to strange gods, and admitted of their worship with great difficulty. Dion Cassius says, that one of the blackest crimes of Sardanapalus, was introducing into Rome the worship of Heliogabalus. By the law of Athens no foreign god was to be admitted till approved and licensed by the Areopagus, which had the sole power in religious matters. The severest laws were enacted at Athens, and every citizen commanded, upon pain of death, to worship the gods and heroes, as the laws of the city required: they who observed not the appointed ceremonies were immediately dragged to the court of Areopagus. The cutting a twig out of a sacred grove was a capital offence; even a fool has been condemned for killing one of Esculapius's sparrows; and a child accidentally taking up a plate of gold, fallen from Diana's crown, was put to death for sacrilege.

No. 496.-xvii. 23. As I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God.] From the express testimony of Lucian, we learn that there was such an inscription at Athens. Whence it arose, or to what it particularly referred, is difficult to say. WITSIUS (Melet. p. 85.) with Heinsius (in loc.) understands it of Jehovah, whose name, not being pronounced by the Jews themselves, might give occasion to this appellation. Dr. Welwood (Preface to the Banquet of Xenophon, p. 18.) supposes that Socrates reared this altar to express his devotion to the one living and true God, of whom the Athenians had no notion, and whose incomprehensible being he insinuated by this inscription, to be far beyond the reach of their understanding, or his own. Hammond gives another explanation of the circumstance, which has appeared satisfactory to the learned. Diogenes Laertius, in his life of Epimenides, assures us, that in the time of

that philosopher (about 600 years before Christ) there was a terrible pestilence at Athens, in order to avert which, when none of the deities to whom they sacrificed appeared able or willing to help them, Epimenides advised them to bring some sheep to the Areopagus, and letting them loose from thence, to follow them till they lay down, and then to sacrifice them to the god near whose temple or altar they then were. Now it seems probable that Athens, not being then so full of these monuments of superstition as afterwards, these sheep lay down in places where none of them were near, and so occasioned the rearing of what the historian calls anonymous altars; or altars, each of which had the inscription ayvwoтw ew, to the unknown God, meaning thereby the deity who had sent the plague, whoever he were; one of which altars at least, however it might have been repaired, remained till St. Paul's time, and long after.

No. 497.-xviii. 3. Because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent-makers.] It was a received custom among the Jews for every man, of what rank or quality soever, to learn some trade or handy-craft; one of their proverbial expressions is, that whoever teaches not his son a trade teaches him to be a thief. In those hot coun-, tries, where tents (which were commonly made of skins, or leather sewed together, to keep out the violence of the weather) were used not only by soldiers, but by travellers, and others whose business required them to be abroad, a tent-maker was no mean or unprofitable employment. This custom, so generally practised by the Jews, was adopted also by other nations in the East. Sir Paul Rycaut observes that the grand seignior, to whom he was ambassador, was taught to make wooden spoons. The intention of this usage was not merely

amusement, but to furnish the persons so instructed with some method of obtaining their living, should they ever be reduced to want and poverty.

No. 498.-xix. 9. Disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.] Among the Jews there were two kinds of schools, wherein the law was taught, private and public. Their private schools were those, wherein a doctor of the law entertained his scholars, and were usually styled houses of learning. Their public schools were those, where their consistories sat to resolve all difficulties and differences of the law. The method of teaching adopted in the schools is observable in the scripture. When Jesus Christ was twelve years of age, he was found in the temple, in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. (Luke ii. 46.) St. Paul says, that he had studied at the feet of Gamaliel. (Acts xxii. 3.) Philo says, that among the essenes, the children sat at the feet of their masters, who interpreted the law, and explained the figurative and allegorical sense of it, after the manner of the ancient philosophers. Among the Hebrews, the rabbins sat on chairs that were raised; those scholars, who were the greatest proficients, were placed on benches just below their masters, and the younger sort sat on the ground on hassocks. The master taught either by himself or by an interpreter; if he used an interpreter he spoke Hebrew, and the interpreter explained it in the vulgar tongue. If the scholars desired to propose any question to the master, they addressed themselves to the interpreter, who proposed it to the rabbin, and reported his answer.

CALMET's Dictionary of the Bible, art. SCHOOL.

No. 499.-xx. 7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.] Bishop Pearce, in his note on this passage, says, "In the Jewish

way of speaking, to break bread is the same as to make a meal: and the meal here meant seems to have been one of those which was called afaña, love-feasts. Such of the heathens as were converted to christianity were obliged to abstain from meats offered to idols, and these were the main support of the poor in the heathen cities. The christians therefore, who were rich, seem very early to have begun the custom of those afara, love-feasts, which they made on every first day of the week, chiefly for the benefit of the poorer christians, who, by being such, had lost the benefit, which they used to have for their support, of eating part of the heathen sacrifices. It was towards the latter end of these feasts, or immediately after them, that the christians used to take bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus Christ, which, from what attended it, was called the eucharist, or holy communion.

No. 500.-xx. 9. There sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus.] Chardin informs us, that the eastern windows are very large, and even with the floor. It is no wonder Eutychus might fall out if the lattice was not well fastened, or if it was decayed, when, sunk into a deep sleep, he leaned with all his weight against it. HARMER, vol. i. p. 164.

No. 501.-xxi. 24. Take them, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them.] The better to understand what is said in this passage, it may be observed, that among the Jews it was accounted meritorious to contribute to the expences of the sacrifices and offerings, which those who had taken upon them a vow of nazaritism were to make when the time of their vow came to be accomplished. Thus Josephus, to magnify the zeal and devotion of Herod Agrippa,

tells us, that he caused several nazarites to be shaved, whereby he means, that he bore the expence of the whole ceremony; and Maimonides informs us, that he who would partake of the merits of another man's nazaritism, went to the temple, and said to the priest, "such an one will finish his vow, and I intend to defray the charge of his tonsure, either in part or in the whole," and whoever did so was reputed to partake in the merits of him who had fulfilled his vow.

No. 502.-xxii. 9. They that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.] Elsner has shewn, in a curious note on this passage, that the heathens thought that divine voices as well as visions might affect one person in a company without being perceived by the rest. (Obser. vol. i. p. 466.)

No. 503.-xxii. 23. They cried out and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air.] A great similarity appears between the conduct of the Jews, when the chief captain of the Roman garrison at Jerusalem presented himself in the temple, and the behaviour of the Persian peasants, when they go to court to complain of the governors under whom they live, upon their oppressions becoming intolerable. Sir John Chardin tells us respecting them, that they carry their complaints against their governors by companies, consisting of several hundreds, and sometimes of a thousand; they repair to that gate of the palace near to which their prince is most likely to be, where they set themselves to make the most horrid cries, tearing their garments, and throwing dust into the air, at the same time demanding justice. The king, upon hearing these cries, sends to know the occasion of them. The people deliver their complaint in writ