ding forth to later
generations and peoples of whom she knew nothing, as worthy of
eternal remembrance. For those of us who have to serve unnoticed and
unknown, here is an instance and a prophecy which may stimulate and
encourage. 'Surely I will never forget any of their works' is a
gracious promise which the most obscure and humble of us may take to
heart, and sustained by which, we may patiently pursue a way on which
there are 'none to praise and very few to love.' It matters little
whether our work be noticed or recorded by men, so long as we know
that it is written in the Lamb's book of life and that He will one
day proclaim it 'before the Father in heaven and His angels.'

PRISCILLA AND AQUILA

'Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus;
4. (Who have for my life laid down their own necks:
unto whom not only I give thanks, but so all the churches
of the Gentiles:) 5. Likewise greet the church that is
in their house.'--ROMANS xvi. 3-5.

It has struck me that this wedded couple present, even in the scanty
notices that we have of them, some interesting points which may be
worth while gathering together.

Now, to begin with, we are told that Aquila was a Jew. We are not
told whether Priscilla was a Jewess or no. So far as her name is
concerned, she may have been, and very probably was, a Roman, and, if
so, we have in their case a 'mixed marriage' such as was not uncommon
then, and of which Timothy's parents give another example. She is
sometimes called Prisca, which was her proper name, and sometimes
Priscilla, an affectionate diminutive. The two had been living in
Rome, and had been banished under the decree of the Emperor, just as
Jews have been banished from England and from every country in Europe
again and again. They came from Rome to Corinth, and were, perhaps,
intending to go back to Aquila's native place, Pontus, when Paul met
them in the latter city, and changed their whole lives. His
association with them began in a purely commercial partnership. But
as they abode together and worked at their trade, there would be many
earnest talks about the Christ, and these ended in both husband and
wife becoming disciples. The bond thus knit was too close to be
easily severed, and so, when Paul sailed across the AEgean for
Ephesus, his two new friends kept with him, which they would be the
more ready to do, as they had no settled home. They remained with him
during his somewhat len