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5.) yet many others appear to have gained their subsistence by buying and selling. Hence, immediately after their restoration, there were Jewish traders, who, regardless of the rest of the sabbath-day which was enjoined by Moses, not only bought and sold on that sacred day (Neh. xiii. 15.), but also extorted unjust usury. (Neh. v. 1-13.) In later times, foreign commerce was greatly facilitated by Simon Maccabæus, who made the fortified city of Joppa a commodious port (1 Macc. xiv. 5.), and by Herod the Great, who erected the city of Cæsarea, which he converted into a very excellent harbour, which was always free from the waves of the sea by means of a magnificent mole.4

totally ignorant of the arts of building and navigating vessels, he again had recourse to the assistance of Hiram. The king of Tyre, who was desirous of an opening to the oriental commerce, the articles of which his subjects were obliged to receive at second hand from the Arabians, entered readily into the views of the Hebrew monarch. Accordingly, Tyrian carpenters were sent to build vessels for both kings at Eziongeber, Solomon's port on the Red Sea; whither Solomon himself also went to animate the workmen by his presence. Solomon's ships, conducted by Tyrian navigators, sailed in company with those of Hiram to some rich countries, called Ophir (most probably Sofala on the eastern coast of Africa), and Tarshish, a place supposed to be somewhere on IV. Respecting the size and architecture of the Jewish the same coast. The voyage required three years to accom- ships, we have no information whatever. The trading vessels plish it; yet, notwithstanding the length of time employed in of the ancients were, in general, much inferior in size to it, the returns in this new channel of trade were prodigiously those of the moderns: Cicero mentions a number of ships great and profitable, consisting of gold, silver, precious stones, of burden, none of which were below two thousand amphovaluable woods, and some exotic animals, as apes and pea- ræ, that is, not exceeding fifty-six tons; and in a trading cocks. We have no information concerning the articles ex- vessel, in all probability of much less burden, bound with ported in this trade: but, in all probability, the manufactures corn from Alexandria in Egypt to Rome, St. Paul was of the Tyrians, together with the commodities imported by embarked at Myra in Lycia. From the description of his them from other countries, were assorted with the corn, wine, voyage in Acts xxvii. it is evident to what small improveand oil of Solomon's dominions in making up the cargoes; ment the art of navigation had then attained. They had and his ships, like the late Spanish galleons, imported the no anchors, by which to moor or secure their vessels; and bullion, partly for the benefit of his industrious and commer- it is most probable that the crew of the vessel on board of cial neighbours. (1 Kings vii.-x. 2 Chron. ii. viii. ix.) which the apostle was embarked, drew her up on the beach Solomon also established a commercial correspondence with of the several places where they stopped, and made her fast Egypt; whence he imported horses, chariots, and fine linen- on the rocks, as the ancient Greeks did in the time of Hoyarn: the chariots cost six hundred, and the horses one hun-mer, which practice also still obtains in almost every island dred and fifty, shekels of silver each. (1 Kings x. 28, 29. of Greece. Further, they had no compass by which they 2 Chron. i. 16, 17.) could steer their course across the trackless deep; and the sacred historian represents their situation as peculiarly distressing, when the sight of the sun, moon, and stars was intercepted from them. (Acts xxvii. 20.) The vessel being overtaken by one of those tremendous gales, which, at certain seasons of the year prevail in the Mediterraneans (where they are now called Levanters), they had much work to come by the ship's boat, which appears to have been towed along after the vessel, agreeably to the custom that still obtains in the East, where the skiffs are fastened to the sterns of the ships (16.); which having taken up, that is, having drawn it up close to the stern, they proceeded to under-gird the ship. (17.) We learn from various passages in the Greek and Roman authors, that the ancients had recourse to this expedient in order to secure their vessels, when in imminent danger; and this method has been used even in modern times.10

After the division of the kingdom, Edom being in that portion which remained to the house of David, the Jews appear to have carried on the oriental trade from the two ports of Elath and Ezion-geber, especially the latter, until the time of Jehoshaphat, whose fleet was wrecked there (1 Kings xxii. 48. 2 Chron. xx. 36, 37.) During the reign of Jehoram, the wicked successor of Jehoshaphat, the Edomites shook off the yoke of the Jewish sovereigns, and recovered their ports. From this time the Jewish traffic, through the Red Sea, ceased till the reign of Uzziah; who, having recovered Elath soon after his accession, expelled the Edomites thence, and having fortified the place, peopled it with his own subjects, who renewed their former commerce. This appears to have continued till the reign of Ahaz, when Rezin, king of Damascus, having oppressed and weakened Judah in conjunction with Pekah, king of Israel, took advantage of this circumstance to seize Elath; whence he expelled the Jews, and planted it with Syrians. In the following year, however, Elath fell into the hands of Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who conquered Rezin, but did not restore it to his friend and ally, king Ahaz.2 Thus finally terminated the commercial prosperity of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. After the captivity, indeed, during the reigns of the Asmonæan princes, the Jews became great traders. In the time of Pompey the Great there were so many Jews abroad on the ocean, even in the character of pirates, that king Antigonus was accused before him of having sent them out on purpose. During the period of time comprised in the New Testament history, Joppa and Cæsarea were the two principal ports; and corn continued to be a staple article of export to Tyre. (Acts xii, 20.)3

