The Acts of the Apostles

MIRACLES AND WORKS OF THE SPIRIT 147
but he does not embellish the story from this point
of view. It is the same with the story of the snake
in Malta : here also nothing is said which is in itself
extraordinary, though St. Luke would have the occur-
rence regarded as a miracle. Nor is it otherwise with
the « Spiritual " element in the strict sense of the
word. In chaps, i.—xv., in a quite realistic fashion,
the Spirit is represented as speaking to St. Peter and
St. Philip ; in the we-sections the Christians of Tyre
and Agabus speak in the Spirit, and the Spirit speaks
in visions of the night. In chaps, i xv. we read
that irvevfxa Kvpiov ripiracrev tov ^iKiirirov (viii. 39) on
the public highway ; in the we-sections He hinders or
prevents; but how this happens we are not told (we
must suppose visions or something similar).
It is also very instructive to compare the account
of the so-called first missionary journey of St. Paul
(chaps, xiii.—xiv.) on the one hand with the accounts
of the later journeys, and on the other hand with chaps,
i.-xii., XV. Every one will at once see that it belongs
to the latter and not to the former section of the book.
In xiv. 3 we read of St. Paul and St. Barnabas : irap-
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