CHAP. XXVIII. Ver. 1. Melita.-On the identity of this with Malta, we subjoin the following Leiter, referred to in the Exposition (E), p. 454 :— "My dear Christian Brother,-You will perhaps think it strange, that I should reside more than two entire years in this island, without once visiting, during that period, the spot where it is supposed the Apostle to the Gentiles was shipwrecked. A few days ago, for the first time, I visited what is here called St. Paul's Bay, distant from Valetta, the principal city in the island, about six miles. In reading the account of the Apostle's shipwreck, as it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, I have always encountered difficulties which I could not overcome. The difficulty of understanding this account, is much greater in our English translation than in the original. In the English, we hear of their falling into a place where two seas met;' the original is (eis topon dithalasson), a place washed on both sides by the sea. On the N. W. side of St. Paul's Bay, there is a tongue of land extremely rocky, that extends half a mile, perhaps, or more, into the sea, in a direction from S. W. to N. E. This, of course, is washed on both sides, as often as the wind blows from the East, or N. E., which was anciently called Euroclydon, but at present, Gregale. The sea, brought in by this wind, dashes upon the point of this tongue of land, is divided, and then sweeps along on both its sides. Upon this point the natives say the vessel struck, and its present appearance renders this opinion highly probable to my own mind, though others might think differently. The vessel struck upon the rocks, probably, for I saw no sand near the place, and I believe there is none.

"Our translation informs us, that they discovered 'a certain creek with a shore.' This language, to me, conveys no idea. A creek without a shore would be a paradox. Who ever saw a creek without two shores? The original is not attended by this difficulty. They discovered a certain gulf, or bay, having a shore, or a convenient landing place. Such in reality is the bay of St. Paul. It can be distinctly and easily seen from the ocean, that this bay has a good and convenient shore for landing, while many other parts of the island present to the ocean a bold and appalling shore, where it would be totally impracticable, if not impossible, to land, especially during a storm.

"The depth of water in this bay is not great, for you can distinctly see the bottom when half a mile, or more, from the land; and as you approach the land, the depth is gradually diminished, until you would imagine that it were possible to wade, while you are several rods distant from the shore. The bottom is solid rock, and not sand. The bay extends

inland, I should think (for we did not measure it), at least a mile, and probably considerably farther, and is perhaps half a mile in width.

"There is a small church standing on the spot where it is said the Apostle gathered the bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, whence the viper came forth and fastened on his hand. A bundle of sticks might easily be gathered now near the same spot, from the branches of fig-trees, caroob-trees, and other small trees, growing within the neighbouring enclosures.

"Our visit to this bay was by water, and from nearly the same direction in which the Apostle probably was driven by the furious Euroclydon. This bay so well answers to the description given in the Acts of the place where Paul was wrecked, that I can entertain no doubt that it is the same. It has certainly all the prominent features of the place, where the pen of inspiration informs us, the ship which bore the Apostle was broken in pieces by the violence of the waves. I am not aware that any other place is pointed out in the island, where that remarkable event is supposed to have happened.

"If we reflect on the miraculous preservation of the whole company on board, amounting to 276 persons, wrecked in a tremendous storm upon an unknown coast, the preservation of the Apostle from the mortal bite of the viper, and the succeeding mi racles which he afterwards wrought in the island, thus exciting universal attention, it seems to me highly probable, and almost certain, that the spot where he was wrecked would be ever afterwards well known.

"The holy Apostle and his shipwrecked companions have gone, ages ago, to their long home; the vipers, which then infested the island, have long since disappeared; but every winter hears still the loud roar of the fierce Euroclydon, and the shores feel the terrible shock of the mountain waves which it sets in motion ;-but, alas! though the same winds still blow, and the same ocean still roars, the same gospel which Paul preached, is preached here no longer; the same Saviour whom he adored, I fear, is known and adored only by a very few.

"After reading this short description of St. Paul's Bay, and then glancing at the present state of the island, you will unite, I trust, with me, in praying that God would send hither another Apostle, holy and zealous as Paul, to preach again the unsearch able riches of Christ, as the natives believe Paul did, when he was sent by Divine Providence to visit this island eighteen hundred years ago.

"I remain your very affectionate brother, "D. TEMPLE.” (From the New York Observer of Aug. 21, 1824.) Ver. 2. The barbarous people.—The inhabitants

L

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

[taken for a god.

harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

7 In the same quarters were pos sessions of the chief man 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

cutting away their boat, and leaving it to the winds and waves. It may seem strange, that, after assuring them that none should perish in this shipwreck, the apostle should afterwards insist on retaining in the ship the mariners, as absolutely necessary to that eud. But, as Mr. Scott remarks, "If the end was absolutely decreed, the means of attaining it were so decreed likewise; and the case is the same in things of still higher importance." Nothing can be more inconsistent with Scripture, or with Christian philosophy, than to suppose that the end is to be attained without means this is the rock on which enthusiasts have often split.

