n in Scripture-history there is the same difficulty. In the
narrative of the Acts of the Apostles we receive thrilling accounts of
the external details of Paul's history; we are carried rapidly from
city to city and informed of the incidents which accompanied the
founding of the various churches; but we cannot help wishing sometimes
to stop and learn what one of these churches was like inside. In
Paphos or Iconium, in Thessalonica or Beroea or Corinth, how did things
go on after Paul left? What were the Christians like, and what was the
aspect of their worship?

129. Happily it is possible to obtain this interior view of things.
As Luke's narrative describes the outside of Paul's career, so Paul's
own Epistles permit us to see its deeper aspects. They rewrite the
history on a different plane. This is especially the case with those
Epistles written at the close of his third journey, which cast a flood
of light back upon the period covered by all his journeys. In addition
to the three Epistles already mentioned as having been written at this
time, there is another belonging to the same part of his life--the
First to the Corinthians--which may be said to transport us, as on a
magician's mantle, back over two thousand years and, stationing us in
mid-air above a great Greek city, in which there was a Christian
church, to take the roof off the meeting-house of the Christians and
permit us to see what was going on within.

130. A Christian Gathering in Corinth.--It is a strange spectacle we
witness from this coigne of vantage. It is Sabbath evening, but of
course the heathen city knows of no Sabbath. The day's work at the
busy seaport is over, and the streets are thronged with gay revelers
intent on a night of pleasure, for it is the wickedest city of that
wicked ancient world. Hundreds of merchants and sailors from foreign
parts are lounging about. The gay young Roman, who has come across to
this Paris for a bout of dissipation, drives his light chariot through
the streets. If it is near the time of the annual games, there are
groups of boxers, runners, charioteers and wrestlers, surrounded by
their admirers and discussing their chances of winning the coveted
crowns. In the warm genial climate old and young are out of doors
enjoying the evening hour, while the sun, going down over the Adriatic,
is casting its golden light upon the palaces and temples of the wealthy
city.

131. Meanwhile the little comp