AFTER staying some time at Antioch, the Apostle resolved to enter upon his third missionary journey. Accompanied, it is probable, by Timothy1021, he began by a systematic visitation of the Churches he had planted in Galatia and Phrygia, establishing all the disciples in the true principles of the Gospel (Acts xviii. 23), and exhorting them to evince their sympathy with their brethren in Judæa, by weekly collections in behalf of the poorer Christians (Comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2).
While he was thus employed there arrived at Ephesus a certain Jew of Alexandria, named Apollos1022, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures (Acts xviii. 24). He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and was acquainted with the main facts of the Saviour’s earthly history, but had received no other baptism than that of His forerunner. Aquila and Priscilla listened to his eloquent words in the synagogue of Ephesus, and having sought his acquaintance, did much to correct his imperfect conceptions of Christian doctrine, and to explain to him more accurately the way of God (Acts xviii. 26). Though trained in the schools of Alexandria, Apollos was not above receiving instruction from these humble natives of Pontus, and when made fully acquainted with the Christian doctrine was desirous of crossing over into Achaia. On communicating his wishes to the brethren at Ephesus, he received from them much encouragement; and furnished with letters of introduction to the disciples in Achaia, set out for Corinth, where he contributed important aid to the establishment of the Christian Church, employing his extensive acquaintance with Scripture to the confutation of Jewish disputants, and proving incontestably that Jesus was the Messiah (Acts xviii. 28).
Thus where Paul had planted, Apollos watered, and God gave an abundant increase (1 Cor. iii. 6). Meanwhile that Apostle’s circuit through the Galatian district being ended, in accordance with a promise he had made (Acts xviii. 21) he also came to Ephesus. Here Aquila and Priscilla were awaiting him ready to aid him in his work1023. They had already dispatched to the Church of Corinth an eloquent teacher, and now there was present a company of about twelve men (Acts xix. 7), who, like Apollos, were acquainted only with John’s baptism, and who were probably introduced to the Apostle by his friends from Pontus. Thereupon he enquired of them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye became believers1024? To this they replied that they had not so much as heard of Him and of His great outpouring on the day of Pentecost. This led to further enquiry on the part of the Apostle as to the nature of the baptism they had received, and becoming aware that they had only been made partakers of John’s baptism of repentance and preparation, he proceeded to speak of a yet higher baptism to which it was intended to lead up. On this the men were baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the imposition of the Apostle’s hands were endued with miraculous gifts and enabled to speak with tongues and to prophesy (Acts xix. 4–7).
Ephesus now became the centre of St Paul’s missionary labours. Repairing, according to his invariable practice, to the synagogue, he was employed during three whole months (Acts xix. 8) in arguing with the Jews from their own Scriptures, and persuading them that the kingdom of God was truly come, and that Jesus was no other than the long promised Messiah. While some believed and joined themselves to the Christian Church, others were hardened and disobedient, and began openly to calumniate the Apostle’s doctrine before the people. Perceiving this, and resolved that their example should not contaminate the rest, he resolved to abandon his attendance at the synagogue, and separating the disciples transferred his instructions to the school of one Tyrannus, probably a teacher of rhetoric or philosophy to the young of Ephesus, and who may or may not have been himself a convert (Acts xix. 9).
This continued for two years, A.D. 55–57, and during this period the labours of the Apostle were carried on with unceasing energy. Not only in the school of Tyrannus, but from house to house he went about amongst the brethren, instructing them in their most holy faith, and warning them with tears (Acts xx. 20–31) to hold fast that which they had been taught, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts xx. 21). The result of such labours, carried on by the Apostle himself, and probably by his immediate1025 converts, was speedily perceptible. An important church was founded at Ephesus itself, over which “presbyters” were appointed to preside (Acts xx. 28), and the Word was made known throughout the Roman province of Asia, and probably contributed to the foundation of the seven famous churches of that region (Acts xix. 10).
