Some of the oldest geographical terms, such as "AEolis," "Ionia," "Caria," "Lydia," were disappearing from ordinary use in the time of the Apostles:(f597) but others, such as "Mysia" (Acts 16:7, 8.) and "Lycaonia," (Acts 14:6, 11.) still remained. Obsolete and existing divisions are presented to us together: and the common maps of Asia Minor (f598) are as unsatisfactory as if a map of France were set before us, distributed half into provinces and half into departments. And in the third place, some of the names have no political significance at all, but express rather the ethnographical relations of ancient tribes. Thus, "Pisidia" (Acts 13:14, 14:24.) denotes a district which might partly be in one province and partly in another; and "Phrygia" (Acts 2:10, 16:6, 18:23.) reminds us of the diffusion of an ancient people, the broken portions of whose territory were now under the jurisdiction of three or four distinct governors. Cases of this kind are, at first sight, more embarrassing than the others. They are not merely similar to the twofold subdivision of Ireland, where a province, like Ulster, may contain several definite counties: but a nearer parallel is to be found in Scotland, where a geographical district, associated with many historical recollections, — such as Galloway or Lothian, — may be partly in one county and partly in another.

Our purpose is to elucidate the political subdivisions of Asia Minor as they were in the reigns of Claudius and Nero, — or, in other words, to enumerate the provinces which existed, and to describe the boundaries which were assigned to them, in the middle of the first century of the Christian era. The order we shall follow is from West to East, and in so doing we shall not deviate widely from the order in which the provinces were successively incorporated as substantive parts of the Roman Empire. We are not, indeed, to suppose that St. Luke and St. Paul used all their topographical expressions in the strict political sense, even when such a sense was more or less customary. There was an exact usage and a popular usage of all these terms. But the first step towards fixing our geographical ideas of Asia Minor, must be to trace the boundaries of the provinces. When this is done, we shall be better able to distinguish those terms which, about the year 50 A. D., had ceased to have any true political significance, and to discriminate between the technical and the popular language of the sacred writers.

I. ASIA - There is sometimes a remarkable interest associated with the history of a geographical term. One case of this kind is suggested by the allusion which has just been made to the British islands. Early writers speak of Ireland under the appellation of "Scotia." Certain of its inhabitants crossed over to the opposite coast:(f599) their name spread along with their influence: and at length the title of Scotland was entirely transferred from one island to the other. In classical history we have a similar instance in the name of "Italy," which at first only denoted the southernmost extremity of the peninsula: then it was extended so as to include the whole with the exception of Cisalpine Gaul: and finally, crossing the Rubicon, it advanced to the Alps; while the name of "Gaul" retreated beyond them. Another instance, on a larger scale, is presented to us on the south of the Mediterranean. The "Africa" of the Romans spread from a limited territory on the shore of that sea, till it embraced the whole continent which was circumnavigated by Vasco di Gama. And similarly the term, by which we are accustomed to designate the larger and more famous continent of the ancient world, traces its derivation to the "Asian meadow by the streams of the Cayster," (f600) celebrated in the poems of Homer.

This is the earliest occurrence of the word "Asia." We find, however, even in the older poets, (f601) the word used in its widest sense to denote all the countries in the far East. Either the Greeks, made familiar with the original Asia by the settlement of their kindred in its neighborhood, applied it as a generic appellation to all the regions beyond it:(f602) or the extension of the kingdom of Lydia from the banks of the Cayster to the Halys as its eastern boundary, diffused the name of Asia as far as that river, and thus suggested the division of Herodotus into "Asia within the Halys" and "Asia beyond the Halys." (f603) However this might be, the term retained, through the Greek and Roman periods, both a wider and a narrower sense; of which senses we are concerned only with the latter. The Asia of the New Testament is not the continent which stretches into the remote East from the Black Sea and the Red Sea, but simply the western portion of that peninsula which, in modern times, has received the name of "Asia Minor." (f604) What extent of country, and what political significance, we are to assign to the term, will be shown by a statement of a few historical changes.

The fall of Croesus reduced the Lydian kingdom to a Persian satrapy. With the rest of the Persian empire, this region west of the Halys fell before the armies of Alexander. In the confusion which followed the conqueror’s death, an independent dynasty established itself at Pergamus, not far from the site of ancient Troy. At first their territory was narrow, and Attalus I. had to struggle with the Gauls who had invaded the peninsula, and with the neighboring chieftains of Bithynia, who had invited them. (f605) Antagonists still more formidable were the Greek kings of Syria, who claimed to be "Kings of Asia," and aimed at the possession of the whole peninsula. (f606) But the Romans appeared in the East, and ordered Antiochus to retire beyond the Taurus, and then conferred substantial rewards on their faithful allies. Rhodes became the mistress of Caria and Lycia, on the opposite coast; and Eumenes, the son of Attalus, received, in the West and North-west, Lydia and Mysia, and a good portion of that vague region in the interior which was usually denominated "Phrygia," (f607) — stretching in one direction over the district of Lycaonia. (f608) Then it was that, as 150 years since the Margraves of Brandenburg became Kings of Prussia, so the Princes of Pergamus became "Kings of Asia." For a time they reigned over a highly-civilized territory, which extended from sea to sea. The library of Pergamus was the rival of that of Alexandria: and Attaleia, from whence we have lately seen the Apostle sailing to Syria (f609) (Acts 14:25, 26) and Troas, from whence we shall presently see him sailing to Europe (Acts 16:11), were the southern and northern (or rather the eastern and western) harbors of King Attalus II. At length the debt of gratitude to the Romans was paid by King Attalus III., who died in the year 133 B. C, and left by testament the whole of his dominions to the benefactors of his house. And now the "Province of Asia" appears for the first time as a new and significant term in the history of the world. The newly-acquired possession was placed under a praetor, and ultimately a proconsul. (f610) The letters and speeches of Cicero make us familiar with the names of more than one who enjoyed this distinction. One was the orator’s brother, Quintus; another was Flaccus, whose conduct as governor he defended before the Senate. Some slight changes in the extent of the province may be traced. Pamphylia was withdrawn from this jurisdiction. Rhodes lost her continental possessions, and Caria was added to Asia, while Lycia was declared independent. The boundary on the side of Phrygia is not easily determined, and was probably variable. (f611) But enough has been said to give a general idea of what is meant in the New Testament by that "Asia ," which St. Paul attempted to enter (Acts 16:6), after passing through Phrygia and Galatia; which St. Peter addressed in his First Epistle (1Peter 1:1), along with Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia; and which embraced the "seven churches" (Revelation 1:11) whose angels are mentioned in the Revelation of St. John.

II. BITHYNIA - Next to Asia, both in proximity of situation and in the order of its establishment, was the province of Bithynia. Nor were the circumstances very different under which these two provinces passed under the Roman scepter. As a new dynasty established itself after the death of Alexander on the north-eastern shores of the AEgean, so an older dynasty secured its independence at the western edge of the Black Sea. Nicomedes I. was the king who invited the Gauls with whom Attalus I. had to contend: and as Attalus III., the last of the House of Pergamus, paid his debt to the Romans by making them his heirs, so the last of the Bithynian House, Nicomedes III., left his kingdom as a legacy to the same power in the year 75. It received some accessions on the east after the defeat of Mithridates; and in this condition we find it in the list given by Dio of the provinces of Augustus; the debatable land between it and Asia being the district of Mysia, through which it is neither easy nor necessary to draw the exact frontier-line. (f612) Stretching inland from the shores of the Propontis and Bosphorus, beyond the lakes near the cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia, to the upper ravines of the Sangarius, and the snowy range of Mount Olympus, it was a province rich in all the changes of beauty and grandeur. Its history is as varied as its scenery, if we trace it from the time when Hannibal was an exile at the court of Prusias, (f613) to the establishment of Othman’s Mohammedan capital in the city which still bears that monarch’s name. It was Hadrian’s favorite province, and many monuments remain of that emperor’s partiality. (f614) But we cannot say more of it without leaving our proper subject. We have no reason to believe that St. Paul ever entered it, though once he made the attempt. (Acts 16:7) Except the passing mention of Bithynia in this and one other place, (1Peter 1:1) it has no connection with the apostolic writings. The first great passage of its ecclesiastical history is found in the correspondence of Trajan with its governor Pliny, concerning the persecution of the Christians. The second is the meeting of the first general council, when the Nicene Creed was drawn up on the banks of the Lake Ascanius.

