No. 1354.-EPHESIANS ii. 19.

Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints.

SOJOURNERS and strangers in Greece "were permited to dwell in the city, and follow their own business without disturbance, but could not be entrusted with any public office, give their votes in the assemblies, or have any share in the government; being obliged to sit still as spectators in a theatre, without intermeddling, or any way concerning themselves, with state affairs; and patiently submit to the decrees enacted by the citizens, and observe all the laws and customs of the country. They were not allowed to act any thing, or manage any business, in their own names, but were obliged to choose out of the citizens one, to whose care and protection they would commit themselves, and whose duty it was to defend them from all violence and oppression." POTTER'S Archæol. Græc. vol. i. p. 55.

No. 1355.-iv. 8. And led captivity captive.] This is in allusion to the public triumphs of the Romans, in which captives were led in chains, and exposed to open

view.

No. 1356.-v. 14. Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.] On the Jewish feast of the new moon they sounded the trumpets so much, that it was called a memorial of blowing trumpets. The scripture no where assigns the reason of it; but Maimonides thinks it was instituted to awaken the people to repentance against the annual fast or great day of expiation, which

followed nine days after. He makes the sound of the trumpet on this day to be in effect saying, "shake off your drowsiness, ye that sleep, search and try your ways, remember your creator and repent, bethink yourselves, and take care of your souls." Some have supposed that the apostle refers to this use and meaning of blowing the trumpets in the passage now cited. Dr. Jennings (Jewish Ant. vol. ii. p. 252.) differs from this opinion, and prefers the conjecture of Heumannus, that the passage is taken out of one of those hymns or spiritual songs, which were in common use in the christian church in those times, and which are mentioned in a subsequent verse.

No. 1357.-COLOSSIANS ii. 18.

A voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels.

THESE expressions apply in a peculiar manner to the Essenes. For Josephus informs us that they had something very particular among them, relating to the angels. He says, (de Bello Judaic. lib. ii. c. 8.) that when they received any into their number, they made them solemnly swear that they would keep and observe the books of the sects, and the names of the angels with JENNINGS's Jewish Ant. vol. i. p. 471.

care.

No. 1358.-ii. 21. Touch not, taste not, handle not.] The dogmata to which St. Paul refers in these words are such as the Essenes held. They would not taste any pleasant food, but lived upon coarse bread, and drank nothing but water: some of them would not taste any food at all till after sun-set; and if they were touched by any that were not of their own sect, they would wash themselves, as after some great pollution. Perhaps there might be a sodality of Essenes at Colossæ, as there were in many other places out of Judæa; and that some of the Christians, too much inclined to Judaism, might also affect the peculiarities of this sect; which might be the reason why the apostle so particularly cautions against them.

JENNINGS's Jewish Ant. vol. i.

P. 471.

No. 1359.-1 TIMOTHY i. 10.

For men stealers.

THERE were persons who made it their business to decoy servants and free-men, that they might steal and sell them for slaves. Against this practice there were particular laws enacted, Exod. xxi. 16. Deut. xxiv. 7. It was also condemned by the Flavian law among the Romans, and was not allowed of among the Greeks. The death with which such persons were punished, according to the Jews, was strangling.

The

No. 1360.-ii. 8. Lifting up holy hands.] apostle alludes to a custom of the Jews, who always used to wash their hands before prayer. The account Maimonides gives is this: "a man must wash his hands up to the elbow, and after that pray. They do not make clean for prayer but the hands only, in the rest of prayers, except the morning prayer: but before the morning prayer a man washes his face, his hands, and feet, and after that prays."

No. 1361.-iii. 13. They that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree.] Some commentators have thought that in these words the apostle alludes to various degrees which subsisted among the Levites. They passed through no less than four different degrees. From one month old to their twentieth year they were instructed in the law of God; from twenty to twenty-five, in the functions of their ministry; from thence to thirty they served a sort of apprenticeship, beginning to exercise themselves in some of the lower branches of the sacred service; and lastly, when

they had attained their thirtieth year, they were fully instituted in their office. Some have observed much the same degrees among the vestal virgins: thirty years they were bound to the strictest chastity; the first ten of which were spent in learning the mysteries of their profession: the second ten they ministered in holy things: and the last ten were employed in bringing up young novices. (Dionys. Halicarn. lib. 2.)

JENNINGS's Jewish Ant. vol. i. p. 274.

No. 1362.-2 TIMOTHY iv. 6.

For I am now ready to be offered.

"THIS is an allusion to that universal custom of the world of pouring wine or oil on the head of the victim immediately before it was slain: the apostle's emphatical word signifies, wine is just now pouring on my head, I am just going to be sacrificed to pagan rage and superstition."

BLACKWALL'S Introduction to the Classics, p. 128.