During previous parts of this work we have, from time to time, alluded to the presence of St. Paul at various places we have described; the interest, however, every one feels in the great Apostle of the Gentiles induces us to throw together in one chapter a brief summary of his journeys in Asia Minor; the more so, that to a Christian, studying the history of this portion of Western Asia, St. Paul stands out alone—“none but himself can be his parallel.”

St. Paul’s missionary labours commenced from the period when the Holy Ghost said, “Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them” (Acts xiii. 2); an order, doubtless, given at Antioch in Syria, as they soon after started from Seleucia, the port of Antioch, for Cyprus, the native home of Barnabas. Antioch was then the capital of Northern Syria, and as much, if not more than Jerusalem, the centre of Christian evangelization. Hence, the natural reason why at Antioch men were “first called Christians.” Seleucia, too, at the mouth of the Orontes, about twenty miles below Antioch, was the “key of Syria,” and had, recently, obtained from Pompey the title of a “Free City,” an honour which it long retained. Dr. Yates (long a resident in the neighbourhood), in an interesting memoir on this city (in the Museum of Classical Antiquities), mentions that the names of the piers at the mouth of its harbour still preserve a record of St. Paul’s voyage, the southern one being called after him, and the northern after Barnabas. Structures so vast as these may easily have remained to the present day, for Pococke states that some of the stones “are twenty feet long by five deep and six wide, and fastened together by iron cramps.” The voyage from Seleucia to Cyprus is, generally, short and easy.

The first place they made in the island was Salamis,^[114] whence they proceeded right across it to Paphos, the residence of the Roman governor, Sergius Paulus, “a prudent man.” Here we have the remarkable story of Elymas the sorcerer, and of the conversion of the governor on witnessing the miracle by the hand of St. Paul. Cyprus was at that time, as may be gathered from Dio Cassius, under the direct government of the Emperor of Rome, together with Syria and Cilicia; but, a little later, this historian adds that Augustus restored it to the Senate. St. Luke’s title, therefore, of proconsul is correct, as that invariably given to the rulers of the provinces belonging to the Senate. A Cyprian inscription in Boeckh confirms this view. The occurrence of a person called a “sorcerer” at the court of the Roman governor is quite in accordance with the manners of the times. Thus, Juvenal sarcastically speaks of the “Orontes flowing into the Tiber.”^[115]

It has been often thought that, from the miracle over Elymas, dates the change of the name of the apostle from Saul to Paul, and certain it is that, subsequently to the words “Then Saul (who is also called Paul)” (Acts xiii. 9), the first name does not occur again; moreover, in his fourteen Epistles the apostle invariably calls himself Paul. So happened it in earlier days, when Abram was changed into Abraham. It has been further supposed that, as Barnabas was a native of Cyprus, the apostles were induced to visit that island first; but, for their crossing to Attalia in Pamphylia, in preference to any other port, no reason can be assigned, though we may conjecture that they acted on information obtained in Cyprus. The communication was no doubt easy and probably constant. Attalia, as we have pointed out, was then, as now, a place of some consequence, and almost the only port of southern Asia Minor: thence they proceeded up the steep and rugged defiles of the Pamphylian mountains to Perga, and, ultimately, to Antiochia in Pisidia. The sacred writer records no event on their route thither, except the secession of Mark, which probably took place soon after they had landed; nor has he even given the reason that influenced Mark; but this may have been as Matthew Henry has suggested: “Either he (Mark) did not like the work, or he wanted to go and see his mother.” St. Paul, we know, felt acutely, what he might fairly have considered as little short of a desertion; indeed, this secession led, as we shall see hereafter, to the separation between himself and Barnabas on the eve of his second missionary journey.

Whatever Mark’s reasons, certain it is he did depart, and that St. Paul pushed on with characteristic bravery through a country the nature of which we have described when speaking of Cremna, Sagalassus, and of the probable position of Perge; and which may be comprehended, in all its fulness, by those who have time to study the valuable researches of Leake and Hamilton, Spratt and Forbes, Arundell and Sir Charles Fellows. It has been reasonably conjectured that, St. Paul travelling, as he probably did a little before the full heat of the summer had commenced, attached his small party to some large group or caravan travelling inwards and northwards in the same direction. Many travellers, and especially Sir Charles Fellows, have pointed out the annual custom prevailing among the dwellers along the southern shores of Asia Minor, of leaving their homes at the beginning of the hot weather, and of migrating with their cattle and household property to the cooler valleys of the mountains.

