interior of Asia Minor, to the Churches of Derbe and Lystra; St. Barnabas, on the other hand, to Cyprus. The Apostles separated, and by their separation carried the blessings of the Church into different countries.

CHAP. XVI. 1. It would appear from this, that Lystra was the birthplace of Timothy, more particularly as in the next verse he is said to be well reported of by them of Lystra and Iconium,-as though a person well known to its inhabitants from long residence. At chap. xx. 4 Timothy is mentioned again without the nomen gentilitium, as it is called, the name of his tribe or country,-as if that had already been given.

Some commentators, indeed, have tried to affix the description, " of Derbe," (Derbaios,) to Timothy, rather than to Gaius, because in the preceding chapter, ver. 29, Gaius is said to be a Macedonian. But the construction does not allow of this, and we can only suppose that the Gaius spoken of in the twentieth chapter was a different person from the one named in chap. xix. 29; and this is very likely, since the name was a very common one.

As Timothy's mother was a Jewess, and his father a Greek, (probably not a believer, if he were not dead, as some have thought,) the Jews claimed him as belonging to them. In his case, to avoid giving offence to the Jews, St. Paul caused him to be circumcised, whereas a Gentile from parents who were

both Gentiles could not, according to the decree of the Council at Jerusalem, be circumcised.

3. This was a very different case from that of Titus, spoken of in Gal. ii. 3. In this latter instance, it would have been a compromise of a principle, inasmuch as the Judaists sought to compel Titus, who was a Greek, to be circumcised. But with reference to Timothy, who was regarded as a Jew, and was willing to be circumcised, there was no undue concession. Circumcision and the rites of the law are not by this act of St. Paul's allowed to be necessary to salvation or beneficial to the Christian.

4. They delivered the decrees partly by word of mouth, and partly by a copy (perhaps) of the original document.

6. St. Luke does not give us the particulars of this mission-journey of the Apostles. The Church in Galatia was no doubt founded during this visit into that province. See also ch. xviii. 23. Asia cannot here be taken to mean the whole quarter of the globe so named in distinction from Europe, but proconsular Asia, with its metropolis, Ephesus, corresponding to ancient Ionia, as ch. ii. 9, vi. 9. Thither their journey was directed from Lycaonia, (Derbe and Lystra,) but was diverted (as they were hindered by the Spirit from going there) to Phrygia and Galatia.

8. They were now between Mysia and Bithynia. The Spirit did not suffer them to go into Bithynia, and in Mysia, as belonging to Asia, they might not

preach. In this position the West seemed pointed out as the scene of their labours. Accordingly they must proceed to the Asiatic coast, and went, therefore, direct westward to the southern boundary of Mysia, and so passing Mysia came to Troas on the Hellespont, there to decide on their further journey westward, or to await some especial direction from above, as they might expect such would be given. them from what had taken place. This direction they received by means of a vision in the night, which appeared to St. Paul.

9. We cannot suppose this vision to have been merely a dream. It was a revelation of the Spirit to the mind and senses of the Apostle, known by him to be such, though in what way we are not told and cannot determine. That the person appearing was a man of Macedonia, St. Paul would learn from his own words. Here for the first time St. Luke uses the pronoun 'we,' and hence it is naturally inferred that he joined St. Paul at Troas.

11. Samothrace is an island off the coast of Thrace, in the gean sea. Neapolis, at an earlier period Datos, was a harbour on the Thymonian gulf, opposite the island Thasos.

12. Philippi, formerly called Krenides, ('the fountains,') was enlarged by Philip of Macedonia, and named after him. Under the dominion of the Romans, the Emperor Augustus caused a colony to be planted there, and bestowed upon it the civil privilege called Jus Italicum. Instead of "the chief city" of that

part of Macedonia, it would be more correctly translated "a first city," for Macedonia had been divided by Æmilius Paulus into four parts, each with a chief city, and Amphipolis, not Philippi, was the chief city of that part.

13. The river was the Strymon. The Jews usually built their places of assembly near rivers, for the convenience of water used in their numerous washings. The words in our version, "where prayer was wont to be made," might be rendered "where a proseucha (place of prayer) was accustomed to be." These proseuchai were found near towns where synagogues were not allowed to be built.

14. Purple dyeing was a trade very much carried on in Lydia, of which Thyatira was a town. This Lydia was a convert to Judaism, as the expression "which worshipped God" implies. The heart of this woman the Lord opened to receive the Gospel. This power of receiving and understanding must come of divine grace. As St. Chrysostom expresses it, "the opening of the heart came from God; the attending was of herself, so that the work was both of God and of man."

15. This place is frequently referred to as a witness in favour of infant baptism. In the family of Lydia, consisting probably of slaves and their families, there must have been children, and as no exception is made, we may conclude that childhood was no hindrance to the reception of this sacrament. But the practice of infant baptism does not require in its

support an argument such as this, which, it must be confessed, is not very conclusive. It is sufficient to know that infant baptism has always been the practice of the Church, inasmuch as no mention occurs of its introduction, nor any charge is made against it as being at any particular time an innovation. So great a change as this could not, however, take place without some notice, if the custom was entirely new. If the apostles, and those immediately after the apostles, never baptized infants, he or they who first did so could not have escaped animadversion. We may reasonably conclude that though (naturally) adult baptism was the rule, when nations were being converted to Christianity, yet infant baptism was not unknown or contrary to the received practice of the apostles.

16. The spirit of Python, or Apollo, as the Greeks supposed the gift of prophecy to proceed from him. Of the reality of these possessions spoken of in Scripture we can have no doubt. They were not the results of mere natural madness, but influences of malevolent spirits. Before the coming of Christ Satan possessed a power over men's souls and bodies of which he has since been deprived. And even to this day, in countries quite heathen, we have reason to suppose that there are demoniacal influences unknown in Christian lands. St. Paul does not here allow that there was such a being as Apollo, for he affirms the contrary 1 Cor. viii. 4, where he speaks of heathen deities as "nothing," but he teaches that