Acts 27

In this noble close to his crowning defense, the absoluteness of his faith and the strength and breadth of his unselfish, yearning benevolence stand out with wonderful distinctness. “King,” he says, “or high noble and ruler, as you are, there is for you a higher crown and a more enduring kingdom that I would to God you might share.” A Christian Agrippa knew Paul to be. What a Christian was Paul had already described in the inward and spiritual experiences referred to in his great commission from Christ. These experiences were not the result of outward relations, of ordinances, ceremonials, or of church connections. They consisted in an understanding opened to and illumined by the truth, a heart touched and broken, and a will made submissive by the Spirit of Christ. In other words, a Christian was one who knew, who trusted in, obeyed, and rested on Christ; whose ruling thought and affection and whose constraining principle of life was Christ’s love to him.

Such a one was not Agrippa. However strongly moved, as Felix had been, like Felix he deliberately rose up, turned away his thought, and went back to his selfish, dissolute life. He might have been fully persuaded had he yielded to the divine influences so mightily proceeding from Paul’s heart and lips. But he grieved away the Spirit, remained “joined to his idols,” and God “let him alone”! Retaining his nominal and idle faith in the prophets, this last Prince of the Herods lived a self-seeking, useless life, in dependence upon Roman favor, long after his nation had been destroyed by Roman arms. Yet, like all the marked personages whose careers are referred to in the Sacred Record, this man, by this single utterance, in connection with what preceded and followed, remains to point an instructive and warning lesson. B.

Verily, we need not long remain in uncertainty who at that moment was the greatest in the palace! And all the spiritual greatness of Paul is the work of the Holy Ghost, who has entirely renewed him, and has exalted him above the moral littleness around him, nay, even above himself; so that here, in the fullest sense of the words, even when he returned to his lonely dungeon, he left the field as conqueror. Van O.

1. AND when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and 2 certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aris- 3 tarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends 4 to refresh himself. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, be- 5 cause the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us 7 therein. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against 8 Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; and, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was 9 the city of Lasea. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, 10 because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and 11 ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner 12 of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and 13 lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. 14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And 15 when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. 16 And running under a certain island which is called Claudia, we had much work to come

17 by the boat: which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, 18 fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven. And we 19 being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the 20 third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

21. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm 22 and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any 23 man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, 24 whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before 25 Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of 26 good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.

PAUL had been declared by Festus innocent of crime under Roman law; and by Agrippa alike innocent of offense against Jewish law. But his appeal had been made and could not be recalled. He must be sent to Rome, as God had purposed and promised. The voyage thither (recounted in this chapter) is one of great interest in itself, as well as on account of its chief result—the carrying of the Christian Gospel to the world’s central capital, from whence it was destined to go forth in the fullness of time with its fullness of blessing to humankind.

The details of this entire voyage, especially its nautical and topographical points, have been thoroughly elucidated in a volume by an educated English gentleman—James Smith, of Jordanhill (London, 1848 and 1856). With the single purpose of exhaustively investigating and interpreting Luke’s narrative, he mastered all accessible information bearing upon the ship-building and navigation of the ancients; consulted experienced seamen and modern log-books, as well as ancient statements and accounts of voyages, respecting the actual navigation of the sea route taken by Paul’s vessel; and, during a winter’s residence in Malta, carefully examined the various localities of that island. In the judgment of Biblical scholars, he has shown that while the writer of this chapter could not have been a seaman, since his language is not technical or professional, yet he must have been an eye-witness of the facts he has recorded, because of his accuracy and consistency in all the parts of his description. According to the same judgment, Mr. Smith has explained many previously obscure points, and contributed new and invaluable evidence in support of the historic truth and the credibility of this Book of the Acts.

The arts and instruments of modern navigation were unknown to the ancients. They had neither chronometer nor compass, sextant nor chart. The place of the sun by day, and of the known stars by night, gave them general lines of direction when out of sight of coast lines. As compared also with modern construction, the ships were rude and frailty fastened. They were built with high, sharp stern as well as prow; generally with one great mast near the stern. Their square sails enabled them to sail rapidly before the wind; while against it they could make but feeble headway. For rudders they used two broad-bladed oars, projecting from either side at a little distance from the sharp stern. The “rudder bands” were ropes attached to these oar rudders, by which they could be lifted from the water and fastened to the vessel’s side. B.

