SECTION From the Birth to the Death of Christ. THE kingdom of the Messiah forms an important article in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Those holy men who, from time to time, were raised up to exercise their ministry in the Jewish church, had foretold the advent of this illustrious personage, and described, in the most glowing colors, the majesty of his character, the extent and perpetuity of his empire, the blessings of his government, and the happiness which his subjects should enjoy under his mild and gentle reign. Accordingly, the chosen tribes, throughout successive ages, anticipated his appearance with eager expectation. It was a custom among the eastern monarchs, when entering upon an expedition, to send harbingers before them to announce their approach, and prepare for their reception. Isaiah had taught the Jews to expect that such also should be the case with their promised Messiah; that he should be preceded by “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 40:3.)

In conformity with this prediction, the sacred historian informs us that the joyful intelligence of the Messiah’s immediate appearance was announced, in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, by the preaching of John the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea. (Luke 3:1.)

The leading object of John’s ministry was to proclaim the kingdom of heaven at hand; in virtue of which he called upon all who heard him, to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins; whilst the testimony that he bore to the character of his divine Master, was the most honorable that can be conceived. (Matthew 3:1.)

The Jewish Sanhedrim, hearing of his fame, sent to interrogate him, whether he were the promised Messiah; and if not, to inform them what he professed himself to be. John immediately directed their attention to the prophecy of Isaiah, declaring that he was merely the herald of his Sovereign—“the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah.”—That there stood among them, one whom they knew not, whose character was infinitely more dignified than his own—one who, though he came after him, was preferred before him, and so much his superior, that he considered himself not worthy to loose even the latchet of his shoe. (John 1:19-27.)

When Jesus had attained the age of thirty, the period of life at which the priests entered upon their ministrations in the temple, and was about to commence his public ministry, he was solemnly inaugurated in his sacred office by means of the ordinance of baptism, administered by the hands of his fore-runner. Impressed with sentiments of the most profound veneration for his Lord, John hesitated, saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” Jesus, however, reminded him, that there was a necessity for this—that his baptism was to serve as an emblematical figure of the manner in which he was to accomplish the work of human redemption: for as in baptism the individual is buried under, and raised again from lhe water, even so it became him to fulfill all righteousness, by dying for the sins of his people, and rising again for their justification. This being, accordingly, transacted in a figure, the evangelist informs us, that “the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighted upon Jesus, and a voice was heard from heaven, declaring, “This Is My Beloved Son, In Whom I Am Well Pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17.)

The ministry of Jesus, which continued during a period of three years, was restricted to the benefit of the Jewish nation. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles sums it up in two words, “He did and taught.” (Acts 1:1.) He went about all Galilee “teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matthew 4:53.)

His doctrine comprehended the nature and perfections of God—the misery of fallen man—a declaration of his own character as the Son of God and promised Messiah—the design of his mission into this world, which was to seek and save the lost, to give his life a ransom for many, and call sinners to repentance—the immortality of the soul—the resurrection from the dead—the certainty of a future state of rewards and punishments— that HE was appointed of God to judge the world in righteousness at the last day; and, finally, the gracious promise, that whosoever believeth the divine testimony concerning himself shall not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 4:24 ch 3:3-19.; Matthew 16:26; John 5:27-29; Mark 16:15,16.)

In his doctrine he rescued the moral law from the false glosses imposed upon it by the Scribes and Pharisees; unfolded its spirituality and extent, as requiring perfect love to God and man; and enforced its indispensable obligation upon all men as the rule of their correspondence with God; declaring that he himself came not to abrogate or annul one tittle, but to fulfill its utmost requirements, by his own obedience and conformity thereunto, and adopting it as the unalterable law of his kingdom, which is to regulate the conduct of his disciples to the end of time. (Matthew 5,6,7.)

The fame of this divine teacher soon spread “throughout all Syria,” and “multitudes of people from Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from all parts of Judea, and even from beyond Jordan, resorted to him to hear his discourses and be healed of their infirmities.” (Matthew 4:24,25.)