Ephesus, it must be borne in mind, was no common city1026. The capital of the province, the principal emporium of trade on the nearer side of Mount Taurus, it claimed with Smyrna the honour of being one of the “eyes” of Asia. Though Greek in its origin it was half Oriental in the prevalent worship and the character of its inhabitants, and contained the famous temple of Diana, or Artemis, deemed by the ancients one of the wonders of the world1027. The original temple, built at the expense of all the Greek cities in Asia, the erection of which was begun before the Persian, and lasted even through the Peloponnesian war, was set on fire by Herostratus on the night that Alexander the Great was born. But in its place there soon arose a still more sumptuous structure, on which all that art and skill could achieve was freely lavished. The Temple-area was 425 ft. long by 220 in breadth, and was surrounded by 127 marble columns, 60 ft. high, each the gift of kings, and 36 of them beautifully ornamented. The roof was supported by columns of green jasper, eight of which may be seen in the mosque of St Sophia at Constantinople, whither they were removed by the emperor Justinian after the temple had been destroyed by the Goths. The altar, richly adorned, was the work of Praxiteles, and here and there were statues from the chisels of the most eminent sculptors. The walls were adorned with the finest paintings in the world, the master-pieces of Apelles and Parrhasius, while the sacred precincts, to the extent of a furlong from the building, offered an inviolable sanctuary to all who sought an asylum there.
The presiding deity of this magnificent pile was an ancient, black, wooden idol, said to have fallen down from heaven, representing Artemis, not the huntress-goddess of the Greeks, but an Asiatic divinity1028, the impersonation of nature, the prolific “mother of life,” as shown by the many breasts represented on her image.
Round this worship of Artemis there clustered a host of minor superstitions, and Ephesus was at this time the head-quarters of the magical arts. Here were to be bought charms and incantations of all kinds; amulets to preserve men from bodily danger; formulas to ward off the influence of demons; mysterious symbols called “Ephesian letters,” copied from the inscriptions on various parts of the idol, deemed a safeguard against all kinds of evil. These arts were not studied merely by strolling vagabonds, for the purpose of imposing on idle women and ignorant men; they were believed by the educated, and studied by men of letters, who wrote many books on the subject, opening up the secrets of the art, which were highly valued and fetched great prices.
Here, then, was a new field for the efforts of the Apostle, and in this stronghold of heathenism it pleased God to work special miracles by his hands (Acts xix. 11), so that napkins1029 and aprons1029 brought from his body were enabled to communicate a healing power, to expel disease and deliver the possessed. Such miracles produced a deep impression on those who witnessed them, and before long, as in the case of Moses in Egypt, certain Jewish exorcists, who wandered about the Asiatic cities, strove to effect the same marvellous results by their enchantments. Fancying that the Name of Jesus was used by the Apostle as a kind of spell, and was in fact his secret, they also began to pronounce the same over the possessed saying, We adjure you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preacheth (Acts xix. 13).
One particular family, consisting of seven brothers, sons of one Sceva, a Jewish High-priest1030, were especially addicted to this practice, and on one occasion while thus engaged the evil spirit answered, Jesus I recognise1031, and Paul I know, but who are ye? and thereupon the possessed flung himself upon them, and with the terrible strength of a madman and a demon drove them forth naked and wounded from the house. This incident was quickly noised abroad throughout all Ephesus, became known both to Jews and Gentiles, and proved that the power of the name of Jesus was one “fatal to counterfeit and impossible to resist.” Fear fell upon all. The magicians of Ephesus confessed that this was the finger of God, and many of the converts, who even as Christians had continued the practice of “curious, or magical arts, and had not parted with their books of charms,” confessed their errors, and publickly burned the magic scrolls in the presence of the Church. An estimate of the value of these books was made, and was found to amount to upwards of 50,000 pieces of silver1032, so mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed (Acts xix. 20).
DURING the Apostle’s stay at Ephesus disastrous intelligence arrived from Corinth. The Church established there combined two distinct elements, Jews or proselytes and Gentiles, of whom the latter were the most numerous. The natural jealousy between these two bodies repressed during the Apostle’s presence, had burst out on his departure, and divided the Church into various parties. Some affected fidelity solely and exclusively to St Paul himself (1 Cor. iii. 4); others, probably the Jewish section, to Peter and the brethren of the Lord (1 Cor. i. 12, ix. 5); a third, fascinated by the eloquence and learning of the Alexandrian Apollos (1 Cor. i. 12), had attached themselves to him, and probably “hung halfway between the extreme Jewish and the extreme Gentile party;” while a fourth abjured all devotion to any human teachers, and styled themselves the “Christ” party (1 Cor. i. 12).