Stern Portion of Ancient Vessel, showing the Two Oar Rudders and Anchor Cable.

1. Festus can be proved, almost with certainty, to have succeeded Felix as procurator of Judea in A. D. 60—in the autumn of which year, therefore, Paul was sent as a prisoner from Cesarea to Rome. From the latter date we can safely reckon back, through his two years’ imprisonment at Cesarea, to the Pentecost of A. D. 58, as the date of his last arrival at Jerusalem. S.

Luke here relates that, “when Paul was sent from Cesarea to Rome, he was with the other prisoners committed to the care of Julius, an officer of the Augustan cohort,” that is, a Roman cohort, which had the honor of bearing the name of the emperor. Now it appears from Josephus that when Felix was procurator of Judea, the Roman garrison at Cesarea was chiefly composed of soldiers who were natives of Syria. But it also appears that a small body of Roman soldiers was stationed there at the same time, and that this body of Roman soldiers was dignified with the title of Augustan, the same Greek word being employed by Josephus as by the author of the Acts of the Apostles. And when Festus, who succeeded Felix, had occasion to send prisoners from Cesarea to Rome, he would of course intrust them to the care of an officer belonging to this select corps. That this select body of soldiers bore the title of Augustan, was known of course to Luke. But that, in the time of the Emperor Nero, the garrison of Cesarea, which consisted chiefly of Syrian soldiers, contained also a small body of Roman soldiers, and that they were dignified by the epithet Augustan, are circumstances so minute, that no impostor of a later age would have known them. And they prove incontestably that the Acts of the Apostles could have been written only by a person in the situation of Luke. G. T.

2. (For this voyage, see small maps on pp. 61, 94, and the large map opposite title-page.) The Roman Empire had no packet service, nor were ships of war usually employed for the transport of prisoners from the provinces to Rome. But for such a purpose, as well as for ordinary passengers, ample opportunities were furnished by the great lines of commercial traffic over the seas. There were the main lines, of which the most important in the East was that of the vessels that carried the corn of Egypt from Alexandria to Italy, and particularly to the port of Puteoli; and it was in two such ships that Paul made the chief portions of his voyage. Then there was the coasting trade, which (in the Levant) was chiefly conducted by the Greeks of Asia Minor, of whose vessels we have already seen Paul making use. It was in such a ship, belonging to Adramyttium (a seaport of the province of Asia, in the district called Mysia), that he now set sail, with other prisoners, under the care of Julius, a centurion, whose conduct in the sequel entitles him to a place among the military worthies of the New Testament. The number of the prisoners appears to have been considerable. But Paul was cheered by the society of “the beloved physician,” and of the Thessalonian Aristarchus, his constant fellow-traveler, who had accompanied him from Macedonia, and now became his fellow-prisoner at Rome. That the voyage was commenced about the end of summer, in order to reach Italy before winter, is evident from the subsequent mention of the Great Fast. S.

3-5. From Cesarea to Myra in Lycia.—The route lay northward along the Phenician coast to Sidon, thence under the lee, that is (the wind being south), on the northward side of Cyprus, over the sea adjacent to Cilicia and Pamphylia. At Sidon, where the vessel touched for purposes of trade, Paul was permitted to visit Christian friends. This courteous treatment, followed by like consideration and respect throughout the voyage, shows the strongly favorable impression made by Paul upon Julius, as previously upon Festus, Agrippa, Felix, Lysias, and the Asiarchs of Ephesus.

6. “At the port of Myra in Lycia, they fell into the great line of the Egyptian corn-trade, and found a corn-ship of Alexandria bound for Italy; to this vessel Julius transferred his prisoners.” That this ship was large, with a tonnage of five hundred to a thousand tons, we infer from the number of persons (276) added to her freight; and also from “the known fact that the Egyptian merchantmen were among the largest in the Mediterranean.” We note the intimation of Luke’s presence (we) for the first time since Paul’s arrival at Jerusalem. With himself he doubtless includes Aristarchus.

7-13. From Myra to Crete.—Sailing very slowly westward, after many days they reached Cnidus, a city at the southwest extremity of Asia Minor, on the point of the long, narrow peninsula (now called Cape Crio) where the coast line turns northward. Thence standing out to sea, the wind compelled their course toward the eastern end of the island of Crete. Doubling the promontory of Salmane, upon the eastern extremity, they moved westward under the southern side of the isle, as far as a place of anchorage (still) called the Fair Havens. Here, compelled to await fair winds, the navigation having now become “dangerous,” Paul interposes the first of his warnings in terms which imply that he spoke under divine guidance, as well as with much former experience of “perils in the sea.” His counsel was that they should winter in the comparatively safe harbor where they were. But the master and others in charge of the ship, in concert with the centurion, decided to set sail, and endeavor to make the better harbor of Phenice, farther westward and northward upon the island. They were fully agreed with Paul that the favorable season for sailing had passed, and that the voyage to Italy ought not to be continued. But they would not let well alone, and wished to make both safety and comfort doubly sure. They thought the short sail of forty miles might be accomplished without peril. But the event proved their mistake. On a summer-like day, “when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose,” that is, thinking that they could safely and swiftly reach the harbor of Phenice, about the 18th of October they sailed out from the Fair Havens westward along the southern shore of Crete.

14-17. Caught suddenly by a Typhonic Wind from the Northeast, they are driven under the Lee of the Island Claudia.—Only five miles west of the Fair Havens the southern coast line of Crete turns sharply (in a right angle), receding directly northward at a point now called Cape Matala. This point had scarcely been turned, and their direction changed for Phenice (distant thirty-five miles north-northwest through an open sea), when the soft south wind was suddenly succeeded by a north-easter, “sweeping down the gullies of Mount Ida with all the fury of a typhoon. The sailors, accustomed to those seas, recognized their dreaded enemy by its well-known name Euroclydon.”

Unable (according to Luke’s graphic account) to face or eye the wind (possibly a reference to the painted eye upon the vessel’s prow, for adornment and symbol), they were compelled to scud south-westward before the gale. So they were driven twenty-three miles through the open sea to the small island Claudia. Running under the lee of this island, they took advantage of the slight shelter and smooth water, first, to lift their boat (towing at

Southwest Coast of Crete, and the Island Claudia.

the stern) out of the sea; next, to undergird the ship; and last, to lower the gear.

The undergirding (now called frapping in the English navy) consisted in passing rope or chain cables under the keel at right angles with and over the gunwales, “and then drawing them tight by means of pulleys and levers.” These “helps” were always part of the ordinary equipment of ancient vessels. They served to brace the entire framework of hull and decks, and to counteract the strain caused by the single mast with its large square sail. “This precaution,” says Admiral Penrose, “was taken, not only because the ship might strain her planks and timbers and become leaky, but from the fears that, if the gale continued from the northeast, they might be driven into the deep bight on the coast of Africa, where were the greater and lesser Syrtis so much dreaded by the ancients, and by these means of security be enabled to keep together longer, should they be involved in the quicksands.” (See large map opposite title-page.)

And for both reasons, too, but especially the latter—“lest they should fall into the quicksands”—they lowered the gear. Had the ship continued to run before the wind, she would have been driven directly into the Syrtis bay of quicksand. To avert this, they lowered the heavy main yard and sail with all the weighty masthead gear, and set in its place a small storm-sail. This was so adjusted as to bring the vessel’s head as near to the wind as possible and to prevent her from falling off into the trough of the sea. The nautical term which describes this arrangement is lying to. It is the common method of weathering out a gale. B.

18-20. Tossed in the Tempest, they lighten the Ship, and for Eleven Days hopelessly await the Issue.—Lying to under a storm-sail, with her starboard (or right) side to the wind, would keep her head well off the African coast, and cause her to drift a little to the north of west at the rate of about a mile and a half an hour, or thirty-six miles a day. S.—“It can be shown that this position would give her a drift motion precisely in the direction of Malta, the place on which she ultimately struck.” As in the ship of Jonah (1 : 5) so here, they first lightened the ship in part, and the next day with the passengers’ help “cast out the gear that had already been sent down on deck.” B.

