Oriental superstitions, others into Pagan voluptuousness. If we need any proof how narrowly the Church escaped this latter peril, we have only to look at the fearful power of Gnosticism in the succeeding century. And, indeed, the more we consider the elements of which every Christian community was originally composed, the more must we wonder how the little flock of the wise and good' could have successfully resisted the overwhelming contagion of folly and wickedness. In every city the nucleus of the Church consisted of Jews and Jewish proselytes; on this foundation was superadded a miscellaneous mass of Heathen converts, almost exclusively from the lowest classes, baptized, indeed, into the name of Jesus, but still with all the habits of a life of idolatry and vice clinging to them. How was it, then, that such a society could escape the two temptations which assailed it just at the time when they were most likely to be fatal? While as yet the Jewish element preponderated, a fanatical party, commanding almost necessarily the sympathies of the Jewish portion of the society, made a zealous and combined effort to reduce Christianity to Judaism, and subordinate the Church to the Synagogue. Over their great opponent, the one Apostle of the Gentiles, they won a temporary triumph, and saw him consigned to prison and to death. How was it that the very hour of their victory was the epoch from which we date their failure? Again, this stage is passed, the Church is thrown open to the Gentiles, and crowds flock in, some attracted by wonder at the miracles they see, some by hatred of the government under which they live, and by hopes that they may turn the Church into an organized conspiracy against law and order; and even the best, as yet unsettled in their faith, and ready to exchange their new belief for a newer, "carried about with every wind of doctrine." At such an epoch, a systematic theory is devised, reconciling the profession of Christianity with the practice of immorality; its teachers proclaim that Christ has freed them from the law, and that the man who has attained true spiritual enlightenment is above the obligations of outward morality; and with this seducing philosophy for the Gentile they readily combine the Caba listic superstitions of Rabbinical tradition to captivate the Jew. Who could wonder if, when such incendiaries applied their torch to such materials, a flame burst forth which well-nigh consumed the fabric? Surely that day of trial was "revealed in fire," and the building which was able to abide the flame was nothing less than the temple of God. It is painful to be compelled to acknowledge among the Christians of the Apostolic Age the existence of so many forms of error and sin. It was a pleasing dream which represented the primitive church as a 1 Whom St. Paul calls "perfect" (Phil. iii. 15), i. e. mature in the knowledge of Christian truth. society of angels; and it is not without a struggle that we bring ourselves to open our eyes and behold the reality. But yet it is a higher feeling which bids us thankfully recognize the truth that "there is no partiality with God;" that He has never supernaturally coerced any generation of mankind into virtue, nor rendered schism and heresy impossible in any age of the Church. So St. Paul tells his converts 2 that there must needs be heresies among them, that the good may be tried and distinguished from the bad; implying that, without the possibility of a choice, there would be no test of faith or holiness. And so our Lord Himself compared His Church to a net cast into the sea, which gathered fish of all kinds, both good and bad; nor was its purity to be attained by the exclusion of evil, till the end should come. Therefore, if we sigh, as well we may, for the realization of an ideal which Scripture paints to us and imagination embodies, but which our eyes seek for and cannot find; if we look vainly and with earnest longings for the appearance of that glorious Church," without spot or wrinkle or any such thing," the fitting bride of a heavenly spouse; it may calm our impatience to recollect that no such Church has ever existed upon earth, while yet we do not forget that it has existed and does exist in heaven. In the very lifetime of the Apostles, no less than now, "the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God;" miracles did not convert; inspiration did not sanctify; then, as now, imperfection and evil clung to the members, and clogged the energies of the kingdom of God; now, as then, Christians are fellow-heirs, and of the same body with the spirits of just men made perfect; now, as then, the communion of saints unites into one family the Church militant with the Church triumphant. Departure from Antioch. CHAPTER XIV. -St. Paul's Companions.-Journey through Phrygia and Galatia, — Apollos at Ephesus and Corinth.— Arrival of St. Paul at Ephesus. -Disciples of John the Baptist. The Synagogue. The School of Tyrannus. — Ephesian Magic. — Miracles. — The Exorcists. -Burning of the Books. the next In the short stay which he had made at Ephesus on his return from his second journey, he had promised to come again to that city, if the providence of God should allow it. This promise he was enabled to fulfil, after a hasty visit to the metropolis of the Jewish nation, and a longer sojourn in the first metropolis of the Gentile Church. It would lead us into long and useless discussions, if we were to speculate on the time spent at Antioch, and the details of the Apostle's occupation in the scene of his early labors. We have already stated our reasons for believing that the discussions which led to the Council at Jerusalem, took place at an earlier period, as well as the quarrel between St. Peter and St. Paul concerning the propriety of concession to the Judaizers. But without knowing the particular form of the controver sies brought before him, or the names of those Christian teachers with whom he conferred, we have seen enough to make us aware that imminent dangers from the Judaizing party surrounded the Church, and that Antioch was a favorable place for meeting the machinations of this party, as well as a convenient starting-point for a journey undertaken to strengthen those communities that were likely to be invaded by false teachers from Judæa. It is evident that it was not St. Paul's only object to proceed with all haste to Ephesus: nor indeed is it credible that he could pass through the regions of Cilicia and Lycaonia, Phrygia and Galatia, without remaining to confirm those Churches which he had founded himself, and 1 Acts xviii. 