his rejection of them, and purpose of applying himself to the Gentiles †. However, From Acts i. before he did this, some persons of distinction among them, such as Crispus +2, the 10. to the end. chief ruler of the synagogue, and Stephanus and Gaius, together with their whole families, had embraced the doctrine of the Gospel, and were baptized into the Christian faith. Among the Gentiles, he made a multitude of converts; and by a vision from heaven, being encouraged to proceed in his ministry with boldness, under the Divine protection, and in certain hopes of success, he there continued for the space of one whole year and six months. During his stay in this place the Jews made a general insurrection against him, and brought him before Gallio +3; who at that time was proconsul of Achaia, accusing him of attempting to introduce a new religion, contrary to what was established by the Jewish law, and permitted by the Roman powers. But as Gallio apprehended that this was a controversy, which fell not under the cognisance of the civil judicature, he would have no concern in it, and therefore ordered his officers to drive them out of the court whereupon the common people took Sosthenes †, a ruler of the synagogue, and one of St Paul's chief accusers, and beat him publicly before the tribunal; but this gave the proconsul no disturbance. After this tumult was over, St Paul continued some time in Corinth, and before his departure thence wrote his second epistle to the Thessalonians: (a)" Wherein he endeavours to confirm their minds in the faith, and to animate them courageously to endure persecution from the unbelieving Jews, a lost and undone race of men, whom the Divine vengeance was ready to overtake: wherein he rectifies the misinterpretation which false teachers had made of some passages in his former epistle, relating to the + His words are, " From henceforth I will turn to the Gentiles, Acts xviii. 6. and these at first sight seem to be a declaration, that he would leave off preaching to the Jews, wherever he came, and wholly apply himself to the conversion of the Gentiles; but by comparing his actions with the places where this phrase, or something like it, does occur, it appears, that he only intended to say, he would no longer preach to the Jews of that place; for after this is said, we find him still entering into the synagogues, and preaching to the Jews, and calling upon them to hear the word, Acts xv. 8. and xxviii. 23, &c. Whitby's Annotations. + Crispus is said to have been made by St Paul bishop of Egina, an island near Athens; and Origen makes mention of one Gaius, a disciple of St Paul, who by him was appointed bishop of Thessalonica; but of Stephanus we have no other account than what we learn from the Acts of the Apostles. Calmet's Dictionary. +3 The name of this proconsul was once Marcus Annæus Novatus, but being adopted by Lucius Junius Gallio, he took the name of his adoptive father, and was brother to the famous Seneca, tutor to Nero. To him it is that that philosopher dedicates his book De Vità Beatâ ; and of in the Roman historians give us the character, that he was a man of sweet temper and disposition, an enemy to all vice, and particularly a hater of flattery. He was twice made proconsul of Achaia; first by Claudius, and afterwards by Nero; but as he partook of his brother's prosperity when he was in favour at court, so was he a sharer in his misfortunes when he fell under Nero's displeasure, and at length was put to death by the tyrant, as well as VOL. III. his brother. Calmet's Commentary, Pool's and Beau + Crispus, we read, was ruler of the 3 H A. M. 4058,- day of judgment, as if it were just at hand, and shews what events (especially that of &c. or 5465. the coming and destruction of the man of sin) must precede the approach of that day; Ann. Dom. 54, &c. and wherein, having craved their prayers in his behalf, and made his request to God in theirs, he concludes with divers precepts, especially to shun idleness and ill company, and "not to be weary in well-doing." Having thus planted the church of Corinth, St Paul resolved to return into Syria, and, taking along with him Aquila and Priscilla from Cenchrea (the port or road for ships in the Archipelago, belonging to Corinth), he sailed to Ephesus †, where he preached a while in the synagogue of the Jews; but being resolved to be at Jerusalem at the passover, he could not be persuaded to stay longer. Leaving therefore Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus, and promising (if God would permit) to return to them again, he set sail for Cæsarea in Palestine, and from thence proceeded to Jerusalem. After he had visited the church, and kept the feast, he went down to Antioch; and having there stayed some time, he traversed the countries of Galatia and Phrygia, confirming, as he went along, the new converted Christians, and so returned to Ephesus. In his absence, Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, eminent for his eloquence and great knowledge of the Old Testament, came to Ephesus, and though he was only initiated by the baptism of John |, yet being by Aquila and Priscilla more fully instructed in the Ephesus, the metropolis and principal mart of the proconsular Asia, is situated upon the river Cayster, and on the side of a hill, which, toward the west, has the prospect of a lovely plain, watered and beautified