In addition to these evils the Gentile faction pushed their views of Christian freedom beyond all due bounds. The profligacy that disgraced the inhabitants of Corinth and made their name a byword was openly avowed and gloried in (1 Cor. v. 1). To such a pitch, moreover, did they carry their disputes that lawsuits were brought into Roman and Greek courts of Justice (1 Cor. vi. 1–8), and instead of shrinking from the contaminating influence of sensuality at the sacrificial feasts, they freely frequented them even in the colonnades of the temples (1 Cor. viii. 10): the women threw off the head-dress which the customs of Greece and of the East required (1 Cor. xi. 2–16); the most solemn ordinance of the Church was profaned by disorderly and reckless festivity (1 Cor. xi. 17–34); the most showy “gifts” were desired to the disparagement of those which tended only to instruct and improve (1 Cor. xii. 1, xiv. 1–4); mixed marriages were freely contracted (1 Cor. vii. 10–17); and the doctrine of the Resurrection was either denied or emptied of all meaning (1 Cor. xv. 12).
Rumours of these disorders had reached the Apostle from time to time, and he had already sent Timothy1033 and Erastus (Acts xix. 22) from Ephesus to Macedonia, desiring the former if possible to continue his journey to Corinth, and recall to the Church there the image of his own teaching and life. But after their departure members of the household of Chloe arrived informing him that the factions had reached a still more formidable height (1 Cor. i. 11), and that an incestuous marriage, scandalous even to the heathen, of a man with his father’s wife, had been allowed to be contracted without rebuke (1 Cor. v. 1). This determined the Apostle to write the first of his extant letters1034 to the Corinthians and other Christian communities in the province of Achaia (comp. 1 Cor. i. 2), in which he treated of all these points, directed that the incestuous offender should be expelled from the Christian community, and replied to various questions, which three members of the Corinthian Church, Fortunatus, Stephanas, and Achaicus (1 Cor. xvi. 17), themselves the bearers of the Epistle, had brought for his solution relating to the controversies respecting sacrificial feasts, meat offered to idols, the right of divorce, and the exercise of spiritual gifts in the public ministrations of the Church.
At the time he dispatched this letter, it was the Apostle’s intention to proceed through Macedonia to Corinth, and after spending the winter there (1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6; Acts xix. 21) to proceed to Jerusalem, whence he contemplated a journey to Rome itself (Acts xix. 21). Till Pentecost, however, he resolved to stay at Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi. 8), for there a great door was opened to him, and there were many adversaries against whom he had yet to contend. But these designs were destined to be rudely interrupted.
It was now about the month Artemisius, or the month of Artemis1035, when the annual festival of the goddess was observed throughout Greece and Asia, and a vast concourse of people from all quarters would be brought together. The preaching of the Apostle had by this time produced a great effect both in Ephesus and throughout proconsular Asia, and a great multitude had avowed themselves believers (Acts xix. 26). Consequently the sellers of portable shrines1036 of Diana found their trade sensibly diminished, and no small tumult arose about the Way. Prominent among the malcontents was a certain Demetrius, a master-manufacturer of these silver shrines, who found employment for a large body of workmen. These he now called together, and others similarly employed, and set forth the damage which their trade had sustained, and the danger lest the temple of the great goddess Diana, which not only Asia but all the civilized world held sacred, should fall into disrepute. His words found eager listeners, and an excited cry arose, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 28). The commotion thus aroused quickly spread, and the thousands of citizens and strangers, whom the games had attracted to Ephesus, made a general rush towards the theatre. Failing on the way in their attempt to seize St Paul1037, they dragged thither two of his companions, Gaius and Aristarchus of Macedonia. News of the danger of his friends would have urged the Apostle to venture thither himself, but the disciples, aided by the Asiarchs1038, who exercised high authority during the games, induced him to remain in privacy, and not venture to incur inevitable risk. Meanwhile the crowded seats of the theatre presented a scene of the utmost confusion, some crying one thing and some another, and the majority not knowing why they were come together (Acts xix. 29–32). At length the Jews, not unwilling to injure the Apostle’s cause, and anxious to clear themselves, put forward one Alexander, who may possibly have been the coppersmith mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 14, and being connected in trade with Demetrius might have been expected to have some influence with the people. So he stood forth and beckoned with his hand for silence. But he was soon recognised as a Jew, and one unanimous cry which lasted upwards of two hours arose from the tumultuous throng, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 34).
