during his lifetime.

show the progress of that corruption." And, on the other hand, "if no variation appears in the opinions of Christians, during that period, but the fathers of the first three centuries all deliver the same doctrine," and, "with one consent speak of Christ as having existed from all eternity as very God, and that he took our human nature into the divine, we have surely good grounds for saying, that there never was a time when this was not the doctrine of the church, and that it was the true and genuine doctrine which the apostles themselves preached."

1. In John i. 3. the work of creation is expressly ascribed to Jesus Christ. To evade the force of this testimony to his deity, Faustus Socinus affirms that ra Tarra, all things, in this verse, means the moral world-the Christian church: but to this exposition there are two objections. First, a part of these тa Tavta is in verse 10. represented as o xoμos, the world; a term nowhere world (s) which he created did not know or acknowledge applied in the New Testament to the Christian church, nor to men as morally amended by the Gospel. Secondly, this very him, autor cu ve: whereas the distinguishing trait of Christians is, that they know Christ; that they know the only true God and Ta Tarra, then, which the Logos created, means (as common usage and the exigency of the passage require) the universe, the worlds, material and immaterial. In this passage, therefore, Jesus Christ is unquestionably called God; and this interpretation of it is corroborated by the following passage of Irenæus, who wrote a. D. 185:— Nor can any of those things, which have been made, and are in subjection, be compared to the word of God, by whom all things were made. For that angels or archangels, or thrones or dominations, were appointed by him, who is God over all, and made by his word, John has thus told us; for, after he had said of the Word of God, that he was in the Father, he added, all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made."5

Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.

intense thought, and with holy admiration, as to that which, in the first three centuries, the writings of that period must was alone worthy to be studied. No part of Scripture was neglected by thein; they were so earnestly intent upon it, that not a jot or tittle escaped them. This, with the advantages which they had (especially the Ante-Nicene fathers) in point of languages and antiquities, could not fail to produce remarks which it must be very imprudent in any age to neglect. The mistakes, charged upon the fathers in their expositions of the Old Testament, originated in their being misled by the Septuagint version, which their ignorance of Hebrew, together with their contempt of the Jews, and their unwillingness to be taught that fanguage by them, induced them to trust implicitly. And that excess of allegorical interpretation into which some of the ancients ran, was probably occasioned by their studying, with a warm imagination, prophecies and types, parables and allusions, and by our Saviour's not developing the whole of his plan men must know the sentiments of those men more accurately It is obvious that the contemporary friends of any body of and perfectly than even the most sagacious inquirers who flourish many ages posterior to them. Such of the primitive fathers, therefore, as conversed with the apostles, or with their im mediate followers, are the most likely to know the true sense of their writings; and it is highly probable that the works of these fathers must contain traits and sentiments strongly illustrative of the doctrines of the Bible. The use, then, which is to be made of their writings, is precisely that which a discreet lawyer would make of all the best contemporary authors, who lived when Magna Charta was obtained. If in that celebrated code of civil rights any thing appeared obscure and difficult to be understood, he would consult the best authors of the age who had written upon the same, or upon any collateral subject; and he would especially consult contemporary authors, or those who immediately followed, if any of them had undertaken to illustrate and explain the whole or any part of that invaluable instrument. Magna Charta is to us, as Englishmen, what the Word of God is to us as Christians: the one contains a copy of our civil rights and privileges; the other, of our religious privileges and duties. Nor is it any diminution of the just and absolute authority of the Holy Scriptures in our religious concerns, to consult the contemporary and subsequent writings of the fathers, in order to see how the Bible was understood in the several ages in which they lived; any more than it would be a diminution of the just and absolute authority of Magna Charta, in our civil concerns, to consult the contemporary and subsequent writings of lawyers and historians, in order to see how it was understood in the several ages in which they lived. Similar to this is the conduct of every prudent person in all the common occupations and concerns of life. Accordingly, Christians in all ages, and of every denomination, have eagerly claimed the verdict of the fathers in their own behalf; and no one ever lightly esteemed their testimony, but those whose principles and doctrines the writings of the

fathers condemned.1

The important testimony in behalf of the genuineness of the Sacred Writings of the New Testament, borne by the fathers of the Christian church, and especially by the Greek fathers, has been exhibited in detail in pp. 41-45. 280, 281., and 288, 289. of the present volume, the value of their writings as a source of the text of Scripture, and also as aids for determining various readings, has been stated. It now remains to show, by one or two examples, the value of such of the fathers as are not professed commentators, in determining the meaning of words and phrases, and in whose writings passages of the Old and New Testaments incidentally occur, in such a connection, or with such adjuncts, that we may clearly perceive what meaning was attached to them in the age when those fathers respectively flourished. Such interpretations we find in the writings of Barnabas, Clemens Romanus, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and others; whose testimonies to the divinity of Christ have been collected by Dr. Burton. The evidence of the early fathers on this fundamental topic of Christian doctrine (to omit others which might be adduced relative to the discipline and practice of the Christian church) is peculiarly important; for "if the doctrine of the real nature of Christ was corrupted

1 Simpson's Plea for the Deity of Christ, p. 438. Dr. Hey's Norrisian Lectures, vol. i. pp. 105-118. Quarterly Review, vol. xiii. pp. 183-188. See also some adinirable observations of the learned Dr. Gregory Sharpe, in his Argument in Defence of Christianity, taken from the Concessions of the most ancient Adversaries, p. 90-99.

a The principal Commentaries of the Fathers are enumerated in the BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX to Volume II. Part II. Chap. V. Sect. III. § 1.

2. In Heb. i. 2. God is said to have created the world by his Son-—Ai cũ nas rūvs alwynos izomnow. To evade the force of this testimony, some opposers of our Lord's divinity expound anvas, as meaning new times, or that God by Christ created anew the world of mankind. But the construction will not justify either of these renderings: for, it is evident, in the first place, from Heb. xi. 3. that are does signify the worlds or world. Secondly, it is an undeniable fact, that the tenth verse of this chapter does ascribe the creation of the world to Christ. Thirdly, that d does not denote merely an instrumental cause, is evident from those passages in which it is also said of the Father, that all things were created di aurcu, by him (Heb. ii. 10. Rom. xi, 36.), as also from the fact that fix and are used interchangeably for each other.. But as Heb. i. 1, 2. relates to the person through whom God instructed us, namely, the incarnate Logos or Word, the words " by whom also he made the worlds" must be understood thus:-God created the world by the same person through whom he hath spoken unto us, in as much as this person is God himself and one with the Father, i. e. He created the world by himself. That this is the correct interpretation is confirmed by the testimony of Justin Martyr (who flourished about A. D. 150.), or the author of the epistle to Diognetus, which is commonly ascribed to him. Speaking of the special revelation of his will which God had made to Christians, he says, "This is no earthly invention which has been handed down to them, neither is it a mortal notion which they are bent upon observing so carefully, nor have they a system of human mysteries committed to them: but the omnipotent and all-creative and invisible God hath Himself from heaven established amongst men the truth and the holy and incomprehensible word, and rooted it in their hearts: not, as you might suppose, by sending to men any of His servants, either an angel or a prince, or one of those who administer the affairs of earth, or one of those who have the management of heavenly things intrusted to them, but the Framer and Creator of the universe himself, by whom He created the heavens, by whom He shut up the sea in its own bounds.”1

On this passage, Dr. Burton remarks:-" We have here an express declaration that Jesus Christ was the Framer and Creator of the World. God created them by Jesus Christ, as is said

Dr. Burton's Testimonies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers to the Divinity of Christ, Pref. p. viii.

4 Stuart's Letters to Channing, p. 67.

Irenæus, adv. Hæres. lib. ii. c. 8. $2. p. 183. Burton's Testimonies, p. 71. Dr. B.'s reasonings upon the above-cited passage of Irenæus are very powerful.

