out bound hand and foot. But deists, talking' of this miracle commonly ask with a sneer, how he could come out of a grave who was bound in that manner? The answer however is obvious. The evangelist does not mean that Lazarus walked out of the sepulchre, but that, laying on his back, he raised himself into a sitting posture, then putting his legs over the edge of his niche or cell, slid down, and stood upright upon the floor; all which he might easily do, notwithstanding his arms were close bound to his body, and his legs were tied strait together by means of the shroud and rollers with which he was swathed. Accordingly, when he was come forth, it is said, that Jesus ordered them to loose him and let him go; a circumstance plainly importing, that the historian knew that Lazarus could not walk till he was unbound. MACKNIGHT'S Harmony, vol. ii. p. 799.

No. 1302.-xiii. 24. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him.] Peter being at some distance from Christ, beckoned to John to propose an inquiry to him. This was usually done at meals, when they could not by reason of their posture discourse together. This being the case, they made signs by nodding to each other. GILL, in loc.

No. 1303.-xviii. 16. And spake unto her that kept the door.] The Ethiopic version in the next verse calls this person the door-keeper's daughter. He might indeed be the porter, but being busy, she supplied his place. There is however no need of such a conjecture, since it was usual with other nations, and might be with the Jews, for women to be door-keepers. Pignorius (de Servis, p. 454.) has shewn this from Plautus, Petronius, Pausanias, and others.

No. 1304. xix. 17. And he bearing his cross.] This

was usual for malefactors to do, as Lipsius shews from Artemidorus and Plutarch: the former says, The cross is like to death, and he that is to be fixed to it first bears it. The latter says, And every one of the malefactors that are punished in body carries out his own

cross.

No. 1305. xix. 20. For the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh unto the city.] The cross stood by the way side, where persons were continually passing, and where it was usual to erect crosses to make public examples of malefactors, to deter others from committing the like crimes. Alexander the emperor ordered an eunuch to be crucified by the way-side, in which his servants used commonly to go to his country-house. Quinctilian (Declamat. 275.) observes, " as often as we crucify criminals the most noted ways are chosen, where most may behold, and most may be moved with fear."

No. 1306. xix. 31. That the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath-day.] According to the Jewish law, Deut. xxi. 22, 23. the body of one that was hanged on a tree was not to remain all night, but to be taken down that day, and buried; though this was not always observed, 2 Sam. xxi. 9, 10. What was the usage of the Jews at this time is not certain: according to the Roman laws such bodies hung till they were putrefied, or eaten by birds of prey; wherefore, that their land might not be defiled, and especially their sabbath, by their remaining on the cross, they desired to have them taken down.

No. 1307.-xix. 39. And there came also Nicodemus, (who at the first came to Jesus by night,) and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds

weight.] Notwithstanding the Jews object to the quantity of spices brought to embalm the body of Jesus, as being unnecessarily profuse and incredible, it appears from their own writings that they were used in great abundance on some such occasions. See 2 Chron. xvi. 14. In the Talmud (Massecheth Semacoth viii.) it is said, that no less than eighty pounds of spices were used at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder: and at the funeral of Herod, Josephus (Antiq. xvii. 8. 3.) informs us that the procession was followed by five hundred of his domestics carrying spices.

No. 1308.-xxi. 18. When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee.] It was customary in the ancient combats for the vanquished person to stretch out his hands to the conqueror, signifying that he declined the battle, acknowledging that he was conquered, and submitting to the direction of the victor. Thus Theocritus:

And hands uprais'd with death-presaging mind,

At once the fight and victory declin❜d.

So also Turnus in Virgil:

Vicisti et victum tendere, &c.

Thine is the conquest; lo, the Latian bands

Idyll. xxii.

Behold their genʼral stretch his suppliant hands. PITT.

In the instance now above cited the stretching out of the hands was to be a token of submission to that under which he would fall and perish.

power,

No. 1309.-ACTS iii. 1.

The hour of prayer.

THE Jews had stated hours both for public and private prayer. It was Daniel's custom to pray three times a day, Dan. vi. 10. and this was also the practice of David, Psalm lv. 17. From hence we learn not only how frequently, but at what times of the day that duty was commonly performed. It is generally supposed that the morning and evening prayers were at the time of offering the morning and evening sacrifice, that is, at the third and ninth hour: and the noon prayer was at the sixth hour, or twelve o'clock. We find in scripture no express institution of the stated hours of prayer. The Jews say they received them from the patriarchs; the first hour from Abraham; the second from Isaac; and the third from Jacob.

serve.

From the Jews the Mahometans have borrowed their hours of prayer, enlarging the number of them from three to five; which all Mussulmans are bound to obThe first is in the morning before sun-rise : the second when noon is past, and the sun begins to decline from the meridian: the third in the afternoon, before sun-set: the fourth in the evening after sun-set, and before the day is shut in: the fifth after the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night. To these some of their devotees add two more, the first an hour and a half after the day is shut in, and the other at midnight; but these are looked upon as voluntary services, practised in imitation of Mahomet's example, but not enjoined by his law. See Sale's Koran, Prelim. Dis. sect. iv. p. 107.

No. 1310.-vi. 1. Their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.] A distribution of alms was made every day. This practice obtained among the Jews in common, for they used to collect every day for the poor, and give it daily to them. Maimonides speaks of it in this manner: "They appoint collectors, who receive every day from every court a piece of bread, or any sort of food, or fruit, or money, from whomsoever that offers freely for the time; and they divide that which is collected, in the evening, among the poor, and they give to every poor person of it his daily sustenance :" from hence the apostles might take up this custom, and follow it.

No. 1311.-vii. 30. There appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord, in a flame of fire in a bush.] The heathens had either read or heard of this circumstance, as appears by Artapanus, who mentions it; (in Eusebius, 1. ix. Præpar. Evang. c. xxvii.) but he disguises it, and misreports it, saying, it was a fire which suddenly broke forth out of the earth, and flamed, when there was no matter nor any kind of wood in the place to feed it. However, in the next chapter but one an ancient tragedian reports it exactly, saying just as Moses does here, that the bush burned with fire, and yet remained intire in the flame, which he calls the greatest miracle. There is a story something like this in Dion Prusaus, Orat. xxxvi. where he saith, the Persians relate concerning Zoroaster, that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him to a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame, shining with celestial fire, out of the midst of which he came without any harm, and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who, he declared, then appeared to him. Both Ursinus and Huet have endeavoured to prove, that this was a corrupt tradition of this vision of Moses. PATRICK, on Exod. iii. 2.