to be guided by that unerring Hand, though by a path he had not proposed, to the goal he had so much desired; and we can understand the calmness which this assurance gave him amid the trials, imprisonment and shipwreck of the next two years.

His enemies, meanwhile, alarmed doubtless at the indecision of the Sanhedrim, resolved to end his course then and there.218 The day had no sooner dawned than more than forty Jews bound themselves under a great curse, that they would eat nothing till they had slain Paul; and, going to the chief priests and elders, they desired them to ask the tribune to bring Paul again before the Sanhedrim on the morrow, when they would fall upon him and kill him. The plot became known to Paul's sister's son, who obtained admission to the castle to see his uncle, and, by his direction, informed the tribune of it privately. The latter having charged the young man to keep his secret, took instant measures to send Paul away by night under a sufficient guard. The morning saw him safe at Antipatris, beyond all danger of an ambush: so the legionaries returned to Jerusalem, and the cavalry alone brought him the same day to Cæsarea. With him a letter was sent from the tribune to the procurator Felix, explaining the case, informing him that the prisoner was a Roman citizen, and guiltless of any thing deserving death or bonds, and promising that Paul's accusers should follow him to Cæsarea. From this letter we learn that the tribune was called Claudius Lysias, a name worthy to rank, for the fairness, energy and prudence of his dealings with St. Paul, among those soldiers who have made their profession honorable. in the pages of the New Testament.

219

Antonius (who is also called Claudius) Felix, was an imperial freedman like Lysias; but, as we have already seen, a man of a very different character; and the mean vices, which he joined to his cruelty and arrogance, may be clearly seen in the few graphic touches in which Luke relates the procurator's treatment of the Apostle. For the present, he was content to ask Paul of what province he was; and, being answered, of Cilicia, he promised him a hearing as soon as his

218 Wednesday, May 24th, according to Mr. Lewin. This vow of the forty Jews has its parallel in that of the Ten who conspired against Herod. (See p. 82).

219 Acts xxiii. 12-30. The respect paid to a Roman citizen is seen in the credit which Lysias claims for rescuing Paul, 66 'having understood that he was a Roman," and in his suppression of the fact that he only learned this when he was about to scourge him.

accusers should arrive. Meanwhile, he ordered the prisoner to be kept-chained probably to a soldier-in the government-house, which had been the palace (prætorium) of Herod the Great.220

§ 21. St. Paul was henceforth, to the end of the period embraced in the Acts, in Roman custody. This custody was in fact a protection to him, without which he would have fallen a victim to the animosity of the Jews. He seems to have been treated throughout with humanity and consideration. His own attitude toward Roman magistrates was invariably that of a respectful but independent citizen; and while his franchise secured him from open injustice, his character and conduct could not fail to win him the good-will of those into whose hands he came. Even Felix, convinced of the justice of the cause, and influenced by his Jewish wife Drusilla, treated him with consideration; but he showed at once his arbitrary character and that "servile ingenium" with which Tacitus has branded him, by keeping Paul a prisoner in the hope of obtaining a bribe for his release. Five days after Paul's arrival at Cæsarea, and just twelve since he had reached Jerusalem,221 Ananias and the elders came down to Casarea, with a certain orator named Tertullus.222 There is scarce

ly a more striking contrast in the records of oratory than that between the fulsome harangue of this hired advocate and the manly simplicity of St. Paul's defense. After addressing the governor with flattery which Felix must have felt to be bitter satire, Tertullus changes his tone to rank abuse when he comes to speak of Paul, showing exactly the light in which he was regarded by the fanatical Jews. He is a pestilent fellow (ouós); he stirs up divisions among the Jews throughout the world; he is a ringleader of the sect (or heresy, aipéσews) of the Nazarenes: his last offense had been an attempt to profane the Temple: and the orator complains that, when they would have judged him according to their law, the tribune Lysias had taken him violently out of their hands, commanding his accusers to appear before Felix, who might now examine them, and learn the charges they preferred." When the assenting clamor of the Jews had ceased, and the governor had beckoned to Paul to speak, he

223

220 Acts xxiii. 31-35.

221

'Acts xxiv. 1, 11: Tuesday, May 30th, according to Mr. Lewin. The second passage confirms Paul's arrival at Jerusalem just before the Pentecost.

222 We have seen the custom of employing such professional advocates before the Roman tribunals, in the pleadings of Nicolaus Damascenus on behalf of Herod and Archelaus. 223 Acts xxiv. 1-9.

