It may be said, indeed, that "the kingdom came not with observation" into Europe. To the silence, modesty, and unostentatiousness of its first steps, nothing seems wanting. The notoriety came, again, not from the studied purpose of its heralds, who did their bidding in so pacific a manner, but from the vain attempt to crush them. Let us notice in some detail what we know from the present passage of Christianity's very first rooting of itself in Europe. Observe -

I. THE OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS EMBRACED BY THE APOSTLE. 'We must judge that there was little or no choice open to him. We are glad even to take up the position that this, too, was of God. It may be worded, therefore, in this way, that the opportunity Paul used was that which Providence offered. With how many is it the case that opportunity is the very thing which is slighted, unheeded, altogether ignored! The opportunities that life offers, that our existing position offers, that God therein offers, are those that we despise, oh-earning of others, which for that very reason, if for no other, may well be withheld! Let us honor, then, the God who sent and the servant who faithfully used this opportunity, by looking at it somewhat minutely.

1. Landed in Europe, some" certain days" seem to have counted for little at Philippi; the only record of them this: "We were in that city abiding certain days?

2. The sabbath day comes, and there is no fine building into which to enter to preach; there is no respectable synagogue - Judaea is far away now; there is no excited and eager crowd as at Antioch to be harangued, with all the skill of the inspired logician and the Heaven-born orator and the faithful gospel preacher. Dull will the hours of this sabbath pass compared with those of many other of late years fresh in the recollection of Paul.

3. The day is nevertheless to be made use of and to be turned to account. And Paul and his companions resolve to join the humble prayer-meeting of a party of women, outside the city and by the river-side. The occasion is unique, pretty nearly as much so as could be. It must be taken from the tenor of the narrative that there were few, if any, men there. But Paul and his companions neither seem to view themselves nor to be viewed as intrusive. And they sat down and in a most informal manner "spake to the women." It were the essence of preaching sometimes rather to speak; and to speak to a few, and to speak appropriately to them and pointedly and unassumingly and kindly. This was the day, and this was the place, and these were the persons, and this was the manner of Paul and his friends, which made up the opportunity that looked so humble.

II. THE FROST SHOW OF RESULTS. There is one woman among the little group who is to become the first known Christian convert in Europe. And she came from Asia. By all appearance she was a proselyte, and knew and worshipped one God, according to her light and scanty opportunity, among a mere disunited remnant of Jewesses, if it were so indeed. And she was presumably a woman who did a good business, and had a 'house,' to the hospitality of which she could pressingly invite the new-comers, and invite them to stay there, too, days together (vers. 15, 18, 40).

1. Lydia is a woman not altogether shut off from light and knowledge.

2. She is a woman who owns to her own conscience and does "worship God."

3. She is one of no bigoted conservative prejudice, and she "listens" patiently, respectfully, to what the strangers said.

4. For all that, her heart was as yet sealed, shut. There may be some light, some knowledge, some movement and life of conscience in a Person, and yet the heart itself be shut to the pure truth of God and of the soul.

(1) Sin may keep shut the heart.

(2) The pride of nature may obstruct it.

(3) Stolid habit may fearfully close it.

(4) The simple "love of the world" may effectually exclude all better, higher things from the heart. And something of this kind was the state of Lydia. Nature had closed her heart, or nature had not availed to open it, and at this time it was in some material sense shut. And the one first result of this occasion was now seen. "The Lord," with his omnipotent power and with his facile grace, "opened the heart of Lydia " - opened it so that "she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul." It is evident that the change that took place within, under the touch of the Lord, led her to attend with ear, with mind, with heart, and with life. For "she and her household" are baptized speedily.

III. A FURTHER GLIMPSE OF RESULTS.

1. A generous heart is unlocked. More than one prophet's chamber is found, and more than a meal or a day's entertainment.

2. A very graceful way of showing generosity is exampled. Lydia does not proffer hospitality in any patronizing tone. She begs to be allowed to render it; and rests her urgency on Paul's faith in her sincerity.

3. Lydia becomes installed in that place as one who may be "counted faithful "to give an asylum for the persecuted, and a home to the released prisoners (ver. 40).