• Schmucker's Biblical Theology, vol. i. pp. 425, 426.
Epist. ad Diognet. c. 7. Burton's Testimonies, p. 47.

in the Epistle to the Hebrews, i. 2.; and if the words quoted | departure of the Israelites from Egypt, &c.; while other titles above are not sufficiently strong to exclude the idea of God having denote the churches or particular persons for whose more immeemployed any subordinate agent, we find in the very next chapter diate use some parts of the Scriptures were composed, and thus the expression of God the Lord and Creator of the universe, afforded light to particular passages. who made all things and arranged them in order.' Thus, according to Justin's own words, God created the world by His Son, and His Son, by whom he created them, was God."

This topic has been ably proved by Braunius, in his Commentarius in Epistolam ad Hebræos, pp. 10-21.; by Pritius, in his Introductio in Novum As Genesis, the generation of heaven and earth-Exodus, the Testamentum, cap. iv. $. pp. 47, 48., and by Langius, in his Commentatio

said or done, will materially facilitate its historical interpretation, especially if regard be had, 3. To the NATURE OF THE PLACE, and the customs which obtained there.

of the Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, Egyptians, Assyrians, Medes, Babylonians, Persians, Arabians, Greeks, Romans, and other ancient nations, is of the greatest importance 1. For instance, it is evident that Saint Paul's second Epistle to the historical interpretation of the Bible: for, as the Jewish to the Thessalonians was written, shortly after the first, at Co- people were connected with those nations, either in a hostile rinth, and not at Athens, as its subscription would import, from or in a pacific manner, the knowledge of their history, customs, this circumstance, viz. that Timothy and Silvanus or Silas, who arts, and literature, becomes the more interesting; as it is well known that the Israelites, notwithstanding they were joined him in his first letter, were still with him, and joined him in forbidden to have intercourse with the heathen, did never the second. (Compare 2 Thess. i. 1. with 1 Thess. iii. 6. and theless borrow and adopt some of their institutions. More Acts xviii. 1-5.) And as in this epistle he desired the brethren to pray that he might be delivered from unreasonable and wicked by Moses and the prophets against idolatry, how many idols particularly, regardless of the severe prohibitions delivered men (2 Thess. iii. 2.), it is probable that he wrote it soon after did they borrow from the Gentiles at different times, previ the insurrection of the Jews at Corinth, in which they dragged ously to the great Babylonish captivity, and associate them him before Gallio the proconsul of Achaia, and accused him of in the worship of Jehovah! Their commercial intercourse persuading men to worship contrary to the law. (Acts xviii. 13.) with the Egyptians and Arabs, and especially with the PhoBut this consideration of the place where a book was written nicians, was very considerable; and at the same time, they will supply us with one or two observations that will more clearly were almost incessantly at war with the Philistines, Moabites, illustrate some passages in the same epistle. Thus it is manifest and other neighbouring nations, and afterwards with the from 2 Thess. iii. 8. that Saint Paul could appeal to his own per- Assyrians and Egyptians, until they were finally conquered, sonal labours for his subsistence with the greater confidence, as and carried into captivity by the Assyrians and Babylonians. he had diligently prosecuted them at Corinth (compare Acts Further, the prophets, in their denunciations or predictions, xviii. 3. with 1 Cor. ix. 11, 12, 13.); and, to mention no more not only address their admonitions and threatenings to the examples, it is clear, from 2 Thess. iii. 1, 2., that the great Apostle Israelites and Jews, but also frequently accost foreign nations, of the Gentiles experienced more difficulty in planting a Chris- whom they menace with destruction. The writings of Isaiah, tian church at Corinth and in some other places, than he did at Jeremiah, and Ezekiel contain very numerous predictions Thessalonica. In a similar manner, numerous beautiful passages relative to the heathen nations, which would be utterly uninin his Epistle to the Ephesians will be more fully understood, by telligible without the aid of profane history. The same knowing that they were written at Rome during his first cap- remark will apply to the divisions of time and forms of tivity. government that obtained at different periods, which cannot 2. Our Lord's admirable discourse, recorded in the sixth chap-be ascertained from the perusal of the Sacred Writings ter of St. John's Gospel, which so many disregarded, is said (v. 59.) to have been delivered in the synagogue at Capernaum, consequently in a public place, and in that very city which had witnessed the performance of so many of his miracles. And it is this circumstance of place which so highly aggravated the malice and unbelief of his hearers. (Compare Matt. xi. 23.)

