Acts 27

Acts 27:1-26

Paul sets out on his voyage from Cæsarea to Rome, and having suffered great extremity in a storm, receives assurance of his preservation by a vision, which he communicates to his companions for their encouragement. Acts XXVII. 1—26.

Acts XXVII. 1. AND when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they deliv.

Acts XXVII. 1. IT was observed at the conclusion of the last section, that Agrippa apprehended Paul might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Cæsar; but the appeal being made could not be recalled: And therefore, as it was determined that we should sail into Italy,²

² As it was determined that we should sail] proper, as those that sent away Paul had some ancient copies and versions read it, no power over Luke or Aristarchus; yet that [he] should sail, which may seem most they also determined, though freely, to sail.

Paul is permitted to visit his friends at Sid

they delivered Paul and some other prisoners in his circumstances,b to a centurion of the Augustan cohort, whose name was Julius. And going on board a ship of Adramyttis, a city of Mysia not far from Pergamos, we weighed anchor, intending to sail by the coasts of the Lesser Asia; Aristarchus a Macedonian, a Christian brother of the city of Thessalonica, being with us,c who was glad of the opportunity of attending Paul, on an occasion of so great importance to him, and to the church.

And steering our course northward from Cæsarea, the next day we reached Sidon, a celebrated city on the Phœnician shore; and Julius the centurion treating Paul with great humanity, permitted [him] to go to his friends there, whom he had not been able to visit in his way to Jerusalem, (chap. xxi. 3, 7,) and to enjoy the benefit of their kind care, towards rendering his voyage as agreeable as they could, as well as affording him some present refreshment.

And weighing anchor from thence, we sailed under the island of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, because the winds were in the southwest quarter, and so were contrary to us, and consequently prevented our taking the more direct course, which we might otherwise have done, by sailing more to the west, and leaving Cyprus to the north. And sailing through the sea that lies over against Cilicia and Pamphylia, without an opportunity of calling on any of our friends at Tarsus, Attalia, Perga, or Antioch in Pisidia, where Paul had once and again made so delightful a progress, (see Acts xiii.

b They delivered Paul and some other prisoners.] Dr. Lardner proves at large, particularly from several passages of Josephus, that prisoners of importance used frequently to be sent, as from other provinces, so from Judea, to Rome; Credib. Book I. chap. 10, § 10, Vol I. p. 531, 532.

c Aristarchus a Macedonian, &c.] This good man, by birth a Thessalonian, had been with Paul in Ephesus at the time of he tumult there, (chap. xix 29,) where he had been seized by the mob, and ex-sed to great hazard. He afterwards attended him to Macedonia, and returned to him to Asia. (Chap. xx. 4.) He now

accompanied him to Rome, and was a fellow prisoner with him there; (Col. iv. 10,) and is mentioned in Paul’s epistle to Philemon, (ver. 24,) who was probably their common friend, as a valuable assistant in his ministerial work. It was to be sure a great comfort to the apostle, to have the company of two such friends as Luke and Aristarchus, as it was also a great instance of their affection to him, that they would follow him when he was going as a prisoner to Rome, not being ashamed of his bonds, and especially, that they would attend him at a time, when they knew sailing to be dangerous. Compare ver. 9.

They meet with contrary winds, and put into Crete.

Myra, a city of Ly- 13, 14; xiv. 25, 26; xv. 40, 41;) we came to the sect. port of Myra, [a city] of Lycia, whose celebrated promontory we might descry at a considerable distance. And there the centurion finding a ship of Alexandria, that was bound for 6 sailing into Italy; Italy, quitting the other vessel which had and he put us therein. brought us to Myra, he put us on board it, and embarked with us.