4. A strangely significant type is given of that elevation of women which Europe should ere long be destined to witness, and which has been just due to one presence - the presence of Christianity. Since the time of Lydia, what influences for good in the Church of Christ, what very Saviors and leaders of the Church, humanly speaking, have women been, whose "hearts the Lord has opened"! Thus the gospel began its course in Europe, thus for "many days" silently, thus condescendingly. And as the Master himself seldom more significantly marked the character of his own condescendingness than in condescending to do the apparently little, to heal only one out of a multitude, to "choose" only a "few," to fill for a long time but a small space in the eye of the world, so has his true Church and its humbler history rejoiced to share his lot; and when it has done so, has then most testified its own approximation in likeness to him. - B.

I. Although from the earliest days infant baptism has been practised, THERE ARE SOME WHO DENY ITS SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY.

1. At first sight their position seems to be a strong one, when they say, "Where is there any command for it?" In reply to this it is only necessary to say that Christians consider many things as most important for the support of which no such authority can be claimed. Where is it written, "Thus saith the Lord, Christians must observe the day of the Saviour's resurrection"? or, "Thus saith the Lord, Women must receive the Communion"? or, "Thus saith the Lord, Christian people must have family prayer, and establish Sunday Schools, and support missionary societies"?

2. It is also urged that no one ought to be baptized who does not believe, and that as infants are incapable of believing, so also they are improper subjects of baptism (Mark 16:16). The unfairness of such a conclusion may be shown in various ways.(1) Take the apostle's injunction, "If any will not work, neither shall he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Does St. Paul mean to extend this to infants, or the sick or the aged? Plainly not. He is only speaking of those who are capable of working. And so, too, our Saviour's language in regard to the subjects of baptism should be applied to none but those who can exercise faith, and who enjoy the privilege of being taught their duty. The ease of infants is in no way connected with these passages.(2) Again, if this verse proves that infants ought not to be baptized, it proves also that they cannot be saved. I need hardly say that the plain and undoubted sense of the passage repels so monstrous a conclusion. Our Lord was announcing that the door of entrance to His kingdom was now thrown open to all who chose to come in; and He sets forth belief and baptism as two distinct conditions of salvation. Adults, who are capable of belief, are expected to bring this qualification; but it is not looked for in infants, who cannot exercise faith. Baptism is a solemn form of adoption into God's family — the Church. So much for the popular objections against the practice of infant baptism.

II. LET US SEE, NOW, WHAT CAN BE SAID FOR IT.

1. We claim that it is right and proper to baptize infants, because they are naturally included in the broad commission which our blessed Lord gave to His apostles (Matthew 28:19). Suppose the proper authorities in this country should issue a command that a census be made: who would be included in it? Would it merely embrace the adults, or would it give an account of the number of children also? And so, when our Saviour sends forth His servants to bring all nations into covenant with their Creator and Redeemer, the most natural construction of the commission makes it include both old and young. To expect that in promulgating His covenant He would make mention of infancy or adult years would be an absurdity. The physical and the personal has nothing at all to do with the spiritual covenant.

2. That our Lord regards with favour the bringing of little children into covenant with Him is seen from the fact that He showed such kindness towards them during His sojourn upon earth (Matthew 19:13; Luke 18:15; Mark 10:13-16). The phrase, "Kingdom of God," means the Church. And does not every word in the passage just quoted go to prove that our Saviour regarded little children as fit subjects for His kingdom? , who wrote during the apostolic age, remarks: "All infants are valued by the Lord, and esteemed first of all."

3. We are obliged to believe that children are entitled to the privilege of holy baptism, because they are distinctly included in the promises (Acts 2:38, 39). The Jews who heard these words of St. Peter's had always been accustomed to have their children enjoy the privileges of Church membership; and if it had been his purpose to tell them that this rule must now be changed, this was a very curious way of doing it! And slow progress Christianity would have made had it closed its doors more completely than Judaism had done!

4. The apostles baptized whole households. Not long after the baptism of Lydia's household, that of the jailor was baptized (vers. 31, 32). Here is an item from St. Paul's own journal — "I baptized the household of Stephanas" (1 Corinthians 1:16). The Syriac version of the New Testament, which was completed early in the second century, renders the verse concerning Lydia and her household as the baptism of Lydia and her children. And so, too, in the case of the jailor and his household, and the household of Stephanas.

5. Even those most opposed to infant baptism agree that when these little innocents die they are fit to be received into heaven. And if fit for the Church triumphant, why not for the Church militant?

