these Judaizing teachers sought to gain an entrance into the churches, that they made a show of great zeal for their salvation, and that the Gentiles might attain to the full enjoyment of the privileges and benefits of the Messiah's kingdom-and that they strove to imbue them with the false notion, that unless they allowed themselves to be circumcised, they could not stand on a level with the Jewish Christians. Still he had cause to be satisfied with the manner in which they maintained their Christian freedom against these persons; Gal. iv. 18. And he sought only to confirm them still more in this Christian mode of thinking and acting, while he endeavoured to impress on their hearts afresh the lesson, that independently of any legal observance, salvation could be obtained only by faith in Christ, and earnestly put them on their guard against everything which opposed or injured this truth. This was interpreted by his Judaizing opponents, who were wont to misrepresent all his actions and words, and in every way to infuse distrust of him, as if he had grudged the Galatians those higher privileges which they might have obtained by the reception of Judaism; Gal. iv. 16.

Paul now chose as the scene of his labours for the spread of the gospel, the centre of intercourse and traffic for a large part of Asia, the city of Ephesus, the most considerable place of commerce on this side of the Taurus. But here also was a central point of mental intercourse; so that no sooner was Christianity introduced, than it was exposed to new conflicts with foreign tendencies of the religious spirit, which either directly counteracted the new divine element, or threatened to adulterate it. Here was the seat of heathen magic, which originally proceeded from the mystic worship of Artemis,' and Whichever among the conflicting interpretations of the words in chap. iv. 18 may be taken, this much is evident, that Paul wished that they would act during his absence as they had done during his presence. And this he surely could not have said, if already during his former residence they had given him such cause for dissatisfaction. It is arbitrary to refer this only to his first residence among them. Had he during that residence noticed such things; among them, he would also have felt that ȧnogía in reference to them, he would have perceived the necessity of ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνὴν, and have already made use of this new mode of treatment, v. 20.

In the mysterious words on her statue, higher mysteries were sought, and a special magical power ascribed to them. See Clem. Strom. v. 568, and after these, forms of incantation were constructed,

here also the Jewish magic, connecting itself with the heathenish, sought to find entrance. The spirit of the times, dissatisfied with all the existing religions, and eager after something new, was favourable to all such attempts.

After Paul had preached the gospel for three months in the synagogue, he was induced, by the unfriendly disposition manifested by a part of the Jews, to turn his attention to the Gentiles, and met his hearers daily in a school belonging to one of their number, a rhetorician, named Tyrannus. It was most important that the divine power which accompanied the promulgation of the gospel should manifest itself in some striking manner, in opposition to the magic so prevalent here, -which by its apparently great effects deceived and captivated many,-in order to rescue men from these arts of deception, and prepare their hearts to receive the truth. And though a carnal "seeking after signs" might have tempted men (like the Goës Simon) to cleave solely to the sensible phenomenon in which the power of the divine was manifested, and to regard Christianity itself as a new and higher kind of magic, a most powerful counteraction against such a temptation proceeded from the genius of Christianity, when it really found an entrance into the heart. One remarkable occurrence which took place at this time greatly contributed to set in the clearest light the opposition which Christianity presented to all such arts of jugglery. A number of Jewish Goëtæ frequented these parts, who pretended that they could expel evil spirits from possessed persons by means of incantations, fumigations, the use of certain herbs, and other arts, which they had derived from King Solomon;1 and these people could at times, whether by great dexterity in deceiving the senses, or by availing themselves of certain powers of nature unknown to others, or by the influence of an excited imagination, produce apparently great effects, though none which really promoted the welfare of mankind. 2 When these Jewish Goëtæ beheld the effects which Paul produced by calling on

which were supposed to possess great efficacy, the so-called 'Edéσia γράμματα.

See Justin. Dial. c. Tryph. Jud. f. 311, ed. Colon.

2 The cures they performed were sometimes followed by still greater evils, as Christ himself intimates would be the case; Luke xi. 23. See also Leben Jesu, p. 291.

the name of Jesus, they also attempted to make use of it as a magical formula for the exorcism of evil spirits. The unhappy consequences of this attempt made a powerful impression on many, who, as it appeared, had certainly been moved by the miraculous operations of the apostle, so as to acknowledge Jesus as the author of divine powers in men, but imagined that these powers could be employed in the services of their sinful practices, and in connexion with their vain magical arts. But terrified by the disaster to which we have referred, they now came to the apostle, and professed repentance for their sinful course, and declared their resolution to forsake it. Books full of magical formula, which amounted in value to more than "fifty pieces of silver," were brought together and publicly burnt. This triumph of the gospel over all kinds of enthusiasm and arts of deception was often repeated.

