Not far from the scene of the shipwreck lay the town now called Alta Vecchia, the residence of Publius, the governor of the island, who was probably a legate of the Printer of Sicily. Since Julius was a person of distinction, this Roman official, who bore the title of protos (first) - a local designation, the accuracy of which is supported by inscriptions - offered to the centurion a genial hospitality, in which Paul and his friends were allowed to share. It happened that at that time the father of Publius was lying prostrated by feverish attacks complicated with dysentery. St. Luke was a physician, but his skill was less effectual than the agency of St. Paul, who went into the sick man's chamber, prayed by his bedside, laid his hands on him, and healed him. The rumor of the cure spread through the little island, and caused all the sick inhabitants to come for help and tendance. We may be sure that St. Paul, though we do not hear of his founding any Church, yet lost no opportunity of making known the gospel (Farrar). In this instance the order of St. Paul's words have to be changed. He had received their "carnal things," and he gladly returned to them his "spiritual things." We observe -

I. CHRISTIANS CAN RECEIVE FROM THE WORLD BODILY AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL BLESSINGS. These are all that the world has at its command; but these Christians need. They may be illustrated under the headings:

1. Hospitalities.

2. Charities.

3. Sympathies.

4. Practical aids.

So the barbarous people could light a fire and show kindness to St. Paul, and Publius could offer to him and his friends generous hospitalities. Especially dwell on the virtue of hospitality, noticing that it was a characteristic excellence of ancient times; it is a virtue carefully cultivated in the East, and more particularly among tribes, in the present day; and that, while it is retained, it is set under very narrow limitations in modern civilized nations, where class prejudices are strong.

II. CHRISTIANS CAN GIVE TO THE WORLD BOTH BODILY AND SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS, They have the common powers of brotherhood and helpfulness which belong to men as set in human relations; but they can also do for their fellows what no other class of men can do. They have a new life; that life finds its own peculiar and characteristic expression. It exerts both

(1) an unconscious and

(2) a conscious influence for good.

Illustrate that Christians can save a city, as ten righteous men would have saved Sodom. They may preserve from temporal calamity by their calmness in the hour of danger, through their faith in God; as may be seen in times of shipwreck. They may have actual power to heal, as the apostles had. They can certainly witness for the living God; commend the service of the Lord Jesus Christ; carry healing balm to sin-sick souls; comfort the weary and heavy-laden; and minister truth and sympathy and love where these are needed. They can be "preserving salt; uplifted light-bearers; and upon them may hang, in full clusters, the rich ripe fruits which the world so greatly needs for its refreshing and its spiritual health. Impress that what the Christian man can be he ought to be and should strive to he. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." - R.T.

Here is —

I. AN OBSCURE MAN MADE FAMOUS. History says nothing about Publius. As far as the Roman annalists are concerned, such a man might not have lived. They were busy with the Neros, Felixes, Agrippas — names whom the world would willingly let die. Yet the obscure governor of Melita is a personage known and reverenced in thousands of households. Why? Because he was brought into contact with that sect which was then "everywhere spoken against," and secured a record in its sacred book. What he did would have been utterly beneath the notice of writers whose office it was to record the scandals of courts or the horrors of war. He only lodged a few poor Christians for three days and courteously. What he received as recompense was what no existing medical journal thought fit to record — the cure of his father's fever. But He whose ways are higher than our ways, and who said that a cup of cold water given to a needy disciple should in no wise lose its reward, has ordained that this man should have a memorial when most of his illustrious contemporaries should have sunk in oblivion. Learn that true immortality is only to be obtained by connection with or service to the Christian cause. Better to receive by and by the "Well done," than now to wear the most glittering coronet.

II. A CHIEF MAN CONDESCENDING. Monarchs, governors, statesmen, are usually concerned only or chiefly with their dignity. How difficult it is to secure even a momentary interview from the chief man of a given place. Or if they do stoop, as candidates for parliamentary honours, it is only for their own purposes. These achieved, the distance between them and the vulgar herd is as wide as ever. Here, however, we have the governor of Melita, with no ulterior purposes, and from motives of pure humanity, receiving shipwrecked prisoners, and receiving them courteously. Noblesse oblige. Whatever the opinions and practices of the world, the truest nobility is to use power and station for the purpose of doing good. Thank God, we have had, and have, many modern Publiuses — e.g., the Earl of Shaftesbury. If we had more of them, the aristocracy would have little to fear from the democracy.