6. Note the resemblance which infant baptism bears to circumcision. By this rite, children, when eight days old, all unconscious of what was done for them, were brought into covenant with God. When, in the course of Divine Providence, the seal of circumcision was changed to that of baptism, the Christian sacrament sanctioned all that the Jewish rite would have secured, had it continued to be observed. The conclusion follows, therefore, most naturally, that as children were made members of God's Church under the old dispensation, they are entitled to the same privilege under the new.

7. We enter our protest against those who oppose infant baptism, and we insist that it is a practice in accordance with God's will, because it is nowhere forbidden. Does the Word of God command that children shall be shut out from His kingdom? And when we remember that nineteen-twentieths of the Christian world practise infant baptism, is it likely that the one-twentieth can be right?

8. It was practised in the Church from the days of the apostles, for a period of nearly fifteen hundred years, without a dissenting voice. The only question in regard to infant baptism which ever arose in the early ages of Christianity was whether, as baptism had taken the place of circumcision, it should be put off to the eighth day.

(J. N. Norton, D. D.)

The gospel fulfils its noblest mission in hallowing the general relations of family life. On the first introduction of Christianity to Europe, whole families are gathered into the fold. Lydia and her household, the jailer and all belonging to him, are baptized into Christ. Henceforth the worship of households plays an important part in the Divine economy of the Church. As in primeval days the patriarch was the recognised priest of his clan, so in the Christian Church the father of the house is the Divinely appointed centre of religious life to his own family. The family religion is the true starting point, the surest foundation, of the religion of cities, nations, and empires. The Church in the house of Philemon grows into the Church of Colossae (Philemon 1:2); the Church in the house of Nymphas becomes the Church of Laodicea (Colossians 4:15); the Church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla loses itself in the Churches of Ephesus and Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:5).

(Bp. Lightfoot.)

We have here the first example of that Christian hospitality which was so emphatically enjoined and so lovingly practised in the apostolic Church (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Timothy 5:10). The frequent mention of the "hosts" who gave shelter to the apostles (Romans 16:23, etc.) reminds us that they led a life of hardship and poverty, and were the followers of Him for whom there was "no room in the inn." The Lord had said to His apostles that when they entered into a city, they were to seek out "those who were worthy," and with them to abide. The search at Philippi was not difficult. Lydia invited them, and admitted of no refusal, and their "peace was on that house." Thus the gospel obtained a home in Europe.

(Dean Howson.)

Lydia, Paul, Silas, Timotheus, TimothyAsia, Bithynia, Derbe, Galatia, Iconium, Jerusalem, Lystra, Macedonia, Mysia, Neapolis, Philippi, Phrygia, Samothrace, Thyatira, TroasAbide, Baptised, Baptism, Baptized, Begged, Believer, Besought, Consider, Constrained, Entered, Faithful, Family, Guests, Home, Household, Invited, Judged, Judgement, Persuaded, Prevailed, Request, Saying, Seems, Stay, Urged1. Paul and Silas are Joined by Timothy,
7. and being called by the Spirit from one country to another,
14. convert Lydia,
16. and cast out a spirit of divination;
19. for which cause they are whipped and imprisoned.
25. The prison doors are opened.
31. The jailor is converted,
35. and they are delivered.

Acts 16:15

     2224   Christ, the Lord
     5340   house
     5355   invitations
     5478   property, houses
     7105   believers
     7404   ordinances
     7751   persuasion
     8447   hospitality, examples
     8811   riches, attitudes to

Acts 16:13-15

     2426   gospel, responses

Acts 16:13-21

     5745   women

Acts 16:14-15

     5016   heart, fallen and redeemed
     6629   conversion, examples

Paul at Philippi
'And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate, by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which were come together.' --ACTS xvi. 13 (R.V.). This is the first record of the preaching of the Gospel in Europe, and probably the first instance of it. The fact that the vision of the man of Macedonia was needed in order to draw the Apostle across the straits into Macedonia, and the great length at which the incidents at Philippi are …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

