^.e<^^9(

pRlNpE

Q^^^^^*^**t

T ON, N. !•

Ill

W "• Part of the ♦

f ADDI which Vas presented iby (}

in p i, vNP A. Stuart. )5

Case, Division., -|:

flfcel/, Section...

fc&y. t^cldiAj^o cyfCuc^Kdju^

/Vu^ Ct/LJ-*-^

{aj, /9 - /&rS.

THE

HISTORY OF THE ACTS

OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

CONFIRMED FROM OTHER AUTHORS ; AND CONSIDERED AS FULL EVIDENCE

OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY

A PREFATORY DISCOURSE UPON THE NATURE OF THAT EVIDENCE.

BY RICHARD BISCOE, M.A.

OXFORD, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

M.DCCC.XL.

advertisement:

IT is right that the reader should be informed that this Work is the substance of Sermons delivered at the Lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, in the years 1736, 1737, 1738.

It is reprinted from the London edition, 17421.

THE CONTENTS.

PAGE

THE Prefatory Discourse i

The Introduction and Scheme 1 1

CHAP. I.

A short view of the facts contained in the History of the Acts, with some natural reflections thence arising 21

CHAP. II.

What is written in the History of the Acts of the ordinary occurrences of that time, and of the great persons therein named, confirmed from other authors 28

CHAP. III.

A further account of the occurrences of the time, and of the persons named 38

CHAP. IV.

How far the various distinctions of the Jews, which happen to be spoken of in the Acts, are confimed by other authors. ... 56

CHAP. V.

How far the Jewish customs referred to are confirmed 70

vi CONTENTS.

CHAP. VI. PART I.

PACK

The Jewish magistrates in Judaea, when under the Romans,

had the power of inflicting capital punishments 83

The Introduction to this 83

Sect. I. An answer to the first argument against it, taken from the civil law 85

Sect. II. The second and third arguments, taken from the civil law, answered 91

Sect. III. The principal argument, taken from the New Testament, answered 95

Sect. IV. An answer to two other arguments tat en from the New Testament 104

Sect. V. The Romans frequently indulged the nations they conquered in the use of their own laws even in capital cases * 106

Sect. VI. The Romans were peculiarly favourable to the Jews, and allowed them singular privileges in all parts of the empire 119

Sect. VII. The Jews petitioned the emperor Augustus that their country might be made a Roman province, with this view, that they might have the free use of their own laws 123

Sect. VIII. The reasons we have to believe that the emperor Augustus granted to the Jews what they had in view in this petition 1 26

Sect. IX. Passages from Josephus and Philo, proving that the Romans did grant to the Jews the execution of their own laws even in capital cases J30

Sect. X. Objections answered 134

Sect. XI. Other passages from Josephus, proving that the Jewish magistrates had the power of putting persons to death in the execution of their own laws 139

CONTENTS. vii

PAGE

Sect. XII. Passages from the Talmud to the same pur- pose, and the Talmudical account very consistent with the History of Josephus 145

Sect. XIII. An argument of another nature, rendering it highly probable that the Jewish magistrates under the Romans had the execution of their own laws in capital cases 1 49

Sect. XIV. Arguments taken from the sacred writings to prove the same thing 151

Sect. XV. Further arguments from the History of the Acts 154

Sect. XVI. Arguments to the same purpose from the Gospels 158

Sect. XVII. Further arguments from the Gospels 163

PART II.

The authority of the high priest and Jewish magistrates in the

affairs of religion extended to foreign cities 168

CHAP. VII. Moi*e Jewish customs confirmed 1 76

CHAP. VIII. Grecian customs confirmed 191

CHAP. IX.

Roman customs confirmed 215

CHAP. X. An account of the places referred to 238

CHAP. XI.

The principal facts confirmed 259

viii CONTENTS.

CHAP. XII.

PAGE

A further confirmation of the principal facts 278

CHAP. XIII. A further confirmation of the principal facts 295

CHAP. XIV.

The History of the Acts written by St. Luke 308

CHAP. XV.

The Acts of the Apostles was owned and received by the

Christians of the first ages as a sacred book 3 26

CHAP. XVI.

A brief recapitulation of the things said in the foregoing chapter, together with the evidence thence arising of the truth and certainty of the principal matters related in the Acts 343

CHAP. XVII.

The evidence of the truth of Christianity arising from the

principal facts related 365

CHAP. XVIII.

The objections raised by rabbi Isaac ben Abraham answered. . 384

CHAP. XIX. Further objections of that rabbi answered 400

CHAP. XX. Other objections answered 413

THE

PREFATORY DISCOURSE.

1 Pet. i. 8.

Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

SPHERE are three graces mentioned here by the apostle, each of which has a commendation annexed to it. The first is love to Christ, spoken of as raised and ennobled by this circumstance, that it was loving one whom they had not seen ; it being far more difficult to place our affections on a person we have never seen, than on one whom we see and converse with. To have an unseen Saviour frequently in our minds, to be often thinking on the excellencies of his person, the greatness of his performance, his wonderful love to us, the sufferings he underwent upon our account, and the bless- ings he has thereby procured; to make these things the subject of our frequent, serious meditations, so as to excite a holy flame in our souls, is a matter of pains and labour and difficulty ; especially since our hearts are so apt to be en- tangled with the things of sense, and what we daily see and converse with so easily gains our affections; since the love also which is required of us towards the blessed Jesus must exceed that of all things here below, so that we must readily part with them for his sake whenever called out unto it.

2 THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE.

The second grace mentioned by the apostle is faith in Christ, " in whom believing." This, though mentioned in the second place, is the first in order. For we therefore love Christ, be- cause we believe in him. If we have neither seen him, nor believe in him, it is impossible we should love him. But although we see him not, yet, if we believe in him, we may, and, if we will act like reasonable creatures, we must both love and obey him. " Believing in Christ" signifies our assenting to the truth of those things which are related concerning him in the Gospels, particularly that he was " in the beginning with God, and is God ; " that " all things were made by him ;" that he condescended to take to him the human nature, led a poor suffering life, and died a cruel lingering death ; that he died thus to make atonement for our sins, and reconcile us to God ; that the Father was well pleased with the sacrifice he made of himself, raised him from the dead, and has committed all power into his hands ; that one day he will come again, attended with the holy angels ; raise the dead ; cite all, both quick and dead, to appear at his awful tribunal, and pass sentence on them according to their deeds, rendering eternal happiness to those who have obeyed him, the severest ever- lasting punishment to those who have not. If we yield our assent to the truth of these things, can it be said that we act like rational beings, unless, by submission and obedience to Christ, we prepare for this great and solemn day of reckoning ? It is of those who so believe the gospel as to obey it that the apostle is here speaking ; for he joins love and joy to the faith mentioned. The faith therefore which the apostle commends is such an assent to the truth of the gospel as has an in- fluence on the heart and life, such as begets in us a sincere and ardent love to Christ, and is the foundation of a true and solid joy ; " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeak- able and full of glory," or of praise ; a joy truly praiseworthy, approved and applauded by God and all good men, and secretly commended by the consciences even of the wicked themselves. Such a joy proceeds from that faith alone which is fruitful in love and good works.

What I propose to consider more particularly at this time is, the commendation given to the grace of faith, as exercised

THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 3

by the persons the apostle writes to ; " In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing : " it was faith in a Saviour whom they had not seen. That this circumstance adds a lustre to faith is confirmed to us by our Lord himself, who says to Thomas, "Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed,11 John xx. 29. "Blessed are they;11 i. e. they are more blessed. Whence we may justly conclude that their faith is more praiseworthy.

That we may the better understand how this circumstance adds a lustre to faith, and renders it more commendable, I would offer these two or three things to your consideration : first, this does not in the least imply that in divine matters we are not to seek after proper evidence for what we believe. When the apostle commends the Christians he wrote to for believing in a Saviour whom they had not seen; and our Lord blames Thomas for his incredulity, and applauds the faith of such who believed in him, though they had not seen him; it is not hereby intended to discourage persons from looking after proper evidence in such matters of religion as are proposed to their belief, or to hint to them that they should blindly assent to things, as the truths of God, without having clear proof given them of their being so. This would be greatly to demean and misemploy the faculties bestowed on us. To what end have we a capacity of searching into and examining the truth of things \ Why has God given us a power of considering the evidences that are offered, and judging of their weight and force, if he did not intend it should be exercised by us? That he designed it should be exercised, we are fully informed in the sacred writings, and are exhorted to it. Our blessed Lord, John v. 32. 39, calls upon the Jews to consider the evidence given them of his being the Son of God. He appeals to the testimony of John the Baptist, to the testimony of his Father, by a voice from heaven, and to the miraculous works he enabled him to per- form, and to the testimony of the holy scriptures ; " Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think that ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.11 In many places he appeals to the evidence he gave them of being their Messiah by the wonders he wrought ; and, John x. 37, assures them

b2

4 THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE.

that he expected not any credit from them, if he gave them not full proof hereof by his works ; "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.-" In another place he plainly declares, that, if he had not given them clear evidence by his miracles of his being the Son of God, their unbelief had been excusable, John xv. 24. " If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin." The Bereans are highly applauded for searching into the truth of those things which were spoken by St. Paul, Acts xvii. 11. " These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." And the apostle John exhorts us, 1 John iv. 1. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world." This therefore most certainly cannot be the meaning of the commendation here given to the faith of these persons, to discourage and prevent our looking after proper evidence for the things that are proposed to us in matters of religion, because this is a thing which the holy scriptures do indeed every where encourage -what they command us to do, and applaud Christians for doing. But,

2dly, The plain meaning of it is, that, when proper evidence is offered, we should yield our assent. When such evidence is offered for the truth of those things, which are proposed to our belief in religious matters, as wise men commonly act upon in the affairs and concernments of the present life, we are to yield our assent to the truth of those things, and to act accordingly. Herein Thomas was wanting ; and it is this failure of his is blamed by our Lord. He did not yield to proper evidence, to that evidence which could not have been gainsaid by him in any other case, and that was the testimony of many credible persons who had seen our Lord after his resurrection. As to the thing reported by them, there was nothing improbable in it, because our Lord had not only expressly foretold that he would rise the third day, but had rendered what he said highly credible, by the many exceeding great works that he wrought in his lifetime, by his giving sight to the blind, healing the paralytic, restoring withered limbs, and raising some to life that were actually dead. Since

THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 5

therefore he who had performed such wonders, he who had raised others from death, foretold his own resurrection, there was nothing incredible in the fact related.

Peter and John went to his sepulchre, and found his body missing. Mary Magdalen, who had been there before them, and by her report occasioned their going, returning again to the sepulchre with them, when they were departed, saw Jesus risen, and spake with him. He was afterwards, on the same day, seen by Simon Peter, and by two other disciples, who conversed with him in their way to Emmaus ; and on the evening of the same day by the disciples assembled together in a body, who examined the wounds made in his hands and feet, and saw him eat part of a broiled fish and of a honey- comb. These relate the fact to Thomas, who nevertheless would not believe it, but said, " Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.11 This was rejecting such evidence as all men govern themselves by, and act upon, in other cases. The thing related was indeed more than probable from the prediction of our Saviour, who had given such ample proof of his being a "person sent from God,11 and was confirmed by the joint testimony of many eyewitnesses, persons whose credibility he had not the least reason to suspect, and who could have no interest in deceiving him. This unbelief therefore was highly unreasonable, and what he is most justly blamed for.

Hence we may easily learn what is the faith commended by our Lord in the Gospel of St. John, and by the apostle in my text. It is a faith built upon such evidence as wise men assent to and act upon in the most important concernments of the present life : " Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.11 "Thou wouldst not believe my resurrection, unless thou didst see me with thine own eyes, and handiest my wounds, although thou hadst received plain and full evidence of the truth thereof. Their faith is more to be esteemed and praised, who, although they have not seen me themselves, yet believe my resurrection from the report of those many eye and earwitnesses who have seen me and conversed with me." From comparing the words of my

6 THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE.

text with this part of our Lord's history, the plain meaning of the commendation given to the grace of faith in my text, as exercised by those Christians the apostle wrote to, from this circumstance, that they had believed in him whom they had not seen, appears to be, not in the least to discourage them from looking after all fitting and suitable evidence of the truth of those things which are proposed to their belief in the gospel ; for this is made their duty ; but to encourage them in yielding their assent to truths built upon such evidence as we generally govern ourselves by in the most momentous affairs of the present life, and in acting agreeably thereto.

Were we to believe nothing but what we are eye or ear- witnesses of, the business of the world would be soon at a stand. There could be little trade or commerce carried on in distant parts of the world ; there could be no such thing as fixed courts of judicature; there could be no policy or government, nor would there be much comfort in life itself. In the affairs of this world we are forced to yield to probable arguments and the testimony of others, and upon this ground we proceed in the most -important concernments. When a thing probable in itself is related by persons of credit, who we have no reason to suspect would deceive us, we not only yield our assent to it, but govern ourselves by it. Thus it is in all matters of commerce ; thus it is in all courts of judicature, not only in civil, but in criminal cases, wherein the liberties and lives of men are concerned : and thus it is in the arduous affairs of policy and government, be they never so important. Now if in matters of religion we have the same evidence as we have in those which are the greatest and most important concernments of life, and notwithstanding will not yield to this evidence, but require more, is not this highly blame- worthy ? On the other hand, is it not right, and fitting, and commendable, to yield to such proof, and act agreeably thereto? for,

3dly, To act upon such evidence shews our inclination and readiness to obey the will of God. To assent to the truth of those things which we see with our own eyes, and can no longer doubt of, as Thomas did, is no ways praiseworthy. But to consider and examine the evidence of what is offered

THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 7

to us as a truth coming from God, and containing hie mind ; and when we find there is the same evidence for it as we are usually governed by in the greatest and most momentous affairs of the present life, then to give our assent to it, so as to govern ourselves by it, is truly commendable. This dis- covers a devout frame and temper of mind, a mind prepared to do the will of God in every thing it knows to be such ; it shews a desire to understand, and a willingness to perform every thing which God shall require.

When persons receive things for the will of God without a suitable evidence of their being so, this discovers not so much a zeal and forwardness to do the will of God, as a laziness of temper, a most culpable indolence, a sloth highly blame- worthy, which exposes them to receive the very worst things as coming from above, the dictates of Satan for the truths of God ; makes them liable to be imposed upon by the cunning of designing knaves, or the madness of every enthusiast ; and is a direct disobedience to the commands of God, which enjoin us to " search the scriptures, to try the spirits,1'1 and judge of divine truths by their evidence.

On the other hand, when persons will not yield to such evidence as is convictive in all other the most important cases, and which they govern themselves by in the weightiest con- cernments of the present life, this discovers an obstinacy and perverseness of temper that is noways excusable : it shews also a great disinclination and averseness to perform the will of God. What reason can be assigned why they should withhold their assent in matters of religion, when they have the same evidence of the truth thereof as they are forced to yield to, and are governed by, in all other the most important affairs, unless it be their aversion to perform what God re- quires ? If God has been pleased to give us as strong proof that the things enjoined in the gospel are his will, as we are contented with, and act upon, in all the most momentous concerns of the present life ; what can hinder us from em- bracing the gospel precepts as containing the mind of God, and conforming thereto in our lives, but a disinclination to their purity and holiness, and a fondness for the contrary vices ? Men are loath to part with their endeared habits. To cut off a right hand, and pluck out a right eye, is matter of

8 THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE.

pains and difficulty. They cannot find in their hearts to root up their beloved lusts and long-indulged vices. Therefore they resist the very same evidence they yield to in all other cases, at least so far as not to be influenced and governed by it in their conversations.

Forasmuch then as the admitting things to be the mind of God without proper evidence is directly disobeying the com- mand of God, and betrays a most culpable indolence and sloth ; and again, the rejecting things as divine, when supported by the same evidence which is convictive to us in all other the most important cases, betrays an unreasonable stubbornness of temper, and an aversion to the things required of us ; the middle way is unquestionably the safest, and the only com- mendable one ; which is, to look into and examine the proofs of those things which are offered to us as containing the will of God, and always to yield to such arguments as we have nothing solid to object against ; to give our assent to, and act by such evidence as usually governs us in all the momentous affairs of the present life. This discovers a studious desire in us of knowing what the will of God is, and a readiness to acknowledge and obey it.

And should we err in following this rule, which I cannot but think the goodness of God will secure us from, we are undoubtedly safe with respect to the favour of God, because such error would, in the present condition of human nature, be utterly unavoidable : by this method therefore we cannot fail of pleasing God. By seeking after proper evidence, we shew our great unwillingness to be deceived, and to take that for his will which is not so : and by yielding to the same evidence, which we are forced to assent to and govern our- selves by, in the greatest business and concerns of life, we shew our desire to please him, and readiness to obey him.

Thus have I considered the commendation given to the grace of faith in my text, and laid before you the reason of it. •I have already observed, that the faith the apostle here speaks of is such a belief of gospel truths as begets love in the heart and obedience in the life. This is the faith he commends : for it is noways commendable that a person barely assent to the truths of the gospel upon the evidence we have been mentioning, unless he also act accordingly, unless he govern

THE PREFATORY DISCOURSE. 9

his temper and direct his behaviour agreeably to the gospel precepts. This is it that renders faith in an unseen Saviour so praiseworthy, that we be not only inwardly convinced, but demonstrate that we are so in our outward conduct, by conforming ourselves to Christ's example, and obeying his commands.

And this is the only way to attain the joy so highly com- mended by the apostle in the words following : "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,"'1 or of praise. Would you maintain a serenity of mind and joy of heart in all states of life, and under the near prospect of death ? would you be able to rejoice in the midst of calamities, and under the severest trials and afflictions ? would you triumph even in the agonies of a violent and lingering death, as many of the holy martyrs have done ? you must not only give your assent to the truths of the gospel, but must subject yourselves to Christ's govern- ment, and perform his will. Unless you produce the fruit of a good life, your faith is dead, your hope is presumption, and all your joy is deceit. If you would lead a life of comfort and joy, you must lead a life of faith. The life you henceforth lead, " you must live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved you, and gave himself for you. The love of Christ must con- strain you, that you live no longer to yourselves, but to him that died for you, and rose again from the dead."" And if you have such a faith as this, how reasonable is your joy ! your sins are pardoned ; you are the children of God, and heirs of glory ; " joint heirs with Christ to an inheritance incorrupt- ible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." You may firmly depend on your heavenly Father for whatever aids, supports, and comfort you need here, and rejoice in the hope of ever- lasting glory and unspeakable bliss hereafter.

THE

INTRODUCTION AND SCHEME.

~IT7~E no sooner come to years of understanding and re- Y " flection than we feel one of those truths, which (if we have had any tolerable education) have from our infancy been inculcated on us, striking us in the strongest manner ; and that is, that religion is an affair of the highest moment, of the utmost consequence to us possible. This truth shines with so overbearing a light, that persons must first deny the existence of religion itself before they can doubt, dis- pute of, or diminish its importance. Accordingly we find, when we arrive at knowledge and experience in the world, that it is a truth universally allowed by those who acknowledge the immortality of the soul, or a future state of rewards and punishments, even though they deny all revelation.

It is too plainly visible that mankind are not agreed in an affair of this avowed concern. Even those who are united in the acknowledgment of its moment and consequence, differ widely in their notions of the thing itself: and it cannot be concealed from us, that some parts of the world are not more remotely distant from others in their situations, habits, and languages, than in their religious tenets. Ought not every man then to examine whether the religion be pro- fesses be well founded, built upon such solid grounds as

12 THE INTRODUCTION

will not deceive him ? The more necessary, useful, and important the edifice, the greater should be the care taken that the foundation be sure and immovable.

Shall a man grudge his pains, and spare himself the thought and study, to be satisfied of the truth of the religion he pro- fesses ? Can he be too solicitous, too diligent, in an affair of the utmost consequence? No, certainly; his labour and fatigue in the inquiry ought to bear some proportion to the great moment of the truth he is seeking ; till he is firmly persuaded that he has the justest reason to give his assent to it, and is fully determined to be governed by it. For should we be never so strongly convinced of the truth of religion, but at the same time will not form our lives agreeably thereto, we might as well have omitted the pains we were at in examining its evidence, and confirming ourselves in the belief of it, because it cannot be of any service to us to .see our way to happiness, if we refuse to walk in it.

Forasmuch as the religion we have been educated in is that delivered down to us by Christ and his disciples as revealed from heaven, it is our concern most certainly well to consider and duly to weigh its pretensions ; that if the proofs there are for its being true and genuine are substantial, and carry conviction with them, we may with all cheerfulness per- form the things thereby enjoined, and with pleasure wait for the glory and felicity therein promised.

