The Second Journey

“Friend after friend departs —

Who hath not lost a friend
There is no union here of hearts

That finds not here an end.
Were this frail world our final rest,
Living or dying none were hlest.”

“He exhibits to us, notwithstanding an infirm body and a feeble speech, what a man can do, even one single man, when his will is in harmony with the will of God.”

I aul continued for some time with “— Barnabas at Antioch, preaching to their converts, and” building thorn up in their most holy faith.” He would not, however, allow himself to forget his special work as a missionary. He thought, with fond affection, of the many believers he had left behind in Asia Minor, exposed to dangers and trials; and of the multitudes elsewhere, still strangers to a Saviour’s name. He resolved, accordingly, along with his former companions, to visit the churches which they had already planted. “Let us go again,” he said to Barnabas,” and visit our brethren in every city wheve we have preached the word of the

Lord, and see how they do.“* They would doubtless take along with them the important circular letter, or “decree,” lately issued by the Council at Jerusalem, in case the same question which had so disturbed the believers in Antioch might be marring the peace of converts elsewhere. This visitation of these churches gives us the first specimen of the tender and affectionate love which Paul bore to all he had been honoured to call to the faith of Jesus. It is more like the love of a father to his children, than that of a stranger to strangers.

There is a painful commencement, however, to this second missionary tour. We have spoken, at the close of last chapter, of an unhappy cause of difference between Paul and Peter. A still sadder estrangement took place now between him and Barnabas, showing us that the best of earthly friends, and the holiest of mere human hearts, can never be depended on. Barnabas was desirous that his nephew, Mark, should go along with them. Paul objected to this. We can easily understand the feelings in the latter apostle’s mind which constrained him to act contrary to the wishes of his brother missionary. Mark, you will remember, had already been tried as a companion. He had grown weary of the work, and, on reaching Perga, had returned home. The Great Apostle might be afraid, and justly so, lest the cause of his Master might suffer by the employment again of so heartless an agent. Barnabas, on the other hand, was naturally fond of his kinsman. He had doubtless received from him assurances of penitence and sorrow for his past conduct, and a determination to act better for the future. We can

* Acts xv. 36.

therefore make allowance also for the feelings of the good uncle, in whose character we have seen so much to admire. We are not called upon to decide who was right and who was wrong, in this painful quarrel. They must both have felt the sad truth they told the Lystrians, “We are men of like passions with you!” As Mark did not disappoint the hopes of his uncle, we may have reason to regret that Paul adhered so strongly to his determination. On the other hand, as a great writer remarks, “We see, on this occasion, the severe earnestness of Paul’s character, which gave up, and wished others to give up, all personal considerations and feelings when the cause of God was concerned.” * Another commentator gives the following as perhaps the truthful verdict on the case: — “The attempt of many to justify both completely, or, at least, Paul, I cannot approve. If both had been perfect men, no quarrel would have arisen, for there must always be two to a quarrel. Yea, there should have been no contention, if even only one of them had been perfect.” t

God, however, overruled the infirmities of these two apostles for the promotion of His cause. “He can make the wrath of man to praise Him.” Meanwhile, we find that the contention grew “so sharp” between them, that they were forced to separate! It had evidently been their intention to have gone over the very same ground which they had traversed in their first journey — together to revisit and confirm the churches they had already planted. They agree, on separating, to begin at the two extreme points. Paul took the northward direction, to the interior of Asia Minor, tak-

* Neander, p. 1C9. f Olshausen — note in loco.