When this had partially subsided, another effort was made to calm the storm. The Town-clerk1039 or Recorder, who was the lawful president of the assembly, stood forward and reminded his hearers that the city of Ephesus was beyond all question the devoted “warden1040” of the great goddess Diana and the image that came down from the sky. The statements of a few unknown foreigners could not contradict a fact so patent to all the world. Let them, therefore, avoid doing anything rash or inconsiderate, especially as St Paul and his companions had neither profaned their temple nor uttered calumnious words against the goddess. If Demetrius and his friends had any just cause of complaint, it could be decided in the assize-courts1041, then open, or by an appeal to the proconsul, or, if necessary, in the regular assembly. Above every thing, let the present tumultuous proceedings be discontinued, which could only bring down upon them the displeasure of the Romans, who could not be expected to tolerate such causeless and disorderly doings, however willing to indulge an ancient and loyal city (Acts xix. 35–40).
With these arguments the cautious man of authority tranquillized the assembly, and the crowd dispersed to their own homes. Thus by the intrepidity of his friends1042 Aquila and Priscilla, and the interposition of a Greek magistrate, the Apostle’s life was saved; and having assembled the disciples and given them his last farewell, set out towards Macedonia (Acts xx. 1), and accompanied, it is not improbable, by Tychicus and Trophimus, reached Alexandria Troas1043. (Acts xx. 4, 5.)
ON the occasion of his former visit to Troas1044 the Apostle had been able to stay but a very short time. Now, however, though disturbed in mind by the late outbreak, he occupied himself for some time in preaching the Word (2 Cor. ii. 12). But a cause of still deeper anxiety harassed him. He had sent Titus to Corinth, either with or soon after the first Epistle, to superintend the great collection now being made for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem, to enforce the instructions contained in his Epistle, and to report the state of the Corinthian church; and he had directed him to return through Macedonia and rejoin him probably at Troas1045, where he hoped to have arrived shortly after Pentecost. But the late tumult had driven him sooner than he had intended from Ephesus, and he waited for Titus at Troas with a heart full of anxiety respecting the Church at Corinth. Day after day passed, and still Titus came not. At length the suspense became unbearable, his spirit had no rest (2 Cor. ii. 13) in the prolonged absence of his brother, and though at Troas a door was opened to him of the Lord, and he was enabled to lay the foundation of a flourishing church, he resolved to sail to Macedonia, hoping the sooner to meet Titus on his return.
Bidding farewell, therefore, to the disciples, he embarked, and probably, as before1046, landing at Neapolis, pressed on to Philippi. There he paused, and for a while was cheered by the zeal and warm affection of his Philippian converts (2 Cor. viii. 1, 2). But still he could think of nothing but Corinth. “Corinth, and Corinth only, was the word which would then have been found written on his heart1047.” Timothy, indeed, appears to have met him at Philippi (comp. 2 Cor. i. 1), but till Titus arrived his flesh could find no rest; he was troubled on every side, without were fightings, within were fears (2 Cor. vii. 5).
At last the long-expected messenger reached Philippi, and bore with him tidings sufficiently cheering to relieve the Apostle of the chief load of his anxieties. His first Epistle had not only been received, but bore good fruit. The majority of the Corinthian church had submitted to his injunctions, and were deeply repentant for the sins they had committed (2 Cor. vii. 7–11); the incestuous person had been excommunicated (2 Cor. ii. 6), and afterwards forgiven (2 Cor. ii. 10); and the collection for the poor Christians at Jerusalem had made good progress (2 Cor. viii. 10). All, however, was not as it ought to be. The parties which claimed the authority of Christ, aided by an emissary from Palestine (2 Cor. xi. 4), who had brought letters of commendation from Jerusalem, had grown so powerful as to openly assail both the Apostle’s authority and his character, charging him with selfish motives, with fickleness, timidity, and self-distrust, and disparaging his inartificial speech, and the insignificance of his bodily presence (2 Cor. x. 10).
