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hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.

Acts xxvii. 41. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.

42. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.

43. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land :

44. And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that all who were on board escaped safe to land.

xxviii. 1. And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita, now Malta. Vide MALTA in the Index.

2. And the barbarous people

- so called only from their foreign language, as being of Phoenician origin

showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

4. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

5. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

6. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen,

or fallen down dead suddenly but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

ACTS xxviii. 7. In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man (i. e. governor) of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.

8. And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

9. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:

10. Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary

11. And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

12. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.

13. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium; and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:

14. Where (without expecting it, vide NOTE on xxi. 4.) we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and then we went toward Rome.

To which city the tidings of Paul's arrival on the coast had been immediately carried.

15. And from thence, when the brethren heard of Us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and The Three Taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

How beautifully does all this, in point of realised fact, correspond with those auspicious beginnings of the gospel, to which, by the salutations in Rom. ch. xvi., such distinct evidence is borne. Vide here on A. xx. 3. p. 69.

ACTS xxviii. 16. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the other prisoners to the captain of the guard but Paul was allowed to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

He was bound to that soldier by a single chain, EPH. vi. 19, 20. H. P. 130.

17. And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

18. Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.

19. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Cesar; not that I had aught to accuse my nation of.

20. For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel (in the promised Messiah) I am bound with this chain.

21. And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee.

22. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest for as concerning this sect (that of Christians), we know that it is every where spoken against.

23. And when they had appointed him a day, there

came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus (as being the Messiah), both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

ACTS xxviii. 24. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.

25. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet (Is. vi. 9.) unto our fathers,

26. Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

27. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

28. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

29. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves. 30. And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,

- with a freedom of access, such as that enjoyed for the two years at Cesarea, xxiv. 23. 27.

31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

PAUL AT ROME,

the prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles...and their ambassador in bonds. EPн. iii. 1., vi. 20., and H. P. 143...6.

The materials of sacred history must henceforth be drawn from the remaining epistles, themselves as the principal matter investigated, and directly or indirectly supplying all other information.

And first of those four written from Rome, that to the EPHESIANS, with those to the COLOSSIANS and PHILEMON; and, lastly, that to the PHILIPPIANS, at some interval from the others.

The epistle to the EPHESIANS, commonly so entitled, for reasons of the strongest and clearest kind, which may be read in H. P. pp. 125...8., is to be considered as "a circular epistle, equally intended for several communities of Asia Minor," and certainly not for Ephesus alone, as it stands now inscribed. On the ground of that persuasion, we may without scruple proceed.

Since the time, Acтs xx. 17., that Paul himself last visited Lydian Asia (as Dr. Paley calls it, H. P. 37.), it might be supposed, that his knowledge of what was passing in those regions must have been very much interrupted, and the exercise of his apostolic influence greatly diminished. Quite otherwise, apparently. Whether lately at Cesarea or now at Rome a prisoner, in the distant East or the remote West, the "daily care of all the churches" (2 COR. xi. 28.) never seems with him to have known any respite. And if this Epistle to the EPHESIANS, so called, really was a circular, first addressed to Laodicea, then to Hierapolis perhaps, (COLOSS. iv. 13.) and so on to other neighbouring

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