1 Or, full of idols. 2 Or, base fellow. 3 Or, Mars' hill. It was the highest court in Athens. Or, gods that you worship-2 Thess. 2. 4.

28 For in him we live, and move, and have ur being; as certain also of your own poets ave said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring God, we ought not to think that the odhead is like unto gold, or silver, or one, graven by art and man's device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God nked at; but now commandeth all men ery where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the ich he will judge the world in righteous

28 Isa. 40. 18.:

ness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath 'given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

32¶And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. 33 So Paul departed from among them.

34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

9 Or, offered faith.

'erse 1. "Amphipolis."-This town was at the mouth of the river Strymon, which passed on each side of it, whence name of Amphipolis. It was originally built by Cimon, who colonized it with ten thousand Athenians (Corn. >os in Vita Cimon,' c. 2). It was on the direct road from Philippi to Thessalonica.

Apollonia."-There were several places of this name, of which three were in Macedonia. The most important of se three was the one near the Adriatic, the history of which is often mistakenly given to the Apollonia visited by Paul. The latter was a place of small consequence-not immediately on the line between, although on the usual 1 from Amphipolis to Thessalonica; being rather to the south-west of the former town, and to the south-east of

latter.

Thessalonica."-This city was the capital of one of the four districts into which Macedonia was divided by the Ros, and, indeed, of the whole province-being the residence of the proconsul. We reserve a further notice of it, the desire of connecting it with St. Paul's epistles to the Thessalonians.

"Berea.”—This place was about thirty-five miles to the west of Thessalonica. It was said to have been built by edo, who gave it the name of his daughter, Berea; but it was little noticed by ancient writers, and does not appear ive been a place of much consequence.

"Athens.”—We find some difficulty in seeing how to deal with such important names as Athens, Rome, &c. r absolute importance would seem to require notices as extensive as we have ever allowed to any single subjects. as the extent of our notice of the things and places mentioned in Scripture must be regulated less by their absoimportance than by the degree of interest which Scripture itself connects with them, we should hardly be justified lowing to the subjects mentioned, any other than such brief notices as would seem to the reader most unworthy eir real importance. For these reasons, and because more ample information concerning such places than we possibly furnish, is diffused in every possible form, and is, in some form or other, accessible to all-we judge it o assume that the reader is already possessed of sufficient information, and, therefore, without formally noticing places, to confine our attention to such matters concerning them, as the illustration of particular passages may to require.

"He saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”—The literal force of the original is “filled with idols," which implies, ver, the sense conveyed in our translation. This exactly agrees with all that ancient authors tell us. Cicero des it as full of temples. Pausanias declares that it had more images than all the rest of Greece; in reference to 1 fact, Petronius humorously observed, that it was easier to find a god than a man at Athens. Ælian was hence call this city "the altar of Greece." Xenophon, before any of these authorities in time, intimates that the Athehad twice as many religious feasts as any other people. And, not to multiply proofs of a fact so notorious, > states that the Athenians were not more partial to strangers, than forward to comply with any novelties in re, and ready to entertain any foreign deities and rites of worship. Instances of the superstition of this learned olished city might also be cited without number:-such as that of the idiot who was condemned to death for one of the sparrows of Esculapius; and that of the child who was put to death, as guilty of sacrilege, for innopicking up a piece of gold which had fallen from Diana's crown.

"Philosophers of the Epicureans."-As the apostle, in his ensuing discourse, alludes, in a masterly manner, to the aent opinions and sentiments of each class of his auditors, it may be well to remind the reader that this philo:al sect held that the world was not created by a deity or with any design, but was formed by the fortuitous conof atoms; that as no God created the world, so neither did any God govern it by his providence ;-the Deity too sublime an Existence-too much absorbed in the contemplation of his own Essence and Perfections, to conimself with such paltry matters. Epicurus, the founder of the sect, acknowledged no future life. He taught leasure was the chief good of man: and perhaps, intending this to be understood in a broad philosophical sense, 1 not apprehend that it would operate as a discouragement to the practice of moral virtue. But his followers, e most part, interpreted this doctrine as a licence and encouragement to the pursuit of sensual pleasure; when curean became a term for describing a man abandoned to voluptuous enjoyment. Even the few who took the ne as an encouragement to virtue, cultivated virtue not for its own sake, but on account of the pleasures and satisas which it yielded. We need not point out the passages in which the apostle so skilfully alludes to the tenets portion of his auditory.

stoicks."-The founder of this sect was Zeno; but its name was derived from the place in which he taught his dis. and in which they afterwards continued to assemble. This was the celebrated Stoa (Iran) or portico of Athens, was adorned with the designs of the great Grecian masters. They held that there were two general principles, nd matter, both of which they believed to be eternal; and, as a necessary consequence, they do not seem to have very clear whether God were not the world, or the world God. They regarded all things, not excepting their tas subject to an invincible necessity, or fate. They had no idea of a future state of rewards and punishments; old that the soul was a discerped part of God, which, after death, became reunited to him and lost all personal y and all sense of pain. They held that happiness lay in virtue, and that virtue was its own reward; that all were linked indissolubly to each other, and that all crimes were equal. They taught that a wise and good man

must necessarily be, by that condition, exempt from all passion and all uneasiness of mind;-that he must be sereneand even happy, for their happiness was serenity-under all possible circumstances, even in the utmost torture or under the greatest deprivations ;-pain, want, and loss, having nothing really evil in them.

