ments, the supreme law of Christian love and the clearest statement
of the doctrine of the resurrection but which reiterate, iu terms
unequalled in human language for simplicity and force, the one
great central truth of the whole Gospel JESUS CHRIST AND HIM
CRUCIFIED. But the record of Paul's long stay at Corinth on this
first visit is very brief; and our plan does not admit of discussing
the light thrown upon it by his Epistles, written now to the Thessa-
lonians, and afterwards to the Corinthians themselves.
While, at Corinth, as before at Athens, Paul was waiting for the
arrival of Silas and Timothcus, he gained unexpected fellow-labor-
ers in AQUILA, a Jew of Pontus, and his wife PRISCILLA, who had
lately arrived from Italy, in consequence of the edict of Claudius,
expelling all Jews from Rome (A.D. 52). Finding them already
established at Corinth in the same handicraft as his own the mak-
ing of Cilician or hair-cloth tents Paul took up his abode, and
wrought with these, who soon became "his helpers in Christ Je-
sus " (Acts xviii. 2, 3; Horn. xvi. 3). Having thus lived together
during the eighteen months of Paul's stay at Corinth, they shared
his voyage to Ephesus. Here they remained (while Paul went on
to Jerusalem and Antioch), and instructed Apollos in the truth.
Aquila and Priscilla have also the high distinction of affording a
home to Christian churches in their house at Ephesus, and again at
Rome, when they were able to return thither (1 Cor. xvi. 19; Rom
334 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXIX.
xri. 3-5). To crown their eminence, they earned the thanks, not
of Paul only, but of all the churches of the Gentiles, by incurring
the risk of martyrdom to save his life ; we know not upon what oc-
casion, perhaps it was at Ephesus (Rom. xvi. 4).
The labors of the apostle at his craft of tent-making, with Aquila
and Priscilla, are the more interesting if we admit the suppositiou
that this was the period of pressing want, from which he was re>
lieved by the arrival of " the brethren " (Silas and Timotheus) from
Macedonia with contributions, especially those of the Phiiippians
(2 Cor. xi. 9 ; Phil. iv. 15). This seasonable contribution aided
him in his resolve to keep himself from being burdensome to the
converts whom he was now about to gather from the Gentiles. No-
where does he insist so forcibly as in writing to this very Church,
on the law that " they which preach the Gospel should live of the
Gospel" (1 Cor. ix. 7-14); but he says, "Nevertheless we have
not used- this power ; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder
the Gospel of Christ" (1 Cor. ix. 12 ; comp. 2 Cor. xi. 10 ; xii. 14).
With such resolves, from his very first arrival at Corinth, did
Paul work daily with Aquila and Priscilla. But, when the rest of
the Sabbath came round, he went into the synagogue, according to
his custom, and labored to persuade both the Jews and the Greeks
who happened to be present (Acts xviii. 4). Some weeks passed
thus, till the arrival of Silas and Timothy from Macedonia not only
gave a new impulse to the apostle, but marked a crisis in his career.
The sense of their help relieved him from that depression which he
describes in writing to the Corinthians, replacing it by that "con-
straint of the word (Acts xviii. 5) whicli held him to the resolve
of preachiMg nothing else but "Jesus Christ and him crucified"
(1 Cor. ii. 2, 5 : comp. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ; 1 Cor. i. 18). First he
spoke plainly to the Jews; and when, like those at Antioch, in
Pisidia, they opposed themselves and blasphemed, Paul shook his
raiment, and said to them, in the words of their own prophet,
" Your blood be upon your own heads ! Pure from it, I will
henceforth go to the Gentiles " (Ezek. xxxiii. 4 ; Acts xviii. 6).
From that day he forsook the synagogue, his first act of open sepa-
ration from Judaism, but continued to meet his own flock close by,
in the house of a proselyte named Justus. He was followed b*
Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue (Acts xviii. 7, 8), whoso\
baptism, with his whole house, by the apostle himself, formed anj
exception to Paul's usual practice ; for " Christ " he says "sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel" (1 Cor. i. 14-17). \
T-he like exception was made in favor of Gaius, whose name stands \
recorded in Scripture as a great example of Christian hospitality |
(Rom. xvi. 23); as well as for the household of Stephanas, after- /
A.D. 51-54. ST. PAUL AT CORINTH. 235
Awards described as "the first-fruits of Achaia, who had devoted
themselves to the ministry of the saints" (1 Cor. xvi. 15-17).
