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1. It is an ill wind which blows nobody good. Here is a case in point. The sailors regarded it an ill wind that wrecked their ship, but had it sunk them in mid-ocean it would have been a worse wind. It blew good to the islanders, for they got healing for the body and gospel for the soul. It blew good to the apostle, for he was received with an angel's welcome and became a dispenser of rich blessings. Indeed, can we call any wind an ill one? The stormy wind is ever fulfilling God's word. It is better than the south wind blowing softly, but often bringing peril. "Mysterious providences" is a phrase we ordinarily affix to unpleasant things, but in the light of accomplished facts our view of what is good or ill may be corrected. Our partial knowledge leads us to misjudgments. Wait till tomorrow. All will be well. Impatience is rebuked by the revelations of Providence.

2. Luke speaks here of "barbarians," a people who did not speak Greek. We Englishmen have something of this feeling towards aliens, but we call it "patriotism." Worst of all is this clannish spirit when shown by some portion of the Church who say, "The temple of the Lord are we!" The Lord Jesus requires us to put away such exclusiveness. "No common kindness" was shown by these "barbarians," who were really friends, aye, Christians in a large sense, for did they not realise the Spirit of the Master? "I was ahungered," etc. I'd rather stand with them, at last, than with many robed and titled ones.

3. To feed the welcome fire and strengthen the blaze, Paul gathers wood in his hands. Those hands were always ready for service: to gather golden coin to the coffers of the Church, or to make tents for his own support; to raise the dead, or gather converts to Christ; to quell a mob, or, "beckoning," hold an audience with a wizard's spell. He now gathered sticks, for he was all things to all men, and had no respect for the "blue blood" which looks disdainfully on meaner men. He flung the faggots on the fire, and soon a frozen viper warmed by the heat, leaped forth and fastened itself on the apostle's hand.

4. The bystanders infer that Paul is a criminal, saved from the flood to die by the viper's fang. Notice, that even heathen have a conviction of the retributive justice of God. It is only the civilised fool who says, "No God," and he says it in his heart. How ready people are to jump at conclusions. Paul's chain settled the fact that he was a guilty criminal, and so we unjustly judge the accused and arrested before he is proved culpable. The innocent are often overshadowed. Charity "believeth all things." The proverb is, "We guess eggs when we see egg shells," but there is a barn-door fowl as well as a cockatrice. Isaac Watts advises us always to "Endeavour to believe a story to be wrong which ought to be wrong." Remember the moral effect upon ourselves of the judgment we pass upon others.

5. The viper on Paul's hand produced no fatal harm. Paul "must stand before Caesar." Neither the high priest, the Jewish Parliament, the conspirators, the devil himself, the storm-lashed Mediterranean Sea, nor the venomous viper, can prevent his going to Rome. So we are going to heaven, and God is our continual guard. All nature is used by Him for our good and we need not fear.

6. There are different classes of vipers. Ingratitude is one. Its fangs are sharp, but may be shaken off. Slander is another. It would be venomous if its power were as good as its will.

7. But integrity comes out unharmed. The barbarian cried out, "He is a god!" It would have been truer to say, "He has a God." That was the secret of his safety. Have you one? If God be for us, who or what can be against us?

(J. Jackson Wray.)

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KJV: And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

WEB: When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta.