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Rh gratify King Agrippa and his wife Bernice, who had come to Cesarea to visit Festus, Paul was again brought before the governor. He now recapitulated the leading points in his history, and stated his views and designs in such a manner, as to make a considerable impression on the mind of King Agrippa, and draw from him the well-known sentence—“Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

Paul having appealed to Cæsar, it was necessary that he should go to Rome, and thither accordingly Festus had him conveyed. His voyage was a long and disastrous one. Leaving Cesarea, they coasted along Syria to Sidon, then crossed to Myra, a port of Lycia; thence to Cnidus, from which, on account of unfavourable winds, they struck across to Crete, and with difficulty reached the Fair Haven, a port on the southern part of that island, near the town of Lasea. There Paul urged the centurion under whom he and his fellow-prisoners were placed to winter, but the place not being very suitable, and the weather improving, they again set sail for Phoenice, another port on the same island, where they could winter with safety. Scarcely, however, badhad [sic] they left port, when a tempest arose, at the mercy of which they were driven for fourteen days in a westerly direction, until they were cast on the coast of Malta, where they suffered shipwreck, but without any loss of life. Hospitably received by the natives, they abode there three months, during which time Paul preached the gospel, and performed many miracles among the people.

On the approach of spring, they set sail in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, for Syracuse, thence crossed to Rhegium in Italy, and thence to Puteoli, from which they journeyed to Rome. Here Paul was delivered by the centurion to the captain of the guard, who permitted him to dwell in his own hired house under the surveillance of a soldier. And thus he continued for two years, preaching the kingdom of God, and writing for the use of the church, no man forbidding him.

By what means Paul was delivered from the accusation of the Jews we have no account; but it is supposed that, not having sufficient proof of what they alleged against him, or finding that it was no violation of the Roman law, they durst not implead him before the emperor, and so permitted him to be discharged.

After leaving Italy, Paul, accompanied by Timothy, prosecuted his long intended journey into Spain, and according to several writers, crossed the sea, and preached the gospel in Britain. He continued in these western parts for eight or