The Voyage

“And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band,” etc. — Acts xxvii. 1-25.

PAUL’S voyage to Rome is recorded with great minuteness, and with great accuracy. At first we are somewhat surprised to find so large a portion of the book occupied by the details of a voyage and a shipwreck; but on closer examination, we discover an adequate cause. This journey marks the crisis of the Jewish people. They had resisted all offers, and finally rejected Christ. Now God had given them over; and the departure of Paul from J erusalem to Rome was the transference of the kingdom to the Gentiles.

At last “it was determined that we should sail into Italy.” Away from the shore of Palestine this “chosen vessel” must go at last, to bear the name of Christ to the central seat of the Roman power. His earlier journeys into Asia Minor and Greece were preliminary and fragmentary; this voyage from Caesarea is the great hingeing-point of the world’s history. Therein the kingdom of God passed away from the

The Voyage. nation of Israel and took possession of the world. This journey of the apostle constitutes the link of communion between the East and the West. By this line ran the secret fire of the Divine life from Israel to the Gentiles. No voyage in all the course of time has been charged with so great results for humankind. The Word has now in its fulness gone forth from Jerusalem; and in that Word shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

Paul, with certain other prisoners under the charge of a Roman centurion named Julius, was put on board a ship of Adramyttium, bound northward along the Phenician coast, and afterwards along the southern shore of Asia Minor. Julius distinguished Paul from the other prisoners, and accorded him as much liberty as was consistent with his safe custody; induced to this kindness, no doubt, by learning that Agrippa had in open court pronounced him an innocent man.

Sidon, their first port of call, was the great harbour of the Canaanites. It lay within the territory prophetically assigned to Israel, but it was never actually in their possession. At this time, however, the standard of the Lord’s kingdom was planted on its soil. The apostle was permitted to go ashore to refresh himself in the company of his friends who resided there. Wherever there is a disciple of Christ, there a missionary has a friend and a home. This is the result after which Freemasonry aspires; but the faith in Christ would gain the end better without the aid of such a dubious ally. Freemasonry seems a fungus that has grown on Christianity at a time when the mighty stem was not in good health. It is an abnormal growth that damages the vigour of the tree.

From Sidon, on the Syrian coast, you may, in favourable circumstances, sail in a straight line to Myra in Asia Minor, keeping Cyprus on the right, and avoiding the circuitous angle round the shore; but the wind being from the west, the mariners of that day were not able to tack against it, and were obliged to creep along the coast northward till they reached the bay at the mouth of the Orontes, the river of Antioch, and then westward along the Asiatic coast to Myra.

This harbour was probably the destiny of the ship. The prisoners were here transferred to another vessel, belonging to Alexandria, and laden with grain for Rome. As the wind continued westerly, they crept slowly for many days along the coast, until they gained sight of Cnidus, a large city on the mainland, on the extremity of a long, narrow peninsula, where the coast-line turns northward to the Dardanelles. Here, accordingly, it was necessary to leave the shore and stand out to sea. The wind compelled them to keep a south-westerly course, till they reached the eastern extremity of the island of Crete. Passing the point of Salmone, they found themselves in smoother water, and wore westward on the southern side of the island as far as a place called the Fair Havens. There seems to have been no town at that harbour, but Lasea was not far off. At this anchorage the ship lay a long time waiting for fairer winds; but as it was now the end of September, and the navigation of the Mediterranean was considered dangerous at that season, Paul counselled the parties in charge of the ship to winter there. The master of the ship, however, in concert with the centurion, determined to set sail again, and endeavour to make Phenice, another harbour of Crete, further westward, and affording better shelter.

“When the wind veered to the south, thinking they had gained their object, they left Pair Haven s and again crept westward along the coast. But ere they had been long at

The Voyage. sea, the weather suddenly changed, and a hurricane, named Euroclydon, struck the ship as she was sailing easily with her boat in tow at her stern.

The storm must have blown from the north-east; for when they allowed the ship to run before the gale, she was carried to the island of Clauda, which lies in the sea twenty miles south-west of the spot where the tempest caught them. Creeping under the lee shore of that island, they found themselves for a time under shelter of land, and in comparatively smooth water. Here, accordingly, they took the opportunity of trimming the ship. Some very necessary things were now done which could not have been done in the gale. The boat had been in tow when the storm came on, and it was impossible to take it on board while the sea was running high: now, with some difficulty, they hauled it on board. They then “used helps, undergirding the ship.” The hull was not so well constructed in those days as now. Nor was the strain so well distributed as in modern ships; for they used only one mast, and the huge sail suspended on it threw all the strain on one spot. Fearing lest the timbers should part, they brought ropes over the bow and under the keel, making the ends fast on deck by twisting, as logs of wood are fastened together on a cart. Though it seems to us a feeble and clumsy expedient, it might in certain circumstances avert a shipwreck by keeping the planks from springing, and so preventing a fatal leak.

It may be proved, by stretching a ruler on the indicated line in a map of the Mediterranean, that if the ship had continued to run before the wind, she would have been driven into Syrtis, a bay of quicksand on the African coast, greatly dreaded by ancient seamen. In dread of this catastrophe, they hauled down their great sail, probably hoisting a small storm-sail in its stead, and lay to, as close to the

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wind as the ship would lie. It can be shown that this position would give her a drift motion precisely in the direction of Malta, the place on which she ultimately struck.

The storm increased; there was danger now lest the ship should founder in deep water. The crew therefore threw cargo overboard in order to lighten her. Subsequently, even the tackling of the ship was thrown out in the extremity of their fear and their eagerness to keep afloat. As the storm raged with unabated violence, and no observation could be obtained on account of the continued darkness, the officers and seamen abandoned themselves to despair. Man’s extremity became God’s opportunity. The Lord encouraged his servant Paul, and Paul became a rallying-point to the helpless multitude. When the sight of all utterly failed, the faith of one bore them through.

From the answer given by the Lord (verse 24), we can clearly gather what his servant had asked. “Fear not,” said the Lord to Paul: Paul therefore had been fearful. His faith did not exempt him from the weakness of human nature. “Not for that we would be unclothed:” the watery grave that yawned beneath the creaking ship made the man’s flesh creep, although his soul was upheld by a hope that runs through all these troubled waters, and fastens on the Anchor within the veil.

We learn further that he desired to live longer; for manifestly the intimation that his life would be prolonged was meant to comfort him.

Again, we gather that he must, have pleaded for the lives of all the ship’s company, without respect of persons. The answer, given to set his mind at rest, bears that the Lord had given him all that sailed with him. It is better for all in the ship that they have a Paul on board hastening to execute God’s commission on the earth, than to have a Jonah fleeing from his work and hiding from his Master.

Finally, the main reason why Paul so earnestly desired the prolongation of his own life, was that he might accomplish his life’s great purpose — that he might preach Christ in the highest places of the heathen world. “Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar.” This “must” points to the purpose of the Omnipotent. It was God’s will that this messenger should publish the gospel in Rome; and his purpose shall stand. The tumults of the people had already been stilled; and now the waves of the sea must hear and obey the same Divine command. Neither tumult will be permitted to swallow up the “chosen vessel,” until it has discharged its precious burden on the appointed spot.