The news of this division among the Jews, and of the apostle's
turning to the Gentiles, spread through the city ; and many of the
Corinthians believed and were baptized, probably by Silvanus and
Timotheus. That this movement roused anew the extreme fury
of the Jews, appears from Paul's referring to their opposition with
yehement indignation in his First Epistle to the Thessal onions,
which was written from Corinth soon after the arrival of Silvanus
and Timotheus (1 Thess. ii. 15, 16). At this crisis, the apostle was
favored with another of those supernatural visions which from the
very day of his conversion had directed and cheered his course.
The LOKD, whom he had seen in the way to Damascus, now spoke
to him in the night, and said to him, "Be not afraid, but speak,
and hold not thy peace : for I am with thee, and no man shall set
on thce to hurt thee : for / have much people in this city." Thus
encouraged, he remained in Corinth, teaching the word of God, for
a year and six months (Acts xviii. 9-11). During this time he
kept up his intercourse with the Churches of Macedonia ; and the
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was sent not long after the
First, chiefly to correct the misapprehensions which some had
founded upon the first respecting the speedy approach of " the day
of the Lord," Christ's second advent. His residence at Corinth was
ended by a tumult, in which a Roman magistrate honorably re-
fused to be the instrument of persecution. GALLIC, the proconsul
of Achaia under Claudius, was the brother of the great Seneca, and,
like him, imbued with learning from his infancy. When, therefore,
the Jews brought Paul before his tribunal on the charge of per-
suading men to worship God contrary to the law, Gallio stopped the
case, just as Paul was opening^his month to defend himself, de-
claring that he would be a judge of actual crimes, but not of doc-
trine, and names, and of their law. Even when he suffered the
Corinthian spectators to seize on Sosthenes, the ruler of the syna-
gogue, and to beat him before the tribunal, Gallio's calm indiffer-
ence may have saved Corinth from one of those frightful tumults
between Greeks and Jews, which desolated such cities as Alexan-
dria and Ctesarea. The result of the tumult seems to have been
favorable to the influence of Paul, who remained a good while at
Corinth before he took his leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria
(Acts xviii. 12-18).
The apostle was accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla on his de-
parture from Cenchreae, the eastern harbor of Corinth. On his
voyage to Jerusalem, where he was anxious to keep the coining
feast, he made a few days' stay at EIMIKSUS, reasoning in the syn*
336 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXIX.
gogue with the Jews, and promised to return, "if God would/' after
he had been to Jerusalem (Acts xviii. 18-21). Thence his voyage
was unbroken to Csesarea ; and his next movements are summed
ap with a brevity which misleads the careless reader: "And when
he had landed at Cassarea, and gone up and saluted the Church, he
went down to Antioch" (Acts xviii. 22).
In the middle of this verse, the usual phrase for going to a chief
city refers to that visit to Jerusalem (the fourth since his ccnvcr
sion) to which he attached such importance as to say "I must by
all means keep this feast which cometh at Jerusalem" (Acts xviii.
21). What feast ? The best opinions are divided between the
Feast of Tabernacles, on Sept. 16th, A.D. 53, and the Pentecost, ou
May 31st, A.D. 54. At either he would meet the great body of the
Jewish Christians assembled from the provinces, and " salute them "
(Acts xviii. 22) with the news of what God had done among the
Gentiles in Greece itself, and plead the cause of Christian liberty
against the Jndaizers. At either he would see the first signs of
that climax of misery which now was begun in Judaea by the rapa-
cious tyranny of AXTONIUS CLAUDIUS FELIX, who succeeded Ven-
tidius Cumanus as procurator about midsummer, A.D. 53. This
detestable brother of Claudius's favorite freedman, Pallas, and him-
self also a freedman of the emperor to use the terse summary of
Tacitus "by every form of cruelty and lust, wielded the power of
a king in the spirit of a slave." From this visit the apostle went
forth to oppose the Judaizers, and to insist on the duty of the Gen-
tile converts to help their suffering Jewish brethren. The contribu-
tion made by Macedonia and Achaia for the poor of the saints in
Jerusalem becomes a prominent object of his labors. And it was on
the very service of carrying these contributions to Jerusalem at the
Pentecost, four years later, that no remonstrances could deter him
from risking his liberty and life (Rom. xv. 25-27; 1 Cor. xvi. 1,
2 ; 2 Cor. viii. 1 ; ix. 2, 12 ; Acts xix. 21 ; xx. 3, 16 ; xxi. 4, 10-17).
