space," which very well conveys the indefiniteness intended by the Greek word.

23. St. Paul now proceeds further to mention the fulfilment of the prophecies in the sending of Christ and His forerunner John the Baptist. Christ is declared to be the promised Messiah, to Jews and proselytes, (ver. 26).

27. In this, says St. Chrysostom, St. Paul gives his hearers power to separate their case from that of those who in Jerusalem had killed the Lord. Although they thought that by putting Christ to a shameful death, they should root out the belief in Him, and shew that He could not be the promised Messiah, they have fulfilled by this act the very prophecies which spake concerning Him, and which they misunderstood, though read in their ears every sabbath day.

34. In confirmation of the resurrection of Christ, as a fact foretold by the prophets, St. Paul refers to Isaiah lv. 3, and adduces the promise of "the sure mercies of David" made to the Israelites. He leaves out the first part of the verse, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you," because this latter clause contained the main argument for the resurrection of which he was speaking. An everlasting kingdom had been promised to David, this could not be if the King, the Christ, were holden by death; and therefore the prophet, in promising "the sure mercies of David," indirectly declared that the Messiah, in whom are centred these mercies, shall live for

ever. But still further, another passage of Scripture directly confirms this indirect testimony of Isaiah, the same which was quoted by St. Peter, "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption."

36. "By the will of God" can, according to the Greek (construction), be joined either with what follows, viz. "he fell on sleep by the will of God;" or the passage may be rendered, "after he had in his own generation served the will of God:" the translation in the English Bible is, however, perhaps the preferable one.

40. By employing the plural, "by the prophets," as in St. Matt. ii. 23, we understand that the speaker is not quoting so much a particular passage with exactness, as expressing an oft-recurring thought of the prophets. The passage here is taken, with some slight variation, from Habakkuk i. 5.

47. St. Paul refers to Isaiah xlix. 6, and shews that the call of the Gentiles was no scheme of their own, but in accordance with God's plans as determined beforehand and declared by the prophets. The words are addressed to the servant of God, under which name is understood the promised Messiah.

48. No argument can be drawn from the expression, "as many as were ordained or appointed to eternal life, believed," in favour of the Calvinistic notion of absolute decrees. Individual choice is not excluded by God's foreknowledge, though how to

reconcile the certain truths of divine foreknowledge with human free-will, is beyond our present comprehension. In practice, indeed, there is no difficulty. We must all act as free agents, since we feel and know we are such, and without free-will could not be responsible agents at all. At the same time, we are certain God must see and know all things, future (to us) as well as present.

Why out of a multitude of men some reject the Gospel, others accept it, some professing Christians practically deny Christ, others seek to obey Him, we cannot say. But this rule may be drawn from Scripture, that the honest-minded, and those who obeyed conscience and the light already afforded them, were attracted by Christianity, "ordained to eternal life;" others, of a different character, rejected it. The doctrine of election is a scriptural doctrine, but it is not a doctrine which interferes with man's free-will, or teaches us that any are so chosen that they cannot fall from grace.

50. "The devout and honourable women" here spoken of were the female proselytes of rank, who were easily moved by zeal on behalf of the religion to which they had been converted. The word (sebomenas) used in the original, and translated 'devout,' is the same which is employed ver. 43, as applied to the proselytes, and designates converts to Judaism. Iconium lay on the borders of Lycaonia, Phrygia, and Pisidia.

52. What a simple but striking contrast does

this verse present to what had gone before! The Apostles were driven forth, and the Gospel rejected, -and what was the effect? To fill the disciples with joy and the Holy Ghost.

CHAP. XIV. 1. Iconium was the chief town of Lycaonia, in earlier times regarded as belonging to Phrygia. Its present name is Koniah, and it is the residence of a Turkish pasha.

9. As St. Matt. ix. 28. "The lame man heard Paul speak, perceived a wonderful divine power in his soul from the words which he heard, and concluded from thence that some especial gift for the healing of the body resided in those who so spake.” -Von Gerlach.

11. These were of course the heathen inhabitants, who saw in the power exercised by these strangers something superhuman. Following the mythological notions which prevailed among the people, they took Paul and Barnabas for Jupiter and Mercury, who, they supposed, had once more come to visit men, as once before they were said to have visited Philemon and Baucis, inhabitants of this neighbourhood. (The story of Philemon and Baucis is told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Met. viii. 611). This circumstance is interesting, as shewing that the belief in the old mythology still kept firmer hold on the people at large than perhaps we are disposed to imagine. We must remember that this event took place in a small, retired town, far away from the

enlightenment of the Roman civilization. The inhabitants of larger towns had lost all belief in paganism, but had nothing in its stead. The state of the educated classes was that of a dreary, hopeless unbelief, or atheism. And the question suggests itself, whether, as regards their conversion to Christianity, a people are in a more hopeful state who still cling to their old idolatry, or who, rejecting this, are in a state of scepticism as regards an unseen world. Perhaps the latter might be more hopeful where it is accompanied by a yearning after better things. Otherwise any belief is better than utter infidelity; and entire unbelief in a spiritual, unseen world, leaves the mind in the worst state for the reception of the Gospel.

13. There was a temple dedicated to Jupiter outside the city. It was a custom, as is well known, among the heathen to put 'garlands' on the head of the victims to be sacrificed.

15. "We have here," observes Grotius, " a remarkable speech, which may serve for an example of the manner in which missionaries should deal with people brought up in idolatry." St. Paul maintains that God at no time left Himself without witness, and that even in the darkest times of ignorance "that which may be known of God is manifest in them." Rom. i. 19, 20.

19. A notable instance of the changeable character of popular feeling! They who lately thought Paul and Barnabas to be gods, and would have