It is not known when the Gospel was first preached here and a Christian church established: but in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, there was a bishop of Rhodes present at various councils; nor was the church in Rhodes wholly destroyed in the ninth century, although grievously harassed by the Saracens.

"Patara."-This was a sea-port on the south-western coast of Lycia. It was principally remarkable for an oracle of Apollo, which gave responses six months in the year, and had a reputation scarcely inferior to that of the far-famed oracle at Delphi.

7. "Ptolemais.”—This sea-port is that called Accho in the Old Testament (Judges i. 31), which is nearly preserved in the name of Akka, which the Arabs at present give to it; but it is better known in Europe by its Turkish name of Acra, or Acre. The name of Ptolemais, which it bore in St. Paul's time, was derived from the first Ptolemy of Egypt, to whose lot it fell in the division of Alexander's conquests, and by whom it was greatly strengthened and improved. The town is situated at the north angle of the bay to which it gives name, and which extends in a semicircle of about ten miles to the opposite point of Mount Carmel. Being washed on the west and south sides by the sea, and having a small bay on the east, it is strong by its situation, while in different ages due care was taken to give it such further strength as it could derive from art. Hence the tribe of Asshur, to whose lot Accho fell, was unable to obtain possession of it-a fact which implies strength even at so early an age, while it shows that a stand was made for the preservation of so important a place. The importance of Acre, which has, from that day to this, given it so conspicuous a place in the history of all the contests of which Palestine has been the theatre, has been well defined, by Dr. Clarke, to consist in the superiority of its port, which at all times made it the maritime key of Palestine. "The port is indeed bad; but it is better than any other along the coast. That of Seide (Sidon) is very insecure; and the harbour of Jaffa worse than any of the others. The possession of Acre extended its influence even to Jerusalem. It enables its possessor to shut up the country, and keep its inhabitants under subjection. All the rice, which is the staple food of the people, enters by this avenue: the lord of Acre may, if it so please him, cause a famine to be felt even over all Syria. Here then we have a clue to the operations of the French. They directed every effort towards the possession of Acre, because it placed the food of the inhabitants of the country in their power, and consequently its entire dominion. It is a principle of policy that the key of a public granary is the mightiest engine of military operation. Hence we find that it was the last place from which the Crusaders were expelled in the Holy Land; and hence its tranquil possession, notwithstanding the insignificant figure it makes in the map of this great continent, is of more importance than the greatest armies, under the most victorious conquerors, ever sent for the invasion of the country." But although this has been certainly true for many ages-that is, ever since the culture of the native soil has been neglected, and since the taste of the inhabitants has rendered rice an essential article of subsistence, rendering, on both accounts, large imports of foreign grain necessary-it by no means appears that the possession of Accho was so essential to the Jews, or that the possessors of it had such power of influencing the condition of the country; and this for the plain reason that, in ordinary seasons, the soil, under the hands of an industrious people, produced in abundance all things necessary for their subsistence, rendering them independent of supplies from foreign countries. This is confirmed by the fact, that, although Accho must at all times have been an important possession, its predominant historical importance does not take date till after the Jews had ceased to be a nation, and after the general culture of the soil had been discontinued.

Acre was taken from the Christians by the Saracens, in the year 636; and it remained in their hands until 1024, when Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, assisted by a fleet of seventy Genoese vessels, made himself master of it, after a siege of twenty days, by sea and land. In 1187 it fell into the hands of Saladin; but, after a siege of three years, was retaken by Richard Coeur de Lion and Philip of France. It remained in the hands of the Franks rather more than a century. But in 1291, Khalil, sultan of Egypt, brought a vast army against it, and although it was bravely defended by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem (from whom it took the name of St. John d'Acra), they were at last obliged to give ground, and the town was taken and almost destroyed by the Moslems. They afterwards rebuilt and fortified it; so that it was enabled to make a long resistance to a large Turkish force, which however obtained possession of it in 1517. Under the Turks, the town fell to decay, and was almost deserted, till the famous Djezzar Pasha made it the seat of his government, and, by repairing the town and harbour, made it the most important place on the coast. At this time, with the aid of the British, under Sir Sidney Smith, Acre acquired celebrity for its successful resistance to the French forces, under Buonaparte, who was obliged to raise the siege, after failing in the twelfth assault. It has lately been taken from the Turks by Ibrahim Pasha, after a siege of six months, during which the shot and shells of the besiegers committed fearful devastation on the buildings; and walls and houses overthrown, gave the place the appearance of a heap of ruins. After it was taken, however, the work of reparation commenced with great vigour; it is now restored to at least its previous consideration.

