The advent of a grain ship made no uncommon stir among the populace of Puteoli.

From a letter written by Seneca we learn that upon rounding into the bay all other ships

were obliged to strike their top-sail, but the Alexandrian corn-ships were permitted to

enter it with all sail set, and thus were instantly recognized. He speaks of the crowds that

gathered to welcome these ships, and we can thus picture the scene that met the eye of the

Apostle as he drew near to land.

Once again the Roman Centurion treated the Apostle courteously, and permitted him

to spend a week with certain Christian brethren who met him there. This interval gave

time for news of the Apostle's arrival to reach Rome before him, and so for a company of

brethren to be in time to meet him on the Appian Way. From Puteoli to Rome was

distance of about a hundred and forty-one miles. The Appian Way, along which the

Centurion and his prisoners traveled to Rome, was described as Appia--Regina viarum,

"The Queen of Roads", and was the most crowded approach to the metropolis. Should

the reader desire fuller knowledge of this most ancient road, he should consult Gell's

Topography of Rome and its vicinity, the quotation from it in Lewin's work on the Acts,

or the description of the Apostle's journey in Conybeare and Howson. Space will not

permit of this interesting aside here, and so, with the marvelous brevity of the scriptural

narrative, we pass over all descriptive matter, and rejoice with the Apostle that:--

How many pages have been, and could be written, to describe the city to which the

Apostle drew near! Yet not one word is given by Luke. All he says is, "And when he

came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard". Just

that, and no more. Here was the answer to the Apostle's earnest wish, expressed in the

words, "I must see Rome". Here was the fulfillment of the Lord's promise; a promise

that had sustained him alike amid the fury of the fanatical Jews and the fury of the storm.

He had entered Damascus blind, and he entered Rome bound, but in both blindness and

bondage, the Lord was with him, and the word of the Lord was glorified.

The character of Burrus, who was an honest, bluff, solider, was such that we might

expect that the high opinion which the centurion held of the Apostle, together with the

character of the charge against him, would allow him to treat his prisoner with humanity.

This indulgence is indicated by the words: "But Paul was suffered to dwell by himself

with a soldier that kept him." After the lapse of three days the Apostle called the chief of

the Jews together, the outcome of the interview being that a day was appointed in which

the peculiar tenets of the sect of which Paul was the reputed ringleader could be

As in our next article we shall want all available space to deal with the great

dispensational landmark of Acts 28: 23-31, we will set out here the structure of the

section that ends with verse 22 of chapter 28: although we have been unable to

review its contents.