III. PAMPHTLIA - This province has been already mentioned (Chap. 6.) as one of the regions traversed by St. Paul in his first missionary journey. But though its physical features have been described, its political limits have not been determined. The true Pamphylia of the earliest writers is simply the plain which borders the Bay of Attaleia, and which, as we have said (p. 142), retreats itself like a bay into the mountains. How small and insignificant this territory was, may be seen from the records of the Persian war, to which Herodotus says that it sent only thirty ships; while Lycia, on one side, contributed fifty, and Cilicia, on the other, a hundred. Nor do we find the name invested with any wider significance, till we approach the frontier of the Roman period. A singular dispute between Antiochus and the king of Pergamus, as to whether Pamphylia was really within or beyond Mount Taurus, was decided by the Romans in favor of their ally. (f615) This could only be effected by a generous inclusion of a good portion of the mountainous country within the range of this geographical term. Henceforward, if not before, Pamphylia comprehended some considerable part of what was anciently called Pisidia. We have seen that the Romans united it to the kingdom of Asia. It was, therefore, part of the province of Asia at the death of Attalus. It is difficult to trace the steps by which it was detached from that province. We find it (along with certain districts of Asia) included in the military jurisdiction of Cicero, when he was governor of Cilicia. (f616) It is spoken of as a separate province in the reign of Augustus. (f617) Its boundary on the Pisidian side, or in the direction of Phrygia, (f618) must be left indeterminate. Pisidia was included in this province: but, again, Pisidia is itself indeterminate: and we have good reasons for believing that Antioch in Pisidia was really under the governor of Galatia. Cilicia was contiguous to Pamphylia on the east. Lycia was a separate region on the west, first as an appendage to Rhodes (f619) in the time of the republic, and then as a free state under the earliest emperors; but about the very time when Paul was traveling in these countries, Claudius brought it within the provincial system, and united it to Pamphylia:(f620) and inscriptions make us acquainted with a public officer who bore the title of "Proconsul of Lycia and Pamphylia." (f621)

IV. GALATIA - We now come to a political division of Asia Minor, which demands a more careful attention. Its sacred interest is greater than that of all the others, and its history is more peculiar. The Christians of Galatia were they who received the Apostle "as if he had been an angel," — who, "if it had been possible, would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him," — and then were "so soon removed" by new teachers "from him that called them, to another Gospel," — who began to "run well," and then were hindered, — who were "bewitched" by that zeal which compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, — and who were as ready, in the fervor of their party spirit, to "bite and devour one another," as they were willing to change their teachers and their gospels. (Galatians 4:15, 1:6, 5:7, 3:1, 1:7, v 15.) It is no mere fancy which discovers, in these expressions of St. Paul’s Epistle, indications of the character of that remarkable race of mankind, which all writers, from Caesar to Thierry, have described as susceptible of quick impressions and sudden changes, with a fickleness equal to their courage and enthusiasm, and a constant liability to that disunion which is the fruit of excessive vanity, — that race, which has not only produced one of the greatest nations of modern times, (f622) but which, long before the Christian era, wandering forth from their early European seats, burnt Rome and pillaged Delphi, founded an empire in Northern Italy more than co-extensive with Austrian Lombardy, (f623) and another in Asia Minor, equal in importance to one of the largest pachalics.

For the "Galatia" of the New Testament was really the "Gaul" of the East. The "Epistle to the Galatians" would more literally and more correctly be called the "Epistle to the Gauls." When Livy, in his account of the Roman campaigns in Galatia, speaks of its inhabitants, he always calls them "Gauls." (f624) When the Greek historians speak of the inhabitants of ancient Prance, the word they use is "Galatians." (f625) The two terms are merely the Greek and Latin forms of the same "barbarian" appellation. (f626)

That emigration of the Gauls, which ended in the settlement in Asia Minor, is less famous than those which led to the disasters in Italy and Greece: but it is, in fact, identical with the latter of these two emigrations, and its results were more permanent. The warriors who roamed over the Cevennes, or by the banks of the Garonne, reappear on the Halys and at the base of Mount Dindymus. They exchange the superstitions of Druidism for the ceremonies of the worship of Cybele. The very name of the chief Galatian tribe is one with which we are familiar in the earliest history of France; and Jerome says that, in his own day, the language spoken at Ancyra was almost identical with that of Treves. (f627) The Galatians were a stream from that torrent of barbarians which poured into Greece in the third century before our era, and which recoiled in confusion from the cliffs of Delphi. Some tribes had previously separated from the main army, and penetrated into Thrace. There they were joined by certain of the fugitives, and together they appeared on the coasts, which are separated by a narrow arm of the sea from the rich plains and valleys of Bithynia. The wars with which that kingdom was harassed, made their presence acceptable. Nicomedes was the Vortigern of Asia Minor: and the two Gaulish chieftains, Leonor and Lutar, may be fitly compared to the two legendary heroes of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Some difficulties occurred in the passage of the Bosphorus, which curiously contrast with the easy voyages of our piratic ancestors. But once established in Asia Minor, the Gauls lost no time in spreading over the whole peninsula with their arms and devastation. In their first crossing over we have compared them to the Saxons. In their first occupation they may be more fitly compared to the Danes. For they were a movable army rather than a nation, — encamping, marching, and plundering at will. They stationed themselves on the site of ancient Troy, and drove their chariots in the plain of the Cayster. They divided nearly the whole peninsula among their three tribes. They levied tribute on cities, and even on kings. The wars of the East found them various occupation. They hired themselves out as mercenary soldiers. They were the royal guards of the kings of Syria, and the mamelukes of the Ptolemies in Egypt. (f628)

The surrounding monarchs gradually curtailed their power, and repressed them within narrower limits. First Antiochus Soter drove the Tectosages, (f629) and then Eumenes drove the Trocmi and Tolistobii, into the central district which afterwards became Galatia. Their territory was definitely marked out and surrounded by the other states of Asia Minor, and they retained a geographical position similar to that of Hungary in the midst of its German and Sclavonic neighbors. By degrees they coalesced into a number of small confederate states, and ultimately into one united kingdom. (f630) Successive circumstances brought them into contact with the Romans in various ways: first, by a religious embassy sent from Rome to obtain peaceful possession of the sacred image of Cybele; secondly, by the campaign of Manlius, who reduced their power and left them a nominal independence; and then through the period of hazardous alliance with the rival combatants in the Civil Wars. The first Deiotarus was made king by Pompey, fled before Caesar at the battle of Pharsalia, and was defended before the conqueror by Cicero, in a speech which still remains to us. The second Deiotarus, like his father, was Cicero’s friend, and took charge of his son and nephew during the Cilician campaign. Amyntas, who succeeded him, owed his power to Antony, (f631) but prudently went over to Augustus in the battle of Actium. At the death of Amyntas, Augustus made some modifications in the extent of Galatia, and placed it under a governor. It was now a province, reaching from the borders of Asia and Bithynia to the neighborhood of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, "cities of Lycaonia." (f632)

Henceforward, like the Western Gaul, this territory was a part of the Roman empire, though retaining the traces of its history in the character and language of its principal inhabitants. There was this difference, however, between the Eastern and the Western Gaul, that the latter was more rapidly and more completely assimilated to Italy. It passed from its barbarian to its Roman state, without being subjected to any intermediate civilization. (f633) The Gauls of the East, on the other hand, had long been familiar with the Greek language and the Greek culture. St. Paul’s Epistle was written in Greek. The contemporary inscriptions of the province are usually in the same language. The Galatians themselves are frequently called Gallo-Graecians; (f634) and many of the inhabitants of the province must have been of pure Grecian origin. Another section of the population, the early Phrygians, were probably numerous, but in a lower and more degraded position. The presence of great numbers of Jews (f635) in the province, implies that it was, in some respects, favorable for traffic; and it is evident that the district must have been constantly intersected by the course of caravans from Armenia, the Hellespont, and the South. (f636) The Roman itineraries inform us of the lines of communication between the great towns near the Halys and the other parts of Asia Minor. These circumstances are closely connected with the spread of the Gospel, and we shall return to them again when we describe St. Paul’s first reception in Galatia.

V. PONTUS - The last independent dynasties in the north of the Peninsula have hitherto appeared as friendly or subservient to the Roman power. Asia and Bithynia were voluntarily ceded by Attalus and Nicomedes; and Galatia, on the death of Amyntas, quietly fell into the station of a province. But when we advance still farther to the East, we are reminded of a monarch who presented a formidable and protracted opposition to Rome. The war with Mithridates was one of the most serious wars in which the Republic was ever engaged; and it was not till after a long struggle that Pompey brought the kingdom of Pontus under the Roman yoke. In placing Pontus among the provinces of Asia Minor at this exact point of St. Paul’s life, we are (strictly speaking) guilty of an anachronism. For long after the western portion of the empire of Mithridates was united partly with Bithynia and partly with Galatia, (f637) the region properly called Pontus (f638) remained under the government of independent chieftains. Before the Apostle’s death, however, it was really made a province by Nero. (f639) Its last king was that Polemo II. who was alluded to at the beginning of this work, as the contemptible husband of one of Herod’s grand-daughters. (f640) In himself he is quite unworthy of such particular notice, but he demands our attention, not only because, as the last independent king in Asia Minor, he stands at one of the turning-points of history, but also because, through his marriage with Berenice, he must have had some connection with the Jewish population of Pontus, and therefore probably with the spread of the Gospel on the shores of the Euxine. We cannot forget that Jews of Pontus were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2: 9.) that the Jewish Christians of Pontus were addressed by St. Peter in his first epistle, ( 1Peter 1:1.) and that "a Jew born in Pontus" (Acts 18:2.) became one of the best and most useful associates of the Apostle of the Gentiles.

