magic, the place of concourse for people from all the surround- ing countries, Paul laboured for nearly three years.
After remaining eighteen months in Corinth, at the con- clusion of his second missionary tour, he sailed thence to Eph- esus In company with Priscilla and Aquila. He left his companions there, but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer with them he consented not: but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem; but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. After his departure, Apollos, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Eph- esus.. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue; whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” Acts 18, 18-26.
Paul, agreeably to his promise, returned to Ephesus, pro- bably in the fall of the year 54. Here he found certain disciples who had received only John’s baptism, to whom Paul said: “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.” Acts 19, 3-6.
It seems from the narrative that there was in the apostolic period a class of persons who had renounced Judaism, and professed their faith in the person and doctrines of Christ, (for Apollos, it is said, was instructed in the way of the Lord,) and yet passed for John’s disciples, in distinction from the other followers of Christ. They were Christians, for they are called “disciples,” and yet had not received Christian Baptism. That . is, they had been baptized with water, but not with the Holy
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Ghost. They may have received the inward saving influences of the Spirit, but they had not been made partakers of those extraordinary gifts, the power of speaking with tongues and of prophesying, which those converted and baptized by the apos- tles had received. They were Christians through the instruc- tions and testimony of John the Baptist, as distinguished from those made Christians by the preaching of the apostles. Their knowledge of the Gospel was, therefore, necessarily imperfect. This, at least, is one answer to the question concerning the disciples of John spoken of in Acts.
After this the apostle continued for three months to attend the synagogue, “ disputing and persuading the things concern- ing the kingdom of God.” Meeting with opposition from the Jews, he withdrew ‘and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years, so that all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs, or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” Acts 19, 8-12.
It appears from this, and from the subsequent account given by the sacred historian, that the effects of Paul’s preach- ing in Ephesus, were: 1. The conversion of a great number of the Jews and Greeks. 2. The diffusion of the knowledge of the Gospel throughout proconsular Asia. 8, Such an in- fluence on the popular mind, that certain exorcists attempted to work miracles in the name of that Jesus, whom Paul’s preaching had proved to be so powerful; and that other magi- cians, convinced of the folly and wickedness of their arts, made public confession, and burnt their books of divination and mys- tic charms. 4. Such a marked diminution of the zeal and numbers of the worshippers of Diana, as to excite general alarm that her temple would be despised. 5. A large and flourishing church was there established. This is proved from the facts recorded in the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Having spent a few months in visiting the