Acts 27:1-20 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to one named Julius… I. WE HAVE A GREAT VARIETY IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES. On board this vessel were souls of a very mixed character. Almost all the social forces of an age are in that vessel. There is labour represented in the sailors, war in the soldiers, commerce in the merchants, law in the men who hold the prisoners in custody, literature and science in Luke, religion in Paul and his companions. In the voyage of life we are thrown like Paul amongst numerous contemporaries, but there are only a few Lukes or Aristarchuses with whom we can have much intercourse. This suggests — 1. A characteristic of human nature distinguished from all other terrestrial life. Natural history shows that there is a perfect correspondence in taste, impulse, and habit, among all the members of any species of non-rational life. Not so with man. Each individual has the power of striking out an orbit for himself different from that in which anyone had ever moved before or will ever move again. All modes of life are possible to man. He can transmigrate into the grub, the seraph, or the fiend, into a beast like Nebuchadnezzar, a devil like Herod, or an apostle like Paul. 2. That mankind are not now in their original condition. To use the power to form different modes and spheres inconsistently with the royal law of benevolence is the essence of sin and the source of ruin. It can never be that God intended our moral energy to create such a variety of tastes, tendencies, and aims as to render social intercourse and harmony impossible. All souls should have a common centre, and in all their social radiations, should harmoniously combine. 3. The probability of a future social classification. Will such men as Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, be doomed forever to live with mercenary merchants, besotted seamen, and bloody soldiers? Are the Herods to continue kings, and the Johns prisoners? Are the Jeffreys to be on the bench and the Baxters at the bar forever? Man's deepest intuitions, the prayers of the good, and the Bible say it shall not be. The tares and the wheat will one day be separated. We are only mixed while on board this earth ship: as soon as we touch the shore we separate on the principles of moral character and spiritual affinities. II. THE SEVEREST TRIALS ARE COMMON TO ALL. The one trial common to all on board that barque was the danger of losing life (ver. 20). They tried every expedient, but all failed; the lamp of hope for a time went out. Danger of life is universally felt to be the severest of trials. And to this all are exposed in a thousand different ways, and all must one day, like Paul and his companions, feel "all hope" of being saved from death taken away. For a short time, in healthy youth and vigorous manhood, you may flow on propitiously like this vessel in the first stage of its voyage, when "the south wind blew softly"; but farther on the sea will marshal its billows against thee; the sun will set, the moon go down, and every star disappear, and thou shall feel thyself only as a bubble on the breakers. The scene suggests that common trims — 1. Develop different dispositions. How different were the feelings of Paul from the others. Even the brave sailors were at their wits' end; they sought "to flee out of the ship." The soldiers, too, displayed their base and heartless selfishness, for they proposed to "kill the prisoners." But none of these things moved Paul. His every word shows an unfaltering faith in Him to whom he had committed himself. His bearing, too, was calm and hope inspiring. His great nature was taken up with the sufferings of his companions (vers. 33, 34). Trials test our principles as fire tries the minerals. 2. Show the indifference of nature to social distinctions. The centurion, his subordinates, Christians and heathens, were all treated alike. Old ocean cares no more for the boats with which Xerxes bridged the Hellespont than for any worthless log of timber. It heeds no more the voice of Canute than the cries of a babe. "Napoleon," says a modern author, "was once made to feel his littleness in a storm at sea off Boulogne. His mighty fleet lay before him. Wishing to review it, he desired Admiral Bruyes to change the position of the ships. Foreseeing that a storm was gathering the admiral respectfully declined. But Napoleon, in a rage, peremptorily demanded obedience. Vice-Admiral Magon obeyed the order. The threatened storm burst. Several sloops were wrecked, and above two hundred poor soldiers and sailors were plunged in the raging waves. The Emperor instantly ordered the boats out to the rescue. He was told, 'No boat could live in such a sea.' He then ordered a company of his grenadiers to man the boats, and as he sprang in, exclaimed, 'Follow me, my brave fellows!' They had scarcely entered the boat, before a huge wave dashed over the emperor. 'Onward! onward!' he cried; but the daring effort was vain; progress in such a sea was impossible. 