In Chapter xvi., two very interesting cases are recorded, which are worthy of particular attention. They occurred at Philippi, in Macedonia; to which country St. Paul and his company had been called by a vision to preach the gospel there. The first of these is the case of a woman named Lydia. In the 13th and 14th verses the sacred historian writes; “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” In consequence of the opening of her heart by the Lord, she heard to her soul’s profit. She received the gospel which Paul preached. We are then told concerning her, that “she was baptized, and her household.” And her faith brought forth fruit: for she immediately invited the Apostle and those who were with him, to come and abide at her house; and she would not take a denial. They therefore abode with her many days. Another case then occurred, which served to show why they had been called to preach the gospel in Macedonia. Paul and Silas having been thrown into prison for casting a spirit of divination out of a certain damsel, the Lord sent a great earthquake at midnight, which opened the doors of the prison, and awoke the jailor; who, fearing that the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself; when Paul assured him that they were all there. Upon this, “he sprang in, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas immediately preached the gospel to him, saying, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” They then at greater length “spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.” The same success attended the word, as in the case of Lydia. And his faith, like her’s, wrought by love; for he immediately began to show all the attention in his power to Paul and Silas. And as Lydia was baptized, and her household, so it is said that the jailor “was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” Now it is evident, that in the baptizing of the two principal persons in this history, Lydia and the jailor, the same course was pursued by the Apostle as in all the other instances which have been considered. They first believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then they were baptized. But a new feature presents itself on both these occasions; that is, the baptizing of their households. And hence has been drawn a very common argument in favour of the baptizing of children; as it has been thought _probable_ that children formed a part of these households. Beside these cases, there are only two other, in which the house or family is spoken of in the New Testament in connection with the head of the house,—the house of Crispus