VI. CAPPADOCIA - Crossing the country southwards from the birthplace of Aquila towards that of St. Paul, we traverse the wide and varied region which formed the province of Cappadocia, intermediate between Pontus and Cilicia. The period of its provincial existence began in the reign of Tiberius. Its last king was Archelaus, (f641) the contemporary of the Jewish tetrarch of the same name. (Matthew 2:22) Extending from the frontier of Galatia to the river Euphrates, and bounded on the south by the chain of Taurus, it was the largest province of Asia Minor. Some of its cities are celebrated in ecclesiastical history. (f642) But in the New Testament it is only twice alluded to, once in the Acts, ( Acts 2:9.) and once in the Epistles. (1Peter 1:1.)

VII. CILICIA - A single province yet remains, in one respect the most interesting of all, for its chief city was the Apostle’s native town. For this reason the reader’s attention was invited long ago to its geography and history. (f643) It is therefore unnecessary to dwell upon them further. We need not go back to the time when Servilius destroyed the robbers in the mountains, and Pompey the pirates on the coast. (f644) And enough has been said of the conspicuous period of its provincial condition, when Cicero came down from Cappadocia through the great pass of Mount Taurus, (f645) and the letters of his correspondents in Rome were forwarded from Tarsus to his camp on the Pyramus. Nearly all the light we possess concerning the fortunes of Roman Cilicia is concentrated on that particular time. We know the names of hardly any of its later governors. One of the few allusions to its provincial condition about the time of Claudius and Nero, which we can adduce from any ancient writer, is that passage in the Acts, where Felix is described as inquiring "of what province" St. Paul was. The use of the strict political term (f646) informs us that it was a separate province; but the term itself is not so explicit as to enable us to state whether the province was under the jurisdiction of the Senate or the Emperor. (f647)

With this last division of the Heptarchy of Asia Minor we are brought to the starting-point of St. Paul’s second missionary journey. Cilicia is contiguous to Syria, and indeed is more naturally connected with it than with the rest of Asia Minor. (f648) We might illustrate this connection from the letters of Cicero; but it is more to our purpose to remark that the Apostolic Decree, recently enacted at Jerusalem, was addressed to the Gentile Christians "in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia," (Acts 15:36.) and that Paul and Silas traveled "through Syria and Cilicia" (Acts 15:41.) in the early part of their progress.

This second missionary journey originated in a desire expressed by Paul to Barnabas, that they should revisit all the cities where they had preached the Gospel and founded churches. (Acts 15:36.) He felt that he was not called to spend a peaceful, though laborious, life at Antioch, but that his true work was "far off among the Gentiles." (Acts 22:21.) He knew that his campaigns were not ended, — that, as the soldier of Jesus Christ, he must not rest from his warfare, but must "endure hardness," that he might please Him who had called him. (2Timothy 2:3, 4.) As a careful physician, he remembered that they, whose recovery from sin had been begun, might be in danger of relapse; or, to use another metaphor, and to adopt the poetical language of the Old Testament, he said, — "Come, let us get up early to the vineyards: let us see if the vine flourish." (f649) The words actually recorded as used by St. Paul on this occasion are these:— "Come, let us turn back and visit our brethren in every city, where we have announced the word of the Lord, and let us see how they fare." (f650) We notice here, for the first time, a trace of that tender solicitude concerning his converts, that earnest longing to behold their faces, which appears in the letters which he wrote afterwards, as one of the most remarkable, and one of the most attractive, features of his character. Paul was the speaker, and not Barnabas. The feelings of Barnabas might not be so deep, nor his anxiety so urgent. (f651) Paul thought doubtless of the Pisidians and Lycaonians, as he thought afterwards at Athens and Corinth of the Thessalonians, from whom he had been lately "taken, — in presence not in heart, — endeavoring to see their face with great desire, — night and day praying exceedingly that he might see their face, and might perfect that which was lacking in their faith." (1Thessalonians 2:17, 3:10.) He was "not ignorant of Satan’s devices." (2Corinthians 2:11.) He feared lest by any means the Tempter had tempted them, and his labor had been in vain. (1Thessalonians 3:5.) He "stood in doubt of them," and desired to be "present with them" once more. (Galatians 4:20.) His wish was to revisit every city where converts had been made. We are reminded here of the importance of continuing a religious work when once begun. We have had the institution of presbyters, (f652) and of councils, (f653) brought before us in the sacred narrative; and now we have an example of that system of church visitation, of the happy effects of which we have still some experience, when we see weak resolutions strengthened, and expiring faith rekindled, in confirmations at home, or in missionary settlements abroad.

This plan, however, of a combined visitation of the churches was marred by an outbreak of human infirmity. The two apostolic friends were separated from each other by a quarrel, which proved that they were indeed, as they had lately told the Lystrians, "men of like passions" with others. (Acts 14:15.) Barnabas was unwilling to undertake the journey unless he were accompanied by his relation Mark. Paul could not consent to the companionship of one who "departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work:" (f654) and neither of them could yield his opinion to the other. This quarrel was much more closely connected with personal feelings than that which had recently occurred between St. Peter and St. Paul, (f655) and it was proportionally more violent. There is little doubt that severe words were spoken on the occasion. It is unwise to be over-anxious to dilute the words of Scripture, and to exempt even Apostles from blame. By such criticism we lose much of the instruction which the honest record of their lives was intended to convey. We are taught by this scene at Antioch, that a good work may be blessed by God, though its agents are encompassed with infirmity, and that changes, which are violent in their beginnings, may be overruled for the best results. Without attempting to balance too nicely the faults on either side, our simplest course is to believe that, as in most quarrels, there was blame with both. Paul’s natural disposition was impetuous and impatient, easily kindled to indignation, and (possibly) overbearing. Barnabas had shown his weakness when he yielded to the influence of Peter and the Judaizers. (f656) The remembrance of the indirect censure he then received may have been perpetually irritated by the consciousness that his position was becoming daily more and more subordinate to that of the friend who rebuked him. Once he was spoken of as chief of those "prophets at Antioch," (f657) among whom Saul was the last: now his name was scarcely heard, except when he was mentioned as the companion of Paul. (f658)

In short, this is one of those quarrels in which, by placing ourselves in imagination on the one side and the other, we can alternately justify both, and easily see that the purest Christian zeal, when combined with human weakness and partiality, may have led to the misunderstanding. How could Paul consent to take with him a companion who would really prove an embarrassment and a hinderance? Such a task as that of spreading the Gospel of God in a hostile world needs a resolute will and an undaunted courage. And the work is too sacred to be put in jeopardy by any experiments. (f659) Mark had been tried once and found wanting. "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 1:62.) And Barnabas would not be without strong arguments to defend the justice of his claims. It was hard to expect him to resign his interest in one who had cost him much anxiety and many prayers. His dearest wish was to see his young kinsman approving himself as a missionary of Christ. Now, too, he had been won back to a willing obedience, — he had come from his home at Jerusalem, — he was ready now to face all the difficulties and dangers of the enterprise. To repel him in the moment of his repentance was surely "to break a bruised reed" and to "quench the smoking flax." (Matthew 12:20.)

It is not difficult to understand the obstinacy with which each of the disputants, when his feelings were once excited, clung to his opinion as to a sacred truth. The only course which now remained was to choose two different paths and to labor independently; and the Church saw the humiliating spectacle of the separation of its two great missionaries to the Heathen. We cannot, however, suppose that Paul and Barnabas parted, like enemies, in anger and hatred, it is very likely that they made a deliberate and amicable arrangement to divide the region of their first mission between them, Paul taking the continental, and Barnabas the insular, part of the proposed visitation. (f660) Of this at least we are certain, that the quarrel was overruled by Divine Providence to a good result. One stream of missionary labor had been divided, and the regions blessed by the waters of life were proportionally multiplied. St. Paul speaks of Barnabas afterwards (f661) as of an Apostle actively engaged in his Master’s service. We know nothing of the details of his life beyond the moment of his sailing for Cyprus; but we may reasonably attribute to him not only the confirming of the first converts, (f662) but the full establishment of the Church in his native island. At Paphos the impure idolatry gradually retreated before the presence of Christianity; and Salamis, where the tomb of the Christian Levite (Acts 4:36.) is shown, (f663) has earned an eminent place in Christian history, through the writings of its bishop, Epiphanius. (f664) Mark, too, who began his career as a "minister" of the Gospel in this island, (Acts 3:5.) justified the good opinion of his kinsman. Yet the severity of Paul may have been of eventual service to his character, in leading him to feel more deeply the serious importance of the work he had undertaken. And the time came when Paul himself acknowledged, with affectionate tenderness, not only that he had again become his "fellow laborer," (Philemon 1:24.) but that he was "profitable to the ministry,"(f665) and one of the causes of his own "comfort." (Colossians 4:10, 11.)

Map of Apostle Paul's Second Missionary Journey

It seems that Barnabas was the first to take his departure. The feeling of the majority of the Church was evidently with St. Paul, for when he had chosen Silas for his companion, and was ready to begin his journey, he was specially "commended by the brethren to the grace of God." (Acts 15:40.) The visitation of Cyprus having now been undertaken by others, his obvious course was not to go by sea in the direction of Perga or Attaleia, (f666) but to travel by the Eastern passes directly to the neighborhood of Iconium. It appears, moreover, that he had an important work to accomplish in Cilicia. The early fortunes of Christianity in that province were closely bound up with the city of Antioch and the personal labors of St. Paul. When he withdrew from Jerusalem, "three years" after his conversion, his residence for some time was in "the regions of Syria and Cilicia." (f667) He was at Tarsus in the course of that residence, when Barnabas first brought him to Antioch. (f668) The churches founded by the Apostle in his native province must often have been visited by him; for it is far easier to travel from Antioch to Tarsus, than from Antioch to Jerusalem, or even from Tarsus to Iconium. Thus the religious movements in the Syrian metropolis penetrated into Cilicia. The same great "prophet" had been given to both, and the Christians in both were bound together by the same feelings and the same doctrines. When the Judaizing agitators came to Antioch, the result was anxiety and perplexity, not only in Syria, but also in Cilicia. This is nowhere literally stated; but it can be legitimately inferred. We are, indeed, only told that certain men came down with false teaching from Judaea to Antioch. (Acts 15:1.) But the Apostolic Decree is addressed to "the Gentiles of Cilicia " (Acts 15:23.) as well as those of Antioch, thus implying that the Judaizing spirit, with its mischievous consequences, had been at work beyond the frontier of Syria. And, doubtless, the attacks on St. Paul’s apostolic character had accompanied the attack on apostolic truth, (f669) and a new fullfillment of the proverb was nearly realized, that a prophet in his own country is without honor. He had, therefore, no ordinary work to accomplish as he went "through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches;" (f670) and it must have been with much comfort and joy that he was able to carry with him a document, emanating from the Apostles at Jerusalem, which justified the doctrine he had taught, and accredited his personal character. Nor was he alone as the bearer of this letter, but Silas was with him also, ready "to tell the same things by month." (Acts 15:27.) It is a cause for thankfulness that God put it into the heart of Silas to "abide still at Antioch" (f671) when Judas returned to Jerusalem, and to accompany St. Paul (Acts 15:40.) on his northward journey.

For when the Cilician Christians saw their countryman arrive without his companion Barnabas, whose name was coupled with his own in the apostolic letter, (Acts 15:25.) their confidence might have been shaken, occasion might have been given to the enemies of the truth to slander St. Paul, had not Silas been present, as one of those who were authorized to testify that both Paul and Barnabas were "men who had hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 15:26.)

Where "the churches" were, which he "confirmed" on his journey, — in what particular cities of "Syria and Cilicia," — we are not informed. After leaving Antioch by the bridge over the Orontes, (f672) he would cross Mount Amanus by the gorge which was anciently called the "Syrian Gates," and is now known as the Beilan Pass. (f673) Then he would come to Alexandria and Issus, two cities that were monuments of the Macedonian conqueror; one as retaining his name, the other as the scene of his victory. After entering the Cilician plain, he may have visited Adana, AEgae, or Mopsuetia, three of the conspicuous cities on the old Roman roads. (f674) With all these places St. Paul must have been more or less familiar: probably there were Christians in all of them, anxiously waiting for the decree, and ready to receive the consolation it was intended to bring. And one other city must certainly have been visited. If there were churches anywhere in Cilicia, there must have been one at Tarsus. It was the metropolis of the province; Paul had resided there, perhaps for some years, since the time of his conversion; and if he loved his native place well enough to speak of it with something like pride to the Roman officer at Jerusalem, (Acts 21:39.) he could not be indifferent to its religious welfare. Among the "Gentiles of Cilicia," to whom the letter which he carried was addressed, the Gentiles of Tarsus had no mean place in his affections. And his heart must have overflowed with thankfulness, if, as he passed through the streets which had been familiar to him since his childhood, he knew that many households were around him where the Gospel had come "not in word only but in power," and the relations between husband and wife, parent and child, master and slave, had been purified and sanctified by Christian love. No doubt the city still retained all the aspect of the cities of that day, where art and amusement were consecrated to a false religion. The symbols of idolatry remained in the public places, — statues, temples, and altars, — and the various "objects of devotion," which in all Greek towns, as well as in Athens (Acts 17:23), were conspicuous on every side. But the silent revolution was begun. Some families had already turned "from idols to serve the living and true God." (1Thessalonians 1:9.) The "dumb idols" to which, as Gentiles, they had been "carried away even as they were led," (1Corinthians 12:2.) had been recognized as "nothing in the world," (1Corinthians 8:4.) and been "cast to the moles and to the bats."(f675) The homes which had once been decorated with the emblems of a vain mythology, were now bright with the better ornaments of faith, hope, and love. And the Apostle of the Gentiles rejoiced in looking forward to the time when the grace which had been triumphant in the household should prevail against principalities and powers, — when "every knee should bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10, 11.)

But it has pleased God that we should know more of the details of early Christianity in the wilder and remoter regions of Asia Minor. To these regions the footsteps of St. Paul were turned after he had accomplished the work of confirming the churches in Syria and Cilicia. The task now before him was the visitation of the churches he had formed in conjunction with Barnabas. We proceed to follow him in his second journey across Mount Taurus.

The vast mountain-barrier which separates the sunny plains of Cilicia and Pamphylia from the central table-land has frequently been mentioned. (f676) On the former journey (Acts 13:14.) St. Paul traveled from the Pamphylia plain to Antioch in Pisidia, and thence by Iconium to Lystra and Derbe. His present course across the mountains was more to the eastward; and the last-mentioned cities were visited first. More passes than one lead up into Lycaonia and Cappadocia through the chain of Taurus from Cilicia. (f677) And it has been supposed (f678) that the Apostle traveled through one of the minor passes, which quits the lower plain at Pompeiopolis, (f679) and enters the upland plain of Iconium, not far from the conjectural site of Derbe. But there is no sufficient reason to suppose that he went by any other than the ordinary road. A traveler wishing to reach the Valais conveniently from the banks of the Lago Maggiore would rather go by the Simplon, than by the difficult path across the Monte Moro; and there is one great pass in Asia Minor which may be called the Simplon (f680) of Mount Taurus, described as a rent or fissure in the mountain-chain, extending from north to south through a distance of eighty miles, (f681) and known in ancient days by the name of the "Cilician Gates," — which has been, in all ages, the easiest and most convenient entrance from the northern and central parts of the peninsula to the level by the seashore, where the traveler pauses before he enters Syria. The securing of this pass was the greatest cause of anxiety to Cyrus, when he marched into Babylonia to dethrone his brother. (f682) Through this gorge Alexander descended to that Cilician plain, which has been finally described by a Greek historian as a theatre made by Nature’s hand for the drama of great battles. Cicero followed in the steps of Alexander, as he tells his friend Atticus in a letter written with characteristic vanity. And to turn to the centuries which have elapsed since the time of the Apostles and the first Roman emperors: twice, at least, this pass has been the pivot on which the struggle for the throne of the East seemed to turn, — once, in the war described by obscure historians, (f683) when a pretender at Antioch made the Taurus his defense against the Emperor of Rome; and once in a war which we remember, when a pretender at Alexandria fortified it and advanced beyond it in his attempt to dethrone the Sultan. (f684)

In the wars between the Crescent and the Cross, which have filled up much of the intervening period, this defile has decided the fate of many an army. The Greek historians of the first Saracen invasions describe it by a word, unknown to classical Greek, which denotes that when this passage (between Cappadocia and Cilicia) was secure, the frontier was closed. The Crusaders, shrinking from the remembrance of its precipices and dangers, called it by the more awful name of the "Gates of Judas."

Through this pass we conceive St. Paul to have traveled on his way from Cilicia to Lycaonia. And if we say that the journey was made in the spring of the year 51, we shall not deviate very far from the actual date. (f685) By those who have never followed the Apostle’s footsteps, the successive features of the scenery through which he passed may be compiled from the accounts of recent travelers, and arranged in the following order. (f686) — After leaving Tarsus, the way ascends the valley of the Cydnus, which, for some distance, is nothing more than an ordinary mountain valley, with wooded eminences and tributary streams. Beyond the point where the road from Adana comes in from the right, the hills suddenly draw together and form a narrow pass, which has always been guarded by precipitous cliffs, and is now crowned by the ruins of a mediaeval castle.

In some places the ravine contracts to a width of ten or twelve paces, leaving room for only one chariot to pass. It is an anxious place to any one in command of a military expedition. To one who is unburdened by such responsibility, the scene around is striking and impressive. A canopy of fir-trees is high overhead. Bare limestone cliffs rise above on either hand to an elevation of many hundred feet. The streams which descend towards the Cydnus are close by the wayside, and here and there undermine it or wash over it. When the higher and more distant of these streams are left behind, the road emerges upon an open and elevated region, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. This space of high land may be considered as dividing the whole mountain journey into two parts. For when it is passed, the streams are seen to flow in a new direction. Not that we have attained the point where the highest land of Asia Minor (f687) turns the waters north and south. The torrents which are seen descending to the right are merely the tributaries of the Sarus, another river of Cilicia. The road is conducted northwards through this new ravine; and again the rocks close in upon it, with steep naked cliffs, among cedars and pines, forming "an intricate defile, which a handful of men might convert into another Thermopylae." When the highest peaks of Taurus are left behind, the road to Tyana is continued in the same northerly direction; (f688) while that to Iconium takes a turn to the left, and passes among wooded slopes with rocky projections, and over ground comparatively level, to the great Lycaonian plain.

