The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 454

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448 TEE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES tians were informed of Paul's approach, and some of them started to meet and welcome him. On the eighth day after landing, the centnrion and his prisoners set out for Rome. Julius willingly granted the apostle every favor which it was in his power to bestow; but he could not change his condition as a prisoner, or release him from the chain that bound him to his soldier guard. It was with a heavy heart that Paul went forward to his long-expected visit to the world's metropolis. How different the circumstances from those he had anticipated! How was he, fettered and stigmatized, to proclaim the gospel! His hopes of winning many souls to the truth in Rome, seemed destined to disappointment. At last the travelers reach Appii Forum, forty miles from Rome. As they make their way through the crowds that throng the great thoroughfare, the gray-haired old man, chained with a group of hardened-looking criminals, receives many a glance of scorn, and is made the subject of many a rude, mocking jest. Suddenly a cry of joy is heard, and a man springs from the passing throng and falls upon the prisoner's neck, embracing him with tears and rejoicing, as a son would welcome a long-absent father. Again and again is the scene repeated, as, with eyes made keen by loving expectation, many discern in the chained captive the one wlio at Corinth, at PhilijDpi, at Ephesus, had spoken to them the words of life. As the warm-hearted disciples eagerly flock around their father in the gospel, the whole com-