'Push on! push on!' cried Napoleon; 'do you not hear those cries? Oh, this sea! this sea! it rebels against our power, but it may be conquered!' At this moment a mighty billow struck the boat with tremendous force, and drove it back, quivering, to the shore. It seemed as though this were the ocean's answer; or rather the answer of the God of the ocean, to the proud monarch's boast! Napoleon was cast ashore by the spurning billows of the stormy sea, like a drifting fragment of dripping seaweed." Nature's indifference, however, to mere secular distinction is not so strange as her want of respect to the moral. Nature treats apostles and apostates alike. Our character and moral position are not to be estimated by nature's aspect towards us. "The tower of Siloam" may fall on the good as well as on the bad; children may be "born blind" of righteous parents as well as of wicked. The ground of wicked men may bring forth plenteously, while the soil of the good man be struck with barrenness. "All things come alike to all," etc. She has her own system of laws; he who attends to them most loyally shall enjoy most of her bounties. In this respect she is an emblem of the moral system. Both are impartial. Both treat their subjects according to their conduct towards them, not according to their conduct towards anything else. III. SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM GOD ARE MERCIFULLY VOUCHSAFED (vers. 24, 25). God knew the dire perils to which Paul was exposed, and interposed. He knows our difficulties and dangers on our voyage to eternity, and makes the necessary communications for our relief. Note some points of resemblance. The Divine communication to the men on board this vessel. 1. Came through the best of the men. Not through one of the merchants, or the centurion, but through Paul, the prisoner. But notwithstanding his secular abjectness, he was a good man. God has ever spoken to the world through the best man. It matters not how poor they are if good. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him," and He will show them His covenant. The Bible consists of communications from God through holy men, "who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2. Were the final and effective means of meeting the emergency. Maritime genius and energy were all in vain, and just when in a hopeless state the communication came (ver. 20). And so it was after human reason had tried every effort to guide the soul into the haven of peace that Christ came. 3. Their efficacy depended upon a practical attention to the directions (vers. 22-31). The lesson is that every promise should be regarded as conditional, unless a most unequivocal assurance is given to the contrary. But what reason had Paul to regard this promise as conditional? There was no if in it. His instincts, experience, observation, and all analogy, satisfied him that Divine ends are always reached by means. God's promises afford no pretext for carelessness. Has God promised knowledge? It implies study. Has He promised salvation? It implies faith in Christ. IV. ONE MORALLY GREAT MAN HOWEVER POOR, IS OF IMMENSE SERVICE TO HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Note — 1. The characteristics of a truly great man as illustrated in Paul's history on board the vessel. (1) Forecast. At the very outset he had a presentiment of the danger which awaited them (ver. 10). Intense sympathy with a man's principles and aims will enable me to foresee much of his future conduct. Godliness, the soul of all moral greatness, is this sympathy. This sympathy with God is the prophetic eye. Give me this, and, like Isaiah, in some humble measure, I shall foretell the ages. This sympathy is a new eye to the soul. Because of this Paul saw what the captain could not. His heart was in such a contact with that Spirit which controls the winds and the waves that he felt that something terrible was about to transpire. Never let us disregard the warnings of a great and godly man. (2) Magnanimous calmness (ver. 36). Trust in God was the philosophy of his — (3) Self-obliviousness. Whilst all others were struggling for themselves, he seemed only concerned for them. (4) Religiousness. This explains his greatness. He saw God in the tempest and in the bread. He bowed in resignation to the one — he thanked Him for the other. 2. The service which he rendered — (1) Was both direct and indirect. The spirit of confidence which he breathed, the efforts he put forth, the directions he gave, were all direct. Then the indirect service was great. For the sake of Paul the prisoners were not killed (ver. 43). At the great day it will be found that many an obscure saint has conferred far greater service than those generals, statesmen, poets, and sages who have won the acclamations of posterity. The world has yet to learn who are its true benefactors. (2) Was appreciated as trials increased. In the first stage of the voyage, when "the south winds blew softly," Paul was nothing. When he uttered his warning he was treated with indifference, but he became the moral commander during the tempest. How often do the world's great men on, death beds, seek the attendance, sympathies, counsel, and prayers of those godly ones whom they despised in health! (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. |
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