1 Thessalonians 2:1-20

1. His method of dealing with his converts. "As ye know how we exhorted and comforted, and testified to each one of you as a father doth his children."

(a) He exhorted them, for their position of persecution and temptation demanded that he "should give them much exhortation (Acts 20:2).

(b) He comforted them, m the presence of many disquieting circumstances in their condition.

(c) He testified to them, exhibiting gospel truth with all urgency.

2. The aim of all his affectionate and individualizing interest in their welfare. "That you would walk worthy of God, who calleth you into his kingdom and glory." The duty here enjoined, "Walk worthy of God." This implies

(a) the nature of the call, which is not external, but spiritual;

(b) by the consideration of him who calls us;

(c) by the holy ends of the call;

(d) by the consideration of their high destiny:

for they are called to "his own kingdom and glory." This kingdom is that which is established in the mediation of Christ, into which we enter by the gate of regeneration, and which reaches its full and final development in the second coming of Christ. The glory is that which he impresses upon his people here, and which receives its full manifestation hereafter.—T.C.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 - The Thessalonian reception of the truth.

The apostle had spoken of his own part in the work of grace; he now speaks of the manner in which his converts accepted the truth. "Ye are my witnesses; now I am yours." His immediate ground of thankfulness was that they had received, not man's word, but God's, and that the Word was so thoroughly efficacious. "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received not the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God."

I. THEY APPRECIATED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORD OF MEN AND THE WORD OF GOD.

1. They first heard it no doubt with interest and docility of spirit. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The Word was not read but heard in the preaching of the apostles; it was no discovery of their own mind.

2. They received it as an external fact made known to them by man.

3. They welcomed it with the inner acceptance of faith. It was "mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). It was "the joy and the rejoicing of their heart" (Jeremiah 15:16).

4. Their glad acceptance of it was conditioned upon its Divine origin. It was not man's word, representing a new speculation in philosophy or ethics; it was "the Word of God" (Romans 10:14). It was therefore

II. THEY MANIFESTED THE POWER OF THE TRUTH IN THEIR LIVES. "Which effectually worketh also in you that believe."

1. This effectual operation is conditioned upon their faith. "The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). The gospel is only to the believer "the power of God to salvation" (Romans 1:16).

2. Its power was manifest in quickening, enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting under all afflictions and persecutions.—T.C.

1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 - The evidence of the effectual working of the Divine Word.

They were able to imitate the patience and constancy of the Judaean Churches under great persecutions. These Churches were referred to probably because they were the oldest Churches, and the most severely persecuted.

I. IT IS A HIGH HONOR AS WELL AS PRIVILEGE FOR CHURCHES TO BE SELECTED AS PATTERNS OF PATIENCE TO OTHER CHURCHES. "For ye, brethren, became followers of the Churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus." We are first to be imitators of Christ, then of all who follow in his steps, who keep on "looking to Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2). There were many Churches in Judaea, for Christianity was founded by Jews; its first converts were Jews; its first martyrs were Jews; and the Churches among them rejoiced in the fellowship of Christ, as the Source of their life and comfort.

II. THE PATH OF THE THESSALONIANS WAS ONE OF SEVERE TRIAL AND CONTINUOUS PERSECUTION. "For ye also have suffered like things from your own countrymen, even as they from the Jews."

1. They had received the Word "in much affliction." (1 Thessalonians 1:6.) The first outbreak of violence against them occurred after their conversion (Acts 17:5). They belonged to one of those Churches of Macedonia of which the apostle long afterwards wrote to the Corinthians as "enduring a great trial of affliction." It came from their heathen countrymen.

2. Their trials attested the genuineness of their conversion. The heathen would have had no quarrel with a dead faith. The Thessalonians did not "sleep as did others." They discovered by sharp experience that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

3. Their trials involved the precious experience of a "fellowship in Christ's sufferings." (Philippians 3:10.)

4. Their trials manifested at once the strength of their faith and their Christian constancy.

III. IT WAS SOME COMFORT TO THE THESSALONIANS TO KNOW THAT THEY WERE NOT THE ONLY SUFFERERS FROM THE FURY OF PERSECUTORS. "Even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and drave us out." This terrible invective against the Jews illustrates the saying that the apostle often "goes off at a word." It recalls the language of Stephen before his murderers (Acts 7:52). The malignity of the Jews against their believing countrymen was extreme.

