Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/578

 the motives and details of a journey, which he announced to the brethren of the church at Ephesus, as absolutely necessary for him to perform. This also may have been concealed for the same reason, which has been conjectured to have caused the visit to be so short, as would seem from the manner in which it is noticed. From Jerusalem he went down to Antioch, by what route is not specified,—but probably by way of Caesarea and the sea.

"xviii. 22. Caesarea. A town on the sea-coast. [See the note on p. 173.] [Greek: Anabas], 'and having gone up.' Whither? Some commentators, as Camerar., De Dieu, Wolf, Calov., Heumann, Doddridge, Thaleman, Beck, and Kuinoel, refer it to Caesarea. But this requires the confirmation of examples. And we must take for granted that the city was built high above the port, (which is not likely,) or that the church was so situated; which would be extremely frigid. Neither is it certain that there was a church. Besides, how can the expression [Greek: katabainô] be proper, as used of traveling from a seaport-town, like Caesarea, to Antioch? I therefore prefer the mode of interpretation adopted by some ancient and many modern commentators, as Beza, Grotius, Mor., Rosenmueller, Reichard, Schott, Heinrichs, and others, who supply [Greek: eis Hierosolyma]. This may indeed seem somewhat harsh; yet it must be remembered that not a few things are so in the New Testament; and [Greek: anabainô] is there often used absolutely of going up to Jerusalem, and [Greek: katabainô] of going from thence. Nor is this unexampled in the classical writers. Xenophon uses the word in the very same sense, of those going from Greece to the capital of Persia. See Anab. 1, 1, 2. Hist. 2, 1. 9, 10. An. 1, 4, 12. Hist. 4, 1, 2. 1, 5, 1. 1, 4, 2. and many other passages referred to by Sturz in his Lex. Xenoph. in voce. Besides, as the words [Greek: eis Hierosolyma] have just preceded, it is not very harsh to repeat them. Kuinoel, indeed, and some others, treat those words as not genuine; but their opinion rests on mere suspicion, unsupported by any proof." (Bloomf. Annot. Vol. IV. p. 607.)

From the very brief and general manner in which the incidents of this visit of Paul to the eastern continent are commemorated, the apostolic historian is left to gather nothing but the most naked circumstances, of the route pursued, and from the results, it is but fair to conclude that nothing of consequence happened to the apostle, as his duties consisted merely in a review and completion of the work he had gone over before. Luke evidently did not accompany Paul in this Asian journey, and he therefore only states the general direction of the apostle's course, without a single particular. He says that Paul, after making some some stay in Antioch,—where, no doubt he greatly comforted the hearts of the brethren, by the glad tidings of the triumphs of Christ in Europe,—went in regular order over the regions of Galatia, and Phrygia, everywhere confirming the disciples. Beyond this, no incident whatever is preserved; yet here great amplification of the sacred record might be made, from the amusing narrative of that venerable monkish story-teller, who assumes the name of Abdias Babylonius. But from the specimens of his narrative already given, in the lives of Andrew and