23. 2 Ib. 21. See pp. 368, 369. 8 See the end of Ch. XII. * See Appendix I. for the answers to Wie seler's arguments on this subject. Neander is inclined to assign the misunderstanding of the two Apostles to this time. So Olshausen. See p. 198. 2 some of which he had visited twice. We are plainly told that his journey was occupied in this work, and the few words which refer to this subject imply a systematic visitation. He would be the more anxious to establish them in the true principles of the Gospel, in proportion as he was aware of the widely-spreading influence of the Judaizers. Another! specific object, not unconnected with the healing of divisions, was before him during the whole of this missionary journey, a collection for the relief of the poor Christians in Judæa. It had been agreed, at the meeting of the Apostolic Council (Gal. ii. 9, 10), that while some should go to the Heathen, and others to the Circumcision, the former should carefully “remember the poor;" and this we see St. Paul, on the present journey among the Gentile Churches, " forward to do." We even know the "order which he gave to the Churches of Galatia" (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2). He directed that each person should lay by in store, on the first day of the week, according as God had prospered him, that the collection should be deliberately made, and prepared for an opportunity of being taken to Jerusalem. We are not able to state either the exact route which St. Paul followed, or the names of the companions by whom he was attended. As regards the latter subject, however, two points may be taken for granted, that Silas ceased to be, and that Timotheus continued to be, an associate of the Apostle. It is most probable that Silas remained behind in Jerusalem, whence he had first accompanied Barnabas with the Apostolic letter, and where, on the first mention of his name, he is stated to have held a leading position in the Church. He is not again mentioned in connection with the Apostle of the Gentiles. The next place in Scripture where his name occurs is in the letter of the Apostle of the Circumcision (1 Pet. v. 12), which is addressed to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. There, "Silvanus " is spoken of as one not unknown to the persons addressed, but as "a faithful brother unto them;"-by him the letter was sent which " exhorted" the Christians in the north and west of Asia Minor, and "testified that that was the true grace of God wherein they stood;" and the same disciple is seen, on the last mention of his name, as on the first, to be co-operating for the welfare of the Church, both with St. Peter and St. Paul." 1 Acts xviii. 23. Notice the phrase "in order." 2 The steady pursuance of this object in the whole course of this journey may be traced through the following passages: 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4; 2 Cor. viii., ix.; Rom. xv. 25, 26; Acts xxiv. 17. * See p. 198. 4 Acts xv. 22. 6 His name is in the salutation in the Epistles to the Thessalonians, but not in any subsequent letters. Compare 2 Cor. i. 19. 6 Compare again the account of the Council of Jerusalem and the mission of Silas and Barnabas. It may be considered, on the other hand, probable, if not certain, that Timotheus was with the Apostle through the whole of this journey. Abundant mention of him is made, both in the Acts and the Epistles, in connection with St. Paul's stay at Ephesus, and his subsequent movements. Of the other companions who were undoubtedly with him at Ephesus, we cannot say with confidence whether they attended him from Antioch, or joined him afterwards at some other point. But Erastus (Acts xix. 22) may have remained with him since the time of his first visit to Corinth, and Caius and Aristarchus (Acts xix. 29) since the still earlier period of his journey through Macedonia. Perhaps we have stronger reasons for concluding that Titus, who, though not mentioned in the Acts, was certainly of great service in the second missionary journey, travelled with Paul and Timotheus through the earlier part of it. In the frequent mention which is made of him in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he appears as the Apostle's laborious minister, and as a source of his consolation and support, hardly less strikingly than the disciple whom he had taken on the previous journey from Lystra and Iconium.' Whatever might be the exact route which the Apostle followed from Antioch to Ephesus, he would certainly, as we have said, revisit those Churches which twice before had known him as their teacher. He would pass over the Cilician plain on the warm southern shore, and the high table-land of Lycaonia on the other side of the Pass of Taurus.' He would see once more his own early home on the banks of the Cydnus; and Timothy would be once more in the scenes of his childhood at the base of the Kara-Dagh. After leaving Tarsus, the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, possibly also Antioch in Pisidia," would be the primary objects in the Apostle's progress. Then we come to Phrygia 1 See Acts xix. 22; 1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10; 2 Cor. i. 1; Rom. xvi. 21; Acts xx. 4. 2 See Tate, pp. 52, 53. Wieseler, indeed, identifies him with Justus, who is mentioned xviii. 7. See Appendix I. 4 If we compare 2 Cor. xii. 18 with 1 Cor. xvi. 11, 12, it is natural to infer that the bearers of the First Epistle (from Ephesus to Corinth) were Titus, and some brother, who is unnamed, but probably identical with one of the two brethren sent on the subsequent mission (2 Cor. viii. 16-24), and with the Second Epistle (from Macedonia to Corinth). See also 2 Cor. viii. 6. This view is advocated by Prof. Stanley in his recently published Com mentary; but it has been put forth indepen dently, and more fully elaborated by Mr. Lightfoot in the Cambridge Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology (June, 1855). He had been in Lycaonia on the first and second missionary journeys, in Cilicia on the second; but he had previously been there at least once since his conversion. 6 See p. 20, and the allusions to the climate in Ch. VI. and Ch. VIII. 7 See again Ch. VI. and Ch. VIII. for Lycaonia and Mount Taurus. See pp. 21 and 46. 9 See Ch. VI. and VIII., with the map on p. 167, and the engraving on p. 226. 10 See p. 232 |