'M^yy'-^-':) 
 

 
 ! 0,, ^f. . . TT^r ?* " *• 
 
MINOR CHARACTERS OF THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 fc^srO^^ 
 
MINOR CHARACTERS OF THE 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM BROCK, 
 
 MINISTER OF HEATH STREET CHAPEL. 
 
 HAMPSTEAD. 
 
 LONDON: 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1877. 
 
Elzevir Press : — Printed by John C. IVilkins, 
 g, Castle Street, Chancery Lane. 
 
^ICo'r•:^/ 
 
 CONTENTS. . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Ananias of Damascus i 
 
 II. Barnabas 14 
 
 III. John Mark 28 
 
 IV. TiiMOTHEUs 43 
 
 V. Luke 58 
 
 VI. Aquila and Priscilla 72 
 
 VII. Epaphroditus OF Philippi 86 
 
 VIII. The Household of Stephanas. ... 100 
 
 IX. Phcebe of Cenchrea 113 
 
 X. Onesiphorus of Ephesus 125 
 
 XI. Philemon and Onesimus 137 
 
 XII. The Salutations in the Epistle to 
 
 the Romans 150 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 FIELD of study, animating 
 in its pursuit, and almost in- 
 definite in its extent, is to be 
 found among the secondary or subordinate 
 characters of the Old and New Testament. 
 Behind the more prominent figures of 
 patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, vivid 
 glimpses are to be obtained of many 
 a true and noble nature, cast into com- 
 
viii PRE FA CE. 
 
 parative shadow by the brilliance of those 
 greater lights. 
 
 An ordinary reader, with little help be- 
 yond that of his Concordance, may readily 
 construct out of scattered allusions in the 
 Gospels or the Epistles, the outline of 
 biographies, full of an intrinsic interest, 
 and fruitful in suggestions for modern 
 thought and life. The present volume 
 offers only a very limited selection from 
 the materials at the disposal of the in- 
 quirer ; and, in order to give some coher- 
 ence to its pages, the characters presented 
 are drawn entirely from among the friends 
 and comrades of the Apostle Paul. 
 
 If a few readers of the Bible are 
 stimulated to become more diligent stu- 
 
PRE FA CE. ix 
 
 dents of its pages, and if some half-hours 
 of the Sunday afternoon are redeemed 
 from Hstlessness and languor, the expecta- 
 tions of the writer will be amply fulfilled. 
 
ON 
 
 SOME OF THE MINOR CHARACTERS 
 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 I. 
 ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 • Scripture references : Acts ix. 1-19; xxii. 1-16. 
 
 jOST readers of these pages have, at 
 one time or another, watched a Httle 
 steam-tug busily towing some great 
 sailing ship down stream or out of harbour into 
 the deep broad sea. To the spectator's eye, the 
 tug is almost extinguished by the giant hull that 
 floats behind. It returns unnoticed into port, 
 while, observed of all observers, the big ship 
 B 
 
2 ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 spreads her white sails to the breeze, and, Hke 
 a noble bird upon the wing, speeds her silent 
 but majestic flight across the waves. 
 
 The conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and the 
 glorious work which he afterwards achieved, are 
 among the household words of our Christian 
 communities, and the fundamental evidences of 
 our Christian faith. Every one is familiar with 
 the start of that goodly vessel, with the voyages 
 it made, and the precious cargoes which it 
 carried back. But that ship also had its steam- 
 tug. There was one man made by God the 
 instrument of drawing Saul out, as a new crea- 
 ture in Christ Jesus, on his apostolic career. He 
 appears at the crisis, does the work appointed to 
 him, then vanishes, and we see him no more. 
 What information we possess is to be gathered 
 from the two. parallel accounts given in the 
 ninth and twenty-second chapters of the Acts 
 of the Apostles. The result is full of interest, 
 and cannot be devoid of instruction. 
 
 " There was a certain disciple at Damascus, 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 3 
 
 named Ananias." Damascus ! The name carries 
 us away across the Syrian desert to that ancient 
 city, seated between its rushing streams, and in 
 its fair oasis of grove and garden. How a 
 Christian Church had grown together there we 
 know not ; but some of the scattered disciples 
 may have fled thither after Stephen's death, and 
 converts were doubtless added to them from 
 among the native Jews, who formed a numerous 
 and powerful synagogue. Thus far Jews and 
 Christians seem to have lived on peaceable and 
 even friendly terms, far removed from the heats 
 and controversies of Jerusalem. Ananias him- 
 self was universally respected. He was known 
 as " a devout man according to the law," and 
 " had a good report of all the Jews which dwelt 
 in Damascus." Such are the men whom our 
 Lord loves to employ upon His errands, men of 
 unblemished character, " sanctified and meet for 
 the Master's use, and prepared unto every good 
 work." 
 
 It does not follow that Ananias held any official 
 
4 ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 position in the church at Damascus. Tradition, 
 indeed, has made him its bishop, and given him 
 a history, crowned with a martyr's death ; but 
 the conjecture is without foundation. We have 
 quite as much right to consider him a private 
 Christian, with no special gift of public speech 
 or pastoral authority, but holding the warrant 
 which belongs, as we conceive, to all disciples, 
 to preach the gospel, to assure the anxious of 
 forgiveness, and to baptize the believer. The 
 kind of commission which was now to be con- 
 fided to Ananias is only what may come to any- 
 one of us, and for which we should seek to be 
 prepared. True, the Lord spoke to him " in a 
 vision ;" but He may speak with equal emphasis 
 by the whisper of His Spirit, or the indication of 
 His providence ; and our attitude, like his, must 
 be that of the girded loins and watchful eye — 
 " Behold, I am here. Lord." 
 
 The work prepared for Ananias is now un- 
 folded to him. A long street, straight as an 
 arrow, used to run through the heart of Damas- 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 5 
 
 cus from cast to west, and the line of it, though 
 much broken, can still be traced. In that " street 
 called Straight " stood a certain house, belonging 
 to a well-known citizen, " the house of Judas ; " 
 and in that house there lies a blind man, wanting 
 help, which Ananias is to give. The man is 
 expecting him, indeed ; for he too has had a 
 vision, and it was a vision of such an one coming 
 in, and laying healing hands upon his darkened 
 eyes. And mark the motive urged for going. 
 " Behold, he prayeth ; " that is the sight which 
 attracts the eye of the Lord, and ought to kindle 
 the zeal of the disciples. Are you beginning to 
 pray t Do the feelings of your heart find vent 
 in broken sighs and w^hispered w^ords of suppli- 
 cation } The ear of Christ has caught the sound. 
 It comes floating up to the high heavens, through 
 all the thunder of the angels' adoration, and the 
 ceaseless murmur of the universe, heard as surely 
 as an infant's cry reaches the mother's ear amidst 
 the bustle of the house. He turns at the call, 
 and His eye is straightway bent on the city, the 
 
6 ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 street, the house, the very room where you kneel 
 in prayer. He sees you ; and where the eye of 
 Jesus rests, there His heart. His hands, His feet 
 are swift to follow. He will stir up some Ana- 
 nias to come with words of help to you. 
 
 The street is called Straight, the house is the 
 house of Judas, and so far all is plain ; but the 
 man in the house — what is his name } The 
 sound of his name fell like a thunderbolt ; 
 " inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus." A 
 name too familiar in Christian ears ! Saul, the 
 bigoted Pharisee, the furious persecutor, the 
 blasphemer who taught others also to blaspheme ! 
 It was he who had stood prominent at Stephen's 
 martyrdom, and who then, like a young tiger 
 that had tasted blood, flew at the flock, and 
 carried havoc, desolation, and death into the 
 very heart of the Church. He had come to 
 Damascus on the same brutal work, with author- 
 ity to bind and imprison every Christian Jew. 
 Shall Ananias put his head into the tiger's 
 mouth 1 Shall he carry the pearl of the gospel 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 7 
 
 and cast it down at the feet of its bitterest 
 calumniator ? " Lord, I have heard by many of 
 this man," and I had rather not have anything 
 to do with him ! How often has the same answer 
 started to our Hps at some distasteful call of 
 duty. What is the use of exposing ourselves to 
 insult and opposition ? What but a miracle of 
 grace will make such a man believe ? 
 
 But these difficult errands are really our noblest 
 opportunities. " Go thy way," Ananias ; thou art 
 to have part in a work with the fame of which 
 the world shall ring ! That persecutor is already 
 turned from his fierce purpose ; he has before 
 him the destiny of a Christian apostle and 
 martyr; he is to witness for the faith before 
 kings and in distant heathen lands, and to suffer 
 to the very death for the name which he before 
 blasphemed. " He is a chosen vessel unto me." 
 To that devout disciple it is granted to take Saul 
 of Tarsus by the hand, to introduce him into the 
 Church, and to send him forth upon his mission 
 of self-sacrifice. May there be no such honours 
 
a ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 waiting for us ? John Bunyan was first en- 
 lightened by the simple Christian talk of some 
 poor women, spinning on the summer's evening 
 at their cottage doors. Sir Hope Grant is said to 
 have been brought out of utter indifference by 
 overhearing a group of private soldiers at prayer. 
 The mouse lets loose the lion. Only let us culti- 
 vate simplicity and faith, and yield a prompt 
 obedience to the call of duty, and to us too may 
 fall some glorious trophy of divine favour ; for 
 the wolf, and the leopard, and the young Hon 
 shall lie down together in the kingdom of our 
 Lord, " and a little child shall lead them." 
 
 Brave believer as he was, Ananias went his 
 way, reached the house, and found the man. He 
 seems Hke some skilful and friendly physician in 
 his treatment of the difficult case. He shows us 
 how to deal with the anxious and inquiring who 
 may come under our eyes and seek aid at our 
 hands. 
 
 The first thing that strikes us is the tenderness 
 of his treatment. Here stands Ananias, face to 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 9 
 
 face with Saul the persecutor. Before him Hes 
 the man whose hands have been imbrued in 
 Christian blood, and in whose wily head have 
 been ripening cruel schemes for the extermination 
 of the Church. He would have had Ananias 
 himself in prison before now, if he had not been 
 hindered. But it is all forgotten and forgiven by 
 his visitor. Friendly hands are laid on those 
 blind eyes, and a voice, full of pathos and pity, 
 falls gently on the waiting ears. " Brother Saul ! " 
 It was the very salutation with which one Chris- 
 tian was wont to salute another. It breathed so 
 different a spirit from the stiff and rigid Phari- 
 saism of Judaea. It seemed to take in the poor 
 forlorn sinner to a family fireside, with its warmth 
 and light. Ay, if we want to do men good, they 
 must be our " brothers " too. Never stand, like 
 some old pillar-saint, on your high pedestal of 
 virtue, and talk down to the people at your feet. 
 Go and sit at their side ; put your hands on 
 them ; make them feel at home with you ; and 
 even if you have to do with the most wicked, 
 
lo ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 speak to him as man to man, on the common 
 footing of the love of God. 
 
 There is, moreover, a certain cheerful assurance 
 to be noted in the tone which Ananias takes. 
 He might have come to that chief of sinners 
 robed in the blackness of darkness, and with 
 stern words of condemnation on his lips. He 
 comes with words of hope and with acts of bless- 
 ing ; "that thoumightest receive thy sight, and 
 be filled with the Holy Ghost." He comes to 
 tell him of the great mission on which he is to 
 go, and the honour to be put upon him, as 
 Christ's witness to the heathen world. The 
 falling of the scales from Saul's eyes was but a 
 symbol of the spiritual enlightenment which 
 Ananias was permitted to bring to his benighted 
 soul. Pardon and peace with God ; mercy 
 abounding over the darkest guilt, and melting 
 the hardest heart ; blessed service to spring from 
 the joy of such salvation, and to be graciously 
 accepted : this is the message which he bears, 
 even to such an one as Saul. May I bear it, in 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. ii 
 
 my turn ? May I go to penitent men, and tell 
 them of absolution and acceptance ? What a 
 commission we Christians have, and with what 
 alacrity should it be done ! Happy must be the 
 surgeon who with delicate skill can give sight 
 back to the blinded eye, and bid it look out once 
 more on sky and earth, and springing flowers, 
 and human faces. But higher and happier still 
 the calling of the disciple, who may carry his 
 ]\Iaster's gospel to the bewildered heart, who may 
 see the light of heaven dawn out of its dark- 
 ness, and send forth a brother man rejoicing on 
 his pilgrimage to the eternal sunshine of heaven. 
 Nor will Ananias reckon his task complete 
 because he has shown his sympathy and delivered 
 his message of mercy. There is a practical wis- 
 dom and faithfulness in his ministry to Saul well 
 worthy our imitation. We preach the gospel to 
 men, and then too often we let them go. We 
 are so afraid of the taunt of proselytizing that 
 we half shrink even from speaking of baptism or 
 Church membership to the objects of our Christian 
 
12 ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS, 
 
 anxiety. The result is that there are so many- 
 converts who float from church to church, or who 
 affect to be above all human fellowships of re- 
 ligion. It matters much to a young disciple that 
 he should be clearly told what to do next. It 
 mattered much to Saul. And now to his own 
 eager inquiry, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
 do } " comes the appropriate answer, " Arise and 
 be baptized," as a pledge of faith and a token of 
 forgiveness ; and then, " join thyself to the dis- 
 ciples." Was it not a joyful day when Ananias 
 entered the Christian assembly, leading by the 
 hand that changed and humbled man, and wit- 
 nessed the good profession which he made } 
 And have you found an anxious soul, and been 
 the means of guiding it to Christ } That is good ; 
 but now complete your work. Bring your friend 
 into the Church. Bring him among fellow- 
 Christians, whose experience may instruct and 
 edify him, and with whom he may find a spiritual 
 home. Prevail on him to settle down as a 
 member of some such brotherhood. Some indeed 
 
ANANIAS OF DAMASCUS. 13 
 
 may accuse you of being animated by a sectarian 
 or party bias. Others may despise you for what 
 they call your want of breadth. But your Lord 
 will see the singleness of your aim, and honour 
 it ; and your brother will live to bless you for not 
 leaving him to wander in the wilderness, but 
 bringing him within the camp, where the tribes 
 of Israel are gathered, and the ark of the Lord 
 abides. 
 
II. 
 
 BARNABAS. 
 
 Scripture references : Acts iv. 34-37 ; ix. 26-28 ; xi. 19-26 ; 
 xiii. xiv. XV. ; Gal. ii. 1-13. 
 
 it^^^^^^^ECOND names, or surnames, become 
 necessary as soon as men attempt 
 to force themselves into societies. 
 They are then no longer adequately distinguished 
 by the simple "James" or "John," for others 
 also bear the same name. Some personal cha- 
 racteristic, therefore, has in each case to be 
 selected : the trade, or the stature, or the com- 
 plexion, or the disposition of the man will sug- 
 gest a title for him ; he becomes known to his 
 fellows as James the Smith, or as John the 
 
BARNABAS. 15 
 
 Black, and probably transmits the surname to 
 his posterity. 
 
 When our Lord chooses his apostles, they 
 have to be distinguished in this way. There is 
 Judas Iscariot, and there is Judas the brother of 
 James. There is Simon Zelotes, and there is 
 Simon surnamed Peter. Thomas is called Didy- 
 mus. James and John are known as the sons 
 of Zebedee, or by a name of the Lord's own 
 bestowment, the sons of Thunder. After the 
 Ascension, the apostles in their turn give sur- 
 names to many of their more eminent fellow- 
 labourers. We have an instance in hand in 
 which the second name has not only taken the 
 place of the first, but thrust it almost out of 
 recollection. " Joses, who by the apostles was 
 surnamed Barnabas," is from that time known 
 as Barnabas alone. For Joses was one of the 
 commonest Jewish names, and Barnabas had a 
 meaning peculiarly characteristic of the man. 
 Our English translation interprets it as "the 
 son of consolation." Take '' consolation " in a 
 
i6 BARNABAS. 
 
 strong sense, and that is right. The word em- 
 ployed is elsewhere rendered "exhortation." It 
 answers to the old English use of " comfort," in 
 the sense of strengthening, as well as soothing, 
 as we have it in the phrase, " the Comforter, 
 which is the Holy Ghost." Perhaps we shall 
 best understand the name by surveying the 
 incidents of the history. 
 
 We know little of the antecedents of Bar- 
 nabas. He was a native of Cyprus, the island 
 that to the Hebrew vision lay like the first 
 stepping-stone across the great sea to the 
 lands of the Gentiles. Its population was partly 
 Greek, partly Oriental ; and the kind of educa- 
 tion which such a society would afford may 
 have helped to make Barnabas a broader man 
 than those Jews who had been born and bred 
 in the closer atmosphere of Jerusalem. But he 
 was himself a Jew, and of the tribe of Levi. Tra- 
 dition marks him out as among the seventy sent 
 forth by Christ. In fact, he may have been one 
 of the first-fruits of the apostolic preaching at 
 
BARNABAS. 17 
 
 Pentecost. Some of those converts, we know, 
 were " men of Cyprus and Cyrcne." 
 
 His first appearance has more of action in it 
 than of speech. It was at the moment when, 
 under the fresh impulses of their awakening, 
 the disciples who had " houses or lands " were 
 parting with their property for the relief of their 
 poorer brethren, suddenly cut off from the ordi- 
 nary means of maintenance. Conspicuous among 
 these was Barnabas ; for " having an estate, he 
 sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at 
 the apostles' feet." He is the only man men- 
 tioned by name among those generous givers. 
 Was it because what he did, he did with such 
 heartiness and genuine humility as to serve for 
 an example to the whole Church } It was a 
 good beginning for a Christian ministry. " Let 
 us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in 
 deed and in truth." 
 
 The interest deepens as we proceed. Six or 
 seven years have passed, and the Church has 
 scarcely recovered from the shock of the great 
 C 
 
i8 BARNABAS. 
 
 persecution. Barnabas is still in Jerusalem, oc- 
 cupying a position which enables him to take 
 a most important part at a critical time. An 
 unlooked-for and almost unwelcome proselyte 
 has presented himself. It is Saul, the Pharisee, 
 the notorious persecutor who has sworn to ex- 
 tirpate the sect of the Nazarenes, root and 
 branch, from the sacred soil. Converted at 
 Damascus, he applies for fellowship at Jeru- 
 salem. But he finds himself an object of alarm 
 and undisguised mistrust. The disciples will 
 not believe him. The apostles hesitate to move. 
 The way is opening for a schism, the most fatal 
 we can conceive, between them and this " last of 
 the apostles," who seeks their sympathy indeed, 
 but who can dispense with it, strong in his own 
 independent authority, and in the promised 
 presence of the Lord. There was needed at that 
 moment some well-known and trusted leader, 
 liberal and large-hearted enough to become 
 surety for the former persecutor, and to stand 
 his friend. That friend was found in Barnabas. 
 
BARNABAS. 19 
 
 It was he who joined Peter's hand with Paul's. 
 It was he who told the tale of the wonderful 
 conversion, in such a manner as to dissolve all 
 doubt. The " son of consolation " appears here 
 at his appropriate work, reconciling those op- 
 posing forces with the sweet reasonableness of 
 his own gentler spirit. 
 
 He was selected, shortly afterwards, for a mis- 
 sion in which the same spirit would find scope. 
 Tidings had reached the apostles of strange 
 successes attending the gospel in Antioch, the 
 famous Greek city in Northern Syria. Some of 
 the scattered brethren had been "preaching the 
 Lord Jesus " to the heathen population there, 
 and the number of conversions had been sur- 
 prising. The church at Jerusalem was not pre- 
 pared for such an event. The baptism of Cor- 
 nelius had indeed opened the door to heathen 
 men ; but that was in obedience to a direct 
 revelation from heaven to the chief of the 
 apostles, and this larger movement appeared 
 unauthorized, and might prove unwarranted. 
 
