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XVI.-13. "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made." The Jewish proseucha were places of prayer, in some circumstances similar to, in others different from, their synagogues: the latter were generally in cities, and were covered places, whereas for the most part the proseuche were out of the cities on the banks of rivers, having no covering, except perhaps, the shade of some trees, or covered galleries. Their vicinity to water was for the convenience of those frequent washings and ablutions which were introduced among them.-Burder's O. Customs, vol. i. p. 342. In allusion to these proseuchæ or prayer-houses, Juvenal says, Sat. iii. 1. 296:

in qua te quæro proseucha?

The following extract is from Josephus, Antiq. Jud. L. xiv. c. x. s. 23. concerning the decree of the city of Halicarnassus permitting the Jews to erect oratories: "We have decreed, that as many men and women of the Jews as are willing so to do, may celebrate their sabbaths and perform their holy offices according to the Jewish laws; and may make their proseucha at the sea-side according to the customs of their forefathers; and if any one, whether he be a magistrate or private person, hindereth them from so doing, he shall be liable to a fine, to be applied to the uses of the city."

XVII. 15. "Athens." This city was the most celebrated for learning of any in the world. It was situated on a gulf of the Aegean sea, which comes up to the isthmus of the Peloponnese, or Morea, in the district of Greece called Attica, and was the parent of that dialect, which is esteemed the purest and finest Greek. Cicero calls it the fountain, whence civility, learning, religion, and laws, were derived to other nations.-Ostervald.

XVII. 18. "A setter forth of strange gods." 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.

XVII. 23. "I found an altar with this inscription,TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." Diogenes Laertius, who wrote about the year 210, in his history of Epimenides, who is supposed to have flourished nearly 600 years before Christ, relates of him the following story ;-that being invited to Athens for the purpose, he delivered the city from a pestilence in this manner: "Taking several sheep, some black, others white, he had them up to the Areopagus, and then let them go where they would, and gave orders to those who followed them, wherever any of them should lie down, to sacrifice it to the god to whom it belonged; and so the plague ceased. Hence," says the historian, "it has come to pass, that, to this present time, may be found in the boroughs of the Athenians anonymous altars: a memorial of the expiation then made.” These altars, it may be presumed, were called anonymous, because there was not the name of any particular deity inscribed upon them. Pausanias, who wrote about the end of the second century, in his description of Athens, having mentioned an altar of Jupiter Olympius, adds, "And nigh unto it is an altar of unknown gods." And in another place, speaks" of altars of gods called unknown."-See Paley's Evid. of Christianity.

XVII.-25. "Neither is worshipped with men's hands." Rather, is served. This refers to a foolish notion among the heathens, that the gods fed on the fumes of sacrifices.Ostervald.

XVII.28. "For we are also his offspring." This is a part of a verse from the Phænomena of Aratus, who was a Cilician poet, the countryman of Paul. The passage was originally spoken of Jupiter, and is dexterously applied to the true God by Paul, who draws a very conclusive inference from it.-Valpy's Greek Testament.

XVII.-30. "God winked at." More correctly, overlooked.

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-3. Because he was of the same craft." It was a received custom among the Jews, for every man, of whatever rank or quality, to learn some handy-craft; even though they bred them up to the liberal sciences. Hence, one of their rabbies is surnamed the Shoe-maker, another, the Baker, &c. for one of their proverbial expressions is, that whoever teaches not his son a trade, teaches him to be thief; and in these hot countries, where tents 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.-Ostervald.

XVIII. -28. "That Jesus was Christ." Or, more correctly,―That Jesus is the Christ.

XIX. -2. "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." Namely, any such plentiful effusion of it as the prophets had foretold.-Clark.

XX. 9. "In a window." The Greek word signifies also a door or an aperture, Ostervald says, "The original signifies an open window, which had a sort of little door which was set open that the room might not be overheated. The antients had not yet glass in their windows."

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XX.-13. "Minding himself to go afoot." According to Jortin, to go by land; whether on foot, horseback, or in any other way. The expression minding himself or disposed, will throw much light on Acts xiii. 48.

XX.—35. “It is more blessed to give than to receive." This saying does not occur in any of the Evangelists; so that we must conclude that St. Paul came to the knowledge of it from those who had heard it from our Lord.

XXI.4. "Said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem." St. Paul, on this occasion, was not disobedient to any revelation of the Spirit; for the Spirit, or Holy Ghost, did not reveal that he was not to go to Jerusalem, but only that bonds and afflictions awaited him

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