tence (Deut. xvii. 7; comp. Acts vii. 56, seq.). He who gave false witness was to undergo the punishment which would have been in flicted on the accused (Deut. xix. 16, seq.). Notwithstanding the pains taken to prevent false testimony (Exodus xxiii. 1), in bad times it seems to have prevailed (Prov. vi. 19; xii. 17; xiv. 5, seq.; xix. 5; xxiv. 28. Ps. xxvii. 12). Evidence in regard to commercial transactions was, at least in later periods, given by documents, which were signed and sealed in the presence of witnesses (Jerem. xxxii. 10, seq.; 25). An important passage on the subject is found in Ruth iv. 7-10, where a transaction is carried to completion in public, the bystanders being witnesses, and giving a shoe to a neighbour as a token. In the Chaldaic explanation for shoe we find right-hand glove. In more modern times, a handkerchief or piece of linen was the token in use among the Jews. Giving a glove was a mode of investiture in the middle ages when land or honourable office was assigned to a person. Castell states that the king of Abyssinia was accustomed to throw his shoe on any thing as a token of his dominion. Comp. Ps. lx. 8.

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TETRARCH, a Greek word in English letters, signifying, properly, a governor of a fourth part,' which, dropping the exact etymological import, signified a governor or prince of a territory or province (Matt. xiv 1. Luke iii. 1, 19; ix. 7. Acts xiii. 1).

THANK-OFFERINGS (Amos v. 22), according to the usual forms of the original, 'offerings of peace,' or 'peace gifts' (Levit. vii. 14; ix. 22), which are often mentioned together with burnt-offerings (Exod. xx. 24; xxiv. 5. Lev. iii. 5. Josh. viii. 31. 1 Kings iii. 15), consisted of spotless cattle of both sexes (Lev. iii. 1; ix. 4, 18; xxii. 21; xxiii. 19. Joseph. Antiq. iii. 9, 2; comp. Exodus xxiv. 5. 1 Kings viii. 63), and were, with meat and drink-offerings, presented in the name of either individuals or the commonwealth. The latter mostly took place on occasions of great solemnity (Exodus xxiv. 5. 2 Sam. vi. 17, seq. 1 Kings viii. 63. Ezek. xliii. 27), on the choice of a king (1 Sam. xi. 15), at the prosperous termination of an important enterprise (Deut. xxvii. 7. Josh. viii. 31), or in order to procure success (1 Samuel xiii. 9), sometimes after a public calamity (Judges xx. 26; xxi. 41. 2 Sam. xxiv. 25), being expressly appointed at Pentecost (Leviticus xxix. 13). Private thankofferings ensued from free inclination, from a sense of obligation contracted by vows (vii. 16; xxii. 21. Numb. xv. 8), as a part of the Nazarite's duty (vi. 14), or as an expression of gratitude for benefits received (Lev. vii. 12; xxii. 29) The festivals were made more joyous (1 Sam. xi. 15) and impressive by thank-offerings (Numbers x. 10. 2 Chron. xxx. 22). Solomon instituted thank

as well as burnt-offerings three times a year (1 Kings ix. 25). The offerer having laid his hand on the victim, slew it, when the priests took of the blood and sprinkled it around the altar; after which the latter burnt the fat parts on the altar (Lev. iii. 3, seq.; iv. 9, seq.; vi. 12. Amos v. 22. 2 Kings xvi. 13). The flesh that remained belonged to the priests in the case of that offered at Pentecost and all other public thank-offerings (Lev. xxiii. 20). In those of a private nature the priests retained to themselves the breast and the shoulder, which had been subject to the operation of heaving and waving (vii. 30, 31; xxxiv. 9, 21. Numbers vi. 20). The remainder was applied by the offerer to the preparation of a banquet (Lev. xix. 6, seq.; xxii. 30. Deut. xii. 17, seq.; xxvii. 7; comp. Jerem. xxxiii. 11), but all was required to be eaten within two days (Lev. vii. 16; xix. 6). What was left unconsumed was to be burnt; the object of the legislator apparently being, to encourage liberality to the less wealthy and the necessitous.

The thank-offering seems to have been distinguished from the peace-offering in that the former comprised, with leavened bread, unleavened cakes (Lev. vii. 12; comp. Amos iv. 5). By the rabbins the thank-offering at Pentecost was placed among the holiest oblations; the rest were accounted of less consequence. The flesh, boiled or roasted, was, they held, to be eaten in the holy city; and in the enjoyment of those portions that were set apart for the priests, the wives, children, and slaves of the priests had a share.

