Female Scripture Biography, Volume II / Including an Essay on What Christianity Has Done for Women

by F. A. Cox

Paul appears to have travelled over a considerable portion of Asia and part of Europe. Barnabas, and afterward Silas and Timotheus, accompanied him. In many places he suffered great personal injury, and his valuable life was repeatedly endangered. Having passed through Phrygia and the proconsular province of Asia, of which Ephesus was the capital, Paul and Silas came at length to Troas, where the former had a vision, in which he saw an inhabitant of Macedonia standing before him, and uttering this request, "Come over and help us." This impressed his mind with a conviction that he was called in providence to preach the gospel in that part of Greece; and he immediately sailed down the Aegean Sea by the island of Samothracia and the port of Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which was a Roman colony. [[45]]

In this city, whither it seems probable from the history, that Luke had accompanied them, they remained some days; and here we are introduced to the brief but instructive account of the excellent woman whose name is prefixed to this chapter.

Paul, and the companions of his missionary tour, first met with Lydia at one of the Jewish places of prayer by the river-side, which ran near the city. The Temple at Jerusalem, and previously the Tabernacle, were the appointed places for the public worship of God, in the open court of which, before the altar, the people assembled. But such as lived at a distance, or from local inconveniences could not constantly repair to the place of general association, were allowed to build Proseuchiæ, or Oratories, in one of which our Saviour continued all night in prayer. They had no covering like synagogues, but were surrounded by porticoes, to afford shelter from the inclemency of the weather, and were erected in the suburbs of a city, by the baths or near rivers, on account of the purifications so frequent with the Jews, and usually on very elevated spots of ground. The proseucha signalized by the devotions of Christ was on a mountain. Some have supposed that Isaac went out to meditate in the evening in a place of this description. These were probably the high places of ancient times, in or near which groves were planted, and which are only condemned in Scripture when appropriated to idolatrous purposes. "I am like a green olive tree," says the Psalmist, "in the house of God."

Availing themselves of the opportunity afforded by the resort of devout persons to these religious retirements, these zealous ministers of the Gospel conversed and preached to the people, who on this occasion were chiefly women. But though many were addressed, it does not appear that more than one was substantially benefitted. Her attention was excited, her heart opened, and her profession of the name of Jesus immediate and public. The several points of her character deserve particular and distinct illustration.

Lydia is said to have been of the city of Thyatira; but whether she had removed to Philippi, or was only come for the purpose of trade, is not certain. She was one who "worshipped God," that is, one who, in distinction from the heathen around her, had learned the character of Jehovah, and was probably a Jewish proselyte. [[46]] Instructed in the ancient records of that extraordinary nation, which had been so many past ages the only depository of divine truth, she was expecting the predicted Messiah; and while, from the natural aversion of mankind to the humiliating doctrine of salvation through a crucified person, the greater proportion of Jews rejected him, she experienced a true conversion, not only from the principles of heathenism, but from those of Judaism, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few instances of this description occur in the evangelical record to show the sovereignty and diversified operations of the grace of God.

That moral change, that spiritual renovation, which has been called CONVERSION, is, we are aware, and ever will be, the subject of profane ridicule amongst unbelievers. It does not indeed produce any astonishment, although it awakens extreme regret, that one of the most obvious effects resulting from the publication of the Gospel of Christ should be so unblushingly denied by this class of mankind. "The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned." The scriptures themselves predict this incapacity, even in some of the most refined and intellectual of our species, to form a conception of this marvellous change; and experience evinces the truth of what they affirm, and which originates in the very nature of things. It is characteristic of human perversity to disbelieve what is imperceptible to reason or invisible to sense, and to vaunt itself upon that very infidelity as a distinctive mark of pre-eminence, which is, in fact, a proof of debasement and guilt. If a system of religion were to be so constructed as to be exempt from the ridicule of the profane, it must be itself ridiculous; because their distorted minds cannot discern the beauties of truth, and their depraved feelings will not admit her claims. To secure their approbation religion must change her character, alter her doctrines, new cast her precepts, and new modify her principles.

Lydia presents an interesting specimen not only of the reality but of the nature of the great work of conversion; and, however contemptible the subject may appear in the eye of a dissipated world, or to the mind of a prejudiced reader, we hesitate not to state the sentiments which necessarily arise out of the present example respecting the seat and source of this change, the agent by whom it is accomplished, and the corresponding effects produced.

1. Our attention is, in the first place, to be directed to the seat of this spiritual renovation. It is said of Lydia, that her HEART was opened. This change, therefore, is of a moral nature, not merely circumstantial, but radical. It does not consist in assuming a new name, professing new opinions, using a new language, performing a few rites and ceremonies, or reforming a few exterior vices, These are only branches--the tree itself must be made good--the crab stock of nature must be grafted with spiritual principles, and by being planted in the garden of the Lord be brought under a heavenly culture. It is then only "the fruits of righteousness" may be anticipated, "which are to the glory and praise of God."

The disordered state of the passions is a striking evidence of human degeneracy. In consequence of this a thousand mistakes are committed, and a thousand follies practised. Each passion is fixed on a wrong object, pursues an unworthy end, and is susceptible of false impressions. Indeed, the will is totally perverted, and chooses, with obstinate resolution, whatever is erroneous and criminal; on which account men are represented in the metaphorical language of Scripture, as "loving darkness rather than light." So astonishing is the degree of this perversion, that the Supreme Good is dreaded and avoided as if he were the only evil in the universe; and, however vain the attempt, guilt is continually seeking concealment in some secret covert, some supposed security from his omniscient inspection. Captivated by deceitful appearances, human confidence is perpetually misplaced, and therefore perpetually betrayed; the siren song of pleasure soothes the unhappy captives of her bewitching charms into the bosom of destruction--the splendour of earthly distinctions dims the eye of sense, and prevents its perception of the bright realities of heaven. In fact, such has been the melancholy effect of sin upon the perceptions of the human soul, that every thing is seen through the medium of sensual passions in an inverted position--good seems evil, and evil good--and till this disorder become rectified by a divine touch, the heart will remain at enmity against God, the refuge and resort of the worst dispositions, and the great central pandemonium of every diabolical affection. Such is the statement of Jesus Christ himself, "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these things come from within, and defile the man."

As the intellectual and moral state of man are, in a religious view, closely connected, the renovation of the heart is essentially connected with an important change in the understanding. The latter may, indeed, be considerably improved and informed when no spiritual effect is produced upon the former, but the former cannot be renewed without corresponding and coincident effects on the latter; and the illumination of the understanding is so universal, that believers are said to be "light in the Lord." Their perceptions of truth are not mere gleamings and streaks of divine radiance thrown across the obscurity of the mind, but all is light. Nor is it merely new light diffused over objects familiar to the thoughts, but a discovery of new scenes. The soul, in a sense, changes its hemisphere, emerges from darkness, ascends to the summits of Pisgah, and contemplates the ineffable glories of a new creation. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." How touching and how worthy of adoption the poet's language: