5396. The Apostle and his companions, being strangers at Philippi, saw by the river Strymon, a place of resort, which they apprehended to be an oratory, or prayerhouse, because such houses were common by the sides of rivers. "Where a proseucha, or place for prayer, was supposed to be." That is, supposed by them; they probably, not having seen it before. The Greek word we have here ren. dered suppose, is translated think or suppose in the following passages: Matt. v. 17. x. 34. xx. 10. Luke ii. 44. Acts vii. 25. xiv. 19. xvi. 27. xvii, 29. xxi. 29. 1 Cor. vii. 26, 36. 1 Tim. vi. 5.

5392. [ 6.] Asia Proper of the Romans, comprehended Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Æolis, and Ionia, This tract was bounded, according to Ptolemy, on the north by Bithynia and Pontus, extending from Galatia to Propontis; on the east by Galatia, Pamphylia, and Lycia; on the south by part of Lycia and the Rhodian sea; on the west by the Hellespont, by the Egean, Icarian, and Myrtoan seas. It lies beneath the thirty-fifth and forty-first degree of north latitude, and extends in longitude from fiftyfive to sixty-two degrees. That is that Asia of which mention is here made, and in St. John's Revelation.

Univer. Hist. vol. v. pp. 322, 323.

5393. [7.] Mysia Minor lay on the Propoutis, and extended theuce to mount Olympus; being bounded by Bithynia and the Propoutis on the north and west, by Phrygia Minor on the south, and by Phrygia Major on the east. Mysia Major was bounded on the north by Phrygia Minor, on the south by Eolia, ou the east by Phrygia Major, and and on the west by the Egean sea.

Ibid. p. 392.

5394. [- 9.] The sphere of a spirit, is as it were his image extended without him: hence, by the meeting of

5397. [14.] That exquisite purple, so highly esteemed among the Antients, is found in turbines, a species of shell-fish growing on rocks washed by the sea. This species, the acaracolada or spiral-shelled, is somewhat larger than a nut, and is replete with a juice, probably the blood, which, when expressed, is the true purple; for if a thread of cotton, or any thing of a similar kind be dipt in this liquor, it becomes of a most vivid color, which repeated washings are so far from obliterating, that they rather improve it; nor does it fade by wearing. But the purple tinge does not immediately appear, the juice being at first of a milky color; it then changes to green; and, lastly, into this celebrated purple, which is far from being so common any where, as some authors have imagined; for, though the fish increases, yet so large a quantity is necessary to dye a few ounces of thread, that little of it is seen; andfindeed its great price is partly owing to its scarcity.

5398.

ULLOA's Voyage, by Adams; vol. i. p. 168.

Whose heart the Lord opened. Air, during its rarefaction, attracts heat from the surrounding bodies; and gives off heat, during its condensation. A fact ascertained by Dr. DARWIN, in the Phil. Trans. for 1788. See Exod. vii. 14.

5406. [Acts xvii. 26.] There is not an animal nor a plant existing, whose harmonic point is not fixed to a certain situation, to a certain hour of the day or of the night, to the rising or the setting of the sun, to the phases of the Moon, nay to the very tempests: to say nothing of the other contrasts and correspondencies which result from these.

There are known to be on our earth at least ten different species of mountains, each of which has vegetables and quadrupeds so peculiar to itself as not elsewhere to be found. This proves that such mountains are not the work of chance, or of a centrifugal force, or of fire, or of earthquakes, or of water-courses, but of an allwise and designing GOD.

St. PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. ii. pp. 193, 340.

5401. [Acts xvii. 10.] That Aleppo was the Berea of the Antients, sufficiently appears from Abu Nasr Ebn Hazir and Strabo. It stands about ten degrees thirty-five minutes to the east of Alexandria in Egypt; and the latitude assigned it by Golius is thirty-six degrees forty-six minutes North; though, according to Dr. Halley, this has been determined more accurately to be thirty-six degrees thirty minutes North.