With regard to Antioch in Pisidia, we have already shown that Mr. Arundell was the first to point out that some ruins, now called Yalobatch, can scarcely be any other than those of this Antioch. We need not, therefore, dwell any longer on this point, simply adding, that, from its great commercial importance, St. Paul must have found there many resident Jews, while we know that there was at least one synagogue.

On arriving at Antioch, the narrative in the Bible goes on to say that the Apostles “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down”; then, after the reading the Law, as was and still is, the usual custom, the rulers of the synagogue desired them to speak, and St. Paul gave one of his most characteristic addresses, being, at first, well received by his own countrymen, and, especially so, by those persons who, having given up idol-worship, were usually known as proselytes. He was, therefore, invited to preach on the following Sabbath-day, the intervening week having been, no doubt, well employed in constant meetings between St. Paul and these proselytes, and in earnest addresses and exhortations. Hence, we are told that, on this second occasion, “came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” But this was more than the Jews could endure: so they stirred up the “chief men of the city,” and the Apostles were soon after (we are not told how soon) “expelled out of their coasts,” that is, ordered to go beyond the limits of the Roman colony of Antioch; though, as they returned to it again, shortly afterwards, it is likely that no formal decree of banishment was promulgated against them. On this “they shook off the dust of their feet against them.”^[116]

St. Paul’s speech, on the second Sabbath, is worthy of note as that in which he first definitely stated the object of his mission; for, when thus attacked by his own countrymen, he turned upon them with the words, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but, seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts xiii. 46). Strabo (vii. 3) has pointed out that “feminine influence” was a remarkable characteristic of the manners of Western Asia in his day, and of this we find the Jews availing themselves, on this occasion. Leaving Antioch, then, the Apostles turned nearly south-east to Iconium, which, as we have already stated, was, in those days, the chief town of the sub-district of Lycaonia. The treatment the Apostles received at Iconium was not very different from that they had experienced at Antioch. Here, as there, “the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles,” but were not, for some time, successful in their designs, as the Apostles were able to abide there a long time, “speaking boldly in the Lord.” In fact, as at Ephesus, “the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part with the Apostles” (xiv. 4). In the end, however, the Jews prevailed: so the Apostles had to save themselves from being stoned, by flight “unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about” (ver. 6), “and there,” it is added, “they preached the Gospel.”

We have, already, shown that there is some doubt as to the position of these two towns, but that Mr. Falkener has probably found Lystra on the side of a mountain called Karadagh, at a place called by the Turks Bin-bir-Kalessi, or, the Thousand Churches. So, too, the site of Derbe has, certainly, not been yet made out completely; but, from the similarity of name, it may be at Divle, as suggested by Hamilton.

The narrative of what took place at Lystra is very interesting. At first, we may presume that St. Paul preached to any chance groups that collected around him: after some time, however, he saw a poor cripple “who had never walked,” and “perceiving that he had faith to be healed,” at once cured him, saying to him with a loud voice, “Stand upright on thy feet.” Need we wonder that the astonishment of the people vented itself in the natural exclamation that “the gods had come to us in the likeness of men.” The narrative implies the existence, before the walls of the city, of a temple of Jupiter (Acts xiv. 13), some traces of which may, perhaps, still remain, and, if so, will serve, hereafter, for the identification of the site. Messrs. Conybeare and Howson have pointed out that the beautiful legend of the visit of Jupiter and Mercury to the earth, in Ovid’s story of Baucis and Philemon, belongs to this part of Asia Minor: the people of Lystra would, therefore, have been prepared to recognize in Barnabas and Paul the Jupiter and Mercury of their own fables. What was the “speech of Lycaonia” we have no means of telling, no undoubted words of this dialect having, so far as we are aware, been preserved.