The whole journey from Tarsus to Konieh is enough, in modern times, to occupy four laborious days; (f689) and, from the nature of the ground, the time required can never have been much less. The road, however, was doubtless more carefully maintained in the time of St. Paul than at the present day, when it is only needed for Tatar couriers and occasional traders. Antioch and Ephesus had a more systematic civilization then than Aleppo or Smyrna has now; and the governors of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Galatia, were more concerned than a modern Pacha in keeping up the lines of internal communication. (f690) At various parts of the journey from Tarsus to Iconium traces of the old military way are visible, marks of ancient chiselling, substructions, and pavement; stones that have fallen over into the rugged riverbed, and sepulchres hewn out in the cliffs, or erected on the level ground. (f691 ) Some such traces still follow the ancient line of road where it enters the plain of Lycaonia, beyond Cybistra, (f692) near the spot where we conceive the town of Derbe to have been formerly situated. (f693)

As St. Paul emerged from the mountain-passes, and came among the lower heights through which the Taurus recedes to the Lycaonian levels, the heart which had been full of affection and anxiety all through the journey would beat more quickly at the sight of the well-known objects before him. The thought of his disciples would come with new force upon his mind, with a warm thanksgiving that he was at length allowed to revisit them, and to "see how they fared." (f694) The recollection of friends, from whom we have parted with emotion, is often strongly associated with natural scenery, especially when the scenery is remarkable. And here the tender-hearted Apostle was approaching the home of his Lycaonian converts. On his first visit, when he came as a stranger, he had traveled in the opposite direction:(Compare Acts 14, with 2Timothy 3:10, 11.) but the same objects were again before his eyes, the same wide-spreading plain, the same black summit of the Kara-Dagh. In the farther reach of the plain, beyond the "Black Mount," was the city of Iconium; nearer to its base was Lystra; and nearer still to the traveler himself was Derbe, (f695) the last point of his previous journey. Here was his first meeting now with the disciples he had then been enabled to gather. The incidents of such a meeting, — the inquiries after Barnabas, — the welcome given to Silas, — the exhortations, instructions, encouragements, warnings, of St. Paul, — may be left to the imagination of those who have pleasure in picturing to themselves the features of the Apostolic age, when Christianity was new.

This is all we can say of Derbe, for we know no details either of the former or present visit to the place. But when we come to Lystra, we are at once in the midst of all the interest of St. Paul’s public ministry and private relations. Here it was that Paul and Barnabas were regarded as Heathen divinities; (f696) that the Jews, who had first cried "Hosanna" and then crucified the savior, turned the barbarians from homage to insult; (f697) and that the little Church of Christ had been fortified by the assurance that the kingdom of heaven can only be entered through "much tribulation." (f698) Here too it was that the child of Lois and Eunice, taught the Holy Scriptures from his earliest years, had been trained to a religious life, and prepared, through the Providence of God, by the sight of the Apostle’s sufferings, to be his comfort, support, and companion. (f699)

Spring and summer had passed over Lystra since the Apostles had preached there. God had continued to "bless" them, and given them "rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." (f700) But still "the living God, who made the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein," was recognized only by a few. The temple of the Lystrian Jupiter still stood before the gate, and the priest still offered the people sacrifices to the imaginary protector of the city. (f701) Heathenism was invaded, but not yet destroyed. Some votaries had been withdrawn from that polytheistic religion, which wrote and sculptured in stone its dim ideas of "present deities;" (f702) crowding its thoroughfares with statues and altars, (f703) ascribing to the King of the gods the attributes of beneficent protection and the government of atmospheric changes, (f704) and vaguely recognizing Mercury as the dispenser of fruitful seasons and the patron of public happiness. (f705) But many years of difficulty and persecution were yet to elapse before Greeks and Barbarians fully learnt, that the God whom St. Paul preached was a Father everywhere present to His children, and the One Author of every "good and perfect gift."

Lystra, however, contributed one of the principal agents in the accomplishment of this result. We have seen how the seeds of Gospel truth were sown in the heart of Timothy. (f706) The instruction received in childhood, — the sight of St. Paul’s sufferings, — the hearing of his words, — the example of the "unfeigned faith, which first dwelt in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice," (2Timothy 1:5.) — and whatever other influences the Holy Spirit had used for his soul’s good, — had resulted in the full conviction that Jesus was the Messiah. And if we may draw an obvious inference from the various passages of Scripture, which describe the subsequent relation of Paul and Timothy, we may assert that natural qualities of an engaging character were combined with the Christian faith of this young disciple. The Apostle’s heart seems to have been drawn towards him with peculiar tenderness. He singled him out from the other disciples. "Him would Paul have to go forth with him." (f707) This feeling is in harmony with all that we read, in the Acts and the Epistles, of St. Paul’s affectionate and confiding disposition. He had no relative ties which were of service in his apostolic work; his companions were few and changing; and though Silas may well be supposed to have supplied the place of Barnabas, it was no weakness to yearn for the society of one who might become, what Mark had once appeared to be, a son in the Gospel. (f708) Yet how could he consistently take an untried youth on so difficult an enterprise? How could he receive Timothy into "the glorious company of Apostles," when he had rejected Mark? Such questions might be raised, if we were not distinctly told that the highest testimony was given to Timothy’s Christian character, not only at Lystra, but at Iconium also. (Acts 16:2.) We infer from this, that diligent inquiry was made concerning his fitness for the work to which he was willing to devote himself. To omit, at present, all notice of the prophetic intimations which sanctioned the appointment of Timothy, (f709) we have the best proof that he united in himself those outward and inward qualifications which a careful prudence would require.

One other point must be alluded to, which was of the utmost moment at that particular crisis of the Church. The meeting of the Council at Jerusalem had lately taken place. And, though it had been decided that the Gentiles were not to be forced into Judaism on embracing Christianity, and though St. Paul carried with him (Acts 16:4.) the decree, to be delivered "to all the churches," — yet still he was in a delicate and difficult position. The Jewish Christians had naturally a great jealousy on the subject of their ancient divine Law; and in dealing with the two parties the Apostle had need of the utmost caution and discretion. We see, then, that in choosing a fellow-worker for his future labors, there was a peculiar fitness in selecting one "whose mother was a Jewess, while his father was a Greek." (Acts 16:1.)

We may be permitted here to take a short retrospect of the childhood and education of St. Paul’s new associate. The hand of the Apostle himself has drawn for us the picture of his early years. (2Timothy 1:5, 3:15, &c.) That picture represents to us a mother and a grandmother, full of tenderness and faith, piously instructing the young Timothy in the ancient Scriptures, making his memory familiar with that "cloud of witnesses" which encompassed all the history of the chosen people, and training his hopes to expect the Messiah of Israel. (f710) It is not allowed to us to trace the previous history of these godly women of the dispersion. It is highly probable that they may have been connected with those Babylonian Jews whom Antiochus settled in Phrygia three centuries before: (f711) or they may have been conducted into Lycaonia by some of those mercantile and other changes which affected the movements of so many families at the epoch we are writing of; such, for instance, as those which brought the household of the Corinthian Chloe into relations with Ephesus, (1Corinthians 1:11.) and caused the proselyte Lydia to remove from Thyatira to Philippi. (Acts 16:14.) There is one difficulty which, at first sight, seems considerable; viz. the fact that a religious Jewess, like Eunice, should have been married to a Greek. Such a marriage was scarcely in harmony with the stricter spirit of early Judaism, and in Palestine itself it could hardly have taken place. (f712) But among the Jews of the dispersion, and especially in remote districts, where but few of the scattered people were established, the case was rather different. Mixed marriages, under such circumstances, were doubtless very frequent. We are at liberty to suppose that in this case the husband was a proselyte. We hear of no objections raised to the circumcision of Timothy, and we may reasonably conclude that the father was himself inclined to Judaism:(f713) if, indeed, he were not already deceased, and Eunice a widow. This very circumstance, however, of his mixed origin gave to Timothy an intimate connection with both the Jewish and Gentile worlds. Though far removed from the larger colonies of Israelitish families, he was brought up in a thoroughly Jewish atmosphere: his heart was at Jerusalem while his footsteps were in the level fields near Lystra, or on the volcanic crags of the Black Mount: and his mind was stored with the Hebrew or Greek (f714) words of inspired men of old in the midst of the rude idolaters, whose language was "the speech of Lycaonia." And yet he could hardly be called a Jewish boy, for he had not been admitted within the pale of God’s ancient covenant by the rite of circumcision. He was in the same position, with respect to the Jewish Church, as those, with respect to the Christian Church, who, in various ages, and for various reasons, have deferred their baptism to the period of mature life. And "the Jews which were in those quarters," (Acts 16:3.) however much they may have respected him, yet, knowing "that his father was a Greek," and that he himself was uncircumcised, must have considered him all but an "alien from the commonwealth of Israel."

