Having preached the Word at Salamis, Barnabas and Saul, with Mark, journeyed on, proclaiming their good tidings in every village. "And when they had gone through the isle," they came unto Paphos, the chief city, situated on the western coast of Cyprus. Here the "deputy of the country," that is, the magistrate or governor appointed by the Roman Emperor, resided: this deputy, whose name was Sergius Paulus, was himself a Roman and a heathen; but he was "a prudent man," that is, a man of good sense and understanding; therefore, when he heard of Barnabas and Saul teaching new and wonderful doctrines, he was anxious to hear and judge for himself as to their truth: he therefore "called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God." But Sergius Paulus had with him, as his friend and adviser, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: he was also called Elymas, because he was looked upon as a sorcerer or magician, and the word "Elymas" means something of that sort. This man, who pretended to be a prophet, and to have power to work miracles, did not at all wish that Christianity should spread; and seeing that the Roman governor was inclined to believe what the Apostles taught, he contradicted them, "withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." For this conduct Saul reproved him severely, pronouncing upon him a heavy punishment: we read, "Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord." He saw that the Apostles were far superior to Elymas, who could not save himself; and he at once believed all that they taught, convinced that God was indeed with them.

We have read, "then Saul, who also is called Paul"; and we find that from this time he is never again spoken of in Scripture by the name of Saul. As the Bible does not tell us why his name was changed, we cannot be sure; but there are several reasons which may have caused the change. First, Sergius Paulus was the first idolatrous Gentile mentioned as having become a Christian, and it is very probable that the Apostle had the name of Paul (which is the same as Paulus) given to him, in remembrance of this act of mercy shown to the Gentiles by God. Then, again, the Jews, particularly those who like Paul were not born in the land of JudÆa, often had a Roman as well as a Hebrew name given to them; and they called themselves by either, according to the custom of the people amongst whom they went. Some persons think that the Apostle now chose the name of Paul, which means "little" or "weak," instead of that of Saul, meaning "beloved" or "desirable." Paul was now humble; he felt that he was weak, and that whatever he might be able to do, could be done only by the power of the Holy Ghost, directing and helping him. But whatever the cause may be, it is certain that from this time he is always called Paul—a name much more pleasing to the Gentiles, amongst whom he was appointed to teach, than the Hebrew appellation of Saul. The remaining chapters of the Book of Acts give us the account of the Five Journeys made by this Apostle, in order to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles: of the other Apostles we hear but little. We generally speak of the Apostles and Evangelists as St. Peter, St. John, St. Paul, St. Matthew, St. Luke, &c. "Saint" means good and holy; and we may well call the Apostles so, to distinguish them from other men; for they were holy men, inspired and guided in a peculiar way by the Holy Ghost, and we should, therefore, speak of them and think of them with reverence; remembering, that by their preaching and writings, we, and all mankind, have learnt the blessed tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ. St. Paul was now on his first journey, in company with St. Barnabas; and St. Mark was with them. From Paphos they sailed to Perga, in Pamphylia, a country in the southern part of Asia Minor. The Scripture tells us that here John, or St. Mark as we call him, "departing from them, returned to Jerusalem." Why he did this, we are not told; but from what we read in other parts of Scripture, we are sure that he did wrong. He was a young man, and probably he was discouraged by the idea of all the difficulties and hardships which the Apostles must meet with. After the departure of St. Mark, St. Paul and St. Barnabas travelled northward into the province of Pisidia, where there was also a town called Antioch, built, like Antioch in Syria, by Seleucus Nicanor, who was king of Syria after the death of Alexander the Great. Seleucus gave the name of Antioch to these cities, in memory of his father Antiochus. When the Apostles came to Antioch in Pisidia, they "went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." We have already learnt that the Jews were required to set up a synagogue, in any place where ten men could meet for public worship; and that every synagogue had its rulers: men respectable both from age and character, who directed the services, and had some authority over other members of the congregation. On the Sabbath morning, two lessons were appointed to be read: one out of the Law, or Books of Moses; the other from the writings of the Prophets: on week-day mornings, the Law only was read. After these Lessons had been read, it was customary for some Teacher or Rabbi to preach or speak to the people: and if any strange teacher or learned man happened to be present, he was often called upon by the rulers of the synagogue, to perform this part of the service. Even if the rulers of the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, knew nothing before this of the Apostles, they would see at once that they were Rabbis or Teachers, because they "sat down," which was customary for all belonging to this class: probably, too, they sat down in the seats expressly set apart for the Doctors and Teachers.