Then followed “many days” of continued hardship and anxiety. No one who has never been in a leaking ship in a continued gale can know what is suffered under such circumstances. The strain both of mind and body—the incessant demand for the labor of all the crew—the terror of all the passengers—the hopeless working at the pumps—the laboring of the ship’s frame and cordage—the driving of the storm—the benumbing effect of the cold and wet—make up a scene of no ordinary confusion, anxiety, and fatigue. To this despair was added a further suffering from want of food, in consequence of the injury done to the provisions, and the impossibility of preparing any regular meal. Hence we see the force of the phrase which alludes to what a casual reader might suppose an unimportant part of the suffering, that there was much abstinence. H.

21-26. Paul’s Cheering Assurance of Ultimate Deliverance.—“Under that dark sky, and in that hopelessly drifting ship, there appeared the light of joy and life; for it held no Jonah fleeing from duty, but a Paul bound in spirit to testify for God also at Rome.” Timed indeed to the need of these three hundred souls were his hopeful, encouraging words. But first he reminds them of their error in disregarding his counsel at the Fair Havens. This he does, not to reproach them, much less to vaunt his own superior wisdom, but to give them a basis of confidence in his present comforting assurances. “Had my words in Crete been heeded,” he said, “ye would have been spared this injury and loss. But now, even in this crowning hour of your utter exhaustion and hopelessness, I bid you be of good cheer; for no man among you shall perish!”

And then he announces to them the vision vouchsafed to him in the night: how, as so oft before in his own crises of need, the angel of that God whose he was and whom he served had stood by him, and promised him a gift of the life of all that sailed with him. Under these circumstances of helpless, hopeless peril, how strangely solemn the utterance of such words by a seemingly obscure, frail man! With what intensity of marvel must they have heard his simple assertion of a divine vision and of a pledge so adequate for hope and cheer even in this awful emergency! His God had recognized his need and would interpose for his deliverance. And not for his rescue only, but for his sake in a strangeness of mercy would deliver all who sailed with him—would bring them all safely through the billows now gaping wide for their destruction. And their faith and hope in these strong, bright words of promise were reinforced by Paul’s own grand confession of trust in the God whose merciful purpose he had just announced to them. How must the souls of even those godless men—Roman soldiers, Egyptian sailors, Jewish, Greek, and Oriental passengers—then have been moved by such steadfast, invincible assurance so calmly expressed, in tones that rang clear above the tempest roar!

That they will be saved by his God is not Paul’s mere opinion. There is a must be here, as in the 24th verse. And the must, in both cases, expresses nothing less or other than God’s purpose, which Paul knows will be surely fulfilled. But like all prophetic vision and announcement, this of Paul is only partial; it reveals no detail of the approaching events. He assures them of all that he knows. Not when, where, or how, but simply that all shall be saved, at some unknown time, upon a certain unknown island. Only the ship will be lost. Therefore be cheerful and trust the God whom I serve—the true God! So this brave, large-hearted man of God, who by fervent intercession brought blessing upon those associated with him, impressed their hearts with the sublime lesson of faith in God, of dependence upon his purpose and reliance upon his promise, even in respect of that which was most improbable. B.

27. But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, 28 about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; and sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, 29 and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast 30 four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though 31 they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the 32 soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. 33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. 34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an 35 hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. And we were in all in 37 the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, 38 they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. 39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a 40 shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed 41 the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the 42 waves. And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim 43 out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and 44 get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.

27-32. How the Chief Part of the Fourteenth and Last Night was spent.—For a fortnight the vessel had been storm-stricken, and had steadily drifted westward through the sea of Adria. [Not the Adriatic Gulf, but that part of the Mediterranean lying between Greece and Sicily, which in ancient times was called the Adriatic Sea.] B.