ing with him Silas (one of the brethren sent from Jerusalem); while Barnabas, with Mark, took the island part of the tour, sailing towards Cyprus, which, you will remember, was Barnabas’ native country. Of the latter, we hear no more after this. We know not whether he and Paul ever met again. It is supposed by some, that reference is made to him by Paul in 2 Cor. viii. 18, as “the brother whose praise is in all the churches;” but this is uncertain. Tradition gives us an affecting account of his death. It is said that, when he came with his nephew to Salamis, in Cyprus, he entered into the Jewish synagogue, and made many converts to the faith of Jesus — that some Jews had followed from Syria, under the guidance of Bar-jesus, and, rousing the people against him, had cruelly stoned him to death; but his nephew rescued the body, and his tomb was shown for centuries after at Salamis. Paul and Mark did meet again. We have the same assurance with regard to them, as in the case of Peter, that they came to speak of one another as esteemed fellow-soldiers, fighting under the same great banner. Tradition also (although — we deem it necessary always to add the caution — no safe guide in general) further mentions what we would fondly believe was the case — that Barnabas’ dying injunction to his nephew was to go without delay and rejoin Paul. We love to think of the good old disciple, who showed our Apostle so much true kindness at the first, and especially on his flight from Damascus, going down to his grave with the name of one on his lips he had long loved so well! Leaving the island-missionaries, Barnabas and Mark, as they sailed down the Orontes, let us follow Paul and Silas as they crossed the bridge over the same river, and made for the passes of Mount Amanus.“y’ There were various narrow and precipitous gorges leading across this lofty range. The principal of these was a singular defile, called the “Syrian Gates,” and which is known by the modern name of the “Beilan Pass.”t On reaching the other side, they would doubtless visit several of the smaller towns of Cilicia, although the names are not given us, and scatter among them the precious seed. There was one which we have every reason for supposing would not be omitted, and which Paul would enter with very peculiar feelings. It was his own native Tarsus — the city and home of his childhood. Though still heathen — the temples and statues of false gods lining its streets — he must have had a peculiar joy in knowing that many had, by means of his preaching, “been turned from dumb idols to serve the living God.” How it must have cheered his heart, when “far hence among the Gentiles,” to think that, in his own birth-place, there were some who loved the Saviour, and who prayed on his behalf, that the word he preached might “have free course and be glorified!” We must follow him and his companion as they continued their journey still further north, across Mount Taurus. It was probably in the early part of the year 51, when they were wending their way along the banks of the Cydnus on this mountain journey. J It is with probability supposed that they crossed through the “Cilician Gates,” — a gorge much more remarkable than the Syrian, and one, too, through which more than one large army in ancient and modern times has with

* The reader will now follow the crimson line in the map. t Reasons for supposing this to be the probable route of the apostle, see Howson and Conybeare, vol. i. p. 276. t Ibid, p 27S.

difficulty and danger passed. Cliffs several hundred feet high frown on either side above the head of the traveller, the width in some places being only a few yards. Small patches of vegetation are seen here and there among their summits, while rushing torrents come tumbling down, often covering or undermining the road. The old military highway may itself to this day be traced from the many fragments and inscriptions which have been found by curious travellers. They have now reached an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea, and begin gradually to descend among the wooded uplands of Lycaonia. We may imagine here also the joy of Paul in revisiting the old scenes of his first missionary journey. How his heart must have beat as the well remembered form of the “Black Mount,” with its snowy summit, rose in the plain before him! He was approaching at present in the opposite direction, and therefore he comes to Derbe first. Interested he must have been to see and hear all about his beloved converts there. He would doubtless not be without anxiety. He knew well the deceitfulness of the human heart, and could not fail to dread lest many of those who had promised well had “fallen from grace.” There is no account given us of his reception at Derbe; we may easily imagine, however, what it would be — the kind-hearted man of God, coming once more into the midst of those for whom, night and day, he had “prayed exceedingly,” and they with hearts overflowing with gratitude towards the honoured minister who had been the means of rescuing them from a blind superstition. Lystra was the town next in order to which they came. You will not have forgotten that it was here the citizens wished first to worship the two apostles as gods; and then behaved so shamefully — stoning Paul, and leaving him as dead. Lystra was heathen still! The large Pagan temple rose as it had done the year before at the city gate, and the priest (perhaps as Paul was passing) was offering animals in sacrifice to Jupiter. There was one face which, among others, he had not forgotten since his last visit. I daresay you remember the youth who stood among the crowd when the great apostle lay bleeding from his wounds. That young convert, doubtless, never forgot that night; — the patience, and resignation, and forgiveness of the cruelly-treated servant of Jesus. We believe that none of all the Christian converts in Lystra welcomed with greater joy the return of the great missionary than this promisingyoung man, whose name was in future ages to be so linked with that of his spiritual father. As I have already said, he had been brought up under the tender religious training of his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice. Eunice was a Jewess, a Christian convert, and her husband was a Greek. We can picture to ourselves that holy Christian home of the infant apostle. His pious mother, and aged grandmother, had, from his earliest years, instructed him in the knowledge of the ancient Scriptures. Like Simeon, Anna, and others, they had been waiting in humble faith for the “consolation of Israel “— not unprepared for the glad tidings which Paul had proclaimed to them, that the types and promises of the Jewish dispensation had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, of whom” all the prophets bear witness.” Paul’s letters to Timothy at a later time tell how affectionately he loved him. There doubtless must have been something very winning and engaging about this young stranger, that could induce the apostle at once to fix upon him for so signal an honour as to be the companion of his journeys. Notwithstanding their great difference in age, notwithstanding Paul’s great learning and accomplishments, he seems to have esteemed Timothy as the most valued of all his friends. “Son Timothy,”” My