How to Secure a Prosperous Voyage
'And after [Paul] had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. 11. Therefore ... we came with a straight course.'--ACTS xvi. 10, 11. This book of the Acts is careful to point out how each fresh step in the extension of the Church's work was directed and commanded by Jesus Christ Himself. Thus Philip was sent by specific injunction to 'join himself' to the chariot of the Ethiopian statesman. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Riot at Philippi
'And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21. And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23. And when they had laid many …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Great Question and the Plain Answer
'He brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.'--ACTS xvi. 30, 31. The keeper of a Macedonian jail was not likely to be a very nervous or susceptible person. And so the extraordinary state of agitation and panic into which this rough jailer was cast needs some kind of explanation. There had been, as you will all remember, an earthquake of a strange kind, for it not only opened the prison doors, but shook …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Household Salvation
To allure and encourage you to long for family religion, I have selected this text this morning. God grant it may answer the purpose designed. May many here have a spiritual hunger and thirst, that they may receive the blessing which so largely rested upon the Philippian jailer. Note in our text five things. We have a whole household hearing the word, a whole household believing it, a whole household baptized, a whole household working for God, and then, a whole household rejoicing. I. Observe, first, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Lydia, the First European Convert
WE MAY LAUDABLY EXERCISE CURIOSITY with regard to the first proclamation of the gospel in our own quarter of the globe. We are happy that history so accurately tells us, by the pen of Luke, when first the gospel was preached in Europe, and by whom, and who was the first convert brought by that preaching to the Savior's feet. I half envy Lydia that she should be the leader of the European band; yet I feel right glad that a woman led the van, and that her household followed so closely in the rear. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Cry of the Heathen
And now, beloved, having thus prefaced our discourse, we have another observation to make before we proceed to a full discussion of the text. What an instance of Divine sovereignty we have in our text! He who is wise can see sovereignty everywhere in the work of salvation, but how clearly is it present here. Bithynia must not hear the gospel; the apostle desires to go and preach it there; but as yet, it seems, God does not intend that Bithynia should be evangelised. He desires to tarry in Asia, and …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Heavenly Father
ACTS xvi. 24-28. God that made the world, and all that therein is, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands . . . For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. I told you last Sunday of the meaning of the days of the week; but one day I left out--namely, Tuesday. I did so on purpose. I wish to speak of that day by itself in this sermon. I told you how our forefathers worshipped …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Note
THERE is a passage in an old writer which throws so much light on some points mentioned in this paper, that I make no excuse for giving it to the reader in its entirety. It comes from a work which is little known and less read. It has done me good, and I think it may do good to others. "When a man is awakened, and brought to that, that all must be brought to, or to worse,' What shall I do to be saved!' (Acts 16:30-31), we have the apostolic answer to it: ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

Saving Faith.
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.--ACTS xvi. 30,31. This is one of the most abused texts in the Bible, and one which, perhaps, has been made to do quite as much work for the devil as for God. Let every saint present, ask in faith for the light of the Holy Ghost, while we try rightly to apply it. Let us enquire:-- 1. Who are to believe? 2. When are they to believe? 3. How are …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

Directions to Sinners.
Text--What shall I do to be saved.--Acts xvi. 30. THESE are the words of the jailor at Philippi, the question which he put to Paul and Silas, who were then under his care as prisoners. Satan had, in many ways, opposed these servants of God in their work of preaching the Gospel, and had been as often defeated and disgraced. But here, at Philippi, he devised a new and peculiar project for frustrating their labors. There was a certain woman at Philippi, who was possessed with a spirit of divination, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

Measures to Promote Revivals.
Text.--These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.--Acts xvi. 20, 21. "THESE men," here spoken of, were Paul and Silas, who went to Philippi to preach the Gospel, and very much disturbed the people of that city, because they supposed the preaching would interfere with their worldly gains. And so they arranged the preachers of the Gospel before the magistrates of the city, as culprits, and charged …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Missionary on the Sea Shore.
"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us."--Acts 16:9. "Wei schaumt so feierlich zu unsern Fuessen." [65]F. de la Motte Fouque. transl., Jane Borthwick, 1858 Dark mighty Ocean, rolling to our feet! In thy low murmur many voices meet, The sound of distant lands brought strangely near To Fancy's ear. From shores unknown comes the sweet Sabbath bell, New languages the old glad tidings tell, We hear the …
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

Chrysostom Evades Election to a Bishopric, and Writes his Work on the Priesthood.
About this time several bishoprics were vacant in Syria, and frequent depositions took place with the changing fortunes of orthodoxy and Arianism, and the interference of the court. The attention of the clergy and the people turned to Chrysostom and his friend Basil as suitable candidates for the episcopal office, although they had not the canonical age of thirty. Chrysostom shrunk from the responsibilities and avoided an election by a pious fraud. He apparently assented to an agreement with Basil …
St. Chrysostom—On the Priesthood