1. The Jews were murderers of Jesus and the prophets. Though the Savior was executed by the Romans, the responsibility of the terrible deed rests on the Jews, who "fur envy" delivered him up, and "killed the Prince of life." They likewise killed their own prophets, whose very sepulchers they afterwards built and garnished. What wonder, then, that the Thessalonian converts should escape!

2. The Jews, though zealous for God, did not please him. "They pleased not God," but rather provoked him to anger by their unbelief and their wickedness.

3. They were at cross-purposes with all mankind. They were "contrary to all men." They were anti-social, exclusive, and bitter, so that the heathen Tacitus could describe them as "holding an attitude of hostility and hatred to the human race." But it was specially manifest in their resistance to the calling of the Gentiles—"forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. The Acts of the Apostles supply abundant evidence of this fact.

4. The end to which all this wickedness toward God and man was tending. "To fill up their sins at all times."

1 Thessalonians 2:17, 1 Thessalonians 2:18 - The apostle's anxiety to visit the Thessalonians.

His departure had been very sudden, but he had never ceased to regret his separation from them.

I. HIS GRIEF AT THE SEVERANCE OF PERSONAL INTERCOURSE WITH THEM. "But we, brethren, being bereaved of you for a short season in presence, not in heart." The term is expressive of the orphan-feeling felt by children deprived of their parents, or of parents bereaved of their children. He seems to say like Jacob, "If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

1. His grief was a proof of his deep affection for them. Grace intensifies all right human affections.

2. Absence, instead of weakening, rather strengthened his desire to see them again face to face. Neither time nor distance could diminish his interest in them.

II. THE SEPARATION WAS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO REVISIT THEM. "We endeavored the more exceedingly to see your face with great desire." The difficulties were great, but he tried once and again to get back to Thessalonica, probably in the period when Silas and Timothy were temporarily gone from him.

III. THE OBSTACLES TO HIS RETURN. "But Satan hindered us."

1. The apostle believed in the existence of a personal evil spirit as well as in his steadfast resistance to the kingdom of God in all its interests. He was "not ignorant of Satan's devices."

2. The obstacles may have arisen through Satan inciting evil men to raise conflicts and tribulations round the apostle, so as to allow of no leisure for the projected visit.

IV. THE GROUND OF HIS ANXIETY TO REVISIT THEM. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye before our Lord Jesus at his coming?" He did not desire to have his labor in vain.

1. They were closely identified with his own future honor and happiness, by the hope that they would not be "ashamed at Christ's coming," but would be "his joy and crown of rejoicing." He would then "rejoice in the day of Christ that he had not run in vain, neither labored in vain" (Philippians 2:15, Philippians 2:16). Therefore he longed to be near to them that "he might impart to them some spiritual gift," and watch over the walk of his spiritual children.

2. It's wish implies

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 - The characteristics of St. Paul's preaching at Thessalonica.

I. APPEAL TO THE RECOLLECTION OF THE THESSALONIANS.

1. His first appearance among them had not been in vain. Others had borne witness to its results. That testimony was true; the Thessalonians knew it themselves. The apostle appeals to them in all the confidence of Christian simplicity. Perfectly sincere and single-hearted himself, he knew that as a body they had appreciated the purity of his motives. They could bear testimony (he knew that they would gladly do so) that his preaching from the beginning had not been empty talk, but full of energy and life and fire. It is a blessed thing, this mutual confidence between a pastor and his flock.

2. His previous sufferings had not abated his zeal He had been cruelly treated at Philippi; he bore the marks of the lictors' rods when he entered Thessalonica. It did not damp his ardor. His Lord had endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before him. For the same joy, the great joy of saving souls, St. Paul was content to suffer, and, if need be, to die. Troubles soon came upon him in Thessalonica. He preached amid much conflict, but he was full of courage.

3. His courage was of God. We were bold in our God. It was he who gave them boldness, he who taught them what to speak; they felt that it was not they, but the Spirit of God who spoke in them. They abode in him, in his encompassing, irradiating presence, within the sphere of his gracious influence; hence came their utterance, their boldness of speech.

4. For their gospel (our gospel, he calls it in 1 Thessalonians 1:5) was the gospel of God. They were the messengers, but he had given the message. It was his glad tidings; it came from him, and it brought tidings of him, of his will, of his justice, of his love; it told men of a Creator, a Savior, a Sanctifier. It was a high mission to preach that blessed gospel; the sense of its unspeakable preciousness inspired their burning words.

II. WHAT THEIR PREACHING WAS NOT. The Jews had tried to poison the minds of the Thessalonians against the apostle; they imputed low, earthly motives to him. St. Paul repudiates their insinuations.

1. There was no mixture of selfish motive. Their preaching was not of error or of deceit. They were not deceived themselves, they did not deceive others. They did not belong to the crowd of wandering impostors like Simon Magus, or Elymas the sorcerer. They knew certainly the truth of their mission. St. Paul had seen the Lord; what he delivered to the Thessalonians he had first received of the Lord. He knew this from the sure evidence of experience. His own truthfulness was manifest; the mighty change that had come over his life, the greatness of his sacrifices proved it. There was no uncleanness (as, perhaps, some of his enemies maliciously suggested), no impurity of any kind, attaching to his exhortation or his conduct. None who knew him could charge him with such things. But a life of self-sacrifice for the sake of souls was unexampled. He was the first missionary who had traversed Asia Minor, and now came to Europe for that lofty purpose. The mass of men, whether Jews or heathens, could not understand his noble character; it was high above them. They judged him by themselves. They were incapable of such self-denial for the sake of others; they could not believe in it; they had- no faith in love, in purity, in high religious motive. Such a life, too, if real, if genuine, was a rebuke to them. It angered them. They could not bear to think of its contrast with their own life; it was like light and darkness. And so they believed, or forced themselves to believe, that it was not genuine. A true life like St. Paul's seemed to them above human nature—impossible, inexplicable. And they said that it was not true; they attributed his actions to vulgar motives, to low selfish designs.

2. There was no covetousness. His life was not one of pretences, fair words serving to conceal the covetousness which (so said his enemies) was his real motive. But his treasure was in heaven. He had suffered the loss of all things for Christ. He had in him a hidden treasure, a pearl of great price, for which he was content to count all else as loss. He could not covet earthly gold who had the true riches. But he had to endure this among other slanders. It was said of him at Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:17; 2 Corinthians 7:2). He was obliged to take with him delegates of the Churches to assist him in the administration of alms, that he might avoid blame (2 Corinthians 8:20, 2 Corinthians 8:21). What a sad proof of the meanness of human nature that such a motive should be attributed to such a man!

3. There was no desire of glory. They did not seek to please men, but God. They knew that God tried the hearts, and, knowing that, they sought only to approve their inner and outer life to him. We labor, said St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5:9), it is our ambition to be well pleasing unto him. God had proved them; he had entrusted them with the gospel.

It was a high privilege. St. Paul counted it so; he magnified his office. He sought for nothing else. The great work of winning souls was, he well knew, of all works the highest and the noblest. God was proving their hearts now. He, the Searcher of hearts, knew their work through and through. He knew the inner Ere of thought and motive, as well as the outer life of word and action. They fully recognized this great truth. They knew that their motives were pure and unselfish. God knew it too. It was all they wanted. They sought not praise of men. They had no pleasure in flattery; they did not flatter others. That the Thessalonians knew. God knew the purity of their motives. "God is witness," they could say. How blessed that life must be which could thus appeal to his all-seeing eye! They were apostles of Christ; St. Paul in the highest sense, Silvanus and Timotheus in the more extended meaning of the word. St. Paul may, indeed, be using the plural number of himself only; more probably in this place he includes his companions. They might have claimed honor for themselves; they might have made men feel the weight of their apostolic dignity. But they sought not glory from men. They had overcome that temptation which is so strong in most men, the "last infirmity of noble minds," the desire of earthly glory.

III. WHAT THEIR PREACHING WAS.

1. They were gentle. There is very strong manuscript evidence for nh&pioi, babes. If that is the true reading, St. Paul means that their character was one of childlike simplicity, free from selfish motives; they were babes in malice, but men in understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20). But "gentle" suits the context better. "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men." St. Paul adduces the most touching type of human tenderness—the nursing mother cherishing her own children, warming them in her bosom. Such had been his gentleness among his children after the faith. He had sought to win them by gentle words. He had told them of the gentleness of Christ. He had set before them the attractive picture of the Savior's tender love. Gentleness wins more hearts than sternness. The apostle knew the terrors of the Lord. He could remind his converts of the awful things beyond the grave. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." But he knew that love is a more powerful motive than fear. "Perfect love casteth out fear." The cross of Jesus Christ draweth all men to the Savior, because it is the manifestation of that love that passeth knowledge—the love of Jesus Christ.

