DIVINE guidance is very marked in bringing Paul and his co-travellers to Philippi. The Holy Spirit forbade them to speak the word in Asia, and he suffered them not to go into Bithynia, but a vision in the night called them on to Macedonia. Immediately therefore they endeavoured to reach the European shore. The reapers were divinely conducted to the ripe field. Supernatural guidance brought the teachers to the home of the Thyatiran purple-seller.

Philippi was "a noted city of Macedonia, situated in a plain on the banks of a deep and rapid stream called Gangistes, now Angista. The old name of the city was Krenides, and sometimes Datus. Philip, king of Macedon, having taken it from the Thracians, made it a frontier fortress and gave it his own name. ... The famous battle of Philippi, between Antony and Octavius and Brutus and Cassius, was fought B.C. 42. Augustus made Philippi a Roman colony in honour of his victory."

"A Roman colony was very different from anything which we usually intend by the term. It was no mere mercantile factory, such as those which the Phoenicians established in Spain, or on those very shores of Macedonia with which we are now engaged; or such as modern nations have founded in the Hudson's Bay territory or on the coast of India. Still less was it like those incoherent aggregates of human beings which we have thrown, without care or system, on distant islands and continents. It did not even go forth, as a young Greek republic left its parent state, carrying with it, indeed, the respect of a daughter for a mother, but entering upon a new and independent existence. The Roman colonies were primarily intended as military safeguards of the frontiers, and as checks upon insurgent provincials. Like the military roads, they were part of the great system of fortification by which the Empire was made safe. They served also as convenient possessions for rewarding veterans who had served in the wars, and for establishing freedmen and other Italians whom it was desirable to remove to a distance. The colonists went out with all the pride of Roman citizens, to represent and reproduce the city in the midst of an alien population. They proceeded to their destination like an army with its standards, and the limits of the new city were marked out by the plough. Their names were still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. Every traveller who passed through a colonia saw there the insignia of Rome. He heard the Latin language, and was amenable, in the strictest sense, to the Roman law." The colonists "were entirely free from any intrusion by the governor of the province. Their affairs were regulated by their own magistrates. These officers were named Duumviri; and they took a pride in calling themselves by the Roman title of Pr'tors. The primary settlers in the colony were, as we have seen, real Italians; but a state of things seems to have taken place, in many instances, very similar to what happened in the early history of Rome itself. A number of the native provincials grew up in the same city with the governing body; and thus two (or sometimes three) co-ordinate communities were formed, which ultimately coalesced into one, like the Patricians and Plebians. Instances of this state of things might be given from Corinth and Carthage, and from the colonies of Spain and Gaul; and we have no reason to suppose that Philippi was different from the rest."

Arriving in this colonia, frontier city, or probably chief city, Paul and his companions waited until the Sabbath day.

by the river side was the place and the occasion of their first evangelistic work in Europe. The heralds of the cross were not heralded by any war blast nor announced by blazing placards. The apostle of the Gentiles had no flourish of trumpets nor engaging of a public hall. In humble fashion, in a Jewish prayer meeting, they commenced the spread of the gospel.

was the first convert. The historian speaks of her as "a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira." Coming from Thyatira, which was noted for the trade of dyeing, this merchant of purple was more of an Asiatic than a European. The gospel of Christ was thus first received by a foreigner, who had probably come to Europe to carry on her business.

But she was a worshipper of God. In this she resembled several whose steps we have already traced from darkness to light - from uncertainty until they obtained the knowledge of forgiveness. The eunuch, Cornelius, and those in Antioch who were determined to have eternal life were all worshippers. Lydia was already looking Godward. She was worshipping.

And she heard. Hearing is a preliminary to everything in a Christian life. Knowledge of God - His character and will - follows hearing. Faith comes by hearing. To act acceptably to God we must learn what He has revealed. The Saviour summoned men to hear: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." The members of the churches in Asia were invited to "hear what the spirit saith unto the churches" (Rev. 2:7,11,17,29, etc.). Lydia therefore was well employed when she was listening to God's messengers. It was while she was thus employed that the Lord opened her heart.

occupies a prominent place in Scripture. It is the seat of affection, attachment, love. The Lord should be loved with all the heart, as well as with all the soul, and mind, and strength (Mark 12:30-33). Approved love must be from a pure heart, as well as from a good conscience, and unfeigned faith (1 Tim. 1:5). Honesty and goodness have their abode in the heart (Luke 8:15). Purity and impurity grow there: the pure in heart shall see God (Matt. 5:8); and out of the heart all kings of wickedness proceed (Matt. 15:18-20). Trouble and sorrow rankle there (John 14:1; 16:6); and joy takes deep root in the same soil (John 16:22).

