ed-din. All the Christian ruins mentioned by the travellers already quoted had disappeared. In actual importance, however, the town had much increased. The population in 1819 was computed at 10,000, of whom 3000 were Turks, the rest Christians of various denominations (Connor, in Jowett, i. 423). Approached from Tyre the city presented a beautiful appearance, from the trees in the inside, which rise above the wall, and from the ground immediately around it on the outside being planted with orange, lemon, and palm trees. Inside, the streets had the usual narrowness and filth of Turkish towns; the houses solidly built with stone, with flat roofs; the bazaars mean, but tolerably well supplied (Turner, ii. 113). The principal objects were the mosque, the pasha's seraglio, the granary, and the arsenal (Irby and Mangles, p. 195). Of the mosque, which was built by Djezzar Pasha, there is a description by Pliny Fisk (Life, p. 337; also G. Robinson, i. 200). The trade was not considerable; the exports consisted chiefly of grain and cotton, the produce of the neighbouring plain; and the imports chiefly of rice, coffee, and sugar from Damietta (Turner, ii. 112). As thus described, the city was all but demolished in 1832 by the hands of Ibrahim Pasha; and although considerable pains were taken to restore it, yet, as lately as 1837, it still exhibited a most wretched appearance, with ruined houses and broken arches in every direction (Lord Lindsay, Letters, ii. 81).

that conqueror, who, in B.c. 70, reduced Ptolemais, and, while thus employed, received with favour the Jewish embassy which was sent by Queen Alexandra, with valuable presents, to seek his friendship (xiii. 16, 4). A few years after, Ptolemais was absorbed, with all the country, into the Roman empire; and the rest of its ancient history is obscure and of little note. It is only mentioned in the New Testament from St. Paul having spent a day there on his voyage to Cæsarea (Acts xxi. 7). The importance acquired by the last-named city through the mole constructed by Herod, and the safe harbour thus formed, must have had some effect on the prosperity of Ptolemais; but it continued a place of importance, and was the seat of a bishopric in the first ages of the Christian Church. The see was filled sometimes by orthodox and sometimes by Arian bishops; and it has the equivocal distinction of having been the birthplace of the Sabellian heresy (Niceph. vi. 7). Accho, as we may now again call it, was an imperial garrison town when the Saracens invaded Syria, and was one of those that held out until Cæsarea was taken by Amru, in A.D. 638 (Mod. Univ. Hist. i. 473).

