to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And we went up to Jerusalem. And when seven days were almost ended, the Jews of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple."

They beat and ill used Paul in a shameful way, and would have murdered him, but for the arrival of the chief captain, with a number of Roman soldiers, who took him prisoner, but saved him from further violence. He obtained permission to speak to the people; but when he told them how he was sent to the Gentiles, they cried, "Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live." Then he was taken to the castle, and the chief captain ordered him to be bound with thongs, that he might be scourged. But Paul told them he was a Roman citizen, and thereupon they refrained from scourging him, and loosed his bonds. For the Romans were then very powerful, and had dominion over many nations. was esteemed a great privilege to be a Roman citizen; and it was not lawful that a Roman citizen should be bound or scourged before he had been properly tried

It

before a tribunal. Therefore, when the captain found that Paul was a Roman citizen, he was afraid of being made to answer for breaking the law, and treated his prisoner far more kindly than he would otherwise have done. And on the morrow, the chief priests and all their council were cited by the chief captain to appear, and Paul was brought before them.

Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high;
So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be;
Sink not in spirit: who aimeth at the sky,
Shoots higher much than he that means a tree.
A grain of glory mixed with humblerress,
Cures both a fever and a lethargy.

THE REST OF PAUL'S HISTORY.

And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. Acts, xxviii. 23.

THE Jews were so inveterate against Paul, that some of them took an oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. They determined to ask that Paul should be brought down into the council, and then to fall upon him and slay him. The chief captain, hearing of this conspiracy, sent Paul away by night, with some soldiers to guard him, to Felix the Governor at Cæsarea. The Jews speedily accused Paul before Felix. They said, "We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world." They also accused him of profaning the temple. Felix seems to have understood the malice of the Jews, for he put off the whole matter, and placed Paul in the charge of a centurion, commanding that his friends should have free access to him. He also sent for Paul, who spoke

to him so movingly of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, that Felix trembled. Thus two years passed away. Then Paul was brought before a ruler named Festus; and again the Jews maliciously accused him. They were anxious that Paul should be sent to Jerusalem; and had they once got him into their power, they would assuredly have put him to death. But Paul as a Roman had a right to appeal to Cæsar, the Roman emperor; and to Cæsar he appealed; and after Paul had again powerfully pleaded his cause before King Agrippa, who came to visit Festus, it was determined that he should be sent to Rome. Therefore he was delivered to a centurion named Julius, to be carried to Rome by sea, with certain other prisoners.

During this voyage, Paul and his companions suffered shipwreck. From the commencement the apostle knew what was going to happen, and said to the centurion and soldiers, "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives." But the centurion listened to the master and the owner of the ship rather than to Paul; and they sailed away out of the harbour. Then the following disasters occurred, as related in the book of the Acts. "Not long after, there arose a tem

pestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And we, being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; and the 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." But when all were desponding, Paul cheered them, exhorting them to eat, and declaring that though the ship would be lost, they should all be saved. Remembering how truly he had spoken before, they now believed him and took courage, and this is what happened: "When it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into 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 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 waves. And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and epe. 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 get to the land: and the