beloved son,” “My own son in the faith,” “My work-fellow,” “My brother,” are expressions which bespeak no common affection. Well has it been said, “What mother ever wrote to her son a letter more full of solicitude than the Second Epistle to Timothy?” * Hear how he writes of him when he is looking back on the manifold friendships of a whole life: “I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state... Ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.” t He had been converted during Paul’s former visit. The seed then sown had ripened in his heart to good fruit; and now, when the apostle returned a second time, he found him all equipped and ready for that “good fight of faith,” about which he afterwards discourses. “Him would Paul have to go forth with him.” % He was circumcised at Iconium, and there solemnly ordained and set apart for his great work. It was a day never to be forgotten by the young Lystrian. Paul afterwards speaks of it in one of his letters. “Thou hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” §

From Iconium, they proceeded to the cities farther north, leaving in each of these, where Christian converts were, a copy of the decree of the Jerusalem Council. Veiy considerable difficulty, however, has

* Monod. t Phil. ii. 20, 22. t Acts xvi. 3. § 1 Tim. vi. 12.

THE SECOND JOURNEY. lGo

been felt by writers on the life of Paul as to the direction of this journey. The high road he and Silas had now been traversing the length of Antioch, led on to Ephesus, a distance of 230 miles; and some have supposed they went by it the length of Colosse, a town situated half way. Other writers, of equal authority, assign to him a route more directly north, not supposing that he visited Colosse afc all. If you examine the map, you will see what his course would be if he and his fellow-travellers followed the great highway of Asia Minor; they would come to the valley which is watered by the river Lycus, and on the south bank of which stands the city of Colosse — a few scattered ruins now only remaining to mark the spot. Had they pursued the same great road twelve miles further along the valley, they would have reached two other famous cities fronting each other on either side of the river. On the right, Hierapolis rose on a commanding situation; it crowned the summits of a bold cliff, and had within its walls the temple of Pluto and its famous cavern. Upon the opposite bank, on the slope of Mount Cadmus, and a mile from the river, stood Laodicea, whose vast ruins, at the present day, attest its former extent and greatness. We have every reason to believe, however, that neither of these cities were the apostle and his companions allowed at present to enter; “they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.”*

We can, with greater certainty, follow them as they retrace their steps north-east to Galatia. This province we know they now visited ;t and from the epistle Paul wrote to the churches there, as well as

* Acts xvi. 6. f Acts xvi. 6.

from the peculiar history of its people, it deserves more from us than a passing notice. Much interesting light, moreover, has been thrown upon the subject by recent “writers.

The Galatians (or Gauhtmns) were not the original inhabitants of that country; they were a colony of Gauls. Who were these Gauls? Gaul, as you know, was the ancient name of France. Greek historians, in speaking of the inhabitants of France, call them “Galatians.” The Gauls, however, seem not to have been confined to this portion of Europe, but to have spread themselves also over Spain, Great Britain, and Ireland. They were a bold, warlike, and manly people; their name and invasions indeed became so terrible, that the countries they sought to people did what they could to destroy and extirpate them. Those that remained, had to take refuge in fastnesses and wild uninhabited districts, where they could do comparatively little harm. In France, they were driven into Brittany; in England, into Wales, which was called from them Wallia, or Gallia, (and indeed Wales is called by Frenchmen still, “the country of the Gauls.”) In rugged Scotland, they got a suitable refuge among the wild Highland glens and passes — hence the name of the Highlanders and their country, as the Gaels, the land of the Gael, or Gaul; and their language, Gaelic, or Gaulic. The place, however, in the west of Europe which they retained strongest hold of was Ireland; they peopled the whole of it, with the exception of a portion of the north-east.

