condition of Greece in the time of Augustus was one of deso- lation and distress. It had suffered severely by being the seat of the successive civil wars between Caesar and Pompey, between the Triumvirs and Brutus and Cassius, and lastly, between Augustus and Antonius. Besides, the country had never recovered from the long series of miseries which had succeeded and accompanied its conquest by the Romans : and between those times and the civil contest between Pompey and Ccesar, it had been again exposed to all the evils of war when Sylla was disputing the possession of it with the general of Mithridates. . . . The provinces of Macedonia and Achaia, w^hen they petitioned for a diminution of their burdens, in the reign of Tiberius, were considered so deserving of compassion that they were transferred for a time from the jurisdiction of the Senate to that of the Emperor, (as involving less heavy taxation.) "
3-5. Yov to (their) power, I bear record, yea, and beyond (their) power, (they were) wilhng of themselves ; praying us with much entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and (take upon us) the fellowship of the min- istering to the saints. And (this they did,) not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
These verses must be taken together on account of the grammatical construction. Wherever the reader of the Eng- lish version sees the frequent use of words in Italics, he may conclude there is some difficulty or obscurity in the original, which the translators endeavour to explain by additions to the text. In these verses there are no less than live such interpo- lations ; three of which materially affect the sense, viz., the words, they were, take i(pon ics, and, this they did. The first point is to determine the text. The words Se^W-^ai ly/^ias are omitted in the great majority of the MSS. versions and Fathers, and seem very much like an explanatory gloss, or an interpolation analogous to tlie exi)lanations in Italics so com- mon in our version. They are, therefore, rejected by Gries- bach, and by almost all editors since his time. Their insertion alters the sense materially. If these v/ords are read, Paul represents the Macedonian Christians as begging him to re-