Much ingenious conjecture has been hazarded relative to the nature of the rudder-bands, mentioned in Acts xxvii. 40.; but the supposed difficulty will be obviated by attending to the structure of ancient vessels. It was usual for all large ships (of which description were the Alexandrian corn ships) to have two rudders, a kind of very large and broad oars, which were fixed at the head and stern. The bands were some kind of fastenings, by which these rudders were hoisted some way out of the water; for as they could be of no use in a storm, and in the event of fair weather coming the vessel could not do without them, this was a prudent way of securing them from being broken to pieces by the agitation of the waves. These bands being loosed, the rudders would fall down into their proper places, and

Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xv. c. 9. $6. Pareau, Antiq. Hebr. pp. 418, 419. 5 Epist. ad Familiares, lib. xii. ep. 15. Iliad, lib. i. 435. et passim.

During the Babylonish captivity, the Jews seem to have applied themselves much more than they had previously done to commercial pursuits; for though some of them cultivated the soil at the exhortation of Jeremiah (xxix. 4, sages of Acts xxvii. will derive elucidation from the above practice: it will

It is certain that under Pharaoh Necho, two hundred years after the time of Solomon, this voyage was made by the Egyptians. (Herodotus, lib. iv. c. 42.) They sailed from the Red Sea, and returned by the Mediterranean, and they performed it in three years; just the same time that the voyage under Solomon had taken up. It appears likewise from Pliny (Nat. Hist. lib. ii. c. 67.), that the passage round the Cape of Good Hope was known and frequently practised before his time; by Hanno the Carthaginian, when Carthage was in all its glory; by one Eudoxus, in the time of Ptolemy Lathyrus, king of Egypt; and Cælins Antipater, an historian of good credit, somewhat earlier than Pliny, testifies that he had seen a merchant who had made the voyage from Gades to Ethiopia. Bp. Lowth, however, supposes Tarshish to be Tartessus in Spain. Isaiah, vol. ii. pp. 34, 35.

2 During this period, the Jews seem to have had privileged streets at Damascus, as the Syrians had in Samaria. (1 Kings xx. 34.) In later times, during the crusades, the Genoese and Venetians, who had assisted the Latin kings of Jerusalem, had streets assigned to them, with great liberties and exclusive jurisdictions therein. See Harmer's Observations, vol. iii. pp. 489-492. Jahn, Archæol. Heor. $$ 107-111. Macpherson's Annals of Com. merce, vol. i. pp. 22-24. 26. Prideaux's Connection, vol. i. pp. 5-10. 9th edit,

Emerson's Letters from the gean, vol. ii. p. 121. The following pas be observed that at setting sail there is no mention made of heaving up the anchor; but there occur such phrases as the following:-And entering into a ship of Adramyftium, WE LAUNCHED, meaning to sail by the coast of Asia. (verse 2.) And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, LOOSING THENCE, they sailed close by Crete. (13.) And again, And when we had LAUNCHED FROM THENCE, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. (4.) Ibid. pp. 121, 122.

Mr. Emerson has described the phenomena attending one of these
gales in his Letters from the Egean, vol. ii. pp. 149-152.
Raphelius and Wetstein, in loc. have collected numerous testimonies.
See also Dr. Harwood's Introduction, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240.

10 The process of under-girding a ship is thus performed:-A stout cable is slipped under the vessel at the prow, which the seamen can conduct to any part of the ship's keel, and then fasten the two ends on the deck, to keep the planks from starting. As many rounds as may be necessary may be thus taken about the vessel. An instance of this kind is mentioned in Lord Anson's Voyage round the World. Speaking of a Spanish man-ofwar in a storm, the writer says,-"They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-deck guns; and take six turns of the cable round the ship to prevent her opening." (p. 24. 4to. edit.) Bp. Pearce and Dr. A. Clarke on Acts xxvii. 17. Two instances of under-girding a ship are noticed in the Chevalier de Johnstone's Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745-6. (London, 1822. 8vo.) pp. 421. 454.

serve to steer the vessel into the creek which they now had in view.'

It was the custom of the ancients to have images on their ships both at the head and stern; the first of which was called Hapons, or the sign, from which the vessel was named, and the other was that of the tutelar deity to whose care it was committed. There is no doubt but they sometimes had deities at the head: in which case it is most likely, that if they had any figure at the stern, it was the same; as it is hardly probable, that the ship should be called by the name of one deity, and be committed to the care of another. The constellation of the Dioscuri, that is, of Castor and Pollux (Acts xxviii. 11.), was deemed favourable to mariners; and, therefore, for a good omen, they had them painted or carved on the head of the ship, whence they gave it a name, which the sacred his

torian uses.2

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V. Commerce could not be carried on without COIN, nor without a system of WEIGHTS and MEASURES.

