sed, to a considerable
extent, of reclaimed libertines. [112:3]

The success of the gospel in Corinth roused the unbelieving Jews to
opposition; and here, as elsewhere, they endeavoured to avail themselves
of the aid of the civil power; but, in this instance, their appeal to
the Roman magistrate was signally unsuccessful. Gallio, brother of the
celebrated Seneca the philosopher, was now "the deputy of Achaia;"
[112:4] and when the bigoted and incensed Israelites "made insurrection
with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat,
saying--This fellow persuaded men to worship God _contrary to the
law,_" [112:5] the proconsul turned a deaf ear to the accusation. When
the apostle was about to enter on his defence, Gallio intimated that
such a proceeding was quite unnecessary, as the affair did not come
within the range of his jurisdiction. "If," said he, "it were a matter
of wrong, or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear
with you; but if it be a question of words and names and of _your law,_
look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drive them
from the judgment-seat." [113:1] On this occasion, for the first time
since the arrival of Paul and his brethren in Europe, the mob was on the
side of the missionaries, and under the very eye of the proconsul, and
without any effort on his part to interfere and arrest their violence,
the most prominent of the plaintiffs was somewhat roughly handled. "Then
all the Greeks took Smoothens, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and
beat him before the judgment-seat. And Gallio cared for none of these
things." [113:2]

When Paul was at Corinth, and probably in A.D. 53, he wrote his two
earliest letters, that is, the First and Second Epistles to the
Thessalonians. These communications must, therefore, have been drawn up
about twelve months after the original formation of the religious
community to which they are addressed. The Thessalonian Church was
already fully organised, as the apostle here points out to the disciples
their duties to those who laboured among them and who were over them in
the Lord. [113:3] In the meantime several errors had gained currency;
and a letter, announcing that the day of Christ was at hand, and
purporting to have been penned by Paul himself, had thrown the brethren
into great consternation. [113:4] The apostle accordingly deemed it
necessary to interpose, and to point out the dangerous character of the