20 BARNABAS. 
 
 Barnabas was accordingly chosen to visit the 
 spot, and make inquiry : and to Antioch he 
 went. Now it is not altogether easy for any 
 man to give unstinted commendation to a work 
 in which he himself has had no share. The 
 critic's habit is apt to be too strong, even for 
 the Christian. He will expatiate on the objection- 
 able incidents of the awakening rather than on 
 its solid success. He will point out what might 
 have been done better, rather than what has 
 been done well. Finely in contrast with that 
 tendency stands out the candid and generous 
 behaviour of Barnabas. He "saw the grace of 
 God ; " a divine work, which none could over- 
 throw, which none might overlook. He " was 
 glad," with an unfeigned delight, and expressed 
 himself in terms of warm congratulation and 
 approval. Nay, he threw his own energies into 
 the glorious enterprise, and " exhorted them all 
 that with purpose of heart they would cleave 
 to the Lord." When he departed he left many 
 further converts added to the infant church, and 
 
BARNABAS. 21 
 
 an impression of his own character which the 
 narrative preserves in the memorable words, 
 '' He was a good man, and full of the Holy 
 Ghost and of faith." The son of exhortation 
 has proved also the son of comfort, of edifica- 
 tion, of strength. 
 
 There is no room to enlarge upon the weighty 
 controversies and the perilous missionary jour- 
 neys, in which, shortly after the incidents last 
 noticed, Barnabas became associated with Paul. 
 It was by his urgency that Paul was brought from 
 the seclusion of his native Tarsus, and intro- 
 duced to the field of work which lay ready for 
 him in Antioch. It was through his generous 
 co-operation that the ministry of the Apostle of 
 the Gentiles found favourable opportunities of 
 exercise. But from that hour the lustre of his 
 name begins to pale beside the fervent and for- 
 ward energy of his incomparable companion. 
 He is no longer " the chief speaker." The prac- 
 tical command passes gradually into the stronger 
 hands of Paul. While Paul is represented by 
 
22 BARNABAS. 
 
 the historian as on a conquering march through 
 heathen lands, Barnabas retires into the obscurity 
 of his native island, and is heard of no more. 
 Some would even see in the account of their 
 separation the evidence of a growing envy on the 
 part of Barnabas, unable longer to endure his in 
 ferior position. We may read that account, how- 
 ever, in another light. We find in the history no 
 trace of any jealousy ; but rather tokens of a noble 
 modesty, akin to that of the Baptist when he 
 drew back into the shade before the perfect light 
 of Christ. This man, who, when others shunned 
 Paul, had become his patron and protector, laying 
 him under no common obligation, is now content 
 to yield the precedence, and to walk loyally and 
 lovingly at his side. There was no backward- 
 ness on the part of Barnabas in the perils and 
 enterprises which he shared with Paul. He too 
 lifted up his voice at Paphos, in the synagogue 
 at Antioch, in the towns of Lycaonia. He ran 
 his risks at the hands of the unbelieving Jews. 
 He stood steadfast at his comrade's side in the 
 
BARNABAS. 23 
 
 face of the fierce opposition from the bigoted 
 Pharisees at Jerusalem. When at length they 
 differed — if we have to choose between the two 
 — surely it was Barnabas who erred upon the 
 generous side ; for what he did was to take a 
 faint-hearted brother whom Paul was too im- 
 patient to endure, and to give him that fresh 
 chance of honourable service which made Mark 
 " profitable " ever afterwards to Christ and to 
 His Church. 
 
 Now we may understand, in some degree, the 
 type of character which Barnabas represents. It 
 is one which will be variously estimated, accord- 
 ing to the disposition of the valuer. " He had 
 not the genius of Paul," says one writer, " but in 
 the true hierarchy of souls, in which goodness is 
 the rule of merit, may he not occupy even a 
 loftier rank.-*" That is perhaps an unduly 
 favourable comparison ; but all will acknowledge 
 the peculiar charm which attaches to the true 
 " son of consolation." There are men who every- 
 where leave behind them a sense of irritation. 
 
24 BARNABAS. 
 
 like winds that blow dust into face and eyes. 
 They are the opposites to Barnabas. There was 
 sunshine where he came. His was the influence 
 that heals, like wine and oil from the flasks of 
 the good Samaritan. At his approach the feeble 
 gathered strength, and trembling souls crept out 
 of their hiding toward the light. Hard words 
 were hushed in his company ; the sternest grew 
 gentle, and the very churl tried to be liberal. 
 Yet it would be a mistake to suspect him, and 
 men like him, of moral weakness and irresolu- 
 tion. The sunshine has its strength, as well as 
 the wind, though it makes much less noise. Bar- 
 nabas was once, to Paul's great wonder, " carried 
 away by the dissimulation " of others ; but his 
 very wonder — " even Barnabas ! " — shows how 
 unusual the symptom was. For " sons of conso- 
 lation " are also sons of strong encouragement, 
 who can themselves burn against injustice or 
 hypocrisy, and inspire others with a kindred 
 zeal. It is significant that heathen men " called 
 Barnabas Jupiter," the name that embodied 
 
BARNABAS. 25 
 
 their poor conceptions of what was greatest and 
 best, most fatherly, and most benignant. 
 
 We recognize the presence of such men in our 
 own generation, and among the fathers and 
 brethren in our own Israel. The temper of the 
 moment may not tend to exalt them, or to 
 press their example on our imitation. The 
 sterner gifts may be mostly in request ; the call 
 may be for sons of thunder, sons of fire, with 
 power to clear the air and to consume the ad- 
 versary. We watch with mingled awe and 
 admiration as some impetuous missionary spirit 
 sweeps by, rousing the dull church to a measure 
 of its own activity. We applaud the contro- 
 versialists, who, on one side and the other, con- 
 tend for separate sides of truth, or for principles 
 which they reckon overlooked. No doubt there 
 is great need of them. Is there not need also of 
 " the son of consolation," and may he not do as 
 good a work as they .? Surely it is not below 
 the ambition of the strongest to play the part 
 of Barnabas among the churches of to-day. He 
 
26 BARNABAS. 
 
 must be content in that case to be comparatively 
 unnoticed, and to leave a fainter impression on 
 the general world. He will not appear among 
 the heroes, like Elijah ; but will be rather like 
 Elisha, the homely and holy man of God, passing 
 by on his daily errands of duty. But as long as 
 so many timid, undecided souls remain, needing 
 the tenderest touch and a patience almost 
 motherlike to bring them to decision ; as long 
 as there are little children to be drawn into the 
 Saviour's arms ; as long as the Church has her 
 backsliders to reclaim, and her doubters to direct 
 and encourage : so long there will be ample 
 occupation for such a man, and abundant re- 
 ward. Nor will he live in vain, but rather to 
 the highest purpose, if he be made instrumental, 
 like Barnabas, in dissipating suspicions, and 
 confirming friendships, between Christian bre- 
 thren. Differences must exist where men are 
 conscientious. He who exhorts us to ignore 
 'them provokes our contempt ; but he who, recog- 
 nizing them, strives to bring us together on the 
 broader basis of a common faith, in the warmer 
 
BARNABAS. 27 
 
 atmosphere of a personal intimacy, deserves our 
 gratitude. Enterprises of that kind require a 
 world of tact, perseverance, and self-forgetful- 
 ness. There may be little present honour reaped 
 from them. But there is one encouragement, 
 weightier than all besides : " Blessed are the 
 peacemakers ; for they shall be called the chil- 
 dren of God." 
 
 It is a career open to all who have the one 
 needful qualification of a brotherly Christian 
 spirit. Genius they may have none ; in power of 
 speech, in practical talent, even in constitutional 
 energy, they may feel themselves defective. 
 "He was a great man " will, perhaps, never be 
 said of them. They have their calling, neverthe- 
 less. " Comfort the feeble-minded, support the 
 weak, be patient toward all men." That is the 
 path which our Lord Himself has trodden, and 
 sanctified for ever. That is the life which leaves 
 behind it a memory, fragrant as the scent of 
 hidden flowers, " He was a good man, a son of 
 consolation." 
 
III. 
 
 JOHN MARK. 
 
 Scripture references : Acts xii. 12-17, 25 ; xiii. 1-13 ; 
 XV. 36-41 ; Coloss. iv. 10 ; Philemon 24 ; i Peter v. 13 ; 
 2 Timothy iv. 10, 11. 
 
 HEN Peter, freed from prison, found 
 himself alone in the dark Jerusalem 
 lanes, he stood, we are told, "con- 
 sidering" what next to do. His natural impulse 
 was to find out his friends, and tell them of his 
 rescue. Where, however, should he find them 
 at that dead hour of night } What house in the 
 city was most like home to him ? The answer 
 is forthcoming. " When he had considered, he 
 came to the house of Mary, the mother of John 
 whose surname was Mark, where many were 
 
JOHN MARK. 29 
 
 gathered together praying." That is our first in- 
 troduction to the character whose changes we 
 now propose to contemplate. 
 
 " John whose surname was Mark." Two 
 names are here, one Jewish, the other Roman ; 
 the latter adopted at first as a secondary one, 
 and gradually superseding the former, just as 
 "Joses" grew into "Barnabas," and "Saul " became 
 universally known as " Paul." Thus in one place 
 we have "John," and in another "John, whose 
 surname was Mark ; " but later in the same 
 chapter plain " Mark," and always afterwards 
 " Mark " or " Marcus," the Jewish name being 
 entirely gone. 
 
 The scenes of this man's youth are not difficult 
 to imagine. His father is never mentioned, but 
 his mother is of note in the Christian community 
 at Jerusalem. She has a house commodious 
 enough to receive a number of its members when 
 they desire to meet, and popular enough to 
 attract them. She has servants ; the name of 
 one of them we know, " Rhoda," or " Rose ; " and 
 
30 JOHN MARK. 
 
 the home is probably one of competence and com- 
 fort. There would meet, on various occasions, the 
 choicest spirits of the early Church. Barnabas 
 was Mary's nephew, and would often be her 
 guest ; and Barnabas was then the leader of the 
 more liberal section of Christians, and one of the 
 kindliest and most generous of men. Peter, as 
 we saw, must have been an intimate personal 
 friend. We find traces of these connections far 
 on in the Epistles. " Marcus, sister's son " 
 (or rather cousin) "to Barnabas," is the desig- 
 nation given to him in the Epistle to the 
 Colossians, and in Peter's first Epistle he is called 
 " Marcus my son," no doubt in the spiritual sense, 
 as Timothy stood related to Paul. On grounds 
 like these Mary must have been held in high 
 consideration ; and she was herself a devout 
 and courageous woman, ready, even in that time 
 of persecution when Herod's sword was loose, 
 with a welcome for all who loved the Lord. 
 
 It was a fine moral atmosphere for a youth 
 to breathe : a godly mother, praying friends. 
 
JOHN MARK. 31 
 
 missionaries and martyrs and apostles coming 
 and going there ; and a bracing one withal, with 
 frequent winds of fierce opposition raging around. 
 Something it must have been to be a son in the 
 house to which Peter came that night, with the 
 mark of the chains fresh upon his wrists, and the 
 light of the angel's presence still reflected from 
 his face : something to have been in the company 
 when cousin Barnabas brought in a stranger, in- 
 significant in appearance and awkward in ad- 
 dress, and introduced him as the dreaded Saul 
 of Tarsus, changed to a beloved brother, and a 
 fervent fellow-labourer ! But, so far, we have 
 proceeded mainly on conjecture. Mark's re- 
 corded history begins about the year A.D. 44, the 
 era of the earliest mission to the heathen ; and 
 in what follows we will yield ourselves to the 
 guidance of the scattered allusions in the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Our starting-point is Antioch, the great 
 commercial capital of Syria, and the second 
 birthplace of Christianity. A flourishing and 
 
32 JOHN MARK, 
 
 energetic church, we have seen, is gathered 
 there. Barnabas and Paul are among its fore- 
 most teachers ; and Mark, wearied, we may sup- 
 pose, of the monotonous Hfe at Jerusalem, and 
 eager for adventure, has come to join them. 
 He must already have been recognized as a 
 converted man. And when those two friends 
 have been solemnly set apart for mission work, 
 it is settled that Mark shall accompany them. 
 He is styled their " minister," or servant. It 
 was the excellent custom of the older evange- 
 lists to associate the younger with them ; just 
 as Moses chose Joshua for his assistant, and 
 Elisha " poured water on the hands of Elijah." 
 The design was to inure them to the discipline 
 of the missionary life, and to instruct them in 
 its duties. It was the squire learning to win his 
 spurs in the Christian chivalry by attendance 
 on the knight who had won them already. And 
 what could be more suitable, or full of promise, 
 than that Mark should serve his first campaign 
 under Barnabas, his elder kinsman and friend, 
 
JOHN MARK. 2>2> 
 
 a man of such a noble, enterprising spirit, and 
 yet so full of all gentleness and grace ? 
 
 But what sudden change is this, occurring when 
 that missionary journey has been but a httle 
 while begun ? "John, departing from them, re- 
 turned to Jerusalem." Short words, but how 
 significant, and how disappointing ! Can he be 
 already weary in well-doing ? Has he had only 
 time to visit Cyprus, to sail across to Asia 
 Minor, and will he so soon repent and return ? 
 After witnessing the awful judgment on Ely mas, 
 and the glorious conversion of Sergius Paulus ; 
 after seeing how Paul could smite, and how 
 Barnabas could heal ; after feeling some thrill 
 of holy emulation in his own bosom, does he 
 now give up the Christian work ? What motive 
 can have turned him back ? 
 
 Matthew Henry gives the answer in his own 
 quaint fashion : " Either he did not like the 
 work, or he wanted to go see his mother." A 
 fit of home-sickness, in fact ! A shrinking from 
 the distance, and the danger : once up among 
 D 
 
34 JOHN MARK. 
 
 yonder rugged highlands of PIsidia, with their 
 perils of waters and perils of robbers, what pros- 
 pect would there be of ever seeing Jerusalem and 
 Mary's house again ? Perhaps also Paul, himself 
 so hardy and self-sacrificing, was a little im- 
 patient with the young man, and treated him with 
 an outspoken severity not pleasant to endure. 
 
 But in any case it was a most unworthy de- 
 sertion of duty, and we shall hear of it again. 
 Mark was no traitor, for his heart was true at 
 bottom ; but he was at present a coward, too 
 soft to suffer hardship, and he had forgotten to 
 count the cost. A failure, it would seem ; a 
 hand taken from the plough ; a ship, scarcely 
 out of dock, and already stranded on the shore ! 
 What a sorrow to that noble mother to see her 
 son return like this ; better he had been borne 
 home dead upon his shield than have cast it 
 away in dishonourable flight. A feeble, fickle, 
 untrustworthy man, must we say } Yes ; " he 
 departed from us," is Paul's indignant verdict, 
 *' and went not with us to the work." 
 
JOHN MARK. 35 
 
 Five years must be supposed to pass. Bar- 
 nabas and Paul have accomplished their journey, 
 and returned. The great conflict with the Phari- 
 saic party at Jerusalem has been fought out. The 
 two missionaries are panting to be at work again. 
 And of all men, who should appear, applying to 
 accompany them, but the deserter Mark } 
 
 Paul has never seen him since that unhappy 
 parting at Perga ; and he does not mean to be 
 deceived a second time. Barnabas must do as he 
 thinks right, but Paul will rather break their own 
 old companionship, and go by himiself. Then 
 Barnabas will break it too. Barnabas takes 
 the milder, more hopeful, more indulgent view ; 
 he has probably heard better things of his young 
 cousin during the recent visit to Jerusalem, and 
 sees some new fire and fervour in the man, 
 which he, at least, will not quench. The deci- 
 sion of the " son of consolation " is to give him 
 another chance. " And so Barnabas took Mark, 
 and sailed unto Cyprus." 
 
 How often has that " other chance " been 
 
36 JOHN MARK. 
 
 the making of a man ! Has he failed in the first 
 charge you intrusted to him ? Try him, how- 
 ever, with a second. Did he forsake you at the 
 very moment when the need of him was greatest, 
 and leave you to serve alone ? Still there may 
 be good in him ; and is it not God's own way 
 with men to have long patience, and to prove 
 us again and again before He gives us up ? 
 
 Another blank occurs here. We lose sight for 
 ten years of Barnabas and Mark. Barnabas 
 may be dead ; and Mark, has he failed again, 
 and has his name been erased from the annals 
 of the Church ? No, it appears again, after 
 that long interval, and, singularly enough, it 
 appears in two of the Epistles of Paul, those 
 addressed from Rome to the Colossians and to 
 Philemon. The passages are worth consulting 
 by those who would appreciate the change of 
 tone and feeling which they indicate. 
 
 Marcus, in these letters, is clearly identified 
 with our own Mark by his relationship to Bar- 
 nabas. But can it be the same man } Where is 
 
JOHN MARK. y] 
 
 the useless, untrustworthy character of whom we 
 were obh'ged to get rid ? Another stamp is set 
 now upon his name by the very hand that was 
 once ready to brand " deserter " there. " My 
 fellow-prisoner," says Paul. He has the courage 
 then, at least, to brave hardship for the Gospel's 
 sake. "A comfort unto me," a strong support, 
 as Barnabas himself was wont to be. " My 
 fellow-labourer," the highest praise of all from one 
 who laboured so hard and so well ; a trusty 
 comrade, fit to go on Paul's own errand, and 
 with Paul's special commendation, to the church 
 at Colosse ! " Touching Mark, ye received 
 commandment ; if he come unto you, receive 
 him." 
 
 Surely our stranded ship floats again ! Our 
 fallen brother has lifted himself up, with heaven's 
 help, and is on his own feet, pressing forward 
 with as stout a heart as the bravest. Barnabas 
 was right ; there was a true heart in the man 
 after all. 
 
 We turn to the first Epistle of Peter, the date 
 
38 JOHN MARK. 
 
 of which must be somewhere near that of the 
 Epistles last mentioned ; here also Mark's name 
 is recorded, and where is Mark now ? At Baby- 
 lon, in the distant East ; what an indefatigable 
 traveller he has grown, and what a heart has he 
 for labour ! With whom is he found ? With 
 aged Peter, the friend of his early youth, the 
 instrument of his conversion, his father in the 
 faith. And what impressions does he leave 
 behind him ? The best ; all the warm confidence 
 of Simon Peter's heart is in that one phrase, 
 " Marcus, my son." Ay, a Christian worthy of 
 apostolic approval ; born to God under his 
 mother's roof in far Jerusalem twenty years ago, 
 and now a man in Christ Jesus, grown to a full 
 stature and a masculine strength ! 
 
 Presently Paul is writing again ; it is the last 
 of all his letters, the second to Timothy, des- 
 patched during that second term of his imprison- 
 ment at Rome, which was so much closer and 
 sharper than the first. His friends have left 
 him ; he is cold, and he is ill, and, Avith all his 
 
JOHN MARK. 39 
 
 steadfast faith in the Divine support, he craves 
 for a Httle human sympathy. Therefore let 
 Timothy, if it may be, come quickly from Ephe- 
 sus, where he is, bringing cloak and parchments, 
 and his own filial care ; and let him bring also 
 some other tried and trusty brother, as a second 
 source of consolation. Who, then, shall the 
 chosen one be ? " Take Mark, and bring him 
 with thee ; " a useful man, a " profitable " man, 
 the very man for a minister, a servant, a friend ! 
 Mark, the runaway.? Mark, rather than have 
 whom in my company, I forfeited my dear 
 companionship with Barnabas 1 Even him ; for 
 years have passed since then, and the timid 
 stripling has become the resolute and energetic 
 veteran ; none better now, none worthier, and 
 few indeed so good. Yes, let me have him to 
 tend my hard confinement, to go out with me on 
 the day when I must die, to witness my end, 
 and to lay my body in its resting-place ! 
 
 One further reference remains, a large and a 
 long one ; for it is a whole book of Scripture, 
 
40 JOHN MARK. 
 
 " the Gospel according to Mark." How that 
 evangelist gathered his materials, and ordered 
 his narrative, does not now concern us. All the 
 early traditions agree in attributing to Mark, as 
 the scribe and interpreter of Peter, that shortest 
 life of Jesus, with its peculiar charm of gra- 
 phic, pithy, picturesque representation, which the 
 Church would not willingly let die. And thus the 
 image which remains is not that of the fugitive 
 youth, but of the missionary, the faithful com- 
 panion of the chief Apostles, and one among the 
 four evangelists. 
 