III. A POTENTATE IMPOTENT. Publius had authority to secure and money to buy what can be bought and secured in the way of human happiness. He had command of the island, with all its resources, and the state was not stingy in the remuneration of its officers. But a trouble entered the precincts of the governor's palace, that neither power nor wealth could grapple with. His father was ill, and Publius was as impotent as the poorest and the weakest in the island to make him well. The limitations which condition the greatest should make them humble. All alike are powerless in the presence of disease and death.

IV. A ROMAN INDEBTED TO A CHRISTIAN. There was one man on the island who could help this helpless potentate, and that was the shipwrecked prisoner Paul. And Paul was not slow to render the help required. Fair type of the services Christianity renders to the world. Even in a secular sense, in matters relating to the accumulation of wealth, the cure of bodily disease, the management of public affairs, Christians are the salt of the earth. Learn —

1. The emptiness of mere earthly dignities. "'Tis only noble to be good." This ensures immortality.

2. The reward of hospitality. Like "mercy," and the other virtues to which it is allied, it is twice blessed. Many, as here, have entertained angels unawares.

3. The value of the meanest ministries. The advice of a prisoner rejected led to shipwreck; this taken, it led to the saving of a life.

4. The supremacy of Christianity in times of trouble. Paul was the last man whom Publius would have consulted under ordinary circumstances; but he was glad of him now. Christianity may be despised in times of prosperity; but it can afford to wait. Its time will assuredly come.

(J. Burn.)

I. THAT PAUL SHOULD HAVE HEALED AND NOT LUKE. Luke was a physician; Paul was a tent maker and preacher. Yet Luke healed none; he kept the diary, and said nothing about his own professional talent. This is exactly what is taking place today. It is religion that heals; the medicines are grown in God's garden. The physician has to go out of himself for his remedy, and he does you good in proportion as he leads you out of yourself. We are healed by God. Christianity so nourishes the fountain of life, and renews the springs of energy, as to touch the particular through the general. If we were hidden in God, we should have no disease in the sense of burden and trouble. The black visitant would still darken our dwelling; but we should have joy in tribulation, and know that death was abolished. When you take Christianity out of your civilisation, you do not know what a vacancy you leave behind.

II. THAT THE POOREST SHOULD HAVE RENDERED HELP TO THE RICHEST. Publius was the first man in the island, and Paul the poorest; yet he, the penniless apostle, healed the father of the first man. That is what sanctified poverty is always doing. Do not pity the poor: pity the rich. What folly is spoken about the poor! — God's chosen ones, the very elect of His household, the crowned ones in His kingdom. Remember, I speak about disciplinary poverty! not thriftless want. The world would not be worth living in but for its poor people. "The Son of Man had not where to lay His head." What, then, did He give? Himself! We have not begun to give. He gives who gives life. That is what Paul did here: he gave life; virtue went out of him. What healing influence the poorest are continually exercising! The poor mother has done more for the world than her rich son can ever do. The poor people are keeping the world sweet and wholesome.

III. THAT THE MINISTRY UPON THE ISLAND WAS ALL HEALING AND NO PREACHING (ver. 9). That is the glory of the Christian ministry — it can begin anywhere, at any time, and with any man. Christianity has no dignities to put on, no ceremonies or processes of etiquette through which to pass. It meets men everywhere and says, "All hail! What is your burden, your sorrow, your most urgent need?" It will be a long time before people can have the prejudice cleansed out of them that the church building is only for distinctively doctrinal and spiritual purposes. The Father's house is for everything good. There is no reason why this church should not be a hospital, a school house, a reading room, a place for music and conversation, and instruction in all high and useful knowledge. The Church sends men to school to become preachers; I would have the Church send men to hospitals to become doctors, to academies to become musicians, to trades to become honest tradesmen. We are too narrow. Find a man in need anywhere and say, "All hail! we want you"; and I am doing God's will as truly in sending an honest-hearted boy to learn a trade, by which he can do good work, as in sending him to be a missionary. One day with Paul would do much towards rearranging and enlarging Christian influence. Did Paul not preach, then, when he healed? Every healing is a sermon; every visit to the poor, paid in the right spirit, is a prayer. Whatever good you do in the name and for the sake of Christ, is a proclamation of Christ.