Although the Scriptures frequently mention gold, silver, brass, certain sums of money, purchases made with money, current money, and money of a certain weight; yet the use of coin or stamped Money appears to have been of late introduction among the Hebrews. Calmet is of opinion, that the ancient Hebrews took gold and silver only by weight, and that they regarded the purity of the metal, and not the stamp. The practice of weighing money is stated by M. Volney to be general in Syria, Egypt, and Turkey: no piece, however effaced, is there refused. The merchant draws out his scales and weighs it, as in the days of Abraham, when he purchased the cave of Machpelah for a sepulchre. (Gen. xxiii. 16.) The most ancient mode of carrying on trade, unquestionably, was by way of barter, or exchanging one commodity for another; a custom which obtains in some places even

to this day. In process of time such metals as were deemed
the most valuable were received into traffic, and were weighed
out; until the inconveniences of this method induced men to
give to each metal a certain mark, weight, and degree of
alloy, in order to determine its value, and save both buyers
and sellers the trouble of weighing and examining the metal.
In some cases, the earliest coins bore the impression of a
particular figure; in others, they were made to resemble
objects of nature. The coinage of money was of late date
among the Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The Persians
had none coined before the reign of Darius the son of Hys.
taspes, nor had the Greeks (whom the Romans most proba-
bly imitated) any before the time of Alexander. We have
no certain vestiges of the existence of coined money, among
the Egyptians, before the time of the Ptolemies; nor had the
Hebrews any coinage until the government of Judas Macca-
bæus, to whom Antiochus Sidetes, king of Syria, granted the
privilege of coining his own money in Judæa. Before these
respective times, all payments were made by weight; this
will account for one and the same word (shekel, which comes
from shakal, to weigh), denoting both a certain weight of any
commodity and also a determinate sum of money.
holy pliancy of temper with which believers should conform
to all the precepts of the Gospel is by St. Paul represented
by a beautiful allusion to the coining of money, in which the
liquid metals accurately receive the figure of the mould or
die into which they are poured. (Rom. vi. 17.)9
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES were regulated at a very early
period in Asia. Moses made various enactments concerning
them for the Hebrews; and both weights and measures, which
were to serve as standards for form and contents, were depo-
sited at first in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple,
under the cognizance of the priests. 10 On the destruction of
Solomon's temple these standards necessarily perished; and
during the captivity the Hebrews used the weights and mea-
sures of their masters.

The

For tables of the weights, measures, and money used in commerce, and which are mentioned in the Bible, the reader is referred to No. II. of the appendix to this volume.

CHAPTER VIII.

AMUSEMENTS OF THE JEWS.-ALLUSIONS TO THE THEATRES, TO THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES, AND TO THE GRECIAN GAMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

I. Recreations of the Jews in domestic Life.—II. Military Sports.—III. Introduction of gymnastic and theatrical Exhibitions among the Jews.-IV. Allusions to the Theatres and to theatrical Performances in the New Testament.-V. Allusions to the Grecian Games, particularly the Olympic Games.-1. Qualifications of the Candidates.-Preparatory Discipline to which they were subjected.-2. Foot Race.-3. Rewards of the Victors.-4. Beautiful Allusions to these Games in the New Testament explained.

THE whole design of the Mosaic institutes, being to pre-feast on the day when Isaac was weaned. (Gen. xxi. 8.) serve the knowledge and worship of the true God among the Israelites, will sufficiently account for their silence respecting recreations and amusements. Although no particular circumstances are recorded on this subject, we meet with a few detached facts which show that the Hebrews were not entirely destitute of amusements.

I. The various events incident to DOMESTIC LIFE afforded them occasions for festivity. Thus, Abraham made a great

Elsner and Wetstein on Acts xxvii. 40.

Valpy's Gr. Test. vol. ii. on Acts xxviii. 11.

Ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt. Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. 1. The same fact is attested by Lucan: conseritur bíbula Memphitis cymba

papyro. Pharsal lib. iv. 136.

Bp. Lowth on Isaiah xviii. 2.

The Hon. Capt. Keppel, giving an account of an excursion up the river Tigris, thus describes the boat in which he embarked:-"It was in shape like a large circular basket; the sides were of willow, covered over with bitumen, the bottom was laid with reeds. This sort of boat is common to the Euphrates and the Tigris, and is probably best adapted to the strong currents common to these rivers. May not these boats be of the same kind as the vessels of bulrushes upon the waters alluded to by Isaiah? (xviii. 2.)" Narrative of Travels from India, vol. i. pp. 197, 198.

In a piece of sculpture discovered by Captains Irby and Mangles at El Cab, the ancient Eleethias in Egypt, there was represented a pair of scales: at one end was a man writing an account, while another was weighing some small articles, probably loaves of bread. The weight was in the form of a cow couchant. Travels in Egypt, Nubia, &c. pp. 130-132.

Volney's Travels in Syria, &c. vol. ii. p. 425. In considerable payments an agent of exchange is sent for, who counts paras by thousands, rejects pieces of false money, and weighs all the sequins either separately or together. (Ibid.) This may serve to illustrate the phrase, current money with the merchant, in Gen. xxiii. 16.

