We are not informed who were St. Paul’s companions in this journey; but as we find that Tychicus and Trophimus (both Ephesians) were with him at Corinth (Acts 20:4) during the same apostolic progress, and returned thence in his company, it seems probable that they accompanied him at his departure. We find both of them remaining faithful to him through all the calamities which followed; both exerting themselves in his service, and executing his orders to the last; both mentioned as his friends and followers, almost with his dying breath. (f1612)

In such company, St. Paul came to Alexandria Troas. "We have already described the position and character of this city, whence the Apostle of the Gentiles had set forth when first he left Asia to fulfil his mission, — the conversion of Europe. At that time, his visit seems to have been very short, and no results of it are recorded; but now he remained for a considerable time; he had meant to stay long enough to lay the foundation of a Church (see 2Corinthians 2:12), and would have remained still longer than he did, had it not been for the non-arrival of Titus, whom he had sent to Corinth from Ephesus either with or soon after the First Epistle. The object of his mission (f1613) was connected with the great collection now going on for the Hebrew Christians at Jerusalem, but he was also enjoined to enforce the admonitions of St. Paul upon the Church of Corinth, and endeavor to defeat the efforts of their seducers; and then to return with a report of their conduct, and especially of the effect upon them of the recent Epistle. Titus was desired to come through Macedonia, and to rejoin St. Paul (probably) at Troas, where the latter had intended to arrive shortly after Pentecost; but now that he was forced to leave Ephesus prematurely, he had resolved to wait for Titus at Troas, expecting, however, his speedy arrival. In this expectation he was disappointed; week after week passed, but Titus came not. The tidings which St. Paul expected by him were of the deepest interest; it was to be hoped that he would bring news of the triumph of good over evil at Corinth: yet it might be otherwise; the Corinthians might have forsaken the faith of their first teacher, and rejected his messenger. While waiting in this uncertainty, St. Paul appears to have suffered all the sickness of hope deferred.

"My spirit had no rest, because I found not Titus my brother." (2Corinthians 2:13.)

Nevertheless, his personal anxiety did not prevent his laboring earnestly and successfully in his Master’s service. He "published the Glad-tidings of Christ" (2Corinthians 2:12.) there as in other places, probably preaching as usual, in the first instance, to the Jews in the Synagogue. He met with a ready hearing; "a door was opened to him in the Lord." (2Corinthians 2:12.) And thus was laid the foundation of a Church which rapidly increased, and which we shall find him revisiting not long afterwards. At present, indeed, he was compelled to leave it prematurely; for the necessity of meeting Titus, and learning the state of things at Corinth, urged him forward. He sailed, therefore, once more from Troas to Macedonia (a voyage already described (f1614) in our account of his former journey), and, landing at Neapolis, proceeded immediately to Philippi. (f1615)

We might have supposed that the warmth of affection with which he was doubtless welcomed by his converts here would have soothed the spirit of the Apostle, and restored his serenity. For, of all his converts, the Philippians seem to have been the most free from fault, and the most attached to himself. In the Epistle which he wrote to them, we find no censure, and much praise; and so zealous was their love for St. Paul, that they alone (of all the Churches which he founded) forced him from the very beginning to accept their contributions for his support. Twice, while he was at Thessalonica, (f1616) immediately after their own conversion, they had sent relief to him. Again they did the same while he was at Corinth, (f1617) working for his daily bread in the manufactory of Aquila. And we shall find them afterwards cheering his Roman prison by similar proofs of their loving remembrance. (Philippians 4:16.) We might suppose from this that they were a wealthy Church; yet such a supposition is contradicted by the words of St. Paul, who tells us that

"in the heavy trial which had proved their steadfastness, the fulness of their joy Lad overflowed out of the depth of their poverty, in the richness of their liberality." (2Corinthians 8:2.)