 On the northern coast of Devon there spreads 
 a bay, along which the sea comes tide after tide, 
 washing a broad beach of tiny shells. Shells are 
 there innumerable ; but you may search the 
 shore for hours, and find no perfect specimen : 
 the shells are broken. I can conceive many a 
 disheartened traveller in life's hard journey sitting 
 down on that beach, and saying, " Behold the 
 image of my own experience, of my broken 
 resolutions, unaccomplished purposes, and per- 
 
JOHN MARK. 41 
 
 pctual failures ! " Even in the Christian Church 
 there are not a few who feel that they have 
 failed of the high aims, the noble impulses, 
 which warmed and quickened them at first ! 
 
 To any such disheartened souls this story of 
 Mark's recoveiy should come like a trumpet call 
 of hope. Too late, say you, to join the ranks 
 once more, to become men of high attainment, 
 heavenly character, and fervent spirit ; too late 
 to win the brighter crown, and the more 
 abundant entrance ? Never too late, while life 
 lasts. 
 
 " Death closes all ; but something ere the end, 
 Some work of noble note, may yet be done." 
 
 Stronger than the oldest habit of evil is the 
 Spirit of God poured into the willing human 
 heart. You, too, though now hke Saul you hide 
 trembling among the stuff, have a royal part that 
 you may play, and a heavenly prize that you may 
 win. Once more to the front ! If Paul does not 
 trust you, Barnabas will. If Paul does not care 
 
42 JOHN MARK. 
 
 for you now, he may come to lean on you with 
 all his strength. And One, of whom you know, 
 clearer-sighted by far than that shrewd Apostle, 
 tenderer of heart than that " son of consolation," 
 marks your struggles, and prays for your success ; 
 and He, as you arise, will breathe into your ear 
 those words of unutterable hope and encourage- 
 ment, " Neither do I condemn thee : go and 
 sin no more." 
 
IV. 
 
 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 Scripture references : Acts xiv. 6-23 ; xvi. 1-3 ; i Corinth, 
 iv. 17; xvi. lo-ii ; Phil. ii. 19-23; i Thess. iii. 1-6; 
 Heb. xiii. 23 ; and the Epistles to Timothy. 
 
 HE first of Paul's missionary journeys 
 reached its furthest limit at Lystra, 
 a town of Lycaonia, high up in the 
 interior of Asia Minor. The place was one of 
 the most uncivilized he ever visited ; the people 
 were heathens of the ruder sort, fickle, head- 
 strong, and intensely superstitious. They began 
 by offering divine honours to the missionaries, 
 and they ended by stoning Paul, as they sup- 
 posed, to death. Even in Lystra, however, he 
 
44 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 left a band of converts, duly formed into a church 
 of Christ. And when, after a year or two, he 
 came that way a second time, he found the little 
 church standing steadfast, and among its mem- 
 bers a youth of peculiar promise, who bore the 
 now famous name of Timothy. " Then came he 
 to Derbe and Lystra ; and behold, a certain dis- 
 ciple was there, named Timotheus." 
 
 The historian, having thus introduced him to 
 our notice, proceeds at once to his parentage, 
 which was a remarkable one. On the mother's 
 side, Timothy was born a Jew. Both mother 
 and grandmother appear to have been devout 
 students of the Hebrew Scriptures, earnest and 
 sincere in their religion. They had been among 
 the early converts at Lystra. They had trained 
 the child of their love in the learning of their 
 people, and in the fear of their God. It is the 
 more surprising to be told that " his father was a 
 Greek," and probably a heathen. Mixed mar- 
 riages were held in horror by orthodox Jews. 
 At Lystra, however, Jews of any kind were few, 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 45 
 
 and the rigour of custom must have been relaxed. 
 Timothy himself, when Paul met with him, had 
 never been circumcised. But what might escape 
 remark in Lycaonia, would prove a scandal to 
 the stricter Jews elsewhere ; and it is to be noted, 
 as an instance of his practical judgment, that 
 Paul, in order to avoid the scandal, "took and 
 circumcised him " before he led him forth to 
 work. 
 
 The spiritual ancestry of Timothy seems to be 
 almost as clearly marked as the natural. He 
 must have been prepared for the willing recep- 
 tion of the gospel by the godly education of his 
 childhood, and had probably never passed through 
 any crisis of conversion. If, however, we rightly 
 appreciate the force of the expression used by 
 Paul, " my own son in the faith," we must 
 attribute to the influence of the Apostle's first 
 visit his decision to follow Christ. In the inter- 
 val between that visit and the second, he had 
 advanced to a character of marked ability and 
 usefulness. The brethren, not at Lystra only, 
 
46 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 but Iconium, spoke well of him. Some did not 
 hesitate to predict for him a foremost place 
 among the soldiers of the Cross, Paul, always 
 on the watch for helpers, examined the grounds 
 of that opinion, and confirmed it. He saw the 
 materials lying ready for a noble missionary life, 
 worthy to be reduced to order under his own eye. 
 " Him would Paul have to go forth with him." 
 And with this period we connect the numerous 
 allusions in the two Epistles which bring up to 
 Timothy's recollection what we should call his 
 ordination service. The church appears gathered 
 in solemn assembly. There are the mother and 
 the grandmother of the young probationer. 
 There are some of the heathen comrades with 
 whom he has played as a boy and studied as a 
 man. He makes his declaration of faith and 
 purpose, " a good profession before many wit- 
 nesses." Then the Apostle, speaking as a veteran 
 speaks to a recruit, explains the labours and the 
 risks of the Christian warfare, and charges his 
 " son " to be brave, patient, and believing. The 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 47 
 
 laying on of hands succeeds ; Paul's hands are 
 placed on Timothy's head, and those of all the 
 elders ; and the prayer of the united church rises 
 to heaven on his behalf. Nor does it rise in 
 vain ; for to that moment is referred the special 
 anointing of the Spirit which fitted the young 
 man for his future ministry. " The gift of God " 
 came with the laying on of hands ; and, amid 
 smiles and tears, we see him going forth into the 
 great world, in the footsteps of the Captain who 
 had chosen him to be a soldier. Well for the 
 Christian minister, who, through the vicissitudes 
 of his life, can look back on some impressive ser- 
 vice of that kind, when he too was separated to 
 his work, and commended, in brotherly affection, 
 to the Spirit's all-sufficient grace. Priestly power 
 of consecration we heartily disavow ; but we 
 may prize and we may practise, none the less, 
 every ordinance which tends to deepen our feel- 
 ing of ministerial responsibility, and to bind us 
 to our Master's side. 
 
 The work which Timothy found cast upon 
 
48 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 him constantly widened in range and in impor- 
 tance. He was very young when he went out 
 with Paul ; and it was fitting that he should at 
 first remain in the background, a witness of 
 Paul's achievements, a minister to his wants, 
 and a diligent learner from his example. From 
 the outset there was much for him to wit- 
 ness, to learn, and to emulate. The Acts of the 
 Apostles, from the sixteenth chapter to the nine- 
 teenth, record the very noblest exploits of the 
 Gospel ministry ; and Timothy was present at 
 Philippi, at Thessalonica, at Corinth, and at 
 Ephesus. He did not appear prominent in the 
 preaching ; he was passed over in the persecu- 
 tions. But, from references in the Epistles, we 
 discover how usefully and industriously he was 
 employed. From Corinth he is sent to the 
 suffering Thessalonians, " to establish and com- 
 fort them in their faith." From Ephesus he is 
 sent to the contentious Corinthians " to bring 
 them into remembrance" of the truth they seemed 
 to have forgotten. Constantly we hear of him 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 49 
 
 at Paul's side, " my work-fellow," " my fellow- 
 labourer," "as a son with his father, serving- in 
 the gospel." He passed through his apprentice- 
 ship in a loyal and loving spirit ; and presently, 
 like other good apprentices, he rose to be a 
 master, with enterprises of his own. Higher 
 work will always be ready for the man who 
 does the lower work modestly and well. Still 
 comparatively young, he is left at Ephesus with 
 an herculean task on his hands ; he has to or- 
 ganize the churches in all that district, to " ordain 
 elders," to "do the work of an evangelist," and 
 at the same time to guard the faith against the 
 active assaults of a spurious philosophy. He 
 becomes the recognized successor of the great 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, invested with an autho- 
 rity hardly inferior to his own. When that 
 Apostle's end draws near, and he seeks some one 
 to be the comforter of his last days, and the 
 trusted executor of his last thoughts and pur- 
 poses, it is to Timothy that the summons is sent, 
 in language of eager fatherly affection. Whether 
 
50 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 he reached Rome in time to undertake the de- 
 sired offices, is left untold ; but we learn, from 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the honour of 
 suffering imprisonment for Christ fell also to his 
 share, and, if tradition is to be trusted, he died 
 at last a martyr's death in the streets of his own 
 turbulent Ephesus. 
 
 With little beyond allusions to guide us, it is 
 difficult to decide on the precise qualities of 
 character which distinguished Timothy from 
 other men. His bodily health was feeble, and 
 required stimulants ; his natural disposition ap- 
 pears to have been as sensitive as Paul's, and 
 perhaps deficient in forwardness and courage. 
 Some have urged that he must have been of a 
 cowardly and time-serving spirit, adducing, as a 
 proof, the repeated exhortations in the Epistles 
 addressed to him to be strong and steadfast. 
 These exhortations, however, must not be unduly 
 pressed. The situation of affairs at Ephesus was 
 at the time extremely difficult and even danger- 
 ous. Heathenism was as fierce and as vigilant 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 51 
 
 as when Demetrius led the rioters against Paul. 
 Heresy, in its most pernicious forms, was noisily 
 asserting itself. The bravest might easily have 
 lost heart in such an atmosphere, and would have 
 needed to sustain him every motive which an 
 Apostle could supply. Paul did not think 
 meanly of his follower. On the contrary, he 
 speaks of his unfeigned faith, his unv/earied ser 
 vice, his strict fidelity, " the proof of him " as a 
 man weighed in the balance and found to be of 
 sterling weight. He calls him by the dearest 
 names, " my brother," " my son," " my dearly be- 
 loved son," and entreats the special kindness of 
 the churches on his behalf He declares, in one 
 place, that in all the chosen band of his fellow- 
 labourers there is none so disinterested as 
 Timothy, none so full of sympathy, none so 
 much after his own heart. High praise from 
 such a pen as Paul's ! For it marks out this man 
 at the age, we may suppose, of thirty or thirty- 
 five, as the leader among all his comrades in the 
 faith. And he led, be it observed, not because of 
 
52 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 his natural forwardness, for he had none ; nor 
 yet apparently from any great intellectual 
 mastery, for he seems to have shrunk from 
 controversy : but by dint of his sheer goodness, 
 unselfishness, and trust in God. More dazzling 
 names than his are to be seen in the firmament 
 of the early Church ; ApoUos flames across the 
 sky, leaving behind the brilliant sparks of his 
 Alexandrian rhetoric : but the star of Timotheus 
 beams on with a gentle, gracious, and unfading 
 lustre, holding forth the word of life. His was 
 one of those attractive Christian characters 
 which, with little outward show or sound, shine 
 by the very necessity of their inner light. 
 " Blessed are the poor In spirit ; for theirs is the 
 kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Whatever, then, the contrast between Timo- 
 thy's peculiar mission and the current of our 
 common life, his character is one which, in its 
 strength, its modesty, and its devotedness, may 
 be ours. Character is a building of which God 
 is the architect, and all the designs are His. 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 53 
 
 But the building rises stone on stone, and is the 
 work of many different hands ; and it is useful 
 to inquire what particular influences we can 
 trace as helping to make this man what he was. 
 One powerful element in his education was the 
 Bible. " From a child " it had been his great 
 lesson-book ; its milk had nourished his spiritual 
 infancy, and its meat sustained his spiritual 
 manhood. And now, in this great age of 
 making books, where, by common confession, 
 is there a book that will do for character what 
 the Bible does } " Men cannot do without it," 
 writes Matthew Arnold ; " for they want happi- 
 ness, and happiness is the result of righteousness, 
 and righteousness is to be found in the Bible." 
 " I have put a New Testament among your 
 books," said Charles Dickens to his son, " because 
 it teaches you the best lessons by which any 
 human creature can possibly be guided." Dr. 
 Chalmers has left it on record, " If I were asked 
 to specify the likeliest prescription for the well- 
 being of the soul, I should say it was a prayerful 
 
54 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 reading of the Bible." A Bible Christian is 
 a strong Christian. He escapes the perpetual 
 religious childhood in which too many are 
 content to live and die. The breezes of scep- 
 ticism do not break his cable. The shocks of 
 life do not destroy his faith. By daily reading 
 and weighing of the Scriptures he waxes riper 
 and stronger, deeper and yet broader, at once a 
 scholar and a soldier, a " man of God, throughly 
 furnished unto all good works." Yes, if we 
 would grow, there is no better secret than the 
 old-fashioned plan of a regular, orderly, prayer- 
 ful study of the Bible. 
 
 No less helpful were the personal influences 
 for good with which Timothy was surrounded. 
 The Bible is the best of books ; but the cha- 
 racter of those who teach it adds immensely to 
 its power. Now the earliest Scripture-lessons of 
 Timothy's youth were mingled with the happy 
 associations of hours spent at the feet of his 
 grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Their 
 explanations had made the sacred stories de- 
 lightful, and had sweetened as well as simplified 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 55 
 
 the sacred truths. When they and he were 
 parted, the same good work was carried on by 
 apostolic hands. Paul became his instructor, as 
 he was already his father, in the Gospel. In 
 those hallowed hours of private intercourse 
 which the intervals of labour must often have 
 afforded, Paul had led the young disciple for- 
 ward from fact to fact, and from doctrine to 
 doctrine, till he stood rooted and grounded in 
 the truth. How much the scholar owed, in this 
 instance, to the inspiration which he caught from 
 the teacher ! How much may still be done, even 
 by the uninspired, to impart interest and im- 
 pressiveness to the Word of God ! The desire to 
 see her child become another Timothy lives in 
 many a Christian mother's heart : does not the 
 power to make him so, under the divine bless- 
 ing, lie largely in her hands } The anxiety that 
 our younger members should grow to be accom- 
 plished and experienced in the things of God is 
 one that finds frequent utterance from the lips of 
 their elders : cannot those elders do much to 
 mend the defects which they deplore } It would 
 
56 TIMOTHEUS. 
 
 be a noble calling, and the opportunities are at 
 hand. The Bible class, wisely conducted, be- 
 comes the very garden of the Lord, where the 
 young plants are nourished to a full stature and 
 strength. Nor are there wanting in private still 
 more precious occasions for instructing more per- 
 fectly those who, fervent in spirit, are yet com- 
 paratively unfurnished in mind. Our children, our 
 servants, our young acquaintances, wait for such 
 friendly guidance to be lifted out of their spiritual 
 inexperience. They will reward it by their 
 hearty gratitude and appreciation. They will 
 hasten to bless the kindly voice that taught them 
 what they knew not, and cheered them onward 
 in the paths of understanding. 
 
 " For what delights can equal those 
 Which stir the spirit's inner deeps, 
 When one who loves, but knows not, reaps 
 
 A truth from one who loves and knows ? " 
 
 Yet, after all, the main human force at work 
 in the formation of Timothy's character was 
 Timothy himself : for the determining will was 
 his own. He had the humility to listen and to 
 
TIMOTHEUS. 57 
 
 learn, the candour to accept, the decision to choose, 
 and the patience to endure. These were God's 
 gifts to him ; but he cherished them, he held 
 them fast, and he increased them by practice : and 
 therefore he profited by his advantages, and be- 
 came what we have seen him to be. Nor will it be 
 ever otherwise. Success in life, secular or spiritual, 
 depends not so much on the number of our 
 advantages, as in the use we make of those that 
 we have. If you have a heart for God, and for 
 His service, a way will be found for you ; and if 
 you have no heart, neither pious parent nor 
 diligent teacher can supply the lack. Be serious, 
 be earnest, stoop to the Saviour's yoke, and yield 
 to the guidance of the Spirit ; and you too shall 
 be " made wise unto salvation." You shall fight 
 a good fight in the great warfare with evil. You 
 shall overcome at last ; the heavy armour shall 
 be loosened, and the crown brought forth with 
 shoutings ; and the King Himself shall acknow- 
 ledge you before the holy angels as "a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 
V. 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 Scripture references : Colossians iv. 14. ; Philemon 24 ; 
 2 Tim. iv. II ; and (as explained below) Acts xvi. 
 10-17 ; XX. 5-15 ; xxi. 1-17 ; xxvii. ; xxviii. i-io. 
 
 E have seen that during the years of 
 his activity Paul was rarely without 
 ^% a band or body-guard of loyal com- 
 panions attached to his person and associated in 
 his work. Those must have been golden days 
 in the progress of Christian enterprise, when 
 Silas was with him, and Titus, and Timotheus, 
 and a loving group besides ; days like those of 
 the ancient chivalry, 
 
 " When every morning brought a noble chance, 
 And every chance brought out a noble knight." 
 
L UKE. 59 
 
 Even in his earlier imprisonment the Apostle had 
 with him a faithful few whose names are united 
 with his own in the salutations of his Epistles. 
 But at last the group is scattered. Some have 
 proved untrue, others have been sent on distant 
 errands, and in his most urgent need Paul is 
 left with one solitary comrade in the Roman 
 prison. " Only Luke is with me," he writes to 
 Timothy ; and there is a touch of pathos, if not 
 of sadness, in the words. But who is this stead- 
 fast follower, cleaving to his master like the bold 
 Sir Bedivere, in the legend, to his dying king ; 
 and why should he, above all others, be honoured 
 to remain beside him in his last adversity .'* 
 
 Our sources of information appear, at first 
 sight, extremely slender. Besides the reference 
 already given, the name occurs in two, and in 
 two only, of the Epistles ; those, namely, to the 
 Colossians and Philemon, both written during 
 Paul's first imprisonment at Rome. " There 
 salute thee Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, 
 my fellow-labourers." " Luke, the beloved phy- 
 
6o L UKE. 
 
 sician, and Demas, greet you." In the Acts, 
 there is no mention of such a man by name. 
 And if one of the four Gospels is entitled " ac- 
 cording to Luke," still the writer is not so de- 
 signated in the body of the narrative, and there 
 might appear to be nothing more than a coinci- 
 dence in the names. 
 
 Now there is more than a coincidence ; for 
 the two men are really one and the same. 
 Christian writers of a very early age assure us 
 of the fact that the Evangelist Luke was the 
 well-known physician and companion of Paul ; 
 and some of them add that he wrote his history 
 under Paul's direction. But if he was the writer 
 of the third Gospel, he was also the writer of 
 the Acts of the Apostles ; since the one book 
 refers so pointedly to the other as a " former 
 treatise" from the same hand. This, too, those 
 primitive authorities confirm. And now there 
 comes further light upon the man's identity in a 
 rather curious manner. Up to a particular point 
 in the Book of the Acts, the narrator uses the 
 
LUKE. 6 1 
 
 third person in his descriptions, after the ordinary 
 method of historians. Suddenly the third person 
 is changed to the first : " we endeavoured to go 
 into Macedonia ;" " we came with a straight 
 course to Samothracia." But the form of speech 
 is dropped after a few verses in favour of the 
 former one ; and again, after an interval of three 
 chapters, it is resumed, and is continued to the 
 end of the book. The inference is a tolerably 
 secure one that the writer of the history was 
 to this extent an eye-witness of its events : 
 that Luke must have so far accompanied Paul 
 in his travels, shared his labours, and enjoyed 
 his confidence. We can trace him in fact to 
 Rome ; and at Rome we are met by the allusions 
 in the Epistles. Such are our materials ; we 
 have now to see what use we can make of them. 
 Of personal incident there is evidently very 
 little. Whether Luke was Jew or Gentile, or to 
 what country he belonged, cannot be decided, 
 though tradition has fixed his birth-place at the 
 Syrian Antioch, and criticism has judged that 
 
62 LUKE. 
 
 he was a native of Philippi. Under whose 
 ministry he became a Christian is equally un- 
 certain ; for his own statement merely shows 
 that he was not among the immediate disciples 
 of our Lord. Nor can we fix distinctly the 
 scene and scope of his missionary labour. When 
 he joins the company of Paul, they are preparing 
 to cross from Asia into Europe ; and, if the 
 guidance of the pronouns may be trusted, he 
 must have been left behind on their departure 
 from Philippi. When he re-appears it is again 
 in the neighbourhood of Philippi, after a lapse of 
 five or six years ; Paul being then bound for 
 Jerusalem on the final journey which led to his 
 captivity. Conjecture has been busy as to 
 Luke's occupation during that interval ; and it 
 has been rather confidently assumed that he 
 remained in charge of the Philippian Church, 
 and laboured in that part of Macedonia. That 
 is possible ; but the certainty we must be con- 
 tent to leave in that silence which, with singular 
 modesty, Luke has observed about himself 
 
L UKE. 63 
 
 Whatever he did we know was done worthily 
 and wisely, or he would not have been marked 
 out by his leader with the honourable title, " my 
 fellow-labourer." 
 
