ACTS xiii. 11. And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.

And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about, seeking some to lead him by the hand.

12. Then the governor, when he saw what was thus miraculously done, instantly believed, being indeed astonished at the evidence of truth thus given to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this conversion of Sergius Paulus, we see the first fruits of the heathen, converted from the Gentile state to faith in the gospel without the intervention of his being first a proselyte to the law: he had been till now an idolatrous Gentile.

Cornelius, on the other hand, A. ix. 1, 2., was a proselyte in the first instance, and the earliest proselyte that became a convert to the gospel, excepting only the eunuch from Ethiopia, A. viii. 27.

Thus we see (and both, in the persons of Romans, a centurion, and a governor,) the two classes of gradation observed in dispensing the blessings of the gospel; when, A. xi. 18. "God to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life." Cornelius was a proselyte, Sergius Paulus was an unproselyted heathen, when they were respectively converted.

had

A. xiii. 13. Now when Paul and his company set sail from Paphos in that island, they landed on the coast of Pamphylia and proceeded to Perga; and there John-Mark departing from them, returned to Jerusalem, to his maternal home, (xii. 12.) having apparently not.

counted the cost of so distant and, it might be, so dangerous a journey, as this now seemed likely to prove.

ACTS xiii. 14. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down in the place set apart for strangers.

15. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

16. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, (i.e. devout Gentiles, or proselytes,) give audience.

17. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.

18. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.

19. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.

20. And after that he gave to them judges, about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

21. And afterwards they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

22. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king: to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

23. Of this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

ACTS xiii. 24. When John had first preached, before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he: but, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fear God, (i. e. all ye devout Gentiles, now present,) to you is the word of this salvation sent.

27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

28. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

30. But God raised him from the dead:

31. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

32. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

33. God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

35. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

ACTs xiii. 36. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption :

37. But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

40. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

41. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

42. And as they were going out of the synagogue (see NOTE), they (several of those present) besought the apostles, that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

43. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas :

those names are now for the first time placed in that order

who, speaking to them, persuaded them to hold fast the gracious offer of salvation which God had thus made.

44. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

45. But when the Jews (the great body of them) saw the multitudes thus assembled, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should in this

C

city first have been spoken to you, and so it hath been : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. -now meaning not proselytes only, but others generally, even idolatrous Gentiles in that lay the great boldness now shown by the two apostles.

And here, at Antioch in Pisidia, let us contemplate, after the individual case of Sergius Paulus, xiii. 12., the first great harvest of the conversion of the heathens, without the intervening stage of their having been proselytes previously.

ACTS xiii. 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

49. And the word of the Lord was published, generally now, throughout all that region.

50. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the devout women, especially those of rank amongst them (see NOTE), and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

51. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

52. And the disciples whom they left in Antioch (of Pisidia) were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost thus not only receiving present confirmation in the faith, but being endowed also with spiritual gifts for their support and farther illumination in it.