Now, for St. Paul to travel among the Synagogues with a companion in this condition, — and to attempt to convince the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah, when his associate and assistant in the work was an uncircumcised Heathen, — would evidently have been to encumber his progress and embarrass his work. We see in the first aspect of the case a complete explanation of what to many has seemed inconsistent, and what some have ventured to pronounce as culpable, in the conduct of St. Paul. "He took and circumcised Timothy." How could he do otherwise, if he acted with his usual far-sighted caution and deliberation? Had Timothy not been circumcised, a storm would have gathered round the Apostle in his further progress. The Jews, who were ever ready to persecute him from city to city, would have denounced him still more violently in every Synagogue, when they saw in his personal preferences, and in the cooperation he most valued, a visible revolt against the law of his forefathers. To imagine that they could have overlooked the absence of circumcision in Timothy’s case, as a matter of no essential importance, is to suppose they had already become enlightened Christians. Even in the bosom of the Church we have seen (f715) the difficulties which had recently been raised by scrupulousness and bigotry on this very subject. And the difficulties would have been increased tenfold in the untrodden field before St. Paul by proclaiming everywhere on his very arrival that circumcision was abolished. His fixed line of procedure was to act on the cities through the synagogues, and to preach the Gospel first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile. (Acts 13:5, 14, 14:1, 2, 10, 18: 4, 19, 19:8, 9; and compare Romans 1:16, 2:9, 10.) He had no intention of abandoning this method, and we know that he continued it for many years. (See Acts 28.) But such a course would have been impossible had not Timothy been circumcised. He must necessarily have been repelled by that people who endeavored once (as we shall see hereafter) to murder St. Paul, because they imagined he had taken a Greek into the Temple. (Acts 21:29 with 22:22.) The very intercourse of social life would have been hindered, and made almost impossible, by the presence of a half-heathen companion: for, however far the stricter practice may have been relaxed among the Hellenizing Jews of the dispersion, the general principle of exclusiveness everywhere remained, and it was still "an abomination" for the circumcised to eat with the uncircumcised. (f716)

It may be thought, however, that St. Paul’s conduct in circumcising Timothy was inconsistent with the principle and practice he maintained at Jerusalem when he refused to circumcise Titus. (f717) But the two cases were entirely different. Then there was an attempt to enforce circumcision as necessary to salvation: now it was performed as a voluntary act, and simply on prudential grounds. Those who insisted on the ceremony in the case of Titus were Christians, who were endeavoring to burden the Gospel with the yoke of the Law: those for whose sakes Timothy became obedient to one provision of the Law were Jews, whom it was desirable not to provoke, that they might more easily be delivered from bondage. By conceding in the present case, prejudice was conciliated and the Gospel furthered: the results of yielding in the former case would have been disastrous, and perhaps ruinous, to the cause of pure Christianity.

If it be said that even in this case there was danger lest serious results should follow, — that doubt might be thrown on the freedom of the Gospel, and that color might be given to the Judaizing propensity; — it is enough to answer that indifferent actions become right or wrong according to our knowledge of their probable consequences, — and that St. Paul was a better judge of the consequences likely to follow from Timothy’s circumcision than we can possibly be. Are we concerned about the effects likely to have been produced on the mind of Timothy himself? There was no risk, at least, lest he should think that circumcision was necessary to salvation, for he had been publicly recognized as a Christian before he was circumcised; (f718) and the companion, disciple, and minister of St. Paul was in no danger, we should suppose, of becoming a Judaizer. And as for the moral results which might be expected to follow in the minds of the other Lycaonian Christians, — it must be remembered that at this very moment St. Paul was carrying with him and publishing the decree which announced to all Gentiles that they were not to be burdened with a yoke which the Jews had never been able to bear. St. Luke notices this circumstance in the very next verse after the mention of Timothy’s circumcision, as if to call our attention to the contiguity of the two facts. (f719) It would seem, indeed, that the very best arrangements were adopted which a divinely enlightened prudence could suggest. Paul carried with him the letter of the Apostles and elders, that no Gentile Christian might be enslaved to Judaism. He circumcised his minister and companion, that no Jewish Christian might have his prejudices shocked. His language was that which he always used, — "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. The renovation of the heart in Christ is every thing. (f720) Let every man be persuaded in his own mind." (Romans 14:5.) No innocent prejudice was ever treated roughly by St. Paul. To the Jew he became a Jew, to the Gentile a Gentile:"he was all things to all men, if by any means he might save some." (1Corinthians 9:20 22.)

Iconium appears to have been the place where Timothy was circumcised. The opinion of the Christians at Iconium, as well as those at Lystra, had been obtained before the Apostle took him as his companion. These towns were separated only by the distance of a few miles; (f721) and constant communication must have been going on between the residents in the two places, whether Gentile, Jewish, or Christian. Iconium was by far the more populous and important city of the two, — and it was the point of intersection of all the great roads in the neighborhood. (f722) For these reasons we conceive that St. Paul’s stay in Iconium was of greater moment than his visits to the smaller towns, such as Lystra. Whether the ordination of Timothy, as well as his circumcision, took place at this particular place and time, is a point not easy to determine. But this view is at least as probable as any other that can be suggested: and it gives a new and solemn emphasis to this occasion, if we consider it as that to which reference is made in the tender allusions of the pastoral letters, — where St. Paul reminds Timothy of his good confession before "many witnesses," (1Timothy 6:12.) of the "prophecies" which sanctioned his dedication to God’s service, (1Timothy 1:18) and of the "gifts" received by the laying-on of "the hands of the presbyters" ( 1Timothy 4:14.) and the Apostle’s "own hands." (2Timothy 1:6.) Such references to the day of ordination, with all its well-remembered details, not only were full of serious admonition to Timothy, but possess the deepest interest for us. (f723) And this interest becomes still greater if we bear in mind that the "witnesses" who stood by were St. Paul’s own converts, and the very "brethren" who gave testimony to Timothy’s high character at Lystra and Iconium; (Compare Acts 16:2 with Acts 13:51-14:21.) — that the "prophecy" which designated him to his office was the same spiritual gift which had attested the commission of Barnabas and Saul at Antioch, (Compare 1Timothy 1:18 with Acts 13:1- 3.) — and that the College of Presbyters, (1Timothy 4:14. See 2Timothy 1:6.) who, in conjunction with the Apostle, ordained the new minister of the Gospel, consisted of those who had been "ordained in every Church" (Acts 14:23.) at the close of that first journey.

On quitting Iconium St. Paul left the route of his previous expedition; unless indeed he went in the first place to Antioch in Pisidia, — a journey to which city was necessary in order to complete a full visitation of the churches founded on the continent in conjunction with Barnabas. It is certainly most in harmony with our first impressions, to believe that this city was not unvisited. No mention, however, is made of the place, and it is enough to remark that a residence of a few weeks at Iconium as his headquarters would enable the Apostle to see more than once all the Christians at Antioch, Lystra, and Derbe. (f724) It is highly probable that he did so: for the whole aspect of the departure from Iconium, as it is related to us in the Bible, is that of a new missionary enterprise, undertaken after the work of visitation was concluded. St. Paul leaves Iconium, as formerly he left the Syrian Antioch, to evangelize the Heathen in new countries. Silas is his companion in place of Barnabas, and Timothy is with him "for his minister," as Mark was with him then. Many roads were before him. By traveling westwards he would soon cross the frontier of the province of Asia, (f725) and he might descend by the valley of the Maeander to Ephesus, its metropolis:(f726) or the roads to the south (f727) might have conducted him to Perga and Attaleia, and the other cities on the coast of Pamphylia. But neither of these routes was chosen. Guided by the ordinary indications of Providence, or consciously taught by the Spirit of God, he advanced in a northerly direction, through what is called, in the general language of Scripture, "Phrygia and the region of Galatia."

We have seen (f728) that the term "Phrygia" had no political significance in the time of St. Paul. It was merely a geographical expression, denoting a debatable country of doubtful extent, diffused over the frontiers of the provinces of Asia and Galatia, but mainly belonging to the former. We believe that this part of the Apostle’s journey might be described under various forms of expression, according as the narrator might speak politically or popularly. A traveler proceeding from Cologne to Hanover might be described as going through Westphalia or through Prussia. The course of the railroad would be the best indication of his real path. So we imagine that our best guide in conjecturing St. Paul’s path through this part of Asia Minor is obtained by examining the direction of the ancient and modern roads. We have marked his route in our map along the general course of the Roman military way, and the track of Turkish caravans, which leads by Laodicea, Philomelium, and Synnada, — or, to use the existing terms, by Ladik, Ak-Sher, and Eski-Karahissar. This road follows the northern side of that ridge which Strabo describes as separating Philomelium and Antioch in Pisidia, and which, as we have seen, (f729) materially assisted Mr. Arundell in discovering the latter city. If St. Paul revisited Antioch on his way, (f730) — and we cannot be sure that he did not, — he would follow the course of his former journey, (Acts 14.) and then regain the road to Synnada by crossing the ridge to Philomelium. We must again repeat that the path marked down here is conjectural. We have nothing either in St. Luke’s narrative or in St. Paul’s own letters to lead us to any place in Phrygia, as certainly visited by him on this occasion, and as the home of the converts he then made. One city indeed, which is commonly reckoned among the Phrygian cities, has a great place in St. Paul’s biography, and it lay on the line of an important Roman road. (f731) But it was situated far within the province of Asia, and for several reasons we think it highly improbable that he visited Colossae on this journey, if indeed he ever visited it at all. The most probable route is that which lies more to the northwards in the direction of the true Galatia.