"Of the Canaanitish Accho," says Buckingham, “it would be thought idle perhaps to seek any remains, yet some presented themselves to my observation, so peculiar in form and materials, and of such high antiquity, as to leave no doubt in my own mind of their being the fragments of buildings constructed in the earliest ages." These consist of the foundations of buildings, which occur in the south-east front of the newly-erected outer walls of the city, and which were exposed to view in sinking the ditch, before these walls, to the depth of twenty feet below the level of the present soil. They appear to have belonged to private dwellings of the humblest order, as they were not more than from ten to twelve feet square, with small doorways and passages leading from one to the other. The materials of which they were originally constructed proved to be a highly-burnt brick, with a mixture of cement and sand, as well as of small portions of stone in some parts, the whole so strongly bound together by age, and by the adhesive nature of the cement used, as to form one solid mass. If Mr. Buckingham's conjecture is correct, this discovery certainly furnishes an interesting intimation as to the character of the constructions which formed, at an early age, the habitations of the poorer classes in Palestine. Of the splendour of the later Ptolemais no monument remains, unless it be in the blocks of marble and shafts of pillars, now employed for thresholds and other purposes, or lying neglected on the ground. The Saracenic remains are few and unimportant; and those Christian ruins which some of our older travellers mention, are altogether gone. The mosques, fountains, bazaars, and other buildings, are in a style rather Turkish than Arabic, except in one old and well-built caravanserai, which might perhaps he assigned to the Saracenic age. The town is walled all round; and on the land side there is a second outer wall, added by Djezzar Pasha, after the French had retired from Syria: before this is a dry ditch, the excavation of which exposed the supposed Canaanitish remains already mentioned. The principal buildings are, the extensive palace of the governor, and, opposite to it, a fine mosque, the dome and minaret of which are very conspicuous from without. There are seven mosques in all, but not more than four or five are conspicuous objects. There is a Latin convent, a Greek church, and a Maronite place of worship; but they offer nothing remarkable. The Jews have two synagogues, and their chief-priest, whose family is highly respected, professes to be descended in a right line from Aaron. The details here given, however, chiefly from Mr. Buckingham, apply to the condition of the

town before the recent devastations by the Egyptian troops; but as there appeared a disposition to repair the damage, things now probably stand at Acre nearly as they were before. In the time of Djezzar the population was estimated at about 20,000 by some travellers: but, in 1820, the Rev. James Connor states it at 10,000, on the authority of the English consul; the Christians, of various denominations, being about one half. This makes no allowance for Jews; and the Rev. W. Jowett, who was there at the end of 1823, says, "The probable estimate given us of the population was about 5000 souls: of which there may be Turks and Arabs 3000; Jews, 800; Christians, 1200." We have some reason to think that the present truth may lie between Mr. Connor and Mr. Jowett, as to the whole population, and that the latter is right in his proportions. (D'Herbelot in Acca,' &c.; Clarke's Travels,' vol. iv. ch. 3; Buckingham's Travels,' vol. i. ch. 4; Jowett's Researches,' vol. i. p. 423, and vol. ii. p. 144, &c.; Monro's 'Summer Ramble,' vol. i. pp. 49-53, &c.)