The Franks first became masters of it in A.D. 1110, when it was taken by Baldwin, king of Jerusalem. But in A.D. 1187 it was recovered by Salahed-din, who retained it till A.D. 1191, when it was retaken by the Christians. This was the famous siege in which Richard Coeur-de-Lion made so distinguished a figure. The Christians kept it As the fame of Acre is rather modern than bi- exactly one hundred years, or till A.D. 1291; and blical, its history must in this place be briefly it was the very last place of which they were distold. It belonged to the Phoenicians, until they, possessed. It had been assigned to the Knights in common with the Jews, were subjugated by the Hospitallers of Jerusalem, who fortified it strongly, Babylonians. By the latter it was doubtless main- and defended it valiantly, till it was at length tained as a military station against Egypt, as it wrested from them by Khalil ben Kelaoun, Sultan was afterwards by the Persians (Strabo, xvi. p.877). of Egypt, who is called Melek Seruf by Christian In the distribution of Alexander's dominions Ac- writers (D'Herbelot, in 'Acca;' Will. Tyr. l. xxiii. cho fell to the lot of Ptolemy Soter, who valued c. 6, 7; Vitriacus, capp. 25, 99, 100; Quaresmius, the acquisition, and gave it his own name. After- tom.ii. p.897). Under this dominion it remained till wards it fell into the hands of the kings of Syria; A.D. 1517, when the Mamluke dynasty was overand is repeatedly mentioned in the wars of the thrown by Selim I., and all its territories passed Maccabees. It was at one time the head-quarters to the Turks (Chronica de Syria, lib. v. cap. 1; of their heathen enemies (1 Macc. v. 15, 22, 55). Mod. Univ. Hist. b. xv. c. 10, § 2). After this Acre In the endeavour of Demetrius Soter and Alex- remained in quiet obscurity till the middle of the ander Balas to bid highest for the support of Jona- last century, when the Arab Sheikh Daher took than, the latter gave Ptolemais and the lands it by surprise. Under him the place recovered around to the temple at Jerusalem (x. 1, 39). some of its trade and importance. He was sucJonathan was afterwards invited to meet Alex- ceeded by the barbarous but able tyrant Djezzar ander and the king of Egypt at that place, and Pasha, who strengthened the fortifications and imwas treated with great distinction by them (x. 56- proved the town. Under him it rose once more 66); but there he at length (B.c. 144) met his into fame, through the gallant and successful death through the treachery of Tryphon (xii. 48- resistance which, under the direction of Sir Sid50). Alexander Jannæus took advantage of the ney Smith, it offered to the arms of Buonaparte. civil war between Antiochus Philometor and An- After that the fortifications were further strengthtiochus Cyzicenus to besiege Ptolemais, as the only ened, till it became the strongest place in all maritime city in those parts, except Gaza, which Syria. In 1832 the town was besieged for nearly he had not subdued; but the siege was raised by six months by Ibrahim Pasha, during which Ptolemy Lathyrus (then king of Cyprus), who 35,000 shells were thrown into it, and the buildgot possession of the city (Joseph. Antiq. xiii. ings were literally beaten to pieces (Hogg's Da12, 2-6), of which he was soon deprived by his mascus, pp. 160-166). It had by no means mother Cleopatra (xiii. 13, 2). She probably recovered from this calamity, when it was subgave it, along with her daughter Selene, to Anti- jected to the operations of the English fleet under ochus Grypus, king of Syria. At least, after his Admiral Stopford, in pursuance of the plan for death, Selene held possession of that and some restoring Syria to the Porte. On the 3rd of Noother Phoenician towns, after Tigranes, king of vember, 1840, it was bombarded for several hours, Armenia, had acquired the rest of the kingdom when the explosion of the powder-magazine de(xiii. 16, 4). But an injudicious attempt to ex-stroyed the garrison and laid the town in ruins tend her dominions drew upon her the vengeance of (Napier's War in Syria).

senses.

ACCOMMODATION, as used by theological | least, would not disturb the minds of their hearers writers, has been defined to be the application of by correcting their notions on such subjects-the one thing to another by analogy. This definition, advocates of this theory, feeling the difficulty of however, is far from being complete, as the term, fixing the exact limits of the system, or consiat least in modern times, has been used in various dering the only substantial truths to be those of natural religion, proceeded to the length of holding that all beyond these, including every peculiar doctrine of Christianity, was a mere accommodation to the prejudices or expectations of their contemporaries. They thus confounded what was true, viz., accommodation in the form, withwhat was inconsistent with the character of a divine revelation, or even with that of an upright human legislator-accommodation in the matter of their instructions; every thing mysterious and difficult, the very notion that Christianity was a revelation from heaven, was said to be merely a wise condescension to the weakness of former ages; and this system long continued to be the prevalent one in Germany. Others have maintained that the sacred writers were themselves not free from the errors and prejudices of their countrymen, and that, instead of accommodating themselves to these, they were only teaching what they believed to be true. The question has assumed a new shape since the

to which the apostles have been placed, in regard to their interpretations, said to be derived from the Rabbinical schools, on a level with the mass of their countrymen. The general inclination and tendency of the system is this-that in the New Testament we shall find only the opinions of Christ and the apostles, and not religious and eternal truths. The principle of dogmatical accommodation, to a certain extent, has, in various degrees, exercised from an early age an influence on the interpretation of the Scriptures; but it did not assume its present form before the time of Semler, in whose writings we find the germ, at least, of that system which has been considered as the most formidable weapon ever devised for the destruction of Christianity (Rose's Protestantism in Germany, p. 75, Lond. 1829).