The remarks which have been made on Phrygia, must be repeated, with some modification, concerning Galatia. It is true that Galatia was a province: but we can plainly see that the term is used here in its popular sense, — not as denoting the whole territory which was governed by the Galatian propraetor, but rather the primitive region of the tetrarchs and kings, without including those districts of Phrygia or Lycaonia which were now politically united with it. (f732) There is absolutely no city in true Galatia which is mentioned by the Sacred Writers in connection with the first spread of Christianity. Prom the peculiar form of expression (f733) with which the Christians of this part of Asia Minor are addressed by St. Paul in the Epistle which he wrote to them, (Galatians 1:2.) and alluded to in another of his Epistles, ( 1Corinthians 16:1.) — we infer that "the churches of Galatia" were not confined to any one city, but distributed through various parts of the country. If we were to mention two cities, which, both from their intrinsic importance, and from their connection with the leading roads, (f734) are likely to have been visited and revisited by the Apostle, we should be inclined to select Pessinus and Ancyra. The first of these cities retained some importance as the former capital of one of the Galatian tribes, (f735) and its trade was considerable under the early Emperors. Moreover, it had an ancient and wide-spread renown, as the seat of the primitive worship of Cybele, the Great Mother. (f736) Though her oldest and most sacred image (which, like that of Diana at Ephesus, (f737) had "fallen down from heaven") had been removed to Rome , — her worship continued to thrive in Galatia, under the superintendence of her effeminate and fanatical priests or Galli, (f738) and Pessinus was the object of one of Julian’s pilgrimages, when Heathenism was on the decline. (f739) Ancyra was a place of still greater moment: for it was the capital of the province. (f740) The time of its highest eminence was not under the Gaulish but the Roman government. Augustus built there a magnificent temple of marble, (f741) and inscribed there a history of his deeds, almost in the style of an Asiatic sovereign. (f742) This city was the meeting-place of all the great roads in the north of the peninsula. (f743) And, when we add that Jews had been established there from the time of Augustus, (f744) and probably earlier, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the Temple and Inscription at Angora, which successive travelers have described and copied during the last three hundred years, were once seen by the Apostle of the Gentiles.

However this may have been, we have some information from his own pen, concerning his first journey through "the region of Galatia." We know that he was delayed there by sickness, and we know in what spirit the Galatians received him.

St. Paul affectionately reminds the Galatians (Galatians 4:13.) that it was " bodily sickness which caused him to preach the Glad Tidings to them at the first." The allusion is to his first visit: and the obvious inference is, that he was passing through Galatia to some other district (possibly Pontus, (f745) where we know that many Jews were established), when the state of his bodily health arrested his progress. (f746) Thus he became, as it were, the Evangelist of Galatia against his will. But his zeal to discharge the duty that was laid on him did not allow him to be silent. He was instant "in season and out of season." "Woe" was on him if he did not preach the Gospel. The same Providence detained him among the Gauls, which would not allow him to enter Asia or Bithynia:(Acts 16:6, 7.) and in the midst of his weakness he made the Glad Tidings known to all who would listen to him. We cannot say what this sickness was, or with absolute certainty identify it with that "thorn in the flesh" (f747) to which he feelingly alludes in his Epistles, as a discipline which God had laid on him. But the remembrance of what he suffered in Galatia seems so much to color all the phrases in this part of the Epistle, that a deep personal interest is connected with the circumstance. Sickness in a foreign country has a peculiarly depressing effect on a sensitive mind. And though doubtless Timothy watched over the Apostle’s weakness with the most affectionate solicitude, — yet those who have experienced what fever is in a land of strangers will know how to sympathize, even with St. Paul, in this human trial. The climate and the prevailing maladies of Asia Minor may have been modified with the lapse of centuries: and we are without the guidance of St. Luke’s medical language, (f748) which sometimes throws a light on diseases alluded to in Scripture: but two Christian sufferers, in widely different ages of the Church, occur to the memory as we look on the map of Galatia. We could hardly mention any two men more thoroughly imbued with the spirit of St. Paul than John Chrysostom and Henry Martyn. (f749) And when we read how these two saints suffered in their last hours from fatigue, pain, rudeness, and cruelty, among the mountains of Asia Minor which surround the place (f750) where they rest, — we can well enter into the meaning of St. Paul’s expressions of gratitude to those who received him kindly in the hour of his weakness.

The Apostle’s reception among the frank and warm-hearted Gauls was peculiarly kind and disinterested. No Church is reminded by the Apostle so tenderly of the time of their first meeting. (f751) The recollection is used by him to strengthen his reproaches of their mutability, and to enforce the pleading with which he urges them to return to the true Gospel. That Gospel had been received in the first place with the same affection which they extended to the Apostle himself. And the subject, the manner, and the results of his preaching are not obscurely indicated in the Epistle itself. The great topic there, as at Corinth and everywhere, was "the cross of Christ" — "Christ crucified" set forth among them. (Compare Galatians 3:1 with 1Corinthians 1:13, 17, 2:2, &c.) The Divine evidence of the Spirit followed the word, spoken by the mouth of the Apostle, and received by "the hearing of the ear." (f752) Many were converted, both Greeks and Jews, men and women, free men and slaves. (Galatians 3:27, 28.) The worship of false divinities, whether connected with the old superstition at Pessinus, or the Roman idolatry at Ancyra, was forsaken for that of the true and living God. (f753) And before St. Paul left the "region of Galatia" on his onward progress, various Christian communities (f754) were added to those of Cilicia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia.

In following St. Paul on his departure from Galatia, we come to a passage of acknowledged difficulty in the Acts of the Apostles. (f755) Not that the words themselves are obscure. The difficulty relates, not to grammatical construction, but to geographical details. The statement contained in St. Luke’s words is as follows:— After preaching the Gospel in Phrygia and Galatia they were hindered from preaching it in Asia; accordingly, when in Mysia or its neighborhood, they attempted to penetrate into Bithynia; and this also being forbidden by the Divine Spirit, they passed by Mysia, and came down to Troas. Now every thing depends here on the sense we assign to the geographical terms. What is meant by the words "Mysia," "Asia," and "Bithynia"? It will be remembered that all these words had a wider and a more restricted sense. (f756) They might be used popularly and vaguely; or they might be taken in their exacter political meaning. It seems to us that the whole difficulty disappears by understanding them in the former sense, and by believing (what is much the more probable, a priori) that St. Luke wrote in the usual popular language, without any precise reference to the provincial boundaries. We need hardly mention Bithynia; for, whether we speak of it traditionally or politically, it was exclusive both of Asia and Mysia. (f757) In this place it is evident that Mysia is excluded also from Asia, just as Phrygia is above; (Acts 16:6.) not because these two districts were not parts of it in its political character of a province, but because they had a history and a traditional character of their own sufficiently independent to give them a name in popular usage. As regards Asia, it is simply viewed as the western portion of Asia Minor. Its relation to the peninsula has been very well described by saying that it occupied the same relative position which Portugal occupies with regard to Spain. (f758) The comparison would be peculiarly just in the passage before us. For the Mysia of St. Luke is to Asia what Gallicia is to Portugal; and the journey from Galatia and Phrygia to the city of Troas has its European parallel in a journey from Castile to Vigo.

We are evidently destitute of materials for laying down the route of St. Paul and his companions. All that relates to Phrygia and Galatia must be left vague and blank, like an unexplored country in a map (as in fact this region itself is in the maps of Asia Minor), (f759) where we are at liberty to imagine mountains and plains, rivers and cities, but are unable to furnish any proofs. As the path of the Apostle, however, approaches the AEgean, it comes out into comparative light: the names of places are again mentioned, and the country and the coast have been explored and described. The early part of the route then must be left indistinct. Thus much, however, we may venture to say, — that since the Apostle usually turned his steps towards the large towns, where many Jews were established, it is most likely that Ephesus, Smyrna, or Pergamus was the point at which he aimed, when he sought "to preach the Word in Asia." There is nothing else to guide our conjectures, except the boundaries of the provinces and the lines of the principal roads. If he moved from Angora (f760) in the general direction above pointed out, he would cross the river Sangarius near Kiutaya, (f761) which is a great modern thoroughfare, and has been mentioned before (Ch. 6. p. 150) in connection with the route from Adalia to Constantinople; and a little farther to the west, near Aizani, he would be about the place where the boundaries of Asia, Bithynia, and Mysia meet together, and on the water-shed which separates the waters flowing northwards to the Propontis, and those which feed the rivers of the AEgean.