THEATRE, a Greek word in English letters, denoting a place for seeing or beholding (theaomi, 'I behold') performances-that is, something done and said for amusement and instruction-is the place into which, after the manner of Greeks and other nations who were accustomed to employ their theatres for holding public assemblies on affairs of general concernment, the Ephesians crowded when moved by Paul's attack on their favourite idolatry (Acts xix. 29, 31). The striking passage in 1 Cor. vii. 31 becomes more striking when, under the guidance of Grotius, we view the imagery as taken from the theatre, where the scenery (schema, rendered 'fashion') is constantly and of a sudden changed, exhibiting in suc cession the most varied appearances, totally destitute of reality And as the performers do not act their own proper concerns, but personate and represent characters and conditions, so, with great force, does Paul exhort those who have wives to be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not enjoying it. Among

the Romans the theatres, and especially the amphitheatres, were employed for public spectacles (specto, I behold'), in which human beings were matched in deadly conflict with wild animals that were brought together for this purpose from various parts of the empire. Persons destined to capital and ignominious punishments were compelled thus to be subjected to the gaze of a brutal multitude, and, under their shouts and yells, to lose their lives. Josephus (Jew. W. vi. 9, 2) narrates that Titus sent many of the prisoners taken on the capture of Jerusalem into different provinces, to serve for food to raging beasts and the depraved appetites of the masters of the world. In allusion to this barbarous custom Paul refers when (1 Cor. iv. 9) he says, 'I think that God hath brought forth us, the apostles, on the stage last, as devoted to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, both to angels and to men.' We subjoin Whitby's remarks: 'Here the apostle seems to allude to the Roman spectacles-that of the Bestiarii and the Gladiators; where in the morning men were brought upon the theatre to fight with wild beasts, and to them was allowed armour to defend themselves and smite the beasts that did assail them; but in the meridian spectacle were brought forth gladiators, naked and without any thing to defend them from the sword of the assailants; and he that then escaped was only reserved for slaughter to another day, so that these men might well be called men appointed for death; and this being the last appearance on the theatre for that day, they are said here to be set forth the last!'

The wretched sufferer, made a gazingstock to assembled thousands, had very little chance of escape, for the beasts were incited to fall on the victims by shouts and light darts. These disgraceful scenes were in the mind of the writer to the Hebrews (x. 32, 33) when he said, 'Ye endured a great fight of afflictions, being exposed, as in an amphitheatre, to insults and tortures.'

Paul figuratively speaks of having fought with beasts at Ephesus (1 Cor. xv. 32), alluding here also to the horrid games of the amphitheatre. These sanguinary and brutal amusements were nowhere celebrated in greater pomp than at Rome, in the Colisæum (of which there remains a splendid ruin) built by Vespasian and Titus, who employed on its construction 30,000 Jewish captives, and which was capable of holding 300,000 persons.

THEBEZ, a town in Ephraim, thirteen Roman miles from Sichem, probably the modern village Tubas, five hours and a half north-east of Sichem (Judg. ix. 50. 2 Sam. xi. 21).

THEOPHILUS (G. God-loving), the name of a person whom Luke addresses in the beginning of his Gospel and in its continua

tion, the book of Acts. In the former case the writer prefixes an epithet, kratiste, which may refer to character (most excellent') or to position ('most noble;' comp. Aets xxiii. 26; xxiv. 3; xxvi. 25). A desire to know more than Providence has told, has led to a variety of combinations and conjectures on the point which it is useless to detail. It seems, however, probable that Theophilus was a real person, and not a general character under which Christian believers or pious men were addressed.

THESSALONICA (G.), a chief city of the Roman province of Macedonia, the abode of a Roman president, distinguished, above other towns of the same country, for its large population, opulence, and prosperity, which it owed, in a great degree, to its fortunate position on the Thermaic Gulf, and to the extensive commerce which, in consequence, its inhabitants carried on. It is spoken of by ancient writers as a free and metropolitan city. It now bears the name of Saloniki, has a population of 70,000 souls, and is still a great commercial mart.

The ancient city, if it enjoyed the advantages of a large commercial sea-port, suffered also the ordinary evils of such places, in the corruption of its morals and the prevalence of luxurious modes of life. As in most other eminent places, so here, numbers of the Jewish nation had fixed their places of abode, attracted the more by the smiling prospect of gain which the active trade of the place presented. Here, also, as was usual with them, they had erected a synagogue (Acts xvii. 1).