19. "Areopagus."-This name (Agues Пayes) is the same which is rendered "Mars' Hill" below; from Ares, a name of Mars, and pagos, signifying, properly, a high situation. It was an insulated precipitous rock, broken towards the south, but on the north side sloping gently down to the Temple of Theseus. It stood nearly in the centre of Athens, opps site to that of the citadel on the west. The following description, by Dr. Clarke, is interesting from its references to the present transaction :-" It is not possible to conceive a situation of greater peril, or one more calculated to prove the sincerity of a preacher, than that in which the apostle was here placed; and the truth of this will perhaps never be better felt than by a spectator, who from this eminence actually beholds the monuments of pagan pomp and superstition by which he, whom the Athenians considered as the setter forth of strange gods, was then surrounded; representing to the imagination, the disciples of Socrates and Plato, the dogmatist of the Porch, and the sceptic of the Academy, addressed by a poor and lowly man, who, rude in speech, and without the enticing words of men's wisdom, enjoined pr cepts contrary to their taste, and very hostile to their prejudices. One of the peculiar privileges of the Areopagite seems to have been set at defiance by the zeal of St. Paul on this occasion; namely, that of inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment upon any person who should slight the celebration of the holy mysteries, or blaspheme the ga of Greece. We ascended to the summit by means of steps cut in the natural stone. The sublime scene here exh bited is so striking, that a brief description of it may prove how truly it offers to us a commentary on the apostle's words, as they were delivered upon the spot. He stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath the canopy of heare Before him there was spread a glorious prospect of mountains, islands, seas, and skies: behind him towered the lefty Acropolis, crowned with all its marble temples. Thus every object, whether in the face of nature or among the work of art, conspired to elevate the mind, and to fill it with reverence towards that BEING who made and governs the world (Acts xvii. 24, 28); who sitteth in that light which no mortal eye can approach, and yet is nigh unto the meanest of his creatures; in whom we live and move and have our being."

Although the text only states that the apostle was brought to the place called Areopagus, yet it is implied that be was brought before the court which sat there, and which derived its name from the place of its sitting. This tribunal was of high antiquity, and in many respects formed the most honoured and venerable tribunal in all Greece; and its members were, in the better days of Athens, renowned for their equity, their blameless manners, their wise and prudent conduct; which, joined to their quantity and quality in the commonwealth, secured them the respect of all classes They had three meetings every month in the Areopagus. They sat in the open air, as was usual in courts which tried cases of murder, partly because it was held unlawful for the accused and accuser to be under the same roof, and partly that the judges might not contract pollution by conversing with persons so profane. It is also said that their sittings were held by night, and in darkness, that they might not be influenced by seeing either the plaintiff or defendant. These remarks apply to the original character of this renowned tribunal, the fame of which was so great, that foreign

states were often glad to submit important affairs to its decision; and even after the Romans had conquered Greece and governed it by their proconsuls, it was not unusual for them to refer difficult and important matters to the determination of the Areopagus. However, after the Athenians lost their liberty, the authority of this court (which seems before to have determined all causes, civil and criminal) declined very much; and probably, at the time of the apostle's visit, not much of its original character remained: but, although its power in other matters was greatly impaired, it appears still to have retained the power of determining what gods should be admitted to the public worship of the city: and for this reason-not, surely, as a criminal or for trial-Paul appears to have been brought before the Areopagites, that they might determine whether the strange worship of which Paul spake, should be admitted on the footing of a tolerated religion among a people who were not willing that any divine powers should be unrecognised or unworshipped by themselves.

It only remains to add, that on the top of the hill the foundations of the court may still be seen. They are built with squared stones of a prodigious size, in the form of a semicircle, and support a terrace or platform, which was the court where this assembly was held. In the middle was a tribunal, cut in a rock, and all about were the seats of the members, cut also in stone. These various details may help to give the reader some notion of the place on which, and the assembly before which, St. Paul delivered this most impressive address.

