SECOND EPISTLE TO THE COE. IN THIA NS. 77 



cceded to Jerusalem ; and of his residence there nothing 

 more particular is recorded, than that " he was with ths 

 apostles, coming in and going out ; that he spake boldly in 

 the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Gre- 

 cians, who went about to kill him." From Jerusalem, the 

 history sends him to his native city of Tarsus. Acts 9: 30. It 

 Beems probable, from the order and disposition of the history, 

 that St. Paul's stay at Tarsus was of some continuance ; fol 

 we hear nothing of him until, after a long apparent interval, 

 and much interjacent narrative, Barnabas, desirous of Paul's 

 assistance upon the enlargement of the Christian mission, 

 *' went to Tarsus for to seek him." Chap. 1 1 : 25. We cannot 

 doubt but that the new apostle had been busied in his minis- 

 try ; yet of what he did, or what he suffered, during this pe- 

 riod, which may include three or four years, the history pro- 

 fesses not to deliver any information. As Tarsus was situated 

 upon the sea-coast, and as, though Tarsus was his home, 

 yet it is probable he visited from thence many other places, 

 for the purpose of prea-ching the gospel, it is not unlikely, 

 that in the course of three or four years he might undertake 

 many short voyages to neighboring countries, in the naviga- 

 ting of which we may be allowed to suppose that some ol 

 those disasters and shipwrecks befell him to which he refers 

 in the quotation before us, " thrice I sufiered shipwreck, a 

 night and a day I have been in the deep." This last clause 

 I am inclined to interpret of his being obliged to take an 

 open boat, upon the loss of the ship, and his continuing out 

 at sea in that dangerous situation, a night and a day. St. 

 Paul is here recounting his sufferings, not relating miracles. 

 From Tarsus, Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch, and there 

 he remained a year ; but of the transactions of that year no 

 other description is given than what is contained in the last 

 four verses of the eleventh chapter. After a more solemn 

 dedication to the ministry, Barnabas and Paul proceeded 

 from Antioch to Cilicia, and from thence they sailed to Cy- 

 prus, of which voyage no particulars are mentioned. Upon 



