Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/602

 *ces have enabled modern critics to fix the occurrence in the year of Christ 59. After a five days' voyage, arriving at Troas on Saturday, they made a stay of seven days in that place; and on the first day of the week, the Christians of that place having assembled for the communion usual on the Lord's day, Paul preached to them: and as it was the last day of his stay, he grew very earnest in his discourse and protracted it very late, speaking two whole hours to the company, who were met in the great upper hall, where, in all Jewish houses, these festal entertainments and social meetings were always held. It was, of course, the evening, when the assembly met, for this was the usual time for a social party, and there were many lights in the room, which, with the number of people, must have made the air very warm, and had the not very surprising effect of causing drowsiness, in at least one of Paul's hearers, a young man named Entychus, whose interest in what was said, could not keep his attention alive against the pressure of drowsiness. He fell asleep; and the occurrence must appear so very natural, (more particularly to any one, who has ever been so unfortunate as to be sleepy at an evening meeting, and knows what a painful sensation it is, though the drowsiness is wholly beyond the control of the reason,) that it can hardly be thought worth while to take pains, as some venerable commentators do, to suppose that the devil was very specially concerned in producing the sleep of Eutychus, and that the consequences which ensued, were an exhibition of divine wrath against the sleepy youth, for slumbering under the preaching of Paul. If the supposition holds equally good in all similar cases, the devil must be very busy on warm Sunday afternoons; and many a comfortable nap would be disturbed by unpleasant dreams, if the dozer could be made to think that his drowsiness was the particular work of the great adversary of souls, or that he was liable to suffer any such accident as Eutychus did, who, falling into a deeper sleep, and losing all muscular control and consciousness, sunk down from his seat, and slipping over the side of the gallery, in the third loft, fell into the court below, where he was taken up lifeless. But Paul hearing of the accident, stopped his discourse, and going down to the young man, fell on him and embraced him, saying, "Trouble not yourselves, for the life is in him." And his words were verified by the result; for they soon brought him up alive, and were not a little comforted. Paul, certain of his recovery, did not suffer the accident to mar