The news of the miraculous cure of the cripple was soon noised throughout all that region, until a general excitement was aroused, and priests from the temple of the gods prepared to do the apostles honor, as visitants from the courts of Heaven, to sacrifice beasts to them, and to bring offerings of garlands and precious things. The apostles had sought retirement and rest in a private dwelling, when their attention was attracted by the sound of music, and the enthusiastic shouting of a vast assembly, who had come to the gate of the house where they were abiding.

When these ministers of God ascertained the cause of this visit and its attendant excitement, they were filled with indignation and horror. They rent their clothing, and rushed in among the multitude to prevent further proceedings. Paul, in a loud, ringing voice that rose above the noise of the multitude, demanded their attention; and, as the tumult was suddenly quelled, he inquired,—

The news of a wonderful occurrence is never long in spreading through a small country-town. At Lystra the whole population was presently in an uproar. They would lose no time in paying due honour to their heavenly visitants. The priest attached to that temple of Jupiter before the city gates, to which we have before alluded,⁶ was summoned to do sacrifice to the god whom he served. Bulls and garlands, and whatever [p. 171] else was requisite to the performance of the ceremony, were duly prepared, and the procession moved amidst crowds of people to the residence of the Apostles. They, hearing the approach of the multitude, and learning their idolatrous intention, were filled with the utmost horror. They "rent their clothes," and rushed out¹ of the house in which they lodged, and met the idolaters approaching the vestibule.² There, standing at the doorway, they opposed the entrance of the crowd; and Paul expressed his abhorrence of their intention, and earnestly tried to prevent their fulfilling it, in a speech of which only the following short outline is recorded by St. Luke:—

⁶ P. 168.

¹ "Ran out," not "ran in," is the reading sanctioned by the later critics on full manuscript authority. not See Tischendorf.

² The word used here does not mean the gate of the city, but the vestibule or gate which gave admission from the public street into the court of the house. So it is used, Matt. xxvi. 71, for the vestibule of the high priest's palace; Luke xvi. 20, for that of Dives: Acts x. 17, of the house where Peter lodged at Joppa; Acts xii. 13, of the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. It is nowhere used for the gate of a city except in the Apocalypse. Moreover, it seems obvious that if the priest had only brought the victims to sacrifice them at the city gates, it would have been no offering to Paul and Barnabas.

Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. (Acts 14:13)

Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out. (Acts 14:14)