Timothy had paid attention to the teaching of his mother, praying for grace to perceive and know what things he ought to do; and striving earnestly to fulfil the same: and now, St. Paul, seeing that such a young man would be most useful in preaching both to Jews and Gentiles, "would have him to go forth with him" on his journey: and he "took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek."

As the son of a Jewess, Timothy would be supposed to have been circumcised; and the Jews, finding that this was not the case, and knowing that his father had been a heathen, would probably have been unwilling to listen to him; and thus his usefulness would have been sadly interfered with. Circumcision, in Timothy's case, was unnecessary, but there was nothing wrong in it; and therefore, to avoid giving offence to the Jews, St. Paul acted as we have heard. Taking Timothy with him, St. Paul now continued his journey. "And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the Apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem," that is, the decrees concerning the observance of the Law of Moses by the Gentiles. And so were the Churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

After preaching the Gospel in Phrygia and Galatia, St. Paul and his companions would have gone into other parts of Asia Minor, but the Spirit of God made it known to them, that they were not to do so: they went therefore to Troas, a sea-port quite in the northern part of the Archipelago. Here St. Paul's little band of followers was increased, for St. Luke joined them; and from this time, in relating what happened, St. Luke writes "we" and "us," showing that he was one of those concerned in the events he describes. Besides writing the Book of Acts, St. Luke wrote the Gospel which bears his name. We know nothing of St. Luke, except that he was a Jew and a physician: he was probably a native of Antioch, in Syria. St. Luke tells us that, at Troas, St. Paul saw in a vision a man of Macedonia, who stood and prayed him, saying, "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." St. Paul, rightly looking upon this as a call from God, immediately embarked on board a ship, and sailing by the island of Samothracia, landed at Neapolis, a sea-port of Thracia. Macedonia had once been a separate kingdom, but the Romans, who had in the Apostles' time got possession of all that country called Greece, had divided the whole into two great parts: one of these contained Macedonia, Thessaly, and Epirus, but went by the name of Macedonia: the other division, called Achaia, contained the rest of Greece, including the Peloponnesus.

From Neapolis St. Paul proceeded to Philippi, which was "the chief city of that part of Macedonia," and a Roman colony: that is, it was peopled or inhabited by the descendants of Romans, who had been placed there by Julius CÆesar and by the Emperor Augustus. The place had got the name of Philippi long before, from Philip then king of Macedonia, who repaired the buildings of the city, and added many handsome new ones. Philip was the father of Alexander the Great, a famous king, of whom we read much in ancient history. Both Philip and Alexander lived and died more than 300 years before Jesus Christ was born.

St. Paul and his companions remained some time at Philippi; and St. Luke says, "on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither."

Besides the synagogues, or buildings for public worship, the Jews had also, in every place where they took up their residence, smaller buildings or oratories, to which people might constantly resort for the purposes of prayer. These oratories were generally built in the fields, or by the side of a stream. To one of these oratories, close to the city of Philippi, St. Paul and his companions went, that they might speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who went there to worship the Lord God of Israel. Amongst their first converts was "a certain woman named Lydia," a native of the city of Thyatira, in Asia Minor, but resident in Philippi for the purposes of trade. Scripture says, she was a "seller of purple": what this may mean, we do not exactly know; but it probably means, that she sold some fine materials for female dress. At any rate, she had become a "proselyte of the gate," and worshipped God: and the Lord "opened her heart," so "that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul," with a sincere desire to learn; and in consequence became a real convert to Christianity, inducing all the members of her family to follow her example. "And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there." Eager to show her sincerity by doing something for the service of God, she now anxiously sought to be of use to the messengers of Jesus for their Lord's sake; and entreated them to take up their abode in her house.

St. Luke adds, "And she constrained us"—that is, so urged and entreated, as to force them to do as she wished. We now read, "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying."

