish by violence and calumny, they succeeded in effecting by a pious intrigue. That influence of women in religious questions, to which our attention will be repeatedly called hereafter, is here for the first time brought : before our notice in the sacred narrative of St. Paul's life. Strabo, who 1 was intimately acquainted with the social position of the female sex iu the towns of Western Asia, speaks in strong terras of the power which they possessed and exercised in controlling and modifying the religious opinions of the men. This general fact received one of its most striking illustrations in the case of Judaism. We have already more than once alluded to the influence of the female proselytes at Damascus : '" and the good service which women contributed towards the early progress of ' Rom. i. 16, ii. 9. Compare xi. 12, 25. passage has been made the subject of much ^ Acts xviii. 6. '^ 8 ^^jj ^ix. 9. controversy with reference to the doctrine of * Acts x.wiii. 28. predestination. Its bearing on tlie question is ' See Hosea, i. 10, ii. 23, as quoted in Rom. very doubtful. The same participle is used in ix. 25, 26. Acts XX. 13, and also in Luke iii. 13, and ° Matt. viii. 5-10, XT. 21-28. Rom. xiii. 1. ' See Rom xi. 7 ; and Gal. vi. 16. ' Acts xiii. 49. I ' Acts xiii. 48. It is well known that this i" See above, p. 18, and p. 152, n. 6. 11 162 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cn«.. v,. Christianity is abundantly known botli from the Acts and the Epistles ' Here they appear in a position less honorable, but not less u.flucntial. The Jews contrived, through the female proselytes at Antioch to win over to their cause some influential members of their sex, and through them to gain the ear of men who occupied a position of emmenco m the city Thus a systematic persecution was excited against Paul and Barnabas. Whether the supreme magistrates of the colony were in- duced by this unfair agitation to pass a sentence of formal banishment, we are not informed ; ^ but for the present the Apostles were compelled to retire from the colonial limits. t j i • ..if In cases such as these, instructions had been given by our Lord him elf how His Apostles were to act. During His life on earth. He had said to the Twelve, " Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for ^ f ^^^^^^ ^S^^""* them. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sod m and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that cUy." 'J^^^^^ and Barnabas thus fulfilled our Lord's words, shaking off fiom the fee the dust of the dry and sunburnt road,^ in token of ^od s judgm nt on wilful unbelievers, and turning their steps eastwards in the d ec on of Lycaonia, another of the sayings of Christ was l^aiailed, in the mid so iiose who had been obedient to the faith : » Blessed are ye when men shal "le you and persecute you, and shall say all mannei- of evil aganis you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad : for great your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which weie before you." ^ Even while their faithful teachers were removed from them and travelling across the bare uplands^ which separate Antioch from tli ; at of lo Jum, the disciples of the former city received such manifest Matt. 1 See Acts xvi. 14, xviU. 2 ; PhUipp. iv. 3 ; ^ ^^^J' ^^;^^^,, leoninm from the .inee they revisited the place on their return AnUoc^^m H,,!omeluu. (.xc^p^ _^^^) ^^._^^ fromDerbe (xiv. 21). <^"Literal.y may they have shaken off the always in sight of <»e f y «/ ',. Sultan^o dnst o?S L: for evL now (Nov. 9) the Koum, before wc reached U. _ Tra. roads abound with it, and in the summer M^ncr, a. p. 58. months it must be a plain of dust." - Aran- dell's Asia Minor, vol. i. p- 319. tokens of the love of God, and the power of the " Holy Ghost," that they were " filled with joy " in the midst of persecution. Iconium has obtained a place in histoiy far more distinguished than tliat of the Pisidian Antioch. It is famous as the cradle of the rising power of the conquering Turks.' And tlie remains of its Mohammedan architecture still bear a conspicuous testimony to the victories and strong government of a tribe of Tatar invaders. But there are other features in the view of modern Konieh which to us are far more interesting. To the traveller in the footsteps of St. Paul, it is not the armorial bearings of the Knights of St. John, carved over the gateways in the streets of Rhodes, which arrest the attention, but the ancient harbor and the view across the sea to the opposite coast. And at Konieh his interest is awakened, not by minarets and palaces and Saracenic gateways, but by the vast plain and the distant mountains." These features remain what they were in the first century, while the town has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, and its architectural character entirely altered. Little, if any thing, remains of Greek or Roman Iconium, if we except the ancient inscriptions and the fragments of sculp- tures which are built into the Turkish walls.' At a late period of the Empire it was made a Colonia, like its nciglibor, Antioch ; but it was not so in the time of St. Paul. These is no reason to suppose that its character was different from that of the other important towns on the principal lines of communication through Asia Minor. The elements of its population would be as follows: — a large number of trifling and frivo- lous Greeks, whose principal places of resort would be the tlieatre and the market-place ; some remains of a still older population, coming in occa- sionally from tlie country, or residing in a separate quarter of the town ; some few Roman officials, civil or military, liolding themselves proudly aloof from the inhabitants of the subjugated province ; and an old established colony of Jews, who exercised their trade during tlie week, and met on the Sabbath to i-ead the Law in the Synagogue. The same kind of events took place here as in Antioch, and almost in 1 Iconium was the capital of the Seljukian have been built from the ruins of more an- Sultans, and had a great part in the growth cient buildings, as brolicn columns, capitals, of the Ottoman empire. pedestals, bass-rclicfs, and otiicr pieces of ' " Konieh extends to the east and south sculpture, contribute towards its construction, over the plain far beyond the walls, which are It has eight)' gates, of a square form, each about two miles in circumference. . . . Moun- known by a separate name, and, as well as tains covered witli snow rise on every side, most of the towers, embellished with Arabic ; excepting towards the east, where a plain, as inscriptions. ... I observed a few Greek flat as the desert of Arabia, extends far be- characters on the walls, but they were in so yond the reach of the eye." — Capt. Kinneir. elevated a situation that I c raid not dei- '"The city wall is said to have been cipher them." — Capt. Kinneir. .erected by the Seljuktan Sultans : it seems to 164 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL ctiap. vi the same order.' The Apostles went first to the Synagogue, and tlic effect of their discourses there was such, that great numbers both of the Jews and Greeks {/. e. Proselytes or Heathens, or both)- believed the Gospel. The unbelieving Jews raised up an indirect persecution by exciting tlie minds of the Gentile population against those wlio received tlie Christian doctrine. But the Apostles persevered and remained in the city some considerable time, having tlieir confidence strengthened by the miracles which God worked througli their instrumentality, in attestation of tlie truth of His "Word. There is an apocryplial narrative of certain events assigned to this residence at Iconium : ' and we may innocently adopt so mucli of the legendary story, as to imagine St. Paul preaching long and late to crowded congregations, as he did afterwards at Assos,* and his enemies briuging him before the civil authorities, with the cry that he was disturbing their households by his sorcery, or witli complaints like those at Philippi and Ephesus, that he was " exceedingly troubling their city," and " turning away much people." ^ We learn from an in- spired source ^ that the whole population of Iconium was ultimately divided into two great factions (a common occurrence, on far less impor- tant occasions, in these cities of Oriental Greeks), and that one party took the side of the Apostles, the other that of the Jews. But liere, as at Antioch, the influential classes were on the side of the Jews. A determined attempt was at last made to crush the Apostles, by loading them with insult and actually stoning them. Learning this wicked con- spiracy, in which the magistrates themselves were involved,' they fled to some of the neighboring districts of Lycaonia, where they might be more secure, and have more liberty in preaching the Gospel. It would be a very natural course for the Apostles, after the cruel treatment they had experienced in the great towns on a frequented route, to retire into a wilder region and among a ruder population. In any country, the political circumstances of which resemble those of Asia Minor under the early emperors, there must be many districts, into which the civilization of the conquering and governing people has hardly penetrated. An obvious instance is furnished by our Eastern presi- dencies, in the Hindoo villages, which have retained their character with- 'out alteration, notwithstanding the successive occupations by Sloham- medans and English. Tlius, in the Eastern provinces of the Eomau 1 See Acts xiv. 1-5. * Acts xx. 7-11. 2 Perhaps "Greeks" (t. 1) may mean ' Acts xvi. 20, xix. 26. " proselytes," as opposed to the " Gentiles " of « Acts xiv. 4. V. 2. ' It is impossible to determine exactly tb* ' The legend of Paul and Thecla. The meaning of the word rendered " rulers." Btory will be found in Jones on the Canon (vol. U. pp. 353-403). CHAP. VI. LYCAONIA. 165 Empire there must have been many towns and villages where local customs were untouched, and where Greek, though certainly understood, was not commonly spoken. Such, perhaps, were the places which now come before our notice in the Acts of the Apostles, — small towns, with a rude dialect and primitive superstition ' — " Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia." " The district of Lycaonia extends from the ridges of Mount Taurus and the borders of Cilicia, on the south, to tlic Cappadocian hills, on tlie north. It is a bare and dreary region, unwatered by streams, though in parts liable to occasional inundations. Strabo mentions one place where water was even sold for money. In this respect there must be a close resemblance between this country and large tracts of Australia. Nor is this the only particular in which the resemblance may be traced. Both regions afford excellent pasture for flocks of sheep, and give opportunities for obtaining large possessions by trade in wool. It was here, on the downs of Lycaonia, that Amyntas, while he yet led the life of a nomad chief, before the time of his political elevation,' fed his three hundred JQocks. Of the whole district Iconium * was properly the capital : and the plain round Iconium may be reckoned as its great central space, situated midway between Cilicia and Cappadocia. This plain is spoken of as the largest in Asia Minor.' It is almost like the steppes of Great Asia, of which the Turkish invaders must often have been reminded,^ when they came to these level spaces in the west ; and the camels which convey modern travellers to and from Konieh, find by the side of their path tufts of salt and prickly herbage, not very dissimilar to that which grows in their native deserts.' Across some portion of this plain Paul and Barnabas travelled before as well as after their residence in Iconium. After leaving the higli land to the north-west,* during a journey of several hours before arriving at the city, the eye ranges freely over a vast expanse of level ground to the south and the east. The two most eminent objects in the view are cer- tain snowy summits,' which rise high above all the intervening liills in the direction of Armenia, — and, in the nearer horizon, the singular ' Acts xiv. 11, 12, &c. as he crossed this plain, eagerly eating the tufts ^ Acts xiv. 6. of Mesembryanthemum and Salicornia, " re- ' See above, Ch. I. p. 21. minding them of plains with which they were ; * Xenophon, who is the first to mentifin probably more familiar than those of Asia ilconium, calls it " the last city of Phrygia," Minor." The plain, however, is naturally [in the direction of ** Lycaonia." rich. " See Leake, p. 93. « See above, p. 150. ° The remark is made by Texier in his • Leake supposed these summits to be those " Asie Mineure." of Mount Argseus, but Hamilton thinks ha 1 ' Ainsworth (ii. p. 68) describes the camels, was in error. 166 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cilap. vi. mountain mass called the " Kara-Dagli," or " Black Mount," south- eastwards in the direction of Cilicia.' And still these features continue to be conspicuous after Iconium is left behind, and the traveller moves on over the plain towards Lystra and Derbe. Mount Argseus still rises far to the north-east, at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Tho Black Mountain is gradually approached, and discovered to be an isolated mass, with reaches of the plain extending round it like channels of the sea.^ The cities of Lystra and Derbe were somewhere about the bases of the Black Mountain. We have dwelt thus minutely on the physical characteristics of this part of Lycaonia, because the positions of its ancient towns have not been determined. We are only acquainted with the general features of the scene. While the site of Iconium has never been forgotten, and that of Antioch in Pisidia has now been clearly identified, those of Lystra and Derbe remain unknown, or at best are extremely uncertain.' No conclusive coins or inscriptions have been discovered ; nor has there been any such convergence of modern investi- gation and ancient authority as leads to an infallible result. Of the 1 See Leake, p. 45. " To the south-east the same plains extend as far as the mountains of Karaman (Laranda). At the south-east ex- tremity of the plains beyond Konieh, we are much struck with the appearance of a remark- able insulated mountain, called Kara-Dagh (Black Mountain), rising to a great hei^'ht, covered at the top with snow [Jan. 31], and appearing like a lofty island in the midst of the sea. It is about sixty miles distant." The lines marked on the Map are the Roman roads mentioned in the Itineraries. A view of the Kara-Dagh is given in Ch. vni. 2 See Leake, pp. 93-97. "{Feb. 1. From Konieh to Tshumra.) — Our road pursues a perfect level for upwards of twenty miles. {Feb. 2. From Tshumra to A'a.p. 171, 172. faith manifested by the Heathen at Lystra than . I * Acts xiv. 8, &c. Acts xxiii. 1, xiii. 9. the Jew at Jerusalem. 170 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAXTL. chap, vft And now arose a great tumult of voices from the crowd. Such a cure of a congenital disease, so sudden and so complete, would have con- founded the most skilful and sceptical physicians. An illiterate people would be filled with astonishment, and rush immediately to the coiiclu siou that supernatural powers were present among them. These Lyca^ onians thought at once of their native traditions, and crying out vocifer- ously in their mother-tongue,' — and we all know how the strongest feel- ings of an excited people find vent in the language of childliood, — they exclaimed that the gods had again visited them in the likeness of men, — that Jupiter and Mercury were again in Lycaonia, — that the persua- sive speaker was Mercury, and his companion Jupiter. They identified Paul with Mercury, because his eloquence corresponded with one of that divinity's attributes. Paul was the " cliief speaker," and Mercury was the god of eloquence. And if it be asked why they identified Barnabas with Jupiter, it is evidently a sufficient answer to say that these two divinities were always represented as companions'^ in their terrestrial expeditions, tliough we may well believe (with Chrysostom and others) that there was sometliing majestically benignant in his appearance, while the personal aspect of St. Paul (and for this we can quote his own state- ments)' was comparatively insignificant. How truthful and how vivid is the scene brought before us ! and how many thonglits it suggests to those who are at once conversant with Heathen mythology and disciples of Christian theology ! Barnabas, identified with the Father of Gods and Men, seems like a personification of mild beneficence and provident care;^ while Paul appears invested with more active attributes, flying over the world on the wings of faith and love, with quick words of warning and persuasion, and ever carry- ing in his hand the purse of the " unsearchable riches."* The news of a wonderful occurrence is never long in spreading through a small country town. At Lystra the whole population was presently in an uproar. They would lose no time in paying due honor to their heavenly visitants. The priest attached to that temple of Jupiter before the city gates, to which we have before alluded,* was summoned to do sacrifice to the god whom he served. Bulls and garlands, and whatever 1 Some are of opinion that the " speech of * See Acts iv. 36, 37, ix. 27, xi. 22-25, 30. Lycaonia" was a Semitic language; others It is also very possible that Barnabas was oider, that it was a corrupt dialect of Greek. See and therefore more venerable in appearance, the Dissertations of Jablonski and Guhling in than St. Paul. Iken's Th'saiirus. ' The winged heels and the purse are tha See, for instance, Ovid. Fast. v. 495. well-known insignia of Mercury. * See 2 Cor. x. 1, 10, where, however, we must remember that he is quoting the state- mcnts of his adversaries. OHAP.Ti. ADDEESS TO THE GENTILES. 171 else was requisite to the performance of the ceremony, were duly pre- pared, and the procession moved amidst crowds of people to the residence of the Apostles. They, hearing the approach of the multitude, and learn- ing their idolatrous intention, were filled with the utmost horror. They " rent their clothes," and rushed out' of the house in which they lodged, and met the idolatei's approaching the vestibule.^ There, standing at the doorway, they opposed the entrance of the crowd ; and Paul expressed his abhorrence of their intention, and earnestly tried to prevent their fulfilling it, in a speech of which only the following short outline is recorded by St. Luke : — " Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men, of like pas- "tj^^ sions with you ; and we are come to preach to you the Glad Tidings, 15 that you may turn from these vaia idols to the living God, who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. For in the generations that are past. He suffered all 16 the nations of the Gentiles to walk in their own ways. Nevei-- tlieless He left not Himself without witness, in that He blessed 17 you, and gave you rain fi'om heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.'" This address held twem listening, but they listened impatiently. Even with this energetic disavowal of his divinity and this strong appeal to their reason, St. Paul found it difficult to dissuade the Lycaonians from offering to him and Barnabas an idolatrous worship.'' There is no doubt , that St. Paul was the speaker, and, before we proceed further in the ■ narrative, we cannot help pausing to observe the essentially Pauline, I character which this speech manifests, even in so condensed a summary I of its contents. It is full oR. undesigned coincidences in argument, and I even in the expressions employed, with St. Paul's'' language in other parts of the Acts, and in his own Epistles. Thus, as here ho declares the object of his preaching to be that the idolatrous Lystrians should 1 " Kan out," not " ran in," is the reading lodged at Joppa; Acts xii. 13, of the house sanctioned by tho later critics on full manu- of Mary the mother of John Mark. It is script authority. See lischendorf nowhere used for the gate of a city except in ^ The word used here does not mean the the Apocalypse. Moreover, it seems obvious rate of the city, but the vestibule or gate that if the priest had only brought the victims T7hich gave admission from the public street to sacrifice them at the city gates, it would into the court of the house. So it is used, have been no offering to Paul and Barnabas. Matt. xxvi. 71, for the vestibule of the high ^ "You" and "your" are the correct priest's palace ; Luke xvi. 20, for that of readings, not " us " and " our." Dives; Acts x. 17, of the house where Peter * Acts xiv. 18. 172 THE LITE A>rD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUI/. chap.ti. " turn from these vain idols to the living God," so he reminds the Thessalonians how they, at his preaching, had " turned from idols to serve the living and true God." ' Again, as he tells the Lystrians that " God had, in the generations that were past, suffered the nations of the Gentiles to walk in their own ways," so he tells the Romans that " God in His forbearance had passed over the former sins of men, in the times that were gone by ; " ^ and so he tells the Athenians,' that " the past times of ignorance God had overlooked." Lastly, how striking is the similarity between the natural theology with which the present speech concludes, and that in the Epistle to the Romans, where, speaking of the Heathen, he says that atheists are without excuse ; " for that which can be known of God is manifested in their hearts, God himself having shown it to them. For His eternal power and Godhead, though they be invisi- ble, yet are seen ever since the world was made, being understood by the works which He hath wrought." The crowd reluctantly retired, and led the victims away without offering them in sacrifice to the Apostles. It might be supposed that at least a command had been obtained over their gratitude and reverence, which would not easily be destroyed ; but we have to record here one of those suddeu changes of feeling, which are humiliating proofs of the weakness of human nature and of the superficial character of religious excitement. The Lycaonians were proverbially fickle and faithless ; but we may not too hastily decide that they were worse than many others might have been under the same circumstances. It would not be diffi- cult to find a parallel to their conduct among the modern converts from idolatry to Christianity. And certainly no later missionaries have had more assiduous enemies than the Jews whom the Apostles had every- where to oppose. Certain Jews from Iconium, and even from Antioch,* followed in the footsteps of Paul and Barnabas, and endeavored to excite the hostility of the Lystrians against them. When they heard of the miracle worked on the lame man, and found how great an effect it had produced on the people of Lystra, they would be ready with a new interpretation of this occurrence. They would say that it had been accomplished, not by Divine agency, but by some diabolical magic ; as once they had said at Jerusalem, that He who came " to destroy the works of the Devil" cast out devils " by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." ^ And this is probably the true explanation of that sudden 1 1 Thess. i. 9, The coincidence is more in the Authorized Version entirely alteri iH Btriking in the Greek, because the very same meaning, verb is used in each passage, and is intransi- ' Acts xvii. 30. tive in both. * Acts xiv. 19. " Rom. iii. 25 : the mistranslation of which * Matt. xii. 24. CHAP. VI. ST. PAXIL STONED. 173 change of feeling among the Lystrians, which at first sight is very surprising. Tlieir own interpretation of what they had witnessed having been disavowed by the authors of tlie miracle themselves, they would readily adopt a new interpretation, suggested by those who appeared to be well acquainted witli the strangers, and who had followed them from distant cities. Their feelings changed with a revulsion as violent as that whicli afterwards took place among the " barbarous people " of Malta,' who first thought St. Paul was a murderer, and then a God. The Jews, taliing advantage of the credulity of a rude tribe, were able to accom- plish at Lystra the design they had meditated at Iconium.* St. Paul was stoned, — not hurried out of the city to execution like St. Stephen,' the memory of whose death must have come over St. Paul at this moment with impressive force, — but stoned somewhere in tlie streets of Lystra, and then dragged through the city-gate, and cast outside the walls, under the belief that he was dead. This is that occasion to which the Apostle afterwards alluded in the words, " once I was stoned,"* in that long catalogue of sufferings, to which we have already referred in this chapter.' Thus was he " in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the Heathen," — " in deaths oft," — " always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest hi his body. . . . Alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in his mortal flesh."* On the pr-^sent occasion these last words were literally realized, for by the power and goodness of God he rose from a state of apparent death as if by a sudden resurrection.'' Though " persecuted," he was not " for- saken," — though " cast down," he was " not destroyed." " As the disciples 1 Acts xxviii. 4-6. that Paul and liis companions were ' aware of ' Acts xiv. 5. the danger and fled,' a contradiction between ; ' See the end of Ch. II. At Jerusalem the history and the epistles would have ensued, ithe law required that these executions should Truth is necessarily consistent ; but it ia ,ake place outside the city. It must be re- scarcely possible that independent accounts, inembered that stoning was a Jewish punish- not having truth to guide them, sliould thus inent, and that it was proposed by Jews at advance to the very brink of contradiction • conium, and instigated and begun by Jews without falling into it." — Harm PauUnce, j.t Lystra. p. 69. I * See Paley's remark on the expression 5 g^g pp. i45_ 146. once I was stoned," in reference to the pre- <■ Compare 2 Corinthians iv. 8-12 and xi. lious design of stoning St. Paul at Iconium. 23-27. Had the assault been completed, h.id the ' The natural inference from the narrative .istory related that a stone was thrown, as it is, that the recovery was miraculous ; and it is slates that preparations were made both by evident that such a recovery must hiive pro ews and Gentiles to stone Paul and his com- duced a strong effect on the minds of the miens, or even had the account of this trans- Ciiristians who witnessed it. aion stopped, without going on to inform us 174 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cn.u>. rr. stood about him, he rose up, and came into the city." ' We see from this expression that his labors in Lystra had not been in vain. He had found some wiUing listeners to the truth, some " disciples " who did not hesitate to show their attachment to their teacher by remaining near his body, which the rest of tlieir fellow-citizens had wounded and cast out. These courageous disciples were left for the present in the midst of the enemies of the truth. Jesus Christ had said,- " when they persecute you in one city, flee to another ; " and the very " next day " ' Paul " departed with Barnabas to Derbe." But before we leave Lystra, we must say a few words on one spectator of St. Paul's sufferings, who is not yet mentioned by St. Liikc, but who was destined to be the constant coiBpanion of his after-years, tlie zealous follower of his doctrine, the faithful partner of his danger and distress. St. Paul came to Lystra again after the interval of one or two years, and on that occasion we are told * that he found a certain Christian there, " whose name was Timotheus, whose mother was a Jewess, while his father was a Greek," and whose excellent character was highly esteemed by his fellow-Christians of Lystra and Iconium. It is distinctly stated that at the time of this second visit Timothy was already a Christian ; and since we know from St. Paul's own expression, — " my own son in the faith,"* — that he was converted by St. Paul himself, we must suppose this change to have taken place at the time of the first visit. And the reader will remember that St. Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy (iii. 10, 11) reminds him of his own intimate and personal knowledge of the sufferings he had endured, " at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra," — the places (it will be observed) being mentioned in the exact order in I which they were visited, and in which the successive persecutions took place. We have thus the strongest reasons for believing tliat Timothy was a witness of St. Paul's injurious treatment, and this too at a time of life when the mind receives its deepest impressions from the spectacle of innocent suffering and undaunted courage. And it is far from impossible that the generous and warm-hearted youtli was standing in that group of disciples, who surrounded the apparently lifeless body of tlie Apostle at the outside of the walls of Lystra. We are called on to observe at this point, with a thankful acknowledg- 1 Acts xiv. 20. through the recollection of St. P.nul's suffer * Matt. X. 23. ings ; hut the common view is the most natu- * Acts xiv. 20. ' IhiJ. xvi. 1. ral. Sec what is said 1 Cor. iv. 14, 15 : " As ' 1 Tim i. 2. Compare i. 18 and 2 Tim. my hclovcd sons I warn you; for though ya ii. 1. It is indeed possible that these expres- have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet sions might be used, if Timothy became a have ye not many fathers ; for in Christ Jcsui Christian by his mother's influence, and I have begotten you through the Gospel." CHAP. VI. TIMOTHEUS. — DEEBE. 175 ment of God's providence, that the flight fromlconiiim, and the cruel per- secution at Lystra, were events which involved the most important and beneficial consequences to universal Christianity. It was here, in the midst of barbarous idolaters, that the Apostle of the Gentiles found an associate, who became to him and the Church far more than Barnabas, the companion of his first mission. As we have observed above,' there appears to have been at Lystra no synagogue, no community of Jews and proselytes, among whom such an associate miglit naturally have been ex- pected. Perhaps Timotheus and his relations may have been almost the only persons of Jewish origin in tlie town. And his " grandmother Lois " and " mother Eunice " - may have been brought there originally by some accidental circumstance, as Lydia ' was brought from Thyatira to Philippi.* And, though there was no synagogue at Lystra, this family may have met with a few others in some proseucha, like that in which Lydia and her fellow-worshippers met " by the river-side." ** "Whatever we conjecture concerning the congregational life to which Timotheus may have been accustomed, we are accurately informed of the nature of that domestic life which nurtured him for his future labors. The good soil of his heart was well prepared before Paul came, by the instructions ^ of Lois and Eunice, to receive the seed of Clu'istian truth, sown at the Apostle's first visit, and to produce a rich harvest of faitli and good works before the time of his second visit. I Derbe, as we have seen, is somewhere not far from the " Black Moun- jtain," which rises like an island in the south-eastern part of the plain of Lycaonia. A few hours would suffice for the journey between Lystra and ts neighbor-city. We may, perhaps, infer from the fact that Derbe is iiot mentioned in the list of places which St. Paul ' brings to the rccollec- lion of Timothy as scenes of past suffering and distress, that in this town ihe Apostles were exposed to no persecution. It may have boon a quiet ;esting-placo after a journey full of toil and danger. It docs not appear hat they were hindered in " evangelizing " the city : and the fruit of heir labors was the conversion of " many disciples." ' And now we have reached the limit of St. Paul's first missionary ouruey. About this part of the Lycaonian plain, where it approaches, irough gradual undulations," to the northern bases of Mount Taurus, ho • Seep. 167. ' 2 Tim. iii. 11. = 2 Tim. 1. 5. 8 Acts xiv. 21. ' Acts xvi. 14. ' So Leake describes the neigliborhooil of ;* See also the remarks on the Jews settled Karaman (Larnnda), pp. 96, 97. Hamilton, ilAsia Minor, Ch. I. p. 16; and on the Hel- speaking of the same district, mentions "low I'istic and Aramean Jews, Ch. II. p. 35. ridges of crctaccons limestone, extending into ' Acts xvi. 13. « 2 Tim. i. 5. the plain from the mountains." ii. 324. 176 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAtTL. chap. vi. was not far from that well-known pass' which leads down from the central table-land to Cilicia and Tarsus. But his thoughts did not centre in an earthly home. He turned back upon his footsteps ; and revisited tho places, Lystra, Iconinm, and Antioch,'* where he himself had been reviled and persecuted, but where he had left, as sheep in the desert, the disciples whom his Master had enabled him to gather. They needed building up and strengthening in the faith,' comforting in the midst of their inevitable sufferings, and fencing round by permanent institutions. Therefore Paul and Barnabas revisited the scenes of tlieir labors, un- daunted by the dangers which awaited them, and using words of encouragement, which none but the founders of a true religion would have ventured to address to their earliest converts, that " we can only enter the kingdom of God by passing through much tribulation." But not only did they fortify their faith by passing words of encouragement ; they ordained elders in every church after the pattern of the first Christian communities in Palestine,* and with that solemn observance which had attended their own consecration,' and which has been trans- mitted to later ages in connection with ordination, — " with fasting and prayer," — they "made choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of tlie Church." " Thus, having consigned their disciples to Him " in whom they had believed," and who was " able to keep that which was intrusted to Him," ' Paul and Barnabas descended through the Pisidian mountains to the plain of Pamphylia. If our conjecture is correct (see pp. 147, 148), that they went up fi-om Perga in spring, and returned at the close of autumn,' and spent all the hotter months of the year in the elevated dis- tricts, they would again pass in a few days through a great change of seasons, and almost from winter to summer. The people of Pamphyha would have returned from their cold residences to the warm shelter of the plain by the seaside ; and Perga would be full of its inhabitants. The Gospel was preached within the walls of this city, througli which the Apostles had merely passed ^ on their journey to the interior. But from 1 The " Cilician Gates," to which we shall ' Ch. V. p. 123. return at the beginning of the second mission- ^ Tlic First Collect for the Ember Weeks. ary journey (Acts xv. 41). See the Map. ' Acts xiv. 23. Compare 2 Tim. i. 12. 2 Mentioned (Acts xiv. 21) in the inverse • Wicselerthinks the events on thisjonmey order from that in which they had been visited must have occupied more than one year. It before (xiii. 14, 51, xiv. G). is evident that the case does not admit of any ' Acts xiv. 22. thing more than conjecture. * The first mention of presbyters in the ' See above, p. 143, and notes. Christian, opposed to the Jewish sense, occurs Acts xi. 30, in reference to the church at Jem- salem. See Chapter XIII. nuAP.Ti. PBRGA AND ATTALEIA, 177 St. Luke's silence it appears that the preaching was attended with no marked results. We read neitlicr of conversions nor persecutions. The Jews, if any Jews resided there, were less inquisitive and less tyrannical than those at Antioch and Iconium ; and the votaries of " Diana before the city " at Perga (see p. 143) were less excitable than those who worshipped " Jupiter before tlie city " at Lystra.' When the time came for returning to Syria, they did not sail down the Oestrus, up the channel of which river they had come on their arrival from Cyprus,^ but travelled across the plain to Attaleia,' which was situated on the edge of the Pamphylian gulf. Attaleia had something of the same relation to Perga which Cadiz has to Seville. In each case the latter city is approached by a river-voyage, and the former is more conveniently placed on the open sea. Attains Philadelphus, king of Pergamus, whose dominions extended from the north-western corner of Asia Minor to the Sea of Pamphylia, had built this city in a convenient position for commanding the trade of Syria or Egypt. When Alexander the Great passed this way, no such city was in existence : but since the days of the kings of Pergamus, who inherited a fragment of his vast empire, Attaleia has always existed and flourished, retaining the name of the monarch who built it.* Behind it is the plain through which the calcareous waters of the Catarrhactes flow, perpetually j constructing and destroying and reconstructing their fantastic channels.* lu front of it, and along the shore on each side, arc long lines of cliffs,^ over which the river finds its way in waterfalls to the sea, and which conceal the plain from those who look toward the land from the inner waters of the bay, and even encroach on the prospect of the mountains themselves. i When this scene is before us, the mind reverts to another band of Christian warriors, who once sailed from the bay of Satalia to the Syrian Antioch. Certain passages, in which the movements of the Crusaders md Apostles may be compared with each other, are among the striking contrasts of history. Conrad and Louis, each with an army consisting lit first of 70,000 men, marched through part of the same districts which ivere traversed by Paul and Barnabas alone and unprotected. The battered remains of the French host had come down to Attaleia through ' Acts xiv. 13. 2 pp_ i43_ i44_ t j^g modern name is Satalia. ' A view may be seen in the work of Ad- ' See Spratt and Forbes for a full liral Beaufort, who describes the city as of the irregular deposits and beautifully situated round a small harbor, channel observable in this river, le streets appearing to rise behind each other * There are also ancient sea-cliffs at some ke the seats of a theatre . . . with a double distance behind the present coast-line, all and a series of square towers on the level t of the hill." 12 ir 178 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. " the abrupt mountain-passes and the deep valleys " which are so well described by the contemporary historian.' They came to fight the battle of the Cross with a great multitude, and with the armor of human power: their journey was encompassed with defeat and death; their arrival at Attaleia was disastrous and disgraceful ; and they sailed to Antioch a broken and dispirited army. But the Crusaders of the first century, the Apostles of Christ, though they too passed " through much tribulation," advanced from victory to victory. Their return to the place " whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled," ^ was triumphant and joyful, for the weapons of their warfare were " not carnal." ' The Lord Himself was their tower and their shield. 0^ Coin of Antioch ic Pisidla.' » William of Tyre. " Acts xiv. 26. ' See 2 Coi. x. 4. « See note, p. 158. CHAPTER VII. Controversy in the Church. — Separation of Jews and Gentiles. — Difficulty in the Narrati je. — Discontent at Jerusalem. — Intrigues of the Judaizers at Antioch. — Mission of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. — Divine Revelation to St. Paul. — Titus. — Private Conferences. — Public Electing. — Speech of St. Peter. — Narrative of Barnabas and Paul. — Speech of St. James. — The Decree. — Public Recognition of St. Paul's Mission to the Heathen. — St. John. — Return to Antioch with Judas, Silas, and Mark. — Reading of the Letter. — Weak Conduct of St. Peter at Antioch. — He is rebuked by St. Paul. — Personal Appearance of the two Apostles. — Their Reconciliation. IP, when we contrast the voyage of Paul and Barnabas across the bay of Attaleia with the voyage of those who sailed over the same waters in the same direction, eleven centuries later, our minds are power- fully drawn towards the pure age of early Christianity, when the power of faith made human weakness irresistibly strong ; — the same thoughts are not less forcibly presented to us, when we contrast the reception of the Crusaders at Antioch, with the reception of the Apostles in the same city. We are told by the chroniclers, that Raymond, " Prince of Ajitioch," waited with much expectation for the arrival of tlie French king ; and that when he heard of liis landing at Scleucia, he gathered together all the nobles and chief men of the people, and went out to meet him, and brought him into Antioch with much pomp and magnificence, showing him all reverence and homage, in tlie midst of a , great assemblage of the clergy and people. All that St. Luke tells us ;of the reception of the Apostles after their victorious campaign, is, that they entered into the city and " gathered together tlie Churcli, and told them how God had worked with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." ' Thus the kingdom of God came at tlie first "without observation,"^ — with the humble acknowledgment that all power is given from above, — and with a thankful recognition of our Father's merciful love to all mankind. No age, however, of Christianity, not even the earliest, has been with- )ut its difficulties, controversies, and corruptions. Tlie presence of Judas imong the Apostles, and of Ananias and Sapphira among the first dis- iiples,' were proofs of the power which moral evil possesses to combine . I ' Acti xiv. 27 " Luke xvii. 20. ' Acts v. 179 180 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap, vn. itself with the holiest works. The misunderstanding of " the Grecians and Hebrews " in the days of Stephen,' the suspicion of the Apostles when Paul came from Damascus to Jerusalem,- tlie secession of Mark at the beginning of the first missionary journey,' were symptoms of the preju- dice, ignorance, and infirmity, in the midst of which the Gospel was to win its way in the hearts of men. And the arrival of the Apostles at Antioch at the close of their journey was presently followed by a troubled controversy, which involved the most momentous consequences to all future ages of the Church ; and led to that visit to Jerusalem which, next after his conversion, is perhaps the most important passage in St. Paul's life. We have seen (Ch. I.) that great numbers of Jews had long been dispersed beyond the limits of their own land, and were at this time distributed over every part of the Roman Empire. " Moses had of old time, in every city, them that preached him, being read in the syna- gogues every Sabbath day." ^ In every considerable city, both of the East and West, were established some members of that mysterious peo- ple, — who had a written Law, which they read and re-read, in the midbt of the contempt of those who surrounded them, week by week, and year by year, — who were bound everywhere by a secret link of affection to one City in the world, where alone their religious sacrifices could be offered, — whose whole life was utterly abhorrent from the temples and images which crowded the neighborhood of their Synagogues, and fi'om the gay and licentious festivities of the Greek and Roman worship. In the same way it might be said that Plato and Aristotle, Zeiio and Epicurus,' " had in every city those that preached them." Side by side with the doctrines of Judaism, the speculations of Greek philoso- phers were — not indeed read in connection with religious worship — but orally taught and publicly discussed in the schools. Hence the Jews, in their foreign settlements, were surrounded, not only by an idolatry which shocked all their deepest feelings, and by a shameless profligacy unfor- bidden by, and even associated with, that which the Gentiles called religion, — bnt also by a proud and contemptuous philosophy that alienated the more educated classes of society to as groat a distance as the unthinking multitude. Thus a strong line of demarcation between the Jews and Gentiles ran through the whole Roman Empire. Though their dwellings were often contiguous, they were separated from each other by deep-rooted feelings , of aversion and contempt. The " middle wall of partition " * was built p. 61. » P. 145. 6 See Acts xv P. 96. ♦ Acts XT. 21. 6 Eph. ii. U. cHAP.vn. SEPARATION OF JEWS AND GENTILES. 181 up by diligent hands on both sides. This mutual alienation existed, not- withstanding the vast number of proselytes, who were attraeted to the Jewish doctrine and worship, and who, as we have already observed (Ch. I.), were silently preparing the way for the ultimate union of the two races. The breach was even widened, in many cases, in consequence of this work of proselytism : for those who went over to the Jewish camp, or hesitated on the neutral ground, were looked on with some suspicion by the Jews themselves, and Uioroughly hated and despised by the Gentiles. It must be remembered that the separation of which we speak was both religious and social. The Jews had a divine Law, wliich sanctioned the principle, and enforced the practice, of national isolation. Tliey could not easily believe that this Law, with which all the glorious passages of their history were associated, was meant only to endure for a limited period: and we cannot but sympathize in the difficulty they felt in accepting the notion of a cordial union with the uncircumcised, even after idolatry was abandoned and morality observed. And again, the peculiar character of tlic religion whicli isolated the Jews was such as to place insuperable obstacles in tlie way of social union with other men. Their ceremonial observances precluded the possiljility of tlieir eating with the Gentiles. The nearest parallel we can find to this barrier be- tween the Jew and Gentile, is tlie institution of caste among the ancient populations of Lidia, which presents itself to our politicians as a perplex- ing fact in the government of the presidencies, and to our missionaries as the great obstacle to the pi-ogress of Christianity in the East.' A Hindoo cannot eat with a Parsee, or a Moliammcdan, — and among the Hindoos tliemselves the meals of a Brahmin are polluted by the presence I of a Pariah, — though they meet and have free intercourse in the ordinary transaction of business. So it was in the patriarchal age. It was " an i abomination for tlic Egyptians to eat bread with the Hebrews."'- The same principle was divinely sanctioned for a time in the Mosaic In- jstitutions. The Israelites, who lived among the Gentiles, met them {freely in the places of public resort, buying and selling, conversing and 'disputing: but their families were separate: in the relations of domestic ilife, it was " unlawful," as St. Peter said to Cornelius, " for a man that was a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation."' When St. Peter returned from the centurion at CiBsarea to his brother- Christians at Jerusalem, their great charge against him was that he had 1 See for instance the Memoir of the Rev. cerning the slaughtering of animals for food ;ff. W. Fox (1850), pp. 123-125. A short and the sale of the meat, is given in Allen's itatement of the strict regulations of the mod- Modern Judaism, ch. xxii. ^rn Jews, in their present dispersed state, con- '^ Gen. xliii. 32. ' Acts x. 28. 182 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.tii. " gone in to men iincircumcised, and had eaten with them: '" and thei weak compliance of which lie was guilty, after the true principle of social unity had bceu publicly recognized, and which called forth the stern rebuke of his brother-apostle, was that, after eating with the Gentiles, he " withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision."^ How these two difficulties, which seem to forbid the formation of a united Church on earth, were ever to be overcome, — how the Jews and Gentiles were to be religiously united, without the enforced obliga- tion of the whole Mosaic Law, — how they were to be socially united as equal brethren in the family of a common Father, — the solution of this problem must in that day have appeared impossible. And without the direct intervention of Divine grace it would have been impossible. We now proceed to consider how that grace gave to the minds of the Apostles the wisdom, discretion, forbearance, and firmness which were required ; and how St. Paul was used as the great instrument in accomplishing a work necessary to the very existence of the Christian Cluirch. Wc encounter here a difficulty, well known to all who have examined this subject, in combining into one continuous narrative the statements in the Epistle to the Galatians and in the Acts of the Apostles. In the latter book we are informed of five distinct journeys made by the Apostle to Jerusalem after the time of his conversion; — first, when he escaped from Damascus, and spent a fortnight with Peter ; ' secondly, when he took tlic collection from Antioch with Barnabas in the time of the famine;* tlurdly, on the occasion of the Council, which is now before us in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts ; fourthly, in the interval between his sec- ond and third missionary journeys ;' and, fiftlily, when the uproar was made in the Temple, and he was taken into the custody of the Roman garrison.* In the Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks of two jour neys to Jerusalem, — the first being "three years" after his conversion,' the second "fourteen years" later,' when his own Apostleship was asserted and recognized in a public meeting of the other Apostles.' Now, while we have no difficulty in stating, as we have done (p. 95), that the first journey of one account is the first journey of the other, theologians have been variously divided in opinion, as to wliether the sec- ond journey of the Epistle must be identified with the second, third, or 1 Acts xi. 3. ' Acts xviii. 22. conversion. This question, as well as that ^ Gal. ii. 12. ° Acts x.xi. &c. of the reading " four," is discussed in AppeH- 8 P. 95. ' Gal. i. 18. dix I. See also the Chronological Table ii « P. 117. Appendix III. 8 We take the " fourteen " (Gal. ii. 1) to « G«l. u. 1-10. refer to the preceding journey, and not to the CHAP.vu. DIFFICTJLTY IN THE KAEEATIVE. 183 fourth of the Acts ; or whether it is a separate journey, distinct from any of them. It is agreed by all that the fifth cannot possibly be intended.' The view we have adopted, that the second journey of the Epistle is the third of the Acts, is that of the majority of the best critics and commen- tators. For the arguments by which it is justified, and for a full discus- sion of the wliole subject, we must refer the reader to Appendix I. Some of the arguments will be indirectly presented in the following nar- rative. So far as tlie circumstances combined together in the present chapter appear natural, consecutive and coherent, so far some reason will be given for believing that we are not following au arbitrary assumption or a fanciful theory. It is desirable to recur at the outset to the first instance of a Gentile's conversion to Christianity.- After the preceding remarks, we are prepared to recognize the full significance of the emblematicaP vision which St. Peter saw at Joppa. The trance into which he fell at the moment of his hunger, — the vast sheet descending from heaven, — the promiscuous assemblage of clean and unclean animals,* — the voice from heaven which said, "Arise, Peter, kill and eat" — the whole of this imagery is invested with the deepest meaning, when we recollect all the details of religious and social life, which separated, up to that moment, the Gentile ifrom the Jew. The words heard by St. Peter in his trance came like a ishock on all the prejudices of his Jewish education.' He had never bo broken the Law of his forefathers as to eat any thing it condemned as unclean. And though the same voice spoke to him " a second time,'^ and " answered him from heaven,"' — " What God has made clean that jcall not thou common," — it required a wonderful combination of natu- ral' and supernatural evidence to convince him that God is "no respecter of persons," but " in every nation " accepts him that " feareth Him and I ' Some writers, e.g. Paley and Schrader, consequently lay no longer a claim to holiness; ;iaTe contended that an entirely different jour- for the terra ' holiness,' applied to mortals, liey, not mentioned in the Acts, is alluded to. means only a framing of our desires by the jChis also is discussed in Appendix I. will of God. . . . Have we not enough 1^ ^ Acts X., xi. to eat without touching forbidden things 1 I ' The last emblematical visions (properly Let me beseech my dear fellow-believers not to b called) were those seen by the prophet deceive themselves by saying, ' there is no sin achariah. in eating of aught that lives ; ' on the con- * See Lcvit. xi. trary, there is sin and contamination too." — ' The feeling of the Jews in all ages is Leeser's Jews and the Mosaic Law; ch. on ell illustrated by the following extract from a " The forbidden Meats." Philadelphia, 5594. r.odem Jewish work : "If we disregard this ^ Acts x. 15. ' Actsxi. 9. recept, and say, ' What difference can it make ' The coincidence of outward events and ' God if I eat the meat of an ox or swine t ' inward admonitions was very similar to the cir- e offend against His will, we pollute our- cumstances connected with St. Paul's baptism Ives by what goes into the mouth, and can by Ananias at Damascus. See above, p. ST. 184 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cuAP.vn. workcth righteousness," ' — that all such distmctions as depend ou " meat and drink," on " holydays, new moons, and sabbaths," were to pass away, — that these things were only " a shadow of things to come," — that " the body is of Christ," — and that " in Him we are complete . . . circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands . . . buried with Him in baptism," and risen with Him through faith.^ The Christians " of the circumcision,"^ who travelled with Peter from Joppa to Csesarea, were " astonished " when they saw " the gift of the Holy Ghost poured out " on uucircumcised Gentiles : and much dissatis- faction was created in tlie Church, when intelligence of the whole trans- action came to Jerusalem. On Peter's arrival, his having " gone in to men uncircumcised, and eaten witli them," was ari-aigncd as a serious violation of religious duty. When St. Peter " reliearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order," appealing to tlie evidence of the "six brethren" who had accompanied him, — his accusers were silent; and so much conviction was produced at the time, that they expressed their gratitude to God, for His mercy in " granting to the Gentiles repentance unto life." * But subsequent events too surely proved that the discontent at Jerusalem was only partially allayed. Hesitation and perplexity began to arise in the minds of the Jewish Chi'istians, with scrupulous misgivings concerning the rectitude of St. Peter's conduct, and an uncomfortable jealousy of the new converts. And nothing could be more natural than all this jealousy and perplexity. To xis, with our present knowledge, it seems that the slightest relaxation of a ceremonial law should have been willingly and eagerly welcomed. But the view from the Jewish standing-point was very different. The religious difficulty in the mind of a Jew was greater than we can easily imagine. We can well believe that the minds of many may have been perplexed by the words and the conduct of our Lord Himself: for He had not been sent " save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and He had said that it was " not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs."^ Until St. Paul appeared before the Church in his true character as the Apostle of the uncircumcision, few understood that " the law of the commandments contained in ordinances " had been abolished by the cross of Christ;^ and that the "other sheep," not of the Jewish fold, should be freely united to the " one flock " by the " One Shepherd."^ The smouldering feeling of discontent, wliich had existed from tlie first, increased and became more evident as new Gentile converts were admitted » Acts X. 34, 35. 2 See Col. u. 8-23. " Matt. xv. 24, 2G. « Acts X. 45 with xi. 12. « Eph. ii. 15. * Acts xi. 1-18. ' Not literally " one fold." John x. \i. CHAP, vn. DISCONTENT AT JERtlSALEM. 185 into the Church. To pass over all the other events of the interval which had elapsed since the baptism of Cornelius, the results of the recent joxirney of Paul and Barnabas tlirough the cities of Asia Minor must have excited a great commotion among the Jewish Christians. " A door of faith " had been opened " unto the Gentiles." ^ " He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostlcship of the circumcision, the same had been mighty in Paul toward the Gentiles." - And we cannot well doubt that both he and Barnabas had freely joined in social intercourse with the Gentile Christians, at Antioch in Pisidia, at Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, as Peter " at the first " ' "a good while ago " * had eaten with Cornelius at CiBsarea. At Antioch in Syria, it seems evident that both parties lived together in amicable intercourse and in much " freedom."' Nor, indeed, is this the city where we should have expected the Jewish controversy to have come to a crisis: for it was from Antioch that Paul and Barnabas had first been sent as missionaries to the Heathen : ^ and it was at Antioch that Greek proselytes had first accepted the truth,^ j and that the imited body of believers had first been called " Chris- I tians."^ I Jerusalem was the metropolis of the Jewish world. The exclusive I feelings which the Jews carried with them wherever they were diffused, were concentrated in Jerusalem in their most intense degree. It was there, I in the sight of the Temple, and with all the recollections of their ancestors surrounding their daily life, that the impatience of the Jewish Christians kindled into burning indignation. They saw that Christianity, instead of ; being the purest and holiest form of Judaism, was rapidly becoming a I universal and indiscriminating religion, in which the Jewish clement ! would be absorbed and lost. This revolution could not appear to them ■ in any other light than as a rebellion against all they had been taught to hold inviolably sacred. And since there was no doubt that the great ; instigator of this change of opinion was that Saul of Tarsus whom they 1 had once known as a young Pharisee at the " feet of Gamaliel," tlie con- I test took the form of an attack made by " certain of the sect of the ! Pharisees " upon St. Paul. The battle which had been fonglit and lost in the " Cilician synagogue" was now to be renewed within the Church i itself. i Some of the " false brethren" (for such is the name which St. Paul gives to the Judaizers) ' went down "from Judaea" to Antioch.'" The course they adopted, in the first instance, was not that of open antagonism to St. Paul, but rather of clandestine intrigue. They came as " spies " lActsxiv. 27. s Acts XT 14. 6 gee Gal. ii. 4. 7 Acts xi. 19-21. » Gal. ii. 4. ' Gal. ii. 8. ' Acts xt 7. " Acts xiii. 1, &c. ' Acts xi. 26. w Acts xv 1. 186 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap. vn. into an enemy's camp, creeping in " unawares," ' that they might ascertain liow far the Jewish Law had been relaxed by the Christians at Antioch ; their purpose being to bring the whole Church, if possible, under the " bondage " of the Mosaic yoke. It appears that they remained some considerable time at Autioch,^ gradually insinuating, or openly inculcat- ing, their opinion that the observance of the Jewish Law was necessary to salvation. It is very important to observe the exact form which their teaching assumed. They did not merely recommend or enjoin, for prudential reasons, the continuance of certain ceremonies in themselves indifferent : but they said, " Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot he saved.'' Such a doctrine must liave been instantly opposed by St. Paul with his utmost energy. He was always ready to go to the extreme verge of charitable concession, when the question was cue of peace and mutual understanding : but when the very foundations of Christianity were in danger of being undermined, when the very con- tinuance of " the truth of the Gospel " ' was in jeopardy, it was impossible that he should " give place by subjection," even " for an hour." The " dissension and disputation," * which arose between Paul and Barnabas and the false brethren from Judsea, resulted in a general anxiety and perplexity among the Syrian Christians. The minds of " tliose who from among the Gentiles were turned unto God " were " troubled " and unsettled.' Those "words" which "perverted the Gospel of Christ" tended also to " subvert the souls " of those who heard them.' It was determined, therefore, " that Paul and Barnabas, with certain others, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and ciders about this ques- tion." It was well kuow)i that those who were disturbing the peace of the Church had their headquarters in Judaea. Such a theological party could only be successfully met in tlie stronghold of Jewish nationality. Moreover, the residence of the principal Apostles was at Jerusalem, and the community over which "James" presided was still regarded as the Mother Chuixh of Christendom. In addition to this mission with which St. Paul was intrusted by the Church at Antioch, he received an intimation of tlie Divine "Will, com- municated by direct revelation. Such a revelation at so momentous a crisis must appear perfectly natural to all who believe that Christianity was introduced into the world by the immediate power of God. If "a man of Macedonia " appeared to Paul in the visions of the night, when he was about to carry the Gospel from Asia into Europe : ' if " the angel 1 Gal. ii. 4. ' Acts xv. 2. 2 This may be inferred from the imperfeet ' Acts xv. 19. in the Greek. Compare xiy. 28. « Gal. i. 7. Acts xt. 24. 8 Gal. ii. 5. ' Acts xvi. 9 CBAP.vn. DIVTKE BEVELATIOK TO ST. PAUL. 187 of God " stood by him in the night, when the ship that was convejiug him to Rome was in danger of sinking ; ' we cannot wonder when he tells us that, on this occasion, when he " went up to Jerusalem with Barna- bas," he went " by revelation." ^ And we need not be surprised, if we find that St. Paul's path was determined by two different causes; that he went to Jerusalem partly because the Churcli deputed him, and partly because he was divinely admonished. Such a combination and co-opera- tion of the natural and the supernatural we have observed above,' in the case of that vision which induced St. Peter to go from Joppa to Cassarea. Nor in adopting this view of St. Paul's journey from Antioch to Jerusalem, need we feel any great difficulty — from this circumstance, that the two motives which conspii-ed to direct him are separately men- tioned in different parts of Scripture. It is true that we are told in the Acts* simply that it was " determined " at Antioch that Paul should go to Jerusalem; and that in Galatians' we are informed by himself that he went " by revelation." But we have an exact parallel in an earlier journey, already related,* from Jerusalem to Tarsus. In St. Luke's narrative' it is stated that "the brethren," knowing the conspiracy against his life, " brought him down to Csesarea and sent him forth ; " while in the speech of St. Paul himself,' we are told that in a trance he saw Jesus Christ, and received from Him a command to depart " quickly 1 out of Jerusalem." 1 Similarly directed from without and from within, he travelled to I Jerusalem on the occasion before us. It would seem that his companions Iwere carefully chosen with reference to the question in dispute. On the jone hand was Barnabas,' a Jew and " a Lcvite " by birth,'" a good rcpre- isentative of the church of the circumcision. On the otiier hand was Titus," now first mentioned'^ in the course of our narrative, a convert from Heathenism, an uncircumcised " Greek." From the expression used of the departure of this company it seems evident that the majority |of the Christians at Antioch were still faithful to the truth of the Gospel. jHad the Judaizers triumphed, it would hardly have been said that Paul and his fellow-travellers were " brought on their way by tlic Church." " 1 Ibid, xxvii. 23. ' Acts xxii. 17, IS. ^ Gal. ii. 2. Schrader (who does not, how- ' Acts xv. 2. ever, identify this journey with that in Acts w Acts iv. 36. " Gal. ii. 1-5. sv.) translates thus — "to make a revelation," '- Titus is not mentioned at all in the Acts which is a meaning the words can scarcely of the Apostles, and besides the present Epistle |bear. and that to Titus himself, he is only mentioned » Pp. 183, 184. in 2 Cor. and 2 Tim. In a later part of thig * Acts XV. 2. work he will be noticed more particularly as ' Gal. ii. 2. St. Paul's "fellow-laborer" (2 Cor. viii. 23). ' Ch. III. p. 97. ' Acts ix. 30. w Acts xv. 3. So the phrase in xv. 40 may 188 THE LIFE AJ It is an eminent triumph of Christian humility and love. We shall not again have occasion to mention St. Peter and St. Paul together, until we come to the last scene of all.'' But, though they might seldom meet whilst laboring in their Master's cause, their lives were united, " and in their deaths they were not divided." Coin of Antloch.' 1 Dr. Vaughan's Harrow Sermons (1846), p. 410. 2 The martyrdom at Rome. See Mrs. Jameson's Work, especially pp. 180-183, 193- ' From the British Museum. See Mr. Scharfs drawing above, p. 116, and what is said there of the emblematical representation of Antioch. On tliis coin the seated figure bears a palm-branch, as the emblem of yictory. CHAPTER Vm Political Divisions of Asia Minor. — DifEculties of the Subject. — Provinces in the Reigns of Claudius and Nero. — I. ASIA. — II. BITHYNIA. — UI. PAMPHYLIA. — IV. GALA- TIA. — V. PONTUS. — VI. CAPPADOCIA. — VII. — CILICIA. — Visitation of the Churches proposed. — Quarrel and Separation of Paul and Barnabas. — Paul and Silas in Cilicia. — They cross the Taurus. — Lystra. — Timothy. — His Circumcision. — Journey through Phrygia. — Sickness of St. Paul. ^ His Reception in Galatia. — Journey to the .^geau. — Alexandria Troas. — St. Paul's Vision. rinHE life of St. Paul being that of a traveller, and our purpose being -L to give a picture of the circumstances by which he was surrounded, it is often necessary to refer to the geography, both physical and political, of the countries through which he passed. This is the more needful in the case of Asia Minor, not only because it was the scene of a very great portion of his journeys, but because it is less known to ordinary readers than Palestine, Italy, or Greece. We have already described, at some length, the physical geography of those southern districts which are in the immediate neighborhood of Mount Taurus.* And now that the Apostle's travels take a wider range, and cross the Asiatic peninsula from Syria to tlie frontiers of Europe, it is important to take a general view of the political geography of this part of the Roman Empire. Unless such a view is obtained in the first place, it is impossible to understand the topographical expressions employed in the narrative, or to conjecture the social relations into which St. Paul was brought in the course of his jour- neys ^ through Asia Minor. It is, liowever, no easy task to ascertain the exact boundaries of the Roman provinces in this part of the world at any given date between Augustus and Constantine. In the first place, these boundaries were con- tinually changing. The area of the different political districts was liable to sudden and arbitrary alterations. Such terms as " Asia," ' " Pam- phylia," * &c., though denoting the extent of a true political jurisdiction, implied a larger or smaller territoiy at one time than another. And again, we find the names of earlier and later periods of history mixed 1 Ch. I. pp. 19-21. Ch. VI. pp. 141, « Acts ii. 9, vi. 9, xvi. 6, six. 10, 27, 31, U2. XX. 16, 18, xxvii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; 2 Cor. i. " 1. e. the journeys in Acts xvi. and Acts 8 ; 2 Tim. i. 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 1. tviii. * Acts ii. 10, xiii. 13, xv. 38, xxvli. 5. 203 204 THE LITE Airo EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. cuAP.yiii. up together iu inextricable confusion. Some of the oldest geographical terms, such as " iEolis," " Ionia," " Caria," " Lydia," were disappearing from ordinary use in the time of the Apostles : ' but others, such as " Mjsia " ^ and " Lycaonia," ' still remained. Obsolete and existing divisions are presented to us together : and the common maps of Asia Minor * are as unsatisfactory as if a map of France were set before us, distributed half into provinces and half into departments. And in the third place, some of the names have no political significance at all, but express rather the ethnographical relations of ancient tribes. Thus, " Pisidia " * denotes a district which might partly be in one province and partly in another ; and " Phrygia " ^ reminds us of the diffusion of an ancient people, the broken portions of whose territory were now under the juris- diction of three or four distinct governors. Cases of this kind are, at first siglit, more embarrassing than the others. They are not merely similar to the twofold subdivision of Ireland, where a province, like Ulster, may contain several definite counties : but a nearer parallel is to be found in Scotland, where a geographical district, associated with many historical recollections, — such as Galloway or Lothian, — may be partly in one county and partly in another. Our purpose is to elucidate the political subdivisions of Asia Minor as they were in the reigns of Claudius and Nero, — or, in other words, to enumerate the provinces which existed, and to describe the boundaries which were assigned to them, in the middle of the first century of the Christian era. The order we shall follow is from West to East, and in so doing we shall not deviate widely from the order in which the provinces were successively incorporated as substantive parts of the Roman Empire. We are not, indeed, to suppose that St. Luke and St. Paul used all tlieir topographical expressions in the strict political sense, even when such a sense was more or less customary. There was an exact usage and a popular usage of all these terms. But the first step towards fixing our geographical ideas of Asia Minor, must be to trace the boundaries of the provinces. When this is done, we shall be better able to distinguish those terms which, about the year 50 a.d., had ceased to have any true political significance, and to discriminate between the technical and the popular language of the sacred writers. 