24. “Be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads.”—In ch. xviii. 18, we read "having shorn his head in Cenchrea, because he had a vow." It is well to consider these two passages together, in order to distinguish them clearly. In the first place, he (whether Paul or Aquila, but most probably the latter), in consequence of having taken a vow, during the term of which he let his hair grow, shaved himself in Cenchrea, his vow being at that place completed. This is clear; because the person who vowed did not shave as a commencement, but as a completion of his vow. Some think that this was a Nazarite vow; but it could not be so, since such a vow could only be completed at Jerusalem, and the person could only be shaved there, since the ceremony was to take place at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the hair to be cast into the fire, under the pot in which the peace-offerings were boiled (Num. v It is true that some contend that this obligation was not imperative upon Jews residing abroad; but we know no proof of this assertion; and, even if so, it was unlikely to have been a vow of Paul's, because he was then hastening to Jere salem, and would probably not have been in such haste to shave his head at Cenchrea; whereas Aquila did not go with him to Jerusalem, but remained at Ephesus. The Vulgate and Chrysostom refer the vow, whatever it were, to Aquila, and this construction is favoured by the original; and, even as his vow, the probability remains very strong that it was not a Nazarite vow, but such a civil vow as the Jews were on particular occasions accustomed to make, in testimony of their hope of, or gratitude for, some protection, deliverance, or relief-such as the vow, very common to travellers, that they would not shave their heads till they had arrived at a particular place; or else, that they would exercise some act of abstinence till they attained some object which they had in view.

The present is entirely a different transaction; for Paul had intermediately been at Jerusalem since the affair at Cenchrea; and the course now taken is not his own, but was suggested to him by his friends at Jerusalem. The per sons here mentioned, were unquestionably under a vow of temporary Nazariteship. We learn from Josephus that it was usual for persons in sickness or distress to make vows, and to spend at least thirty days in extraordinary devotionsthat is, as Nazarites they abstained from wine, let their hair grow, and gave themselves up to prayer, till the time when they purposed to offer sacrifice at being released. Now we know, from Josephus and other Jewish writers, that it was considered a very popular act of piety for persons, who themselves were under no vow, to live in abstinence together with those who had undertaken such a vow, and to bear the whole or part of the expenses of their sacrifices. The latter part alone indeed was so acceptable an act, that Agrippa, who cultivated popularity, when he came to Jerusalem, offered the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and directed a good number of Nazarites to be shaved. This seems to have been the course which Paul was advised to take in the present instance. The "charges" of these four persons would be the price of eight lambs, four rams, together with oil, flour, &c., according to the law of Num. vi. 14, 15.

28. "Brought Greeks also into the temple."-The Jews were always most anxious to keep their temple from being defiled by the presence of Gentiles. They might enter within the limits of the "mountain of the house," that is within so much of the whole site as lay between the outer wall and the enclosure before the temple courts; but they might not enter into any of these courts, nor even into the Chel or enclosure before them. Before the entrance to this were pillars on which were inscriptions in Greek and Latin, giving notice that no strangers were allowed to enter. (Joseph. Antiq.' xv. 14. 5.)

31. “The chief captain."-This officer appears to have been the tribune who held the chief military command in Jerusalem, in the absence of the procurator. He was in the Tower of Antonia, called "the castle" in verse 34, from which he issued with a band of soldiers, on the present occasion. (See the note on ch. v. 26.)

The officer himself

37. "Canst thou speak Greek?”—From this it appears that Paul addressed the officer in Greek; at which the officer was surprised, supposing him to be a native Jew, or, as his next question imports, an Egyptian. seems to have been a Greek, as appears by his name, Lysias, as well as from his telling Paul, presently, that he had purchased his freedom.

