Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 15 sect. 3, 4. "Then might be seen the high-priests themselves, with ashes on their heads, and their breasts naked." The agreement here consists in speaking of the high-priests or chief priests (for the name of the original is the same) in the plural number, when, in strictness, there was only one high priest: which may be considered as a proof, that the evangelists were habituated to the manner of speaking then in use, because they retain it when it is neither accurate nor just. For the sake of brevity, I have put down, from Josephus, only a single example of the application of this title in the plural number; but it is his usual style. Ib. [p. 871.] Luke iii. 1. "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, Annas and Caiaphas being the high-priests, the word of God came unto John." There is a passage in Josephus very nearly parallel to this, and which may at least serve to vindicate the evangelists from objection, with respect to his giving the title of high-priest specifically to two persons at the same time: "Quadratus sent two others of the most powerful men of the Jews, as also the highpriests Jonathan and Ananias.”* That Annas was a person in an eminent station, and possessed an authority co-ordinate with, or next to, that of the high-priest properly so called, may be inferred from Saint John's Gospel, which, in the history of Christ's crucifixion, relates that "the soldiers led him away to Annas first." And this might be noticed as an example of undesigned coincidence in the two evangelists. Again, [p. 870.] Acts iv. 6. Annas is called the high-priest, though Caiaphas was in the office of the high-priesthood. In like manner, in Josephus,+ "Joseph, the son of Gorion, and the high-priest Ananus, were chosen to be supreme governors of all things in the city. Yet Ananus, though here called the high-priest Ananus, was not then in the office of the high-priesthood. The truth is, there † xviii. 13, De Bell. lib. ix. c. 12. sect. 6. is an indeterminateness in the use of this title in the Gospel: sometimes it is applied exclusively to the person who held the office at the time; sometimes to one or two more, who probably shared with him some of the powers or functions of the office; and, sometimes, to such of the priests as were eminent by their station or character;* and there is the very same indeterminateness in Josephus. XXIV. [p. 347.] John xix. 19, 20. "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross." That such was the custom of the Romans on these occasions, appears from passages of Suetonius and Dio Cassius: "Patrem familias-canibus objecit, cum hoc titulo, Impie locutus parmularius." Suet. Domit. cap. x. And in Dio Cassius we have the following: "Having led him through the midst of the court or assembly, with a writing signifying the cause of his death, and afterward crucifying him." Book. liv. Ib. "And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin." That it was also usual about this time, in Jerusalem, to set up advertisements in different languages, is gathered from the account which Josephus gives of an expostulatory message from Titus to the Jews, when the city was almost in his hands; in which he says, Did ye not erect pillars with inscriptions on them, in the Greek and in our language, "Let no one pass beyond these bounds ?" XXV. [p. 352.] Matt. xxvii. 26. When he had Scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified." The following passages occur in Josephus : "Being beaten, they were crucified opposite to the citadel." "Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified." "He was burnt alive, having been first beaten."|| To which may be added one from Livy, lib. xi. "Productique omnes, virgisque cœsi, ac securi percussi." c. 5. A modern example may illustrate the use we *Mark xiv. 53. P. 1080, editt. 45. † P. 1247, edit. 24. Hud, make of this instance. The preceding, of a capital execution by the corporal punishment of the sufferer, is a practice unknown in England, but retained, in some instances at least, as appears by the late execution of a regicide, in Sweden. This circumstance, therefore, in the account of an English execution, purporting to come from an English writer, would not only bring a suspicion upon the truth of the account, but would, in a considerable degree, impeach its pretensions of having been written by the author whose name it bore. Whereas the same circumstance, in the account of a Swedish execution, would verify the account, and support the authenticity of the book in which it was found; or, at least, would prove that the author, whoever he was, possessed the information and the knowledge which he ought to possess. XXVI. [p. 353.] John xix. 16. "And they took Jesus, and led him away; and he, bearing his cross, went forth." Plutarch, De iis qui sero puniuntur, p. 554 : a Paris, 1624. "Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular torment, just as every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own cross." XXVII. John xix. 32. "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him." Constantine abolished the punishment of the cross; in commending which edict, a heathen writer notices this very circumstance of breaking the legs: "Eopius, ut etiam vetus veterrimumque supplicium, patibulum, et cruribus suffringendis, priinus removerit." Aur. Vict. Ces. cap. xli. "Now Peter und XXVIII. [p. 457.] Acts iii. 1. John went up together into the temple, at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.” "Twice Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. c. 7. sect. 8. every day, in the morning and at the ninth hour, the priests perform their duty at the altar." XXIX. [p. 462.] Acts xv. 21. "For Moses, of old time, hath, in every city, them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day." Joseph. contra Ap. 1. ii. "He (Moses) gave us the law, the most excellent of all institutions; did he appoint that it should be heard once only, or twice, or often, but that laying aside all other works, we should meet together every week to hear it read, and gain a perfect understanding of it." XXX. [p. 465.] Acts xxi. 23. "We have four men, which have a vow on them; them take, and purify thyself with them, that they may shave their heads." Joseph. de Bell. 1. xi. c. 15. "It is customary for those who have been afflicted with some distemper, or have laboured under any other difficulties, to make a vow thirty days before they offer sacrifices, to abstain from wine, and shave the hair of their heads." Ib. v. 24. "Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads." Joseph. Antiq. 1. xix. c. 6." He (Herod Agrippa) coming to Jerusalem, offered up sacrifices of thanksgiving, and omitted nothing that was prescribed by the law. For which reason he also ordered a good number of Nazarites to be shaved." We here find that it was an act of piety amongst the Jews, to defray for those who were under the Nazaritic vow the expenses which attended its completion; and that the phrase was, "that they might be shaved." The custom and the expression are both remarkable, and both in close conformity with the Scripture account. "Of the Jews, "He that acts XXXI. [p. 474.] 2. Cor. xi. 24. five times received I forty stripes, save one." Joseph. Antiq. iv. c. 8. sect. 21. contrary hereto, let him receive forty stripes, wanting one, from the public officer." The coincidence here is singular, because the law allowed forty stripes" Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed." Deut. xxv. 3. It proves that the author of the Epistle to the Corinthians was guided, not by books, but by facts; because his statement agrees with the actual custom, even when that custom deviated from the written law, and from what he must have learnt by consulting the Jewish code, as set forth in the Old Testament. XXXII. [p. 490.] Luke iii. 12. "Then came also publicans to be baptized." From this quota tion, as well as from the history of Levi or Matthew (Luke v. 29.) and of Zaccheus (Luke xix. 2.) it appears, that the publicans or tax-gatherers were, frequently at least, if not always, Jews: which, as the country was then under a Roman government, and the taxes were paid to the Romans, was a circumstance not to be expected. That it was the truth, however, of the case, appears, from a short passage of Josephus. "But, Florus not De Bell. lib. ii. c. 14. sect. 45. restraining these practices by his authority, the chief men of the Jews, among whom was John the publican, not knowing well what course to take, wait upon Florus, and give him eight talents of silver to stop the building." XXXIII. [p. 496.] Acts xxii. 25. "And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" "Facinus est zinciri civem Romanum; scelus verberari." Cic. in Verr. "Cædebatur virgis, in medio foro Messanæ, civis Romanus, Judices: cum interea nullus gemitus, nulla vox alia, istius miseri inter dolorem crepitumque plagarum audiebatur, nisi hæc, Civis Romanus sum. XXXIV. [p. 513.] Acts xxii. 27. "Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, (Paul), Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea." The circumstance here to be noticed is, that a Jew was a Roman citizen. "Lucius Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 10. sect. 13. Lentulus, the consul, declared, I have dismissed from the service the Jewish Roman citizens, who observe the rites of the Jewish religion at Ephesus." Ib. ver. 28." And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom." Dio Cassius, lib. lx. "This privilege, which had been bought formerly at a great price, became so cheap, that it was commonly said, a man might be made a Roman citizen for a few pieces of broken glass." XXXV. [p. 621.] Acts xxviii. 16. "And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered_the prisoners to the captain of the gaurd; but Paul |