The Christian's Peace and the Christian's Consistency
PHILIPPIANS i. 21-30 He will be spared to them--Spiritual wealth of the paragraph--Adolphe Monod's exposition--Charles Simeon's testimony--The equilibrium and its secret--The intermediate bliss--He longs for their full consistency--The "gift" of suffering Ver. 21. +For to me, to live is Christ+; the consciousness and experiences of living, in the body, are so full of Christ, my supreme Interest, that CHRIST sums them all up; +and to die+, the act of dying,[1] +is gain+, for it will usher me in …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

The Martyrs of Lyons and vienne (Ad 177)
Many other martyrs suffered in various parts of the empire under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Among the most famous of these are the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, in the south of France (or Gaul, as it was then called), where a company of missionaries from Asia Minor had settled with a bishop named Pothinus at their head. The persecution at Lyons and Vienne was begun by the mob of those towns, who insulted the Christians in the streets, broke into their houses, and committed other such outrages against …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

Scotland and Ireland
The only thing which seems to be settled as to the religious history of Scotland in these times, is that a bishop named Ninian preached among the Southern Picts between the years 412 and 432, and established a see at Whithorn, in Galloway. But in the Year of St. Ninian's death, a far more famous missionary, St. Patrick, who is called "the Apostle of Ireland," began his labours in that island. It is a question whether Patrick was born in Scotland, at a place called Kirkpatrick, near the river Clyde, …
J. C. Roberston—Sketches of Church History, from AD 33 to the Reformation

Whether Since Christ's Passion the Legal Ceremonies Can be Observed Without Committing Mortal Sin?
Objection 1: It would seem that since Christ's Passion the legal ceremonies can be observed without committing mortal sin. For we must not believe that the apostles committed mortal sin after receiving the Holy Ghost: since by His fulness they were "endued with power from on high" (Lk. 24:49). But the apostles observed the legal ceremonies after the coming of the Holy Ghost: for it is stated (Acts 16:3) that Paul circumcised Timothy: and (Acts 21:26) that Paul, at the advice of James, "took the men, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Pædobaptism. Its Accordance with the Institution of Christ, and the Nature of the Sign.
1. Pædobaptism. The consideration of the question necessary and useful. Pædobaptism of divine origin. 2. This demonstrated from a consideration of the promises. These explain the nature and validity of Pædobaptism. 3. Promises annexed to the symbol of water cannot be better seen than in the institution of circumcision. 4. The promise and thing figured in circumcision and baptism one and the same. The only difference in the external ceremony. 5. Hence the baptism of the children …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Children Devoted to God. Gen. 17:7,10; Acts 16:14,15,33.
Children devoted to God. Gen. 17:7,10; Acts 16:14,15,33. [For those who practise infant Baptism.] Thus saith the mercy of the Lord, "I'll be a God to thee; I'll bless thy num'rous race, and they Shall be a seed for me." Abram believed the promised grace, And gave his sons to God; But water seals the blessing now, That once was sealed with blood. Thus Lydia sanctified her house, When she received the word; Thus the believing jailer gave His household to the Lord. Thus later saints, eternal King! …
Isaac Watts—The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts

Acts 17:16-17. Athens.
[9] "Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him." --Acts 17:16-17. PERHAPS the reader of this paper lives in a town or city, and sees more of bricks and mortar than of green fields. Perhaps you have some relative or friend living in a town, about whom you naturally feel a deep interest. …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

Conversion, Its Nature and Necessity.
Closely related to the doctrine of the power, or efficacy, of the divine Word--as considered in the last chapter--is the doctrine of conversion. It is the subject of conversion, therefore, that we now purpose to examine. It is an important subject. It deserves a prominent place in treating of the Way of Salvation. It is also an intensely personal subject. Each one who desires to be in the Way of Salvation is personally interested in it. The eternal destiny of every one who reads these pages is closely …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

The Law Established through Faith
Discourse I "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: Yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:31. 1. St. Paul, having the beginning of this Epistle laid down his general proposition, namely, that "the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;" -- the powerful means, whereby God makes every believer a partaker of present and eternal salvation; -- goes on to show, that there is no other way under heaven whereby men can be saved. He speaks particularly …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

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