38. " Art thou not that Egyptian."-Josephus gives an account of the affair to which Lysias alludes, and which hap pened about two years before this time. This Egyptian Jew came into Judea, and, giving out that he was a prophet, collected in the desert no less than 30,000 people, whom he persuaded to follow him to the Mount of Olives, where they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his command, so that through the ruins they might enter the city. His object was to take the city by force, seize the Roman garrison, and assume the government of the people. But the Roinan governor, Felix, marched his forces to meet them, and falling upon them dispersed them with great ease. Four hundred were killed, and two hundred taken prisoners: but the Egyptian himself fled with a few of his more attached followers. As he was still alive, Lysias supposed he had got into the city, and had raised the commotion which he witnessed. That the Jews were beating Paul, was not calculated to undeceive him, as the people of Jerusalem had before shown themselves very adverse to the designs of the Egyptian impostor. (Joseph. Antiq.' xx. 8. 6: 'De Bello Jud.' ii. 13. 5.)

CHAPTER XXII.

1 Paul declareth at large, how he was converted to the faith, 17 and called to his apostleship. 22 At the very mentioning of the Gentiles, the people

exclaim on him. 24 He should have been scourged, 25 but claiming the privilege of a Roman, he escapeth.

1 Chap. 21. 39,

3 'I am verily a man which am a Jew,

born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and I taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

5 As also the High Priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.

12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

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come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;

18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem : for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.

25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?

26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.

27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.

28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the Chief Priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them. Chap. 7. 58. 4 Or, tortured him.

16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

17 And it came to pass, that, when I was

2 Chap. 8. 3.

Verse 2. "Spake in the Hebrew tongue."-The native Jews held the Hellenistic Jews and their language in considerable contempt; and such Jews could not speak the dialect vernacular in Judea, unless that they had for some time resided there. The Hellenistic Jews had raised the tumult; and what had passed gave the native Jews to understand that Paul was himself an Hellenist. When therefore he began to speak in the vernacular dialect, their attention was naturally arrested by surprise. It must be understood that he particularly addressed the native Jews; and to them he hastens to explain that, although a native of Asia Minor, he had been brought up in Jerusalem, at the feet of one of

their greatest teachers, and reminds them of circumstances which might recal him to their recollection as the Sal who was once so well known for his Jewish zeal. He thus accounted for being able to address them in their own larguage, and engages their attention by that circumstance, as well as by the recollection of what he had been.

3. "Tarsus, a city in Cilicia."-This was, as Paul had just before said, "no mean city." It was the capital of Cilicia, and situated upon the river Cyndus, about six miles from its mouth. It was noted for its opulence even in the time of Alexander (Q. Curtius, l. iii. c. 4), and under the Romans its importance rather increased than diminished. Consi derable already, as enriched by commerce and dignified by learning, the Romans confirmed its consideration by granting it the privileges of a free colony-an important distinction which would naturally attract to it the wealthy and the learned, and those families whose station made it an object of importance to secure the immunities of Roman citize ship for their children. Hence Paul himself, being a native of this town, enjoyed the distinction of being "free-born" while it was doubtless through the public schools for which it was famous, that he was enabled to obtain the vans acquirements and that acquaintance with Greek literature, which his writings and speeches so frequently dispar. Strabo says that the academies of Tarsus excelled even those of Athens and Alexandria in philosophy and polite lite ture, although these exceeded it in the number of their philosophers. The reason of this was, that Tarsus was not, like other places celebrated for their academies and schools, resorted to by foreigners, to teach or to be taught. Those wh applied themselves to study at Tarsus were mostly natives of the country. And even these seldom spent their lives there, but went abroad to complete their studies: and when they had done this, they seldom returned home, but ge rally preferred to settle elsewhere. He further observes, that Rome itself could attest the great number of the learne men who were natives of this city; since it abounded in literati from Tarsus and Alexandria (Geog. xiv. 673, 6731 How remarkably this coincides, in some points, with the history of St. Paul! Although Tarsus is known to hate been at this time a free city, it is doubted whether it had as yet become a Roman colony. If the inhabitants did n enjoy the privileges of Roman citizenship, it of course results that Paul's father obtained his freedom individually-by favour, services, or purchase.