The news that the Corinthians had generally submitted to his injunctions, removed a load from the Apostle’s mind, and filled him with overwhelming thankfulness, but the insinuations of his adversaries roused in him the utmost indignation. Titus was, therefore, immediately directed to return to Corinth with instructions to continue the collection, and bearing a second Epistle, in which the Apostle expressed his heartfelt satisfaction at the tidings brought by Titus (2 Cor. i.–vii.), urged the speedy completion of the contributions (2 Cor. viii. ix.), and vindicated his Apostolical character against the assertions of his Judaizing opponents (2 Cor. x.–xiii.).
With this Epistle, then, Titus accompanied by Luke (2 Cor. viii. 18) and Trophimus, set out for Corinth, while St Paul, as yet unwilling to revisit that city, continued to prosecute his labours in the northern regions of Greece, and to accomplish those plans which he had been unable to complete during his previous visit to Macedonia. But not satisfied with preaching the word in the towns of that province bordering on the Ægean, he appears now to have penetrated into the interior, and even beyond them, to the shores of the Adriatic, fully preaching the Gospel round about unto Illyricum1048 (Rom. xv. 19).
This tour probably occupied the summer and autumn of A.D. 57, and then having no more place in those parts (Rom. xv. 23), he removed with the approach of winter to Achaia, and took up his abode at Corinth (Acts xx. 2). But while here in the house of Gaius he could enjoy the society of Erastus and Stephanas, of Fortunatus, Achaicus, and others of the brethren, his heart was saddened1049 by painful intelligence concerning the state of the Galatian Churches. The circumstances under which these churches1050 were founded have been already noticed, as also the peculiar affection with which the Apostle had been received there. Now however he learned that his restless enemies the Judaizers, who had been thwarting him at Corinth, were busy also in Galatia, insisting on the necessity of circumcision (Gal. v. 2, 11, vi. 12, 13), inculcating nothing less than submission to the whole ceremonial law (Gal. iii. 2, iv. 21, v. 4, 18), impugning his own credit, representing him as no true Apostle, as having derived his knowledge of the Gospel at second hand, and as nothing in comparison with James, Peter, and John, the Pillars of the Church at Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 2, 9, &c.). Their teaching he heard with the deepest sadness, had completely fascinated1051 (Gal. iii. 1) the easily impressible Galatians, and already many had embraced their doctrines with the same alacrity that they had welcomed himself when he proclaimed Christ crucified amongst them. On receiving this intelligence, the Apostle deemed it right to take instant measures for checking the evil before it became incurable, and accordingly addressed them in an Epistle1052, in which he strenuously defended his own independent Apostolic authority (Gal. i. 11, ii. 21), showed that the doctrine of these Judaizers was calculated to destroy the very essence of Christianity, “to reduce it from an inward and spiritual life to an outward and ceremonial system” (Gal. iii. iv.), and exhorted them once more to walk in a manner worthy of that state of freedom and not of bondage, into which they had been called (Gal. v. vi.).
The Apostle’s present stay at Corinth continued upwards of three months (Acts xx. 3), and he probably employed himself not only in convincing and silencing the gainsayers who opposed him, as he had declared he would (2 Cor. xiii. 1–6), and in visiting other churches in the province of Achaia, but also in superintending the great collection for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem, about which he felt so solicitous. This collection was now completed, and certain treasurers were nominated by the whole Church, with whom the Apostle was to carry it on his contemplated journey to Jerusalem (1 Cor. xvi. 3).
Meanwhile a Christian matron, named Phœbe1053, of the port of Cenchreæ, was about to sail in an opposite direction to Rome upon some private business. St Paul therefore availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded of addressing an Epistle to the Church in that city, which he already intended to visit speedily, and with the members of which, though they had not seen his face in the flesh, he yet appears, from the numerous salutations at the close of the Epistle, to have been well acquainted. When this Church was founded is uncertain. Christianity may have been planted in Rome by some of the strangers from that city present on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 10), or by believing Jews attracted thither in the early days of Christianity, and who had been converted by St Paul’s own preaching. Whichever is the correct opinion, the Church there appears to have been numerous, and though in the first instance its members were probably Jews, who had been converted in the eastern parts of the Empire, they had received large accessions from the Gentiles (Rom. i. 13). Between these two parties disputes had arisen respecting the obligation of the Mosaic law, and while the one could not bring themselves to acknowledge their Gentile brethren as their equals in Christian privileges (Rom. iii. 9–29, xv. 7–11), the other could not make sufficient allowance for Jewish prejudices respecting the observation of days and the eating of meats (Rom. xiv.). Long desirous of visiting the Church at Rome, and probably informed of its condition by Aquila and Priscilla, now resident there1054 (Rom. xvi. 3), he deemed it his duty, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, to compose the differences between the two sections of the Roman Church, to lay down, in opposition to the Judaizers1055, the great doctrine of justification by faith only (Rom. i.–viii.), to explain the mystery of the rejection of the Jews and the admission of the Gentiles into the Christian covenant (Rom. ix.–xi.), and to inculcate on all the duty of mutual forbearance respecting the matters in dispute, and the need of a holy and a Christian life (Rom. xii.–xv. 13).