1 Tacitus, Vitruvius, Justjn, &c., speak of political divisions of three or four different Pergamus, Ephesus, Cnidus, Thyatira, &c., as periods are confused together. In some of towns of Asia, not of MoWs, Ionia, Caria, the more recent, tlie Roman provincial divis- Lydia, &c., respectively. See Acts xxvii. 2, ions are indicated, and the emperor's and sen- Rev. i. 11. ate's provinces distinguished. 2 Acts xvi. 7, 8. ' Acts xiv. 6, 11. ' Acts xiii. 14, xiv. 24. * In the ordinary mapa, ethnographical and • Acts ii. 10, xvi. 6, XTiii. SS. CHAP. Vlll. 205 I. Asia. — There is sometimes a remarkable interest associated with the liistory of a geographical term. One case of this kind is suggested by the allusion which has just been made to the British islands. Early writers speak of Ireland under the appellation of " Scotia." Certain of its inliabitauts crossed over to the opposite coast : ' their name spread along with their influence : and at length the title of Scotland was entirely trans- ferred from one island to the other. In classical history we have a simi- lar instance in the name of " Italy," which at first only denoted the southernmost extremity of the peninsula : then it was extended so as to include the whole with the exception of Cisalpine Gaul : and finally, crossing the Rubicon, it advanced to the Alps ; while the name of " Gaul " retreated beyond them. Another instance, on a larger scale, is presented to us on the south of the Mediterranean. The " Africa " of the Romans spread from a limited territory on the shore of that sea, till it embraced the whole continent which was circumnavigated by Vasco di Gama. And similarly the term, by which we are accustomed to designate the larger and more famous continent of the ancient world, traces its derivation to the " Asian meadow by the streams of the Cayster," ^ celebrated in the poems of Homer. This is the earliest occurrence of the word " Asia." We find, how- ever, even in the older poets,' the word used in its widest sense to denote all the countries in the far East. Either the Gi-eeks, made familiar with the original Asia by the settlement of their kindred in its neighborhood, applied it as a generic appellation to all the regions beyond it : * or the extension of the kingdom of Lydia from the banks of the Cayster to the Halys as its eastern boundary, diffused the name of Asia as far as that river, and thus suggested the division of Herodotus into " Asia within the Halys " and " Asia beyond the Halys." * However this might be, the term retained, through the Greek and Roman periods, both a wider and a narrower sense ; of which senses we are concerned only with the latter. The Asia of the New Testament is not the continent which stretches into the remote East from the Black Sea and the Red Sea, but simply the western portion of that peninsula which, in modern times, has received the name of " Asia Minor." * What extent of country, and what political 1 See beginning of Bede's History. Minor) have come into use in the sama ^ Virgil adopts the phrase from Homer. It way. does not appear that the Roman prose writers ^ We may compare the case of " Paira- evcr used tlie word in its primitive and nar- tine," which at first meant only the country rowest sense. of the Philistines, and then was used by tha iJ As in iEschylus. Greeks and Romans to designate the whole of * Having the same general moaning as our the land of Canaan, phrase " The East." The words " Levant " ° The peninsula which we call Asia Minor and "Anadoli" (the modern name of Asia was never treated by the ancients as a geo- 206 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap. vm. significance, we are to assign to the term, will be shown by a statement of a few historical changes. The fall of Croesus reduced the Lydian kingdom to a Persian satrapy. With the rest of the Persian empire, this region west of the Halys fell before the armies of Alexander. In the confusion which followed the conqueror's death, an independent dynasty established itself at Pergamus, not far from the site of ancient Troy. At first their territory was nar- row, and Attains I. had to struggle with the Gauls who had invaded the peninsula, and with the neigliboring chieftains of Bithynia, who had invited them.' Antagonists still more formidable were the Grcclc kings of Syria, who claimed to be " Kings of Asia," and aimed at the possession of the wliole peninsula.'' But the Romans appeared in the East, and ordered Antiochus to retire beyond the Taurus, and then conferred substantial rewards on their faithful allies. Rhodes became the mistress of Caria and Lycia, on the opposite coast ; and Eumenes, the son of Attalus, received, in the West and North-west, Lydia and Mysia, and a good portion of that vague region in the interior which was usually denominat- ed " Pln-ygia," ' — stretching in one direction over the district of Lycaonia.* Then it was that, as 150 years since the Margraves of Bran- denburg became Kings of Prussia, so the Princes of Pergamus became " Kings of Asia." For a time they reigned over a highly-civilized territory, which extended from sea to sea. The library of Pergamus was the rival of that of Alexandria: and Attaleia, fi-om whence wc have lately seen the Apostle sailing to Syria' (Acts xiv. 25, 26) and Troas, from whence we shall presently see him sailing to Europe (Acts xvi. 11), were the southern and northern (or rather the eastern and western) harbors of King Attalus II. At length the debt of gratitude to the Romans was paid by King Attalus III., who died in the year 133 B. c, and left by testament the whole of his dominions to the benefactors of graphical whole. The common divisions were, driven beyond the Taurus by the Romans, we "Asia within the Halys" and "Asia be- see it retained by them, as the title of " King yond the Halys " (as above) ; or, " Asia with- of France " was retained by our own mon- in the Taurus " and " Asia beyond the Tau- archs until a very recent period. See 1 Mace, rus." It is very important to hear this in xi. 13, xii. 39, .^iii. 32; 2 Mace. iii. 3. mind : for some interpreters of the New Tes- s fhe case of Mysia, in consequence of tament imagine that the Asia there spoken of the diiBculties of Acts xvi. 7, 8, will be ex- is the peninsula of Lesser Asia. The term amined particularly, when we come to this " Asia Minor " is first found in Orosius, a writer part of St. Paul's journey, of the fourth century, though " Asia Major " * Thus Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe were is used by Justin to denote the remote and probably once in " Asia." See below, under eastern parts of the continent. Galatia. 1 See below, p. 207. ' Pp. 177, 178. Another Scripture city, - In the first book of Maccabees (viii. 6) the Philadelphia of Rev. i. 11, iii. 7, was also we find Antiochus the Great called by this built by Attalus II. (Philadelphus). title. And even after kin succejisors were CHAP. vni. BITHYNIA. 207 liis house. And now the " Province of Asia " appears for' the first time as a new and significant term in the history of the world. The newly- acquired possession was placed under a praetor, and ultimately a pro- consul.' The letters and speeche.s of Cicero make us familiar with the names of more than one who enjoyed this distinction. One was the orator's brother, Quintus ; another was Flaccus, whose conduct as governor he defended before the Senate. Some slight changes in the extent of the province may be traced. Pamphylia was withdrawn from this jurisdiction. Rhodes lost her continental possessions, and Caria was added to Asia, while Lycia was declared independent. The boundarj on the side of Phrygia is not easily determined, and was probably variable.^ But enough has been said to give a general idea of what is meant in the New Testament by that " J.sta," which St. Paul attempted to enter (Acts xvi. G), after passing through Phrygia and Galatia; which St. Peter addressed in his First Epistle (1 Pet. i. 1), along with Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia ; and which embraced the " seven churches " (Rev. i. 11) whose angels are mentioned in the Revelation of St. John. II. Bithynia. — Next to Asia, both in proximity of situation and in the order of its establishment, was the province of Bithynia. Nor were the circumstances very different under which these two provinces passed under the Roman sceptre. As a new dynasty established itself after the death of Alexander on the north-eastern shores of tiie ^gcan, so an older dynasty secured its independence at the western edge of tlie Black Sea. Nicomcdes I. was the king who invited the Gauls with whom Attains I. had to contend : and as Attains III., the last of the House of Pergamus, paid his debt to the Romans by making them his heirs, so the last of the Bithynian House, Nicomedes III., left his kingdom as a legacy to the same power in the year 75. It received some accessions on the east after tlie defeat of Mithridates ; and in this condition we find it in the list given by Dio of the provinces of Augustus ; the debatable land between it and Asia being the district of Mysia, through which it is neither easy nor necessary to draw the exact frontier-line.' Stretching inland from the 1 We learn from Acts xix. 38 — " there are ^ Hence we find both the sacred and heathen proconsuls (deputies)" — that it was a pro- writers of the period sometimes including consular or senatorial province. The impor- Phrygia in Asia and sometimes excluding it. tant distinction between the emperor's and the In 1 Pet. i. 1 it seems to be included ; in Acts senate's provinces has been carefully stated in ii. 9, 10, xvi. 6, it is expressly excluded. Ch. V. pp. 129-31. The incidental proof in » See below, on Acts xvi. 7, 8. the Acts is confirmed by Strabo and Dio, who tell us that Augustus made Asia a proconsnlar province. 208 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. vm. shores of the Propontis and Bosphorus, beyond the lakes near the cities of Nicasa and Nicomedia, to the upper ravines of the Sangarius, and the snowy range of Mount Olympus, it was a province rich in all the changes of beauty and grandeur. Its history is as varied as its scenery, if we trace it from the time when Hannibal was an exile at the court of Prusias,' to the establishment of Othman's Mohammedan capital in the city which still bears that monarch's name. It was Hadrian's favorite province, and many monuments remain of that emperor's partiality .'^ But we cannot say more of it without leaving our proper subject. We have no reason to believe that St. Paul ever entered it, though once he made the attempt.' Except the passing mention of Bithynia in this and one other place,^ it has no connection with the apostolic writings. The first great passage of its ecclesiastical history is found in the correspondence of Trajan with its governor Pliny, concerning the persecution of the Christians. The second is the meeting of the first general council, when the Nicene Creed was drawn up on the banks of the Lake Ascanius. III. Pamphylia. — This province has been already mentioned (Chap. VI.) as one of the regions traversed by St. Paul in his first missionary journey. But though its physical features have been described, its political limits have not been determined. The true Pamphylia of the earliest writers is simply the plain which borders the Bay of Attaleia, and which, as we have said (p. 142), retreats itself like a bay into the moun- tains. How small and insignificant this territory was, may be seen from the records of the Persian war, to which Herodotus says that it sent only thirty ships ; while Lycia, on one side, contributed fifty, and Cilicia, on the otiier, a hundred. Nor do we find the name invested with any wider significance, till we approach the frontier of the Roman period. A singular dispute between Antiochus and the king of Pergamus, as to whether Pamphylia was really within or beyond Mount Taurus, was de- cided by the Romans in favor of their ally.^ This could only be effected by a generous inclusion of a good portion of the mountainous country within the range of this geographical term. Henceforward, if not before, Pamphylia comprehended some considerable part of what was anciently called Pisidia. We have seen that the Romans united it to the kingdom 1 The town of Broussa reminds ns of this feeling. Hadrian took it from tlie senate, another illustrious Afriean exile, Abd-cl-Kader, and placed it under his own jurisdietion. But who since the earthquake (after visiting P.aris) when St. Paul passed this way, it was under has been permitted to withdraw to Damascus the senate, as may be proved by coins both of (185.5). the reign of Claudius and subsequent dates. 2 It was the birthplace of his favorite An- « Acts xvi. 7. tinous : and coins are extant which illustrate * 1 Pet. i. 1 . ' See p. 206. CHAP. vra. PAMPHYLIA. — GA1,ATIA. 209 of Asia. It was, therefore, part of the province of Asia at the death of Attains. It is difficult to trace the steps by which it was detached from that province. We find it (along with certain districts of Asia) included in the military jurisdiction of Cicero, when he was governor of Ciliciji.' It is spoken of as a separate province in the reign of Augustus.'* Its boundary on the Pisidian side, or in the direction of Plu-ygia,^ must be left indeterminate. Pisidia was included in this province : but, again, Pisidia is itself indeterminate : and we have good reasons for believing that Antioch in Pisidia was really under the governor of Galatia. Cilicia was contiguous to Pamphylia on the east. Lycia was a separate region on the west, first as an appendage to Rhodes * in the time of the republic, and then as a free state under the earliest emperors ; but about the very time when Paul was travelling in these countries, Claudius brought it within the provincial system, and united it to Pamphylia : ' and inscrip- tions make us acquainted with a public officer who bore the title of " Proconsul of Lycia and Pamphylia." IV. Galatia. — "We now come to a political division of Asia Minor, which demands a more careful attention. Its sacred interest is greater than that of all the others, and its history is more peculiar. The Chris- tians of Galatia were they who received the Apostle " as if he had been an angel," — who, " if it had been possible, would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him," — and then were " so soon removed " by new teachers "from him that called them, to another Gospel," — who began to " run well," and then were hindered, — who were " bewitched " by that zeal which compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, — and who were as ready, in the fervor of their party spirit, to " bite and de- vour one another," as they were willing to change their teachers and their gospels.' It is no mere fancy which discovers, in these expressions of St. Paul's Epistle, indications of the character of that remarkable race of mankind, which all writers, from Caesar to Thierry, ha.ve de- scribed as susceptible of quick impressions and sudden changes, with a fickleness equal to their courage and enthusiasm, and a constant liability 1 Ep. ad An. V. 21. 5 This we have on the authority of Dio '' Dio Cassius tells us that the Pamphylian Cassius and Suetonius. The latter writer says, districts bestowed on Amyntas were restored that about the same time Claudius made over by Augustus to their own province. The to the senate the provinces of Macedonia and same author is referred to below (n. 5) for a Achaia. Hence we fine a proconsul at Corinth, change in the reign of Claudius. Acts xviii. 12. ' Pisidia was often reckoned as a part of ^ At a later period Lycia was a distinct Phrygia, under the name of " Pisidian Phry- provmee, with Myra as its capital. See Ch. eia." XXIII. ♦ See above, p. 206. » Gal. iv. 15, i. 6, t. 7, iu. 1, i. 7, v 15. U 210 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. nn. to that disunion which is the fruit of excessive vanity, — that race, which has not only produced one of the greatest nations of modern times,' but which, long before the Christian era, wandering forth from their early European seats, burnt Rome and pillaged Delphi, founded an empire in Northern Italy more than co-extensive with Austrian Lombardy,''' and another in Asia Minor, equal in importance to one of the largest pachalics. For the " Galatia" of the New Testament was really the " Gml" of the East. The " Epistle to the Galatians " would more literally and more correctly be called tlie " Epistle to the Gauls." When Livy, in his account of tlie Roman campaigns in Galatia, speaks of its inhabitants, he always calls tlicra " Gauls." ' When the Greek historians speak of the inhabitants of ancient France, the word they use is " Galatians." * The two terms are merely the Greek and Latin forms of the same " bar- barian " appellation.^ That emigration of the Gauls, which ended in the settlement in Asia Minor, is less famous than those which led to the disasters in Italy and Greece : but it is, in fact, identical with the latter of these two emigra- tions, and its results were more permanent. The wan-iors who i-oamed over the Cevennes, or by the banks of the Garonne, re-appear on the Halys and at the base of Mount Dindymus. They exchange the super- stitions of Druidism for the ceremonies of the worship of Cybele. The very name of the chief Galatian tribe is one with which we are familiar in the earliest history of France ; and Jerome says that, in his own day, the language spoken at Ancyra was almost identical witli that of Treves.* The Galatians were a stream from that torrent of barbarians which poured into Greece in the third century before our era, and which recoiled in confusion from the cliffs of Delphi. Some tribes had previously separated from the main army, and penetrated into Thrace. There they were joined by certain of the fugitives, and together they appeared on the coasts, which are separated by a narrow arm of the sea from the rich plains and valleys of Bithynia. The wars with which that kingdom waf ' The French travellers (as Tournefort and "Kclt£e"are the same word. See Amold'r Texier) seem to write with patriotic enthusi- Home, i. 522. asm when they touch Galatia ; and we have " It is very likely that there was some Teu- found our best materials in Thierry's history. tonic element in these emigrating tribes, but it - This was written before 1859. is hardly possible now to distinguish it from ' The country of the Galatians was some- the Keltic. The converging lines of distincl times called Gallograjci.-i. nationalities become more faint as we ascend * Some have even thought that the word towards the point where they meet. Thierry translated " Galatia " in 2 Tim. iv. 10, means considers the Tolistoboii, whoso leader was the country commonly called Gaul Lutarius (Luther or Clothair?), to have been * And we may add that " Galats " and a Teutonic tribe. CHAP. Tm. GAIiATIA. 21 1 harassed, made their presence acceptable. Nicomedes was the Vortigern of Asia Minor : and the two Gaulisli chieftains, Leonor and Lutar, may be fitly compared to the two legendary heroes of the Anglo-Saxon in- vasion. Some difficulties occurred in the passage of the Bosphorus, which curiously contrast with the easy voyages of our piratic ancestors. But once established in Asia Minor, the Gauls lost no time in spreading over the whole peninsula with their arms and devastation. In their first crossing over we have compared them to the Saxons. In their first occu- pation they may be more fitly compared to the Danes. For they were a movable army rather than a nation, — encamping, marching, and plun- dering at will. They stationed themselves on the site of ancient Troy, and drove their chariots in the plain of the Cayster. They divided nearly the whole peninsula among their three tribes. They levied tribute on cities, and even on kings. The wars of the East found them various occupation. They hired themselves out as mercenary soldiers. They were the royal guards of the kings of Syria, and the mamelukes of the Ptolemies in Egypt.' The surrounding monarchs gradually curtailed their power, and re- pressed them within narrower limits. First Antiochus Soter drove the Tectosages,^ and then Eumenes drove the Trocmi and Tolistobii, into the central district which afterwards became Galatia. Their territory was definitely marked out and surrounded by the other states of Asia Minor, and they i-etained a geographical position similar to that of Hungary in the midst of its German and Sclavonic neighbors. By degrees they coalesced into a number of small confederate states, and ultimately into one united kingdom.* Successive circumstances brought them into con- tact with the Romans in various ways : first, by a religious embassy sent from Rome to obtain peaceful possession of the sacred image of Cybele ; secondly, by the campaign of Manlius, who reduced their power and left them a nominal independence ; and then through the period of hazardous alliance with the rival combatants in the Civil Wars. The first Deiotarus was made king by Fompey, fled before Csesar at the battle of Pharsalia, and was defended before the conqueror by Cicero, in a speech which still remains to us. The second Deiotarus, like his father, was Cicero's friend, and took charge of his son and nephew during the Cilician campaign. 1 Even in the time of Julius Caesar, we ' This docs not seem to have been effectu- find four hundred Gauls (Galatians), who had ally the case till after the campaign of Manlius. previously been part of Cleopatra's body- The nation was for some time divided into guard, given for the same purpose to Herod. four tetrarchies. Deiotarus was the first solo Joseph. War, xx. 3. ruler; first as tetrareh, then as king. ^ His appellation of Soter or " the Sa- viour " was derived from this victory. 212 THE LITE AlfD EPISTLES OF ST. PATIL. OHAP.yiii. Amyntas, who succeeded him, owed his power to Antony,' but prudently went over to Augustus in the battle of Actium. At the death of Amyntas, Augustus made some modifications in the extent of Galatia, and placed it under a governor. It was now a province, reaching from the borders of Asia and Bithynia to the neighborhood of Iconium, Lysti-a, and Dcrbc, " cities of Lycaonia." ^ Henceforward, lii- CBAP.vra. VISITATION OP THE CHUECHE3 PEOPOSES. 21o With tills last divisioii of tlie Heptarchy of Asia Minor we are brought to the starting-point of St. Paul's second missionary journey. Cilicia is contiguous to Syria, and indeed is more naturally connected with it than with the rest of Asia Minor.' We might illustrate this connection from the letters of Cicero ; but it is more to our purpose to remark that the Apostolic Decree, recently enacted at Jerusalem, was addressed to the Gentile Christians " in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia," * and that Paul and Silas travelled " through Syria and Cilicia " ' in the early part of their progress. This second missionary journey originated in a desire expressed by Paul to Barnabas, that they should revisit all the cities where they had preached the Gospel and founded churches.* He felt that he was not called to spend a peaceful, though laborious, life at Antioch, but that his true work was " far off among the Gentiles." * He knew that his cam- paigns were not ended, — that, as the soldier of Jesus Christ, he must uot rest fi'om his warfare, but must " endure hardness," that he might please Him who had called him.' As a careful physician, he remembered that they, whose recovery from sin had been begun, might be in danger of relapse ; or, to use another metaphor, and to adopt the poetical lan- guage of the Old Testament, he said, — " Come, let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish."' The words actually re- corded as used by St. Paul ou this occasion are these : — " Come, let us turn back and visit our brethren in every city, where we have announced the word of the Lord, and let us see how they fare."* We notice here, for the first time, a trace of that tender solicitude concerning his con- verts, that earnest longing to behold their faces, which appears in the letters which he wrote afterwards, as one of the most remarkable, and one of the most attractive, features of his character. Paul was the speaker, and not Barnabas. The feelings of Barnabas might not be so deep, nor his anxiety so urgent.' Paul thought doubtless of the seph. War, ii. 16, 4), where he says that See his excellent remarks on the whole Cilicia, as well as Bithynia, Pamphylia, &c., passage. was " kept tributary to the Romans without ' " Let tis go now at last " would be a an army," that it was one of the Senate's correct translation. The words seem to ex- provinces. Other evidence, however, tends press something like impatience, especially the other way, especially an inscription found when we compare it with the words " after at Caerleon in Monmouthshire. For fuller some days " which precede. The tender feel- Uetails we must refer to the larger editions. ing implied in the phrase rendered " how they 1 See p. 98, comparing Acts ix. 30 with do " fully justifies what we have said in the Gal. i. 21. text. 2 Acts XV. 23. 8 Acts XT. 41. • We might almost be inclined tj suspect * Acts XV. 36. ' Acts xxii. 21. that Paul had previously urged the same pro- ' 2 Tim ii. 3, 4. posal on Barnabas, and that he had hesitated ' Cant. vii. 12, quoted by Matthew Henry. to comply. 216 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. vm. Pisidians and Lycaonians, as be thought afterwards at Athens and Corinth of the Thessalonians, from whom he had been lately "taken, — in presence not in heart, — endeavoring to see their face with great desire, — niglit and day praying exceedingly that he might see tlieir face, and miglit perfect that which was lacking in tlieir faith." ' He was " not ignorant of Satan's devices."^ He feared lest by any means the Tempt- er had tempted them, and his labor had been in vain.' He " stood in doubt of them," and desired to be " present with them " once more.* His wish was to revisit every city where converts had been made. We are reminded here of tlie importance of continuing a religious work when once begun. We have had the institution of presbyters,^ and of coun- cils,^ brought before us in the sacred narrative ; and now we have an example of that system of church visitation, of the happy effects of which we have still some experience, when we see weak resolutions strength- ened, and expiring faith rekindled, in confirmations at home, or in mis- sionary settlements abroad. This plan, however, of a combined visitation of the churches was marred by an outbreak of human infirmity. The two apostolic friends were separated from each other by a quarrel, which proved that they were indeed, as they had lately told the Lystrians, " men of like passions " with others.'' Barnabas was unwilling to undertake the journey unless he were accompanied by his relation Mark. Paul could not consent to the companionship of one who " departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work : " ' and neither of them could yield his opinion to the other. This quarrel was much more closely connected with personal feelings than that which had recently occurred between St. Peter and St. Paul,' and it was proportionally more violent. Tliere is little doubt that severe words were spoken on the occasion. It is unwise to be over-anxious to dilute the words of Scripture, and to exempt even Apostles from blame. By such ci-iticism we lose much of the instruction which the honest record of their lives was intended to convey. We are taught by this scene at Antioch, that a good work may be blessed by God, though its agents are encompassed with infirmity, and that changes, wliich are violent in their beginnings, may be overruled for the best results. Without attempting to balance too nicely the faults on either side, our simplest course is to believe that, as in most quarrels, there was blame with both. Paul's natural disposition was impetuous ' 1 Thess. ii. 17, iii. 10. « Acts xv. See Chap. VH. ' 2 Cor. ii. 11. ' Actsxiv. 15. ' 1 Thess. iii. 5. ' Acts xT. 38 with xiii. 13. See pp. » Gal. iv. 20. 144, 145. » Acts xiT. 23. See p. 176, and Chap. XIII. » Pp. 198-200. CHAP.vni. SEPAEATION OF PAUL AND BAKNABAS. 217 and impatient, easily kindled to indignation, and (possibly) overbearing. Barnabas had sliown his wealiness when he yielded to the influence of Peter and the Jiidaizers.' The remembrance of the indirect censure he then received may have been perpetually irritated by the consciousness that his position was becoming daily more and more subordinate to that of the friend who rebuked him. Once he was spoken of as chief of those " prophets at Antioch,"^ among whom Saul was the last: now his name was scarcely heard, except when he was mentioned as the companion of Paul.' In short, this is one of those quarrels in which, by placing our- selves in imagination on the one side and the other, we can alternately justify both, and easily see that the purest Christian zeal, when combined with liuman weakness and partiality, may have led to the misunder- standing. How could Paul consent to take with him a companion who would really prove an embarrassment and a hinderance ? Such a task as that of spreading the Gospel of God in a hostile world needs a resolute will and an undaunted courage. And the work is too sacred to be put in jeopardy by any expei-iments.* Mark had been tried once and found wanting. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."' And Barnabas would not be without strong arguments to defend the justice of his claims. It was hard to expect him to resign his interest in one who had cost him much anxiety and many prayers. His dearest wish was to see his young kins- man approving himself as a missionary of Christ. Now, too, he had been won back to a willing obedience, — he had come from his home at Jeru- salem, — he was ready now to face all the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise. To repel him in the moment of his repentance was surely " to break a bruised reed " and to " quench the smoking flax." * It is not difficult to understand the obstinacy with which each of the disputants, when his feelings were once excited, clung to his opinion as to a sacred truth. The only course which now remained was to choose two different paths and to labor independently ; and the Church saw the humiliating spectacle of the separation of its two great missionaries to the Heathen. We cannot, however, suppose that Paul and Barnabas parted, like enemies, in anger and hatred. It is very likely that they made a deliberate and amicable arrangement to divide the region of their 1 Gal. ii. 13. p. 199. ' See p. 135. 'Acts xiii. Pp. 121, 122. Moreover, as ' A timid companion in the hour of danger a friend suggests, St. Paul was under personal is one of the greatest evils. Matthew Henry obligations to Barnabas for introducing him quotes Prov. xxv. 19 : " Confidence in an to the Apostles (Acts ix. 27), and the feelings unfaithful man, in time of trouble, is lik» a of Barnabas would be deeply hurt if he thought broken tooth and like a foot out of joint." his friendship slighted. ' Luke ix. 62. ' Matt. xii. 20. 218 THE LLFE AiTD EPISTLES OP ST. PAUIi. chap. vni. first mission between them, Paul taking the continental, and Barnabas the insular, part of the proposed visitation.' Of this at least we are certain, that the quarrel was overruled by Divine Providence to a good result. One stream of missionary labor had been divided, and the regions blessed by the waters of life were proportionally multiplied. St. Paul speaks of Barnabas afterwards- as of an Apostle actively engaged in his Master's service. We know nothing of the details of his life beyond the moment of his sailing for Cyprus ; but we may reasonably attribute to him not only the confirming of the first converts,^ but the full establishment of the Church in bis native island. At Paphos the impure idolatry gradually retreated before the presence of Christianity ; and Salamis, where the tomb of the Christian Levite * is shown,' has earned an eminent place in Christian history, through the writings of its bishop, Epiphanius." Mark, too, who began his career as a " minister " of the Gospel in this island,'' justified the good opinion of his kinsman. Yet the severity of Paul may have been of eventual service to his character, in leading him to feel more deeply the serious importance of the work he had undertaken. And the time came when Paul himself acknowledged, with affectionate tenderness, not only that he had again become his " fellow-laborer," ' but that he was " profitable to the minis- try,'" and one of the causes of his own " comfort." "• It seems that Barnabas was the first to take his departure. The feeling of the majority of the Church was evidently with St. Paul, for when ho had chosen Silas for his companion, and was ready to begin his journey, lie was specially " commended by the brethren to the grace of God." " The visitation of Cyprus having now been undertaken by others, his obvious course was not to go by sea in the direction of Perga or Attaleia,''^ but to travel by the Eastern passes directly to the neighbor- hood of Iconium. It appears, moreover, that he had an important work 1 If Barnabas visited Salamis and Paphos, relation to him as a witness in which Silas did and if Paul, after passing through Derbe, Lys- to Paul, tra, and Iconium, went as far as Antioch in * Acts iv. 36. Pisidia (sec below), the whole circuit of the ' MS. note from Capt. Graves, R.N. proposed visitation was actually accomplished, ^ The name of this celebrated father has for it does not appear that any converts had been given to one of the promontories of the been made at Perga and Attaleia. island, the ancient Acamas. '■' 1 Cor. ix. 6 : whence also it appears that ' Acts xiii. 5. Barnabas, like St Paul, supported himself by ^ Philemon 24. the labor of his hands. ' 2 Tim. iv. U. See p. 144, n. 11. 3 Paul took the copy of the Apostolic '" Col. iv 10, U. Decree into Cilicia. If the Judaizing tendency " Acts xv. 40. had shown itself in Cyprus, Barnabas would i^ If no other causes had occurred to deter- still be able to refer to the decision of the mine the direction of his journey, there might council, and Mark would stand in the same be no vessel at Autioch or Seleucia bound for CHAP.vm. SYRIA AND CILICIA. 219 to accomplish in Cilicia. The early fortunes of Christianitj in that province were closely bound up with the city of Antioch and the per- sonal labors of St. Paul. When he withdrew from Jerusalem, " three years " after his conversion, his residence for some time was in " the regions of Syria and Cilicia." ' He was at Tarsus in the course of that residence, when Barnabas first brought him to Antioch.^ The churches founded by the Apostle in his native province must often have been visited by him ; for it is far easier to travel from Antioch to Tarsus, than from Antioch to Jerusalem, or even from Tarsus to Iconium. Thus the religious movements in the Syrian metropolis penetrated into Cilicia. The same great " prophet " had been given to both, and the Christians in both were bound together by the same feelings and the same doc- trines. When the Judaizing agitators came to Antioch, the result was anxiety and perplexity, not only in Syria, but also in Cilicia. This is nowhere literally stated ; but it can be legitimately inferred. We are, indeed, only told tliat certain men came down with false teaching from Judaja to Antioch.' But the Apostolic Decree is addressed to " the Gentiles of Cilicia " * as well as those of Antioch, thus implying that the Judaizing spirit, with its mischievous consequences, had been at work beyond the frontier of Syria. And, doubtless, the attacks on St. Paul's apostolic character had accompanied the attack on apostolic truth ,^ and a new fulfilment of the proverb was nearly realized, that a prophet in his own country is without honor. He had, therefore, no ordinary work to accomplish as he went " through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches ; " * and it must have been with much comfort and joy that he was able to carry with him a document, emanating from the Apostles at Jerusalem, which justified the doctrine he had taught, and accredited his personal character. Nor was he alone as the bearer of this letter, but Silas was with him also, ready " to tell the same tilings by moutli." ' It is a cause for thankfulness that God put it into the heart of Silas to "abide still at Antioch "' when Judas returned to Jerusalem, and to accompany St. PauP on his northward journey. For when the Ciliciaa Christians saw their countryman arrive without his companion Barnabas, whose name was coupled with his own in the apostolic letter,'" their confi- Pamphylia ; a circumstance not always snffi- time. Much might be accomplished during ciently taken into account by those who have the residence at Antioch (xv. 36), which might on St. Paul's voyages. very well include journeys to Tarsus. But we 1 Gal. i. 21 ; Acts ix. 30. See pp. 97-99. are distinctly told that the churches of Cilicia ^ Acts xi. 25. See p. 110. were "coniirmed " by St. Paul, when he was ' Acts XV. 1. on his way to those of Lycaonia. « Acts XV. 2,3. s Pp. 185, 194. ' Acts xv. 27. ' Acts XV. 41. The work of allaying the ' Or to return thither. See p. 198, n. 2. Judaizing spirit in Cilicia would require some ' Acts xv. 40. w Acts xv. 25. 220 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. CHAP.Tm. dence might have been shaken, occasion might have been given to tlie enemies of the truth to slander St. Paul, had not Silas been present, as one of those who were authorized to testify that both Paul and Barnabas were " men who had hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." ' Where " the churches " were, which he " confirmed " on his journey, — in what particular cities of " Syria and Cilicia," — we are not in- formed. After leaving Antioch by the bridge over the Orontes,^ he w-ould cross Mount Amanus by the gorge which was anciently called the " Syrian Gates," and is now known as the Beilan Pass.' Then he would come to Alexandria and Issus, two cities that were monuments of the Macedonian conqueror ; one as retaining his name, the other as the scene of his victory. After entering the Cilician plain, he may have visited Adana, JEgiB, or Mopsuetia, three of the conspicuous cities on the old Roman roads.* With all these places St. Paul must have been more or less familiar : probably there were Christians in all of them, anxiously •waiting for the decree, and ready to receive the consolation it was intended to bring. And one other city must certainly have been visited. If there were churches anywhere in Cilicia, there must have been one at Tarsus. It was the metropolis of the province ; Paul had resided there, perhaps for some years, since the time of his conversion ; and if he loved his native place well enough to speak of it with something like pride to the Roman officer at Jerusalem,' he could not be indifferent to its religious welfare. Among the " Gentiles of Cilicia," to whom the letter which he carried was addressed, the Gentiles of Tarsus had no mean place in his affections. And his heart must have overflowed with thankfulness, if, as he passed through the streets which had been familiar to him since his childhood, he knew that many households were around him where tlie Gospel had come " not in woi'd only but in power," and the relations between husband and wife, parent and child, master and slave, had been purified and sanctified by Christian love. No doubt the 1 Acts XV. 26. * If the itineraries are examined and com- ^ See the description of ancient Antioch pared together, the Roman roads will b< above, Chap. IV. p. 113; also p. 124. observed to diffuse themselves among thest 3 The " Si/rian Gates" are the entrance in- different towns in the Cilician plain, and then to Cilicia from Syria, as the " Cilician Gates " to come together again at the bend of the bay, are from Cappadocia. The latter pass, how- before they enter the Syrian Gates. Mopsuo- ever, is by far the grander and more important tia and Adana were in the direct road fron. of the two. Intermediate between these two, Issus to Tarsus ; JEgx was on the coast-road in the angle where Taurus and Amanus meet, to Soli. Baiiae also was an important town, is the pass into Syria by which Darius fled situated to the S. of Issus. after the battle of Issus. Both entrances from * Acts xxi. 39. Syria into Cilicia are alluded to by Cicero, as well as the great entrance from Cappadocia. CHAP, vni PAUL AND SILAS IN CILICIA. 221 city still retained all the aspect of the cities of that day, where art and amusement were consecrated to a false religion. The symbols of idolatry remained in the public places, — statues, temples, and altars, — and the various " objects of devotion," which in all Greek towns, as well as m Athens (Acts xvii. 23), were conspicuous on every side. But the silent revolution was begun. Some families had already turned " from idols to serve the living and true God." ' The " dumb idols " to which, as Gentiles, they had been " carried away even as they were led," ^ had been recognized as " nothing in the woi-ld," ' and been " cast to the moles and to the bats." * The homes which had once been decorated with the emblems of a vain mythology, were now bright with the better ornaments of faitli, hope, and love. And the Apostle of the Gentiles rejoiced in looking forward to the time when the grace which had been triumphant in the household should prevail against principalities and powers, — when " every knee should bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."' But it has pleased God that we should know more of the details of early Christianity in the wilder and remoter regions of Asia Minor. To these regions the footsteps of St. Paul were turned after he had accom- plished the work of confirming the churches in Syria and Cilicia. The task now before him was the visitation of the churches he had formed in 1 1 Thess. i. 9. symbols of general or local mytholo^jry. Thcro ^ 1 Cor. xii. 2. are, moreover, some cars, legs, &c., which ' 1 Cor. viii. 4. seem to have been votive offei-ings, and which, * Isai. ii. 20. These remarks have been therefore, it wouU have been sacrilege to suggcstecl by a recent discovery of much inter- remove ; and a great number of lamps or est at Tarsus. In a mound which had formerly incense-burners, with a carbonaceous stain on rested against a portion of the city wall, since them. removed, was discovered a large collection of The date when these things were thrown terra-cotta figures and lamps. At first these were "to the moles and bats " seems to be ascer- thought to be a slierd-wreck, or the refuse of tained by the dressing of the hair in one of some Ccramicus or pottery-work. But, on ob- the female figures, which is that of the period serving that the lamps had been used, and that of the early emperors, as shown in busts of the earthenware gods {Difictiles) bore no trace Domitia, or Julia, the wife of Titus, the same ot having been rejected because of defective that is censured by the Roman satirist and by workmanship, but, on the contrary, had evi- the Christian Apostle. Some of them are dently been used, it has been imagined that undoubtedly of an earlier period, these tcrra-cottas must have been thrown away. We owe the opportunity of seeing th^se as connected with idolatry, on the occasion of remains, and the foregoing criticisms on them some conversion to Christianity. The figures (by Mr. Abington, of Hanley, in Stafford- are such as these, — a head of Pan, still show- shire), to the kindness of W. B. Barker, Esq., ing the mortar by which it was set up in some who was for many years a resident at Tarsus, garden or vineyard; the boyMercuiy; Cybe- and who has recently given much information le, Jupiter, Ceres crowned with com, Apollo on the history of Cilicia in his wirk entitled with rays, a lion devouring a bull (precisely Lare$ and Penates. similar to that engraved, p. 28), with other ' phU. ii. 10, U. 222 THE LIFE AlTD EPISTLES OP ST. PAT7L. chap. vra. conjunction with Barnabas. We proceed to follow him in his second journey across Mount Taurus. The vast mountain-barrier which separates the sunny plains of Cilicia and Pamphylia from the central table-land has frequently been men- tioned.' On tlie former journey'^ St. Paul travelled from the Pamphylia plain to Antioch in Pisidia, and thence by Iconium to Lystra and Derbe His present course across the mountains was more to the eastward ; and the last-mentioned cities were visited first. More passes than one lead up into Lycaonia and Cappadocia through the chain of Taurus from Cilicia.^ And it has been supposed^ that the Apostle travelled through one of the minor passes, which quits the lower plain at Pompeiopolis,^ and enters the upland plain of Iconium, not far from the conjectural site of Derbe. But there is no sufficient reason to suppose that he went by any other than the ordinary road. A traveller wishing to reach the Valais conveniently from the banks of the Lago Maggiore would rather go by the Simplon, than by the difficult path across the Monte More ; and there is one great pass in Asia Minor which may be called the Simplon'' of Mount Taurus, described as a rent or fissure in the mountain-chain, extending from north to south through a distance of eighty miles,' and known in ancient days by the name of the " Cilician Gates," — which has been, in all ages, the easiest and most convenient entrance from the northern and central parts of the peninsula to the level by the seashore, where the traveller pauses before he enters Syria. The securing of this pass was the great- est cause of anxiety to Cyrus, when he marched into Babylonia to de- throne his brother.' Through this gorge Alexander descended to that Cilician plain, which has been finally described by a Greek historian as a theatre made by Nature's hand for the drama of great battles. Cicero followed in the steps of Alexander, as he tells his friend Atticus in a 1 Especially pp. 19, 45, 98, 145-151, 165, ^ Mr. Ainsworth points out some interest 175-177. ing p.irticulars of resemblance and contrast - Acts xiii. 14. between the Alps anil this part of the Taurus. ^ The principal passes are enumerated in Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, ^-c. the Modern Traveller. (1842), ii. 80. * Wicseler thinks that this would be the ' Gen. Chesncy in t\\Q Euphrates Expedition, route adopted, because it leads most directly to i. 353. Derbe (Divlc). But, in the first place, the ' Manncrt and Forbiger both think that he site of this town is very doubtful ; and, sec- went by a pass more to the cast ; but the ar- ondly, the shortest road across a mountain- guments of Mr. Ainsworth for the identity of chain is not necessarily the .best. The road Dana with Tyana, and the coincidence of the by the Cilician Gates was carefully made and route of Cyrus with the " Cilician Gates," kept up, and enters the Lycaonian plain near appear to be conclusive. Travels in the Track. where Derbe must have been situated. ^., p. 40. ^ For Pompeiopolis or Soli, see p. 20, and the note. cHAP.rm. THEY CROSS THE TAURUS. 223 letter written with characteristic vanity. And to turn to the centuries which liave elapsed since the time of the Apostles and the first Roman emperors : twice, at least, this pass has been the pivot on which the struggle for tlie throne of the East seemed to turn, — once, in the war described by obscure historians,' when a pretender at Antioch made the Taurus his defence against the Emperor of Rome ; and once in a war whicli we remember, when a pretender at Alexandria fortified it and advanced beyond it in his attempt to dethrone the Sultan.^ In the wars between tlic Crescent and the Cross, which have filled up much of the intervening period, this defile has decided the fate of many an army. The Greek historians of the first Saracen invasions describe it by a word, unknown to classical Greek, which denotes that when this passage (between Cappadocia and Cilicia) was secure, the frontier was closed. The Crusaders, shrinking from the remembrance of its precipices and dangers, called it by the more awful name of the " Gates of Judas." Througli this pass we conceive St. Paul to have travelled on his way from Cilicia to Lycaonia. And if we say that the journey was made in the spring of the year 51, we shall not deviate very far from the actual date.' By those who have never followed the Apostle's footsteps, the suc- cessive features of the scenery through which he passed may be compiled from the accounts of recent travellers, and arranged in tlie following order.* — After leaving Tarsus, the way ascends the valley of the Cydnus, which, for some distance, is nothing more than an ordinary mouutaiu valley, with wooded eminences and tributary streams. Beyond the point where the road from Adana comes in from tlie right, the hills suddenly draw together and form a narrow pass, which has always been guarded by precipitous cliffs, and is now crowned by the ruins of a medieval castle. ^ The war between Severus and Pescennins Tarsus, in 1833, with notices of the surrouml Niger. ing country. ^ This was emphatically the case in the ^ We have no means of exactly detennin- first war between Mahomet AH and the Sul- ing either the year or the season. He left tan, when Ibrahim Pasha crossed the Taurus Corinth in the spring (Acts xviii. 21) after and fought the battle of Konieh, in December, staying there a year and a half (Acts xviii. 1832. In the second war, the decisive battle 11). He arrived, therefore, at Corinth in the was fought at Nizib, in June, 1839, further to autumn ; and prob.ibly, as wc shall see, in the the East : but even then, while the negotia- antumn of the year 52. Wieselcr calculates that tions were pending, this pass was the military a year might be occupied in the whole journey boundary between the opposing powers. See from Antioch through Asia Minor and Macedo- Mr.Ainsworth's rraye/sanrf&searc^es, quoted nia to Corinth. Perhaps it is better to allow below. Ho was arrested in his journey by a year and a half ; and the spring is the mora the battle of Nizib. For a slight notice of the likely season to have been chosen for the com- two campaigns, see Yates's Egypt, i. xv. In mencement of the journey. See p. 146. the second volume (ch. v.) is a curious ac- * Very full descriptions may be seen in count of an interyiew wi'.h Ibrahim Pasha at Ainsworth and Kinneir. 224 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap. viii. In some places the ravine contracts to a width of ten or twelve paces, leaving room for only one chariot to pass. It is an anxious place to any one in command of a military expedition. To one who is unburdened by such responsibility, the scene around is strilcing and impressive. A canopy of fii'-trees is high overhead. Bare limestone cliffs rise above on either liand to an elevation of many hundred feet. The streams which descend towards the Cyduus are close by the wayside, and here and there ■indermine it or wash over it. When the higher and more distant of these streams are left behind, the road emerges upon an open and elevated region, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. This space of high land may be considered as dividing the whole mountain journey into two parts. For when it is passed, the streams are seen to flow in a new direc- tion. Not that we iiave attained the point where the highest land of Asia Minor ' turns the waters north and south. The torrents which are seen descending to the right are merely the tributaries of the Sarus, another river of Cilicia. The road is conducted northwards through this new ravine ; and again the rocks close in upon it, with steep naked cliffs, among cedars and pines, forming " an intricate defile, which a handful of men might convert into another Thermopylas." When the highest peaks of Taurus are left beliind, the road to Tyana is continued in the same northerly direction ; - while that to Iconium takes a turn to the left, and passes among wooded slopes with rocky projections, and over ground com- paratively level, to the great Lycaonian plain. The whole journey from Tarsus to Konieh is enough, in modern times, to occupy four laborious days ; ' and, from the nature of the ground, the time required can never have been much less. The road, however, was doubtless more carefully maintained in the time of St. Paul tlian at the present day, when it is only needed for Tatar couriers and occasional traders. Antioch and Ephesus had a more systematic civilization then than Aleppo or Smyrna has now ; and the governors of Cilicia, Cap- padocia, and Galatia, were more concerned than a modern Pacha in keej> ing up the lines of internal communication.'' At various parts of the 1 This is the Anti-Taurus, which, though to Adana. Major Rennell, who enters very far less striking in appearance than the Tau- fully into all questions relating to distances rus, is really higher, as is proved by the course and rates of tr.ivelling, says tliat more than of the Sarus and other streams. forty hours are occupied in crossing the Tau- - The roads towards Syria from CiEsarea rus from Ercgli to Adana, though the distance in Cappadocia, and Angora in Galatia, both is only 73 miles ; and he adds, that fourteen meet at Tyana. The place is worthy of notice more would be done on common ground in as the native city of ApoUonius, the notorious the same time. Gcog. of Western Asia. ])hilosopher and traveller. See the beginning * Inscriptions in Asia Minor, relating to of Chap. X. the repairing of roads by the governors of ° Mr. Ainsworth, in the month of Novem- provinces and other oflBcials, are not infro- ber, was six days in travelling from Iconium quent. CHAP. Tin. APPROACH TO LYSTKA. 225 journey from Tarsus to Iconium traces of the old military way are visible, marks of ancient chiselling, substructions, and pavement ; stones that have fallen over into the rugged river-bed, and sepulchres hewn out in the cliffs, or erected on the level ground.' Some such traces still follow the ancient line of road where it enters the plain of Lycaonia, beyond Cybistra,'' near the spot where we conceive the town of Derbe to have been formerly situated.' As St. Paul emerged from the mountain-pa.'ses, and came among the lower heights through which the Taurus recedes to the Lycaonian levels, the heart which had been full of affection and anxiety all through the journey would beat more quickly at the sight of the well-known objects before him. Tlie thought of his disciples would come with new force upon his mind, with a warm tlianksgiving tliat he was at length allowed to revisit them, and to " see how they fared." * The recollection of friends, from wliora we have parted with emotion, is often strongly asso- ciated with natural scenery, especially when the scenery is remarkable. And here the tender-hearted Apostle was approaching tlie home of his Lycaonian converts. On his first visit, when he came as a stranger, he had travelled in the opposite direction : ' but the same objects were again before his eyes, the same wide-spreading plain, the same black summit of the Kara-Dagh. In the farther reach of the plain, beyond the " Black Mount," was the city of Iconium ; nearer to its base was Lystra ; and nearer still to the ti-aveller himself was Derbe,* the last point of his pre- vious journey. Here was his first meeting now with the disciples he had then been enabled to gather. The incidents of sucli a meeting, — the inquiries after Barnabas, — the welcome given to Silas, — the exhorta- tions, instructions, encouragements, warnings, of St. Paul, — may be left to the imagination of those who have pleasure in picturing to themselves the features of the Apostolic age, when Christianity was new. ' See Ainswonh and Kinneir. where he saw ruins, inscriptions, or tombs. - See the map with the line of Roman He heard of Divle when he was in a yailah on road, p. 166. Cybistra (Ercgli) was one of the mountains, but did not visit it in conse- Cicero's military stations. Its relation to the qucnce of the want of water. There was Taurus is very clearly pointed out in his let- none within eight hours. Compare what is tcrs. Writing from this place, he was very said of the drought of Lycaonia by Strabo, as near Derbe. lie h.id come from Iconium, referred to above, p. 165. and afterwards went through the pass to Tar- Tcxier is of opinion that the true site of bus; so that his route must have nearly coin- Derbe is Divle, which he describes as a vil- cidcd with that of St. Paul. The bandit- lago in a wild valley among the mountains, chief, Antipater of Derbe, is one of the per- with Byzantine remains. Asie Mineure, ii. sonagcs who play a considerable part in this 129, 130. passage of Cicero's life. * See above, p. 216. ^ See above, p. 167, n. 1, and p. 175. Mr. ' Compare Acts xiv. with 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. Hamiitoa gives a detailed account of his ' See the account of the topography tS journey in this direction, and of the spots this district, Ch. VI. pp. 163, &c 16 226 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chat, nn This is all we can say of Derbe, for we know no details cither of the former or present visit to the place. But wlien we come to Lystra, we are at once in the midst of all the interest of St. Paul's public ministry and private relations. Here it was that Paul and Barnabas were regarded as Heathen divinities ; ' that the Jews, who had first cried " Hosanna " and then crucified the Saviour, turned the barbarians from homage to insult ; - and that the little Church of Christ had been fortified by the assurance that tlie kingdom of heaven can only be entered through " much tribulation."' Here too it was that the child of Lois and Eunice, taught the Holy Scriptures from his earliest years, had been trained to a religious life, and prepared, through the Providence of God, by the sight of the Apostle's sufferings, to be his comfort, support, and companion.'' Spring and summer had passed over Lystra since the Apostles had preached there. God had continued to "bless" them, and given them *' rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." * But still " the living God, who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all tilings that are therein," was recognized only by a few. The temple of the Lystrian Jupiter still stood before the gate, and the priest still offered the people sacrifices to the imaginary protector of the city.* Heathenism was invaded, but not yet destroyed. Some votaries had been withdrawn from that polytheistic religion, which wrote and sculptured in stone its dim ideas of " present deities ; "^ crowd- ing its thoroughfares with statues and altars,^ ascribing to the King of the gods the attributes of beneficent protection and the government of atmos- pheric changes,'' and vaguely recognizing Mercury as the dispenser of fruitful seasons and the patron of public happiness.'" But many years of difficulty and persecution were yet to elapse before Greeks and Barbarians fully learnt, that the God whom St. Paul preached was a Father every- where present to His children, and the One Author of every " good and perfect gift." Lystra, however, contributed one of the principal agents in the accom- 1 Acts xir. 12-18, pp. 170, &c. • Some think that a statue, not a temple, of ' Acts xiv. 19, pp. 172, 173. Jupiter is meant. » Acts xiv. 22, p. 176. ' See note in the larger editions. 4 gee pp. 174, 175. ' See the remarks on Tarsus above, p. 221, ' See the words used in St. Paul's address and the note. to the Lystrians, Acts xiv., and the remarks ' Jupiter was often spoken of to this effect made, pp. 171, 172. New emphasis is given in poetry and inscriptions. Compare St to the Apostle's words, if we remember what Paul's words. Acts xiv. 17. Ptrabo says of the absence of water in the i° Such were the attributes of Mercury a; pastures of Lycaonia. Mr. Weston found that represented iu works of art. water was dearer than milk at Bin-bir-Kilisseh, and that there was only one spring, high up Um Eara-Dagb. I ! ?;^^. 'HV plisliment of this result. We have seen how the seeds of Gospel truth were sown in the heart of Timotlieus.' The instruction received in childhood, — the sight of St. Paul's sufferings, — the hearing of his words, — the example of the " unfeigned faith, which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice,"^ — and whatever other influ- ences the Holy Spirit had used for his soul's good, — had resulted in the full conviction that Jesus was the Messiah. And if we may draw an obvious inference from the various passages of Scripture, which describe the subsequent relation of Paul and Timothy, we may assert that natural qualities of an engaging character were combined with the Christian faith of this young disciple. The Apostle's heart seems to have been drawn towards him with peculiar tenderness. He singled him out from the other disciples. " Him would Paul have to go forth with him." ' This feeling is in harmony with all that we read, in the Acts and the Epistles, of St. Paul's affectionate and confiding disposition. He had no relative ties which were of service in his apostolic work ; his companions were few and changing ; and though Silas may well be supposed to have supplied the place of Barnabas, it was no weakness to yearn for the society of one who might become, what Mark had once appeared to be, a son in the Gos- pel.* Yet how could he consistently take an untried youth on so difficult an enterprise ? How could he receive Timotliy into " the glorious com- pany of Apostles," when he had rejected Mark ? Such questions might be raised, if we were not distinctly told that the highest testimony was given to Timothy's Christian character, not only at Lystra, but at Iconium also.' We infer from this, that diligent inquiry was made concerning his fitness for the work to which he was willing to devote himself. To omit, at present, all notice of the prophetic intimations which sanctioned the ap- pointment of Timothy,* we have the best proof that he united in himself those outward and inward qualifications which a careful prudence would require. One other point must be alluded to, which was of the vitmost moment at that particular crisis of the Church. The meeting of the Council at Jerusalem had lately taken place. And, though it had been 1 Pp. 174, 175. It is well known that com- father, he h.is served with me in the Gospel." mcntators are not agreed whether Lystra or Philip, ii. 22. Compare also the phrases "my Derhe was the birthplace of Timothy. But son," " my own son in the faitli." 1 Tim. the former opinion is by far the more probable. i. 2, 18, and 2 Tim. ii. 1. The latter rests on the view which some critics ' Acts xvi. 2. take of Acts xx. 4. The whole aspect of ' 1 Tim. i. 18. Sec iv. 14 We ought to Acts xvi. 1, 2, is in favor of Lystra. add, that " the brethren " who gave testimony 2 Tim. i. 5. in praise of Timothy were the very ( • Acts xvi. 3. The wish was spontaneous, of St. Paul himself, and, therefore, not suggested by others. in whom he had good reason to place the * This is literally what he afterwards said most confidence, of Timothy : " Ye know that, See above, p. 210. the recently deciphered record of the victories ^ Ilerodiiin's expression concerning this of Darius llystaspes on tlic rock at Behistoun. image is identical with that in Acts xix. 35. See Vaux's Nineveh and Pcrsepolis. " Jerome connects this term with the name ' Colonel Leake's map shows at one glance of the Galatians. See, however, Smith's Die- what we learn from the Itineraries. We see timary of Antiquities, under the word. See there the roads radiating from it in every also under " Megalesia." direction. * Ammian. Marc. xxii. 9. ' Sec the reference to Joscphus, p. 212, n. 5. ' This appears from its coins at this period. '" Gal. iv. 13. It was also called " Sebaste," from the favor " See above, p. 213. of Augustus. " There can be no doubt that the literal • This temple has been described by a long translation is, " on account o/bodily weakness." leries of travellers, from Lucas and Tournefort And there seems bo good reason why we to Hamilton and Texier. should translate it differently, though most ' Full comments on this inscription will be of the English commentators take a different fonnd in Hamilton. Wo m%j compare it with view. Bottger, in harmony with bis bypotbeaia 236 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PATJL. cuap. viii. laid on him did not allow him to be silent. He was instant " in season and out of season." " Woe " was on him if he did not preach the Gospel. The same Providence detained him among the Gauls, which would not allow h-im to enter Asia or Bitliyuia: ' and in the midst of his weakness ho made the Glad Tidings known to all who would listen to him. We cannot say what this sickness was, or with absolute certainty identify >t with that " thorn in the flesh " * to which he feelingly alludes in his Epistles, as a discipline which God had laid on him. But the remembrance of what lie suffered in Galatia seems so much to color all the phrases in this part of the Epistle, that a deep personal interest is connected with the circumstance. Sickness in a foreign country has a peculiarly depress- ing effect on a sensitive mind. And though doubtless Timotheus watched over the Apostle's weakness with the most affectionate solicitude, — yet those who have experienced what fever is in a land of strangers will know how to sympathize, even witli St. Paul, in this human trial. The climate and the prevailing maladies of Asia Minor may have been modified with the lapse of centuries : and we are without the guidance of St. Luke's medical language,' which sometimes throws a light on diseases alluded to in Scripture: but two Cliristian sufferers, in widely different ages of the Church, occur to the memory as we look on the map of Galatia. We could hardly mention any two men more thorouglily imljued with the spirit of St. Paul than John Chrysostom and Henry Martyn.* And when we read how these two saints suffered in their last hours from fatigue, pain, rudeness, and cruelty, among the mountains of Asia Minor which sur- round the place' where they rest, — we can well enter into the meaning of St. Paul's expressions of gratitude to those who received him kindly in the hour of his weakness. The Apostle's reception among the frank and warm-hearted Gauls was peculiarly kind and disinterested. No Church is reminded by tlie Apostle so tenderly of the time of their first meeting.^ The recollection is used by him to strengthen liis reproaches of their mutability, and to enforce the pleading with which he urges them to return to the true Gospel. that St. Luke's Galatia means the neiglibor- cnt weather, and the same cruelty on the part hood of Lystra and Derbc, thinks that the of those who urged on the journey. In the bodily weakness here alluded to was the result larger editions, the details of Martyn's last of the stoning at Lystra. Acts xiv. journal are compared with similar passages In 1 Acts xvi. 6, 7. the Benedictine life of Chrysostom. 2 2 Cor. xii. 7-10. Paley (on Gal. iv. ' It is remarkable that Chrysostom and 11-16) assumes the identity, and he is probably Martyn are buried in the same place. They right. both died on a journey, at Tocat or Comana ^ See the paper alluded to, p. 88, n. 5. in I'ontus. * There was a great similarity in the last ' The references have been given above in caffcrings of these apostolic men ; — the same the account of Galatia, p. 209. intolerable pain in the head, the Bame inclem- CHAP. Tin. JOtJENEV TO THE ^QEAK. 237 That Gospel had been receired in the first place with the same affection ■which they extended to the Apostle himself. And the subject, the manner, und the results of his preaching are not obscurely indicated in the Epistle itself. Tlie great topic there, as at Corinth and everywhere, was " the cross of Christ " — " C7irist crucified " set fortii among them.' The Divine evidence of the Spirit followed the word, spoken by the mouth of the Apostle, and received by " the hearing of the ear." ^ Many were con- verted, both Greeks and Jews, men and women, free men and slaves.' The worship of false divinities, whether connected with the old supersti- tion at Pessinus, or the Roman idolatry at Ancyra, was forsaken for that of the true and living God.* And before St. Paul left the " region of Galatia " on his onward progress, various Christian communities * were added to those of Cilicia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia. In following St. Paul on his departure from Galatia, we come to a pas- sage of iicknowledged difficulty in the Acts of the Apostles.^ Not that the words themselves are obscure. The difficulty relates, not to grammatical construction, but to geographical details. Tiie statement contained in St. Luke's words is as follows : — After preaching the Gospel in Phrygia and Galatia they were hindered from preaching it in Asia ; accordingly, when in Mysia or its neighborhood, they attempted to penetrate into Bithynia; and this also being forbidden by the Divine Spirit, they passed by Mysia, and came down to Troas. Now every thing depends liere on the sense avc assign to the geographical terms. What is meant by tlie words '■' Mysia," " Asia," and " Bithynia " ? It will be remembered that all these words had a wider and a more restricted sense.' They might be used popularly and vaguely ; or they miglit be taken in their exacter political meaning. It seems to us that the whole difficulty disappears by understanding tliem in the former sense, and by believing (wliat is much the more probable, a priori) that St. Luke wrote in the usual popular language, without any precise reference to the provincial boundaries. Wo need hardly mention Bithynia ; for, whether we speak of it traditionally or politically, it was exclusive both of Asia and Mysia.' In this place it is 1 Compare Gal. iii. 1 with 1 Cor. i. 13, 17, ^ gee above, p. 204. ii. 2, &.C. • Mysia was at one time an apple of discord ' Gal. iii. 2. So at Thessalonica. 