2. They u, ere actuated by the strong love of souls. The Thessalonians had become very dear to them. They had not known them long, but they recognized them as sheep of that little flock which the Lord Jesus bids those who love him to feed for his love's sake. Thus loving them, they were affectionately desirous of their salvation. They were ready to give them not only the blessed gospel, but their own selves, their own lives, in humble imitation of the good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. They had exposed themselves to the greatest dangers for the work's sake; for that work they were ready, if need be, to die. The love of souls is the essential requisite for real success in the sacred work of the ministry. Other qualifications may win the praise of men; but the true work of winning souls can be wrought only by those who have learned from the blessed Savior something of that holy love which burned in the sacred heart of Jesus.

3. They were absolutely disinterested. They would not be burdensome to their new converts. The Philippian Church had twice sent help to the apostle during his residence at Thessalonica (Philippians 4:16). That help he had accepted; it was unasked, freely given. He welcomed it for the sake of the givers, as an evidence of their love. But the gifts, though very precious as a proof of Christian charity, were probably small in themselves; the Philippian Church was very poor. It seems also to have been a season of scarcity; times were bad. The missionaries had to labor for their livelihood. St. Paul's craft, weaving tent-cloth of goats' hair, was hard, wearisome, ill-paid work. He had to labor night and day. Yet he achieved those great results. He had but the sabbath to himself. Three sabbath days he spent in reasoning with the Jews, and preaching Jesus in the synagogue at Thessalonica; other days he had to work, to work hard and long, for his daily bread. The Greeks despised manual labor; they called it vulgar; they left such work to slaves. The apostle teaches by his own example the dignity of honest labor, the dignity of true Christian independence. Probably the Thessalonians could have helped him. "Not a few of the chief' women" had become Christians. They must, one thinks, have been willing. St. Paul must have had reasons for declining their aid, as he afterwards declined the aid of the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10). How these thoughts increase our admiration of the great apostle! Amid all these difficulties, all these cares, all this engrossing labor, he preached with power, with perseverance, with success such as only an ardent love of souls, only the presence of God the Holy Ghost, could give.

4. They set a high example. The Thessalonians saw their outward life; God could read the secrets of their hearts. That life was pure and holy towards God, just and righteous in its relations to men. The Christians of Thessalonica knew that they were blameless. Others might, perhaps, be busy with their insinuations; unbelievers might suggest this or that unworthy motive. The Christians had learned to know St. Paul and his companions. They knew the sincerity, the purity of their lives. Nay, St. Paul could fearlessly appeal to a higher Witness—to the all-seeing God. Example is a mighty aid in preaching the gospel. Deeds are more persuasive than words. A holy life is an evidence of the reality of those spiritual facts which the preacher describes in words.

5. They taught their converts individually. They were not contented with preaching in the synagogues every sabbath day; they taught from house to house. The converts were many, we read in the Acts of the Apostles. Chrysostom wonders at their zeal in omitting no one in so great a multitude. They sought out each, caring for each separate soul, sharing the angels' joy over one sinner that repenteth. They tried all means of winning souls. They exhorted, stirring the souls of men with burning words, suggesting nobler views of human life and destiny; they comforted, encouraging the afflicted, the despondent, the penitent, by the glad tidings of pardon, peace, and hope; they testified, urging their converts by every constraining motive to persevere in the Christian life. And all this they did with such earnestness, with such affectionate interest, with such love as a father shows towards his own children. A bright example of the pastor's work.

6. The purport of their exhortation. God was calling them; they must walk worthily of that high calling. He was calling them into his kingdom now, into the kingdom which Christ had come to found—his Church. They had become children of the kingdom. He was calling them higher yet, to his glory, to the beatific vision, that the Savior's prayer might be fulfilled, "I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." Their walk in life must show the reality of their hope. Walk implies movement, change of place and scene. As they move hither and thither in the course of their daily lives, in their business, in their amusements, they must ever think of that high calling, and live according to their hopes. Their religion was not to be confined to the sabbath, to the synagogue, to the hours spent on their knees in private prayer; they must carry it everywhere with them; it must guide, stimulate, comfort, encourage in all the varying circumstances of daily life. Their life must be worthy of their calling. They must show its influence; they must adorn the doctrine of God their Savior in all things.

LESSONS.