The soldiers seem to have acted on principles as base and selfish as those of the sailors; for whereas the latter were for deserting the vessel, and leaving the rest to shift for themselves, the soldiers were for murdering the prisoners to prevent their escape, though Paul had assured them that all should get safe to land. The proposal, however, on the part of the soldiers, seem to disclose the awful secret, that such was the state of morals, even among the Romaus, that it was their practice rather to murder their prisoners, though uncondemned, than by any meaus

to suffer them to escape. A like practice (we shudder to relate it) long obtained, and, we fear, is not yet extinct among Europeans in the African slave trade, who drown the wretched Negroes by dozens and by scores, when they have more than they know what to do with.

Providence, however, had determined otherwise; and though the centurion expresses no horror or surprise at the proposal, yet his partiality to Paul and his companions determined him to save the whole; and therefore ordered that all who could swim should cast themselves first into the sea; and the rest, some on boards (or planks), and some on broken pieces of the ship: and so it came to pass that they all escaped safe to land." Practical writers have considered this as no unfit emblem of the manner in which some Christians escape spiritual shipwreck tossed about by a tempestuous world, their lives are full of trouble and peril, and their deaths perhaps embittered with anxiety and pain; yet, casting themselves on the mercy of God, through Christ, for his sake they are all saved at last. Happy those who land on the celestial shore, with smiling skies, and under a gale of holy and heavenly consolations.

of this island, according to Bochart, were originally a colony of Phenicians, or Carthaginians, and had still their ancient language in use, which, though mixed with some Greek and Latin words, was unintelligible to the Greeks, who called all barbarians whose language was unintelligible. Orient. Lit. No. 1459.

Ver. 3. A viper-The most venomous and fatal of all serpents, and thought by the ancients to be sent

by heaven to punish the most enormous crimes. See Dr. Harris's Nat. Hist. of Script.

Ver. 4. Beast-Rather animal, or creature. Ver. 6. Said that he was a god.-But it seems an unlucky conjecture of Grotius, and Dr. Whitby, that they took him for Hercules, since he was a man of small stature, and weak bodily frame. We should rather have guessed Apollo, or Mercury, as in chap. xiv. 12.

Paul proceeds]

[to Rome,

14 Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.

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.

16 And when we 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. (E)

CHAP. XXVIII.

(E) Ver. 1-16. Paul's shipwreck at Melita, and arrival at Rome.—It has been generally considered that this Melita was the well-known isle of Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea; but, a few years since, the very learned and ingenious Jacob Bryant opposed this idea, and strenuously contended, that the Melita here named must intend, not Malta, but Meleda, a smaller island in the Adriatic Gulf, or Gulf of Venice; and Mr. Prebendary Townsend has presented his objections and arguments in a mauner so forcible, that we were about adopting it, till we met with a letter from Mr. Daniel Temple, one of the agents of the Church Missionary Society," who has lately left the island, after residing there more than two years. His letter, which we have subjoined in the Notes, was addressed to a clergyman in the vicinity of Boston (North America), and appeared in different American papers, from one of which we extract it. This has fully inclined us to the former opinion, that Melita was Malta.

Several objections, however, have been raised against the tradition, that St. Paul's Melita is Malta, some of which are obviated in our Notes. That which is chiefly insisted on seems to be, that the inhabitants of Malta were at this time far from being "barbarians," as here called, Malta being not only a place of trade, but con

taining elegant buildings and curiosities of art, as well as nature. To this we would reply, that the term barbarous was applied by the Greeks to all who spoke languages which themselves did not understand; and these were evidently not barbariaus in con duct or behaviour. If we compare with this the case of a vessel wrecked on the coast of Cornwall, only in the last century, and the treatment which the crew would then and there have met with, we fear it would furnish a much stronger argument that Britons were then barbarians, than this history does, that the Maltese were so eighteen centuries before; for we read here of no wreckers flocking to the shore to plunder. As to the argument from vipers being found there, that the country was not yet cleared from wood, we believe that these animals are not even yet extinct in England; but the history before us presents one viper only, and that was thought so extraordinary, that they concluded it must be a visitation from heaven to punish murder. The people, though heathens, were not savages, but, on the contrary, displayed that kindness and hospitality which would have disgraced the inhabitants of no part of either Italy or Greece. When the strangers landed they made a fire to warm them, and, as Paul expresses it, "shewed no little kindness." They were afterwards, at least Paul and his companions, received into the house of

Ver. 11. Whose sign-i. e. the name of the vessel, which was generally dedicated to some deity.

Ver. 12. Syracuse-A famous city on the eastern coast of Sicily.

Ver. 15. Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns.-The former was a market in the Appian Way, both which received their names from the Appian family; and probably a fish-market, like Billingsgate, from its being chiefly inhabited by watermen; as "The Three Taverns," by publicans or innkeepers. Nei

ther place was far from Rome, but the Three Taverns nearest. See Supp. to Calmet's Dict. in Appii. and Orient. Lit. No. 1461.

