small note commenced the discussion; strong language used; strong feeling evoked: need now for some leader to guide the matter towards a settlement. Who now rises? Ver. 7; with Matt. xvi. 19. What will Peter do with the keys now? On the day of Pentecost, Israel knocked, and he opened. A good while ago a solitary Gentile knocked, and, under Divine constraint, he opened. Now the whole Gentile world sends messengers to knock, and once more he opens! Pharisaic separatism judged by the flesh, God decided by the heart; the Gentiles were deemed impure, but God had given them His Holy Spirit. Would they provoke God by opposition? The yoke to which he referred was the Mosaic Law, (a) in ceremonies, (b) the traditions of the fathers, (c) the moral law, which, though binding as a rule of life, was an unbearable " yoke as a condition of salvation. So Peter leaves the gate wide open to the Gentiles. Now a pause: the meeting would like to have the facts stated to them again. Barnabas speaks first, then his fellow-labourer. Mention some of the facts that would appear in their statement. Now the President of the Council rises; Pharisaic hopes are at their highest, no foreign associations have polluted his life. To him, Peter is still Simeon; and the Old Testament Scriptures the end-all of controversy; what quotation did he make? Ver. 15-17. Where did he find it? What was the purport of it ? God had foreseen the events narrated by the missionaries, and foreshadowed them in prophecy. Concerning the "prohibitions in ver. 20,

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2. "Do not meddle, but wait,”—is good advice to the young in the matter of controversy. By and by they will find that discussions, apparently trivial, concern great principles.

3. "Salvation is free," was the proposition before the Council, and then accepted by them. It concerns every one of us. Have we accepted this free Gospel?

4. Beware of creating strife,-this a lesson for our own personal conduct. Bid from you the insincere, prying, unloving spirit of the "false brethren,"

INTRODUCTION. A little skill will speedily prove this Lesson interesting. Let a letter be produced; how easily written and dispatched; paper, ink, pen, postage-stamp, gone! How many disputes are settled every morning by a letter! In this Lesson we have to do with a letter: thus the teacher will be led up to our Notes. The "four prohibitions" of ver. 29 have their interest also, and form the basis of our Reflections.

LETTER-WRITING.-V. 23. It does

not appear that the letter was drawn up during the first sitting of the Council; rather, that a second meeting was called to hear the letter read and dismiss the brethren, ver. 30. The document was probably drawn up in some private house. There, some Christian scribe seats himself on the ground; draws the long reed-pens from the lower part of his ink-horn; places the horn on the ground, opens the lid, and is ready to write. Who are the

at

authors of the letter? The narrative does not say, but probability suggests the "Pillars of the Church Jerusalem (who ?); the two missionaries (who); and the two brethren who were to be the letter-carriers and commentators: who? Perhaps a rough sketch was made upon wax-tablets before the words were committed to the parchment. This done, the subcommittee of Apostolic men breaks up. > THE CONTENTS OF THE LETTER.-V. 23-29. The conduct and teaching of the "false brethren" (ver. 1) are plainly condemned, ver. 24. Their own revered teachers are to return to them as the "beloved" and honoured brethren of Apostles and the mother Church at Jerusalem, ver. 25, 26: discussion had melted away in love, a love too warm for written words, so two messengers are sent to declare it, ver. 27. Four things are mentioned as necessary for the conduct of these converted heathen; two, for the sake of believing Jews, the eating of blood and of things strangled. Food of that kind had been forbidden by the law, Lev. xvii. 14, and there was such a disgust at it amongst them, that social intercourse would be impossible unless the Gentiles yielded. Two things they were to observe for their own safety's sake. The idols of the heathen then, as now in India, had their sacrifices presented to them in the shape of meals and at meal-times. After presentation, a portion of the food was consumed by the priests, and the remainder was sold, the people regarding it as a sacred delicacy. The buying and eating of such food would not only be an offence to the Jews, but also a danger to the converted heathen, by bringing them into contact with their old associations. Against one sin, these converts must especially guard, the licentiousness which everywhere stood connected with idolatrous worship. Such was the letter.

THE MESSENGERS WHO CONVEYED THE LETTER.-V. 22, 25, 27, 32. A report must be made of the proceedings at Jerusalem, and it would come better from special messengers than from Paul and Barnabas. Besides, love speaks more tenderly through lips than through letters. Judas was probably a Jew home-born and homegrown; Sylvanus, shortened into Silas,

a foreign Jew, as appears from his Roman name and citizenship, ch. xvi. 37. So both sides are represented on the deputation. These were already men of mark, choice or chosen men; leading or "chief" men. They could speak with authority as well as love. They were gifted men; prophets,-persons divinely taught to understand the will of God and make it known to others; fitted, therefore, to explain and enforce the principles involved in the Apostolic decree. So now the letter has been read and approved; the messengers stand up to receive it; the two missionaries stand up to say "farewell." The three venerated men, (who?) the heads of the Jewish Church, also rise; each gives his right hand with a loving grasp to the hand of each missionary; and with the Hebrew salutation, "peace," given and returned, this solemn assembly breaks up. Those linked hands indicated the closing of a breach which threatened to be dangerous.