Mental qualities are attributed to the heart, such as understanding, reasoning, thinking. The Jews were afraid to use their eyes and ears, lest they should understand with their heart (Matt. 13:15). Some unsympathising scribes reasoned in their hearts that Jesus was speaking blasphemies (Mark 2:6-8). In Matt. 9:4 the same process is denominated thinking in their hearts. A thing is said to be settled or purposed in the heart (Luke 21:14; Acts 11:23). The heart condemns or acquits (1 John 3:20). The heart has its desires (Acts 7:23), counsels (1 Cor. 4:5), intents (Heb. 4:12), and imaginations (Luke 1:51). Melody (Eph. 5:19), belief and doubt (Rom. 10:9; Mark 11:23); stupidity and hardness (Matt. 13:15; Mark 3:5), and blindness (Eph. 4:18), are associated with the heart. The heart is darkened, foolish (Rom. 1:21), hardened (Mark 6:52), impenitent (Rom. 2:5), sprinkled or cleansed (Heb. 10:22), and purified (Acts 15:8-9).

The law was written in the heart (Rom. 2:15: Heb. 10:16). God shone in the hearts of the apostles (2 Cor. 4:6), and put earnest care for others in the heart of Titus (2 Cor. 8:16); but Satan filled the heart of Ananias with a lie, and yet Ananias himself conceived the evil in his heart (Acts 5:3-4).

The heart, as the centre of man's being, is represented as the source and storehouse of all his qualities, and the originator and director of all his actions. Everything is closely connected with it. It is even said to be filled with food and gladness (Acts 14:17). It is, therefore, not to be wondered at, that the Lord's action upon the heart comes into view in connection with conversion. In this one instance, it is said that

1. Lydia "attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." 'To attend' may mean one of two things.

a) It may mean to practise. In 1 Tim. 3:8 the same word is translated "given to," and in Heb. 7:13 it is "gave attendance at." The deacons were not to be given to much wine - they were not to practise much drinking of wine; and the tribe of Judah provided no one to give attendance at the altar - to do service there. So far, therefore, as the word translated "attended" is concerned, Luke's statement respecting Lydia may mean that she practised what Paul taught.

b) The word, however, may not have been designed to convey more than that Lydia gave heed to what Paul said; she was an attentive listener. Acts 8:6,10,11 contain examples of the word meaning to give heed. The Samaritans "gave heed" unto what Philip spoke. Before that, they "gave heed" and "had regard" to Simon. The same word is employed by Luke to describe the attitude of the Samaritans toward Simon and Philip as is employed to describe Lydia's attitude toward Paul. Lydia was interested in Paul's speaking and gave attention to what he said. This I judge to be the thought of the passage; Lydia was an interested, attentive hearer.

2. Lydia was baptised. Her baptism is related as a matter of course; "and when she was baptised," etc. Baptism was so invariably practised by those who became followers of Christ that the baptism of Lydia is not so much named by Luke as an item of news as it is incidentally mentioned in connection with what follows. "When she was baptised, and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide."

3. Lydia was hospitable. Her house was opened as well as her heart. Her means were shared with those through whose instrumentality she had her heart opened. She "constrained" them to share the comforts of her home. One's Christianity is not worth much, if it does not open his purse to help on the cause he has espoused.

One statement is all that is made respecting Lydia's household; her household was baptised. Whether there were many or few in the house, whether they were male or female, and whether they were old or young, we are not informed. Our ignorance of the inmates, not only of Lydia's house, but of other New Testament households, has been supplemented by the most baseless assumptions, as will become apparent by the following

1. Was Lydia married when Paul and Silas visited Philippi?

2. Was Lydia ever married?

3. Had Lydia any children?

4. Was there any one in Lydia's household under twelve years of age?

5. Was the Philippian jailor married when Paul and Silas visited Philippi?

6. Was he ever married?

7. Was he the father of any children?

8. Was there any one in his household under twenty years of age?

9. Was there any one under twenty years of age in the household of Cornelius, or among his kinsmen and friends who had assembled in his house, when Peter visited Cesarea?

10. Was there any one too young, in any of the instances of household baptism mentioned in the New Testament, to understand the teaching given?

11. Was there any one too young to become a believer in Christ?

The answer given to most of these questions, and to a few more of the same kind, by a Primitive Methodist minister, a champion of infant sprinkling, with whom the writer was discussing the subject of baptism, was, "I do not know, sir." And yet that gentleman had been arguing, as a great many more do, from the New Testament households, that infant baptism is Scriptural. People do not know that there were either infants or married people in these households, and yet they will drag them in to bolster up infant sprinkling. The climax of absurdity, or the depth of contemptibility, was reached by my Primitive Methodist opponent, respecting the household of Stephanas, as shown in his answers to the following questions:-

Do you know any other household in the New Testament? - Yes, sir.

Which? - The household of Stephanas.

Do you know that the household of Stephanas was addicted to the ministry of the saints? - Yes, sir.

Can infants minister to the necessity of saints? - Yes, sir.

In what way? - They minister to the comfort of their mothers.

It is quite certain that these answers do not minister anything to the defence of baby sprinkling; and it is equally certain that, when given, they did not minister to the comfort, but to the misery, of some who until then believed in infant sprinkling, but who since then have abandoned the defenceless practice, and have been immersed as the Lord commanded.

It is hopeless to try to shelter baby sprinkling under the roofs of New Testament households. Baptism as taught by Christ and His apostles was the baptism of repentant believers. To say that certain persons were baptised, therefore, naturally implied that these persons were believers, and that they had repented of their sins, and abandoned them. Young persons may so act; infants cannot.