Modern Univer. Hist. vol. i. p. 441.

5402. [ 16.] PETRONIUS says, it was more easy to find gods (Noblemen or Senators) than men at Athens.

5403. [ 18.] The Epicureans, who held that the chief good consisted in gratifying the sensual appetites, would necessarily be highly offended at Paul's doctrine, who had just brought to Athens the decrees made at Jerusalem by the Apostles and elders, against the using of either animal food or inebriating liquors.

5404. [22.] I perceive that in all things ye are very devout. See LARDNER'S Works, vol. i. p. 193.

5405. [- 23.] In the year of our Lord 1687, the antient Temple at Athens, dedicated to the "unknown God",

5407. [--28.] Since the power of preserving created things by a superintending providence, belongs eminently to the Godhead, the Brahmins of India hold that power to exist transcendently in the preserving member of the Triad (the Holy Spirit of God), whom they suppose to be EVERY WHERE ALWAYS, not in substance, but in spirit aud energy. Works of Sir W. JONES, vol. i. p. 254.

5408.

The passage of Aratus, thought to be referred to here, runs to this purpose:

"From Jove we spring, shall Jove be then unsung;
"Jove, who to sing enables every tongue!
"Where'er we mortals go, where'er we move,
"Our forums, cities, streets, are full of Jove:
"He flows the swelling, ebbs the falling tide,
"With him, in harbour safe the vessels ride.
"We seek him, taste him, breathe him ev'ry where,
"And all in common his kind influence share".

Bp. HORNE's Hutchinson, p. 46.
"Jupiter est æther; unde loquendi genus, sub
"Jove frigido, sub Dio," et Jovis omnia plena.
Vossius, Origin and Progress of Idolatry,
b. vii. p. 161.

"Jove is the spirit of all nature's frame,
"Blows in the wind, and blazes in the flame;
"The deep beneath, the radiant sun above,
"The moon's reflected light, are parts of Jove."

5409. [Acts xvii. 31.] This passage proves that, though, the Man Jesus put off his material humanity at the ascension, he retained his spiritual and finite interior body, in which he was properly a Man in the Intermediate state, till he had executed that final judgment on the Jewish Church, which is described at large in the book of Revelation, and which was completed in the year 70; after which Jesus Christ gave up his spiritual body as a glory into the Grand Man of the Christian Angelic Heaven, and as to his interior returned into perfect union with the Father, as le fills that and every other Grand Mau of Heaven.

bly took place in Sabbatical years. His first Journey, in the third year after his conversion, is noted at Chap. ix. 26; his second, in the next sabbatical year, at Chap. xi. 30; his third, in the 14th year from his conversion, at Chap. xv. 4; and his fourth, in the 21st after conversion, took place at the time mentioned above.

6416. [Acts xviii. 23.] Phrygia Minor was bounded by the Propontis, on the north; by the Egean sea, on the south; by Asia Minor, on the east; and by the Hellespont, on the west. It lay between the forty and forty-second degrees of north latitude, and was of very small extent in longitude. Univer. Hist. vol. v. p. 355.

5417. [24.] During the conflagration of the Alexandrian library, when seven hundred thousand volumes were condemned to the flames by order of the caliph Omar, six months elapsed before all the books were consumed. The literary world must ever lament this cruel mandate of ignorance and bigotry. The manuscripts had been accumulating for ages; and the art of printing being then unknown, the loss was irreparable. FORBES' Oriental Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 130.

5418. [Acts xix. 6. And prophesied] Prophetized.— To prophetize, says GEDDES, is to sing sacred hymus, probably extemporary ones. See on 1 Sam. x. 5.

5419. [9.] Disputing daily in the school of one of the Rulers of the city.

See KNATCHBULL; and MUNGO PARK's account of a similar Schoolmaster.