The first thing that offers itself to our thoughts, in the trial of a revelation pretending to come from above, is, whether it be worthy of God and suited to the condition of man. If it teaches doctrines contradictory to the nature of God, or to that reason with which he has endued us ; if it recommends examples or enjoins precepts inconsistent with the moral attributes of the divine Being, or the eternal rule of right reason ; if it insist on the practice of such things as tend manifestly to the hurt and detriment of man, and to the preventing his happiness ; we may justly and warrantably conclude that it is not from heaven. But the more fully we examine, and the more thoroughly we comprehend the Christian scheme, the more firmly shall we be persuaded that it was fitting to be revealed by God, and received by men ;

AND SCHEME. i3

that every part of it exactly harmonizes with the divine attributes, and is no less agreeable to the state of man ; that it has a plain and direct tendency to improve and me- liorate his condition here, and thereby train him up and prepare him for that perfection it gives him hope of hereafter; that there is not the least thing required of us, but what it was highly becoming the wisdom of God to insist on, and manifestly conducive to our interest and welfare to comply with.

The next inquiry that occurs naturally to our minds is, whether this revelation be fact. It is very possible that, after the strictest scrutiny we are capable of making, we may be able to discern nothing in a revelation pretending to come from God unworthy of him, or unsuitable to the state of man ; at least there may be so plausible an interpretation put upon those things we object to, as we cannot reasonably find fault with. And yet, after all, this may be no other than the invention of men, the well-laid contrivance of some crafty, political heads, who, studiously considering and foreseeing the objections that might be started, industriously pre- vented them.

It is not enough therefore to see that the Christian re- ligion is every way becoming the wisdom and nature of God, and highly conducive to the perfection and happiness of man, unless we can also satisfy ourselves of the truth of the fact that it was indeed revealed from heaven. And I doubt not to assert it as a thing certain from manifold experience, that the more fully persons inquire into the evidence of this fact, the more nicely they sift, and the more scrupulously and minutely they examine its several proofs, the more substantial and convincing will they always find them.

Another thing that will present itself to the inquiry of a considerate and knowing mind, as necessary to be canvassed, is, whether this revelation has- not been superseded by a later. The Jews affirm that theirs is the only religion re- vealed from heaven. Christians acknowledge the truth of their revelation ; but at the same time allege that far the greater part of the things therein enjoined are set aside by the new revelation made to them. Is there no one of a yet

14 THE INTRODUCTION

more modern date to which the Christian ought to yield? A very large part of the world make pretences to such a revelation, and would obtrude the Koran upon us, as what ought to take place in the room of our gospel. But the more impartially we examine the contents of that book, and the methods by which a professed belief of it has been enforced and propagated, so much the less proofs shall we find of its being a divine revelation. If war, bloodshed, slaughter, and desolation, carried on for no end but the making converts and proselytes, can be evidence of the truth of a religion ; if the drawn sword, pointed at a man's breast, can be a natural and proper means to convince his mind, divest him of his errors, and shew him the truth ; then may we entertain favourable sentiments of Mohammed and his religion. But if these are methods repugnant to nature and truth ; if these terrify and confound, but not instruct men; if they darken the mind, instead of enlightening it ; if they make men hypocritically profess what they neither do nor can believe ; then may we firmly persuade ourselves that the Christian revelation still continues in its full force, and that the pretences of the Mus- selmen are all groundless.

To go through each of these three inquiries in so full and distinct a manner as a subject of this nature ought to be treated, and to answer all the objections that have been raised, would take up much more time than the honourable founder has allotted to any one person in the preaching of this Lecture. I shall confine myself therefore to the second inquiry, and lay before you those proofs which convince me that the Christian religion is in fact a divine revelation.

No one, I think, pretends to deny that Christianity has been now openly and publicly professed for 1700 years and upwards ; and were it denied, it is the easiest thing imagin- able to shew it by turning to the histories of every age during that period. How great a part of the world pro- fessed this religion when Constantine the Roman emperor became a Christian, no one who has looked into the accounts of his life and times can be ignorant. How very numerous the Christians were in the province of Bithynia, in the reign of the emperor .Trajan, Pliny is an undeniable witness.

AND SCHEME. 15

Suetonius and Tacitus inform us with what severity the followers of Christ were treated before this under Nero. But if we ascend a little higher, and consult the histories of Julius Csesar, or his successor Augustus, or of any princes contemporary with or elder than them, we find not a word of any such religion, or of the persons who professed it. Hence it is most evident, that the relation given us in our sacred books of the rise of Christianity exactly corresponds with what we are able to gather concerning it from other authors ; and it is plainly demonstrable from heathen writers, that the time fixed by the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, for its first appearance and progress in the world, is the very time in which it began, and no other.

As the five books I have now mentioned are the only genuine sacred books which give us a clear, distinct, histori- cal account of the original success of the Christian religion, so the wonderful facts related therein must, I think, be readily acknowledged by all to be in themselves the most likely means to spread and propagate it : and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to conceive how it should in so short a time gain the ground it did, if these facts had not been true. If indeed we take them for granted, that is, if there were prophecies delivered to the Jewish nation many ages before concerning the Messiah who was to come ; if these all centered in and described the blessed Jesus ; if there were various miraculous appearances preceding and attend- ing his birth ; if he had open and express attestations from heaven of the truth of his mission ; if he healed the sick, cleansed the leprous, gave sight to the blind, cured the paralytic, and this at a word's speaking, and sometimes at a distance ; if he raised to life those who had been some time dead ; if, according to his own prediction, he arose himself from the dead on the third day ; if he foretold several things as difficult to be foreseen as this, and which exactly answered in the event ; if his disciples after him did more and greater miracles than he himself had done ; if they wrought these wonderful works, not for the space of one or two years only, but upwards of thirty years together, not in small villages, but the greatest and most populous cities ;

16 THE INTRODUCTION

if the whole Jewish nation, and multitudes that came from all countries to Jerusalem, were witnesses of these things ; if they performed them not in Judsea only, but in every even the most distant parts of the world, whither they went to preach the gospel ; if these facts, I say, are taken for granted by us, it is no difficult matter to conceive how the Christian religion should in the course of a few years be spread through the vast extent of the Roman empire, and much beyond it. But if we will not admit the truth of these facts, I think it is utterly impossible for the wit of man to invent any probable account how it came to pass that this religion was so soon and so widely propagated as we find it was.

We learn both from Jewish and heathen writers, that the Author of this religion underwent the disgrace of a public execution, due only to the vilest of malefactors : and Christians themselves have always openly professed that he suffered the painful and ignominious death of the cross. How strong a prejudice must this raise in the minds of all against embrac- ing it ! how great an aversion to it ! what an invincible obstacle must this have been to its spreading and prevailing, had not those extraordinary and miraculous means before mentioned been made use of to that end ! and even those, when heard of only by a distant rumour, but not seen, not examined into, and thoroughly understood, might give per- sons no very agreeable idea of the Christian religion, being represented by its enemies as the effects of sorcery. Hence it was, I am persuaded, that Tacitus and Suetonius were led to pass the harsh censures a they do upon this religion and its professors. It was natural for persons, who would not give themselves the trouble to sift this affair to the bottom, to conclude that a Roman governor would not have condemned Christ to so cruel a death, had he not been a criminal that highly deserved it ; and to take it for granted, that all who could list themselves under such a wretch as their teacher and master, must be as wicked as himself ; and that none but the worst of mankind could deify

a Exitiabilis superstitio, Tac. Su- thets very usually affixed to the jierstitionis maleficce, Suet. Epi- magical arts.

AND SCHEME. 17

and worship one who had been deservedly punished with the death of the vilest slave. It is possible they might also think that nothing but an invincible love to the wicked, detestable arts of sorcery, which he had taught them, could induce them to adhei'e to him. Is it any wonder that persons who took up with opinions so injurious, so foreign from the truth, should speak ill of Christians and their religion ? This, how- ever, may convince us what prejudices prevailed, and that nothing but the most glaring evidence of the contrary truths could have dispelled and removed them.

We learn also from the two forementioned heathen writers that Christians not only underwent an ill • fame, but were severely handled ; that as early as Nero's reign they suffered a most bitter persecution. Tacitus informs us that a great multitude of them were apprehended by that emperor's order, and exposed to the most cruel tortures, the most painful and lingering deaths. Now that persons should vanquish the deep- rooted prejudices they had sucked in with their milk, adandon the religion they were educated in, and, notwithstanding the utter aversion they might some time have felt in themselves to the doing it, become the disciples, adorers, and worshippers of one whom far the most about them looked upon as no other than a criminal justly condemned and deservedly executed, and thereby lay themselves open to the scorn, contempt, ridicule, hatred, and ill treatment of their kindred, acquaint- ance, and neighbours ; renounce all their hopes and interests in this world ; run the risk of every thing that was dear and valuable to them here ; hazard life itself, and dare venture upon death under its most ghastly form, dying piecemeal and by inches ; I say, that a great multitude should do this upon less grounds than those related in the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, seems to me wholly incredible.

I know not that any who have yet written on the infidel side of the question have attempted to give us a reasonable account of this matter. Till they are pleased therefore to lay before us at least a plausible method in which so great and sudden a change might be brought to pass, we may, I think, safely continue in the persuasion that it was by the wonders related in our holy books ; and may take leave also to say,

biscoe. c

18 THE INTRODUCTION

that although they cannot, as they pretend, bring themselves to believe the historical facts contained in the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, yet they can easily give credit to that which it is far more difficult to conceive ; that is, that the Christian religion could be spread through so many widely distant nations, as we find it was in the course of a very few years, notwithstanding the aversion and inveterate prejudices of those who were to embrace it ; notwithstanding the violent opposition that was made to it by the powers of the world ; notwithstanding the contempt, ridicule, and sufferings, the professors of it underwent from their friends and neighbours, without any of the miraculous means mentioned in our sacred writings, and by the ordinary course of human affairs.

It has been often observed, that although infidels accuse Christians of an easy credulity, the accusation, when retorted, is just; that they themselves, in truth, are the easy and credulous, and embrace the most monstrous absurdities in maintenance of their infidelity. What I have just now laid before you is manifestly one instance : they will not believe the wonderful facts related in the Gospels and the history of the Acts ; and yet they believe what is far more incredible, that is, that the Christian" religion was propagated without them. When once they attempt to shew us how this could be, I think it is very evident that they will expose the naked- ness of their cause, and their absurdity must appear to all.

If the matters of fact contained in these historical relations be admitted as true, it can be no longer doubted whether the Christian religion be a divine revelation. If there were so many miraculous appearances at the birth of Jesus ; if during his life he performed such amazing works ; if after his death he arose from the grave, ascended visibly into heaven, sent down the gifts of the Holy Spirit on his disciples ; according to his promise, endued them with such wonderful power, and enabled them to testify the truth of his resurrection with all boldness, notwithstanding the hazard they ran, and the ill treatment they met with for so doing, as is particularly related therein ; no one, that allows himself at all to think, can make the least doubt that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, as he declared himself to be, and that the doctrine he

AND SCHEME. 19

taught he received from his Father. For as it is certain that such things could not be brought to pass without the divine permission, so no one can conceive it reconcilable with the attributes of an infinitely holy, just, true, and good Being to have suffered such things to be done, in order to impose on and deceive the best of men in an affair of the highest con- sequence to them possible. For Jesus openly appealed to his miraculous works, and particularly his resurrection from the dead, as the proof of his being sent from heaven. Was it consistent with the holiness, justice, truth, and goodness of God, to allow these proofs to follow his appeal, if he had not sent him \ If we admit a Providence ruling over all, we must be persuaded, that, in a case of such importance, it would have interposed, and prevented the imposture. For who were the persons the most likely to be deceived ? were they not those who were the best disposed, who entertained the highest regard for the Deity ; were the most desirous of knowing his will, and the most willing to obey it ? and could there be any thing concern them more nearly, or of greater consequence to them, than the things which relate to the worship and favour of God, and a future life ? Unless therefore we can suppose that the infinitely perfect Being could act an unkind and unfriendly part by those who were most devoted to his service, we can never grant that he would suffer the dead to be raised to life, in proof that certain doctrines regarding his worship and a future life were revealed by him, which were not so.

This being a consequence generally seen, and readily as- sented to, the authority of our sacred books, and the truth of the facts contained in them, have of late been disputed. I shall endeavour therefore to lay before you the plain proofs we have of their being true and genuine histories, and answer all the arguments which I can learn have been made use of to weaken their authority, and render the facts related therein doubtful. I shall begin with the Acts of the Apostles, and (if the time will give me leave) proceed afterwards to the four Gospels.

With regard to the Acts of the Apostles, I shall first give you a short view of the facts contained therein ; secondly,

c2

20 THE INTRODUCTION AND SCHEME.

shew you how far these facts are confirmed to us by other historians ; thirdly, lay before you the plain and direct proofs there are that this book was written by St. Luke, and was owned and received by the Christians as a sacred book, and the arguments thence arising of the truth of the facts therein related ; fourthly, the incontestable evidence these facts afford of the truth of Christianity; and, lastly, answer all the objections that I can find have been at any time started either with regard to the authority of this book, or to the truth of any of the facts related in it.

CHAP. I.

A short view of the facts contained in the history of the Act8, with some natural refections thence arising.

J" SHALL, first of all, give you a brief view of the facts -*- contained in this book : they are, the visible ascension of Christ into heaven ; the miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost on the disciples, together with the wonderful powers thereby conferred; the healing the lame beggar, who was daily laid at the Beautiful gate of the temple ; and the increase of Christ's followers, by the amazing conversion of many thousand Jews ; the exemplary punishment of Ananias and Sapphira, with many miracles done by Peter and the other apostles ; the imprisonment and miraculous release of the apostles ; their being afterwards apprehended, and beaten by the magistrates ; the appointment of seven dea- cons ; the defence of St. Stephen before the sanhedrim, and his being stoned ; Philip the deacon's planting the gospel in Samaria ; the gifts of the Holy Ghost being conferred by the hands of the apostles ; the feigned conversion of Simon Magus, and the real conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch ; Saul's bitter persecution of Christ's disciples, and his mira- culous conversion ; St. Peter's curing .ZEneas of an eight years' palsy, and raising Dorcas from the dead; his being taught by a vision from heaven that the Gentiles were to be no longer esteemed unclean ; his preaching the gospel to Cornelius and his friends, and the Holy Ghost's falling on them ; the plentiful crop of Gentile converts after this, par- ticularly at Antioch ; the prophecy of Agabus concerning the dearth there should be under Claudius Csesar ; Herod's

22 ACCOUNT OF THINGS RELATED

slaying the apostle James with the sword ; his imprisoning of Peter, who is delivered by an angel, and his remarkable end ; that Paul and Barnabas, commissioned by the Holy Ghost to publish the gospel among the Gentiles, arrive at Salamis, preach to Sergius Paulus the Roman governor, are opposed by Elymas the sorcerer, who is struck blind, and the governor is converted ; that they next preached the word at Antioch in Pisidia, first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles, and among the latter had a large number of converts ; but, being persecuted by the envious Jews, they travelled to Iconium, and so spake there, that a great mul- titude both of Jews and Gentiles believed ; that they abode here a long time, and did many miracles ; but at length, being persecuted by the envy of the Jews, they fled to Lycaonia, and St. Paul having healed a cripple, lame from his mother's womb, at Lystra, the inhabitants would fain have done him divine honours, taking him for a god ; the Jews here also stirred up the people against St. Paul, and prevailed to that degree, that they stoned him, drew him out of the city, and left him for dead ; but the almighty arm saved him, so that either he received no hurt from the force and weight of the stones thrown at him, or his bruises and wounds were immediately healed ; for he soon arose, and, after the short stay of one night more in that city, went the next day with Barnabas to Derbe, and having taught many there, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, to Antioch in Pisidia, and having ordained elders in every church which they had planted, they passed throughout Pisidia, came to Pamphylia, preached at Perga, went down to Attaiia, and then returned to Antioch in Syria, from whence they set out : that Paul and Barnabas were sent from hence to Jerusalem to consult the apostles whether it were necessary that the converted Gentiles should be cir- cumcised, and declared before them and the whole multitude of the disciples at Jerusalem what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them ; and the apostles with the elders having determined this question in favour of the Gentile converts, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch : that, after some days Paul and Barnabas, purpos- ing to visit the churches they had planted among the Gentiles,

IN THE HISTORY OF THE ACTS. 23

differed so greatly in their opinions concerning John, whose surname was Mark, that, they separating, Barnabas went to Cyprus, and Paul, passing through Syria and Cilicia, went to Derbe and Lystra ; as he went through the cities, deliver- ing the decrees of the apostles to keep, and establishing the churches in their faith : and having gone throughout Phrygia and Galatia, he came down to Troas ; from whence, being warned by a vision, he went to Samothracia, the next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which was the first city of that part of Macedonia, and a Roman colony : here he converted Lydia, cast the demon out of the Pytho- nissa, was scourged, cast into prison, and "had his feet fast- ened in the stocks ; but at midnight the prison-doors being flung open by a miraculous earthquake, and the irons of every prisoner falling off, the gaoler, concluding they were all fled, in the greatness of his surprise would have stabbed himself, had not Paul assured him that not one prisoner was missing : overcome by this wonderful event, he gave atten- tion to the word preached by Paul and Silas, and was baptized, he and all his household : the magistrates of this city, repenting of their rash act in beating and imprisoning two Romans unheard, uncondeinned, came the next day, and besought them to leave both the prison and their city : that St. Paul went from thence through Amphipolis and Apol- lonia, and came to Thessalonica, where, after having con- verted many to the Christian faith, an uproar being made by the unbelieving Jews, he went unto Bercea ; whence, after a large harvest of converts, the Jews stirring up the people against him here also, he was conducted to Athens : having preached and made a few converts in that city, he went to Corinth ; there he abode about two years, and con- verted very many. He was here carried before Gallio the Roman proconsul, and Sosthenes the chief ruler of the synagogue was beaten for his sake. He sailed from Cen- chrea, the eastern port belonging to Corinth, for Syria, put in by the way at Ephesus, and, after a short stay in that city, sailed thence to Caesarea ; and having gone up and saluted the church at Jerusalem, he went down to Antioch in Syria. That after some time spent here, he went again over all the countries of Galatia and Phrygia, comforting

24 ACCOUNT OF THINGS RELATED

the disciples ; and, passing through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus. Here he conferred the Holy Ghost on twelve disciples, who before this had heard only of John's baptism. He continued in this city three months preaching in the synagogue of the Jews, and after that disputed daily in the school of one Tyrannus by the space of two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles : and God wrought special miracles by the hand of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, attempting to cast out an evil spirit by the name of Jesus, in imitation of the apostle, were forced to flee out of the house wounded and naked. Many that used magic arts and sorceries, being converted, confessed and renounced their evil deeds, and burnt their books. An uproar was raised against St. Paul by Demetrius the silversmith, and artfully appeased by the town-clerk ; after which St. Paul immediately left this city, and went through Macedonia into Greece. There he con- tinued three months, and learning that the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he returned to Macedonia, and sailed from Philippi to Troas. Here Paul raised Eutychus to life, who had fallen from a third story to the ground, and was taken up dead. Thence he went to Assos, and Mitylene, and Samos, and Trogyllium, and Miletus. To this place he sent for the elders of Ephesus, and in a most pathetic discourse foretold the disorders that would happen among them after his departure. Thence he went to Coos, and Rhodes, and Patara, where he took ship for Phoenicia, and landed at Tyre. Here he met with dis- ciples, who foresaw the danger he would be exposed to by going up to Jerusalem, and dissuaded him from it. He sailed thence to Ptolemais, and went to Csesarea, where con- tinuing in the house of Philip the deacon and evangelist many days, there came Agabus the prophet down from Judaea, and foretold that Paul should be bound at Jerusa- lem, and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. Notwith- standing, being willing to lay down his life for the name of Jesus, he went up to Jerusalem; and certain Asiatic Jews,

IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 25

finding him in the temple, raised a tumult, and would have put him to death, had he not been rescued out of their hands by Claudius Lysias, the chief captain, with his Roman soldiers, who imprisoned him, and would have put him to the question by scourging, but that he found he was a citizen of Rome. The chief captain, willing to know his crime, ordered him a hearing before the Jewish sanhedrim ; and being informed that if he brought him a second time before them he would be murdered by certain Jews, who had bound themselves under a great curse to that purpose, he sent him with a strong guard to Felix the Roman governor, residing at Csesarea. St. Paul had a hearing before Felix ; and al- though the Roman governor was convinced of his innocence, yet, through covetousness and fear of the Jews, he would not release him, but left him in prison when he was recalled from the province. Porcius Festus succeeded him, and soon after his arrival gave a hearing to Paul ; who, finding that the Jews had prevailed with the governor to carry him to Jeru- salem, in order to be tried there, and knowing of their lying in wait to kill him by the way, appealed unto Csesar. He is again heard by Festus, in the presence of king Agrippa and his sister Bernice, and his innocence acknowledged by all. Being committed to Julius the centurion, and sent to Rome, in consequence of his appeal, the ship which carries them touches at Sidon, and thence goes to Myra in Lycia, where the centurion taking passage in another ship bound for Italy, they sail to the Fair Havens in the island of Crete. Here St. Paul foretold the great damage and risk that would befall them, if they continued their voyage, which they notwithstanding did, in order to obtain a more commodious port to winter in; and when in the utmost danger, and they had given over all hope of life, he encou- raged them, by fortelling that they should all escape safe to land, which accordingly happened in the island of Malta. Here St. Paul was bitten by a serpent, and not hurt ; healed the father of Publius, the chief man of the island, of a fever and bloody flux, and others also who had diseases ; and after a stay of three months was put on board a ship of Alex- andria, which went first to Syracuse, thence to Rhegium, thence to Puteoli, from which place he went by land to

26 REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM

Appii Forum, the Three Taverns, and so to Rome, and lived there two years, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a relation of things which happened for the space of about thirty years after our Saviours death. Very many and very wonderful, you see, are the events here recorded ; not said to have fallen out in an obscure corner of the earth, where few could have opportunity to inquire into and fully know the truth ; but in a great variety of countries and cities, not only the most populous, but the most polite. Had this history been forged, it was the most impolitic thing imaginable to lay the scene so wide, to include so long a space of time, and mention so many persons by name. This was the certain way to lay open the forgery to the conviction of all mankind, and prevent its deceiving of any one person. If it were written with an intention to impose on the world, is it possible to con- ceive how the author could have taken a more effectual method to frustrate his own end ? None sure but a fool or a madman could have formed such a scheme ; and it is utterly impossible, in the nature of the thing, that it could have met with success. To render himself accountable for the truth of so great a variety of facts, in such distant parts of the world, and to make the whole credit of Christianity, the advancement of which is the only end he has in view, to depend upon the certainty of every one of these facts, does by no means bespeak the cunning of an artful impostor. If we read the Koran, we see little history in it ; that little is of ancient times long passed, and therefore not easy to be contradicted ; none at all, I think, of the times in or near which the book itself was written : and undoubtedly the fewer facts are mentioned, and the less explicit the narration, as to the circumstances of time and place, and the names of the persons concerned, so much the less liable must it neces- sarily be to contradiction. But to write a history of the time then immediately passed, in which are named many persons of the highest rank and distinction, in which many large countries of a vast extent are travelled over, and about fifty different cities are visited, among them some of the greatest note the world ever had, such as Jerusalem, Ephesus,

THE THINGS RELATED. 27

Corinth, Athens, Rome, and in which history are recorded the most surprising events that ever came to pass, could never be the way to impose on and deceive mankind, because the things asserted lay fairly open to examination ; and it was the easiest matter in the world to have confuted them, had they not been notorious truths. Besides, it is well known, that the time when these facts are said to have happened, and when this history was written, was not in any of the darkest and most ignorant ages; but in an inquisitive and knowing age, an age of great discernment and letters, when learning was now arrived at its highest pitch, and there was a free communication between most countries, a great part of the world being subject to the Roman empire, so that intelligence was easy to be had from all the cities and places herein mentioned, and the truth of things could not be concealed.