Here then we may imagine the Apostle and his three companions to pause, — uncertain of their future progress, — on the chalk downs which lie between the fountains of the Rhyndacus and those of the Hermus, — in the midst of scenery not very unlike what is familiar to us in England. (f762) The long range of the Mysian Olympus to the north is the boundary of Bithynia. The summits of the Phrygian Dindymus on the south are on the frontier of Galatia and Asia. The Hermus flows through the province of Asia to the islands of the AEgean. The Rhyndacus flows to the Propontis, and separates Mysia from Bithynia. By following the road near the former river they would easily arrive at Smyrna or Pergamus. By descending the valley of the latter and then crossing Olympus, (f763) they would be in the richest and most prosperous part of Bithynia. In which direction shall their footsteps be turned? Some Divine intimation, into the nature of which we do not presume to inquire, told the Apostle that the Gospel was not yet to be preached in the populous cities of Asia. (f764) The time was not yet come for Christ to be made known to the Greeks and Jews of Ephesus, — and for the churches of Sardis, Pergamus, Philadelphia, Smyrna, Thyatira, and Laodicea, to be admitted to their period of privilege and trial, for the warning of future generations. Shall they turn, then, in the direction of Bithynia? (f765) This also is forbidden. St. Paul (so far as we know) never crossed the Mysian Olympus, or entered the cities of Nicaea and Chalcedon, illustrious places in the Christian history of a later age. By revelations, which were anticipative of the fuller and clearer communication at Troas, the destined path of the Apostolic Company was pointed out, through the intermediate country, directly to the West. Leaving the greater part of what was popularly called Mysia to the right, (f766) they came to the shores of the AEgean, about the place where the deep gulf of Adramyttium, over against the island of Lesbos, washes the very base of Mount Ida. (f767)

Map of Aegean Sea, Greece and Asia Minor Region

At Adramyttium, if not before, St. Paul is on the line of a great Roman road. (f768) We recognize the place as one which is mentioned again in the description of the voyage to Rome. (Acts 27:2.) It was a mercantile town, with important relations both with foreign harbors, and the cities of the interior of Asia Minor. (f769) From this point the road follows the northern shore of the gulf, — crossing a succession of the streams which flow from Ida, (f770) — and alternately descending to the pebbly beach and rising among the rocks and evergreen brushwood, — while Lesbos appears and re-appears through the branches of the rich forest-trees, (f771) — till the sea is left behind at the city of Assos. This also is a city of St. Paul. The nineteen miles of road (f772) which lie between it and Troas is the distance which he traveled by land before ha rejoined the ship which had brought him from Philippi (Acts 20:13):and the town across the strait, on the shore of Lesbos, is Mytilene, (f773) whither the vessel proceeded when the Apostle and his companions met on board.

But to return to the present journey. Troas is the name either of a district or a town. As a district it had a history of its own. Though geographically a part of Mysia, and politically a part of the province of Asia, it was yet usually spoken of as distinguished from both. This small region, (f774) extending from Mount Ida to the plain watered by the Simois and Scamander, was the scene of the Trojan war; and it was due to the poetry of Homer that the ancient name of Priam’s kingdom should be retained. This shore has been visited on many memorable occasions by the great men of this world. Xerxes passed this way when he undertook to conquer Greece. Julius Caesar was here after the battle of Pharsalia. But, above all, we associate the spot with a European conqueror of Asia, and an Asiatic conqueror of Europe; with Alexander of Macedon and Paul of Tarsus. For here it was that the enthusiasm of Alexander was kindled at the tomb of Achilles, by the memory of his heroic ancestors; here he girded on their armor; and from this goal he started to overthrow the august dynasties of the East. And now the great Apostle rests in his triumphal progress upon the same poetic shore: here he is armed by heavenly visitants with the weapons of a warfare that is not carnal; and hence he is sent forth to subdue all the powers of the West, and bring the civilization of the world into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Turning now from the district to the city of Troas, we must remember that its full and correct name was Alexandria Troas. Sometimes, as in the New Testament, it is simply called Troas; ( Acts 16:8, 11, 20:5; 2Corinthians 2:12; 2Timothy 4:13.) sometimes, as by Pliny and Strabo, simply Alexandria. It was not, however, one of those cities (amounting in number to nearly twenty) which were built and named by the conqueror of Darius. This Alexandria received its population and its name under the successors of Alexander. It was an instance of that centralization of small scattered towns into one great mercantile city, which was characteristic of the period. Its history was as follows:— Antigonus, who wished to leave a monument of his name on this classical ground, brought together the inhabitants of the neighboring towns to one point on the coast, where he erected a city, and called it Antigonia Troas. Lysimachus, who succeeded to his power on the Dardanelles, increased and adorned the city, but altered its name, calling it, in honor of "the man of Macedonia" (f775) (if we may make this application of a phrase which Holy Writ (See Acts 16:9.) has associated with the place), Alexandria Troas. This name was retained ever afterwards.

When the Romans began their eastern wars, the Greeks of Troas espoused their cause, and were thenceforward regarded with favor at Rome. But this willingness to recompense useful service was combined with other feelings, half poetical, half political, which about this time took possession of the mind of the Romans. They fancied they saw a primeval Rome on the Asiatic shore. The story of AEneas in Virgil, who relates in twelve books how the glory of Troy was transferred to Italy, (f776) — the warning of Horace, who admonishes his fellow-citizens that their greatness was gone if they rebuilt the ancient walls, (f777) — reveal to us the fancies of the past and the future, which were popular at Rome. Alexandria Troas was a recollection of the city of Priam, and a prophecy of the city of Constantine. The Romans regarded it in its best days as a "New Troy:" (f778) and the Turks even now call its ruins "Old Constantinople." (f779) It is said that Julius Caesar, in his dreams of a monarchy which should embrace the East and the West, turned his eyes to this city as his intended capital: and there is no doubt that Constantine, "before he gave a just preference to the situation of Byzantium, had conceived the design of erecting the seat of empire on this celebrated spot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous origin." (f780) Augustus brought the town into close and honorable connection with Rome by making it a colonia, (f781) and assimilated its land to that of Italy by giving it the jus Italicum. (f782) When St. Paul was there, it had not attained its utmost growth as a city of the Romans. The great aqueduct was not yet built, by which Herodes Atticus brought water from the fountains of Ida, and the piers of which are still standing. (f783) The enclosure of the walls, extending above a mile from east to west, and near a mile from north to south, may represent the limits of the city in the age of Claudius. (f784) The ancient harbor, even yet distinctly traceable, and not without a certain desolate beauty, when it is the foreground of a picture with the hills of Imbros and the higher peak of Samothrace in the distance, (f785) is an object of greater interest than the aqueduct and the walls. All further allusions to the topography of the place may be deferred till we describe the Apostle’s subsequent and repeated visits. (Acts 16. , 20; 2 Corinthians 2.; 2 Timothy 4.) At present he is hastening towards Europe. Every thing in this part of our narrative turns our eyes to the West.

When St. Paul’s eyes were turned towards the West, he saw that remarkable view of Samothraoe over Imbros, which has just been mentioned. And what were the thoughts in his mind when he looked towards Europe across the AEgean? Though ignorant of the precise nature of the supernatural intimations which had guided his recent journey, we are led irresistibly to think that he associated his future work with the distant prospect of the Macedonian hills. We are reminded of another journey, when the Prophetic Spirit gave him partial revelations on his departure from Corinth, and on his way to Jerusalem. "After I have been there I must also see Rome (Acts 19:21) — I have no more place in these parts (f786) — I know not what shall befall me, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth that bonds and afflictions abide me." (Acts 20:22, 23.)

Such thoughts, it may be, had been in the Apostle’s mind at Troas, when the sun set beyond Athos and Samothrace, (f787) and the shadows fell on Ida and settled dark on Tenedos and the deep. With the view of the distant land of Macedonia imprinted on his memory, and the thought of Europe’s miserable Heathenism deep in his heart, he was prepared, like Peter at Joppa, (f788) to receive the full meaning of the voice which spoke to him in a dream. In the visions of the night, a form appeared to come and stand by him; (Acts 16:9.) and he recognized in the supernatural visitant "a man of Macedonia," (f789) who came to plead the spiritual wants of his country. It was the voice of the sick inquiring for a physician, — of the ignorant seeking for wisdom, — the voice which ever since has been calling on the Church to extend the Gospel to Heathendom, — "Come over and help us."

Virgil has described an evening (f790) and a sunrise (f791) on this coast, before and after an eventful night. That night was indeed eventful in which St. Paul received his commission to proceed to Macedonia. The commission was promptly executed. (Acts 16:10.) The morning-star appeared over the cliffs of Ida. The sun rose and spread the day over the sea and the islands as far as Athos and Samothrace. The men of Troas awoke to their trade and their labor. Among those who were busy about the shipping in the harbor were the newly-arrived Christian travelers, seeking for a passage to Europe, — Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, — and that new companion, "Luke (f792) the beloved Physician," who, whether by pre-arrangement, or by a providential meeting, or (it may be) even in consequence of the Apostle’s delicate health, (f793) now joined the mission, of which he afterwards wrote the history. God provided a ship for the messengers He had chosen: and (to use the language of a more sacred poetry than that which has made these coasts illustrious) (f794) "He brought the wind out of His treasuries, and by His power He brought in the south wind," (f795) and prospered the voyage of His servants.

Coin of Tarsus. (f796)