IV. THE GRATEFUL RESPONSE WHICH WAS MADE BY THE ISLANDERS (ver. 10). How musically the verse reads! Mark the redundance of the thankfulness! It was not a fee that was claimed; it was a benefaction that was conferred under the inspiration of gratitude; and that spirit continues unto this day. There will always be some ungrateful people; but we must not speak of the exceptions. The great human heart is, after all, a grateful heart, and it will honour those that try to the best of their ability to do good.

V. THE INSPIRING INFLUENCE OF FRIENDSHIP (ver. 15). Reading between the lines, we wonder if Paul's courage had given way for one little moment. It would seem as if the lion himself might have been affected with momentary depression. We might never have heard of it but for the returning courage. Some men never tell us they have been ill until they tell us that they are quite well again. We get nearer to Paul when we feel that he has been in the valley. It was the habit of the ancients to go out to meet princes, and to stand on the road to wait for the great one, and to accompany him. The brethren went to where the road forked. They would have gone farther, but not knowing whether they might come by the right road or by the left, they stood at the point and waited for their prince. When Paul saw them he knew them. How is it that we know some men at once, and fall almost instantly into common masonry? When Paul saw the Christians. up went his hands in thanksgiving; and having thanked God, he became a great lion again, full of courage. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." We need human associations and cheering. The day is very short; let us do no unkindness in it, but make it glow with deeds of noble friendship and make it sing with the music of truest Christian love!

(J. Parker, D.)

The conduct of the Maltese towards Paul manifested the good in heathenism, and now the conduct of Paul gives an insight into the good in Christianity. Here is —

I. THE SUPERNATURAL. Paul cured Publius's father; but he only did that which was part of his apostolic mission. "They shall take up serpents...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." The supernaturalness of Christianity may be argued —

1. From the history of Christ and His apostles.

2. From the manifest incapacity of human nature to evolve such a system.

3. From the utter insufficiency of good in any natural form to produce the results which Christianity has achieved.

II. THE RESTORATIVE. "Paul entered in and prayed," etc. The supernatural power with which Paul was endowed was not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. In all the miracles of Christ, there is only one of destruction. Christianity —

1. Redeems men from moral diseases — error, carnality, selfishness, impiety.

2. By redeeming men from moral diseases, it redeems them from all others, bodily, social, political. Its grand consummation will be the redemption of the entire man, body and soul, from all evil.

III. THE IMPARTIAL AND UNIVERSAL (ver. 9). The healing of Publius's father was only the beginning. Paul treated all alike, and knew of no distinction of birth, influence, or position. Christianity is no respecter of persons, but offers salvation to all — barbarian, Scythian, bond, and free.

(D. Thomas, D.)

Prayer with and for the sick is always in place. Sometimes the sick one may be unconscious to all around, and it may be thought prayer would not be beneficial; but who can tell? At any rate, God hears. A minister on one occasion had visited a man upon his death bed who was delirious, and, returning home, met the great Dr. Thomas Chalmers. "Well," said Dr. Chalmers, "did you pray with him?" "No, he was delirious; but I prayed with the family." "Ah! you did wrong, sir! Who knows but that some old strain of thought might have been stirred up by the tones of a familiar voice? You did very wrong, sir!" There is instruction in that.

Esaias, Isaiah, Paul, PubliusAlexandria, Forum of Appius, Jerusalem, Judea, Malta, Puteoli, Rhegium, Rome, Syracuse, Three TavernsCured, Diseases, Getting, Healed, Infirmities, Island, Isle, Rest, Sick, Sicknesses1. Paul, after his shipwreck, is kindly entertained on Malta.
5. The snake on his hand hurts him not.
8. He heals many diseases in the island.
11. They depart toward Rome.
17. He declares to the Jews the cause of his coming.
24. After his preaching some were persuaded, and some believed not.
30. Yet he preaches there two years.