Had we all the records and histories of that time now extant, I am persuaded we should see an abundant confir- mation of every particular contained in the book of Acts. But as they are well nigh all lost, through the length and accidents of time, nothing further is left, after having de- plored this our unhappiness, than that we be the more diligent in examining the very few which remain. I proceed therefore now to the second thing proposed, which is to shew you how far the facts contained in the Acts of the Apostles are confirmed to us by other writers : and that I may reduce what I have to say under this head into some method, I shall first take notice of the ordinary occurrences of that time which are herein hinted or related, and the great per- sonages named ; secondly, the several distinctions among the Jews that are here mentioned ; thirdly, the customs and manners of that time, whether Jewish, Grecian, or Roman, that are here referred to ; fourthly, the places here spoken of; and, fifthly, the extraordinary and miraculous events recorded.

CHAP. II.

What is written in the history of the Acts of the ordinary occurrences of that time, and of the great persons therein named, confirmed from other authors.

T7IRST, I shall compare what is here said of the ordinary occurrences of the time, and of the great personages named, with what is reported in other authors. The time we are speaking of is from the nineteenth of the reign of Tiberius to the ninth of the reign of Nero, from the 3982d year of the world to the 4012th, from the 785th of the building of Rome to the 815th, from the 33d of the vulgar Christian era to the 63d.

In this time were four Roman emperors, who reigned successively, Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, and Nero. There is no mention made of any of these by name in the Acts of the Apostles excepting Claudius Csesara. The Caesar to whom St. Paul appealed b was Nero. During the first seven years of this period Judsea was a Roman province0, and had a governor among them sent by the Romans : then it was made a kingdom again, and subject to Herod Agrippad : three years after, upon the death of Agrippa, it was turned into a province again e, and of the number of governors sent thither were both Felix and Festus : that our Saviour was crucified under the government of Pontius Pilate Tacitus is witness f. And although he continued governor some

" Acts xi. 28. b Acts xxv. 11. Bell. 1. 2. c. 11. §. 5.

c Jos. Antiq. 1. 18. c. 5. §. 2. et e Antiq. 1. 19. c. 8. §. 2. et c. 9.

c. 7. §. 10. etl. 19. c. 2. §. 5. pr. et §. 2. et de Bell. 1. 2. c. 11. §. 6.

c. 5. §. 1. Tacit. Hist. 5. 9.

d Antiq. 1. 19. c. 5. §. 1. et de f Annal. 1. i5. 44.

THE HISTORY OF THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 29

years after, there was no occasion to make mention of him in the history of the Acts. The first person who is there spoken of as invested with supreme authority over the Jew- ish nation is Herod the king, that is, Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great by his son Aristobulus, who was made king of Judaea, Samaria, and Caesarea, by Claudius Caesars. It is said of him in the book of Acts, that " being at Caesarea, upon a set day, he, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration to them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost h." The account which Josephus gives us of this king's death agrees most remark- ably herewith. He relates of him, " that he went to Caesarea, and that there, upon a feast day, (which had been instituted in honour of Caesar, and to which feast came a great concourse of his nobles and principal officers,) he went to the theatre, arrayed with a most splendid vest- ment, made all of silver; that his flatterers gave a shout from several parts of the surrounding crowd, calling him God, and praying him to be propitious to them : that he was so far from rebuking, that he indeed received this im- pious flattery : and that immediately before he left the as- sembly, he was smitten with most exquisite pain in his bowels, which, continuing five days, finished his life'." It is a thing, I doubt not, must occur to most readers, and therefore scarce deserves the remarking, that it is usual for those who are eaten of worms, to be attacked with a most exquisite pain in their bowels. Thus was it with Antiochus Epiphanes ; " A pain of the bowels, that was remediless, came upon him, and sore torments of the inner parts V and soon after it is related of him, " that worms rose up out of his body1." Thus also was it with Herod the Great, who was this king's grandfather. Josephus, in describing his distemper, says, " that he had ulcers and severe pains in

3 Antiq. 1. 19. C. 8. §. 2. propefin. aWodev (pcovas avefioav, Qebv irpoo-a-

h Acts xii. 19, 21, 22, 23. yopevovrts. Jos. loco citato.

' Antiq. 1. 19. c. 8. §. 2. 'O Se k 2 Maccab. ix. 5.

Srjfios errecpavei' Qeov (pcovfj, Acts xii. ' 2 Maccab. ix. 9.

22. TLiOvs 8e oi KoXaKes ras aXXos

30 THE HISTORY OF

his bowels:1' and a little after, "that he bred worms"1.'" The same was the case of the emperor Maximianus Galerius : for though Eusebius expresses not the pain, yet such is his description of the disease as evidently shews he must have been full of torture in his bowels". It has been made a question, (and what is there so plain that some learned men will not dispute ?) whether the Herod mentioned in the twelfth chapter of the Acts, and the Agrippa of Josephus, were the same person, because of the difference of names0? but certainly, when the time and place of reigning, and cir- cumstances of death, so exactly agree, the difference of name is of small importance, especially when it was no uncommon thing among the Jews to have two names : and it is no unreasonable thing to suppose that Agrippa, if he had not the name of Herod before, should take it upon him, when he was put in possession of all the dominions of his grand- father Herod the Great P, whose grandeur and munificence he very much affected. Archelaus, who succeeded his father Herod in part only of his dominions, seems to have taken upon himself the same name : for he is expressly called Herod by Dio0.. The Syriac translation of the New Testa- ment, which is very ancient, and approaches near to the times of the apostles themselves1', puts this matter out of all doubt: for there the reading of Acts xii. 1. is thus; " Herod the king, who is surnamed Agrippa :" and in this reading all the MS. copies of that translation agree. I may add, that in the opinion of several learned men, well skilled in affairs of this nature, there are coins of this king now extant bearing the name of Herod s. Josephus, who wrote his history for the use of foreigners, very properly mentions him always by his Roman name, the name by which he was

m Antiq. 1. 17. c. 6. §. 5. pr. et de q L. 55. p. 567. And it is the

Bell. 1. 1. c. 33. §. 5. opinion of Noldius, that Agrippa

n 'Adpoa fiev yap 7rept to /xeVa r&v junior, the son of this king, was

dwoppTjToov tov <tu>pxitos, ando-rao-is also called Herod, from a passage

ylyverai avra>' eld' e\icos eV fiaOei in the Talmud Sanhed. cap. Che-

(Tvpiyycabes, Kal tovtcov dviaros vopt) lech. Vid. Hist. Idum. p. 390.

Kara ra>v eVSordro) <nr\dyxv<0v d(j> 3>v r Vid. Father Simon's Crit. t. 2.

dXfKTOv ti 7rXfj8os CTK<o\r]Ka>i' ftpveiv., c. 13.

Hist. 1. 8. c. 16. et Vit. Con. 1. 1. s Such as Spanheim, Cellarius,

c. 57. and Basnage. Vid. Cell. Dissert.

0 Particularly by Father Harduin. Acad. p. 219. et Basn. Ann. p. 540.

p Jos. de Bell. 1. 2.' c. 11. §. 5.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 31

so long and well known in the city of Rome. St. Luke, who has occasion to speak only of a few actions of his while reign- ing in Judaea, as properly calls him by his Syriac name, the name which in all probability he most affected in his own country and dominions.

§. 2. When this king died, Judaea being again made a province, after some others Felix was sent thither as go- vernor by the emperor Claudius1. St. Paul, in his defence before this governor, says, " Forasmuch as I know, that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation"." The learned bishop Pearson thinks that he had been now governor five years and a half only : and this, when com- pared with the time of his three immediate predecessors, Cuspius Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, and Cumanus, might be well said to be " many years," it being near as long again as the time allotted to each of them : for the government of all these three together could not last much above eight years and a half at the furthest. But, for any reasons that I have yet seen advanced by learned men to the contrary, Felix might have been at this time procurator of Judaea between seven and eight years. Josephus does not so pre- cisely fix the time of his being appointed governor as that there should remain no doubt. It is true, after he has said, " And Claudius sends Felix the brother of Pallas to preside over the affairs of Judaea," he immediately adds, " and hav- ing now completed the twelfth year of his reign, he gives to Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip and BataneaV The thing in question is, whether we must understand the first part of this last sentence to look back to what he had before related ; as if he should have said, " While these affairs were trans- acting, Claudius finished the twelfth year of his reign, and then gave Agrippa the tetrarchy ;" or whether we must understand it as the beginning of a new relation; "And when Claudius had now completed his twelfth year he gives Agrippa the tetrarchy." It is plain Eusebius interpreted it in this latter sense ; for he places the beginning of Felix's government in the eleventh year of the reign of Claudius y. The same

f Jos. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. Tacit. u Acts xxiv. 10. Ann. 1. 12. 54. Hist. 5. 9. Suet. x Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 1. Claud, c. 28. 2. 9. y In Chron.

32 THE HISTORY OF

reasons also which the learned bishop Pearson gives why Felix might be acquitted at the intercession of his brother Pallas, in the sixth year of Nero, equally extend to the seventh, if not to the eighth of that emperor's reign2.

It is related of this Felix in the book of Acts, that he had a wife whose name was Drusilla, " which was a Jewess V Josephus gives us a particular account of this matter: he says, that Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa, king of Judaea, and sister of Agrippa junior, was by her brother placed in marriage to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, who consented to be circumcised that he might obtain her : that Felix, when procurator of Judsea, having seen her, was greatly taken with her beauty ; and sending a friend of his, named Simon, who was a Jew, and took upon him to be a magician, persuaded her to leave her husband, and be married to him, promising to make her a happy woman, if she did not reject him : and that she, in order to avoid the envy of her sister Bernice, who had done her no little injury upon the account of her beauty, was prevailed with to break through the Jewish laws, and be married to Felix b. It is true, Tacitus the Roman historian tells us that this Felix was married to Drusilla the granddaughter of Cleopatra and Anthony0. But this is noways inconsistent with what Josephus relates :

1 Vid. Annal. Paulin. p. 17. The months; this makes seven years

learned archbishop Usher says, in and four months. Two years after

his Annals, that Felix was at this this, Felix went to Rome, and found

time in the tenth year of his go- Burrhus and Pallas hoth living,

vernment. He takes it for granted Jos. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 9. And

that the province was divided be- this he might well do, it being now

tween Cumanus and Felix, as re- but the seventh of Nero, and they

ported by Tacitus, Annal. 1. 12. 54. were not put to death till the ninth

But as Josephus says not one word of Nero, C. Marius Celsus and L.

of this division, and plainly relates Asinius Gallus being consuls. Tac.

that the whole province was under Ann. 1. 14. 5 1. 65. Even St. Paul

each of these successively, there is himself might in this case arrive at

no great stress to be laid on the Rome in the fourth month of Nero's

words of Tacitus. Josephus tells eighth year; the emperor Claudius

us that Claudius reigned- thirteen dying the thirteenth day of October,

years, eight months, and twenty days. Seneca diroKok. Dio, p. 688. The

Let us suppose that Felix came into firing of Rome, and the persecution

his government in the beginning of following, did not happen till Nero's

his twelfth year, in the second or eleventh year was well advanced,

third month of that year, and that Vid. Tac.

St. Paul appeared before Felix in 8 Ch. xxiv. ver. 24.

the fifth of Nero, that is, after he b Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 1, 2.

had reigned four years and nine c Hist. 1. 5. 9. fin.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 33

for Suetonius informs us that he was the husband of three queens d, meaning, I suppose, three kings' daughters : two of these were named Drusilla. She that was granddaughter to Cleopatra and Antony was daughter to Juba king of Mauritania, by their daughter Cleopatra*3.

It is further said of this governor, in the history of the Acts, that " he hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him ; wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with himf." This well agrees with the character given him both by Josephus and Tacitus. The former relates, that " Jonathan the high priest, who had petitioned Csesar to send him procurator of Judaea, lest he himself should incur the blame of his mal- administration, oftentimes admonished him to amend his conduct in the government of Judsea, insomuch that he be- came not seldom troublesome to him. For,1-' adds Josephus, " frequent admonition is grievous to those who are deter- mined to be unjust." To get rid of the tiresome impor- tunity of this high priest, who would have had him act a more just and upright part, he, by promising large sums of money, corrupted Doras, a most intimate friend of Jonathan, to employ ruffians to murder him, which he accordingly did". A little after, Josephus adds, " When Porcius Festus was sent by Nero to succeed him in the government, the chief of the Jews inhabiting Caesarea went up to Rome to accuse Felix ; and he had surely been punished for his vile practices, and wicked acts of injustice towards the Jews, had not Nero been very indulgent to the entreaties of his brother Pallas, who was then in high favour1'." Tacitus, in exact agreement herewith, says, " that Felix, depending on the power his brother Pallas had at court, thought he might do all manner of wickedness with impunity1." And in another place, " that he exercised a despotic and absolute power in a base and servile manner, practising all sorts of cruelty and lustk."

d In Claud. 28. 2.triumreginarum ' At non frater ejus cognomento

maritum. Felix pari moderatione agebat, jam

e Vid. Suet, in Calig. 26. 1. Dio, pridem Judeea? impositus, et cuncta

49. 411. b. et 5i. 454. a. et 459. b. malefacta sibi impune ratus, tanta

c. Plut. Anton, p. 955. d. potentia subnixo. Annal. 1. 12.0,54.

1 Acts xxiv. 26. k Per omnem saevitiam ac libidi-

K Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 5. nem, jus regium servili ingenio ex-

h Ibid. §. 9. ercuit. Hist. 1. 5. 9.

34 THE HISTORY OF

How very proper was it to preach to such a person "of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come l !" how deeply must his conscience smite him ! what just reason had he " to tremble !"

It is said in the Acts, that Porcius Festus " came into Felix's room1"." It is also expressly affirmed in the place I have but just quoted from Josephus, " that Porcius Festus was sent by Nero to succeed Felix "." The sacred historian adds, that then " Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound °," i. e. a prisoner: and doubtless, such a governor, at the time he was obliged to deliver up his power, would gladly catch at any popular act, and readily do any thing that he thought might contribute to allay the heats raised against him, in order to prevent, if possible, the people's following him to court with their accusations. Thus Albinus, as Josephus relates, another most corrupt governor of Judseap, having learnt that Gessius Floras was coming to succeed him, willing to make a show of doing some great favour to the people of Jerusalem, made a general gaol- delivery *J.

§.3. We read in the history of the Acts, that " king Agrippa and Bernice came into Csesarea to salute Festus1"," that is, to congratulate him upon his arrival into his new government. We learn from Josephus who these persons were : he informs us, that Agrippa king of Judsea (of whom we have before spoken) left a son named Agrippa, and three daughters8 : the eldest of which, named Bernice, he in his lifetime married to his own brother Herod king of Chalcis* : that the emperor Claudius did not give to young Agrippa the kingdom of Judaea upon his father's demise, because of his youth, he being then no more than seventeen years of age, but made it a Roman province" : that his uncle Herod dying four years after, the emperor made him a grant of the kingdom of Chalcisx, and four years after that bestowed

1 Vid. Acts xxiv. 25. * Antiq. 1. 20. c. 8. §. 5.

m Acts xxiv. 27. r Ch. xxv. 13.

n Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 9. vid. et s Antiq. 1. 19. c. 9. §. 1.

de Bell. 1. 2. c. 14. §. 1. pr. * Ibid. c. 5. §. 1. fin.

0 Acts xxiv. 27. u Ibid. c. 9. §. 2. et de Bell. 1. 2.

p See his character, de Bell. 1. 2. c. 11. §. 6.

c. 14. §. 1. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 8. §. 2. x L. 20. c. 4. §. 2. fin. et c. 10. §. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 35

on him a much larger kingdom in the lieu of Chalcis*', to which additions were made by Nero in the first year of his reign2 : " that Bernice, becoming a widow by the death of Herod king of Chalcis, who was both her uncle and her husband, lived a long time in widowhood : that the report of an undue familiarity between her and her brother prevail- ing, she persuaded Polemon king of Cilicia to be circumcised, and to marry her, thinking thereby to convince the world that the accusations spread of her were false and slanderous : that Polemon was the more easily prevailed with because of her riches : that the marriage however did not continue long ; but that Bernice, through incontinence, as the fame was, left Polemon, who, together with his marriage, bid adieu also to the Jewish religion a." Whether this visit to Festus was made before she became Polemon's wife cannot easily be determined. It is clear, however, that some years after this she was with her brother at Jerusalem b ; and after that, in the reign of the emperor Vespasian, she went with him to Romec ; and that her character was well known in that city is fully evident from the sixth Satire of Juvenal d.

That kings who were dependent on Rome, made by the emperor, and unmade again at his pleasure, should pay great respect to all the Roman governors that were near them, is but natural to suppose. We have a remarkable instance of it in this king's father, who being at Tiberias, five neigh- bouring kings made him a visit : while they were with him came Marsus president of Syria. Josephus adds, " that the king, preserving the respect due to the Romans, went out of the city seven furlongs to meet him, and that the other kings were in the coach with him : that the concourse of so many kings giving umbrage to the Roman governor, he

y Antiq. 1. 2. c. 6. §. i. et deBell. dedit olim

1. 2. c. 12. §. 8. Barbarus incestse, dedit hunc Agrip-

z Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 4. et de pa sorori,

Bell. 1. 2. c. 13. §. 2. Observant ubi festa mero pede sab-

a Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. §. 3. batha reges,

b De Bell. 1. 2. c. 16. §. 3. Et vetus indulget senibus dementia

c Xiphilin. ex Dione, 1. 66. p. porcis. Ver. i55.

752. b. Vid. et Tac. Hist. 1. 2. n. 2. et 81.

d . . . . Adamas notissimus, Suet. Tit. c. 7. 2. 7. et Aurel. Vict.

et Berenices Epit. c. 10. 7. Vid. et Dio, 1. 66. p.