But the Lycaonians, though, at first, so readily convinced of the divinity of the Apostles, soon showed themselves as fickle as the “foolish Galatians.” St. Luke adding, “and there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing that he was dead,” so little lasting was the impression produced, even by the cure of one born a cripple. It is, doubtless, to this attack upon him that St. Paul, subsequently, alludes in the words, “Once was I stoned” (2 Cor. xi. 25). That he was not killed, like St. Stephen, as Barnabas and his friends feared and the Jews hoped, is a miracle in itself. Any how, he recovered at once as “he rose up and came into the city,” and departed next day “with Barnabas to Derbe.” It was at Lystra that St. Paul made the acquaintance of Timotheus (or Timothy) his future constant and steadfast companion. With Derbe ends all that has been recorded of St. Paul’s First journey. On the return, however, of Paul and Barnabas, we learn that they fearlessly visited again all the places where they had previously preached, “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith.” At the same time, too, they ordained “elders in every church,” praying with fasting, and commending “them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

The course of the Second missionary journey of St. Paul, most of which falls within the limits of this volume, was probably determined on when the Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem sent letters “unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch, in Syria, and in Cilicia” (xv. 23): it was manifestly, also, St. Paul’s own desire, for he says, “Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city, where we have announced the word of the Lord, and see how they do.” It was, on the proposal of this second journey, that the famous dispute took place between St. Paul and Barnabas, the former refusing to take with him Barnabas’s kinsman Mark, because he had turned back before. For this journey (at Attalia), therefore, “Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God; and he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches” (ver. 40). We cannot discuss here the circumstances of this quarrel between the two “servants of the Lord,” but one good result from it was, clearly, a far wider preaching of the Gospel than might otherwise have occurred; as, by this separation, two distinct streams of missionary labour were provided instead of one; Barnabas taking the insular, while St. Paul took the continental line.

We do not know which way St. Paul went on leaving Antioch, but it is most likely he passed into Cilicia by the “Syrian Gates,” now called the pass of Beilan, the character of which may be fully learnt from Mr. Ainsworth and other travellers. For some unknown reason, Sacred history does not give the name of a single place visited during this confirmatory tour, till the Apostles reached Derbe and Lystra; though we may feel sure, especially as the “Gentiles of Cilicia” are mentioned in the letter of the Apostles, that St. Paul did not fail to visit his native town, Tarsus, the “no mean city” of his address to the Roman governor. At Tarsus, if anywhere in Cilicia, Christians would be surely found who would be glad of the Apostle’s “confirming” words. From Tarsus, St. Paul must have passed from S.E. to N.W., through the great mountain barrier which separates the central table-land of Asia Minor from the plain country in which Tarsus was situated. There are several passes; the nearest to Tarsus and most direct, being that of the “Cilician Gates,” a remarkable cleft, about eighty miles in length. Ascending, probably, by this pass, St. Paul would reach the plains of Lycaonia, at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the sea, in four or five days. At Lystra (probably) he met again the young disciple Timotheus, “who was well reported of at Lystra and Iconium,” and who, at St. Paul’s request, at once joined him: thence, “as they went through the cities they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained by the Apostles and Elders that were at Jerusalem; and so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.” We are not told that, on this occasion, St. Paul met with any serious opposition.

The brevity of the account of this journey is most disappointing, as we do not know whether St. Paul visited even Antioch in Pisidia: all we learn is that he was ordered to “go through Phrygia and the region of Galatia,” altogether new ground, and representing districts that could not have been evangelized before. Yet even here the names of no towns are recorded till he gets to Mysia: on the other hand, he was not permitted to preach the “word” in Asia; that is, within Roman “Asia,” nor to enter Bithynia. Most likely, as suggested by Messrs. Conybeare and Howson, he followed the great Roman lines of communication, and passed by Laodicea, Philomelium, and Synnada.

It has been inferred from his use of the plural, “to the churches of Galatia,” as the heading of his Epistle to that people, that there was no one great church there, as at Ephesus or Corinth; but this seems to us refining too much. We may, however, suppose that no special miracles marked this journey, or, at all events, none which St. Luke thought it necessary to notice. We learn from St. Paul himself (Galat. iv. 13) that it was owing to bodily sickness that he preached to the Galatians in the first instance, it may be, as has been suggested, on his way to Pontus, from which distant province we know that some Jewish proselytes had come to Jerusalem, and were present on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 11): moreover, it is certain, from his Epistle to the Galatians, that he had been well received by this inconstant people, a large and mixed multitude having embraced Christianity.

As, in so many other instances, no clue is given us as to the further route actually taken by the Apostles to Troas, but, by the Divine prohibition to them of preaching in “Asia,” we may conjecture that the time was not ripe for spreading the Gospel among the great cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamus. It will be noticed that the Apostles are not forbidden to enter Asia, as was the case with Bithynia, but only not to preach there. Indeed, they could not, easily, have got to Troas without passing through “Asia.”