Meanwhile he returned from the feast to Antioch, and " spent
some time there " (Acts xviii. 22, 23) ; only, however, a few months
(see next chapter). The year in which he began his Third Mis-
sionary Journey was the same in which the Emperor Claudius was
murdered by his infamous consort Agrippina, and succeeded by the
young NERO, a name equally hateful in the annals of the Church
and of the world (October 12th, A.D. 54).
iiis of the Theatre at Epbeaiu.
CHAPTER XXX.
ST. PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY. HIS TWO IMPRISONMENTS
AT ROME, AND HIS MARTYRDOM WITH NOTICES OF PETER,
JAMES, AND JOHN ; AND THE COMING OF CHRIST IN THE DESTRUC-
TION OF JERUSALEM. A.D. 54 TO 70, AND ONWARD.
IT was either about the beginning of A.D. 54, or in the ensuing
autumn, that St. Paul started from Antioch a third time upon his
old track through Asia Minor, and "went over all the country of
Galatia and Phrygia in order, confirming the disciples" (Acts xviii.
23). In GALATIA, the troubles caused by the Judaizers are abun-
dantly proved, and reproved, by the Epistle to the Calatians, which
was probably written from Ephesus in A.D. 55. At EPHESUS, the
capital of the province of Asia, a remarkable work had prepared
i he way for Paul. A certain Jew named APOLLOS, born at Alex-
andria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to
Ephesus. "This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and,
being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things
of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John" (Acts xviii. 25, 26).
This was clearly a form of Christian belief not one which made
33 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXX.
John the leader of a sect ; but it stopped short of a full knowledge
of the exaltation of Christ and the descent of the Spirit at Pente-
cost. His bold preaching in the synagogue led Aquila and Priscilla
(who had crossed with Paul from Corinth to Ephesus) to "expound
unto him the way of God more perfectly ;" and he soon left Ephesus
for Achaia, where he carried on a great work among the Jews (Acte
xriii. 26-28).
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul reached Ephesus, and began
"(us labors by teaching twelve disciples, who had been baptized unto
John's baptism, the full doctrine of Christ Jesus and his baptism
with the Holy Ghost; and that gift fell on them when Paul bap-
tized them in the name of Jesus. He then spent three months
teaching in the synagogue, and some of the Jews believed. But
when others were not only hardened, "but spake evil of that ivay
before the multitude," he left the synagogue, as he had done at
Corinth, and formed a separate congregation in the school of one
Tyrannus (doubtless a professional teacher of rhetoric). His daily
discourses here for two full years (varied perhaps by tours in the
country districts) brought the Gospel to the knowledge of " all that
dwelt in Asia, both Jews and Greeks " (Acts xix. 1-10).
This teaching was confirmed by " special miracles " miracles
of no ordinary nature " so that from his body were brought unto
the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from
them, and the evil spirits went out of them" (Acts xix. 11, 12).
These wondrous modes of healing seemed to challenge a conflict
with the many forms of magic and incantation which were rife at
Ephesus ; and it was to be clearly shown that Paul's miracles were
wrought by no such arts, but by the power of the Lord Jesus.
First, "certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, " tried to conjure
an evil spirit by the new form of spell, " We adjure you by JESUS,
whom Paul preacheth;" and their fate (Acts xix. 13-16) caused
such fear of that Name to fall both on the Jews and Greeks, that
many believed and made a confession of their impostures, and
proved their sincerity by making a public bonfire of their books of
magic, to the value of 50,000 denarii, or nearly 1800. "So
mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed" (Acts xix. 17-20).
Having laid such a foundation of the faith at Ephesus, where ha
iaad spent two years and a quarter, Paul planned his further move-
ments, namely, a journey through Macedonia and Achaia, return-
ing thence to Jerusalem; and he said, "After I have been there, I
must also see ROME " (Acts xix. 21). He first sent Timotheusand
Erastus into Macedonia (verse 22), and thence to meet him in
Achaia ; as is shown by the First JSpistle to the Corinthians, which
ie sent soon after their departure by the hands of certain brethren.
A.D. 54 - 70. ST. PAUL AT EPHESUS. 339
who had meanwhile arrived from Corinth (I Cor. xvi. 17, 18), A.D.