Acts 28:7-9

     1416   miracles, nature of

Acts 28:7-10

     8470   respect, for God

Acts 28:8-9

     5297   disease

After the Wreck
'And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. 2. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. 3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Last Glimpse of Paul
'And it came to pass, that, after three days, Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans; 18. Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. 19. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Paul in Rome
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' --ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. So ends this book. It stops rather than ends. Many reasons might be suggested for closing here. Probably the simplest is the best, that nothing more is said for nothing more had yet been done. Probably the book was written during these two years. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

On Faith
"Without faith it is impossible to please him." Heb. 11:6. 1. But what is Faith? It is a divine "evidence and conviction of things not seen;" of things which are not seen now, whether they are visible or invisible in their own nature. Particularly, it is a divine evidence and conviction of God, and of the things of God. This is the most comprehensive definition of faith that ever was or can be given; as including every species of faith, from the lowest to the highest. And yet I do not remember any …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Pastoral and Personal
FOURTH GROUP OF EPISTLES FIRST TIMOTHY. TITUS. SECOND TIMOTHY. THE PLACE OF THE EPISTLES +When Written.+--It is generally agreed among scholars that no place can be found for the writing of First Timothy, Titus, and Second Timothy in the period covered by Luke in his narrative in Acts. Agreeing with the tradition of the church, however, the opinion of many eminent scholars is that Paul was released from the first Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16, 30), that he again took up his missionary work, and …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

The Supremacy of Christ
THIRD GROUP OF EPISTLES COLOSSIANS. PHILEMON. EPHESIANS. PHILIPPIANS. THE QUESTION AT ISSUE +The Supremacy of Christ.+--These Epistles mark a new stage in the writings of Paul. The great question discussed in the second group of Epistles was in regard to the terms of salvation. The question now at issue (in Colossians, Ephesians, Philippian+The Reason for the Raising of this Question+ was the development of certain false religious beliefs among which were, "asceticism, the worship of angels, …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

The Apostle's Position and Circumstances
PHILIPPIANS i. 12-20 Disloyal "brethren"--Interest of the paragraph--The victory of patience--The Praetorian sentinel--Separatism, and how it was met--St Paul's secret--His "earnest expectation"--"Christ magnified"--"In my body" St Paul has spoken his affectionate greeting to the Philippians, and has opened to them the warm depths of his friendship with them in the Lord. What he feels towards them "in the heart of Christ Jesus," what he prays for them in regard of the growth and fruit of their …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

The New Name of Methodism
Sunday, 9.--I declared to about ten thousand, in Moorfields, what they must do to be saved. My mother went with us, about five, to Kennington, where were supposed to be twenty thousand people. I again insisted on that foundation of all our hope, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." From Kennington I went to a society at Lambeth. The house being filled, the rest stood in the garden. The deep attention they showed gave me a good hope that they will not all be forgetful hearers. Sunday, …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

Wesley in Wales
Monday, 15.--Upon a pressing invitation, some time since received, I set out for Wales. About four in the afternoon I preached on a little green at the foot of the Devauden (a high hill, two or three miles beyond Chepstow) to three or four hundred plain people on "Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." After sermon, one who I trust is an old disciple of Christ, willingly received us into his house: whither many following, I showed them their need of a Saviour from these …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Theme of Acts
'The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. 2. Until the day in which He was taken up.'--ACTS i. 1, 2. 'And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.' --ACTS xxviii. 30, 31. So begins and so ends this Book. I connect the commencement and the close, because I think …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Lix. What was Learned in God's House. Isaiah vi.
NOT SEEN BY EVERYONE THERE.--Isaiah had his eyes opened. The same awful Person had been present before, but had not been seen, and He is still there, but how few of us are conscious of His presence. How differently the church and chapel-goers would look next Sunday morning as they come home, if only they realised what had been going on in the place where they had spent the last hour. I. A LESSON FROM HISTORY.--"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord." The King of Judah was dead, but …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

The Church of Jerusalem and the Labors of Peter.
Su hei Petros, kai epi taute petra oikodomeso mou ten ekklesian, kai pulai hadou ou katischusousin autes.--Matt. 16:18. Literature. I. Genuine sources: Acts 2 to 12; Gal. 2; and two Epistles of Peter. Comp. the Commentaries on Acts, and the Petrine Epistles. Among the commentators of Peter's Epp. I mention Archbishop Leighton (in many editions, not critical, but devout and spiritual), Steiger (1832, translated by Fairbairn, 1836), John Brown (1849, 2 vols.), Wiesinger (1856 and 1862, in Olshausen's …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

