Fortunate it is for the credit--either _of the spirit_, or of Paul, or of the author of the Acts, that it was on this second occasion only, and not on the first, that it was _in the spirit_ that he proposed to go to Jerusalem by the then next feast: for, notwithstanding the "_must_" and the "_by all means_,"--so it is, that between those his two determinations as above, no less a space of time than two years is stated as elapsing, on one occasion, at one and the same place.[46] And this place--what was it? it was Ephesus: the same place, at which, on his departure from it, the first determination was declared: after which, and before this his second visit to Ephesus,--he is represented as having visited Cæsarea and Antioch.
The next mention, is that which occurs in the next chapter, chapter 20:16. "Paul," we are there told, being then at Miletus, "had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost."
At Miletus it is, that he sends for, and receives, from Ephesus, a number of his adherents in that place. Upon their arrival, he is represented as making a formal speech to them: and now, he not merely proposes in the spirit, as before, but is "_bound in the spirit_," to go thither.[47] Vain would be the attempt to ascertain, with any approach to exactness, the interval of time, during which the operation of the spirit remained in a sort of suspense between _purpose_ and _obligation_: it may have been months, only: it may have been years.
While, by one spirit, Paul was thus urged on, every now and then, towards Jerusalem;--by the same spirit, or by another spirit, he was pulled back.[48]
In the very next verse, Acts 20:22, in which he speaks of his being "bound in the spirit unto" that place, not knowing, as, in his speech, he thereupon adds,--"not knowing the things that shall befall me there,"--he goes on, and says: "Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things," says he, ver. 24, "move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God."