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ACTS xiii. 2. As they ministered to the Lord in fasting and prayer, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the extraordinary work of preaching the gospel among the Gentiles, to which I have expressly called them.

3. And when on a solemn day appointed for the purpose they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on the two apostles, they after that special ordination sent them away on their great errand.

4. So they, Barnabas and Saul, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed from Antioch.

Outline of the First Progress.

The places to which they travelled, with the principal events, may be traced in the following sketch or summary.

A. xiii. From Antioch to Seleucia; thence to the isle of Cyprus, v. 4., where at Salamis they preach, v. 5. at Paphos they meet with Elymas the sorcerer : Sergius Paulus, the governor, v. 7., is converted, and Saul now takes the name of Paul, v. 9.

From Paphos, to Perga in Pamphylia, v. 13., where John-Mark leaves them from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia, v. 14., where Paul preaches in the synagogue, vv. 16...41.; the effects of it on the proselytes and the Gentiles, and on the Jews, to v. 50.

They next go to Iconium, v. 51., and are driven away, xiv. 5., by persecution of the Jews.

They now first visit Lystra, xiv. 6., where Paul healeth the cripple; its extraordinary consequences, to

v. 18.

From Lystra, driven away by Jews (of Antioch and Iconium), who stoned Paul apparently to death, they

go next to Derbe, unmolested there, v. 21., in preaching the word.

Thence return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, to confirm the disciples, ordain elders, &c., to v. 23.

Through Pisidia into Pamphylia, to Perga and then to Attalia; from thence finally to Antioch in Syria, the Gentile metropolis, close of ch. xiv.

ACTS xiii. 4. Barnabas and Saul then departed from Antioch, and went first to the city of Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to the isle of Cyprus, the native country of Barnabas (A. iv. 36.), where soon after the martyrdom of Stephen the gospel had been preached to none but unto the Jews only, A. xi. 19.

5. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God (first, as usual) in the synagogues of the Jews; and they had also John surnamed Mark, sister's son to Barnabas, for their minister and attendant.

6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus:

7. Which was with the proconsular governor of the country, Sergius Paulus, a man of good understanding; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

8. But Elymas the Sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the governor from the faith.

9. Then Saul, who from this time took the Roman name of Paul after the proconsul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,

10. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

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.

A. xiii. 13. Now when Paul and his company had 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.

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