 We reach clearer ground when we proceed to 
 consider the personal care and companionship 
 which he was called on to exercise toward Paul. 
 Every reader must have observed the remarkable 
 fulness and precision which distinguish the last 
 seven or eight chapters of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, even above those which precede. 
 These marks correspond exactly with that sign 
 of the writer's presence which has been already 
 indicated ; and we have reason therefore to 
 believe that, from the hour when they left 
 Macedonia together for Judaea, Paul and Luke 
 were scarcely separated. Luke must have wit- 
 nessed the farewell of the Ephesian elders on 
 the seashore at Miletum, the tearful expostula- 
 tions of the brethren at Tyre and Caesarea, " the 
 arrival in Jerusalem, and the conference with the 
 elders there. Luke must have known, if he was 
 
64 L UKE. 
 
 not actually present, of the riot in the temple, 
 the arrest, the imprisonment, the trial before the 
 Jewish council, and the interviews with Felix 
 and Agrippa. Luke is believed to have shared 
 much of the two years' confinement at Caesarea. 
 Certainly he shared the perils of the stormy 
 voyage to Italy, and seems to have kept a 
 regular journal of its stirring incidents. He was 
 there, when at last they approached the Eternal 
 City itself, and saw the joyful meeting between 
 Paul and the Roman brethren, who came out 
 forty miles along the Appian Way to give him 
 welcome. He entered Rome beside his master, 
 remained with him during that first imprison- 
 ment, and, as we have seen, returned to cheer 
 him in the second. Now was there not a cause 
 why Luke, above all others, should be kept, in 
 these later days, so close to the side of Paul } 
 
 He was a beloved friend ; but so were many 
 others whose presence was far less constant and 
 regular than his. He was a physician as well as 
 a friend, and therein lay his special rccommen- 
 
L UKE. 65 
 
 dation. For we know that even during his most 
 active years Paul was a great and frequent 
 sufferer. The thorn in the flesh, whatever was 
 its nature, buffeted him so sorely that again and 
 again he cried out for deliverance from it. How 
 aggravated would it become with increasing 
 years, with the exposure, the hardship, the con- 
 tinual confinement ! The cold of the Roman 
 winters tried him terribly. And while Titus is 
 despatched in one direction, and Crescens in 
 another, Luke stays with Paul because he can do 
 him most good. Not, indeed, that human art 
 could extract what divine wisdom had declined 
 to remove, or that a longer term of life was 
 greatly desired. But it is cheering to remember 
 that what the healing science of those days 
 could suggest was done to soothe and to allevi- 
 ate ; and it is noteworthy that the Apostle, 
 while ready to be offered, and even anxious to 
 depart, sought relief from the skilful and affec- 
 tionate care of his " beloved physician." 
 
 The great monument to the memory of Luke, 
 F 
 
66 L UKE. 
 
 however, is to be found in his immortal histories. 
 Apart from their divine inspiration, they are 
 priceless relics of Christian antiquity. They re- 
 count to us the two lives which we most desire 
 to know : the life of our Lord, and the life of the 
 early Church. Of the latter we should have had 
 no adequate conception whatever but for the Acts 
 of the Apostles. The former, already described 
 by Matthew and Mark, is told in the third Gospel 
 with many additional facts, and in a method 
 which gives it a peculiar value. In both books 
 we recognize the hand of a man of education, 
 exact in his information and picturesque in his 
 description, delighting to communicate details of 
 place or time, and to make his history live before 
 his reader's eye. But the special interest lies in 
 the spirit which they breathe. The man shines 
 through the writer and seems to grow familiar as 
 a friend. There is not the abundance of Old 
 Testament reference which distinguishes the 
 pages of Matthew, nor the depth of spiritual 
 discernment which is manifest in those of John : 
 
Z UKE. 67 
 
 but there is an clement of feeling peculiar to 
 Luke ; a mingled breadth and warmth, which re- 
 mind us continually of the Christian teaching and 
 temper of the last and greatest of the Apostles. 
 
 There are traditions which connect Paul with 
 the actual composition of the Gospel of Luke. 
 The intimate friendship in which the two men 
 lived would doubtless lead the Apostle to relate 
 to the Evangelist much of what he had received 
 by separate revelation from the Lord, and to 
 counsel him in his selection of materials. If 
 the third Gospel was written during the imprison- 
 ment at Caesarea, as is reported, the connection 
 becomes the more probable. Too much stress, 
 however, is not to be laid upon this point. Luke 
 certainly gathered his information from a great 
 variety of sources, and was in direct communica- 
 tion with the original Apostles. The link which 
 attaches him to Paul is rather in the inward 
 view which he takes of Christian truth, and the 
 spirit in which he labours to present it. Let it 
 suffice to instance two characteristics. 
 
68 L UKE. 
 
 Salvation by grace is confessedly the leading 
 theme of Paul's preaching and of Paul's Epistles. 
 He was the Apostle of the Gentiles, commissioned 
 to present the message of the kingdom in its freest 
 form, clear of all limitations. Now if we had to 
 choose out of the four Gospels the one most 
 suited to the heathen, as distinguished from 
 the Jews, and therefore most adapted for gene- 
 ral circulation, should we hesitate to name the 
 Gospel of Luke } Christ appears in its pages 
 as emphatically the Saviour ; the Saviour of 
 the world, and especially the Saviour of the 
 lost. The famous fifteenth chapter is really 
 the key to the whole book. Seeking the lost 
 is its burden from beginning to end. The out- 
 casts of society become the objects of Christ's 
 care and cure. The characters we meet are 
 the beggar Lazarus, the poor widow with her 
 two mites, the despised Samaritan, the publican 
 pushed into the outskirts of the temple court, 
 the prodigal son. To the Saviour's feet creeps 
 the fallen woman of the city ; the sinner 
 
L UKE. 69 
 
 Zaccheus runs to see Him ; on the very cross 
 the penitent robber craves His mercy. Ail 
 own Him, and all are by Him accepted. Let 
 the contrite and troubled heart turn hither ! 
 For here we meet the fulness of redeemin"- 
 
 o 
 
 mercy which, comprehending the vilest, cannot 
 exclude us ; and here we see in exercise that 
 simple principle of humble confidence which 
 justifies the ungodly : " Thy faith hath saved 
 thee ; go in peace." It is Paul's great doctrine 
 of justification by faith, illustrated in the action, 
 and impressed in the words, of Christ. 
 
 No less prominent in Luke is that other 
 leading element of Paul's teaching which he 
 calls " joy in the Lord." The third Gospel 
 is, above all, the gospel of gladness. The 
 angels' song is echoed from one page to another : 
 "Behold, we bring you good tidings of great 
 joy." A happy Christian heart, one feels, has 
 been concerned in the choice and composition 
 of its materials. For the people " rejoice at 
 all the wonderful works " of Christ ; and the 
 
 I 
 
70 L UKE. 
 
 seventy " return with joy " from their missionary 
 travels ; and the sinner, whose house the Lord 
 enters, " receives him joyfully ; " and " there 
 is great joy in the city " where the preachers 
 of the Word have come. The curtain falls 
 upon the company of disciples " returning with 
 great joy," even from the parting with their 
 ascended King, and "continually praising and 
 blessing God." Nay, our evangelist is suffered 
 to unveil to us the hallowed delights of the 
 heavenly sanctuary ; and from the rejoicings 
 of angels over repenting sinners, we are taught 
 that " it is meet for us to make merry and 
 be glad." Oh Christian of the drooping, doubt- 
 ing spirit, breathe the air which this Gospel 
 diffuses, and in its own words, " lift up your 
 head, for your redemption draweth near." 
 
 Luke is still " with us " in these imperishable 
 works which the Spirit moved him to accomplish. 
 But as Paul hastens to speak of a greater 
 Friend, who never left him in his worst ex- 
 tremities, we too pass from the servant's repre- 
 
LUKE. 71 
 
 sentations to the Master's life and person. What- 
 ever becomes of earthly helpers, adds the Apostle, 
 " the Lord shall deliver me from every evil 
 work." Through these inspired pages we also 
 reach the presence of the incarnate Redeemer ; 
 and as at Jericho, at Bethany, at Emmaus, He 
 " comes in to us, and sups with us, and we with 
 Him." 
 
VI. 
 
 AQUILA AND PRISCILLA. 
 
 Scripture references : Acts xviii. 1-18, 24-29 ; i Cor. 
 xvi. 19 ; Rom. xvi. 3-5 ; 2 Tim. iv. 19. 
 
 HE story of this Christian pair pre- 
 sents to us one of those ghmpses 
 into the social habits of the age, 
 which are so precious, because they are so rare. 
 The air which we breathe becomes that of the 
 workshop and the family. We feel the stir of 
 the commercial activities of the time. We find 
 " Aquila and his wife Priscilla " travelling from 
 city to city, like the Midianite merchants of 
 old, or the architects and masons of the Middle 
 Ages, and carrying their trade wherever it was 
 
AQUILA AND PR ISC ILL A. 73 
 
 likely to be most in request. Now they are at 
 Rome, then at Corinth, and presently at Ephesus, 
 places separated as widely then in point of time 
 as London, Bombay, and Hong-Kong at the 
 present day. The very form of their names sug- 
 gests that it may have been assumed for safety 
 or convenience in travel ; for the names are 
 Latin, and they themselves were Jews, born in 
 Pontus, where Jewish settlements abounded. 
 
 Various explanations have been given of the 
 Greek word which describes their business. 
 " By their occupation they were tentmakers." 
 " They were of ropemaker craft," is Wyclifife's 
 translation. Others have suggested "saddlers," 
 " tapestry-weavers," and even " mathematical in- 
 strument makers." There is no reason, however, 
 to go so far a-field. Tents were in great de- 
 mand in a warlike, wandering age like that. At 
 Rome they would be wanted for the army, and 
 at Ephesus for sale to the shepherds of the in- 
 terior. They were made of a rough black cloth, 
 woven from the coarse hair of the goats which 
 
74 A QUI LA AND PRISCILLA. 
 
 browsed over the broad highlands of Asia 
 Minor. Aquila and his wife were either weavers 
 of this cloth, or else they bought the cloth from 
 others and made their money by the manu- 
 facture of it into tents. 
 
 There is reason to suppose that they were in 
 comfortable circumstances. At Rome and at 
 Corinth they had houses large enough to ac- 
 commodate a small assembly of brethren ; at 
 Ephesus they were ready to receive strangers, 
 and to afford them substantial shelter. Alto- 
 gether, when we meet them, they appear an 
 industrious, intelligent, and thriving Christian 
 couple, singularly free from the bigotry common 
 to their countrymen ; and we are now prepared, 
 by the help of the Acts and the Epistles, to trace 
 out the series of incidents which connect their 
 personal history with the early annals of the 
 Church. 
 
 The history opens in the synagogue at Corinth, 
 at the time of Paul's first visit to that great 
 commercial capital. He is at the time in deep 
 
A QUI LA AND P RISC ILL A. 75 
 
 depression, and having parted from Silas and 
 Timothy at Berea, he finds himself without a 
 single companion. He looks among the strange 
 faces in the synagogue for some one to give him 
 what he wants — work to do and a friendly roof 
 over his head. Aquila and his wife come for- 
 ward to greet the stranger. Their trade proves 
 to be also his ; their house and workshop are at 
 his service, and he goes home with them at once. 
 It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. 
 Month after month Paul " reasoned in the syna- 
 gogue," and preached in the house of Justus, till 
 all the city was moved and the great Corinthian 
 Church was gathered. But each night we ima- 
 gine him finding his way back to that homely 
 slielter, and receiving counsel and comfort from 
 those wise and faithful friends ; and many a 
 long day's trying work over the tough haircloth 
 was softened by the same companionship. 
 
 Was Paul the means of their conversion ? 
 Curiously enough, nothing is said about that. 
 One is disposed to conclude that in their travels 
 
76 A QUI LA AND P RISC ILL A. 
 
 they had already met with Christian teachers 
 and embraced the faith. Then this intimacy 
 with the Apostle would serve to clear their views 
 and confirm their resolutions, and they would be 
 prepared to explain to others also " the word of 
 God more perfectly." For eighteen months the 
 three lived and laboured and prayed together ; 
 and then, sailing in one ship to Ephesus, they 
 parted company for a time, Aquila and his wife 
 establishing themselves in that city and Paul 
 hastening onward to the feast at Jerusalem. 
 
 Shortly after the separation, no small stir 
 arose among the Jews at Ephesus from the 
 appearance of a certain stranger in their syna- 
 gogue. One of the great corn-ships which 
 traded between Alexandria and Asia Minor had 
 brought over a young university man, Apollos, 
 trained in all the learning of the Jews. He 
 appeared as the eloquent advocate of the 
 Messiahship of Jesus. All were impressed ; 
 but with a peculiar interest must Aquila and 
 Priscilla have listened to this new and unex- 
 
A QUI LA AND P RISC ILL A. 77 
 
 pected champion of the Christian faith. They 
 soon detected, however, starthng differences be- 
 tween the teaching of Apollos and that of Paul. 
 It proved in many respects defective. It stopped 
 half-way. There was only a partial knowledge 
 of the facts, and there was a corresponding 
 weakness in the doctrines. The coming of the 
 Holy Spirit was evidently unknown to Apollos, 
 and perhaps even the resurrection of Christ. He 
 was just where they themselves may have been 
 before Paul came, " knowing only the baptism 
 of John." 
 
 It was delicate work for that plain couple to 
 attempt to enlighten an educated man. If we 
 want to see how such work may be delicately 
 done, here is an example. They first took 
 Apollos home with them, and showed him kind- 
 ness. Then they told him all that they had 
 learned from Paul, till the Gospel shone out in 
 its full light and glory. From such teachers no 
 one would be too proud to learn. " Love me, and 
 then say what thou wilt." And who can measure 
 
78 A QUI LA AND P RISC ILL A. 
 
 the good which they did by that frank and 
 friendly conduct ! Many a heretic has been 
 made a heretic by the unbrotherly action of the 
 orthodox. ApoUos, roughly treated, might have 
 become the leader of a heresy or the founder of 
 a schism. To this husband and wife, under God, ■ 
 it may have been due that the fervent Alex- 
 andrian became not the rival, but the loyal ally 
 and confederate of Paul. 
 
 For our next piece of information we turn to 
 the first of Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians. 
 Apollos has sailed for Corinth, and Paul has 
 arrived from the East. He writes this letter at 
 Ephesus, and, it may well be, in the very house 
 of Aquila. Its allusions agree exactly with the 
 narrative in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts. 
 The Apostle is now in the very midst of the 
 great Christian campaign of two whole years, 
 during which all that district of Asia heard the 
 Gospel preached. It is pleasant to be able to 
 identify Aquila and Priscilla with that stormy 
 period of the Apostle's history. They appear in 
 
AQUILA AND T RISC ILL A. 79 
 
 the Epistle as his steadfast coadjutors and as his 
 devoted personal friends. 
 
 They have a " church in their house," and the 
 phrase unfolds to us more of the church-life of 
 early days. Public preaching went on daily in 
 the market, the synagogue, or "the school of 
 Tyrannus." But these public places were unsuit- 
 able for private instruction, for prayer-meetings, 
 or for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and 
 the community had, so far, no regular meeting- 
 house of its own. The private houses of the 
 more wealthy brethren were therefore thrown 
 open for such fellowship. There seem to have 
 been several such centres at Ephesus, each with 
 its own band of members, wont to gather there, 
 and who became "the church in that house." 
 Paul went " from house to house," exhorting and 
 comforting. Nor is it unlikely that of all such 
 gatherings the earliest to be organized, as a kind 
 of mother and model to the rest, would be the 
 one that met in the house of those now experi- 
 enced Christians, Aquila" and his wife. That 
 
8o A QUI LA AND PRISCILLA. 
 
 " church" naturally sends a special salutation by 
 the hand of Paul. Is it not still well if the 
 pastor or evangelist can meet his scattered con- 
 verts not only in the chapel or the lecture-room, 
 but among the social and hallowing influences 
 of such hospitable Christian homes ? 
 
 To this same time at Ephesus belongs a refer- 
 ence in the passage next to be cited, — " who for 
 my life laid down their own necks." When and 
 where did these faithful friends do that } Where 
 so likely as in that city where, according to this 
 same Epistle, there were " many adversaries," 
 and " wild beasts," actual or figurative, with 
 which " to fight"? When so likely as in the riot 
 raised by Demetrius and the silversmiths, in 
 which Paul so nearly lost his life } Perhaps, 
 like Jason at Thessalonica, Aquila and Priscilla 
 became bail for his peaceable departure. Perhaps 
 an assault was made upon the house where Paul 
 was known to lodge, and the courageous pair 
 faced the mob and covered his escape at the 
 risk of being pillaged and massacred themselves. 
 
AQUILA AND PRISCILLA. 8i 
 
 In some way they had risked their Hves for him. 
 The highest quahties, we see, may He hidden in 
 the homehest natures. 
 
 A year has elapsed, and now the three friends 
 are again wide apart. The Apostle has been 
 travelling among the Macedonian churches, and 
 is once more at Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla 
 have found their way to Rome. Paul, writing 
 salutations to the Roman Christians, sends his 
 first greeting to them, and to "the church" 
 which there also they have gathered " in their 
 house." 
 
 It is the warmest outburst of affection in all 
 his Epistles, and shows the ardour of his attach- 
 ment and the depth of his obligation. He calls 
 them his helpers, or fellow-workers ; they had 
 sat side by side over the tent-cloth ; they had 
 laboured side by side in the cause of Christ. He 
 greets them as his brave defenders, to whom he 
 owes the rescue of his life. He gives them 
 thanks publicly by name, as a captain honours 
 the courage of soldiers in the presence of all 
 G 
 
82 A QUI LA AND PRISCILLA. 
 
 their comrades. Nor is his commendation needed 
 to secure for them now the confidence and affec- 
 tion of the churches. The story of their courage, 
 their fidehty, their usefulness, had travelled far 
 and wide. They were spoken of in distant cities, 
 among disciples whom they had never seen, and 
 never would see in the flesh. They were held up 
 as bright examples, and honoured like personal 
 friends by " all the churches of the Gentiles." 
 So .surely should our children learn to know the 
 very names of modern missionaries, and con- 
 fessors, and devoted Christian labourers, and to 
 honour them above captains and kings. 
 
 Eight or ten more years are gone, and what 
 years have they been for Paul ! He has been 
 seized at Jerusalem, imprisoned at Ceesarea, 
 shipwrecked at Malta, confined at Rome for two 
 long years at least, set free awhile, and is now 
 again in bonds, and waiting for his death. Had 
 he met Aquila and Priscilla in the interval ? 
 Were they among the group that stood waiting 
 for him at Appii Forum, or had they been 
 
AQUILA AND PRISCILLA. S3 
 
 present to minister to his wants in prison ? 
 There is no such intimation. Where, then, can 
 they be ? 
 
