St. Paul and his companions remained some time at Philippi; and St. Luke says, "on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Besides the synagogues, or buildings for public worship, the Jews had also, in every place where they took up their residence, smaller buildings or oratories, to which people might constantly resort for the purposes of prayer. These oratories were generally built in the fields, or by the side of a stream. To one of these oratories, close to the city of Philippi, St. Paul and his companions went, that they might speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who went there to worship the Lord God of Israel. Amongst their first converts was "a certain woman named Lydia," a native of the city of Thyatira, in Asia Minor, but resident in Philippi for the purposes of trade. Scripture says, she was a "seller of purple": what this may mean, we do not exactly know; but it probably means, that she sold some fine materials for female dress. At any rate, she had become a "proselyte of the gate," and worshipped God: and the Lord "opened her heart," so "that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul," with a sincere desire to learn; and in consequence became a real convert to Christianity, inducing all the members of her family to follow her example. "And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there." Eager to show her sincerity by _doing_ something for the service of God, she now anxiously sought to be of use to the messengers of Jesus for their Lord's sake; and entreated them to take up their abode in her house. St. Luke adds, "And she constrained us"--that is, so urged and entreated, as to force them to do as she wished. We now read, "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying." This damsel seems to have been a slave, who, being possessed by an evil spirit, spake in a mysterious way, foretelling future events: and as the heathens were great believers in such things, many of them consulted this unfortunate girl, and gave her money for exercising her powers. This money went to her masters, to whom she thus brought much gain. The Lord now chose this damsel, to give a proof that He can constrain even evil spirits to bear testimony to the truth of Christ's religion; for St. Luke says, "The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."