THESSALONICA. 4/1 
dangerous effects of bad air, that it has been ^^^'*' 
said of them, '* they suck it up, as a sponge '- t v ' 
absorbs water :" and this is so strictly true, that 
of all the English who have visited Turkey, 
hardly one has returned without bearing serious 
testimony to the fact. 
"We shall not quit the subject of Thessalonica Antient 
. , . "^ and 
Without adding a few words upon the figure Modem 
made by the Jews of this city in the history of 
our religion : for as the Greek Church had the 
blessing and honour to be taught by the Apostles 
themselves, whatever may be the abject state 
of superstition into which it has since fallen, it 
were str9,nge indeed if the inhabitants of our 
nation, indebted to Christianity for superior 
advantages of civilization and science, did not 
regard with some degree of interest the country 
whence Greece itself received the "things which 
belonged unto her peace." In some respects, 
Thessalonica is the same now it was then : a set comment 
of turbulent Jeivs constituted a very principal paui. 
part of its population: and when St, Paul came 
hither from Philippic where the Gospel was first 
preached, to communicate the "glad tidings" 
to the Thessalonians, the Jeius were in sufficient 
number to " set all the city on an uproar'." In 
(3) AcU xvii. 5. 