1 between the kings of Pergamus and Bithynia ; Thess. ii. 13. and the latter were for a certain period ° Gal. iii. 27, 28. of a considerable tract on the shore of tha » Sec the remarks above (p. 221), in refer- Propontis. But this was at an end when the ence to Tarsns. Romans began to interfere in the affairs of ' The plural (Gal. i. 2 and 1 Cor. xvi. 1) the East, implies this. See p. 234. It may be well to add a few words on the his- " Acts xvi. 6, 7. For a similar accumnia- tory of Mysia, which was purposely deferred to tion of participles, sec Acts xxv. 6-8. this place. See p. 206, n. 3. Under the Persian* 238 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PATTL. enAP. tiii. evident that Mysia is excluded also from Asia, just as Phrygia is above ; ' not because these two districts were not parts of it in its political character of a province, but because they had a history and a traditional character of their own sufficiently independent to give them a name in popular usage. As regards Asia, it is simply viewed as the western portion of Asia Minor. Its relation to the peninsula has been very well described by say- ing that it occupied the same relative position which Portugal occupies with regard to Spain.^ The comparison would be peculiarly just in the passage before us. For the Mysia of St. Luke is to Asia what Gallicia is to Portugal ; and the journey from Galatia and Phrygia to the city of Troas has its European parallel in a journey from Castile to Vigo. We are evidently destitute of materials for laying down the route of St. Paul and his companions. All that relates to Phrygia and Galatia must be left vague and blank, like an unexplored country in a map (as in fact tills region itself is in the maps of Asia Minor),' where we are at liberty to imagine mountains and plains, rivers and cities, but are unable to furnish any proofs. As the path of the Apostle, however, approaches the ^gean, it comes out into comparative light : the names of places are again mentioned, and the country and the coast have been explored and described. Tlie early part of the route then must be left indistinct. Thus much, however, we may venture to say, — that since the Apostle usually turned his steps towards the large towns, where many Jews were establibhed, it is most likely that Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamus was the point at which he aimed, when he sought " to preach the Word in Asia." There is nothing else to guide our conjectures, except the boundaries of the provinces and the lines of the principal roads. If he moved from Angora * in the general direction above pointed out, he would cross the river Sangarius near Kiutaya,' which is a great modern thoroughfare, and has been mentioned before (Ch. VI. p. 150) in connection with the route from Adalia to Constantinople ; and a little farther to the west, near Aizani, he would be about the place where the boundaries of Asia, this corner of Asia Minor formed the satrapy ' Paley's Iloice Paulina. (1 Cor. No. 2.) of Little Phrygia : under the Christian Emper- • Kiepcrt's map, which is the best, shows ors it was the province of The Ilellespont. In this. Hardly any region in the peninsula has the intermediate period we find it called "Mys- been less explored than Galatia and Northern ia," and often divided into two parts : viz. Phrygia. Little Mi/sia on the north, called also Mysia on * Mr. Ainsworth mentions a hill near the Hellespont, or Mysia Olympene, because it Angora in this direction, the BaulosDagh, lay to the north of Mount Olympus ; and which is named after the Apostle. Great Mysia, or Mysia Pergamene, to the ' Kiutaya (the ancient Cotyseum) is now rtouth and east, containing the three districts one of the most important towns in the penin- of Troas, ^olis, and Teathrania. sula. It lies too on the ordinary road between > Acts svi. 6. Bronssa and Konieb. CHAP.vm. JOUENEY TO THE ^GEAN. 239 Bithynia, and Mysia meet together, and on the water-shod which separates the waters flowing northwards to the Propontis, and those which feed the rivers of the ^gean. Here then we may imagine the Apostle and his three companions to pause, — uncertain of their future progress, — on the chalk downs wliich lie between the fountains of the Rhyndacus and those of the Herraus, — in the midst of scenery not very unlike wliat is familiar to us in Eng- land.' The long range of the Mysian Olympus to the north is the boundary of Bitliynia. The summits of the Phrygian Dindymus on the eoutJi are on the frontier of Galatia and Asia. The Ilermus flows through the province of Asia to the islands of the JEgean. Tlie Rhyn- dacus flows to the Propontis, and separates Mysia from Bithynia. By following tlie road near the former river they would easily arrive at Smyrna or Pergamus. By descending the valley of the latter and then crossing Olympus,'' they would be in the richest and most prosperous part of Bitliynia. In wliich direction shall their footsteps be turned ? Some Divine intimation, into the nature of which we do not presume to inquire, told the Apostle that the Gospel was not yet to be preached in the populous cities of Asia.' The time was not yet come for Christ to be made known to the Greeks and Jews of Ephesus, — and for the churches of Sardis, Pergamus, Pliiladelphia, Smyrna, Thyatira, and Laodicea, to be admitted to tlioir period of privilege and trial, for the warning of future generations. Shall they turn, then, in the direction of Bithynia ? * This also is forbidden. St. Paul (so far as we know) never crossed the 1 See Mr. Hamilton's account of the course Galatia till their arrival at Troas. On the of the Rhyndacus, his comparison of the dis- other hand, they were not allowed to enter trict of Azanitis to the chalk scenery of Eng- Bithynia at all. Meyer's vicT?- of the word land, and his notice of Dindymus, which seems " Asia " in this passage is surprising. He to be part of the watcr-shcd that crosses the holds it to moan the eastern continent as country from the Taurus towards Ida, and opposed to " Europe." (See p. 205, &c.) He Bcptiratcs the waters of the Mediterranean and says that the travellers, being .jEgean from those of the Euxine and Propon- whether Asia in the more limited sense were tis. In the course of his progress up the not intended, made a vain attempt to enter Khyndacus he frequently mentions the aspect Bithynia, and finally learned at Troas that of Olympus, the summit of which could not Europe was their destination. be reached at the end of March in consequence * The route is drawn in the map past of the snow. Aizani into the valley of the Ilermus, and 2 The ordinary road from Broussa to then northwards towards Iladriani on the Kiut.iyah crosses a part of the range of Khyndaeus. This is merely an imaginary Olympus. The Pcut. Table has a road join- line, to express to the C3'e the changes of ing Broussa with Pergamus. plan which occurred successively to St. Paul. ' It will be observed that they were merely The scenery of the Rhyndacus, which is forbidden to preach the Gospel in Asia. We interesting as the frontier river, has been fully are not told that they did not enter Asia. explored and described by Mr. Hamilton, who Their road Lay entirely through Asia (politi- ascended the river to its source, and then rally speaking) from the niom»at of leaving crossed over to the fountains of the Hermus 240 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAT7L. chap. vrn. Mysian Olympus, or entered the cities of Nicaea and Clialcedon, illus- trious places iu the Christian history of a later age. By revelations, whicli were aiiticipative of the fuller and clearer communication at Troas, the destined path of the Apostolic Company was pointed out, through the intermediate country, directly to the West. Leaving tho greater part of what was popularly called Mysia to the right,' they camo to tlie shores of the .^Egean, about the place where the deep gulf of Adraniyttium, over against the island of Lesbos, washes the very base of Mount Ida.^ At Adramyttium, if not before, St. Paul is on the line of a great Roman road.' We recognize the place as one which is mentioned again in tlie description of the voyage to Rome. (Acts xxvii. 2.) It was a mercantile town, with important relations both with foreign harbors, and the cities of the interior of Asia Minor.* From this point the road follows the northern shore of the gulf, — crossing a succession of the streams which flow from Ida,' — and alternately descending to the pebbly beach and rising among the rocks and evergreen brushwood, — while Lesbos appears and re-appears through the branches of tho rich forest- trees," — till the sea is left behind at the city of Assos. This also is a city of St. Paul. Tlie nineteen miles of road' which lie between it and Troas is the distance which he travelled by land before ha rejoined the ship which had brought him from Philippi (Acts xx. 13) : and the town aci'oss the strait, on the shore of Lesbos, is Mytilene,' whither the vessel proceeded when the Apostle and his companions met on board. and Moeander, near which he saw an ancient cccds by Assos to Alexandria Troas, and so road, pioljably connecting Smyrna and Phila- to the Hellespont. delpliia with Angora. * Fellows says that there are no traces of ' The phrase in Acts xvi. 8 need not bo antiquities to be found there now, except a few pressed too closely. They passed along the coins. He travelled in the direction just men- frontier of Jlysia, as it was popularly under- tioncd, from Pcrgamus by Adramyttium and sUiod, and they passfd b>/ the whole district, Assos to Alexandria Troas. without staying to evangelize it. Or, as a ' Poets of all ages — Homer, Ovid, Ten- German writer puts it, they hurried through nyson — have celebrated the streams which Mysia, because they knew that they were not flow from the '•' raany-fountained " clifls of to preach the Gospel in Asia. Ida. '■' Hence it was sometimes called the Gulf ' See tho description in lellows. He was of Ida. two days in travelling from Adramit to Assos. * The characteristics of this bay, as seen He says that the hills are clothed with evei^ from the water, will be mentioned hereafter greens to the top, and therefore vary little with when we come to tho voyage from Assos to the season ; and he particularly mentions the Mytilene (Actsxx. 14). At present we allude flat stones of the shingle, and the woods of only to the roads along the coast. Two roads large trees, especially planes, converge at Adramyttium : one which follows ' This is the distance given in the Antoniae the shore from the south, mentioned in the Itinerary. Peutingerinn Table; the other from Pcrgamus ' The strait between Assos and Bfethymna and the interior, mentioned also in the Anto- is narrow. Strabo calls it GO stadia; Pliny 7 nine Itinerary. The united route then pro- miles. Mytilene is farther to the south CHAP. Tin. ALEXANDRIA TKOAS. 241 But to return to the present journey. Troas is the name either of a district or a town. As a district it had a history of its own. Though geograpliically a part of Mysia, and politically a part of the province of Asia, it was yet usually spoken of as distinguished from both. This small region,' extending from Mount Ida to the plain watered by the Simois and Scamandcr, was the scene of the Trojan war ; and it was due to the poetry of Homer that the ancient name of Priam's kingdom should be retained. This shore has been visited on many memorable oc- casions by the great men of this world. Xerxes passed this way when he undertook to conquer Greece. Julius Caesar was here after the battle of Pharsalia. But, above all, we associate the spot with a European con- queror of Asia, and an Asiatic conqueror of Europe ; with Alexander of Maccdon and Paul of Tarsus. For here it was that the enthusiasm of Alexander was kindled at the tomb of Achilles, by the memory of his heroic ancestors ; here he girded on their armor ; and from this goal he started to overthrow the august dynasties of the East. And now the great Apostle rests in his triumphal progress upon the same poetic shore : here he is armed by heavenly visitants with the weapons of a warfare that is not carnal ; and hence he is sent forth to subdue all the powers of the West, and bring the civilization of the world into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Turning now from the district to the city of Troas, we must remember that its full and correct name was Alexandria Troas. Sometimes, as in the New Testament, it is simply called Troas ; ^ sometimes, as by Pliny and Strabo, simply Alexandria. It was not, however, one of those cities (amounting in number to nearly twenty) which were built and named by tlie conqueror of Darius. Tliis Alexandria received its population and its name under the successors of Alexander. It was an instance of that centralization of small scattered towns into one great mercantile city, which was diaracteristie of the period. Its history was as follows : — Antigonus, who wished to leave a monument of his name on this classical ground, brought together the inhabitants of the neighboring towns to one point on the coast, where he erected a city, and called it Antigonia Troas. Lysiraachus, who succeeded to his power on the Dardanelles, increased and adorned the city, but altered its name, calling it, in honor of " the man of Macedonia " ' (if wo may make this application of a phrase which ' If we are not needlessly multiplying ing, a district which has retained a dii topographical illustrations, we taay compare name, and has found its own historian, the three principal districts of the province of ^ Acts xvi. 8, U, xx. 5; 2 Cor. ii. 12; A.sia. viz. Phrygia, Lydia, and Mysia, to the 2 Tim. iv. 13. three Ridings of Yorkshire. Troas will then ^ jjot ii^q p7r Hacedo of Horace {Od. III. be in Mysia what Craven is in the West Rid- 242 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. vin. H0I3' Writ' has associated with the place), Alexandria Troas. This name was retained ever afterwards. When the Romans began their eastern wars, the Greeks of Troas espoused their cause, and were thence- forward regarded with favor at Rome. But this willingness to recom- pense useful service was combined with other feelings, half poetical, half political, which about this time took possession of the mind of the Romans. They fancied they saw a primeval Rome on the Asiatic shore. The story of ^ueas in Virgil, who relates in twelve books how the glory of Troy was transferred to Italy,- — the warning of Horace, who ad- monishes his fellow-citizens that their greatness was gone if they rebuilt the ancient walls,' — reveal to us the fancies of the past and the future, wliich were popular at Rome. Alexandria Troas was a recollection of the city of Priam, and a prophecy of the city of Constantiiie. The Ro- mans regarded it in its best days as a "New Troy : " * and the Turks even now call its ruins " Old Constantinople." ' It is said that Julius Cassar, in his dreams of a monarchy which should embrace the East and the West, turned his eyes to this city as his intended capital : and there is no doubt that Constantine, " before he gave a just preference to the situation of Byzantium, had conceived the design of erecting the seat of empire on this celebrated spot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous origin." * Augustus brought the town iuto close and honorable connec- tion with Rome by making it a colonial and assimilated its land to that of Italy by giving it the jus Italicum? When St. Paul was there, it had xvi. 14), the Macedonian Mm of Dcmosthenea attracted the notice of all wlio sailed through (Phil. I.), but his more eminent son. the Hellespont." 1 See Acts xvi. 9. ' Its full name on coins of the Antonines 2 See especially Book vi. is, " Col. Alexandria Augusta Tro.is." » " Ne nimiura pii ' Deferring the consideration of colonial Tecta vclint reparare TrojiE." privileges to its proper place, in connection Od. III. iii. with Fhilippi (Acts xvi. 12), we may state * This name applies more strictly to Neu) here the general notion of the Jus Itaticum. Ilium, which, after many vicissitudes, was It was a privilege entirely relating to the land. made a place of some importance by the Ro- The maxim of the Roman law was : " Ager mans, and exempted from all imposts. The Italieus iramunis est : agcr provincialis vecti- strong feeling of Julius Cxsar for the people galis est." " Italian land is free : provincial of Ilium, his .sympathy with Alexander, and land is taxed." The Jus Italicum raised pro- the influence of the tradition which traced the vincial land to the same state of immunity from origin of his nation, and especially his own taxation which belonged to land in Italy. But family, to Troy, are described by Strabo. this privilege could only be enjoyed by those New Ilium, however, gradually sank into in- who were citizens. Therefore it would have significance, and Alexandria Troas remained been an idle gift to any community not pos- es the representative of the Roman partiality scssing the civitas ; and we never find it given for the Troad. except to a colonia. Conversely, however, all ' EskiStambouI. colonies did not possess the Jus Italicum. Gibbon, ch. xvii. He adds that, " though Carthage was a colony for two centuries before the undertaking was soon relinquished, the it received it. •lately remains of unfinished walls and towers CHAP. vni. ST. PAUL' 3 VISION. 243 not attained ivs utmost growth as a city of the Romans. The great aqueduct was not yet built, by which Herodes Atticus brought water from the fountains of Ida, and the piers of wliich are still standing.' The enclosure of the walls, extending above a mile from east to west, and near a mile from north to south, may represent the limits of the city in tlie age of Claudius. Tiie ancient harbor, even yet distinctly traceable, and not without a certain desolate beauty, when it is the foreground of a picture with the hills of Imbros and the higher peak of Samothrace in the distance,' is an object of greater interest than the aqueduct and the walls. All further allusions to the topography of the place may be de- ferred till we describe the Apostle's subsequent and repeated visits.* At present he is hastening towards Europe. Every thing in this part of our narrative turns our eyes to the "West. When St. Paul's eyes were turned towards the "West, he saw that remarkable view of Samothrace over Imbros, which has just been mentioned. And what were the thoughts in his mind when he looked towards Europe across the ^gean? Though ignorant of the precise nature of the supernatural intimations which had guided his recent journey, we are led irresistibly to think that he associated his future work with the distant prospect of the Macedonian hills. We are re- minded of another journey, when the Prophetic Spirit gave him partial revelations on his departure from Corinth, and on his way to Jerusalem. " Aiter I have been there I must also see Rome ' — I have no more place in these parts* — I know not what shall befall me, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth that bonds and afflictions abide me." ' Such thoughts, it may be, had been in the Apostle's mind at Troas, wlicn the sun set beyond Athos and Samothrace," and the shadows fell ' Sec Clarke's Travels. the Epistle to the Romans was written just - Soe Pococke's Travels. before this departure from Corinth. 3 The author of Evthm was much struck ' Acts xx. 22, 23. I'V tlio appearance of Samothrace seen aloft ' Athos and Samothrace are the highest 0-n.t Imbros, when ho recollected how Jupiter points in this part of the TEgean. Tliey ara is dcscriliod in the Iliad as watching from tlicnco tlie conspicuous points from the summit of Ida, the scene of action before Troy. " Now I along with Imbros, which is nearer. (Wal- kncw," he says, "that Homer had passed pole's il/eniOiVs, p. 122.) See the notes at the along here, — that this vision of Samothrace beginning of the next chanter. "Mount over-towering the nearer island was common Athos is plainly visible from the Asiatic coast to him and to me." — P. 64. The same train at sunset, but not at other times. Its distance of thought may be extended to our present hence is about 80 miles. Reflecting the red subject, and we may find a sacred pleasure in rays of the sun, it appears from that coast looking at any view which has been common like a huge mass of burnished gold. . . . Mr. to St. Paul and to us. Turner, being off the N. W. end of Mytilena * Acts xvi., XX ; 2 Cor. ii. ; 2 Tim. iv. (Lesbos) 22d June, 1814, says, ' The evening * Acts xix. 21. being clear, we plainly saw the Rom. XV. 23. It will be remembered that Mount Athos, which appeared in the form of 244 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cbap. viii. on Ida and settled dark on Tenedos and the deep. With the view of the distant land of Macedonia imprinted on his memory, and the thought of Europe's miserable Heathenism deep in his heart, he was prepared, like Peter at Joppa,' to receive the full meaning of the voice which spoke to him in a dream. In the visions of the night, a form appeared to come and stand by him ; - and he recognized in t!ie supernatural visitant " a man of Macedonia," ' who came to plead the spiritual wants of his country. It was the voice of the sick inquiring for a physician, — of the ignorant seeking for wisdom, — the voice which ever since has been call- ing on the Church to extend the Gospel to Heathendom, — " Come over and help us." Virgil has described an evening * and a sunrise ' on tiiis coast, before and after an eventful night. That night was indeed eventful in which St. Paul received his commission to proceed to Macedonia. The com- mission was promptly executed.* The morning-star appeared over the cliffs of Ida. The sun rose and spread the day over the sea and the islands as far as Athos and Samothrace. The men of Troas awoke to their trade and their labor. Among tliose who were busy about the shipping in the harbor were the newly-arrived Christian travellers, seeking for a passage to Europe, — Paul, and Silas, and Timotheus, — and that new companion, " Luke'' the beloved Physician," who, whether by pre-arrangcment, or by a providential meeting, or (it may be) even in consequence of the Apostle's delicate health,' now joined the mission, of which he afterwards wrote the history. God provided a ship for the messengers He had chosen : and (to use the language of a more sacred poetry than thai an equil.iteral triangle.' " Sailing Directory, on the significance of this vision are well p. 150. In the same page a sketch is given of worth ■ considering. ApostJ^csch., ii. p. 199. Mount Athos, N. by W. i W., 45 miles. Com- (Eng. Trans, ii. 110.) pare Mr. Bowen's recent work, p. 26. " At * ^n. u. 250. sunset we were half way liotwcen Tenedos and ' ^n. ii. 801. the rugged Imbros. In the disk of the setting " Acts xvi. 10. sun I distinguished the pyramidal form of ' We should notice here not only the Jlount Athos." change of person from the third to the first, 1 See the remarks on St. Peter's vision, p. but the simultaneous transition (as it has been 87. See also p. 97, n. 2, and p. 183. well expressed) from the historical to the au- Acts xvi. 9. toptical style, as shown by the fuller ' St. Paul may have known, by his dress, or tion of details. We shall retui n to this sub- by his words, or by an immediate intuition, ject again, when we come to the point where that ho was " a man of Macedonia." Grotius St. Luke parts from St. Paul at Philippi : suggests the notion of a representative or meantime we may remark that it is highly prob- guardian angel of Slacedonia, as the " prince able that they had already met and labored of Persia," &c., in Dan. x. The words " help together at Antioch. us," imply that the man who appeared to St. ' AVe must remember the recent sickness in Paul was a representative of many. This is Galatia, p. 235. See below, p. 288. remarked by Baumgartcn, whose observations CROSSING OVER TO EUROPE. which has made these coasts illustrious) * " He brought the wind out of His treasuries, and by His power He brought in the south wind," ^ and prospered the voyage of His servants. Coin of Tarsus.' 1 The classical reader will remember that tne throne of Neptune in Homer, whence he looks over IJa and the scene of the Trojaa war, is on the peak of Samothrace (//. xiii. 10-14), and his cave deep under the water be- tween Imbros and Tenedos (//. xin. 32-35). ■* Ps- cxxxv. 7, Ixxviii. 26. For argumeats to prove that the wind was literally a south wind in this case, see the beginning of the next chapter. " From the British Museum. It may be observed that this coin illustrates the mode of strengthening sails by rope-bands, mentioned in Mr. Smith's important work on the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, 1S43, p. 163. CHAPTER IX. Voyage by Samothrace to Neapolis. — Philippi. — Constitution of a Colony. — Lydia. — The Demoniac Slave. — Paul and Silas arrested. — The Prison and the Jailer. — The Magis- trates. — Departure from Philippi. — St. Luke. — Macedonia described. — Its Condition as a Province. — The Via Egnatia. — St. Paul's Journey through Aniphipolis and Apollonia. — Thessalonica. — The Synagogue. — Subjects of St. Paul's Preaching. — Persecution, Tumult, and Flight. — The Jews at Bercea. — St. Paul again persecuted. — Proceeds to Athens. THE weather itself was propitious to the voyage from Asia to Europe. It is evident that Paul and his companions sailed from Troas with a fair wind. On a later occasion we are told that five days were spent on the passage from Philippi to Troas.' On the present occasion the same voyage, in the opposite direction, was made in two. If we attend to St. Luke's technical expression,^ which literally means that they " sailed before the wind," and take into account that the pas- sage to the west, between Tenedos and Lemnos, is attended with some risk,^ we may infer that the wind blew from the southward.^ The southerly winds in this part of the Archipelago do not usually last long, but they often blow witli considerable force. Sometimes they are sufficiently strong to counteract the current which sets to the southward from the mouth of the Dardanelles.* However this might be on the day 1 Compare Acts xvi. II, 12, with xx. 6. For the expression, " sailed from Pliilippi " (xx. 6), and the relation of Philippi with its harbor, Ncapolis, see below, p. 249, n. 4. ^ It occurs again in Acts xxi. 1, evidently in the same sense. ^ " All ships should pass to the eastward of Tenedos. . . . Ships that go to the west- ward in calms may drift on the shoals of Lem- nos, and the S. E. end of that island being very low is not seen above nine miles off. . . . It is also to be recollected, that very dangerous shoals extend from the N. W. and W. ends of Tenedos." — Purdy's Sailing Directory, pp. 158, 189. Captain Stewart says (p. 63) : " To work up to the Dardanelles, I prefer goiug in- side of Tenedos . . . you can go by your lead, and, during light winds, you may anchor 216 anywhere. If you go outside of Tenedos, and it falls calm, the current sets you towards the shoal off Lemnos." (The writer has heard this and what follows confirmed by those who have had practical experience in the mcrchaut- Bcrvice in the Levant.) * The same inference may be drawn from the fact of their going to Samothrace at all. Had the wind blown from the northward or the eastward, they probably would not have done so. Had it blown from the westward, they could not have made the passage in two days, especially as the currents are contrary. This consistency in minute details shjnid Ijc carefully noticed, as tending to confirm tho veracity of the narrative. ' " The current from the Dardanelles hi'cins to run strongly to the southward at Tenedos, M is hi^.r^-A'M,^^.^, CHAP. a. SAMOTHRACE. 247 when St. Paul passed over these waters, the vessel in which he sailed ■would soon cleave her way through the strait hetween Tenedos and the main, past the Dardanelles, and near the eastern shore of Imbros. On rounding the northern end of this island, they would open Samothrace, which had hitherto appeared as a higher and more distant summit over the lower mountains of Imbros.' The distance between the two islands is about twelve miles. ^ Leaving Imbros, and bearing now a little to the west, and having the wind still (as our sailors say) two or three points abaft the beam, the helmsman steered for Samotlirace ; and, under the slielter of its high sliore, they anchored for the niglit.^ Samothrace is tlie highest land in the north of the Archipelago, with the exception of Mount Athos.* These two eminences have been in all ages the familiar landmarks of the Greek mariners of the JEgea,n. Even from the neigliborhood of Troas, Mount Athos is seen towering over Lemnos, like Samothrace over Imbros.' And what Mount Atlios is, in another sense, to tlie superstitious Christian of the Levant," tlie peak of Samothrace was, in the days of Heathenism, to his Greek ancestors in the same seas. It was the " Monte Santo," on which the Greek mariner looked with awe, as he gazed on it in the distant horizon, or came to anchor under the slielter of its coast. It was tlie sanctuary of an ancient superstition, which was widely spread over the neigiiboring continents, and the history of which was vainly investigated by Greek and Roman writers. If St. Paul had staid here even a few days, we might be justified in saying something of the " Cabiri ; " but we have no reason to suppose tliat he even landed on the island. At present it possesses but there is no difSculty in turning over it (p. 243, n. 4). The following is a morning with a breeze." — Purdy, p. 159. " Tlie cur- view. "Nov. 26, 1828, 8, a.m. — Morning rent in the Archipelago sets almost contin- beautifully clear. Lemnos just opening, nally to the southward, and is increased or re- Mount Athos was at first taken for an island tarded iiccording to the winds. In lying at about five leagues distant, the outline and Tenedcs, near the north of the Dardanelles, I shades appearing so perfectly distinct, though have observed a strong south wind entirely nearly fifty miles off. The base of it was stop it; but it came strong to the southward covered with hiize, as was the summit soon the moment the gale from that point ceased." aftenvard ; but toward sunset it became clear — Captain Stewart, ib. p. 62. For the winds, again. It is immensely high ; and, as there is see pp. 63 and 163. no other mountain like it to the northward of 1 " The island Imbro is separated from Negropont, it is an excellent guide for this Samothraki by a channel twelve miles in part of the coast." — Purdy, p. 150. breadth. It is much longer and larger, but not ^ See the account of Mount Athos (Monte 60 high, as that island." Purdy, p. 152. Santo) in Curzon's Monasteries of the Levant, '^ See the preceding note. Pt. iv., and the view, p. 327. In his sail from ' Acts xvi. 11. the D.irdanelles to the mountain, — the breeze, * " Samothraki is the highest land in the the shelter and smooth water on the shore of Archipelago, except Candia and Mount Athos." Lemnos, &.C., — there are points of resem- — Purdy, p. 152. blance with St. Paul's voyage. ' An evening view has been quoted before 248 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chat, ix no good harbor, tliough many places of safe anchorage : ' and if the wind was from the southward, tliere would be smooth water anywhere on the north shore. The island was, doubtless, better supplied with artificial advantages in an age not removed by many centuries from the flourishing period of that mercantile empire wliich the Plioenicians founded, and the Athenians inherited, in the J]]gean Sea. The relations of Samothraco with the opposite coast were close and frequent, when the merchants of Tyre had tlieir miners at work in Mount Pangsus,- and wlien Athens diffused her citizens as colonists or exiles on all tlie neighboring shores.' Nor can those relations have been materially altered when both the Piiceniciau and Greek settlements on the sea were absorbed in the wider an.d continental dominion of Rome. Ever since tlie day when Perseus fled to Samotbrace from tlie Roman conqueror,^ frequent vessels had been passing and repassing between the island and the coasts of M' " >- donia and Thrace. Tlie Macedonian harbor at which St. Paul landed was Neapolis. Its direction from Samotlirace is a little to the- north of west. But a soutlierly breeze would still be a fair wind, tliough tliey could not literally " run before it." A run of seven or eight hours, notwithstand- ing tlie easterly current,' would bring the vessel under the lea of the island of Thasos, and witliin a few miles of the coast of Macedonia. Tlie shore of the mainland iu this part is low, but mountains rise to a considerable lieight behind." To the westward of the cliannel which separates it from Tliasos, tlie coast recedes and forms a bay, within which, on a promontory with a port on each side,'' the ancient Neapolis was situated. Some difFercnce of opinion has existed concerning tlie true position of this harbor : ' but tlie traces of paved military roads approaching tlie promontory we have described, in two directions correspojiding with those 1 See Purdy, p. 152. Santo (Athos), from the S. AV., strong tow.ird ^ HcroJ. vii. 112. Thasos w.is the head- the eastward, by Thasso." — p. 152. quarters of the Phoenician mining operations ^ See Purdy, p. 152, and the accurate this part of the iEgcan. Herodotus visited delineation of the coast in the Admiralty the island, and was much struck with the traces charts, of their work (vi. 47). ' Clarke's Trai-eh, ch. xii. and xiii. An ' It is hardly necessary to refer to the for- important paper on Neapolis and Philijjpi has matioa of the commercial empire of Athens been written (after a recent visit to these before the Pelopoimcsian war, to the mines of places) by Prof. Hackett, in the Bib. Sacra for Scapte Hyle, and the exile of Thucydides. October, 18G0. See Grote's Greece, ch. xxvi., xlvii., &e. ' Cousine'ry, in his Voyage dans la 3/ac^- * Liv. xlv. 6. doine, identifies Neapolis with Eski-Cavallo, a ' " Inside of Thasso, and past Samothraki, harbor more to the west ; but his arguments the current sets to the eastward." — Purdy, p. are quite inconclusive. Colonel Leake, whose ' The cuiTcnt at times turns by Monte opinion is of great weight, though he did CHAP. ix. NEAPOLlh. 249 indicated in the ancient itineraries ; the Latin inscriptions which have been found on the spot ; the remains of a great aqueduct on two tiers of Roman arches, and of cisterns Uke tliose at Baiae near the other Neapolis on tlic Campanian shore, seem to leave little doubt that the small Turkish village of Cavallo is tlie Naples of Macedonia, the " Neapolis" at which St. Paul landed, and the seaport of Philippi, — the " first city" ' which the traveller reached on entering this " part of Macedonia," and a city of no little importance as a Roman military " colony." ' A ridge of elevated land, which connects the range of Pangseus with the higher mountains in the interior of Thrace, is crossed between Neapolis and Philippi. The whole distance is about ten miles.' The ascent of the ridge is begun immediately from the town, through a defile formed by some precipices almost close upon the sea. When the higher ground is attained, an extensive and magnificent sea-view is opened towards the south. Samothrace is seen to the east ; Thasos to the south-east ; and, more distant and farther to the right, the towering summit of Athos.* When the descent on the opposite side begins and the sea is lost to view, another prospect succeeds, less extensive, but not less worthy of our notice. We look down on a plain, which is level as an inland sea, and which, if the eye could range over its remoter spaces, would be seen winding far witliin its mountain-enclosure, to the west and the north.' Its appearance is citlier exuberantly green, — for its fertility has been always famous, — or cold and dreary, — for the streams which water it are often diffused iiito marshes, — according to the season when we visit this corner of Mace- pcraonally visit Philippi and Neapolis, agrees enough to enjoy the fine prospect of the sea with Dr. Clarke. and the town of Cavallo upon a promontory. ^ Acts xvi. 12. At some distance lies the isle of Thasos, now - For tlie meaning of these terms see p. called Tasso. It was indistinctly discerned 251, &c. by us; but every other object, excepting the 3 Hence it was unnecessary for Meyer to town, began to disappear as we descended deride Olshausen's remark, that Philippi was toward Cavallo." — Ch. xii. "Upon quitting the "Jirst cit// " in Macedonia visited by the the town, we ascended a part of Mount Pan- Apostle, because Neapolis was its harbor. gaeus by a pared road, and had a fine view of OUhauscn was quite right. The distance of the bay of Neapolis. The top of the hill, Neapolis from Philip|)i is only twice as great towards the left, was covered with ruined as tliat from the Pirteus to Athens, not much walls, and with the ancient aqueduct, which greater than that from Cenchrea to Corinth, here crosses the road. From hence we de- and Itss than that from Sjleucia to Antioch, scended by a paved road as before . . . ths or from Ostia to Rome. isle of Thasos being in view towards the S. E. ' We may quote here two passages from Looking to the E., we saw the high top of Dr. Clarke, one describing this approach to Samothrace, which makes such a conspicuous Neapolis from the neighborhood, the other figure from the plains of Troy. To the S., his departure in the direction of Constantino- towering above a region of clouds, appeared pie. " Ascending the mountainous boundary the loftier summit of Mount Athos." — of the plain on its north-eastern side by a Ch. xiii. broad ancient paved way, we had not daylight ' See the very full descriptions of the plain 250 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.ix. donia ; whether it be when the snows are white and chill on the summits of the Thracian Haemus,' or when the roses, of which Theophrastus and Pliny speak, are displaying their bloom on the warmer slopes of the Pangtean hills.' This plain, between Haemus and Pangaeus, is the plain of Philippi, where the last battle was lost by the republicans of Rome. The whole region around is eloquent of the history of this battle. Among the moun- tains on the right was the difficult path by wliich the republican army penetrated into Macedonia ; on some part of the very ridge on which we stand were the camps of Brutus and Cassius ; ' the stream before us is the river which passed in front of them ; * below us, " upon the left hand of the even field,"* is the marsli^ by wliich Antony crossed as he approached his antagonist ; directly opposite is the hill of Philippi, wliere Cassius died ; behind us is the narrow strait of the sea, across which Brutus sent his body to the island of Tliasos, lest the army should be disheartened before the final struggle.' The city of Philippi was itself a monument of the termination of that struggle. It had been founded by tlie father of Alexander, in a place called, from its numerous streams, " The Place of Fountains," to commemorate the addition of a new province to his king- dom, and to protect the frontier against the Thracian mountaineers. For similar reasons the city of Philip was gifted by Augustus with the privi- leges of a colonia. It thus became at once a border-garrison of the prov- ince of Macedonia, and a perpetual memorial of his victory over Brutus.' And now a Jewish Apostle came to the same place, to win a greater vic- tory than that of Pliilippi, and to found a more durable empire than that of Augustus. It is a fact of deep significance, tliat the " first city" at which St. Paul arrived,^ on his entrance into Europe, should be thr.t of Serres, in the various parts of its extension, ' Plutarch's Life of Brutus. given by Leake and Cousine'ry. ' The full and proper Roman name was 1 Lucan's view is very winterly. Phars, Colonia Augusta Julia Philippetisis. See tlie i. 680. coin engraved at the end of Ch. XXVI. '^ The " Rosa centifolia," which the latter Cousine'ry (ch. x.) enters fully into the prcs- mcntions as cultivated in Campania and in ent condition of Philippi, and gives coins and Greece, near Philippi. inscriptions. ^ The republicans were so placed as to be ' We regard the phrase in Acts xvi. 12 as in communication with the sea. The triremes meaning the first city in its geographical lela- were at Neapolis. tion to St. Paul's journey ; not the first politi- * The Gangas or Gangites. Leake, p. 217. eally ("chief city," Auth. Vers.), cither of ' Julius Casar, act v. sc. i. The topogra- Macedonia or a part of it. The chief city of phy of Shakspeare is perfectly accurate. In the province was Thessalonica ; and, evcA if this passage Octavius and Antony are looking we suppose the subdivisions of Macedonia at tlic field from the opposite side. Prima, Secunda, &c., to have subsisted at this ' The battle took place in autumn, when time, the chief city of Macedonia Prima va* ♦ho. plain would probably be inundated. not Philippi, but Amphipolis. CHAP. a. PHILIPPI. 251 " colony," which was more fit thau any other in the empire to bo coa- sidercd the representative of Imperial Rome. The characteristic of a colonia was, that it was a miniature resemblance of Rome. Philippi is not the first city of tliis kind to which we have traced the foosteps of St. Paul ; Antioch in Pisidia (p. 152), and Alex- andria Troas (p. 242), both possessed the same cliaracter : but this is the first place whei-e Scripture calls our attention to tlie distinction ; and the events whicli befell the Apostle at Philippi were directly connected with the privileges of the place as a Roman colony, and witli his own privileges as a Roman citizen. It will be convenient to consider these two subjects together. A glance at some of the differences which subsisted among individuals and communities in the provincial system will enable us to see very clearly the position of the citizen and of the colony. We have had occasion (Cli. I. p. 21) to speak of the combination of actual provinces and nominally independent states through which the power of the Roman emperor was variously diffused ; and again (Ch. V. p. 129), we have described the division of the provinces by Augustus into those of the Senate, and those of the Emperor. Descending now to ex- amine the component population of any one prov'nce, and to inquire into the political condition of individuals and communities, we find here again a complicated system of rules and exceptions. As regards individuals, the broad distinction we must notice is that between those who were citizens and those who were not citizens. When the Greeks spoke of the inhabitants of the world, they divided them into " Greeks " and " Bar- barians,"' according as the language in which poets and philosophers had written was native to them or foreign. Among the Romans the phrase was different. The classes into which they divided mankind consisted of those who were politically" Romans,"^ and those who had no link (except that of subjection) with the City of Rome. The technical words were Civea and Peregrini, — " citizens " and " strangers." The inhabitants of Italy were " citizens ; " the inhabitants of all other parts of the Empire (until Caracalla extended to the provinces ' the same privileges wliich Julius Caesar had granted to the peninsula) * were naturally and essentially " strangers." Italy was the Holy Land of the kingdom of this world. We may carry the parallel further, in order to illustrate the difference which existed among the citizens themselves. Those true-born Italians, who were diffused in vast numbers through the provinces, might be called ' Thus St. Paul, in writing his Greek epis- politically in the New Testament. John xi. tics, uses this distinction. Rom. i. 14 ; Col. 48 ; Acts xvi., xxii., xxiil., xxviii. Ui. 11. Hence, also, Acta xxviii. 2, l; 1 Cor. ' See Milman's Gibbon, i. p. 281 and note. Kiv. 11. * By the Julia Lex de Civitate (b.c. 90), * The word "Roman" is always used supplemented by other laws, 252 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. ii. Citizens of the Dispersion ; while those strangers who, at various times, and for various reasons, had received the gift of citizenship, were in the condition of political Proselytes. Such were Paul and Silas,' in their re- lation to the empire, among their fellow-Romans in the colony of Philippi. Botli these classes of citizens, however, were in full possession of tlie same privileges ; the most important of which were exemption from scourging, and freedom from arrest, except in extreme cases ; and in all cases the right of appeal from the magistrate to the Emperor.'^ The remarks which have been made concerning individuals may be extended, in some degree, to communities in the provinces. The City of Rome might be transplanted, as it were, into various parts of the empire, and reproduced as a colonia ; or an alien city might be adopted, under the title of a municipium,' into a close political communion with Eome. Leav- ing out of vie\t all cK^es of the latter kind (and indeed they were limited entirely to the western provinces), we will confine ourselves to wiiat was called a colonia. A Roman colony was very different from any thing which we usually intend by the term. It was no mere mercantile factory, such as those which Llie Phajnicians established in Spain,* or on those very shores of Macedonia with which we are now engaged ; ' or such as modern nations have founded in the Hudson's Bay territory or on the coast of India. Still less was it like those incoherent aggregates of human beings which we have thrown, without care or system, on distant islands and continents. It did not even go forth, as a young Greek republic left its parent state, carrying with it, indeed, the respect of a daughter for a mother, but entering upon a new and independent existence. The Roman colonies were primarily intended as military safeguards of the fron- tiers, and as checks upon insurgent provincials. Like the military roads, they were part of the great system of fortification by which the Empire • We can hardly lielp inferring, from the accused citizen could only be imprisoned narrative of what happened at Philippi, that before trial for a very heinous oflence, or wlien Silas was a Roman citizen as well as St. Paul, evidently guilty. Bail was generally allowed, As to the mode in which he obtained the citi- or retention in a magistrate's house was held zenship, we are more ignorant than in the sufScient. case of St. Paul himself, whose father was a ' The privilege of a colonia was transplanted citizen (Acts xxii. 28). All that we are able citizenship, that of a munictpium was ingrafted to say on this subject has been given before, citizenship. We have nothing to do, however, pp. 42-4-1. with municipia in the history of St. Paul. We ' Two of the.se privileges will come more are more concerned with Uhera cintates, and particularly before us, when we reach the n:ir- we shall presently come to one of them in the rative of St. Paul'.s arrest at .Ternsalera. It case of Tliessalonica. appears that Paul and Silas were treated with * Especially in the mountains on the coast a cruelty which was only justifiable in the case between Cartagena and Almeria. of a slave, and w.as not usually allowed in the ' See above p. 248, n. 2. case of any freeman. It would seem, that an cBAP.Dt. CONSTITUTION OF A COLONY. 253 was made safe. They served also as convenient possessions for rewarding veterans who had served in the wars, and for establishing freedmeu and other Italians whom it was desirable to remove to a distance. The colo- nists went out with all the pride of Roman citizens, to represent and re produce the City in the midst of an alien population. Tiiey proceeded to their destination like an army with its standards ; ' and the limits of the new city were mai-ked out by the plough. Their names were still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. Every traveller who passed through a colonia saw there the insignia of Rome. He heard the Latin language, and was amenable, in tlie strictest sense, to the Roman law. The coinage of the city, even if it were in a Greek province, had Latin inscriptions.'' Cyprian tells us that in his own episcopal city, which once had been Rome's greatest enemy, the Laws of the XII Tables were inscribed on brazen tablets in tlio market-place.' Though the colonists, in addition to the poll-tax, which they paid as citizens, were compelled to pay a ground-tax (for the land on which their city stood was provincial land, and therefore tj-ibutary, unless it were assimilated to Italy by a special exemption) ; * yet they were entirely free from any intrusion by the governor of tlic prov- ince. Tlieir affairs were regulated by their own magistrates. These officers were named Duumviri ; and they took a pride in calling them- selves by the Roman title of Praetors (aroaTriyoi') } The primary settlers in the colony were, as we have seen, real Italians ; but a state of things seems to have taken [ilacc, in many instances, very similar to what hap- pened in the early history of Rome itself. A number of the native pro- vincials grew up in the same city witli the governing body ; and thus two (or sometimes three) co-ordinate communities were formed, which ulti- mately coalesced into one, like the Patricians and Plelieians. Instances of this state of things miglit be given from Corinth and Carthago, and from the colonies of Spain and Gaul ; and we have no reason to suppose that Philippi was different from the rest. '\\'hatever the relative proportion of Greeks and Romans at Pliilippl may have been, the number of Jews was small. This is sufficiently accounted for, when we remember that it was a military, and not a mercantile, city. There was no synagogue in Pluli[)pi, but only one of those buildings called ProseuchoR, which were distinguished from the ^ See the standurJs on one of the coins of a contrast with the coins of Philippi we may Antioch in PisiJia, p. ITS. The wolf, with mention those of Thcssalonica. Komulus anil Remus, which will be obsei-veil ' De Urat. Dei, 10. on the other coin, was common on colonial * Philippi had the Jus Italiaim, like Alcx- moncys. Philippi was in the strictest sense a andria Troas. This is explained above, p. 242. military colony, formed by the establishment ' An instance of this is mentioned by Cice- of a collars pratoria emerita. ro in the case of Capua. See Hor. Sat. j " This has been noticed before, p. 152. As vi. 254 THE LIFE AND EnSTLES OF ST. PACX. regular places of Jewish worship by being of a more slight and tem- porary structure, and frequently open to the sky.' For the sake of greater quictnefs, and freedom from interruption, this place of prayer was " outside the gate ; " and, in consequence of the ablutions ^ which were connected with the worship, it was " by the river-side," on the bank of tlie Gaggitas,' the fountains of which gave the name to the city before the time of Philip of Macedon,* and whicli, in tlie great battle of the Romans, had been polluted liy the footsteps and blood of the contend- ing armies. The congregation, which met here for worship on the Sabbath, con- sisted chiefly, if not entirely, of a few women ;* and these were not all of Jewish birth, and not all residents at Philippi. Lydia, who is men- tioned by name, was a proselyte ; ^ and Thyatira, her native place, was a ' E.Ytracts to this effect might be quoted from Epiph.nnius. A I'roscucha may be con- gidci'e.d as a place of prajjer, as oj'posed to a Synagogue, or a house of prayer. It appears, however, that the words were more or less convertible, and some consider them nearly equivalent. Josephus (Life, § 54) describes a Proseuclia as " a largo building, capable of holding a considerable crowd : " and Thilo mentions, under the same denomination, build- ings at Alexandria, which were so strong that it wiis difficult to destroy them. Probably, it was the usual name of the mccting-placc of Jewish congregations in Greek cities. Other passages in ancient writers, which bear u]ion the subject, are alluded to in the following extract fiom Biseoe: "The seashore was esteemed by the Jews a place most pure, and therefore pio]ier to offer up their prayers and thanksgiving to Almighty God. Philo tells us that the Jews of Alexandria, when Flaceus the govcnior of Egypt, who had been their great enemy, was arrested by order of the Emperor Caius, not being able to assemble at their synagogues, which had been taken from them, crowded out at tlie gates of the city early in the morning, went to the neigh- boring shoves, and standing in a most pure place, with one accord lifted up their voices in praising God. Tertullian says, that the Jews in bis time, when they kept their great fast, lift their synagogues, and on every shore sent fortli their prayers to heaven : and in another place, among the ceremonies used by the Jews, mentions orationes Httoralcs, the pr.iycrs they luade upon the shores. And long liefore Tcr- tullian's time there was a decree made at ITali- carnassus in favor of the Jews, which, among otlier privileges, allows them to say their prayers near the shore, according to the custom of their country. (Joseph. .4n<. xiv. 10, 23.) It is hence abundantly evident, that it was common with the Jews to choose the shore .is a place highly fitting to offer up their prayers." P. 251. He adds that the words in Acts xvi. 13 " m.ay signify nothing more than that the Jews of Philippi were wont to go and offer up their prayers at a certain place by the river- side, as other Jews who lived near the sea were accustomed to do upon the seashore." See Acts xxi. 5. - See the passage adduced by Biscoe from Josephus. 2 Many eminent German commentators make a mistake here in saying that the river was the Strynion. The nearest point on the Strymon was many miles distant. This mis- take is the more marked when we find that "out of the gate "and not "out of the city "is proiialily the right reading. No one would describe tlie Strymon as a stream outside the gate of Philippi. We may add that the men- tion of the gate is an instance of St. Luke's auto])tical style in this part of the narrative. It is possible that the Jews worshipped outside the gate at Philippi, because the people would not allow them to worship within. Compare what Juvenal says of the Jews by the fountain outside the Porta Capena at Rome (iii. II). * Crenides was the ancient namn. ' Acts xvi. 13. • Acts xvi. 14 ! CHAP. a. LTDIA. 255 city of the province of Asia.' The business which brought her to Pliilipir was connected with tlie dyeing trade, which liad flourished from a very early period, as we learn from Horner,^ in the neighborhood of Thyatira, and is permanently commemorated in inscriptions which relate to the " guild of dyers " in that city, and incidentally give a singular confirmation of the veracity of St. Luke in his casual allusions.' In this xinpretending place, and to this congregation of pious women, the Gospel was first preaclied by an Apostle within the limits of Europe.* St. Paul and his companions seem to have arrived in the early part of the weel' ; for " some days " elapsed before " the sabbath." On that day the straiigers went and joined the little company of worshippers at their prayer by the river-side. Assuming at once the attitude of teachers, they " sat down," * and spoke to the women wlio were assembled together. The Lord, who had summoned His servants from Troas to preach the Gofipel in Macedonia,'' now vouchsafed to them the signs of His presence, by giving Divine energy to the words which they spoke iu His name, li/dia " was one of the listeners," ' and tlio Lord " opened her heart, that k1).c took liccd to the tilings that were spoken of Paul." ^ Lydia. being convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and having made a profession of her faith, was forthwith baptized. The place of her baptism was doubtless the stream which flowed by the proseucha. The waters of Europe were " sanctified to the mystical washing-away of sin." With the baptism of Lydia that of her " household " was associated. Whether we are to understand by this term her children, her slaves, or the work-people engaged in the manual employment connected with her trade, or all these collectively, cannot easily be decided." But we may 1 Sec Rev. i. U. 8 Actsxvi. 10. 2 //. iv. 141. ' The verbis in the imperfect. Acts.xvi. 14. ' Wc mny observe tliat the commiiTiicatioii From the words used here we infer that Lydia at this period between Thyatira and Thilippi was listening to coJiwrsn/Zoji rather than pr^acA- was very easy, citlicr directly from tlie harbor i"^. The whole narrative gives us the iinprea- of Peigamus, or by the road mentioned in the sion of the utmost modesty and simplicity in last chapter, which led through Adramyttium Lydia's character. to Troas. Another point should be noticed, which * At least this is the first historical account exemplifies St. Luke's abnegation of self, and of the preaching of an apostle in Europe. harmonizes with the rest of the Acts; viz. The tr.iditions concerning St. Peter rest on no that, after saying " we spake" (v. 13), he sinks real jiroof. We do not here inquire into the his own person, and says that Lydia took heed knowledge of Christianity which may have "to what was spoken by Pau/ " (v. 14). Paul spread, even to Rome, through those who was the chief speaker. The phrase and the returned from Pentecost (Acts ii.), or those inference are the same at Antioch in Pisidia who were dispersed in Stephen's persecution (Acts xiii. 45), when Barnabas was with SL (Acts viii), or other travellers from Syria to P.aul. See p. 160, n. 2. the West. * v. 14. ' Acts xvi. 13. Compare Acts xiii. 14, ' Meyer thinks they were female assistants and Luke W. 20. in the business connected with her trade. II 256 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. a. observe that it is the first passage in the life of St. Paul where we liave ail example of that family religion to ■vvliich he often alludes in his Epistles. The " connections of Chloe," ' the " household of Stephanas," ^ the " Churcli in the house " of Aquila and Priscilla,' are parallel cases, to which we shall come in the course of the narrative. It may also be rightly added, that we have here the first example of that Christian hospitality which was so emphatically enjoined,^ and so lovingly prac- tised, in the Apostolic Church. The frequent mention of the " hosts " who gave shelter to the Apostles,' reminds us that they led a life of hard- ship and poverty, and were the followers of Him " for wliom there was no room in the inn." Tlie Lord had said to His Apostles, that, when they entered into a city, they were to seek out " those who wei-e worthy," and with them to abide. The search at Pliilippi was not difficult. Lydia voluntarily presented herself to her spiritual benefactors, and said to them, earnestly and humbly,' that, " since tliey had regarded her as a believer on the Lord," her house should be tlieir liome. She admitted of no refusal to her request, and " their peace was on that house."'' Thus tlie Gospel liad obtained a home in Europe. It is true that the family with wliora tlio Apostles lodged was Asiatic rather tlian Eui-opean ; and t!ie direct influence of Lydia may be supposed to liave contributed more to the establislmicnt of the church of Thyatira, addressed by St. John,* tlian to that of Pliilippi, which received the letter of St. Paul. But still the doctrine and practice of Cliristianity were established in Europe ; and notliing couli be more calm and tranquil than its first beginnings on tlie shore of that continent, which it has long overspread. The scenes by the river-side, and in tlie liouse of Lydia, are beautiful prophecies of the holy influence which women,' elevated by Christianity to tiieir true position, and enabled by Divine grace to wear " the orna- ment of a meek and quiet spirit," have now for centuries exerted over domestic happiness and the growth of piety and peace. If we wish to see this in a forcible light, we may contrast the i>icture wliich is drawn is well known that this is one of the passages ' Rev. ii. often adilneed in the controversy concerning ° Observe the frequent mention of women inf;int baptism. AVe need not urge this view in the salntations in St. Paul's epistles, and of it : for the belief that infant baptism is more particularly in that to the Philippians. "niostagreeahlewith the institution of Christ" Killiet, in Ins Commentary, makes a just (Art. xxvii.) does not rest on this text. remarii on the peculiar importance of fem.ile 1 1 Cor. i. 11. agency in tht iheu st.ate of society: — " L'or- i" I Cor. i. 16, xvi. 15. ganisation le la socief! civile faisait dcs ' Rom. xvi. 5. Compare Philem. 2. femmes m Interme'diaire ne'eessaire pour que * Heb. xiii. 2. 1 Tim. v. 10, &c. la pre'dication de I'i^vangilo parviut jusqu'aux * Rom. xvi. 23, &c. personnes de Icur sexe." Sec Quarterly Re- « See above, p 255, n. 7. ' Matt x. 13. view, for Oct. 1860 CHAP. IX. BELIEF IK EVIL SPIEITS. 267 for us by St. Luke — with another representation of women in the same neighborhood given by the Heathen poets, who tell us of the frantic excitement of the Edonian matrons, wandering, under the name of religion, with dishevelled hair and violent cries, on the banivs of the Strymon.' Tlius far all was peaceful and hopeful in the work of preacliing the Gospel to Macedonia : the congregation met in tlio house or by the river- side ; souls were converted and instructed ; and a Church, consisting both of men and women,^ was gradually built up. This continued for " many days." It was difficult to foresee the storm which was to over- cast so fair a prospect. A bitter persecution, however, was unexpectedly provoked : and the Apostles were brought into collision with heathen superstition in one of its worst forms, and with the rough violence of the colonial authorities. As if to show that the work of Divine grace is advanced by difficulties and discouragements, rather than by ease and prosperity, the Apostles, who had been supernaturally summoned to a new field of labor, and who were patiently cultivating it with good success, were suddenly called away from it, silenced, and imprisoned. In tracing tlie life of St. Paul we have not as yet seen Christianity directly bi-ought into conflict with Heathenism. Tlie sorcerer who had obtained influence over Sergius Paulus in Cyprus was a Jew, like the Apostle himself.^ The first impulse of the idolaters of Lystra was to worship Paul and Barnabas ; and it was only after the Jews had per- verted tlieir minds, that they began to persecute them.* But as we travel farther from the East, and especially through countries where the Israelites were thinly scattered, we must expect to find Pagan creeds in immediate antagonism with the Gospel ; and not merely Pagan creeds, but tlie evil powers themselves which give Paganism its supremacy over the minds of men. The questions which relate to evil spirits, false divinities, and demoniacal possession, are far too difficult and extensive to be entered on here.' We are content to express our belief, that in ^ 1 Hor. Od. II. vii. 27, &c. modation to popular belief; the other that ^ This is almost necessarily implied in " the these unhappy sufTcrers were really possessed brethren" (v. 40) whom Paul and Silas vis- by evil spirits — may be seen in a series of ited and exhorted in the house of Lydia, after pamphlets (partly anonymous) published in their release from prison. London in 1737 and 1738. For a candid state- ' Ch. V. p. 133. ment of both views, see the article on " Demo- * Ch. VI. pp. 170, &c. niacs" in Dr. Kitto's Cydopadia of Biblical ' The arguments on the two sides of this Literature. Compare that on the word " Bes- question — one party contending that the essene," in Winer's Real -Wiirterhuch ; and, demoniacs of Scripture were men afflicted with above all. Dean Trench's profound remarks Id insanity, melancholy, and epilepsy, and that his work on the Miracles, pp. l.W, &c. the language used of them is merely an accom- 17 258 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. ii. the demoniacs of the Now Testament allusion is really made to personal spirits who exercised power for evil purposes on the human will. The unregenerate world is represented to us in Scripture as a realm of darkness, in which tlie invisible agents of wickedness are permitted to hold sway iinder conditions and limitations Avhich we are not able to define. The degrees and modes in which their presence is made visibly apparent may vary widely in different countries and in difTereut ages.' In the time of Jesus Christ and His Apostles, we are justified in saying that their workings in one particular mode were made peculiarly manifest.- As it was in the life of our Great Master, so it was iu that of His imme- diate followers. The demons recognized Jesus as " the Holy One of God ; " and they recognized His Apostles as the " bondsmen of the Most High God, who preach the way of salvation." Jesus " cast out de- mons ; " and, by virtue of the power whicli He gave, the Apostles were able to do in His name what He did in His own. If in any region of Heatliendom the evil spirits had pre-eminent sway, it was iu the mythological system of Greece, which, witli all its beautiful imagery and all its ministrations to poetry and art, left man powerless against his passions, and only amused him while it helped him to be unholy. In the lively imagination of the Greeks, the whole visible and invisible world was peopled with spiritual powers or demons. Tlie same terms were often used on this subject by Pagans and by Cliristians. But in the language of the Pagan the demon might be either a beneficent or a malignant power ; in the language of the Christian it always denoted •what was evil. ^ When the Athenians said* that St. Paul was introdu- cing " new demons " among them, they did not necessarily mean that he was in league with evil spirits; but when St. Paul told the Corinthians* that though " idols " in themselves were nothing, yet the sacrifices offered to them were, in reality, offered to " demons," he spoke of those false divinities which were the enemies of the True.* 1 For some suggestions as to the probable interlinked; and it is nothing wonderful that reasons why demoniacal possession is seldom they should have abounded at that time." — witnessed now, see Trench, p. 162. P. 1G2. Neander and Trench, however, both 2 Trench says, that " if there was any thing refer to modern missionary accounts of some- that marked the period of the Lord's coming thing like the same possession among heathen in the flesh, and that immediately succeeding, nations, and of their cessation on conversion it was the wreck and confusion of men's spir- to Christianity. itual life . . . the sense of utter disharmony. » This is expressly stated by Origen and . . . The whole period was the hour and Augustine ; and we find the same view in power of darkness ; of a darkness which then, Josephus. immediately before the dawn of a new day, * Acts xvii. 18. was the thickest. It was exactly the crisis ' 1 Cor. x. 20. for such soal-maladies as these, in which the ° It is very important to distinguish the ipiritual and bodily should be thus strangely word Am/3oXof (" Devil "), which is only used CHAP.m. PRETEENATURAI, AGENCY. 259 Again, llio knguage concerning physical changes, especially in the human fra^xic, is very similar in the sacred and profane writers. Some- times it conto.its itself with stating merely the facts and sympttims of disease ; scmet\mes it refers the facts and symptoms to invisible personal agency.' One class of phenomena, affecting the mind as well as the body, was mon particularly referred to preternatural agency. These were the prophetic conditions of mind, showing themselves in stated oracles or i)i more irregular manifestations, and accompanied with con- vulsions and violent eioitement, which are described or alluded to by almost all Heathen authors. Here again we are brought to a subject which is surrounded with difficulties. How far, in such cases, imposture was combined with real possession ; how we may disentangle the one from the other ; how far the sup/eme will of God made use of these prophetic powers and overruled them to good ends; such questions inevitably suggest themselves, but we are not concerned to answer them here. It is enough to say that we see no reason to blame the opinion of those writers, who believe that a wicked spiritual agency was really exerted in the prophetic sanctuaries and prophetic personages of the Heathen world. Tlie heathens themselves attributed these phenomena to the agency of Apollo,^ the deity of Pythonic spirits ; and such phenomena were of very frequent occurrence, and displayed themselves under many varieties of place and circumstance. Sometimes tliose who were pos- sessed were of the highest condition ; sometimes they went about the streets like insane impostors of the lowest rank. It was usual for the prophetic spirit to make itself known by an internal muttering or ven- triloquism.' We read of persons in this miserable condition used by otliers for tlie purpose of gain. Frequently they were slaves ; and there were cases of joint proprietorship in these unhappy ministers of public superstition. In the case before us it was a " female slave " * who was possessed with " a spirit of divination : "* and she was the property of more than one in the singular, from iaiiiuv or iatnovum lepey as the result of supernatural possession. (" demon "), whi^h may be singular or plural. Some symptoms, he says, were popularly attrib- The former word is used, for instance, in Matt. nted to Apollo, some to tlie Mother of the XXV. 41 ; John viii. 44 ; Acts xiii. 10 ; 1 Pet. Gods, some to Neptune, &c. V. 8, &c. ; the latter in John vii. 20 ; Luke x. ^ Python is the name of Apollo in his 17; 1 Tim. iv. 1; Rev. ix. 20; also James oracular character. iii. 15. For further remarks on this subject, ' Such persons spoke with the mouth gee below on Acts xvii. 18. closed, and were called Pythons (the very 1 This will be observed in the Gospels, if word used here by St. Luke, Acts xvi. 16). we carefully compare the different accounts of * Acts xvi. 16. The word is the same m our Lord's miracles. Among heathen writers xii. 13. we may allude particularly to Hippocrates, ' Literally " a spirit of Python " or " > tince he wrote against those who treated cpi- Pythonic spirit." 