Weddings were always seasons of rejoicing (see pp. 161, 162. supra): so also were the seasons of sheep-shearing (1 Sam. xxv. 36. and 2 Sam. xiii. 23.); and harvest-home. (See p. 177.) To which may be added, the birth-days of sovereigns. (Gen. xl. 20. Mark vi. 21.) Of most of these festivities music (see p. 183.) and dancing (see p. 184.) were the accompaniments. From the amusement of children sitting in the market-place, and imitating the usages common at wedding feasts and at funerals, Jesus Christ takes occasion to compare the pharisees to sullen children who will be pleased with nothing which their companions can do, whether they play at weddings or funerals; since they could not be prevailed upon to attend either to the severe precepts and life of John the Baptist, or to the milder precepts and habits of Christ. (Matt. xi. 16, 17.) The infamous practice of gamesters who play with loaded dice has furnished St. Paul with a strong metaphor, in which he cautions the Christians at Ephesus against the cheating sleight of men (Eph. iv. 14.), whether unbelieving Jews, heathen philosophers, or false

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the Olympic crown. We see the kings of Macedon,' the tyrants of Sicily, the princes of Asia Minor, and at last the lords of imperial Rome, and emperors of the world, incited by a love of glory, the last infirmity of noble minds, enter their names among the candidates, and contend for the envied palm;-judging their felicity completed, and the career of all human glory and greatness happily terminated, if they could but interweave the Olympic garland with the laurels they had purchased in fields of blood. The various games, which the Romans celebrated in their capital and in the principal cities and towns of Italy, with such splendour, ostentation, and expense, seem to have been instituted in imitation of the Grecian; though these were greatly inferior in point of real merit and intrinsic glory: for though the Romans had the gymnastic exercises of the stadium and the chariot-race, yet the mutual slaughter of such numbers of gladiators, the combats with lions, bears, and tigers, though congenial to the sanguinary ferocity and brutality of these people,-for no public entertainment could be made agreeable without these scenes,-must present spectacles to the last degree shocking to humanity; for every crown here won was dipt in blood.

1. "The Olympic exercises principally consisted in running, wrestling, and the chariot-race; for leaping, throwing the dart, and discus, were parts of that they called the Pantathlon. The candidates were to be freemen, and persons of unexcep. tionable morals.5 A defect in legitimacy or in personal character totally disqualified them. It was indispensably necessary for them previously to submit to a severe regimen. At their own houses they prescribed themselves a particular course of diet; and the laws required them, when they had given in their names to be enrolled in the list of competitors, to resort to Elis, and reside there thirty' days before the games commenced; where the regimen and preparatory exercises were regulated and directed by a number of illustrious persons who were appointed every day to superintend them. This form of diet they authoritatively prescribed, and religiously inspected, that the combatants might acquit themselves in the conflict in a manner worthy the Grecian name, worthy the solemnity of the occasion, and worthy those crowds of illustrious spectators by whom they would be surrounded. There are many passages in the Greek and Roman classics which make mention of that extreme strictness, temperance, and continence which the candidates were obliged to observe.

Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer; sudavit et alsit:
Abstinuit venere et vino.

Hor. Art. Poet. ver. 412.

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The following is a very distinguished passage in Arrian's discourses of Epictetus, which both represents to the reader the severity of this regimen and the arduous nature of the subsequent contention: Do you wish to conquer at the Olympic games?-But consider what precedes and follows, and then if it be for your advantage, engage in the affair. You must conform to rules; submit to a diet, refrain from dainties, exercise your body whether you choose it or not, in a stated hour, in heat and cold: you must drink no cold water, nor sometimes even wine. In a word, you must give yourself up to

1 Philip. Eadem quoque die nuntium pater ejus [Philippus] daurum victoriarum accepit: alterius, belli Illyrici, alterius, certaminis Olympici, in quod quadrigarum currus miserat. Justin. lib. xii. cap. 16. p. 359. edit. Gronov. 1719. Cui Alexandro tanta omnium virtutum naturâ ornamenta exstitere, ut etiam Olympio certamine vario ludicrorum genere contenderit. Justin. lib. vii. cap. 2. p. 217.

2 Hiero king of Syracuse. See Pindar's first Olympic ode: his first Pythian ode. Theron king of Agrigentum. See the second and third Olympic odes.

3 Nero. See Dion Cassius, tom. ii. pp. 1032, 1033. 1066. edit. Reimar. Aurigavit [Nero] plurifariam, Olympiis etiam decemjugem. Suetonius in Vita Neronis, p. 605. edit. var. Lug. Bat. 1662.

4 Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum
Collegisse, juvat: metaque fervidis
Evitata rotis, palinaque nobilis
Terrarum dominos evehit ad Deos.

Horat. lib. i. ode 1.

The candidates were obliged to undergo an examination of another kind, consisting of the following interrogatories:-1. Were they freemen? 2. Were they Grecians? 3. Were their characters clear from all infamous and immoral stains? West's Dissertation on the Olympic Games, p. 152. edit. 12mo.

Arriani Epictetus, lib. iii. p. 456. Upton.

Philostratus, de Vitâ Apollonii, lib. v. cap. 43. p. 227. edit. Olearii. Lipsiæ, 1709.