On the 30th of August I arrived, says MUNGO PARK, at Wonda; a small town with a mosque, and surrounded by a high wall. The mansa, who was a Mahomedan, acted in two capacities as chief magistrate of the town, and schoolmaster to the children. He was a man of mild disposition, and gentle manners; and although he adhered strictly to the relgion of Mahomet, he was by no means intolerant in his principles towards others who differed from him. He spent much of his time in reading; and teaching appeared to be his plea sure, as well as employment. His school consisted of seventeen boys, most of whom were sons of Kasirs; and two girls, one of whom was Karfa's own daughter. The girls received their instructions in the day-time, but the boys always had their lessons by the light of a large fire before day-break, and again late in the evening; for being considered, during their

scholarship, as the domestic slaves of the master, they were employed in planting corn, bringing fire-wood, and in other servile offices through the day. The children wanted not a spirit of emulation, which it is the aim of the tutor to encourage. When any one of them has read through the Koran, &c., a feast is prepared by the schoolmaster, and the scholar undergoes an examination, before the bushreens, who act as examiners, or (in European terms) takes out his degree.

When a scholar has undergone this examination, his parents are informed that he has completed his education, and that it is incumbent on them to redeem their son, by giving to the schoolmaster a slave, or the price of a slave in exchange; which is always done, if the parents can afford it; if not, the boy remains the domestic slave of the schoolmaster until he can, by his own industry, collect goods sufficient to ransom himself.

See his Travels. · Pinkerton's Coll. part lxviii. pp. 865, 892, 894, 896.

5420. [Acts xix. 16.] A wicked spirit can only from evil do evil to the wicked: he cannot in the least do evil to the good. If he do evil to the comparatively good, it is by conjunction with their evil: whence arise the temptations, by which the good can be delivered from their evils.

SWEDENBORG, on Divine Providence, n. 19.

5421. [ 19.] Science, in the hand of Wisdom, is a torch which illuminates, but brandished by the hand of wickedness, it sets the World on fire.

St, PIERRE's Studies of Nature, vol. iv p. 105.

mus, with greater probability, conceives that they were little silver chapels representing the form of the Ephesian temple, with the image of Diana enshrined.

5425. [Acts xix. 25.] History informs us, that a strong desire for wealth has been the ruling passion of the sacerdotal order, from the [first degenerate] sons of Levi down to the [corrupt] establishments of the present day; and I doubt not, says J. DOUGLAS of North Shields, but if any measure were now adopted, having for its object the abolition of tithes and Easter reckonings, we should behold similar confusion to that at Ephesus; one party crying out "Great is our Diana”, while others would no doubt greatly rejoice at the triumph of reason and justice. Methodism has now been before the world eighty years, and the zeal of its Founder, and that of many of his fellow-labourers, have made a favourable impression on the minds of the public towards methodists. This has been maintained by the craft of the Preachers to the present day (1814, a judgment year). But it should always be remembered, that "the friendship of the world is an abomination to God; therefore when we see a set of religious professors aiming at worldly power and esteem, and, by their arrangements, embracing the views of unconverted minds to make themselves popular, we are authorised by Scripture to suspect their motives and designs. Again, their servile cringing to Church and State, their accommodating themselves to all parties, their want of religious principles, and their appearing any thing or nothing in order to answer the views of their mercenary Teachers, are a strong evidence that the Word of God has never come to them "in demonstration and power," and that the Society they stickle so much to support, is somewhat different from the Church of Christ. See The System of Methodism further exposed, printed by J. Mitchel, Newcastle on Tyne, 1814, pp. 30, 31.

5422. [ 24.] The Earth, Bendis or Diana, according to Hesychius, are supposed to be the same.

5423.

But where ARISTOTLE says (Rhet. lib. i. c. 15) that Callistratus accused Melanippus as having cheated the Naopoioi (Grk.) of three holy half-penny farthings the Scholiast expounds the Naopoioi to be templemakers, or constructors of small wooden temples enshrining images which they made to sell. Such a shrine was the skene tou Moloch (Acts vii. 43), and such were the Succoth Malchechem (Hebr.); the tabernacles of your Mulech or king, as we read in Amos v. 26.