260 THE LIPE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.ix. master, who kept her for the purpose of practising on the credulity of the Philippiaiis, and realized " much profit " in this way. We all know the kind of sacredness with which the ravings of common insanity are apt to be invested by tiie ignorant ; and we can easily understand the notoriety which the gestures and words of this demoniac would obtain in Philippi. It was far from a matter of indifference, when she met the members of the Christian congregation on the road to the proseucha, and began to follow St. Paul, and to exclaim (either because the words she had overheard mingled with her diseased imaginations, or because the evil spirit in her was compelled ' to speak the truth) : " These men are the bondsmen of the Most High God, who are come to announce unto you the way of salvation." This was continued for " several days," and the whole city must soon have been familiar with her words. Paul was well aware of tliis ; and he could not bear the thought that the credit even of the Gospel should be enhanced by sucli unholy means. Possibly one reason why our Blessed Lord Himself forbade the demoniacs to make Him known was, that His holy cause would bo polluted by resting on such evidence. And another of our Saviour's feelings must have found an imitation in St. Paul's breast, — that of deep compassion for tlie poor victim of demoniac power. At length he could bear this Satanic inter- ruption no longer, and, " being grieved, he commanded tiie evil spirit to come out of her." It would be profaneness to suppose that tlio Apostle spoke in mere irritation, as it would be ridiculous to imagine that Divine help would have been vouchsafed to gratify such a feeling. No doubt there was grief and indignation, but tlie grief and indignation of an Apostle may be the impulses of Divine inspiration. Ho spoke, not in his own name, but in that of Jesus Christ, and power from above attended his words. The prophecy and command of Jesus concerning His Apostles were fulfilled : that " in Eis name they should cast out demons." It was as it had been at Jericho and by the Lake of Genesareth. The demoniac at Philippi was restored " to her right mind." Her natural powers resumed their course ; and the gains of her masters wei'e gone. Violent rage on the part of these men was the immediate result. They saw that their influence with the people, and with it " all hope " of any 1 See what Trench says on the demoniacs His state is, in the truest sense, ' a possession ; ' in the country of the Gadarenes. " We find another is ruling in the high places of his soni, in tlie demoniac the sense of a misery in which and has cast down the riglitfnl lord from his he does not acquiesce, the deep feeling of inward seat; and he knows this : and out of his con- discord, of the true life utterly shattered, of sciousness of it there goes forth from him a an alien power which has mastered him wholly, cry for redemption, so soon as ever a glimpse and now is cruelly lording over him, and ever of hope is afforded, an unlooked-for Redeemer drawing farther away from him in whom only draws near." — p. 159. any created intelligence can find rest and peace. CHAP. IX. PAUL AND SILAS AEEESTED. 261 future profit, was at end. They proceeded therefore to take a summary revenge. Laying violent hold of Paul and Silas (for Timothcus and Luke were not so evidently concerned in what had happened), they dragged them into the forum ' before the city authorities. The case was brought before the Praetors (so we may venture to call tliem, since this was the title which colonial Duumviri were fond of assuming ;')' but the complainants must have felt some difficulty in stating their grievance. The slave that had lately been a lucrative possession had suddenly be- come valueless ; but the law had no remedy for property depreciated by exorcism. The true state of the case was therefore concealed, and an ac- cusation was laid before the Praetors in the following form. " These men are throwing the whole city into confusion ; moreover they are Jews ; " and they are attempting to introduce new religious observances,* which we, being Roman citizens, cannot legally receive and adopt." Tiic accu- sation was partly true and partly false. It was quite false that Paul and Silas were disturbing the colony ; for nothing could have been more calm and orderly than their worship and teaching at the house of Lydia, or in the proseucha by the water-side. Li the other part of the indictment there was a certain amount of truth. The letter of the Roman law, even under the Republic, was opposed to the introduction of foreign religions ; and though exceptions were allowed, as in the case of the Jews them- selves, yet the spirit of the law entirely condemned such changes in worship as were likely to unsettle the minds of the citizens, or to jjroduce any tumultuous uproar ; and the advice given to Augustus, which both he and his successors had studiously followed, was, to check religious in- novations as promptly as possible, lest in the end they should undermine the Monarchy. Thus Paul and Silas had undoubtedly been doing what in some degree exposed them to legal penalties ; and were beginning a change which tended to bring down, and which ultimately did bring down, the whole weight of the Roman law on the martyrs of Chris- tianity.' The force of another part of the accusation, which was adroitly introduced, namely, that the men were " Jews to begin with," will be fully apprehended, if we remember, not only that the Jews were general- » Acts xvi. 19. * The word is similarly used Acts vi. 14, * See above, p. 253, n. 5. The word xxvi. 3, xxviii. 17. OTpariiybc is the usu.il Greek translation of ' See the account of the martyrs of Gaul praetor. It is, however, often used generally in Eusebius, v. 1. The governor, learning for the supreme magistrates of Greek towns. that Attalus was a Koman citizen, ordered him Wetstcin tells us that the mayor in Messina to be remanded to prison till he should learn was iu his time still called stradigo. the emperor's commands. Those who hiid the » " Being Jews to begin with," is the most citizenship were beheaded. The rest were sent exact translation. The verb Ik the same as in to the wild beasts. Gal. ii. H, " being bom a Jew, ' p. 201. 262 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAT7L. cbjlt.ix. \j hated, suspected, and despised,^ but that they had lately been driven out of Rome in consequence of an uproar,^ and that it was incumbent on Philippi, as a colony, to copy the indignation of the mother city. Thus we can enter into the feelings which caused the mob to rise against Paul and Silas,' and tempted the Praetors to dispense with legal formalities and consign the offenders to immediate punishment. The mere loss of the slave's prophetic powers, so far as it was generally known, was enough to cause a violent agitation : for mobs are always more fond of excitement and wonder than of truth and holiness. The Philippians had been willing to pay money for the demoniac's revelations, and now strangers had come and deprived them of that which gratified their superstitious curiosity. And when they learned, moreover, that these strangers were Jews, and were breaking the laws of Rome, their discontent became fanatical. It seems that the praetors had no time to hesitate, if they would retain their popularity. The rough words were spoken:^ Go, lictors : strip off their garments : let them be scourged."^ The order was promptly obeyed, and the heavy blows descended. It is happy for us that few modern countries know, by the example of a simi- lar punishment, what the severity of a Roman scourging was. The Apos- tles received " many stripes ; " and when they were consigned to prison, bleeding and faint from the rod, the jailer received a strict injunction " to keep them safe." Well might St. Paul, when at Corinth, look back to this day of cruelty, and remind the Tbessalonians how he and Silas had " suffered before, and were shamefully treated at Philippi."" The jailer fulfilled the directions of the magistrates with rigorous and conscientious cruelty. Not content with placing tlie Apostles among such otlier offenders against the law as were in custody at Philippi, he "thrust them into the inner prison,"' and then forced their limbs, lacerated as they were, and bleeding from the rod, into a painful and constrained posture, by means of an instrument employed to confine and torture the bodies of the worst malefactors.* Though we are ignorant of ' Cicero calls them " suspiciosa ac maledica cessary. It is quite a mistake to imagine that civitas." — Ftac. 2S. Other authors could be they rent their oim garments, like the high- quoted to the same effect. priest at Jerusalem. 2 Acts xviii. 2 ; which is probably the same ' The original word strictly denotes " to occurrence as that which is alluded to by beat with rods," as it is translated in 2 Cor. Suetonius, Claud. 25 : — " Judseos impulsore xi. 25. Christo assidue tumultuantes Roma cxpulit. * 1 Thess. ii. 2. See pp. 287, 335. ' Acts xvi. 24. 5 Acts xvi. 22. ' The ^ihtv was what the Romans called < The ofBcial order is given by Seneca. nen-iis. See the note in the Picloriul Bible Some commentators suppose that the duumviri on Job xiii. 27. and the woodcut of stocks kore off the (garments of Paul and Silas with nsed in India from Roberts's Oriental Iltustra their own hands ; but this supposition is unite- tions. CHAP.n. PAUL AND SILAS IN PRISON. 263 the exact relation of the outer and inner prisons,' and of the connection of the jailor's " house" with both, we are not without very good notions of the ip.isf ry endured in the Roman places of captivity. We must picture to ourselves something very different from the austere comfort of an English jail. It is only since that Christianity for which the Apostles blud has h-^d influence on the hearts of men, that the treatment of felons has beei: a disthict subject of philanthropic inquiry, and that we have learnt to pray " for all prisoners and captives." The inner prisons of which we read in the ancient world were like that " dungeon in the court of the prison," into which Jeremiah was let down with cords, and where " he sank in the mire."^ They were pestilential cells, damp and cold, from which the light was excluded, and where the chains rusted on the limbs of the prisoners. One such place may be seen to this day on the slope of the Capitol at Rome.' It is known to the readers of Cicero and Sallust as the place where certain notorious conspirators were executed. The Tullianum (for so it was called) is a type of the dungeons in the provinces; and we find the very name applied, in one instapce, to a dungeon in the province of Macedonia.^ What kind of torture was inflicted by the " stocks," in which the arms and legs, and even the necks, of offenders were confined and stretched, we are suffi- ciently informed by the allusions to the punishment of slaves in tlie Greek and Roman writers ; * and to show how far the cruelty of Heathen persecution, which may be said to have begun at Philippi, was afterwards carried in this peculiar kind of torture, we may refer to tho sufferings " which Origen endured under an iron collar, and in the deepest recesses of the prison, when, for many days, he was extended and stretched to the distance of four holes on the rack."^ A few hours had made a serious change from the quiet scene by the water-side to the interior of a stifling dungeon. But Paul and Silas had > A writer on the subject (Walch) says that ^ " Then took they Jeremiah and cast him in a Roman prison there were usually three into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Ham- distinct parts : (1) the communiora, v/here the me\ech., which was in the court of the prison ; and prisoners had light and fresh air ; (2) the inte- they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in riora, shut off by iron gates with strong bars the dungeon there was no water, but mire ; so and locks; (3) the Tullianum, or dungeon. Jeremiah sunk in the mire." — Jcr. xxxviii. 6. If this was the case at Philippi, Paul and Silas See the note in the Pictorial Bible. were perhaps in the second, and the other pris- ' For an account of it see Sir W. Gell'g oners in the first part. The third was rather work on Rome, also Rich's Diet, of Greek and aplaceof execution than imprisonment. Walch Roman Antiquities, from which the woodrut at says that in the provinces the prisons were not the end of this chapter is taken. 60 systematically divided into three parts. He * In Apuleius, where the allusion adds that the jailer or commentariensis had Thessaly. usually optiones to assist him In Acts XTi. ' Especially in Plautus. only one jailer is mentioned. • Euseb. Hist. Ecd. vi 39. 264 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.ei. learnt, " in whatever state they were, therewith to be content." ' They were even able to " rejoice " that they were " counted worthy to suffer " for the name of Christ.^ And if some thouglits of discouragement came over their minds, not for their own sufferings, but for the cause of their Master ; and if it seemed " a strange thing " tliat a work to which tliey had been beckoned by God sliould be arrested in its very beginning ; yet they had faith to believe that His arm would be revealed at the appointed time. Joseph's feet, too, liad been " hurt in the stocks," ' and he became a prince in Egypt. Daniel had been cast into the lions' den, and he was made ruler of Babylon. Thus Paul and Silas remembered witli joy the " Lord our Maker, ivho giveth songs in the night.'" * Racked as they were with pain, sleepless and weary, they were heard, " about midnight," from the depth of their prison-house, " praying and singing hymns to God." ' Wliat it was that they sang, we know not ; but the Psalms of David have ever been dear to those who suffer ; they have instructed both Jew and Christian in the language of prayer and praise. And the Psalms abound in such sentences as these : — " The Lord looketh down from His sanc- tuary : out of heaven the Lord beholdeth the earth : that He might hear the mournings of such as are in captivity, and deliver the children appointed unto death." — " Oh ! let the sorrowful sigliing of the prisoners come before thee: according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die." — " The Lord helpcth them to right that suffer wrong : the Lord looseth men out of prison : tlie Lord helpeth them that are fallen : the Lord careth for the righteous." * Such sounds as these were new in a Roman dungeon. Whoever the other prisoners might be, whether they were the victims of oppression, or were suffering the punishment of guilt, — debtors, slaves, robbers, or murderers, — they listened with surprise to the voices of those who filled the midnight of the prison with sounds of cheerfulness and joy. Still the Apostles con- tinued their praises, and the prisoners listened.'' " Tliey that sit in dark- ness, and in the shadow of death ; being fast bound in misery and iron ; when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. He delivered them out of their distress. For He brought them out of darkness, and out of the ' Phil. iv. 11. for the word, see Matt. xxvi. 30, Mark xiv. 26. ■■' Acts V. 41. The psalms sung on that occasion are believed ' Ps. cv. 18, Prayer-Book Version. Philo, to be Ps. cxiii.-cxviii. Comp.ire Eph. v. 19; writing on the history of Joseph (Gen. xxxix. Col. iii. 16. Also Heb. ii. 12. 21), has some striking remarks on the cruel ^ Ps. cii. 19, 20, Ixxix. 12, cxlvi. 6-8. See cliaractcr of jailers, who live among thieves, also Ps. cxlii. 8, 9, I.xix. 34, cxvi. 14, Ixviii. 6. robbers, and murderers, and never see any ' The imperfects used in this passage imply thing that is good. continuance. The Apostles were singing, and * Job .\xxv. 10. the prisoners were listening, when the earth- ' Acts xvi. 25. The tense is imperfect : quake came. CHAP.n. THE JAILEE. 265 shadow of death, and brake their bonds in sunder. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for His goodness, and declare the wonders that He doeth for the children of men : for He hath broken the gates of brass, and smitten the bars of iron in sunder." ' When suddenly, as if in direct answer to the prayer of His servants, an earthquake shook the very foun- dations of the prison,'^ the gates were broken, the bars smitten asunder, and the bands of the pi'isoners loosed. Without strivmg to draw a line between the natural and supernatural in this occurrence, and still less endeavoring to resolve what was evidently miraculous into the results of ordinary causes, we turn again to tlie thought suggested by that single but expressive phrase of Scripture, " the prisoners were listening.'" ' When we reflect on their knowledge of the Apostles' sufferings (for they were doubtless aware of the manner in which they had been brought in and thrust into the dungeon),* and on the wonder tliey must have experienced on hearing sounds of joy from those who were in paia, and on the awe whicli must have overpowered them wlien they felt the prison shaken and the chains fall from their limbs ; and when to all this we add the effect produced on their minds by all that happened on the following day, and especially the fact that the jailer himself became a Christian ; we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the hearts of many of those unhappy bondsmen were prepared that night to receive the Gospel, that the tidings of spiritual liberty came to those whom, but for the captivity of the Apostles, it would never have reached, and that the jailer himself was their evangelist and teacher. The effect produced by that night on the jailer's own mind has been fully related to us. Awakened in a moment by the earthquake, his first thought was of his prisoners :' and in the shock of surprise and alarm, — " seeing the doors of the prison open, and supposing that the prisoners were fled," — aware that inevitable death awaited him," with the stern and desperate resignation of a Roman official, he resolved that suicide was better than disgrace, and " drew his sword." Philippi is famous in the annals of suicide. Here Cassius, unable to survive defeat, covered his face in the empty tent, and ordered his freed- men to strike the blow.' His messenger Titinius iield it to be " a Ro- man's part " * to follow the stern example. Here Brutus bade adieu to his friends, exclaiming, " Certainly we must fly, yet not witli the feet, but ' Ps. cvii. 10-16. * Acts xvi. 26. undergo the same punishment which the raale- ' See above. factors who escaped by his negligence were to * See above, on the form of ancient prisons. have suffered. Biseoe, p. 330. ' Acts xvi. 27. ' Plut. Brutus, 43. • By the Roman law, the jailer was to » Jdiits Casar, act v. sc. iii. 266 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. ohap.ii. with the bands ;" ' and many, whose names have never reached us, ended their last struggle for the republic by self-inflicted death.^ Here, too, another despairing man would have committed the same crime, had not his hand been arrested by an Apostle's voice. Instead of a sudden and hopeless death, the jailer received at the hands of his prisoner the gift both of temporal and spiritual life. The loud exclamation ' of St. Paul, " Do thyself no harm ; for we are all here," gave immediate re-assurance to the terrified jailer. He laid aside his sword, and called for lights, and rushed * to the " inner prison," where Paul and Silas were confined. But now a new fear of a liigher kind took possession of his soul. The recollection of all he had heard before concerning these prisoners and all that he had observed of their demeanor when he brought them into the dungeon, tlie shuddering thought of the eartliquake, the burst of his gratitude towards them as the preservers of his life, and the consciousness that even in the darkness of midnight they had seen his intention of suicide, — all tliese mingling and conflicting emotions made him feel that he was in the presence of a higher power. He fell down before them, and brouglit them out, as men whom he had deeply injured and insulted, to a place of greater freedom and comfort ; * and then he asked them, witli earnest anxiety, what he must do to be saved. We see tlie Apostle iiere self-possessed in the earthquake, as afterwards in the storm at sea,* able to overawe and control those who were placed over him, and calmly turning the occa- sion to a spiritual end. It is surely, however, a mistake to imagine that the jailer's inquiry had reference merely to temporal and immediate danger. The awakening of his conscience, the presence of the unseen world, the miraculous visitation, the nearness of death, — coupled per- haps with some confused recollection of the " way of salvation " which these strangers were said to have been proclaiming, — were enough to suggest that inquiry which is the most momentous that any human soul can make : " What must I do to he saved? " ' Their answer was that of faithful Apostles. They preached " not themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." * " Believe, not in us, but in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be 1 Plut. Brutm, 52. the entrance to the j.iiler's dwelling, if indeed '■^ " The majority of the proscribed who sur- they were not identical, vived the battles of Philippi put an end to their « Acts xxvii. 20-25. own lives, as they despaired of being par- ' We should compare v. 30 with t. 17. doned." — Niebuhr's L«c whence the peak of Athos is seen far across the bay to the left.' We quit tlie seashore at the narrow gorge of Aulon, or Arethusa," and there enter the valley which crosses the neck of the Chalcidic peninsula. Up to this point we have frequent historical landmarks reminding us of ter he gives a view of the plain as seen from ' It was his failure in an expedition against the hills on the south. Amphipolis that caused the exile of Thucyd- ' Anciently the lake Cercinitis. ides. - Leake. For other notices of the impor- ' Sec the passages in the speeches which re- tance of this position, see Bp. Thirlwall's late to Philip's encroachment on the Athenian Greece, iii. 284, and especially Mr. Grote's power in the North of the jEgean. Greece, vi. 554-562, and 625-647. A view of ' Livy's words (xlv. 80) show that the Amphipolis is given in onr larger editions. Romans fully appreciated the importance of 3 See Ilerod. vii. 114. Here Xerxes the position, crossed the Strymon, and offered a sacrifice ' Dr. Clarke. of white horses to the river, and buried alive • Dr. Clarke, ch. xii., devotes several nine youths and maidens. pages to this tomb. The Jerusalem Itinerary, * See especially all that relates to Cleon besides another intermediate station at Pen- •ad Brasidas in the fourth and fifth books. nana, mentions that at the tomb of Euripides. CHAP. a. AMPHEPOLIS AUD APOLLONIA. 277 Athens. Thucydides has just been mentioned in connection with Am phipolis and the Strymon. As we leave the sea, we have before us, on the opposite coast, Staglrus,' the birthplace of Aristotle ; and iu the pass, where the mountains close on the road, is the tomb of Euripides': Til us the steps of our progress, as we leave the East and begin to draw near to Athens, are already among her historians, pliilosophcrs, and poets. ApoUonia is somewhere in the inland part of the journey, where the Via Egnatia crosses from the gulf of the Strymon to that of Thessaloni- ca ; but its exact position has not been ascertained. We will, therefore, merely allude to the scenery through which tlic traveller moves, in going from sea to sea. Tlie pass of Arethusa is beautiful and picturesque. A river flows through it in a sinuous course, and abundant oaks and plane- trees arc on the rocks around.' Presently this stream is seen to emerge from an inland lake, whose promontories and villages, with tlic high mountains rising to the south-west, have reminded travellers of Switzer- land.* As we journey towards the west, we come to a second lake. Between the two is tlie modern post-station of Klisali, which may possibly be ApoUonia,' though it is generally believed to be on the moun- tain slope to the south of the easternmost lake. The whole region of these two lakes is a long valley, or rather a succession of plains, where the level spaces are richly wooded with forest-trees, and tlie nearer hills arc covered to their summits with olives.' Beyond the second lake, the road passes over some rising ground, and presently, after emerging from a narrow glen, ws obtain a sight of the sea once more, the eye ranges freely over the plain of the Axius, and the city of Thessaloiiica is imme- diately before us. Once arrived in this city, St. Paul no longer follows tlie course of the Via Egnatia. He may have done so at a later period, when he says that he had preached the Gospel " round about unto lUyricum." ' But at present he had reached the point most favorable for the glad procla- mation. The direction of the Roman road was of course determined by important geographical positions ; and along the whole lino from • Leake identifies Stagirus with Stavros, Cousinery both agree in placing it to the a little to the south of Aulon, p. 167. south of Lake Bolbc. We ought to add, that ^ Sec the last note but one. the Antoninc and Jerusalem Itineraries appear ' See Dr. Clarke. Cousinc'ry writes with to give two distinct roads between ApoUonia great enthusiasm concerning this glen. and Thcssalonica. See Leake, p. 46. * See Dr. Clarke. Both he and Cousinery " See Clarke's Travels. make mention of the two villages, the Little ' See above, pp. 274, 275. This expre»- Bechik and Great Bcchik, on its north bank, sion, however, might be used if nothing mors along which the modern road passes. were meant than a progress to tho Tery ' This is Tafel's opinion ; bat Leake and fiontier of Illyricain. 278 THE LITE AKD EriSTLES OF ST. PAXIL. chap, q Dyrrhacliium to the Hebrus, uo citj was so large and influential as Thessalouica. The Apostolic city at which we are now arrived was known in the earliest periods of its history under various names. Under that of Therma it is associated with some interesting recollections. It was the resting-place of Xorxes on his march ; it is not unmentioi'ied in the Peloponnesian war ; and it was a frequent subject of debate in the last independent assemblies of Athens. AVhen the Macedonian power began to overshadow all the countries where Greek was spoken, this city re- ceived its new name, and began a new and more distinguished period of its history. A sister of Alexander the Great was called Thessalouica, and her name was given to the city of Therma, when rebuilt and em- bellislied by her husband, Cassander the son of Antipater.' This name, under a form slightly modified, has continued to tlie present day. The Salneck of the early German poets has become the Saloniki of the mod- ern Levant. Its history can be followed as continuously as its name. AVkcn Macedonia was partitioned into four provincial divisions by Paulus yEmilius, Tliessalonica was the capital of that which lay between the Axius and the Strymon.^ When the four regions were united into one lloman province, this city was chosen as the metropolis of the whole. Its name appears more than once in the annals of the Civil Wars. It was tlie scene of the exile of Cicero,' and one of the stages of his journey between Rome and his province in the East.* Antony and Octavius were here after the battle of Pbilippi ; and coins are still extant whicli allude to the " freedom" granted by the victorious leaders to the city of tlie Thermaic gulf. Strabo, in the first century, speaks of Thessalouica as the most populous town in Macedonia. Lucian, in the second century, uses similar language. Before the founding of Constan- tinople, it was virtually the capital of Greece and Illyricum, as well as of Macedonia, and shared the trade of the jEgean with Epliesus and Corinth. Even after the Eastern Rome was built and reigned over the Levant, we find both Pagan and Christian writers speaking of Thessalo. nica as the metropolis of Macedonia and a place of great magnitude. ' The first author in which the new name the Victory on the coins of the city. Sea occurs is Polybius. Some say that the name below. was given by Philip in honor of his daughter, ^ See above, pp. 272, 273. and others that it directly commemorated a * Both in going out and returning ha 'ictory over the Thessalians. But tlie opinion crossed the Adriatic, between Brundusium stated above appears the most probable. and Dyrrhachiura. See p. 274, n. 5. In Philip's daughter was called Thcssalonica, in travelling through Macedonia, ho would follow commemoration of a victory obtained by her the Via Egnatia. father on the day when ho heard of her * Several of his letters wero written from birth. Cousinery sees an allusion to this in Thessalonica on this journey. CHAP. DC. THESSALONICA. 279 Through the Middle Ages it never ceased to be important : and it is, at the present day, the second city in European Turkey.' The reason of this continued pre-eminence is to be found in its geographical position. Situated on tlie inner bend of the Thermaic Gulf, — half way between the Adriatic and the Hellespont,- — on the sea-margin of a vast plain watered by several rivers, — and at the entrance of the pass * which commands the approach to the otlier great Macedonian level, — it was evidently destined for a mercantile emporium. Its relation with the inland ti-ade of Macedonia was as close as that of Ampliipolis ; and its maritime advantages were perhaps even greater. Thus, while Amphipo- lis decayed under the Byzantine emperors, Thessalonica continued to prosper.* There probably never was a time, from the day when it first received its name, that this city has not had the aspect of a busy com- mercial town.* We see at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting-points of the Gospel in Europe ; and we can appreciate the force of the expression used by St. Paul witlnn a few months of his departure from the Thessalonians,' when he says, that " from them the Word of the Lord had sounded forth lilce a trumpet,' not only in Mace- donia and Achaia, but in every place." No city, which we have yet had occasion to describe, has had so dis- tinguished a Christian history, with the single exception of the Syrian Antioch ; and the Christian glory of the Patriarchal city gradually faded before that of the Macedonian metropolis. The heroic age of Thessalonica was the third century.' It was the bulwark of Constantinople in the shock of the barbarians ; and it held up the torcli of the truth to the suc- cessive tribes who overspread the country between the Danube and the .^gean, — the Goths and the Sclaves, the Bulgarians of the Greek Church, and the Wallachians,'" whose language still seems to connect them 1 For a veiy full account of its modern con- " 1 Thess. i. 8. The Epistle was written dition sec Dr. [Sir Henry] Holland's Travels. from Corinth very soon after the departure ^ See aliovc, p. 273. from Thessalonica. See Ch. XI. ' The chief of these are the Axius and ' Chrysostora employs this image in com- Haliacmon. The whole region near the sea menting on 1 Cor. i. consists of low alluvial soil. See below, on the ' Tafel traces the history of Thessalonica, journey from Thesssilonica to Beroea. in great detail, through the Middle Ages ; * Tliis is the pass mentioned above, through and shows how, after the invasion of tho which the road to Amphipolis passed, and in Goths, it was the means of converting tha which Apollonia was situated. Selaves, and through them the Bulg ' Notices of its mercantile relations in the the Christian faith. The peasant population to Middle Ages are given by Tafel. For an ac- the east of Thessalonica is Bulgarian, to the count of its modem trade, and the way in west it is Greek (Cousine'ry, p. 52). Both which it was affected by the last war, see Hoi- belong to the Greek Church, land's Travels. i" See what Cousine'ry says (ch. i.) of the ' A view of the place, as seen from the sea, Wallachians, who are intermixed among the is given in the larger editions. other tribes of Modem Macedonia. They 280 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. with Philippi and the Roman colonies. Thus, in the mediiEval chroni clers, it has deserved the name of " the Orthodox City." ' The remains of its Hippodrome, which is forever associated with the history of Theo- dosius and Ambrose,- can yet be traced among the Turkish liouses. Its bishops have sat in great councils.' The writings of its great preacher and scholar Eustathius * are still prcsei-ved to us. It is true that the Christianity of Tliessalonica, both mediasval and modern, lias been de- based by humiliating superstition. The glory of its patron saint, Deme- trius, has eclipsed that of St. Paul, the founder of its Church. But the same Divine Providence, which causes us to be thankful for the past, commands us to be hopeful for the future ; and we may look forward to the time when a new harvest of the " work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope," * shall spring up from the seeds of Divine Truth, whicli were first sown on the shore of the Thermaic Gulf by the Apostle of the Gentiles. If Thessalonica can boast of a series of Christian annals, unbroken since the day of St. Paul's arrival, its relations with the Jewish people have continued for a still longer period. In our own day it contains a multitude of Jews° commanding an influential position, many of whom are occupied (not very differently from St. Paul himself) in tlie manu- speak .1 corrupt Latin, and he thinks thcj- are descended from the ancient colonies. They are a fierce and bold race, living chiefly in the mountains ; and when trading caravans have to go through dangerous places they are posted in the front. ' One Byzantine writer who uses this phrase is Ciimeniata. His history is curious, lie was crozier-boarer to the archbishop, and was carried off by tlie Arabs, and landed at Tarsus, where he wrote his book. ^ Some accounts say that 15,000 persons were involved in the massacre, for which the archbishop of Milan exacted penance from the Emperor. See Gibbon, ch. xxvii. For some notice of the remains of the Hippodrome, which still retains its name, see Cousine'ry, ch. ii. ^ We find the bishop of Thessalonica in the Council of Sardis, a. d. 347 ; and a decree of the council relates to the place. * Eustathius preached and wrote there in the twelfth century. He was highly esteemed by the Comneni, and is held to have been " beyond all dispute the most learned man of ' 1 Thcss. i. 3. ' Paul Lucas, in his later journey, says : — "Les Chre'tiens y sont environ au nombre de 10,000. On y compte 30,000 Juifs, qui y ont 22 synagogues, et ce sont cux qui y font tout le commerce. Comme ils sont fort indus- trieux, deux grand-vizirs so sont mis succes- sivcmcnt en tete de les faire travailler aux manufactures du draps de France, pour mettro la Turquie en e'tat de se passer des e'trangers ; mais ils n'ont jamais pil reussir : cependant ils vendent assez bien leurs gros draps au grand seigneur, qui en fait habiller ses troupes." — p. 37. In the 17th century a Turkish au- thority speaks of them as carpet and cloth makers, of their liberality to the poor, and of their schools, with more than 1,000 children. Cousindry reckons them at 20,000, many of them from Spain. He adds : " Chaque syna- gogue ii Saloniquc portc le nom de la province d'ou sont originaires les families qui la compo- sent." — p. 19. In the " Jewish Intelligence" for 1849, the Jews at Salonica are reckoned at 35,000, being half the whole population, and having the chief trade in their hands. They are said to have thirty-six synagogues, " none of them remarkable for their i gance of style." CBAF.EC. THE SrKAGOGTJE. 281 facture of clolb. A considerable number of them are refugees from Spain, and speak the Spanish language. There are materials for tracing similar settlements of the same scattered and persecuted people in this city, at intervals, during the Middle Ages ; ' and even before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem we find them here, numerous and influential, as at Antioch and Iconium. Here, doubtless, was the chief colony of those Jews of Macedonia of whom Philo speaks ; "^ for while there was only a proseucha at Philippi, and while Amphipolis and ApoUonia had no Israelite communities to detain the Apostles, " the synagogue " ' of the neighborhood was at Thessalonica. The first scene to which we are introduced in this city is entirely Jewish. It is not a small meeting of proselyte women by the river-side, but a crowded assembly of true-born Jews, intent on their religious worsliip, among whom Paul and Silas now make their appearance. If the traces of their recent hardships were manifest in tlieir very aspect, and if they related to their Israelitish brethren how they had " suffered before and been cruelly treated at Philippi " (1 Thess. ii. 2), their en- trance in among them must liave created a strong impression of indigna- tion and sympathy, which explains the allusion in St. Paul's Epistle. He spoke, however, to the Thessalonian Jews with the earnestness of a man who has no time to lose and no thought to waste on his own sufferings. He preached, not himself, but Christ crucified. The Jewish Scriptures were the ground of his argument. He recurred to tlie same subject again and again. On three successive Sabbaths* he argued with them; and the whole body of Jews resident in Thessalonica were interested and ex- cited with the new doctrine, and were preparing either to adopt or oppose it. The three points on which he insisted were these : — that He who was foretold in prophecy was to be a sufibring Messiah, — that after death He was to rise again, — and that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah who was to come. Such is the distinct and concise state- ment in the Acts of the Apostles (xvii. 3) : and the same topics of teach- ing are implied in the first Epistle, where the Thessalonians are appealed t« as men who had been taught to " believe that Jesus had really died and risen again" (iv. 14), and who had " turned to serve the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, 1 They are alluded to in the 7th century, it, still the phrase would imply that there was and again in considerable numbers in the 12th. no synagogue in the towns recently passed Sec Tafcl. through. There was another synagogue at 2 See Ch. I. p. 17. Beroea. Acts xvii. 10. ' The best MSS. here have the definite * Acts tvii.2. article. If authority preponderated against 282 THE LITE A^TD EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap.tj even Jesus " (i. 10). Of the mode in whicli these subjects would be pre- sented to his hearers we can form some idea from what was said at Antioch in Pisidia. The very aspect of the worshippers was the same ; ' proselytes were equally attached to the congregations in Pisidia and Macedonia,'^ and the " devout and honorable women " in one city found their parallel in the " chief women " in the otber.^ The impression, too, produced by the address, was not very ditierent here from what it had been there. At first it was favorably received,^ the interest of novelty having more influence than the seriousness of conviction. Even from the first some of the topics must have contained matter for perplexity or cavilling. Many would be indisposed to believe the fact of Christ's resurrection : and many more who, in their exile from Jerusalem, were looking intently for the restoration of an eai-thly kingdom,' must have heard incredulously and unwillingly of the humiliation of Messiah. That St. Paul did speak of Messiah's glorious kuigdom, the kingdom foretold in the Prophetic Scriptures themselves, may be gathered by com- paring together the Acts and the Epistles to the Tiiessalonians. The ac- cusation brought against him (Acts xvii. 7) was, that ho was proclaiming another kinc/, and virtually rebelling against the emperor. And in strict conformity to this the Thessalonians are reminded of the exhortations and entreaties ho gave tliem, when among them, that they would " walk worthily of the God who had called them to His kingdom and glory " (1 Thess. ii. 12), and they are addressed as those who had "suffered affliction for the sake of that kingdom" (2 Thess. i. 5). Indeed, the royal state of Christ's second advent was one chief topic which was urgently enforced, and deeply impressed, on the minds of the Thes- salonian converts. This subject tinges the whole atmosphere through which the aspect of this church is presented to us. It may be said that in each of the primitive churches, which are depicted in the apostolic epistles, there is some peculiar feature which gives it an individual char- acter. In Corinth it is the spirit of party," in Galatia the rapid declension into Judaism,' in Philippi it is a steady and self denying generosity.' And if we were a^ked for the distinguishing characteristic of the first Chris- tians of Thessalonica, we should point to their overwhelming sense of the nearness of the second advent, accompanied with melancholy thoughts 1 See the account of the synagogue-wor- the synagogues was in a separate gallery or ship. — the desk, the ark, the manuscripts, behind a lattice, p. 153. the prayers, the Scripture-reading, the Tallith, * Acts xTii. 4 compared with xiii. 43-44. &c., — !;iven in pp. 152-155. • Acts i. 6. ^ Compare Acts xiii. 16, 26, with xvii. 4. ' 1 Cor. i. 10, &c. See Paley on 1 Thess. ' Gal. i. 6, &c. ^ Compare Acts xiii. 50 with XTii. 4. It • Phil. iv. 10-16. will be rcmcml)crcd that the women's place in OHAP.n. ST. PAUL AMONO THE THBSSALONIANS. 283 concerning those who might die before it, and with gloomy and unprac- tical views of the shortness of life and the vanity of the world. Each chapter in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians ends with an allusion to this subject ; and it was evidently the topic of frequent conversations, when the Apostle was in Macedonia. But St. Paul never spoke or wrote of the future as though the present was to be forgotten. When tlie Thessalonians were admonished of Christ's advent, he told them also of other coming events, full of practical warning to all ages, though to our oyes still they are shrouded in mystery, — of " the falling-away," and of " the man of sin." ' " These awful revelations," he said, " must precede the revelation of the Son of God. Do you not remember" he adds with emphasis in his letter, " that ivhen I was still with you I often ^ told y>e 1 The Haliacmon itself would not be ' Leake uses tlie former term : Cousine'ry crossed before arriving at Beroea (see below). calls the town " Caraveria," or " Verria the But there are other large rivers which flow Black." In the eleventh century we find it into it, and which arc often flooded. Some called " Verre." of the " perils of rivers " (p. 146) may very * It was a fortified city in the eleventh possibly have been in this district. See the century. preceding note. Compare Leake's remarks ' Cousin^ry reckons the inhabitants at on the changing channels of these rivers, p. 15,000 or 20,000. 437. • Acts xvu. 10. ^ See Leake, p. 290, &c. 294 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. is. of the word of one who witnessed of Him, and " many more because of His own word " (John iv.). In a spirit very different from tlic ignoble violence of the Thessalonian Jews, the Berceans not only listened to the Apostle's arguments, but they examined the Scriptures themselves, to see if those arguments were justified by prophecy. And, feeling the impor- tance of the subject presented to them, they made this scrutiny of their holy books tbeir " daily " occupation. Tliis was the .surest way to come to a strong conviction of the Gospel's divine origin. Truth sought in tliis spirit cannot long remain undiscovered. The promise that " they who seek shall find " was fulfilled at Beroea ; and the Apostle's visit resulted in the conversion of " many." Nor was the blessing confined to the Hebrew community. The same Lord who " is rich unto all that call upon Him," ' called many " not of the Jews only, but also of the Gen- tiles."- Both men and women,' and those of the highest rank, among the Greeks,'' were added to the church founded by St. Paul in that pro- vincial city of Macedonia, which was his temporary shelter from the stovm of persecution. The length of St. Paul's stay in the city is quite uncertain. From the fact that the Berceans were occupied '■'■ daili/" m searching the Scriptures* for arguments to establish or confute the Apostle's doctrine, we conclude that he remained there several days at least. From his own assertion in his first letter to the Thessalonians,^ that, at the time when ho had beea recently taken away from them, he was very anxious, and used every effort to revisit them, we cannot doubt that he lingered as long as possi- ble in the neighborhood of Thessalonica.'' This desire would account for a residence of some weeks ; and there are other passages' in the same Epistle which might induce us to suppose the time extended even to months. But when we find, on the other hand, that the cause which led him to leave Bercea was the hostility of the Jews of Thessalonica, and when we remember that the two cities were separated only by a distance of sixty miles," — that the events which happened in the Synagogue of 1 Rom. X. 12. rumor of the introduction of Cliristinnitj ^ Acts ix. 24. into Thessalonica. See below, on 1 Thcss. * Acts xvii. 12. Tlie stay at Athens was sliort, and the Epistle * The word " Greek " (v. 22) must be con- was written soon after St. Paul's ai-rival at sidcred as belonging to " men " as well as Corinth ; and, if a sufficient time h.ad elapsed "women." for a general knowledj^e to he spread abroad ^ Acts xvii. 11. of what had happened at Thessalonica, we * 1 Thcss. ii. 17. should be inclined to believe that the delay at ' lie s.irs that be made more than one Bcra-a was eonsiderablc. attcmjit to return ; and in this expression he ' AVicselcr^'ives a different turn to this eon- mny be referring to what took place at Bercea, sidcration, and argues that, because the dis- ss probably as at Athens. tance between Bercea and Thessalonica was so " Those which relate to the widely-extended great, therefore a long time must have dapsed CHAP. a. DIRECTION OF ST. PAUL'S FLIGHT. 295 ouc city would soon be made known in the Synagogue of the other, — and that Jewish bigotry was never long in taking active measures to crush its opponents, — we are led to the conclusion that the Apostle was forced to retreat from Beroea after no long interval of time. Tlie Jews came like hunters upon their prey, as they had done before from Icouium to Lystra.' Tliey could not arrest the progress of tlic Gospel; but they " stirred up the people " there, as at Thessalonica before.^ They mada his friends feel that his continuance in the city was no longer safe. Ha was withdrawn from Beroea and sent to Athens, as in the beginning of his ministry (Acts ix. 30) ho had been witlidrawn from Jerusalem and sent to Tarsus. And on this occasion, as on that,' the dearest wislies of his lieart were thwarted. Tlic providence of God permitted "Satan" to hinder him from seeing his dear Thessaloniau converts, whom "once and again " he had desired to revisit.* The divine counsels were accomplished by means of the antagonism of wicked men ; and the patli of the Apostlo was urged on, in the midst of trial and sorrow, in tlie direction pointed out in the vision at Jerusalem,' "/«»" heyice unto the Gentiles." An immediate departure was urged upon the Apostle ; and the Church of Beroea suddenly * lost its teacher. But Silas and Timotheus remained behind,' to build it up in its holy faitli, to be a comfort and support in its trials and persecutions, and to give it such organization as might be necessary. Meanwhile some of the new converts ac- companied St. Paul on his flight ; ' thus adding a new instance lo those we have already seen of the love which grows up between those who have taught and those who have learnt the way of the soul's salvation.' Without attempting to divine all the circumstances which may have concurred in determining the direction of this flight, we can mention some obvious reasons why it was the most natural course. To have returned in the direction of Thessalonica was manifestly impossible. To before the news from the latter place could ' Actsxvii. 14. The last mention of Tim- have summoned the Jews from the former. othy was at Philippi, but it is highly probable But we must take into account, not merely the that he joined St. Paul at Thessalonica. See distance between the two cities, but the pecu- above, p. 292. Possibly he brought some of liarly close communication which subsisted the contributions from Philippi, p. 284. We among the Jewish synagogues. See, for in- shall consider hereafter the movements of stiince. Acts xxvi. 11. Silas and Timothy at this point of St. Paul'* ' See pp. 172, 173. journey. See note, p. 338. Meantime, w« " " There also," Acts xvii. 13. Compare m.iy observe that Timotheus was very proba- y. 5. bly sent to Thessalonica (1 Thess iii.) from ' See the remarks on the vision at Jerusa- Beroea, and not from Alliens. lem, p. 97. ' Acts xvii. 14, 15. * See the preceding page. ' See above, on the jailer's conversion, pp. * Acts xvii. 17-21. • See T. 14. 266, 267. Also p. 117. 296 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. is. have pushed over the mountains, by the Via Egnatia, towards Illyricum and the western parts of Macedonia, would have taken the Apostle from those shores of the Archipelago to which his energies were pri- marily to be devoted. Mere concealment and inactivity were not to be thought of. Tlius the Christian fugitives turned tlicir steps towards the Bca,' and from some point on the coast where a vessel was found, they embarked for Athens. In the ancient tables two roads- are marked which cross the Haliacmon and intersect the plain from Bercea, one pass- ing by Pydna,' and the other leaving it to the left, and both coming to the coast at Dium near the base of Mount Olympus. The Pierian level (as this portion of the plain was called) extends about ten miles in breadtli from the woody falls of tlie mountain to the seashore, forming a narrow passage from Macedonia into Greece.^ Tims Dium was " the great bulwark of Macedonia on the south ; " and it was a Roman colony, like tliat other city which wo have described on the eastern frontier.' No city is more likely than Dium to have been the last, as Philippi was " the first," through which St. Paul passed in his journey through the province. Here then, — where Olympus, dark with woods, rises from the plain by tlic shore, to the broad summit, glittering with snow, which was the throne of the Homeric gods,' — at the natural termination of Macedo- nia, — and where the first scene of classical and poetic Greece opens ou our view, — we take our leave, for the present, of the Apostle of the Gen- tiles. The shepherds from the heights'' above the vale of Tcmpe may have watclied the sails of his ship that day, as it moved like a 'The words (Acts xvii. 14) translated for other reasons, Dium was more convenicnt- "as it were to the sea" in the Authorized ly situated for the purpose. Version do not imply that there was any strat- * Leake describes the ruins of Dium, agcm, but simply denote the intention or the amonjr whieh are probably some remains of direction. It seems very likely that in the first the temple of Jupiter Olympius, who was' instance they had no fixed plan of going to honored here in periodical g.imes. Mount Athens, but merely to the sea. Their further Olympus he describes as a conspicuous object course was determined by providential circum- for all the country round, as far as Saloniki, stances ; and, when St. Paul was once arrived and as deriving from its steepness an increase at Athens, he could send a message to Tim- of grandeur and apparent height, othy and Silas to follow him (v. 15). Those ' See above, on Philippi. are surely mistaken who suppose that St. * The epithets given by Homer to this Paul travelled from Macedonia to Attica by poetic mountain are as fully justified by the Jan;]. accounts of modern travellers, as the deserip- ^ The distance in the Antonine Itinerary tions of the scenery alluded to at the close of is seventeen miles. A Byzantine writer says the preceding chapter, p. 243, n. 3. »h;it Bercea is 160 stadia from the sea. ' See Dr. Wordsworth's Greece, p. 197. " Mr. Tate ^Continuous Ilistort/. .j-c.) sug- and Mr. Urquhart's Spirit of the East, yol.i pests that St. Paul may have sailed from p. 426 Pjdna. Cut Pydna w.as not a seaport, and, VOYAGE TO ATHENS. 297 white speck over the outer waters of the Thermaic Gulf. The sailors, looking back from the deck, saw the great Olympus rising close above them ill snowy majesty.' The more distant mountains beyond Thessa- lonica are already growing faint and indistinct. As the vessel appi'oachcs the Thessalian archipelago,^ Mount Athos begins to detach itself from the istlunus that binds it to tlie main, and, with a few other heights of Northern Macedonia, appears like aa island floating in the hori- The TuUianum at Eome.< 1 Compare p. 272, n. 1, and p. 272, n. 5. See also Purdy's Sailing Director;/, p. 148 : " To the N. W. of the Thessalian Isles the extensive Gulf of Salonica extends thirty leagues to the north-westward, hefore it changes its direction to the north-eastward and forms the port. The country on the west, part of the ancient Thessaly, and now the province of Tricala, exhibits a magnificent range of mountains, which include Pelion, now Patras, Ossa, now Kissova, and Olym- pus, now Elymbo. The summit of the latter is six thousand feet above the level of the 2 The group of islands off the north end of Eubcea, consisting of Sciathos, Scopelos, Peparethos, &c. For an account of them, see Purdy, pp. 145-148. * Cousine'ry somewhere gives this descrip- tion of the appearance of heights near Sa- loniki, as seen from the Thessalian islands. For an instance of a very unfavoralilo voyage in these seas, in the month of December, thirteen days being spent at sea between Sa- lonica and Zeitun, the reader may consult Holland's Travels, ch. xvi. * From Rich's Dictionary of Greek and Bo- man Antiguitie$. CHAPTER X. Arrival on tlio Coast of At'ica. — Scenery round Athens. — The Piraeus and the " Long Walls." — The Agora. — The Acropolis. — The "Painted Porch" and the "Garden." — The ApDstle alone in Athens. — Greek Religion. — The Unknown God. — Greek Philoso- phy. — The Stoics and Epicureans. — Later Period of the Schools. — St. Paul in the Agora. — The Areopagus. — Speech of St. Paul. — Departure from Athens. IN tlio life of Apollonius of Tyana,' there occurs a passage to the following effect: — " Having come to anchor in the Piraeus, ho went up from the Harbor to the City. Advancing onward, he met several of the Pliilosophers. In his first conversation, finding the Atlieiiians much devoted to Religion, he discoursed on sacred subjects. This was at Athens, where also altars of Unlcnown Divinities are set up." To draw a parallel between a holy Apostle and an itinerant Magician would be unmeaning and profane : but this extract from the biograpliy of Apollo- nius would be a suitable and comprehensive motto to that passage in St. Paul's biograpliy on whiuli we are now entering. The sailing into the Pira3us, — tlie entrance into tlie city of Atliens, — tlie interviews with philosopliers, — tlie devotion of the Athenians to religious ceremonica — the discourse concerning the worship of the Deity, — the ignorance 1 He has hccn alluded to before, p. 112, trates that pccuILir state of philosophy and n. 3. " His life by Philostratus is a mass of superstition which the Gos]x;l preached by incongruities and fables ; " but it is an impor- St. Paul had to encounter. Ajiollonius was tant book as reflecting the opinions of the age partly educated at Tarsus; he travelled from in which it was written. Apollonius himself city to city in Asia Minor; from Greece ho produced a great excitement in the Apostolic went to Rome, in the reign of Nero, abont the nge. See Neander's General Church Uislory time when the magicians had lately been ex- (Eng. Trans.), pp. 40-43, and pp. 236-238. pelled ; he visited Athens and Alexandria, It was the flishion among the anti-Christian where he had a singular meeting with Vcspa- writers of the third century to adduce him as sian : on a second visit to Italy he vanished a rival of our Blessed Lord ; and the same miraculously from Puteoli : the last scene of profane comparison has been renewed by his life was Ephcsus, or, possibly, Crete or some of our English freethinkers. Without Rhodes. See the Life in Smith's Dictionary alluding to this any further, we may safely of Biography. It is thought by many that St. find some interest in putting his life by the Paul and Apollonius actually met in Ephcsus side of that of St. Paul. They lived at the and Rome. Burton's Lectures on Ecclesiastical same time, and travelled through the same History, pp. 157, 240. countries; aud the life of the magician illus- 298 CHAP. X. AEEIVAIi ON THE COAST OF ATTICA. 299 implied by the altars to unknown Crods^ — these are exactly the subjects which arc now before us. If a summary of the contents of the seven- teenth chapter of the Acts had been required, it could not have been more conveniently expressed. Tiie city visited by ApoUonius was the Athens wliich was visited by St. Paul: the topics of discussion — th9 ciiaractcr of the people addressed — the aspect of every thing around — were identically the same. The difference was this, that the Apostle could give to his licarers what the philosopher could not give. Tiio God whom Paul " declared " was worshipped by ApoUonius himself as " igno- rantly" as by the Atlienians. AVe left St. Paul on that voyage which his friends induced him to undertake on the flight from Bcrcea. The vessel was last seen among the Thessalian islands.- About that point the highest land in Northern Macedonia began to be lost to view. Gradually tlie nearer heights of the snowy Olympus' itself receded into the distance as the vessel on herprog- I'css approaclied more and more near to the centre of all the interest of classical Greece. All the land and water in siglit becomes more eloquent as we advance ; the lights and shadows, both of poetry and history, are on every side ; every rock is a monument ; every current is animated with some memory of the past. For a distance of ninety miles, from the con- fines of Tliessaly to tlie middle part of the coast of Attica, the shore is protected, as it were, by the long island of Eubcea. Deep in tlie inner- most gulf, wiiere the waters of tlie ^gean retreat far witliin tlie land, over against the northern parts of this island, is the pass of Thermopylae, wliei-e a handful of Greek warriors had defied all the hosts of Asia. In the crescent-like bay on the shore of Attica, near the southern extremi- ty of the same island, is the maritime sanctuary of Marathon, whero the battle was fought which decided tiiat Greece was never to be a Per sian Satrapy.'' When the island of Eubcea is left behind, we soon reach the southern extremity of Attica, — Cape Colonna, — Suninm's high promontory, still crowned with the white columns of that temple of Minerva, which was the landmark to Greek sailors, and which asserted the presence of Athens at the very vestibule of her country.* After passing this headland, our course turns to the westward across the waters of the Saronic Gulf, with the mountains of the Morea on our left, and the islands of ^giiia and Salamis in front. To one who travels 1 This sulyect i3 fully entered into below. ' See Worclswortli's Athens and Allica, eh. ' Above, p. 297. xxvii. A (lescription of the promontory and ' See the preeciling chapter, p. 296, also ruins will be found in Mure's Journal of a 272. Tour in Greece. See Falconer's Shipwreck, ' See Quarterli) Review for September, 1846, iii. 526. and the first number of the Classical Museum. 300 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chat. i. in classical lands no moment is more full of interest and excitement than when lie has left the Cape of Siiiiium behind, and eagerly looks for the first glimpse of that city " built nobly on the JEgean shore," which was " the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence." ' To the traveller in classical times its position was often revealed by the flashing of the liglit on the armor of Jlinerva's colossal statue, which stood wilh shield and spear on tlie summit of the citadel.^ At the very first sight of Athens, and even from the deck of the vessel, we obtain a vivid notion of the characteristics of its position. And the place where it stands is so re- markable — its ancient inhabitants were so proud of its climate and its Ecencry — that we may pause on our approach to say a few words on Attica and Athens, and their relation to tlie rest of Greece. AtUca is a triangular tract of country, the southern and eastern sides of which meet in the point of Sunium ; its third side is defined by the high mountain ranges of Cithaeron and Parnes, which separate it by a strong barrier from Boeotia and Northern Greece. Hills of inferior ele- vation connect tliese ranges with the mountainous surface of the south- east, whieli begins from Sunium itself, and rises on the south coast to the round summits of Ilymcttus, and the higher peak of Pentelicus near Marathon on the east. The rest of Attica is a plain, one reacli of which comes down to the sea on the south, at the very base of Hymettus. Here, about five miles from the shore, an abrupt rock rises from the level, like the rock of Stirling Castle, bordered on the south by some lower eminences, and commanded by a high craggy peak on the north. This rock is the Acropolis of Athens. These lower eminences are the Areopagus, the Pnyx, and the Museum, which determined the rising and falling of the ground in the ancient city. That craggy peak is the hill of Lycabet- tus,' from tlie summit of which the spectator sees all Athens at his feet, and looks freely over the intermediate plain to the PirsBus and the sea. Athens and the Piraeus must never be considered separately. One was the city, the other was its harbor. Once they were connected together by a continuous fortification. Those who looked down from Lyeabettus in the time of Pericles could follow with the eye all the long line of wall from the temples on the Acropolis to the shipping in the port. Thus we are brought back to the point from which we digressed. We were approaching the PirjEus ; and, since we must land in maritime ' Paradise lief/ained, iv. 240. burgh and its neighborhood, nnd there is so ^ This is stated by Pausnnias. much resemblance between Edinburgh Castle " The relation of Lyeabettus to the crowded and the Acropolis, that a comparison between buildings tx-low, and to the surrounding land- the city of the Saronic gulf and the city of tha tcape. is so like that of Arthur's Seat to Edin- Forth has become justly proverbial. CHAP.x. SCENERY ROUND ATHENS. 301 Athens before we can enter Athens itself, let us return once more to the vessel's deck, and look round on the land and the water. The island on our left, witli steep cliffs at tlie water's edge, is JEgina. The distant hoighia beyond it arc tlie mountains of the Morea. Before us is anotlier island, the illustrious Salamis ; though in the view it is hardly diseiitangled from the coast of Attica, for the strait where the battle was fought is narrow and winding. The high ranges behind stretch beyond Elcusis and Megara, to tlie left towards Corinth, and to the right along the frontier of Bocotia. Tills last ridge is the mountain-line of Parncs, of which we havo spoken above. Clouds ' are often seen to rest oii it at all seasons of the ' year, and in winter it is usually white with snow. The dark heavy moun- tain rising close to us on the riglit immediately from the sea is Hymcttus. Between Fames and Hymcttus is the plain ; and rising from the plain is the Acropolis, distinctly visible, with Lycabettus behind, and seeming in the clear atmosphere to be nearer than it is. The outward aspect of this scene is now what it ever was. The lights and shadows on the rocks of ^gina and Salamis, the gleams on the dis- tant mountains, the clouds or the snow on Panics, the gloom in the deep dells of Uymettus, the temple-crowned rock and the plain beneath it, — arc natural features, which only vary with the alternations of morning and evening, and summer and winter.'^ Some changes indeed have taken place : but they arc connected with the history of man. The vegetation is less abundant,^ the population is more scanty. In Greek and Eomau times, bright villages enlivened the promontories of Sunium and iEgina, and all the inner reaches of the bay. Some readers will indeed remem- ber a dreary jjicturc which Sulpicius gave his friend Atticus of the deso- lation of these coasts wlien Greece had ceased to be free ; * but we must make some allowances for the exaggerations of a poetical regret, and must recollect that the writer had been accustomed to the gay and busy life of the Campanian shore. After the renovation of Corinth,'' and in the reign of Claudius, there is no doubt that all the signs of a far moro numerous population than at present were evident around the Sarouic Gulf, and that more white sails were to be seen in fine weather plying across its waters to the harbors of Cenchrea" or Piraeus. Now there is indeed a certain desolation over this beautiful bay : ' See the ])assn(;e from the Clouds of now. Plato com])Inins that in his day the AristO]iliancs qiiutcJ by Dr. Wordsworth. wood was diminishing. Athens find Allien, p. 58. « Cic. Ep. Fam. iv. 5. - Tliis is written under the recollection of ' Corinth was in ruins in Cicero's time, the a'^pect of tlio coast on a cloudy morning in For the results of its restoration, see tho next winter. It is jicrhaps more usually seen under chapter, the glare of a hot sky. " Sec Acts xviii. 18. Rom. xri. I. ' Athens was not always as bare as it is dU'^ THE LIFE AST) EPISTLES OE ST. PAUL. chap. x. Coiintli is fallen, and Cenchrea is an insignificant village. Tlie Pirceus is probably more like what it was, than any other spot upon the coast. It remains what by nature it has ever been, — a safe basin oi deep water, concealed by the surrounding rock ; and now, as in St. Paul's time, the proximity of Athens causes it to be the resoi-t of various shipping, ^y e know that we are approaching it at the present day, if we see, rising above the rocks, the tall masts of an English linc-of-battlc ship, side by side with tlie light spars of a Russian corvette ' or the black funnel of a French steamer. The details were different when the Mediterranean was a Roman lake. Tlie heavy top-gear ^ of corn-ships from Alexandria or the Eiixine might then be a conspicuous maric among the small coasting- vessels and fishing-boats ; and one bright spectacle was then pre-eminent, which the lapse of centuries has made cold and dim, the perfect buildings on the summit of the Acropolis, with the shield and spear of Minerva Promachus glittering in the sun.' But those who have coasted along be- neath Hj'mettus, — and past the indentations in the shorc,^ which were sufficient liarbors for Athens in the days of her early navigation, — and round by the ancient tomb, which tradition has assigned to Themistocles,' into the better and safer harbor of the Pirieus, — require no great effort of tlie imagination to picture the Apostle's arrival. For a moment, as we near the entrance, the land rises and conceals all the plain. Idlers come down upon the rocks to watch the coming vessel. The sailors are all on the alert. Suddenly an opening is revealed ; and a sharp turn of the helm brings tlic ship in between two moles,'* on whicli towers are erected. Wo are in smooth water ; and anchor is cast in seven fathoms in the basin of the Piraeus.' The Piraeus, with its suburbs (for so, though it is not strictly accurate, we may designate the maritime city), was given to Athens as a natural J This w.as written in 1S50. The entrance lies E. by S. and W. by N., and 2 Sec Smith's SliipwrccL; $-c. has in it nine and ten fathoms. There are ' See above, p. 300. three raolelieads, two of which you have on the * The harbors of Phalerum and Mnnychia. etarboard hand, and one on the larboard. ' For the sepulchre by the edge of the When past tliese moleheads, sliorten all sail, water, popularly called the " tomb of Themis- luff up, and anchor in seven fathoms. The toelcs," see Leake's Alliens, pp. 379, 380, and ground is clear and good. There is room the notes. enough for three frigates. As the place is very ^ Some parts of the ancient moles are re- narrow, great care is required. . . . During maining. Leake, p. 272. See what is said of the summer months the sea-breezes blow, nearly the colossal lions (now removed to Venice) all day, directly into the harbor. . . . The which gave the harboi- its modern n.ime, p. 254. middle channel of the harbor, with a depth ' "The entrance of the Pirceus (Port Leoni) of 9 or 10 fathoms, is 110 feet in breiidth ; is known by a small obelisk, built on a low the stiirboard channel, with G fathoms, 40 feet; point by the company of IL M. ship Cambria, the larboard, with 2 fathoms, only 28 feet." — tn 1820, on the starboard hand going in. . . . Purdy's Sniling Directions, p. 8,1. ^1 f R I r^ i L h I If IIIJlj; CHAP.x. THE "LONG WALLS." 303 advantage, to which much of her greatness must be traced. It consists of a projecting portion of rocky ground, which is elevated above the neighboring sliorc, and probably was originally entirely insulated in the sea. The two rivers of Athens — the Cephisus and Ilissus — seem to have formed, in the course of ages, the low marshy ground which now connects Athens with its port. The port itself possesses all the advan- tages of shelter and good anchorage, deep water, and sufficient space.' Theniistocles, seeing that the pre-eminence of his country could only be maintained by her maritime power, fortified the Pirajus as the outpost of i\thens, and enclosed the basin of the harbor as a dock within the walls. In the long period tlu-ough which Athens had been losing its political power, these defences had been neglected and suffered to fall into decay, or had been used as materials for other buildings : but there was still a fortress on the highest point ;* the harbor was still a place of some re- sort ; ' and a considerable number of seafaring people dwelt in the streets about the seashore. When the republic of Athens was flourishing, the sailors were a turbulent and worthless part of its population. And the Pirjeus under the Romans was hot without some remains of tlie same disorderly class, as it doubtless retained many of the outward features of its earlier appearance : — the landing-places and covered porticoes ;* the warehouses where the corn from the Black Sea used to be laid up ; the stores of fish brought in daily from the Saronic Gulf and the J^gean ; the gardens in the watery ground at the edge of the plain ; the theatres' into which the sailors used to flock to hear the comedies of Menander ; and the temples " where they were spectators of a worship which had no beneficial effect on their characters. Had St. Paul come to this spot four hundred years before, he would have been in Athens from the moment of his landing at the PiriEus. At that time the two cities were united together by the double line of fortifi- cation, which is famous under the name of the " Long Walls." The space included between these two arms'' of stone might be considered (as, indeed, it was sometimes called) a third city ; for the street of five miles in length thus formed across the plain was crowded with people, > See the preceding note. ^ In one of the theatres near the harbor wo - The height of Munychia. have the mention of a great meeting during = Strabo speaks of the population living in the Peloponnesian war. Leake, p. 394. " villages about the port." One of them was ^ See Pausanias. It is here that Pausaniaa probably near the theatre of Munychia, on the mentions the altars to the unknown rjods. low ground on ihe east of the main harbor. ' "Thescre bracliia longa vice," as they ar« Leake, p. 396. Even in the time of Alexander called by Propeitius (iii. 20,24). But tho the Pirteus had so much declined that a comic name by which they were usually known at writer compared it to a great empty walnut. Athens was " the Long legs." Le.ake, p. 402. * We read especially of the " long portico," which was also used as a market. 