In fact, they had been exposed to very severe persecution from the first. "Unto them it was given," so St. Paul reminds them afterwards, — "in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Philippians 1:29.) Perhaps, already their leading members had been prosecuted under the Roman law (f1618) upon the charge which proved so fatal in after times, — of propagating a "new and illegal religion" (religio nova et illicita); or, if this had not yet occurred, still it is obvious how severe must have been the loss inflicted by the alienation of friends and connections; and this would be especially the case with the Jewish converts, such as Lydia, (f1619) who were probably the only wealthy members of the community, and whose sources of wealth were derived from the commercial relations which bound together the scattered Jews throughout the Empire. What they gave, therefore, was not out of their abundance, but out of their penury; they did not grasp tenaciously at the wealth which was slipping from their hands, but they seemed eager to get rid of what still remained. They "remembered the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." St. Paul might have addressed them in the words spoken to some who were like minded with them:—

"Ye had compassion of me in my (f1620) bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance."

Such were the zealous and loving friends who now embraced their father in the faith; yet the warmth of their welcome did not dispel the gloom which hung over his spirit; although amongst them (f1621) he found Timothy also, his "beloved son in the Lord," the most endeared to him of all his converts and companions. The whole tone of the Second Epistle to Corinth shows the depression under which he was laboring; and he expressly tells the Corinthians that this state of feeling lasted, not only at Troas, but also after he reached Macedonia. "When first I came into Macedonia," he says, "my flesh had no rest; without were fightings, within were fears." And this had continued until "God, who comforts them that are cast down, comforted me by the coming of Titus."

It has been sometimes supposed that this dejection was occasioned by an increase of the chronic malady under which St. Paul suffered; (f1622) and it seems not unlikely that this cause may have contributed to the result. He speaks much, in the Epistle written at this time from Macedonia, of the frailty of his bodily health ( 2Corinthians 4:7 to 2Corinthians 5:10, and also 2Corinthians 12:7-9, and see note on 2Corinthians 1:8); and, in a very affecting passage, he describes the earnestness with which he had besought his Lord to take from him this "thorn in the flesh," — this disease which continually impeded his efforts, and shackled his energy. We can imagine how severe a trial, to a man of his ardent temper, such a malady must have been. Yet this alone would scarcely account for his continued depression, especially after the assurance he had received, that the grace of Christ was sufficient for him, — that the vessel of clay (See 2Corinthians 4:7.) was not too fragile for the Master’s work, — that the weakness of his body would but the more manifest the strength of God’s Spirit. (2Corinthians 12:7 9.) The real weight which pressed upon him was the "care of all the Churches;" the real cause of his grief was the danger which now threatened the souls of his converts, not in Corinth only, or in Galatia, but everywhere throughout the Empire. We have already described the nature of this danger, and seen its magnitude: we have seen how critical was the period through which the Christian Church was now passing. (f1623) The true question (which St. Paul was enlightened to comprehend) was no less than this; — whether the Catholic Church should be dwarfed into a Jewish sect; whether the religion of spirit and of truth should be supplanted by the worship of letter and of form. The struggle at Corinth, the result of which he was now anxiously awaiting, was only one out of many similar struggles between Judaism (f1624) and Christianity. These were the "fightings without" which filled him with "fears within;" these were the agitations which "gave his flesh no rest," and "troubled him on every side." (2Corinthians 7:5.)

At length the long-expected Titus arrived at Philippi, and relieved the anxiety of his master by better tidings than he had hoped to hear. (f1625) The majority of the Corinthian Church had submitted to the injunctions of St. Paul, and testified the deepest repentance for the sins into which they had fallen. They had passed sentence of excommunication upon the incestuous person, and they had readily contributed towards the collection for the poor Christians of Palestine. But there was still a minority, whose opposition seems to have been rather imbittered than humbled by the submission which the great body of the Church had thus yielded. They proclaimed, in a louder and more contemptuous tone than ever, their accusations against the Apostle. They charged him with craft in his designs, and with selfish and mercenary motives; — a charge which they probably maintained by insinuating that he was personally interested in the great collection which he was raising. We have seen (1Corinthians 16:3.) what scrupulous care St. Paul took to keep his integrity in this matter above every shade of suspicion; and we shall find still further proof of this as we proceed. Meanwhile it is obvious how singularly inconsistent this accusation was, in the mouths of those who eagerly maintained that Paul could be no true Apostle, because he did not demand support from the Churches which he founded. The same opponents accused him likewise of egregious vanity, and of cowardly weakness; they declared that he was continually threatening without striking, and promising without performing; always on his way to Corinth, but never venturing to come; and that he was as vacillating in his teaching as in his practice; refusing circumcision to Titus, yet circumcising Timothy; a Jew among the Jews, and a Gentile among the Gentiles.

