nized in the temple by Jews from Asia Minor, probably from Ephesus, who seem to have mistaken one of his companions for Trophimus, an Ephesian Gentile; and was accused by these people of the grave offense of bringing a Greek into the sacred places which none but a Jew might enter. A tumult arose, from the midst of which Paul was rescued with difficulty by the Roman soldiers whose business it was to keep order in the courts of the temple. He was brought to trial before the Jewish court. Before the trial was ended, a plot to assassinate him was discovered, and he was transferred by night to Cæsarea, with a guard of two hundred soldiers. There he was kept for two years, thus suddenly falling into silence, all his ministry being abruptly stopped. At the end of that time, on the occasion of a change of governors, fearing lest he should be taken back to Jerusalem, he appealed to Cæsar, and was sent under guard to Rome. There he arrived, after an experience of shipwreck, which is dramatically and minutely described by Luke, who was with him. The Acts ends unexpectedly with this sentence: "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." For further information we consult his letters.

XVII

T

THE EARLIER EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL-I

HE epistles of St. Paul are arranged in the New

Testament not in the order of time but in the order of size. They begin with the long letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians, and end with the short note to Philemon. When they are rearranged according to the sequence in which they were written, they are in two groups. In the first group are the epistles to the Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians and Romans, being written during the period of St. Paul's missionary activity, while he was on his evangelizing journeys. In the second group are the epistles to the Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon, to the Philippians, and to Timothy and Titus, being written during the period of St. Paul's enforced inactivity, while he was held as a prisoner in Rome.

Of the epistles of the first group, those to the Thessalonians, Galatians and Romans were written from Corinth, the others were written to Corinth.

I

St. Paul had come to Corinth after discouraging experiences in Philippi, and Thessalonica, and Athens. In Philippi his ministry had led to an uprising of the

crowd against him and Silas his companion; the magis trates had beaten them with many stripes, and thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks; and though this violence had been apologized for, on finding that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, the apology had been accompanied by an earnest request that the missionaries leave the town immediately. In Thessalonica, after a stay of several weeks, the whole city was set in an uproar, the house where the missionaries were lodged was assaulted, and Paul and Silas were conveyed away by night to save their lives. In Athens, a company of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, out of curiosity and a desire to hear any new thing, listened to Paul's preaching for a few minutes, with the result that some were amused and others were only idly interested.

From Athens Paul sent back Timothy to Thessalonica to bring him word as to what had happened after his sudden departure. Timothy returned from this errand with a good report, and brought with him a question to which the Thessalonians desired an answer. Thereupon Paul wrote his First Epistle. He expressed his joy at the good account which he had received of their faith and endurance.

We sent Timothy, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I

sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. But now when Timothy came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you; therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith; for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God; night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Then he answered their question as to what share in the blessings of the Coming of the Lord would belong to those who had died already.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not get before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

These details regarding the end of the world, like the details in Genesis regarding the beginning, are of interest as showing what the Jews thought about the matters of which we are all, in the nature of things, ignorant. They belong not to the history of the planet, but to the history of ideas. The important thing, as St. Paul immediately says, is that we shall be in a state of spiritual preparedness for the coming of the Lord, whenever and however he may appear.

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

The effect of this letter was such that it was necessary to write another. The Thessalonians inferred from St. Paul's words that the end of all things was immediately at hand. He wrote again, therefore, to correct this misapprehension, to assure them that