It has been applied to the form of instruction in which it has pleased the Almighty to communicate his will to mankind. Thus the sensible images and anthropomorphitic expressions which were used for the conveyance of divine truths, especially in the infancy of mankind, are frequently denominated accommodation. To express this sense the term divine condescension has been also employed. It is meant thereby that God, in order to lead mankind to a knowledge of religion and morality, humbled himself to the weakness, the prevailing ignorance, modes of thought, and spiritual wants of men, and communicated truths under various images [ANTHROPOMORPHISM]. When it is considered that the first oracles of our holy religion are the earliest monuments of human thought extant, and preserve the memorials of the infancy of society, and that, in order to attain their end-that of communicating instruction-they must be accommo-rise and development of this latter view, according dated in their form to the prevalent modes of thought and language, we may readily perceive the reasons for the employment of figurative expressions and typical symbols. (See Archbishop Whately's Bampton Lectures; also, Lectures on Theology, by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, Lond. 1836). This is called divine condescension, in order to distinguish it from human, which consists in a teacher's adapting himself to the modes of thought and imperfections of men, with the design of leading them to fresh knowledge and better views. This is considered to be a necessary condescension to the weakness of the ignorant and uncivilized. Few, it is maintained, would have received wholesome truths if the teacher had not regulated himself according to this system, at least, in matters of subordinate import, so far as this could be done without prejudice to the truth. The person who employs this method is said to speak кaт' oiкovoμlav, or economically (See Seiler's Biblical Hermeneutics, by the Rev. W. Wright, LL.D., Lond. 1834, § 31, &c.). Symbols, types, parables, and allegories are included under this form of instruction, of which, in all its parts, the inspired teachers, both under the former as well as the Christian dispensation, are considered to have availed themselves in the communication of the divine will. They conformed themselves to the capacities of their hearers, and did not think it necessary to refute such of their errors as had no connection with religious truths. But in modern times, and especially within the last half-century, the principle of accommodation in dogmatic theology has, in the interpretation of the Scriptures, far exceeded these limits. While sober interpreters allowed that it was the duty of a religious instructor to reserve the inculcation of certain religious truths, which the hearers were yet inadequate to comprehend, or admitted that the inspired teachers adopted the prevailing opinions in natural science, or even in regard to genealogical records, or points of chronology and other topics unconnected with the salvation of mankind-such as the reved popular notions respecting demons-or, at

The dogmatical accommodation has been also called, in latter times, historical interpretation, in contradistinction to grammatical, or doctrinal, inasmuch as it refers to the alleged transient opinions of a peculiar age, which the inspired teachers are said to have employed in their instructions. Those who support this theory are strongly opposed to verbal, or what they designate literal criticism, which they contemn as being barren, minute, and of little value, as if it had reference only to words and syllables; but experience has shown that where verbal criticism has been neglected, literature has been unknown or uncultivated (Preface to Tittman's Meletemata Sacra. See also Storr, De Sensu Historico Scripturæ Sacra, and his Dissertation on the Object of the Death of Christ; also his Confidential Letters on the subject of Religion; Haupt's Bemerkungen über die Lehrart Jesu; Heringa, Verhandeling, ten betooge, dat Jesus end zyn Apostelen zich doorgaans niet geschikt hebben naar de Verkeerde denkbeelden hunne tydgeenooten; Reason and Revelation, by Crusius; Planck's Introduction to Theological Sciences, in Biblical Cabinet, vol. vii.; Less's Letters on the Principle of Accommodation; Lang, in Flatt's Magazine; Meyer's Attempt; Tzschirner's Memorabilia; and Starck's Dialogues, pp.

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