 Many of the old friends are now with the 
 Lord : arc they with Him ? Many have loved 
 the world, and gone back to its vanities ; is it 
 so with them ? Still more have been deluded 
 by the false teachers, and have no love left 
 for Paul ; and have they too turned against 
 him ? Impossible ! We open once more the 
 second Epistle to Timothy, and our inquiries 
 are answered. Here occur the familiar names 
 again, like well-known stars starting up above 
 the horizon. They are at Ephesus, with Timo- 
 thy, still living, still loyal and true. " Give an 
 old man's greeting to Prisca and Aquila !" 
 
 There they disappear. Probably they survived 
 Paul, growing older and older, let us hope, side 
 by side, and in their deaths not long divided. 
 They saw him face to face no more. But we 
 imagine them visiting together the scene of the 
 Apostle's execution and his humble grave ; and 
 
84 A QUI LA AND PRISCILLA. 
 
 we see them living to tell a succeeding gene- 
 ration of that feeble bodily presence and the 
 mighty soul within it, of that stammering speech 
 which nevertheless penetrated men's minds by 
 its directness and melted their hearts by 
 its fire. 
 
 The charm of such a study as the present is its 
 perfect homeliness. For one successor to Paul, 
 there may be thousands to Priscilla and Aquila. 
 We may emulate and equal them. A simple per- 
 sonal attachment to Christ ; a marriage " in the 
 Lord " like theirs ; a steady industry, winning a 
 happy independence ; upright dealings, ready 
 kindness, hearty hospitality ; earnest inquiry 
 after truth, calm adherence to principle, a 
 courage ready, when called on, to become heroic 
 — here are characteristics which may distinguish 
 us all. Are they not those which the world 
 craves to see in the followers of Christ, and 
 which will best commend His Gospel to the 
 hearts of men t Better work we cannot do for 
 Him than to adorn by similar conduct the 
 
A QUI LA AND P RISC ILL A. 
 
 85 
 
 doctrine we profess. And brighter crown was 
 never woven by the angels than that which waits 
 for those who, Hke that faithful pair, "do justly 
 and love mercy, and walk humbly with their 
 God." 
 
VII. 
 
 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. 
 
 Scripture References : Philippians ii. 35-30; iv. 10-18. 
 
 O page in Apostolic history is written 
 with a more graphic pen, or glows 
 with a deeper spiritual interest, than 
 that which records the origin of the Philippian 
 church. In that city Europe first listened to 
 the Gospel. There Paul first came into personal 
 collision with the Roman authorities, and tasted 
 the sharpness of the scourge, the stocks, and the 
 dungeon. There he won for Christ such trophies 
 as the jailer, the soothsaying slave-girl, and the 
 devout household of the merchant Lydia. We 
 turn, therefore, with eager expectation to the 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. Z-] 
 
 Epistle which, ten years later, he sends from 
 Rome " to the saints at PhiHppi." We examine 
 with pecuHar pleasure his photograph of one 
 who was at that time an actual member of their 
 community, and their chosen representative. 
 For such was " Epaphroditus, my brother, and 
 companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but 
 your messenger, and he that ministered in your 
 behalf to my wants." 
 
 The references given at the head of the present 
 pages are our only source of information in re- 
 gard to him. Some expositors, indeed, have 
 sought to identify him with Epaphras, a man 
 like-minded, to whose fervent spirit the Apostle 
 bears willing witness in his Epistle to the Colos- 
 sians. But Epaphras is expressly stated to be 
 himself a Colossian, and his special anxieties 
 were for the churches of Asia. Epaphroditus, 
 it seems scarcely less clear, was a Philippian, and 
 his connection lay with the churches of Mace- 
 donia. It follows that our scope is narrower 
 than in former instances ; but within its limit 
 
88 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIP PL 
 
 we may discern the outline of a touching inci- 
 dent, and the traces of a character at once genial, 
 modest, and devoted. 
 
 The Philippian brethren had always been dis- 
 tinguished by their generosity. Their contribu- 
 tion to the great collection made among the 
 Gentile churches for the reHef of " the poor saints 
 in Jerusalem " had been far out of proportion to 
 their poverty, and even beyond their proper 
 power. To Paul's personal necessities, Philippi 
 alone of all the Christian communities had 
 counted it a matter of conscience to minister. 
 That sense of obligation, slumbering for a time 
 through want of opportunity, had now revived. 
 They had heard of his imprisonment. They 
 were distressed to think of the privations which 
 he might have to encounter. They must do 
 what they could to alleviate them. A bountiful 
 gift, from the hands of cheerful givers, was the 
 prompt and appropriate result of their consul- 
 tations. 
 
 With the modern conveniences of the Bank and 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. 89 
 
 the Post Office at our disposal, we can hardly 
 appreciate the practical difficulty which in those 
 days attended even the conveyance of a letter 
 from one city to another. The embarrassment 
 was still more serious in the case of money. 
 The only method of remitting it was by the 
 hands of some trusty messenger, willing to 
 undertake the journey. In the present instance, 
 the journey was not an easy one. It would in- 
 volve either a long sea-voyage, over the very 
 waters in which Paul himself had so nearly 
 perished, or a yet more laborious transit by land 
 through Macedonia and Illyricum to the point 
 of passage across the Adriatic. It would occupy 
 weeks, or even months, to reach Rome ; and by 
 the time the messenger had fully discharged 
 his duty, and returned to Philippi, a whole 
 year might probably elapse. The call is made, 
 however, for a volunteer. Epaphroditus answers 
 the call. He does not appear to have business 
 of his own in the capital, as Phoebe had, and 
 Onesiphorus ; but he goes simply in the service 
 
90 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHI LI PPL 
 
 of the church, to the aid of their beloved Apostle, 
 and therefore in the name of Christ. 
 
 The journey, we may suppose, is completed ; 
 and, arrived in Rome, Epaphroditus hastens to 
 commit the trust with which he came confided 
 into the hands of Paul. We can conceive the 
 joyful meeting, the eagerness of the first hurried 
 inquiries, and the long and animated conver- 
 sations which succeeded. We are shown the 
 grateful, dignified temper in which the Apostle 
 accepts the gift, as a token of his brethren's 
 fidelity to their one Master, " a sacrifice accept- 
 able, well pleasing to God." The whole Epistle 
 seems radiant with the glow of satisfaction with 
 which he hears of their concord, their energy, and 
 their valiant adherence to the truth. It tells 
 how warmly he appreciated the thoughtful kind- 
 ness which had prompted them to depute one of 
 their own number for the very purpose of render- 
 ing personal service to their imprisoned friend. 
 
 Epaphroditus soon proved himself to be a 
 worthy representative of the church from which 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIP PI. 91 
 
 he came. He was much more than a bearer of 
 their gifts. He laid himself out to be of use to 
 Paul. He ministered, with a ready will, to his 
 every want. He went swiftly on his every mes- 
 sage. He threw his energies into the work of 
 Christ in the city, and laboured with self-sacri- 
 ficing zeal. The portrait which we have of him 
 presents him as one of those invaluable helpers, 
 alike tender and true, "brother and fellow-soldier," 
 to whom you can confide your most secret 
 anxieties, and whom you can trust to stand by 
 you in your sorest perils. A confidence of no 
 ordinary kind sprang quickly up between him 
 and the aged Apostle whom he sought to serve. 
 Perhaps he was fast becoming indispensable to 
 Paul, as such friends are apt to become to our- 
 selves. 
 
 Epaphroditus must have been for some length 
 of time at Rome, when a grievous interruption 
 happened to his mission there. He fell ill, 
 apparently as the result of his unceasing exer- 
 tions ; he caught fever, perhaps, among some of 
 
92 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPL 
 
 the slums of the great city : and the illness 
 threatened to be fatal. The blow fell most 
 heavily on Paul. It was a sore disappointment 
 to be deprived of such a cheerful comrade in 
 confinement, and such a willing-hearted com- 
 panion in labour. But it seemed especially 
 sad to see him ill in a foreign land, so far 
 from home and friends ; and to think that 
 his suffering had come in the course of dis- 
 interested service rendered to the Apostle him- 
 self. What if the threatening death should 
 actually descend '>. It would be " sorrow upon 
 sorrow" to that noble, sympathetic heart. With 
 what feelings should he send word to Philippi 
 that their chosen messenger had fallen a victim 
 to his fidelity, and that they would see his 
 face no more } 
 
 He has, happily, another account to send 
 now. The cloud has passed ; the fervent 
 prayers offered for that precious life have been 
 heard, and " God had mercy " both on Epaphro- 
 ditus and on Paul. The sick man has re- 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. 93 
 
 covered ; but we judge the recovery to have 
 been slow, for there had been time for tidings 
 to reach the Phihppian^, and even for letters 
 to have arrived from them in reply. Now it 
 was his turn to be distressed. He had borne 
 his own danger bravely ; but the thought of 
 his anxious friends, perhaps of his trembling 
 wife and children, completely overcame him. 
 He lay longing again to be in their midst, and as 
 soon as health was sufficiently restored, he 
 became bent on an immediate return. Nor 
 will Paul oppose his desire ; sad as it must 
 have been to him to lose one after another 
 of his faithful " fellow-prisoners," he never sought 
 to retain them, when duty called them away. 
 Let Epaphroditus go ! There will be joy at 
 Philippi as they receive him safely back, rescued 
 from the gates of the grave. Let that joy 
 be unrestrained ; for never did messenger de- 
 serve a warmer welcome or a higher regard. 
 And the sound of their gladness shall be heard 
 in the lonely Roman prison, where Paul must 
 
94 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. 
 
 still wait his Master's time, and shall waken 
 echoes of satisfaction in his burdened heart ; 
 " Ye will rejoice, and I shall be the less sorrow- 
 ful." So our story ends with the departure 
 of Epaphroditus, carrying the Epistle to the 
 PhiHppians in his hands, and the grateful 
 benediction of the Apostle in his heart. 
 " Receive him in the Lord with all gladness, 
 and hold such in reputation." One would 
 fain discover the peculiar qualities which drew 
 from inspired lips such fervent commendations. 
 
 The loveable character of the man appears 
 upon the surface. He carried with him every- 
 where that friendly spirit which opens other 
 hearts as if by magic, and binds them to itself. 
 Paul had been won in an instant by the frank 
 offer of personal service ; and as the service 
 was ungrudgingly maintained, the attachment 
 grew stronger and surer. The very rumour 
 of the illness of Epaphroditus occasioned a 
 burst of agitated feeling among his friends ; 
 the news of his recovery created a corresponding 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPI. 95 
 
 delight. It is evident that any man must 
 be worth loving, if people, separated from him 
 by hundreds of miles, still bear him in affec- 
 tionate remembrance, and long for his return. 
 And such characters, in whatever class they 
 appear, are one main element in the strength 
 of the Christian Church. They are the firm 
 cement without which its whole structure must 
 crumble to the ground. They supply the 
 warm and genial sunshine for its growth. 
 Drinking daily themselves at the fountains 
 of eternal love, they diffuse streams of 'kind- 
 ness, which might water a wilderness. Do 
 some, of stronger prejudice and keener temper, 
 affect to despise their influence } Do others 
 predict for them the danger of that woe which 
 is to come upon those " of whom all men speak 
 well ".? They remember that the woe is directed 
 expressly against the cowardice of compromise, 
 and in no sense against the gracious exercise 
 of goodness. Basing their friendliness on 
 principle, seeking to inspire it with self-denial, 
 
96 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIP PL 
 
 they have no fear of the disapproval of their 
 Lord. They count on his sympathy ; they 
 claim his sanction ; for " now abideth faith, 
 hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest 
 of these is charity." 
 
 It resulted from such a temper, that Epaphro- 
 ditus was what we may call a serviceable 
 man. There are a number of excellent people 
 in the present day who insist on doing good 
 in their own way, aside from the channels of 
 our ordinary benevolence. To a certain extent, 
 this is a symptom not to be regretted. It 
 is extremely desirable that the Church should 
 constantly find new openings for her energies ; 
 and her devout thanks are due to those more 
 original and enterprising spirits who explore 
 the untrodden fields, and invent the appro- 
 priate appliances of action. Were all her 
 members, however, to aspire to be discoverers, 
 it would go hardly with the cultivation of the 
 soil already in possession. No less, therefore, 
 is the good cause indebted to those who 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIP PI. 97 
 
 humbly accept the work which lies ready to 
 their hands, and heartily discharge it. These 
 are the special comfort of the Christian minister. 
 These are the mainstay of our Sunday schools, 
 our Missionary Societies, our ordinary agencies 
 among the poor, the ignorant, and the afflicted. 
 And they may fairly claim Epaphroditus as 
 one of their own order. Never was a Christian 
 man more thoroughly at the disposal of his 
 brethren. Do they need a messenger to go 
 to Rome, a minister to wait on Paul, a repre- 
 sentative who will carefully convey to him 
 their greetings and their gifts } He is ready 
 to go. Does Paul desire a friend to stay at 
 his side, a scribe to write his letters, a visitor 
 to some sick house in Rome, a teacher of some 
 little company of hearers there, a brave witness 
 for the truth in the presence of its adversaries } 
 Again he is ready ; " my brother, and com- 
 panion in labour, and fellow-soldier," doing all 
 that he does "heartily, as unto the Lord, and 
 not unto men." 
 
 H 
 
98 EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIP PI. 
 
 We should be much mistaken if we inferred 
 that there is little of the heroic in such a cha- 
 racter. The contrary has indeed, on a previous 
 page, become apparent. There breathes un- 
 noticed in many humble hearts a devotion to the 
 service of Christ, ready, if need arose, to endure 
 the prison, or to abide the flame. There is 
 displayed on many a bed of suffering, meekly 
 borne, enough of uncomplaining fortitude to win 
 a martyr's crown. So it is written of Epaphro- 
 ditus ; " for the work of Christ he was nigh unto 
 death, not regarding his life." He did not seek 
 'death ; but when, in his steady course of obedi- 
 ence, death faced him, he did not flee from it. 
 He would not throw away his life ; but if the 
 choice came between losing life and shrinking 
 from service, he was ready to let it go. Fana- 
 ticism he would have abjured : fidelity and self- 
 sacrifice he held to be simple duty. Are there 
 not thousands in the ranks of our own Israel, 
 leading humble, holy, and self-denying lives, 
 who would be equally willing to die for Christ } 
 
EPAPHRODITUS OF PHILIPPL 99 
 
 Heroism lives in unsuspected places. The quaint 
 saying of Dr. John Duncan about the early- 
 Christian teachers may prove to hold true of a 
 multitude besides ; " though they were poor 
 theologians, they were shining lights, and they 
 WQXQ^ famous men to bitmr 
 
 Devotion to duty is indeed the great general 
 moral of these primitive biographies. It is to be 
 learned, now as then, beside the Cross of Christ, 
 where He showed Himself, for our sakes, " obe- 
 dient unto death." From His example we gather 
 our instruction. In His love we find our in- 
 spiration. '' Hereby perceive we the love of 
 Christ, because He laid down His life for us ; 
 and we ought to lay down our lives for the 
 brethren." 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE HOUSEHOLD OF STEPHANAS. 
 
 Scripture References : Acts xviii. i-ii ; i Corinthians 
 i. 14-16 ; xvi. 15-18. 
 
 ^^^HE original readers of the Apostolic 
 letters must have been struck, even 
 more than we can be, by the per- 
 sonal references, and the kindly private com- 
 mendations, which light up their graver and 
 more general contents. Let us imagine, for in- 
 stance, one of the elders of the Corinthian 
 Church reading out for the first time in some 
 assembly of its members the first of the two 
 Epistles which bear their name. It is full of the 
 most weighty and elevating instructions. The 
 
HOUSEHOLD OF STEPHANAS. loi 
 
 attention of the hearers has been strained to the 
 utmost, as the letter has passed, from vindicating 
 the divine simphcity of the Gospel, to give orders 
 in regard to the discipline of unworthy members, 
 the proper celebration of the Lord's Supper, the 
 rules of social intercourse with the heathen, and 
 the use of spiritual gifts ; and as it has risen to 
 a climax in the glowing demonstration of the 
 reality of the resurrection, and of the eternal 
 life beyond. With what a sense of delighted 
 relief they must have listened to the homely 
 words with which the Epistle concludes, as to 
 the collection for the poor Christians in Jerusa- 
 lem, and Paul's projected travels, and the prob- 
 able visits of this missionary or of that, and the 
 good work of their own brethren ! What a touch 
 of natural interest as the reader went on, " Ye 
 know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first- 
 fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted 
 themselves to the ministry of the saints ; I 
 beseech you that ye submit yourselves unto 
 such ! " The house of Stephanas ? There, prob- 
 
I02 THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 ably, they sat among their brethren, and every 
 child knew them familiarly. The words must 
 have seem.ed like an autograph signature to the 
 Epistle, making it life-like and personal ; and 
 now they set us of the later time inquiring who 
 these people were, and what is to be learned 
 from them« 
 
 " The house of Stephanas " may mean one of 
 two things. Either there was a heathen master 
 of that name, and the persons referred to were 
 his Christian slaves ; or else Stephanas w^as him- 
 self a Christian, and his children, and perhaps his 
 servants also, were one with him in faith. We 
 choose the latter alternative as the more likely 
 one, for the obvious reason that we read, in the 
 very next verse of the Epistle, of Stephanas 
 himself as actively engaged in the service of the 
 church. 
 
 The members of this family, then, were the 
 earliest Corinthian converts, or " the first-fruits 
 of Achaia," the province of which Corinth was. 
 the capital. It was now four or five years since 
 
OF STEPHANAS. 103 
 
 Paul had arrived in that bustling heathen city, 
 a solitary stranger, " in weakness and fear, and 
 much trembling." He came thither seeking the 
 fruit of redeemed souls, consecrated to God. 
 During eighteen months of untiring labour he 
 had been permitted to reap a rich spiritual har- 
 vest ; and he now addressed a numerous and 
 flourishing church. But no subsequent successes 
 could make him forget the toils of the early days 
 at Corinth, and the joy of the first-fruits. There 
 was fierce opposition to contend with ; and the 
 Apostle was obliged to withdraw from the syna- 
 gogue, and to take a preaching-room of his own 
 in a house hard by. With what anxiety he was 
 filled lest all should be in vain ! And when men 
 began to listen eagerly ; when he caught the 
 look of interest on the face of Stephanas, and of 
 the group which surrounded him ; and when, 
 going to their house, he heard their inquiries, 
 and was enabled to guide them to Christ, must 
 it not have been like an earnest of the harvest- 
 home } The ancient Israelite was to bring every 
 
I04 THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 year an armful of the new corn from his field to 
 the priest, and the priest was to wave it before 
 the Lord, in token of grateful obligation. And 
 here Paul seems to stand with that saved family, 
 the sheaf of his first-fruits, in his Master's 
 presence, rejoicing, forasmuch as he now knew 
 that his labour was not in vain in the Lord. 
 
 This allusion serves to explain another. At 
 the outset of his first Epistle, Paul refers to the 
 ordinance of baptism, and his own practice in 
 regard to it. His practice was never to baptize 
 with his own hands, lest he might be suspected 
 of baptizing in his own name, and so of creating 
 a sect or a schism. " I thank God," he writes, 
 " I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gains ; " 
 and then, as if recollecting himself, he adds, 
 " and I baptized also the household of Ste- 
 phanas." The reason for these exceptions to 
 his ordinary rule is at hand. They were the 
 first-fruits of Achaia, and there was no one else 
 to baptize them. After their reception, Stephanas 
 himself, or Crispus, would undertake the office 
 
OF STEPHANAS. 105 
 
 of baptizing, and Paul would be left free "to 
 preach the gospel." The administration of or- 
 dinances is therefore no prerogative of pastors or 
 teachers, though it may be convenient usually to 
 entrust it to them. As a principle, any Christian 
 may baptize ; and it is surely matter for surprise 
 that, where the pastorate is vacant, the honoured 
 deacons and elders of our churches should hesi- 
 tate themselves to undertake the office. 
 
