“What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Luke, who still accompanied Paul, adds, “And, when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.”
Paul, with the companions who had attended him from Macedonia, and accompanied by several Christians from Cæsarea,went up to Jerusalem, and took up his residence at the house of Mnason, one of the early converts to Christianity.
Thus we have accompanied Paul on his last recorded journey to Jerusalem. It was a journey full of incident; and it is related more minutely than any other portion of his travels. We know all the places by which he passed, or at which he staid; and we are able to connect them all with familiar recollections of history. We know, too, all the aspects of the scenery. He sailed along those coasts of Western Asia, and among those famous islands, the beauty of which is proverbial. The very time of the year is known to us: it was when the advancing season was clothing every low shore and the edge of every broken cliff with a beautiful and refreshing verdure; when the winter storms had ceased to be dangerous, and the small vessels could ply safely in shade and sunshine between the neighboring ports. Even the state of the weather and the direction of the wind are known.
We can point to the places on the map where the vessel anchored for the night, and trace across the chart the track that was followed when the moon was full. Yet more than this: we are made fully aware of the state of the apostle’s mind, and of the burdened feeling under which this journey was accomplished. The expression of this feeling strikes us the more from its contrast with all the outward circumstances of the voyage. He sailed in the finest season, by the brightest coasts, and in the fairest weather; and yet his mind was occupied with forebodings of evil from first to last,so that a peculiar shade of sadness is thrown over the whole narration.[156]
Paul, like his divine Master, was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” The sins and sufferings of humanity oppressed his soul. Throughout all his epistles, we see indications of the pensive spirit with which he regarded the sublime and awful tragedy of time and sin.
Upon the arrival of the apostle in Jerusalem, he was very cordially received by the brethren. Knowing that he hadmany enemies even among the Christians there, who demanded that the Gentile converts should be brought into subjection to all the rites of Judaism, his dejected spirit must have been much cheered by this affectionate greeting. The disciples in Jerusalem, consisting of converted Jews and converted Gentiles, now counted their numbers by thousands. They were necessarily divided into many local churches. There was an immediate gathering of the pastors of these churches to hear Paul’s report of the success of his extended missionary tour. James, who had presided at the general council held in Jerusalem several years before, seems also to have presided at this meeting. Paul “declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.” The majority were very favorably impressed by his address, and “glorified the Lord.” They, however, said to him,—
“Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: and they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.”
They therefore urged, that as it was impossible but that his arrival should be known, and that it would call the Christians together to hear from him, he should do something to refute these calumnies, and disarm hostility. They therefore suggested that he should take charge of four Jewish Christians who were under a vow, accompany them to the temple, and pay for them the necessary charges. This would prove that Paul, so far as the Jews were concerned, still respected the law of Moses. As to the Gentile converts, they reiterated the advice given by the council. Paul, who had laid it down as his principle, that to the Jew he would become a Jew, and to the Gentile a Gentile, that he might win all to Christ, accepted this suggestion. He was ready to accept or reject mere outward observances as expediency might dictate. In his view, circumcision was nothing, and uncircumcision nothing, but faith that worketh by love.
The next day was the great feast of Pentecost. Jerusalem was crowded with Jews from all parts of Syria, and even from remoter lands. Those who had already persecuted Paul on his missionary tour were there, ready to renew their violence. When Paul entered the temple with the men who had taken the vow, they sprang upon him, seized him, and cried out,—