this prove? It proves that Luke, who was the writer of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, joined Paul at this place, and henceforward became one of his companions; so that this mis-sionary company now consisted of Paul, who was the leader, of Silas, of Timothy, and Luke.

But while they were at Troas, Paul had a remarkable vision. There appeared to him a man of Macedonia, and urged him to go over to that country and preach the Gospel. This was the method which God took to intimate to St. Paul where he should go. When he told these things to the rest, they agreed that it was the will of God, and they prepared to go.

We are now to accompany this little band of missionaries into an entire new quarter of the globe, hitherto untrodden by the feet of any regular preacher of Jesus Christ. We mean EUROPE. Hitherto all the efforts of the apostles had been made in Asia, and in that particular part of Asia called Asia Minor, to distinguish it from that immense extent of country embraced in the term Asia, which was one of the four great divisions of the earth; bounded by the Frozen ocean on the north, by the Pacific ocean on the east, by

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the Indian ocean on the south; and on the west, south-west, and north-west, by the Red, the Mediterranean, and the Euxine seas. Asia is 4800 miles long, from east to west, and 4300 miles broad, from north to south. Asia Minor is that part of Asia which lies between Mount Taurus on the east, and the Hellespont on the west. It was in this small section comparatively, that as far as the Gentiles were concerned, the missionaries of the cross had hitherto laboured. Now we go with them into EUROPE.

From Troas, they took ship, and sailed in a straight course to Simothracia. This was a small island in the Egean sea, now called Samandraki. It is about twenty miles in circumference, and has very good harbours, which we suppose the reason why the vessel stopped there, as there was no town of any consequence on the island. The only thing remarkable of this island is, that it was the earliest seat in Europe of the ancient Eastern idolatry, and the first place in Europe in which the apostles of Jesus touched. The next day, they sailed to Neapolis, where a church was planted by them.

From Neapolis they went to Philippi, one

of the chief cities of the province of Macedonia, situated near the Egean sea. It received its name from Philip, king of Macedon. It was to the church at this place that the Apostle wrote an epistle. The place of this once distinguished city is occupied by a small village called Filiba. The Apostles were then in what is now called Turkey in Europe, or that portion of Europe which is possessed by the Turks, who came over from Asia and conquered it. Philippi was formerly callad Dathos, but it afterwards took its name from Philip, a famous king of Macedon, father of him who is called Alexander the Great.

It was during their residence in this town, that some circumstances occurred which can. not fail to be interesting. There is a very ininute account of the conversion of an individual, which seems to have been the commencement and foundation of a large and flourishing Church; for it will be remembered, that one of the epistles of St. Paul was addressed to the christians at Philippi. It appears, that on the bank of a small river, very near this city, there was some place which was used as a place of prayer, by whom or for

what special occasions we are not acquainted. From all the circumstance it was most likely to belong to the Jews, as they do not appear then to have had any synagogue in the city. Here, many women were gathered together on the Sabbath-days, and here Paul went to preach the Gospel. Perhaps there were many af fected at the faithful exhibition of the word of God, but we only read of one remarkable instance of conversion, and that was of a woman named Lydia, of the city of Thyatira, who was by trade a seller of purple, and had come all the way from her home, which was a great distance, for the purpose of carrying on her business in this town of Philippi. This purple, which Lydia sold, was either purple silk, which was very much worn by the people in the eastern countries, or else, which is most probable, it was the purple dye, which was an article manufactured from a fish, which the Jews called chalson, and which was very scarce and valuable. This fish was found in the Mediterranean sea, particularly in the neighbourhood of the city of Tyre. The Jews used this purple in dying the borders or fringes of their garments. As this woman was among

those who resorted to the place appointed for prayer, she had the opportunity of hearing Paul; and the history tells us that the Lord opened her heart to a reception of the truth. In token of her conversion, and of her willing. ness to embrace the christian religion, she was baptized, and being, it is supposed, in tolerably good circumstances, she determined to extend her hospitality to the apostles. She was so urgent in her claims, that they appear to have abode in her house during their resi dence in Philippi, except, of course, the time that they were so unjustly put in prison, as we shall soon learn.

There was in the city of Philippi, a young woman, who, according to the scripture account, was possessed of a spirit of divination. It is difficult for us to understand exactly what is meant by this spirit of divination, but by most of the pious and judicious commentators, who have made the Scriptures a subject of much study, it is supposed, that she was actually possessed by some evil spirit. It is very certain that God saw fit to permit such things in the days of our Saviour and his apostles, because many of our Saviour's miracles are