HE last panel in our gallery of sacred portraits must be filled with a slight sketch of Timothy. Our best course is to follow his life chronologically, making such reflections from point to point as naturally suggest themselves. The Epistles enable us to begin our survey from an earlier point than any which is presented to us in the Acts of the Apostles, and show us something of the training of Timothy in his early childhood, and something of his preparation for that subsequent usefulness which marked his career when he became connected in labors with the great apostle to the Gentiles.

The first actual mention of Timothy in Luke's narrative is in the sixteenth chapter of the Acts, where he is described as the son of a Jewess who had become a Christian. This prominent mention of his mother is somewhat remarkable; and from another source we learn her actual name, and something, too, of her character. Paul, in his latest letter, when writing of the "unfeigned faith" that was in Timothy, adds that such faith had "dwelt first in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice;" and in another part of the same document he charges him to "continue in the things which he had learned, knowing of whom he had learned them; and that from a child he had known the holy Scriptures." Thus we see that on the feminine side of the family

there had been, for two generations at least, the inestimable blessing of hereditary piety.

It is not a little remarkable that a character which is among the most faultless and charming in the Bible should be the character of that one person whose domestic relations and early training are thus described. And this circumstance is the more observable if we can trace-as we can almost certainly-something of a feminine softness in Timothy, as though his mother's gentle influence had passed into his mind and disposition. The method, too, of his early training is very important for us to notice. It was the method of biblical instruction. From a

child he knew the holy Scriptures. Those Scriptures, of course, in his case, were the Old Testament. We are richer than the Jews by reason of possessing the New Testament in addition. This does not diminish, but rather infinitely increases, the weight we should attach to the Bible as an instrument of instruction. But, again, not only the method, but the spiritual principle, which was at work in this process should be noticed. Even in the Acts of the Apostles the faith of Eunice is made prominent; and here we see that it was the ruling power of life both in her case and in that of Lois. This passage of Holy Writ is full of admonition to Christian households as to the training of the young, and full of encouragement as to the happy results which may be expected from such training.

In tracing this biography onward, we are able still to insert another stage of it before we reach the point where the first mention of Timothy occurs in the Acts. Paul had been at Lystra previously to the time when this young disciple actually joined him there as his traveling companion. Moreover, the apostle speaks of him as "his own son in the faith," which seems to imply beyond a doubt that he himself was the instrument of his conversion. On the occasion, too, of this second visit, Eunice is described as already a believer. All these circumstances point to the conclusion that Timothy was converted

on the occasion of the first visit. And this derives a strong confirmation from a passage in the Second Epistle to Timothy. There it is said that he had fully known and closely followed "the persecutions and afflictions" which came to Paul "at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra." Now, these sufferings occurred to him on the first visit, and the order in which the places are mentioned is the exact geographical order in which Paul was exposed to these trials. And this again leads to another thought. Such sufferings and ill treatment incurred by one who is beloved and respected make a deep impression upon a young mind, and we see in this earliest acquaintance of Paul and Timothy the foundations deeply laid of a warm attachment and allegiance of the latter to the former, as well as an admirable preparation for arduous work and strong endurance. Nor must we forget that the circumstances thus related would bring Timothy into personal acquaintance with Paul's earliest missionary companions, and we cannot well doubt that at this time he became familiar with the noble countenance of him whom the rude Lycaonians instinctively "called Jupiter," as well as with the voice of him whom they named "Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker." Acts xiv. 12.

Barnabas ceased to be Paul's missionary companion, and Silas was taken in his place. We have now passed from the first missionary journey to the second, and are brought to the association of Timothy with Paul in the actual work of evangelization. This point in the apostolic history is carefully marked by Luke, and it is full of instruction for us as to the duty of requiring in those who are to be placed in high ministerial offices the qualification of ascertained fitness. We should also set the passage side by side with. sentences in each of the two Epistles to Timothy. Just as Paul urged the memory of this disciple's mother and grandmother to stimulate him to consistency and progress in piety, so he urges him to "stir up the gift of God" which manifestly had been bestowed upon him at the time of the

"laying on of hands" by the apostles and the general body of the presbyters. Evidence was fully supplied as to his personal character at this time. "He was well reported of by all the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium." A further reason also for the choice is to be discovered in the words which follow: "Him would Paul have to go forth with him." It is not obscurely intimated here that there was something in Timothy which won the apostle's personal affection. He seems to have perceived from the very first—to quote the phrase which he used long afterward to his friend-that he was "like-minded" with himself, and great must have been his joy to have found such a companion in the very neighborhood which, a few years before, had been the scene of so much injustice and suffering. And still another point of fitness for this moment of missionary work remains to be noted. It was a crisis in the history of the Church in regard to the relation between Judaism and Christianity. More need not be said in order to show that in the choice of a fellow-worker for Paul's future labors there was peculiar wisdom in selecting one whose mother was a Jewess, "while his father was a Greek."

The devotion of Timothy and the devotion of his mother also were shown by his willingness to leave her for Christ's service, and the blessing was theirs which the Lord himself promised to such "forsaking" of home "for his name's sake." We now pass to the active employment of Timothy in missionary work, on his second apostolic journey, in conjunction with Paul and his other companions. From this point he took part in the whole Macedonian round, and became one of the founders of the great churches of Philippi and Thessalonica. His name, indeed, is not mentioned by Luke in connection with either place. But we have the apostle's weighty words in testimony of his faithful service at the former city: "Ye know the proof of him, that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel." That he was not imprisoned there with Paul and Silas is easily accounted

for by his comparative youth and subordination. There might, indeed, be some timidity in his conduct, but we trace his subordination by the order of the three names in the Epistles written soon after to Thessalonica; and it should be remarked, by the way, that these Epistles imply a familiar knowledge of him in that city also. Passing on from Thessalonica to Berea, we find him brought into contact with earnest discussions on the meaning of those Scriptures with which he had been made so well acquainted in his childhood at home; and here his name reappears in the text of the narrative. It is stated that he and Silas were left behind in Macedonia with instructions to rejoin the apostle as soon as their errand should be discharged, and they did rejoin him when he was established in Corinth.

It was arranged in the course of God's providence that Paul should have no companion with him in Athens, and the fact that he was "alone" in that city enhances the force of the unique impression we receive from that most remarkable passage of his life. But what we read of the effect produced upon his mind and work when Timothy, with Silas, rejoined him, tends to show us how much his happiness was increased by the presence of his friends, and what a reserve of actual religious force resided in him in the mere fact of companionship. Some are too ready to throw upon others the work which they ought to do themselves, but he increased in zeal and activity when he could obtain others to help him. The literal meaning of the passage is that on their coming he was "engrossed" or "absorbed" in "the work." The writing of the Epistles to Thessalonica, which followed close upon the arrival of Timothy, shows the high estimate which Paul had formed of him. In allusion to the mission with which he had been recently charged, he describes him as "his brother," as "the minister of God" and as "his fellow-laborer in the gospel of Christ." Nor ought we to fail to notice the confidence implied in the mission itself. Serious troubles had occurred in Thessalonica, and this young disciple was sent to "establish" them