In digito factus pretiosior. Hunc 753, d.

d2

36 THE HISTORY OF

sent some of his retinue to each, enjoining them to go home immediately V

King Agrippa, being informed of Paul's case by Festus, was desirous to hear him. Bernice seems also to have had the same curiosity ; for she accompanied her brother to the place of hearingf. St. Paul there, addressing himself to the king, says, " I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews ; especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews"." That this king should be brought up in the knowledge of all the Jewish rites and customs, and therefore should well understand the disputes that were amongst them, is nothing more than might well be expected from the character of his father. Such was his concern for the Jewish religion, that, when the emperor Oaius told him he had ordered his statue to be erected in the Temple at Jeru- salem, he fainted away at the hearing ith ; and, as Philo says, wrote him a long and pathetic letter, wherein, among other things, he offered him back the kingdom he had bestowed on him, and all his favours, so as that bis country rites might not be altered1. Josephus relates the affair thus : that after having by a rich banquet so pleased the emperor that he gave him repeated encouragement to ask of him whatever he fur- ther needed towards his happiness, he only requested of him that he would think no more of placing his statue in the Temple : and this he did, although at the same time he judged it to be with the manifest hazard of his lifek. He afterwards obtained a decree from the emperor Claudius, that the Jews might enjoy the free use of their own reli- gious rites throughout the whole Roman empire1. When he came first to Jerusalem, after being made king of Judaea, he offered sacrifices of thanksgiving in plenty, leaving nothing undone which the law required. Wherefore, also, he ordered a great number of Nazarites to be shaved"1. When some bold and daring youths of Dora, a city in Phoenicia, had

e Antin. 1. 19. C. 8. §. I. ra inraWdrTOfiai ivbs rod fir/ KivrjOrj-

1 Acts xxv. 22, 23. vai ra ndrpia.

k Ch. xxvi. 2, 3.' k Antiq. 1. 18. c. 9. §. 7, 8.

h Philo de Legat. p. 1030, a. b. ' Ibid. 1. 19. c. 5. §. 3.

1 Philo de Legat. p. 1037, d. Yldv- ™ Ibid. c. 6. §. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 37

placed a statue of Csesar in the synagogue of the Jews, he was very highly provoked, (because it was in effect the de- struction of the laws of his country,) and immediately went to Publius Petronius, the governor of Syria, and obtained from him a decree that the criminals should be brought before the governor by Proclus Vitellius the centurion ; and that the magistrates of the city, unless they were willing to be esteemed parties, should inform the centurion who they were11. Josephus further informs us, that his constant resi- dence was at Jerusalem, and that he took delight in living there, and punctually observed the laws of his country : that he kept himself free from pollution, conducting his life with all purity ; nor was there a day passed, in which he did not offer the sacrifice required by the law0. Can we make the least doubt, that a person who took such pains and ran such hazards to preserve the Jewish rites, and was so exact in the practice of them himself, would be careful to educate his children in the knowledge and observance of the same ; more especially when he spent so much of his time at Jerusalem, the great school for that sort of learning I That accordingly, both Agrippa his son, and Bernice his daughter, notwith- standing their other faults, were not a little zealous for the Jewish customs, is apparent from divers parts of their con- duct. Agrippa would not permit his youngest sister Drusilla to be joined in wedlock to Epiphanes, the son of king An- tiochus, because he refused to forsake his own religion and embrace the Jewish, although he had promised her father that he would ; and obliged Azizus king of the Emesenes to be circumcised in order to marry herp. Bernice also persuaded Polemon king of Cilicia to submit to circumcision before he became her husband °- ; and under the government of Florus, when things were in the utmost disorder, and the war was rushing on, she tarried at Jerusalem thirty days, to perform the various ceremonies requisite in the accom- plishment of a vow she had made, although most rudely and barbarously treated by Florus ; and more than once ran the hazard of her life because she interceded with him to restrain his soldiers from murdering the people r.

■ Antiq. 1. 19. c. 6. §. 3. p L. 20. c. 6. §. 1. q Ibid. §. 3.

0 Ibid. 1. 18. c. 7. §. 3. r De Bell. 1. 2. c. i5. §. 1.

CHAP. III.

A further account of the occurrences of the times, and of the persons named.

§. 1. T HAVE already observed that there are but very -*- few histories of the transactions of this period which have escaped the injury of time, and are come down safe to us. Those few are very short, and give us but an imperfect view of affairs even of the greatest consequence, and are often entirely silent with regard to what passed in several distant provinces. No wonder therefore if we learn not from them that Sergius Paulus was some part of this time proconsul of Cyprus. If I mistake not, there is no mention made in any history now extant, excepting the book of Actss, of any one thing that happened in this province, or of any governor of it, during this whole period. However, it is worth observing that St. Luke has given the true title to the governor of this province : for although it was a praetorian province*, yet, the government of it being in the disposal of the people, Dio assures" us, and we have abundant instances in other authors v to confirm us in the truth of what he says, that the governor was called proconsul. It is true Augustus Caesar, in dividing the provinces between himself and the people, at first retained Cyprus to himself, and it was governed by an

8 Ch. xiii. e Vid. Strab. 1. 14. provinces ; and yet are, in exact

fin. p. 685. et 1. 17. fin. conformity to the words of Dio and

u L. 54. p. S23. Vid. et Suet. Suetonius, said to be under procon-

Aug. c. 47. et Dio, 1. 53. p. 503, suls. Vid. Strab. 1. 17. fin. Tacit.

504, 5o5. , Annal. 1. 3. c. 38. 1. 1. c. 76. et Hist.

T Crete, Achaia, and Gallia Nar- 1. i.e. 48. bonensis, were, all three, praetorian

THE HISTORY OF THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 39

officer sent by him, called the lieutenant of Caesar, and pro- praetor ; but afterwards he gave it to the people in lieu of a province of theirs, and then the governor sent thither was named proconsul1, in exact agreement with St. Luke : for the word we have translated deputy^ is that made use of by the Greek writers to signify proconsul.

§. 2. And although the province of Greece or Achaia was, at the division made by Augustus, granted to the people % yet afterwards under Tiberius, at the entreaty of the province itself, was it taken into the emperor's care, and governed by his lieutenant, who was propraetor a. But in the fourth year of the emperor Claudius it was restored to the people, and the title of the Roman governor was again that of proconsul b. The emperor Nero, who succeeded him, took it from the people a second time, and made the Grecians a free people0. If we inquire into the time when St. Paul was brought before Gallio at Corinth, we shall find it to be the latter end of the reign of Claudius, probably in his thirteenth or fourteenth yeard, when, according to Suetonius, Dio, and Pausanias, it was a Roman province belonging to the people. It is with the greatest accuracy therefore, you see, that the Roman go- vernor at this time is said by St. Luke to be proconsul of Achaia; for so the word we render deputy properly signifiese: and this is the more remarkable, because several of the classic authors, when writing of events that happened not long before this time, have been mistaken in the titles they have given to governors of provinces, as is abundantly proved by Pitiscus in his notes on Suetonius f, and cardinal Norisius in his Ceno- taphium PisanumS, and many other learned writers.

The historians of this time say little or nothing of the affairs of Achaia, nor do they tell us who was governor of this province under the emperor Claudius. But there is very

* Dio, 1. S3, p. 504, a. et 1. 54. p. I. p. 196. 4, 5, ult. ed.) Pausan. loco

523, b. citato. Philostrat. Apoll.v. 14. Suet.

7 Acts xiii. 7. Vespas. c. 8. n. 21.

z Dio, 1. 52. p. 503. D. Strab. 1. d Vid. Annal. Paul. p. 13.

17. fin. e Acts xviii. 12.

" Tacit. Ann. 1. i.e. 76. ' Vid. in Aug. c. 3. n. 16. and the

b Suet. Claud, c. 25, 10. et 42, 3. persons cited there.

Dio, 1. 60. p. 680, e. Pausan. Achaic. § Dissert. 2. c. 11. in the last

p. 222. (Han. 428.) edition, torn. 3. p. 337, 328.

c Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 4. c. 6. (vol.

40 THE HISTORY OF

great probability that Gallio, mentioned by St. Luke as proconsul, was no other than the brother of Seneca the moral philosopher, whose writings are so well known amongst us. Learned men are generally of this opinion : and as there is no one thing, that I know of, which renders it unlikely, so there are many things concurring which may induce us to believe it. That Marcus Annseus Seneca the rhetorician had three sons, named Novatus, Seneca, and Mela, appears from the dedication of his Book of Controversies to them : that Novatus the eldest changed his name for Gallio h, (probably as having been adopted by Junius Gallio, so frequently men- tioned in Seneca the father's works, and often called by him " our1 Gallio,") sufficiently appears from the writings of the two Senecas, Tacitus, Dio, and Eusebius : that he attained to the honours of the Roman state, is fully evident from what Seneca the philosopher writes to his mother Helviak, in order to comfort her in his own absence, being at that time under sentence of banishment in the Isle of Corsica : that he had been in Achaia also, seems no less evident from one of Seneca's Epistles1 : that his temper and manners were every way agreeable to what is said of* him in the history of the Acts111, we learn from the character given him by his brother Seneca". That he took not cognizance of the cause which was brought before him proceeded not from his stupidity, in- dolence, or negligence, but from his strict adherence to the Roman laws. Some indeed, of late, have represented him as entertaining an opinion that the civil magistrate had nothing to do in matters of religion. But this is a thought that never entered a Roman heart ; and such must be entire

h Compare the dedication of Mar- 4. praef.

cus Seneca with Eusebius's Chron. * M. Annaei Senec. Controv. 13.

Tacit. Annal, 1. 16, 17. Dio, 1. 61. et frequenter alibi,

p. 689. et 1. 62. p. 713. Compare k Loco citato,

what Seneca says to his mother • Ep. 104. pr. Vid. Lips, ad Tac.

Helvia, de Consol. c. 16. " Respice Ann. 1. 2. 87. Excur. P. where he

fratres meos— alter honores inclus- proves that the title Dominus was

tria consecutus est, alter sapienter given to fathers, brothers, and

contempsit," with what Tacitus re- others,

lates, Ann. 1. 16, 17; " Mela, qui- m Acts xviii. 12, &c.

bus Gallio et Seneca parentibus na- n Nat. Quaest. 1. 4. prasf. Vid.

tus, petitione honorum abstinuerat," Selden's Letter to Bishop Usher,

&c. Vid. et Ann. 1. i5. 73. et Senec. vol. 4. p. 1712. de Vita Beata, pr. et Nat. Quasst. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 41

strangers to the history of that great and flourishing people, who can impute this their novel invention to any wise and good Roman. It is well known that the affairs of religion were always a principal part of the care of the Roman magis- trates and senate ; and as they had many laws on that subject, so we frequently read of their execution. The true reason why Gallio did not interpose in the affair brought before him, was because the senate and emperors had by various decrees0, and particularly the then reigning emperor Claudius, allowed the Jews every where under their dominion to govern themselves according to their own laws in all mat- ters of religion". This being such, he esteemed it not of his cognizance ; therefore he says, " I will be no judge of such matters*1:" had you accused this man of injustice, violence, or crimes against the state, I would willingly have heard you ; but I am not sent here as a judge of your religious differ- ences ; these are to be rectified amongst yourselves. The accusation brought against St. Paul by the Jews was, that " he persuaded men to worship God contrary to their law1'." Of this themselves were to determine, not the Roman go- vernor. The speech which Porcius Festus makes to king Agrippa in the like case may help to clear this : " They brought no accusations of such things as I supposed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition : and because I doubted of such manner of questions," that is, did not think them to appertain to my jurisdiction, " I asked him, whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters13" before the sanhedrim, as esteeming them to be the proper judges of such causes.

§.3. Agabus the prophet foretold that there should be a great famine throughout all the world. It is added by St. Luke, " which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar4." It is very certain that the word oi/coujueyr/, which we render " world," is often taken in a more restrained sense11, and

0 Vid. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 14. c. 10. ' Acts xi. 28.

§. 2. et 23. 1. 16. c. 2. §. 3. c. 6. §. u It signifies an inhabited land

2. of any dimensions, Is. xiii. 9. That

>' Ibid. 1. 19. c. 5. §. 2, 3. it is restrained to a particular coun-

1 Acts xviii. iS. try, vid. Ps. lxxi. 8. That it is put r Acts xviii. 13. for Judaea, vid. Is. x. 23. and xiii. 1 Acts xxv. 18, 19, 20. 5. and xxiv. 1, 4. Luke xxi. 26.

42 THE HISTORY OF

signifies one country, and particularly that of Judaea. It is also evident from Josephus, that there was a sore famine in Judsea during the fifth, sixth, and not improbably the seventh year also of Claudius x, insomuch that not a few perished at Jerusalem for want, and many more must have done so, had it not been for the charitable care of Helena, Izates, and others. If therefore we take the prophecy in this sense, that there should be a great dearth throughout the whole land of Judsea, (and the words will well bear that sense,) nothing is more plain than that it was exactly ful- filled. But Eusebius, who lived in the latter end of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries, understands it in a more extensive sense, and tells us that the event was ac- cordingly y ; and expressly says that this event was delivered down by authors who were no friends to the Christian re- ligion z. There were many such extant in his time, that are now irrecoverably lost. Why then may we not believe that the famine spread much further than the limits of Judsea, especially when it is acknowledged that this is agreeable to the more usual sense of the word olxoviJL&r} I

A universal famine indeed at one and the same time, if great and pressing, must bid fair to destroy the whole human race : but may it not have been a progressive famine, which passed from one country to another, not oppressing too great a part of the world at once, but proceeding from one part to another, till it had visited the whole I It is not im- probable that St. Luke in this place, as is usual with all historians, lays together in few words what happened in a course of some years. There cannot be the least doubt but that the prophecy preceded the event some space of time : nor is it reasonable to suppose that Barnabas and Saul were sent to Jerusalem with a supply till it began to be wanted. It is true, at the beginning of the relation it is said, " And in those days ;" but is there any necessity of confining the words " those days " to the last-mentioned year, which was that Barnabas and Saul spent at Antioch I may they not very reasonably be extended so as to include

x Antiq. 1. 20. c'2. §. 6. et c. 4. y Hist. 1. 2. c. 12. et Chron. §. 2. '■ Ibid. c. 8.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 43

the whole time from the day that the conversion of Cornelius and his friends was made known to the preachers who went to Antioch, hinted at in the twentieth verse a, which probably happened in the last year of Caius Caligula ? That the pro- phecy was delivered in his reign seems confirmed by the account given of the fulfilment in these words, " which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar b :"" a manner of ex- pression, which, I think, would hardly have been used if the prophecy had been delivered in the same reign in which it was fulfilled. True, indeed, there are some copies wherein it is read, " which also came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar."" But the best copies0 read it as our English trans- lators have rendered it : and indeed, were the other the true reading, I should be apt to think that those words, 6Vri9 koX Zyevero, " which also came to pass,"1 where a parenthesis, and then the prophecy would be more determinate, as fixing the time when the famine was to happen ; " that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world in the days of Claudius Caesar." I make no doubt but the prophecy was understood by those that heard it, as what was to come to pass in the space of a few years ; and so it certainly did, if delivered at the end of the reign of Caius : for a famine began in some parts in the second, if not in the first year of Claudius d ; and that in Judaea began the latter end of his fourth.

I have not yet seen a sufficient reason given why we may not conclude that the scarcity we read of, as having affected any country during the reign of Claudius, was part of this great famine foretold. It is indeed said, " that the persons who heard this prophecy delivered, understood it to relate to Judaea only, because there is not the least hint of any thought of sending relief to any other place ; nor yet of any hesi- tation in taking the resolution to send relief thither, for fear their own circumstances might be necessitous through the approaching famine e." But is it certain that the disciples formed this resolution at the time when the

" Acts xi. 20. d Vid. Pagi Crit. in Baron, anno

b Acts xi. 28. Dom. 42. n. 7.

e Alex. Cantab. Lincoln. Vulg. e Lardner's Cred. vol. 1. p. 522,

jEthiop. 523.

44 THE HISTORY OF

prophecy was delivered ? might it not, for any thing appears to the contrary, be a determination made by them when they heard that their brethren in Judaea began to be in straits ? and supposing it to be formed when the prophecy was first given, if they understood it not of a famine that should oppress the whole world in one and the same year, but of a famine that should proceed gradually from one country to another, till every part had felt it; might they not very reasonably determine to send relief to their neigh- bours, when under this calamity, according to their ability ? would not this be a ready way to engage their neighbours to return the obligation, and to relieve them when under the like distress ? It is highly probable, that the design of this prophecy was to put them upon saving and laying up all they could possibly spare from their necessary uses, till the famine should reach themselves or neighbours, that ,they might be the better able to supply their own or others'' wants : and the plain reason why Judaea was first in their thoughts, and they determined to send relief to that countiy, rather than to any other, was because of the exceeding great distress that country -must necessarily be in, at such a time, from the very great number of poor that were always in it. The Jews from all parts of the world sent alms to Judaea even in times of the greatest plenty. If so universal a collection of alms were necessary in times of plenty, how much more necessary must it have been in a time of famine : the crowds of people that flocked to Jerusalem upon account of divine worship, caused a scarcity to be felt there imme- diately in the most sensible manner. Josephus tells us, that when Cestius Gallus came to Jerusalem at the feast of unleavened bread, not less than three millions of people came about him entreating him to have compassion on the miserable state of their nation, and crying out that Florus was the pest of the country f. I may also add, that we have no room to doubt but that those who converted the Christians at Antioch put them in mind of the wants of their brethren in Judaea.

I see no reason as yet, therefore, why we may not con-

' De Bell. 1. 2. c. 14. §• 4.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 45

elude that not only the famine which was in Judsea in the fifth, sixth, and seventh of Claudius, mentioned by Josephus s, but that the famine which happened in Rome the second of Claudius, mentioned by Dioh, that in Syria, mentioned by Orosius, in the fourth of Claudius', that which afflicted Greece about the ninth of Claudius, when a bushel of wheat was sold for one pound eleven shillings sterlingk, and that which pre- vailed in Italy and Rome the tenth and eleventh of Claudius, mentioned by Tacitus1, Suetonius™, Eusebius", and Orosius0, were in part the fulfilment of this prophecy.

§. 4. It is said in the Acts that the emperor " Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from "Rome p." Of this fact Suetonius is witness, who expressly tells us that Claudius expelled the Jews from Romeq. Dio indeed says that he did not expel them, but forbad all their religious assemblies1'. This was in effect an expulsion ; if he would not permit them to assemble on their sabbaths, and the other days, which their law enjoined, they could live there no longer as Jews. However, Suetonius, who flourished in the times of the em- perors Trajan and Hadrian, may be supposed to know the true state of the fact better than one who lived under the emperors Severus, Caracalla, and Alexander, near a hundred years after s. Orosius also says that the Jews were expelled by Claudius, and alleges Josephus as an author who relates it*. There is no such relation in the copies of Josephus

& Antiq. 1. 20. c. 2. §. 6. et c. 4. expression not a little confirms my

§.2. He mentions a great famine notion. Crops had failed for many

under Claudius, when Ishmael was years past ; some years probably in

high priest, Antiq. 1. 3. c. i5. prope one country, and some years in

fin. : but he herein plainly contra- another of those countries from

diets himself: for Ishmael the son whence they used to import corn

of Phabi was twice high priest, once to Rome,

made so by Valerius Gratus, after- " Chron.

wards by Agrippa under Nero. Vid. ° L. 7. c. 6. prope fin. The learned Antiq. 1. 18. c. 2. §. 2. et 1. 20. c. 7. Basnage is of my opinion. " Ora- §. 8. He says, in this famine an culum annos etiam omnes qui reg- assaron of meal was sold for four nante Claudio fame pallidi corn- drachmas, plexum fuerit." Annal. p. 52 1. Vid.

h L. 60. p. 671. et p. 553. n. 4.

1 L. 7. c. 6. compared with what p Ch. xviii. 2.

he says of Syria, 1. 1. c. 2. q Claud, c. 25. 12.

k Euseb. Chron. r L. 60. p. 669.

1 Ann. 1. 12. 43. s Vid. Fabric. Biblioth.

m Claud, c. 18. 3. " Arctiore an- ' L. 7. c. 6. nona oh assiduas sterilitates." This

46 THE HISTORY OF

which are come down to us ; but whether there might not be in those of his time, which was the beginning of the fifth century, is not, I think, so very improbable a thing" as some have represented it.

§. 5. That the island of Melita, now called Malta, was at the time of St. Paul's voyage in the hands of the Romans, I suppose no one can doubt : that it was taken from the Car- thaginians by Atilius Regulus the consul, Orosius is witness" : that in Tully's time it was under the praetor of Sicily, is evident from his accusation of Verres } : that after this it could not be taken from the Romans before St. Paul made his voyage, cannot, I think, admit of a suspicion : that before the Romans had it the Phoenicians and Carthaginians in- habited it, appears from Scylax and Diodorus Siculusz. We may very reasonably suppose that at the time of St. Paul's being there the generality of the people were their descendants : hence it is said in the book of Acts, " The barbarous people shewed us no little kindness a :"" for all that did not use the Greek language were by the Greeks named barbarous15. That the governor, who resided in this island on behalf of the Romans, was called irp&Tos,- or, as we have rendered it, the chief manc, is evident from an inscription that was found there by Quintinus Heduus, in which the person named is called 7rp<5ros MeAircuWd.

§. 6. Claudius Lysias the Roman officer, " prsefectus co- hortis,1-' or chief captain of the band, says to St. Paul, when he had taken him out of the hands of the Jews, who would have put him to death, " Art thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers e V The word which we translate here murderers is the Latin word sicarii, so called from a little sword or dagger which they wore concealed under their clothes, and resembled the Roman sica. The Jewish historian Josephus, immediately after he has given us an account of the rise of these sicarii,

u Vid. Hudson. Joseph, p. 1060. c Acts xxviii. 7.

n. g. et io65. n. b. d Johan. Quint. Heduus ad Soph.

