The first Christian congregation.
St. Paul had before this taken a room near the synagogue at Corinth, but it seems that this case at Ephesus represents the first distinct effort to form a Christian congregation, with its own order and officers, as separate from the synagogue. Now St. Paul casts himself free of Judaism; the time had come for separation, and for arranging a distinctly Christian organization. The school of Tyrannus was a public hall for lecturing and discussion. Canon Farrar says, "There must have been many an anxious hour, many a bitter struggle, many an exciting debate, before the Jews finally adopted a tone, not only of decided rejection, but even of so fierce an opposition, that St. Paul was forced once more, as at Corinth, openly to secede from their communion. We do not sufficiently estimate the pain which such circumstances must have caused to him. His life was so beset with trials, that each trial, however heavy in itself, is passed over amid a multitude that were still more grievous. But we must remember that St. Paul, though a Christian, still regarded himself as a true Israelite, and he must have felt, at least as severely as a Luther or a Whitefield, this involuntary alienation from the religious communion of his childhood." We do but suggest three lines of thought; the treatment of them will depend upon the standpoint of the preacher.
I. SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH. Several distinct conceptions of Christ's Church on earth are found established among Christian people. Show how the idea of separation stands related to each; and how the Church, as a whole, ought to stand to any separated members.
II. SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS. Show that as fellowship depends on common Christian life and interests, we may reasonably expect it to triumph over differences in modes of worship, places of worship, and even over diversities of opinion.
III. SEPARATION AS AFFECTING THE RELATIONS OF MINISTERS TO SECTIONS. Especially point out the peril of over-estimating the point of division, and setting it in undue prominence in public teaching. A minister may preach sectional opinion rather than the "whole counsel of God."—R.T.