Epictetus, lib iii. c. 15. See also Epicteti Enchriidion. cap. 29. p. 710. edit. Üpton.

your master, as to a physician. Then, in the combat you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate your arm, turn your ankle, swallow abundance of dust, be whipped, and, after all, lose the victory. When you have reckoned up all this, if your inclination still holds, set about the combat."9 2. "After this preparatory discipline, on the day appointed for the celebration, a herald called over their names, recited to them the laws of the games, encouraged them to exert all their powers, and expatiated upon the blessings and advantages of victory. He then introduced the competitors into the stadium, led them around it, and, with a loud voice, demanded if any one in that assembly could charge any of the candidates with being infamous in his life and morals, or could prove him a slave, a robber, or illegitimate.10 They were then conducted to the altar, and a solemn oath exacted from them, that they would observe the strictest honour in the contention. Afterwards, those who were to engage in the foot-race were brought to the barrier, along which they were arranged, and waited, in all the excesses of ardour and impatience, for the signal. The cord being dropped, they all at once sprung forward,"1 fired with the love of glory, conscious that the eyes of all assembled Greece were now upon them, and that the envied palm, if they won it, would secure them the highest honours, and immortalize their memory. It is natural to imagine with what rapidity they would urge their course, and, emulous of glory, stretch every nerve to reach the goal. This is beautifully represented in the following elegant epigram (translated by Mr. West) on Arias of Tarsus, victor in the stadium:

The speed of Arias, victor in the race,
Brings to thy founder, Tarsus, no disgrace;
For, able in the course with him to vie,
Like him, he seems on feather'd feet to fly.
The barrier when he quits, the dazzled sight
In vain essays to catch him in his flight.
Lost is the racer through the whole career,
Till victor at the goal he reappear.

In all these athletic exercises the combatants contended

66

naked ;12 for though, at first, they wore a scarf round the waist, yet an unfortunate casualty once happening, when this disengaging itself, and entangling round the feet, threw the person down, and proved the unhappy occasion of his losing the victory, it was, after this accident, adjudged to be laid aside.13 3. Chaplets composed of the sprigs of a wild olive, 14 and branches of palm, were publicly placed on a tripod in the middle of the stadium,15 full in the view of the competitors, to inflame them with all the ardour of contention, and all the spirit of the most generous emulation. Near the goal was erected a tribunal, on which sat the presidents of the games, called Hellanodics, personages venerable for their years and characters, who were the sovereign arbiters and judges of these arduous contentions, the impartial witnesses of the respective merit and pretensions of each combatant, and with the strictest justice conferred the crown.

4. "It is pleasing and instructive to observe, how the several particulars here specified concerning these celebrated solemnities, which were held in the highest renown and glory in the days of the apostles, explain and illustrate various passages in their writings, the beauty, energy, and sublimity of which consist in the metaphorical allusions to these games, from the various gymnastic exercises of which their elegant and impressive imagery is borrowed. Thus the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (an epistle which, in point of composition, may vie with the most pure and elaborate of the Greek classics) says, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every

Mrs. Carter's translation of Arrian, pp. 268, 269. London, 1758. 4to. 10 See West's Dissertation on the Olympic Games, p. 194. 12mo. signoque repente

21

Corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relinquunt Effusi, nimbo similes: simul ultima signant.

Virgil. Æneid. v. ver. 315

12 Thucydides, lib. i. § 6. tom. i. pp. 16, 17. ed. Glasg. 13 In the xivth Olympiad, one Orsippus, a racer, happened to be thrown down by his scarf tangling about his feet, and was killed; though others say that he only lost the victory by that fall; but whichever way it was, occasion was taken from thence to make a law, that all the athletes for the future should contend naked. West's Dissertation, p. 66. 12mo.

14 Το γέρας εστιν ουκ άργυρος, ουδέ χρυσος, ου μην ουδε κοτίνου στεφανος η EVOU. Josephus contra Apion. lib. ii. $30. p. 488. Havercamp. Strabo, in his geographical description of the Elian territories, mentions a grove of wild olives. Εστι δ' άλσος αγριελαίων πληρες. Strabo, lib. vii. p. 343. edit. Paris, 1620. Probably from this grove the Olympic crowns were composed.

15 To excite the emulation of the competitors, by placing in their view the object of their ambition, these crowns were laid upon a tripod or table, which during the games was brought out and placed in the middle of the stadium. West's Dissertation, p. 174. 12mo.

weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us; looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. For consider him that endureth such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. (Heb. xii. 1-3. 12, 13.) In allusion to that prodigious assembly, from all parts of the world, which was convened at Olympia to be spectators of those celebrated games, the apostle places the Christian combatant in the midst of a most august and magnificent theatre, composed of all those great and illustrious characters, whom in the preceding chapter he had enumerated, the fancied presence of whom should fire him with a virtuous ambition, and animate him with unconquered ardour to run the race that was set before him. Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with such a cloud of witnesses 2 whose eyes are upon us, who expect every thing from the preparatory discipline we have received, and who long to applaud and congratulate us upon our victory: let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us; let us throw off every impediment, as the competitors for the Olympic crown did, and that sin that would entangle and impede our steps, and prove the fatal cause of our losing the victory; and let us run with patience the race set before us; like those who ran in the Grecian stadium, let us, inflamed with the idea of glory, honour, and immortality, urge our course with unremitting ardour toward the destined happy goal for the prize of our high calling in God our Saviour, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: as the candidates for the Olympic honours, during the arduous contention, had in view those illustrious and venerable personages from whose hands they were to receive the envied palm, and who were immediate witnesses of their respective conduct and merit; in imitation of them, let us Christians keep our eyes steadfastly fixed upon Jesus the original introducer and perfecter of our religion, who, if we are victorious, will rejoice to adorn our temples with a crown of glory that will never fade; who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God: Jesus himself, to seize the glorious palm which his God and Father placed full in his view in order to inspirit him with ardour and alacrity, in the race he had set before him, cheerfully submitted to sorrows and sufferings, endured the cross, contemning the infamy of such a death, and, in consequence of perseverance and victory, is now exalted to the highest honours, and placed on the right hand of the Supreme Majesty. For, consider him that endureth such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, consider him who conflicted with such opposition of wicked men all confederated against him, and let reflections on his fortitude prevent your being languid and dispirited; therefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. And make straight paths for your feet, lest

