(Acts viii.); and lastly how the Gentiles were admitted into the Church (Acts ix. to the end).

St. Peter performed the first solemn act which recognised the admission, and other apostles laboured in this work; but St. Paul was chosen as more eminently the apostle of the Gentiles, and accordingly the latter part of the history is confined to the narrative of the acts of this apostle.

We

The writer of this inspired history was St. Luke, the author of the third Gospel. He was himself the companion of St. Paul, in some of his missionary journeys, and travelled with him to Rome. know this because, in certain parts of the history, the writer speaks in the first person. So by Acts xx. 5, "These going before tarried for us at Troas," we know that Luke accompanied Paul from Macedonia to Troas.

Besides the direct narrative furnished by Luke, an eye-witness of much that he related, we have letters written by St. Paul himself to some of the principal churches in the heathen world. These letters inform us of some events, which are passed by in the Acts, and often throw light upon the narrative of the historian.

It will be useful to sum up briefly what we learn as to the history of St. Paul from his several Epistles. The Epistles are mentioned in the order in which it is most probable they were written.

First Epistle to the Thessalonians.-The history tells us that when Paul preached at Thessalonica he was accompanied by Silas and Timothy, and that he left them behind him when he departed from Berea to Athens (Acts xvii. 14). It tells us also that Silas

Athens alone, and sent
This was when he left

and Timothy rejoined him at Corinth. This Epistle is addressed by Paul and Silvanus (Silas) and Timotheus (Timothy), unto the church of the Thessalonians (i. 1); and describes how the apostle had been "shamefully entreated at Philippi," when he came to preach at Thessalonica (ii. 2, comp. Acts xvi. 23). St. Paul also reminds them how he thought fit to be left in Timothy to them (iii. 1). Silas and Timothy behind in Berea, the next city to Thessalonica, and the Epistle here informs us that Timothy went from Berea to Thessalonica, and came from thence with Silas to Corinth. St. Paul proceeds to say that Timothy had come bringing a good account of the faith of the Thessalonian Church (iii. 6).

It is plain then that the Epistle was written during St. Paul's stay at Corinth, and we find that while this apostle journeyed from Berea to Corinth, through Athens, Silas and Timothy were successively building up and confirming the churches in Berea and Thessalonica.

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.-The address is the same. It was written from the same place, to correct some misapprehensions of what had been said in the first Epistle.

The Epistle to the Galatians.We are told in the Acts that St. Paul visited Galatia twice; in his second (Acts xvi. 6), and in his third (Acts xviii. 23) missionary journey. It is probable, though not certain that this Epistle was written during his long stay at Ephesus. This Epistle furnishes us with some interesting particulars as to St. Paul's life after his

conversion (i. and ii.), and it discovers to us, how soon false teachers sprung up even in the churches so recently set in order by the Apostle himself.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians was written from Ephesus, for it is said in it, "I will tarry at Ephesus till Pentecost" (xvi. 8), and St. Paul states his intention of passing through Macedonia and wintering at Corinth (xvi. 5). We learn also that the apostle was about to collect alms for the poor believers at Jerusalem (xvi. 3), that he thought of sending Timothy to them (xvi. 10); that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus had come from Corinth to convey intelligence of the state of the church there (xvi. 17), and that Aquila and Priscilla were established at Ephesus (xvi. 19), and that Apollos had been at Corinth (i. 12), but had now left them (xvi. 12).

A comparison of these facts with what is stated in the history, throws much light upon both accounts. In the Acts we are told that St. Paul, having converted Aquila and Priscilla took them with him to Ephesus when he left Corinth (Acts xviii. 18); that Apollos went to Ephesus where he was instructed by Aquila and Priscilla (Acts xviii. 24), and went thence to Corinth (Acts xix. 1), where he was, when Paul arrived the second time at Ephesus, and that Paul sent Timothy and Erastus before him into Macedonia and Achaia (Acts xix. 22).

St. Paul then wrote to the Corinthians from Ephesus after having been there a short time, Apollos having in the meantime left Corinth, but Aquila and Priscilla still remaining there to assist in the work of establishing the church.

LESSON 12.

HISTORICAL NOTICES IN ST. PAUL'S
EPISTLES.- PART II.

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians.-The apostle tells the Corinthians that he had intended to go from Ephesus to Corinth, and so to Macedonia, but had altered his purpose and gone to Macedonia first (i. 16). He had left Ephesus (i. 3), and had gone to Troas (ii. 12), and had come into Macedonia (vii. 5). Timothy was now with him (i. 1), and Titus, whom he had sent to them (xii. 18), had brought back a more comforting account of the state of the Corinthian church (vii. 6). St. Paul mentions his intention shortly to be with them, and reminds them of the contributions they were to make for the believers at Jerusalem (ix).

The Epistle to the Romans was written before Paul had been at Rome (i. 10). He had preached round about Illyricum (xv. 19), and was now at Cenchrea, from which port he sends his letter (xvi. 1). He had collected contributions in Macedonia and Achaia (xv. 26). Aquila and Priscilla were now established in Rome (xvi. 3), as also many who had before laboured with the apostle (xvi.). Timothy was with him (xvi. 21), and he was lodging in the house of Gaius (xvi. 23).

The Second Epistle to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Romans refer to a period which in the Acts are mentioned in two short verses. "And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the

disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months," Acts xx. 1-3.* They enable us to fill up the outline.

St. Paul left Ephesus shortly after Pentecost, and proceeded through Troas on his way to Corinth; but Timothy having come thither and brought him a sad account of the state of the Corinthian church, he determined to send Titus to Corinth, and himself to go first to Macedonia. In this progress he journeyed as far as Illyria, and, passing through Macedonia, accompanied by Timothy, he was joined by Titus, who gave a more hopeful account of the Corinthian Christians. Accordingly St. Paul wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians; and having spent some months in his journey from Ephesus arrived at Corinth to winter there, and remained in that city, or in Cenchrea its port, three months.

Meantime Aquila and Priscilla, who had been so useful at Ephesus, had left that place, and taken up their abode at Rome, where they pursued their spiritual labours; while there had come to Rome other friends of St. Paul, who were thus forming a church, which the apostle afterwards found when he was carried captive to that city.

The above are all the Epistles which were written before St. Paul's arrival at Rome.

The rest supply us with some particulars of the apostle's life after he arrived in the imperial city, of

*See Lesson 8.