Quotations from the Old Testament in the New.
1. As it respects inspiration, and consequent infallible authority, the quotations of the New Testament stand on a level with the rest of the apostolic writings. The Saviour's promise was: "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth;" literally, "into all the truth," that is, as immediately explained, all the truth pertaining to the Redeemer's person and work. When, therefore, after the fulfilment of this promise, Peter and the other apostles expounded to their brethren …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Chronology of the Apostolic Age.
See the works quoted in § 20 p. 193, 194, especially Wieseler. Comp. also, Hackett on Acts, pp. 22 to 30 (third ed.). The chronology of the apostolic age is partly certain, at least within a few years, partly conjectural: certain as to the principal events from a.d. 30 to 70, conjectural as to intervening points and the last thirty years of the first century. The sources are the New Testament (especially the Acts and the Pauline Epistles), Josephus, and the Roman historians. Josephus ( b. 37, …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

Mission and Return of the Seventy.
(Probably in Judæa, October, a.d. 29.) ^C Luke X. 1-24. ^c 1 Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others [i. e., other messengers in addition to the twelve apostles], and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. [Luke has told us of the journey through Samaria to Jerusalem, and John has told us what occurred at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. We learn from John also that Jesus was at the Feast of Dedication (John …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Ancient Versions of the Old Testament.
In the present chapter only those versions of the Old Testament are noticed which were made independently of the New. Versions of the whole Bible, made in the interest of Christianity, are considered in the following part. I. THE GREEK VERSION CALLED THE SEPTUAGINT. 1. This is worthy of special notice as the oldest existing version of the holy Scriptures, or any part of them, in any language; and also as the version which exerted a very large influence on the language and style of the New Testament; …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Preaching (iii. ).
Eternal Fulness, overflow to me Till I, Thy vessel, overflow for Thee; For sure the streams that make Thy garden grow Are never fed but by an overflow: Not till Thy prophets with Thyself run o'er Are Israel's watercourses full once more. Again I treat of the sermon. We have looked, my younger Brother and I, at some main secrets and prescriptions for attractive preaching. What shall I more say on the subject of the pulpit? In the first place I will offer a few miscellaneous suggestions, and then …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

Divine Healing.
The thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is a prophecy beautifully extolling the glories and virtues of Christ's redemptive works. "The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." "It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.... Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles.
The work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets is an entirely distinctive work. He imparts to apostles and prophets an especial gift for an especial purpose. We read in 1 Cor. xii. 4, 8-11, 28, 29, R. V., "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.... For to one is given through the Spirit wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

First Missionary Journey Scripture
STUDY III FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY Scripture, Acts 13:1-14:26 INTRODUCTION TO THE THREE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS Before taking up the study of the first missionary journey, attention is called to certain points which should be considered in regard to all three of them (Acts 13:1-21:17). We have now arrived at what we might call the watershed of the Acts of the Apostles. Hitherto we have had various scenes, characters, personages to consider. Henceforth Paul, his labors, his disputes, his speeches, occupy …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus.
God Spelling Himself out in Jesus: change in the original language--bother in spelling Jesus out--sticklers for the old forms--Jesus' new spelling of old words. Jesus is God following us up: God heart-broken--man's native air--bad choice affected man's will--the wrong lane--God following us up. The Early Eden Picture, Genesis 1:26-31. 2:7-25: unfallen man--like God--the breath of God in man--a spirit, infinite, eternal--love--holy--wise--sovereign over creation, Psalm 8:5-8--in his own will--summary--God's …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Interpretation of Prophecy.
1. The scriptural idea of prophecy is widely removed from that of human foresight and presentiment. It is that of a revelation made by the Holy Spirit respecting the future, always in the interest of God's kingdom. It is no part of the plan of prophecy to gratify vain curiosity respecting "the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Acts 1:7. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God"--this is its key-note. In its form it is carefully adapted to this great end. …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

The Epistles of Paul.
1. The apostolic epistles are a natural sequence of the office and work committed by the Saviour to the apostles. They were the primitive preachers of the gospel, and, under Christ, the founders of the Christian church. From the necessity of the case they had a general supervision of all the local churches, and their authority in them was supreme in matters of both faith and practice. It was to be expected, therefore, that they should teach by writing, as well as by oral instruction. It does not …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

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