1 Not merely the inhabitants of Athens, of Lacedæmon, and of Nicopolis, but the inhabitants of the whole world are convened to be spectators of the Olympic exercises. Arriani Epictetus, lib. iii. p. 456. Upton.

that which is lame be turned out of the way: exert in the Chris
tian race those nerves that have been relaxed, and collect
those spirits which have been sunk in dejection: make a
smooth and even path for your steps, and remove every thing
that would obstruct and retard your velocity.
"The following distinguished passage in St. Paul's first
Epistle to the Corinthians (ix. 24-27.) abounds with
agonistical terms. Its beautiful and striking imagery is
totally borrowed from the Greek stadium. Know ye not
that they who run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the
prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that
striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things. Now they
do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one
that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it
into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached
the Gospel to others, I myself should be a cast-away: know you
not that in the Grecian stadium great numbers run with the
utmost contention to secure the prize, but that only one person
wins and receives? With the same ardour and perseverance do
you run, that you may seize the garland of celestial glory.
Every one, also, who enters the list as a combatant, submits
to a very rigid and severe regimen. They do this to gain
a fading chaplet, that is only composed of the decaying
leaves of a wild olive, but in our view is hung up the
unfading wreath of immortality.10 With this in full pros
pect I run the Christian race, not distressed with wretched
uncertainty concerning its final issue." I engage as a com-
batant, but deal not my blows in empty air.12 But I inure
my body to the severest discipline, and bring all its appetites
into subjection: lest, when I have proclaimed the glorious
prize to others, I should, at last, be rejected as unworthy 14
to obtain it. This representation of the Christian race must
make a strong impression upon the minds of the Corinthi-
ans, as they were so often spectators of those games, which
were celebrated on the Isthmus, upon which their city was
situated. It is very properly introduced with, Know You
NOT; for every citizen in Corinth was acquainted with every
minute circumstance of this most splendid and pompous sc-
lemnity. St. Paul, in like manner, in his second Epistle to
Timothy (ii. 5.), observes, that if a man strive for mastery,
yet is he not crowned unless he strive lawfully he who con-
tends in the Grecian games secures not the crown, unless he
strictly conform to the rules prescribed.

"What has been observed concerning the spirit and ardour with which the competitors engaged in the race, and concerning the prize they had in view to reward their arduous contention, will illustrate the following sublime passage of the same sacred writer in his Epistle to the Philippians (iii. 12-14.):-Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if

8 Πας δε ὁ αγωνιζόμενος παντα εγκρατεύεται. We have already noticed how rigid and severe this regimen was, and what temperance and conti nence [syxparsia] those who entered their names in the list of combatants alsit: abstinuit venere et vino, says Horace. See Eliani, Var. Hist. lib. xi. were previously obliged to observe. Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et cap. 3. p. 684. Gronovii Lug. Bat. 1731, and Plato de Legibus, lib. viii. pp.

139, 140. edit. Serrani, 1578, and Eustathius ad Hom. Iliad . p. 1472. Olympic games was made of wild olive, the crowns in the Isthmian games 9 Φθαρτον στεφανον. The chaplet that was bestowed on the victor in the were composed of parsley. These chaplets were fading and transitory. Δίδους και τοις θυμελικοις στεφανου μεν ου χρυσους, αλλ' ώσπερ εν ολυμπια XOTIVV. Plutarch. Cato, jun. p. 1433. edit. Gr. Steph. 8vo. See also Por Rho-phyrius de Antro Nympharum, p. 240. edit. Cantab. 1655. Philonis Opera, tom. ii. p. 463. edit. Mangey. Tous yap Ta Iσ Sμix VIXOUTαs of Koper Too thians crown with parsley. Polyæni Stratag. lib. v. p. 376. edit. Casaubon. σελινων στεφανούσιν. Those who conquer in the Isthmian games the Corin 1589.

2 Negos μρтуρжv. A cloud of witnesses. This form of expression occurs in the politest writers. See Iliad, x. 133. Eneid, vii. 793. Andron. dii Argonauticon, iv. 398. Appian, Pisc. i. 463. and Euripidis Hecuba,

ver. 907.

O GENEVOI VT. A stadio sumpta similitudo: ibi qui cursuri sunt, omnia quæ oneri esse possunt, deponunt. Grot. in loc. Monet ut oyxov abjiciamus, quo vocabulo crassa omnis et tarda moles significatur.

Beza.

EUTEρiolarov. Entangled by wrapping round. An allusion to the garments of the Greeks which were long, and would entangle and impede their steps, if not thrown off in the race. See Hallet, in loc. MEN AUTO xxpas. The joy placed full in his view. In the Olympic exercises the prize was publicly placed in the view of the combatants to fire their emulation. The following note of Krebsius is very elegant:Elegantissima metaphora est vocis poxELEVAS, e veterum certaminum ratione ducta. Proprie enim pox dicuntur T¤ ¤, sc. præmia certaminis, quæ publicè proponuntur in propatulo, ut eorum aspectus, certaque, eorum adipiscendorum spes, certaturos alacriores redderet ad certamen ineundum, victoriamque reportandam. J. Tob. Krebsii Observat. in N. T. e Joseph. p. 377. Lips. 1755. 8vo.