It is an important question, to which of the divisions of the Corinthian Church these obstinate opponents of St. Paul belonged. Prom the notices of them given by St. Paul himself, it seems certain that ‘they were Judaizers (see 2Corinthians 11:22); and still further, that they were of the Christine section of that party (see 2Corinthians 11:7). It also appears that they were headed by an emissary from Palestine (2Corinthians 11:4), who had brought letters of commendation from some members of the Church at Jerusalem, (f1626) and who boasted of his pure Hebrew descent, and his especial connection with Christ himself. (See 2Corinthians 11:22.) St. Paul calls him a false apostle, a minister of Satan disguised as a minister of righteousness, and hints that he was actuated by corrupt motives. He seems to have behaved at Corinth with extreme arrogance, and to have succeeded, by his overbearing conduct, in impressing his partisans with a conviction of his importance, and of the truth of his pretensions. (f1627) They contrasted his confident bearing with the timidity and self-distrust which had been shown by St. Paul. (1Corinthians 2:3.) And they even extolled his personal advantages over those of their first teacher; comparing his rhetoric with Paul’s inartificial speech, his commanding appearance with the insignificance of Paul’s "bodily presence." (2Corinthians 10:10, 16.)

Titus, having delivered to St. Paul this mixed intelligence of the state of Corinth, was immediately directed to return thither (in company with two deputies specially elected to take charge of their contribution by the Macedonian Churches), (f1628) in order to continue the business of the collection. St. Paul made him the bearer of another letter, which is addressed (still more distinctly than the First Epistle), not to Corinth only, but to all the Churches in the whole province of Achaia, including Athens and Cenchrea, and perhaps also Sicyon, Argos, Megara, Patrae, and other neighboring towns; all of which probably shared more or less in the agitation which so powerfully affected the Christian community at Corinth. The twofold character (f1629) of this Epistle is easily explained by the existence of the majority and minority which we have described in the Corinthian Church. Towards the former the Epistle overflows with love; towards the latter it abounds with warning and menace. The purpose of the Apostle was to encourage and tranquillize the great body of the Church; but, at the same time, he was constrained to maintain his authority against those who persisted in despising the commands of Christ delivered by his mouth. It was needful, also, that he should notice their false accusations; and that (undeterred by the charge of vanity which they brought) (f1630) he should vindicate his apostolic character by a statement of facts, and a threat of punishment to be inflicted on the contumacious. With these objects, he wrote as follows:—

See Notes On Second Epistle To The Corinthians.

In this letter we find a considerable space devoted to subjects connected with a collection now in progress for the poor Christians in Judaea. (f1631) It is not the first time that we have seen St. Paul actively exerting himself in such a project. (f1632) Nor is it the first time that this particular contribution has been brought before our notice. At Ephesus, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul gave special directions as to the method in which it should be laid up in store (1Corinthians 16:1-4). Even before this period similar instructions had been given to the Churches of Galatia (ib. 1). And the whole project was in fact the fullfillment of a promise made at a still earlier period, that, in the course of his preaching among the Gentiles, the poor in Judaea should be remembered (Galatians 2:10).

The collection was going on simultaneously in Macedonia and Achaia; and the same letter gives us information concerning the manner in which it was conducted in both places. The directions given to the Corinthians were doubtless similar to those under which the contribution was made at Thessalonica and Philippi. Moreover, direct information is incidentally given of what was actually done in Macedonia; and thus we are furnished with materials for depicting to ourselves a passage in the Apostle’s life which is not described by St. Luke. There is much instruction to be gathered from the method and principles according to which these funds were collected by St. Paul and his associates, as well as from the conduct of those who contributed for their distant and suffering brethren.

