The life and work of St. Paul

292 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
thorn. But this was a sufficient sign that for the present further mission work
would be impossible. No magistrates like the presence of even an innocently
disturbing element in their jurisdiction, and if Paul and Silas were brought
in person before them, they might not escape so easily. Nor, in the defective
police regulations of antiquity, was it at all certain that the moderation of the
magistrates would be an efficient protection to two poor Jews from the hatred
and violence of a mob. In any case it is probable that they would be unwilling
to run the risk of impoverishing Jason and their other friends by causing a
forfeiture of the scant and mnch-needed earnings which they had been obliged
to pledge. The brethren, therefore, devised means to secure the escape of
Paul and Silas by night. It is not impossible that Timotheus stayed among
them for a time, to teach and organise the Church, and to add those last
exhortations which should nerve them to bear up against the persecutions of
many years. 1 For in the Church of the Thessalonians, wliich was in some
respects the fairest gain of his mission, St. Paul felt an intense solicitude,
manifested by the watchful care with which he guarded its interests. 2
When night had fallen over the tumult which had been surging through
the streets of Thessalouica, news of the issue of the trial before the Politarohs
was brought to Paul and Silas in their concealment. The dawn might easily
witness a still more dangerous outbreak, and they therefore planned an
immediate escape. They gathered together their few poor possessions, and
under the cover of darkness stole through the silent and deserted streets
under the triumphal
Whither should they
Arch of Augustus, and through
now turn? From Philippi, the
the western gate.
virtual capital of
Macedonia Prima, they had been driven to Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia
Secunda. An accidental collision with Gentile interests had cost them
flagellation, outrage, and imprisonment in the colony; the fury of Jewish
hatred had imperilled their lives, and caused trouble and loss to their friends
in the free city. Should they now make their way to Pella, the famous birthplace
of the young Greek who had subdued the world, and whose genius had
left an indelible impress on the social and political conditions which they
everywhere encountered? To do this would be obviously useless. The
Jewish synagogues of the dispersion were in close connexion with each other,
and the watchword would now be evidently given to hound the fugitives from
place to place, and especially to silence Paul as the arch-apostate who was
persuading all men everywhere, as they calumniously asserted, to forsake the
Law of Moses. Another and loss frequented road would lead them to a com-
paratively unimportant town, which lay off the main route, in which their pre-
datione accepta." Cf. Lev. xrv. 26 (LXX.). It was the Jewish sense that the Romans
loved justice which made them all the more readily accept their yoke (Jos. Anit. xvii. 9,
4, and 13, 2 ; B. J. vi. 6, 2 ; Dion Cass. aounri. 37). Titus upbraided them with
all the generous favours which they had received from Rome (Jos. B. J. vi. 2, 4).
1 I agree with Alford in thinking that the mention of Timothy in the superscription
of both Epistles, and his mission to them from Athens, prove that he was with St. Paul
during this visit.
' Thcss. ii. 18.