304 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.x. whose habitations were shut out from all view of the country by the vast wall on cither side. Some of the most pathetic passages of Athenian liistory are associated with this "longomural" enclosure: as when, in the beginning of the Pcloponnesian war, the plague broke out in the autumn weather among the miserable inhabitants, who were crowded here to suffocation;' or, at the end of the same war, when the news came of tiie defeat on the Asiatic shore, and one long wail went up from the Pirffius, " and no one slept in Athens that night." ^ The result of that victory was, that these long walls were rendered useless by being partially destroyed ; and though another Athenian admiral and states- man^ restored what Pericles had first completed, this intermediate fortifi- cation remained effective only for a time. In the incessant changes which fell on Athens in the Macedonian period, they were injured and became unimportant.* In the Roman siege under Sulla, the stones were \iscd as mateiials for other military works. So that when Augustus was on the throne, and Atliens had reached its ultimate position as a/ree city of the province of Achaia, Strabo, in his description of the place, speaks of the Long Walls as matters of past history ; and Pausanias, a century later, says simply that " you see the ruins of the walls as you go up from the Pirasus." Thus we can easily imagine the aspect of these defences in the time of St. Paul, which is intermediate to these two writers. On each side of the road were the broken fragments of the rectangular masonry put together in the proudest days of Athens ; more conspicuous than they arc at present (for now * only the foundations can be traced here and there acro.s the plain), but still very different from what they were when two walls of sixty feet high, with a long succession of towers,' stood to bid defiance to every invader of Attica. The consideration of the Long Walls leads us to that of the city walls themselves. Here many questions might be raised concerning the ex- tent of the enclosure,'' and the positions of the gates,' when Atiiens was ' Tliucvd. ii. 17. relatins to the Long TVnlls leaves no question ^ Xcn. IlelL ii. 2, 3. ' Conon. as to their liavin,;; existed." — Lc.tke. * Livy spc.tks of their ntins being olijeets ' Our phin of Athens is taken from that of of odmiralion in the time of iEm. Paulus. Kiepert, whieh is based on Forcliammer's nrgu- ' See Leake, Wordsworth, and otlicr mod- mcnts. It differs raatcrially from that of crn travellers. It seems from what Spon and Lcakc, espceially in giving a larger area to the Whcler say, that, in 1C7G, tlie remains were city on the east and south, and thus bringing larger and more continuous than at present. the Acropolis into the centre. Forchammcr ' " There is no direct evidence of the height thinks that the traces of ancient walls which of the Long Walls ; but, as Applan informs us are found on the Pny.\, &,c., do not belong to that the walls of the I'ciraic city were forty the fortification of Thcmistoeles, but to some cubits high, we may presume those of the Long later defences erected by Valerian. Walls were not less. Towers were absolutely ' For various discussions on the gates, see necessary to such a work; and the inscription Leake, Wordsworth, and Forchammcr. CHAP.x. OBJECTS SEEN BY ST. PATJL 305 under the Roman dominion. But all such inquiries must be entirely dismissed. We will assume that St. Paul entered the city by the gate, ■which led from the Pirteus, that tliis gate was identical with that by which Pausanias entered, and that its position was in the liollow between the outer slopes of the Pnyx and Museum.' It is no ordinary advantage that wo possess a description of Athens under the Romans, by the trav- eller and antiquarian whose name has just been mentioned. The work of Pausanias '^ will be our best guide to the discovery of what St. Paul saw. By following his route through the city, we shall be treading in the steps of the Apostle himself, and shall behold those very objects which excited his indiguation and compassion. Taking, then, the position of the Peiraic gate as determined, or at least resigning the task of topographical inquiries, we enter the city, and, with Pausanias as our guide, look round on the objects which were seen by the Apostle. At the very gateway we are met with proofs of the peculiar tendency of the Athenians to multiply their objects both of art and de- votion.' Close by tlie building where the vestments were laid up which were used in the annual procession of their tutelary divinity Minerva, is an image of her rival Neptune, seated on horseback, and hurling his tri- dent.'' We pass by a temple of Ceres, on the walls of which an archaic inscription informs us that the statues it contains were the work of Praxiteles. We go through the gate : and immediately the eye is at- tracted by the sculptured forms of Minerva, Jupiter, and Apollo, of Mer- cury and the Muses, standing near a sanctuary of Bacchus. We are already in the midst of an animated scene, where temples, statues, and altars are on every side, and where the Athenians, fond of publicity and the open air, fond of hearing and telling what is curious and strange,* are enjoying their climate and inquiring for news. A long street is before us, with a colonnade or cloister on either hand, like the covered arcades of Bologna or Turin.* At the end of the street, by turning to 1 Pausanias does not mention the Peiraic exception of the new buildings erected by gate by that name. See Leake, Wordsworth, Hadrian, and Forcharamer. The first of these authori- ^ Acts xvii. 23. ties places it where the modern road from the * We have used the terms " Minerva, Ncp- Pirceus enters Athens, beyond all the high tune," &c., instead of the more accurate terms ground to the north of the Pnyx; the second "Athene, Poseidon," &c.,in accommodation to places it in the hollow between the Pnyx and the popular language. So before (Ch. VI.), in Museum ; the third in the same direction, but the case of Jupiter and Mercury. See note p. more remote from the Acropolis, in conformity 168, n. 3. with his view concerning the larger circum- * Acts xvii. 21. ference of the walls. ^ Forchammer makes this comparison. It !> Pausanias visited Athens about fifty years is probable, however, that these coveted walks after St. Paul. It is probable that very few were not formed with arches, but with pillars changes had taken place in the city, with the bearing horizontal entablatures. The posi' 306 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAtTL. cuap.x. the left, we might go through the whole Ceramicus,' whicli loads by the tombs of emuicnt Athenians to the open inland country and the groves of the Academy. But we turn to the right into tlip Agora, which ivas the centre of a glorious public life, when the orators and statesmen, the poets and the artists of Greece, found there all the incentives of their noblest enthusiasm; and still continued to be the meeting-place of philosophy, jjoi idleness, of conversation, and of business, when Athens could only be proud of her recollections of the past. On the south side is the Pnyx,^ a sloping hill partially levelled into an open area for political assemblies ; on the north side is the more craggy eminence of the Areopagus ; ' before us, towards the east, is the Acropolis,"* towering higli above the scene of which it is the glory and the crown. In the valley enclosed by these heights is the Agora,* which must not be conceived of as a gi-eat " market " (Acts xvii. 17), like the bare spaces in many modern towns, where little attention has been paid to artistic decoration, — but is rather to be com- pared to the beautiful squares of siich Italian cities as Verona and Flor- ence, where historical buildings have closed in the space within narrow limits, and sculpture has peopled it with impressive figures. Among the liuildings of greatest interest are the porticoes or cloisters, which were dec- orated with paintings and statuary, like the Campo Santo at Pisa. We tliink we may be excused for multiplying these comparisons : for though they are avowedly imperfect, they are really more useful than any at- tempt at description could be, in enabling us to realize the aspect of ancient Athens. Two of the most important of these were the Portico of the King, and the Portico of the Jupiter of Freedom.* On the roof of the former were statues of Theseus and the Day : in front of the latter was the divinity to whom it was dedicated, and within were allegorical paintings illustrating the rise of the Athenian democracy. One characteristic of the Agora was, that it was full of memorials of actual history. Among the plane-trees planted by the hand of Cimon tion we Quvf issiuned to this street is in because it was simply a level space, without accordance with the plan of Forchammer, who any work of art to attract the notice of an ])laces the wall and pate more remotely from antiquarian. the Agora than our English topographers. ^ See this more fully described below. ' This term, in its full extent, included not * See above, p. 300. only the road between the city wall and the ' WTg adopt the view of Forchammer, Academy, but the Agora itself. See plan of which is now generally received, that the posi- Athens. tion of the Agora was always the same. The - It is remarkable that the Pnyx, the hypothesis of a new Arjora to the north of the fiimous meeting-place of the political assem- Areopngus was first advanced by Meursius, and lilies of Athens, is not mentioned by Pausanias. has been adopted by Leake. This may be because there were no longer any ^ In the plan, these two porticoes are placed snch assemblies, and therefore his attention side by side, after Kiepert. was not called to it ; or, perhaps, it is omitted CHAP.x. THE AGORA. 307 were the statues of the great men of Athens — such as Solon the law- giver, Conon the Admiral, Demosthenes the orator. But among her his- torical men were her deified heroes, the representatives of her mythology — Hercules and Theseus — and all the series of the Eponymi on their elevated platform, from whom the tribes were named, and whom an ancient custom connected with the passing of every successive law. And among the deified heroes were memorials of the older divinities, — Mer- curies, which gave their name to the street in which they were placed, — statues dedicated to Apollo, as patron of the city,' and her deliverer from plague,^ — and, in the centre of all, the Altar of the Twelve Gods, which was to Athens what the Golden Milestone was to Rome. If we look up to the Areopagus, we see the temple ' of that deity from whom the" eminence had received the name of " Mars' Hill " (Acts xvii. 22) ; and we are aware that the sanctuary of the Furies* is only hidden by the projecting ridge beyond the stone steps and the seats of the judges. If we look forward to tlie Acropolis, we behold there, closing the long per- spective, a series of little sanctuaries on the very ledges of the rock, — shrines of Bacchus and iEsculapius, Veims, Earth, and Ceres, ending with the lovely form of that Temple of Unwinged Victory ' which glittered by the entrance of the Propylaea above the statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton.* Thus, every god in Olympus found a place in the Agora. But the religiousness of the Athenians (Acts xvii. 22) went even further. For every public place and building was likewise a sanctuary. The Record-House was a temple of the Mother of the Gods. The Council- House held statues of Apollo and Jupiter, with an altar of Vesta.' The Theatre at the base of the Acropolis, into which the Athenians crowded to hear the words of their great tragedians, was consecrated to Bacchus.' Tlio Pnyx, near which we entered, on whose elevated platform they 1 Apollo Patrous. His temple was called Wheler. Subsequent travellers found that it Pythium. In this building the naval car, used had disappeared. In 1835 the various portions in the Panathenaic procession, was laid up were discovered in an excavation, with the after its festal voyages, to be exhibited to exception of two, which are in the British travellers ; " as the Ducal barge of Venice, the Museum. It is now entirely restored. The Bucentoro, in which the Doge solemnized the original structure belongs to the period of the annual marriage with the sea, is now preserved close of the Persii for the same purpose in the Venetian arsenal." ^ For their position, see Pausaoias. These Wordsworth, p. 189. staUies were removed by Xerxes ; and Alexan- 2 Apollo Alexicacus, who was believed to der, when at Babylon, g.ivc an order for their have made the plague to cease in the Pelopon- restoration. Images of Brutus and Cassius nesian war. ^ See the plan. were at one time erected near them, but proba- * The sanctuary was in a deep cleft in the bly they were removed by Augustus, front of the Areopagus, facing the Acropolis. ' For these two buildings, the Metroitm and See below. Bouleuterium, see the plan. ' The history of this temple is very curious. * Its position may be seen on the plan, on In 1676 it was found entire by Spon and the south side of the Acropolis. 308 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. x. listened in breathless attention to their orators, was dedicated to Jupiter on High,' with whose name those of the Nymphs of the Demus were grace- fully associated. And, as if the imagination of the Attic mind knew no bounds in this direction, abstractions were deified and publicly honored. Altars were erected to Fame, to Modesty, to Energy, to Persuasion, and to Pity.'^ This last altar is mentioned by Pausanias among " those objects in the Agora whicli are not understood by all men : for," he adds, " the Athenians alone of all the Greeks give divine honor to Pity." '■' It is needless to show how the enumeration which we have made (and which is no more than a selection from what is described by Pausanias) throws light on the words of St. Luke and St. Paul ; and especially how the groping after the abstract and invisible, implied in the altars alluded to last, illustrates the inscription " To the Unknown God," which was used by Apostolic wisdom (Acts xvii. 23) to point the way to the highest truth. What is true of the Agora is still more emphatically true of the Acropolis, for the spirit which rested over Athens was concentrated here. The feeling of the Athenians with regard to the Acropolis was well, though fancifully, expressed by the rhetorician who said that it was the middle space of five concentric circles of a shield, whereof the outer four were Athens, Attica, Greece, and the world. The platform of the Acropolis was a museum of art, of history, and of religion. The whole was " one vast composition of architecture aud sculpture, dedicated to tlie national glory and to the worship of the gods." By one appi-oach only — through the Propylsea built by Pericles — could this sanctuary be entered. If St. Paul went up that steep ascent on the western front of the rock, past the Temple of Victory, and through that magnificent portal, we know nearly all the features of the idolatrous spectacle he saw before him. At the entrance, in conformity with his attributes, was the statue of Mercurius Propylaeus. Farther on, within the vestibule of the beautiful enclosure, were statues of Venus and the Graces. The re- covery of one of those who had labored among the edifices of the Acropolis was commemorated by a dedication to Minerva as the goddess of Health. There was a shrine of Diana, whose image had been wrought by Praxiteles. Intermixed with what had reference to divinities were the 1 This is attributed to the elevated position Cicero speaks of a temple or altar to Contu- of the Pnyx as seen from the Agora. Words- mely. In the temple of Minerva Polias, in worth's Athens and Attica, p. 72. the Acropolis, Plutarch mentions an altar of ^ It is doubtful in what part of Athens Oblivion, the altars of Fame, Modesty, and Energy were ' He adds, that this altar was not so much placed. iEschines alludes to the altar of due to their human sympathy as to their peculiar i'ame. The altar of Persuasion was on the piety towards the gods; and he confirms this ascent of the Acropolis. There were many opinion by proceeding to mention the altar* other memorials of the same kind in Athens. of Fame, Modesty, and Energy. CHAP. X. THE PAKTHENON. 309 memorials of eminent men and of great victories. Tlie statue of Peri- cles, to whom the glory of the Acropolis was due, remained there for centuries. Among the sculptures on the south wall was one which recorded a victory we have alluded to, — that of Attains over the Gala- tians.' Nor was the Roman power without its representatives on this proud pedestal of Athenian glory. Before the entrance were statues of Agrippa and Augustus ; ^ and at the eastern extremity of the esplanade a temple was erected in honor of Rome and the Emperor.' But the main characteristics of the place were mythological and religious, and truly Athenian. On the wide levelled area were such groups as the fol- lowing : — Theseus contending with the Minotaur; Hercules strangling the serpents ; the Earth imploring showers from Jupiter ; Minerva causing the olive to sprout while Neptune raises the waves. The mention of this last group raises our thoughts to the Parthenon, — the Virgin's House, — the glorious temple which rose in the proudest period of Athenian history to the honor of Minerva, and which ages of war and decay have only partially defaced. The sculptures on one of its pediments represented the birth of the goddess: those on the other depicted her contest with Neptune.* Under the outer cornice were groups exhibiting the victories achieved by her champions. Round the inner frieze was the long series of the Panathenaic procession.' Within was the colossal statue of ivory and gold, the work of Phidias, unrivalled in the world, save only by the Jupiter Olympius of the same famous artist. This was not the only statue of the Virgin Goddess within the cacred precincts ; the Acropolis boasted of three Minervas.* The oldest and most venerated was in the small irregular temple called the Erec- theium, which contained the mystic olive-tree of Minerva and the mark of Neptune's trident. This statue, like that of Diana at Ephesus (Acts xix. 35), was believed to have fallen from heaven.' The third, though See p. 206. Several of the statues seen icate any temple to hira except in conjunction by Pausanias in Athens were those of the with Rome. There was a temple of this kind Greek kings who reigned over the fragments at C^sarsea. See p. of Alexander's empire. * For descriptive papers on these pediments, ^ One pedestal is still standing in this posi- see the Classical Museum, Nos. VI., XVIII., tion, with the name of Agrippa inscribed on and XXII. With the remains themselves, in it. There is some reason to believe that some the Elgin Room at the British Museum, the earlier Greek statues had been converted in restoration of Mr. Lucas should be studied, this instance, as in so many others, into mon- ' For these sculptures, it is only necessary uments of Augustus and Agrippa. Cicero, in to refer to the Elgin Room in the British one of his letters from Athens, speaks indig- Museum, nantly of this custom. ^ See here, especially, Dr Wordsworth's ' Some fragments remain, and among them chapter on the three Minervas. the inscription which records the dedication. ' Its material was not marble nor metal, Augustus did not allow the provinces to ded- but olive-wood. 310 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUX. chap. x. less sacred than the Minerva Polias, was the most conspicuous of all.' Formed from the brazen spoils of the battle of Marathon, it rose in gigantic proportions above all the buildings of the Acropolis, and stood with spear and shield as the tutelary divinity of Athens and Attica. It was the statue which may have caught the eye of St. Paul himself, from the deck of the vessel in which he sailed round Sunium to the PiriBus.^ Now he had lauded in Attica, and beheld all the wonders of that city wliich divides with one other city all the glory of Heatheu antiquity. Ilure, by the statue of 3Iinerva Promachus, he could reflect on the meaning of the objects he had seen in his progress. His path had been among the forms of great men and deified heroes, among the temples, the statues, the altars of the gods of Greece. He had seen tlie creations of mythology represented to the eye, in every form of beauty and grandeur, by the sculptor and the architect. And the one overpowering result was this: — " JKs spirit was stirred within him, when he saw tlie city crowded with idols." But we must associate St. Paul, not merely with the Religion, but with the Philosophy, of Greece. And this, pei-haps, is our best opportunity for doing so, if we wish to connect together, in this respect also, the ap- pearance and the spirit of Athens. If the Apostle looked out from the pedestal of the Acropolis over the city and the open country, he would see the places wliicli are inseparably connected with the names of those who have always been recognized as the great teachers of the pagan world. In opposite directions he would see the two memorable suburbs where Aristotle and Plato, the two pupils of Soci-ates, held their illustri- ous schools. Their positions are defined by the courses of the two rivers to which we have already alluded.' Tlie streamless bed of the Ilissus passes between the Acropolis and Hymettus in a south-westerly direction, till it vanishes in tlie low ground which separates the city from tlie Pirasns. Looking towards tlie upper part of this channel, we see (or we should have seen in the first century) gardens with plane-trees and thickets of agnus-castus, with " others of the torrent-loving shrubs of Greece." * At one spot, near the base of Lycabettus, was a sacred en- closure. Here was a statue of Apollo Lycius, represented in an attitude of repose, leaning against a column, with a bow in the left hand and the ' For the position of this statue, see coin * Leake, p. 275. See Plato's Phadms. at end of the chapter. The pedestal appears The Lyceum was reraark.ible for its jilane- to have been twenty feet, and the statue fifty- trees. Socrates used to discourse under them, five feet, in hei;^ht. Leake, p. 351. The and Aristotle and Theophrastus afterwards lower part of the pedestal has lately been dis- enjoyed their shade. We cannot tell hjw far covered. these groves were restored since the time -^f '^ See above, pp. 300, 302. Sulla, who cut them down. 8 Above, p. 303. rnAP. X. THE " PAINTED CLOISTEK. ' 311 right hand restuig on his head. The god gave the name to the Lyceum. Here among the groves, the philosopher of Stagirus,' the instructor of Alexander, used to walk. Here he founded the school of the Peripatetics. To this point an ancient dialogue represents Socrates as coming, outside the northern city-wall, from the grove of the Academy. Following, therefore, this line in an opposite direction, we come to the scene of Plato's school. Those dark olive-groves have revived after all the disas- ters which have swept across the plain. The Cephisus has been more highly favored than the Ilissus. Its waters still irrigate the suburban gardens of the Athenians.^ Its nightingales are still vocal among the twinkling olive-branches.' The gnarled trunks of the ancient trees of our own day could not be distinguished from those which were familiar with the presence of Plato, and are more venerable than those which had grown up after Sulla's destruction of the woods, before Cicero* visited the Academy in the spirit of a pilgrim. But the Academicians and Peiipatetics are not the schools to which our attention is called in consid- ering the biography of St. Paul. We must turn our eye from the open coun- try - "-^ "!>■"' °' ''^^'!" r:';,-;. ?: .Iv; isses, Pausamas says that their_ statues their as- to oe u.c i,-i.-v ... ^ dosses, Pausanias says tnai v..c, cil of the Areopagus s..t. Immediately above , ^^^^^.^^^^ ,he steps, on the level of the h,ll, .s a bench th.s place .^ ^^_^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ of stone excavated in the hmestone rock P- ;^ P ^^,^^ J„,, ,,,, .ended to give -;f h^ rr:i:S r:::^: ^^ coJ:t was increased under the ' 'y ' ,- -..„„„ ,„i,;nh Pausanias saw Romans. the rude stones which Pausama. saw Komans^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ bere, and which are described by Eunp^les a » ^ X„,,, I, p,t on a formal assigned, the one to the accuser, the other to o c b,y pp ^^ ^^^^^ ,^ ^ ^^^^.^ ^^_ the criminal, in the causes wh.ch were tried m tr au ^^ ^_.^^^_ ^^^ p^^^ CHAP.x. ST. PAUL'S DISCOTJESE ON THE AEEOPAGUS. 325 aspect of the narrative in the Acts, and the whole tenor of the discourse itself, militate against this supposition. The words, half derisive, half courteous, addressed to the Apostle before he spoke to his audience, " May we know what this new doctrine is ? " are not like the words which would have been addressed to a prisoner at the bar ; and still more unlike a judge's sentence are the words with which he was dismissed at the conclusion, " We will hear thee again of this matter." ' Nor is there any thing in the speech itself of a really apologetic character, as any one may perceive, on comparing it with the defence of Socrates. ]\Ioreover, the verse "' which speaks so strongly of the Athenian love of novelty and ex- citement is so introduced, as to imply that curiosity was the motive of the whole proceeding. We may, indeed, admit tliat there was something of a mock solemnity in this adjournment from the Agora to the Areopagus. The Athenians took the Apostle from the tumult of public discussion, to the place which was at once most convenient and most appropriate. Thei'c was every thing in the place to incline the auditors, so far as they were seriously disposed at all, to a reverent and thoughtful attention. It is probable that Dionysius,' with other Areopagites, were on the judicial seats. And a vague recollection oi the dread thoughts associated by poetry and tradition with the Hill ol Mars may have solemnized the minds of some of those who crowded up the stone steps with the Apostle, and clustered round the summit of the hill, to hear his announcement of the new divinities. There is no point in the annals of the first planting of Christianity which seizes so powerfully on the imagination of those who are familiar with the history of the ancient world. Whether we contrast the intense earnestness of the man who spoke, with the frivolous character of those who surrounded him, — or compare the certain truth and awful meaning of the Gospel he revealed, with the worthless polytheism which had made Athens a proverb in the earth, — or even think of the mere words uttered that day in the clear atmosphere, on the summit of Mars' Hill, in connection with the objects of art, temples, statues, and altars, which dgus. But we need not suppose the crowd ^ There is indeed an apparent resemlilance about St. Paul to have been very great ; and between Acts xvii. 32 and Acts xxiv. 2.'j, buf though the Pnyx might be equally accessible even in the latter passage Felix is rather set from the Agora, and more convenient for a ting aside an irksome subject than giving a general address, the Areopagus was more ap- judicial decision. propriate for a discourse upon religion. We ^ Acts xvii. 21. are disposed, too, to lay great stress on the ' Tradition says that he was the first bishop verse (21) which speaks of the curiosity of the of Athens. The writings attributed to him, Athenians. Unless it were meant to be em- which were once so famous, are now acknowl- phatic, it would almost have the appearance edged to be spurious, of an interpolation. The phrase in v. 19 is a trord of general import. See Acts ix. 27. 326 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.j stood round on every side, — we feel that the moment was, and was hitended to be, full of the most impressive teaching for eveiy age of the world. Close to the spot where he stood was the Temple of Mars. Tlie sanctuary " of the Eumenides was immediately below him ; the Parthenon of Minerva facing liim above. Their presence seemed to challenge the assertion in wliich he declared here, tliat in temples made with hands the Deity does not dwell. In front of him, towering from its pedestal on tha rock of tlie Acropolis, — as the Borromean Colossus, which at this day, with outstretched hand, gives its benediction to the low village of Arona ; or as the brazen statue of the armed angel, which from the summit of the Castle S. Angelo spreads its wings over the city of Rome, — was the bronze Colossus of Minerva, armed witli spear, sliield, and helmet, as the champion of Athens. Standing almost beneath its shade, he pronounced tliat the Deity was not to be likened cither to that, the work of Pliidias, or to other forms in gold, silver, or stone, graven by art, and man's device, which peopled the scene before him." ' Wherever his eye was turned, it saw a succession of such statues and buildings in every variety of form and situation. On the rocky ledges on the south side of the Acropolis, and in the midst of the hum of the Agora, were the " objects of devo- tion " already described. And in the northern parts of the city, which are equally visible from tlie Ai'copagus, on tlie level spaces, and on every eminence, were similar objects, to which we have made no allusion, — and especially that Temple of Theseus, tlie national hero, which remains in unimpaired beauty, to enable us to imagine what Athens was when tliis temple was only one among the many ornaments of that city, which was " crowded with idols." In this scene St. Paul spoke, probably in his wonted attitude,^ " stretch- ing out his hand ; " his bodily aspect still showing what he had suffered from weakness, toil, and pain ; ' and che traces of sadness and anxiety mingled on his countenance with the expression of unshaken faith. "Whatever his personal appearance may have been, we know the words which he spoke. And we are struck with the more admiration, the more narrowly we scrutinize the charactei-istics of his address. To defer for the present all consideration of its manifold adaptations to tlie various chai'acters of his auditors, we may notice how truly it was the outpour- ing of the emotions which, at the time, had possession of his soul. The mouth spoke out of the fulness of the heart. With an ardent and entliusiastic eloquence he gave vent to the feelings which had been 1 Wordsworth's Athens and Auica, p. 77. ^ Sec p. 155 and the note. The word "graven" (Acts xvii. 29) should be ' See the account of what took place at noticed. The A])Ostle was surrounded by Philippi, and compare p. 281 . $culpture as well as by temples. CHAP. X. SPEECH OF ST. PAUL. 327 excited by all that he had seen around him in Athens. We observe, also, how the whole course of the oration was regulated by his own peculiar prudence. He was placed in a position, when he might easily have been insnared into the use of words which would have brought down upon him the indignation of all the city. Had he begun by attacking the national gods in the midst of their sanctuaries and with the Areopagites on the seats near him, he would have been in almost as great danger as Socrates before him. Yet he not only avoids the snare, but uses the very difficulty of his position to make a road to the convictions of those who heard him. He becomes a Heathen to the Heathen. He does not say that he is introducing new divinities. He rather implies the contrary, and gently draws his hearers away from polytheism by telling them that he was making known the God whom they themselves were ignorantly endeavoring to worship. And if the speecli is characterized by St. Paul's prudence, it is marked by that wisdom of his Divine Master, which is the pattern of all Christian teach- ing. As our Blessed Lord used the tribute-money for the instruction of His disciples, and drew living lessons from the water in the well of Samaria, so the Apostle of the Gentiles employed the familiar objects of Athenian life to tell them of what was close to them, and yet they knew not. Ho had carefully observed the outward appearance of the city. He had seen an altar with an expressive, thougli humiliating, inscrip- tion. And, iisiug this inscription as a text,' he spoke to them, as follows, the Words of Eternal Wisdom. Their altars to ^^ '^^'^ of Atlicus, all things which I behold bear wifc-A0T« Gons prove ucss to your carefuhiBss in religion.^ For as I passed oo bothtbeirdosire •' ° f -i^ theh°igno?!i'!Ic'^ througli your city, and beheld the objects of your wor- 23 In worshipping. ^.^^^^ j fouud amougst them an altar with this inscription, TO THE ' UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye worship, though ye know Him not, Him declare I unto you. 1 The altar erected to Pity, above alluded ' Although there is no article before the to, was once used in a similar manner. The adjective, yet we need not scruple to retain Athenians were about to introduce gladiatorial the definite article of the Authorized Version ; shows, and Deraonax the Cynic said : " Do for although, if we take the expression by it- not do tliis till you have first thrown down self, " AN Unknown God " would be a mora the altar of Pity." correct translation, yet if we consider the ^ The mistranslation of this verse in the probable origin (see above) of these altars Authorized Version is much to be regretted, erected to unknown gods it will be evident because it entirely destroys the graceful cour- that " To THE Unknown God " would be tesy of St. Paul's opening address, and repre- quite as near the sense of the inscription upon sents him as beginninji his speech by offending any particular one of such altars. Each par- hia audience. ticalar altar was devoted to the unknown god 328 THE LIFB AND EPISTLES OF ST. PATTL. chap. x. 24 God, who made the world and all things therein, seeing go.i dweiisnot *= ' ^ in the temples that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in tern- j°s ulfr ne"df **" 25 pies made with hands.' Neither is He served by the hands iifscreiture"^ of men, as though He needed any thing; for it is He that giveth unto 26 all life, and breath, and all things. And He made of one blood ^ all the nations of mankind, to dwell upon the face of the whole earth ; and ordained to each the appointed seasons of their existence, and the 27 bounds of their habitation. That they should seek God,^ M.m was creat- ^ ' eu capable of if haply they might feel after Him and find Him, ^S.lou's^.^not though He be not far from every one of us, for iu Him into the foiiics f •' ' of i.lolatry, 28 we live and move and have our being ; as certain also of «)a^°„"orn'e " your own poets* have said, Phidias?""^ " For we are also His offspring." 29 Forasmuch, then, as wc are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by the art and device of man. ,^„ «r •-^Y^r^-nn-.-.r.r, ClnA l,otl> ^,t«„ God had ovcf- looked;' but now He commandeth all men everywhere to tiiewoiidto 81 repent, because Ho hath appointed a day wherein He will J^pnt''^^'"'^' judge the world in rigliteousuess, by that Man whom He hath ordained ; to whom it properly belonged, though which * The quotation is from Aratus, a Greek of the gods it might be the dedicator knew poet, who was a native of Cilicia ; a circura- not. stance which would, perhaps, account for St. 1 Here again (as at Antioch in Pisidia) Paul's familiarity with his writings. His we find St. Paul employing the very words of astronomical poems were so celebrated, that St. Stephen. Acts vii. 48. Ovid declares his fame will live as long as the ^ " Of one blood;" excluding the boastful sun and moon endure. How little did the assumption of a different origin claimed by the Athenian audience imagine tliat tlic poet's im- Greeks for themselves over the barbarians. It mortality would really be owing to the quota- is not necessary to take the words together so tion made by the despised provincial who ad- as to mean " lie caused to dwell," as some in- dressed them ! Nearly the same words occur tcrpreters maintain. also in the hymn of Cleanthes. [See p. 5, n. 8 The reading of MSS. A. B. G. H. &c. 2, and p. 318, n. 4. The opening lines of (" God," not " Lord ") is the best. this hymn have been thus translated : — " Thou, who amid the Immortals art throned the higbeet In glory, Giver and Lord of life, who by law disposest of all things, Known by many a name, yet One Almighty forever, Hail, O Zeus 1 for to Thee should each mortal voice be uplifted : Offspring are we too of thine, we and all that i;i mortal around na." H.J ' See notes upon St. Paul's speech at Lys- phor as "winked at "is to be found in the tra. It should be observed that no such meta- original. eeAP.x. DEPAKTUKE TKOM ATHENb. 329 Christ's mission wliercof He hath given assurance unto all,' in that He hath resurrectiou. raised Him from the dead. St. Paul was here suddenly interrupted, as was no doubt frequently the case with his speeches both to Jews and Gentiles. Some of those who listened broke out into laughter and derision. The doctrine of the " resurrection " was to them ridiculous, as the notion of equal religious rights with the " Gentiles " was offensive and intolerable to the Hebrew audience at Jerusalem.^ Others of those who were present on the Are- opagus said, with courteous indifference, that they would " hear him again on the subject." The words were spoken in the spirit of Felix, who had no due sense of the importance of the matter, and who waited for " a convenient season." Thus, amidst the derision of some, and the indifference of others,' St. Paul was dismissed, and the assembly dis- persed. But though the Apostle " departed " thus " from among them," and though most of his hearers appeared to be unimpressed, yet many of them may have carried away in their hearts the seeds of truth, destined to grow up into tlie maturity of Christian faith and practice. We can- not fail to notice how the sentences of this interrupted speecli are con- structed to meet the cases in succession of every class of which tlie audience was composed. Each word in the address is adapted at once to win and to rebuke. The Athenians were proud of every thing that related to the origin of their race and the home where they dwelt. St. Paul tells them that he was struck by the aspect of tlieir city ; but he shows them that the place and the time appointed for each nation's existence are parts of one great scheme of Providence, and that one God is the common Father of all nations of the earth. For the general and more ignorant population, some of whom were doubtless listening, a word of approbation is bestowed on the care they gave to the highest of all concerns ; but they are admonished that idolatry degrades all wor- ship, and leads men away from true notions of the Deity. That more educated and more imaginative class of hearers, who delighted in the diversified mythology which personified the operations of nature and localized the divine presence* in sanctuaries adorned by poetry and art, are led from the thought of their favorite shrines and customary sacri- 1 Observe the coincidence between this * The sacred grottoes in the rocks within •entimont and that in Rom. 1. 4. view from the Areopagus should be remem- '•^ Acts xxii. 22. bered, as well as the temples, &c. Sec Words- ' Some commentators find again in these worth, two classes the Stoics and Epicureans. It is ■ot necessary to make so precise a division. 330 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PADL. cnAP. x. ficcs, to views of that awful Being who is the Lord of heaven and earth, and the one Author of universal life. " Up to a certain point in this high view of the Supreme Being, the philosopher of the Garden, as well as of the Porch, might listen with wonder and admiration. It soared, indeed, liigh above the vulgar religion ; but in tlic lofty and serene Deity, wiio disdained to dwell in the eartldy temple, and needed nothing from tlie liand of man, the Epicurean might almost suppose that he heard the language of his own teacher. But the next sentence, which asserted the providence of God as tlie active, ci'cative energy, — as the conservative, tlie ruling, tlie ordaining principle, — annihilated at once the atomic theory, and the government of blind chance, to which Epicurus ascribed the origin and preservation of the universe." ' And when the Stoic heard the Apostle say that we ought to rise to the contemplation of the Deity without the intervention of earthly objects, and that we live and move and have our being in Him — it might have seemed like an echo of his own thought* — until the proud philosopher learnt that it was no pantheistic diffusion of power and order of which the Apostle spoke, but a living centre of government and love — tliat tlio world was ruled, not by the iron necessity of Fate, but by the providence of a personal God — and that from the proudest philosopher repentance and meek submission were sternly exacted. Above all, we are called upon to notice how the attention of the whole audience is concentred at the last upon Jesus Christ, though His name is not mentioned in the whole speech. Before St. Paul was taken to the Areopagus, he had been preaching " Jesus and the resurrection ; " ' and though his discourse was interrupted, this was the last impression he left on the minds of those who heard him. And tlie impression was such as not merely to excite or gratify an intellectual curiosity, but to startle and search the con- science. Not only had a revival from the dead been granted to tliat man whom God had ordained — but a day had been appointed on which by Him the world must be judged in righteousness. Of the immediate results of this speech we have no further knowledge, than that Dionysius,* a member of the Court of Areopagus, and a woman whose name was Damaris,* with some others, were induced to join themselves to the Apostle, and became converts to Christianity. How 1 Milman's History of Christianity, vol. ii. ' Acts xvii. 18. p. 18. Sec his observations on the whole ♦ See above, p. 325, n. 3. speech. lie remarks, in a note, the coinci- 6 Nothing is known of Dnmaris. But, dcnce of St. Paul's " needing nothing" with considering the seclusion of the Greek women, the "nihil indiga nostri" of the Epicurean the mention of her name, and apparently in Lucretius. connection with the crowd on the Areopagus, - This strikes us the more forcibly if the quo- is remarkable, tation is from the Stoic Cleanthes. See above CHAP.x. FKUITS OF PAUL'S SOJOUEK AT ATHENS. 331 long St. Paul staid in Athens, and with what success, cannot possibly be determined. He does not appeax- to have been driven away by any tumult or persecution. We are distinctly told that he waited for some time at Athens, till Silas and Timotheus should join him ; and there is some reason for believing that the latter of these companions did rejoin him in Athens, and was despatched again forthwith to Macedonia.' The Apostle himself remained iu the province of Acliaia, and took up his abode at its capital on the Isthmus. He inferred, or it was revealed to hiai, that tlie Gospel would meet with a more cordial reception there than at Atlicns. And it is a serious and instructive fact that the mer- cantile populations of Thessalonica and Corinth received the message of God with greater readiness than the highly educated and polished Athe- nians. Two letters to the Thessalonians, and two to the Corinthians, remain to attest the flourishing state of those Churches. But we possess no letter written by St. Paul to the Athenians ; and we do not read that he was ever in Athens again.^ Whatever may have been the immediate results of St. Paul's sojourn at Athens, its real fruits are those which remain to us still. That speech on the Areopagus is an imperishable monument of the first victory of Cliristianity over Paganism. To make a sacred application of the words used by Uie Atlienian historian,' it was " no mere effort for the moment," but it is a " perpetual possession," wherein the Church finds ever-fresh supplies of wisdom and guidance. It is in Athens we learn what is the highest point to which unassisted human nature can attain ; and here we learn also the language which the Gospel addresses to a man on his proudest eminence of unaided strength. God, in His providence, has preserved to us, in fullest profusion, the literature which unfolds to us all the life of the Athenian people, in its glory and its shame ; and He has ordained that one conspicuous passage iu the Holy Volume should be the speech, m which His servant addressed that people as ignorant idolaters, called them to repentance, and warned them of judgment. And it can hardly be deemed profane, if we trace to the same Divine Providence the preservation of the very imagery which surrounded the speaker — not only the sea, and the mountains, and the sky, which change not with the decay of nations — but even the very temples, which remain, after wars and revolutions, on their ancient pedestals in astonishing perfection. We 1 See 1 Thess. iii. I. For the movements flourishing there as ever. The Christian com- of Silas and Timotheus about this time, see munity seems at one time to have been entirely the note at p. 338. dispersed, and to have been collected again ^ The church of Athens appears to have about a. d. 165. See Leake, p. 60. been long in a very weak state. In the time * Thuc. i. 22. of the Antonines, Paganism was almost as 332 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUIi. are tlius provided with a poetic and yet a truthful commentary on the words that were spoken once for all at Athens ; and Art and Nature have been commissioned from above to enframe the portrait of tliat Apostle, who stands forever on the Areopagus as the teacher of the Gentiles. Coin of Athens.! 1 From the British Museum. This coin showa the position of the colossal atatne of Minerva Promachus, facing the WMt. CHAPTER XL Letters to Thcssalonica written from Corinth. — Expulsion of the Jews from Rome. — Aquila and Priscilla. — St. Paul's Labors. — Arrival of Timothy and Silas. — First Epistle to the TItessalonians. — St. Paul is opposed by the Jews, and turns to the Gentiles. — His Vision. — Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. — Continued residence in Corinth. WHEN St. Paul went from Athens to Corinth, he entered on a scene very different from that which he had left. It is not merely tlaat his residence was transferred from a free Greek city to a Roman colony; as would have been the case had ho been moving from Thessalonica to Philippi.^ His present journey took liim from a quiet provincial town to the busy metropolis of a province, and from the seclusion of an ancient university to tlie seat of government and trade.^ Once there had been a time, in the flourishing age of the Greek republics, when Athens had been politically greater than Corinth : but now that the little territories of the Levantine cities were fused into the larger political divisions of the empire, Athens had only the memory of its pre-eminence, while Corinth held the keys of commerce and swarmed with a crowded popu- lation. Both cities had recently experienced severe vicissitudes, but a spell was on the fortunes of the former, and its character remained more entirely Greek than that of any other place : ' while the latter rose from its ruins, a new and splendid city, on the Isthmus between its two seas, where a multitude of Greeks and Jews gradually united themselves with the military colonists sent by Julius Caesar from Italy,* and were kept in order by the presence of a Roman proconsul.' The connection of Corinth witli tlie life of St. Paul and the early prog- ress of Christianity is so close and eventful, that no student of Holy 1 See above, p. 288. Julius Cffisar established the city on the Isth- 2 A journey in the first century from Ath- mus, in the form of a colony ; and the mer- ens to Corinth might almost be compared to a cantile population flocked back to their old journey, in the eighteenth, from Oxford to place ; so that Corinth rose with great rapidity, London. For the probabilities of St. Paul's till it was a city of the second rank in tno actual route, see notes on p. 356. Empire. The historical details will be given ' See the preceding chapter on Athens. in the next chapter. * At the close of the Republic, Corinth was ^ Acts xviii. 12 shows that the province of entirely destroyed. Thus we find Cicero trav- Achaia was proconsular. See, under Cyprus, elling, not by Corinth, but by Athens. But pp. 129-131. 334 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. si. Writ ought to be satisfied without obtaining as correct and clear an idea as possible of its social condition, and its relation to other parts of the Empire. This subject will be considered in the succeeding chapter. At present another topic demands our chief attention. We are now arrived at tliat point in the life of St. Paul when his first Epistles were written. This fact is ascertained, not by any direct statements either in the Acts or the Epistles tliemselves, but by circumstantial evidence derived from a comparison of these documents with one another.' Such a comparison enal:)les us to perceive that the Apostle's mind, on his arrival at Corinth, was still turning with affection and anxiety towards his converts at Thes- salonica. In the midst of all his labors at the Isthmus, his thoughts were continually with those whom he had left in Macedonia ; and though the narrative^ tells iis only of his tent-malcing and preaching in the metropolis of Achaia, we discover, on a closer inquiry, that tlie Letters to the Thessalonians were written at this particular crisis. It would be interesting, in the case of any man whose biography has been thought worth preserving, to find that letters full of love and wisdom had been written at a time when no traces would have been discoverable, except in the letters themselves, of the thoughts which had been occupying the writer's mind. Such unexpected association of the actions done in one place with affection retained towards another, always seems to add to o\ir personal knowledge of the man whose history we may be studying, and to our interest in the pursuits which wei-e the occupation of his life. This is peculiarly true in the case of the first Christian correspondence, which has been preserved to the Church. Such has ever been the influ- ence of letter-writing, — its power in bringing those who are distant near to one another, and reconciling those wlio are in danger of being estranged; — such especially has been tlie influence of Christian letters in developing the growth of faith and love, and binding together the dis- located members of the body of our Lord, and in mailing each generation in succession the teacher of the next, — that we have good reason to take these Epistles to the Thessalonians as the one chief subject of the present chapter. The earliest occurrences which took place at Corinth must first be mentioned : but for tliis a few pages will suffice. The reasons which determined St. Paul to come to Corinth (over and above the discouragement he seems to have met with in Alliens) were, probably, twofold. In the first place, it was a large mercantile city, in immediate connection with Rome and the West of the Mediterranean, with Tlicssalonica and Ephesus in the ..^Egean, and with Antiocli and Alexandria in the East.' The Gospel once established in Corinth, would 1 See the arfjumcnts below, p. 340, n. 6. * For fall details, see the next chapter. » Acts x'iii. 1-t. CHAP. XI. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM ROME. 335 rapidly spread everywhere. And, again, from the very nature of the city, the Jews established there were numerous. Communities of scat- tered Israelites were found in various parts of the province of Achaia, — in Athens, as we have recently seen,' — in Argos, as we learn from Philo, — in Bceotia and Eubcea. But their chief settlement must necessarily have been in that city, which not only gave opportunities of trade by land along the Isthmus between the Morea and the Continent, but received in its two harbors the ships of the Eastern and Western Seas. A religion which was first to be planted in the Synagogue, and was tlience intended to scatter its seeds over all parts of the earth, could nowhere find a more favorable soil than among the Hebrew families at Corinth.^ At this particular time there was a greater number of Jews in the city than usual ; for they had lately been banished from Rome by command of the Emperor Claudius.' The history of this edict is involved in some obscurity. But there are abundant passages in the contemporary Hea- then writers which show the suspicion and dislike with which the Jews were regarded.* Notwithstanding the general toleration, they were violently persecuted by three successive Emperors ; ' and there is good reason for identifying the edict mentioned by St. Luke with that alluded to by Suetonius, who says that Claudius drove the Jews from Rome be- cause they were incessantly raising tumults at the instigation of a certain Chrestus.^ Much has been written concerning this sentence of the biographer of the Caesars. Some have held that there was really a Jew called Chrestus, who had excited political disturbances, others tliat the name is used by mistake for Christus, and that the disturbances had arisen from the Jewish expectations concerning the Messiah, or Christ. It seems to us that the last opinion is partially true ; but that we must trace this movement not merely to the vague Messianic idea entertained by the Jews, but to the events -which followed the actual appearance of the Christ. We have seen how the first progress of Christianity had been tlie occasion of tumult among the Jewish communities in the provinces ; ' and there is no reason why the same might not have liappened in the capital itself.' Nor need we be surprised at the inaccurate form in which the name occurs, when we remember how loosely more careful 1 See the preceding chapter, p. 313. eecution of Caligula has been mentioned previ- = See what has been said above on Thessa- ously, Ch. IV. pp. 102, 103. lonica. li The words are quoted p. 2G2^ n. 2. Com- ° Acts xviii. 2. pare p. 287. * Tacitus, for instance, and Juvenal. See ' In Asia Minor (Ch.VI.), and more cspe- the quotation from Cicero, p. 262, n. 1. cially in Thessalonica and Bcroea (Ch. IX.). ^ Four thousand Jews or Jewish proselytes ' Christianity must have been more or loss were sent ns convicts by Tiberius to the island known in Rome since the return of the Italian of Sardinia. The more directly religions per- Jews from Pentecost (Acts ii.). 336 THE LIFE A>rD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. xi. writers than Suetonius express themselves concerning the affairs of the Jews.' Chrcstus was a common name ;^ Christus was not: and we have a distinct statement by Tertullian and Lactantius^ that iu their day the former was often used for the latter.'' Among the Jews who had been banished from Rome by Claudius, and had settled for a time at Corinth, were two natives of Poutus, whose names were Aquila and Priscilla.' We have seen before (Ch.VIII.) that Pontus denoted a province of Asia Minor on the shores of the Euxine, and we liave noticed some political facts which tended to bring this province into relations with Judsea.' Though, indeed, it is hardly necessary to allude to this : for there were Jewish colonies over every part of Asia Minor, and we are expressly told that Jews from Pontus heard St. Peter's first sermon'' and read his first Epistle.' Aquila and Priscilla were, perhaps, of that number. Their names have a Roman form ; ^ and we may conjecture that they were brought into some con- nection with a Roman family, similar to that which we have supposed to have existed in the case of St. Paul himself." We find they were on the present occasion forced to leave Rome ; and we notice that they are afterwards addressed " as residing there again ; so that it is reasonable to suppose that the metropolis was their stated residence. Yet we observe that they frequently travelled ; and we trace them on the Asiatic coast on two distinct occasions, separated by a wide interval of time. First, before their return to Italy (Acts xviii. 18, 26 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19), and again, shortly before the martyrdom of St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 19), we find them at Ephesus. From the manner in which they are referred to as having Christian meetings in their houses, both at Ephesus and Rome," ' Even Tacitus. of good education. Her name appears ia - Moreover, Christus and Chrestus are pro- 2 Tim. iv. 19 (also, according lo the best nounced alike in Romaic. MSS., in Rom. xvi. 3), under the form ' See the passages quoted by Dean Milman " Prisca." So, in Latin authors, ' Livia " and {Hist, of Christianity, i. p. 430), who remarks " Livilla," " Drusa " and " Drusilla," are used that these tumults at Rome, excited by the of the same person. Prisca is well known as mutual hostility of Jews, and Christians, imply a Romiin name. that Christianity must already have made con- It is well worthy of notice that in both siderable progress there. cases St. Paul mentions the name of I'riscilla * See pp. Ill, 112, ai>dTac. .inn. XV. 44. before that of Aquila. This conveys the * Acts xviii. 2. impression that she was the more energetic ^ Especially the maiiiage of Polemo with character of the two. See the notice of these Berenice, p. 23 and p. 213. two Christians by the Archdeacon Evans ' Acts ii. 9. (Script. Biog.), and his remarks on the proba- ' 1 Pet. i. 1. ble usefulness of Priscilla with reference to ' See p. 136, also p. 44. From the men- female converts, the training of Deaconesses, tion of Priscilla as St. Paul's " fellow-L\bor- &c. Compare the note on Rom. xvi. 3. er," and as one of the instructors cf Apollos, '" P. 43. i^ Rom. xvi. 3. we might naturally infer that she was a woman '^ Rom. xvi. 3 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19. CHAP. XI. AQUILA AND PKISCILLA. 337 we should be inclined to conclude that they were possessed of some considerable wealth. The trade at which they labored, or which at least they superintended, was the manufacture of tents,' the demand for which must have been continual in that age of travelling, — while the ciliciiimj- or hair-cloth, of wliich thoy were made, could easily be pro- cured at every lai-ge town in the Levant. A question has been raised as to whether Aquila and Pi-iscilla were already Cbristians when they met with St. Paul.' Though it is cer- tainly possible tliat they may have been converted at Rome, we think, on the whole, tiiat this was probably not tiie case. They are simply classed with the other Jews who were expelled by Claudius ; and we are told that the reason why St. Paul " came and attached himself to them " * was not because they had a common religion, but because they had a common trade. There is no doubt, however, that the connection soon resulted in their conversion to Christianity.' The trade which St. Paul's father had tauglit him in his youth " was thus made the means of procur- ing him invaluable associates in the noblest work in which man was ever engaged. No higher example can be found of the possibility of combin- ing diligent labor in the common things of life with the utmost spiritual- ity of mind. Those who might have visited Aquila at Corinth in the working-hours would have found St. Paul quietly occupied with the same task as his fellow-laborers. Though he knew the Gospel to be a matter of life and death to the soul, he gave himself to an ordinary trade with as much zeal as though he had no other occupation. It is the duty of every man to maintain an honorable independence ; and this, ho felt, was peculiarly incumbent on him, for the sake of the Gospel he came to proclaim.'' He knew the obloquy to which he was likely to be exposed, and he prudently prepared for it. The highest motives instigat- ed his diligence in the commonest manual toil. And this toil was no liinderance to that communion with God, which was his greatest joy, and the source of all his peace. While he " labored, working with his own hands," among the Corinthians, as he afterwards reminded them,' — ia 1 Many meanings have been given by the * Acts xviii. 2. commentators to the word, — weavers of tap- ' They were Christians, ana able to instruct cstry, saddlers, mathematical instrument- others, when St. Paul loft them at Ephesus, makers, ropemakers. But nothing is so prob- on his voyage from Corinth to Syria. See able as that they were simply makers of those Acts xviii. 18, 26. hair-cloth tents, which are still in constant use * See p. 44. in the Levant. That they were manufacturers ' See what is said above in reference to his of the cloth itself is less likely. labors at Thessalonica, pp. 284, 285. Wo " An account of this cloth is given in Ch. shall meet with the same subject again in the II. p. 44. See p. 150 and p. 284. Epistles to the Corinthians. ^ See the various commentators. ' 1 Cor. iv. 12. 23 338 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAtTL. liis lieiirt lie was praying continually, with thanksgiving, on behalf of the Tliessalonians, as he says to them himself in the letters which he dictat- ed in the intervals of his labor. Tills was the first scene of St. Paul's life at Coiinth. For the second scene we must turn to the synagogue. The Sabbath^ was a day of rest. On that day the Jews laid aside their tent-making and their other trades, and, amid the derision of their Gentile neighbors, assembled in the house of prayer to worship the God of their ancestors. There St. Paul spoke to them of the " mercy promised to their forefathers," and of the " oath sworn to Abraliam," being " performed." There his countrymen listened with incredulity or conviction ; and the tent-maker of Tarsus " reasoned " witli them, and " endeavored to persuade" ^ both the Jews and the Gen- tiles who were present to believe in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and the Saviour of the World. While these two employments were proceeding, — the daily labor in the workshop, and the weekly discussions in the synagogue, — Timotheus and Silas returned from Macedonia.* The effect produced by their arrival ' seems to have been an instantaneous increase of the zeal and ' 1 Thcss. i. 2, ii. 13; 2 Thcss. i. 11. ' Seo Acts xviii. 4. ' This is the sense of the imperfect. * Acts xviii. 5. We may remark here that Silas and Timotheus were probably the " brethren " who brought the collection men- tioned 2 Cor. xi. 9. Compare Phil. iv. 15. ^ There are some difficulties and differences of opinion, with regard to the movements of Silas and Timotheus, between tlie time when St. Paul left them in Macedonia and their rejoining him in Achaia. The facts which are distinctly stated are as follows. (1.) Silas and Timotheus were left at Bercca (Acts xvii. 14) when St. Paul went to Athens. We are not told why they were left there, or what commissions they received ; but the Apostle sent a message from Athens (Acts xvii. 15) that they should follow him with all speed, and (Acts xvii. 16) he waited for them there. (2.) The Apostle was rejoined by them when at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5). We are not informed how they had been em- ployed in the interval, but they came "from Macedonia." It is not distinctly said that they came together, but the impression at first sight is that they did. (3.) St. Paul informs us (1 Thess. iii. 1 ) that he was " left in Athens alone," and that this solitude was in consequence of Timothy having been sent to Thcssalonica (1 Thess. iii. 2). Though it is not expressly stated that Timothy was sent from Athens, the first impression is that he was. Thus there is a seeming discrepancy b& tween the Acts and Epistles; a journey of Timotheus to Athens, previous to his arrival with Silas at Corinth, appearing to be men- tioned by St. Paul, and to be quite unnoticed by St. Luke. Paley, in the Horce Paulince, says that the Epistle " virtually asserts that Timothy came to the Apostle at Athens," and assumes that it is " necessary " to suppose this, in order to reconcile the history with the Epistle. And he points out three intimations in the history, which make the arrival, though not expressly mentioned, extremely probable : — first, the message that they should come with all speed; secondly, the fact of his waiting for them ; thirdly, the absence of any appearance of h.iste in his departure from Athens to Corinth. " Paul had ordered Timothy to follow him with- out delay : he waited at Athens on purpose that Timothy might come up with him, and he staid there as long as his own choice led him to continue." This expUnation is satisfactory. But two others might be suggested, which would equally remove the difficulty. It is not expressly said that Timotheus was AEKIVAL OF SILAS AND TIMOTHETJS. 339 energy witli which St. Paul resisted the opposition, which was even now beginning to hem in the progress of the truth. Tlie remarkable word ' which is used to describe the "pressure" v/hich. he experienced at this moment in the course of iiis teaching at Corinth, is the same which is employed of our Lord Himself in a solemn passage of the Gospels,^ when He says, " I have a baptism to be baptized with ; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished ! " He who felt our human difficulties has given us human lielp to aid us in what He requires us to do. When St. Paul's companions rejoined him, he was re-enforced with new earnestness and cent from Athens to Thessalonica. St. Paul was anxious, as we have seen, to revisit the Thcssaloniiins ; but since he was hindered from doing so, it is highly probable (as Hem- sen and Wieseler suppose) that he may have sent Timotheus to them from Bercea. Silas might be sent on some similar commission, and this would explain why the two companions were left behind in Macedonia. This would necessarily cause St. Paul to be " left alone in Athens." Such solitude was doubtless pain- ful to him ; but the spiritual good of the new converts was at stake. The two companions, after finishing the work intrusted to them, finally rejoined the Apostle at Corinth. [We should observe that the phrase is " from Macedonia," not "from Bercea."] That he " waited for thera " at Athens need cause us no difficulty : for in those days the arrival of travellers could not confidently be known be- forehand. When he left Athens and pro- ceeded to Corinth, he knew that Silas and Timotheus could easily ascertain his move- ments, and follow his steps, by help of infor- mation obtainad at the synagogue. But, again, we may reasonably suppose, that, in the course of St. Paul's stay at Corinth, he may have paid a second visit to Athens, after the first arrival of Timotheus and SiLis from Miicedonia; and that during some such visit he may have sent Timotheus to Thessalonica. This view may be taken without our supposing, with Bottger, that the First Epistle to the Thcss.alonians was written at Athens. Schradcr and others imagine a visit to that city at a later period of his life ; but this view cannot be admitted without de- ranging the arguments for the date of 1 Thess., which was evidently written soon after leav- ing Macedonia. Two further remarks maybe added. (1.) If Timothy did rejoin St. Paul at Athens, we need not infer that Silas was not with him, from the fact that the name of Silas is not mentioned. It is usually t.iken for granted that the second arrival of Timothy (1 Thess. iii. 6) is identical with the coming of Silas and Timotheus to Corinth (Acts xviii. 5); but here we see that only Timothy is men- tioned, doubtless because ho was most recently and familiarly known at Thessalonica, and per- haps, also, because the mission of Silas was to some other place. (2.) On the other hand, it is not ncccessai-y to assume, because Silas and Timotheus are mentioned together (Acta xviii. .')), that they came together. All condi- tions are satisfied if they came about the same time. If they were sent on missions to two difl^brcnt places, the times of their return would not necessarily coincide. [Something may be implied in the form of the Greek phrase, " Silas as Kelt as Timotheus."] In considering all these journeys, it is very need- ful to take into account that they would be modified by the settled or unsettled state of the country with regard to banditti, and by the various opportunities of travelling, which depend on the season and the weather, and the sailing of vessels. Hinderanccs connected with some such considerations may be referred to in Pliil. iv. 10. 1 The state of mind, whatever it was, is clearly connected with the coming of Timo- thy and Silas, and seems to imply increasing zeal with increasing opposition. '' Instabat verbo." Compare uvdyKij, 1 Thess. iii. 7. The A. V. rests on an incorrect reading, though the general result is the same. Hack- ett's note is very much to the purpose. " lie was engrossed with the word. The arrival of his associates relieved him from anxiety which had pressed heavily upon him ; and he could now devote himself with unabated energy to his work." ' Luke xii. 50. 