of personal despondency. From the significant circumstance
that the apostle thanked God, and took courage, when he met the
Christian brethren at Apii Forum, we may infer that he had previously
great heaviness of spirit. He would be more or less than human, if on
setting his foot for the first time on the native soil of the
conquerors of his country, and the lords of the whole world, and
seeing on every side, even at this distance from the imperial city,
overwhelming evidences of the luxury and power of the empire, he did
not feel oppressed with a sense of personal insignificance. Evil had
throned itself there on the high places of the earth, and could mock
at the puny efforts of the followers of Jesus to cast it down.
Idolatry had so deeply rooted itself in the interests and passions of
men which were bound up in its continuance, that it seemed a foolish
dream to expect that it would be supplanted by the preaching of the
Cross, which to St. Paul's own people was a stumbling-block and to all
other nations foolishness. And who was he that he should undertake
such a mission--a weak and obscure member of a despised race, a
prisoner chained to a soldier, appealing to Caesar against the
condemnation of his own countrymen. We can well believe, that
notwithstanding the sustaining grace that was given to him, the heart
of the apostle must have been very heavy when he stood in the midst of
the jostling crowd on the quay of Puteoli, and took the first step
there on Italian soil of his journey to Rome. He felt most keenly all
that a man can feel of the shame and offence of the Cross; but
nevertheless he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. And his
presence there on that Roman quay--a despised prisoner in bonds for
the sake of the Gospel--is a picture, that appeals to every heart, of
the triumph of Divine strength in the midst of human weakness; and a
most striking proof, moreover, that not by might, but by the Spirit of
love, does God bring down the strongholds of sin.

But God furnished a providential cure for whatever despondency the
apostle may have felt. No sooner did he land than he found himself
surrounded by Christian brethren, who cordially welcomed him, and
persuaded him to remain with them seven days. Such brotherly kindness
must have greatly cheered him; and the week spent among these loyal
followers of the Lord Jesus must have been a time of bodily and
spiritual refreshment opportunely fitting him for the trying
ex