5426. [27.] This celebrated temple of Diana, as we are informed by respectable historians, was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and two hundred and twenty in breadth, erected at the expense of the most powerful cities of Asia Minor. It was supported by a hundred and twentyseven columns, each sixty feet high, aud many of them covered with curious sculptures, executed by the most excellent artists of those times. - It was destroyed by the villainous ambition of Herostratus, who, to immortalize his name, set fire to it on the very night that Alexander the Great was born. It was afterwards rebuilt with the utmost magnificence; but of this little can be judged from its present ruins.

The noble youth that fir'd th' Ephesian dome, Outlives in fame the pious fool that built it.

SMITH.

SHAKESPEARE.

5427. [Acts xix. 28.] The Greeks celebrated no fewer than twenty-two festivals in honor of Diana; of which JOHNSON in his Work, de Festis Græcorum, gives a minute and distinct account. Univer. Hist. vol. vii. p. 283.

that their sacred images came from heaven, either banished or slew the artists that had formed them.

ISIADORE of Damietta.

5428. [

29.] On the west side of Ephesus, now reduced to a miserable village, lie vast beaps of ruins, one of which, from its figure and length, must have been a circus or stadium, and seems to have had a sort of theatre at the end of it, separated from the two parallel walls and at a little distance are the remains of an amphitheatre, where, it is probable, the rabble of the city assembled, on this occasion, at the instigation of Demetrius.

5429.

-

Sir GEORGE WHEELER.

Theatres, it seems, were generally asso ciated with idolatrous temples. In the island of Delos, not far from the ruins of Apollo's temple, "" are some remains of a beautiful marble theatre, whose circumference is five hundred feet, and its diameter, including the steps, two hundred and fifty. Just before the opening of the theatre are eight or nine #aults in a row, separated from each other by a wall, in which there is a little arch, serving for a passage from one to another. Dr. Spon imagined them to have been a kind of cisterns or reservoirs of water, but they were more probably intended to keep lions and other wild beasts in, which used to be baited in the theatres of the Antients."

SMITH.

Were those theatres, occasionally, a kind of inquisitions ?Were these baitings, in that point of view, designed to render the animals more savage?

It is well known, that such as were impeached of certain crimes were sentenced to prove their innocence by fighting with those beasts. Were such crimes, generally, of a religious nature? Were those friends, who desired of St. Paul that he would not adventure himself into the theatre, apprehensive that the ferocious animals might be let loose upon him? And,, though the Apostle was never really exposed to such a combat, does he not appeal to it as an usual test of faith and innocence, When he says, on another occasion, "If after the mauner of men, I had fought with beasts at Ephesus, what had it advantaged me, if the dead rise not?" 1 Cor. xv. 32.

5432. [Acts xx. 15.] The Phenician colonists, when they migrated from one place to another, called their new place by some name explanatory of the cause of their migration. Thus, as Malta was peopled originally from Phenicia, and became, as Diodorus Siculus (lib. 4) informs us, a refuge to the traders of that country; this the name malat (Hebr.) well explains, which means kataphuge (Grk.), effugium, or refuge, in the language of the refugees.

Archæologia, vol. xiv. p. 135.

5435. [

See Modern Univer. Hist. vol. i. p. 526.

11. Took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands, &c.] This was no doubt a prophet, in the commonly received sense of the term; and his mode of acting was like that of the antient prophets, who accompanied their predictions with significant emblems. Jeremiah was commanded to bury his girdle by the river Euphrates, to mark out the captivity of the Jews, Jer. xiii. 4. For more examples of this figurative or symbolical prophesying, see Jer. xxvii. 2, 3. Isai. xx. 2, &c. Ezek. iv. 12, &c.

5436. [ 16.] Instead of the Accusative with a preposition, the Dative (as here) is often used after verbs denoting motion.

KNATCHBULL.

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