merely.

In proportion, however, as the history of the ancient nations of Asia becomes necessary to the interpretation of the Bible, it is to be regretted that it is for the most part involved in so much obscurity and confusion as to require no small labour before we can extricate it from the trammels of fable, and arrive at any thing like certainty. As the histories of ancient Egypt have perished, with the exception of a few fragments preserved in the writings of Josephus, Eusebius, and other authors, our knowledge of the earliest state of that country (which is sufficiently confused and intricate) can only be derived from Herodotus, Diodorus, and some other Greek writers, who cannot always be depended on. writings of Sanchoniatho, with the exception of a few fragments, as well as the works of Histiæus, and other Phonician historians, have long since perished; and, for our

3. The first Psalm being written in Palestine, the comparison (in v. 4.) of the ungodly to chaff driven away by the wind will become more evident, when it is recollected that the threshing floors in that country were not under cover as those in our modern barns are, but that they were formed in the open air, without the walls of cities, and in lofty situations, in order that the wheat might be the more effectually separated from the chaff by the action of the wind. (See Hosea xiii. 3.) In like manner, the knowledge of the nature of the Arabian desert, through which the children of Israel journeyed, is necessary to the correct under-accounts of the Assyrians, recourse must chiefly be had to the standing of many passages in the Books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which were written in that desert.

VI. We find it to be no small help to the understanding of ancient profane writings, if we can discover the OCCASION on which, as well the time when, they were penned; and for want of such knowledge many passages in such writings are become obscure and unintelligible. The same may be observed in the books of the Old and New Testament (especially in the Book of Psalms and the Apostolical Epistles), the right understanding of the design of which, as well as of their phraseology, is most essentially promoted by a careful observance of the OCCASION upon which they were

written.

To some of the Psalms, indeed, there is prefixed a notice of the occasion on which they were composed and, by comparing these with one another, and with the sacred history, great light may be, and has been, thrown upon the more difficult passages; and the meaning, beauty, and energy of many expressions have been set in a clearer point of view. But where no such titles are prefixed, the occasion must be sought from internal circum

stances.

Psalm xlii. was evidently written by David, when he was in circumstances of the deepest affliction: but if we compare it with the history of the conspiracy of Absalom, aided by Ahithophel, who had deserted the councils of his sovereign, as related in 2 Sam. xv., and also with the character of the country whither David fled, we shall have a key to the meaning of that psalm, which will elucidate it with equal beauty and propriety.'

VII. ANCIENT SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY.-An acquaintance with the history of the Israelites, as well as that

1 Dr. Randolph has very happily elucidated the whole of the forty-second Psalm, from an investigation of the occasion from internal circumstances, in a Dissertation, at the end of vol. i. of his View of Christianity, &c. Oxford, 1784. 8vo.

The

Scriptures themselves, as no confidence whatever can be placed in the narrations of Ctesias, whose fidelity and veracity have justly been questioned by Aristotle, Strabo, and Plutarch. The history of the Ammonites, Moabites, Idumæans, Philistines, and other petty neighbouring nations, who had no historians of their own, is involved in equal obscurity; for the little that is known of them, with certainty, we are exclusively indebted to the Holy Scriptures.