1 L. 4. c. 8. Epist. an. 1533. Vid. Bochart.

y L. 4. 18. et 46. • ' L, 5, Phaleg. p. 2. 1. 1. p. 552, 547. Grot.

* Ch. xxviii. 2. in loc. Cellarium, vol. 1. p. 655.

b Strabo, 1. 14. p. 455. e Acts xxi. 38.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 47

or murderers, (for with this concealed weapon they daily committed many murders,) adds the story of the Egyptian impostor f, who persuaded a multitude of the common people to go with him from Jerusalem. This multitude probably were the four thousand sicarii mentioned by Lysias. Having led them round through the wilderness, and brought them to the mount of Olives, and in his way having increased his number to thirty thousand men, Felix the Roman governor met and attacked him. The Egyptian, perceiving at the same time that the generality of the Jewish nation were so far from joining with him as he had flattered himself they would, that they made head against and opposed him, immediately fled with a few of his chief adherents, the most of which were either taken or slain s ; but as for himself he made his escape. This happening but a few months before St. Paul came to Jerusalem, the chief captain Lysias seeing the uproar that was made upon his account, it entered his mind that the Egyptian was taken, and that St. Paul might be the man. This occasioned the question he asked him.

§. 7. We read in the Acts of the conversion of the eunuch, who was of great authority under Oandace queen of the Ethiopians'1. It is evident, both from Strabo1 and Diok, that there was a queen of that name in Ethiopia, who fought against the Romans about the twenty-second or twenty-third year of the reign of Augustus Caesar, reckoning it from the death of his uncle Julius. It is clear also from Pliny1, who flourished in the reign of the emperor Vespasian, that there was a queen of Ethiopia named Candace in his time ; and he adds, that this had been the name of their queens now for many years. It is beyond all doubt therefore that there was a queen of Ethiopia of this name at the time when Philip is said to have converted the eunuch. Eusebius tells us that

f De Bell. Jud. 1. 2. c. 13. §. 5. vol. 1. 2. I have told the story as

Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 6. 10. briefly as I could in his manner,

B It is very difficult to reconcile whereby he reconciles Josephus

the two accounts given of this matter both to himself and to St. Luke,

by Josephus. Mr. Ward, the learned h Ch. viii. 27.

professor of Gresham college, seems ' L. 17. p. 820.

to have conquered this difficulty. k L. 54. p. 524.

Vid. Additions to Lardner's Cred. ' N. H. 1. 6. c. 29.

48 THE HISTORY OF

this country continued to be governed by women even to his time111.

§. 8. Two years before Felix left the government of Judaea, we are told in the history of the Acts that Ananias was high priest " : and this is confirmed by Josephus, who relates, that Ananias, the son of Nebadseus, was made high priest of the Jewish nation in the room of Joseph the son of Oamydus, by Herod king of Chalcis0. This he places just before the death of Herod, which he tells happened in the eighth year of the emperor Claudius. He says not one word of any other per- son's being made high priest till Felix is quitting the govern- ment of Judsea. Immediately before the account of his departure, he relates, that king Agrippa (who had succeeded his uncle Herod, and after that, in lieu of Chalcis, had re- ceived the tetrarchy of Philip) gave the high-priesthood to Ishmael the son of Phabip, and at the same time is not obscurely hinted the reason why he removed Ananias. For there is added the vile insult committed by the high priests on the inferior priests and people, the high priests by force seizing on the tithes which were due to the inferior priests, so that the priests, who before this subsisted on their tithes, perished for want. We are informed afterwards, not only that Ananias was guilty of this wickedness, but it is strongly insinuated that the other high priests followed his example herein ; that he was therefore the author and ringleader of this violence and complicated injustice**. It appears highly probable to me, that king Agrippa, not being able by his authority to suppress this evil, (for he had no other author- ity over Judsea than that of making and removing their high priest,) took the only step he had in his power towards the discouraging it, and that was by displacing Ananias, who first began this villainous practice.

The fact lies so very clear in Josephus, that it has been matter of surprise to me that learned men should ever have made the least doubt whether Ananias were at this time the high priest of the Jews. Some have hinted as a reason his

m Hist. 1. 2. c. i. Vid. Alex, ah ° Antiq. 1. 20. c. 4. §. 2. Alex. 1. 1. c. 2. p Ibid. c. 7. §. 8, 9.

" Ch. xxiii. 2. and'xxh'. 1. q Ibid, c, 8. §. 2. 4.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 49

being sent prisoner to Rome. There happening a quarrel between the Samaritans and Jews, in which was rapine and bloodshed, the Samaritans so far obtained the ear of Qua- dratus, the president of Syria, that he sent Ananias and his son Ananus prisoners to Rome, as esteeming them the guilty persons, and ordered the chief of the Samaritan nation to follow as their accusers1'. If there be any strength in this objection, it must, I suppose, lie in one of these three things; either that Quadratus at this time deprived Ananias of the priesthood, or that his being a prisoner disqualified him for that high office, or that his being absent at Rome was incon- sistent herewith. It is nowhere said nor intimated that Quadratus deprived him : and indeed the presidents of Syria had no such power at the time we are speaking of, it having been vested by Claudius in the family of Herod s : and could we suppose that Quadratus invaded another's province, and deprived him as thinking him guilty ? Can it be imagined that Claudius did not fully restore him, when he not only pronounced him innocent, but thought him so much wronged by the accusation brought against him that he put to death his accusers ? And Jonathan, one of those Jews who were sent to Rome with him by Quadratus, was in so high esti- mation at court, that he had interest sufficient to procure for Felix the government of Judaea in the room of Cumanus, who favoured the Samaritans, and was for that reason de- prived and banished*.

Nor can I understand that his having been made a prisoner was a disqualification. I do not perceive that the learned Selden found any such thing mentioned either in the Tal- mudists or other Jewish writers11 : and we are told by Jose- phus, that when Hyrcanus the high priest was taken captive by the Parthians, and by them delivered up to Antigonus his competitor, Antigonus bit off part of his ears in order to disqualify him for the priesthood for the future x. He knew certainly that his having been a captive was no disqualifi- cation ; for if it had, it would have been entirely needless to

r Antiq. 1. 20. c. 5. §. 2, 3. x Antiq. 1. 14. c. 13. §. 10. et 1.

s Ibid. c. 1. §. 3. i5. c. 2. §. 2. et de Bell. 1. 1. c. 13.

1 Ibid. c. 5. §. 3. et c. 7. §. 5. §. 9. Vid. et Antiq. 1. 20. c. 9. p.

■ Vid. de Success, in Pontif. 1. 2. 900. 1. 12. c. 1 — 6.

BISCOE. E

50 THE HISTORY OF

have used the other cruel method. Now if captivity was no disqualification, how much less the being made a prisoner upon suspicion of guilt in order to take a trial ! It is true indeed, we read, that the being born of a woman that had been a captive was a disqualification for the high-priesthood. But the reason of that is given both by Josephus y and the Talmudists2. It was not from the indignity suffered by being taken captive, but from the suspicion that she might have been defiled by those who took her captive.

Nor was the going to Rome inconsistent with the office of high priest. It is true, when Ishmael the high priest, who succeeded Ananias, was sent to Rome, a successor was ap- pointed him ; but the reason is at the same time added, and that was, because he was detained by the empress Pop- psea as an hostage. Josephus says, when king Agrippa heard this, he gave the high-priesthood to Joseph, surnamed Cabia; but not till he heard that he was detained, and could not return to perform his office. This was not the case of Ananias. We read not of any the least . delay in the hearing of his cause, and the dismissing him.

Another occasion of doubt hinted at by learned men is, that in the history of Josephus, between the time in which the high-priesthood was conferred on Ananias, and the time when it was given to Ishmael, there is mention made of Jonathan the high priest b. But it is not said nor hinted that he had the high-priesthood at this time bestowed on him. The only reason of his being named in this place is to shew the ingratitude, baseness, and wickedness of Felix the Roman governor. For although Jonathan, as we have ob- served before, procured for him the government of Judsea, Felix corrupted one of Jonathan's familiar friends, who hired villains that murdered him. As it is for this reason only that he is here mentioned, so is he called high priest, because he formerly had executed that high office in the reign of Tiberius, being placed in it by Vitellius, president of Syria0 : and it must be well known to any one who is con- s' Contra Apion. 1. i. §. 7. p. a Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 11. fin. 1333. 1. 13. , b Ibid. c. 7. §. 5.

2 Vid. Selden. de Success, in c Ibid. 1. 18. c. 5. §. 3. fin. Pontif. 1. 2. c. 2, 3.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED.

51

versant in Josephus, that it is customary with him to call all those high priests who have once enjoyed that dignity, al- though they had been deprived of it many years'1. Thus he does Jonathan, not only in the place before us, but where he mentions his being sent with Ananias to Romec, at which time that Ananias was truly the high priest no one ever moved the least doubt. Jonathan was indeed offered the high-priesthood in the reign of Claudius by king Agrippa, but he refused it, desiring rather that it should be conferred on his brother Matthias, which accordingly it wasf. This renders it the less probable that he should so soon after be offered it again, or that, if offered, he should accept it. Be- sides, it is very likely he was killed before St. Paul was tried by Ananias «.

It may have occasioned a doubt to some that Josephus, in the third book of his Antiquities, towards the end, men- tions Ishmael as high priest in the reign of the emperor Claudius. But the Ishmael there spoken of can noways interfere with Ananias, because he specifies the particular time when that Ishmael was high priest, by the severity of

d Vid. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 8. §. 2. de Bell. 1. 2. c. 17. §. 2. 6. 9. 1. 5. c. 5. §. 2. Vita, §. 38.

c De Bell. 1. 2. c. 12. §. 6.

f Antiq. 1. 19. c. 6. §. 4.

s Jonathan's murder was not long after the beginning of Nero's reign. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 4, 5. St. Paul was not brought before Ananias till about the fifth year of that reign.

Josephus relates, that from the time of Herod to the destruction of Jerusalem were twenty-eight high priests. Antiq. 1. 20. c. 10. prop, fin. The learned Reland thinks that this number cannot be made out from the foregoing account of Josephus without taking in this Jonathan. But if the twenty-eight must necessarily be distinct per- sons, and not the same person reck- oned twice, (for Ananclus, we are sure, was twice in that high office,) why may there not be two Joaz- arus's rather than two Jonathans ? We read that Joazarus was made high priest in the room of Matthias

by Herod the Great, 1. 17. c. 6. §. 4. and that he was removed by Ar- chelaus, 1. 17. c. 13. §. 1. that he was succeeded by Eleazar, and Ele- azar by Jesus the son of Sie, ibid. Notwithstanding, we read after- wards of a Joazarus who was high priest when Quirinus confiscated the estate of Archelaus, and that he was helpful to him in appeasing the people, 1. 18. c. 1. §. 1; and it is expressly said that Quirinus took away the dignity of the high-priest- hood from Joazarus, and made An- anus the son of Seth high priest, ibid. c. 2. §. 1. If Jonathan be a different person from him that was made high priest by Vitellius, it is nowhere said that he was made high priest, or that he was de- prived of that dignity ; nor is there any probability that he ever enjoyed that high office. But as for the second Joazarus, it appears evidently that he was in that office, and was deprived of it by ViteUius.

52 THE HISTORY OF

the famine which then ^prevailed at Jerusalem : and it is very evident that the height of the famine was in the fifth and sixth years of the emperor Claudius, which was two years before Ananias was made high priest. Unless Ishmael be another name for Joseph the son of Camydus, either this part of Josephus"^ history must have been corrupted by the transcriber, or he must have forgotten himself. For in those books, wherein he gives a particular account of the high priests which were made in the reign of Claudius, he makes no mention of Ishmael : and Ishmael the son of Phabi, who succeeded Ananias, he tells us, was made high priest in the reign of Nero h .

St. Paul says to Ananias, " God shall smite thee, thou whited wall*." The character given of this man in Josephus very well answers to this description of him by St. Paul. For at the same time that he carried it in the most plausible manner towards the citizens, so as to be in the highest favour and reputation with themk, he was guilty of the highest injustice. He, by his servants and other dependants, plun- dered the priests of their tithes to that degree that many of them perished for want, as we have before observed. What the apostle said to him was doubtless spoken under a pro- phetic impulse. For Josephus, in the account he gives us of his death, tells us that his house was burnt, and himself be- sieged in the royal palace, which being taken, he was drawn out from a cistern, wherein he had hid himself, and was slain ; and this in a sedition began most unreasonably and wickedly by his own son l. Thus did God smite him according to the prediction of the apostle.

§. 9. We read, Acts v. 34, that " a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in great reputation among all the people," was one of the Jewish council, or sanhedrim. This agrees exactly with what is delivered in the Jewish Talmuds. We are informed by them that Gama- liel, the son of Simeon, and grandson of Hillel, was president of the council ; that he was a Pharisee ; that he was so well skilled in the law, that he was the second who obtained the

Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. $. 8. k Antiq. 1. 20. c. S. §. 2. 4.

Acts xxiii. 3. ' De Bell. 1. 2. c. 17. §. 2. 6. 9.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 53

name of Rabban, a title of the highest eminency and note of any among their doctors : and concerning him is this saying ; " From the time that Rabban Gamaliel the Old died, the honour of the law failed, and purity and pharisaism died." He is called Rabban Gamaliel the Old, to distinguish him from his grandson, who was also called Rabban Gamaliel, and the great-grandson of this grandson, who was also called by the same name, and had the same title, and were both of them, as the Talmudists say, presidents also of the council. They tell us that Rabban Gamaliel the Old died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem"11, that is, in the year of our Lord 52, about eighteen years after the con- vention of this council, before whom the apostles were brought, as related in the Acts. We read also in Josephus of Simeon, the son of this Gamaliel, as being one of the principal persons of the Jewish nation about three years before the destruction of Jerusalem". The Talmudists say he succeeded his father, and was president of the council.

§.10. John and Alexander are spoken of, Acts iv. 6, as persons of principal account in the Jewish nation. John probably is no other than Rabban Johanan the son of Zaccai, frequently mentioned in the Talmuds. It is said of him that he had been the scholar of Hillel, and was president of the council after Simeon the son of Gamaliel, who perished in the destruction of the city, and that he lived to be a hundred and twenty years of age. A remarkable saying of his, spoken by him not long before his assembling with the rulers and elders, mentioned Acts iv. is related in the Jerusalem Talmud thus : " Forty years before the destruction of the city, when the gates of the temple flew open of their own accord, Rabban Johanan the son of Zaccai said, O temple, temple, why dost thou disturb thyself? I know thy end, that thou shalt be de- stroyed ; for so the prophet Zechariah hath spoken concerning thee, ' Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.-' " He lived to see the truth of what he had fore-

m Vid. Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 271. understanding, and capable by bis

765. 2009. vol. 2. p. i5. 657. prudence to have restored the affairs

" De Bell. 1. 4. c. 3. §. 9. and of the nation, Vit. §. 38. p. 923. pr. commends him as a man of great

54 THE HISTORY OF

told0. By the Alexander mentioned, some learned men^ understand Alexander the alabarch or governor of the Jews, who dwelt in Egypt : and were he at Jerusalem at the time spoken of, as it is very possible he might, for any thing we can learn to the contrary, nothing would be more probable. For the assembly here spoken of does not seem to be the ordinary council of the Seventy-one, but an extraordinary council, composed of all the chief men of the Jewish nation, from every part of the world, who happened then to be at Jerusalem ; and several such it is likely there might be upon the account of some feast. Josephus says of this Alexander, that he was the noblest and richest of all the Jews in Alexandria of his time, and that he adorned the nine gates of the temple at Jerusalem with plates of gold and silver*1.

§. 11. Acts xiii. 1. there is mention made of certain pro- phets and teachers, and among them is named Manaen, who, -it is said, " had been bred up with Herod the tetrarch.,'> There is an account in Josephus of one Manaen, an Essene, who foretold concerning Herod the Great that he should be a king, whilst he was yet a boy at school : and when it ac- tually came to pass that he was king, being sent for by Herod, and asked how long he should reign, whether ten years ? he answered, Yes. Twenty years ? Yes ; thirty years. Upon which Herod gave him his right hand, and from that time held in great esteem such who were of the sect of the Essenes1". Abr. Zachutus, a Jewish writer, says that this Manaen was vice-president of the sanhedrim under Hillel, and that Shammai succeeded him; that he went off into Herod'te family and service with fourscore eminent men ; that he uttered many prophecies ; foretold to Herod, when he was yet very young, that he should come to reign ; and when he did reign, being sent for, foretold that he should reign above thirty years8. The Talmudists also say, "that Manaen went out, and Shammai succeeded him. But whither went

0 Vid. Light, vol. i. p. 2009. and 19, c. 5. §. 1. fin. 1. 20. c. 4. §. 2.

p. 277. 282. vol. 2. p. 652. et de Bell. 1. 5. c. 5. §. 3.

p Baron. Annal. 34. p. 224. e. * Ibid. 1. 15. c. 10. §. 5. Light, vol. 1. p. 277., and 760. s Juchasin, p. 19, 1.

11 Antiq. 1. 18. c. 7. §. 3. fin. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 55

Manaen ? Abai says he went into the service of the king, and with him went fourscore pair of disciples cloathed all in silk1." It is very probable that a son of this Manaen", or some nephew, or other kinsman, to whom he gave his name, was educated in the family of Herod the Great. The young Manaen might be of the same age, and have the same pre- ceptors and tutors as had Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great, and for that reason be said to be bred up with him in particular. This Herod Antipas was, after his father's death, tetrarch of Galilee; and is the person who put John the Baptist to death. Josephus says of the first named Manaen, that he was reputed a man of an excellent life. The Talmudists tell us, that, when he left the vice-presidentship of the sanhedrim to go into Herod's service, he went into all manner of wickedness. May they not have fixed this infamy upon him from his having shewn some mark of esteem for Christ and his followers \ or from the younger Manaen's becoming a Christian I

§. 12. Josephus, as we have had occasion before to ob- serve, tells us, that Felix, the governor of Judsea, made use of one Simon, who pretended to be a magician, to solicit Drusilla to forsake her husband, and marry him*. Some learned meny have conjectured this to be the same Simon who is spoken of in the Acts as having bewitched the people of Samaria with his sorceries. But this is very uncertain, if not wholly improbable2.

1 Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 685. vol. Stephen le Moine. 1. p. 288. 2008. " Josephus says this Simon was

u It is, indeed, made a doubt by a Jew of Cyprus. All the fathers

Dr. Lightfoot whether the Essenes agree that Simon in the Acts was a

married ; but Josephus says ex- Samaritan by birth. Just. Martyr,

pressly that one sort of them did p. 69. C. Epiph. Hser. 20. n. 1. Ter-

marry, de Bell. 1. 2. c. 8. §. 13. p. tull. de Anima, c. 34. Orig. in Cel-

1064. It is not improbable also sum, 1. 6. p. 73. Clem. Constit. 337.

that Manaen might quit the customs Recogn. 495. c. 2. 512. c. 2.626.

of the Essenes when he went to 633. 760. Philastrius in Sim. not-

court. withstanding, says Citteus, as though

* Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6, §. 2. he were of Cyprus.

y Basnage, Annal. 37. c. 35. and

CHAP. IV.

Shewing how far the various distinctions of the Jews, which happen to be spoken of in the Acts, are confirmed by other authors.

§. 1. PROCEED now to the second thing proposed,

which is, to shew you how far the various dis- tinctions among the Jews, mentioned in the history of the Acts, are confirmed by other authors. The first is, that of Jews and proselytes. This .is a distinction so well known, that it is almost needless to tell you, that by proselytes are understood those of other nations who embrace the Jewish religion either in whole or in part. Those who embraced it wholly were in most things esteemed Jews, as much as if they had descended from the sons of Jacob. In some few things they, their offspring, and all their descendants, unless they sprang from marriages with women who were of the race of Israel, had different laws and customs ; whereby there was always a distinction kept up between the posterity of proselytes and the native Jews'1. The children of proselytes, their grandchildren, great-grand- children, and so down to all generations, were under the same laws as were the first converted, and therefore were deemed proselytes. If, indeed, any of them married with women of the Jewish race, the children sprung from that marriage were Jews in the strictest sense of the word, as being descendants from Jacob.

a Maim. Issure. Biah, c. 14. Vid. Seld. de Jur. Nat. 1. 2. c. 4. p. 194- 5-6. 1. 5. c. 20. p. 590-1-2.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 57

Those who embraced the Jewish religion in part only, were such who, from among other nations, forsook the idolatry they had been educated in, and worshipped the one only living and true God, the God of the Jews, and observed what are called the seven precepts of Noah. When the Jews were under their own government, they permitted no foreigners to live in the holy land, though it were for never so short a time, if they did not thus far conform to the Jewish religionb. Of the first sort of proselytes was Nicolas the deacon, said, in the history of the Acts, to be a proselyte of Antiochc. Of the second sort- was Cornelius the centuriond; and of this latter sort is frecment mention made, by the names of religious e or devout persons f, of persons that fear Gods, or who worship Godh. That there were many who had embraced the Jewish religion about that period of time which is the subject of the history of the Acts, is fully evident from almost all the authors who have wrote of that time, and are now extant ; such as Tacitus1, Sue- toniusk, Dio1, Josephusm, and several of the Roman poets, as Horace, Juvenal, Persius.