Ivan xxμnts, THIS JUXXIS MOU EXλUOμEVO. Hæc duo verba a palæstra et ab athletis desumpta sunt, qui proprie dicuntur xxviv et uxxis exxusa, cum corporis viribus debilitati et fracti, omnique spe vincendi abjectâ, victas manus dant adversario-Neque dubium est quin apostolus eo respexerit. Krebsius, p. 390.

* Διο τας παρειμένας χειρας και τα παραλελυμένα γόνατα ανορθώσατε. Quemadmodum Paulus sæpissime delectatur loquendi formulis ex re palæstricâ petitis; ita dubium non est, quin hic quoque respexisse eo videa. tur. Athletis enim et luctatoribus tribuntur apsiμevas xipes et wapaλsλMV yoνт, cum luctando ita defatigati, viribusque fracti sunt, ut neque manus neque pedes officio suo fungi possint, ipsique adeo victos se esse fateri cogantur. Krebsius, p. 392.

VOL. II.

2B

10 'Huss de, Saprov. With what ardour in the Christian race this gloigitur agonista ad incorruptele agonem adhortatur nos, uti coronemur, et rious crown should inspire us is well represented by Irenæus. Bonus preciosam arbitremur coronam, videlicet quæ per agonem nobis acquiritur, ciosior: quantò autem preciosior, tantò eam semper diligamus. Irenæus, sed non ultro coalitam. Et quantò per agonem nobis advenit, tantò est prelib. iv. p. 377. edit. Grab. The folly also of Christians in being negligent and remiss, when an incorruptible crown awaits their persevering and victorihis Apol. ii. p. 78. edit. Paris. 1636. ous constancy and virtue, is also beautifully exposed by Justin Martyr. See

he has given us of this passage; I so run, as not to pass undistinguished; 11 So we understand oux anλws. Mr. West renders it, in the illustration and then adds the following note: soux unλws, may also signify in this of the judge of the games, and a great number of spectators. West's Displace, as if I was unseen, not unobserved, i. e. as if I was in the presence sertation, p. 253. 12mo.

in describing the engagements of combatants; thus, Virgil has, Entellus 12 Ούτω πυκτεύω, ώς ουκ αέρα δερων. This circumstance is often mentioned Brachia. Valerius Flaccus, iv. 302. τρις δ' ηέρα τους βαθειαν. Iliad, Υ. 446. vires in ventum effudit. Æneid. v. 443. Vacuas agit inconsulta per auras See also Oppian. Piscat. lib. ii. ver. 450. Rittershus. Lug. Bat. 1597.

xnρuž, made proclamation at the games what rewards would be bestowed 13 Aλ015 puus; proclaimed, as a herald, the prize to others. A herald, on the conquerors.

14 Adoxipos gewa. Be disapproved; be rejected as unworthy; come off without honour and approbation.

that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended | prize before me, pressing with eager and rapid steps, towards of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have appre- the goal, to seize the immortal palm which God, by Christ hended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which Jesus, bestows. This affecting passage, also, of the same are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are apostle, in the second Epistle of Timothy, written a little before, I press towards the mark, for the prize of the high before his martyrdom, is beautifully allusive to the abovecalling of God in Christ Jesus: Not that already I have mentioned race, to the crown that awaited the victory, and acquired this palm; not that I have already attained per- to the Hellanodics or judges who bestowed it:-I have fection; but I pursue my course, that I may seize that crown fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept of immortality, to the hope of which I was raised by the the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of rightgracious appointment of Christ Jesus. My Christian breth-eousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at ren, I do not esteem myself to have obtained this glorious that day and not to me only, but to all them also that lov. prize but one thing occupies my whole attention; forget- his appearing." (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.) ting what I left behind, I stretch every nerve towards the

CHAPTER IX.

ON THE DISEASES MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES, TREATMENT OF THE DEAD, AND

FUNERAL RITES.

SECTION 1.

ON THE DISEASES MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES.

Origin and Progress of the Art of Medicine in the East.-II. Notice of Remedies in use among the Jews.-III. Account of some particular Diseases mentioned in the Scriptures; viz. 1. The Leprosy ;-2. Elephantiasis, the Disease of Job ;3. Disease of the Philistines ;-4. Of King Saul;-5. Of King Jehoram;-6. Of King Hezekiah ;-7. Of Nebuchadnezzar ; -8. Palsy ;—9. Issue of Blood;—10. Blindness;-11. The Reality of demoniacal Possessions proved.

are mentioned first in Gen. 1. 2. Exod. xxi. 19. Job xiii. 4. Some acquaintance with chirurgical operations is implied in the rite of circumcision. (Gen. xvii. 11-14.) There is ample evidence that the Israelites had some acquaintance with the internal structure of the human system, although it does not appear that dissections of the human body, for medical purposes, were made till as late as the time of Ptolemy. That physicians sometimes undertook to exercise their skill, in removing diseases of an internal nature, is evident from the circumstance of David's playing upon the harp to cure the malady of Saul. (1 Sam. xvi. 16.) The art of healing was committed among the Hebrews, as well as among the Egyptians, to the priests; who, indeed, were obliged, by a law of the state, to take cognizance of leprosies. (Lev. xiii. 1-14. 57. Deut. xxiv. 8, 9.) Reference is made to physicians who were not priests, and to instances of sickness, disease, healing, &c. in the following passages; viz. 1 Sam.