The sources, therefore, of that historical knowledge, which is so essential to an interpreter of the Sacred Writings, are, in the first place, the Old and New Testaments, and next the works of Josephus and profane authors. It is, however, to be observed, that where the latter speak of the Jews, they wilfully misrepresent them, as is done by Justin and Tacitus. With a view to reconcile these various contradictions, and to overcome the difficulties thus interposed by the uncertainty of ancient profane history, various learned men have at different times employed themselves in digesting the remains of ancient history, and comparing it with the Scriptures, inorder to illustrate them as much as possible; and the Connections of Sacred and Profane History, by Drs. Shuckford, Prideaux, and Russell, Stackhouse's History of the Bible, and Dr. Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, are particularly worthy of notice.2

VIII. CHRONOLOGY, or the science of computing and adjusting periods of time, is of the greatest importance towards shows the order and connection of the various events therein understanding the historical parts of the Bible, not only as it recorded, but likewise as it enables us to ascertain the accomplishment of many of the prophecies. Chronology is further of service to the biblical critic, as it sometimes leads to the discovery and correction of mistakes in numbers and dates,

2 An account of their valuable works is given in the BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX to Vol. II.

which have crept into particular texts.

As considerable dif- | pretation is confirmed, not only by the fact, that the verb XTIZM İS cerning the manifestation of the heathen gods, in which responses were used in this sense among Greek writers, and is especially understood coa given to those who consulted them; but also by the fact of its occurring on an ancient votive tablet found at Rome, which was formerly seen in the temple of Esculapius, on an island in the Tiber: from which the following

passages are selected:

ΑΥΤΑΙΣ ΤΑΙΣ ΗΜΕΡΑΙΣ ΓΑΙΩΙ
ΤΙΝΙ ΤΥΦΛΩΙ ΕΧΡΗΜΑΤΙΣΕΝ (ὁ Θεός).

ferences exist in the chronology of the Hebrew Scriptures,
the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint version, and Jo-
sephus, different learned men have applied themselves to the
investigation of these difficulties, and have communicated
the result of their researches in elaborate systems. Some
one of these, after examining their various claims, it will be
desirable to have constantly at hand. The principal systems
of Chronology are those of Cappel, Vossius, Archbishop to), one Gaius, a blind man.
Usher, Bedford, Jackson, and Dr. Hales; of which an ac-
count will be found in the BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX to the
second Volume.

IX. A knowledge of BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES (including the Sacred and Profane History, Geography, Genealogy, Natural History, Coins, Medals, and other ancient remains, and Philosophy, Learning and Philosophical Sects, Manners, Customs, and private Life, of the Jews and other nations mentioned in the Bible) is indispensably necessary to the right understanding of the sacred volume.

1. What the peculiar rites, manners, and customs of the Hebrews and other nations actually were, that are either alluded to or mentioned in the Scriptures, can only be ascertained by the study of their POLITICAL, ECCLESIASTICAL, and CIVIL STATE; without an accurate knowledge of which, all interpretation must be both defective and imperfect.

If, in order to enter fully into the meaning, or correctly appre hend the various beauties, of the Greek and Roman classics, it be necessary to be acquainted with the peculiar forms of government which prevailed-the powers of magistrates-modes of executing the laws-the punishments of criminals-tributes or other duties imposed on subjects-their military affairs-sacred rites and festivals-private life, manners, and amusements commerce, measures, and weights, &c. &c.-how much greater difficulties will be interposed in his way, who attempts to interpret the Scriptures without a knowledge of these topics! For, as the customs and manners of the oriental people are widely different from those of the western nations; as, further, their sacred rites differ most essentially from every thing with which we are acquainted, and as the Jews in particular, from the simplicity of their language, have drawn very numerous metaphors from the works of nature, from the ordinary occupations and arts of life, from religion and things connected with it, as well as from their national history;-there are many things recorded, both in the Old and New Testament, which must appear to Europeans either obscure, unintelligible, repulsive, or absurd, unless, forgetting our own peculiar habits and modes of thinking, we transport ourselves in a manner to the East, and diligently study the customs, whether political, sacred, or civil, which obtained there. In the second volume of this work, the author has attempted to compress the most important facts relative to biblical antiquities.