We read in several parts of the Acts of women proselytes", more especially of " the chief and honourable women0." That the Jews were not a little diligent in gaining over the fair sex to their religion, and particularly such who were of figure and eminence, we learn from the account Josephus has given us of the conversions of Helenap and Fulvia% the former a queen, the latter a Roman matron, wife of Satur- ninus, a favourite of the emperor Tiberius. And that very many women were prevailed with to become proselytes, appears from what he tells us of the citizens of Damascus,

b Maim, de Reg. et rebus eorum ' Hist. 1. 5. n. 5.

bellicis, c. 8. §. 9, 10. Vid. Seld. de k In Tib. 36. 2.

Jur. Nat. 1. 2. c. 3. p. i85, 186. ' L. 36. p. 37. B.

c Chap. vi. 6. m De Bell. 1. 7. c. 3. §. 3. at An-

d Ch. x. tioch in particular ; contra Apion.

e Acts xiii. 43. 1. 2. §. 10. p. 1372. 1. 28.

' Acts xiii. 5o. and xvii. 4. 17. " Ch. xvi. 13, 14.

* Ch. x. 2. and xiii. 16. 26. ° Ch. xiii. 5o. and xvii. 4. 12.

h Ch. xvi. 14. and xviii. 7. called p Antiq. 1. 20. c. 2. §. 4. and the

by the Talmudists, hasidei omoth women of king Abennerigus as well

haolam. Maim, de Reg. c. 8. §. 11. as Helena.

Light, v. 2. p. 689. q Antiq. 1. 18. c. 4. §. 5.

58 THE HISTORY OF

who, having formed a design to kill all the Jews in that city, were obliged, with great solicitude, to conceal it from their wives, because they were well nigh all addicted to the Jewish religion1".

It is said, Acts ii. 10, that there were at that time in Jerusalem " strangers from Rome,-'1 both " Jews and pros- elytes ;" that is, Jews and proselytes who were by birth or habitation Romans, but now sojourned at Jerusalem. That there were great multitudes of Jews who dwelt at Rome, is evident, not only from Josephuss, but from Dio1, Suetonius u, Tacitus x, and I think I may say all the Roman authors of that time, not excepting even the poets?; and that there were not a few in that great city proselyted to the Jewish religion, sufficiently appears from the satires of Horace2, Juvenal a, and Persius'5.

§. 2. Another distinction we meet with in the history of the Acts is that of Hellenists and Hebrews0. Our trans- lators have rendered the word Grecians ; but that rendering is far from conveying the true idea of it to the readers. By the Hellenists are to be understood the dispersion among the Greeks, as they are called, "John vii. 35 ; or all those Jews dispersed in the west, who, not understanding the language spoken in Judtea, were obliged to recite their sentences and prayers, and to have the Bible interpreted to them in the Greek language. The language which was at this time usually spoken in the land of Juda?a, though not the ancient Hebrew, but, in truth, a dialect of the Ohaldee, yet went under the name of the Hebrew language. Such, therefore, who understood this, and to whom the Law and the pro- phets, when read in their synagogues, were interpreted in this Chaldaic dialect, went under the name of Hebrews, in contradistinction to those who were named Hellenists. It is true, we meet not with this distinction in express words, either in Josephus or any other Jewish writer. But we find

r De Bell. 1. 2. c. 20. §. 2. z L. 1. Sat. 4. ver. ult.

8 Antiq. 1. 18. c. 4. §. 5. a Sat. 14. v. 96, &c.

1 L. 36. p. 37. B. b Sat. 5. 179, &c.

u In Tib. 36. 2. c Ch. vi. 1. and ix. 29. and xi. 20.

* Annal. 1. 2. 85. prop. fin. But the best copies in this last place y Vid. Juv. Sat. 3. 13, &c. 6. read "EXXijvfs. V. Grot, in loc. 541, &c.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 59

in them those things which were the foundation of it, and which evidently lead to the sense I have now given hereof'1.

That the Law and the Prophets, though read in their synagogues in the ancient Hebrew, were, by an interpreter, rendered into the language then commonly spoken in Judsea, is fully evident from the Talmudistse. They tell us, that in the Prophets three verses were read by the reader, and then those three translated by the interpreter, and then three more read and translated, and so on ; but that in the Law no more than a single verse was read, and then interpreted, for fear of a mistake f. The reason they gave why the Law and the Prophets were thus interpreted, was, because the ancient Hebrew being no longer the language in common use, this method was necessary to their understanding them*. Is not this reason of full as much force when applied to the Jews who understood no other language than the Greek, that they ought to have both interpreted to them in that language ? There is no doubt, therefore, but that the Law and the Prophets were interpreted to them in Greek ; nor am I sensible that this is a fact disputed by anyh.

'' There are several learned men g Vitr. ibid. p. 1020. fin. et 1021.

who understand by Hellenists, pro- h Learned men differ much in

selytes, such as Beza, Selden, Bas- their opinion whether the Targum

nage ; but I cannot see the least and LXX translation were read in

shadow of a reason to support their the Jewish synagogues during that

opinion. The word Hellenists period of time we are treating of.

comes from 'EWt)vi£q), Grceco more Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. voce Elinistin.

me gero, or Greece loquor ; 'EXX^- Grotius in Act. vi. i . and Prideaux,

vhtttjs qui Grcecisat, vel Greece lo- Conn. vol. 2. p. 414. 425. (who

quitur ; and thus is it translated in quotes Elias Levita, as saying, in

the Syriac version, Acts ix. 29. The his Methurgeman, pref. p. 246. that

Jews speaking the Greek tongue, the Targum was read, in his time,

Had St. Luke meant proselytes, it's in the synagogues in Germany)

much he should not use the name think they were ; Vitringa and

proselytes here as well as elsewhere; Lightfoot, that they were not. And

or he might have called them "EXXt;- it is very certain, if the Talmudists

ves 'lov8ai£ovres, or 'Epfia'io-Tcu, that are to be credited, that they were

is, Greeks who imitated the Hebrew not read. The arguments I have

manners ; but there can be no rea- made use of noways interest me in

son in nature assigned why they this dispute. For both sides agree

should be called 'EXXT/i/tcrrai. that the Law and the Prophets were

c Vid. Vitrin. de Synag. vet. 1. 3. interpreted in the synagogue into a

p. 2. c. 12. p. 1015, &c. Buxtorf. known tongue; whether it was done

Lex. Chald. in voc. Targem, p. 2642. by reading a written interpretation,

fin. et in voc. Turgeman, 2643. fin. or without reading, is of no im-

f Vitr. ibid. p. 1019. portance to my argument.

60 THE HISTORY OF

Rabbi Levi ben Chaiatha, going down to Csesarea, heard them reciting the Shema, that is, certain portions of the Law so called1, tTlD^^T'^, a word very near to that we are treating of, heard them reciting their sentences in Greek, and would have forbidden them ; which when Rabbi Jose heard, he was very angry, and said, " If a man does not know how to recite in the holy tongue, must he not recite them at all ? Let him perform his duty in what language he can.'" This is related in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sotah, fol. xxi. 2m. This sufficiently shews that the Hellenists, or persons who recited their sentences in the Greek language, were esteemed an inferior class of Jews. It is remarkable also, from several parts of the Talmud, that as they set a high value on the Babylonian Jews, so they placed the Jews who were dispersed among the Greeks in the lowest form. It is a saying of theirs, " All lands are a mixed lump, compared with the land of Israel ; and the land of Israel is a mixed lump, compared with Babylon "" And another: " The Jewish offspring in Babylon is more valuable than that among the Greeks, even purer than that in Judsea itself0."

Josephus tells us that the knowledge of foreign languages, and of Greek in particular, was held in no esteem with his countrymen, was looked upon as a common attainment, and such as their slaves might be masters of; but that skill in their law, and an ability to interpret the sacred books, was greatly admired1'. In the Talmud is this execration said to be made at the time when Aristobulus besieged his brother Hyrcanus: " Cursed be the man that cherish eth swine ; and cursed be the man that teach eth his son the wisdom of the Greeks'1." And in the war with Titus they decreed that no man should teach his son Greek r. This decree, as appears by the gloss upon the former passage, was made first in the

1 Vid. Vit. Syn. vet. 1. 3. p. 2. c. contra Cels. 1. 2. p. 80. fin.

i5. p. io5i, &c. 1 Bava kama, fol. 82. 2. Vid. not.

m Vid. Lightfoot, vol. 2. p. 661. l'Empereur ad Bava kama, c. 7. §.

Grot, in Act. vi. 1. Buxtorf. L. Tal- 7. 11. 5. Light, vol. 2. p. 660. Seld.

mud. in voce Elinistin. de Syned. 1. 2. c. 9. §. 2. p. 141 7.

" Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 799. fin. 1418.

0 Ibid. p. 558. t r Mishna Sota, c. 9. §. 14. Vid.

p Antiq. 1. 20. c. ult. §. ult. to not. "VVagen. which Origen also may be added,

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 61

days of the Asmonseans ; but, having been neglected, was revived in the war with Titus. And Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, is made to say, " There were a thousand in my fathers school, of whom five hundred learnt the law, and five hundred the wisdom of the Greeks ; and there is not one of the last now alive, excepting myself and my uncle's son.11 This is related as the effect of the foregoing curse, to shew that the judgments of God followed those who, in opposition to the decree of the sanhedrim, studied the Greek learning. And the reason is immediately added why he and his cousin- german escaped the dreadful effects of this curse : " They allowed the family of Rabban Gamaliel the Greek learning, because they were allied to the royal blood8.11 They per- mitted, it seems, those who were of the lineage of David to be brought up in all kind of learning. Now if the Greek language and learning were in so low an estimation among those Jews who understood Hebrew, how mean, in their opinion, must be the Jews who understood no other language than the Greek ! This contempt it is which is mentioned in the history of the Acts1: " There arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews.11 Why \ Because the widows of the Hellenists were overlooked and despised by the Hebrews, as not worthy of relief. And the remains of this difference between the Jews who understood Hebrew, and those who understood it not, seems to have extended as low down as the time of the emperor Justinian ; at least there is a law of his extant, which fully proves that they quarrelled in his time whether they should read the scriptures in their syna- gogues in the Hebrew language alone, or whether they should read them also in a Greek translation".

8 Gemara. Bav. kam. f. 82. 2. and tions ?) If we are bound to reconcile

Sota, fol. 40. 1. Vid. Light, vol. 2. the Talmudists, we must take it for

p. 660. The Talmudists, in enu- granted that not only the royal line-

merating the qualifications of the age, but that all those who studied

members of the greater and lesser the law, in order to qualify them-

sanhedrims, tell us, that they ought selves for members of their san-

to understand all manner of arts, hedrims, were exempted from the

sciences, and languages; that they curse and law before mentioned,

ought to be tall, wise, handsome, Vid. Seld. de Syn. 1. 2. c. 9. §. i.p.

aged, skilful in magic, and to un- 1413.

derstand seventy languages. (Was ' Ch. vi. 1.

it possible to find a sufficient num- u Novel. 146. Vid. Light, vol. 1.

ber of persons with these qualifica- p. 777. vol. 2. p. 609, &c. 798, &c.

62 THE HISTORY OF

§. 3. Another distinction among the Jews, mentioned in the history of the Acts, is that noted one of Pharisees and Sadducees. These were distinguished the one from the other, not, as in the former cases, by their birth or by their lan- guage, but by the opinions they held ; were the two chief sects of the Jewish religionx, and directly opposite to each other >. It is not my business to give a description of all the tenets of these two sects, but only to observe how far what is said or intimated concerning either of them in the book of Acts is confirmed by other writers. There is frequent men- tion made of these sects in the Talmudists and other Jewish writers z, and particularly in Josephus.

St. Paul says of himself, " After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee a.*" And speaking in another place of his having been bred " at the feet of Gamaliel,11 a Pharisee, says, that he was " taught according to the per- fect manner of the law of the fathers V Josephus conveys to us exactly the same notion of the sect of the Pharisees in his writings, telling us, that they were thought to expound -the Law in a more perfect manner than others, and to excel others in the accurate knowledge they had of the law of their country. He says also, that the Pharisees deliver many laws to the people, which they have received by a successive tra- dition from the fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses. And the observation of these having been forbid and punished by Hyrcanus, Alexandra, his daughter-in-law, re- stored the laws which the Pharisees had introduced according to the tradition of their fathers. Here are not only the same ideas, but a great similitude of expression, as any one may see who will be at the pains to compare the pas- sages together in the original language0.

* Jos. Antiq. 1. 13. c. 5. §. 9. De Trarpaov vojiov. Act. xxii. 3.

Bell. 1. 2. C. 8. §. ult. pr. Vid. et c Ol SoKovvres p.tra aKpi(3eias <?£-

Vit. §.2. riyeio-dai. ra vopipa. De Bell. 1. 2. C.

y Antiq. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 6. pr. 8. §. 14. pr. Moptov n 'lovSdiK&v

1 Vid. Light, vol. I. p. 373. and avdpa>7rcov eV dKpi(S<a<r(i p.4ya (ppovovv

457, &c. and 655, &c. vol. 2. p. 571, rod narpiov vop,ov. Antiq. 1. 17. c. 2.

&C. 701, &c. prop. fin. Svvraypd tl 'lov8aia>v, 80-

a Kara ri)V aKpifieaTaTrjv aipeaiv kovv evcre{3f<rTepoi> elvai rav iiXXav,

rrjs rjp.eTepas Oprjcriceids efyo-a <&api- Kal rovs vop.ovs ciKpi^arepou u(jirj-

amos. Act. xxvi. 5. yeladai. De Bell. 1. 1. c. 5. §. 2.

b He7rai8evp.evos Kara aKpifciav tov Ol 7re/n 70 irarpia vopipa boxoixn ra>v

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 63

We read, Acts xxiii. 8, that the Pharisees believed a resur- rection, and the existence of angels and spirits. In agreement herewith, Josephus tells us, the Pharisees believe " that souls have an immortal force, and that persons will be rewarded or punished under the earth, according as they have made it their business in this life to follow either virtue or vice ; that the souls of the one will be confined in an eternal prison, the souls of the other have liberty to live again d ;" that is, in another body here upon earth. For so I think he explains himself in his book of the Jewish wars, where he says, the Pharisees hold that every soul is immortal, that the soul of the good only passes into another body, but that the soul of the wicked is punished with everlasting punishmente.

There was a variety of opinions concerning the resurrection among the Pharisees, or traditionary Jews. Josephus, as I apprehend, has here given us that which comes nearest his own, or which he was most inclined to have the Greek philo- sophers understand to be his own. For he is accused by learned men, and certainly not without reason, of sometimes accommodating the Jewish revelation to the sentiments of the heathen, or bringing it as near to what was taught by them as might be. The Pharisees, according to him, believed the separate existence of human spirits, rewards and punishments in a future state, and that the good should return to life here on earth, or obtain a resurrection, but not in the same body. This falls in with what he delivers as his own sentiments, saying, in his book against Apion, " That to those who observe the law of Moses, or die for it, if need be, God hath granted, that after a revolution of years they shall be born again, and receive a better life f ."', And much to the same purpose in his Book of Wars ; " That pure and obedient souls continue possessing a most holy place in heaven, whence, after a revolu- tion of ages, they shall again be placed in pure bodies, as in houses g.11

(iWcov dicpifteiq biacpepeiv. Vit. §. 38. pMraioi Kara ti)u irarpaav 7rapd8o<riv,

p. 923. pr. No/xi/xa 7roXXa nva nap- tovto tvoKlv a7TOKareo"T7/cre. Antiq.

edoaav rw &i')p.a> 01 Qapicraioi £k ttci- 1. 13. C. 16. §. 2.

repuiv StaSo^s to. S' ck irapa- d Antiq. 1. 18. C. 1. §. 3.

SoVewy rcov Tvarepcav. Antiq. 1. 13. c. e L. 2. C. 8. §. 14.

IO. §. 6. prop. fin. Kat e'i ti be Ka\ f L. 2. §. 30. prop. fin. p. 1383.

tcov vopipav 'YpKavos 6 irevOepos av- e L. 3. C. 7- !'• JI44> II45* u'-

rrjs KareXvaev, a>v elcrfjveyKav in <£a- et 1. T. c. ult. §. 2. ad fin. lhe

64 THE HISTORY OF

The Talmudists also frequently speak of the transmigration of the souls of good men. According to some of them the soul of Abel went into Seth, and the soul of Seth into Moses h. Others of them say, that the soul of Phinehas and Elias was the same'. Others, that the soul of Adam went into David k, and that of Jeremiah was in Zechariah1. It was manifestly owing to this opinion that some persons in our Saviour's time said of him, " that he was Jeremiah, or one of the ancient prophets"1.11 Others among the Jews held the transmigration of the souls of the wicked, and that by way of punishment. It is said in the Talmud, that the souls of men pass from body to body upon these terms, that if a soul sin in the first body, it be sent into a second, in which, if it again sins, it be sent into a third body, in which, if it leaves not off sinning, it be at length thrown into hell n. To some such opinion there seems to be an evident allusion Avhen the dis- ciples say to our Lord concerning the blind man, " Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind0?

St. Paul says, Acts xxiv. 15, " I have good hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, Both of the just and of the unjust.11 And without doubt the prevailing opinion among the Jews was that there should be a general resurrection15. Some few possibly might think that all will not receive their own bodies. To this purpose is that saying in the Talmud, The souls of unlearned men shall not receive their own bodies at the resurrections. But far the greater number held a resurrection of the bodies both of the just and of the unjust, in order to judgment, llabbi Eliezer Kapernaita says, those that are born

curious may also see how separate ° John ix. 2. That the Jews held

souls are, in his opinion, employed, the Pythagorean transmigration of

by what he says of the ghosts of souls, vid. Seld. de Jur. Nat. 1. 7.C.

Alexander and Aristobulus, de Bell. 9. fin. p. 745. and 1. 2. c. 4. p. 193,

1. 1. c. 30. §. 7. prop. fin. and c. 31. 194. and Prid. Conn. vol. 2. p. 265,

§. 2. pr. fin. 266.

h Baba mezia. Vid. Sixt. Sin. p Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 541, 542.

Bib. Sac. 1. 2. tit. T. fin. 701. 787. vol. 1. p. 676. and 759.

I Vid. Grot, in Matt. xxiv. 2. Mede's Works, p. 797. 801. 880. k Ibid. ' Grot, in Matt. xvi. 14. Buxt. dial. Lex. in voc. Techija, p. m Matt. xvi. 14. ,Luke ix. 8. 745. in voc. Tekuma, p. 2001.

II Baba mezia, etmultis aliis locis. q Chetuboth. fol. 3. Vid. Sixt. Vid. Sixt. Sen. Bib. San. 1. 2. tit. Sen. Bib. San. 1. 2. tit. T. fin.

T. fin.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 65

shall die, those that are dead shall be raised, and those that are raised to life again shall be judged1". And that famous argument made use of by Gabika Ben Cosem, to prove the resurrection of the dead, fully shews that they expected the same body ; " That which was not, came into being ; and shall not that much more which has been already s?" The Talmudists also make use of that text, Dan. xii. 2, 3. to prove the resurrection * : " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." What can be said to sleep in the dust of the earth but the body ? This text therefore is alleged by them to prove that there shall be a resurrection of the bodies both of the just and the unjust.

And that the resurrection of the same body was a doctrine wherewith the ancient Jews, long before our Saviour's time, comforted, supported, and encouraged themselves under the hardships of persecution, is fully evident from 2 Maccab. vii. 9. 11. 14. 23. 29. 36. and xiii. 43, 44. In the account there given of the sufferings of the seven sons, the second says, " The King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for his laws, unto everlasting life." The third son, holding forth his hands, says, " These members I had from Heaven, and for his laws I despise them, and from him I hope to receive them again." The fourth son, " It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him. As for thee," speaking to Antiochus, " thou shalt have no resurrection to life," that is, to an ever- lasting, happy life. The mother says to the seventh son, " Take thy death, that I may receive thee again in mercy with thy brethren."

This doctrine of the same body's being raised is evidently implied in the question which is asked by the Sadducees con- cerning the resurrection, " Whose wife shall she be of the seven? for the seven had her to wife11." There cannot be the least doubt made but that the case they put was formed upon the common hypothesis or doctrine of the Pharisees. If that doctrine had been the transmigration of souls only, the

r Pirke aboth, cap. 4. Vid. Seld. ' Sanhed. Vid. Poli Synop. in

de Jur. Nat. 1. 7. c. 9. fin. p. 745. loc. et Hontingii Not. in Surenhusii

8 Juchasin, f. 13. Vid. Light, vol. Mishna Rosh hashana, p. 314.

1. p. 655. u Matt. xxii. 28.

mscoE. F

66 THE HISTORY OF

case put, and the question raised upon it, would have been so far from puzzling the Pharisees, that it would not have carried the least appearance of difficulty with it. The case plainly supposes that the seven husbands and the wife were all to arise from the dead together, and to arise in the same bodies, so as to be known one to the other : and the difficulty lay in determining to which of these husbands she should belong in the life of pleasure they were to lead together after the resurrection. For it is very evident from the Talmudists, who are the true successors of the Pharisees, that they expected to enjoy the same sensual delights after the resur- rection, as men do now upon this earth, though in a larger degree x. Having such notions, the question asked contained an insuperable difficulty, noways to be resolved by them ; which probably was the true reason why some among them explained away the doctrine of the resurrection, and placed the Pythagorean transmigration of souls in its room.

