Once more Paul and his companions were exposed to the fury of the mob, but

received assurance of protection by a vision in the night (Acts 18:9,10).

We have no further record in the Acts of the witness of Silas, but

under his full name Silvanus he is mentioned by Paul in three of his

epistles.  We learn from 2 Corinthians 1:19 something of the uncompromising

character of his witness at Corinth:

'For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us,

even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him

was yea'.

Both of the epistles to the Thessalonians open with the words:

'Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the

Thessalonians in God the (our) Father and the Lord Jesus Christ'.

All the way through these epistles this fellowship is maintained: 'We

give thanks', 'our gospel', 'followers of us', 'our entrance in unto you',

'we suffered', 'we were bold', etc.

So far as the Scripture record leads us, the companionship of Silas

with Paul terminates in the Acts with the founding of the churches in

Thessalonica and Corinth, and with the epistles to those churches.  Silas

belonged to Jerusalem; he had been entrusted with the decrees and had

accompanied the apostle to the fields of labour which possibly at the outset

had not entered his mind.  Unlike Barnabas, whose companionship terminated in

a quarrel, there is no hint in Scripture that Silas failed faithfully to

carry out his work.

Soon after the epistles to the Corinthians were written, Peter wrote

his first epistle.  It was addressed to the dispersion in some of the places

which had been visited by Silas: 'Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and

Bithynia'.  It will be remembered that Asia and Bithynia were closed to Paul

and Silas, in order that they might press on to Troas where they obtained

direction by the vision of the man of Macedonia.  To be entrusted by Peter

with a message which included these very places must therefore have come as a

blessed compensation to Silas.  It is evident from the close of Peter's first

epistle that Silas was well known to those who received the epistle, and

there is every reason to believe that he is the same man who, earlier, had

stepped into the breach and loyally shared with Paul the honour of planting

the banner of the cross on European soil.  Peter's words are:

'By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account him, I have written

unto you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace

of God: stand ye fast therein' (1 Pet. 5:12 R.V.).

Silas was a man of broad sympathies.  He could work loyally with Paul

and with Peter.  The distinctive character of their two messages was not so

much his burden as lending a hand wherever the grace of God was preached and

help was needed.  He would have had no sympathy whatever with the partisans

at Corinth who said 'I am of Paul' or 'I am of Cephas'.  Into the ministry of

the Mystery he was not permitted to enter, this honour being reserved for

Timothy, who served together with Silas at the beginning.  As we discern the

different characters that gathered round Paul the apostle, and how he

thankfully and lovingly welcomed their companionship, one trusts that the

very recital of these varied phases of service will be owned by the Lord in