And when we had sailed slowly for several 7 days, by Rhodes and several other small islands which lay near the Carian shore, and were hardly got over against the point of Cnidus, a celebrated port of Caria, the wind not permitting us to make greater dispatch, we steered to the south, and sailed under Crete, over against the promontory of Salmone, on the eastern coast of that island: And passing it with difficulty, 8 when we had made the cape, we came to a certain place, called The fair Havens, the most considerable port in that part of Crete, in the neighbourhood of which was the city of Lasea. 9

And as much time was spent in making of this 9 little way, and the season of the year was so far advanced that sailing was now hazardous, because the fast of expiation was already over, and consequently winter was coming on apace, Paul spake to those who had the chief direction of the voyage, and prudently exhorted them not to put out to sea: Saying unto them, Sirs, I 1 perceive, that if this voyage be pursued according to the present scheme you have in view, it will be attended with much injury and

The city of Lasea.] I see no reason, with Beza, to change this reading for Alasa or Elæa, merely because we do not read of Lasea elsewhere. It is very possible, a place may be but once mentioned in ancient history, or that this may be the Lases of Ptolemy, which he describes as situated in the eastern part of Crete; see Mr. Biscoe at Boyle’s Lect chap. x § 4, p. 379; a circumstance which well suits the explication we have given, though not that of Beza, who takes Salmone to have been the promontory Salmonium, which he places in the western coast, a situation that no way agrees with the rest of the description, nor with the authority of Dionysius, Perieg. ver. 110. But this is not a place to adjust geographical controversies; otherwise I think it would be easy to shew, that this

excellent critic has given, in many respects, a very wrong account of this voyage.

Sailing was now hazardous, because the fast was already over] The fast here spoken of was the day of atonement, which was ordered to be kept on the tenth day of the seventh month, called Tieri by the Jews, and consequently must have been about the 25th of our September. (See Lev. xvi. 29; xxiii. 27; Numb. xxix. 7.) Philo, in several passages quoted by Dr. Whitby in his note here, speaks of this as an ill time to sail, as Aratus also does; and it would naturally be so, not only on account of winter approaching, but also because of the Michaelmas flows, that are still well known in the Mediterranean. See Ruphel. Not. ex Herod. p. 397; and Veget. de Re militari, lib. iv. cap. 39.

Paul warns them o their danger, but they

great damage, not only to the lading that we have on board and to the ship itself, but also in all human probability to our lives; and therefore I should think it highly conducive to our common safety, rather to winter here than to attempt to proceed any farther.

But Julius the centurion, in whose breast the determination of the affair lay, paid greater regard in this instance to the opinion of the pilot, and the master of the vessel, than to those things which were spoken by Paul; imagining, notwithstanding the esteem he had for him in other views, that these were more competent judges in the business of navigation. And as the haven, notwithstanding its agreeable name, was not commodious to winter in, the greater part of the company advised to set sail from thence, if they might possibly reach to Phœnice to winter there; [which is] a kind of double haven on the southern coast of Crete, looking to the southwest and northwest, where, in consequence of a jutting point of land which defended it, they hoped on getting into the upper part of it, to ly secure from almost any wind that could blow.

And as the weather came to be more favourable, and the south wind blew gently, which would prevent their driving out to sea, supposing they were now secure of their purpose, and by the help of a side wind might coast along the island, they weighed anchor from the Fair Havens, and sailed on close to the shore of Crete. But not long after they had put to sea, the ship was in great danger, as on a sudden there arose against it a very tempestuous whirling kind of wind, which by the mariners in this sea is called Euroclydon, or in modern language a Levanter, which often shifts the

Close to Crete.] That aeeee is to be taken as an adverb, and not as the name of a place, Beza has so fully demonstrated, that nothing need be said in proof of it here.