340 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAXIL. chap.zx. vigor in combating the difficulties which met him. He acknowledges himself that lie was at Corinth " in weakness, and in fear and much trembling ; " ' but " God, who comforteth those that are cast down, com- forted him by the arrival " ' of his friends. It was only one among many instances we shall be called to notice, in which, at a time of weakness, " he saw the brethren and took courage." ' But this was not the only result of tlie arrival of St. Paul's com panions. Timotlieus * had been sent, while St. Paul was still at Athens, to revisit and establish the Church of Thessalonica. The news ho brought on his return to St. Paul caused the latter to write to these be- loved converts ; and, as we have already observed, the letter which ho sent tliem is the first of his Epistles whicli has been preserved to us. It seems to have been occasioned partly by liis wish to express his earnest affection for the Tiiessalonian Christians, and to encourage them under their persecutions ; but it was also called for by some errors into which they had fallen. Many of the new converts were uneasy about the state of their relatives or friends, who had died since tlieir conversion. Tlicy feared that these departed Christians would lose the happiness of witness- ing their Lord's second coming, which they expected soon to beliold. In this expectation others had given themselves up to a religious excitement, under the influence of which they persuaded themselves that they need not contiime to work at the business of their callings, but might claim support from the richer members of the Church. Others, again, had yielded to the same temptations which afterwards influenced the Corin- thian Church, and despised the gift of prophesying* in comparison with those other gifts which afforded more opportunity for display. These reasons, and others which will appear in the letter itself, led St. Paul to write to the Thessalonians as follows : — FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS." 1 PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, TO THE CHURCH salutation. OP THE THESSALONIANS, in God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 1 Cor. ii. 3. sion of the Thessalonians (1 Thess. i. 8, 9), - 2 Cor. vii. 6. while the tidings of it were still spreading (the ' Acts xxviii. 15. See above on his soli- verb is in the present tense) through Macedo- tude in Athens, p. 313. nia and Achaia, and while St. Paul could * See above, p. 331. speak of himself as only taken from them for <■ 1 Thess. V. 20. a short season (1 Thess. ii. 17). (2.) St. ' The correctness of the date here assigned Paul had been recently at Athens (iii. 1), and to this Epistle maybe proved as follows: — had already preached in Achaia (i. 7, 8). (3.) (1.) It was written not long after the conver- Timotheus and Silas were just returned (iii. FIEST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 341 Grace' be to you and peace.' Thanksgiving 1 mye ' coiitiuual thaiiks to God for you all, and make i fortjieircon- ° version. mention of you in my prayers without ceasing ; remembering, in the presence of our God and Father, the working of your faith, and tlie laboi's of your love, and the steadfastness of your hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.* Brethren, beloved by God, I know how God has cliosea you ; for my Glad-tidings came to you, not only in word, but also in power ; witli the might of the Holy Spirit, and with the full assurance of belief.' As you, likewise, know the manner in which I behaved my- self among you, for your sakes. Moreover, yon followed in my steps, and 6) from Macedonia, which happened (Acts xviii. 5) soon after St. Paul's first arrival at Corinth. We have ah'eady observed (Ch. IX. p. 285), tliat tlie character of these Epistles to the Thessalonians proves how predominant was the Gentile element in that church, and that they are among the very few letters of St. Paul in which not a single quotation from the Old Testament is to be found. The use, however, of the word " Satan " ( 1 Thess. ii. 18, and 2 Thess. ii. 9) might be adduced as implying some previous knowledge of Juda- ism in those to whom the letter was addressed. See also the note on 2 Thess. ii. 8. 1 This salutation occurs in all St. Paul's Epistles, e.Kcept the three Pastoral Epistles, whore it is changed into " Grace, mercy, and peace." - The remainder of this verse has been introduced into the Tcxtus Receptus by mis- take in this place, where it is not found in the best MSS. It properly belongs to 2 Thess. i. 2. ' It is imporiant to observe in this place, once for all, that St. Paul uses " we" accord- ing to the idiom of m.-iny ancient writers, where a modern writer would use " /." Great confusion is caused in many passages by not translating, according to his true meaning, in the first person singular ; for thus it often hap- pens, that what he spoke of himself individ- ually appears to us as if it were meant for a general truth : instixnces will occur repeatedly of this in the Epistles to the Corinthians, especially the Second. It might have been •apposed, that when St. Paul associated others with himself in the salutation at the beginning of an epistle, he rac.int to indicate that the epistle proceeded from them as well as from himself; but an examination of the body of the Epistle will always convince lis that such was not the case, but that he was the sole author. For example, in the present Epistle, Silvanus and Timotheus are joined with him in the salutation ; but yet we find (ch. iii. 1, 2) — " we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy our brother." Now, who was it who thought fit to be left at Athens alone ■? Plainly St. Paul himself, and he only ; neither Timotheus (who is liiro expressly excluded) nor Silvanus (who proba- bly did not rejoin St. Paul till afterwards at Corinth, Acts xviii. 5, and see the note, p. 338) being included. Ch. iii. 6 is not less decisive — " but now that Timotheus is just come to us from you " — when we remember that Silvanus came with Timotheus. Several other passages in the Epistle prove the same thing, but these may suffice. It is true, that sometimes the ancient idiom in which a writer spoke of himself in the plu- ral is more graceful, and seems less egotistical, than the modern usage ; but yet (the modern usage being what it is) a literal translation of the iiiidi very often conveys a confused idea of the meaning ; and it appeai-s better, therefore, to translate according to the modern idiom. * St. Paul is here referring to the time when he first visited and converted the Thessalo- nians ; tl>e " hope " spoken of was the hope of our Lord's coming. ' In illustration of the word here we may refer to Rom. xiv. 5, and Heb. x. 22. 342 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. ii. in the steps of the Lord ; and you received the word in great tribula- 7 tion,' with joy which came from the Holy Spirit. And thus you liave 8 become patterns to all the belieyers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has been sounded forth,- and not only has its sound been heard in Macedonia and Achaia, hut also in every place the tidings of your faith towards God have been spread abroad, so 9 that I have no need to speak of it at all. For others are telling of their own accord,' concerning me, what welcome you gave me, and how you forsook your idols, and turned to serve God, the living and the true ; 10 and to wait for His Son from the heavens, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. . 1 For, you know yourselves, brethren, that my coming He reminds 2 amongst you was not fruitless ; but after I had borne suffer- •>"" example, ing and outrage (as you know) at Philippi, I trusted in my God, and boldly declared to you God's Glad-tidings, in the midst of great conten- 3 tion. For my exhortations are not prompted by imposture, nor by 4 lasciviousness, nor do I speak in guile.'' But as God has proved my fitness for the charge of the Glad-tidings, so I speak, not seeking to 5 please men, but God, who proves our hearts. For never did I use flatter- ing words, as you know ; nor hide covetousness under fair pretences, 6 (God is witness) ; nor did I seek honor from men, either from you or others ; although I might have been burdensome, as Christ's apostle.' 7 But I behaved myself among you with gentleness ; and as a nurse 8 cherishes her own children,* so in ray fond affection it was my joy to give you not only the Glad-tidings of God, but my own life also, because you 9 were dear to me. For you remember, brethren, my toilsome labors ; 1 This tribulation they brought on them- Jndaizing opponents denied hi.? apostolic an- selves by receiving the Gospel. thority was the fact that he (in general ) refused See p. 279, n. 8. to be maintained by his converts, whereas our * " Themselves," emphatic. Lord had given to Ilis apostles the ri^'ht of * In this and the following verses, we have being so maintained. St Paul fully explains allusions to the accu.sations brought against his reasons for not availing himself of that St. Paul by his Jewish opponents. lie would right in several passages, especially 1 Cor. i.x. : of course have been accused of imposture, as and he here tnkes care to allude to his posses- the preacher of a miraculous revelation; the sion of the right, while mentioning his rcnun- charge of impurity might also have been sug- elation of it. Cf 2 Thess. iii. 9. gested to impure minds, as connected with the * " Iler own children." See p. 281, n. 4. conversion of female proselytes ; the charge of It will be observed, also, that we adopt a seeking to phase men was repeated by the Juda- different punctuation from that which has led izers in Galatia. See Gal. i. 10. to the received version. ' One of the grounds upon which St. Paifl's CHAP. XI. FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 343 how I worked both night and day, that I might not be burdensome to any of you, while I proclaimed to you the message ' which I bore, the Glad-tidings of God. Ye are yourselves witnesses, and God also is ii. 10 witness, how holy, and just, and unblamable were my dealings towards you tliat believe. You know how earnestly, as a father his own children, 11 I exhorted, and entreated, and adjured each one among you to walk 12 wortliy of God, by whom you are called into His own kingdom and glory. Wherefore I also give continual thanks to God, because, wlien you 13 heard from me the spoken word ^ of God, you received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God ; who Himself works effectually in you that believe. For you, brethren, followed in tlio steps 14 of the churches of God in Judasa, which are in Christ Jesus, inasmuch as you suffered the like persecution from your own countrymen, which they endured from the Jews ; who killed both the Lord Jesus, and the 15 prophets, and who have driven me forth [from city to city ' ] ; a people displeasing to God, and enemies to all mankind, who would hinder me 16 from speaking to the Gentiles for their salvation ; continuing always to fill up the measure of their sins ; but the wrath [of God] has overtaken tliem to destroy them.* Kxpresses hia But I, brethren, having been torn from you for a short 17 them. season (in presence, not in heart), sought very earnestly to behold you [again] face to face.' Wherefore I, Paul (for my own part), 18 desired to visit you once and again ; but Satan hindered me. For what 19 is my hope or joy ? what is the crown wherein I glory ? what but your own selves, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Clirist at His appearing ? * Yea, you are my glory and my joy. 20 And his joy Therefore, wlieu I was no longer able to forbear, I deter- iU.l iheir'weii- mined willingly to be left at Athens aloue ; and I sent Timo- 2 doing from Timotheus. theus, my brother, and God's fellow-worker ' in the Glad-tidings of Christ, that he might strengthen your constancy, and exhort you con- 1 The original word involves the idea of a ^ The anticipative blending of the future herald pwclaimimj a message. with the present here is parallel with and ^ Literally word received by hearing, i. e. explains Horn. ii. 15, 16. spoken word. Cf. Rom. x. 16. ' There is some doubt about the reading ^ Referring ti his recent expulsion from here. That which we adopt is analogous to Thessalonica and Bercea. 1 Cor. iii. 9. The boldness of the expression * More literally, " to make an end of them." probably led to the variation in the MSS. Ou ' See what is said in the preceding chapter the fact mentioned in these two verses, see tha with Beroea. note at p. 33S above. 844 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. a. iii. 3 cerning jour faith, that none of you should waver in these afllictions ; sinco 4 you know yourselves that such is our appointed lot, for when I was with you, I forewarned you that affliction awaited us, as you know tliat it befell. 5 For this cause, I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent to learn tidings of your faith ; fearing lest perchance the tempter had tempted yoa. 6 and lest my labor should be in vain. But now that Timotheus ha-^ returned from you to me, and has brought me the glad tidings of your faith and love, and that you still keep an affectionate remembrance of me, 7 longing to see me, as I to see you — I have been comforted, brethren, on your behalf, and all my own tribulation and distress ' has been lightened 8 by your faith. For now I live,^ if you be steadfast in the Lord. What 9 thanlcsgiving can I render to God for you, for all the joy which you 10 cause me in the presence of my God ? Night and day, I pray exceeding earnestly to see you face to face, and to complete wJiat is yet wanting in 11 your faith. Now, may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus,' 12 direct my path towards you. Meantime, may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love to one another and to all men ; even as I 13 to you. And so may He keep your hearts steadfast and unblamable in holiness, in the presence of our God and Father, at tlie appearing of our Lord Jesus, with all his saints. n 1 Furthermore, brethren, I beseech and exhort you in the ■' ARiiinst een- name of tlie Lord Jesus, that, as I taught you how to walk that ''"^"^• 2 you might please God, you would do so more and more. For you know what commands I delivered to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 This, then, is the will of God, even your sanctification ; tliat you should 4 keep yourselves from fornication, that each of you should learu to master 5 his body,* in sanctification and honor ; not in lustful passions, like the 6 Heathen who know not God ; that no man wrong his brother in this matter by transgression.'' All such the Lord will punish, as I forewarned 7 you by my testimony. For God called us not to uncleauness, but His 1 See p. 339, and note. may be said to gain possession of his oion loth ' Compare Eom. vii. 9. when he subdues those lusts which tend to 8 Tlic word for " Christ " is omitted by the destroy his mastery over it. Hence the inter- best MSS. both here and in verse 13. prctation which we have adopted. * The original cannot mean to possess; it ^ The reading adopted in the Received TCiQans, to gain ]>ossess,ion of, to acquire for one's Te.\t is allowed by all modern critics to bo own use. The use of "vessel" for body is wrong. The obvious translation is, " in the common, and found 2 Cor. iv. 7. Now a man matter in question." CHAP. XI. FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 345 calling is a holy calling.' Wherefore, he that despises these my words iv. 8 despises uot man, but God, who also has given unto me^ His Holy Spirit. U)'iove'peSJ'e Conceniing brotherly love it is needless that I should write 9 mdef."""^ to you ; for ye yourselves are taught by God to love one another ; as you show by deeds towards all the brethren through the whole of 10 Macedonia. But I exhort you, brethren, to abound still more ; and be it 11 your ambition to live quietly, and to mind your own concerns ; " and to work with your own hands (as I commanded you) ; that the seemly 12 order of your lives may be manifest to those without, and that you may need help from no man.* Happiness of ^^^ I would uot liavc you ignorant, brethren, concerning 18 dead. those wlio are asleep, that you sorrow not like other men, who have no hope.^ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so 14 also will God, tlirough Jesus,'' bring back those who sleep, together with Him. This I declare to you, in the word of the Lord, that we who are 15 living, who survive to the appearing of the Lord, shall not come before those who sleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with 16 the shout of war,' the Archangel's voice, and the trumpet of God ; and fir!^t the dead in Clu-ist' shall rise ; then we the living, wlio remain, shall 17 be cauglit up with them among the clouds' to meet the Lord in the air ; and so we shall be forever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort'" one 18 another with these words. Tiie sudden. ^^^ 0^ tli6 timcs and seasons, brethren, you need not that I v. 1 ?omiSg a'"mo- should Write to you. For yourselves know perfectly that the 2 tive to watcb- J J r j .a fulness. day of the Lord will come as a robber in the night ; and while 3 1 Literally " m holiness," not " unto holi- ^ This connection is more natural than that ness," as in A. V. of the Authorized Version. - We have retained "us" with the Ee- ' The word denotes the shout used in battle, ceived Text, on the ground of context ; al- » Equivalent to "they that sleep in Christ" though the weight of MS. authority is in (1 Cor. xv. 18). favor of "you." » " [Borne aloft from earth by upbearing 2 The original expression is almost equiva- clouds," as it is rendered by Professor Ellicott lent to " oe ambitious to be unambitious." in his Historical Lectures on llie Life cf our * It seems better to take this as masculine Lord, p. 234. See his note there, and in his than as neuter. We may compare with these Com7n. on 1 Thess. ii. — h.] verses the similar directions iu the speech at i° This verb, originally to call to one's side, Miletus, Acts x.x. thence sometimes to comfort, more usually to ^ This hopelessness in death is illustrated exhort, must be translated according to the by the funeral-inscriptions found at Thessa- context. (See on Barnab-is, pp. 109, 155, and lonica, referred to p. 286. notes. — H.) 346 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAITL. chap. xi. men say Peace and Safety, destruction shall come upon tliem in a y. 4 moment, as the paugs of travail upon a woman with child ; and they shall fiud no escape. But you, brethren, are not in darijness, that The Day 5 should come upon you as the robber on sleeping men ; ' for you are all the children of the light and of the day. We are not of the niglit, nor 6 of darkness ; therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and 7 be sober ; for they who slumber, slumber in the night ; and they who are 8 drunken, are drunken in the night ; but let us, who are of the day, be sober ; putting on faith and love for a breastplate ; and for a helmet, tlii 9 hope of salvation. For not to abide His wrath, but to obtain salvation, hath God ordained us, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, 10 that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him. 11 Wherefore exhort one another, and build one another up,^ even as you already do. 12 I beseech you, brethren, to acknowledge those who arc labor- The Presbyter to be duly re- ing among you ; who preside over you in the Lord's name, g''"ied- 13 and give you admonition. I beseech you to esteem them very highly iu love, for their work's sake. And maintain peace among yourselves. POSTSCKIPT [adDEESSED TO THE PreSBTTEKS (?) ].' 14 But you, brethren, I exhort ; admonish the disorderly, en- ^^1^, „f. ,^ 15 com'age the timid, support the weak, be patient with all. Take ^■''^"''J"^"- heed that none of you return evil for evil, but strive to do good always, 16 both to one another and to all men. Rejoice evermore; pray without 1 There is some authority for ihe accusative plained 1 Cor. iii. 10-17. It is very iliflicuU plural, — "as the daylight surprises robhers ; " to express the meaning by any single word in and this sort of transition, where a word sug- English, and yet it would weaken the cxpres- gests a rapid change from one metaphor to sion too much if it were diluted into a pe- another, is not unlike the stylo of St. Paul. riphrasis fully expressing its meaning. We may add that the A. V. in translating the ^ It appears probable, as Chrysostom word " thirf," both here and elsewhere, gives thought, that those who are here directed "to an inadc(|uate conception of the word. It is admonish" are the same who are describca in fact the modern Greek " klepht," and de- immediately before (v. 12) as "giving admo- notcs a bandit, v;bo comes to murder as well nition." Also they arc very solemnly directed as to steal. For the meaning of " the Day " (v. 27) to see that the letter bo read to all the [the great daij, the day of Judgment), compare Christians in Tliessalonica ; which seema to I Cor. iii. 13. imply that they presided over the Christian '^ The full meaning is, " build one another assemblies. At the same time it must be ad- np, that you may all together grow into a mitted that many of the duties here enjoiued temple of God." The word is frequently used are duties of all Christians, by St. Paul in this sense, which is fully ex- THE MALEVOLENCE OF THE JEWS. 347 ceasing; continue to give thanks, whatever be your lot; for this is the v- 17 will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not [tlic mauifes-i8, is tation of] the Spirit; think not meanly of ' prophesyings ; try all [wliich 20 the propliets utter]; i-eject^ the false, but keep the good; hold your- 21 selves aloof from every form of evil.' 22 Concluding Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly ; 23 prayers aud salutations, aud may your spirit and soul and body all togetlier be preserved blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is Ho who 24 calls you ; He will fulfil my prayer. Brethren, pray for me. Greet all the brethren with tlie kiss of holi- 25 ness.^ I adjure you,' in the name of the Lord, to see that this letter bo 26 i-ead to all the'' brethren. 27 The strong expressions used in this letter concerning the malevolence of the Jews, lead us to suppose that the Apostle was thinking not only of their past opposition at Thessalonica," but of the difficulties witli whicli they were beginning to surround him at Corinth. At tlie very time of his writing, tliat same people who had "killed the Lord Jesus and tlieir 1 We know, from the First Epistle to Corinth, that this warning was not unneeded in the early climch. (See 1 Cor. xiv.) The gift of prophesying (i. e. inspired preaching) h-\i less the appearance of a supernatural gift tb'n several of the other Charisms; and heice it was thought little of by those who sought more for display than edification. - This word includes the notion of reject- ing that which does not abide the test. ^ Not "appearance" (A. V.), but species under a gpinis. * This alludes to the same custom which is referred to in Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12. We find a full account of it, IS it was practised in the early church, in the Apostolic Constitutions (hook ii. eh. 57). The men and women were placed in separate parts of the building where they met for worship ; end then, before i-ccciving the Holy Com- munion, the men kissed the men, and the women the women : before the ceremony, a proclamation was made by th? princi|)al deacon : — " Let none bear malice against any ; tet none do it in hypocrisy." " Then," it is added, " let the men salute one another, and the women one another, with the kiss of the Lord." It should be remembered by English readers, that a kiss was in ancient times (as, indeed, it is now in many foreign countries) the ordinary mode of salutation between friends when they met. 5 Whom docs he adjure hore? Plainly those to whom, in the first instance, the letter was addressed, or rather delivered. Now these must probably have been the Presbyters. '■ The word for " holy " is omitted in the best MSS. ' It should be remarked, that this conclud- ing benediction is used by St. Paul at the end of the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians (under a longer form in 2 Cor.), Galafians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Thessalonians. And, in a shorter form, it is used also at tha end of all his other Epistles. It seems (from what he says in 2 Thess. iii. 17, 18) to have been always written with his own hand. ■8 The " Amen " of the Received Text is a later addition, not found in the best MSS. 9 Sec above, Chap. IX. S48 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.xi. own prophets," and had already driven Paul " from city to city," were showing themselves " a people displeasing to God, and enemies to all mankind," by endeavoring to hinder him from speaking to the Gentiles for their salvation (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16). Such expressions would natu- rally be used in a letter written under the circumstances described in the Acts (sviii. 0), when the Jews were assuming the attitude of an organ- ized and systematic resistance,^ and assailing the Apostle in tlie language of blasphemy,^ like those who had accused our Saviour of casting out devils by Beelzebub. Now, therefore, the Apostle left the Jews, and turned to the Gentiles. He withdrew from his own people witli one of those symbolical actions, which, in the East, have all the expressiveness of language,' and which, having received the sanction of our Lord Himself,* are equivalent to the denunciation of woe. He shook the dust off his garments,* and pro- claimed himself innocent of the blood '' of those who refused to listen to the voice which offered them salvation. A proselyte, whose name was Justus,' opened his door to the rejected Apostle ; and that house became thenceforward the place of public teaching. While he continued doubt- less to lodge with Aquila and Priscilla (for the Lord had said ' that His Apostle sliould abide in the house where the " Son of peace " was), be met his flock in the house of Justus. Some place convenient for general meeting was evidently necessary for the continuance of St. Paul's work in the cities where he resided. So long as possible, it was the Synagogue. When he was exiled from the Jewish place of worship, or unable from other causes to attend it, it was such a place as providential circumstances might suggest. At Rome it was his own hired lodging (Acts xxviii. 30) : at Epliesus it was the School of Tyrannus (Acts xix. 9). Here at Corinth it was a house " contiguous to the Synagogue," offered on the emergency for the Apostle's use by one who had listened and believed. It may readily.be supposed that no convenient place could be found in the manufactory of Aquila and Priscilla. There, too, in the society of Jews lately exiled from Rome, he could hardly have looked for a congregation of Gentiles ; whereas Justus, being a proselyte, was exactly in a position to receive under his roof, indiscriminately, both Hebrews and Greeks. Special mention is made of the fact, that the house of Justus was " contiguous to the Synagogue." We are not necessarily to infer from ' St. Luke here uses a military term. ' Nothing more is known of him. The " Compare Matt. xii. 24-31. name is Latin. » See Acts xiii. 51 [p. 1C2]. » Lulce x. G, 7. St. Paul " abode " (imp.) * Mark vi. 11. ^ Acts xviii. 6. in the liouso of Aquila and Priscilla (v. 3), ' Sec Acts T. 28, XX. 26. Also Ezek. xxxiii. while it is merely said that ie " went tc" 8, 9 i and Matt. xxvu. 24. (aor.) that of Justus {t. 7). CHAP. XI. CORINTHIANS EEFEKRED TO BY ST. PAUL. 349 this that St. Paul had any deliberate motive for choosing that locality. Though it miglit be that ho would show the Jews, as in a visible symbol, that " by tiieir sin salvation had come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy,"' — while at the same time he remained as near to them as possible, to assure them of his readiness to return at the moment of their repentance. Whatever we may surmise concerning the motive of this choice, certain consequences must have followed from the contiguity of the house and the Synagogue, and some incident resulting from it may have suggested the mention of the fact. The Jewish and Christian con- gregations would often meet face to face in the street ; and all the success of the Gospel would become more palpable and conspicuous. And even if we leave out of view such considerations as these, there is a certain interest attaching to any phrase which tends to localize the scene of Apos- tolical labors. When we think of events that we have witnessed, we always reproduce in the mind, however dimly, some image of the place where the events have occurred. This condition of human thought is common to us and to the Apostles. The house of John's mother at Jerusalem (Acts xii.), the proseucha by the water-side at Philippi (Acts xvi.), were asso- ciated with many recollections in the minds of the earliest Christians. And when St. Paul thought, even many years afterwards, of what occurred on his first visit to Corinth, the images before the "inward eye" would be not merely the general aspect of the houses and temples of Corinth, with the great citadel overtowering them, but the Synagogue and the liouse of Justus, the incidents which happened in their neighbor- hood, and the gestures and faces of those who encountered each other in the street. If an interest is attached to the places, a still deeper interest is attached to the persons, referred to in the history of the planting of the Church. In the case of Corinth, the names both of individuals and families aro mentioned in abundance. The family of Stephanas is the first tliat oci'.urs to us ; for they seem to have been the earliest Corinthian converts. St. Paul himself speaks of that household, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (xvi. 15), as " the first-fruits of Achaia."^ Another Chris- tian of Corinth, well worthy of the recollection of the church of after- ages, was Caius (1 Cor. i. 14), with whom St. Paul found a home on his next visit (Rom. xvi. 23), as he found one now with Aquila and Priscilla. We may conjecture, with reason, that his present host and hostess had now given their formal adherence to St. Paul, and that they left the 1 Rom. xi. U. ia " were retained, we should be at liberty to - In Roin. xvi. b we hold " Asia " to be suppose that Epcenetus was a member of the andoubtcdly the right reading. See note on household of Stephanas, and thus we might the passage. If however, the reading " Aeha- reconcile 1 Cor. xvi. 15 with Rom. xvi. 5. 350 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAXJL. chap. xt. Synagogue with liim. After the open schism had taken place, wo find the Church rapidly increasing. " Many of the Corinthians hegan to be- lieve when they heard, and came to receive baptism." (Acts xviii. 8.) We derive some information from St. Paul's own writings concerning the character of those who became believers. Not many of the philosophers, — not many of the noble and powerful (1 Cor. i. 26), — but many of those who had been profligate and degraded (1 Cor. vi. 11), were called. The ignorant of this world were chosen to confound the wise, and the weak to confound the strong. From St. Paul's language we infer that the Gentile converts were more numerous than the Jewish. Yet one signal victory of the Gospel over Judaism must be mentioned here, — the conversion of Crispus (Acts xviii. 8), — who, from his position as " ruler of the Synagogue," may be presumed to have been a man of learning and high character, and who now, with all his family, joined himself to the new community. His conversion was felt to be so impor- tant, that the Apostle deviated from his usual practice (1 Cor. i. 14-lG), and baptized him, as well as Caius and the household of Stephanas, with his own hand. Such an event as the baptism of Crispus must have had a great effect in exasperating the Jews against St. Paul. Their opposition grew with liis success. As we approach the time when the second letter to the Thessalonians was written, we find the difficulties of his position increas- ing. In tlie first Epistle the writer's mind is almost entirely occupied with the tliought of what might be happening at Tiiessalonica : in the second, the remembrance of his own pressing trial seems to mingle more conspicuously with the exhortations and warnings addressed to tliosc who are absent. He particularly asks for the prayers of the Thessalonians, that ho may be delivered from the perverse and wicked men around liim, wlio wore destitute of faith.' It is evident that he was in a condition of fear and anxiety. This is furtiier manifest from the words which were heard by him in a vision vouchsafed at this criti- cal period.'' "We have already had occasion to observe, that such timely visitations were granted to the Apostle, when he was most in need of supernatural aid.' In the present instance, the Lord, who spoke to him in the night, gave him an assurance of His presence,^ and a promise of safety, along with a prophecy of good success at Corinth, and a command to speak boldly without fear, and not to keep silence. From this we may infer that his faith in Christ's presence was failing, — that fear was beginning to produce lipsitation, — and that the work of extending the See below, 2 Thess. iu. 2. » See p. 243. Acts xviii. 9, 10 * Compare Matt, xxviii. 20. CHAP. XI. THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD. 351 Gospel was ill danger of being arrested.* Tlie servant of God received conscious strength iu tlie moment of trial and conflict ; and the divine words were fulfilled in tlie foi-mation of a large and flourisliing church at Corinth, and in a safe and continued residence iu tliat city, tiu-ough the space of a year and six months. Not many months of this period had elapsed when St. Paul found it necessary to write again to the Thessalonians. Tlie excitement which he had endeavored to allay by his first Epistle was not arrested, and the fanatical portion of the church had availed themselves of the impres- sion produced by St. Paul's personal teaching to increase it. It will be remembered that a subject on which he had especially dwelt while he was at Tliessalonica,^ and to which he had also alluded in his first Epistle,' wais the second advent of our Lord. We know that our Saviour Him- self had warned His disciples that " of that day and that hour knowetli uo man, no, not the angels of heaven, but the Father only ; " and we find these words remarkably fulfilled by the fiict that the early Church, and even the Apostles themselves, expected^ their Lord to come again in that very generation. St. Paul himself sliared in that expecta- tion, but, being under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, he did not deduce therefrom any erroneous practical conclusions. Some of his disciples, on the other hand, inferred that if indeed tlie present world were so soon to come to an end, it was useless to pursue their eommou earthly employments any longer. They forsook their work, and gave themselves up to dreamy expectations of the future ; so that the wliole framework of society in the Thessalonian Church was in danger of dis- solution. Those who encouraged this delusion, supported it by imagina- ry revelations of tlie Spirit : ^ and they even had recourse to forgery, and circulated a letter purporting to be written by St. Paul,* in confirmation of their views. To check this evil, St. Paul wrote his second Epistle. In this he endeavors to remove their present erroneous expectations of Christ's immediate coming, by reminding tliem of certain signs which must precede the second advent. He had already told them of these signs when he was witli them ; and this explains the extreme obscurity of his description of them in the present Epistle ; for lie was not giving new information, but alluding to facts which he had already explained to * Observe the strong expressions which St. iv. 15, deprecates the inference that the Apos- Paul himself uses (1 Cor. ii. 3) of his own tie definitely expected the second Advent to state of mind during this stay at Corinth. occur in his own lifetime. — n.] 2 As he liimscif reminds his readers (2 * 2 Thess. ii. 2. Thess. ii. 5), and as we find in the Acts (xvii. * 2 Thess. ii. 2. Compare iii. 17. Per- 7). See p. 282. haps, however, these expressions may admit ' 1 Thess. V. 1-11. of being explained as referring to the rumor * [Professor Ellicott, in his note on 1 Thess. of a letter. 352 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap, xl them at an earlier period. It would have been well if this had been remembered by all those who have extracted such numerous and dis- cordant prophecies and anathemas from certain passages in the following Epistle. SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.' i. 1 PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, TO THE CHURCH Salutation OF THE THESSALONIANS, in God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I ^ am bound to give thanks to God continually on your be- Encouragement under their per- half, brethren, as is fitting, because of the abundant increase t;^;™|';,'"|f„*f'"" of your faith, and the overflowing love wherewith you are ""tsco'i'ng- 4 filled, every one of you, towards each other. So that I myself boast of you among the churches of God, for your steadfastness and faith, in all 5 the persecutions and afflictions which you are bearing. And these tilings are a token that the righteous judgment of God will count you 6 worthy of His kingdom, for which you are even now suffering. For doubtless God's righteousness cannot but render back trouble to those 7 who ti-ouble you, and give to you, who now are troubled, rest with me,' when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from lieavcn with the 8 angels of His might, in flames of fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God, and will not heai'ken to the Glad-tidings of our Lord 9 Jesus Christ. And from* the presence of the Lord, and from the brightness of His glorious majesty, they shall receive their righteous 10 doom, even an everlasting destruction, in that day when He shall come I It is evident that this Epistle was written (2) Silas and Timothcns were still with St. at the time here assigned to it, soon after the Paul. 2 Thcss. i. 1. It should be observed first, from the following considerations : — that Timothess was next with St. Paul at (1) The state of the Thessalonian Chureh Ephesus; and that, before then, Silas disap- dcscribcd in both Epistles is almost exactly pears from the history, the same. (A.) The same excitement pre- - See note on 1 Thcss. i. 3. vails concerning the expected advent of our '■^ On the use of the plural pronoun, sea Lord, only in a greater degree. (B.) The note on 1 Thcss. i. 3. same party continued f^inatically to neglect * The preposition here has the sense of their ordinary employments. Compare 2 " proceeding from.' Thess. iii. 6-14 with I Thess. iv. 10-12, and 1 Thcss. ii. 9. CHAP. XI. SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 353 to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all believers ; [and you are of that number], for you believed my testimony. To this end I pray i. 11 continually on your behalf, that our God may count you worthy of the calling wherewith He has called you, and mightily perfect within you all the content of goodness ^ and the work of faith. That the name of our 12 Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and that you may be glorified "^ in Him, according to the grace of our God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. vvnrning But conccming' the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ii.l "crtatiSnof ^""i 0'"^ gathering together to meet Him, I beseech you, 2 ing^, ° *■ "" brethren, not rashly to be shaken from your soberness of mind, nor to be agitated either by spirit,^ or by rumor, or by letter * attributed to me," saying that the day of the Lord is come.' Let no one deceive you by 3 any means ; for before that day, the falling-away must first have come, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposes himself 4 and exalts himself against all that is called God, and against all worship ; even to seat himself^ in the temple of God, and openly declare himself a God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I often ' told 5 you this ? And now you know the hinderance why he is not yet revealed, in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness '" is already working, f only he, who now hinders, will hinder till he be taken out of the way ; and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth," and shall destroy with the brightness of 1 The same word is used in the sense of « Literally " as though originated by me : " good will, good pleasure, satisfaction, in Luke ii. the words may include both " spirit," " ru- 14 and Rom. x. i. The A. V. here would mor," and " letter." require a word to be supplied. ' Literally " is present." So tho verb is '■' The glory of our Lord at His coming always used in the New Testament. See will be miinifested in His people (see v. 10); Rom. viii. 38; 1 Cor. iii. 22; Gal. i. 4; 2 that is, they, by virtue of their union with Tim. iii. 1 ; Ileb. ix. 9. Him, will partake of His glorious likeness. ' The received text interpolates here " as Cf. Rom. viii. 17, 18, 19. And, even in this God," but the MSS. do not confirm this read- world, this glorification takes place partially, ing. ' by their moral conformity to His image. See ' The verb is in the imperfect. Rom. viii. 30, and 2 Cor. iii. 18. ^^ The proper meaning of avofw; is one un- " In respect of, or perhaps (as Prof. Jowett restrained by law: hence it is often used as u takes it) on behalf of, as though St. Paul were transgressor, or, generally, a wicked man, as pleading in honor of that day ; it is wrongly avopia is used often simply for iniquity ; but in translated in A. V. as an adjuration. this passage it seems best to keep to the origi- ' * i. e. any pretended revelation of those nal meaning of the word. • ( who claimed inspiration. ii This appears to be an allusion to (al- ' See the preceding remarks upon the though not an exact quotation of ) Isaiah xi. occasion of this Epistle. 4 ; — " With the breath of His lips He shall 354 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. n. . 9 His appearing. Bat the appearing of that lawless one shall bo in the strength of Satan's working, with all the might and signs and wonders of 10 falsehood, and all the delusions of unrighteousness, for those who are in the way of perdition; because they received not the love of the truth, 11 whereby they might be saved. For this cause, God will send upon them 12 an inward working of delusion, making them believe in lies, that all should be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have taken pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, I am bound to Exhortation thank God continually, because He chose you from the first !,°,,"5id'*'^*^'' unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the '''"^'"'-'°''®- 14 truth. And to this He called you through my Glad-tidings, that you 15 might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, be steadfast, and hold fast the teaching which has been delivered to you, 16 whether by my words or by my letters. And may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us, and has given us in His grace a consolation that is eternal, and a hope that cannot fail, 17 comfort your hearts, and establish you in all goodness both of word and deed. iii. 1 Finally, brethren, pray for me, that the word of the Lord Jesus may hold its onward course, and that its glory may be pr^J^ra. 2 shown forth towards others as towards you ; and that I may be delivered 3 from the perverse and wicked ; for not all men have faith. But the Lord 4 is faithful, and He will keep you steadfast, and guard you from evil. And I rely upon you in the Lord, that you are following and will follow my 5 precepts. And may the Lord guide your hearts to the love of God, and to the steadfastness of Christ. 6 I charge you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Exiiorts to an Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks app||i"i',g'io disorderly, and not according to the rules which I delivered, ample. " 7 For you know yourselves the way to follow my example ; you know that my life among you was not disorderly, nor was I fed by any man's 8 bounty, but earned my bread by my own labor, toiling night and day, destrey the impious man." (LXX. version.) Paul's tlioughts) to the Messiah's coming, and Some of the Rabbinical commentators applied interpreted " the impious " to mean an indiviJ- thia prophecy (which was probably in St. ual opponent of the Messiah. CTAP.H. CHRISTIAN COREESPONDENCE. 355 that I might not be burdensome to any of you.' And this I did, not iii. 9 because I am without the right "^ [of being maintained by those to whom I minister], but tliat I miglit make myself a pattern for you to imitate. For when I was with you I often ' gave you this rule : " If any man will 10 not work, neither let him eat." Whereas I hear that some among you 11 are walking disorderly, neglecting their own work, and meddling * with that of others. Such, therefore, I charge and exhort, by the authority of 12 our Lord Jesus Christ, to work in quietness, and eat their own bread. Mode of deal- But vou, brethren, notwithstanding,' be not weary of doing 13 Ing with those J ) ) o' j o obedrence! good. If any man be disobedient to my written word,* mark 14 that man, and cease from intercourse with him, that ho may be brought to sliame. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a 15 brother. And may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace in all ways 16 and at all seasons. The Lord be with you all. An autoKraph Tlic salutatiou of me Paul with my own hand,. which is my n postscript tlie inSess ^'""'" token in every letter. Thus I write.' Conciud!ng rpj^^ ^^^^^ ^j. ^^^ ^^^^ j^^^^g Q,\m%i be with you all.8 ig Such was the second of the two letters which St. Paul wrote to Thes- ealonica during his residence at Corinth. Such was the Christian cor- respondence now established, in addition to the political and commercial correspondence existing before, between the two capitals of Achaia and Macedonia. Along with the official documents which passed between the governors of the contiguous provinces," and the communications between the merchants of the Northern and Western ^gean, letters were now sent, which related to the establishment of a " kingdom not of this world," ■" and to " riches " beyond the discovery of human enterprise." ' Coinpare the speech at Miletus, Acts xx. ' " Thus." With tliis we may compare 2 See note on 1 Thcss. ii. 6. Gal. vi. U. Wo have before rem.irkecl that ' Imperfect. St. Paul's letters were written by an amanuen- * The characteristic paronomasia here is not sis, with the exception of an autograph post- exactly translatable into English. " Busij-hodies script. Compare Rom. xvi. 22. who do no business " would be an imitation. * "Amen " here (as in the cud of I Thess.) ^ t. e. although your kindness may have is a subsequent addition, been abused by such idle trespassers on your ° Cicero's Cilician Correspondence fur- bounty, nishes many specimens of the letters which 5 Literally, my word [sent] by the letter, passed between the governors of neighboring which probably refers to the directions sent in provinces, the former letter, 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. So a i" John xviii. 36. previous letter is referred to, 1 Cor. v. 9, and " Eph. iii. 8. 2 Cor. vii. 8. 356 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. The influence of great cities has always been important on the wider movements of human life. "We see St. Paul diligently using tliis in- fluence, during a protracted residence at Corintli, for the spreading and strengthening of the Gospel in Acliaia and beyond. As regards the province of Achaia, we have no reason to suppose that he confined his activity to its metropolis. The expression used by St. Luke ' need only denote that it was his lieadquarters, or general place of residence. Com- munication was easy and frequent, by land or by water,^ with otiier parts of the province. Two short days' journey to the south were the Jews of Argos,^ who might be to those of Corinth what tlie Jews of Beroea had been to tliose of Thessalonica.'' About the same distance to tlie east was tlio city of Athens,'^ wliich had been imperfectly evangelized, and could be visited witiiout danger. Within a wallc of a few hours, along a road busy with traffic, was tlie seaport of Cenchrea, known to us as tlie resi- dence of a Christian community.^ These were the " Churches of God " (2 Thcss. i. 4), among whom the Apostle boasted of tlie patience and the faith of the Thessalonians,' — the homes of " the saints in all Achaia " (2 Cor. i. 1), saluted at a later period, with the Church of Corinth,^ in a letter written from Macedonia. These Churches had alternately the blessings of the presence and the letters — the oral and the written teach- ing — of St. Paul. The former of these blessings is now no longer gi-anted to us ; but those long and wearisome journeys, which withdrew the teacher so often from his anxious converts, have resulted in our pos- session of inspired Epistles, in all their freshness and integrity, and with all their lessons of wisdom and love. Coin of Thessalonica.' ' Acta xviii. U. 2 Much of the intercourse ia Greece ha3 always gone on by small coasters. Pouque- rille mentions traces of a paved road between Corinth and Argos. ' Sec pp. 17 and 335. * See tibove, p. 293. ' We have not entered into the question of St. Paul's journey from Athens to Corinth. He may hare travelled by the coast road through Eleusis and Megara ; or a sail of a few hours, with a fair wind, would take him from the Pirsus to Cenchrea. ^ Rom. xvi. I. ' Compare 1 Thess. i. 7, 8. ' It is possible that the phrase " in every place" (1 Cori. 2) may have the same meaning. ' From the British Museum. For a long series of coins of this character, see Mionqel and the Supplement. CHAPTER XII. The Isthmus and Acrocorinthas. — Early History of Corinth. — Its Trade and AVealth.— Corinth under thci Romans. — Province of Achaia. — Gallio tlie Governor. — Tumult at Corinth. — Cenchrca. — Voyage by Ephesus to CiEsarea. — Visit to Jerusalem. — Antioch. NOW that we have entered upon the first part of the long series of St. Paul's letters, we seem to be arrived at a new stage of tlie Apostle's biography. The materials for a more intimate Icnowledge are before us. More life is given to the picture. Wc have advanced from the field of geographical description and general history to the higher interest of per- sonal detail. Even such details as relate to the writing materials employed in the Epistles, and the mode in which these epistles were transmitted from city to city, — all stages in tlie history of an Apostolic letter, from the hand of the amanuensis who wrote from the author's inspired dicta- tion, to the opening and reading of the document in the public assembly of the Church to which it was addressed, — have a sacred claim on the Christian's attention. For the present we must defer the examination of such particulars.' We remain with the Apostle himself, instead of follow- ing the journeys of his letters to Tiiessalonica, and tracing the effects which the last of them produced. We have before us a protracted resi- dence in Corinth,^ a voyage by sea to Syria,' and a journey by land from Antioch to Ephesus,* before we come to the next group of St. Paul's Epistles. We must linger first for a time in Corinth, the great city where he staid a longer time than at any point on his previous journeys, and from whicli, or to which, the most important of his letters were written.' And, according to the plan we have hitherto observed, we proceed to elucidate its geographical position, and the principal stages of its history. The Isthmus^ is the most remarkable feature in the Geography of Greece ; and the peculiar relation which it established between the land and the water — and between tlie Morea and the Continent — had the * See a. note on this subject in Ch. XXVI. « It is from this Greek " bridge of the * Acts xviii. U-18. ° Acts xviii. 18-22. sea" that the name isthmus hiis been given to * Acts xviii. 23. See xix. 1. every similar neck of land in tie world. ' The Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corin- thians, and Romans. 358 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap, xn utmost effect on the whole course of the History of Greece. "When we were considering the topography and aspect of Athens, all the associa- tions which surrounded us wore Athenian. Here at the Isthmus, we are, as it were, at the centre of the activity of the Gi-eek race in general. It has tlie closest connection with all their most important movements, l)oth military and commercial. In all the periods of Greek history, from the earliest to the latest, wo see the military importance of the Isthmus. The phrase of Pindar is, tliat it was " the bridge of the sea : " it formed the only line of march for an invading or retreating army. Xenophon speaks of it as " the gate of the Peloponnesus," the closing of which would make all ingress and egress impossible. And we find that it was closed at various times, by being fortified and re-fortified by a wall, some traces of which remain to the present day. In the Persian war, when consternation was spread amongst tlie Greeks by the death of Leonidas, the wall was first built. In the Peloponuesian war, when the Greeks turned fratricidal arms against each other, the Isthmus was often the point of tlie conflict between the Athe- nians and their enemies. In the time of the Theban supremacy, the wall again appears as a fortified line from sea to sea. When Greece became Roman, the provincial arrangements neutralized, for a time, the military importance of the Isthmus. But when the barbarians poured in from the Noi'th, like the Persians of old, its wall was repaired by Valerian. Again it was rebuilt by Justinian, who fortified it with a hundred and fifty towers. And we trace its history through the later period of the Venetian power in the Levant, from the vast works of 1403, to the peace of 1G99, when it was made the boundary of the territories of the Re- public' Conspicuous, both in connection with the military defences of the Isthmus, and in the prominent features of its scenery, is the Acrocorinthus or citadel of Corintli, which rises in form and abruptness like the rock of Dumbarton. But this comparison is quite inadequate to express the magnitude of the Corinthian citadel. It is elevated two tliousand feet' above the level of the sea ; it throws a vast shadow across the plain at its base ; the ascent is a journey involving some fatigue ; and the space of ground on the summit is so extensive, that it contained a whole town,' 1 Tlie Willi was not built in a straight line, the shadow of the Acrocorinthus, of a conical but followed the sinuosities of the ground. shape, extended exactly half across its length, The remains of square towers arc visible in the point of the cone being central bctwcca some places. The eastern portion abutted the two seas." — Dr. Clarke. on the Sanctuary of Neptune, where the Isth- « Dodwcll and Clarke. The city, aocord- mian games are held. ing to Xenophon, was forty stadia in eircum- 2 Dodwel!. The ascent is by a zigzag feronco without the Acropolis, and eigbty-fiTe road, which Strabo says was thirty stadia in with it. length. " Looking down upon the isthmus. ■f"^ CHAP.xn. THE ACROCOEINTHUS. 359 which, under the Turkish dominion, had several mosques. Yet notwith- standing its colossal dimensions, its sides are so precipitous, tliat a few soldiers arc enough to guard it.' Tlie possession of tliis fortress has been the object of repeated struggles in the latest wars between the Turks and the Greeks, and again between the Turks and the Venetians. It was said to Philip, when he wished to acquire possession of the Morea, that the Acro- corinthus was one of tlie horns lie must seize, in order to secure the heifer. Thus Corinth might well be called " tlie eye of Greece " in a military sense, as Atlieiis lias often been so called in another sense. If the rock of Minerva was the Acropolis of the Athenian people, the mountain of the Isthmus was truly named " the Acropolis of tlie Greeks." It will readily be imagined that the view from the summit is magnifi- cent and extensive.^ A sea is on either hand. Across that which lies on the east, a clear sight is obtained of the Acropolis of Athens, at a dis- tance of forty-five miles.' The mountains of Attica and Boeotia, and the islands of the Arcliipelago, close the prospect in this direction. Beyond the western sea, which flows in from the Adriatic, are the large masses of the mountains of north-eastern Greece, with Parnassus towering above Delphi. Immediately beneath us is the narrow plain which separates the seas. The city itself is on a small table-land * of no great elevation, connected with the northern base of the Acrocorinthus. At the edge of the lower level are the harbors which made Corinth the em- porium of the richest trade of the East and the West. We are thus brought to that which is really the characteristic both of Corinthian geography and Corinthian history, its close relation to the commerce of the Mediterranean. Plutarch says, that there was a want 1 Plutarch s.iys that it was guarded by 40O tcred up and down it, is none of the least of soldiers, 50 dogs, and as many keepers. the ornaments of this prospeet. The town Whcler's description is as follows : — also that licth north of the castle, in little " We mounted to the top of the highest point, knots of houses, surrounded with orchards and had one of the most agreeable prospects and gardens of oranges, lemons, citrons, and in the world. On the right hand of us the cypress-trees, and mixed with cornfields between, Saronic Gulf, with all its little islands strewed is a sight not less delightful. So that it is hard up and down it, to Cape Colonne on the to judge whether this plain is more beautiful to Promontory Sunium. Beyond that the is- the beholders or profitable to the inhabitants." lands of the Archipelago seemed to close up This was in 1675, before the last conflicts of the mouth of the Gulf On the left h.and of us the Turks and Venetians, we had the Gulf of Lepanto or Corinth, as ' " As from the Parthenon at Athens we far as beyond Sicyon, bounded northward with had seen the citadel of Corinth, so now wo all these famous mountains of old times, with had a commanding view, across the Saionic the Isthmns, even to Athens, lying in a row, Gulf, of Salamis and the Atlienian Acrop- and presenting themselves orderly to our view. olis." — Dr. Clarke. Sec above, under The plain of Corinth towards Sicyon or Athens. Basilieo is well watered by two rivulets, well * Leake's description entirely corresponds tilled, well planted with olive-yards and vine- with Strabo's. yards, and, having many little villages scat- 360 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cn^p.-m. of good harbors in Achaia ; and Strabo speaks of the circumnavigation of the Morea as dangerous.' Cape Malea was proverbially formidable, and held the same relation to the voyages of ancient days which the Cape of Good Hope does to our own.''' Thus, a narrow and level isth- mus," across which smaller vessels could be dragged from gulf to gulf,* was of inestimable value to the early traders of the Levant. And the two harbors, which received the ships of a more maturely developed trade, — Cenchrea' on the Eastern Sea, and Lechaeum' on the Western, with a third and smaller port, called Schcenus,'' where the isthmus was narrowest, — form an essential part of our idea of Corinth. Its common title in the poets is " the city of the two seas." ' It is allegorically represented in art as a female figure on a rock, between two other figures, each of whom bears a rudder, the symbol of navigation and trade. ^ It is the same image which appears under another form in the words of the rhetorician, who said tliat it was " the prow and the stern of Greece." '» As we noticed above a continuous fortress which was carried across the Isthmus, in connection with its military history, so here we have to mention another continuous work which was attempted, in connection with its mercantile history. This was the ship canal ; — which, after being often projected, was about to be begun again near the very time of St. Paul's visit." Parallels often suggest themselves between the relation of tlie parts of the Mediterranean to each other, and those of the Atlautic and Pacific : for the basins of the " Midland Sea " were to the Greek and Roman trade what the Oceanic spaces are to ours. And 1 lie adds that the Sicihan sea was avoided of Neptune and the eastern portion of the by mariners as much as possible. Isthmian wall. The ship is described as sail- - A proverb said of this south-eastern point ing to this port in the early times when Athens of the Morea : " When you are round Cape had the presidency of the games. Malea, forget all you have at home." ' One phrase which was used of it is that " See above, note on the word " Isthmus." which we find in Acts xxvii. 41. * Ilcncc the narrowest part of the Isthmus ' See this on the coin at the end of Chap. was called by a word which in meaning and in XIII. piratic associations corresponds with the Tar- '" The phrase seems to have been pro- bcrt of Scotch geography. The distance vcrbial. across is about three miles ; nearer Corinth it " Demetrius Poliorcctes, Julius Ctesar, and is six miles, whence the name of the modern Caligula had all entertained the notion of cnt- vi'.lage of Ilexamili. ting through the Isthmus. Nero really began ''■ For Cenchrea, see below, pp. 366, 367. the undertaking in the year 52, but soon do- It was seventy stadia distant from the city. sisted. See Leake (pp. 297-302), who quotes '^ Lcthajum was united to Corinth by long all the authorities. The portion of the trench walls. It was about twelve stadia distant from which remains is at the narrowest part, near the city. the shore of the Corinthian Gulf. DodweU ' Schcenus was at the point where the came upon it, after crossing Mount Geraueia Isthmus was narrowest, close to the Sanctuary from Attica. CHAP.xn. COMMERCE AND WEALTH OF CORINTH. 861 it is difficult, ill speaking of a visit to tlie Isthmus of Corinth in the year 62,' — which only preceded by a short interval the work of Nero's engi- neers, — not to be reminded of the Isthmus of Panama in tlie year 1852, during which active progress was made in an undertaking often project- ed, but never yet carried into effect.^ There is this difference, however, between the Oceanic and the Medi- terranean Isthmus, that one of the great cities of the ancient world always existed at the latter. What some future Darien may be destined to be- come, we cannot prophesy : but, at a very early date, we find Corinth celebrated by the poets for its wealth. This wealth must inevitably have grown up, from its mercantile relations, even without reference to its two seas, — if we attend to the fact on which Thucydides laid stress, that it was the place through which all ingress and egress took place between Northern and Southern Greece, before the development of commerce by water But it was its conspicuous position on the narrow neck of land between the ^gean and Ionian Seas, which was the main cause of its commercial greatness. The construction of the ship Argo is assigned by mythology to Corinth. The Samians obtained their shipbuilders from her. Tlie first Greek triremes, — the first Greek sea-fights, — are con- nected with her history. Neptune was her god. Her colonies were spread over distant coasts in the East and West; and sliips came from every sea to her harbors. Thus she became the common resort and the universal market of the Greeks.' Her population and wealth were fur- ther augmented by the manufactures in metallurgy, dyeing, and porce- lain, wliich grew up in connection with the import and export of goods. And at periodical intervals the crowding of her streets and the activity of her trade received a new impulse from the strangers who flocked to the Isthmian games ; — a subject to which our attention will often be called hereafter, but which must be passed over here with a simple allusion.* If we add all these particulars together, we see ample reason why the wealth, luxury, and profligacy of Corinth were proverbial * in the ancient world. In passing from the fortunes of the earlier, or Greek Corinth, to its his- tory under the Romans, the first scene that meets us is one of disaster I The arguments for this date may be seen Corinth to a ship loaded with merchandise. in Wieseler. We shall return to the subject and says that a perpetual fair was held yearly again. and daily at the Isthmus. * Our first edition was published in 1«J2. * Sec the beginning of Ch.ip. XX., and the At that time the various plans for an inter- plan of the Posidonium there given, oceanic canal were very much before the pub- 6 ■< Non cuivis homini contiiigit adire Co- lic. Now at least the railway is open for rinthum." — Hor. Ep. i. 17, 30. The word trafiic from ocean to ocean. " Corinthianize " was used proverbially for an ' One writer in another place compares immoral life. 362 THE LIFE AND- EPISTLES OF ST. PAUX. chap, xil and ruin. The destruction of this city by Mummius, about tlic same time that Carthage ' was destroyed by Scipio, was so complete, that, liko its previous wealth, it passed into a proverb. Its works of skill and lux- ury were destroyed or carried away. Polybius, the historian, saw Roman soldiers playing at draughts on the pictures of famous artists ; and the exliibitiou of vases and statues that decorated tlie triumpli of the Capitol introduced a new era in the habits of the Romans. Meanwhile, the very place of the city from which these works were taken remained desolate for many years.'^ The honor of presiding over the Isthmian games was given to Sicyon ; and Corinth ceased even to be a resting-place of travel- lers between the East and the West.' But a new Corintli rose from the ashes of the old. Julius Caesar, recognizing the importance of the Isth- mus as a military and mercantile position, sent thither a colony of Italians, who were chiefly freedmen.* This new establishment rapidly increased by the mere force of its position. Within a few years it grew, as Sinca- porc' has grown in our days, from nothing to an enormous city. The Greek mcrcliants, who had fled on the Roman conquest to Delos and the neigliboring coasts, returned to their former home. The Jews settled themselves in a place most convenient both for the business of commerce and for communication with Jerusalem." Thus, when St. Paul arrived at Corinth after his sojourn at Atliens, he found himself in the midst of a numerous population of Greeks and Jews. They were probably far more numerous thau tlie Romans, though the city had the constitution of a colomjy and was the metropolis of a province. It is commonly assumed that Greece was constituted as a province un- der the name of Achaia, when Corinth was destroyed by Mummius. But tills appears to be a mistake. There seems to have been an intermediate period, during which the country had a nominal independence, as was the case with the contiguous province of Macedonia. The description ' See Chap. I. p. 13. * Professor Stanley notices the great num- = "Nevertheless," saj-s Colonel Leake, her of names of Corinthian Christians (Caius, " the site, I conceive, cannot have been quite Quartus, Fortunatus, Achaicus, Crispus, Jus- uninhabitcil, as the Romans neither destroyed tus), which indicate "cither a Roman or a the public huildings norpersccutcd the religion servile origin." Pref. to Corinlhians. of the Corinthians. And as many of those ^ gee the Life of Sir Stamford Raffles and buildings were still perfect in the time of later notices of the place in Rajah Brooke's Pausanias, there must have been some persons journals, &c. who had the care of them during the century « See the preceding chapter for the estab- of desolation." lishment of the Jews at Corinlh. 8 We lisive noticed above (p. 333, n. 4) that ' Sec the Latin letters on its coins. Its on Cicero's journey between the East and full name was " Colonia Laus Julia Corin- Wcst, we find liim resting, not at Corinth, thus." See coin at the end of this chapter, but at Athens. In the time of Ovid, the city was rising again. CHAP.xn. EOMAN PEOVINCE OF ACHAIA. 363 which has been given of the political limits of Macedonia (Ch. IX.) de- fines cqtially the extent of Acliaia. It was bounded on all other sides by the sea, and was nearly co-extensive with the kingdom of Modern Greece. The name of Achaia was given to it, in consequence of tlie part played by the Achaean league in the last independent struggles of ancient Greece ; and Corinth, the head of that league, became the metropolis.' The province experienced changes of government, such as tliosc which have been alluded to in the case of Cyprus.^ At first it was proconsular. Afterwards it was placed by Tiberius under a procurator of his own. But in the reign of Claudius it was again reckoned among the " unarmed provinces," ' and governed by a proconsul. One of the proconsuls who were sent out to govern the province of Achaia in the course of St. Paul's second missionary journey was Gallio.* His original name was Annseus Novatus, and he was the brother of Annaeus Seneca tlie philospher. The name under which he was known to us in sacred and secular history was due to his adoption into the family of Junius Gallio the rhetorician. The time of his government at Corinth, as indicated by the sacred historian, must be placed between the years 52 and 54, if the dates we have assigned to St. Paul's movements bo correct. We have no exact information on this subject from any secular source, nor is ho mentioned by any Heathen writer as having been proconsul of Achaia. But there are some incidental notices of his life, which give rather a curious confirmation of what is advanced above. We are informed by Tacitus and Dio that he died in tlie year Go. Pliny says that after his consulship he had a serious illness, for the removal of which he tried a sea-voyage : and from his brother Seneca we learn that it was in Achaia that he went on shipboard for the benefit of his health. If we knew the year of Gallio's consulship, our chronological result would be brought within narrow limits. We do not possess this informa- tion ; but it has been reasonably conjectured that his promotion, if duo to his brother's influence, would be subsequent to the year 49, in which the philospher returned from his exile in Corsica, and had the youthful Nero placed under his tuition. The interval of time thus marked out between the restoration of Seneca and the death of Gallio, includes the narrower period assigned by St. Luke to the proconsulate in Achaia. The coming of a new governor to a province was an event of great im- portance. The whole system of administration, the general prosperity, the state of political parties, the relative position of different sections of 1 Eittcr says th.it this is the meaning of which were proconsular and required the " Corinthus Achairo urbs," in Tac. Ilist. ii. 1. presence of no army. See p. 214, n. 11. 2 See Ch. V. * Acta xviii. 