1. Study the lives of St. Paul and other holy men.

2. Let not that study end in admiration; act upon it.

3. In such lives is seen the manifest workings of the grace of God.

4. The sight of such lives confirms the faith of the wavering, kindles the desire of the lukewarm.

5. True Christians are the light of the world; they must let their light shine before men.

6. But not for their own glory; they must seek only the glory of God.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 - The effects of the gospel.

I. ITS RECEPTION BY THE THESSALONIANS.

1. They believed that it came from God. Paul and Silas and Timotheus brought the message; the Thessalonians recognized it as the message of God. They felt that it came from him.

2. They showed their faith by their works. The infant European Churches imitated the oldest Churches, those of Judaea. All alike belonged to God; all were in Christ Jesus, living branches in the true Vine. The new converts sought to live like the first Christians. "Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." They imitated them in active holiness, and they imitated them in patient endurance.

II. THE OPPOSITION OF THE WORLD.

1. The Gentile opposition. It first appeared in Macedonia. In Philippi the evangelists were for the first time brought before Gentile magistrates. The politarchs of Thessalonica had more sense of justice than the so-called praetors of Philippi. They contented themselves with taking security from the Christians who were brought before them. But the converts were exposed to great persecution in both places from the first. In his letters to both Churches, St. Paul again and again mentions their sufferings. In writing to the Corinthians he speaks of the "great trial of affliction" which beset the Macedonian Christians. The Thessalonians had to suffer much at the hands of their own countrymen. But they had been taught that those who would live a godly life must suffer persecution, and so they thought it not strange. It had been so from the beginning of Christianity. They looked to the example of the earliest Churches.

2. The Jewish opposition. The Jews had slain the prophets; they had slain the Lord Jesus; they had chased the apostle from city to city. They were St. Paul's own countrymen. He loved them dearly. He could find no words strong enough to express his intense longing for their salvation (see Romans 9:1-3). But they were constantly thwarting his work—that work of saving souls on which his whole heart was set. They were doing so now at Corinth, opposing themselves and blaspheming (Acts 18:6). St. Paul could not restrain his feelings of holy indignation. They call themselves (he says) the peculiar people of God; but they please him not. He willeth that all men should be saved, and they are contrary to all men. In that hatred of the human race which heathen writers attribute to them, they tried to hinder the apostle from preaching to the Gentiles. Nothing angered them more than the proclamation of a free salvation offered to Jew and Gentile alike (see Acts 22:21, Acts 22:22). This wicked jealousy filled up the measure of their sins. Their sin was its own punishment. That hardened heart was the beginning of the judgment that was coming.

Learn:

1. To reverence the Gospel as the Word of God.

2. To look for its inner working in the heart.

3. To imitate the saints of God in patient endurance.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 - St. Paul's love for his converts.

I. HIS LONGING DESIRE TO SEE THEM.

1. His efforts to return to Thessalonica. He had not been long away. He was at Corinth now. Perhaps the jealousies, the dissensions, the sin which encompassed him there made him long all the more for the simple faith and love of his Macedonian friends. He was with them even now in heart, thinking of them in the hour of prayer, remembering them in his thankgivings. But there was a feeling of bereavement, almost of desolation, when he thought of their absence. So very dear they had become to him during the short time which he spent at Thessalonica. We feel, as we read these words, the depth of St. Paul's affection; we feel the power of Christian love.

2. What hindered him from coming. It was Satan, Satan the adversary—that awful being whose presence in God's world is so great a mystery, but whose personality is so clearly taught in Holy Scripture, whose power and malice we have all so often felt. Twice the apostle purposed to revisit Thessalonica; twice the hindrance came. The visit would have given him great comfort. Satan envied him that comfort, that sweet communion with his Christian friends. Satan hinders us, we may be sure. He tries to rob us of the consolations of religion, of the sweetness of Christian sympathy. His agency is more widespread than we think. He is the accuser of the brethren, their adversary in the religious life. But God sitteth on high. He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. He will make all things, even the temptations of the evil one, work together for our good if we abide in his love.

II. HIS EXPRESSIONS OF AFFECTION.

1. They are his glory and his joy. They are so now. He had few joys in this world, few earthly comforts. His life was spent in hard labor amid dangers and privations. It was relieved by very few pleasures. The natural beauty, the historical associations of the places which he visited in his travels, seem to have given him no enjoyment. His one joy was to save souls; his one pleasure was the loving sympathy of his converts. He sought no earthly glory; fame was nothing to him. The souls won to Christ by his preaching were his glory.