A tempestuous wind, which is called Euroclydon.] The learned Dr. Bentley (in his Remarks on Freethinking, Part II. § 69, 70.) has taken a great deal of pains to establish the reading of the Alexandrian Manuscript, admitted also by Grotius and Cluverius, (Sicil. Antiq. lib ii. p. 442,) which is ιυφακυλων, agreeable to the vulgar raquilo, the northeast wind which was

indeed proper to carry the ship from Crete to the African shore, and so might expose them to the danger of the Syrus. (Ver. 27.) But I think my learned friend Mr. Brekell, in his ingenious introduction to his discourse called Euroclydon, has advanced such objections against that interpretation as cannot be answered, and abundantly proved, that it could not be a point wind, but was rather a kind of hurricane, often shifting its quarter, and accordingly not bearing them forward any one way, but tossing them backward and forward in the Adriatic; (ver. 27.) which

g put to sea again, a violent storm arises.

quarter from whence it blows, and accordingly, in our case, was first east and by north, and afterwards several degrees southward of the east. And as the ship was violently hurried away by the force of it, and was not able to bear up against the wind, which was so very boisterous, that (as the seamen use to speak) she could not look the storm in the face, we gave [her] up to the wind, and were driven before it. And running under a certain island called Claudia, a little to the south of the western coast of Crete, the violence of the storm was such, that with the utmost difficulty we were hardly able to get masters of the boat; which we were willing to secure from being staved, as what might be of use in any exigence: Which when at last they had hoisted up, they used all the helps they could to make the vessel able to ride out the storm, undergirding the ship to keep it from bulging; and fearing, as the wind had varied more to the north, and blew them towards Africa, lest they should fall upon the greater or the lesser Syrtis, those quicksands on the African shore so famous for the destruction of mariners and vessels,ʰ they struck sail, that so their progress might be slower and some more favourable weather in the mean time might come for their relief, and so were driven before the wind. And as we were exceedingly tossed by the storm, and there was danger of the vessel’s foundering, the next day they lightened the ship, by heaving overboard the goods that she was laden with, and throwing out the heaviest wares into the sea. And the third day the tempest was so great, that all the passengers as well as mariners were employed; and we cast out with our own hands the very tackling of the ship, which in such circumstances we should have been desirous to have preserved, preferably to the most precious wares with which she could have been laden.

is very agreeable to the account which the learned and accurate Dr. Shaw gives of the matter in his Travels, p. 358—361, where he explains it as one of the furious kind of winds, now called Levanters, which are easterly winds, not confined to one single point, but blowing in all direc-

dices from the northeast to the southeast. See also Erasmus on this place.

ʰ Lest they should fall upon the quicksands. See a good collection of the description given of the greater and the lesser Syrtis by approved writers of antiquity, in Gualt-pertus’s note on this verse.

VOL. 3.

Paul tells them for their comfort, God had assured him,

Now as we knew not where the wind had driven us, for neither sun nor stars appeared for several days, and still the sea ran high, and no small tempest pressed upon [us,] all the little remainder of hope, that we might be saved and delivered from the danger we were in, was in a manner taken away from us; and the whole company expected nothing but that the ship would certainly be lost, and we should perish with it.

And when in all this time they had no heart to think of taking any regular refreshment, so that there was great want of food, and their distress was such that they were quite dispirited, then Paul standing in the midst of them, said, Sirs, if it were proper to reflect upon what is past, and now irretrievable, I might tell you that you ought to have hearkened to me, and not to have loosed from Crete at so inconvenient a time, and so to have gained this injury and loss which you have already suffered,¹ and be exposed to that

distress which you are farther to endure. Nevertheless, even now, bad as the situation of affairs may appear, I exhort you to be of good courage; for though you are ready to conclude you must inevitably perish, I assure you, that there shall be no loss of any single life among you; but only of the ship, which must indeed be

dashed in pieces. Nor is it without good authority that I speak in so express and positive a manner, with regard to an event which seems to you at best very uncertain, or rather utterly

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.

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 and loss.

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.