Both from this passage of Scripture and from others we are fully made aware of St. Paul’s motives for urging this benevolent work. Besides his promise made long ago at Jerusalem, that, in his preaching among the Gentiles, the poor Jewish Christians should be remembered, (f1633) the poverty of the residents in Judaea would be a strong reason for his activity in collecting funds for their relief among the wealthier communities who were now united with them in the same faith and hope. (f1634) But there was a far higher motive, which lay at the root of the Apostle’s anxious and energetic zeal in this cause. It is that which is dwelt on in the closing verses of the ninth chapter of the Epistle which has just been read, (2Corinthians 9:12-15.) and is again alluded to in words less sanguine in the Epistle to the Romans. (Romans 15:30- 31.) A serious schism existed between the Gentile and Hebrew Christians, (f1635) which, though partially closed from time to time, seemed in danger of growing continually wider under the mischievous influence of the Judaizers. The great labor of St. Paul’s life at this time was directed to the healing of this division. He felt that if the Gentiles had been made partakers of the spiritual blessings of the Jews, their duty was to contribute to them in earthly blessings (Romans 15:27), and that nothing would be more likely to allay the prejudices of the Jewish party than charitable gifts freely contributed by the Heathen converts. (f1636) According as cheerful or discouraging thoughts predominated in his mind, — and to such alternations of feeling even an apostle was liable, — he hoped that "the ministration of that service would not only fill up the measure of the necessities of Christ’s people" in Judaea, but would "overflow" in thanksgivings and prayers on their part for those whose hearts had been opened to bless them (2Corinthians 9:12-15), or he feared that this charity might be rejected, and he entreated the prayers of others, "that he might be delivered from the disobedient in Judaea, and that the service which he had undertaken for Jerusalem might be favorably received by Christ’s people" (Romans 15:30, 31).

Influenced by these motives, he spared no pains in promoting the work; but every step was conducted with the utmost prudence and delicacy of feeling. He was well aware of the calumnies with which his enemies were ever ready to assail his character; and, therefore, he took the most careful precautions against the possibility of being accused of mercenary motives. At an early stage of the collection, we find him writing to the Corinthians, to suggest that

"whomsoever they should judge fitted for the trust should be sent to carry their benevolence to Jerusalem" (1Corinthians 16:3);

and again he alludes to the delegates commissioned with Titus, as "guarding himself against all suspicion" which might be cast on him in his administration of the bounty with which he was charged, and as being "careful to do all things in a seemly manner, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men" (2Corinthians 8:20, 21). This regard to what was seemly appears most strikingly in his mode of bringing the subject before those to whom he wrote and spoke. He lays no constraint upon them. They are to give "not grudgingly or of necessity," but each "according to the free choice of his heart; for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2Corinthians 9:7). "If there is a willing mind, the gift is acceptable when measured by the giver’s power, and needs not to go beyond" (2Corinthians 8:12). He spoke rather as giving "advice" (2Corinthians 8:10) than a "command;" (f1637) and he sought to prove the reality of his converts’ love by reminding them of the zeal of others (2Corinthians 8:8). In writing to the Corinthians, he delicately contrasts their wealth with the poverty of the Macedonians In speaking to the Macedonians themselves, such a mode of appeal was less natural, for they were poorer and more generous. Yet them also he endeavored to rouse to a generous rivalry, by telling them of the zeal of Achaia (2Corinthians 8:24, 9:2). To them also he would doubtless say that "he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully" (2Corinthians 9:6), while he would gently remind them that God was ever able to give them an overflowing measure of all good gifts, supplying all their wants, and enabling them to be bountiful (f1638) to others (ib. 8). And that one overpowering argument could never be forgotten, — the example of Christ, and the debt of love we owe to Him, —

"You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that you, by His poverty, might be made rich" (2Corinthians 8:9).