Places such as Thessalonica offered peculiar facilities for planting the gospel; for in them prejudice was less strong, thought was more free, inquiry more active, the commerce of human beings less restricted. Accordingly, Thessalonica was the first European town in which Paul proclaimed the gospel, having come thither in company with Silas and Timothy, during his second missionary tour (Acts xvii. 4; comp. xvi. 3, and xvii. 14). The wounds which he had received at Philippi, during shameful ill-treatment, which caused him to flee to Thessalonica, were not healed, and the remembrance of his sufferings was still fresh in his mind when he opened his ministry to the Thessalonians, in which, whatever his difficulties, the apostle was supported and encouraged by the consciousness of the goodness of his cause, persevering in the advocacy of which, he, in the short space of three weeks, gathered around him a numerous body of believers, of whom some were Jews, some were women of station, the greater part-a great multitude'-were Greeks already converted to Judaism (Acts xvii. 1-5. 1 Thess. ii. 2.)

Among his countrymen Paul found his bitterest opponents. Those of them who refused the message which he brought resorted

to violence, thus giving reason to think that they felt themselves worsted in argument. Accordingly, being 'moved with envy,' they allied with themselves certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathering a company, set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,' where the apostle abode, intending to bring him out and hand him over to the fury of the mob. Failing, however, to find Paul, they drew Jason himself and several disciples before the rulers of the city, crying, 'These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also,'and thus afford an incidental and unintended proof of the great attention which the gospel had now excited, not more than some twenty years after the death of its Founder, in this city, which lay so distant from the place where its first proclamation was made. There doubtless was exaggeration in the clamour of these Thessalonian bigots; still, after all proper deductions, much is implied in their words which illustrates the rapid progress of the new religion, in seizing on the minds and changing at once the profession and the hearts of men. Descending, however, from clamorous imputations to a definite charge, these enemies of the cross endeavoured to play the part which their brethren had played too successfully in procuring the condemnation of Jesus himself; they accused Paul and his converts of high treason, these all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.' Here, too, these insensate men supply us with another undesigned confirmation of our Christian belief, namely, that the capital doctrine taught and enforced in the first preaching of the gospel, was that Jesus was the Christ, the divinely-appointed King of the Jews. These riotous proceedings and grave imputations caused trouble in the minds, not less of the rulers of the city, than of the people. There was, however, no definite charge preferred, no tangible evidence adduced. Paul himself had not been found and was not present. The only course, therefore, was for the authorities to take security of his host, who hereupon was allowed to depart.

But the danger, which has been great, was not yet come to an end. The Christians of Thessalonica, in consequence, prevailed on Paul to quit the place without delay, and to avail himself of the cover of night in order to elude his provoked enemies. The strength of their animosity may be inferred from the fact, that when Paul, having escaped from their hands, proceeded to Berea, where he found a willing audience, and preached the gospel with success, the Jews of Thessalonica came to Berea and stirred up the people, so that it was judged prudent that Paul should leave the place, whence he repaired to Athens.

Solicitous about the new community at

Thessalonica, whom he had been desirous of visiting again without delay (1 Thess. ii. 18), Paul, while in Athens, directed Timothy to travel to the former place, in order to instruct the church, and give it support under the persecutions to which it was subject at the hands of unbelievers (iii. 1-5). Timothy, having fulfilled his commission, returned, and found Paul at Corinth (Acts xviii. 5), to whom he communicated information touching the condition of the church at Thessalonica, which gratified and cheered the apostle (1 Thess. iii. 7, 8). Yet there were circumstances of which he heard from Timothy of a less pleasing description, to apply a remedy to which, as well as to confirm what was good, Paul was led to write his First Letter to the Thessalonians, which is probably the earliest complete composition, if not of Christian literature, yet that has been preserved for the edification of the church universal.

That this Epistle was written by Paul cannot be doubted. He is generally admitted to have been its author. Christian antiquity bears unanimous testimony to the fact. To pass over possible allusions to the Epistle in earlier writers, we find Irenæus (120 to 140 A.D.), the scholar of Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John, expressly quoting from it, in these words, Wherefore the apostle, explaining himself, set forth the perfect spiritual man in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, saying thus, The God of peace sanctify you wholly, and your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thess. v. 23. Irenæus adv. Hæres. v. 6, 1; see also v. 30, 2, where is a quotation from 1 Thess. v. 3). Clemens Alexandrinus (A.D. 189) also quotes from the Letter, with the mention of the name of Paul as the author: But this the blessed Paul most clearly signified when he said, When we might have been burdensome as apostles of Christ, we were gentle among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children' (Pædag. i. 88. 1 Thess. ii. 7). Besides, the Epistle is essentially Pauline in doctrine, in spirit, and style, while its contents entirely correspond with the position in which he himself stood, and which he had relatively to the newly-formed church at Thessalonica. We would specially point to the affectionate solicitude he felt for his recent converts, a care so like all we know of Paul, that this one trait would satisfy us of his being the author of the Epistle (ii. 17-20; iii. 5, seq.).