 One would fain picture to oneself that first 
 baptism at Corinth. Probably it was a very 
 quiet service, either by the seaside, under the 
 broad sky, or in one of the spacious public baths 
 which abounded in all great cities, or in a private 
 house. There were the family ; with them a few 
 sympathizing friends, such as Aquila and Pris- 
 cilla ; and in the midst the Apostle, knitting his 
 enfeebled frame to the unaccustomed work. 
 First the father steps forward, throws off his 
 outer robe, and with the solemn words, " I 
 baptize thee in the name of the Lord Jesus," is 
 plunged beneath the water ; and then his house- 
 
io6 THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 hold, from the greatest to the least. Were there 
 children among them ? It is quite possible. No 
 elaborate form of faith was then exacted from 
 believers in order to baptism. All that Paul 
 would require was what our own missionaries 
 asked from Krishnu, the first Hindoo whom they 
 baptized, " a profession of dependence on Christ, 
 and submission to Him in all things." It is all 
 that ought ever to be required ; and, on those 
 terms, intelligent children of tender age may be 
 welcomed to baptism as freely as the more ad- 
 vanced. The one condition is that they be 
 believers ; and that condition we know was ful- 
 filled by the family of Stephanas, by the house- 
 hold of the Philippian gaoler, and in every 
 Scripture instance the clear particulars of which 
 we possess. " Adult baptism " therefore is a 
 phrase which we may well abandon ; " believers' 
 baptism " is a truth which we hold to be firmly 
 established, and for which we must earnestly 
 contend. 
 
 Four years have elapsed since the conversion 
 
OF STEPHANAS. • 107 
 
 of Stephanas and his family ; and we wonder 
 how they have prospered, and what their stand- 
 ing in the church may be. Corinth is a wicked 
 city, full of temptations ; and the Corinthian 
 Christians are of a very mingled character for 
 good and evil. But what we now hear of that 
 household is highly to their honour. " They 
 have addicted themselves to the ministry 
 of the saints." " Addicted " here means " ap- 
 pointed " or " devoted ; " they have set them- 
 selves, unasked and unrewarded, with a free and 
 generous consecration, to the service of the 
 church. For " the ministry of the saints " does 
 not imply any express ecclesiastical office, but a 
 general exercise of benevolence, as opportunity 
 should arise. Their house stood open to all who 
 needed hospitality. The sons acted as almoners 
 to the poor, or exerted themselves to find em- 
 ployment for the needy ; the daughters nursed 
 the sick, and clothed the naked ; the father took 
 a leading part in the church's business, and was 
 entrusted with its weightiest commissions. At 
 
io8 THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 this very time Stephanas had been on a visit of 
 Christian kindness to Paul at Ephesus, and with 
 him two others, Fortunatus and Achaicus, pos- 
 sibly his sons, more probably, if they belonged 
 to him at all, his servants. They had gone with 
 supplies for his bodily wants, and with cheerful 
 and refreshing sympathies. Acknowledge the 
 value of such a family, says the Apostle, writing 
 to the church. All honourable, and all useful ; 
 free from the party spirit and the laxity of moral 
 judgment which infected some of their brethren ; 
 a sample of other households, like-minded, at 
 Corinth and elsewhere — submit yourselves, he 
 urges, willingly to such leaders, and count them 
 worthy of all honour. " Ye know the house of 
 Stephanas." I too know them, and esteem them 
 as my helpers and fellow-labourers ! 
 
 Is there not something delightfully natural (to 
 use that word in its better sense) in this union of 
 an entire family in Christ and in His Church t 
 It is true that, under the Gospel, religion is a 
 distinctly personal matter, and that a descent 
 
OF STEPHANAS. 109 
 
 from Abraham himself is no guarantee of salva- 
 tion ; it is true that, in some sad instances, " the 
 father shall be divided against the son, and the 
 son against the father." But that prophecy docs 
 not lay down a law. There is no stern necessity 
 in the divine counsels for such lamentable dis- 
 union and division. The New Testament is full 
 of happy illustrations to the contrary,^ like our 
 present one. Why should w^ make up our 
 minds to a division in any family } Some ex- 
 ceptions, have you said to yourself, there must 
 be among my children ; some will be taken, and 
 others will be left, according to the mysterious 
 working of the Spirit's call. Why must there 
 be } Why should we not rather regard it as a 
 startling thing, if but one seem to be left out } 
 Thousands of united households still sit down 
 side by side at the Lord's Table in our English 
 churches. Let us not only offer the earnest 
 
 ' See, for instance, John xi. 5 ; Acts x. 24, 44, 48 ; xvi. 
 its? 3 '-34 5 xviii. 8 ; xxi. 9 ; Ephes. vi. i ; Philemon 1-2 ; 
 2 John 1-4. 
 
no THE HOUSEHOLD 
 
 prayer, but let us cherish the good hope, that it 
 may be so with our own. And if these pages 
 fall under the eye of some wife or husband, some 
 soil or daughter, who still stands aloof, let them 
 say, whether they will mar the beauty of a com- 
 plete Christian household, as theirs also might 
 be ? Will you be the Absalom of your family ? 
 Will you not rather be its Ruth, and say with 
 her, " Thy people shall be my people, and thy 
 God my God ? " 
 
 Let there be no misunderstanding, however, 
 on this point. The religious tie which bound 
 the household of Stephanas together was not an 
 ecclesiastical form, but a spiritual reality. They 
 were not united in the church because they had 
 a pious father, or because sponsors had stood 
 sureties for them in their infancy. Faith in their 
 case had gone before baptism, and faith had 
 been proved by works. We must first invite the 
 younger members of our households, not to the 
 baptistery or the communion table, but to a 
 living devotion to Christ. That, and only that 
 
OF STEPHANAS. in 
 
 is real religion ; to fight your own way into the 
 kingdom, and to plant your own foot on the 
 glorious foundation-stone of our everlasting 
 hopes. 
 
 And then, what an enduring bond we have ! 
 The house of Stephanas is long ago broken up. 
 The children followed their father to the grave, 
 and were presently borne thither themselves. 
 Even the re-united group at Bethany must have 
 been sundered at last. Here we part ; the sons 
 emigrate, the daughters are married ; new re- 
 lationships are formed, and new homes follow ; 
 then, like the cables of a ship, snapping one after 
 another, the old ties are broken by death ; and 
 even the wedded vow is at last exhausted. Does 
 the spiritual bond survive those changes and 
 that catastrophe ? Will it still hold — the anchor 
 which we have cast within the very veil } Surely 
 it will. " Who shall separate us from the love of 
 Christ ? " asks the Apostle. Ay, and if we be all 
 His, who shall separate us from each other's 
 love } My lost ones are gone to be with Him, 
 
112 HOUSEHOLD OF STEPHANAS. 
 
 and I too go to be with Him in my turn ; we 
 cannot then be far apart. We cannot but be 
 re-united ; if some get home a little earlier in 
 the day, and some a little later, before nightfall 
 we shall all be gathered in our Father's house. 
 
 " As for my friends, they are not lost ; 
 
 The several vessels of Thy fleet. 
 Though parted now, by tempests tossed, 
 
 Shall safely in the haven meet." 
 
 And as parent draws to child, and wife to hus- 
 band, and brother to sister, in that world of 
 higher life and service, and the broken families 
 of earth are brought again together, the blessing 
 of heaven descends upon the unfading union, 
 and they "know the house of Stephanas, that 
 they are the first-fruits of Achaia, and that," ac- 
 cording to their several ability, " they addicted 
 themselves to the ministry of the saints." 
 
IX. 
 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 Scripture reference : Romans xvi. i, 2. 
 
 iT is not easy to conceive of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, now such 
 an integral part of our English 
 Bible, in its original form as a separate roll of 
 paper or parchment, freshly written in Greek 
 letters by an ordinary scribe, and about to be 
 conveyed from Corinth to Rome in the charge 
 of an ordinary traveller. The very name, how- 
 ever, of the scribe is preserved to us ; " I, Tertius, 
 who wrote this epistle." And as to the bearer, 
 the note at the end of the letter is, in this 
 I 
 
114 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 instance, probably correct ; " sent by Phoebe, ser- 
 vant of the church at Cenchrea." She was one 
 well worthy to be entrusted with the spiritual 
 treasure ; and the incidental notice of her cha- 
 racter deserves our own attention. " I commend 
 unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant 
 of the church which is at Cenchrea ; that ye 
 receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and 
 that ye assist her in whatsoever business she 
 hath need of you : for she hath been a succourer 
 of many, and of myself also." 
 
 Cenchrea, then, was this lady's home. Cen- 
 chrea was on the sea, a thriving town about 
 eight miles from Corinth ; and it was the port 
 from which the Corinthian commerce was carried 
 on with Asia Minor and the East. Thence Paul 
 had sailed for Jerusalem on a former occasion, 
 "having shorn his head in Cenchrea ;" and there, 
 as in the neighbouring city, he had been the 
 means of establishing a Christian church. Phoebe, 
 intending to travel westward, would pass through 
 Corinth on her road, and embark from the oppo- 
 
PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 115 
 
 site shore of the Isthmus, at the port of Lech- 
 3eum, whence ships sailed for Italy. 
 
 There are indications that she was a person of 
 considerable influence, and even wealth. She 
 had "business" on which it was necessary to 
 travel to the capital ; and a journey so expen- 
 sive and wearisome implies a corresponding im- 
 portance in the traveller. Her practical aid was 
 generously and widely bestowed, for she was " a 
 succourer of many ; " and the original word im- 
 plies the ideas which we connect with patronage 
 and protection. She had a broad wing under 
 w^iich to shelter the afflicted. Add to this that 
 she was probably a widow, since only in that 
 character could she have travelled so indepen- 
 dently, that she would have, like Lydia, servants 
 in attendance, and a large group of friends to 
 bid her farewell, and we see all that can now be 
 seen of the circumstances of her departure for 
 Rome. 
 
 Her Christian character, however, is very dis- 
 tinctly brought out. The Apostle himself guaran- 
 
ii6 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 tees the genuineness of her faith, when he calls 
 her "our sister." The Roman brethren may- 
 receive her with perfect confidence as one with 
 them " in the Lord." At Cenchrea she was not 
 only a recognized member, but an active and 
 useful " servant of the church." Indeed, a ques- 
 tion of considerable interest arises as to whether 
 she was not an office-bearer there. Many would 
 translate, " a deaconess of the church at Cen- 
 chrea." A wider question is, therefore, involved ; 
 were there deaconesses in the primitive church, 
 answering to the deacons, and set apart for a 
 corresponding purpose } 
 
 The famous letter of Pliny to the Emperor 
 Trajan, written early in the second century, 
 speaks of two Christian women, " who were 
 called ministers," having been examined by tor- 
 ture. This looks as if a female order of some 
 kind existed in the churches of Asia Minor at 
 that time. In the New Testament itself, besides 
 the passage under notice, the only similar indi- 
 cations are in the Epistles to Timothy and 
 
PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 117 
 
 Titus ; ^ and these are too vague to sustain any 
 very definite conclusion. The probable fact is 
 that there was no actual order of deaconesses in 
 Apostolic days ; but that wherever a Christian 
 woman showed signs of unusual prudence, piety, 
 and courage, and enjoyed sufficient leisure for 
 the service, she was joyfully accepted as a fellow- 
 labourer. She would do such work as elders 
 and deacons failed to do so well, or could not 
 do at all. She would answer to the Bible-woman, 
 or the district-visitor, of the present day. Perhaps 
 she would be entrusted with the alms of the 
 church, and with the relief and refreshment of 
 its poor and of its sick. Such a " servant " was 
 Phoebe to the church at Cenchrea ; such to the 
 church at Rome were Tryphena and Tryphosa, 
 and " the beloved Persis, which laboured much 
 in the Lord;" and such at Philippi, "those 
 women which laboured with me in the Gospel." 
 
 ' I Tim. iii. 1 1 (where for " their wives " some would 
 read " the women," i. e. the women deacons) ; and Titus 
 ii. 3. 
 
ii8 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 Let the churches find room and exercise for all 
 gifts ! There is no need to invent any new 
 name, or to establish any special office or order. 
 " Servants of the church " are wanted everywhere. 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might," and so shalt thou become, like this 
 lady of the early time, " a succourer of many." 
 
 A glorious sphere of interest and activity is 
 opened by the Gospel to the women who em- 
 brace it. Those of them who are without do- 
 mestic ties and responsibilities may find a place 
 in the very van of the Christian army, and may 
 achieve some of the noblest missionary work. 
 In the most dangerous districts of Paris, in the 
 Indian zenanas, among the women and children 
 of China, English ladies labour at this hour with 
 a devotedness and a success never exceeded by 
 the stronger sex. Without leaving her home, 
 or neglecting her children, the matron may have 
 her class or her district, and there may do the 
 work of an evangelist, and shed a heavenly in- 
 fluence round. The slander that a woman's mind 
 
PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 119 
 
 can only care for trifles and frivolities receives 
 its best rebuke in the history of the kingdom of 
 God. The cry for woman's rights finds its best 
 satisfaction here ; for here is need of all the 
 grace, the tact, the self-sacrifice of woman, and 
 here is her reward. Happy are those churches 
 wl ich enjoy the hearty service alike of their sons 
 anc of their daughters, and where the gentler gifts 
 and graces of the one set themselves to the 
 stener qualities of the other, 
 
 " Like perfect music unto noble words." 
 
 Plcebe, then, is about to sail for Rome, and 
 she s commended to the care and kindness 
 of the brethre;n there. She will arrive a stranger 
 in the mighty metropolis, in much need of 
 prompt assistance and advice. Hospitality, 
 in all its branches, was a sacred duty in those 
 perilous days. Paul asks that the necessary 
 attentions may be bestowed on this Christian 
 sister ; and it is of interest to notice in what 
 terms he writes. 
 
I20 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 He puts his request in a very practical form. 
 The errand on which she goes is a business 
 one, connected either with commerce, or, as 
 has been thought more likely, with law. It 
 may have been a lawsuit pending in one of 
 the Imperial courts. Now a foreigner, lite 
 Phoebe, would be at a terrible disadvantage 
 there. She would be unacquainted with the 
 forms of procedure. She might readily become 
 a victim to the wiles of some acute but un- 
 principled practitioner. Bribery might be used 
 against her, or intimidation might be tried. 
 Paul feels deeply for his inexperienced frienc cast 
 into that vortex of Roman life. " Assist her," 
 is his entreaty to the brethren there. Stand 
 by her in her need. Make her cause youi own. 
 Counsel her as to the wisest procedure to idopt. 
 Be at her side when the cause comes on. 
 Throw over her the shield of your superior 
 local knowledge and influence, and see that 
 she is not wronged. It will be a brotherly 
 duty, and it may lead to a prosperous result. 
 
PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 121 
 
 Would that our sentiments of Christian friend- 
 ship were more readily reduced to this form 
 of practical assistance ! It is comparatively easy 
 to give alms, and kind words, and prayers. 
 What is often most wanted is a little trouble ; 
 a careful consideration of the case, and an en- 
 deavour to meet it in the most effectual way. 
 Here, for instance, is a man in want of a situa- 
 tion ; can we not procure one for him ? There 
 is a sick woman, suffering hopelessly because 
 she has no proper medical attention ; can we 
 not provide it ? Here some young man is 
 beginning business, or entering on a profession ; 
 how much would a little sound advice be 
 worth to him } Or, here again, is a widow 
 left to fight her way through life with her 
 young children, and her natural counsellor gone 
 from her side ; what would she give for the 
 fatherly guidance of some Christian man, with 
 experience of the world, who would act a 
 kinsman's part to her in her perplexities t " I 
 commend unto you " these, and such as these. 
 
122 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 " that ye assist them in whatever business they 
 have need of you." 
 
 Consider also the mutual character which is 
 to distinguish our Christian friendship. What 
 had Phoebe ever done for the brethren at Rome } 
 Nothing-. Why then should they be summoned 
 to her side .? Because of what she had been 
 to others, " a succourer of many, and of myself 
 also." She had stood by Paul in his need, 
 and by many a sick-bed, and in many a poor 
 home, in her own town of Cenchrea. The 
 obligation passes on to all Christians. All 
 are her debtors. She has helped others ; now 
 let her be helped in turn. 
 
 The cup of cold water is to go round from 
 hand to hand. To-day you have to give it ; 
 to-morrow you may have to receive it. At your 
 door waits some fainting brother, seeking coun- 
 sel or comfort. Do not refuse him ; your own 
 turn will soon come. Or perhaps your turn 
 has come, and it is you who thirst for sympathy 
 and stand in need of help. Take freely what 
 
PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 123 
 
 your friends offer ; you will have ample oppor- 
 tunity to repay it. For there is a freemasonry 
 in the kingdom of Christ which we should never 
 fail to recognize ; and our Lord's words should 
 find an echo in the hearts of all His servants, 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it unto them, ye did it 
 unto me." 
 
 And those words remind us how all our 
 attentions to one another are to spring from 
 our common allegiance to Him. " Receive 
 her in the Lord, as becometh saints." There 
 ought to be a certain characteristic warmth 
 and unction in Christian kindness, distinguishing 
 it from all other. How should we welcome 
 our King, if he himself landed on our shores, 
 and came to our house-doors, and sought our 
 hospitality, or desired our aid } So are we 
 to receive and succour one another. So 
 let Phoebe be welcomed, with like fervour 
 and alacrity. For the Lord appears in His 
 servant, and the servant is to be looked 
 at in his Lord ; and the kindness of the 
 
124 
 
 PHCEBE OF CENCHREA. 
 
 Roman brethren to their sister from afar 
 would not miss of its abundant recompense 
 in the approval of a good conscience and 
 the assurance of a Saviour's regard. 
 
X. 
 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 Scripture references : 2 Timothy i. 16-18 ; iv. 19. 
 
 E were able, in some of the previous 
 cases, to trace out, by comparison of 
 Scripture passages, a tolerably com- 
 plete and connected account of the persons 
 named. A glimpse is all that we have gained 
 in others ; and it is only a glimpse that we 
 obtain of our present subject. The man who 
 now steps upon the scene does not re-appear. 
 One Epistle only mentions him, and in the Acts 
 his very name is unrecorded. What we gather, 
 we must gather from two passing allusions in 
 
126 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 the second Epistle to Timothy. "The Lord 
 give mercy. unto the house of Onesiphorus ; for 
 he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my 
 chain ; but, when he was in Rome, he sought me 
 out very dih'gently, and found me. The Lord 
 grant unto him that he may find mercy of the 
 Lord in that day : and in how many things he 
 ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest 
 very well." " Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the 
 household of Onesiphorus." 
 
 Let us mark, however, before we proceed, 
 what letter it is which contains these references. 
 It is the last of all the Epistles of Paul, written, 
 as we have repeatedly observed, during his 
 second imprisonment, and not long before his 
 death. He is again at Rome, but not, as on the 
 former occasion, in his own hired house, with 
 liberty to receive whom he will, and to speak all 
 that is in his heart. Cold, and worn, and ill, 
 Paul the aged lies in his prison cell ; and, of all 
 his many companions, only Luke is with him 
 now. So it happens that the very Epistle which 
 
ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 127 
 
 is full of the most heroic confidence in Divine 
 protection is marked by the tenderest yearnings 
 after human sympathy ; and the heart of the 
 Apostle is swayed like the sea before the rough 
 wind of unkind desertion, and again under the 
 soft breeze of faithful solicitude and care. There 
 go the false friends — " all they which arc in 
 Asia be turned away from me ; of whom are 
 Phygellus and Hermogenes." And here comes 
 the good Onesiphorus, warming Paul's heart by 
 the mere recollection of his fidelity, and drawing 
 Paul's blessing down on himself and on his 
 house. 
 