2. With regard to COINS, MEDALS, AND OTHER ANCIENT REMAINS, considered as a source of interpretation, a few remarks and illustrations may be here introduced. The examples given in pp. 88-92. supra, as collateral testimonies to the credibility of the sacred writers, may indeed be considered as so many elucidations of the passages there referred to. Two or three additional instances shall now be subjoined, which will serve to show the important hermeneutical aid, which may be derived from these remains of

ancient art.

1. Acts xi. 26. It came to pass that ...... the disciples were called (Xpatia) Christians, first in Antioch.

Commentators and critics are much divided in opinion concerning the origin of the appellation Christian. Some are of opinion that it was first invented by the enemies of religion, and was fixed upon the disciples of Christ as a stigma of reproach. In confirmation of this opinion, they refer to Acts xxvi. 28. and I Pet. iv. 16. Others imagine, that the Christians themselves assumed this appellation. Others, with inore propriety, con ceive that it was given to them by divine appointment, or by an oracle from God. In every other passage of the New Testament (with perhaps one exception only), where the word Xp occurs, as well as in the Septuagint version, it uniformly means being warned by a divine oracle; and when we consider, that it had been predicted by Isaiah (Ixii. 2.) that the future church should be called by a NEW NAME, which the mouth of the Lord shall name, we shall be justified in adopting the third interpretation, and render the passage thus:-And the disciples were called Christians by divine appointment first at Antioch. The correctness of this inter

See Biel's Lexicon in LXX. voce XрμтICW.

In those days (the god) DIVINELY ANSWERED (or gave an oracular response

risy.

ΛΟΥΚΙΩΙ ΠΑΓΥΡΙΤΙΚΩΙ...
ΕΧΡΗΜΑΤΙΣΕΝ Ο ΘΕΟΣ,

The God DIVINELY ANSWERED......Lucius, who laboured under a plen 2. John xi. 19. Ελελευθεισαν ΠΡΟΣ ΤΑΣ ΠΕΡΙ Μαρθαν και Mapy.

The expressions, TV, and oμo Tirs, are used by the best
Greek writers for the persons themselves: the same inode of construction
obtains in this passage of St. John's Gospel, which is correctly rendered
in our authorized version, They came to Martha and Mary. The same
expression occurs in an inscription found at Olbiopolis: El APKONTOL
ΜΑΡΚΟΥ ΟΥΛΠΙΟΥ ΠΥΡΡΟΥ
That is, during

ZHOOT TO I ATOPONO MOI, KOYNOY ASHNAIOT, &c.
ΑΡΣΗΧΟΥ, ΟΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΠΟΣΕΙΔΗ Ν

the archonship of Marcus Ulpius Pyrrhus [the son of] Arsechus, the Ago
ronomoi (or inspectors of markets) Poseides the son of Zethus for the third
time, Kunus [the son of] Athenæus, &c. &c.

3. Acts xix. 35. Commentators have been much perplexed concerning the functions of the гpaμuarus, or Town-clerk of Ephesus.

(whose celebrated temple was erected at the common expense of all the
As the Ephesians were at this time solemnizing games in honour of Diana
the cities of Asia) under the presidency of the Asiarchs, that is, principal
officers or high-priests chosen by the community of Asia for that purpose,
than the clerk or recorder of Ephesus. Domninus, an ancient author,
it is highly probable that this paμμxтsus was a person of greater authorsy
cited by the chronologer Malelas (who, being a native of Ephesus, could
not but be acquainted with the public transactions of his own city), relates
Jupiter, the FTUS, who represented Apollo, and the Amphitales, who
that, besides the Syriarch, there were the Alytarch, who represented
represented Mercury; and that suitable honours were paid to them by all
the people. Apuleiuss also states, that a Tavs presided over certain
sacred rites in Egypt. The presumption, therefore, is, that the ITIDE
of Ephesus was not a civil officer, as is commonly supposed, but a sacred
officer; and this presumption is converted into certainty by the fact that,
among the various coins of that city, which are still extant, there are
several containing the names of persons who bore the title of APXIEPETZ,
TPAMMATETE, or, High Priest-Scribe, particularly one which was struck
during the triumvirate of Augustus, Anthony, and Lepidus (no very long
inscription:-
time before the transaction related in Acts xix.), which has the following

ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΥΣ ΓΡΑΜ ΓΛΑΥΚΩΝ ΕΥΘΥΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΩΝ,

Glaucon Euthycrates, the High Priest-Scribe of the Ephesians."
Now, as this officer was the representative of Apollo, who could be more
proper to address the infuriated populace, or more likely to have weight
and influence with them, and the force of an oracle in what he said to them,
than that officer to whom they paid the honours due to Apollo ? The good
sense of his address, and the happy effect it produced upon the Ephesian
populace, confirm this conclusion.

comparatively untried application of coins and inscriptions is calculated to
It were not difficult to adduce many additional instances, in which the
elucidate particular words and forms of expression in the New Testament:
of prosecuting this subject further will find ample materials in the publica-
but the preceding instances may suffice; and the student who is desirous
tions of Bishop Münter, already cited.

In the application of Biblical Antiquities to the interpretation of the Sacred Writings, it is, however, of the utmost importance, that we should be guided by the exercise of a sober and cautious judgment, and by the influence of a correct taste; lest we ascribe to the inspired authors sentiments which perhaps never entered From this mistake, that acute biblical critic, and most diligent their minds, or imagine customs which never had any existence. investigator of oriental manners and customs, Michaelis, is not exempt.

In Prov. x. 14. we read, Wise men lay up knowledge, that is, treasure it up, and reserve it for a proper opportunity to make use of it: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction; such a one is always talking, and seldom

Syria, and Nor Rome in Italy; and this circumstance annihilates the proud pretensions of that corrupt section of the universal professing Christian church, which, in direct opposition to the evidence of history and fact, arrogantly assumes to be the mother and mistress of all the churches of

Christ.

3 Gruteri Thesaurus Inscriptionum, p. lxxi. Munteri Symbolæ ad Interpretationem Nov. Test. ex Marmoribus, in Misc. Hafniensia, vol. i. parti. temple of Esculapius, in the night-time, and for the most part to persons pp. 8, 9. The oracular responses above mentioned were given in the while asleep.

Münter, Symbolæ, p. 23. It is, however, proper to remark, that the reading Taç Tip Maptv xa Mapiav is not fully established. The Codex Beze omits the words sp, and the Codices Vaticanus, Ephremni, Regius 62 (Stephani 8.), and Colbertinus, simply read pug тy Map Xi Mapy to Martha and Mary; and the Syriac version has only the names of the two sisters. Münter, ibid. Winer's Grammar to the New Test

2 The place where this divine appellation was given to the disciples of Christ is too important to be altogether passed by. It was......at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, at that time pre-eminent for the splendour of its p. 54. edifices, and the riches, luxury, and profligacy of its inhabitants; and in this seemingly little circumstance we may recognise an additional triumph of the Gospel, that that venerable name, which obliges every one who bears it to depart from all iniquity (2 Tim. ii. 19.), should have commenced in a city where every kind of iniquity prevailed. Further, it was at Antioch in

$ Joan. Malela, p. 374, &c. Cited in Biscoe on the Acts, vol. i. p. 305.
In Milesia undecima cited by Basnage, Annal. vol. i. p. 673. Biscoe, p

306.

Rasche, Lexicon Rei Nummariæ, tom. ii. part i. col. 648.
Biscoe on the Acts, vol. i. p. 306,