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other deputies or not at all. All we know is that the seven friends went on in advance and awaited Paul and Titus at Troas.

This was the last occasion upon which Paul visited his communities, - the last farewell he took of them, though he did not know that they were never to see him more. Not only was he never again to visit these regions, which he had so ofter crossed and recrossed in every direction, but his apostolic labors were themselves drawing to a close. In a certain sense his task had been accomplished. The contest he had waged for so many years with varying fortune against the Jewish-Christianity which had penetrated into the fields of his labor had spurred him to ever greater efforts, had compelled him to seize every weapon that lay within his reach, had forced him to penetrate yet further into the heart of his own gospel and to work out and round off his own opinions more completely; and thereby it had indirectly contributed towards confirming and extending his apostolic influence upon his own and coming ages. This remark bas special reference to his writings, those four marvellous epistles that have been preserved for us, and which were largely called forth by the divisions in the bosom of apostolic Christianity.

His work survived. He had toiled and striven and endured more than tongue can utter; but the results of his unwearied efforts and unreserved devotion were proportionately rich and grand. It is true that the consummation he expected, the glorious establishment of the kingdom of God by the return of the Christ from heaven, never came. But it was through him personally, and to the form in which he preached his gospel, that the great spiritual power, destined slowly but surely to regenerate mankind, became the property of the whole civilized world. While he, together with all the believers of his generation, still looked in vain for the glorious renewal of heaven and earth, he had himself laid the foundations of the colossal edifice of the Christian Church.

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HE Apostle and his companions reached Jerusalem without hindrance. But whether the means of travelling at their command necessitated occasional delays of a few days' duration, or whether they had a little vessel of their own during the first part of the voyage and paused from time to time by choice, in any case they made no great haste on their way.

To begin with, they spent a week at Troas, where the following event occurred: On the Sunday evening before the Monday morning on which they were to depart, a final meeting of the congregation, closed by a brotherly meal, was held in a well-lighted upper room. Paul had much to say, and midnight had already come, when both he and his hearers were horrified to see a young man called Eutychus, who was sitting on the window-seat and had gone to sleep, fall down outside from the third story. As he made no sound or motion, they gave him up at once for dead and raised great lamentations. But Paul, who had hurried down with the rest, threw himself upon him, embraced him, and said: "Lament not thus for him! He is still alive!" Then they went into the upper room again, joined in the brotherly meal, and conversed till dawn, when the Apostle went his way. Meanwhile Eutychus had been brought in alive, to the great joy of every one. This circumstance is recorded by Titus, and may therefore be accepted without hesitation; but the writer of Acts appears to have made a slight alteration in the narrative, so as to give Paul the glory of restoring the dead to life, which he has already ascribed to Peter.1

Paul had decided to go to Assus, twenty miles south of Troas, by land, and there to join his fellow travellers who were to go before by ship. This was done; and from Assus they crossed to Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, lying on the east coast of the island. There they spent the night. Next day they sailed past Chios, and the day after they steered for Samos; anchored one night off Cape Trogyllium, and on the next day reached Miletus.

1 See pp. 557, 561.

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At this point the author of Acts interrupts the narrative of Titus to insert from some less trustworthy authority a moving account of a last farewell which Paul is supposed to have taken at Miletus of the elders of the church of Ephesus.' We are told that he was extremely anxious to be at Jerusalem for Pentecost, and that in order to lose no time in Asia he sent to Ephesus from Miletus and invited the elders to come and see him there, instead of going to the city himself. This is an extraordinary statement; for the week's abode at Troas, and again at Tyre, and the delay of many days at Cæsarea, within two days' journey of Jerusalem, preclude the idea of haste. And the Apostle certainly did not arrive till the feast was over. Besides, if he had really been pressed for time it would have been far better to take leave of the Ephesians at the neighboring Trogyliium than at Miletus, which was a long day's journey from Ephesus, so that the communications would have caused an additional delay of at least two days. Finally, we know that Paul had altogether given up celebrating Jewish feasts. But to go on with the story: When the representatives of the chief church of Asia had joined him, Paul gave them a retrospect of his apostolic labors at EpheHe reminded them of his style of life among them during three successive years, of his zeal and fidelity, his patient perseverance, the truth and completeness of his preaching. And now he was journeying to Jerusalem in obedience to an impulse from above, warned by the prophets, from city to city as he went, of the dangers that awaited him there, but prepared to sacrifice every thing, down to his very life, in accomplishing his task. And since he knew that he should never more see the Ephesians or any of the congregations he had founded, he now declared in their presence that his own conscience was clear, and conjured the overseers, as set by the Holy Spirit in the post of responsibility, to guard the Church of the Lord against heretical teachers who should burst in like savage wolves from outside, or should rise up in their own midst. Finally, he commended them to God, and exhorted them to follow his own example of complete disinterestedness (in supporting himself while preaching), according to the word of Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive." After this they all knelt down and Paul Deeply grieved by his assurance that they would see his face no more, they escorted him to the ship and bade him farewell.