THE LETTER RECEIVED AND READ. -V. 30-35. Many weeks had elapsed since Paul and Barnabas had been sent away. No such means then, as now, for receiving news; no day-byday post; no telegraph to transmit an important decision in a moment. Wait, wait, wait; but the messengers return at last. The whole of the brethren are summoned. What silence of suspense as the small parchment is produced! What a sigh of relief when the brief reading is concluded! With that sigh, the storm passed; and as farmers, when a fierce storm of wind and rain is over, betake themselves to ploughing and sowing, so with return of peace, Judas and Silas, Paul and Barnabas, are at work again, ver. 32,

35.

APOSTOLIC FAILINGS.-V. 36-41. Disagreement, contention, separation; three sad words to use of Apostles. But Paul's words are true, ch. xiv. 15. Such failings are recorded for our encouragement. "If they, in spite of their failings, served God so well, why may not we?" What was the occasion of the strife? But see how God overrules it; there are now two groups of missionaries instead of one. Where did Barnabas go? Paul? By whom were they accompanied ?

REFLECTIONS.-1. See the worth of personal influence.-Antioch sends two men to Jerusalem; Jerusalem, two to Antioch. Be good, as well as talk good, and you will do good.

2. Peace requires sacrifice. The Gentile Christians yielded something for the sake of peace. Give way, without doing wrong, rather than strive, Rom. xii. 18.

3. Safety demands restraint.-The converted heathen were directed to abstain from food offered to an idol; yet an idol is nothing; could not make bad food good, or good food bad. But the associations! So Christians find, and the young particularly, that there are many things lawful which are not Instances: amusements, expedient. reading, companionship, customs, etc.

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4. The grace of God enables us to yield our likings and accept our restraints. This illustrated by the healing of this dissension.

5. "None but Christ"-is the only watchword of salvation. Sundays, worship, godly parentage, baptism, nothing without Christ. The absence or neglect of these things need not hinder, if we will come to Christ.

QUESTIONS.-What was the mode of ancient letter-writing? Who would probably be engaged in drawing up this letter? What were the chief points of it? Who were its bearers? What was its effect upon the Church at Antioch? Where did Paul and Barnabas propose to go? What led to their disagreement? How was this overruled for good? Where did Barnabas go? Paul?

Syria

OLD GROUND RE-VISITED. lay around Antioch; Cilicia lay to the north-west of it. The mountainline of Taurus formed its northern boundary, and beyond it Lystra and Derbe. On his former visit Paul had reached these towns from the west, crossing the mountains from Pisidia. Now, travelling by land, he crosses from the east, and his route would lead him past his native city, Tarsus. One can scarcely avoid the inference that he would remain there a little while. If so, how old would contrast with new associations! Then over the mountains to Derbe, after an absence of probably two years. The churches in this and the neighbouring towns, he finds, still survive and flourish.

TIMOTHY.-V. 1—5; 2 Tim. i. 1-5; iii. 14, 15. His father was a Greek,probably a proselyte, though not of the strictest kind: probably dead. Two good women had the care of the boy Timothy. Who? What relatives

were they to him? They were devout as adherents of the Jewish faith, and taught the boy the Old Testament Scriptures. Then two missionaries came, (Acts xiv. 6,)—the grandmother, then the mother received the Gospel, (2 Tim. i. 5,) and greatly influenced the mind of the youth, 2 Tim. iii. 14. Probably he was a spectator of the half-finished martyrdom of St. Paul, Acts xiv. 19. But St. Paul speaks of him as his "own son in the faith," a phrase that implies that Timothy's decided experience of religion was traceable to the Apostle's own ministry, and this could only have occurred during his second visit, ch. xiv. 21, 22. The young convert had subsequently won the confidence of his brethren by consistency of conduct and activity in the work of the Lord, ch. xvi. 2. Men of insight had foreseen and foretold his aptitude for the Lord's work, 1 Tim. i. 18; iv. 14. Here, then, was a suitable companion for the Apostle in his missionary toil. Before he was appointed to it, two circumstances worthy of remark took place: his circumcision and ordination. Concerning the first, see Illustration. The latter is referred to in 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6, iv. 5, and was expressed by the solemn ceremony of the layingon of hands by the body of elders. So away went the little group of