24. "Examined by scourging.”—This method of extorting a confession was not unusual among the Romans, and was sometimes practised by the Jews themselves. The Romans however could not thus treat one who enjoyed the privile of Roman freedom; and examination by torture was therefore limited to slaves and aliens. A few instances do indeed occur of Romans being tortured by order of tyrannical emperors, but the historians relate such acts as flagrant entr mities, which they mention with abhorrence."

25. "Bound him with thongs."-Persons to be scourged were bound to a low pillar, in such a manner that they we obliged to lean forward, and, as it were, to "offer their back to the smiters."

"Is it lawful to scourge.....a Roman ?"-Lysias, not knowing Paul was a free-man, purposed to scourge him in the literal sense. A Roman citizen might not be scourged, but only beaten with rods, and not that in order to extort cu fession or while uncondemned. Indeed, properly speaking, a free-man could not be punished ignominiously, as the ver sentence which declared his punishment, divested him of his privileges, and made him no longer a citizen. That is t say, he ceased to be a Roman, when he was found guilty of crimes for which an ignominious punishment was necessary. 28. "With a great sum obtained I this freedom," The privileges of Roman freedom were so great, that they we most eagerly sought for by those who had no claim to them by birth. Under the republic and the first emperors, the Roman freedom was obtained with great difficulty, and only by great favour, or in consideration of important services When it was first made saleable by venal emperors, it was only granted to those who could afford to pay a "gr sum" for it, as Lysias did. The price was afterwards gradually lowered; and was otherwise granted with great facility in consequence of which it soon came to be thought of lightly, and lost the distinction which it had one tim conferred. The sacred narrative, however, closes before this state of things had arrived.

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29. "Because he had bound him."-That is, because he had bound him to the pillar, to be scourged; which was a great an outrage upon the person of a Roman as scourging itself. We must understand it of this; because we coller from verse 30, that the tribune kept him in bands all night, and only took them off when he produced him before the Sanhedrim: and we learn from the sequel that he remained in bonds during the whole period of his confinement This privilege therefore did not exempt him from all bonds, but only from being bound for scourging; or rather fri being bound in any manner unbefitting a Roman citizen. No such citizen could strictly be bound before condemnatic or confession. While accused, and as yet untried, however, he was held in custody either by the magistrate or by cer tain sureties who undertook that office; or else he was placed in military custody, which in the time of Paul had become very common, and in which an end of a long chain was fastened to the right arm of the prisoner, and the other end to the left arm of a soldier. It was thus that Agrippa was kept in custody at Rome by Tiberius (see the note on ch. xii. 1 To contend, therefore, as some few writers have done, that Paul did not in this matter enjoy the full immunities of a Roman citizen, is most futile, unless it can be shown that the "bonds" which he bore were any other than the chair which fastened his arm to that of a soldier, at such a distance as allowed him considerable freedom of action. A this cannot be proved; for, indeed, the only passage which intimates the nature of his bonds, is one which shows then to have been of this description. After his arrival at Rome, it is said, "Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with soldier that kept him"-that is, he was allowed to remain in that kind of custody in which Roman citizens wer usually held.

what

But while we believe that Paul enjoyed this and other personal privileges, in virtue of his Roman freedom, we by no means think that he enjoyed every privilege of a native Roman citizen; and allow that it would be unsafe to say privileges he did enjoy beyond those which he directly claims, or which the course of the history suggests. For he only was a Roman citizen, in the full extent of the term, who had a right of having a house in Rome, and who was incorporated with one of the tribes, and who, consequently, had the right of suffrage, and of himself becoming a ca didate for office. These were the highest privileges, and were not often granted to individuals, or even to the municips and colonial towns which obtained the right of citizenship. In fact, the municipal towns, the Roman colonies, and the individuals who obtained their freedom, got more or fewer of the privileges and exemptions peculiar to the Roman cit zens, in proportion to their fidelity and to the services which they had rendered. Few obtained all; but those which were most easily secured and most generally enjoyed, were such exemptions as we have been considering, in matters of accusation, trial, and punishment.