the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

17. Devout persons, i. e., Greek proselytes of the gate.

18. Epicureans and Stoicks. The two rival schools which at this time divided the intellects of the western world; the former deriving its existence from Epicurus, who flourished about the beginning of the third century B. C., and the other from Zeno, who belongs to the same period, although it took a new form in the hands of later teachers. In dealing with moral questions two opposite principles are possible, and have found advocates in all ages. On the one side, it may be said that the character of actions is to be judged by their results; on the other, that it is to be sought only in the actions themselves. Pleasure is the test of right in one case; an assumed, or discovered, law of human nature on the other. If the world were perfect, and the balance of human faculties undisturbed, it is evident that both systems would give identical results. As

it is, there is a tendency to error on either side. Epicurus defined the objects of philosophy to be, the attainment of a happy life. The pursuit of truth for its own sake he regarded as superfluous. He rejected dialectics as a useless study, and accepted the senses, in the widest acceptation of the term, as the criterion of truth.' Zeno, on the other hand, 'advocated a purely spiritual (intellectual) morality. The opposition between the two was com

20 For thou bringest certain strange things to Our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom there

plete. The infinite chance-formed worlds of the one stand over against the one harmonious world of the other. On the one side are gods regardless of material things; on the other, a Being permeating and vivifying all creation.' In morals, the Stoics taught that the active principle in man is of divine origin, and that his duty is to live conformably to nature. By 'nature' some understood the nature of man, others the nature of the universe; but both agreed in regarding it as a general law of the whole, and not particular passions or impulses. Good, therefore, was but one. All external things were indifferent. Reason was the absolute sovereign of man :' Dict. of Bible, vol. ii. p. 856, PHILOSOPHY. Compare EPICUREANS, STOICS.

19. Unto Arcopagus. Not before the court, but to the place where it sat in the open air, as a more convenient place of audience than the crowded Agora which it overlooked. A flight of steps, still visible, led up from the Agora to the Areopagus. See note on ver. 15.

21. For all, etc. One of their own orators gives them the same character.

22. Mars' hill. See note on ver. 15, 19.-Too superstitious. Rather, excessively religious.' The Athenians are neither praised nor blamed; but the speaker accepts the fact, and takes advantage of it.

23. Devotions. Rather, Objects of

devotion.'-To the unknown God. Rightly, To an unknown God.' We have other evidence of the existence at Athens of altars bearing this inscription. They were probably dedicated, in times of national calamity, to the god, whoever he might be, that was conceived to have inflicted the calamity, but whose name could not be ascertained. St. Paul simply takes advantage of this singular dedication to preach to them Him who was an unknown God' to them. And, if he was aware of the origin of the inscription, he may have intended to

any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

intimate, that the God whom he preached, and in whose hands were both nature and providence, was in fact the God whom they ignorantly worshipped,' as having been the unknown author of their calamity; compare ver. 24, 28.-Whom therefore, etc. Read, That, therefore, which ye worship while ye know it not, that it is which I am setting forth unto you;' in allusion to the charge in ver. 18, and in direct answer to the question of the philosophers.

25. Worshipped with men's hands. Or, 'served by human hands.'

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us :

28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness 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.

CHAP. XVIII.

parted from Athens, and came

to Corinth;

28. Certain also of your own poets. Aratus (also a native of Tarsus), and Cleanthes, in whose hymn to Zeus the words also occur in a somewhat altered form.

29. The Godhead. Or, the Deity,' the abstract term which was current among the philosophers.

31. By that man, etc. Rather, 'by a man whom he appointed, giving evident assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.'

32. The resurrection. As implied in the resurrection of Christ just spoken of.

34. Dionysius the Arcopagite. We know nothing more of him from Scripture. For traditional accounts see Dict. of Bible, and Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, DIONYSIUS THE AREO

PAGITE.

CHAPTER XVIII.

I. Corinth. See Introduction to the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

2. Commanded all Jews, etc. Suetonius informs us that the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome on account of the continual disturbances among them, instigated by 'Chrestus.' Whether we are to understand this as referring to any collisions between the Jews and Christians, or whether the Christ,' or 'Messiah,' was the watchword of a zealous national party among the Jews, it is impossible to say. This was probably the occasion on which Aquila and his wife Prisca, or Priscilla, left Rome. They must have become Christians after St. Paul had left their house (ver. 6), but during his stay at Corinth. They accompanied St. Paul to Ephesus, and were the means of converting Apollos. They remained at Ephesus for some time, and were there when the First Epistle to the Corinthians was written (I Cor. xvi. 10); but they must have left that city for Rome very shortly afterwards, as we find them established at Rome in Rom. xvi. 3. Later, they appear to have

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, 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.

returned to Ephesus. See note on 2 Tim. iv. 18. At Rome and Ephesus the Chris

tians met at their house.

3. Tentmakers. There was a goat'shair cloth, called cilicium, manufactured in Cilicia, and largely used for tents. Saul's trade was probably that of making tents of that hair-cloth. It does not follow that the family were in the necessitous condition which such manual labour commonly implies; for it was a wholesome custom among the Jews to teach every child some trade, though there might be little prospect of his depending upon it for his living.' Dict. of Bible, vol. ii. p. 732, PAUL. On this occasion, however, the apostle worked for his own maintenance, and in order to render himself independent of his disciples. See I Cor. ix.

4. Persuaded. Rather, 'endeavoured to persuade.'

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.

II And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 And when Gallio was the

in the spirit. Perhaps we should read, 'was pressed (i.e., 'laboured zealously') in the word, testifying to the Jews,' etc.

6. Shook his raiment. A symbolical act, similar in import to that of shaking off the dust from the feet (chap. xiii. 51; Matt. x. 14), and expressing the idea of the words which follow, I am clean.'Your blood, etc. See Ezek. xxxiii. 1-5. In every place, as we have seen (compare, and see note on chap. xvii. 2), Paul addressed himself to the Jews in the first instance.

7. Entered into, etc. Aquila and Priscilla, then, were not converted as yet.— One that worshipped God, i.e., a Gentile proselyte.

8. Crispus. See 1 Cor. i. 14.

12. Gallio. Junius Annæus Gallio, brother of the philosopher Seneca, described elsewhere as a most amiable and popular person.-Deputy. Or, Proconsul.'

the composition of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, and that of the Second Epistle somewhat later. See the Intro

in which Corinth was the seat of government, was nearly identical in extent with the modern kingdom of Greece.- Made in

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