promising of men. again failed any of his friends, never again judged them harshly. Ever afterwards he trusted to the uttermost those he loved, appealed to all that was noble within them, committed unto them the weightiest responsibilities, inspired and encouraged them to meet and conquer weakness and temptations within, difficulties and terrors without.

Certain it is that Paul never

And more definitely and explicitly, Paul owed to Mark public co-operation in his missionary work at Rome; also the most intimate personal sympathy, comfort, and ministrations while he languished in a prison cell; and, we may believe, his presence and consolations in his dying hour. Beautiful and tender beyond words were the last relations of these two men. What personal magnetism and genius for friendship had Paul to call forth such devotion on the part of one whom he once so cruelly, though not vindictively, had wounded. What forgiveness and forgetfulness on the part of Mark. What a heart of gold had he. What nobility to call forth such love from the great Apostle, what nobility to accept the other's generous restoration of himself to the secret place and inner circle of his mighty, throbbing love for his friends.

I would not contrast such friends. I would not compare them. To do so would be to do both an injury and an injustice. The years purged each of all dross and only love was left.

Nero is already sharpening the axe to smite down

"such a one as Paul the aged." Only Luke is with him. The desolate old man would see once more before he suffers, the faces of his best loved friends. He hurls a message across the seas to his "son" Timothy-"Do thy diligence to come shortly unto take Mark and bring him with thee"

me

-so wrote the broken warrior in his last message, in his dying hour. Surely by those words Mark was compensated for all he had ever suffered. The curtain drops, the lights go out, and all is still.

CHAPTER IV

Silas-The Man St. Paul First Trained in Missionary Work

The story of Silas's career is based upon the following passages-Acts chapters 15, 16, 17, and 18; 2nd Cor. 1:19, 1st Thes. 1:1, 2nd Thes. 1:1, and 1st Peter 5:12.

W

HEN Paul had his rupture with Barnabas over the question of taking Mark with them on a visitation of the churches they had founded on their first missionary journey, we read "Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches."

This trip, originally planned as a mere visitation of churches already existent, was lengthened out by the guidance of the Spirit until Paul traversed all Asia Minor and entered upon the conquest of Macedonia and Achaia, and is known to history as Paul's "Second Missionary Journey." It has proved to be one of the most momentous journeys in the history of the world,-greater than his third for that was largely a going over of the same ground, greater

than the first for that covered a relatively small territory. How great this second journey was to be even Paul did not dream in advance.-in fact, he never had any adequate conception of its significance, one could not have had in the age in which it took place. But some things Paul must have known; he must have known it would be momentous and hazardous. And hence the fact that of all men he deliberately chose Silas for his heart's closest companion and constant coworker in such an enterprise and field of peril, is in itself a sufficient certificate of character for Silas and a sufficient eulogy of his merits, even were this the only time his name were mentioned in the New Testament.

By this choice on the part of Paul, Silas, in the providence of God, was lifted to the front rank of the world's missionaries and heralds of the Cross. It is not surely known that Silas had had any previous experience or training in missionary labors. Paul's experience with Barnabas was that of a subordinate at first, and Mark also was under Barnabas's leadership, not Paul's, so neither of those friends can claim the unique place occupied by Silas. But though the latter was the first to be trained by Paul, he was not the last. A score of other young men were to enjoy the same arduous privilege in the next few years, and thus be made ready to take up the old warrior's fallen mantle when he should cast it aside, and so perpetuate his life work and mission.

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What Is Known About Silas Up to the Time Paul Chose Him for His Travelling Companion

Of his early years and conversion we know absolutely nothing. Tradition declares that he was one of the Seventy sent out by our Lord during his earthly ministry; but there is no authority in the New Testament for this assertion, though it may be true.

Silas's name first occurs in Acts 15: 22-"Then pleased it the Apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren." The Jerusalem Council had just come to a unanimous decision with reference to the rules which were to be binding on the Gentile converts. The decision was to be formulated in writing and entrusted to Paul and Barnabas to deliver to the various churches of Syria and Cilicia. Also verbal messages and greetings were to be sent from the mother church, and so it seemed best to send along with Paul and Barnabas members of the Council from Jerusalem to make assurance doubly sure. The men who would have been likely to be chosen for such an important commission, especially in view of the fact that there were oral as well as written instructions to be delivered, would naturally have been those who commanded the full confidence of the strictest Jewish Christians of Jerusalem. Like