13. ^ A phrase applied to those provinces 364 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL cbap.xh the population, were necessarily affected by his personal character. The provincials were miserable or happy, according as a Verres or a Cicero was sent from Rome. As regards the personal character of Gallio, the inference we sliould naturally draw from the words of St. Luke closely corresponds witli what we are told by Seneca. His brother sjieaks of him with singular affection, not only as a man of integrity and honesty, but as one who won universal regard by his amiable temper and popular manners.' His conduct on the occasion of the tumult at Corinth is quite in harmony with a character so desci-ibed. He did not allow himself, like Pilate, to be led into injustice by the clamor of the Jews ; ■ and yet he overlooked, with easy indifference, an outbreak of violence which a sterner and more imperious governor would at once have arrested.' The details of this transaction were as follows : — The Jews, anxious to profit by a change of administration, and pei'haps encouraged by the well- known compliance of Gallio's character, took an early opportunity of accusing St. Paul before him. They had already set themselves in battle array * against him, and the coming of the new governor was the signal for a general attack.' It is quite evident that the act was preconcerted and the occasion chosen. Making use of the privileges they enjoyed as a separate community, and well aware that the exercise of their worship was protected by the Roman State,' they accused St. Paul of violating their own religious Law. They seem to have thought, if this violation of Jewisli law could be proved, that St. Paul would become amenable to the criminal law of the Empire ; or, perhaps, they hoped, as afterwards at Jerusalem, that he would be given up into their hands for punishment. Had Gallio been like Festus or Felix, this might easily have happened ; and then St. Paul's natural resource would have been to appeal to the Emperor, on the ground of his citizenship. But the appointed time of his vi;-it to Rome was not yet come, and tlie continuance of his missionary labors was secured by the character of the governor, who was providen- tially sent at this time to manage the affairs of Achaia. The scene is set before us by St. Luke with some details which give us a vivid notion of what took place. Gallio is seated on that proconsular cliair ' from which judicial sentences were pronounced by the Roman ' The same character is given of him by Jews were citizens under their Ethnarch, like the poet Statins. the Romans under their Juridicus. We need 2 Acts xviii. 14. not discuss here the later position of the Jews, ' Acts xviii. 17. after Caracalla had made all freemen citizens. • Sec p. 343, n. 1. ' This chair, or trihunal, " the indispensO' ' Acts xviii. 12. ble symbol of the Roman judgment-seal," as « Compare Joseph. War, ii. 14, 4, on it has been called, is mentioned three times ia Cfesarca. In Alexandria, there were four dis- the course of this narrative. It was of two linet classes of population, among which the kinds: (1) fixed in some open and public cHAP.xn. ST. PAUL ACCUSED BEFORE GALLIC. 365 magistrates. To this we must doubtless add the other insignia of Roman power, whicli were suitable to a colony and the metropolis of a province. Before tliis Heathen authority the Jews are preferring their accusation with eager clamor. Their chief speaker is Sosthenes, the successor of Crispus, or (it may be) the ruler of another synagogue.' The Greeks* are standing round, eager to hear the result, and to learn something of the new governor's character ; and, at tlie same time, hating the Jews, and ready to be the partisans of St. Paul. At the moment when tlie Apostle is " about to open his mouth," ' Gallio will not even hoar his defence, but pronounces a decided and peremptory judgment. His answer was that of a man who knew the limits of his office, and felt that he had no time to waste on the religious technicalities of the Jews. Had it been a case iu which the Roman law had been violated by any breach of the peace or any act of dishonesty, then it would have been reasonable and right that the matter should have been fully investi- gated ; but since it was only a question of the Jewish law, relating to the disputes of Hebrew superstition,* and to names of no public interest, he utterly refused to attend to it. They might excommunicate the offend- er, or inflict on him any of their ecclesiastical punishments ; but he would not meddle with trifling quarrels, which were beyond liis juris- diction. And without further delay he drove the Jews away from before his judicial chair.* The effect of this proceeding must have been to produce tlie utmost rage and disappointment among the Jews. With the Greeks and other bystanders" the result was very different. Their dislike of a supersti- tious and misantliropic nation was gratified. They held the forbearance of Gallio as a proof that their own religious liberties would be respected under the new administration ; and, with tlie disorderly impulse of a mob which has been kept for some time in suspense, they rushed upon the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in the very presence of the procon- sular tribunal. Meanwhile, Gallio took no notice' of the injurious pun- place; (2) movable, and taken by the Roman ^ See note 6, below, magistrates to be placed wherever they might " Acts xviii. 14. sit in a judicial character. Probably here * Acts xviii. 15. We recognize here that and in the case of Pilate (John xix. 13) the much had been made by the Jews of the name former kind of seat is intended. See Smith's of " Christ " bcmg given to Jesus. Diclionnn/ of Antlqnilies, under " Sella." ' Acts xviii. 16. I Whether Sosthenes had really been "• 'I'he true reading here docs not specify elected to fill the place of Crispus, or was only who the persons were who beat Sosthenes. It a co-ordinate officer in the same or some other cannot, however, be well doubted that they synagogue, must be left undetermined. On were Greels. The reading " Jews," found in the organization of the synagogues, see Ch. some MSS., is evidently wrong. VI. p. 154. It should be added, that we can- ' Acts xviii. 17. See above on Gallio's not confidently identify this Sosthenes with character, the " brother " whose name occurs 1 Cor. i. 1. 866 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL, CHAP.m. isliment thus inflicted on the Jews, and with characteristic indifference left Sosthenes to his fate. Thus the accusers were themselves involved in disgrace ; Gallio obtained a high popularity among the Greeks, and St. Paul was enabled to pursue his labors in safety. Had he been driven away from Corinth, tlie wliolc Christian community of the place might have been put in jeopardy. But the result of the storm was to give shelter to the infant Church, with opportunity of safe and continued growth. As regards the Apostle himself, his credit rose with the disgrace of his opponents. So far as he might afterwards be noticed by tlie Roman governor or the Greek inhabitants of tlio city, he would be regarded as an injured man. As his own discretion had given advantage to the holy cause at Pliilippi, by involving his opponents in blame,* so here the most imminent peril was providentially turned into safety and honor. Thus the assurance communicated in the vision was abundantly fulfilled. Thougli bitter enemies had " set on " Paul (Acts xviii. 10), no one had "hurt" him. The Lord had been "with him," and "much people" had been gathered into His Church. At length the time came when the Apostle deemed it right to leave Achaia and revisit Judaea, induced (as it would appear) by a motive which often guided his journeys, tlie desire to be present at the great gathering of the Jews at one of their festivals,^ and possibly also influenced by the movements of Aquila and Priscilla, who were about to proceed from Corinth to Ephesus. Before his departure, he took a solemn farewell of the assem- bled Church.^ How touching St. Paul's farewells must liave been, espe- cially after a protracted residence among his brethren and disciples, we may infer from the affectionate language of his letters ; and one specimen is given to us of these parting addresses, in the Acts of the Apostles. From the words spoken at Miletus (Acts xx.), we may learn what was said and felt at Corinth. He could tell his disciples here, as he told them there, that he had taught them " publicly and from house to house ; " * that he was " pure from the blood of all men ; " ' that by the space of a year and a half he had " not ceased to warn every one night and day with tears." ' And doubtless he forewarned tliem of " grievous wolves entering in among them, of men speaking perverse tilings arising' of themselves, to draw away disciples after tlaem." And he could appeal ' See p. 2G9. » Acts xviii. 18. ^ See Acts xviii. 21. There is little doubt * Acts xx. 20. that tlie festival was Pentecost. We should ' v. 26. Compare xviii. 6, and sc; p. 348. not, however, leave unnoticed that it is doubt- ' v. 31. Compare what is said of hi.s tears ful whether this allusion to the festival ought at Philippi. Philip, iii. 18. to be in the text. ' w. 29, 30. CHAP. xn. CENCHKEA. 367 to them, with the emphatic gesture oi^^ those hands" which had lahored at Corinth, in proof that he had " coveted no man's gold or silver," and in confirmation of tlie Lord's words, that " it is more blessed to give than to receive." ' Thus he departed, with prayers and tears, from those who " accompanied him to the ship" with many misgivings that they might " see his face no more." ^ The three points on the coast to which our attention is called in the brief notice of this voyage contained in the Acts,' are Ceuchrea, the harbor of Corinth ; Ephesus, on the western shore of Asia Minor; and Cassarea Stratonis, in Palestine. More suitable occasions will be found hereafter for descriptions of Cffisarca and Ephesus. The present seems to require a few words to be said concerning Cenchrca. After descending from the low table-land on which Corinth was situ- ated, the road which connected the city with its eastern harbor extended a distance of eight or nine miles across the Isthmian plain. Ceuchrea has fallen witli Corinth ; but the name * still remains to mark the place of the port, which once commanded a large trade with Alexandria and Antioch, with Ephesus and Thessalonica, and the other cities of the ^gean. That it was a town of some magnitude may bo inferred from the attention which Pausanias devotes to it in the description of the en- virons of Corinth ; and both its mercantile character, and the pains which had been taken in its embellishment, are well symbolized in the coin ' which represents the port with a temple on each enclosing promon- tory, and a statue of Neptune on a rock between them. From this port St. Paul began his voyage to Syria. But before the vessel sailed, one of his companions performed a religious ceremony which must not be imnoticed, since it is mentioned in Scripture. Aquila' had bound himself by one of those vows, which the Jews often volunta- rily took, even when in foreign countries, in consequence of some mercy received, or some deliverance from danger, or other occurrence which had produced a deep religious impression on the mind. The obligations of these vows were similar to those in the case of Nazarites, — as regards abstinence from strong drinks and legal pollutions, and the wearing of ' Compare w. 33-35 with xviii. 3, and ments from the structure of tlie original are with 1 Cor. iv. 12. rather in favor of referring the vow, not to - vv. 3C-38. Aquila, but to St. Paul. The difiScuIty lies ' Acts xviii. 18-22. not so much in supposing that Paul took a * The modern name is Kichries. Jewish vow (see Acts xxi. 26), as in suppoa- ' An engraving of this coin will be given ing that he made himself conspicuous for Jew- »t the end of Ch. XIX. ish peculiarities while he was forming i mixed ' This is left as it stood in the earlier edi- church at Corinth. But we are ignorant of tions. It must be admitted that the argn- the circumstaneca of the case. 368 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PATH/. cHAP.xn. the hair uncut till the close of a definite length of time. Aquila could not be literally a Nazarite ; for, in the case of that greater vow, the cut- ting of tlie hair, which denoted that the legal time was expired, could only talvo place at the Temple in Jerusalem, or at least in Judsea. In this case the ceremony was performed at Ccnchrea. Here Aquila — who had been for some time conspicuous, even among the Jews and Christians at Corinth, for the long hair which denoted that he was under a peculiar religious restriction — came to the close of the period of obligation ; and, before accompanying the Apostle to Ephesus, laid aside the tokens of his vow. From Corinth to Ephesus, the voyage was ^mong the islands of the Greek Archipelago. The Isles of Greece, and the waters wliicli break on their shores, or rest among them in spaces of calm repose, always present themselves to the mind as the scenes of interesting voyages, — whether we think of the stories of early legend, or the stirring life of classical times, of the Crusades in the middle ages, or of the movements of modern travellers, some of whom seldom reflect that the Uaid and water round them were hallowed by the presence and labors of St. Paul, One great purpose of this book will be gained, if it tends to associate the Apostle of the Gentiles with the coasts, which are already touched by so many other historical recollections. No voyage across the jEgean was more frequently made than that between Corinth and Ephesus. They were the capitals of the two flourishing and peaceful provinces of Achaia and Asia,? and the two great mercantile towns on opposite sides of tlie sea. If resemblances may again be suggested between the ocean and the Mediterranean, and between an- cient and modern times, we may say that the relation of these cities of the Eastern and Western Greeks to each other was like that between New York and Liverpool. Even the time taken up by the voyages constitutes a point of resemblance. Cicero says that, on his eastward passage, which was considered a long one, he spent fifteen days, and that his return was accomplished in thirteen.^ A fair wind, in much shorter time than either thirteen or fifteen Jays, would take tlie Apostle across, from Coriiilh, to the city on the other side of the sea. It seems that the vessel was bound for Syria, and staid only a short time in harbor at Ephesus. Aquila and Priscilla remained there while he proceeded.' But even during the short interval of his stay, Paul made a visit to his Jewish fellow-countrymen, and (the Sab- bath being probably one of the days during which he remained) he held 1 See how Achaia and Asia are mentioned - Tlie voyage was olten accomplished ii by Tacitus, Hist. ii. 8. three or four days. See Thuc. iii. 3. * Acts XTiii. 19. CHAP.xn. VOYAGE TO SYEIA. 369 a discussion with them in the synagogue concerning Christianity.' Their curiosity was excited by what they heard, as it had been at Antioch in Pisidia ; and perhaps their curiosity would speedily have been succeeded by opposition, if their visitor had staid longer among them. But he was not able to grant the request which they urgently made. He was anxious to attend the approaching festival at Jerusalem;^ and, had he not proceeded with the ship, this might have been impossible. He was so far, however, encouraged by the opening which he saw, that he left the Ephesian Jews with a promise of his return. This promise was limited by an expression of that dependence on the divine will which is characteristic of a Christian's life,' whether his vocation be to the labors of an Apostle, or to the routine of ordinary toil. We shall see that St. Paul's promise was literally fulfilled, when we come to pur- sue his progress on his third missionary circuit. The voyage to Syria lay first by the coasts and islands of the ^gean to Cos and Cnidus, which are mentioned on subsequent voyages,^ and then across the open sea by Rhodes and Cyprus to Ceesarea.' This city has the closest connection with some of the most memorable events of early Christianity. We have already had occasion to mention it, in alluding to St. Peter and the baptism of the first Gentile convert.' We shall afterwards be required to make it the subject of a more elaborate notice, when we arrive at the impi'isonment which was suffered by St. Paul under two successive Roman governors.' The country was now no longer under native kings. Ten years had elapsed since the death of Herod Agrippa, the last event alluded to (Ch. IV.) in connection with Cffisarea. Felix had been for some years already procurator of Judaea.' If the aspect of the country had become in any degree more national under the reign of the Herods, it had now resumed all the appearance of a Roman province.' Caesarea was its military capital, as well as the harbor by which it was approached by all travellers from the West. From this city, roads '" had been made to the Egyptian frontier on the south, and northwards along the coast by Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon, to Antioch, as well as across the interior by Neapolis or Antipatris to Jeru- salem and the Jordan. The journey from CaBsarea to Jerusalem is related by St. Luke in a single word."*' No information is given concerning the incidents which 1 The aorist (v. 19) should be contrasted ' See Acts xxi. 1-3. with the imperfect used (v. 4) of the continued ' See p. 113. Compare p. 49. discussions at Corinth. ' Acts xxi. &c. ^ Acts xviii. 21. See above. ^ Tac. Ann. xiv. 54, and Joscphus. 3 " If God will." See James iv. 15. "If 'See pp. 26 and 51. the Lord will, we shall live," &c. i" See the remarks, pp. 78, 79. • Acts xxi. 1, xxvii. 7. n "When he had gone up," Acts xviii 2< 370 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap. xn. occurred there: — no meetings with other Apostles, — no controversies on disputed points of doctrine, — are recorded or inferred. We are not even sure that St. Paul arrived in time for the festival at wliich he de- sired to bo present.' Tiie contrary seems rather to be implied ; for he is said simply to have " sainted the Cliurch," and then to have proceeded to Antioch. It is useless to attempt to draw aside the veil which con- ceals the particulars of this visit of Paul of Tarsus to the city of liis forefathers. As if it were no longer intended that we should view the Church in connection with the centre of Judaism, our thoughts are turned immediately to that other city,^ whci-e the name " Christian " was lirst conferred on it. From Jerusalem to Antioch it is likely that the journey was accom- plished by land. It is the last time we shall have occasion to mention a road which was often traversed, at different seasons of the year, by St. Paul and his companions. Two of the journeys along this Phoenician coast have been long ago mentioned. Many years had intervened since the charitable mission wliich brought relief from Syria to the j)Oor in Judaja (Ch. IV.), and since the meeting of the council at Jerusalem, and the joyful return at a time of anxious controversy (Ch. VII.) . When we allude to these previous visits to the Holy City, we feel how widely the Cliurch of Christ had been extended in tlie space of very few years. The course of our narrative is rapidly carrying us from the East towards the West. We are now for the last time on this part of the Asiatic shore. For a moment the associations which surround us are all of the primeval past. The monuments which still remain along this coast remind us of the ancient Phoenician power, and of Baal and Ashtaroth,^ — or of the Assyrian conquerors, who came from tiie Eu- phrates to the West, and have left forms like those in the palaces of Nineveli sculptured on the rocks of tlie Mediterranean,* — rather than of any thing connected with the history of Greece and Rome. The moun- tains wliicli rise above our iieads belong to the characteristic imagery of the Old Testament ; the cedars arc those of the forests wliich were hewn by tlie workmen of Hiram and Solomon ; the torrents which cross tlie roads are the waters fi'om " the sides of Lebanon."' * But we are taking 22. Some commentators think that St. Paul voyage (Acts xx., xxi.), tliat he could not did not go to Jerusalem at all, but that this have arrived in time for the festival, had not participle merely denotes his going up from the weather Iwcn peculiarly favorable. the ship into the town of Coesarea : but, inde- - Acts xviii. 22. pcndcntly of his intention to visit Jerusalem, ' The ruins of Tortosa and Aradus. it is hardly likily that such a circumstance ' Tlie sculptures of Assyrian figures on would have becu specified in a narrative so the coast road near Bcyrout are noticed in the briefly given. works of many travellers. We shall see, in the case of the later ' These torrents are often flooded, so as to THE CENTEB OF THE CHtJECH. 371 our last view of tliis scenery ; and, as we leave it, we feel that we are passing from the Jewish infancy of the Christian Church to its wider expansion among the Heathen. Once before we had occasion to rcmaric that the Church had no longer now its central point in Jerusalem, but in Antioch, a city of tlic Gen- tiles.' The progress of events now carries iis still more remotely from the land which was first visited by the tidings of salvation. The woi'ld tlirough which our narrative takes us begins to be European rather than Asiatic. So fur as we know, the present visit wliicli St. Paul paid to Antioch was his last.- We have already seen iiow new centres of Chris- tian life had been established by him in the Greek cities of tlie .^gean. The course of the Gospel is farther and farther towards tiic West ; and the inspired part of the Apostle's biography, after a short period of deep interest in Judaea, finally centres in Rome. Ck>ln of Corinth.' be extremely dangcror.s ; so that St. Paul may have encountered " perils of rivers " in this district, llaiindrell says that the traveller Spor lost his life in one of these torrents. 1 Pp. 101, 102. 2 Antioch is not mentioned after xviii. 22. ' From the British Museum. that of Julius Cssar himself. CHAPTER XIII. The Spiritual Gifts, Constitution, Ordinances, Diyisions, and Here-ies of the Primitive Chnich in the Lifetime of St. Paul. WE are now arrived at a point in St. Paul's history when it seems needful for the full imderstanding of the remainder of his career, and especially of his Epistles, to give some description of the internal condition of those churclies which looked to him as their father in the faith. Nearly all of these had now been founded, and, regarding the early development of several of them, we have considerable information from his letters and from other sources. This information we shall now endeavor to bring into one general view ; and iu so doing (since the Pauline Churches were only particular portions of the universal Cliurch), ■we shall necessarily have to consider the distinctive peculiarities and internal condition of the primitive Church generally, as it existed in the time of the Apostles. The feature which most immediately forces itself upon our notice, as distinctive of the Church in the Apostolic age, is its possession of super- natural gifts. Concerning these, our whole information must be derived from Scripture, because they appear to have vanished with the disap- pearance of the Apostles themselves, and there is no authentic account of their existence in the Church in any writings of a later date than the books of the New Testament. This fact gives a more remarkable and impressive character to the frequent mention of them in the writings of the Apostles, where the exorcise of such gifts is spoken of as a matter of ordinary occurrence. Indeed, this is so much the case, that these miracu- lous powers are not even mentioned by the Apostolic writers as a class apart (as we should now consider them), but are joined in the same classification with other gifts, which we are wont to term natural endow- ments or " talents." * Thus St. Paul tells us (1 Cor. xii. 11) that all 1 The two great classifications of them in Class 3. ( (yj 1 kinds of tongues. St. Paul's writings are as follows : — '» o"""'""- Uri) interpretation of tongues. n. (1 Cor. xii. 28.) I. (1 Cor. xii. 8.) 1. apostles. (ai ) Me word of wisdom. 2. prophets. See (/Jj ). (Oj) the word of knowledge. 3. teachers; including (qj) and (oj) perhaps. { 13 1) faith. i. miracles. See ((3 2} . W2) 9(0^ of healing. f (1 ) gifis of heating. See (/?j). {13 ^)'u-orking of miracles. J (21 helps. (j3 .) prophecy- 5. ) (31 governments. {13.) discerning oftpirii*. I (4) diversities cftongutt, See (y^). 872 CHAP.xm. SPIEITUAL GIFTS. 3/3 these charisms, or spiritual gifts, were wrought by one and the same Spirit, who distributed them to each severally according to Hib own will ; and among these he classes the gift of Healing, and the gift of Tongues, as foiling under the same category with the talent for administrative use- fulness, and the faculty of Government. But though we learn from this to refer the ordinary natural endowments of men, not less than the super- natural powers bestowed in the Apostolic age, to a divine source, yet, since we are treating of that which gave a distinctive character to the Apostolic Church, it is desirable that we should make a division between the two classes of gifts, the extraordinary and the ordinary ; although this division was not made by the Apostles at the time when both kinds of gifts were in ordinary exercise. The most striking manifestation of divine interposition was the power of working what are commonly called Miracles, that is, changes in the usual operation of the laws of nature. This power was exercised by St. Paul himself very frequently (as we know from the narrative in the Acts), as well as by the other Apostles; and in the Epistles we find repeated allusions to its exercise by ordinary Christians.' As examples of the operation of this power, we need only refer to St. Paul's raising Eutychus from the dead, his striking Elymas with blindness, his healing the sick at Ephesus,- and his curing the father of Publius at Melita.^ The last-mentioned examples are instances of the exercise of the gift of healing, which was a peculiar branch of the gift of miracles, and sometimes apparently possessed by those who had not the higher gift. The source of all these miraculous powers was the charism o^ faith; namely, that peculiar kind of wonder-working faith spoken of in Matt. xvii. 20, 1 Cor. xii. 9, and xiii. 2, which consisted in an intense belief that all obstacles would vanish before the power given. This nmst of course be distinguished from that disposition of faith which is essential to the Christian life. It may be remarked, that the following divis- charisms themselves : they are alluded to only ions are in I., and not in II.; viz. /3i, /Sj, and as things well known to the Corinthians, and 72 : Qj and aj, though not explicitly in II., of course without any precise description of yet are probably included in it as necessary their nature. gifts for " apostles," and perhaps also for In Rom. xii. 6-8, another unsystematic " teachers," as Neander supposes. enumeration of four charisms is given ; viz. It isdiflScult to observe any principle which (1) prophecy, (2) ministry, (3) teaching, (4) ra- runs through these classifications ; probably I. hortation. was not meant as a systematic classification at ^ Gal. iii. 5 (where observe the present all ; II., however, certainly was in some meas- tense) is one of many examples, ure, because St. Paul uses the words "^rs(, ^ Acts xix. 11, 12. second, third," Sfc. ° On this latter miracle see the excellent It is very difficult to arrive at any certain remarks in Smith's Vcyaye and Shipwreck of conclusion on the subject, because of our im- iS(. Paw/, p. 115. perfect understanding of the nature of the 374 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CH*p.xin. Wo have remarked that the exercise of these miraculous powers is spoken of both in the Acts and Epistles as a matter of ordinary occur- rence, and in that tone of quiet (and often incidental) allusion in which we mention the facts of oui" daily life. And this is the case, not in a uarrative of events long past (where unintentional exaggeration might be supposed to have crei>t in), but in the narrative of a contemporary, writing immediately after the occurrence of the events which he records, and of which he was an eye-witness ; and yet farther, this phenomenon occurs in letters which speak of those miracles as wrought in the daily sight of the readers addressed. Now the question forced upon every intelligent mind is, whether such a phenomenon can be explained except by the assumption that the miracles did really happen. Is this assump- tion more difficult than that of Hume (which has been revived with an air of novelty by modern infidels), who cuts the knot by assuming that whenever we meet with an account of a miracle, it \s ipso facto to be rejected as incredible, no matter by what weight of evidence it may be supported ? Besides the power of working miracles, other supernatural gifts of a less extraordinary character were bestowed upon the early Churcli. The most important were the ffift of tongues, and the ffift of prophecy. With regard to the former there is much difficulty, from the notices of it in Scripture, in fully comprehending its nature. But from the passages where it is mentioned ' we may gather thus much concerning it : first, that it was not a knotvledffe of foreign languages, as is often supposed ; we never read of its being exercised for the conversion of foreign nations, nor (except on the day of Pentecost alone) for that of individual foreign- ers ; and even on that occasion the foreigners present were all Jewish proselytes, and most of them understood the Hellenistic- dialect. Sec- ondly, we learn that this gift was the result of a sudden influx of super- natural inspiration, which came upon the new believer immediately after his baptism, and recurred afterwards at uncertain intervals. Thirdly, we find that while under its influence the exercise of the understanding was suspended, while the spirit was rapt into a state of ecstasy by the imme- diate communication of the Spirit of God. In this ecstatic trance the believer was constrained by an irresistible ' power to pour forth his k&\- ' Viz. Mark xvi. 17 ; Acts ii. 4, &c., Acts and the Jews from these latter countries woald X. 45, Acts xi. 15-17, Acts xix. 6; 1 Cor. probably understand the Aramaic of Palestine, xii., and 1 Cor. xiv. We must refer to tlie [For a different view of the (]!fl of tongues we notes on these two last-named chapters for may refer to Dr. Wordsworth's note on Acta some furtlier discussion of the diflSculties con- ii. 4. — H.] nected with this gift. ' His spirit was not subject to his will. ^ This must probably have been the case See 1 Cor. xiv. 32. [Some power of self-con- with all the foreigners mentioned, except the trol docs appear distinctly implied in this pas- Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and Arabians, sage and v. 28. —H.] CHAP. xni. THE GIFT OF PKOPHECY. 375 iiigs of tliaiiksgiving and rapture in words ; yet the words which issued from his mouth were not his own ; he was even (usually) ignorant of their meaning. St. Paul desired that those who possessed this gift should not be suffered to exercise it in the congregation, unless some one present possessed another gift (subsidiary to tliis), called the interpretation of tongues, by which the ecstatic utterance of the former might be ren- dered available for general edification. Another gift, also, was needful for the chocking of false pretensions to this and some other charisms, viz. the gift of discerning of spirits, the recipients of which could distinguish between the real and the imaginary possessors of spiritual gifts.' From the ffift of tongues we pass, by a natural transition, to the gift of prophecy? It is needless to remark that, in the Scriptural sense of the term, 3i prophet does not mean a. foreteller of future events, but a revealer of God's will to man; though the latter sense may (and sometimes does) include the former. So the gift of prophecy was that charism which enabled its possessors to utter, with the authority of inspiration, divine strains of warning, exhortation, encouragement, or rebuke ; and to teach and enfoi-ce the truths of Cliristianity with supernatural energy and effect. The wide diffusion among the members of the Church of this prophetical inspiration was a circumstance which is mentioned by St. Peter as distinctive of the Gospel dispensation ; ' in fact, we find that in the family of Pliilip the Evangelist alone,* there were four daughters who exercised tliis gift ; and the general possession of it is in like manner implied by tlie directions of St. Paul to the Corinthians.^ The latter Apostle describes the marvellous effect of the inspired addresses tlius spoken.^ He looks upon the gift of prophecy as one of the great instru- ments for the conversion of unbelievers, and far more serviceable in this respect than the gift of tongues, although by some of the new c.oaverts it was not so highly esteemed, because it seemed less strange and won- derful. Thus far we have mentioned the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit which were vouchsafed to the Church of that age alone ; yet (as we have before said) there was no strong line of division, no " great gulf fixed " between tlicse, and what we now should call the ordinary gifts, or natural endow- ments of tlie Christian converts. Thus the gift of prophecy cannot easily be separated by any accurate demarcation from another charism oftea mentioned in Scripture, which we should now consider an ordinary talent, ' This latter charism seems to have been suflScIent to refer to such passages as Acts xi. requisite for the presbyters. See 1 Thess. v. 27,28. * Acts ii. 17, 18. 21. ' Actsxxi. 9. '^ If it be asked why we class this as among ' 1 Cor. xi. 4, and 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 31, 34. the supernatural or extraordhiary gifts, it will be ° 1 Cor. xiv. 25. 376 THE LIFE A^^D EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chju". xm. namely, the gift of teaching. The distinction between tliem apjiears to have been that the latter was more habitually and constantly exercised by its possessors than the former : we are not to suppose, however, that it was necessarily given to different pei-sons ; on the contrary, an excess of divine inspiration might at any moment cause the teacher to speak as a ■prophet; and this was constantly exemplified in the case of the Apostles, wiio exercised the gift of prophecy for the conversion of their unbeliev- ing hearers, and the gift of teaching for the building-up of their converts in the faith. Other gifts specially mentioned as charisras are the gift of government and the gift of ministration. ^ By the former, certain persons were spe- cially fitted to preside over the Church and regulate its internal order ; by the latter its possessors were enabled to minister to the wants of their brethren to manage the distribution of relief among the poorer members of the Church, to tend the sick, and carry out other practical works of piety. The mention of these latter charisms leads us naturally to consider the offices which at that time existed in the Church, to which the possessors of these gifts were severally called, according as the endowment which they had received fitted them to discharge the duties of the respective functions. We will endeavor, therefore, to give an outline of the cou- stitution and government of the primitive Christian churches, as it existed in the time of the Apostles, so far as we can ascertain it from the informa- tion supplied to us in the New Testament. Amongst the several classifications which are there given of church officers, the most important (from its relation to subsequent ecclesiastical history) is that by which they are divided into Apostles,^ Presbyters, and 1 The "charism" of "ministry" or of 16 times in Corinthians; — 14 times of St. " help." Paul or the Twelve, twice in etymological 2 "Apostles and Presbyters" are men- sense, yiz. 2 Cor. viii. 23, and xi. 13. tioned Acts xv. 2, and elsewhere ; and the 3 times in Gal. ; — of St. Paul and the two classes of "Presbyters and Deacons" Twelre. arc mentioned Phil. i. 1. See p. 378, n. 2. 4 times in Ephcs. ; — of St. Piiul and the The following are the facts concerning the use Twelve, of the word unooro^Mc in the New Testament. once in Philip. ; — etymologic.il sense. It occurs — once in Thess. ; — of St. Paul, once in St. Matthew ; — of the Twelve. 4 times in Timothy ; — of St. Paul, once in St. Mark ; — of the Twelve. once in Titus ; — of St. Paul. 6 times in St. Luke ; — 5 times of the Twelve, once in Hebrews ( iii. 1 ) ; — of Christ Himself. once in its general etymological sense. 3 times in Peter; — of the Twelve, once in St. John ; — in its general etymologi- once in Jude ; — of the Twelve. cal sense. 3 times in Apocalypse; — either of "falsa 30 times in Acts ; — (always in plural) 28 apostles " or of the Twelve. times of the Twelve, and twice of Paul Besides this, the word aTroaroXj; is used to and Barnabas. signify the Apostolic office, once in Acts and 3 times in Romans; — twice of St. Paul, three times by St. Paul (who attributes it 1o once of Andronicus. himself). CHAP.xm. CONSTITUTION OP THE PEUHTIVE CHURCH. 377 Deacons. The monarchical, or (as it would be now called) the episcopal element of church government was, in this first period, supplied by the authority of the Apostles. This title was probably at first confined to " the Twelve," who were immediately nominated to their office (with the excep- tion of Mattliias) by our Lord himself. To this body the title was limited by the Judaizing section of the Church ; but St. Paul vindicated his own claim to the Apostolic name and authority as resting upon the same com- mission given him by the same Lord ; and his companion, St. Luke, applies the name to Barnabas also. In a lower sense, the term was applied to all the more eminent Christian teachers ; as, for example, to Andronicus and Junias.' And it was also sometimes used in its simple etymological sense of emissary, which had not yet been lost in its other and more technical meaning. Still those only were called emphatically the Apostles wlio had received their commission from Christ himself, including the eleven who had been chosen by Him while on earth, with St. Matthias and St. Paul, who had been selected for the office by their Lord (though in different ways) after His ascension. Li saying that the Apostles embodied that element in church govern- ment, which has since been represented by episcopacy, we must not, however, be understood to mean that the power of the Apostles was sub- ject to those limitations to which the authority of bishops has always been subjected. The primitive bishop was surrounded by his council of presbyters, and took no important step without tlieir sanction ; but tliis was far from being tlie case with the Apostles. They were appointed by Clirist himself, with absolute power to govern His Church ; to them He had given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, with authority to admit or to exclude ; they were also guided by His perpetual inspiration, so that all their moral and religious teaching was absolutely and infallibly true ; they were empowered by their solemn denunciations of evil, and their in- spired judgments on all moral questions, to bind and to loose, to remit and to retain the sins of men.^ Tiiis was the essential peculiarity of their office, which can find no parallel in the after-history of tlie Church. But, so far as their function was to govern, they represented the monarchical ele- ment in the constitution of the early Church, and their power was a full counterpoise to that democratic tendency which has sometimes been attributed to the ecclesiastical arrangements of the Apostolic period. Another peculiarity which distinguishes them from all subsequent rulers of the Church is, that they were not limited to a sphere of action defined 1 Rora. xvi. 7. now, bat it is in quite a secondary sense; viz. 2 No doubt, in a certain sense, tbis power is only so for as it is exercised in exact tccord- sbared (according to the teacbing of our ance with the inspired teaching of th« Ordination Service) by Christian ministers Apostles. 378 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.xui. by geograpliical boundaries : the whole world was their diocese, and they bore the Glad tidings, east or west, north or south, as tlie Holy Spirit miglit direct their course at the time, and governed the churches whicli they founded wherever they miglit be placed. Moreover, those charisms which were possessed by other Chrstians singly and severally, were collec- tively given to the Apostles, because all were needed for their work. The gift of miracles was bestowed upon them in abundant measure, that thej might strike terror into the adversaries of the truth, and win, by outward wonders, the attention of thousands, whose minds were closed by igno- rance against the inward and the spiritual. They had the gift of jyropheaj as the very characteristic of their oSice, for it was their especial commis- sion to reveal the truth of God to man ; they were consoled in the midst of their labors by heavenly visions, and rapt in supernatural ecstasies, in which they " spake in tongues''^ " to God, and not to man." ' They had the "gift of government," for that which came upon them daily was " the care of all the Churches ; " the '''■gift of teaching" for they must build up their converts in the faith; even the '■'■gift of ministration'" yjus not unneedcd by them, nor did they think it beneath them to undertake the humblest offices of a deacon for the good of the Church. When need- ful, they could " serve tables," and collect arms, and work with their own hands at mechanical trades, " that so laboring they might support tliG weak ; " inasmuch as they were the servants of Him who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Of the offices concerned with Church government, the next in rank to that of the Apostles was the office of Overseers or Elders, more usually known (by their Greek designations) as Bishops or Presbyters. These terms are used in the New Testament as equivalent,^ the former {tTc/a/.onoi) denoting (as its meaning of overseer implies) the duties, the latter (^TtQca^vzsQog') the rank, of the office. The history of the Church leaves us no room for doubt that on the death of the Apostles, or perhaps at an eai-lier period (and, in either case, by their directions), one amongst the Presbyters of each Church was selected to preside over the rest, and to hina was applied emphatically the title of the bishop or overseer, which had previously belonged equally to all ; thus he became in reality (what ho was sometimes called) the successor of the Apostles, as exercising (though in a lower degree) that function of government which had formerly belonged to them.' But in speaking of this change we arc anticipating : 1 Sec note on 1 Cor. xiv. 18. Also see (Acts xx. 17). See also the Pastoral F.pistlea, 2 Cor. xii. 12. passim. " Thus, in the address at Miletus, the same ' Baron Bunscn (whom no one ean suspect persons are called imcKdiTm; (Acts xx. 28) of hierarchal tendencies) expressed his cpn- who had just before been named irpeo^urtpowf currence in this view. Ho says: " St. John CHAP.xm. CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHUKCH. 379 for at the time of which we are now writing, at the fouudaliou cif the Gentile Cluirches, the Apostles themselves were the chief governors of the Church, and the presbyters of each particular society were co-ordi- nate with one another. We find that they existed at an early period iu Jerusalem, and likewise that they were appointed by the Apostles upon the first formation of a church in every city. The same nr,, of called "the evangelist" (Acts xxi. 8). In the official diaconate in the Church. — B., fact, the office of " the seven " was one of CBAP.xm. CONSTITUTION OP THE PRIMITIVE CHT7KCH. 381 their existence is the epithet attached to the name of Phoebe,' which may be otherwise understood. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the almost Oriental seclusion in which the Greek women were kept would render the institution of such an office not unnatural in the churches of Greece, as well as in those of the East. Besides the three orders of Apostles, Presbyters, and Deacons, we find another classification of the ministry of the Church in the Epistle to the Ephesians,* where they are divided under four heads, viz.,^ 1st, Apostles; 2dly, Prophets ; 3dly, Evangelists ; 4thly, Pastors and Teachers. By the fourth class we must understand * the Presbyters to be denoted, and we then have two other names interpolated between these and the Apostles ; viz. Prophets and Evangelists. By the former we must under- stand those on whom the gift of prophecy was bestowed in such abundant measure as to constitute their peculiar characteristic, and whose work it was to impart constantly to their brethren the revelations wliich they received from the Holy Spirit. The term Evangelist is applied to those missionaries, who, like Philip,^ and Timothy,'' travelled from place to place, to bear the Glad-tidings of Christ to unbelieving nations or individ- uals. Hence it follows that the Apostles wei-e all Evangelists, although there were also Evangelists who were not Apostles. It is needless to add that our modern use of the word Evangelist (as meaning writer of a Gospel) is of later date, and has no place here. All these classes of Church-officers were maintained (so far as they re- quired it) by the contributions of those in whose service they labored. St. Paul lays down, in the strongest manner, their right to such main- tenance ; ' yet, at the same time, we find that he very rarely accepted the offerings, which, in the exercise of this right, he might himself have claimed. He preferred to labor with his own hands for his own support, that he might put his disinterested motives beyond the possibility of suspicion ; and he advises the presbyters of the Ephesian Church to follow his example in this respect, that so they might be able to contribute, by their own exertions, to the support of the helpless. The mode of appointment to these different offices varied witli the nature of the office. The Apostles, as we have seen, received their com- mission directly from Christ himself; the Prophets were appointed by 1 Rom. xvi. 1. See p. 379, n. 7. It a different view is held of the Scriptural Bhoald be observed, howerer, that the "wid- authority for a female diaeonate. — u.] ows " mentioned 1 Tim. T. 9 were practically ^ Eph. iv. 11. Deaconesses, although they do not seem, at 'A similar classification occurs 1 Cor. xii. the time of the Pastoral Epistles, to have been 28 ; viz., 1st, Apostles; 2dly, Prophets; 3dly, called by that name. [For a general discus- Teachers. * See above, p. 379, n. 6. sion of this subject, see the Quarterly Seview ' ^ Acts xxi. 8. '2 Tim. iv. 5, for October, 1860, especially pp. 357, 358, where ' 1 Cor. ix. 7-14. 382 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUI,. chap. xm. that inspiration which they received from the Holy Spirit, yet tlieir claims would be subjected to the judgment of those who had received tiie gift of discernment of spirits. The Evangelists were sent on particular missions from time to time, by the Christians with whom they lived (but not with- out a special revelation of the Holy Spirit's will to that effect), as the Church of Antioch scut away Paul and Barnabas to evangelize Cyprus. The Presbyters and Deacons were appointed by the Apostles themselves (as at Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia),' or by their deputies, as ill the case of Timothy and Titus ; yet, in all such instances, it is not improbable that the concurrence of the whole body of the Church was obtained ; and it is possible that in other cases, as well as in the appoint- ment of the seven Hellenists, the officers of the Church may have been elected by the Church which they were to serve. In all cases, so far as we may infer from the recorded instances in the Acts, those who were selected for the performance of Church offices were solemnly sot apart for the duties to which they devoted themselves. This ordination they received, whether the office to which they were called was permanent or temporary. The Churcli, of which they were members, de- voted a preparatory season to " fasting and prayer ; " and then those who were to be set apart were consecrated to their work by tliat solemn and touching symbolical act, the laying-on of hands, which has been ever since appropriated to the same purpose and meaning. And thus, in answer to the faith and prayers of the Church, the spiritual gifts neces- sary for the performance of the office were bestowed ^ by Him who is " the Lord and Giver of Life." Having thus briefly attempted to describe the Offices of the Apostolic Church, we pass to the consideration of its Ordinances. Of these, the chief were, of course, those two sacraments ordained by Christ Himself, which have been the heritage of the Universal Church throughout all succeeding ages. The sacrament of Baptism was regarded as the door of entrance into the Christian Church, and was held to be so indispen- sable tiiat it could not be omitted even in the case of St. Paul. We have seen that although he had been called to the apostleship by the direct intervention of Christ Himself, yet he was commanded to receive baptism at the hands of a simple disciple. Li ordinary cases, the sole condition required for baptism was, that the persons to be baptized should acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah,' " declared to be the Son of 1 Acts xiv. 21-23. pear as if only applicable to Jews or Jewish 2 Compare 2 Tim. i. 6. " The gift of God proselytes, who already were looking for a which is in thee by the pntting-on of my Messiah ; yet, since the acknowledgment of hands." Jesus as the Messiah involves in itself, when " This condition would (at first sight) ap- rightly understood, the whole of Christianity, CHAp.rra. ORDIMAIJCES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH. 383 God with power, by His resiirrection from the dead." In this acknowl- edgment was virtually involved the readiness of the new converts to submit to the guidance of those whom Christ had appointed as the Apostles and teachers of His Church ; and we find ' that they were subsequently instructed in the truths of Christianity, and were taught the true spiritual meaning of those ancient prophecies, which (if Jews) they had hitherto interpreted of a human conqueror and an earthly kingdom. This instruction, however, took place after baptism, not before it ; and herein wo remark a great and striking difference from the subsequent usage of the Church. For, not long after the time of the Apostles, the primitive practice in this respect was completely reversed ; in all cases the convert was subjected to a long course of preliminary instruction before he was admitted to baptism, and in some instances the catechumen remained unbaptized till the hour of death ; for thus he thought to escape the strictness of a Christian life, and fancied that a death-bed baptism would operate magically upon his spiritual condition, and insure Iiis salvation. The Apostolic practice of immediate baptism would, liad it been retained, have guarded the Church from so baneful a superstition. It has been questioned whether the Apostles baptized adults only, or whether they admitted infants also into the Church ; yet we cannot but think it probable that infant baptism- was tiieir practice. This appeai-s, not merely because (had it been otherwise) we must have fotuid some traces of the first introduction of infant baptism afterwards, but also it was a sufficient foundation for the faith of opposite view. Yet the arguments on wliich Gentiles also. In the case both of Jews and he ground." his opinion, hoth in the Planting Gentiles, the thing required, in the first in- and Lmdihij and in the Church Histon/, seem stance, was a belief in the testimony of the plainly inconclusive. lie himself acknowl- Apostlcs, that " this Jesus had God raised up," edges that the principles laid down by St. and thus had " made that same Jesus, whom Paul (1 Cor. vii. 14) contain a justification of they had crucified, both Lord and Christ." infant baptism, and ho admits that it was The most important passages, as hearing on practised in the time of Ircnaius. His ihief this subject, arc the baptism and coufirmation reason against thinking it an Apostolical of the Samaritan converts (Acts viii.), tife practice {Church Hislor;/, sect. 3) is, that of the baptism of the Ethiopian Tcrtullian opposed it ; but Tcrtuliian docs not eunuch (Acts viii.), of Cornelius (Acts x.), of pretend to call it an innovation. It is necd- thc Philippian jailer (Acts xvi.) (the only less here to do more than refer to the well- case where the baptism of a non-proselyted known passages of Origen which prove that Heathen is recorded), of John's disciples at infant baptism prevailed in the churcli of Ephesus (Acts xi.x.), and the statement in Alexandria as early as the close of the second Rom. X. 9, 10. century. Surely if infant baptism had not 1 This appears from such passages as Gal. been sanctioned by the Apostles, wo should vi. 6 ; 1 Thess. v. 1 2 ; Acts xx. 20, 28, and have found some one at least among the many many others. olmrchcs of primitive Christendom resisting ^ It is at first startling to find Neander, its introduction, ivitb his great learning and candor, taking an 384 THE LITE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAtTL. chap. xm. because the very idea of the Apostolic baptism, as the entrance into Christ's hingdom, implies that it could not hare been refused to infants without violating the command of Christ : " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Again, St. Paul expressly says that the children of a Christian parent were to be looked upon as consecrated to God («;'(ot) by virtue of their very birth ; ' and it would have been most inconsistent with this view, as well as with tlie practice in the case of adults, to delay the reception of infants into the Church till they had been fully instructed in Christian doctrine. We kuow from the Gospels - that the new converts were baptized " in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And after the performance ' of the sacrament, an outward sign was given that God was indeed present with His Church, through the mediation of The Son, in the person of The Spirit ; for the baptized converts, when the Apostles had laid their hands on them, received some spiritual gift, either the power of working miracles, or of speaking in tongues, be- stowed upon each of them by Him who " divideth to every man severally as He will." It is needless to add that baptism was (unless in exceptional cases) administered by immersion, the convert being plunged beneath the surface of the water to represent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from this momentary burial to repre- sent his resurrection to the life of righteousness. It must be a subject of regret that the general discontinuance of this original form of baptism (though perhaps necessary in our northern climates) has rendered obscure to popular apprehension some very important passages of Scripture. With regard to the other sacrament, we know both from the Acts and the Epistles how constantly the Apostolic Church obeyed their Lord's command : " Do this in remembrance of me." Indeed it would seem that originally their common meals were ended, as that memorable feast at Emmaus had been, by its celebration ; so that, as at the first to those two disciples, their Lord's presence was daily " made known unto them in the breaking of bread." * Subsequently the Communion was admin- 1 1 Cor. vii. 14. baptism. The answer of St. Paul to the dia- "^ Matt, xxviii. 19. AVe cannot agree with ciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus (Acts Neander (Planting and Leading, I. 25, and xix. 3), is a strong argument that the name of 188) that the evidence of this positive com- the Holy Gliost occurred in the baptismal for- mand is at all impaired by our finding baptism mula then employed. described in the Acts and Epistles as baptism ° The case of Cornelius, in which the gifts into the name of Jesus ; tlie latter seems a con- of the Holy Spirit were bestowed lefore bnp- denscd expression which wonid naturally be tism, was an e.\eeption to the ordinaiy rule, employed, just as we now speak of Christian * Lake xxiv. 35. CHAP.xin. OEDINANCES OF THE PKIMITIVE CHUECH. 385 istcred at the close of the public feasts of love (^Agapce^} at which the Christians met to realize their fellowship one with another, and to par- take together, rich and poor, masters and slaves, on equal terms, of the common meal. But this practice led to abuses, as we see in the case of the Corinthian Church, where the very idea of the ordinance was vio- lated by the providing of different food for the rich and poor, and where some of the former were even guilty of intemperance. Consequently a change was made, and the communion administered before instead of after the meal, and finally separated from it altogether. Tha festivals observed by the Apostolic Church were at first the same with tliose of the Jews ; and the observance of these was continued, especially by the Christians of Jewish birth, for a considerable time. A higher and more spiritual meaning, however, was attached to their cele- bration ; and particularly the Paschal feast was kept, no longer as a shadow of good things to come, but as the commemoration of blessings actually bestowed in the death and resurrection of Christ. Thus we already see the germ of our Easter festival in the exhortation which St. Paul gives to the Corinthians concerning the manner in which they should celebrate the Paschal feast. Nor was it only at this annual feast that they kept in memory the resurrection of their Lord ; every Sunday likewise was a festival in memory of the same event ; the Church never failed to meet for common prayer and praise on that day of the week ; and it very soon acquired the name of the " Lord's Day," which it has since retained. But the meetings of the first converts for public worship were not con- fined to a single day of the week ; they were always frequent, often daily. The Jewish Christians met at first in Jerusalem in some of the courts of the temple, there to join in tlie prayers and hear the teaching of Peter and Jolm. Afterwards the private houses^ of tlie more opulent Christians were thrown open to furnish their brethren with a place of assembly ; and they met for prayer and praise in some " upper chamber," ' with the " door shut for fear of the Jews." The outward form and order of their worship differed very materially from our own, as indeed was necessarily tlie case where so many of the worshippers were under the miraculous influence of the Holy Spirit. Some were filled with prophetic inspiration ; some constrained to pour forth their ecstatic feelings in the exercise of the gift of tongues, " as the Spirit gave them utterance." We see, from St. Paul's directions to the Corinthians, that there was ' Jude 12. This is the custom to which ' See Eora. xyi. 5, and 1 Cor. xvi. 19, and Pliny alludes, when he describes the Chris- Acts xviii. 7. tians meeting to partake of cibus promiscuus et ' " The upper chamber where they wer« innoxius. gathered together." — Acts xx. 8. 0»b THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAtTL. chap, xm, danger even then lest their worship should degenerate into a scene of confusion, from tlie number who wished to take part in the public minis- trations ; and he lays down rules which show that even the exercise of supernatural gifts was to be restrained, if it tended to violate tlie orderly celebration of public worship. He directs that not more than two or tliree should prophesy ui the same assembly ; and that those who liad the gift of tongues should not exercise it, unless some one present had the gift of interpretation, and could explain their utterances to the congrega- tion. He also forbids women (even tliough some of them might be prophetesses) ' to speak in the public assembly ; and desires that they should appear veiled, as became the modesty of their sex. In tlie midst of so much diversity, however, the essential parts of public worshi]) were the same then as now, for we find that prayer was made, and thanksgiving offered up, by those who officiated, and that the congregation signified their assent by a unanimous Amen.^ Psalms also were chanted, doubtless to some of those ancient Hebrew melodies which have been handed down, not improbably, to our own times in the sim- plest form of ecclesiastical music ; and addresses of exhortation or insti'uction were given by those whom the gift of prophecy, or the gift of teaching, had fitted for the task. But whatever were the other acts of devotion in which these assem- blies were employed, it seems probable that the daily worship always con- cluded with the celebration of the Holy Communion.' And as in this tlie members of the Church expressed and realized the closest fellowship, not only witli their risen Lord, but also with each other, so it was cus- tomary to symbolize this latter union by the interchange of the kiss of peace before the sacrament, a practice to which St. Paul frequently alludes.'' It would have been well if the inward love and harmony of the Church liad really coiTcspondcd with the outward manifestation of it in this touching ceremony. But this was not the case, even while the Apostles tliemselves poured out the wine and broke the bread which symbolized the perfect union of the members of Christ's body. The 1 Acts xxi. 9. of the Church. This was certainly the c.nse 2 1 Cor. xiv. 16. in Acts xx. 8 ; a passage which Ncander must " This seems proved by 1 Cor. xi. 20, have overlooked when he says ( Church History, where St. Paul appears to assume that the sect. 3) that the chui'ch service in the time of very object of " coming together in Church " the Apostles was held early in the morning, was " to eat the Lord's Sapper." As the There are obvious reasons why the evening Lord's Supper was originally the conclusion would have been the most proper time for a of the Agape, it was celebrated in the even- service which was to be attended by those ing ; and probably, therefore, evening was the whose d,iy was spent in working with their time, on ordinary occasions, for the meeting hands. * See note on 1 Thcss. v. 20. CBjtp.xni. DIVISIONS IN THE PKIMITIVE CHUKCH. 387 kiss of peace sometimes only veiled the hatred of warring factions. So St. Paul expresses to the Corintliians his grief at hearing that tliere were " divisions among them," which showed themselves when they met together for public worship. The earliest division of the Christian Church into opposing parties was caused by the Judaizing teachers, of whose factious efforts in Jerusalem and elsewhere we have already spoken. Tlieir great object was to turn the newly-converted Christians into Jewish proselytes, who should differ from other Jews only in the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. In their view the natural posterity of Abraham were still as much as ever the theocratic nation, entitled to God's exclusive favor, to which the rest of mankind could only be admitr ted by becoming Jews. Those members of this party who were really sin- cere believers in Christianity, probably expected that the majority of their countrymen, finding their own national privileges thus acknowledged and maintained by the Christians, would on their part more willingly acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah ; and thus they fancied that the Christian Church would gain a larger accession of members than could ever accrue to it from isolated Gentile converts : so that they probably justified their opposition to St. Paul on grounds not only of Jewish but of Christian policy ; for they imagined tliat by his admission of uncir- cumcised Gentiles into the full membership of tlie Cliurch he was repel- ling far more numerous converts of Israelitish birth, who would otherwise have accepted the doctrine of Jestis. This belief (which in itself, and seen from their point of view, in that age, was not unreasonable) might have enabled them to excuse to their consciences, as Christians, the bit- terness of their opposition to the great Christian Apostle. But in consid- ering tliem as a party, we must bear in mind that they felt themselves more Jews than Christians. They acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth as tlie promised Messiah, and so far they were distinguished from the rest of their countrymen ; but the Messiah himself, they thought, was only a " Saviour of His people Israel ; " and they ignored that true meaning of the ancient prophecies, which St. Paul was inspired to reveal to the Universal Clmrcli, teaching us that the " excellent things " which are spoken of the people of God, and the city of God, in the Old Testa- ment, are to be by us interpreted of the " houseliold of faith," and " the heavenly Jerusalem." We have seen that the Judaizers at first insisted upon the observance of the law of Moses, and especially of circumcision, as an absolute requisite for admission into the Church, " saying, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." But after the decision of the " Council of Jerusalem" it was impossible for them to require this con- dition ; they therefore altered their tactics, and as the decrees of the 388 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAITL. CHAP.xm Council seemed to assume that the Jewish Christians would continue to observe the Mosiac Law, tlie Judaizers took advantage of this to insist on the necessity of a separation between those who kept the wliole Law and all others ; they taught that the uncircumcised were in a lower con- dition as to spiritual privileges, and at a greater distance from God ; and that only the circumcised converts were in a state of full acceptance with Him : in short, they kept the Gentile converts who would not submit to circumcision on the same footing as the proselytes of the gate, and treated the circumcised alone as proselytes of righteousness. When we compre- hend all that was involved in this, we can easily understand the energetic opposition with which their teaching was met by St. Paul. It was no mere question of outward observance, no matter of indifference (as it might at first sight appear), whether the Gentile converts were circum- cised or not ; on the contrary, the question at stake was nothing less thau this, whether Christians should be merely a Jewish sect under the bondage of a ceremonial law, and only distinguished from other Jews by believing that Jesus was the Messiah, or whether they should be the Catholic Church of Christ, owing no other allegiance but to him, freed from the bondage of the letter, and bearing the seal of their inheritance no longer in their bodies, but in their hearts. We can understand now the full trutli of his indignant remonstrance, " If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you notliing." And we can understand also the exasperation which his teaching must have produced in those who held the very antithesis of this, namely, that Christianity without circumcision was utterly worth- less. Hence their long and desperate struggle to destroy the influence of St. Paul in every Church which he founded or visited, in Antioch, in Galatia, in Corinth, in Jerusalem, and in Rome. For as he was in truth the great prophet divinely commissioned to reveal the catholicity of the Christian Church, so he appeared to them the great apostate, urged by the worst motives ' to Ijreak down the fence and root up the hedge, which separated the heritage of the Lord from a godless world. We shall not be surprised at their success in creating divisions in the Churches to which they came, when we remember that the nucleus of all those Churches was a body of converted Jews and proselytes. Tlie Ju- daizing emissaries were ready to flatter the prejudices of this influential body ; nor did they abstain (as we know both from tradition and from his own letters) from insinuating the most scandalous charges against their 1 That curious apocryphal book, the Clem- Peter to James. The English reader should enline Recognitions, contains, in a modified consult the Interesting remarKS of Prof. Stan- form, a record of the view taken by the Juda- ley on the Clementines (Stanley's Sermons, iscrs of St. Paul, from the pen of the Judaiz- p. 374, &c.), and also Neander's Church Uistort) Wg p»rty itself, u» ih^ pretended epistle of C'^^erican translation, vol. ii. p. 35, &c ). jHAP.xin. DIVISIONS IN THE PRIMITIVE CHUECH 389 great opponent.' And thus, in every Christian church established by St. Paul, there sprang up, as we shall see, a schismatic party, opposed to his teaching and hostile to his person. This great Judaizing party was of course subdivided into various sec- tions, united in their main object, but distinguished by minor sliades of difference. Thus, we find at Corinth that it compreliended two factions, the one apparently distinguished from the other by a greater degree of violence. The more moderate called themselves the followers of Peter, or rather of Cephas, for they preferred to use his Hebrew name." Tliese dwelt much upon our Lord's special promises to Peter, and tlie necessary inferiority of St. Paul to him who was divinely ordained to be the rock whereon the Church should be built. They insinuated that St. Paul felt doubts about his own Apostolic authority, and did not dare to claim tlie right of maintenance,' which Christ had expressly given to His true Apostles. They also depreciated him as a maintainer of celibacy, and contrasted him in this respect witli the great Pillars of the Church, " the brethren of the Lord and Cephas," who were married.