The Sadducees on the other hand admitted not of a resurrection or reviviscence of the dead taken in any sense, nor allowed so much as the existence of angels or unembodied spirits. Josephus expressly says, " The Sadducees reject the permanence or existence of the soul after death, and the rewards and punishments of an invisible world y :" and in another place, " The Sadducees hold that souls perish with the bodies2 :"" and it is evident from the opposition he all along puts between the opinions of the Pharisees and those of the Sadducees, that they meant, the soul so perished, as not to be capable of any resurrection or reviviscence ; not that it fell into a state of inactivity, out of which it might be awakened, but that it totally and irrecoverably perished. The Talmudists and other Jewish writers, in exact agreement herewith, tell us, that the Sadducees denied rewards and punishments after death, denied the age or world to come, and the resurrection of the deada. The Sadducees, writes one of them, cavil and say, the cloud faileth, and passeth away ; so he that goeth down to the grave doth not returnb.

x Light, vol. 2. p. 552. Grot, in a Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 125. 126.

Matt. xxii. 28. 699. 700.

y De Bell. 1. 2. c. 8. §. 14. ^ Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 230.

''■ Antiq. 1. 18. c. 1. §. 4. Tanchum. f. 3. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 67

It has been admired by some learned men that they should deny the existence of angels, when on all hands it is agreed that they acknowledged the five books of Moses, wherein is such frequent and express mention made of the appearance and ministry of angels. To this it is answered, that they believed not the angels spoken of in the books of Moses to be of any duration, but looked on them as beings created only for the service they performed, and existing no longer0. There seem to have been heretics in Justin Martyr's time of an opinion near akin to thisd : and it is plain, that some among the Jews retained this notion as low down as the emperor Justinian's time. For there is a law of his extant, published against those Jews who should presume, aut resurrectionem et judicium negare, aut facturam Dei et creaturam angelos subsistere, " either to deny the resurrection and judgment, or that angels, the workmanship and creatures of God, did subsist e."

Since these two sects differed so widely in matters of such great concernment as the separate existence of the soul, rewards and punishments in a future state, and a resurrection or return to life, it is but reasonable to suppose that there should be frequent jars and contentions between them. Accordingly, when Josephus tells us that the Sad- ducees rejected what the Pharisees introduced from tradition, he adds, " Concerning these things have happened great dis- putes and differences between themf." St. Paul, who well knew this, " seeing that one part of the council were Pha- risees and the other Sadducees,11 improved the opportunity te set them at variance, that he might the more easily escape their censure s.

Although it was so well known by the apostle that the whole sect of the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead, yet he scruples not to say, " To which promise,"''' that is, the promise made of God to our fathers of a resurrection to eternal life, " our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to comeV For the Sadducees were so few

c Grot, in Matt. xxii. xxiii. &c. e Nov. 146. cap. 2. Light, vol. 2. p. 702. Whitby on f Antiq. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 6. Acts xxiii. 8. and Matt. xxii. 23. g Acts xxiii. 6. Basnage in Eccles. Pol. Ann. 78. g. h Acts xxvi. 7.

d Dial, cum Tryp. p. 358. b.

f2

68 THE HISTORY OF

in number, that they were not worthy his notice by way of exception. Josephus expressly tells us, " That they were a few men only of the chief of their nation1 ; that they prevailed only with the rich to embrace their sentiments ; that the common people were all on the side of the Phari- sees11." That the ancient Jews believed the resurrection to life to be part of the covenant God had made with their fathers, is evident from the place we have before referred to in the second book of Maccabees. The Jewish martyrs not only die in the hope of a resurrection to everlasting life, but they plainly found this hope upon God's covenant. For the youngest of the seven sons says, " Our brethren, who now have suffered a short pain, are dead under God's covenant of everlasting life1."

Josephus says of the Pharisees, that they were more pious than the other Jews ; by which he means, that they were more tenacious of the Jewish laws and customs : and they are represented in the history of the Acts as continuing to be such even after they had received and professed the gospel : " There arose up certain of the sect of the Phari- sees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise the believing Gentiles, and to command them to keep the law of Moses m."

It is remarkable, that as we find the Pharisees to be the most forward and zealous against our Lord, during his ministry, in the four Gospels, so the Sadducees, we find, are the most active against his disciples in the history of the Acts. The reason is plain ; it was the Pharisees chiefly whom our Lord reproved. He condemned their impious traditions, detected their hypocrisy, and laid open their vile and wicked practices : this made them so warm against him. On the other hand, the disciples preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. This enraged the Sad- ducees ; and for this they would have contrived means to put them to death, had it not been for the milder counsel of Gamaliel the Pharisee". They would have done the same afterwards by St. Paul, had he not been favoured by the

1 Antiq. 1. 18. c' i. §. 4. > 2 Maccab. vii. 36.

k Ibid. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 6. et c. 15. ra Acts xv. 5. §• ult. n Acts iv. 1, 2. and v. 17. 33.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 69

Pharisees0. Josephus represents the Sadducees as of a rude, savage, inconversable temper ; and says, they are, above all the Jews, cruel in the sentences they pass. On the other hand, he says, the Pharisees are by nature mild in their punishments15.

§. 4. When it is said, Acts vi. 9, " There arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and them of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen ;" this, as I ap- prehend it, is distinguishing the Jews according to the places they usually inhabited. The Talmudists tell us there were four hundred and sixty ; some of them say, four hun- dred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem i. It is very pro- bable that many of these were built by the Jews of particular countries for their own use. There is mention made in the Talmud of the synagogue of Alexandria, and it is there said that the Alexandrians built it at their own expense r. In like manner, it is probable, there was a synagogue for the use of the Jews that ordinarily inhabited Cyrene, one also for those that dwelt in Cilicia, and another for those whose abode was in Asia Minor : that the Jews were numerous in those countries is abundantly evident from Philos, Dio4, Josephus". The Libertines, I take it, were no other than the Roman Jews, or Jews who ordinarily had their residence at Rome, and were free of that city : that very great numbers of the Jews, who had been taken captives by the Romans, and were carried into Italy, had obtained their liberty, is clear from Philox and Tacitus y.

° Acts xxiii. 9. c. 3. §. 1, 2. 1. 14. c. 10. §. 12, &c.

p De Bell. 1. 2. c. 8. §. 14. Antiq. 1. 16. c. 2. §. 3. Tully pro Flacco,

1. 20. c. 8. §. 1. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 6. p. n. 28. vol. 1. p. 493. 587. * Legat. ad Caium, p. 1014, D.

q Vid. Light vol. 1. p. 363. fin. y Annal. 1. 2. 85. fin. " Quatuor

vol. 2. 664. Grot, in Act. vi. 9. millia libertini generis ea supersti-

r Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 665. tione infecta, quibus idonea setas, in

8 Leg. ad Caium, p. 1031. e. et in Sardinian! veherentur." Let this

Flaccum, p. 971, c. be compared with what Suetonius

1 L. 68. p. 786. says in Tib. 36. 2. and Joseph.

u Antiq. 1. 16. c. 6. §. 1. 5. 1. 12. Antiq. 1. 18. c. 4. §. ult. fin.

CHAP. V.

Shewing how far the Jewish customs referred to are confirmed by other authors.

f PROCEED now to the third thing, which is to shew

-*- how far the customs and manners referred to in the book

. of Acts are confirmed by other writers, and this, whether

they be Jewish, Grecian, or Roman. I shall begin with the

Jewish, and consider the other two in their order.

§. 1. Although it is certain that, by the divine appoint- ment, and the custom of- the Jewish nation, there was properly but one high priest at a time in that nation, yet is there frequent mention made in the Acts of the holy Apostles of high priests, as being many, at one and the same time2. We meet with the same way of speaking very often in the History of Josephus. He tells us how very much the high priests oppressed the priests in taking away their tithes a. He names one, whom he calls the oldest of the high priests b ; another, whom he terms the youngest of the high priests c; and blames Herod, for that he had given the high priesthood to certain obscure persons, who were of the priests only, meaning that he ought to have taken them from among the high priests d.

z Acts iv. 23. v. 24. ix. 14. 31. c. 14. §. 8. et c. 15. §. 2. 3. 4. 6. et

xxii. 30. xxiii. 14. xxv. 15. andxxvi. c. 16. §. 2. 3. et c. 17. §. 2. 3. 5. 6.

10. 13. et c. 20. §. 4. et 1. 4. c. 3. §. 9. et c.

* Antiq. 1. 20. c. 7. §. 8. and c. 8. 4. §. 3, 4. et c. 5. §. 2. p. 1183. 1.

§. 2. 11. et §. 5. p. 1185. 1. 22. et c. 9. §.

b De Bell. 1. 4. c. 3. §. 7. and c. 11. p. 1201. 1. 42. et 1. 5. c. 13. §. 1.

4. §. 3. et 1. 6. c. 2. §. 2. et c. 9. §. 3. Vit.

c Vit. §. 39. p. 923. 1. 35. §. 2. p. 905. pr. et §. 5. p. 906. 1.

d Antiq. 1. 20. c. 9. p. 901. 1. 25. 11. et p. 923. 1. 16. 35. Vid. de Bell. 1. 1. c. 1. §. 1. et 1. 2.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 71

From the time that Herod the Great obtained the kingdom, the high priests were not permitted to enjoy their office for life, according to the Mosaic institution, but were turned out, and others put in their room ; generally after a few years, sometimes after having held the dignity a few months only, according to the interest or caprice of those who governed. All who had been once high priests retained the name ever after. Hence it came to pass that during the period we are treating of many were living together who had executed this high office.

This however is thought by learned men not to be a sufficient ground for the use of the expressions before use. It is observed by some of them, that the Talmudists speak much of a sagan, or vice high priest, and say that there were under him two Jcathilokin, or principal overseers of the treasures ; and under them seven immerlalin, who kept the keys of the seven gates of the court of the temple ; and under these three gisbarin, or under-treasurers. Besides these were the heads or chiefs of the twenty-four courses of priests appointed by David. All these are supposed to go under the name of apx^p^U or high priests, both in the New Testament and the History of Josephus. The learned Dr. Lightfoot seems to think that not only the twenty-four chiefs of the courses, but that all the heads of the families in each course, and that all the priests who were at any time chosen into the sanhedrim, or great council, went under the name of apx^pets, or chief priests §. Even in the Old Testament we read of Zephaniah the second priest11, which is understood by learned men of the sagan or vice high priest', spoken of in the Jewish writers; and is so interpreted by the Chaldee paraphrast on the place. We also read of priests of the second order k, which is under- stood of the sagan, and those priests who were next to him in office and dignity. And in another part of the Old

c Vid. Grot, in Matt. ii. 4. et g Vol. 1. p. 439. vol. 2. p. 109,

Hudson. Not. in Joseph, de Bell. no.

1. 4. c. 5. §. 2. et Antiq. 1. 20. c. 6. h 2 Kings xxv. 18. Jer. lii. 24.

§.8. ' Vid. Grot, et Patrick on 2 Kings

1 Vid. Seld. de Syned. 1. 3. c. 8. xxv. 18.

§. 6. et de Success, in Pontif. c. 12. h 2 Kings xxiii. 4. Vid. Grot, et

p. 139, 140. Light, vol. 1. p. 911 — Patrick in loc. 918.

72 THE HISTORY OF

Testament it is said, Col sarei cohanim1, " All the princes or chiefs of the priests have transgressed." And long before this, in the time of David, when they were first divided into courses, there is mention made of " the chiefs of the fathers of the priests m," translated by the Septuagint apxovres tG>v TTaTpi&v T&v leoeW, the princes or governors of the families of the priests. The manner of expression before us seems therefore to be much more ancient than the reign of Herod, and to be derived down from the times of the Old Testament.

§. 2. There is no one who reads the history of the Acts but must immediately see that the high priests were at the head of affairs in the Jewish nation. The same thing is equally evident to every one who peruses Josephus's History of the Jewish Wars11. He seldom mentions apxieptTs, or the chief priests, but he joins them with ol bwarol0, to yvcapL- /xwrarovP, aXXoi evyevels, ol Trp&roi^, ol 7rpoecrrcores rod ttXi']- 6ovsr, or ?/ fiovki]3, that is, those who had the greatest author- ity in the nation. It fully appears also from the Talmud that the priests made up a great part of the sanhedrim, or supreme council, of the Jewish nation1.

The members of this council, according to the Acts and the four Gospels, were the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes". The Talmudical writers tell us that all the members of the council were ordained elders x: and from

1 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14 : in the slew all the members of the sanhe-

LXX. indeed there is another read- drimwho sat in judgment upon him

ing. under Hyrcanus excepting Sameas.

'" 1 Chron. xxiv. 6. 31. Raschei Antiq. 1. 14. c. 9. §. 4. et 1. 15. c. 1.

haaboth haccohanim. §. 1. But it noways follows from

n Vid. et contr. Apion. 1. 2. §. thence that he discontinued that

21. fin. et Antiq. 1. 4. c. 18. §.14. court. Had he made so great an

fin. alteration in the government, doubt-

0 De Bell. 1. 2. c. 14. §. 8. et c. less Josephus would have informed 15. §. 2. et c. 17. §. 3. 5. us of it. That it continued under

p De Bell. 1. 2. c. 14. §. 8. et c. the Romans is evident from various

15. §. 3, 4. et c. 17. §. 2. places in Josephus. The letter of q Vit. §. 2. p. 905. pr. et c. 5. p. the emperor Claudius is directed to

906. 1. 11. them, Antiq. 1. 20. c. 1. §. 2. Florus

r Vit. p. 923. 1. 16. the governor sent for them, de Bell.

" De Bell. 1. 2. c. 15. §. 6. et c. 1. 2. c. 15. §. 6; and they are men-

16. §. 2. tioned again, c. 16. §. 2.

1 Vid. Light, vol. 1. p. 282. vol. u Acts iv. 5> 6. 15. v. 21. 24. vi. 2. p. 469. Grot, in Matt. v. 22. p. 12. andxxii. 5. Luke xxii. 66. Mark 43. f. et 45. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. c. xv. 1. Matt. xxvi. 59.

8. §. 3. p. 1403. Herod, it is true, * Vid. Seld. de Syn. 1. i.e. 14. p.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 73

various sayings of the same writers it appears that they esteemed them all to be Scribes ?. The general signification of the word Scribes among them is, men learned in their law2. Now forasmuch as this learning was a necessary qualification in order to the being admitted members of the sanhedrim a, what must be meant by the word Scribes as .distinguished from that of Elders I The learned Grotius, to avoid the difficulty of this question, will not allow them to be properly members of the sanhedrim, but only asses- sors15, men of approved learning, who were present in the sanhedrim to give their opinion when matters of a more nice and intricate nature lay before them, but had no voice in the determining or judicial part. Our countryman Dr. Lightfoot understands by Scribes sometimes those members of the sanhedrim who kept divinity schools, and were public teachers of their lawc ; at other times those members, who although not high priests, yet were of the tribe of Levid. The last opinion seems to me the most probable. This exactly agrees with the description of the sanhedrim as restored by good king Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles xix. 8. " Moreover, in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for contro- versies.11 The chief of the fathers of Israel answer to the Elders, and the Levites to the Scribes. The Levites, having a tenth part of the product of the land given them for their subsistence, were more at leisure to study the law than the other tribes. That very great numbers of them made pro- ficiency herein we have no reason to doubt, since we read that in David's time no less than six thousand of this tribe

1088. 1. 2. c. 7. p. 1331. de Uxor. 1333. 1335. 1347. 1373.

Heb. 1. i.e. 15. Eutych. Orig. p. b In Matt. ii. 4. p. 17. b. 12. and

436. Ligbt. vol. 1. p. 612. vol. 2. p. 16, 21. p. 164. a. 25. and in Acts

755. iv. 5. p. 588, b. 3. Of such asses-

y Vid. Seld. de Jur. Nat. 1. 4. c. sors see Light, vol. 2. p. 422, who

8. p. 476. Light, vol. 2. p. no. and seems to give into this opinion, p.

422. vol. 1. p. 654. 652. And of the assessors to the

1 Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 421, 422. courts of Twenty-three, see Seld. de

* Vid. Seld. de Syn. 1. 2. c. 6. §. Syn. 1. 2. c. 6. §. 2. p. 1321, 1322.

3. p. 1324, 1325. et c. 7. §. 2. p. c Vol. 1. p. 654.

1336, 1337. et c. 9. §. 1. pr. and '' Vol. 1. p. 439. fin. and p. 700.

were called rabbi or teachers, vid. p. and vol. 2. p. 469.

74 THE HISTORY OF

were officers and judges e. The most learned therefore being usually of this tribe, and there being few in comparison who attained to any considerable knowledge of the law in the other tribes, it is probable the word Scribes when mentioned alone was understood of them ; and when it was intended to speak of the learned men of the other tribes it was used with the addition of the word people, as Matt. ii. 4. " the Scribes of the people." The prophet Moses, foreseeing that the priests and Levites would be the most skilful in the law he had delivered, directs the people to them for the final determination of their more difficult causes ; Deut. xvii. 9- From which text Maimonides collects that the priests and Levites were by the divine order principally intended to be members of the great council ; but if such are not to be found, although they were all Israelites, it is allowed f.

§. 3. We read in the history of the Acts that the members of the Jewish sanhedrim, or great council, were of different sects ; that there were both Pharisees and Sadducees who composed this council = : that there should be of the pharisaic sect is but natural to suppose, when Josephus informs us that the multitude of the Jewish nation were their followers, and under their influence'1. And when he tells us that the Sadducees were of the wealthiest1 and chief men for dignity k, and that whenever they were in the government they were forced to yield to the dictates of the Pharisees through fear of the multitude1, this evidently proves that there might also be, and probably were, many Sadducees sitting in this council. And the Talmudists expressly tell us that there was once a sanhedrim made up chiefly, if not wholly, of Sadducees m.

§. 4. It is said, Acts v. 17, that " the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees.r' From hence, together with what is said in the foregoing chapter, the learned Grotius concludes that the high priest and his kindred were at this time of the sect

e i Chron. xxiii. 4. ' Ibid.

1 In Sanhed. c. 2. Vid. Light. k Ibid. 1. 18. c. 1. §. 4. vol. 2. p. 469. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. ' Ibid, c. 8. §. 2. p. 1397, &c. m Sanhed. f. 52. 1. Vid. Light.

b Ch. xxiii. 6. See also ch. iv. 1, vol. 2. p. 571. Vitring. de Syn. vet.

6. and v. 17. ' 1. 1. c. 7. p. 160.

h Antiq. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 5, 6.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 75

of the Sadducees. This follows not by any necessary eon- sequence from the expressions here used ; but it is not a little probable that it was so in fact. That there were high priests of this sect is evident both from Josephus and the Talmud. In the latter is related the great caution used, lest the high priest on the great day of expiation should administer after the manner of the Sadducees" : according to the former, Hyrcanus and his sons Aristobulus and Alexander were high priests of the sect of the ° Sadducees. He also tells us that Ananus the high priest was of this sectq. He was the son of Annas the high priest, mentioned both in the Gospels and the book of Acts ; which Annas had five sons, who were all raised to the high priesthood1", as was also his son-in-law Caiaphas. It was during the high priesthood of this Caiaphas that passed the trans- actions we have referred to as mentioned in the fourth and fifth chapters of the Acts : and it is very probable that Annas himself, and each of his sons, together with his son- in-law Caiaphas, were favourers of the Sadducees, if not professedly of that sect. It is true, Josephus does not as- sert of any of them that they were Sadducees, excepting Ananus ; but he had not the same occasion given him, when speaking of them, to say of what sect they were, as he had when speaking of Ananus.

§. 5. We learn from the Talmudists that Gamaliel suc- ceeded his father Simeon as president of the sanhedrim, and continued in that office till within eighteen years of the destruction of Jerusalem s : and by what is related of him in the fifth chapter of the Acts it evidently appears that he was a person of no small weight and influence in the Jewish council. St. Paul, speaking of himself, says, that he was educated at Jerusalem under Gamaliel1 : and it is very certain, if the Talmud may be at all believed, that the president and vice-president of the sanhedrim were the most

n Joma, c. i. §. 5. Vid. notas in §.5. Surenhusii Mishna. Selcl. de Syn. q Antiq. 1. 20. c. 8. §. 1. 1. 3. c. 11. §. 2. p. 1687, 1688. r Id. ibid, and John xviii. 13. Light, vol. 1. p. 655. and Megil. f. s Vid. Light, vol. 1. p. 278. 765.

24. quoted by him. 2009. vol. 2. p. 15.