A gale of such duration is by no means unprecedented in that part of the Mediterranean, especially toward winter. A naval officer writes thus: “In October, 1839, I left Malta in a powerful steam-frigate, and encountered Euroclydon (or, as we call it, a Levanter) in full force. We were four days without being able to sit down at table to a meal, during which time we saw ’neither sun nor stars.’ Being charged with dispatches, we forced the vessel through, though with much injury. Had we been a mere log on the water, like Paul’s ship, we should have drifted ‘many days.’” H.

At midnight the sailors inferred that some land was nearing them. (This expression accords with their notion that the ship was the chief thing.) They distinguished the peculiar sound made by the breaking of the sea against and over hidden rock-reefs. The upper coast line of the eastern portion of Malta (as far as Koura Point, the eastern limit of St. Paul’s Bay) runs in the same general direction as the supposed course of the drifting ship; so that they would hear the breakers for a considerable distance, yet would not strike upon them. More than this, actual measurements taken upon the supposed line of drift correspond precisely with the soundings here recorded by Luke.

But at length the fear of striking upon hidden rocks led them to take in the storm-sail and oar rudders, and to cast out anchors from the stern. B. —Ships of any size had several anchors; here we have four. The most powerful anchor, the “last hope,” was called the sacred; and we may well suppose that the remembrance of the night when his ship rode out the storm in the Maltese bay, with her straining cables passed out into the darkness, sug-

Part of Island of Melita, with course of the vessel, point of anchorage, and place of beaching.

gested the image of the Christian’s sole but certain hope, “which we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail” (Heb. 6:19). The ship anchored by the stern, not only as the best means of checking her course and preventing her swinging round on to the rocks, but to be in readiness to run ashore as soon as daylight enabled them to choose a proper spot. Nelson anchored his fleet by the stern both at the Nile and Copenhagen; and, after the latter battle, he stated that he had been that morning reading the 27th chapter of the Acts. S. & H.

30-32. Selfishness, showing itself Cowardly, Deceitful, and Inhuman, frustrated by Paul.—The sailors were willing to leave soldiers and passengers (utterly helpless without them) to destruction; and they used a natural pretext to deceive those they would desert. But Paul, by divine suggestion, discerned their purpose. He knew, without inspiration, that the soldiers could not work the ship, and that without miracle all could not be saved. Never in any contingency depending upon a miracle, in this exigency he speaks the right word to the right persons. He wastes neither time nor breath by appeal to the sailors. He simply tells the soldiers and their commander that their safety is impossible if the sailors are allowed to enter the small boat (now lowered to receive them). Very promptly the soldiers settle the matter by cutting the boat adrift with their short, sharp swords. Thus compelled to share the fate of all on board, thenceforward the self-interest of the seamen was engaged in the work of saving all.

An objector to the doctrine of a divine purpose as sovereignly controlling human affairs thinks that he finds support from Paul’s two positive assertions, in verses 22-24 and 31. In the former, the apostle assures all of safety, and affirms this to be God’s purpose and promise. In the latter, he declares a certain human action to be an essential condition of such safety. As one important point in answer to such objector, mark that Paul does not, in the former case, affirm God’s purpose to be unconditional, or independent of human acting; so that there is no contradiction in his after-statement concerning the sailors abiding by the ship. Mark further, that all divine purposes respecting human experiences are necessarily connected with, and so far dependent upon, human agencies and instrumentalities. In the case before us the connection is (supernaturally) disclosed, and we see how God’s purpose may depend upon men’s acting; and we also may see that such dependence is simply part of (and comprehended in)

His broader, all-inclusive plan. In our own experiences, similar in principle to this, we can not always know God’s purpose, and therefore can not certainly discern its human conditions or dependencies. Rightly apprehended, then, these two utterances of Paul convey needed instruction, while enforcing trust and imparting comfort. B.

33-38. At Paul’s Urgent Request, and upon his Renewed Assurance of Safety, they all take Meat. The Cargo then cast out.—For the fourth time in this memorable voyage and tempest (vs. 10, 21, 31) Paul the prisoner comes forward as the counselor and comforter of those who seemed to have his life and liberty at their disposal. J. A. A.—In the first faint glimmer of the dull dawn, he goes among the exhausted seamen and soldiers, now half famished from want of prepared meals for a fortnight, and urges them to take a full supply of food. There was need for this also in the carrying out of God’s purpose in their final deliverance. His argument is their health, or better, their safety. The full meal would strengthen them for the labor of casting out the cargo, and for the exposure and fatigue in reaching the shore.