* And no doubt they declaimed against the audacity of a converted persecutor, " bora into tlie Church out of due time," in " withstanding to the face " the chief of the Apostles. A still more violent section called themselves, by a strange misnomer, the party of Christ.' These appear to have laid great stress upon the fact, that Paul had never seen or known our Lord while on earth ; and they claimed for themselves a peculiar connection with Christ, as having either been among the number of His disciples, or at least as being in close connection with the " brethren of the Lord," and especially with James, the head of the Church at Jerusalem. To this subdivision probably belonged the emissaries who professed to come " from James,"' and who created a schism in the Church of Antioch. Connected to a certain extent with the Judaizing party, but yet to be carefully distinguished from it, were those Christians who are known in the New Testament as the " weak brethren." ' These were not a factious or schismatic party ; nay, they were not, properly speaking, a party at all. * We learn from Epiphanins that the Ebi- tion of the "Christ" party (1 Cor. i. 12). onites accused St. Paul of renouncing Juda- As to the views held by some eminent com- ism because he was a rejected candidate for mentators on the passage, it is a question the hand of the High Priest's daughter. See whether they are consistent with 2 Cor. x. 7. 91. Surely St. Paul would never have said, "As ^ The MS. reading is Cephas, not Peter, in those who claim some imaginary communion those passages where the language of the with Christ belong to Christ, so also do I Judaizers is referred to. See note on Gal. i. 18. belong to Christ." » 1 Cor. ix. 4, 6 ; 2 Cor. xi. 9, 10. 6 Qal. ii. 12. * I Cor. ix. 5. 7 Rom. xiv. 1, 2 j Eom. xv. 1 ; 1 Cor. vui ' Such appears the most natural explaiw- 7, ix. 22. SOO THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. cnAP.xiu. They were individual converts of Jewish extraction, whose minds wero not as yet sufiQciently enlightened to comprehend the fulness of " the liberty with which Christ had made them free." Their conscience was sensitive, and filled with scruples, resulting from early habit and old prejudices ; but they did not join in the violence of the Judaizing bigots, and there was even a danger lest they should be led, by the example of their more enlightened brethren, to wound their own conscience, by join- ing in acts which tliey, in their secret hearts, thought wrong. Nothing is more beautiful than the tenderness and sympathy which St. Paul shows towards these weak Christians. While he plainly sets before them their mistalvc, and shows that their prejudices result from ignorance, yet lie has no sterner rebuke for them than to express his confidence in their further enlightenment : " If in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this also unto you." ' So great is his anxiety lest the liberty which they witnessed in others should tempt them to blunt the delicacy of their moral feeling, that he warns his more enlightened converts to abstain from lawful indulgences, lest they cause the weak to stumble. " If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."^ "Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." ' " Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died." ^ These latter warnings wei-e addressed by St. Paul to a party very differ- ent from those of whom we have previously spoken ; a party who called themselves (as we see from his epistle to Corinth) by his own name, and professed to follow his teaching, yet were not always animated by his spirit. There was an obvious danger lest the opponents of the Judaizing section of the Church should themselves imitate one of the errors of their antagonists, by combining as partisans rather than as Christians. St. Paul feels himself necessitated to remind them that the very idea of the Catholic Church excludes all party combinations from its pale, and that adverse factions, ranging themselves under human leaders, involve a contradiction to the Christian name. '' Is Christ divided ? was Paul crucified for you ? or were you baptized into the name of Paul ? " " Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed ? " ' The Pauline party (as they called themselves) appear to have ridiculed the scrupulosity of their less enlightened brethren, and to have felt for them a contempt inconsistent with the spirit of Christian love.* And in 1 Phil. iii. 15. '1 Cor. i. 13, and 1 Cor. iii. 5. '' 1 Cor. viii. 13. ' Rom. xiv. 10. " Why dost thou dcspis« * Gal. T. 13. thy brother? " is a question addressed to thia * Kom. xiT. 15. party. CHAT.iin. DIVISIONS IN THE PEIMITIVE CHUKCH. 391 tlieii- ojiposition to the Judaizers, they showed a bitterness of feeling and violence of action,' too like that of their opponents. Some of them, also, were inclined to exult over the fall of God's ancient people, and to glory in their own position, as though it had been won by superior merit. These are rebuked by St. Paul for their " boasting," and warned against its consequences. " Be not high-minded, but fear ; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee." ^ One sec- tion of this party seems to have united these errors with one still more dangerous to the simplicity of the Christian faith ; they received Chris- tianity more in an intellectual than a moral aspect ; not as a spii-itual religion, so much as a new system of philosophy. This was a phase of error most likely to occur among the disputatious' reasoners who abounded in the great Greek cities; and, accordingly, we find the first trace of its existence at Coi-inth. There it took a peculiar form, in con- sequence of the arrival of Apollos as a Christian teacher, soon after the departure of St. Paul. He was a Jew of Alexandria, and as such had received that Grecian cultivation, and acquired that familiarity with Greek philosophy, which distinguished the more learned Alexandrian Jews. Thus he was able to adapt his teaching to the taste of his philos- ophizing hearers at Corinth far more than St. Paul could do ; and, indeed, the latter had purposely abstained from even attempting this at Corinth.* Accordingly, the School which we have mentioned called themselves the followers of Apollos, and extolled his philosophic views, in opposition to the simple and unlearned simplicity which they ascribed to the style of St. Paul. It is easy to perceive in the temper of this portion of the Church the germ of that rationalizing tendency which afterwards developed itself into the Greek element of Gnosticism. Already, indeed, although that heresy was not yet invented, some of the worst opinions of the worst Gnostics found advocates among those who called themselves Christians ; there was, even now, a party in the Church which defended fornication " on theory, and which denied the resurrection of the dead.* These heresies probably originated with those who (as we have observed) embraced Christianity as a new philosophy ; some of whom attempted, with a perverted ingenuity, to extract from its doctrines a justification of the immoral life to which they were addicted. Thus, St. Paul had taught tliat the law was dead to true Christians ; meaning thereby, that those who were penetrated by the Holy Spirit, and made one with Christ, worked rigliteousness, not in consequence of a law of precepts and penal- 1 See the admonitions addressed to the ' The " disputers of this world," 1 Cor. i. " spiritual" in Gal. v. 13, 14, 26, and Gal. yi. 20. * 1 Cor. ii. I. 1-5. * See 1 Cor. vi. 9-20. 2 Rom. xi. 17-22 • See 1 Cor. xv. 12. 392 THE LITE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. CHAi.im. ties, but through the necessary operation of the spiritual principle within them. For, as the law against theft might be said to be dead to a rich man (because he would feel no temptation to break it), so the whole moral law would be dead to a perfect Christian ; ' hence, to a real Chris- tian, it might iu one seuse be truly said that prohibitions were ahoUshed? But tlie heretics of whom we are speaking took this proposition in a sense the very opposite to that which it really conveyed ; and whereas St. Paul tauglit that prohibitions were abolislied for tlie righteous, they maintained that all things were lawful to the wicked. " Tlio law is dead " ' was their motto, and their practice was what the practice of Antinomians in all ages lias been. " Let us continue in sin, that grace may abound," was tlieir horrible perversion of the Evangelical revelation that God is love. " In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircum- cision."^ " The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." ' " Meat com- mendeth us not to God ; for neitlier if we eat are we the better, nor if wo eat not are we the worse ; " * " the kingdom of God is not meat and drink." ' Such were the words in which St. Paul expressed the great truth, that religion is not a matter of outward ceremonies, but of inward life. But these licrotics caught up the words, and inferred that all out- ward acts were indifferent, and none could be criminal. They advocated the most unrestrained indulgence of the passions, and took f jr their maxim the worst precept of Epicurean atheism, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." It is iii the wealthy and vicious cities of Rome and Corinth that we find these errors first manifesting themselves ; and in the voluptuous atmosphere of the latter it was not unnatural that there shovild be some who would seek in a new religion an excuse for their old vices, and others who would easily be led astray by those " evil communi- cations " whose corrupting influence the Apostle himself mentions as th3 chief source of this miscliief. Tlie Resurrection of the Dead was denied in the same city and by the same ^ party ; nor is it strange that as the sensual Felix trembled when Paul preached to him of the judgment to come, so these profligate cavil- lers shrank from the thought of that tribunal before which account must be given of the things done in the body. Perhaps, also (as some have inferred from St. Paul's refutation of these heretics), they had misuuder 1 This state would be perfectly realized if • Compare 1 Tim. i. 9, — "the Law ia not the renovation of heart were complete ; and it made for a righteous man." is practically realized in proportion as the ' " AH things are lawful unto me," 1 Cor Christian's spiritual union with Christ ap- vi. 12. * Gal. v. 6. proaches its theoretic standard. Perhaps it ^2 Cor. iii. 6. • 1 Cor. viii. 8. was perfectly realized by St. Paul when ha ' Rom. xiv. 17. wrote Gal. ii. 20. « This i» proved by 1 Cor. xT. 35. CHAP. xin. HERESIES IN THE PEIMITIVE CHURCH. 393 stood the Christian doctrine, which teaches us to believe in the resurrec- tion of a spiritual body, as though it had asserted the re-animation of " this vile body " of " flesh and blood," which " cannot inherit the king- dom of God ; " or it is possible that a materialistic philosophy ' led them to maintain that when the body had crumbled away in the grave, or been consumed on the funeral pyre, nothing of the man remained in being. In either case, they probably explained away the doctrine of the Res- urrection as a metaphor, similar to that employed by St. Paul when he says that baptism is the resurrection of the new convert ; ^ thus they would agree with those later heretics (of whom were Hymenseus and Philetus) who taught " that the Resurrection was past already." Hitherto we have spoken of those divisions and heresies which appear to have sprung up in the several Churches founded by St. Paul at the earliest period of their history, almost immediately after their conversion. Beyond this period we are not yet arrived in St. Paul's life ; and from his conversion even to the time of his imprisonment, his conflict was mainly with Jews or Judaizers. But there were other forms of error ■which harassed his declining years; and these we will now eudeavor (although anticipating the course of our biography) shortly to describe, so that it may not be necessary afterwards to revert to tlie subject, and at the same time that particular cases, which will meet us in the Epistles, may be understood in their relation to the general religious aspect of the time. We have seen that, in the earliest epoch of the Church, there were two elements of en-or which had already shown themselves ; namely, the bigoted, exclusive, and superstitious tendency, which was of Jewish origin ; and the pseudo-philosophic, or rationalizing tendency, which was of Grecian birth. In the early period of which we have hitherto spoken, and onwards till the time of St. Paul's imprisoniaent at Rome, the first of these tendencies was the principal source of danger ; but after this, as the Church enlarged itself, and the number of Gentile converts more and more exceeded that of Jewish Christians, the case was altered. The catholicity of the Church became an established fact, and the Judaizers, properly so called, ceased to exist as an influential party anywhere except in Palestine. Yet still, though the Jews were forced to give up their exclusiveness, and to acknowledge the uncircumcised as " fellow-heirs and of the same body," their superstition remained, and became a fruitful source of mischief. On the other hand, tliose who sought for nothing more in Christianity than a new philosophy, were naturally 1 If this were the case, wc must suppose Gnostics, who denied the Resurrection, them to have been of Epicurean tendencies, ^ Col. ii. 12. Compare Rom. vi. 4, •n EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.xiii. (so called) he seems to allude to the same boastful assumptiou, when he speaks of the love of Christ as surpassing " knowledge," in a passage which contains other apparent allusions ' to Gnostic doctrine. Connect- ed with tliis claim to a deeper insight into truth tlian that possessed by the uninitiated, was the manner in which some of these heretics explained away the facts of revelation by an allegorical interpretation. Thus we find that Hymenaeus and Philetus maintained that " the Resurrection was past already." We have seen that a heresy apparently identical with this existed at a very early period in the Church of Corinth, among the free-thinking, or pseudo-philosophical, party there ; and all the Gnostic sects of the second century were united in denying the resurrection of the dead.- Again, we find the Golossian heretics introducing a worship of angels, " intruding into those things which they have not seen : " and so, in the Pastoral Epistles, the " self-styled Gnostics " (1 Tim. vi. 20) are occupied with " endless genealogies," which were probably fanciful myths, concerning the origin and emanation of spiritual beings.' This latter is one of the points in which Jewish superstition was blended with Gentile speculation ; for we find in the Cabala,* or collection of Jewish traditional theology, many fabulous statements concerning such emana- tions. It seems to be a similar superstition which is stigmatized in the Pastoral Epistles as consisting of " profane and old wives' fables ; " ' and, again, of " Jewish fables and commandments of men." * The Gnostics of the second century adopted and systematized this theory of emanations, and it became one of the most peculiar and distinctive features of their heresy. But this was not the only Jewish element in the teaching of these Colossian heretics ; we find also that they made a point of conscience of observing the Jewish Sabbaths '' and festivals, and they are charged with clinging to outward rites (Col. ii. 8, 20), and making distinctions between the lawfulness of different kinds of food. 1 Eph. iii. 19. See Dr. Burton's remarks, evidence that it had been cultivated by the Lectures, pp. 83 and 125. Jewish doctors long before." — P. 298. [See 2 Burton, p. 131. above, Ch. II. p. 55. — H.] » See p. 394, n. 3. According to the ' 1 Tim. iv. 7. Cabala, there were ten Sephirolh, or emana- * Tit. i. 14. tions proceeding from God, which appear to ' This does not prove them, however, to have sugfrested the Gnostic a!ons. Upon this have been Jews, for the superstitious Heathen theory was grafted a system of magic, con- were also in the habit of adopting some of sisting mainly of the use of Scriptural words the rites of Judaism, under the idea of their to produce supernatural effects. producing some magical effect upon them ; as ♦ St. Paul denounces " the tradition of we find from the Roman satirists. Compare men" (Col. ii. 8) as the source of these Horace, Sat. :. 9, 71 ("Hodie tricesima sab- errors ; and the word Cabala means tradition. bata," &c.), and Juv. vi. 542-547. Sec also Dr. Burton says, " The Cabala had certainly some remarks on the Colossian heretics in grown into a system at the time of the de- our introductory remarks on the Epistle to the (traction of Jerusalem; and there Is also Colossiani. CHAP.xm. HERESIES IK THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 397 In their practical results, these heresies which we are considering had a twofold direction. On one side was an ascetic tendency, such as we find at Coiossae, sliowing itself by an arbitrarily invented worsliip of God,' an affectation of self-humiliation and mortification of the flesh. So, in the Pastoral Epistles, we find the prohibition of marriage,^ tlie enforced abstinence from food, and other bodily mortifications, mentioned as characteristics of heresy.' If this asceticism originated from tlie Jewish element which has been mentioned above, it may be compared with the practice of the Essenes,* whose existence shows that such asceticism was not inconsistent with Judaism, although it was contrary to the views of the Judaizing party properly so called. On the other hand, it may liave arisen from that abhorrence of matter, and an.xiety to free tlie soul from the dominion of the body, which distinguished tlie Alexandrian Plato- nists, and which (derived from them) became a characteristic of some of the Gnostic sects. But this asceticism was a weak and comparatively innocent form, in which the practical results of this incipient Gnosticism exhibited them- selves. Its really dangerous manifestation was derived, not from its Jewish, but from its Heathen element. We have seen how tliis sliowed itself from the first at Corinth ; how men sheltered their immoralities under the name of Cliristianity, and even justified them by a perversion of its doctrines. Such teaching could not fail to find a ready audience wherever there wei-e found vicious lives and hardened consciences. Ac- cordingly, it was in the luxurious and corrupt population of Asia Minor,' that this early Gnosticism assumed its worst form of immoral practice defended by Antinomian doctrine. Thus, in the Epistle to tlie Eplicsians, St. Paul warns his readers against the sophistical arguments by which certain false teachers strove to justify the sins of impurity, and to per- suade them that the acts of the body could not contaminate the soul, — " Let no man deceive you with vain words ; for because of these things 1 " Will-worship." — Col. ii. 23. * [See above, Ch. II. p. 32. — n] ^ Which certainly was the reverse of the * Both at Cotosste and in Crete it seenu Judaizing exaltation of marriage. to have been the Jewish form of these heresies 2 St. Paul declares that these errors shall which predominated : at Colosste they took come " in the last days " (2 Tim. iii. 1 ) ; but an ascetic direction ; in Crete, among a sim- St. John says " the last days " were come in pier and more provincial population, the false his time (I John ii. 18) ; and it is implied by teachers seem to have been hypocrites, who St. Paul's words that the evils he denounces encouraged the vices to which their followers were already in action ; just as he had said were addicted, and inoculated them with before to the Thessalonians, " the mystery of foolish superstitions (Tit. i. 14, iii. 9) ; but lawlessness is already working" (2 Thess. we do not find in these Epistles any mention ii. 7), where the peculiar expressions " lawless- of the theoretic Antinomianism which existed ness " and " the lawless one " seem to point to in some of the great cities. the Antinomian character of these heresies. 398 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAXTL. CHAP.xm, cometli the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." ' Hy- men^us and Philetus are the first leaders of this party mentioned by name : we have seen that they agreed with the Corinthian Antinomians in denying the Resurrection, and tliey agreed with them no less in prac- tice than in theory. Of tlie first of them it is expressly said that he' liad " cast away a good conscience," and of both we are told that tliey showed themselves not to belong to Christ, because they had not His seal ; this seal being described as twofold, — " The Lord knoweth them that are His," and " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." ' St. Paul appears to imply that though they boasted their " knowledge of God," yet the Lord had no knowledge of them ; as our Saviour had himself declared that to the claims of such false disciples He would reply," I never knew you ; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." But in the same Epistle where these heresiarchs are condemned, St. Paul intimates tliat their principles were not yet fully developed ; he warns Timothy * that an outburst of immorality and lawlessness must be shortly expected within the Church beyond any thing which had yet been ex- perienced. The same anticipation appears in his farewell address to the Ephesian presbyters, and even at the early period of his Epistles to the Thessalonians; and we see from the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, and from the Apocalypse of St. John, all addressed (it should be remem- 'bored) to the Churches of Asia Minor, that this prophetic warning was soon fulfilled. We find that many Christians used their liberty as a cloak of maliciousness ; ' " promising their hearers liberty, yet themselves the slaves of corruption ; " « " turning the grace of God into lasciviousness ; " ' that they were justly condemned by the surrounding Heathen for their crimes, and even suffered punishment as robbers and murderers.' They were also infamous for the practice of the pretended arts of magic and witchcraft,' which they may have borrowed either from the Jewish sooth- sayers '" and exoi'cisers," or from the Heathen professors of magical arts who so much abounded at the same epoch. Some of them, who are called the followers of Balaam in the Epistles of Peter and Jude, and the Nicolaitans (an equivalent name) in the Apocalypse, taught their follow- ers to indulge in the sensual impurities, and even in the idol-feasts, of the 1 Eph. V. 6. See also the whole of the ' 2 Pet. ii. 19. warnings in Eph. v. The Epistle, though not ' Jude 4. addressed (at any rate not exclusively) to the ' 1 Pet. iv. 15. Ephesians, was probably sent to several other ° Rev. ii. 20. Compare Rev. ix. 21, Rev. cities in Asia Minor. xxi. 8, and Rev. xxii. 15. 2 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. ^^ Compare Juv. VI. 546: " Qualiacnnqua * 2 Tim. ii. 19. voles Juda;i somnia vendunt." [See above * 2 Tim. iii. Ch. V. pp. 132, 133. — n.] * 1 Pet. ii. 16. u Sec Acts xix. 13. CHAP.xm. HERESIES IN THE PEIMIXIVE CHUECH. S99 Heathen.' "We find, moreover, that these false disciples, with their licentiousness in morals, united anarchy in politics, and resistance to law and government. They " walked after the flesh in the lust of unclean- ness, and despised governments." And tlius they gave rise to those charges against Christianity itself, which were made by tlic Heathen writers of the time, whose knowledge of the new religion was naturally taken from those amongst its professors who rendered themselves notori- ous by falling under the judgment of tlie Law. "Wlien thus we contemplate the true character of these divisions and heresies which beset the Apostolic Churcli, we cannot but acknowledge that it needed all those miraculous gifts with which it was endowed, and all tliat inspired wisdom which presided over its organization, to ward ofT dangers which threatened to blight its growth and destroy its very exist- ence. In its earliest infancy, two powerful and venomous foes twined themselves round its very cradle ; but its strength was according to its day ; with a supernatural vigor it rent off the coils of Jewish bigotry and stifled the poisonous breath of Heathen licentiousness ; but the peril was mortal, and the struggle was for life or death. Had the Chm-ch's fate heen subjected to the ordinary laws which regulate the history of eartlily commonwealths, it could scarcely have escaped one of two opposite desti- nies, either of wliich must have equally defeated (if we may so speak) the world's salvation. Either it must have been cramped into a Jewish Beet, according to the wish of the majority of its earliest members, or (having escaped this immediate extinction) it must have added one more to the innumerable schools of Heathen philosophy, subdividing into a hundred branches, whose votaries would some of them have sunk into 1 Such, at least, seems the natural explana- not impute to them sin." And Epiphanius tion of the words in Rev. i>. 20 ; for we can gives the most horrible details of the euor- Ecarcely suppose so strong a condemnation if mitics which they practised. Again, their the offence liad been only eating meat which addiction to magical arts was notorious. And had once formed part of a sacrifice. It is re- their le.idcrs, Basilides and Valentinus, are markable how completely the Gnostics of the accused of acting like the Nicolaitans of the second century resembled these earlier heretics Apocalypse, to avoid persecution. Such ac- in all the points here mentioned. Their im- cusations may, no doubt, be slanders, as far as morality is the subject of constant animadver- those leaders were individually concerned. Bion in the writings of the Fathers, who tell The increased knowledge of them which we us that the calumnies which were east upon have lately derived from the publication of the Christians by the Heathen were caused by Hippolytus's " Refutation of Heresies " leads the vices of the Gnostics. Irenaius asserts us to think of them as bold speculators, but that they said, " as gold deposited in mud does not as bad men. Yet we cannot doubt that not lose its beauty, so they themselves, what- their philosophical speculations degenerated ever may be their outward immorality, can- into the most superstitious theosophy in the not be injured by it, nor lose their spiritual hands of their followers. And the details substance." And so Justin Martyr speaks of furnished by Hippolytus prove that many of lieretics, who said " that though they live sin- the Gnostics fully deserved the charges of ful lives, yet, if thenj know Clod, the lord will immorality conimonly brought against them. 400 THE LITE AST) EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chap. xu. Oriental superstitions, others into Pagan voluptuousness. If we need any proof how narrowly the Church escaped this latter peril, we have only to look at the fearful power of Gnosticism in the succeeding century. And, indeed, tlie more we consider the elements of which every Christian community was originally composed, the more must we wonder how the little flock of the wise and good ' could have successfully resisted the overwhelming contagion of folly and wickedness. In every city the nucleus of the Church consisted of Jews and Jewish proselytes ; on this foundation was superadded a miscellaneous mass of Heathen converts, almost exclusively from the lowest classes, baptized, indeed, into the name of Jesus, but still with all the habits of a life of idolatry and vice cling- ing to them. How was it, then, that such a society could escape the two temptations wliich assailed it just at the time when they were most likely to be fatal ? While as yet the Jewish element preponderated, a fanatical party, commanding almost necessarily the sympathies of the Jewish por- tion of the society, made a zealous and combined effort to reduce Christianity to Judaism, and subordinate the Church to the Synagogue. Over their great opponent, the one Apostle of the Gentiles, they won a temporary triumph, and saw him consigned to prison and to death. How was it that tlie very hour of their victory was the epoch from which we date their failure? Again, — this stage is passed, — the Cluirch is tin-own open to the Gentiles, and crowds flock in, some attracted by wonder at the miracles they see, some by hatred of the government under which they live, and by hopes that they may turn the Church into an organized conspiracy against law and oi'der ; and even the best, as yet unsettled in their faith, and ready to exchange their new belief for a newer, " carried about with every wind of doctrine." At such an epoch, a systematic theory is devised, reconciling the profession of Christianity with the practice of immoi-ality ; its teachers proclaim that Christ has freed them from the law, and that the man who has attained true spiritual enligiitenment is above the obligations of outward morality ; and with this seducing philosophy for the Gentile they readily combine the Caba- listic superstitions of Rabbinical tradition to captivate the Jew. Who could wonder if, when such incendiaries applied their torch to such mate- rials, a flame burst forth which well-nigh consumed the fabric ? Surely that day of trial was " revealed in fire," and the building which was able to abide the flame was nothing less than the temple of God. It is painful to be compelled to acknowledge among the Christians of the Apostolic Age the existence of so many forms of error and sin. It was a pleasing dream which represented the primitive church as a 1 Whom St. Paul calls "perfect" (Phil. iii. 15), t. e. mature in the knowledge of Christian fruth. CHAP.xra. HERESIES IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 401 society of angels ; and it is not without a struggle that we bring our- selves to open our eyes and behold the reality. But yet it is a higher feeling whicli bids us thankfully recognize the truth that " there is no partiality with God ; " ' that He lias never supernaturally coerced any generation of mankind into virtue, nor rendered schism and heresy impossible in any age of the Church. So St. Paul tells his converts^ that tliere must needs be heresies among them, that the good may bo tried and distinguished from the bad ; implying that, without the possi- bility of a choice, there would be no test of faith or holiness. And so our Lord Himself compared His Church to a net cast into the sea, whicli gathered fish of all kinds, both good and bad ; nor was its purity to be attained by the exclusion of evil, till the end should come. There- fore, if we sigh, as well we may, for the realization of an ideal which Scripture paints to us and imagination embodies, but which our eyes seek for and cannot find ; if we look vainly and with earnest longings for the appearance of that glorious Church, " without spot or wrinkle or any such thing," the fitting bride of a heavenly spouse ; — it may calm our impatience to recollect that no such Cliurch has ever existed upon earth, while yet we do not forget that it has existed and does exist in heaven. In the very lifetime of the Apostles, no less than now, " the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the mani- festation of the sons of God ; " miracles did not convert ; inspira- tion did not sanctify ; then, as now, imperfection and evil clung to the members, and clogged the energies of the kingdom of God ; now, as then. Christians are fellow-heirs, and of the same body with the spirits of just men made perfect ; now, as then, the communion of saints unites into one family the Church militant with the Church triumphant. Coin of Corinth.' Actsx 34. the eastern and western harbors of Corinth, 1 Cor. xi. 19. which is sjrmbolized by the female figure on a The figures on the right and left represent rock in the centre. See p- 360. 26 CHAPTER XIV. Dejiartiiro from Antioch. — St. Paul's Companions. — Journey through Phrj-gia and Galatia.— Apollos at Ephesus and Corinth. — Arrival of St. Paul at Ephesus. — Disciples of John th« Baptist. — The Synagogue. — The School of Tyrannus. — Ephesian Magic. — Miracles.— ; The Exorcists. — Burning of the Books. ,! THE next period of St. Paul's life opens with a third journey through ' the interior of Asia Minor.' In the short stay which he had made ' at Ephesus on his return from his second journey, he had promised to come again to that city, if the providence of God should allow it. This promise he was enahled to fulfil, after a hasty visit to the metropolis of the Jewish nation, and a longer sojourn in the first metropolis of the Gentile Church.^ It would lead us into long and useless discussions, if we were to speculate on the time spent at Antioch, and the details of the Apostle's occupation in the scene of his early labors. We have already stated our reasons for believing that the discussions which led to the Council at Jerusalem, toolc place at an earlier period,^ as well as the quarrel between St. Peter and St. Paul concerning the propriety of concession to the Judaizers.' But without knowing the particular form of tlie controver- sies brought before him, or the names of those Cliristian teacliers with whom he conferred, we have seen enough to make us aware that immi- nent dangers from tlie Judaizing party surrounded the Church, and tliat Antioch was a favorable place for meeting the machinations of this party, as well as a convenient starting-point for a journey undertaken to strengthen tliose communities that were likely to be invaded by false teachers from Judsea. It is evident that it was not St. Paul's only object to proceed with all haste to Ephesus : nor indeed is it credible that he could pass through the regions of Cilicia and Lycaonia, Phrygia and Galatia, without remaining to confirm those Churches which he had founded himself, and 1 Acts xviii. 23. ' Neander is inclined to assign the misnn- " lb. 21. See pp. 368, 369. derstanding of the two Apostles to this tima. » See the end of Ch. XII. So Olshausen. See p. 198. * See Appendix I. for the answers to Wie- seler's arguments on this subject. CHAP.xrr. ST. PAUL'S THIRD JOURNEY IN ASIA MINOE. 403 some of which he had visited twice. We are plainly told that his journey was occupied in this work, and the few words which refer to this subject imply a systematic visitation.' He would be the more anxious to estab- lish them in the true principles of the Gospel, in proportion as he was aware of the widely-spreading influence of the Judaizers. Another specific object, not unconnected witli the healing of divisions, was before him during the whole of this missionary journey, — a collection for the relief of the poor Christians in Judjea.^ It had been agreed, at the meet- ing of the Apostolic Council (Gal. ii. 9, 10), that while some should go to the Heathen, and others to the Circumcision, the former should care- fully " remember the poor ; " and this we see St. Paul, on the present journey among the Gentile Churches, " forward to do." We even know the " order which he gave to the Churches of Galatia " (1 Cor. xvi. !,• 2). He directed that each person sliould lay by in store, on the first day of the week, according as God had prospered him, that the collection should be deliberately made, and prepared for an opportunity of being taken to Jerusalem. "We are not able to state either the exact route which St. Paul followed, or the names of the companions by whom he was attended. As regards the latter subject, however, two points may be taken for granted, that Silas ceased to be, and that Timotheus continued to be, an associate of the Apostle. It is most probable that Silas remained behind in Jerusa- lem, whence he had first accompanied Barnabas with the Apostolic letter,' and where, on the first mention of his name, he is stated to have held a leading position in the Church.'' He is not again mentioned in connec- tion with the Apostle of the Gentiles.' The next place in Scripture where liis name occurs is in the letter of the Apostle of the Circumcision (1 Pet. V. 12), which is addressed to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. There, " Silvanus " is spoken of as one not unknown to the persons addressed, but as " a faith- ful brother unto them ; " — by him the letter was sent which " exhorted" the Christians in the north and west of Asia Minor, and " testified that that was the true grace of God wherein they stood;" — and the same disciple is seen, on the last mention of liis name, as on the first, to be co-operating for the welfare of the Church, both with St. Peter and St. Paul." 1 Acts xviii. 23. Notice the phrase "in ' Seep. 198. * Acts xv. 22. order." ' His name is in the salutation in tliB ^ The steady pursuance of this object in Epistles to the Thessalonians, but not in any the whole course of this journey may be subsequent letters. Compare 2 Cor. i. 19. traced through the following passages : 1 Cor. ^ Compare again the account of tlie Coun- xvi. 1-4 ; 2 Cor. viii., ix. ; Rom. xv. 25, 26; cil of Jerusalem and the mission of Silas and Actsxxiv. 17. Barnabas. 404 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAXIL. chap.ht. It may be considered, on the other hand, probable, if not certain, that Timotheus was with tlie Apostle through the whole of this journey. Abundant mention of him is made, both in the Acts and the Epistles, in connection with St. Paul's stay at Ephesus, and Ins subsequent move- ments.' Of the other companions who were undoubtedly with him at Ephesus, we cannot say witli confidence whether tliey attended him from Antioch, or joined him afterwards at some other point. But Erastus (Acts xix. 22) may have remained with him since the time of his first visit to Corinth, and Cains and Aristarchus (Acts xix. 29) since the still earlier period of his journey through Macedonia.'^ Perhaps we have stronger reasons for concluding that Titus, who, though not mentioned in the Acts,^ was certainly of great service in the second missionary journey, travelled with Paul and Timotheus through the earlier part of it. In the frequent mention which is made of him in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he appears as the Apostle's laborious minister, and as a source of his consolation and support, hardly less strikingly than the disciple whom he had taken on the previous journey from Lystra and Iconium.^ Whatever might be the exact route which the Apostle followed from Antioch to Ephesus, he would certainly, as we have said, revisit those Churches which twice ' before had known him as their teacher. He would pass over the Cilician plain on the warm southern shore," and the high table-land of Lycaonia on the other side of the Pass of Taurus.' Ho would see once more his own early home on the banks of the Cydnus ;' and Timothy would be once more in the scenes of his childhood at the base of the Kara-Dagh.^ After leaving Tarsus, the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, possibly also Antioch in Pisidia,'" would be the primary objects in the Apostle's progress. Then we come to Phrygia 1 See Acts xix. 22; 1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10; mcnt.ary; but it has been pnt forth indepen 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Rom. xyi. 21 ; Acts xx. 4. dently, and more fully elaborated by Mr. 2 See Tate, pp. 52, 53. Lightfoot in the Cambridge Journal of Classical ' Wieseler, indeed, identifies him with Jus- and Sacred Philoloijy (June, 1S55). tus, who is mentioned xviii. 7. See Appen- ^ He had been in Lycaonia on the first and dix I. second missionary journeys, in Cilicia on the * If we compare 2 Cor. xii. 18 with 1 Cor. second; but he had previously been there at xvi. 11, 12, it is natural to infer that the least once since his conversion, bearers of the First Epistle (from Ephesus to ' See p. 20, and the allusions to the climate Corinth) were Titus, and some brother, who is in Ch. VI. and Ch. VIII. unnamed, but probably identical with one of ' See again Ch. VI. and Ch. VIII. for Ly- the two brethren sent on the subsequent mission caonia and Mount Taurus. (2 Cor. viii. 16-24), and with the Second * See pp. 21 and 46. Epistle (from Macedonia to Corinth). See ° See Ch. VI. and VIII., with the map on also 2 Cor. viii. 6. This view is advocated by p. 167, and the engraving on p. 226- Prof. Stanley in his recently published Com- >" See p. 232. HAP.xiT. APOLLOS AT EPHESUS. 405 and Galatia, both vague and indeterminate districts, wliicli he had visited once,' and through which, as before, we cannot venture to lay down a route.' Though the visitation of the Churches was systematic, we need not conclude that the same exact course was followed. Since the order in which the two districts are mentioned is different from that in the former instance,' we are at liberty to suppose tliat he travelled first from Lycaonia through Cappadocia* into Galatia, and then by Western Phrygia to the coast of the .^gean. In this last part of his progress we are in still greater doubt as to the route, and one question of interest is involved in our opinion concerning it. The great road from Ephesus by Iconium to the Euphrates passed along the valley of the Maeander, and near the cities of Laodicea, Colossae and Hierapolis ; and we should naturally suppose that the Apostle would approach the capital of Asia along this well-travelled line.' But the arguments are so strong for believing that St. Paul was never personally at Colossae,^ that it is safer to imagine him following some road farther to the north, such as that, for instance, which, after passing near Thyatira, entered the valley of the Hermus at Sardis.' Thus, then, we may conceive the Apostle arrived at that region, where he was formerly in hesitation concerning his future progress,' — the frontier district of Asia and Phrygia,' the mountains which contain the upper waters '" of the Hermus and Maeander. And now our attention is suddenly called away to another preacher of the Gospel, whose name, next to that of the Apostles, is perhaps the most important in the early history of the Church. There came at this time to Ephesus, eitlier directly from Egypt by sea, as Aquila or Priscilla from Corinth, or by 1 Acts xvi. 6. ^ See Ch. Vlll. of Hamilton's travels. See especially cli. viii. ' Compare Acts xvi. 6 with xviii. 23. In -x., xxviii.-xl. ; also li., lii., and especially both cases we should observe that the phrase vol. i. pp. 135, 149. We may observe that, on "region (or country) of Galatia" is used. one of his journeys, nearly in the direction in The Greek in each passage is the same. See which St. Paul was moving, he crossed the what is said on the expression " Churches of mountains from near Afiura Kara Hissar Gal.itia," p. 234. (Synnada) to visit Yalobatch (Antioch in Pisi- * This is Wieseler's view. For the prov- dia). The Apostle might easily do the same, ince of Cappadocia, see p. 214. The district ^ Acts xvi. 6-8. is mentioned Acts ii. 9, and 1 Pet. i. 1. ' See description of this district on p. 239. ' See pp. 232-234. w This part of the table-land of the interior ' From Col. ii. 1 we should naturally infer is what is meant by " the higher districts," that St. Paul had never been personally among Acts xix. 1. It is needless to say that the word the Colossians. Compare Col. i. 4, 7, 8, and " coasts " in the Authorized Version has no our note below on Col. ii. 1. A full discus- reference to the sea. Herodotus uses a similar sion of the subject will be found in Dr. David- expression of this region, i. 177. Even Paley son's Introduction. makes a curious mistake here, fjy taking ' The characteristic scenery of the Maean- "upper" in the sense of "northern." der and Hermus is described in several parts Paul. 1 Cor. No. 5. 406 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OP ST. PAtTL. chap. xrv. some route through the intermediate countries, like that of St. Paul him- self, a " disciple " named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. Tiiis visit occurred at a critical time, and led to grave consequences in reference to the establishment of Christian truth, and the growth of parties in the Church ; while the religious community (if so it may be called) to wliicli he belonged at the time of his arrival, furnishes us with one of the most interesting links between the Gospels and the Acts.' Apollos,- along witli twelve others,' who are soon afterwards mentioned at Epliesus, was acquainted with Christianity only so far as it had been made known by John the Baptist. They " knew only the baptism of John." '' From the great part wliich was acted by the forei-unner of Christ in the first announcement of tlie Gospel, and from the effect pro- duced on the Jewish nation by his appearance, and the number of dis- ciples who came to receive at his hands the baptism of repentance, we sliould expect some traces of his influence to appear in the subsequent period, during which the Gospel was spreading beyond Judtea. Many Jews from other countries received from the Baptist their knowledge of the Messiali, and carried with them this knowledge on their return from Palestine. We read of an heretical sect, at a mucli later period, who held John the Baptist to have been himself the Messiali.* But in a position intermediate between this deluded party, and those who were travelling as teachers of the full and perfect Gospel, there were doubtless many, among the floating Jewish population of the Empire, whose knowledge of Christ extended only to that wliich had been preaclied on the banks of the Jordan. That such persons should be found at Epliesus, the natural meeting-place of all religious sects and opinions, is what we miglit have supposed a priori. Their own connection with Judaea, or the connection of their teachers with Judtea, had been broken before the day of Pente- cost. Tims their Christianity was at the same point at wliich it liad stood at the commencement of our Lord's ministry. They were ignorant of the full meaning of the death of Christ ; possibly they did not oven know the fact of His resurrection ; and tliey were certainly ignorant of the mission of the Comforter.* But they knew that the times of the Messiah •were come, and that one had appeared ' in whom the prophecies were 1 See the excellent remarks of Olshausen ' See Acts xix. 1-7. on the whole narrative concerning Apollos * Acts xviii. 25. Compare xix. 3. and the other disciples of John the Baptist. ^ The Zabeans. So in the Clementine ^ Winer remarlcs that this abbreviated Recognitions are mentioned some " oi John's form of the name Apolloniiis is found in Sozo- disciples, who preached their master as though men. It is, however, very rare ; and it is he were Clirist." worth obseri-ing that among tlie tcrra-eottas '■ Acts xix. 2. discovered at Tarsus (described p. 221, n. 4) is ' Kuinoel thinks they were not even awaro a circular disk which has the name AIIOAAQC of Christ's appearance, inscribed on it in cursive Greek. CHjLP.xiv. AP0LL03 Ar EPHESUS. 407 fulfilled. That voice had reached them, which cried, " Prepare ye the ■way of the Lord " (Is. xl. 3). They felt that the axe was laid to the root of the tree, that " the kingdom of Heaven was at hand," that " the knowledge of salvation was come to those that sit in darkness" (Luke i. 77), and that the children of Israel were everywhere called to " repent." Sucli as were in this religious condition were evidently prepared for the full reception of Christianity, so soon as it was presented to them ; and we see that they were welcomed by St. Paul and the Christians at Ephesus as fellow-disciples ' of the same Lord and Master. In some respects ApoUos was distinguished from the other disciples of John the Baptist, who are alluded to at the same place, and nearly at the same time. There is much significance in the first fact that is stated, (hat he was " born at Alexandria." Something has been said by us already concerning the Jews of Alexandria, and their theological influence in the age of the Apostles.'' In the establishment of a religion which was in- tended to be the complete fulfilment of Judaism, and to be universally supreme in the Gentile world, we should expect Alexandria to bear her part, as well as Jerusalem. The Hellenistic learning fostered by the foundations of the Ptolemies might be made the handmaid of the truth, no less than the older learning of Judaea and the schools of the Hebrews. As regards Apollos, he was not only an Alexandrian Jew by birth, but ho had a higli reputation for an eloquent and forcible power of speaking, and had probably been well trained in the rhetorical schools on the banks of the Nile.' But though he was endued with the eloquence of a Greek orator, the subject of his study and teaching was the Scriptures of his forefathers. Tiie character which he bore in the Synagogues was that of a man " mighty in the Scriptures." In addition to these advantages of birth and education, he seems to have had the most complete and systematic instruction in the Gospel which a discipie of John could possibly receive.* Whether from the Baptist himself, or from some of those who travelled into other lands with his teaching as their possession, Apollos had received full and accurate instruction in the " way of the Lord." We are further told that his character was marked by a fervent zeal ' for spreading the truth. Thus we may conceive of him as travel- ling, like a second Baptist, beyond the frontiers of Judaea, — expounding the prophecies of the Old Testament, announcing that the times of the Messiah were come, and calling the Jews to repentance in the spirit of ' Note the word " disciples," xix. 1. " learned," inasmuch as in the same verso he '^ See pp. 33-36. Also pp.9, 15-17, and is called " mighty in the Scriptures." 103. * Literally, " he was catechetically itt- ' The A. V. is probably correct in ren- structed in the way of the Lord." dering the word " eloquent " rather than ' Acts xviii. 25. 408 THE LIFE AND EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chat. xtr. Elias.' Hence lie was, like his great teacher, diligently " preparing the way of the Lord." ^ Though ignorant of the momentous facts which had succeeded the Resurrection and Ascension, lie was turning the hearts of the " disobedient to the wisdom of the just," and " making ready a peo- ple for the Lord,"' whom he was soon to know "more perfectly." Llimself " a burning and a shining light," he bore witness to " that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into tUe world,"* — as, on tlie other hand, he was a " swift witness " against those Israelites whose lives were unholy, and came among them " to purify the sons of Levi, that they might offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness," ^ and to proclaim that, if they were unfaithful, God was still able " to raise up children unto Abraham." ^ Thus burning with zeal, and confident of the truth of what he had learnt, he spoke out boldly in the Synagogue.'' An intense interest must have been excited about this time concerning the Messiah in the syna- gogue at Ephesus. Paul had recently been there, and departed with the promise of return.* Aqnila and Priscilla, though taking no forward part as public teachers, would diligently keep the subject of the Apostle's instruction before the mind of the Israelites. And now an Alexandrian Jew presented himself among them, bearing testimony to the same Mes- siah with singular eloquence, and with great power in the interpretation of Scripture. Tims an unconscious preparation was made for the arrival of the Apostle, who was even now travelling towards Ephesus through the uplands of Asia Minor. The teaching of Apollos, though eloquent, learned, and zealous, was seriously defective. But God had provided among his listeners those who could instruct him more perfectly. Aquila and Priscilla felt that ho was proclaiming the same truth in which they had been instructed at Corinth. They could inform him that they had met with one who had taught with authority far more concerning Christ than had been known even to John the Baptist ; and they could recount to him the miraculous gifts, which attested the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Thus they attached them- selves closely to Apollos ; ^ and gave him complete instruction in that " way of the Lord," which he had already taught accurately," though ' He was probably able to go further in Christian teaching than John the Baptist could do, by giving an account of the life of Jesus Christ. So far his knowledge was accurate. Further instruction from Aquila and Priscilla made it more accurate. 2 The phrase " w.iy of the Lord " should Vic carefully compared with the passages in the Gospels and Prophets, where it occurs in ref- erence to John the Baptist. Matt. iii. 3; Mark i. 3 ; Luke iii. , 4 ; John i. 23 ; Isa. xl. 3 (LXX.). Compar< 3 Mai. iii. 1 (LXX.). 8 Lukoi. 16, 17. * John T. 35, i. 9. ' Mai. iii. 3-5. 6 Matt. iii. 9. ' Acts xviii. 26. 8 Sec p. 369 • " They took him to themselves," v. 26. i" Compare v. 25 and v. 26. CBAP.xiT. APOLLOS AT COEINTH. 409 imperfectly ; and the learned Alexandrian obtained from the tent-makers a knowledge of that " mystery " which the ancient Scriptures had only partially revealed. This providential meeting with Aquila and Priscilla in Asia became the means of promoting the spread of the Gospel in Achaia. Now that ApoUos was made fully acquainted with the Christian doctrine, his zeal urged him to go where it had been firmly established by an Apostle.' It is possible, too, that some news received from Corinth might lead him to suppose that he could be of active service there in the cause of truth. The Christians of Ephesus encouraged ^ him in this intention, and gave him " letters of commendation " ' to their brethren across the ^gean. On his arrival at Corinth, he threw himself at once among those Jews who had rejected St. Paul, and argued with them publicly and zealously on the ground of their Scriptures,^ and thus' became " a valuable support to those wlio had already believed through the grace of God ; " for he proved with power that that Jesus who had been crucified at Jerusalem, and whom Paul was proclaiming throughout the world, was indeed the Christ.* Thus he watered where Paul had planted, and God gave an abundant increase. (1 Cor. iii. 6.) And yet evil grew up side by side with the good. For while he was a valuable aid to the Christians, and a formidable antagonist to the Jews, and while he was honestly co-ope- rating in Paul's great work of evangelizing the world, he became the occasion of fostering party-spirit among the Corinthians, and was un- willingly held up as a rival of the Apostle himself. In this city of rheto- ricians and sophists, the erudition and eloquent speaking of Apollos were contrasted with the unlearned simplicity with which St. Paul had studi- ously presented the Gospel to his Corinthian hearers.' Thus many attached themselves to the new teacher, and called themselves by the name of Apollos, while others ranged themselves as the party of Paul (1 Cor. i. 12), forgetting that Christ could not be "divided," and that Paul and Apollos were merely " ministers by whom they had believed." (1 Cor. iii. 5.) We have no reason to imagine that Apollos himself 1 Acts xviii. 27. Christians against the Jews, in the contro- ' The exhortation (v. 27) may refer to versies which had doubtless been going on him. At all events, he was encouraged in his since St. Paul's departure. plan. 6 I' Showing by the Scriptures that Jesus * Compare what is said here in v. 27 with was Christ," v. 28. The phrase is much more U Cor. iii. 1 , where the reference is to com- definite than those which are used above mendatory letters addressed to or from the (" the way of the Lord," and "the things of very same Church of Corinth. the Lord," v. 25) of the time when he was * Compare in detail the expressions in v. not fully instructed. S8 with those in vv. 24-26. 7 See the remarks on the Corinth iim parties ' The word " for " should be noticed. His in p. 391. coming was a valuable assistance to the 410 THE LITE Ain> EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL chap.xit encouraged or tolerated such unchristian divisions. A proof of his strong feeling to the contrary, and of his close attachment to St. Paul, is furnished by that letter to the Corinthians, which will soon be brought under our notice,' where, after vehement rebukes of the schismatic spirit prevailing among the Corinthians, it is said, " touching our brother Apol- los," that he was unwilling to return to them at that particular time, tliough St. Paul liimself had " greatly desired it." But now tlie Apostle himself is about to arrive in Ephesus. His resi- dence in this place, like his residence in Antioch and Corinth, is a subject to which our attention is particularly called. Therefore, all the features of the city — its appearance, its history, the character of its population, its political and mercantile relations — possess the utmost interest for us. We shall defer such description to a future chapter, and limit oiu'selves here to what may set before the reader the geographical position of Ephesus, as tlie point in which St. Paul's journey from Antioch termi- nated for the present. We imagined him ^ about the frontier of Asia and Phrygia, on his approach from the interior to the sea. From this region of volcanic mountains, a tract of country extends to tlie ^gean, which is watered by two of the long western rivers, the Hermus and the Mseander, and which is celebrated through an extended period of classical history, and is sacred to us as the scene of the Churches of the Apocalypse.' Near the mouth of one of these rivers is Smyrna ; near that of the other is Miletus. The islands of Cbios and Samos are respectively opposite the projecting portions of coast, where the rivers flow by these cities to the sea.* Between the Hermus and the Meander is a smaller river, named the Cayster, separated from the latter by the ridge of Messogis, and from the former by Mount Tmolus.' Here, in the level valley of the Cayster, is the early cradle of the Asiatic name, — the district of primeval " Asia," — not as understood in its political or ecclesiastical sense, but the Asia of old poetic legend.' And here, in a situation pre-eminent among the excellent positions which tlie lonians chose for their cities, Ephesus was 1 1 Cor. xvi. 12. AVe may just mention and Philadelphia are in that of the Hennas; that a very different view has been taken of Pergamus is farther to the north, on the the character of Apollos and his relation to Caicus. For a description of this district, sea St. Paul, — viz. that he was the chief promo- Arundell's Visit to the Seven Cliurches, and ter of the troubles at Corinth, and that he Fellows's Asta Minor. acted rcbelliously in refusing to return thither ♦ In the account of St. Paul's return we when the Apostle desired him to do so. VTe shall have to take particular notice of thl» hove no doubt, however, that the ordinary coast. He sailed between these islands and view is correct. the mainland, touching at Miletus. Acts xx. 2 Above, p. 405. ^ See p. 461. 8 Rev. i., ii., iii. Laodicca is in the basin • For the early history of the word Asia, of the Moeander ; Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, see pp. 205, 206. CHAP. XIV. ST. PAUL'S VISIT TO EPHEStTS. 411 built, on some hills near the sea. For some time after its foundation by Androclus the Athenian, it was inferior to Miletus ; but with the decay of the latter city, in the Macedonian and Eoman periods, it rose to greater eminence, and in the time of St. Paul it was the greatest city of Asia Minor, as well as the metropolis of the province of Asia. Though Greek in its origin, it was half-Oriental in the prevalent worship and in the character of its inhabitants ; and being constantly visited by ships from all parts of the Mediterranean, and united by great roads with the markets of the interior, it was the common meeting-place of various char- acters and classes of men. Among those whom St. Paul met on his arrival was the small company of Jews above alluded to,' who professed the imperfect Christianity of John the Baptist. By this time, ApoUos had departed to Corinth. Those " disciples " who were now at Ephesus were iu the same religious condition in which he had been when Aquila and Priscilla first spoke to him, though doubtless they were inferior to him both in learning and in zeal.^ St. Paul found, on inquiry, that they had only received John's baptism, and that they were ignorant of the great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, in whicli the life and energy of the Church consisted.* They were even perplexed by his question.* He then pointed out, in conformity with what had been said by John the Baptist himself, that that prophet only preached repentance to prepare men's minds for Christ, who is the true object of faith. On this they received Cliristian baptism ; * and after they were baptized, the laying-on of tlie Apostle's hands resulted, as in all other Churches, in the miraculous gifts of tongues and of prophecy.* After this occurrence has been mentioned as an isolated fact, our atten- tion is called to the great teacher's labors in the Synagogue. Doubtless, Aquila and Priscilla were there. Though they are not mentioned here in connection with St. Paul, we have seen them so lately instructing Apollos (Acts xviii.), and we shall find them so soon again sending salu- tations to Corinth iu tlie Apostle's letter from Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi.),that we cannot but believe he met his old associates, and again experienced the benefit of their aid. It is even probable that he again worked with 1 Above, p. 406. See Acts xix. 1-7. were bsiptizeJ, receive the miraculous gifts 2 It is impossible to know whether these of the Holy Ghost T' The aorist is used men were connected with Apollos. The again in the answer. We should compare whole narrative seems to imply that they were John vii. 39. in a lower state of religious knowledge than ^ On the inference derivable from this pas- he was. ' See Ch. XIII. sage, that the name of the Holy Ghost was * The chief difficulty here is created by the used in the baptismal formula, see p. 384. inaccurate rendering of the aorists in the A. V. ^ See again Ch. XIII. and the note below The Apostle's question is, " Did ye, when ye on I Cor. 412 THE LIFE AKD EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. chap.xiv. them at the same trade: for in the address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Acts XX. 34) he stated that " his own hands had ministered to his necessities, and to those who were with him ; " and in writing to the Corinthians he says (1 Cor. iv. 11, 12), that such toil had continued " even to that hour." There is no doubt that he " reasoned " in the Synagogue at Ephesus with the same zeal and energy with which his spiritual labors had been begun at Corinth.' He had been anxiously ex- pected, and at first lie was heartily welcomed. A preparation for his teaching had been made by ApoUos and those who instructed him. " For three months," Paul continued to speak boldly in the Synagogue, " arguing, and endeavoring to convince his hearers of all that related to the kingdom of God." ^ The hearts of some were hardened, while others repented and believed ; and, in the end, the Apostle's doctrine was public- ly calumniated by the Jews before the people.' On this he openly sepa- rated himself, and withdrew the disciples from the Synagogue ; and the Christian Church at Ephesus became a distinct body, separated both from the Jews and the Gentiles. As the house of Justus at Corinth * had afforded St. Paul a refuge from calumny, and an opportunity of continuing his public instruction, so here he had recourse to " the school of Tyrannus," who was probably a teacher of philosophy or rhetoric, converted by the Apostle to Chris- tianity.' His labors in spreading the gospel were here continued for two whole years. For the incidents which occurred during this residence, for the persons with whom the Apostle became acquainted, and for the pre- cise subjects of his teaching, we have no letters to give us information supplementary to the Acts, as in the case of Thessaloniea and Corinth : • inasmuch as that which is called the " Epistle to the Ephesians " enters into no personal or incidental details.' But we have, in the address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, an affecting picture of an Apostle's labors for the salvation of those whom his Master came to redeem. From that address we learn that his voice had not been heard within the school of Tyrannus alone, b\it that he had gone about among his converts, instruct- ing them " from house to house," and warning " each one " of them affectionately " with tears." ' The subject of his teaching was ever the same, both for Jews and Greeks, — " repentance towards God, and faith 1 Acts xviii. 4. ' Acts xix. 8. ° See in the chapter containing the two ' " Before the multitude," v. 9. Epistles to the Thessalonians, and in those * Acts xviii. 7. See p. 348. which contain the two Epistles to the Co- ' Those who are apt to see a Jewish or rinthians. Talmudical reference almost everywhere ' The peculiarities of this Epistle will b« think that T3Tannus may have been a Jew, considered hereafter. and his "school" a place for theological * Acts xx. 20, 31. Compare v. 19 teaching such as those mentioned p. 55. CHAP.iiT. EPHESIAN MAGIC. 413 towards our Lord Jesus Christ." • Labors so incessant, so disinterested, and continued through so long a time, could not fail to produce a great result at Ephesus. A large Church was formed over which many pres- byters were called to preside.^ Nor were the results confined to the city. Throughout the province of " Asia " the name of Christ became generally known, both to the Jews and the Gentiles ; ' and, doubtless, many daughter-churches were founded, whether in the course of journeys un- dertaken by the Apostle himself,* or by means of those with whom he became acquainted, — as for instance by Epaphras, Archippus, and Philemon, in connection with Colossae, and its neighbor cities Hierapolis and Laodicea.' [t is during this interval, that one of the two characteristics of the people of Ephesus comes prominently into view. This city was renowned tliroughout the world for the worship of Diana, and the practice of magic. Though it was a Greek city, like Athens or Corinth, the manners of its inhabitants were half Oriental. The image of the tutelary goddess resembled an Indian idol ^ rather than the beautiful forms which crowded the Acropolis of Athens : '' and the enemy which St. Paul had to oppose was not a vaunting philosophy, as at Corinth,^ but a dark and Asiatic superstition. The worship of Diana and the practice of magic were closely connected together. Eustathius says, that the mysterious symbols called " Ephesian Letters" were engraved on the crown, the girdle, and the feet of the goddess. These Ephesian letters or monograms have been compared by a Swedish writer to the Runic characters of the North. When pronounced, they were regarded as a charm ; and were directed to be used, especially by those who were in the power of evil spirits. When written, they were carried about as amulets. Curious stories are told of their influence. Crcesus is related to have repeated the mystic syllables when on his funeral-pile ; and an Ephesian wrestler is said to have always struggled successfully against an antagonist from Miletus until he lost the scroll, which before had been like a talisman. 1 Acts XX. 21. Ephesus by Colossie and the valley of the - Acts XX. 17, " the elders of the chnich," Mieander. The same arguments tend to prove below (v. 28) called " overseers." See what is that he never visHcd this district from Ephesus. Baid on this subject, p. 378. It is thought by many that Epaphras was cou- 8 " So that all they which dwelt in Asia," verted by St. Paul at Ephesus, and founded &c.. Acts xix. 10. There must have been the church of Colossse. See Col. i. 7, iv many Jews in various parts of the prov- 12-17; Philem. 23. iuce. s See the coin at the end of this chapter, * What is said of his continued residence and the description of Diana's worship in at Ephesus by no means implies that he did Ch. XVI. not make journeys in the province. ' See p. 308, &c. ' See above (p. 405, n. 6) for the arguments ' See p. 391. against supposing that St. Paul travelled to 414 THE LIFE AlTD EPISTLES OP ST. PAUL. chat.xct The study of these symbols was an elaborate science : and books, both numerous and costly, were compiled by its professors.' This statement throws some light on the peculiar character of the miracles wrought by St. Paul at Ephesus. We are not to suppose that the Apostles were always able to work miracles at will. An influx of supernatural power was given to them, at the time, and according to tlie circumstances, that required it. And the character of the miracles was not always the same. They were accommodated to the peculiar forms of sin, superstition, and ignorance they were required to oppose.^ Here, at Ephesus, St. Paul was in the face of magicians, like Moses and Aaron before Pharaoli ; and it is distinctly said that his miracles were " not ordinary wonders ; " ' from which wo may infer that they were different from those which he usually performed. AVe know, in tlie case of our blessed Lord's miracles, that though the change was usually accomplished on the speaking of a word, intermediate agency was sometimes em- ployed ; as when the blind man was healed at the pool of Siloam.^ A miracle which has a closer reference to our present subject is that in which the hem of Christ's garment was made effectual to the healing of a poor sufferer, and the conviction of the bystanders.' So on this occasion garments^ were made tlie means of communicating a healing power to those who were at a distance, whether they were possessed with evil spirits, or afflicted with ordinary diseases.'' Such effects, thus publicly manifested, were a signal refutation of tlie charms and amulets and mystic letters of Ephesus. Yet was this no encouragement to blind superstition. When tlie suffering woman was healed by touching the hem of the garment, the Saviour turned round, and said, " Virtue is gone out of me." ' And here at Ephesus we are reminded that it was God ■who " wrought miracles by the hands of Paul" (v. 11), and that " the name," not of Paul, but " of tlie Lord Jesus, was magnified." (v. 17.) 1 The lives of Alexamler of Tralles in Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." John is. Smith's Diet, of Blographj and in the Biog- 6, 7. raphy of the U. K. Society, contain some im- * Matt. ix. 20. See Trench on the Miracles, portant illustrations of Ephcsian magic. p. 189, &c. ^ The narrative of what was done by St. " Both the words used here are Latin. Paul at Ephesus should be compared with St. The former, sudarium, is that which occurs Peter's miracles at Jerusalem, when " many Luke xix. 20 ; John xi. 44, xx. 7 ; and is signs and wonders were wrought among the translated "napkin." The latter, semicincfi'um, people . . . insomuch that they brought forth denotes some such article of dress — shawl, the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds handkerchief, or apron — as is easily laid and couches, that at the least the shadow of aside. Baumgartcn's remarks on the signifi- Peter passing by might overshadow some of cance of these miracles are well worthy of them." — ylc