But how came they, it may be asked, to find their way to the provhice which the Apostle Paul was now treading, in the centre of Asia Minor? After the

THE SECOND JOURNEY. 1G5

death of Alexander the Great, a swarming host of 300,000 Gauls, like the Huns and Vandals of the middle ages, made an irruption over the plains of eastern Europe, forcing a passage along the banks of the Danube. We need not pause to describe their march; suffice it to say, the greater number of them met on the shores of Asia Minor. Their wild war-songs were heard on the plains of ancient Troy, and around the tomb of Achilles. From thence they marched hither and thither on a mission of pillage and plunder, leaving behind nothing but the ashes and smoke of conquered countries. A portion of them (with which we are now principally concerned) had withdrawn from the main body, and were still in Europe; they were lured, however, at last across the Hellespont by Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, who was at that time engaged in war with his brother. By their means he obtained a complete and decisive victory, and, as a reward for their assistance and valour, granted them the north-east portion of Phrygia, which ever afterwards bore the name of Galatia, or Gallo Grcecia. Not contented with this royal recompense, they seem to have inspired great fear among the inhabitants of Mount Taurus by their warlike incursions, and to have exacted tribute from all around. Their numbers at their first settlement, according to a Roman historian, did not exceed 20,000, and the half of these were unarmed. This may give an idea of their power, and of the influence their ferocious name and character exercised over the timid tribes among: whom they settled. We can imagine, from what is related of them, the terror these barbarians would inspire, especially in the hour of. battle, with their wild native war-whoops, clanging their long swords or claymores on their targets, and rushing madly against their foes.

For many centuries this remarkable race retained their language and native manners. Even when Paul now visited them, though they could speak the Greek of the country, they never had forgotten their own tongue, — just as in Wales, or in the Scottish Highlands, that same tongue, with little variation, continues to be spoken. St Paul’s epistle to them, however, was written in Greek; and any inscriptions of the period, found on their sculptures, are in the same language. Their independence, as a people, was, at the age of the apostle, like all the rest of the world, laid low under the iron hand of imperial Rome. They had been suffered, till the reign of Augustus, to retain it nominally, and had at that time a king of their own, called Amyntas; but a Roman pro-praetor was now at the head of the province. What their precise religion was when Paul first found them, we cannot say. More than probably their ancestors would carry along with them their Druidical superstitions; but we know also, that Jupiter and Cybele, the deities of Greece and Rome, were worshipped at two of their principal cities. It is among this strange people, then — strange even in their complexion and appearance, with their tall figures and long flowing yellow hair* — that the Apostle of the Gentiles is now about to sojourn.

We are not informed to what localities Paul went in Galatia, or how long he remained there; this, however, (s certain, that he preached in many places, and that a

* See the picture, at the beginning of the chapter, of a “Galatian hero.” vast blessing attended his labours. Nay, more, that warm-hearted people seem to have received the “stranger apostle” with great readiness and cordiality, and he appears, ever after, to entertain towards them feelings of deepest affection and love.

If we have spoken of France as the original country of the Gauls, and Ireland as the land in western Europe where they chiefly abounded, we have, in the well-known sprightliness and warm-heartedness of these two countries at this day, a living picture of the character the Apostle Paul had to deal with in Galatia 1800 years ago. In other respects, too, the likeness seems to hold good — while warm and loving in their natures, they were fickle, unsteady, excitable, “carried about with every wind of doctrine.” May we not say, in no unkindly spirit, that the charge which he brings against them might, in a modified shape, be made to apply not inaccurately to others in later years, and nearer our own shores? — “0 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth?” While at one time “they received the apostle as if he had been an angel,” “they were soon removed from him that called them to another gospel.”*

On the occasion of this his first visit, Paul was overtaken with sickness. None but those who have experienced it, can know how painful it is to be laid, in the heart of a foreign land, on a couch of illness; nor, on the other hand, how grateful, in such circumstances, is the kindness of strangers. The apostle felt deeply the warm and affectionate solicitude which the Galatians manifested towards him at this trying hour. They saw his body bowed with intense suffering; but wheo

* See Mr Lewin’s interesting chapter on Galatia.

they beheld his noble mind rising superior to all, and enabling him joyfully to bear ail for the everlasting good of others, they were struck with a heroism that would have done honour to their own bravest and best. We may well believe that Timothy would not be behind in bestowing dutiful attention on one he so loved, while it would doubtless tend to draw out more than ever the heart of the apostle towards him whom “he had begotten in the Gospel.”