with the pleasant circles of the river, turning and winding in so many curious mazes, that some travellers have mistaken it for the Meander, and this the rather, because the Turks gave it the name of the Lesser Mendres. Among heathen authors this city was once much celebrated for its famous temple of Diana, which, for its largeness and workmanship, was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It is said to have been 425 feet long, 220 broad, and to have been supported by 127 pillars of marble, 70 feet high, whereof 27 were most curiously wrought, and all the rest polished. One Ctesiphon, a famous architect in his time, contrived the model of it, and that with so much art and curiosity, that it took up two hundred years before it was finished, even though it was built at the common charge of all Asia properly so called. After it was finished, it was seven times set on fire; but once more especially, on the very same day that Socrates was poisoned, 400 years before Christ and at another time (when Erostratus fired it only to get himself a name), on the same night that Alexander the Great was born. It was rebuilt, however, and beautified by the Ephesians, to which work the ladies of Ephesus contributed very largely, In the time of our apostle, it retained a great deal of its former grandeur; but at present it is only an heap of ruins, and the very place where it once stood is so little known, that it affords matter of various conjecture to travellers. The only two buildings worth observation are a strong and lofty castle, situated on an eminence, and a beautiful church, honoured with the name of St John, but now converted into a Turkish mosque. All the rest of the place is the habitation of herdsmen and farmers, who live in low and Lumble cottages of dirt, covered on the top with earth, and sheltered from the extremity of the weather by migh ty masses of ruinous walls, the pride and ostentation of former days, and in these the emblem of the frailty of the world, and the transient vanity of human glory. Whitby's Alphabetical Table, and Wells's Geography of the New Testament. The account which St Paul gives us of the bap tism of John, our Saviour's forerunner, is this.-"John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, say. ing to the people, that they should believe on him who should come after him," i. e. on Jesus Christ, Acts xix. 4. And herein he discovers a wide differ ence between the baptism of John and that of Jesus Christ, viz. that the baptism of John was a solemn rite of renouncing sins, and profession of obedience for the future; that it opened a way for a more perfect institution of the like nature, and exhibited Christ as the object of faith, and the Master and Guide which men ought to follow. For being thus baptized, they were thereby led and consigned over to him, and qualified for the Christian baptism, which vastly exceeds the other both in dignity and efficacy. For here the Spirit accompanies the water: This confirms and com pletes that pardon of sins, and those assistances of grace, which belonged to no other washings, farther than as they were approaches to the Christian, which is therefore, by way of distinction and eminence, sty led the "washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii. 5. But if the baptism of John was so imperfect, how came it to pass that, even twenty years after our Lord's ascension, this Apollos should have no knowledge of any other? Or, being so well acquainted with the doctrine of Christ, to be able to teach others, how could he be ignorant of the necessity of his baptism? Now the only reply to this is,-That Apollos might be one of those Jews, who, having received the baptism of John, some two or three and twenty years before, might, soon after that, or before the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost on the apostles at the day of Pentecost, remove from Judea to Alexandria, where, having not yet seen any rudiments of the Christian religion, and baptized, he taught the word of God with great From. Acts i. boldness, and a most powerful zeal. After some stay in Ephesus, he obtained com- 10. to the end. mendatory letters † from the brethren, and with them went over to Corinth, where he proved highly serviceable, and (a) watered what St Paul had before planted, confirming the disciples, and convincing the Jews, that Jesus was the true and only Messias promised in the Holy Scriptures. At St Paul's return to Ephesus, he found several disciples, as well as Apollos, who had received no more than the baptism of John, and had never once heard of the gifts of the Holy Ghost: However, when they were sufficiently instructed in the principles of Christianity, and solemnly admitted to Christian baptism, upon the imposition of the apostle's hands, they immediately received the Holy Ghost, in the gift of tongues, prophecy, and other miraculous powers that were conferred on them. For three months after this, St Paul went into the synagogues, and preached to the Jews, endeavouring, with much earnestness, to convince them that Jesus Christ was the true Messiah; but when, instead of success, he met with nothing but refractoriness and infidelity, he left the synagogues, and for the space of two years instructed the heathen converts, as well as all others, who resorted to him in the school of one Tyrannus †2. By this means all the inhabitants of the proconsular Asia had an opportunity of having the Gospel preached to them, and of seeing it confirmed by miracles of an extraordinary nature, which St Paul was enabled to do; insomuch, that if napkins or handkerchiefs were but touched by him, and applied to those who were any ways sick, or possessed with devils, they immediately received cure. 