57, probably about the Passover (1 Cor. v. 6-8). The Epistle was
called forth by the news which these brethren brought of the
schisms and heresies, disorders and immoralities, which had dis-
graced the mother Church of Greece ; and it was probably to await
the effect of his reproofs that Paul decided to " stay in Asia for a
season " (Acts xix. 22), namely, till the Feast of Pentecost (I Cor.
xvi. 8, 19). His stay was probably a little shortened by the great
tumult, so graphically described by St. Luke, roused in the name
of the great goddess Artemis (Diana) by Demetrius and the crafts,
men who gained their living from her worship (Acts xix. 23-41).*'
After the tumult had subsided, Paul took leave of the disciples,
and departed for Macedonia. "And when he had gone over those
parts, and exhorted them in many a discourse, he came into Greece,
and there" namely, at Corinth " he abode three months " (Nov. to
Feb., A.D. 57, 58). The period thus briefly summed up by Luke
(Acts xx. 1-3) includes the writing of the apostle's Second Epistle
to the Corinthians from Macedonia, and of the Epistle to the Romans
from Corinth. The conclusions drawn thence, and the questions
raised, as to his movements, plans, and companions, can not be dis-
cussed here ; but, from Rom. xv. 19, it may be inferred that, on his
journey from Macedonia into Greece, he took a wide circuit as
far as Illyricum, which brought him to the Adriatic, the boundary
which was then considered as dividing the East from the West.
The strong desire which he expresses to the Romans to pass that
boundary, as far as the very shores of the Atlantic, was to be ful-
filled (whether wholly or in part) as the indirect result of his return
to Jerusalem, where he was now most anxious to arrive by the day
of Pentecost, not without a prophetic anticipation of what awaited
him (Rom. xv. 23-32; Acts xx. 16).
The immediate object of this return was to carry up the contri-
butions of the churches, deputies from which went with him, so
carefnl was he " to provide things honest in the sight of all men "
( Acts xx. 4). Just as he was about to sail for Syria, his plans
1 The following coin gives some idea of the wooden image of the goddees
14 which fell down from Jove."
Greek Imperial Coin of Epbetns and Smyrna allied.
340 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXX,
were changed by the discovery of a Jewish plot to waylay him.
Sending forward his companions by sea to wait for him at Troas,
he went by land through Macedonia to Philippi, where he seems to
have spent the Passover (March 27, A.D. 58), and whence his move-
ments can be dated to the day (Acts xx. 3-6). His voyage begins
at Philippi, whence he sailed " after the days of unleavened bread,"
that is, on the day following the eighth day of the feast (Tuesday,
April 4th), and he reached Troas in five days (Saturday, April 8th).
He had remained there full seven days, when, on the return of the
first day of the week (Sunday, April 16th), the disciples came to-
gether to break bread, and Paul preached to them till midnight,
ready to depart on the morrow. Here we have one of the inci-
dental notices more valuable than any formal statement, because
they show how regularly the custom was established of those
meetings of the Christians on the Lord's day for social converse
and divine worship, which Pliny mentions as their only known in-
stitution. Here occurred what we should now call the " accident "
to a youth named Eutychus, who, sitting in the window, and over-
powered with drowsiness through the heat of the many lamps, fell
down from the third story and was taken up dead. The miracle
by which Paul restored him to life resembled in form those per-
formed by Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings xvii. 21 ; 2 Kings iv. 34).
Returning to the upper chamber, without waiting till the youth's
friends had the comfort of seeing his full recovery, Paul broke
bread and ate with the disciples, and, having talked with them till
the break of day, departed (Acts xx. 7-12).
To gain time for this protracted farewell, Paul had sent his
companions before him to the ship, and, while they doubled the
promontory of Lectum, he took the shorter route by land to join
them at Assos, whence they crossed to Mitylene (Monday, April
7th). Avoiding the windings of the coast, they sailed from Lesbos
u Chios on the Tuesday, and on the next day to Samos, whence
crossing over to the main-land, they staid at the promontory of
Trogyllium, and reached Miletus on Thursday, April 20th. Here
they stopped, while Paul sent for the elders of the Church of Eph-
eaus, as the staying any time among his converts in Asia would
have risked his purposed arrival at Jerusalem by the day of Pente
cost (Acts xx. 13-16). The distance between Ephesus and Mile-
tus being about forty miles, the interval from the Thursday to the
Sunday would give time for the arrival of the elders, with whom
Paul held solemn converse, as on the Sunday before at Troas (Sun-
day, April 23d). His farewell discourse to them is one of his rep-
resentative addresses, recounting the spirit and conduct of his min.
iatry among them, warning them of coming troubles and heresies,
A.D. 54- 70. VOYAGE TO PALESTINE. 341
and commending them to the grace of God. Finally, " he -kneeled
down and prayed with them all : and they all wept sore, and fell
on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the
words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And
they accompanied him to the ship " (Acts xx. 17-38).