Nor ought we, when speaking of the instruction to be gathered from this charitable undertaking, to leave unnoticed the calmness and deliberation of the method which he recommends of laying aside, week by week, (f1639) what is devoted to God (1Corinthians 16:2), — a practice equally remote from the excitement of popular appeals, and the mere impulse of instinctive benevolence.

The Macedonian Christians responded nobly to the appeal which was made to them by St. Paul. The zeal of their brethren in Achaia "roused the most of them to follow it" (2Corinthians 9:2). God’s grace was abundantly "manifested in the Churches" (f1640) on the north of the AEgean (ib. 2Corinthians 8:1). Their conduct in this matter, as described to us by the Apostle’s pen, rises to the point of the highest praise. It was a time, not of prosperity, but of great affliction, to the Macedonian Churches; nor were they wealthy communities like the Church of Corinth; yet, "in their heavy trial, the fulness of their joy overflowed out of the depth of their poverty in the riches of their liberality" (ib. 2Corinthians 8:2). Their contribution was no niggardly gift, wrung from their covetousness (2Corinthians 8:5); but they gave honestly "according to their means" (ib. 3), and not only so, but even "beyond their means" (ib.); nor did they give grudgingly, under the pressure of the Apostle’s urgency, but "of their own free will, beseeching him with much entreaty that they might bear their part in the grace of ministering to Christ’s people" (ib. 3, 4). And this liberality arose from that which is the basis of all true Christian charity. "They gave themselves first to the Lord Jesus Christ, by the will of God" (ib. 5).

The Macedonian contribution, if not complete, was in a state of much forwardness, (f1641) when St. Paul wrote to Corinth. He speaks of liberal funds as being already pressed upon his acceptance (2Corinthians 8:4), and the delegates who were to accompany him to Jerusalem had already been chosen (2Corinthians 8:19, 23). We do not know how many of the Churches of Macedonia took part in this collection, (f1642) but we cannot doubt that that of Philippi held a conspicuous place in so benevolent a work. In the case of the Philippian Church, this bounty was only a continuation of the benevolence they had begun before, and an earnest of that which gladdened the Apostle’s heart in his imprisonment at Rome. "In the beginning of the Gospel" they and they only had sent once and again (f1643) to relieve his wants, both at Thessalonica and at Corinth (Philippians 4:15, 16); and "at the last" their care of their friend and teacher "flourished again" (ib. 10), and they sent their gifts to him at Rome, as now they sent to their unknown brethren at Jerusalem. The Philippians are in the Epistles what that poor woman is in the Gospels, who placed two mites in the treasury. They gave much, because they gave of their poverty; and wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the whole world, there shall this liberality be told for a memorial of them.

If the principles enunciated by the Apostle in reference to the collection command our devout attention, and if the example of the Macedonian Christians is held out to the imitation of all future ages of the Church, the conduct of those who took an active part in the management of the business should not be unnoticed. Of two of these the names are unknown to us, (f1644) though their characters are described. One was a brother, "whose praise in publishing the Gospel was spread throughout the Churches," and who had been chosen by the Church of Macedonia to accompany St. Paul with the charitable fund to Jerusalem (2Corinthians 8:18, 19). The other was one "who had been put to the proof in many trials, and always found zealous in the work" (ib. 22). But concerning Titus, the third companion of these brethren, "the partner of St. Paul’s lot, and his fellow-laborer for the good of the Church," we have fuller information; and this seems to be the right place to make a more particular allusion to him, for he was nearly concerned in all the steps of the collection now in progress.

