Those of our readers who hold that the last twelve verses of Mark 16: do not form a

part of inspired Scripture will probably feel that this passage should not be employed;

but were we to respect every one's particular textual objection, it would be necessary to

set aside a considerable number of important passages. The reader who has any doubt

concerning Mark 16: should consult Appendix 168 of the Companion Bible:  the

evidence of the Manuscript Versions and "The Fathers" there tabulated should be enough

to convince any that the verses in question should be retained as found in the A.V. Mark

ends on the note, "the Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs

following". The Acts opens with a reference to "all that Jesus began both to do and to

teach", and implies that the Acts is a continuation of this "doing" and "teaching", so that

we are prepared to find the promise of Mark 16: fulfilled throughout the record. If this

be so, the dispensation that was ushered in at Pentecost remained unchanged. Healing, as

well as immunity, was promised in Mark 16:, and both are found in Acts 28:

Luke's accuracy is again attested, by archaeological proof that has been forthcoming,

that the title of Publius used, in the narrative, of "the chief man of the island" was one

actually in use at the time. An ancient inscription found at Civita Vecchia uses the title

Protos Melitaion, even as Luke uses protos for the title of Publius.

The Anglo Saxon reading of the Greek word dysentery in the words describing the

illness of the father of Publius, viz., "a fever and of a bloody flux", robs the miracle of

something of its power. The hand of Luke the Physician is evident in the narrative.

Where other writers use kausomai and its derivatives, he had already used the medical

term therme for "heat" in verse 3. He now observes that the dysentery from which the

father of Publius suffered was "in an aggravated form", being accompanied by fever.

The healing miracles of scripture are of an evident nature. Always, the person healed

was conscious not merely of a strange undiagnosed pain, but was either blind, lame, deaf,

or leprous; sometimes he was dead. To-day it is exceedingly difficult to get first-hand

evidence of specific healing diagnosed disease, but, as the Apostle said of the testimony

generally, in N.T. times "these things were not done in a corner". The miracle then was

an undoubted one. Seeing it, others who had diseases, also came, and they, too, were

healed. Thus three months went by before the Apostle left the island, a period giving full

opportunity for the cures to be tested.

Coupled with the persistence of these prominent miracles is the fact that "the hope of

Israel" was still entertained by the Apostle (Acts 28: 20). These two factors of

kingdom witness steadily lead the reader to the conclusion that until this point in the

narrative the dispensation had not changed, and the Mystery had not been revealed. This,

however, comes before us in full strength in the last section of the Acts, namely at

chapter 28: 23-31.

We must now resume the narrative of the Apostle's journey to Rome. The three

months' sojourn in Malta end with the opening of the seas for safe navigation in

February, a date confirmed by both Pliny and Vegetius. The centurion found another

grain ship, which had wintered in the island, and on this he embarked with his company.

This ship was named after the mythical twin sons of Zeus and Leda, and the twin-stars in