This damsel seems to have been a slave, who, being possessed by an evil spirit, spake in a mysterious way, foretelling future events: and as the heathens were great believers in such things, many of them consulted this unfortunate girl, and gave her money for exercising her powers. This money went to her masters, to whom she thus brought much gain. The Lord now chose this damsel, to give a proof that He can constrain even evil spirits to bear testimony to the truth of Christ's religion; for St. Luke says, "The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."

The damsel at Philippi, though under the influence of the evil spirit, was constrained by a higher power to bear evidence to the truth of doctrines, calculated to overthrow the empire of Satan. "And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved" to see her under the dominion of an evil spirit, "turned, and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour": thus putting an end to all future soothsaying. "And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone," they were greatly enraged, and "caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the market-place unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans." Such an accusation was sure to gain immediate attention from the magistrates, or governors of the city, as the Roman Emperors were very severe in any cases of rebellion or opposition, in their distant provinces: and though there was at that time no express law against Christianity, there was a law requiring all persons to worship the gods of the country; and Christianity was, of course, opposed to all idolatrous practices. Covetousness, or a sinful love of money, is, we are told, the root of much evil: the masters of the damsel cared not how much St. Paul preached the Gospel, as long as it did not interfere with their gains; but as soon as it did, they raised an outcry against the Apostles. Now let us remember that covetousness, or an eager desire for our own gain, whether of riches, honours, or pleasures, is just as great a sin now, as it was when the Scriptures were first written; and let us try never to let any thoughts of our own advantage or gain, lead us to do or allow what we know to be wrong; or prevent our doing what we feel is right. These men succeeded in their persecution of Paul and Silas, for "the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates," without further consideration, "rent off their clothes," preparatory to their being scourged, "and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely." The jailor, having received so special a charge, determined to keep it: and therefore "thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks"—a machine fixed to the floor, having round holes just to go round the ancles, so that when it was shut upon them, it was quite impossible for the poor prisoners to move. Now imagine the sufferings of St. Paul and his companion: bleeding and smarting from the severe wounds made by the scourge, and their feet so confined, that they could get no ease by any change of posture! We might expect to find them lamenting over their terrible sufferings, or, at least, praying to God to deliver them. But the Scripture tells us, "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God": their faith was great; they rejoiced to suffer for the sake of Jesus, and they praised God for all His wondrous works: they sang from their hearts with loud voice, and the other "prisoners heard them." No doubt such joyful songs, from the lips of those whom they knew to be in pain, surprised their fellow prisoners, who had soon a greater cause for astonishment. The prayers and praises of Paul and Silas went up to God: "And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled." The jailor knew full well, that if the prisoners under his charge had escaped from prison, he would surely be put to death by the Roman magistrates; and, to avoid the disgrace of such a death, he was about to kill himself. Being a heathen, he did not know, as Christians do, that it is a fearful sin to put an end to our own lives: and therefore, rather than be punished for a fault of which he was not guilty, he prepared to kill himself. "But Paul," knowing his intention, "cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling." Having thus convinced himself that his prisoners were indeed still in the prison, the jailor felt at once that the Apostles were certainly holy men, the messengers of God. No doubt he knew that for preaching the Gospel they had been cast into prison, and the wonderful things which he had now seen, convinced him that all they had said was true: therefore he "fell down" on his knees "before Paul and Silas, and brought them out" of prison, "and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." What blessed words! and then they doubtless explained to him that the faith here spoken of, meant such a belief in Jesus, as would lead to repentance for all sin so displeasing to Him, and make men strive to do all in their power to please Him: for to believe the Gospel, means to do all that the Gospel teaches. Such, no doubt, was the Apostles' teaching, as "they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." The jailor showed his gratitude to the Apostles by doing all he could for their relief and comfort: for "he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes." "And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." Convinced and truly converted from the errors of idolatry to a belief of the truth as it is in Jesus, the jailor of Philippi with his family were at once admitted as members of the Christian Church; he "was baptized, he and all his, straightway."