Anxious to visit Jerusalem before his projected journey to Rome, the Apostle at the close of his three months’ stay in Corinth intended to go by sea to Syria and probably from the port of Cenchreæ (Acts xx. 3). Though, however, his intended visit to the Holy City had for its object the supplying of the wants of the poorer Christians there by the great collection, which had been so long in progress, he could not look forward to it without grave misgiving, knowing as he did the inveterate hostility of the Judaizers towards himself (Rom. xv. 30–32). But even before he could set sail the enmity of the Jews at Corinth ripened into a plot against his life (Acts xx. 3). He resolved, therefore, to make a change in the proposed route, and instead of going to proconsular Asia by sea, he went by land through Macedonia, Berœa, Thessalonica, and Philippi, towards the spot where he had first landed on the shores of Europe. His companions on this occasion were Sopater, a native of Berœa, Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and two Christians from proconsular Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus (Acts xx. 4). The whole of this company did not at once cross over to Asia with St Paul, but while he and Luke remained at Philippi, preceded the rest to Troas. It was now the season of the Passover, and the Apostle and his companion remained at Philippi till the feast was ended, and then sailed from Neapolis, and after a voyage, which, probably from unfavourable weather, occupied upwards of five days1056 (Acts xx. 6), reached Troas, and there joined the other disciples and abode seven days. We have no details respecting the Apostle’s labours during the early part of this week, but on the evening of the Sabbath preceding the day appointed for the ship to sail, the Christians were assembled in an upper-room, lighted up by many lamps, celebrating that Breaking of the Bread which now formed so essential a part of their religious services (Acts xx. 7). Impressed with the feeling that the morrow was appointed for his departure, and that the present opportunity might not again recur, St Paul was prolonging his discourse till midnight, when overcome by weariness and the heat of the room, a young listener, named Eutychus, sank into a slumber, and suddenly falling from the balcony where he sat was dashed upon the floor below and taken up dead. Much confusion thereupon ensued and no little lamentation (Acts xx. 10), but St Paul went down and embracing the body said to the bystanders, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him. Thereupon he was taken up alive, and amidst joy and thankfulness the Eucharistic feast, combined then, as was usual, with a common meal, was resumed, and the Apostle continued his discourse till the dawn of day.
The ship was now ready to sail, and the Apostle’s companions went on board. It was arranged, however, that he himself should join the vessel at Assos, a little more than 20 miles distant, and thus secure a few more hours with the disciples at Troas. To Assos, therefore, he proceeded by land, and there embarking, sailed with the rest of his companions to Mitylene, the chief city of Lesbos, and separated from Assos by a narrow channel. Another day’s sail brought them to Chios, whence having put in at Samos they lay to for the night at Trogyllium, a cape and town on the Ionian coast. The following morning they got as far as Miletus, the ancient capital of Ionia, about 50 miles south of Ephesus. Here they landed, and St Paul, who was hastening forward to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by Pentecost, sent a messenger to Ephesus to request the elders of the Church to meet him there. They quickly obeyed his summons, and the Apostle took leave of them in an affecting and impressive address, in which he reminded them of his past labours amongst them (Acts xx. 18–21), expressed his conviction that bonds and imprisonment awaited him at Jerusalem (Acts xx. 22–24), and in the most solemn manner warned them to tend the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers, and to defend the Church of God, which He had purchased with His own blood, against grievous wolves, which he too surely foreboded would enter in among them (Acts xx. 25–31).
Having given them these warnings, and finally commended them to God and the word of His grace, he knelt down on the shore and prayed with them, and then with an outburst of natural grief they fell upon his neck and kissed him again and again1057, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more (Acts xx. 38).