had rejected; but at his second visit, two years afterwards, he came "with rejoicing" to bear away this precious sheaf with him. The apostle, so far recovered from his wounds, proceeds with his companion from Lystra to Derbe. The route between these towns, and indeed their position, is only a matter of conjecture. It has been supposed that the distance between them was twenty miles. They were separated from one another by a huge mountain called Karadagh or the Black Mount, spoken of by travellers as remarkable both for its sombre colour and great height, rising like a giant in the midst of the boundless plain which, "level as the sea," stretches from Iconium. It has its summit capped with snow, and a thousand and one churches are said to be built upon its sides. A recent explorer mentions having looked down from the top, and seen its slopes covered with these edifices, or ruins of them.t Like the Pisidian mountains, the neighbouring range of the Taurus was infested with robbers. The historian Strabo mentions Derbe as the stronghold of a famous freebooter of the name of Antipater, who made this a central point for his daring feats, and kept the neighbouring country in terror. He was at last killed by Amyntas, King of Galatia. § To the city of Derbe, * Kinneir. + See Hamilton's Asia Minor, Kinneir, &c. § Modern travellers in the same spot have to record similar perils of robbers with those Paul experienced. "I was desirous of visiting it" (a place at the foot of the Black Mount), says Kinneir, in 1818, "but could not prevail upon any person to accompany me, or even to hire me horses, as they said that the country, in addition to being covered with snow, was now the resort of a band of Delhi Bashces, who gained a subsistence by plundering travellers, and laying the adjacent countries under contribution."-Kinneir's Travels in Karamania, p. 212. which we may note, in passing, was the native town of Gaius, the future friend and companion of Paul, the apostles now bent their steps. It was but a few hours' journey from Lystra, and here they seem to have enjoyed a short season of quiet after the stirring scenes through which they had passed. If Paul had been a selfish man or a coward, or rather, if love to the Lord Jesus had not burned in his bosom, he might have resolved from this place to go straight through the mountain passes to the south-east, and, like Mark, have avoided further danger and peril by retiring to his old home at Tarsus. But he was the servant of Him who "pleased not himself;" and already "he counted not his life dear unto him that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry he had received of the Lord Jesus." It has, indeed, been conjectured that the original purpose of the travellers may have been to cross into Cilicia, through the well-known pass called the "Cilician Gates," but that they were prevented by the swelling of the great lake which lay between them and the mountains. We think it, however, more probable that the apostle, having already proclaimed the Gospel in his native Cilicia, was desirous rather of returning by Iconium and Antioch, to water the seed which had been sown amid much discouragement and persecution, and to strengthen and confirm the disciples there. Whatever their motive was, we know that they returned by the same way they came, passing through * "About twenty hours to the northward of Tarsus there is a remarkable defile through a great chain of mountains, which are everywhere else inaccessible. This pass admits about eight horses abreast, and has been cut through the rock to the depth of forty feet. The marks of the tools are still visible in its sides."-Beaufort's Karamania, p. 261. Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, there making elders in the Church, choosing among the disciples those they thought best fitted for the ministry,-telling them all, from their own experience, not to expect release from trial, but rather "that through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of heaven." Once more they descended through the precipitous rocky paths to Perga; and after pausing there for a brief time, instead of sailing, as formerly, down the Cestrus, they journeyed by land south-west to Attaleia,-a city beautifully situated in the curve of a sheltered bay. There they embarked for the Syrian Antioch, to tell with joy that the name "Christian," first known within its walls, was now gloried in within the palace of a Roman, and in sight of the temples of Diana and Jupiter! CHAPTER VIII. The Delegate. "On! champions blest, in Jesus' name, Your prayers and struggles o'er, your task "It surely is of no slight importance that the history of the first age of Christianity should present us with one undoubted instance of a character which unites all the freedom and vigour of a great reformer with all the humbleness, and holiness, and self-denial of a great apostle."-STANLEY'S Essays on the Apostolic Age, p. 173. |