For there stood

To have gained this injury and loss.] Both these words, ὕδειν καὶ ζημίαι, are used ver. 10, and I doubt not, but they have here a reference to what the apostle had declared before. The first, ὕδειν, generally signifies some kind of wrongs; and accordingly, it, and its compounds and derivatives, are almost always used in this sense. (Compare 2 Cor. xii. 10; Matt. xxii. 6; Luke xi. 45; xviii. 32; Rom. i. 30; 1 Tim. i. 13.) But it extends to any violent assault, (Acts xiv. 5; 1 Thess. ii. 2;) and is here used for that of waves and winds. I apprehend the English word injury exactly corresponds to it, and is used in the same latitude: Thus none would scruple to say, a ship had been much injured by a storm. The other word, ζημίαι, signifies

a loss, especially a fine; (compare note on Mark viii. 36, Vol. I p. 490) and perhaps it may be used to insinuate, that this loss was a kind of fine paid for their own imprudence. To gain a loss seems so odd a phrase, that one would think κεφλησις was here put for sustaining, unless the use of it were intended to intimate, that, in such extreme danger, they were to look upon it as a circumstance of great advantage, to escape with their lives, or (as it is elsewhere expressed with great spirit,) to have life given for a prey.) Jer. xvi. 9; xxxviii. 2; xxxix. 18; xlv. 5.) And it seems to me, that, in all the instances collected by Elsner here, though in another view, the word has precisely this sense and force; Elsner. Observ. Vol. I. p. 486.

them should perish, though the ship must be ost.

improbable; for there appeared to me this very night an angel of the God, whose servant and property I joyfully confess that I am, and whom I humbly and diligently worship, though most of you are so unhappy as to be ignorant of him: He is so great a God, that all the heavenly hosts adore him, and are ever ready to execute his commands; and one of them hath come to visit me on this occasion, saying, Fear not, Paul, for thou must be presented before the tribunal of Cæsar; and, behold, God hath not only determined to rescue thee from this imminent danger, but he hath also given thee the lives of all them that sail in this vessel with thee, who shall be preserved for thy sake. Wherefore, take courage, Sirs, and lay aside your fears, for I trust in God, whose word is faithful, and his power almighty, that it shall certainly be so, according to the manner in which it hath been spoken to me. But I know also, that we must be cast upon a certain island, and that the vessel will be wrecked upon the coast of it: Nevertheless we shall, if we take care to use the proper means for that purpose, all escape, and get safe to land; and from thence shall pursue our voyage to Italy more prosperously in another vessel.

IMPROVEMENT.

WE see in this renewed instance the great force of a virtuous verse character, and of a truly worthy and honourable behaviour, towards engaging the esteem of all around us. Julius the centurion had a reverence and affection for Paul, which, as in the beginning of this voyage it procured for him the satisfaction of conversing with his friends at Sidon, and receiving the fruit of their affection, so it was in the progress of it the occasion of saving this great apostle’s life, and with it that of the rest of the prisoners, (ver. 42, 43.) Let us learn thus to soften the fierce, and to convince the prejudiced, and humbly trust in that God, who, if our ways please him, can turn our enemies into friends, (Prov. xvi. 7,) and can preserve and bless us, by means of those who were intended to be only the instruments of affliction.

From the account which is here given us of the danger and distress which Paul and his companions suffered upon the mighty waters, let us learn to pity those who being providentially engaged in a seafaring life, are often in such deaths as these. When we hear, as it may be we do while far from the shores of our island, the storm winds raging around us, and see the effects of

Reflections on the danger of a sea faring life.

their fury in those stupendous instances which sometimes appear, let us send up, as it were upon their rapid wings, our compassionate cries to that God who holds them all in his fists, (Prov. xxx. 4,) that he would help and save those that are ready to be swallowed up quick in a watery grave, and perhaps many of them, while just on the brink of eternity, in the number of those that are of all others most unprepared for it.

verse 22-25 Happy the man, in whatever extremities of danger, that is conscious of a relation to the God of heaven, as his God and his father; that can say, like Paul, in this blessed parenthesis, whose I am, and whom I serve! Let us, when we can use the language, take the comfort of it, and commit ourselves to the guardian care of our God with cheerfulness: He knoweth them that are his, and will take care of his own. Let our faith put a reality into all his promises, that it shall certainly be, even as he hath spoken unto us. Thus let us encourage ourselves in the Lord our God, (1 Sam. xxx. 6,) and the event shall not shame our hopes; but we shall find by happy experience, that God will not only save us from ruin, but conduct us to joy as well as to safety everlasting. Amen.