The miracles which he wrought from time to time, were the filllest attestation of his mission that could possibly be given; for they demonstrated that “God was with him.” (Acts 10:38.) They were performed at his word, in an instant, on persons both near and at a distance; they were done by him in the most public and open manner—at Jerusalem and in every part of Judea and Galilee—in cities, in villages, in synagogues, in private houses, in the public streets, and in the high-ways, in the fields, and in the wilderness—upon Jews and Gentiles—before Scribes and Pharisees and rulers of the synagogues—not only when he was attended by few persons, but when surrounded by great multitudes—and in a word, before men of every diversity of character. They were in themselves of such a nature as to bear the strictest examination, and they had every thing about them which could possibly distinguish them from the delusions of enthusiasm, and the artifices of imposture. Accordingly we find him appealing to them with all the confidence of an upright mind, fully impressed with a consciousness of their truth and reality. The appeal was short, simple, and decisive. He seldom reasoned on either their nature or design, but generally pointed to them as plain and indubitable facts, which spake their own meaning and carried with them their own authority.

They were too public to be suspected of imposture; and being the objects of sense, they were secured against the charge of enthusiasm. They had no disguise, and were, in a variety of instances, of such a nature as to preclude the very possibility of collusion. They were performed in the midst of his bitterest enemies, and were so palpable and certain as to extort from them the acknowledgment, that “this man doth many miracles; if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him.” An inattentive reader of the evangelic history would be led to conclude, from the accounts that are given us of the multitudes who followed Jesus, that the number of his disciples was immense. But we have frequent intimations of the fallacy of implicitly trusting to appearances in these things. Were we to consider only the interesting nature of his doctrine, the wisdom and energy with which it was delivered, and the stupendous works of supernatural power by which it was accompanied—the little success that attended it, must have ever remained a source of perplexity to us; but the problem is solved by admitting the scriptural account of the depravity of the human mind, its alienation from God, and its natural enmity against his truth. The reception which the Messiah was to meet with, had been described by an ancient prophet in these remarkable words, “Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”—And the event justified the prediction. Some few indeed, and those chiefly from among the inferior ranks in life, believed on him as the hope of Israel, and found in him all their salvation and desire; and while his claims of being the Messiah were generally set at nought by their countrymen, they could say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68,69.)

From among these latter, Jesus selected twelve whom he named apostles, and whom he qualified and sent forth to preach the doctrine of his kingdom, and to cure diseases; and sometime afterwards he appointed seventy others also to labor in his vineyard. These he sent forth, two and two, into every city and place to which he himself would come, as his heralds, announcing his approach, and calling all descriptions of persons to repent and believe the gospel. (Luke 10:1-16.)

It appears from the testimony of ancient historians, that about the time of Christ’s appearing, the Jews anxiously expected him as the great deliverer and chief ornament of their nation; and even among the heathens an opinion was at that time prevalent, probably derived from the Hebrew prophets, that a prince of unparalleled glory was to arise in Judea, who was to found a kind of universal monarchy. 3 But in the humble appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jews found nothing that corresponded to the expectations they entertained on this subject. Their vain hearts, like those of the generality of menin all ages, were so intoxicated with the admiration of worldly pomp, that that was the only greatness for which they had any relish; and hence they formed a picture of him, who was the desire of all nations, very unlike the original. Nor was the doctrine which he inculcated more suited to their taste, than his personal appearance answered to their expectations. For, while they fostered the presumptuous imagination, that in virtue of the privileges they enjoyed as God’s covenanted people, and especially as being the descendants of Abraham, they had a peculiar claim to the Divine favor and to all the blessings of their Messiah’s kingdom, both Jesus and his fore-runner boldly attacked this master-prejudice, and evinced the futility of every such plea. They were now called upon to give up the erroneous sentiments which they entertained respecting their own characters, the way of acceptance with God, and the nature and blessings of their Messiah’s reign, on pain of incurring eternal ruin. For whereas they expected eternal life as the reward of their Jewish privileges, or of their own personal righteousness, they were now taught, that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; that the Son of God came to be lifted up upon the cross, as the antitype of the brazen serpent which Moses elevated in the wilderness, that whosoever, not of the Jews only, but among the Gentiles also, believed in him, should not perish, but obtain eternal life. (John 3:16,17.)

And, with regard to the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom, the doctrines of Jesus were equally at variance with their fondest hopes; for, while they ardently longed for the accomplishment of the promises which God had made unto their fathers by the prophets, they seem in general to have had no other object in view than the establishment of a temporal monarchy, like the other kingdoms of this world, though doubtless much surpassing them in all its extent and splendor. Accordingly, being interrogated by their leaders “when the kingdom of God should come,” Jesus perceived the mistake of their hearts, and to correct it, told them that “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation”—that is, it did not at all resemble the kingdoms of this world—it was not to strike the senses of men by the glare of worldly grandeur; for as it is wholly spiritual, consisting in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, he added, “the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20,21.) So also when he spake to them concerning their bondage to sin and vassalage to Satan, the god of this world, with the necessity of being set free from this spiritual tyranny before they could participate of the liberty of the sons of God, they resented it as the highest insult that could be offered them; “We are Abraham’s seed,” say they, “and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, ye shall be made free.” (John 8.)