Ephesus was a noted rendezvous for men of various kinds of religious belief, who flocked hither from various parts of the east, and thus were brought under the influence of Christianity; amongst others, Paul here met with twelve disciples of John the Baptist, the individual who was commissioned by God to prepare for the appearance of the Redeemer among his nation and contemporaries; but, as was usual with the preparatory manifestations of the kingdom of God, different effects were produced according to the different susceptibility of his hearers. There were those of his disciples who, following his directions, attained to a living faith in the Redeemer, and some of whom became apostles; others only attained a very defective knowledge of the person and doctrine of Christ; others again, not imbibing the spirit of their master, held fast their former prejudices, and assumed a hostile attitude towards Christianity; probably the first germ of such an opposition appeared at this time from which the sect of the disciples of John was formed, which continued to exist in a later age. Those disciples of John with whom Paul met at Ephesus, belonged to the second of these classes. Whether they had become the disciples of John himself in Palestine and received baptism from him, or whether they had been won over to his doctrine by means of his disciples in other parts, (which would serve to prove that John's disciples aimed at forming a separate community, which necessarily

would soon assume a jealous and hostile position against Christianity on its first rapid spread)-at all events, they had received the little they had heard of the person and doctrine of Jesus as the Messiah, to whom John pointed his followers, and considered themselves justified in professing to be Christians' like others. Paul believed that he should find them such; but, on further conversation with them, it appeared that they understood nothing of the power of the glorified Saviour, and of the communication of divine life through him, that they knew nothing of a Holy Spirit. Paul then imparted to them more accurate instruction on the relation between the ministry of John and that of Christ, between the baptism of John and the baptism which would initiate them into communion with Christ, and into a participation of the divine life that proceeded from him.

After that, he baptized them in the name of Christ, with the usual consecration by the sign of the laying-on of hands and the accompanying prayer; and their reception into Christian fellowship was sealed by the usual manifestations of Christian inspiration.

Paul's residence at Ephesus was not only of considerable importance for the spread of Christianity throughout Asia Minor, for which object he incessantly laboured either by undertaking journeys himself, or by means of disciples whom he sent out as missionaries; but it was also a great advantage for the churches that were already formed in this region, as from this central point of intercourse he could most easily receive intelligence from all quarters, and, by means of letters or messengers, could attend to their religious and moral condition, as the necessities of the churches might require. His anxiety for these his spiritual children always accompanied him; he often reminded them that he remembered them daily in his prayers with thanksgiving and intercession; thus he assured the Corinthians, in the overflowing of his love, that he bore them continually in his heart; and vividly depicted nis daily care for all the churches he had founded by his touching interrogations, "Who is weak in faith and I am not

The name μantal, Acts xix. 1, without any other designation, can certainly be understood only of the disciples of Jesus; and the manner in which Paul addressed them implies, that they were considered to be Christians.

weak? Who meets with a stumbling-block and I am not disturbed even more than himself?" 2 Cor. xi. 29.

Cases of the latter kind must often have excited the grief of the apostle; for as the Christian faith gradually gained the ascendency and affected the general tone of thinking in society, new views of life in general, and a new mode of feeling, were formed in the Gentile world; and in opposition to the immoral licentiousness of heathenism, which men were led to renounce by the new principles of the Christian life, an anxiously legal and Jewish mode of thinking, which burdened the conduct with numberless restraints, was likely to find an entrance, and must have disturbed the minds of many who had not attained settled Christian convictions.

Probably it was soon after his arrival at Ephesus that Paul received information respecting the state of the Galatian churches which awakened his fears. During his last residence among them, he had perceived the machinations of a Judaizing party, which were likely to injure the purity of the Christian faith and the freedom of the Christian spirit. He was aware of the danger which threatened from this quarter, and had taken measures to counterwork it; he was not successful, however, in averting the approaching storm, as he now experienced to his great sorrow.

The adversaries whom he had here to contend with were unwilling to acknowledge his apostolic authority, because he had not been instructed and called to the apostleship immediately by Christ himself; they maintained that all preaching of the gospel must rest on the authority of the apostles who were appointed by Christ himself; they endeavoured to detect a contrariety between the doctrine of Paul and the doctrine of the apostles, who had allowed the observance of the law in their churches, and accused him in consequence of a departure from the pure doctrine of Christ. They could also appeal to the fact, that he represented himself when among the Jews as a Jew observing the law, and therefore, when he taught otherwise among the Gentiles, he could only do it in order to flatter them, to the injury of their true interest.

Although the anti-Pauline tendency in the Galatian churches was connected with that party which had its principal seat in Palestine, yet persons who proceeded from the