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 stiled houses of learning. Their public schools were those where their consistories sat to resolve all difficulties and differences of the law: But it seems most likely that the Tyrannus, who lent St Paul his school to preach in, was not a Jew, but a Gentile; not a doctor of the law, but some philosopher or public professor of rhetoric, whom the apostle had converted; because, when he "departed from the Jews, and separated the disciples," Acts xix. 9. it is reasonable to think, that the place made use of for their instruction should appertain to a Gentile rather than a Jew. Howell's Annot. Seven brothers, the sons of one Sceva, a Jewish priest, who travelled from town to town to cure diseases, and cast out devils by their exorcisms +3, observing with whatof the Gospel histories that might possibly be pub is a point wherein the learned are not agreed. Hamlished at this time, nor had an opportunity of conver- mond's and Whitby's Annotations. sing with any of the apostles, to gain farther informa(a) 1 Cor. iii. 6. tion, he acquiesced in the baptism he had received, until he came to understand better. St Chrysostom indeed supposes (Hom. 40.) that God vouchsafed him, as he did Cornelius, the baptism of the Spirit, which supplied the want of external baptism, both as an encouragement and a recompence for his zeal in preaching the Gospel: [but this cannot be admitted, for the baptism of the Spirit did not supersede external baptism in the case of Cornelius himself; and therefore it is reasonable to conclude, that Apollos received regular Christian baptism, though it is not mentioned in the concise History of the Acts of the Apostles.] What became of this great preacher, after his return from Corinth to Ephesus, we have no manner of account, unless we may credit what St Jerom tells us of him, viz, that being dissatisfied with the division which his preaching at Corinth had occasioned, 1 Cor. iii. 7. he retired into Crete with Zena, a doctor of the law; but that after St Paul, by his letter, had appeased that dissention, he returned again to Corinth, and was made bishop of that city. Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, and Calmet's Commentary. +3 The word comes from the Greek ogniur, which signifies to adjure, or to use the name of God, with a design to drive devils out of places and bodies which they possess. And that the Jews had several incantations in use and veneration, which they had in greater credit, because of an opinion common among them, that they had been invented by Solomon, is evident from the testimony of Josephus. That, even in our Saviour's time, exorcists were very frequent among them, is manifest from these words of his, "If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges," Matth. xii. 27. And that they practised their exorcisms sometimes with success, is plain from the acknowledgment of Irenæus, who says, "All things are subject to the Most High, and by invocation of That commendatory epistles, certifying the piety and orthodoxy of the person to whom they were given, and recommending him to an hospitable reception in the places which he travelled to, were an ancient custom in the primitive church, is evident from the testimony of several fathers, and other ecclesiastical writers; but whether they took their rise from Tessera Hospitalitatis among the heathens, or from the Jews, among whom the same custom prevailed, Ann. Dom. ¿4, &c. A. M. 4059, facility St Paul effected his miraculous cures and dispossessions, attempted themselves &c. or 5465. to do the like, and, to add greater force to their charms, presumed to change their form, by invoking the name of Jesus over a demoniac: But here it pleased God to put a visible difference between those that applied this powerful name regularly, and with commission, and others who, of their own heads, and for ill designs, dared to usurp it: For the demoniac, falling upon the exorcists, tore off their clothes, wounded their bodies, and scarce suffered them to escape with their lives. This was an event which, when the Jews and Gentiles in Ephesus came to know it, filled them with such a reverential fear, that none dared to mention the name of Jesus but with a profound respect; and that many who had addicted themselves to the study of magic †2, came and confessed their sins, and publicly burnt their books +3, which amounted to the value of above fifteen hundred pounds in our money. So prevalent was the Gospel of God in these parts! While St Paul was thus diligently pursuing his ministry, St Peter was preaching the Gospel to the Jews in several provinces of the Lesser Asia, and so, travelling eastward, came at length to the ancient city of Babylon † in Chaldea, from whence he wrote his first epistle, which is called a catholic or general epistle, to the converted Jews that were of the dispersion; and, " after solemn thanksgiving to God for their call to Christianity, whereby they had obtained a lively hope of an eternal inheritance in