Paul sustains his appeal by his renewed assurance of their safety, and then strengthens it by the contagious force of his own faith and example. Before them all, first, he shows his own trust and loyalty to God by his outspoken thanks to Him. Then he eats the bread for which he has given thanks. And this grand exhibition of unselfish humanity, of undaunted faith and courage, with his simple, sublime recognition of God’s mercy, added to all his previous noble acts and words, constrained all those two hundred and seventy-five souls to cheer and hopefulness; “and they also took meat.” In this humane counsel we see the human side of the Christian gospel finely illustrated. Christ’s apostle is Christlike in his thorough, practical sympathy with bodily needs. He shows God to these heathen souls as the carer for their bodies and the giver of their daily bread; and by exemplifying a grateful spirit, helps to awaken it in their hearts.

Thus refreshed in spirit and invigorated in body, as their final preparation for the morning’s attempt to beach the vessel, with the first dawn they all—sailors, soldiers, and passengers—proceeded to cast out the cargo of wheat into the sea. This freight was untouched so long as there was a possibility of saving the vessel. Now that vessel and freight must be lost, the casting out of the latter may “enable them by a lighter draught of water either to run into any small harbor, or at least closer in with the dry land, should they be obliged to run the ship on the rocks or beach.” The same writer (Admiral Penrose) suggests yet another probable reason for throwing the wheat overboard. “From the ship having been so long pressed down on one side, the cargo had shifted, so that the ship heeled to that side. To bring her upright, and enable her to be more accurately steered and navigated toward the land at daybreak, it would be useful to throw out as much of the wheat as time allowed.”

39-41. An Inlet discovered into which they enter, and run the Ship aground.—At broad daylight, the sailors saw before them a bay with a smooth beach. Into this bay and upon this beach they decide “to thrust the ship.” Three things, in way of preparation, were simultaneously done by the skilled Alexandrian mariners: 1. They cut the anchor cables and left the anchors in the sea. (Our version is quite astray here.) There was no object in saving the anchors, and they needed to economize both time and labor. So “they committed them” (the anchors) “unto the sea.” 2. They loosed the rudder bands. They did not, as some readers understand it, cut the ropes that managed the rudders, but the lashings by which these oar rudders were fastened, after being drawn up out of the water. B.—The ships of the ancients were not steered, like ours, by a single rudder hinged on at the stern, but by a pair of broad-bladed oars or paddles, each acting in a rowlock or through a port-hole, according as the ship was small or large. Traces of the two rudders are found in the time of Louis IX.; and the hinged rudder first appears on the coins of King Edward IV. Hence the steering apparatus of the ancient ships was named in the plural. In the case before us, when four anchors were let go at the stern, it would of course be necessary to lash or trice up both paddles, lest they should interfere with the ground-tackle. When the ship had to be steered again, and the cables were cut, the lashings of the paddles would of course be unfastened. S.—3. They hoisted up the foresail to the wind. Not the mainsail, which with its yard and heavy gear had already been thrown overboard. “This artemon was the foresail, carried on a small foremast, which may be seen raking over the bow in representations of ships on Roman coins.” The foresail thus set would enable them “to steer freely, to steady the vessel’s course, and to press her farther on upon the land.” In this connection Dr. Howson cites the following from a letter in the London “Times” of December 5, 1855: “The Lord Raglan (merchant-ship) is on shore, but taken there in a most sailor-like manner. Directly her captain found he could not save her, he cut away his mainmast and mizzen, and, setting a topsail on her foremast, ran her ashore stem on.” B.

Thus they drove right ashore, stem on, and the bow stuck fast on the muddy beach. But then it proved that the spot they had mistaken for the bottom of a creek was at the mouth of the little strait separating the islet of Salmonetta from the main land, “a place where two seas met.” The swell of the open sea, rolling in from the north through this channel, dashed the hinder part of the ship to pieces; but the fore part, fixed “upright and immovable,” afforded a refuge to the voyagers while preparing to escape to shore. S.