2. They would be his crown at the last. Not they only, others saved by his preaching at Damascus, at Antioch, in Cyprus, in Asia Minor, were his hope and joy; but none were more tenderly loved than the Christians of Macedonia, none are addressed with more endearing words. He. ever looked forward to the coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; the great day was always in his thoughts. What joy would it be to present these happy souls to Christ, as a chaste virgin to the heavenly bridegroom! This was his hope; this would be his crown—the crown of glory that fadeth not away, which the chief Shepherd shall give in that day to those faithful presbyters who have fed the flock of God willingly and of a ready mind, being themselves ensamples to the flock.

LESSONS.

1. True Christians will delight in the society of those like-minded with themselves.

2. We must remember the restless energy of Satan. We must trust in God. He is stronger than the strong man armed.

3. We must pray for grace to love the saints of God as St. Paul loved them.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 - The manner of the preachers; or, self-portraiture.

I. WHAT THE THESSALONIANS HAD FOUND THEIR PREACHING TO BE.

1. Not void of power. "For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it hath not been found vain." "For" goes back to the first of the two divisions given at the close of the previous chapter. This is indicated by the recurrence of the leading Greek word translated "entering in." It was said, "For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you." There is an advance to a further point. Not only did the people in the various places report, but they themselves had the evidences in their possession. The evidences are regarded as extending down to the time of the Thessalonian letter being received. Taken hold of at that moment, and addressed as brethren, they are asked this question, "What has the entering in of us preachers been found to be?" And, having had ample time to estimate the entering in, they are confidently expected to give this testimony, "It hath not been found vain." The epithet "vain" might mean empty of result; but that thought falls under the second division, which is taken up at 1 Thessalonians 2:13. It must, therefore, mean empty of all that it ought causally to contain—empty of purpose, and earnestness, in a word, of evangelical power.

2. Characterized by fortitude. "But having suffered before, and been shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict." This is so far confirmed by the Acts of the Apostles, where the narrative of the entering in to Thessalonica is immediately preceded by the narrative of the rough treatment received at Philippi. The feature of the suffering before referred to here is there presented as imprisonment. It was imprisonment with aggravated circumstances. Paul and Silas were dragged into the market-place before the magistrates, by whose orders they were beaten with rods. After many stripes had been laid on them they were cast into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks. This was shameful treatment, not because they were there in Philippi on an errand of mercy, which heathen magistrates could not appreciate, but because their rights were not respected. It was an irregularity to lay stripes on them at all as Roman citizens. It was a further irregularity to punish so hastily in obedience to clamor, and without an opportunity of defense being granted. All this was known to the Thessalonians. So far the statement here supplements the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. We read, further, that Timothy accompanied Paul from Lystra, and again that he was left behind at Beraea, but there is nothing said of him in the interval. We learn from this notice that he was co-operating with Paul and Silas both in Philippi and in Thessalonica, although, we may understand, not so prominent an object of attack as the others, who were his seniors both in age and in service. The three were not intimidated by this treatment in Philippi. On the contrary, proceeding to Thessalonica, they waxed bold in their God to speak unto the Thessalonians the gospel of God. It was the gospel of God, inasmuch as it came as a glad message from God. They looked to God as their God, who had commissioned them to deliver his message. As commissioned by God to deliver his message, they did not flee, like Jonah, through fear, but they emboldened themselves in their God, that he would give them his protection and support. It did not fare with them in Thessalonica differently from what it did in Philippi. Their message brought them into conflict with the powers of unbelief. It was a conflict of a formidable nature. But the fact that they were able to stand forth and speak the gospel of God in the face of strong opposition was evidence of the very highest value that their entering in to Thessalonica was not vain.

II. THEIR GENERAL HABIT AS PREACHERS.

1. They were not like the idolatrous priests.

2. They realized their responsibility. "But even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God which proveth our hearts." There are two ideas in a trust. The first is acting for another. He who makes over the trust does not act himself by reason of death, or by reason of infirmity, or by reason of absence (as in the analogy that is made use of in Luke 19:12). The trustee—he to whom the trust is made over—acts in his name and for his interest. The second idea is acting apart by one's self. The trustee may have directions to guide him, and ample resources to draw upon in the management of the trust. But otherwise he acts independently. He is left there alone with the trust; in responsibility it is his and not another's if it is managed well; it is his and not another's if it is mismanaged.

III. THEIR HABIT TOWARD THE THESSALONIANS.

1. Denial of selfishness.