heaven, he advises them to the practice of several virtues, as a means to make their calling and election sure,' viz. That they should live in a constant worship, and fear of God, and imitate their Master, Jesus Christ, in holiness and purity; that they should be diligent hearers of the Gospel, and grow up to perfection by it; that they should lead exemplary lives among the Gentiles, abstaining from carnal lusts, and behaving themselves with modesty, thereby to convince their enemies that calumnies were unreasonable; that they should behave themselves well under their respective relations, submitting themselves to their governors, whether supreme or subordinate; that servants should obey their masters, wives be subject to.their husbands, and husbands honour his name, even before the advent of our Lord, men Their common form of incantation was, in the +3 Though these books were of great value, yet we find they did not sell them, because they would not be gainers by these wicked arts, nor would they contribute, by selling them, to the teaching of others the same arts; but they rightly adjudged them to the flames, to which they were condemned before by the laws of the empire: For they prohibited any to keep books of magic, and where any such were found, or dered that their goods should be forfeited, the books publicly burnt, the persons banished, and (if of meaner rank) beheaded. Whitby's Annotations, and Cave's Lives of the Apostles. + Those who take Babylon in a mystical sense, understand by it Rome, from whence they suppose 10. to the end. their wives; that they should all love one another fervently, and unfeignedly, bear af- From Acts i. flictions patiently, live in union, and sympathize with each other in their afflictions ; and lastly, that the ministers and pastors of the several churches should take special care of the flocks committed to their charge, teach them diligently, and govern them gently, not seeking their own gain and profit, but the salvation of the people's souls." This is the purport of the epistle, and the whole is written with a fervour and zeal not unbecoming so great an apostle. But to proceed with St Paul. After a stay of above two years in Ephesus, he determined to return into Macedonia and Achaia, and having wintered in Corinth, to pass thence to Jerusalem, where he purposed to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, and after that, to proceed in his long intended journey to Rome. In pursuance to this design, he sent Timothy and Erastus + before him into Macedonia, but himself stayed behind at Ephesus, very probably to answer a letter which Apollos and some other brethren had brought him from the church of Corinth, desiring his resolution of several points relating to marriage and chastity, and some other subjects. The Corinthians were, at this time, unhappily divided into parties and factions upon account of their teachers, each one preferring the person from whom he had received his instruction, and disparaging the rest. They committed great disorders in their love-feasts +2, and celebrated the Holy Sacrament very irreverently. They were addicted to fornication, and one, in particular, had run into incest, in marrying his fathers wife They were unjust and fraudulent in their dealings; they went to law at heathen tribunals; and among them were found some who were bold and profligate enough to deny the resurrection. In opposition to all this, the apostle (in what is called his +3 first epistle to the Corinthians) "shews the equality of Christ's ministers*, and their insufficience for the work to which they are ordained, without the + Erastus was very probably born at Corinth, and, as the apostle informs us, was made chamberlain of that city, Rom. xvi. 23. but being converted by St Paul, and resolving to pursue his fortune, he resigned his employment, followed him all along, until his last voyage to Corinth, in the way to Rome, where the apostle suffered martyrdom. The Latin writers say, that St Paul left Erastus in Macedonia; that he made him bishop of that province, and that he died a martyr at Philippi; but the Greeks, in their calendars, make him bishop of Paneas, near the sources of the river Jordan, give him the title of an apostle, place him in the number of the seventy disciples, and say that he died in peace, after having gone over all the earth, preaching the faith of Jesus Christ: But not any of these produce one proof of what they say. Calmet's Commentary. + These feasts of charity which were in use among the primitive christians, in memory of the last sup per which our blessed Saviour had with his apostles, when he instituted the holy Eucharist, were kept in the church towards the evening, after the common prayers were over, and the word of salvation had been heard. When this was done, the whole congregation ate together what every one had brought with him, in great simplicity and union, so that there was no distinction between rich and poor; and after a frugal and modest supper, they partook of the Sacrament, and gave each other a kiss of peace, and so departed. But this custom, as good and laudable as it was in its original, came, in a short time, to be abused. Calmet's Dictionary under the word Agape. 3 That this was an epistle written by St Paul the apostle, as is asserted in the first verse, was never * [St Paul certainly says nothing, in the place re- |