The Meeting
“And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux,” etc. — Acts xxviii. 11-15.
THE governor of the island resided near the spot. Valetta, the best harbour, and the only town in modern times, is near St. Paul’s Bay. The island was subject to the Romans, but little attention was paid to it. Erom the fact that the governor’s father was living, and in a private position, it is evident that the chieftianship was not hereditary. The cure performed afforded the missionary a lever for the prosecution of his work. It gave authority to his word among the people.
After a delay of three months — that is, when the winter was past, and the spring approaching — the party put to sea again in a ship of Alexandria that had wintered in the island. Castor and Pollux, a pair of hrothers that hold a prominent place in Greek mythology, and were recognised as the tutelary deities of seafaring men, constituted the figure-head of the ship, and by their name she was known. The fact that this vessel, trading between Alexandria and Puteoli, on the western coast of Italy, passed the winter in Melita, is clear proof that it was not Meleda in the Gulf of Venice; for that island is very far out of the route. Moreover, this ship, in her voyage from Melita to Puteoli, while the weather was fair, and nothing occurred to carry her out of her course, called at Syracuse by the way. This was perfectly natural and easy for a ship that sailed from Malta, but enormously out of a ship’s course from Meleda. These circumstances, added to the positive evidence already given, remove all reasonable doubt as to the locality of the shipwreck.
Syracuse was in those times the great seaport of Sicily. It was by far the most renowned of those cities that were founded by Greek emigrants on the western coasts of Europe. I It occupied an important position in the dreadful struggles between the several republics of Greece, and also in the inter- 1 necine quarrel between Rome and Carthage. Perhaps no I ancient city is so conspicuous in history for the sieges that 1 it has undergone. There is a tradition that the Church at 0 Syracuse was founded by Paul in person; and it is probable that Julius on this occasion permitted him to go ashore preach.
From Syracuse the Castor and Pollux fetched a compass, and came to Ehegium. This place is on the Italian shore, in the straits which separate Sicily from the continent. It was about the same place that Garibaldi landed a few years ago with his volunteers after he had subjugated Sicily. In many respects this was the most remarkable revolution of modern times. That extraordinary man, with a handful of followers, drove the Neapolitan monarch from his throne and kingdom, delivering a fair country from the double tyranny of priest and king, and introducing Italy into the community of nations.
It is intimated that in order to make Ehegium “they fetched a compass.” This may mean, either that the wind blew from the west, and they were obliged to run out to sea eastward for a time, in order to catch the breeze; or that the wind was more directly contrary, and it was necessary to beat up against it. After a halt there of a single day the wind became fair, and they reached Puteoli on the following day, having run a distance of one hundred and eighty miles. On the northern side of the great Bay of Naples, and not far from each other, lay Puteoli, the great mercantile seaport of Rome, and Baise, the favourite watering-place of her luxurious citizens.
As soon as he landed, Paul found “brothers.” The family is multiplying and spreading through the empire. The fire of this Christian life is going, like the lightning, against the wind: although the sect is everywhere spoken against and persecuted, yet the sect is increasing, like the breaking forth of waters. The seven days’ delay at Puteoli is a Christian and not a Roman measurement. It points on the one hand to the weekly Sabbath, and on the other to the confirmed ascendency of Paul over all the arrangements of the journey. Julius seems by this time to have fallen into the habit of shaping his course by the advice of his prisoner.
“So we went to Koine,” along the much celebrated and frequented Appian Way, from the seaport to the capital. The brothers at Puteoli must have sent express to Rome to advise their fellow-disciples of Paul’s arrival, and a deputation had started from the city to meet and welcome the distinguished visitor. For the Christians at Rome, the arrival of Paul was a great event. He had been longing for them, and they for him. At last the great object of his life was almost within his grasp; and they — what a thrill of joyful expectancy must have run through their circle when the news first reached them that the Castor and Pollux of Alexandria, last from Malta, had actually arrived with the Apostle of the Gentiles on board! Then circular messages went round: all must meet this evening, perhaps in the house of Aquila. At the meeting many eager inquiries would pass — those who had never seen the great missionary would again demand of those who had seen him what his appearance was, and wherein his power seemed to lie.
They must send a large deputation forward to meet him. They will stretch out their arms far to embrace the approaching ambassador of their heavenly King. They will give him a royal welcome. All who are able-bodied will go; none are willing to be left behind. Some seem to have started who were hardly fit for the journey; for they halted at Three Taverns, a distance of seventeen miles from the city, while those who were more vigorous pushed on as far J as Appii Forum, a distance of twenty-seven miles. The i apostle and, his company are meantime pursuing their f journey northward along the Appian Way. For the last [ nineteen miles a canal ran alongside of the highway, partly for the drainage of the marshes, and partly for the purposes of navigation. Appii Forum was the terminus of the canal on the north, and nearest the city. It was a rough place, swarming with low tavern-keepers and bargemen. At that spot the front rank of the deputation from Home met Paul and his companions. At that place, rude, and even disreput-, able among the towns of Italy, the two ends of the coil were j joined, and Jerusalem brought into connection with Rome. Then and there the spirit of the kingdom passed out of Jerusalem and entered into Rome. Henceforth the gospel, withdrawn from the Jews, has its seat in the heart of the Gentile world.
The body of Christ, crucified at Jerusalem, was laid in the grave, dead. Christ himself rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. No longer was he sent exclusively to Israel. His resurrection was life to the world. The apostolate, sent out after the Lord’s ascension, was the resurrection for the Gentiles. Now Christ has come to the world’s I great head, and Paul is the vessel chosen and used to bear him thither.
As Peter and John started in company, with equal love, to see the place where the Lord lay, that they might be witnesses of his resurrection, but separated on the road, the younger and nimbler runner coming first to the empty grave; so, in Italy that day, those who set out together to witness the kingdom of God risen from its ruin in Jerusalem, and approaching Rome in the power of a new life, separated into two bands. One portion outran the other, and first reached the meeting-place. But the feebler, who remained behind, met the apostle too, and received the Christ whom he bore. Not only so, but those who remained at home in the city obtained in due time a full portion of the spoil. According to the desires of your loving heart it will be given to you, not according to the strength of your muscles and the fleetness of your feet. Seek, and ye shall find. In the matters of the kingdom a man is accepted, not according to what he hath not, but according to what he hath.
“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. And when he came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.” — Acts xxviii. 15, 16.
SPECIAL note is taken of the effect produced by the
XA meeting on Paul’s own mind. When he saw the brethren, he “thanked God, and took courage.” This is a pregnant example for us: this short sentence is full of practical wisdom. This faith that Paul possessed is better than the mysterious stone that turns whatever it touches into gold. From the point of the present he looks backward and forward. All the past of his life he seems to count only a preparation; his work lies still before him. It is a beautiful character that is displayed here in two great hemispheres: for the past it is devout gratitude; for the future, filial confidence.
For the past, “he thanked God.” The long vista of memory was bright with blessings. God’s mercies had been “waters that fail not,” a continual stream. No summer drought had ever dried it; no winter cold had ever frozen it. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.
Yet the path of life was not all smooth for this man,
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