In the hopeless condition of the ship, gradually breaking up from the violence of the waves which beat upon the hind part, whilst the fore part was held fast on the bank, all possibility of guarding the prisoners was at an end. "And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape." They probably feared, that even under such peculiar circumstances, if any of the prisoners under their charge escaped, they would be blamed and punished by the Roman Government; which treated with great severity any fault or carelessness committed by soldiers, or others trusted with the charge of criminals. But the centurion, "willing to save Paul," to whom he must have felt that their safety was owing, "kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship"; in short, anything which would float on the top of the water, and so keep them from sinking, whilst the wind and the waves would drive them to the shore. "And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land." There have been many wonderful escapes of shipwrecked persons, but that 276 people, many of whom could not swim, should all have got safe to the shore in such a storm, must be looked upon as the miraculous fulfilment of the Lord's promise to St. Paul, that there should be no loss of any man's life. "And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita."

In the map we find the island of Melita, or Meleda, in the Adriatic Sea, on the coast of Dalmatia; and this is most probably the island upon which St. Paul and his companions were shipwrecked: but in maps where the journeys of this Apostle are traced out by lines, you will not see any line running out to this Melita; but you will observe that they go to Melita, or Malta, to the south of Sicily, because many people have imagined that that was the island on which the ship was wrecked. Now when we have read St. Luke's account of what happened when St. Paul landed at Melita, we shall see the reasons why the island must have been Melita, or Meleda, on the Dalmatian coast, and not Melita, or Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea. St. Luke says, "And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand." A viper is a very dangerous kind of serpent, as the venom or poison from its bite will kill a man; these creatures become stupid in cold wet weather, and lie torpid, or as if they were asleep: one of them lying thus amongst the sticks, was picked up with them by St. Paul; but as soon as it felt the heat it came to life, and darting out upon the Apostle's hand, bit it. "And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live."

These people having no idea of true religion, fancied that the gods punished crimes upon earth only; and that as St. Paul had not been drowned, they had caused the viper to sting him, that he might die as he deserved. "And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god."

Now we must remember, that the shipwreck took place as the vessel was driven up and down in Adria, that part of the sea close to Meleda. The inhabitants of that island were, as St. Luke calls them, "barbarous" and "barbarians," in the sense of being uncivilized, unacquainted even with the comforts and conveniences of life.

The inhabitants of Malta, on the contrary, were a civilized people: they had good towns and fine buildings: the people were rich and prosperous, and acquainted with the arts and science of civilized life: the finest linen was made there; and ships came from all parts for the purposes of trade.

Then, again, Meleda is cold and damp, with plenty of trees all over it, even down to the water's edge; and there are many serpents in the island.

Malta, on the contrary, is warm and dry; there are but few trees in the island, and none near the shore: and besides, there are no serpents there.

Now all these are good reasons for our believing that St. Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Melita, or Meleda, in the Adriatic Sea, and not upon the Melita, or Malta, which lies to the south of Sicily.

St. Luke next tells us, that "in the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously": by which time some arrangement could be made for the future entertainment of the shipwrecked strangers, who would have to remain for some months in the island. The father of Publius lay ill at this time of a painful and dangerous illness; "to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary." These people were truly grateful for all the benefits they received from the Apostle; and besides honouring or treating him with respect, whilst he lived amongst them, they furnished the provisions needful for himself and his companions, when at last they quitted Melita.

We may be quite sure, though we are told nothing on the subject, that during the three months passed in this island by St. Paul, he preached the Gospel faithfully and earnestly: and we may well hope and believe, that some of these barbarous people became true followers of the blessed Jesus, of Whose power they had seen such a wonderful instance, in the preservation of St. Paul and his companions. Another ship from Alexandria had passed the winter at Meleda: perhaps she had come up the Adriatic to bring corn from Egypt to the countries on the borders of that sea, and when the storm came on, had wisely determined to remain where she was for the winter; or perhaps she had only been on her way to Rome, and had turned out of her course to take shelter, as soon as the storm arose and made sailing dangerous. However that may be, this ship, which was called "The Castor and Pollux" had passed the winter at Meleda.

We all know that ships and boats always have a name painted upon the stern, to distinguish them from one another. Many large ships have also a figure or image as well: thus a ship called "The Lord Nelson," would have fastened to the fore part, or prow, an image or figure of Lord Nelson cut out in wood and painted. This sort of thing is called the "figure-head." The ancients, instead of putting a figure, painted the picture of one, on the fore part of their vessels, and this was called "the sign." Castor and Pollux were two of the imaginary gods or heroes of the ancients: they were twin brothers, and were supposed to take particular care of sailors. A picture of Castor and Pollux was painted on this ship of Alexandria.

St. Luke says, "And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux." Their voyage was undisturbed now, and they soon reached the island of Sicily, "and landing at Syracuse," then the capital of the island, "tarried there three days. And from thence," St. Luke says, "we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium," a town in Italy, almost opposite to that of Messina, another considerable town in Sicily, and just at the entrance of the Straits of Messina. At Rhegium they appear to have intended to wait for a favourable wind; for we read, "and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli." Here the voyage ended: at Puteoli the ship would land whatever cargo she carried, and then return to Alexandria. St. Paul and his companions must go by land to Rome, about one hundred miles to the north-west of Puteoli. Puteoli was not only a great place of trade for corn, but also for merchandise of all kinds, which was brought there from different countries, to be exchanged for the productions of Italy. This exchange is, as we have already said, called "commerce."

With so many people from all parts coming to Puteoli, it was impossible that the Christian religion should not have been brought into the place by some of them; and it appears that there were at this time a certain number of Christians at Puteoli: for St. Luke says, "where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days." They were naturally glad of such an opportunity of conversing with the Apostle, and wished to keep him with them for seven days; and it seems that he was allowed to remain with them, which speaks well for the kindness of Julius, the centurion under whose care he was placed, and who had all along evidently favoured St. Paul. They then "went toward Rome. And from thence," St. Luke says, "when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns." Rome was at this time the most important city in the world: people came there from all countries; so we are not surprised to find that there were great numbers of Christians there. When the news reached them that St. Paul, whom many of them had probably known in other countries, was not only landed in Italy, but was actually approaching Rome from Puteoli, great numbers went out to meet and welcome him. Some of them went as far as Appii Forum, a place about fifty miles from Rome; others met him at the "Three Taverns," about thirty miles from Rome. The sight of so many true Christians was a great joy to the Apostle, who was anxious that all men everywhere should repent and turn to God. St. Luke says, "Whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage." Thanked God for all that had been done in the conversion of the heathen; whilst he was encouraged to hope for a still further spread of the Gospel, whatever might be his own fate.