Titus does not, like Timothy, appear at intervals through all the passages of the Apostle’s life. He is not mentioned in the Acts at all, and this is the only place where he comes conspicuously forward in the Epistles; (f1645) and all that is said of him is connected with the business of the collection. (f1646) Thus we have a detached portion of his biography, which is at once a thread that guides us through the main facts of the contribution for the Judaean Christians, and a source whence we can draw some knowledge of the character of that disciple, to whom St. Paul addressed one of his pastoral Epistles. At an early stage of the proceedings he seems to have been sent, — soon after the First Epistle was despatched from Ephesus to Corinth (or perhaps as its bearer), — not simply to enforce the Apostle’s general injunctions, but (f1647) to labor also in forwarding the collection (2Corinthians 12:18). Whilst he was at Corinth, we find that he took an active and zealous part at the outset of the good work (ib. 8:6). And now that he had come to Macedonia, and brought the Apostle good news from Achaia, he was exhorted to return, that he might finish what was so well begun, taking with him (as we have seen) the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and accompanied by the two deputies who have just been mentioned. It was a task which he was by no means unwilling to undertake. God "put into his heart the same zeal" which Paul himself had; he not only consented to the Apostle’s desire, but was "himself very zealous in the matter, and went of his own accord" (2Corinthians 8:16, 17). If we put together these notices, scanty as they are, of the conduct of Titus, they set before us a character which seems to claim our admiration for a remarkable union of enthusiasm, integrity, and discretion.

After the departure of Titus, St. Paul still continued to prosecute the labors of an evangelist in the regions to the north of Greece. He was unwilling as yet to visit the Corinthian Church, the disaffected members of which still caused him so much anxiety, — and he would doubtless gladly employ this period of delay to accomplish any plans he might have formed and left incomplete on his former visit to Macedonia. On that occasion he had been persecuted in Philippi, (f1648) and had been forced to make a precipitate retreat from Thessalonica; (f1649) and from Beroea his course had been similarly urged to Athens and Corinth. (f1650) Now he was able to embrace a wider circumference in his Apostolic progress. Taking Jerusalem as his center, (f1651) he had been perpetually enlarging the circle of his travels. In his first missionary journey he had preached in the southern parts of Asia Minor and the northern parts of Syria: in his second journey, he had visited the Macedonian towns which lay near the shores of the AEgean: and now on his third progress he would seem to have penetrated into the mountains of the interior, or even beyond them to the shores of the Adriatic, and "fully preached the Gospel of Christ round about unto Illyricum" (Romans 15:19).

We here encounter a subject on which some difference of opinion must unavoidably exist. If we wish to lay down the exact route of the Apostle, we must first ascertain the meaning of the term "Illyricum" as used by St. Paul in writing to the Romans: and if we find this impossible, we must be content to leave this part of the Apostle’s travels in some degree of vagueness; more especially as the preposition ("unto," mecri) employed in the passage is evidently indeterminate.

The political import of the word "Illyricum" will be seen by referring to what has been written on the province of Macedonia (f1652) in an earlier chapter. It has been there stated that the former province was contiguous to the north-western frontier of the latter. It must be observed, however, that a distinction was anciently drawn between Greek Illyricum, a district on the south, which was incorporated by the Romans with Macedonia, and formed the coast-line of that province where it touched the Adriatic, (f1653) — and Barbarous, or Roman Illyricum, which extended towards the head of that gulf, and was under the administration of a separate governor. This is "one of those ill-fated portions of the earth, which, though placed in immediate contact with civilization, have remained perpetually barbarian." (f1654) For a time it was in close connection, politically and afterwards ecclesiastically, with the capitals both of the Eastern and Western empires: but subsequently it relapsed almost into its former rude condition, and "to this hour it is devoid of illustrious names and noble associations." (f1655) Until the time of Augustus, the Romans were only in possession of a narrow portion along the coast, which had been torn during the wars of the Republic from the piratic inhabitants. (f1656) But under the first Emperor a large region, extending far inland towards the valleys of the Save and the Drave, was formed into a province, and contained some strong links of the chain of military posts, which was extended along the frontier of the Danube. (f1657) At first it was placed under the Senate: but it was soon found to require the presence of large masses of soldiers: the Emperor took it into his own hands, and inscriptions are still extant on which we can read the records of its occupation by the seventh and eleventh legions. (f1658) Dalmatia, which is also mentioned by St. Paul (2Timothy 4:10), was a district in the southern part of this province; and after the final reduction of the Dalmatian tribes, the province was more frequently called by this name than by that of Illyricum. (f1659) The limits of this political jurisdiction (to speak in general terms) may be said to have included Bosnia, and the modern (f1660) Dalmatia, with parts of Croatia and Albania.

