temple of Aesculapius, and another of Juno. It abounded in rich wines, and is very often mentioned by the classic poets." (Whitby's Alphab. Table.)
Witsius very absurdly defines the situation of this island by saying that it is "near Crete."—"Coos, quae maris Mediterranei insula est prope Cretam." It is in the Aegean sea properly, and not in the Mediterranean; and can not be less than one hundred and twenty miles from Crete, much farther off from it than is Rhodes,—the next island in Paul's route, and there are many islands between Coos and Crete, so that the statement gives no just idea of the situation of the island. It would be as proper to say that Barbadoes is near Cuba, or the isle of Man near France.
"Rhodes, (ver. 1,) an island, supposed to have taken its name [Greek: apo tôn Rodôn] from the many roses which were known to grow there. It lies south of the province of Caria, and it is accounted next to Cyprus and Lesbos, for its dignity among the Asiatic islands. It was remarkable among the ancients for the expertness of its inhabitants in navigation; for a college, in which the students were eminent for eloquence and mathematics; and for the clearness of its air, insomuch that there was not a day in which the sun did not shine upon it; and more especially celebrated for its prodigious statue of brass, consecrated especially to the sun, and called his Colossus. This statue was seventy cubits high, and every finger as large as an ordinary sized man, and as it stood astride over the mouth of the harbor, ships passed under its legs." (Whitby's Table and Wells's Geog.) [Williams on Pearson, pp. 67, 68.]
LAST VISIT TO JERUSALEM.
Paul was now received in Jerusalem by the brethren with great joy, and going, on the day after his arrival, to see James, now the principal apostle resident in the Holy city, communicated to him and all the elders a full account of all his various labors. Having heard his very interesting communications, they were moved with gratitude to God for this triumph of his grace; but knowing as they did, with what rumors against Paul these events had been connected by common fame, they desired to arrange his introduction to the temple in such a manner, as would most effectually silence these prejudicial stories. The plan proposed by them was, that he should, in the company of four Jews of the Christian faith, who had a vow on them, go through with all the usual forms of purification prescribed under such circumstances for a Jew, on returning from the daily impurities to which he was exposed by a residence among the Gentiles, to a participation in the holy services of solemn worship in the temple. The apostles and elders, however, in recommending this course, declared to him, that they believed that the Gentiles ought not to be bound to the performance of the Jewish rituals, but should be exempt from all restrictions, except such as had formerly been decided on, by the council of Jerusalem. Paul, always devout and exact in the observance of the institutions of his national religion, followed their advice accordingly, and went on quietly and unpretendingly in the regular performance of the prescribed ceremonies, waiting for the termination of the seven days of purification, when the offering should be made for himself, and one for each of his companions, after which, they were all to be admitted