Acts 27:27

Paul and his companions, after having suffered further extremities in their voyage, are at length shipwrecked on the shore of Malta; but all escape with their lives. Acts XXVII. 27, to the end.

Acts XXVII. 27.

SEVERAL threatening circumstances of the violent storm, which Paul and his companions met with in their voyage, were described before; and we now proceed to observe, that when the fourteenth night was come, as we were tossed up and down in the Adriatic sea, the mariners suspected about midnight that they drew near some island: And sounding the depth of the water, they found [it] twenty fathoms; and having gone a little way from thence, and sounding again, they found [it] only fifteen fathoms; which decrease of their soundings convinced them, that this apprehension was just. And therefore, fearing lest they should fall upon some rocky shore, where there

Acts XXVII. 27.

BUT when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, 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, and found it fifteen fathoms.

Then, fearing

• In the Adriatic sea.] It is well known Adriatic Sea, and that which is now the to those acquainted with ancient geography, Gulf of Venice was the Sinus Adriaticus. that all that part of the Mediterranean See Grotius in loc. and Mr. Biscoe at Boyle’s which lay south of Italy was called the Lect. chap. x. § 4, p. 380, 381.

would have left the ship, but Paul prevents it.

ight not be depth of water sufficient to keep the vessel from striking, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and heartily wished, that the day would break, and more clearly discover our situation.

But when the mariners perceived the danger so extreme, they endeavoured to flee out of the ship, and to provide for their own safety by making to the shore; and when to compass their design they had let down the boat into the sea, and were just going into it, under a pretence that they were about to carry out anchors from the ship head, to make the vessel more secure by dropping them at a distance. Paul, who knew that it was the will of God that all proper endeavours should be used for their preservation, in a dependance on the promise he had given them, perceiving the design they had in view, said to Julius the centurion and the soldiers that were with him, Unless these mariners continue in the ship, without whose help we know not how to manage her, ye cannot be saved; for the promise made you of your lives was to be understood, as given on condition of your taking the most prudential measures to secure them, which present circumstances will admit. Then the soldiers, who had learnt from their commander to pay a deference to what Paul said, that the success of this intended fraud might be effectually prevented, cut off the cords of the boat, by which it was fastened to the side of the ship, and let it fall off into the sea, before any of the mariners were got into it.

And while the day was coming on, before they had light sufficient to discern what they should do, Paul earnestly exhorted them all to take [some] food, saying, Today you are looking for the fourteenth day, since you have been in this distress, and all of you continue fasting, having

b Unless these continue in the ship, ye cannot be saved ] To what I have said of this in the paraphrase and improvement, I shall only add, that God foretold the deliverance of the ship’s company as certain, though suspended on this condition, because he knew it would be complied with, and directed Paul to urge the necessity of that

compliance, as what he knew would the successful means of securing it, though none can deny, but these sailors had a natural power of going out of the ship, or the soldiers a natural power of permitting them to do it. The application of this remark to other affairs of greater moment appeto me both easy and important.

Paul exhorts them to eat, and assures them again

taken nothing of a regular meal; the necessary consequence of which is, that you must thus be very faint and weak, and unfit for those fatigues which may farther lie before you; for it will be a narrow escape that we are to expect, and we may find great difficulties in getting on shore. As therefore till the morning rises we can attempt nothing by way of approach to land, I exhort you to improve this little interval of leisure, by making use of it to take [some] food; since it is plain that this is proper to be done for your safety, as it will make you fitter to act for your own preservation, according as future circumstances may require; and you may allow yourselves this refreshment with the greater cheerfulness, for I can renew the assurance I before gave, that whatever risk you run, and whatever labour we pass through, not a hair shall fall from the head of any of you.

