348 



THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



obliged to leave his large and important field of labour 

 at Samaria, and go down " unto Gaza, which is desert." 

 The Gospel was introduced into the African continent 

 in much the same wonderful providential way that it 

 was introduced into Europe. 



It may be remarked that the scene of the Ethiopian 

 eunuch's conversion was admirably adapted for the pur- 

 pose. We are told that when Jesus was about to cure 

 the deaf and dumb man, He took him aside from the 

 multitude ; and that when He was about to open the 

 eyes of the man born blind, He took him by the hand 

 and led him out of the town. And the significance of 

 these incidents is obvious. Jesus isolated the man in 

 both cases, not merely in order to avoid all show and 

 ostentation, but that apart from the din and tumult and 

 interruptions of the crowd, in solitude and silence the 

 man himself might be made more receptive of deep and 

 lasting impressions. And so was it with the Ethiopian 

 eunuch. He had gone up from his own country to the 

 Paschal feast at Jerusalem, to which thousands from dif- 

 ferent parts of the world had resorted . He had taken part 

 in all the solemn services of the grandest of Jewish 

 festivals. He had mingled in the crowd of worship- 

 pers. We have reason to believe that he was present 

 at the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was 

 manifested in the miraculous gift of tongues, and three 

 thousand souls were converted in a single day. A 

 stranger of rank and influence like him, a proselyte, 

 moreover, to the Jewish faith, would have had opened 

 up to him many opportunities of intercourse with 