Embarking immediately on the close of his address, Paul sailed
straight for the Island of Cos (Monday, April 24th), thence to
Rhodes (Tuesday), and thence to Patara, in Lycia (Wednesday),
where, finding another ship bound direct for Phoenicia, he went on
board (Thursday, April 27th), and, sighting Cyprus on the left
hand, arrived at Tyre, where the ship was to unload. The ordina-
ry course of such a voyage would bring the apostle to that ancient
city on Sunday (Api'il 30th) ; and another Lord's day was cheered
by a welcome from certain disciples, of whose existence in the city
he seems not to have been aware. With them he spent a whole
week, in the course of which the prophetic gifts poured out upon
these Tyrian Christians were used to warn Paul against going on
to Jerusalem (Acts xxi. 1-6).
Supposing that, as at Troas and Miletus, Paul spent the Lord's
day with the Tyrian Christians, his voyage to Ptolemais (Acre)
would occupy the Monday, and his one day's stay there with the
brethren, the Tuesday (May 9). On the following day Paul and
his company proceeded, apparently by land, to Caesarea, and took
up their abode with " Philip the Evangelist, one of the Seven,"
whose four virgin daughters prophesied, probably repeating the
warnings which were now most plainly uttered by Agabus, whom
we have already seen predicting the famine in the reign of Claudi-
us. This prophet bound his own hands and feet with Paul's girdle,
declaring, in the name of the Spirit, that the Jews at Jerusalem
would even thus bind the owner of that girdle, and deliver him into
the hands of the Gentiles. To the entreaties of the brethren at
Csesarea and of his own companions, Paul answered, " What mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart ? For I am ready, not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus." So, after a stay of several days at Cffisarea, they packed
up their little baggage, and went up, doubtless on foot, to Jerusa-
lem, accompanied by an aged disciple of Cyprus, named Mnason,
who had offered them a lodging in the crowded city (Acts xxi. 7-
16).
This fifth visit of St. Paul to Jerusalem since his conversion ia
the last of which we have any certain record. He was welcomed
with joy by the brethren, and on the following day (Thursday,
May 18th) he had an interview with James and all the elders of
the Church, to whom " ho declared particularly what things God
842 SCRIPTURE HISTORY. CHAP. XXX
had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry." While glorify,
ing God for this work, they do not conceal from Paul that the cal-
umnies against him had gained belief among the Jewish Chris-
tians, namely, that "he taught all the Jews among the Gentiles to
forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their chil-
dren, neither to walk after the customs." To refute this charge
there was a practical opportunity. Four men connected with the
(Church had bound themselves by a temporary Nazarite vow, and
; their purification upon the completion of the vow was at hand.
This ceremony involved a considerable expense for the offerings to
be presented in the temple (Numb. vi. 13-21) ; and it was a mer-
itorious act to provide these offerings for the poor Nazarites. St.
Paul was requested to put himself under the vow with the other
four, and to supply the cost of the offerings. He at once accepted
the proposal ; and on the next day, having performed some cere-
mony which implied the adoption of the vow, he went into the
temple, announcing that the due offerings of each Nazarite were
about to be presented, and the period of the vow terminated, a proc-
ess which would occupy seven days (Friday, May 19).
The week was almost accomplished, when certain Jews from
Asia, probably some of Paul's old antagonists at Ephesus, recog-
nized him, and raised a tumult, charging him with bringing Greeks
into the temple. Paul was with difficulty rescued by the tribune
in command of the Roman cohort stationed in the fort Antonia,
whose name was Claudius Lysias. This officer at first took Paul
for an Egyptian impostor, who had lately pretended to be the Mes-
siah, and whose band had been dispersed by Felix. But, surprised
to hear him speak good Greek, and learning from Paul that lie was
a Jew of Tarsus, Lysias granted his request to address the people.
Paul, from the stairs leading up to the fort, spoke in Hebrew to the
excited throng below, who kept silence when they heard him use
their language (Acts xxi. 18-xxii. 2).
The address which follows is one of the two great defenses, or
to use the Greek term "Apologies," in which St. Paul argues the
truth of his mission from the manner of his conversion and from the
revelations that had been given to him : the other was addressed to
King Agrippa. On this occasion, the care with which he led the
discourse up to his mission to the Gentiles did not prevent those
words renewing the full fury of the mob. Lysins had him carried
into the fort, and was about to extort from him, by scourging, a
confession of the grounds of all this rage of the Jews ; but he was
alarmed at Paul's assertion of his Roman citizenship ; and he sum-
moned the Sanhedrim to inquire into the case (Acts xxii.). The