I. THE diseases to which the human frame is subject would | from producing the effects he ascribes to them. Physicians naturally lead men to try to alleviate or to remove them hence sprang the ART OF MEDICINE. In the early ages of the world, indeed, there could not be much occasion for an art which is now so necessary to the health and happiness of mankind. The simplicity of their manners, the plainness of their diet, their temperance in meat and drink, and their active life (being generally occupied in the field, and in rural affairs), would naturally tend to strengthen the body, and to afford a greater share of health than what we now enjoy. So long as our first parents continued in that state of uprightness in which they were created, there was a tree, emphatically termed the tree of life, the fruit of which was divinely appointed for the preservation of health; but after the fall, being expelled from Eden, and, consequently, banished for ever from that tree, they became liable to various diseases, which, doubtless, they would endeavour to remove, or to mitigate in various ways. From the longevity of the patriarchs it is evident that diseases were not very frequent in the early 1 Τα μεν οπίσω επιλανθανόμενος, τοις δε εμπροσθεν επεκτεινόμενος, επι ages of the world, and they seem to have enjoyed a suffixov SEX TO SPACION. Every term here employed by the apostle ciently vigorous old age, except that the eyes became dim is agonistical. The whole passage beautifully represents that ardour which and the sight feeble. (Gen. xxvii. 1. xlviii. 10.) Hence it is fired the combatants when engaged in the race. Their spirit and contention are in a very striking manner described in the following truly poetical recorded as a remarkable circumstance concerning Moses, lines of Oppian, which happily illustrate this passage:that in extreme old age (for he was an hundred and twenty years old when he died) his eye was NOT dim, nor his natural force abated. (Deut. xxxiv. 7.)

The Jews ascribed the origin of the healing art to God himself (Ecclus. xxxviii. 1, 2.), and the Egyptians attributed the invention of it to their god Thaut or Hermes, or to Osiris or Isis.

Anciently, at Babylon, the sick, when they were first attacked by a disease, were left in the streets, for the purpose of learning from those who might pass them what practices or what medicines had been of assistance to them, when afflicted with a similar disease. This was, perhaps, done also in other countries. The Egyptians carried their sick into the temple of Serapis; the Greeks carried theirs into those of Esculapius. In both of these temples there were preserved written receipts of the means by which various cures had been effected. With the aid of these recorded remedies, the art of healing assumed in the progress of time the aspect of a science. It assumed such a form, first in Egypt, and at a much more recent period in Greece; but it was not long before those of the former were surpassed in excellence by the physicians of the latter country. That the Egyptians, however, had no little skill in medicine, may be gathered from what is said in the Pentateuch respecting the marks of leprosy. That some of the medical prescriptions should fail of bringing the expected relief is by no means strange, since Pliny himself mentions some which are far

Ως δε ποδώκενης μεμελημένοι άνδρες αέθλων,
Σταθμης ὁρμηθεντες, αποσσυτοι ώκέα γουνα
Προπροτιταινομενοι δολικον τέλος εγκονεουσιν
Εξανύσαι πασιν· δε πονος νυσση τε πελάσσαι,
Νίκης τε γλυκυδωρον ἔλειν κρατος, ες τε πυρεθρα
Αίξαι, και καρτος αέθλιον αμφιβάλεσθαι.

Oppian Pisc. lib. iv. ver. 101. edit. Rittershusit.
As when the thirst of praise and conscious force
Invite the labours of the panting COURSE,
Prone from the lists the blooming rivals strain,
And spring exulting to the distant plain,
Alternate feet with nimble-measured bound
Impetuous trip along the refluent ground,
In every breast ambitious passions rise,
To seize the goal, and snatch th' immortal prize.
Jones's translation.

Instat equis auriga suos vincentibus, illum
Præteritum tertinens, extremos inter euntem:
Horat. Satyr. lib. i. Sat. i. 115, 116.
2 Tov APOMON TETASK. I have finished my RACE. The whole passage
is beautifully allusive to the celebrated games and exercises of those times.
Apomos properly signifies a race. Theocritus, Idyl. iii. ver. 41. Sophoclis
Electra, ver. 693. See also ver. 686-688. Euripidis Andromache, ver. 599.
Euripidis Iphigenia in Aulide, ver. 212. Strabo, lib. iii. p. 155. edit. Paris,
1620. Xenophontis Memorab. pp. 210, 211. Oxon. 1741. So this word ought
to be rendered. (Acts xx. 24.) But none of these things move me, neither
count I my life dear unto myself; so that I might finish my COURSE with
joy; The Tov A POMON : finish the short race of human life with
honour and applause. It is a beautiful and striking allusion to the race in
these celebrated games. In the fifth volume of Bishop Horne's Works,
there is an animated discourse on the Christian race; the materials of which
are partly derived from Dr. Harwood's Introduction to the New Testament,

vol. ii. sect. 4.

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