 Onesiphorus, it is clear, was an Ephesian ; for 
 Timothy was at this time resident at Ephesus, 
 and there this man's household dwelt. There, 
 then, Paul and he had made acquaintance, 
 during the long continued campaign of the 
 Apostle in the city, now ten years ago. That 
 earlier time is not forgotten. Every one knew, 
 and Timothy had often heard of what value 
 his friendship had been. His house was one 
 
128 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 of the many which had opened to Paul and 
 made him welcome. Children were there, now 
 grown to manhood, who were taught to run to 
 the door at his approach, and to draw him 
 joyfully in. Servants were there, who would 
 bring water for his feet, and food for his hunger, 
 not by constraint, but willingly ; for was he not 
 the champion and friend of their downtrodden 
 class } And there was Onesiphorus himself, 
 hastening from his business to receive the great 
 preacher, "ministering to him" with his own 
 hands, and serving him with all the interest and 
 influence he had. Happy memories of those 
 evening welcomes rose in Paul's mind as he 
 wrote. How thankful had he often felt to turn 
 away from the school of Tyrannus, with its hot 
 discussions and its not unfrequent perils, and to 
 seek the rest and retirement of the house of 
 Onesiphorus ! It must have been to him what 
 Bethany was to our Lord, a harbour of refuge 
 from the stormy scenes of Jerusalem. It was 
 more than that : " he oft refreshed me." Courage 
 
ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 129 
 
 came back, and weaned energies were revived, 
 and clearer plans were conceived, and nobler 
 ambitions were kindled, as those two, Paul and 
 Onesiphorus, took counsel together, and waited 
 in prayer and faith upon God. 
 
 Years passed, and they had not met. Business 
 of some kind brings Onesiphorus at last to 
 Rome. Paul is at Rome too, a prisoner, in close 
 confinement, and it is not easy to get access to 
 him. The Roman Christians are rather afraid of 
 being associated with him ; they think it safer 
 on the whole to keep away, and not to know 
 where he is ; for, if they visit him, they too may 
 come under the notice of the authorities, and 
 share his fate. Christianity is under the em- 
 peror's ban, and the disciples hide themselves in 
 corners of the city, and profess no connection 
 with a culprit such as Paul. " No man stood by 
 me, but all men forsook me : I pray God that it 
 be not laid to their charge." 
 
 This good Ephesian, however, is made of 
 sterner stuff. He applies to the brethren, and to 
 K 
 
I30 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 his astonishment they have nothing to tell about 
 the Apostle. He goes to the Government offices 
 and inquires there ; there information is scorn- 
 fully refused. He makes his way, nothing 
 daunted, to the prisons, and gets referred from 
 one jailer to another, till he is almost tired out, 
 but he perseveres ; and at last here is a man who 
 can tell him. But does he know the risk to his 
 own liberty, perhaps to his own life .'* He 
 knows ; he is prepared to face it, if only he may 
 see Paul. "He sought me out very diligently, 
 and found me," found the solitary old man with 
 the chains on his hands, and the damp dark 
 prison-walls round him, and the hard black 
 bread to eat, and the thin worn clothing that 
 could not keep out the cold, and scarce a com- 
 rade left. What a meeting must that have been ! 
 Sunshine pouring into the mouth of a cave is a 
 poor emblem of what the sight of that brave and 
 cheerful countenance must have been to Paul. 
 His dear old friend ! The ministries of Ephesus 
 renewed at Rome ! " Onesiphorus " — well named 
 
ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 131 
 
 — one who brings with him advantage, counsel, 
 comfort, who comes to Hght up a new fire of love 
 and hope on the cold hearthstone of that weary 
 prisoner's life. 
 
 It was not then in vain that Jesus had left 
 the word on record for His disciples, " I was 
 in prison, and ye came unto me." Christian 
 sympathy will find a way through every diffi- 
 culty, and a key for every prison door. It 
 goes after the sorrowful and the solitary. Be 
 it ours also " to seek out " our brethren in 
 distress, and not to rest till we too have " found " 
 some Paul, to whose wants we may minister, 
 and whose drooping spirit w^e may refresh. The 
 utmost diligence, the keenest ingenuity, the 
 bravest resolution, how can they be better 
 spent than in the service of our Lord, and on 
 behalf of the least of His suffering brethren t 
 
 Paul has no silver or gold to give ; he is 
 so poor that he cannot buy a cloak to keep 
 off the cold ; but he has something to be prized 
 far more — a good man's prayers. Those prayers 
 
132 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 he offers both for Onesiphorus himself and 
 for his family. " The Lord give mercy unto 
 the house of Onesiphorus." " The Lord grant 
 it unto him." 
 
 Was Onesiphorus living at the time } Some 
 contend that he was not, because the salutation 
 goes to his household, and not to him ; and 
 they conclude that he must have died in the 
 interval. The conclusion is scarcely justified. 
 "The house of Stephanas," at Corinth, is men- 
 tioned, when we know that Stephanas himself 
 was still alive ; and if Onesiphorus was absent 
 on his journey, he would naturally not be 
 included in the salutation. The point is of 
 interest, because Roman Catholic expositors 
 have urged the present passage as establishing 
 the practice of prayers for the dead. But even 
 were their interpretation correct, a brotherly 
 blessing such as this would be far from offering 
 a parallel or a precedent for the unscriptural 
 system of priestly intercession for souls in pur- 
 gatory, which the Romish Church upholds. 
 
ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 133 
 
 The greater interest lies in the nature of the 
 prayer itself. Paul sees " that day " approaching 
 to his friend and to himself — the great day 
 of account, when good and evil must stand 
 before the bar of God. He does not think 
 of it in the light and almost flippant spirit 
 which some of our modern believers affect, as 
 if judgment had nothing to do with them. 
 He trusts that he is safe in Christ, and that 
 his friend is also safe. Yet to pass the dread 
 ordeal, and come forth uncondemned, forgiven, 
 saved for ever, what a wonder of grace will 
 be there ! What should one pray for so earnestly 
 as for that t " May Onesiphorus, stretching 
 forth his hands in that day for mercy, find 
 mercy, even as diligently seeking he found me ! 
 The Lord grant that he whom I so joyfully 
 embraced in my poor prison may be clasped 
 in the everlasting arms, and received into the 
 heavenly home !" 
 
 Nor is it Onesiphorus alone for whom Paul 
 would pray. Let his household too be saved. 
 
134 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 Those sweet children, to whom he had so 
 often spoken of the love of Jesus ; those faithful 
 servants, who had their master's example to 
 guide them ; the kinsfolk who came to visit 
 him ; may they all be bound in the bundle 
 of life with the Lord their God ! See how 
 great the blessing is of belonging to a godly 
 home. A child is not saved because he has 
 a Christian father, nor a servant because he 
 has a Christian master ; but how the influence of 
 such a man, and his prayers, and the prayers 
 of others on his behalf, flow out upon his family! 
 How much love and sympathy, how much 
 wise counsel and kindly warning, how many 
 friends of the best stamp, are mine, because 
 the Father of all mercies cast my lot in a 
 home where He was honoured, and w^hither 
 good men w^ere wont to come ! Take heed, 
 ye children of the godly ; ye for whom 
 many a prayer^ fervent as Paul's own prayers, 
 has been offered for your parents' sake ; to 
 households like that of Onesiphorus much 
 
ONESiniORUS OF EPHESUS. 135 
 
 has been given, and of them much will be 
 required. 
 
 What choicer blessing can we have than 
 the prayers of Christian people ? That bed- 
 ridden saint cannot give you payment for your 
 visits, but when you are gone she will breathe 
 blessings on you and on yours into ears that 
 are never closed to her. Those native Christians 
 far across the sea are poor, and may have to 
 throw themselves still upon the English churches 
 for support in time of need ; but the obligation 
 is not all on one side, while such brethren 
 pray for our prosperity. The loved ones in 
 heaven, whom we tenderly carried down to 
 the river's brink, cannot repay us with words 
 of encouragement, or guide us with their long 
 and ripe experience. But have they ceased 
 to pray t Surely they are now our good angels, 
 beholding the face of God, and adding their 
 intercessions to those of the great Advocate. 
 They may be suffered to see something of 
 our mortal sufferings and struggles. They 
 
136 ONESIPHORUS OF EPHESUS. 
 
 cannot be forbidden to think of us. And if 
 they think of us, and still more if they see us, 
 the incense of their adoration before the throne 
 is mingled with urgent entreaties on our behalf, 
 which will surely prevail. Think of us, ye de- 
 parted saints, now that it is well with you, 
 and make mention of us in the ears of your 
 King! 
 
 Onesiphorus has been abundantly recom- 
 pensed in time and in eternity for all that 
 he had done and dared for Paul. Need we 
 fear to be overlooked } We have the servants' 
 prayers. We have the Master's promise. " Who- 
 soever shall give to drink unto one of these 
 little ones a cup of cold water only in the name 
 of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall 
 in no wise lose his reward." 
 
XI. 
 
 PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 
 
 Scripture references : Col. iii. 22-25 5 i^- i> 9j i? 5 ^^d 
 the Epistle to Philemon. 
 
 HE Epistle to Philemon has an in- 
 terest and a vahie peculiarly its 
 own. It contains no stately scheme 
 of doctrine, like the Epistle to the Romans ; no 
 glowing description of privilege, like that to 
 the Ephesians ; and at first sight we might 
 wonder at its admission into the canon of Scrip- 
 ture. But it proves to be a precious fragment 
 of early Church history. It affords us a glimpse 
 into the existing state of society ; and it shows 
 
138 rUlLEMON AND ONESIMUS. 
 
 US the iniiniicr in ^\•bicll the social problems 
 of that day were dealt with by a Christian 
 Apostle. And this is cU^ne by su<:^^L;estions and 
 intimations tnit of which we may construct the 
 whole story (^{ the master Philemon and his 
 fugitive slave C^nesimus. 
 
 The openini;- salutation of Paul's letter presents 
 to us an earnest Christian man, " Philemon, 
 our dearly beloved and fellow-labourer." The 
 next words seem to introduce us to his wife, 
 " our beloved Apphia," and their son, '* Archippus, 
 our fellow-soldier ;" and to indicate that their 
 home was one of the heatUiuarters of the breth- 
 ren, "the church that is in thy house." It 
 becomes also clear that Philemon was noted 
 for his hearty and hospitable character ; for 
 it had rejoiced Paul's inmost heart to hear of 
 his *' love to all the saints," and of the refresh- 
 ment which they gained from his brotherly 
 attentions. To Paul himself Philemon bore 
 an ardent affection : " Thou wilt do more than I 
 say," writes the Apostle, confident in his loyalty; 
 
J' If I LEMON AND ONESIMUS. 139 
 
 and well he miL;ht, for the man was diic of 
 his own sons in the faith, owin.c^ to him, under 
 God, his own self, and therefore everything 
 he had. Let it be further remembered that 
 he was a householder of wealth, owm'nL^ slaves, 
 and able, if he clujse, to set them free, and 
 the outline of the character is tolerably com[)letc. 
 Where then did he live ? 1 lis own nanie is no- 
 where else [,nven ; but we liave Archi[)[)us men- 
 tioned as one of the ministers of the Church 
 at Colosse, and Oncsimus appears as one of 
 the bearers of the Epistle written to the 
 brethren there : the greetin[,^s also in the two 
 letters to the Colossians and to Philemon arc 
 from the same men. There seems to be c^round 
 for the conclusion that Thilemon was a citizen 
 of Colosse, and a member cjf the Christian 
 community there. Now Colosse was one of 
 the cities c^f Asia Minor, and it lay at no c^^reat 
 distance from Ephesus. l*aul implies that he 
 had never himself visited it ; but I'hilemon may 
 have encountered Paul at p4)hesus durin^^ the 
 
I40 PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 
 
 two years of incessant activity in which " all 
 they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of 
 the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." And 
 returning home, with others like-minded, he 
 was probably the instrument of fo«Lmding the 
 Colossian church, and became one of the pillars 
 that sustained it. It was thus that many of 
 the primitive churches must have been estab- 
 lished, and thus that the Gospel was spread 
 in the remoter districts. Is there no similar 
 process at work in heathen lands to-day ? The 
 few instances of the kind that have lately come 
 to light are surely earnests of much that is 
 unknown. Many a modern Philemon may 
 hear the Gospel in Delhi or Shanghai, and carry 
 it to regions of the far interior, which the feet 
 of the English missionary can never penetrate. 
 
 Philemon had a slave, whose name, Onesimus, 
 the " useful " or " profitable," hardly answered 
 to his conduct. He had proved distinctly un- 
 profitable ; and he had at last run away, leaving 
 the affairs entrusted to him in confusion, and 
 
PHILEMON AND ONE SIM US. 141 
 
 possibly carrying with him some of his master's 
 property. "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth 
 thee ought," leaves the last question in charitable 
 doubt. But the slave became a fugitive ; he 
 fled, we may suppose, to some seaport, and 
 from thence worked or begged a passage to 
 the great imperial city where, as in our own 
 London, a runaway might live for years and 
 successfully avoid detection. " A great city, 
 a great solitude." 
 
 Onesimus found himself in Rome ; and here 
 occurred one of those singular concurrences 
 in which good men delight to see the finger 
 of God. Paul also was at Rome, a prisoner, 
 but enjoying at that time full license to preach 
 the Gospel to all who chose to hear it. How 
 the Colossian slave came v/ithin his influence 
 is left to conjecture. We know that he would 
 soon be reduced to abject poverty and wretched- 
 ness, for there was no almsgiving in heathen 
 Rome, no hospitals or refuges, nor so much 
 as the casual ward of a workhouse, with its 
 
142 PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 
 
 night's lodging and its crust of bread. Onesimus 
 might steal if he could ; or, if his heart failed 
 him, he might throw himself into the Tiber, 
 and end his misery without any danger of 
 interference. But there were Christian hearts 
 now in that city. Did the watchful eye of 
 Mark or Luke light upon the poor stranger, 
 and did they bring him to their master } Or 
 had he heard speak of Paul in old days at 
 Colosse, and so was he of his own accord at- 
 tracted to the preaching } He came, by some 
 means ; he listened, and the saving words 
 seemed meant for him ; he stayed to inquire 
 further, and Paul took a world of pains 
 to teach him ; and at last he too became 
 a Christian, " My son Onesimus, w^iom I 
 have begotten in my bonds." The brethren 
 took him in, and cared for him as one of 
 themselves ; and he returned the kindness 
 with an eager devotion. " A faithful and be- 
 loved brother," writes Paul, specially dear to 
 me, and unspeakably useful, one whom I 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 143 
 
 would thankfully retain with mc, if it were 
 right. A brand plucked from the burning ! 
 A trophy from the very slums of Rome to 
 the power of Christ and of His Gospel ! 
 
 A critical question now arose. Very early 
 in their intercourse Paul must have discovered 
 the relation of Onesimus to his friend Philemon. 
 He was still, according to the law of the age, his 
 slave, bought with his money, or born in his 
 house. He was a fugitive slave, liable, if once 
 recovered, to any punishment his master might 
 inflict. What should be done t How should 
 Paul, standing as he did in so sacred a con- 
 nection with both men, adjust the difficulty 
 between them t 
 
 Ardent spirits may insist that, since slavery 
 of every kind is wrong, that slave ought never 
 to have been allowed to return. Tell Philemon 
 nothing ; or, if something must be told, tell 
 him- that his yoke is broken, and forbid him, 
 in the name of God, to lay it on again ! Cer- 
 tainly, had the case arisen in our own age, 
 
144 PHILEMON AND ONE SIM US. 
 
 even with so good a master as Philemon, and 
 with a slave so fortunately situated as Onesimus, 
 no other course could have been fairly open 
 to Christian men. But it was eighteen centuries 
 ago when Paul was writing, and the world was 
 unripe for the social reformations of later days. 
 A crusade against slavery was never dreamt 
 of then, even by the wisest and best. The 
 early preachers of the Gospel came not as re- 
 formers, but as evangelists. They did not 
 attack the institutions of the heathen age ; 
 but they sought to create an atmosphere 
 throughout society in which those institutions, 
 so far as they were evil, would of necessity 
 crumble and decay. " In Christ Jesus there 
 is neither bond nor free." Once let that spirit 
 of universal brotherhood spread, and the doom 
 of slavery would not be distant. And mean- 
 time, the exhortations came impartially to 
 masters and to slaves in that Colossian church. 
 " Servants, be obedient, as unto Christ;" "Mas- 
 ters, give unto your servants that which is just 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 145 
 
 and equal ; knowing that yc also liavc a Master 
 in heaven." 
 
 Onesimus then shall '^o back to his master, 
 a Christian brother n(3\v, but still his slave. 
 Paul sends him back, sorely a^^ainst his will, 
 for he would fain retain his skilful services ; 
 but as he is about to appeal to Philemon's 
 i^enerosity, so he will himself act generously 
 and frankly. " Without thy mind would I 
 do nothing ;" without Philemon's consent, even 
 the precious boon of freedom shall be held 
 in suspense. Let the master have his rights, 
 as far as he chooses to claim them. Ay, and 
 if there is money due from the fugitive, or 
 any charge on which he could be convicted, 
 Philemon may press it if he will ; only let 
 him press it on Paul, as surety for Onesimus : 
 " 1 Paul have written it with mine own hand ; 
 1 will repay it." 
 
 We feel, as we read the letter, that the rc- 
 I)ayment will never be asked. We feel also 
 that Onesimus is safe. What master, distin- 
 L 
 
146 PHILEMON AND ONE SIM US. 
 
 guished for " faith and love," as Philemon was, 
 could stand out against the flood of Christian 
 motive and appeal which flows through the 
 Epistle ? Has Onesimus, indeed, become a 
 Christian, and that under the preaching of 
 Paul ? Is the useless and troublesome slave 
 changed into a helpful and honoured brother, 
 "profitable to thee and to me?" Was he lost 
 for a season, that he might be received again 
 for ever, and be at his master's side in eternity ? 
 Paul pleads hard for Onesimus ; " receive him 
 as my own bowels," or as we should say, "my 
 own heart;" "receive him as myself;" "I be- 
 seech thee for my son Onesimus," I, Paul, aged 
 and a prisoner, as if I Vv^ere on my knees 
 at thy feet, when I might stand and com- 
 mand thee what is right. Paul himself had 
 a good hope of success, " I have confidence 
 that thou wilt do more than I say." We seem 
 to see the fulfilment of his hope. We see 
 Onesimus made welcome by Philemon, and 
 Apphia, and Archippus, and the whole church 
 
PHILEMON AND ONE SIM US. 147 
 
 in their house. We hear the eager inquiries 
 on the one side about Rome, and Paul, and 
 his own conversion ; and then on the other 
 side the answers, full of adoring gratitude. 
 Prayers are offered and psalms of thanksgiving 
 rise. And ere evening closes, we are much 
 mistaken if the master has not spoken to the 
 slave the magic words that make him free, 
 " above a servant now, both in the flesh, and 
 in the Lord," 
 
 Slavery is blotted out from the roll of our 
 national institutions ; but many a sore remains 
 upon the body politic, and there is scarcely a 
 relationship of our social life that does not 
 offer its pressing problems for solution. The 
 very relation betw^een master and servant, 
 utterly different as it now is from the ancient 
 one, is yet equally difficult to regulate. Capital 
 and labour are too often enemies where they 
 ought to be allies. Strikes and lock-outs take 
 the place of timely concession and friendly 
 arbitration. Mistress and maid are sometimes 
 
148 PHILEMON AND ONE SIM US. 
 
 prone to mutual complaint, instead of exercising 
 mutual forbearance, and working out a common 
 ground of friendly and respectful intercourse. 
 Society stands aghast at the growing gulf of 
 separation between the one class and the other. 
 What remedy has the Christian Church to 
 suggest } 
 
 The Church is not the State ; nor is it 
 her proper office to undertake the immediate 
 reform of social abuses. Reform is a work to 
 which her sons delight to give a helping hand ; 
 and from her ranks come, age after age, the 
 foremost of the philanthropists. But her special 
 call is not so much to remove the sores, as to 
 renovate the constitution of the body. Now, 
 as in the olden time, her strength lies in the 
 proclamation of the divine love to all men, and 
 in the practice of a human love equally broad, 
 disinterested, and comprehensive. " Love as 
 brethren ; be pitiful, be courteous." " Forbearing 
 one another, and forgiving one another, even 
 as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." 
 