But the term Illyricum was by no means always, or even generally, used in a strictly political sense. The extent of country included in the expression was various at various times. The Illyrians were loosely spoken of by the earlier Greek writers as the tribes which wandered on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. The Illyricum which engaged the arms of Rome under the Republic was only a narrow strip of that shore with the adjacent islands. But in the Imperial times it came to be used of a vast and vague extent of country lying to the south of the Danube, to the east of Italy, and to the west of Macedonia. (f1661) So it is used by Strabo in the reign of Augustus, and similarly by Tacitus in his account of the civil wars which preceded the fall of Jerusalem; (f1662) and the same phraseology continues to be applied to this region, till the third century of the Christian era. We need not enter into the geographical changes which depended on the new division of the empire under Constantine, or into the fresh significance which, in a later age, was given to the ancient names, when the rivalry of ecclesiastical jurisdictions led to the schism of Eastern and Western Christendom. (f1663) We have said enough to show that it is not possible to assume that the Illyricum of St. Paul was a definite district, ruled as a province by a governor from Rome.

It seems by far the most probable that the terms "Illyricum" and "Dalmatia" are both used by St. Paul in a vague and general sense: as we have before had occasion to remark in reference to Asia Minor, where many geographical expressions, such as "Mysia," "Galatia," and "Phrygia," were variously used, popularly and politically. (f1664) It is indeed quite possible that St. Paul, not deeming it right as yet to visit Corinth, may have pushed on by the Via Egnatia, (f1665) from Philippi and Thessalonica, across the central mountains which turn the streams eastward and westward, to Dyrrhachium, the landing-place of those who had come by the Appian Road from Rome to Brundusium. (f1666) Then, though still in the province of Macedonia, he would be in the district called Greek Illyricum:(f1667) and he would be on a line of easy communication with Nicopolis (f1668) on the south, where, on a later occasion, he proposed to winter (Titus 3:12); and he could easily penetrate northwards into Roman or Barbarous Illyricum, where was that district of Dalmatia, (f1669) which was afterwards visited by his companion Titus, whom, in the present instance, he had despatched to Corinth. But we must admit that the expression in the Romans might have been legitimately (f1670) used, if he never passed beyond the limits of Macedonia, and even if his Apostolic labors were entirely to the eastward of the mountains, in the country watered by the Strymon and the Axius. (f1671)

Whether he traveled widely and rapidly in the regions to the north of Greece, or confined his exertions to the neighborhood of those churches which he had previously founded, — the time soon came when he determined to revisit that Church, which had caused him so much affliction not unmixed with joy. During the course of his stay at Ephesus, and in all parts of his subsequent journey in Troas and Macedonia, his heart had been continually at Corinth. He had been in frequent communication with his inconsistent and rebellious converts. Three letters (f1672) had been written to entreat or to threaten them. Besides his own personal visit (f1673) when the troubles were beginning, he had sent several messengers, who were authorized to speak in his name. Moreover, there was now a special subject in which his interest and affections were engaged, the contribution for the poor in Judaea, which he wished to "seal" to those for whom it was destined (Romans 15:28) before undertaking his journey to the West. (f1674)

Of the time and the route of this southward journey we can only say that the most probable calculation leads us to suppose that he was traveling with his companions toward Corinth at the approach of winter; and this makes it likely that he went by land rather than by sea. (See Acts 27:9.) A good road to the south had long been formed from the neighborhood of Beroea, (f1675) connecting the chief towns of Macedonia with those of Achaia. Opportunities would not be wanting for preaching the Gospel at every stage in his progress; and perhaps we may infer from his own expression in writing to the Romans (Romans 15:23), — "I have no more place in those parts," — either that churches were formed in every chief city between Thessalonica and Corinth, or that the Glad-tidings had been unsuccessfully proclaimed in Thessaly and Boeotia, as on the former journey they had found but little credence among the philosophers and triflers of Athens. (f1676)