The first seaport St. Paul reached must have been Adramyttium, which is not, however, noticed here by name, though it is subsequently, when on the voyage to Rome. Of this place we have, already, given some account: and hence, it would seem, that the Apostle passed onwards to Assos and Alexandria Troas, where the remarkable vision appeared to him which is thus described:—

“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And, after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas we came with a straight course to Samothrace....” (Acts xvi. 9, 10, 11).

Compelled as we are here to compress as much as possible what must be said, we reluctantly desist from following St. Paul to Europe. We need, therefore, only state that, after two years St. Paul returned to Antioch in Syria and Jerusalem, passing, on his way, sufficient time at Ephesus, so that “he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews” (xviii. 19), promising, at the request of the congregation, that he would return to Ephesus, “if God will.” Having “saluted the Church” (probably of Jerusalem) he returned to Antioch, and thence “departed and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples,”^[117] arriving, ultimately, at Ephesus, where he found Apollos, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures” (xviii. 24).

The visit of St. Paul to Ephesus was the period when it pleased God to do for the later disciples what had been previously done, twelve or thirteen years before, on the day of Pentecost: “the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” In the present instance, it is enough to refer to the words in the narrative as given in the Acts xix. 2: “He” (St. Paul) “said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost,” &c.... “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”

At Ephesus St. Paul dwelt more than two years, diligently preaching the Gospel, and “disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.” No opposition appears to have arisen for some time; indeed, for three months, he was allowed the use of even the synagogue; but, in the end, the idol-brokers felt their trade was in jeopardy, and, especially, men, who, like Demetrius, the silversmith, making the “silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.”

As at Corinth, St. Paul at Ephesus was brought, face to face, with Asiatic superstition, withstanding even magic arts, as Moses did, Jannes, and Jambres, and, also, “exorcists.” What this “magic” really was has been much debated. Anyhow, the Talmud tells us that a “knowledge of magic” was required as a necessary qualification for a seat in the Sanhedrin, so that the councillor might be able to try those accused of such practices, though some of these need not, necessarily, have been of evil intention: it is clear, however, from the case of Sceva (xix. 14), that many of the “exorcists” made a bad use of any superior knowledge they possessed or pretended to have. St. Paul’s success, however, in putting down this species of knavery, was so complete, that a large number of the exorcists submitted to him, and burnt their books, which were valued at a very high price. The “town-clerk” was, doubtless, as we have remarked before, a Roman officer, and, as the keeper of the public records, one of the most important personages in the town. His language in putting down the émeute in the theatre clearly shows this; but, as he evidently refers to others of greater power than himself, we hardly think, as some have done, that he was himself one of the “Asiarchs,” or, as our translation has it, “chiefs of Asia.” His language shows that he was not unfriendly to St. Paul (though not necessarily that he was, himself, a Christian); and, further, that he well knew how to deal with a multitude, “the more part of whom knew not wherefore they were come together.”

We have now brought nearly to an end the short outline we felt it necessary to give of St. Paul’s journeying in Asia Minor. It is probable that, soon after the disturbance in the theatre, he left for Macedonia; so that the rest of his connection with Asia Minor or with the Greek islands may be summed up in a few words. After some time passed in Macedonia, with a possible journey through Illyricum and Western Greece, which occupied him for three months (xx. 3), St. Paul returned to the north, and, passing by Philippi and Neapolis, crossed the Ægæan to Alexandria Troas. This second visit to Troas is chiefly notable for the story of the boy Eutychus, who, overcome with sleep when St. Paul continued his speech until midnight, fell to the ground and was killed. It will be observed, that, in the miracle of his restoration to life, St. Paul implied the use of the very words of our Saviour to the young maiden: “She is not dead, but sleepeth.” Thence he proceeded alone on foot twenty miles to Assos, through a district then, as now, richly wooded, but with a good Roman road, long since in utter decay. It was a lonely walk the great Apostle pursued then; but solitude is sometimes required to give greater strength.

From Assos St. Paul took ship to Mytilene, proceeding onwards to Chios, Samos, Trogyllium, and Miletus. At this last place, he summoned the elders from Ephesus, and bade a solemn farewell to the Christians of Asia, among whom he had laboured so long and so efficiently; and passing thence by Coos and Rhodes to Patara, finally entered a ship there, and sailed to Phœnicia (xxi. 1). At Trogyllium the Admiralty chart shows a harbour that still bears the name of St. Paul’s Port. So far as we know, with the exception of touching at Cnidus on his last voyage to Rome, St. Paul had no further connection with Asia Minor.