The rocks of Malta disintegrate into extremely minute particles of sand and clay, which form a deposit of tenacious clay and mud. A ship, therefore, impelled by the force of the gale into a creek with a bottom such as has been described, would strike a bottom of mud, into which the fore part would fix itself and be held fast, while the stern was exposed to the force of the waves. J. Smith.

The island was unquestionably Malta; and it is almost equally certain that the scene of the shipwreck was that to which local tradition has given the name of St. Paul’s Bay, on the northeast coast of the island. The direction of the ship’s head when she lay to off Claudia, and her estimated rate of drift, were just such as to carry her to Malta in the fourteen days, and she could make St. Paul’s Bay without first touching any other part of the island, which from this point trends to the southeast. A glance at the chart is of itself enough to show how her course was guided by that special providence which so plainly announced itself to Paul. The ship was borne in the darkness so near to Koura Point, the southeast headland of the bay, that the breakers striking its rocks gave the warning to anchor just in time to avoid striking on the opposite shore; and the soundings are precisely those mentioned in the narrative. She anchored off the

St. Paul’s Bay, Malta. Salmonetta in the distance.

east point of the islet of Salmonetta, which would appear from that point of view to join the mainland, with its beach of sand or mud. S.

42-44. The Prisoners saved by the Centurion, and all escape to the Land.—The stern strictness of Roman discipline is seen in the soldiers’ counsel to kill the prisoners. B.—Their plan, unlike that of the sailors (v. 30), was not to save their own lives, but to fulfill their trust as guards over the prisoners. It was more in accordance with their notions of military honor and discipline to kill the prisoners than to suffer them to escape by swimming to shore. This would imply that the soldiers themselves scarcely expected to escape. Such stern fidelity had made the Romans conquerors of the world. Riddle.—Here Paul is only the occasion of the fulfillment of God’s announced purpose of saving all. Julius is God’s instrument, and that through his own acting, under the natural impulse of his friendly feeling for Paul. Another equally instructive illustration of the coworking (without sign of conflict or difficulty)

of God’s purpose and agency with man’s. For Paul’s sake the centurion spared all the prisoners, and so contributed to the accomplishment of God’s purpose, and for the same Paul’s sake God had spared centurion and soldiers. B.

It is better for all in the ship that they have a Paul on board, hastening to execute God’s commission on the earth, than to have a Jonah fleeing from his work, and hiding from his Master. It was God’s will that this messenger should publish the gospel in Rome; and his purpose shall stand. The tumults of the people had already been stilled; and now the waves of the sea must hear and obey the same Divine command. Neither tumult will be permitted to swallow up the “chosen vessel,” until it has discharged its precious burden on the appointed spot. Arnot.

When Dr. Chalmers wished to preach a sermon on a topic on which all men have to think, on which all churches have opinions, and which has sadly suf-

fered from irreverent and injudicious handling, namely, Predestination, he selected the 31st verse in connection with the 22d. He proceeds to show that there is no contradiction between the two statements, that God’s decree is carried out by means, and includes the means; that when he settled the security of the two hundred and seventy-six lives, he settled also that the sailors should be at their posts; that their duties should be done; that at the critical time they should “lighten the ship,” “take up the anchor,” run before the wind and “loose the rudder bands,” hoist up the sail to the wind, and so run her “aground”; that they who could swim should swim, and the rest, as they best could, “escape safe to land.” And even so, argues the great preacher, no

certainty of assurance as to the result, no decree of God, even if we certainly knew it, is to diminish one jot of that zeal, industry, and diligence, in the use of means which the Lord contemplates in the decree, and will not permit us to disregard. His people do come to eternal life—“they shall never perish” (John 10:28); but it is not by apathy, and neglect of the fitting, appointed means, but through repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus. And what was true in the perils of the sea is just as true in that more momentous voyage on which we embarked the day we were born, of which the end is to be safety in the haven of eternal rest, or a shipwreck of the soul, terrible beyond description or conception. J. Hall.

watch him: but he has met attached and pitying friends, and his chains grow lighter, and their love deepens the sense of God’s love within his soul. Cox.