discredit his accuracy have been covered with confusion, and some, like Sir William Ramsay, have been converted

to a belief in his inspiration.

Seneca spoke of his brother as the `sweet Gallio', and said of him that `no mortal is so sweet to any single person

as he is to all mankind'. It is in this light that we must understand the comment: `Gallio cared for none of those

things'. The attempt to scare him by the charge `This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law'

failed, and before Paul could make his defence, Gallio dismissed the case. Had it been a breach of Roman law,

Gallio would have dealt with it as a Roman, but seeing that there had been committed no `wrong or wicked

lewdness', and that it was evidently some squabble about Jewish laws and customs, he says to the Jews, `Look ye to

I

will be no judge of such matters'. Thus, through the instrumentality of Gallio, the promise by the Lord in the vision

was fulfilled.

We do not know for certain that Sosthenes succeeded Crispus as the chief ruler of the synagogue, but it seems

probable. There is no record in the Acts of his conversion, but the fact that Crispus and Sosthenes are both

mentioned in the opening chapter of the epistle to the Corinthians makes it appear likely.

The apostle now turns his thoughts toward Jerusalem. He had set foot in Philippi, the chief city of one part of

Macedonia, he had witnessed and suffered in Thessalonica, he had spoken both in the Agora and on the Areopagus

at Athens, and had seen the triumph of the cross at Corinth. He had encountered a good deal of opposition, but he

had also made some friends in the faith: Lydia of Thyatira, Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, Sopater of

Berea, Dionysius and Damaris, Aquila and Priscilla, Crispus and Sosthenes - all trophies of grace and fellow-helpers

in the Christian witness.

One other great city is to be visited before this second missionary journey is concluded - the city of Ephesus,

whose name is so intimately associated with the great revelation of the Mystery towards which the narrative of the

Acts is drawing steadily nearer. It will not be long before we arrive at the prophetic foreshadowing, and then the

actual experience once more of prison (an experience from which no earthquake delivers), and which lasts between

Cæsarea and Rome for about four years. These themes we must consider in subsequent pages, as together we follow

the narrative of those things which the ascended Christ continued to do and to teach through his servants.

With the conclusion of his ministry at Corinth, Paul now turns his face to Jerusalem. There are two points in

connection with this visit to Jerusalem that we must notice particularly, because of the indication they give that the

ground is still Jewish:

THE VOW.

- `Having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow' (Acts 18:18).

THE FEAST. - `I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem' (Acts 18:21).

It may be as well to settle one point in this connection at once. There are some who suggest that the reversal of

the order `Priscilla and Aquila' in verse 18 indicates that it was Aquila, and not Paul, who had the vow. A

knowledge of what was incumbent upon a man who made a vow, however, makes it clear that Paul, who was

anxious to get to Jerusalem, was the one under the vow, and that Aquila, who stayed behind, could not have been

under any such obligation. The Nazarite vow, according to the law (Num. 6:1-21), necessitated the offering of the

hair that had been shaved off, together with a burnt offering, at the Temple. The taking of a vow of this sort was

usually a means of acknowledging some great deliverance, from sickness, or accident, or some other calamity. To

look back to Acts 18 and endeavour to find this deliverance at the judgment- seat of Gallio, is to limit our

interpretation unduly. The Acts does not record a tithe of the sufferings and the deliverances that Paul experienced.

We have only to turn to his epistles, Galatians, Thessalonians and Corinthians, to meet with such a list of afflictions,

that it would seem almost impossible for any one man to have endured them all, and to have been brought through

alive and able to serve. We may take as an example the list given in 2 Corinthians 11, remembering at the same