Being invited by the rulers of the synagogue to "say on," if they had "any word of exhortation for the people," the Apostles gladly seized the opportunity of speaking to them of Jesus, and exhorting them to believe in Him. "Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand," to draw the attention of the congregation, "said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience," that is, listen to my words. By the "men of Israel," St. Paul meant Jews born of Jewish parents, the real descendants of Abraham: by "ye that fear God," he meant proselytes from the Gentiles who had adopted the Jewish religion, though they were not Jews by birth. Both equally needed to be taught the Gospel, and St. Paul, calling upon both to listen, spake of the bringing of the Children of Israel out of Egypt; of the mercy of God shown to them in their wanderings, in spite of all their sins; and of their final settlement in the land of Canaan. He then mentioned their government by Judges, until, at the wish of the people, God gave them a king in the person of Saul, who was succeeded by David, a man favoured by the Lord. St. Paul then went on to explain that God had, according to His promise, raised up from David's seed or descendants, a Saviour in the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom John the Baptist had borne testimony; but that the Jews and their rulers had put Him to death: thus fulfilling the prophecies, though, if they had attended to their meaning, they would have understood that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah. St. Paul then proceeded to show that God had fulfilled all His promises, as written in the Psalms or elsewhere, by raising Jesus from the dead; adding, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." None could be justified, or accounted righteous by the law, because none could keep all its commandments and ordinances; but those who believed in Jesus as their Saviour, would for His sake, be looked upon as righteous. Having thus preached to the congregation the great Gospel truth of remission of sins, St. Paul warned his hearers not to disregard his words, lest the sentence pronounced by one of their prophets, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish," should fall upon them.

The words of St. Paul made an impression upon some part of his hearers; for when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles, that is, the Jewish proselytes from the Gentiles, besought that these words might be preached to them again. Many of the Jews and religious proselytes also followed Paul and Barnabas, when the congregation was broken up, and were persuaded by the Apostles to hold fast the blessed truths, which by the grace of God they had learnt.

The fame of St. Paul's preaching, mean time, spread rapidly, "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy," fearing lest the Gospel, which they rejected, should be believed by others; and therefore they "spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." Then Paul and Barnabas plainly told these Jews, that they had begun by preaching the word of God to them, because such was the Will of God; but, as they wilfully refused the salvation thus offered to them, they should now, in obedience to the same God, turn to the Gentiles, and bring the heathens into the Church of Christ, Who was to "be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." The Gentiles, the idolatrous Gentiles, who now for the first time forsook their idols, as well as those who had already turned from idolatry to worship the God of the Jews, were very glad when they heard this, "and glorified the word of the Lord"; and many of them believed. This made the Jews very angry, and they "stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts." The devout and honourable women were female proselytes of rank, who had great influence over the lower classes in the city. By their false accusations, the unbelieving Jews managed to stir up the higher class of citizens and the rulers of the city, to persecute the Apostles and drive them out of their country. "But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium," a town to the S.E. of Antioch, in the province of Lycaonia. We must remember, that when Jesus first gave commandment to His Apostles to go and preach to the Jews, He told them that when they left any house or city, where the people refused to hear them, they were to shake off the dust of their feet, to show that they would have nothing more to do with them: just as the Jews, who looked upon the dust of heathen lands to be polluted, shook it off their garments, to signify that they had nothing to do with such idolaters. But the disciples, who were left at Antioch, "were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." They rejoiced in the knowledge of those blessed truths which they had learnt from the Apostles; and the Holy Ghost was abundantly shed upon the members of the infant Church at Antioch, encouraging and assisting them to increase in faith and righteousness of life.