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expressed his pleasure in making his defense before one who had been "for many years a judge unto this nation." 224 It was only twelve days since he had come up to Jerusalem to worship; and with that simple object all his conduct there had been consistent. They neither found me in the Temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me." He admits and glories in the charge of being a leader of what they called the Nazarene sect; for so he best preserved the religion of his nation:-"This I confess unto thee, after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers:"-and he again appeals to that hope, which even they allowed, of a resurrection of the dead. Because of this hope, he once more protests, he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and man. Acting upon such motives he had returned to Jerusalem, after an absence of several years,225 bringing alms and offerings to his nation. He had not even entered the Temple without being first purified, and there was no multitude nor tumult about him when the Jews of Asia found him there. They were absent, who ought to have been there if they had any charge to make; but to the Jewish rulers, who were present, he boldly appeals whether his sole offense was not that profession of faith in the resurrection which he had made before the council.

Felix saw the truth of Paul's case the more clearly as he had acquired a pretty exact knowledge of Christianity, which had gained its first Gentile converts among the troops stationed at Cæsarea. 226 Unwilling, however, to offend the Jews by at once setting the Apostle free, he made an excuse for postponing the hearing till the arrival of the tribune Lysias, committing Paul to the custody of a centurion, with orders to grant him every indulgence and the society of his friends. Among those friends, besides Luke and Aristarchus, and the family of Philip the deacon, may have been Cornelius, the centurion, whom Peter had received into the Church, as the first Gentile convert, in that very garrison in which Paul was

Jewish causes, to which Paul appeals.

224 Acts xxiv. 10. Felix had been appointed in A.D. 52; and the six years' interval might well be described as ἐκ πολλῶν ἐτῶν, in comparison with the ordinary duration of the procuratorship. At all events the period was long enough to have 226 Acts xxiv. 22: ἀκριβέστερον given Festus that familiarity with εἰδὼς τὰ περι τῆς ὁδοῦ : comp. Acts x.

1

225 Acts xxiv. 17: δί ἐτῶν δὲ πλειό νων. It was four years, or four and a half, since his last visit in A.D. 53 or 54.

now in a centurion's custody. It seems to have been to gratify the curiosity of his Jewish wife Drusilla, the daughter of Herod Agrippa I., that, on his return to Cæsarea after an absence, Felix again sent for Paul, to hear him concerning the faith in Christ. But the Apostle, who could at the proper time discourse with the most powerful arguments concerning Christian doctrine, now saw before him only the violent and unjust governor, with the paramour whom he had seduced from her husband Azizus, king of Emesa; and he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. A licentious Roman officer, with a brother able to protect him at the imperial court, was not the man to be easily alarmed; but a more mighty force even than his dread of Cæsar assailed his conscience; and he only retained the self-destructive power of warding off repentance by delay. "Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." It is a trite comment, that the convenient season never came; but the truth was worse than this. Felix often sent for Paul, and communed with him during the two years of his detention, but with no higher ob\ject than the sordid hope of being bribed to free him.

In the following year, the city of Cæsarea, where Paul was thus kept a prisoner, was the scene of one of the frequent and frightful tumults between the Jews and the Syrian Greeks, A.D. 59. Felix was denounced to the emperor for either ordering or conniving at a massacre of the Jews, and he was recalled to answer for his conduct at the same time that Domitius Corbulo succeeded Ummidius Quadratus as prefect of Syria. This was two full years after the beginning of St. Paul's imprisonment in May, A.D. 58, and PORCIUS FESTUS, who accompanied Corbulo as procurator of Judæa, would reach his destination about July, A.D. 60.227 How the arrival of the new governor obtained for Paul the hearing which Felix had so long postponed, and how the Apostle's appeal to Cæsar led to his imprisonment at Rome, will be related in the next chapter.

227 This, as we have already had occasion to observe, is one of the best ascertained dates in the life of St. Paul; since it is clear that Festus held the government for two years, and that Albinus succeeded him in A.d. 62.

BEFORE FESTUS TO HIS RELEASE-A.D. 60-63.

§ 1. Results of St. Paul's Imprisonment at Cæsarea-Arrival of PORCIUS FESTUS as Procurator-Paul's first hearing-He appeals to Cæsar. § 2. Arrival of Agrippa and Bernice-Paul's Defense before AgrippaDecision to send him to Rome. § 3. The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul-Minute truthfulness of the narrative, as tested by recent investigations. § 4. Routes of maritime traffic-Paul's embarkation under the charge of Julius-His companions, Aristarchus and LUKE-The voyage commenced toward autumn. § 5. Intended course of the shipCaesarea to Sidon-Adverse winds-Voyage to Myra-Transference to the ship of Alexandria. § 6. From Cnidus into the open sea, then under the lee of Crete-Fair Havens-The season of navigation past-Unheeded warning of St. Paul-Attempt to run for Port Phoenix. § 7. The ship caught in a typhoon (Euroclydon) - Clauda - Preparations against the storm-Undergirding-The Syrtes-The ship drifts on the starboard tack-Her course and rate. § 8. The fortnight's drift in Adria-St. Paul's vision in the night-Promise of escape. § 9. Signs of land-Anchoring during the night-Paul's last encouragement