The life and work of St. Paul

BEGINNING OF THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOUBNET. 271
on the divinely indicated future of Christianity, we cannot doubt that whilo
Wandering round the then busy but now land-locked and desolate harbour of
Troas, he had thrown many a wistful glance towards the hills of Imbroa and
Samothrace ; and perhaps when on some clear evening the colossal peak of Athos
was visible, it seemed like some vast angel who beckoned him to carry the
good tidings to the west. The Spirit of Jesus had guided him hitherto in his
journey, had prevented him from preaching in the old and famous cities of
Asia, had forbidden him to enter Bithynia, had driven the stake deeper into
his flesh, that he might preach the word among the Gauls. Anxiously must
he have awaited further guidance ; and it came. In the night a Macedonian
soldier 1 stood before him, exhorting him with those words, " Cross over into
Macedonia and help us." When morning dawned, Paul narrated the vision to
his companions, 2 " and immediately we sought," says the narrator, who here,
for the first time, appears as the companion of the Apostle, " to go forth into
Macedonia, inferring that the Lord has called us to preach tho Gospel to
them." With such brevity and simplicity is the incident related which of &11
others was the most important in introducing the Gospel of Christ to the most
advanced and active races of the world, and among them to those races in
whose hands its future destinies must inevitably rest.
The other incident of this visit to the Troas is the meeting of Paul with
Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel. This
mooting is indicated with "
but even
profound modesty by
without this the vivid
the sudden use of
accuracy of detail in
tho
tha
pronoun " we ;
narrative which immediately ensues, is in such striking
contrast with tho
meagreness of much that has gone before, that we should have been driven to
conjecture the presence of the writer on board the little vessel that now
slipped its hawsers from one of the granite columns which wo still see lying
prostrate on the lonely shores of the harbour of Troas.
And this meeting was a happy ono for Paul ; for, of all the follow-workers
with whom he was thrown, Timothens alone was dearer to him than Luke.
From the appearance and disappearance of the first personal pronoun in the
subsequent chapters of the Acts,* we see that he accompanied St. Paul to
Philippi, and rejoined him there some seven years afterwards, never again to
part with him so long as we are able to pursue his history. How deeply St.
Paul was attached to liim appears in tho title " "
the beloved physician how
;
"
entire was his fidelity is seen in the touching notice, Only Luke is with me."
1 The o-i)p and the ipa^on