Connected with Paul’s illness in Galatia, and with many references in his epistle, this seems the proper time to refer to the nature of that bodily infirmity or ailment under which he so often laboured, and which he calls “the thorn in the flesh.” * What could this have been 1 The answering of this question may help us in forming our impressions of his personal appearance, and account for many allusions he makes in his writings which could not otherwise be explained.

From this bodily malady, whatever it was, he evidently was suffering during this his first visit to Galatia j for, in his “Epistle to the Galatians,” which was written after his second visit, he says — “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you at the first” (t. e., the former visit). “And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God.,.. I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” These striking words appear to afford a key to the nature of the “thorn in the flesh,” to which they, in all probability, allude.

We have the strongest reason, then, to infer that it

* 2 Cor. xii. 7-10. f Gal. iv. 13-15. was a disease in his eyes, which greatly injured his sight, and at times his appearance. It has been thought that, ever since being struck blind at his conversion, on the way to Damascus, his eyes and eyesight had been much affected — just as if his Lord had wished him to carry about this continual remembrance, at once of his guilt, and of the grace which saved him. Writers have specially noted besides (what was mentioned in a former chapter), that the climate of Damascus is most injurious to the vision; many in the neighbourhood of that city to this day suffering severely from its pernicious effects. What can more naturally explain the verse I have, a few sentences before, quoted from his Galatian epistle, than this 1 He wishes to tell his converts there, how greatly he felt their attention and affection; as if he had said — “So great was your kindness to me, a poor half-blind stranger, with my eyes painful to look upon, that you would have willingly plucked out your own, if it had been in your power, and exchanged them for mine, if this could have cured me of my sad malady.”

There are other similar references made in the same epistle: as when he says, at the close of it, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” The word translated “marks” literally means “brands,” and refers to the old custom of branding the forehead or arm with a hot iron, more particularly in the case of runaway slaves. A name or device was thus impressed on the skin as a punishment, as well as to prevent them in future deserting their masters. “In this sense,” says Paul,” I, who was a fugitive slave rushing away from my Master, was ’ arrested ’ by Him on the way to

Damascus, when he cried after me, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ and when He caught me, or ’ apprehended me,’ * He put His own brand or mark upon me; these eyes, which He struck blind with the blaze of His glory, I am to bear continually about with me as the ’ marks of the Lord Jesus.’”

There is one other verse in the epistle, to which I shall refer, bearing upon the same; it is in the concluding words of it. He says, “Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand.“t From the weakness of his eyesight, Paul was always in the habit of employing another to write for him. To show his affection, however, for this warm-hearted people, he says,” See, I have made an exception in your case. Suffering though I am from these eyes of mine, I have sent you a letter in my own handwriting.” It has been rightly observed, that the expression, “See how large a letter,” does not refer to the length of the epistle, but to the clumsy writing. He apologises to them for this. aSee,” he says, “in what awkward characters I have written unto you; but you cannot expect otherwise from my eyesight. You will pardon their inelegance, and understand what I mean by putting myself to this piece of unusual labour; it is to give you a proof of my cordial love for you, and my interest in your welfare.”

We have strong reason to infer, then, on these and other considerations, that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was no other than a disease in his eyes; so bad, too, as to have made him occasionally, when it increased, nearly blind, as we read, in an after-portion of his life, that he was “corjlucted” by others to Athens.^ It

* Phil. iii. 12. t Gal. vi. 11. t Acts xvii. 15. must indeed have been a severe trial to the great missionary apostle; not only from the ridicule which the bodily defect might draw down at times upon him from his enemies, but think of his constant exposure to the open air, and the sudden changes from the burningheat of the summer plains to the cutting breezes and cold of the mountains. How acute often must have been his sufferings in an organ so sensitive to pain as we know the eye is! Three times, he tells us, did he pray that his malady might be removed. The prayer was granted; not, however, in the manner he wished or expected, but in the way which God saw best. The thorn still remained but his Lord gave him, in answer to his prayer, “more grace.”- “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”* The great and holy man was satisfied; he saw that all was for his good. He was led triumphantly to say, “I take pleasure in infirmities;” “Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”t “This giant apostle — this spiritual conqueror of the half of Asia and the whole of Europe, had a bodily weakness which attracted the attention of all, which emboldened his enemies, which troubled himself, and which seemed to render him for ever disqualified for his work. Well! God thus made him weak for the express purpose of glorifying Himself in him.” J

We cannot, immediately after this, very accurately trace the course which the missionary band took. I

* 2 Cor. xii. 9.