0 Antiq. 1. 13. c. 10. §. 6. et c. 15. ' Acts xxii. 3.

76 THE HISTORY OF

eminent teachers of the law". St. Paul's words are, that he was " brought up at the feet of Gamaliel." There has been a dispute among learned men concerning the meaning of this phrasex. Far the greater part, I think, look upon it as an allusion to the posture or situation of the scholar while he was learning, which they describe as sitting at the feet of his master. There lies but one objection to this, as far as I have been able to find ; and that is, a tradition of the Talmud, " that from the days of Moses to Rabban Gamaliel they learned the law standing ; but when Rabban Gamaliel died, the world languished, so that they learnt the law sitting y." To avoid the force of this objection, the learned Grotius understands the tradition in this limited sense, that whilst the words of the law itself were read, they all stood ; but whilst the masters discoursed from those words, or gave them lessons, they all satz. While the words of the law were read, both masters and scholars all stood. Thus Ezra and all the people stood, while the book of the law was opena. Thus our Saviour, when in the synagogue of Nazareth, while he read, was standing ; but when he had delivered back the book to the minister he sat down, and preached or instructed the people b : and Josephus tells us, that the high priest at the end of every seven years stood and read the law to the people0.

Maimonides, it is true, understands this tradition in a more extensive sense ; that learners stood, not only while the words of the law were read, but during the whole time that they were under instruction d. But is it not possible he might be misled by the modern practice of the Jews, which is, to sit as well when the words of the law are read as when they have

u See what Light, says of Anti- y Megil. f. 21, 1. Vid. Light, vol.

gonus of Socho, vol. 1. p. 457. vol. 1. p. 619. vol. 2. p. 395, 6. et Vitrin.

2. p. 699. and 700; of Shemaiah de Synag. vet. 1. 1. p. i.e. 7. p. 166,

and Abtalion, p. 2008 ; of Hillel 167.

and Shammai, vol. 1. p. 207. 514. z In Acts xxii. 3.

2008. vol. 2. 206, 207. Vitrin. de * Neh. viii. 5.

Synag. vet. 1. 1. p. 1. c. 7. p. 158, b Luke iv. 17. Vid. Light, vol. 2.

&c. Seld. de Syn. 1. 2. c. 4. §. 10. p. 405. fin. 406. and vol. 1. p. 614.

et c. 16. §. 10. De Uxor. Heb. c. c Antiq. 1. 4. c. 8. §. 12. prin. p.

20. p. 769, &c. 162.

x Vid. Vitrin. de Synag. vet. 1. 1. d Vid. Vitr. de Syn. vet. 1. 1. p. 1.

p. 1. c. 7. p. 168. c. 7. p. 166.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 77

any instructive discourses made to them ? might he not hence too hastily conclude that they stood during both, before the alteration was made ?

There are several phrases in the Old Testament, which seem plainly to refer to this custom of scholars sitting at the feet of their teachers e. There is a saying also in the Talmud itself, ascribed to Joses the son of Joezer, who was pre- sident of the sanhedrim three hundred years before Gamaliel's death f, which many of the Jewish masters expound to this sense; and indeed it will not easily bear any other. The saying is, " Let thy house be an house of assembly for wise men, and dust thyself in the dust of their feet, and drink their words with thirst =."

Maimonides tells us it was not the custom in their schools for the master to sit in a chair, and the scholars to sit on the ground, but that either all sat on the ground or all in chairs h : that it was not always thus is fully evident from the Talmud ; for Rabbi Eleazer ben Shamma being asked how he came to that great age, answered, I never walked upon the heads of the holy people1. The gloss is, upon the heads of his disciples sitting upon the ground : and it is said of Rabbi Rabb that he would not sit upon his bed and read to his scholar while he sat upon the ground. The gloss is, either both should be on the bed or both on the ground k. These sayings fully intimate that other masters, if not the generality of masters, had done otherwise : whence else arises the praise and commendation given to the persons here spoken of? But that which, I think, fully confirms the matter to us, is what Maimonides himself relates concerning their judicial courts of Twenty-three. In all which, he says, were three orders of disciples sitting one beneath the other1. Now if they sat thus beneath each other, and consequently beneath their masters in their courts of judicature, wherein they were properly assessors, and upon difficult causes were or-

e Gen. xlix. 10. Deut. xxxiii. 3. h Vid. Vitr. ibid. p. 166. 2 Kings ii. 3. See Patrick on that ' See this explained from the

text, and on 2 Kings iv. 38. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhed. f. 7.

1 Vid. Light. vol. 1. p. 2008. Prid. 2. by Light, vol. 2. p. 135, fin. Conn. vol. 2. p. 53. k Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 396.

f Vid. Vitr. de Synag. vet. 1. 1. p. ' Vid. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. 6. §.

1. c. 7. p. 168, 169. 2. p. 1322.

78 THE HISTORY OF

dalned and removed to the bench itself : I say, if they sat beneath their masters in the courts of judicature, can it be doubted that they sat beneath them also in their schools % Philo also, giving an account of the Essenes, says, " When they come into the holy places, that are called synagogues, they sit in ranks according to their different ages, the younger under the elder"1." Upon the whole therefore I cannot but conclude that what is delivered to us by Pseudo-Ambrosius, in his Commentary upon the First Epistle to the Corinthians, as a Jewish tradition, was the real fact ; " That in their schools the seniors in dignity sat in chairs, the next to them on inferior benches, and the last of all upon mats laid on the ground n."

§.6. There is an officer named in the history of the Acts arparrj-ybs rov Upov : we translate it, " captain of the temple0." He is spoken of as forward and busy in apprehending the disciples. Dr. Lightfoot in one part of his works P takes this to be a Roman officer, who had the command of the guard in the tower of Antonia, which, as Josephus informs us, were upon all feast-days placed in the porch of the temple, to pre- vent tumults, and preserve peace ; and several learned men went before him in this opinion. But there is one thing in the text which in my mind is wholly inconsistent herewith : the persons under the command of this captain are not called soldiers, but ministers, virqpzTai. : we indeed have translated it officers : " Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence." The word never signifies military officers, but civil, the officers of justice. Besides, what should make the Romans so zealous in apprehending the apostles ? In another part of his works therefore the doctor rejects this opinion as improbable, and tells usq from the Talmud that in three places the priests kept watch and ward in the temple, the Levites in one and twenty places more. Each of these watches had a captain or head over them, and he that had the command of all these watches, called in the Talmud the ruler of the mountain of the house or temple, is probably the person styled here " the captain of

m Quod omnis probus liber, p. ° Ch. iv. i. and v. 24, 26. 877. D. p Vol. 1. p. 759. 1060.

" Vid. Vitr. de. Synag. vet. p. *• Vol. 2. pp. 471. 651. 169. fin. et Grot, in Act. xxii. 3.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 79

the temple ;" and arpaTrj-yol tov Upov, or " the captains of the temple,1'' mentioned in St. Luke's Gospel r, might be the chief captain, together with those who were next him in command.

Nor is Josephus wholly silent concerning this officer. He does not indeed name him arpar^ybs tov Upov, but he men- tions two persons, Ananus and Eliezer, both sons of Ananias, who was one of the wealthiest and most powerful of all those who had executed the office of high priest ; each of these he terms o-TpaTr]ybss, and it is fully evident from what he says of the one of them that his command lay wholly in the temple. The words of Josephus are, " Eliezer, the son of Ananias the high priest, Kara to Upbv o-Tparriy&v tots, per- forming at that time in the temple the office of 6 a-TpaTrjybs, being at that time the chief commanding officer in the temple, prevailed with those who performed the divine service not to receive the offering or sacrifice of any foreigner. This was the foundation of the war with the Romans ; for they rejected the sacrifice of Csesar for them : and although the chief priests and great men interceded much with them not to omit the custom of sacrificing for their governors, they would not yield, trusting much to their numbers ; but especially because of the regard they had to Eliezer 6 orpcm-iybs, the chief commanding officer." As the temple is the place where he is expressly said to have executed his office, so it is plain that his sway and influence lay among the people there1.

§.7. It appears to any one who reads the^1 history of the Acts, that the Jews had synagogues or places of worship in almost every city which they inhabited, whether in the land of Judaea or out of it : and that in large cities, where there were many Jews, they had more than one, as particularly in Jerusalem11, Damascus x, and Salamisy. The practice of the Jews at this time in all nations where they are tolerated, together with the reason and nature of the thing, might here suffice, although there were nothing left to confirm this in any ancient authors extant. But we have abundant proof of the truth of this representation, not only from Josephus,

r Ch. xxii. 4, 52. Basnage Annal. Pol. Eccles. p. 439.

8 Antiq. 1. 10. c. 5. §. 2. et. c. 8. §. 9.

§. 3. de Bell. 1. 2. c. 12. §. 6. et c. u Ch. vi. 9. x Ch. ix. 2. 20.

17. §. 2. y Ch xiii. 5.

' Vid. Grot, in Matt. xxvi. 45. et

80 THE HISTORY OF

who mentions various synagogues of the Jews as well in foreign cities as in their own, but from Philo, who, as in one part of his works he tells us that there were Jews inhabiting most of the cities in the provinces of Europe and Asia, and that they had synagogues in every place2, so in another says there were many synagogues in every division of the city of Alexandria3 ; and from the poet Juvenal, who in those words, " In qua te qusero proseucha V plainly intimates that there were several Jewish synagogues in the city of Rome. The Talmudists tell us that there were four hundred and eighty in Jerusalem0, four hundred at Bitherd, thirteen at Tiberias6, eighteen at Zipporf. And Maimonides lays it down as an ancient tradition, that in every place where there were ten Israelites, who were of age, and were free, they were con- strained to build a synagogue8'.

§.8. Of these synagogues were certain rulers in chief, called, in the history of the Acts and in the Gospels, apyj-crvv&yuyoi. There were often several of these to one synagogue ; for when Paul and Barnabas were in the syna- gogue at Antioch in Pisidia, it is said, ol apx^vvdycayoi, "the chief rulers of the synagogue sent unto them11:"" and St. Mark says of Jairus, who dwelt at Capernaum, where in all probability there was but one synagogue, that he was tts t&v apx<-(Tvvayu>y(t)v ' : and both Crispus and Sosthenes are named in the Acts of the Apostles as being each

z In Flaccum, p. 971. D. et 972. 3. c. 16. §. 1. p. 1883, fin. where are

* In Leg. ad Caium, p. 1011. a. many other masters quoted to the

Ta>v Trpo<T€vx<i>v iroWai be elari naff same purpose. Dr. Lightfoot un-

tKaaTov r[i.r]\ia rr/s noXecos. derstands this of ten Batlanin, men

b Sat. 3. v. 296. of leisure or learning, three of which,

c GemaraMegill. Hierosol. ad cap. he says, were always ordained elders

3. fol. 73. col. 4. Vid. Vitr. de Syn. or judges, and were properly ol

vet. Prol. cap. 4. p. 28. and Light- apx^o-vvdycoyoi ; vol. 2. p. 132, 133.

foot, vol. 2. p. 35. and 664. 179. 755. and vol. 1. p. 610. Com-

d Bab Gemara ad tit. Gittin, c. pare what he says, vol. 2. p. 638.

6. fol. 58. 1. Vid. Seld. de Syned. with Seld. de Syn. 1. 2. c. 5. §. 4. p.

1. 2. c. 7. §. 6. p. 1351, fin. et Bux- 1313, 1314.

torf. Lex. Chald. in voc. Cheneseth, h Acts xiii. 15.

p. 1056, pr. • Ch. v. 22 ; for John vi. 59. it is

e Bab Berach, fol. 30. 2. Vid. said, Tavra elirev iv o~vvaya>yf), 81-

Light. vol. 2. p. 72, fin. bao~Ku>v iv Kairepvaovfi, not iv fxia

f Vid. Light, vol. 2. p. 75, pr. ra>v awaycoyciv, as Luke xiii. 10.

b Hilcoth Tephilla, c. II. §. 1. Vid. Vitr. de Synag. vet. 1. 2. c. 11.

Vid. Vitr. de Synag. vet. 1. 1. p. 2. p. 583, 584. et Grot, in Matt. ix. 18. c. 12. p. 232. et Seld. de Syned. 1.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 81

apxivvv&ywyos at Corinthk; but that being a large and populous city, it is very possible there might be more synagogues than one in it : whether they belonged therefore to one and the same synagogue is altogether uncertain. That there were officers among the Jews who went under this name is evident from the emperor Adrian's letter to Servianus the consul, preserved by Vopiscus1; from the reproach thrown upon the emperor Alexander Severus, reported by Lampridius, who says he was called arclmyna- gogus, being a Syrian by nation, and being thought to favour the Jewish and Christian religions"1 ; and from several rescripts in the Theodosian code which make express men- tion of these officers among the Jews11.

Some of these laws explain to us who these arcMsynagogi were: " archisynagogi sive presbyteri Jud8eorum0.ri They were the elders of the Jews ; and this exactly agrees with what the Talmudical and other Jewish writers tell us ; that their ordained elders, as they were the judges in their courts of judicature, so they were the masters in their schools, and the chief rulers in their synagogues P. Which lets us into the reason why persons were scourged in their synagogues.

§. 9. The chief rulers of the synagogues being also the judges of the people in many cases, especially those which regarded religion, chose to give sentence against offenders, and see their sentence executed in the synagogue °i. For punishment being designed " in terrorem," what more likely way to strike an awe, and deter men from falling into the like errors, than to have it executed in their religious assemblies, and in the face of the congregation? And this accounts for that confusion there is in the Jewish writers

k Acts xviii. 8. 17. Vid. Grot, in ° L. 2. et 15. Cod. Theod. de

loc. et Vitr. ubi supra. Judeeis et Ccelicolis. Vid. Seld. de

1 In Saturnino, c. 8. Vid. Seld. de Syned. 1. 2. c. 7. p. 1353. Syn. 1. 2. c. 7. §. 6. p. 1353. Vitr. p Maimon. Hilcoth Taanioth, c. 1.

de Synag. vet. 1. 2. c. 5. p. 518. §. 17. Vid. Vitr. de Synag. vet.

m In Alex. Severo, c. 28. Vid. p. 554. 562-3. et 777. Seld. de

Vitr. de Syn. vet. 1. 2. c. 5. p. 527. Syned. 1. 1. c. 7. p. 863. et c. 11. p. 587, 588. q Persons were always scourged

n L. 4. de Judaeis et Ccelicoli^ et in the presence of the judges. Vid.

1.2. 13, 14, 15. ejusdem tit. Vid. Vitr. p. 777. et Seld. de Syned. 1. 2.

Vitrin. de Syn. vet. p. 524, 525. 586. c. 13. §. 6. p. 1502, fin. 589, 590.

BISCOE. G

82 HISTORY OF THE ACTS CONFIRMED.

when they speak of "beth din" and "beth cheneseth;" their courts of law and their synagogues being often put one for the other r. Our Lord foretold that his disciples should be scourged in the synagogues s ; and St. Paul informs us that he was an instrument in fulfilling this, having beaten them that believed in every synagogue*. This of scourging persons in their synagogues is a custom that has prevailed among the Jews from that time down to our own. Uriel Acosta declares, that after he had been excommunicated, this among other conditions of public penance was prescribed him by the chief of the Jews at Amsterdam, that he should receive forty stripes save one in the synagogue u : and Rabbi Jacob ben Asher reports it to have been the custom in Germany that the whole congregation after evening prayer, on the day of expiation, should receive forty stripes in the synagogue by way of penance x. Karo says the same, but speaks of it as a more universal practice. And Epiphanius, in the history he gives of Joseph the apostle, expressly says that he was forced away by the Jews into their synagogue, and there scourged y.

r As also their bethmidrash. Vid. u Vid. Vitr. de Syn. vet. 1. 3. p. 1. Vitr.de Syn. vet. Prol. p. 28. et c. 11. p. 776. fin.

P- 134-5- 525- 554- 578- 744- 749- " Vid- Seld- de Syned. 1. 1. c. 7.

Light, vol. 2. p. 135, 136. p. 878.

s Matt. x. 17. and xxiii. 34. * Contra Haeres. torn. 2. 1. 1.

' Acts xxii. 19. and xxvi. 11. p. 135. Vid. Vitr. 1. 3. c. 11. p. 776.

CHAPTER VI.

IN TWO PARTS.

PART I.

Shewing that the Jewish magistrates when under the Romans had the power of inflicting capital punishments.

PART II.

That the jurisdiction of the high priest and council over the Jews in religious matters extended even to foreign cities.

PART I.

THE INTRODUCTION.

CT. PAUL was so eager in harassing the poor Christians, that he not only beat and imprisoned them in Judsea% but persecuted them even to strange cities b ; and had letters from the high priest and Jewish sanhedrim to the synagogues and brethren at Damascus, that if he found any of that profession there he might bring them bound to Jerusalem for to be punished0. It is said that "he breathed out threatenings and slaughter"1 :" that " he persecuted this way unto the death e : and when the saints were put to death, he gave his voice against themf.1' There are two things here which offer themselves to our inquiry : the first is, whether the Jews,

* Acts viii. 3. xxii. 4. 19. and c Ch. ix. 2. and xxii. 5. xxvi. 16, 11. d Acts ix. 1. e Ch. xxii. 4.

b Ch. xxvi. 11. f Ch. xxvi. 10.

g2

84 THE HISTORY OF

being at this time under the Roman yoke, had the power of inflicting death or any corporal punishments upon criminals ? and, secondly, taking it for granted that they had, how the authority of the high priest and Jewish council could be extended to Damascus or any foreign cities ?

Learned men, I find, differ not a little in their opinions concerning the power left with the Jewish magistrates when their country was made a Roman province. I have met but with two authors who have professedly wrote on this subject. They both maintain the same side of the question. The one is a learned foreigner, Zechariah Huber, advocate and senator"; the other our ingenious and learned countryman Mr. Lardnerh. The reasons urged by these gentlemen are far from giving me satisfaction, and I cannot but think there is much greater probability on the other side of the question. Many authors tell us their opinion on this subject, but add little or nothing to shew upon what foundation they build. The great and learned Grotius says, that with regard to scourging, their power remained safe after Judaea was reduced to a province l : in another place, that the power of the sanhedrim was restrained when Judaea was made a province, it being ordained, as in almost all other provinces of the Roman empire, that the senate should put no one to death without the consent of the Roman governor, all other judi- ciary power belonging to the sanhedrim being preserved to themk. It is much to be regretted that he has not given us his authorities for what he here asserts. I am fully per- suaded that he was not always of this mind : for in his book de Jure Belli et Pads he has these words ; " Sic apud Judacos mansit sceptrum in synedrio etiam post confiscationem Archelai1 :11 " so the sceptre remained among the Jews in the sanhedrim even after the confiscation of Archelaus,1'' i. e. after Judaea was made a Roman province. He is speaking, in the words both before and after this sentence, of the power granted to kings by their conquerers, in which all acknow- ledge was included "jus gladii,1'' or the power of taking away

B In a book entitled Dissertatio- ' In Joann. xviii. 31.

num Libri Tres, Dissert. 1. 1. 1. k In Matt. v. 22. p. 45. a. 1. 35.

h In his Credibility of the Gospel ' L. 3. c. 15. §. 9. p. 851. pr. History, vol. 1. chap. 2.

THE ACTS CONFIRMED. 85

the lives of their subjects. He has indeed quoted the Tal- mudists, as saying that capital judgments were taken away from the sanhedrim forty years m before the destruction of Jerusalem11. But this by no means comes up to the point : for had they meant that the power of inflicting death was taken away from them by the Romans when their land was made a province, they should have said that capital judgments were taken from the sanhedrim above sixty years before the destruction of Jerusalem : for it was sixty-five years, I think, before that dreadful overthrow that Quirinus was sent by Augustus to confiscate the goods of Archelaus, and reduce his ethnarchy to a Roman province. Let me add to this, that the indefatigable and most learned Selden fully proves from the Talmudical writers that the meaning of this saying is not that capital judgments were wholly taken away, but that they were interrupted, and much disused to what they had formerly been0 : and I doubt not but this whole dispute had been set by him in the clearest light from the best authorities, had it pleased God to grant him life to have finished what he proposed p. Grotius tells us from the Jews, that capital judgments were exercised by the sanhedrim after the Baby- lonish captivity through the grant of the kings of Persia q. He might also have informed us, from authors of the same nation, that capital judgments were exercised by the san- hedrim under the Romans.

SECT. I.

An answer to the first argument, taken from the civil law.

The learned gentlemen above named, who have professedly treated on this subject, use two sorts of arguments to prove

m The learned Wagenseil con- p Vid. Seld. de Syned. 1. 3. c. 6.

tends that instead of forty it should §. 4. p. 1654.

be read four years, Carm. R. Lip- q Imo et judicia capitalia ab hoc

manni Confut. p. 312. 318. pr. 326 senatu (i.e. LXX. in exsilio Baby-

et 327. lonico) exercita concessu regum

n In Matt. v. 22. p. 45. a. 1. 41. Persarum tradunt Hebrtei. In Matt.

0 De Syned. 1. 2. c. 15. §. 11. p. v. 22. p. 44, b. fin. 1 560- 1 -2.

g3

86 THE HISTORY OF

that the Jews were deprived of the power of inflicting capital punishments by the Romans when Judaea was made a pro- vince ; the one taken from the Roman laws, or nature of the Roman government, the other from