Paul wrote this Epistle while at Corinth, as appears from Acts xviii. 5, compared with 1 Thess. iii., in consequence of news brought to him at that city by Timothy, whom he had sent to Thessalonica in order to strengthen the church which had been recently formed there. A note, indeed, at the end of the Epistle states that the letter was written from

Athens. But this is of no critical value, merely indicating the opinion of him who appended it. Theodoret also states that the letter was sent from Athens, from whose statement the postscript found in our present Greek copies may have originated. But when it was written, Timothy was with Paul (1 Thess. i. 1), and had communicated to the apostle the result of his visit to Thessalonica (iii. 6). These two facts point out Corinth as the place where the letter was composed.

They also aid us in determining the time. At Corinth, Paul found a certain Jew, named Aquila, and his wife Priscilla, who had lately come from Italy because the emperor Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. Now, if we can fix the date when this order was issued by Claudius, we ascertain the time when Paul came to Corinth, and approximate to that when the Epistle was written. Claudius died of poison A. D. 54, having reigned above thirteen years. Three years before his death it was, or A.D. 51, that he had expelled the Christians (or Jews) from Rome. As, then, Aquila and Priscilla had come to Corinth only a short time before Paul arrived there, the apostle's visit to that city may be placed in the latter end of the year 51, or more probably in the year 52.

His stay in Corinth lasted for a period of eighteen months (Acts xviii. 11). He must, therefore, have left that place before the end of the year 54. Between his arrival and departure the Epistle was com. posed; that is, between the years 52 and 54.

The letter could not have been written long after the apostolic council held at Jerusalem, which the ordinary chronology fixes A. D. 52, for it contains a very pointed allusion to the great question therein debated, and the efforts made by the Judaizers against Paul and his more liberal views, which suffices to show that the events were quite fresh in the writer's mind (1 Thess. ii. 14-16).

The letter itself contains abundant evidence that it was written shortly after the conversion of the Thessalonian disciples, for it aims repeatedly to give strength and permanency to a new and weak relation, and afford special aid and support under recent or actual persecutions (i. 4, 6, 9; ii. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 13, 14; iii. 3, 4).

The occasion of the letter was generally the information received by Paul at Corinth regarding the condition of the Thessalonian church. In a special manner, however, was the apostle led to write it from hearing of the trouble of mind experienced by some of its members regarding the near approach of the coming of Christ. They accounted it so near that they were in solicitude about friends who had died before it came to pass (1 Thess. iv. 13, seq.; v. 1, seq.). This idea seems to have produced no small excitement, turning men

away from their ordinary business (iv. 11, 12). Certainly there was a degree of moral laxity, a remnant, we may presume, of pagan influences, which was most unbecoming in professed followers of Jesus, and which required the healing hand of the apostle (ii. 3; iv 3, seq.). Indeed, the evil was such that Paul was exceedingly desirous of visiting his new converts. This, however, being impossible, he had no resource but to send them this letter (ii. 18; iii. 10).

A brief introduction presents, besides the name of the writer and his associates (Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus), the readers for whom the Epistle was intended ('the church of Thessaloniaus in God Father and Lord Jesus Christ'), and ends with a Christian blessing and salutation. Then the writer makes mention of the joy which he felt in remembering his and their joint working in behalf of the gospel. How much he bore them in his heart appears from the fact that he put up no prayer in which he did not include the Thessalonian Christians, whose work of faith prospered so remarkably, who were unwearied in love, unwavering in hope, who presented a shining example to the communities in Macedonia and Achaia (Greece), and who in the midst of difficulty and persecution had received, and continued to hold fast, faith in Jesus Christ (i.). The Thessalonians themselves knew under what relations he at first had come into connection with them. From Philippi, where he had been 'shamefully entreated,' had he come to their city, nor had he allowed himself to be deterred by the evil he had suffered from proclaiming to them the word of truth. The ground of this joyous confidence and constancy lay in the consciousness which he had that his doctrine rested not on deceit, uncleanness, nor guile, but on a divine commission entrusted of God to the writer. Hence he could appeal to them that he had used no flattery, displayed no selfishness, sought no worldly honour As an apostle, he had rights to which effect might have been given in requirements probably bur densome to others; but he had stood on the suggestions of love, not on the claims of self, foregoing rights in order to perform duties, and so was gentle among them even as a nurse cherishes her children. In truth, this was the only proper course, for it was they, not theirs, that he wished to gain; for which purpose, thinking far more of giving than receiving, and finding them inclined to his hand, he was ready to impart to them, not the gospel only, but his own soul. Hence labours by day and night, in preaching the gospel and gaining the means of subsistence, lest he should be chargeable to any of them. With confidence, therefore, could he call on them to bear witness to his holy, just, and self-denying demeanour in the midst of them; as well as to the paternal earnestness with

