...,.,,,dv. Them I■ • diff'crenoe of opinion ,b'TJ.,..,s,mMning "vigorously," "with force,., amc>ng eommentatore whether the exhorta- e.re very frequent in medical writers; ,b.-&.,..,, tion WM addressed to Apolloa, as the R.V, ia also found in the LXX. of Josh. vL 7 takes it, or to the brethren at Oorinth as ':t.11µawfr..,,,."" Eli-r&v..,s, '' Let them blow ~ the A.V. understands it. It eeema rather loud blast." Showing by the Bol'ipturee, cto. more consonnnt to the structure of the The same line of preaohing as St. Peter eentenoo and to the probability of the eaee and St. Pe.ul always adopted when oddress- that the exhortation we.e addressed to the fng Jews <see eh. ii.; xiii.; xvii. 8; xviii. 6, Corinthian Ohnroh, e.nd not to Apollos, who et.o.). It 1s remarkable thot the suooess of needed no euoh enoourogement. npoTpE- Apollos at Corinth seems to he.ve been ,j,d.µ,vo, t-ypffl/,a.,, ie equivalent to "wrot.e and ohiefly among the Jews, who hod opposed exhort.ed." themselves so vehemently to St. Po.ul (ver. V~r. 28.-Poll!6'f'feJly co,nfuted for '!'i,ghti'ly 6). It is one of the many proofs of the eommiced, A.V.; the <JhruJt for <JhN11t, A.V. singleness of eye ond simplioity of purpose PowE>rfully confuted; 6U11tan,:11.l-yx...-o, one of of the great apostle, that the suocess of this St. Luke's peculiar componnds, found no- novioe where he himself had fe.iled did not where else; ,imlva,s here and Luke n:iii. 10 exoite the lee.at jee.lousy (1 Oor. xvi. 12). (vehemently), but nowhere else in the New St. Luke, too, Paul's friend and biographer, Testament. The adjective ,ll'Tovos, meaning here speaks of the powers e.nd woi-k of "nervous," "vehement," e.nd the adverb Apolios with no stinted mee.sure of pre.ise.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-8.-0Aristian Jnendship. Unselfish friendship, the union of human souls in the bands of a close, unworldly, self-sacrificing love, has always been a spectacle that has fascinated men, one on which they have dwelt with peculiar fondness. Among the Greeks, Pylades and Orestes, Damon and Pythias; in the Old Testament David and Jonathan, and in the New Testament Peter and John, are examples of such friend- ships, and of the admiration which men cannot help he.ving for them. But there is not any more bea.utiful and rouching picture of human friendship to be found any- where than that which rises up before us in the case of Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla. We first find the group in a humble workman's dwelling at Corinth. Drawn together by being /J,,m•xvo,, men of the se.me trade, they are lodging in the same house. They were brought theTe indeed from different causes, and from different parts of the world, Paul from Antioch, urged westward by his ardent desire to add new realms to the kingdom of Christ; Aquila and Priscilla driven eastward by the cruel edict of a despot forcing them from their home and ell its interests in Italy. They met in Corinth, and dwelt under one roof. There we see the men busy at their trade of tent-making, while the wife, the woman of the house, added that comfort and cheerfulness to the home which the presence of a bright, energetic, intelligent woman is so well fitted to afford. .A common trade, a common race, and the common interests arising from both, would soon cement a friendship between two virtuous men thus thrown together in a foreign land. But a much closer bond of union soon knit the two men together. Whether Aquila and Priscilla brought with them from Rome the rudiments of the Christian faith, or whether they first learnt that Jesus is the Christ from the lips of Pa.tu, we have no means of deciding. What is certain is that many words concerning the kingdom of God passed between them in their hours of work. While Paul's industrioUB hands were travailing and stitching night and day to earn his bread, hie eloquent tongue was discoursing of Jesus Christ and his great salvation. Aquila, doubtless well read in the Scriptures, like his later namesake and fellow-citizen in Pontus, was not slow to take in hie words; while Priscilla, taking perhaps the woman's pa.rt in cutting out and preparing the materials for their work, listened with intense interest to the words of eternal life uttered by the apostle, The friendship begun in earthly relations was soon perfected in the bonds of the love of Christ. We can fancy the hours of united prayer when those two or three were gathered together in the name of Jesus. We can fancy the close fellowship induced by the common enmity of their unbelieving a.nd blaspheming fellow-countrymen. We can fancy their common joy when first one and then another of their Jewish brethren was brought to the Shep- herd INMi :Bishop of IIOWI, We seem to feel their comlllon anxiety when l'aul WIii OIi, llVUL 1-28,) THE ACTS OF THE AP08'l'LES. 95