The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1877-12-06
The Sunday school.
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Romsas Oceans rivers, and touetAiss
were subject 10 bis control aad be
coald also cause earthquakes a bic
pleasure. and With The blow Of Bis tri-
dent. o. tAfeepfobgsd seepler. be could
raise Islands from the bottom 81 the
sea.
Bas that son Of pagsuism is long
sisoe dead. With us. il il Jehovah.
who rides upon the winds, and manages
the seas For many days bad be driven
his chariot Of storm through the eastern
- -. aud DOW wrecked Paul's ship on
Melita But the company aboard are
al got safely ashore. as Paul had pre-
dicted ior them. The wreck was on the
bar, and being devoured by the surges
q the sea but no person had received
the slightest injury Not Paul only,
but God in bin. bad spoken TO the men
10 distress, and the good cheer excited
was neither groundiess nor useless In
the darkness aud tempest. the land sp.
peared strange TO them but when on
shore, thew new the place and called Il
by name
Il was now the month OF October,
before the winter Of A. d. G06l. and
they were on the island now called
Malta Nero, at length the murderer
of Paul, was emperor Of Rome, and
under him Festus governed Judea.
At this time Malta was dependency
Of the Roman province Of Sicily. The
chief man. or chief officer Of the island
was Pubius, who possessed an estate
IN that place, aud one becoming an OF.
dcer Of the great empire. Doubtless
the father Of Publius also man Of note
by the healing Of whom the fame of
Paul was spread throughout the island.
Malta is sixty miles from the island
Of Sicily, and two hundred miles from
Africa is sixty miles 10 circumference,
and its highest point is six hundred
feet above the level OF the sea II is
very fruitful but it has been made 30
by the immense labor OF bringing the
foot Of soil now upon its rocky surface
from Sicily. From its position in the
Mediterranean, and the excellence Of
its harbors, ii was always been impor.
tant 10 commerce and war 1t was or
iginally called Melita from the Greek
word meaning honey, because of the
great abundance and excellence of that
article produced there. No less than
eight nations have successfully been
masters of il until now il is in,the hands
Of the English The island is foil Of
the monuments of st. Paul, who is its
patron saint. The Cathedral church
Of ST. Paul is supposed to stand where
the palace Of Publius stood, in about
the middle of the island. AZ the time
OF this narrative there were but few in
habitants there, but now il is the most
densely populated spot in Europe.
II the shipmen did not recognize the
place upon reaching it from the vessel,
then the word kneto ". | is equivalent
to ascertained by natural means.
The reception given to the ships
company by the people of the island =
They are called barbarous, not as being
rude, uncu!tivated, or cruel, but as
strangers, or foreigners, and as not
speaking the Greek or the Roman Ian.
guages. To the pride Of Greece and
Rome, all people were barbarians but
themselves and the division of Greeks
and barbArians included, at least, the
whole Gentle world. from. i:l4,
Malta was settled by the Phmnici-
ans at an early period. and it is
believed that their language, in cor
rupted form, was spoken there in Paul's
lime LANCE calls it Punic dialect
/ Barnes calls it an African language,
and others an Arabian tongue aud
these all, 10 their historical references,
/ probably mean the came thing
/ The people showed to the ship
company extraordinary kindness. They
kindled FIRE and invited them TO it I;
aud the rain and cold made it to them
a comfort indeed.
Panl snbmissively doing the Office Of
prisoner He is collecting fuel ; and
a mos, surprising and significant thing
came Of it. A viper, made torpid by
the cold. was brought among the fag.
gots. and when revived and irritated
BY the heat, darted out and fastened on
the hand Of Paul. A viper is a poison.
Gus serpent, aud this one fixed his
fangs 10 the hand-was wounding il
for as the people obviously thought, it
would not otherwise have fixed itself
there. Ii was deadly viper, for the
people expected to see Paul die imme.
diately lie mode Of attack was by a
datting movement, and therefore il
could reach Paul's hand from the FIRE
The miracle worker miraculously pre-,
served The word rendered beast bad
not. with the Greeks, that restricted
meaning that il has Si.h Us They ap
plicdit 10 animals Of difIerep, kinds, and
~ sayrests esnsctslly The penuic