Seeds of Truth Sown.
What a blessing to these people was the three months sojourn of Paul and his companions, and with what keen regret and sorrow they must have said goodby when the "Castor and Pollus," the ship from Alexandria, carried Paul away from them forever? It carried him, but not the truths he had taught. These would remain with them, and, if accepted, would bless them eternally.
LESSON 38
THE WORLD ENRICHED BY A PRISONER CHAINED
"The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church."
Anticipation vs. Realization.
A few school boys, one day, met to debate the question, "Resolved, That there is more pleasure in Anticipation than in Realization." One on the side that tried to prove that Anticipation gives more pleasure, referred to every boy's experience at Christmas time, saying that the day before Christmas and Christmas Eve always give more joy than Christmas itself—"As soon as the boy gets his toys, then he begins to regret that Christmas isn't tomorrow."
That boy expressed in his simple way about the same thought contained in this sentence from Emerson: "Man looks forward with smiles but backward with sighs;" or as another writer puts it, "What we expect is always greater than what we enjoy."
Such may not be the case always in life; but it certainly must have been Paul's experience in regard to his anticipated visit to Rome. For several years he had looked forward with pleasure to the time when he would have the opportunity to preach the Gospel in the famous capital of the great Roman Empire. But now as he approaches the realization of his hopes, he is an old man, worn with exposure and confinement, and a prisoner.