t See on this also the fall and satisfactory statement of Mr Lewin, vol. i. p. 213.

t Monod’s Si Paul, p. 151.

have already noted that they were forbidden to go to Asia or Bithynia. “The Spirit suffered them not.” Why they were not suffered, it is not for us to inquire. It has been thought, from the dedication of Peter’s first epistle, that these regions, including Bithynia, were specially allotted to him. “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia”* “We need not, however, attempt to explain, where the Word of God is silent. Bending their course directly westward, they probably went to a sea-port town on the iEgean, called Adramyttium; from thence along the coast to Assos, where a beautiful road, of nineteen miles, brought them through the oak woods that skirted Mount Ida to Troas. This was, and still is, a spot of deep and sacred interest. It was the scene of the oldest and greatest war of antiquity — the Trojan. Greek and Latin poets have vied with one another to celebrate its scenery. Mount Ida rose behind it with its beautiful woods and sparkling streams — the island of Tenedos lay on the bosom of the sea in front of its harbour — while, far off in the blue distance, the nearest land of Europe was in sight — the lofty Grecian Mount Athos. Perhaps the time when Paul approached it answered to the description of a modern traveller, who thus speaks of the close of his first day’s visit to Troas: —” The beauty of the evening in this country surpasses all description. The sky glowed with the rich tints of the setting sun, which now, skirting the western horizon, raised, as it were, up to our view the distant summits of the European mountains. We saw Mount Athos distinctly, of a conical form, and

* Chap. i. ]. so lofty, that on the top, as the ancients relate, the sun-rising was beheld four hours sooner than by the inhabitants of the coast; and, at the solstice, its shade reached into the Agora or market-place of Myrina, a town in Lemnos, which island was distant 87 miles eastward.”*

The town of Troas itself must have been a very considerable one. It stood on a height, sloping gently down to the sea. A deep’ ravine separated it from Mount Ida, and a large plain stretched on either side by the sea-shore.t Large masses of hewn stone, walls that include a circuit of nine miles, and the ruins of piers and arches, remain to this day to bespeak its former greatness. The situation was so striking in itself, and so renowned in story, that Constantine, before he fixed on Constantinople as the site of his new capital, is said to have wavered between it and Troas; J indeed, at this day, it retains the name of Eski-Stamboul, or Old Constantinople.

We have supposed the apostle and his friends approached this classic city by the winding road that skirted the sea-beach, unless, from the expression, “they came down” to Troas, we are to infer that they crossed one of the shoulders of Mount Olympus, and looked from the summit on the celebrated “Trojan plains.” If so, Paul, with his taste and scholarship, could not surely feel unmoved and uninterested on a spot which, while the world lasts, will be remembered in connexion with Homer — its oldest and, in many respects, greatest poet. On those very sandy plains and knolls along which they passed, the prancing war-

* Chandler’s Travels in Asia Minor, p. 23. t Ibid. p. 26.

% Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, quoted by Howson.

steeds and chariots of the Trojans and Greeks had rattled along. “But who would recognise, in those shallow reedy streams, the Simois and Scamander of the poet’s fancy? The storm of war had swept over the spot, and now it was the path of the messengers of peace. Europe had poured forth her thousands to desolate and destroy; and Asia, in return, sent her three wayworn pilgrims — Paul, Silas, and Timothy — to proclaim to Europe the glad tidings of the Gospel! They passed on, and entered Troas.” *

That night was one never to be forgotten. When the great apostle lay himself down on his pillow, and composed himself to sleep, a vision appeared at his bed-side. A figure, like “a man of Macedonia,” stood over him, and beckoned to him, saying, “Come over and help us!” It was the voice of his God telling him there were perishing millions in Europe, who were waiting to receive the bread of life. He could not resist the solemn pleadings of that nightly apparition. The next day we may imagine the four strangers (for Luke, “the beloved physician,” who writes so faithfully his history, had now joined them) — we may picture them by the harbour of Troas, entering some trading-vessel about to convey them to Greece. The ship weighs anchor — the sails are spread; and, on the bosom of the surging iEgean, riches more precious than the gold of Ophir are carried to the civilised countries of Europe. Each of us were deeply interested in that vessel as it flies before the south wind to Samothracia! Ah! little did poor heathen Britain think at that moment there was then advancing nearer her shores so rich a prize for her children’s children!

* Lewin, vol. i. p. 223.