which he charged and entreated them to Iwalk worthy of God, who had called them into his glorious kingdom. These things had so wrought with the Thessalonians, that they received Paul's teachings as not of men, but God, thus becoming followers of the Christian churches in Judea. The mention of this part of the earth reminded him that here was the centre of the great influence by which he was opposed, and from which he had recently endured much, even in the spot where Jesus died for the world; whence he is rapidly brought back in thought to the persecutions by which he had been prematurely driven from Thessalonica. His absence, however, was in body, not spirit, which yet had the effect of making him more desirous of paying them a visit. The fulfilment of his wish had hitherto been hindered, but he rejoiced in the thought of that spiritual communion by which they were ever united, and which would find its perfect consummation at the coming of the Lord, when they, his 'glory and joy,' would stand with him in the presence of Jesus (i.). Finding, however, that he could not visit the Thessalonians, and yet being deeply concerned for their welfare, and having waited till his solicitude had become too intense to be endured, he at last sent Timothy to comfort and establish them in the faith during their afflictions-afflictions which, however grievous, had not come upon them unawares, for they had been foretold by Paul himself. Now, however, Timothy had returned, a messenger of good news. The church was walking in faith and charity. Equally they desired with eagerness to see the apostle. This gave Paul comfort. was even life to him. What gratitude to God had it excited in his bosom! The very joy he felt made his desire to visit them more intense. Might God grant him that favour! Might he also perfect the beloved flock in holiness and love, that they might be unblameable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints'! (i). For the furtherance of this important result, Paul proceeds to give a variety of moral and spiritual admonitions, which, as being suitable to the actual condition of members of the church, disclose to us many features that are of an unchristian and reprehensible nature. Even fornication, which heathenism had made habitual, was not wholly laid aside, nor was overreaching and fraud unknown. Hence the necessity of their being reminded that theirs was a call to holiness. In brotherly love they were not lacking,-nay, they had given tokens of it beyond their own limits, even to all the brethren in Macedonia,-yet Paul judged it well to charge them to increase more and more. The new ideas which they had received, especially their notion of the speedy advent of Christ, had produced a degree of agitation of mind, leading some

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It

to neglect their ordinary avocations, on whom he urges the necessity of a quiet and steady pursuit of their business, in order that they might supply their own wants and act honestly towards those who were not of their fold. The church had lost members by death since the visit of the apostle, for whom their relatives bitterly grieved, under the idea that these friends, having departed this life before the coming of the Lord, would thereby suffer a loss, even if it were not their share, in the expected kingdom of glory. This error Paul corrects-the dead would be raised. Even in point of time those who were alive would have no advantage over the deceased, for the latter would be raised first of all; when we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord' (iv.). As to the exact time when this great event would take place, the Thessalonians were already instructed that nothing more was known than that the day of the Lord, coming as a thief in the night, would take men unawares and, alas! unprepared. Let, then, the Thessa lonians make a good use of their knowledge, so as to be ever ready. For the furtherance of their spiritual edification it was needful that they should hold in respect those who were over them in the Lord. Indeed, they must exert a mutual supervision; warning the unruly, comforting the feeble-minded, supporting the weak, being patient towards all. Especially were they to eschew the law of the world in rendering evil for evil, and to follow incessantly that which was good. Their spirit, as followers of Christ, required them not only to pray without ceasing, but to rejoice evermore in every thing, giving thanks to God. Nor were they to despise or repress any word of admonition which a brother might have to give, taking care, while they proved all things, to hold fast that which was good. In the perilous and suspected position in which they stood, they are entreated to avoid even the appearance of evil.

Then follows an earnest prayer that they might be preserved blameless unto the coming of Jesus, a request that they would pray for Paul and his associates, and an injunction that they should all greet each other with a holy kiss, in token of their common remembrance of and interest in their kindhearted teacher. And finally comes a wish on their behalf for grace from the Lord Jesus Christ, after the writer has given a charge that his letter should be read to all the holy brethren (iv. 13—v.).

Such is the first letter of the apostle Paul, the earliest Christian composition extant. Before this, ancient literature has nothing of the kind to offer to our notice; after this, we meet with many similar pieces. We have here, therefore, evidence of the introduction into the world, during the first century, of a