"And Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him." There is no reason to doubt that this person was the John Mark repeatedly referred to in the Acts of the Apostles. He was once the occasion of a sharp contention between St. Paul and Barnabas, which issued in the separation, for a time at least, of these good men.* On a missionary tour previous to that painful occasion Mark had left them, † perhaps rather unhandsomely and the Apostle, to indicate his sense of the cowardliness or carelessness of Mark's conduct, refused to take him with them on a subsequent occasion; and the contention on this point was so sharp, that St. Paul and Barnabas parted from each other. Barnabas, being a near kinsman of Mark, may have been prejudiced in favour of his relative. What were the commands regarding him, which the Colossians had already received, we do not know, and it would be vain for us to conjecture. Mark evidently contemplated a journey which would lead him to Colossæ, and the Colossians are here enjoined to give him a cordial and kind reception, should he come among them. The Apostle thereby intimates the restoration of Mark to his full confidence. The cloud under which his character for zeal had lain for a time seems to have quite passed away. A single error, even in one engaged in the public ministry of the gospel, is not enough to warrant the entire withdrawal of confidence from him, and his removal from service for the rest of his life. On the evidence of regret and penitence for the evil done by him, he should be restored and welcomed again to confidence, as Mark was. But why should this

allusion to him be found in a letter to a church with which Mark seems to have had no special connexion, and which probably St. Paul had never personally visited? It was

at Perga, in Pamphylia, that Mark had left the Apostle and Barnabas, when he declined to go "with them to the work;" and as Colossæ was not twenty miles from the borders of Pisidia, which was partly included in Phrygia, throughout which, amongst the churches, Mark's defection and St. Paul's displeasure could not fail to be generally known, it was beautiful and proper that, having in the interval seen reason to receive Mark again into his favour, the Apostle should make this change known, and give the churches of Phrygia a charge to receive him with due confidence and cordiality, as a faithful evangelist for Christ.

St. Paul adds to his list the salutation of Jesus which is called Justus. Nothing definite is known of this person. There was a Justus at Corinth, but as he was evidently a Gentile he could not have been the man referred to here, and his name need not detain us.

All these friends and companions of the Apostle in Rome were Jews-they were of the circumcision. They alone of their nation were true to him, and true to the cause for which he was a prisoner. "They only are my fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.” Here they send their salutations to a church chiefly composed of Gentiles, so that they had learnt from the Apostle, and through him from the Head of the Church, the great Christian lesson of calling no man common or unclean. The Apostle gives them the very highest commendation, when he says they were his "fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God." They laboured with him for its establishment and extension, so that they were a comfort to him. Their highest interest was in the cause of Christ. The salutations of such men were valuable as an expression of Christian regard, brotherly love, and holy unity. Had it not been so, we should not have found their names in this letter.

* Comp. Acts xiii. 13, and xv. 38.

† Acts xviii. 6, 7.

IV. Another point suggested here is the solace of Christian co-operation. These good men were labouring with the Apostle unto the kingdom of God-working with him in consolidating and extending that kingdom on the earth,promoting together the cause of their common Lord and Master. Their devotedness and fidelity were a comfort to St. Paul. He was a prisoner in a large and to him a strange city at that time the mistress of the world, amid conditions of difficulty and trial, yet he was not left singlehanded or friendless. Those three faithful and earnest men were with him to cheer him, and it was no small service, no little blessing, to be a comfort to such a man. Their stedfastness to principle was a comfort to him. The temptation and tendency in the case of Hebrew Christians was to Judaistic religion,-to mix the ritual requirements of the Mosaic economy with the gospel of God, and to insist on their absolute necessity to the full efficacy of the truth as it is in Jesus. This tendency had, by Divine influence and teaching, been taken from the Apostle's soul; but he was constantly plagued with it in others. Hence the presence and assistance of Jews who zealously and consistently maintained the free and unconditional admission of Gentiles to the Church of Christ were a consolation to him. Their devotedness in evangelistic labour was also for his comfort. They were fellow-workers with him for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. This was their highest ambition, the object of all their labours-that the hearts of men might be brought under the power of the gospel. They united with St. Paul in effort, sympathised with him in zeal, and shared with him in anxiety for the glory of Christ and the welfare of men. This is the grandest work to which men can give their thoughts, time, and energy; for it is co-operation with God. For this the Son of God gave Himself to the cross, for this the Divine Spirit has His mission here to

convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and the devotedness of these friends to this work was a comfort to the Apostle. It is a great and blessed thing to be fellow-labourers in the gospel with good men, and "fellowhelpers to the truth." All, even the weakest, may do something for God, something to spread the Saviour's name abroad, something to make others happier and better, something to diminish the tide of ignorance, misery, and sin around, and so extend the kingdom of truth and righteousness on the earth. The smallest service will have a blessing, and will meet with its reward.

XLIII.

Pastoral Anxieties and Prayers.

"Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you."-COLOSSIANS iv. 12-14.

HE Apostle proceeds with his list of salutations, but now

THES

passes from the circumcision to the uncircumcision, from Jews to Gentiles. No man was more thoroughly convinced than St. Paul was, that in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek as such, neither bond nor free; and no man had more completely abandoned the exclusiveness of Jewish prejudice and the pride of Jewish nationality. Some of his dearest earthly friends, of those who were most frequently and closely with him, were Gentiles. Here he names three of them, Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, as sending their salutations to the Church at Colossæ. Several points are here suggested for contemplation.

ness.

I. We have first a fine illustration of pastoral devotedThe testimony which St. Paul gives to Epaphras, in conveying his salutations to the Colossians, is very high. The words, "who is one of you," seem to imply that he was a native of Colossæ, although he was then with the Apostle