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prayed with them.

1 Acts xx. 16-38; compare p. 562.

There can be no real doubt that this profoundly touching and beautiful address was composed at a later date in defence or in honor of Paul, and not really delivered by him.' He himself by no means looked for certain captivity and death when on his way to Jerusalem, but on the contrary was full of vast projects for the future. He knew that he was exposing himself to serious danger, but to that he had long been accustomed. The prediction here put into his mouth is framed in accordance with the result, but in contradiction to his own anticipations at the time. We must pass the same judgment on the warning against future heretics. Of course Paul himself never thought of such teachers, and would have warned the Ephesians against the orthodox fanatics if against any one. Moreover we know that the three years of his abode in Asia had not been by any means spent continuously at Ephesus; nor did he ever recommend others to follow his own personal rule of earning their bread by manual labor when preaching the gospel. Finally, not to enter upon further details, the high estimate of the office of overseers or bishops indicates the post-apostolic age.

We now return to the narrative of Titus. Quitting Miletus, the party made straight for the island of Cos, sailed or rowed thence to Rhodes, and on the third day reached the Lycian harbor of Patara. Here they found a merchantman just ready to sail for Phoenicia, and took their passage in her. The vessel soon put out to sea towards Cyprus, which she passed on the left, and after a voyage of a short week reached Tyre, where she was to unload. Here the travellers sought the brethren, with whom they spent seven days, and who— after vainly attempting, in obedience to an inspired impulse. to dissuade Paul from going to Jerusalem, adds the author of Acts-escorted them out of the city with the women and children, prayed with them, and took leave of them on the strand; for our travellers avoided the route by land, which would have brought them into contact with the orthodox communities, and sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais, where they visited the brethren and spent one day with them. On the morrow they crossed Mount Carmel and passed through the flowery plain of Sharon to Cæsarea. Here they took up their abode with Philip the Evangelist, one of the Seven,'

1 See pp. 540, 562, 569, 570.

2 See pp. 604, 605.
Compare Philippians ii. 24; Philemon verse 22.
4 See Galatians vi. 6; 1 Corinthians ix. 6-15.
See pp. 5, 14 ff.

who had four unmarried daughters, all of them prophetesses or inspired speakers. Here they spent several days.

At Cæsarca, we read, Paul received a final warning. The Judæan prophet Agabus came to him, took his girdle, bound his own hands and feet with it, and foretold in the name of the Holy Spirit that the owner of that girdle would be bound by the Jews in like manner and delivered to the Romans. Then his travelling companions and the Christians of Cæsarea implored Paul to desist from his project; but he bade them cease, and declared that he was ready to brave not only imprisonment but death itself at Jerusalem for his faith. Upon this they acquiesced in the Lord's will. We suspect that this scene formed no part of the original diary of Titus, but was subsequently inserted; for it is in perfect harmony with the other unhistorical interpolations, and is in itself exceedingly improbable. Besides, we know that this idea of Paul's feeling impelled from above to visit Jerusalem at every risk is nothing whatever but an invention by the author of Acts or his authority, who is determined to surround the brow of his hero with a crown of glory; whereas the Apostle himself was not at all conscious of any such irresistible impulse, and knew the value of his own life as well as ever. In conclusion we may observe that a former appearance of Agabus is equally open to suspicion, that the careful enumeration of the days that characterizes the itinerary throughout disappears in this passage, and that other indications likewise point it out as an interpolation. We have therefore no right to assume that Paul approached Jerusalem as a voluntary martyr to the Jews, rather than an ambassador of peace to the JewishChristians.

After spending a good many days in Cæsarea then, the Apostle and his eight companions prepared to continue the journey. It was now a few weeks after Pentecost. Some of the Cæsarean brothers accompanied them, and when they reached Jerusalem brought them to a certain Mnason, a Cyprian convert of long standing, who offered them hospitality. They were doubtless deterred by the want of a hearty mutual understanding from taking up their abode with any of the Apostles or brothers of Jesus; and if Paul had near relatives in the city, as we shall presently see he had, it was perhaps a seasonable precaution to avoid going to the place where he would first be looked for. Be this as it may, their reception at Mnason's house was hearty, but quiet. The community 1 See 1 Corinthians xvi. 4; and pp. 602, 605. 2 See p. 535.

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