plainly appeared from the great Number and Variety 4 D. 54. of their Images and Altars erected to every Deity they knew or heard of. 23. For as I paffed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this infcrip. tion, To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 23. Now (fays he) among the many of thefe Monuments of your religious Devotion, I took particular Notice of one Altar, as being dedicated by an Infcription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD: Which as it befpeaks in you a peculiar Degree of ignorant Piety, extending itself to the Honour of all Sorts of Deities, or Dæmons, even to thofe you may or may not know; fo muft it be allowed a fair Acknowledgment, that there may be a true God, whofe Existence, Perfection, and Worship, you may be ignorant of, but are defirous to adore, as foon as ever you are informed of Him. And this is HE whom I am commiffioned to declare to you, as the only proper Object of your Adoration, Worship, and Happiness. 24. God that made the world, and all things therein, feeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 24. Namely, The one only infinite and all-perfect Being, the Creator and Governor of all the World; who, by the Immenfity of his divine Nature, being equally prefent in all Places, it cannot but be a high Difparagement to it, to conceive his Prefence and Bleffings fhut up and confined to a narrow Temple or Image, the Workmanship of fo finite a Creature as Man. 25. Neither is worfhipped with mens hands, as though he needed any thing; feeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. 25. Nor can you rationally think this all-fufficient Being to be pleafed and delighted with the Offerings, Sacrifices, or any other external Services of Mankind, as if he either wanted, or received Worship of numerous and uncertain Dæmons. The Senfe of this Word given by Mr. Mead is very elegant and empha"You imagine, fays St. Paul, that I am preaching up "fome new Deity, fome ftrange Damon. No; I find you "have Deity, and Demons enough, and too many, already." tical. A. D. 54. received any Addition to his Happiness by them. For how can he be any Way better'd by us, who live by his Power, and enjoy every Thing we have from his Goodness? 26. And hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath before appointed, and the bounds of their determined the times 26. By him was Mankind created, being all the Offspring of Adam the firft Parent, whofe Pofterity by Degrees were difperfed into the whole Earth, and peopled the feveral Countries of it; Providence having affigned to each People their particular Country and Climate; and then afterward ordering and difpofing the feveral Changes, Periods, and Revolutions of Nations. * habitation. 27. That they should feek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. 27. Now the wife End for which God thus created, and by his merciful Providence thus governs and preferves Mankind, is, That we should look up to and duly confider him, as the Author of our Being, and the Fountain of all our Bleffings; acknowledge and adore him, fuitably to the Excellence and Benignity of his divine Nature; which though it could not very easily be duly performed by the Generality of Mankind, amidft the Darknefs and Depravity into which they have fo long and wilfully funk themfelves; yet is, in itself, a Duty moft naturally arifing from the Ufe of our own Reafon and Faculties; 28. The Ver. 26. By fuppofing a very easy Tranfpofition in this Verfe, I take the true Conftruction to be this, 'Exoinos Täv ἔθνθ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατοικεῖν ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὰς ὁροθεσίας τῆς κατοικίας αυτῶν ὁρίσας προλε ταγμένος καιρός. "And hath made all Men for to dwell on "all the Face of the Earth, and the Borders of their Habitation, having (before) ordered the (proper) Seafons (either of the Year for each of them) or elfe relayuéves, The determined Periods of Nations," as the Word is used, Luke xxi. 24. and is much the beft Sense of this Place. as 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being ; certain alfo of your own poets have faid, 28. The regular and wondrous A. D. 54. Order of every Thing about us, nay our own Existence, with all the Bleffings and Comforts that furround us, plainly fhowing him to us as a Creator and Benefactor; of which Aratus, one of your own Poets, was fenfible, when he fays, We are His Offspring. For we are also his offspring. 29. Forafmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or filver, ftone graven by art, or 29. Now, in what Senfe is Man the Offspring of God? or how do we refemble him? Not in our Bodies, and outward Shape, surely, but in our Minds, in our spiritual and rational Faculties; and therefore how impious and vain muft it be for us to reprefent the infinitely perfect Spirit in the Vilenefs of human Shape, or worship him under the Likenefs of any material Image whatsoever, or ever fo exactly graven, or finely adorned by human Art? Creatures that are the Offfpring of God, ought to know and think better of him. and mans device. 30. And the times 30. God indeed, in just Judgof this ignorance God ment upon the wilful and vicious winked at, but now Corruptions of Mankind, has, for commandeth all men many Ages, permitted * the greatevery where to repent. eft Part of them to continue in this ignorant and falfe Way of Worship, fending them no Prophets to instruct them, as he did the Jews. But now, that he intends, in great Mercy and Compaffion, to vouchsafe to them all the free Offers of Pardon, and a full Discovery of his divine Will; he juftly expects they fhould all repent of their former Follies, reform their Lives, and worship him in a true and acceptable Manner. 31. And Ver. 30. ved av i Oròs — God winked at God overlooked, or neglected them. See Rom. i. 20, &c. to the End. Or iedev may be very rightly rendered winked at, and fo exprefs the divine MERCY alfo, in not fo feverely obferving, and immediately punishing their wilful Ignorance as it deferved. A. D. 54. 18. 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteoufness, by that man whom he hath or dained, whereof he hath given affurance unto all men, in that he hath raifed him from the dead. 31. And it infinitely concerns them fo to do: For as God has now given them his only Son Jefus Christ, to be their Saviour and Redeemer, and has demonmiffion by raifing him from the ftrated the Truth of his ComDead; fo has he appointed the fame Jefus to be the Judge of all the World, and, at the great Day of Accounts, to give eternal Re ward or Punishment to every Man according to his Works. 32. And when they heard of the refurrecSee Ver. tion of the dead, fome mocked and others faid, We will hear thee again of this matter. 33. So Paul departed from among them. 34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him and believed: among the which was mentioned Jefus his Refurrection, 32. As foon as ever Paul had the Epicureans laughed and hooted at him; but the Stoicks, who had fome Notions of a future Recompence, told him they would hear him further upon that Argument. Court, not without fome good 33 & 34. So Paul went out of Effect of his Difcourfe. For tho' the Generality of these Philofophers, were either too notoriously atheistical, or too proud of their own Learning, to change their Sentiments, yet it convinced one who was a Member of the great Council; a Woman, (probably of fome Diftinction,) and fome others befide. Dionyfius the Areo- others with them. CHAP. ܀܀ CHAP. XVIII. The CONTENTS. Paul at Corinth. Preacheth to the Jews. Their Obftinacy and Malice caufes him to leave them, and preach to the Gentile Corinthians. Converts many. Chrift, in a Vifion, encourageth his Endeavours. The Jews make a Riot against him. Gallio fuppreffes them. Softhenes beaten. Paul goes thro' Ephefus. Preacheth there. An Account of Apollos. Paul returns to Jeru falem. 1. AFTER thefe things, Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth, I. PAUL AUL therefore expecting A. D. 54no further Effects of his Doctrine upon the Philofophers at Athens, foon left that Place, and went to Corinth, another large and populous City of Achaia or Greece, famous both for Trade and Learning. 2. And found a cer tain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Prifcilla (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome) 2. Where he happen'd upon a and came unto them. * See 1 Cor. iv. 9, 10. + But in what Province is not certain, though most probably in Judea. I |