hem with their prayers; and, like
discoverers returned from the finding of a new country, they related
the miracles of grace they had witnessed in the strange world of the
heathen.

THE SECOND JOURNEY

89. In his first journey Paul may be said to have been only trying his
wings; for his course, adventurous though it was, only swept in a
limited circle round his native province. In his second journey he
performed a far more distant and perilous flight. Indeed, this journey
was not only the greatest he achieved but perhaps the most momentous
recorded in the annals of the human race. In its issues it far
outrivaled the expedition of Alexander the Great, when he carried the
arms and civilization of Greece into the heart of Asia, or that of
Caesar, when he landed on the shores of Britain, or even the voyage of
Columbus, when he discovered a new world. Yet, when he set out on it,
he had no idea of the magnitude which it was to assume or even the
direction which it was to take. After enjoying a short rest at the
close of the first journey, he said to his fellow-missionary, "Let us
go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached
the word of the Lord and see how they do." It was the parental longing
to see his spiritual children which was drawing him; but God had far
more extensive designs, which opened up before him as he went forward.

90. Separation from Barnabas.--Unfortunately the beginning of this
journey was marred by a dispute between the two friends who meant to
perform it together. The occasion of their difference was the offer of
John Mark to accompany them. No doubt when this young man saw Paul and
Barnabas returning safe and sound from the undertaking which he had
deserted, he recognized what a mistake he had made; and he now wished
to retrieve his error by rejoining them. Barnabas naturally wished to
take his nephew, but Paul absolutely refused. The one missionary, a
man of easy kindliness, urged the duty of forgiveness and the effect
which a rebuff might have on a beginner; while the other, full of zeal
for God, represented the danger of making so sacred a work in any way
dependent on one who could not be relied upon, for "confidence in an
unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out
of joint."

We cannot now tell which of them was in the right or if both were
partly wrong. Both of them, at all events, suffered for it: Paul had
to part in anger f