The Gospel Introduced into Europe

“And they passing by Mysia came to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Conie over into Macedonia, and help us,” etc. — Acts xvi. 8-13.

HERE the history of the Church reaches a great crisis. The missionaries of the Cross pass the narrow sea that separates Asia from Europe, and the gospel is introduced among the nations of the growing West. In the person of “the man of Macedonia,” Greece and Rome invite the apostles of the Cross. Weary and empty, the warriors, artists, and philosophers of the Empire thirst for the living water. Europe on the west, as Ethiopia on the south, dumbly stretches out her hands to God.

At Lystra the apostle of the Gentiles had been gladdened by the accession of Timothy to the missionary band. At that place he had suffered more than elsewhere; but there, as elsewhere, the blood of the martyrs had become the seed of the Church. From the seed of his own suffering and testimony at that place a goodly fruit had secretly sprung. By the time of his second visit the fruit was ripe, and he who sowed was permitted also to reap. In the former visit he had gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed: now when he leaves Lystra, moving westward to new fields, he bears his sheaves rejoicing. Faithful is he that promised: the, missionary is sustained in his work. “His heart is lifted up in the ways of the Lord.” Let all men know that the sad things which happened to the preacher at Lystra have turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

Paul invited his son Timothy to join the mission, and Timothy consented. Having in his bag a supply of parchments containing the decrees of the council which refused to bind circumcision on the conscience of the Gentile converts, Paul was at liberty to yield to the feelings of the Jews from motives of expediency; and so he circumcised Timothy at the outset. He had contended earnestly and successfully for the liberty of Christians; but he was not the man to put all his rights in force, without regard to circumstances. He delighted to concede intenderness to brethren that which he would not surrender to the legalists who demanded it as of right. He refused to circumcise the Greek Titus at the demand of Jewish Christians, because they demanded it on the ground that it was necessary to salvation; but Timothy, by the mother’s side and by education a Jew, he readily cir-. cumcised, in order to smooth his way into the synagogues, and enlarge his opportunities of preaching Christ.

Providentially prevented from prolonging their stay and penetrating to the northern provinces of Lesser Asia, they soon arrived at Troas, the extreme western point of the continent. There Paul’s spirit was stirred within him as he saw the isles of Greece in the foreground, and the continent of Europe in the distance. He longed to preach Jesus and the resurrection in Athens, the eye of Greece and the centre of European civilisation.

At Troas a fourth missionary joined the group — Luke, the beloved physician. From this point the narrative proceeds in the first person plural, because from this point the historian was personally a witness of the events which he records.

By two stages they made the passage across the straits. The first day’s sailing brought them to the island of Samothracia, and next day they landed on the European shore at Neapolis. Thence they journeyed inland to Philippi, the nearest city of importance. Here they opened their commission and began. The Church of Philippi is thus the metropolitan Church of Europe. The seed of the kingdom imported from the East, first fructified there, and thence spread through the neighbouring regions.

Philippi was a colony. This was doubtless one of the reasons why the missionaries selected it as their first station. It brought them into contact with the peculiar institutions of the Roman Empire. Located in the provinces, it was colonised by native Italians, and enjoyed the privileges of an Italian city. Chiefly inhabited by discharged soldiers, it was a stronghold of defence on the frontiers. In that city the missionaries abode some days, apparently without meeting an opportunity of prosecuting their work. At this rate Paul will not linger long in the place. Life is short; and he must be about his Master’s business. But when the Sabbath arrived an opportunity occurred. The few Jews who resided at Philippi seem not to have possessed a synagogue; but a station had been provided in a sequestered spot by the side of the river where the worshippers of God, whether Jews or proselytes, were wont to meet for prayer.

Some women resorted to the spot: on this Sabbath, women only were there. The Roman veteran, lording it on the soil of Macedonia, would sneer at the humble group as he saw them passing to the conventicle; perhaps a philosophic Greek, himself oppressed by the military conquerors, uttered a sarcasm at the expense of the women-worshippers. No matter: those who win have the right to laugh. These women were on the winning side, and a windfall of great gain will meet them to-day at the trysting-place.

Among the worshippers was Lydia, a Gentile proselyte from Thyatira in Asia, settled in Philippi as an agent for the sale of purple, the staple manufacture of her native place. There is abundant evidence from other sources that Thyatira was celebrated as a seat of this manufacture. Inscriptions have been recently found on the spot, which show that the guild of dyers were an important corporation in the city. Perhaps Lydia’s husband had emigrated on this business, and died at Philippi; and the trade being prosperous, the widow had braced herself to the effort of conducting it, until her boys should come of age.

The ancient “Turkey-red” dyers of Thyatira sent their goods westward for sale in the Roman colonies of Greece and Macedonia, as our manufacturers send theirs to India and China. Each great factory in Asia must have accredited agents in the several marts of Europe. Probably the ship that bore the missionaries across the strait a week before, had carried some bales of purple cloth for the Roman residents of Philippi; and the heavy goods might at that time have been slowly winding up the ascent from the shore to the city. Commerce and Christianity in those days, as now, gravitated to the same centres, and flowed in the same channels.

This honourable woman prosecuted a lawful industry. She went into a far country to earn bread for herself and her children; and in that far country she found the life of her souL Labour is honourable and healthful. Merchandise is specially honourable when it is conducted with truth and righteousness. Merchants are channels through which the precious products of the earth flow and reflow, to the places

Lydia, where they are needed, to minister to the necessities and the comforts of men. Blessed are those buyers and sellers who, like Lydia, find in the intervals of ordinary business the pearl of great price. When they have obtained the true riches their souls will not again cleave to the dust. When they have obtained the peace of God in Christ to keep their hearts and minds, they will not be too much oppressed by care, or distracted by fluctuations in the market.