Acts 16:14

We may laudably exercise curiosity with regard to the first proclamation of the Gospel in our own quarter of the globe. We are happy that history so accurately tells us, by the pen of Luke, when first the Gospel was preached in Europe and by whom, and who was the first convert brought by that preaching to the Savior's feet. I half envy Lydia that she should be the leader of the European band! But I feel right glad that a woman led the van and that her household followed so closely in the rear. God has made great use of women and greatly honored them in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Holy women ministered to our Lord when He was upon the earth and since that time much sacred work has been done by their patient hands. Man and woman fell together—together they must rise! After the Resurrection, it was a woman who was first commissioned to carry the glad tidings of the risen Christ. And in Europe, where woman was, in future days, to be set free from many of the trammels of the East, it seems fitting that a woman should be the first Believer. Not only, however, was Lydia a sort of first-fruit for Europe, but she probably also became a witness in her own city of Thyatira, in Asia. We do not know how the Gospel was introduced into that city, but we are informed of the existence of a Church there by the message of the ascended Christ through His servant, John, to "the angel of the Church in Thyatira." Very likely Lydia became the herald of the Gospel in her native place. Let the women who know the Truth of God proclaim it, for why should their influence be lost? "The Lord gives the word; the women that publish the tidings are a great host." Woman can be as powerful for evil as for good—we see it in this very Church of Thyatira, where the woman Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess, sought to seduce many from the Truth.

We may laudably exercise curiosity with regard to the first proclamation of the Gospel in our own quarter of the globe. We are happy that history so accurately tells us, by the pen of Luke, when first the Gospel was preached in Europe and by whom, and who was the first convert brought by that preaching to the Savior's feet. I half envy Lydia that she should be the leader of the European band! But I feel right glad that a woman led the van and that her household followed so closely in the rear.

PHILIPPI is famous in classic history as the spot where the world's future trembled in the balance when Octavius met Brutus and Cassius in terrible conflict. The two republican generals here ended their stormy career and universal empire crouched at the feet of Caesar. As long as time endures, or human slaughter is thought worthy of a record, Phi-lippi will be remembered as one of the greatest names in martial history. But when time shall have passed away and the records of human guilt shall have been cast into oblivion, Philippi will still have a name as the place where the first herald of the Cross cried, "Europe for Jesus." There was struck the first blow at the demon of evil and the first victory won in that quarter of the world. More fraught with blessings to the human race was that conquest of a woman's heart than all the laurels which Octaves had reaped upon the bloody field. Angels looked on while Paul threw down the gauntlet of defiance to all the powers of darkness and invaded our fair continent in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. We may well look back with admiration to the gallant advance of the little band, the Apostle and his few companions, who were the pioneers of the Lord's elect army in the western world. Philippi is enrolled forever in the record of the battles of peace. The introduction of Christianity into Europe is a very humble affair. There is nothing very stately in the architecture of the house where Jesus is first preached. In fact, we have no evidence that there was any building at all—probably it was an open-air service by the riverside. Happy omen of the results of open-air preaching in after times! There were not enough Jews in the military city of Philippi to admit of the erection of a synagogue and therefore a few women met in a quiet spot by the river's bank.

A seller of purple - Purple was a most valuable color, obtained usually from shellfish. It was chiefly worn by princes and by the rich, and the traffic in it might be very profitable. Compare the Isa 1:18 note; Luk 16:19 note. The city of Thyatira - This was a city of Lydia, in Asia Minor, now called Akhisar. The art of dyeing was early cultivated in the neighborhood of Thyatira, as we learn from Homer (Iliad, iv. 141), and as is confirmed by inscriptions found in that city - a circumstance which may be referred to as confirming the veracity of the statements of Luke even in his casual allusions. Several of these inscriptions have been published. See the Life and Epistles of Paul, i. 295. Which worshipped God - A religious woman, a proselyte. See the note at Act 13:16. Whose heart the Lord opened - See the note at Luk 24:45.