And when he had spoken thus, and had took bread, he begged a blessing on it, and gave thanks to God before them all, for that provision which he gave them in their necessities, and for the assurance of life with which he had favoured them by so particular a revelation; and having broken it, he set them an example, and he himself began to eat heartily. And being all encouraged by the cheerful and pious discourse of the apostle, they also took some food, as he had done; and on the whole, sad as their circumstances were, they made a comfortable and refreshing meal. And by the way, we had a great number of persons aboard, and were in all in the ship, no less than two hundred and seventy six souls. And after they had done their

• Continue fasting, having taken nothing.]* Appian speaks of an army, which for twenty days together took neither food nor sleep; by which he must mean, they never made full meals, nor slept whole nights together. The same interpretation must be given to this phrase, which Mr. Brekell also thinks may intimate, that they were now at short allowance, as they were like to have a much longer voyage than was at first intended, and had two hundred and seventy six souls on board. (Euroclydon, p. 26.) But Grotius declares against this last opinion, which is to be sure uncertain, though I think it might be the

case, and that ver. 38 is not decisive to the contrary.

• Not a hair shall fall from the head of any of you.]* Some think this alludes to a custom among mariners, to make vows in times of extremity, and to shave their heads in consequence of them, and so interpret these words, as if it were said, ‘You need not vow your hair; you shall be safe without that expedient.’ (See Dryden’s note on Juvenal, p. 183.) But it appears to have been a proverbial and general expression of entire safety. Compare 1 Kings i. 52; Matt. x. 30; Luke xii. 7; xxi. 18.

They discover a cree, and wou have thrust the ship into it. 387

And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and having been told by Paul, that they should run upon some island, they threw away the very stores they had on board, and cast out the remainder of the corn into the sea.

And when it was day, they had the shore before them, but did not know the land, and still were at a loss what course to take; but they perceived a certain creek, having a level shore convenient for landing, into which they were minded, if they were able, to have thrust the ship. And with this view, when they had weighed the anchors, they committed [the ship] to the sea, and tried to stand in for the creek, at the same time loosing the rudder bands, that they might reach the land with greater safety, and hoisting up the mainsail to the wind, which seemed to set right for their purpose, they made for the shore. But falling on a place which was a neck of land, where two seas met, such was the violence of the current, that they ran the ship aground; and the fore part which struck upon the sand stuck fast, and remained immovable, while the hinder part was broken to pieces by the force of the waves.

In this critical juncture, as there were several prisoners aboard, who were to be conveyed in custody to Rome, there was a most unjust

• When they had weighed the anchors, they committed [the ship] to the sea.] Some rather choose to render this, that, having cut the anchors they left them in the sea; and the original indeed is dubious, and will admit of either sense: Περὶν σ’ ἢ τ’ ἀγνῶσαι, σ’ ἢ τ’ ἢ τ’ ἀγνῶσαι. See De Dieu in loc.

• Loosing the rudder bands: ἀγνῶσαι τ’ ἐγνῶσαι τ’ ἐγνῶσαι. Dr. Benson observes, agreeably to the judgment of Grotius, that their ships in those days had commonly two rudders, one on each side, which were fastened to the ship by bands or chains; and, on loosing these bands, the rudders sunk deeper into the sea, and by their weight rendered the ship less subject to be overset by the winds. (Hist. Vol. II. p. 256.) But it seems rather, that the rudders had been fastened before, when they had let the vessel drive, and were now loosened, when they had need of them to steerher into the creek; and, after they had just been throwing out their corn to lighten the ship, it is not easy to suppose, they should immediately contrive a method to increase the weight of it. That they had frequently two rudders to their ships, Bochart and Elsner have confirmed by several authorities. See Bochart. Hieroz. Part II. lib. 4, cap. I, p. 453; and Elsn. Observ. Vol. I. p. 488, 489.

• Hoisting up the mainsail to the wind.] So our translators render the word ἀγνῶσαι, and I, who am not accurately acquainted with the form either of ancient or of modern ships, shelter myself under their authority; but Grotius (who contends that σ’ ἢ τ’ ἀγνῶσαι, ver. 17, signifies the mainmast, and consequently that the mainsail was no gone, ver. 19,) supposes, it was a sail near the fore part of the ship, answering either to what we call the foremast, or to the bow sprit; which last seems to agree best with the account, which Stephens has collected from the most considerable authorities. See his Latin Thesaurus, in the word Artemon

The ship is lost, it all o them get safe to

and cruel purpose formed against them, and the counsel of the soldiers was, that they should kill the prisoners; lest any one should take this opportunity to swim away, and should escape out of their hands; of which they did not care to run the hazard, as they well knew how severe the Roman law was in such cases, where there was any room to suspect the guards of connivance, or negligence. But the centurion, being desirous to save so worthy and considerable a person as Paul, hindered them from executing [their] purpose, and commanded those that could swim, to throw themselves out first into the sea, and get away to land: And as for the remainder, some adventured themselves upon planks, with which the wreck supplied them, and others upon some of [the things] which they found means to get out of the ship; and so, through the singular care of divine Providence, it came to pass according to the prediction of Paul, that they all got safe to land, and there was not one single life lost.

IMPROVEMENT.

verse 31, 32 The section we have now been reading, contains a remarkable illustration of the obligations we are under to use the most proper means for security and success, even while we are committing ourselves to the care of divine Providence, and waiting the accomplishment of God’s own promises: For it would be most unreasonable to imagine, that he ever intended any promise to encourage rational creatures to act in a wild and irrational manner; or to remain inactive, when he has given them natural capacities of doing something at least for their own benefit. It is in exerting these that we are to expect his powerful aid; and all the grace, beauty, and wisdom of the promise would be lost, if we were to take it in any other view: To abuse it in a contrary view, is at best vain and dangerous presumption, if all pretence of relying upon it be not profane hypocrisy.

18, 19 How solicitous are men in danger for the preservation of this mortal and perishing life! They cast out their goods in a storm; they throw away the tackling of the ship to lighten it; and for

b Being desirous to save Paul.] Thus God, thought of no worse a scheme, had they for Paul’s sake, not only saved all the rest of the ship’s company from being lost in the sea, but kept the prisoners from being murdered, according to the unjust and barbarous proposal of the soldiers, who could have thought of no worse a scheme, had they been all condemned malefactors, and had these guards, instead of conveying them to their trial, been carrying them to the place of execution.

Reflections on their danger and deliverance.

many succeeding days forget even to eat their bread: O when shall we see a solicitude any thing like this about the concerns of their never dying souls! Alas, amidst the extremest danger, they are rather like those who, in such a storm as this, should have been sleeping on the top of a mast. (Prov. xxiii. 34.) Let us not wonder, if, when awakened on a sudden, and made to see and to feel the extremity of their case, they are for a while taken off from attending as usual to their secular affairs; nor rashly censure that as madness which may be the first entrance of true wisdom into their minds.

We see how cheerful Paul was amidst the rage of winds and waves, under a sense of the faithful care of his God; and how the assurance which he gave to the rest, that their lives should be preserved, though their possessions in the ship were all lost, animated them to eat their bread with cheerfulness. With how much greater cheerfulness may they sustain all temporal losses, and relish in the midst of them all the remaining bounties of Providence, (as some always remain,) whose eternal life is secured by the word of God, and the engagement of a covenant which he has confirmed by an oath?

To conclude, It was to Paul that the lives of those that sailed with him were given; and his fellow prisoners, owed to him a double preservation, first from the sword, and then from the sea. Thus may a relation to God’s faithful servants, and a community of interests with them, be the means of great temporal advantage even to those that are strangers to the covenant of promise. Surely after so many remarkable circumstances, pointing out the apostle to the company of this ship as a teacher commissioned by God, and favoured with extraordinary intercourses with him, they must be very inexcusable if they did not henceforward commence his attentive hearers and humble disciples. Those of them who did so, would find their deliverance from the fury of the sea but an earnest of another deliverance infinitely greater and better; and are long ere this lodged with him on a far more hospitable shore, and in a far more peaceful harbour, than Malta, or than earth could afford.