ntioch the decree
of the Council at Jerusalem, and it was probably about this time that St.
Peter paid to Antioch the visit of which we read in the Epistle to the
Galatians[16], when his fear of "them which were of the circumcision,"
led him to shrink from continuing to eat and drink with the Gentiles, and
drew down St. Paul's stern rebuke. [Sidenote: Separation of St. Paul and
St. Barnabas.] The difference of opinion about St. Mark soon after
separated the two Apostles, whose labours amongst the heathen had been
till now carried on together, and St. Paul began his missionary travels
without an Apostolic companion[17]. He went first through Syria and his
native country Cilicia, {37} "confirming" the baptized, and then to the
scene of his first contact with actual heathendom at Derbe and Lystra.
St. Paul's course of conduct with regard to the circumcision of St.
Timothy, a native of Lystra, shows us clearly how fully his mind had
grasped all the bearings of the question between Jews and Gentiles[18].
[Sidenote: St. Paul's indifference to circumcision in itself.]
Circumcision and uncircumcision were alike matters of indifference to
him, in no way affecting salvation, excepting so far as they might tend
to the edification of others. He did not blame those converted Jews who
still thought it needful to observe the Mosaic law, but he resisted to
the uttermost all attempts to make that law binding on the Gentiles, and
would not sanction any thing which might seem to imply that the
Life-giving ordinances of the Gospel were not sufficient for every need.
St. Timothy, uncircumcised, would have obtained no hearing from Jews for
the Gospel he preached, and therefore he was circumcised as a measure of
Christian expediency.

[Sidenote: St. Paul crosses over to Europe. St. Luke joins him.]

After founding Churches in the semi-barbarous regions of Phrygia and
Galatia, St. Paul was led by the express direction of the Holy Spirit to
an altogether new field of labour, and it is here, just on the eve of St.
Paul's departure from Asia for the continent of Europe, that St. Luke
joins the Apostolic company. [Sidenote: Jewish influences give way to
Greece and Rome.] The Church was now spreading far westward and coming
into closer contact with the philosophy of Greece and the power of Rome,
whilst Jewish influences shrank into insignificance. There was no
synagogue in the large and important Roman colony of Philippi, {38} and
only women