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS. 149 
 
 Such a spirit as breathes in these apostoHc 
 words is from above, and it is not easily natu- 
 rahzed in human hearts and Hves. But we see it 
 actually at work in those early Christian days ; 
 and if we have eyes, we may see it still. In 
 its spread is the one great hope of the world. 
 When all Christians learn to be to one another 
 what many of them are already — what, as 
 husband and wife, Aquila and Priscilla proved, 
 and what, as master and servant, Philemon 
 and Onesimus became — the dawn of a social 
 regeneration will have broadened into day. 
 
 " Then might we live together as one life, 
 And, working with one will in everything, 
 Have power on this dark land to lighten it, 
 And power on this dead world to make it live." 
 
XII. 
 
 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE EPISTLE 
 TO THE ROMANS. 
 
 Scripture Reference : Romans xvi. 
 
 S, in the main body of the Epistle, 
 Paul appears to have been a very 
 knowing man, so, in these appur- 
 tenances of it, he appears to have been a very 
 loving man." Such are the words of good 
 Matthew Henry, in his summary of the closing 
 chapter of the Romans ; and his remark forms 
 our fittest introduction. For in no other Epistle 
 have we such a display of feeling. The change 
 from the sustained argument and lofty appeal. 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 151 
 
 which went before, to these simple and friendly 
 greetings, has something about it singularly 
 soothing and delightful. It is like a descent 
 from the heart of some grand mountain scenery, 
 with its towering crags and glittering snows and 
 tremendous gorges, to the levels of a country 
 garden, the homely occupations of daily life, and 
 the sweet scent of familiar flowers. 
 
 " Salutations," or " greetings " (our translators 
 have varied their rendering of the one original 
 word), fill up, it will be observed, by far the 
 greater part of the chapter before us. The term 
 may be simply equivalent to our own ordinary 
 message of Christian remembrance or regard. 
 In one place, however, it becomes more definite. 
 " Salute one another with an holy kiss." The 
 kiss in those countries was in itself no more 
 significant than is the clasp of the hand among 
 ourselves. The Ephesian elders " fell on Paul's 
 neck and kissed him " in token of farew^ell. But 
 it early acquired a certain specific meaning in 
 the Christian fellowship, under the name of " the 
 
152 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 holy kiss," '* the kiss of charity," or " the kiss oi 
 peace." Very near to apostoHc days, we find it 
 mentioned by Justin Martyr as a recognized part 
 of the communion-service. " When prayers are 
 ended," he writes, " we salute each other with a 
 kiss ; and, after that, bread and wine are brought 
 to the president, who, receiving them, gives 
 praise and glory to God." The custom remained 
 for centuries, as " a symbol of reconciliation, and 
 of forgiving all injuries whatsoever." The spirit 
 which it breathed still survives wherever " breth- 
 ren dwell together in unity." 
 
 Another mark of primitive times is observable 
 in the phrases, " the church that is in their 
 house," and " the brethren that are with them," 
 They portray, as we have before observed, a 
 state of ecclesiastical infancy, and they hint at 
 liabilities to persecution. The Roman believers 
 met, not in one large hall for common worship, 
 but in scattered groups, in different private houses, 
 in separate small " churches " or assemblies. 
 Our Epistle would have to travel from one such 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 153 
 
 group to another, till all had opportunities of 
 hearing it. One advantage of such private 
 gatherings lay in the fact that they would be 
 little likely to catch the eye of a jealous and 
 tyrannical government. Another lay in the 
 homeliness and heartiness which they imparted 
 to the Christian service and life, and which, with 
 our more finished organizations, we are very 
 liable to lose. It would be well even now not 
 to neglect the special means of grace which are 
 afforded by smaller sectional meetings of Chris- 
 tian people. The Methodist class-meeting is 
 based upon a true understanding of human 
 nature. " Where two or three are gathered to- 
 gether in Christ's name " there may descend a 
 peculiar glow of fellowship which is not so 
 readily aroused in our more numerous and 
 formal assemblies. 
 
 Before we pass under review the various per- 
 sons named, a question may be raised as to how, 
 never having visited Rome, the Apostle could 
 possess so large a circle of personal acquaint- 
 
154 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 ances there. The answer is to be found In the 
 circumstances of the age. It was a travelHng 
 age ; and Rome was the centre of the civihzed 
 world. Merchants came thither to trade, scholars 
 for education, slaves to escape detection, litigants 
 to obtain redress, the indolent in hope of amuse- 
 ment, and the ambitious in quest of fortune and 
 of fame. We have seen instances of this fact in 
 Aquila and Priscilla, the travelling tent-makers, 
 in Onesimus, the fugitive, and in Phoebe, the 
 Cenchrean lady. The bulk of the Roman be- 
 lievers must have been unknown by face to 
 Paul ; but there is nothing wonderful in his 
 familiar knowledge of the twenty or thirty 
 persons whose names he mentions, and whose 
 characters he seems able to depict. 
 
 We have no photographs of those ancient 
 saints ; yet, as we read, we can see them seated 
 in their different groups, to hear what Paul has 
 written, and we catch the look of pleasure on their 
 faces as each name is uttered, and each greet- 
 ing received. Shadows, and little more than 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 155 
 
 shadows, arc they to the casual reader ; most of 
 them with no other memorial than the mention 
 of them here. Every name represents, however, 
 a separate intelligent Christian soul, now, we 
 trust, with the Lord ; and usually a vivid phrase 
 of description helps to stamp the name upon the 
 memory. Here, indeed, in one verse, is a batch 
 of bare names, all unknown. One wonders what 
 manner of men were these : " Asyncritus, Phle- 
 gon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the breth- 
 ren which are with them." Here is another list, 
 with a certain sense of domestic life underlying 
 it, but nothing more : " Salute Philologus, and 
 Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and 
 all the saints which are with them." Others, 
 again, are marked by a single term of affection 
 or of commendation, as " Stachys my beloved," 
 " Amplias my beloved in the Lord," " Urbane, 
 our helper in Christ." But we have wider 
 openings than these into the character, and 
 hints of fuller information, which it may be 
 interesting to pursue. 
 
156 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 " Salute them which are of Aristobukis' house- 
 hold." " Greet them that be of the household 
 of Narcissus, which are in the Lord." The 
 original language is curious in both cases, " those 
 out of those who belong to Aristobulus," or, in 
 other words, certain particular members of his 
 establishment. Aristobulus was a name of the 
 Herod family, and one who bore it was in 
 Nero's confidence, and would have a residence 
 in Rome ; and Narcissus was the name of one 
 of Nero's favourites. Both would have large 
 retinues of slaves ; and it is to slaves that the 
 present reference is probably to be applied, just 
 as in another Epistle, written from Rome, greet- 
 ings are sent by "those who are of Caesar's 
 household," soldiers, chamberlains, or attendants, 
 belonging to the Emperor himself. It was one 
 of the common taunts thrown at the Gospel, in 
 its earlier triumphs, that the trophies came from 
 the ranks of slaves and of the poor. 
 
 " Salute Herodion my kinsman." The word 
 ** kinsman " is also applied to five other persons 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 157 
 
 mentioned in this chapter. It expresses relation- 
 ship. Had Paul, then, so many cousins among 
 the Christians of his day } It would, on some 
 accounts, be gratifying to believe it ; but his use 
 of the word is so frequent that we pause to see 
 if it may not have a wider meaning. The clue 
 is given in a previous passage of this Epistle, 
 where, using the same phrase, " My brethren, 
 my kinsmen according to the flesh," Paul iden- 
 tifies them with his fellow-Israelites. All Jews 
 were his kinsmen, for he loved his nation with a 
 passionate affection ; and so, in the present in- 
 stance, seeking for some warm expression of re- 
 gard, he applies the term with double emphasis 
 to the Christian Jews whom he saluted, " Is- 
 raelites, indeed ; in whom there was no guile." 
 
 There is an exquisite touch, whether of nature 
 or of grace it were difficult to say, in the notice 
 of Rufus. '' Salute Rufus, and his mother and 
 mine." Rufus has been sometimes identified 
 with the man mentioned in the Gospels as the 
 son of Simon the Cyrcnian ; but the name was 
 
158 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 common, and the persons were probably distinct. 
 Who, and what, however, was she who had 
 two claimants on her motherly attention ? Paul 
 had left home and friends for Christ's sake ; 
 perhaps his very mother had cast him off in 
 scorn and anger, and refused to own him any 
 longer as a son of hers. Here was an unnamed 
 Christian lady, in whom the promise of Christ 
 that such sacrifices shall not go unrequited 
 found its fulfilment. She took in the great 
 friendless man, and treated him like her own 
 Rufus, acting a mother's part with a mother's 
 tenderness. She had tended him in illness, 
 cheered him in depression, rejoiced in his 
 successes, and made him welcome to her home, 
 as Peter was to Mary's home in Jerusalem. 
 When, and where, and how, is all hidden, but 
 the cheering fact remains ; and now the Apostle 
 honours her with filial reverence, and sends his 
 dutiful salutations across the sea. 
 
 Here, again, are glimpses of Christian ex- 
 perience, which would be otherwise unknown 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 159 
 
 to us : " Salute Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits 
 of Achaia unto Christ," " Sakite Andronicus 
 and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, 
 who are of note ^mong the apostles, who 
 also were in Christ before me." For " Achaia " 
 in the former passage, most of the ancient 
 manuscripts have " Asia," the term being used 
 for the Roman province of that name, of which 
 Ephesus was the capital. Epaenetus then was 
 probably an Ephesian, led to Christ at the time 
 of Paul's first flying visit to that city, on his 
 hurried journey from Corinth to the feast at 
 Jerusalem. He must have been among the 
 friends who met in the house of Aquila and 
 Priscilla, and who gave letters of commendation 
 to Apollos. He would be associated in Paul's 
 mind with the long and laborious crusade 
 against idolatry, which occupied his second 
 stay in Ephesus, and with the deadly perils 
 which marked its conclusion ; the firstfruits of 
 his ministry there, and the pledge of all that 
 followed. In Andronicus and Junia, we have 
 
i6o THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 firstfruits of the Gospel during its yet earlier 
 triumphs, while Paul was yet Saul, the per- 
 secutor, breathing out fire and slaughter against 
 the very name of Jesus. Were they, perhaps, 
 among the "strangers of Rome," converted at 
 the great Pentecost ; and had they thereafter 
 been themselves preachers of the faith ? It 
 appears so ; for the true meaning of the phrase 
 " of note among the apostles," is this, that they 
 were themselves " apostles," in the broader 
 acceptation of the word, and noted for their 
 energy and success. They were " fellow-priso- 
 ners " also ; the trials as well as the labours 
 of the kingdom they had bravely borne. But 
 theirs was a part in that hidden history of 
 the early Church which only '* that day," towards 
 which they pressed, and in view of which they 
 suffered, will declare. 
 
 We cannot pass in silence by the best-known 
 names in all the list, though they have already 
 occupied our thoughts at length. " Greet Pris- 
 cilla and Aquila." Dear and familiar friends, 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. i6i 
 
 tried and found faithful in so many emergencies, 
 and through so many days of closest intercourse! 
 Comrades, " helpers in Christ Jesus," at whose 
 side Paul had so often sat stitching the tough 
 hair-cloth, and, when work was laid by, had 
 so joyfully bent in prayer ! He thought of all 
 that fellowship ; but here his most vivid recol- 
 lection is of some extremity of recent danger, 
 when that gallant pair interposed at the risk 
 of limb and life to save " the light of Israel " 
 from being quenched in blood. Paul had a 
 multitude of noble qualities ; and he had one 
 quality which great men do not always exhibit : 
 he never forgot a kindness, or forsook a friend. 
 
 We must not fail, at this point, to glance 
 round upon the group that surrounds the 
 Apostle, as he dictates these last sentences of 
 his letter. They are waiting to add their 
 salutations to his own. There are his brother- 
 missionaries, the companions of his toils and 
 trials ; first, Timotheus, specially singled out 
 as "my workfellow," then Lucius, Jason, and 
 M 
 
i62 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 Sosipater, strangers to him a few years ago, 
 but now his very " kinsmen " in Christ. There 
 sits the scribe, interrupting the grammar 
 of the writing, and inserting his own greeting 
 in his own name, " I, Tertius, who wrote this 
 Epistle." The hospitable Gains, under whose 
 roof they are all gathered, " mine host, and of 
 the whole Church," next breathes his brotherly 
 blessing. And finally occur the names of two 
 Corinthian Christians, one distinguished and 
 the other undistinguished, who would seem 
 to have come in by accident, and are therefore 
 included in the salutation. Erastus is " cham- 
 berlain of the city," treasurer of its funds, and 
 prominent in its affairs ; and Quartus may have 
 probably been a simple slave. But in Christ 
 Jesus, they are on the same level ; and one 
 sentence serves to carry word from both, " Eras- 
 tus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, 
 and Quartus a brother." 
 
 Let us step backward from the particular 
 names and descriptions, and seek to gather some 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 163 
 
 of the general impressions which they are fitted 
 to leave upon the understanding- and the heart. 
 
 One characteristic of the passage is found in 
 the heartiness of the commendations which it 
 conveys. There are those w^ho seem to hold, 
 that either to bestow praise, or to accept it, is 
 altogether out of keeping with Christian sim- 
 plicity. Are we not, it is asked, at the best, un- 
 profitable servants ; and can any feeling be be- 
 coming to us but one of shame and confusion ? 
 No doubt that feeling is frequently appropriate. 
 The danger is great lest we become elated with 
 a sense of our activity, our usefulness, or our 
 success. It is well to bear in mind, in Napoleon's 
 words, that " no man is necessary." The Church 
 and the world will go on whether our hand is at 
 the plough or not. That is one side of truth. 
 The other side is this : that the world needs us, 
 and the Church needs us ; nay, that the Lord 
 Himself hath need of us, welcomes every earnest 
 effort, and says of it, "Well done!" Does He 
 then deny us the privilege of saying, " Well 
 
i64 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 done" to one another ? Let the eye run down this 
 single page of His own word. ** She hath been 
 a succourer of many, and of myself also." " Sa- 
 lute Apelles, approved in Christ." " Salute 
 Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the 
 Lord." " Salute Persis, who laboured much in 
 the Lord." " Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord." 
 " To whom not only I give thanks, but also all 
 the churches of the Gentiles." Paul was not 
 afraid to apportion a full measure of praise to 
 the deserving. Scarcely one of his Epistles can 
 be named which does not begin with praise ; 
 with praise, never indiscriminate, never unmixed 
 with warning, sometimes tempered with reproof, 
 but always frank, and always unstinted. Let us 
 be by all means honest and candid, where it is 
 needful, in censuring our brethren's faults, and 
 let us be humble in accepting censure from them. 
 But shall not the very honesty, on which perhaps 
 we plume ourselves, carry us impartially in the 
 opposite direction t Let the Church have her 
 laurels for the spiritual victor, and her plaudits 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 165 
 
 for the patient, self-denying labourer ! Let our 
 struggling brethren feel, amidst all their dis- 
 couragements and drawbacks, that there are 
 hearts in which they are honoured, and lips that 
 speak well of them ! And if, perchance, words of 
 cordial commendation ever reach our own ears, 
 let them be received as a gracious encourage- 
 ment permitted us by Him whose grace has 
 made us what we are ! 
 
 The earnest and affectionate friendliness of 
 these greetings is very obvious. To some it may 
 appear exaggerated. The Apostle sits down, so 
 to speak, among these groups of disciples, as an 
 elder brother might, and is on the warmest terms 
 with every one. All are his personal friends, 
 the slaves no less than the masters, the simple 
 " brethren" equally with chamberlains of the city 
 and wealthy householders. " My well-beloved 
 Epaenetus," " Amplias my beloved in the Lord," 
 " Stachys my beloved," " the beloved Persis," 
 " Phcebe our sister," such are the terms in which 
 one after another is saluted. The language would 
 M 2 
 
i66 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 be shocking if it were hypocritical, or even if it 
 were shallow and formal. But it was real. It 
 was only carrying out in practice the idea of 
 discipleship contained in the other Epistle : 
 " Treat the elder men as fathers, and the younger 
 men as brothers ; the elder women as mothers, 
 the younger as sisters, with all purity." Nay, 
 what was it but treading in the track of the 
 Master who had said, " Whosoever shall do the 
 will of my Father in heaven, the same is my 
 brother and my sister and mother ?" 
 
 No one would be found to urge that we have 
 too much of that spirit in our modern churches. 
 The ordinary remark is that circumstances alter 
 cases, and that we cannot expect in the complex 
 society of the nineteenth century to revive the 
 brotherhoods of apostolic days. So much the 
 worse, surely, for the nineteenth century ! For 
 how many of our social and ecclesiastical troubles 
 would pass, if that atmosphere more generally 
 prevailed ! Invalids sit in their sick-rooms, while 
 the chill winds of March are blowing, and try 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 167 
 
 remedy after remedy with small result ; and 
 churches confer and debate and even wrano;le 
 over schemes of reform or methods of revival. 
 In both cases the real remedy is to be found in 
 a change of air. A few days of bright spring 
 sunshine, and the ailments will melt away. And 
 so it is by the diffusion of brotherly kindness, 
 cherished in the heart, and suffered to find be- 
 coming utterance in lip and life, that the diseases 
 of the Church are to be healed, and that her 
 youth is to be renewed like the eagle's. 
 
 One final thought remains. It may be urged, 
 that with such extreme warmth of feeling some 
 signs of practical helpfulness would be extremely 
 appropriate. If these Christians really loved one 
 another with so ardent an affection, what did 
 they do to prove it t The answer is at hand. 
 They " laid down their own necks" for one 
 another. They " bestowed much labour " on 
 their brethren. They threw their houses open 
 for hospitable entertainment and united worship. 
 They stood ready to help a foreign sister in 
 
i68 THE SALUTATIONS IN THE 
 
 whatever business she might have in hand. The 
 poor, the sick, the friendless, became the special 
 objects of their self-denying care. Never was 
 there known such a complete outworking of the 
 law of love, as that which was presented by the 
 early Christian churches to the astonished heathen 
 world. That can have been no hollow profession 
 of mutual attachment, which inspired the famous 
 confession from their enemies, " Behold how they 
 love one another !" 
 
 No ; let us be convinced that the salutations 
 to which we have been listening signify even 
 more than they express. They express sym- 
 pathy, which is good ; they involve what is even 
 better, strong, substantial aid. They involve 
 food, and shelter, and steadfast companionship, 
 and self-sacrifice, even to the death. They mean 
 that, in this world of sin and strife. Christian 
 people should stand by one another as brothers 
 do, and be ready with purse and home and 
 counsel and comfort and personal influence of 
 every kind. " I commend unto you," the Apostle 
 
EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 169 
 
 seems to say, " whomsoever you may meet, in 
 the manifold paths of hfe, in want of such succour 
 as you have to give." The heavenly reward is 
 waiting for every such service done to the least 
 of Christ's brethren for His sake. The divine 
 promise declares that the hope for a converted 
 world lies in a Church united, not in word, neither 
 in tongue, but in deed and in truth. " By this 
 shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
 ye have love one to another." 
 
 The salutations are ended, and the Epistle 
 seems to close in an atmosphere of warm and 
 genial affection. We too wish one another well. 
 Is it not enough } Nay ; there is another voice 
 to be heard, and a more gracious greeting to be 
 bestowed, and a dearer fellowship to be enjoyed. 
 All would be incomplete without this concluding- 
 prayer : '' The Grace of Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ be with you all." 
 
JOHN C. WILKINS, CASTLE STREET, CHANCERY LANE. 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 '.!^:^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 -mmmmm^ 
 
 
 
 
 : „ ,m 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
BS2430.B86 
 
 Minor characters of the New Testament. 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00079 9611 
 
 p^mliMiii 
 
 wm