21. "For all the Athenians," &c.-By" the strangers," mentioned in this verse, we are probably to understand the young gentry, who were sent from Italy and all the neighbouring countries, to finish their education or to study in the academies of this learned and polished city. The gossiping propensities of the Athenians, and their rage for news, here incidentally alluded to by Luke, were notorious, and might be illustrated and confirmed by ample citations from ancient writers, who often ridicule their busy and prying curiosity into all public and private affairs. "There were at Athens places called oxal, i. e., gossiping-houses (corresponding to our coffee-houses), devoted to the reception of persons who met together to hear and tell news. Of these, Meurs. Ath. Att., p. 158, tells us there were 360. The more respectable inhabitants used to resort to the argua (shops of the surgeons), and xvgs (shops of the barbers.) "Bloomfield, Recens. Synop.' in loc. The reader may find in Theophrastus an amusing description of the Athenian news-mongers. He says there was not a shop, portico, or any public place, in which they did not often take their stand for a day together, racking their invention, and amusing their idle hearers, with an endless round of forged intelligence. 23. "To the Unknown God."-This altar was probably erected in consequence of some benefit which the Athenians had received, without feeling assured as to the god to whom they were indebted for it: or, still more probably, it may be attributed to the superstition of the Athenians, who, apprehending that they might be exposed to some severe punishment for neglecting some god whom they knew not, dedicated an altar with this inscription, lest any one of the gods might fancy himself neglected. No remains have been found bearing such an inscription. We have indeed the testimony of ancient writers that the Athenians were in the habit of dedicating altars to the " unknown gods" for the reason alleged above; and of such there seem to have been several in Athens. But Paul says he saw one inscribed "to the unknown God," in the singular; and his argument is based on this fact, and would not apply had it been "to the unknown gods." These considerations would show the probability that there should be such an altar; and the assertion of the apostle renders it certain that there was such.

CHAPTER XVIII.

3 Paul laboureth with his hands, and preacheth at
Corinth to the Gentiles. 9 The Lord encourageth
him in a vision. 12 He is accused before Gallio
the deputy, but is dismissed. 18 Afterwards pass-
ing from city to city he strengtheneth the disci-
ples. 24 Apollos, being more perfectly instructed
by Aquila and Priscilla, 28 preacheth Christ with
great efficacy.

AFTER these things Paul departed from
Athens, and came to Corinth;

2 And found a certain Jew named 'Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) and came unto them.

3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

6 And when they opposed themselves,

1 Rom. 16. 3. 2 Matt. 10. 14.

and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

11 And he 'continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among

them.

12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

81 Cor. 1. 14. • Gr. sat there.

you, if God will.
Ephesus.

And he sailed from

22 And when he had landed at Cæsarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

23 And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

24 And a certain Jew named Apollos. born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus 25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the spirt he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

:

26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.

51 Cor. 4. 19. James 4. 15.

Verse 1. "Corinth."-See the note to 1 Cor. i.

1 Cor. 1.12.

2. "Pontus."-This was one of the provinces of Asia Minor, which was bounded on the east by Colchis, on the west by Paphlagonia and Galatia, on the south by Armenia and Cappadocia, and on the north by the Euxine Sea. It enjoyed an ancient reputation (which, from experience, we should think well deserved) for the wholesomeness of its air. Sume parts of this large country are very fertile, the hills being covered with olive and cherry-trees, and the plains affording grain in abundance.

“Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome."-This fact is mentioned by Suetonius, who says that it was because the Jews were continually raising tumults at Rome, being incited thereto by one Chrestus (in vita Claud | c. 25); by which we are probably to understand that these tumults were occasioned by the violent opposition of the Jews to the Christians: which the historian appears not to have understood more clearly, than that one Christ was the occasion of their tumults. The Christians doubtless shared in this expulsion, as they were at first regarded by the Romans merely as a Jewish sect-the first converts being, in fact, Jews. Other reasons have been adduced as more probable or more satisfactory than that assigned by Suetonius: and it is perhaps safest to conclude that they all concurred in bringing Claudius to his determination. One of these is, that the Jews had cultivated the acquaintance of the empress Agrippina, and converted her to Judaism; and the other was, that this severity proceeded from the conduct of some robbers in Judea, who had assaulted a servant of the emperor's, named Stephen, had taken from him the inperial baggage with which he was intrusted, and had slain the Roman soldiers appointed to guard it.

3. "By their occupation they were tentmakers.”—This must be explained by a reference to our former statements, that every Jew, whatever were his condition of life, was obliged to have some handicraft employment; of which custom Paul, and perhaps Aquila, now find the benefit. Aquila, indeed, may possibly have been a regular artisan; but there is not the least reason to suppose that Paul was, or was ever intended to be, such; for we find that he appears to have received a good general education at his native place, Tarsus, after which he was sent to Jerusalem to complete his Jewish education, which he did "at the feet of Gamaliel." These were objects not to be obtained but by persons in good circumstances; and tend to show that Paul had learned tent-making only under the general rule which required every parent to provide his son with a trade.

12. "Achaia."-Achaia was properly the name of the province which occupied the whole or greater part of the northern shore of the Peloponnesus, towards the Corinthian Gulf. In this sense it seems to be here used. This was Achaia Proper, the limits of which were, however, continually fluctuating. But at this time the name was often used in a much more extensive signification; for the term was sometimes applied to the whole of Greece; and the name was, more particularly. at this time borne by one of the two governments into which it had been divided by the Romans. Thus, one of them, Macedonia, comprehended not only Macedonia Proper, but Thessaly and Epirus; while the other. under the name of Achaia, comprised all the rest of Greece, with the neighbouring islands. This last was, therefore, the government of Gallio. In the New Testament, "Achaia" generally appears to denote Achaia Proper; but sometimes (as in 2 Cor. xi. 10) the Roman province of that name.