FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY—Continued

AT LYSTRA AND DERBE

"Outward attacks and troubles rather fix than unsettle the Christian, as tempests from without only serve to root the oak more firmly in the ground."

"As sure as ever God puts His children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them."

Among the Heathen.

At Lystra, Paul and Barnabas found a people who were almost entirely heathen for they worshiped Jupiter and Mercury and other false deities, and knew little or nothing about the true God. There were Jews amongst them, but not of sufficient numbers even to build a synagogue.

The country was wild and rugged, and the inhabitants were like the country. They were "villagers of little learning, and rude in dress and manner." Such people are usually shy of strangers, and slow to accept anything new. But once they begin to get confidence in the stranger, they may be easily swayed by him; not having very definite opinions of their own.

The doctrine preached by Paul and Barnabas was new to them, and after a time began to arouse their curiosity, and then awaken their interest.

Choice People Among Them.

Some of the most intelligent comprehended the truth, and accepted it. Lest you boys and girls might think that there were no superior people among these heathens, you must be reminded of the fact that in Lystra there was at least one choice family of whose membership in the Church the Bible makes mention, and in Derbe there were others.

Timothy.

In these towns, out of the persecution and affliction heaped upon them by the ignorant and wicked, Paul and Barnabas brought to the faith some of the choicest members of the early Church. Among these were Timothy, whom Paul afterwards called his son; Eunice, Timothy's mother, and Lois, Timothy's grandmother, whose "unfeigned faith" Paul commended in later years. Undoubtedly, the friendship alone of these noble people more than paid Paul for all the persecution he suffered during this first mission.

But to the people generally, the message was strange and incomprehensisble. They could not separate the doctrine of Christ from their heathen deities as was shown by a remarkable experience.

A Miracle.

Paul and Barnabas and a few converts were holding a meeting one day in the "open air." In the audience sat a man "impotent in his feet," who had been a cripple from birth, and who had never walked. This fact, of course, all the people knew, for many of them were acquainted with him, and had seen him carried to the meeting. "The same heard Paul speak," and conviction entered his weary heart that what Paul said was true. Paul looked at him, and "perceiving that he had faith to be healed," said, "Stand upright on thy feet." This he commanded by the power of the Redeemer.

Effect.

"The man leaped to his feet and walked." When the people saw this, they created an uproar in the city, and they said in their language, which was a mixture of Greek and Syrian:

"The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men," and they named Paul and Barnabas after their gods. Barnabas was tall, so they called him Jupiter; and Paul, being short and a gifted speaker, they called Mercury, because Mercury was supposed to preside over learning and eloquence.

To Offer Sacrifice

Some time after the meeting, the priests of Jupiter, who officiated in the temple of Jupiter that was in the city, decided to offer sacrifice to their gods as personified in Paul and Barnabas. So with the people, they gathered at the gates of the city, brought oxen and began to prepare to offer sacrifice.

Missionaries Protest.

When Paul and Barnabas heard of it, they ran among the people, and "rent their clothes" in protestation against such sacrifice. To rend their clothes was to express intense feeling and the people so understood it. Besides doing this they cried: "Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein."

Paul Stoned.

However, they could scarcely make the people refrain from worshiping them; but there were certain Jews there who had followed the missionaries from Antioch and Iconium, "who persuaded the people" that Paul and Barnabas were deceivers, and that the miracle which had been performed had been done by the power of the evil one. These Jews swayed the people to such an extent that instead of worshiping Paul and Barnabas, they picked up stones and stoned Paul until he fell to the earth, apparently dead. Thinking he was so, the mob then dragged his body out of the city and left it.

A Many Headed Monster.

What a many-headed monster this mob was! First they were ready to worship the men as gods, and then in just a few minutes became so bitter that they would stain their souls with murder! Shakespeare called such a crowd

"The blind monster, with uncounted heads.
The still discordant, wavering multitude."

Paul Regains Consciousness.

The mob dispersed, and around the still bleeding, silent body on the ground, stood the few intelligent, faithful disciples who had believed the true Gospel. How delighted and thankful they must have been when they saw Paul move, and later regain consciousness.

He had been stunned, but not seriously injured; so a little gentle nursing gave him strength to stand on his feet, and he walked back to the city.

Gaius.

The next day he left Lystra and traveled twenty miles to Derbe. Here he preached boldly and effectively, and converted many to the truth, among them a man by the name of Gaius, who proved to be a staunch and true friend to Paul and to the Church generally.

Another Branch Organized.

As they had done in other cities, so the missionaries did in Derbe—organized a branch of the Church and ordained elders over it. These they instructed, and met with them and with the Saints in fasting and prayer, "commended them to the Lord," and bade them goodby, for the time had come when the first missionaries from Antioch should return home.

Return Home.

They visited all the branches, preaching the Gospel, instructing, blessing, and comforting the Saints in Lystra and the regions round about. They then returned forty miles to Iconium and sixty miles back to Antioch in Pisidia. From there, they went to Perga in Pamphylia, and sailed from Attalia to Antioch in Syria.

Here the Saints gathered and bade them welcome, and heard the returned Elders report "all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles."