AaAoii"·n 'A(.,.,.,,,.,.1, and Ob1r •lo-)., br,- eurgents at different periods of au lneurreo- -y,,,,f,•o-1ro,,.,.u ll.11ll.,w 'loull11itrrl, in Neh. ll:iii. 2i. tion ; aud partly because it is vory possible But otben (Meyer, Alford, eto.) aay that that a soldier like Lyeiu would mice no count there is no ellipse of ll.aA,,v, but that of the mere rabblo, but only of tho disoiplinod 'Ell.ll.711'tlM'l 'Y'"~""""• Jlvp,trrl i'lrlO"l'ttµevovs and armed soldiel'B snob u theso Sic1Lrii woro. (Xe110phon)," Gr~ nescire" (Cicero), mean It may be added that Josephus himsolf to k""llow or not to know the Greek and seems to distinguish between the rnbble and Syrian l1tnguagcs. tho fighting men, because, though in the Ver. SS.-Art thou Mt then the for art • Bell. Jud.,' ii. J:iii. 5 ho says that Felix not thou that, A.V.; stirred up u, sedition attaoked or took prisoners "most of his fol- for made:t an uproar, A.V.; led for ledde.l<t, lowers," in tho • Ant. Jud.,' x.x. viii. 6 he A.Y.; the four thousand men of the m1Lkes the number of sl1Lin "four hundred," A8sassina for four thousand men that were and of prisoners "two hundred "-a very murderers, A.V. Art thou not then, etc.? or small proportion of thirty thouse.nd. Tho R8 Meyer," Thou art not then;" either way Egyptian hnd promised his deluded followers implying the.t Lysias had concluded that th!Lt the W!Llls of Jerusalem would fall down he was the Egyptian, but he.d now discovered like those of Jerioho. It is not known his mistake. The Egyptian, eto. He whom exactly in who.t year the insurrection took Josephus calls(' Bell. Jud.,' ii. xiii. 5) "the ple.ce, but it WM, as Renan says, "pen de Egyptian fRlse prophet," e.nd relates that, temps auparavant" (' St. Paul,' p. 525). hnviug colleot.ed above thirty thousand The Egyptian himself contrived to run away followers, he advanced from the desert to and disappear; hence the thought th1Lt he the Mount of Olivee, intending to overpower was the author of this new tumult at the Roman garrison e.nd ma.ke himself tyrant Jerusalem. The Sicarii were e. band of of Jerusalem, with the help of his liopvc/>&poi, fanatical murderers, who, in the disturbed or body-guard, who might very probably be times preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, composed of the .ASBallsinaor Si.co.rii, mention- went about armed with daggers, 1Lnd in broad ed iu the text. Stirred uptosedition(b11tr.,.,... daylight ILnd in the public throughfares -r-'tras). The duference between the A.V. murdered whoever we.a obnoxious to them. and the R.V. is that the former to.kee the verb Among others they murdered the b igb priest in an intransitive sense, "to ma.ke an Jonathan at the instigation of Felix (Jose- uproar," the latter in a transitive sense, phus, • Ant. Jud.,' x.x. vi. 7; 'Bell. Jnd.,' ii. governing the" four thousa.nd men." In the xiii. 3). only two other places were it occurs in the Ver. 39.-1 am a Jeu, for I am a man New Testa.ment(ch. xvii 6; Gal v.12) itis which am a Je1JJ, A.V. ;in for a city in,A.V.; transitive. It is not a classical word. The gi'De me leave for suffer me, A.V. A oitizen four tho1111&I1.d men. JosephUB, in the above- of no mean oity; """ a.trf,µov ,roll.,ws, an elegant cited Jl11881Lge, reckons the followers of the cle.ssical expression. Out< l&tr71µ.os 'EMf,vwl' Egyptie.n impostor at above thirty thousand. -.all.is (Euripides,• Ion.,' 8). But snch discrepancies are of no account, Ver. 40.-Leave for licence, A.V. ; Btanding partly because of the known looseness with for 1tood . . . and, A.V.; language for which numbers are stated, e.nd Josephus's uingue. A.V. The Hebrew language; i.e. disposition to exaggerate; partly because the Syro-Clrnldaio which was the vemacu• of the real fluctuation in ~e numbers of in- Ia.r of the Hebrew Jews at that time.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-14.-Tlie steadfast purpose. One of the most difficult problems of practical life is to know what are the fixed points on which we must not give way, and t.o wl1ich all other considerations must yield, and what are the points which may be yielded under the pressure of conflicting circumstances. A man may be very conscientious, and yet most grievously mistaken, if by his obstinacy on indifferent matters he imperils or defeats great and importa.nt results which are incompatible with those smaller matters on which he i.nllists. And again, a man may be very conscientioW!, and yet may do much practical mischief if he weakly gives way on vital points on which he ought t.o insist with in.flexible steadfastness of purpose. Moreover, without steadfastness and persl.6tence of purpose a man's course is so vacillating as t.o be practically useless. He is ever beginning and never :finishing; starting on his course and never reaching the end of it; wasting time and energy on purposes which are never fulfilled; incapable of joint action because he can never be depended upon-not from insincerity and faleenesb, but merely from weakness and i.J !Stability of will and infirmity of judgment, It is 11 "ftCJ important function of trll6 wisdom in the practical business of life to discer CH. X1.L 1-40,] 'l'llE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 177