Ver. 16. The captain of the guard.-Doddr." the prefect (or captain) of the pretorian band.-T dwell by himself.-Doddr. to dwell apart from the other prisoners, in a house of his own." With a soldier.-i. e. chained to one. See Note on chap. xxvi. 29.

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 ought 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 I am bound with this chain.

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

22 But we desire to hear of thee

[and preaches there.

what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is 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, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.

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 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

Publius, the chief man on the island; and when Paul had cured him of a fever, this brought other sick persons to him with various disorders, and they discovered more gratitude and good sense than the apostle seems to have met with elsewhere" Who honoured us(saith he) with many honours, and when we departed they laded us with such things as were necessary."

Here Paul and his companions, as also the centurion and his company, stopped three months, and then sailed towards Rome in the ship Castor and Pollux (or the sign Gemini in the Zodiac). By the way, however, they stopped three days at Syracuse, and seven at Puteoli. From thence they went on as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns (a place so called), where sundry brethren met them from Rome; whom, when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage:" and it

is well when our Christian intercourse has the happy effect to excite our gratitude to ward God, and to animate us in our Christian warfare.

Paul having arrived at Rome, accompanied by his Christian friends, the centurion, who had treated him with the greatest kindpess through all his journey, now surrendered him and his fellow-prisoners to the captain of the guard; doubtless, not without a recommendation to his kind attentions. Indeed, such was the conduct and behaviour of the apostle, and such the gracious protection of his heavenly Master, that wherever he went he appears to have found a friend. In the present instance, Paul was suffered to dwell in his own hired house, under the care of a single soldier, and all his friends were allowed to visit him.

Ver. 25. Well spake the Holy Ghost, &c.-This passage from Isa. vi. 9, 10, is quoted in the New Testament oftener than any other-six times; namely, in each of the Gospels, here, and in chap.

xi. 8; yet in such variety of expression, as plainly proves the apostles did not confine themselves exactly either to the words of the original [Hebrew], or the Greek version.

Paul suffered to preach]

THE 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

ACTS.

[in his own hired house.

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,

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

(F) Ver. 17-31. Paul appeals to the Jews, and afterwards to the Gentiles. Paul's object was one only, wherever he might go. It was to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour of the world, both to Jews and Gentiles. Accordingly, he no sooner arrives at Rome, than he calls together his countrymen, tells them the reason of his coming thither, and the true ground of his being persecuted by his brethren-" For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain!" exhibiting the chain which bound him to a Roman soldier. This expression, "the hope of Israel," may be applied both to the person of the Messiah, who was truly "the hope of Israel," and to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and especially of Christ, which was the hope for which he had repeatedly been "called in question."

per

His brethren expressed a readiness to hear him; and accordingly, on an appointed day, came to him at his lodging, when he testified to them the kingdom of God," that is, of the Messiah; " suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning until evening." And the consequence was, as generally has been found, some believed, and others believed not. To the latter he applied the same Scripture (Isaiah vi. 9) that our

Lord had applied to them of Jerusalem, about thirty years before-" The heart of this people is waxed gross," &c. (see Matt. xiii. 14, 15); and in consequence confined his chief attention to the Gentiles. Thus Paul dwelt two years in bis own hired house, preaching with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

Paul's arrival in Rome is dated in our Bible chronology, in A. D. 63, and by others two years earlier; but his Epistle to the Romans is supposed to have been written in 57 or 58; and even then we hear that their faith was spoken of throughout the world, so that the gospel must have been planted in the capital of the Roman Empire at a very early period, though by whom is not recorded. On Paul's ap proaching the city, we find a deputation from the Church went out to meet and welcome him, by whom he was much encouraged and refreshed. While here (as we shall presently see), beside constant preaching, both to Jews and Gentiles, he appears to have written his Epistles to the Ephe sians, Philippians, and Colossians; probably that to the Hebrews, and more cer- ' tainly that to Philemon. His second to Timothy was also written from Rome, but at a later period, and but just before his death.

Ver. 30. In his own hired house." Dr. Lardner proves from Ulpian, that the Proconsul was to judge whether a person under accusation was to be thrown into prison, or delivered to a soldier to keep, or committed to sureties, or trusted on his parole of honour. Cred. book i. ch. 10. It appears from hence, that the persecution of Christians at Rome was not then begun; and perhaps Paul's friends in Nero's family (Phil. iv. 22) used their interest with the Emperor to procure him this liberty. Doddr. We shall presently notice, that much of Paul's 466

time was also occupied in corresponding; and at the end of two years, it is highly probable he was set at liberty. Whether he went again into the East, is doubtful; but Clement of Rome (in his first Epistle) expressly says, that he preached in the West to its utmost bounds, which must include Spain: and Theodoret adds, that he went to the Islands of the Sea, of which Britain is understood to be one: and there is the best authority to believe that, after this, he returned to Rome, and there suffered martyrdom, as we shall have farther occasion to observe.