PAUL BEGINS HIS SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY

"Man should trust in God, as if God did all, and yet labor as earnestly as if he himself did all."

Paul Desires to Visit Branches.

After Silas and Judas Barsabas had remained in Antioch a short time "teaching and preaching the word of the Lord" with Paul and Barnabas and "many others also," Judas returned presumably to Jerusalem, but it "pleased Silas to abide there still." Two years had passed since Paul and Barnabas had returned from their first mission, and Paul felt impressed to visit again the churches they had established on that memorable tour. So one day he said to Barnabas. "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."

Disagreement.

To this Barnabas readily consented, but said, "Let us take my cousin John Mark along with us." "No," answered Paul, "it is not good to take Mark with us, because he turned back from us at Pamphylia, and went not with us to the work."

Separation.

But Barnabas knew why Mark had done that, and was sure he would not turn back this time. Paul, however, would not consent; so these two great missionaries agreed to separate, and each take his own companion. Barnabas chose John Mark, and Paul chose Silas. They probably also agreed that Barnabas and Mark should go to the churches on the islands, and Paul and Silas to those on the mainland.

We do not know that Paul and Barnabas ever met again, but Paul speaks of him afterwards as of an apostle actively engaged in his Master's service. Mark, too, in later years won Paul's confidence, for the latter speaks of him as his "fellow-laborer," and one "profitable to the ministry."

Barnabas and Mark at Cyprus.

Barnabas and Mark left first, and sailed to Cyprus, Barnabas' native island. Here Mark, too, would feel at home, for it was where he began his work as a missionary. Here we will leave them among the newly-made Christians, and follow Paul and Silas.

PROBABLE VISIT TO PAUL'S OLD HOME

These two missionaries started by land northward through "Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches." They had with them, of course, the decision of the Council which no doubt, gave a great deal of comfort to the Christian Gentiles in these branches.

Paul and Silas.

Just what particular cities Paul and Silas visited in Syria and Cilicia, we do not know; but there was one which Paul certainly would not pass by. Paul and That was his old home town Tarsus. If he had succeeded in establishing a church there, with what joy and satisfaction he would return to it now. Paul was always proud of Tarsus, and spoke of it later as "no mean city."^[1]

TIMOTHY. Instructed from childhood to read the scripture, and to lead a pure life.

TIMOTHY.
"Instructed from childhood to read the scripture, and to lead a pure life."

AT DERBE AND OTHER TOWNS

Derbe First.

On his first mission, Paul and Barnabas visited in order Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, Now he and Silas approach these towns from the opposite direction, and come to Derbe first, then to Lystra, then to Iconium.

Welcome at Lystra.

At Lystra he was welcomed by that beautiful character Eunice who was a Jewess, the mother of Timothy. Lois, her mother, would also greet Paul, and extend the glad hand to his companion Silas.

CALL AND ORDINATION OF TIMOTHY

Timothy True to Faith.

From the brethren at Iconium and Lystra, Paul learned that these good women and their noble young son Timothy had been true to the faith. He already knew that Timothy had been instructed from childhood to repeat the scripture and to live a pure life. Timothy had been one who had stood by him when the mob dragged him from the city and left him for dead, and now he finds still in the young man's heart the "unfeigned faith which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice." No wonder Paul said to the women "I desire Timothy to go forth with me."

Timothy Ordained.

The mother consented, and Timothy accepted the call, though scarcely twenty years of age. Accordingly, a meeting was held, and Paul ordained Timothy by "the laying on of hands" to be a missionary and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul afterwards called this young man his "own son in the Faith."^[2] This instance tends to confirm the truth of the Article of Faith which declares the belief of the Latter-day Saints that "a man must be called of God, by prophecy and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."

Towards Galatia.

After baptizing many more converts and establishing the churches in the faith, and undoubtedly visiting Antioch in Pisidia and other towns on the mainland where he and Barnabas had organized branches of the Church, Paul, Silas, and Timothy went in a northerly direction through "the region of Galatia."

Paul III.

While passing through here Paul was taken sick. What kind of sickness, whether it was "the thorn in the flesh" he mentions in one of his epistles, or some other bodily ailment, is not stated. Paul calls it an "infirmity of the flesh."^[3] But he was very sick, and was detained in Galatia seemingly against his will. In spite of sickness, however, he preached the Gospel to the people and many believed. How he loved the friends he made at that time, and appreciated their tender care, can be partly understood from a letter he wrote to them in which he said in effect, "When I was sick in your midst, ye despised me not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What was then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me."^[4] In that same letter he calls them his "little children,"^[5] and expresses a desire to be with them again to strengthen them in the Gospel.

Branches Established.

Before the missionaries left Galatia, even though Paul suffered in sickness, several new branches of the Church had been organized, and Paul's letter to these churches now forms part of the New Testament.

Westward.

Leaving Galatia, the three travelers continued westward toward the Aegean Sea, and "passing by Mysia came to Troas," the full name of which was Alexandria Troas.

Paul had his face turned toward Europe and from this place could look across the Aegean and see the "distant prospect of the Macedonian hills."

A Vision.

One evening he went to bed, perhaps wondering about the people who lived on the other side of the water and inspired with the feeling that the Lord desired him to go to them. There appeared to him, that night, a vision, in which "There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying,

"Come over into Macedonia, and help us."

Luke.

But before he took boat across, he and his companions had been joined by another faithful convert to whom you must now be introduced. It may be that Paul met him when Paul was sick, for the man was a physician, and could be of great service to him in his affliction. This new companion kept notes and afterwards wrote the "Acts of the Apostles" in which we learn most of the things we are telling you about. His name was Luke, called by Paul the "beloved Physician."

Over to Macedonia.

Paul told his vision to his brethren, and "immediately" Luke says, "we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them."

They sailed from Troas "with a straight course" across to Samothracia and "the next day to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi, the chief city of that part of Macedonia."

Footnotes:

1. Acts 21:39.2. I Tim. 1:2.3. Gal. 4:13.4. Gal. 4:13-15.5. Gal. 2:19.