Doubtless almost everything I have to say might be supported by some quotation. But if a history of opinion about Acts had been desired, I should not have been applied to. Where I was conscious of having learned any special point from any special scholar I have mentioned his name ; but that, of course, does not exhaust half my debt. The inter- pretation of one of the great ancient authors is a long slow growth ; one is not conscious where he learned most of his ideas ; and, if he were, their cenesis is a matter of no interest or value to others. Not merely the writers quoted, but also Schiirer, Meyer- Wendt, Zockler, Holtzmann, Clemen, Spitta, Zeller, Everett, Paley, Page, and many others, have taught me ; and I thankfully acknowledge my debt. But specially Lightfoot, Lewin's Fasti Sacri, and the two greatest editors of Acts, Wetstein and Blass, have been constant companions.
Discussions with my wife, and with my friends, Professor W. P. Paterson, Rev. A. F. Findlay, and, above all, Prof. Rendel Harris, have cleared my ideas on many points, beyond what can be distinctly specified. The book has been greatly improved
x Preface.
by criticisms from Prof. Rendel Harris, and by many notes and suggestions from Rev. A. C. Headlam, which were of great value to me. Mr. A. Souter, Caius College, Cambridge, has aided me in many ways, and especially by compiling Index I. But it would be vain to try to enu- merate all my obligations to many friends.
I wish to mention two facts about the genesis of my studies in this subject: (i) Dr. Fairbairn pro- posed to me the subject of " St. Paul as a Citizen" long ago ; and I long shrank from it as too great and too difficult ; (2) Dr. Robertson Nicoll (mindful of early acquaintance in Aberdeen) urged me in 1884 to write, and gave me no peace, until I pub- lished a first article, Expositor, Oct., 1888.
An apology is due for the variations, often harsh, from the familiar translation of Acts ; but a little insertion or change often saved a paragraph.
Lectures which I had the honour to give before Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University (the Levering Lectures), and Union Seminary, New York, are worked up in this volume.
Aberdeen, 2yd September, 1895.