If we keep in view these false principles by which the minds of the Jewish people were led astray, the invincible obstinacy of their prejudices, and the contrariety of the doctrine and character of Jesus thereto, we shall cease to wonder at the issue to which matters were ultimately reduced between them. When he avowed himself to be the Son of God, and claimed equality with theMOST HIGH, they resisted his pretensions and accused him of blasphemy. And when he acknowledged his regal character, they charged him with treason against the Roman government. On these grounds they demanded his death, and “the voice of them and of the chief priests prevailed.” (Luke 23:23.)

It cannot be necessary to pursue this part of the narrative in detail, since the result must be familiar to every Christian. “They that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which were read every Sabbath-day,—they fulfilled them in condemning him; and though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain; and when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.

ButGOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.” (Acts 13:27-30.)

SECTION THE SUBJECT CONTINUED From the Resurrection of Christ to the Promulgation of the Gospel among the Gentiles. THE resurrection of Jesus is an article of such importance in the system of Christianity, that, like the key-stone in the arch of the building, it is emphatically that which supports the whole superstructure. “If Christ be not risen,” says the apostle, “then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: yea, and we are found false witnesses of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:14-19.)

That the Messiah should rise again from the dead, was an event clearly predicted in ancient prophecy; (Psalm 2; Psalm 16:10,11; Isaiah 53:10-12.) and Jesus himself repeatedly foretold both the fact of his rising, and the day on which it should happen, not only to his disciples but to his enemies also, and even rested the evidence of his divine mission upon that event. (See Matthew 16:21 and 17:23 and 20:19 also 12:38; John 2:18-20 and 10:17 and 8:28 also Matthew 27:53.) Of the truth and certainty of his resurrection, then, the apostles were witnesses, and they were every way qualified for substantiating the fact. “He was seen by them alive, after his crucifixion. It was not one person, but many who saw him. They saw him not only separately but together, not only by night but by day, not at a distance but near, not once only but several times. They not only saw him but touched him, conversed with him, ate with him, examined his person to remove their doubts.” 1 — “He shewed himself alive to them after his passion by many infallible signs, being seen of them forty days,” during which time “he spake to them concerning the kingdom of God,” (Acts 1:3.) which they were to be employed in setting up in the world.

To qualify them for this vast achievement he had promised to pour down upon them the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, and directed them to wait at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.

When thus fitted for their work, they were enjoined to “go and teach all nations,” or Iproclaim to them the glad tidings of salvation, to baptize all who believed the gospel, and then further to instruct them in all his commands. (Luke 24:19; Acts 1:4.) In doing this, they were to be witnesses for him both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. (Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:16.)

Thus having delivered to them his last injunctions, he led them out as fac as Bethany, where he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and while engaged in the very act of benediction, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven, a cloud receiving him out of their sight. (Luke 24:50,51; Acts 1:8.)

When the seventh Sabbath from the passover was completely ended, and the next day or first day of the week fully come, that is, fifty days after Christ’s resurrection, and ten days after his ascension, the apostles, with the hundred and twenty disciples, were all assembled together with one accord, agreeably to their stated practice. (John 20:19,26; Acts 2:1; Corinthians 16:1, 2.) “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, sitting upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2-4.)

Such is the account given to us by the Spirit of inspiration concerning this extraordinary interposition of heaven, and the effects which it produced upon the apostles were certainly of the most stupendous kind. For, it is evident, that a flood of light now broke in upon their minds, as it were instantaneously, instructing them in the meaning of the prophetical writings, far beyond what they had hitherto attained; removing the films of prejudice which clouded their understandings, and leading them into just views of the spiritual and heavenly nature of their Lord’s kingdom. Upon many occasions, during his personal intercourse with them, they had discovered strong prejudices in firour of a worldly kingdom, and slowness of heart to believe all that the prophets had written: and even when their Lord had risen from the dead, and was about to ascend into heaven, they asked him, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6.) But the illumination which now filled their minds, removed their ignorance, rectified their misapprehensions, and conformed their views to the scope of all the prophets, as well as to the doctrine which they had received from the lips of Christ himself.

It is also manifest that this effusion of the Holy Spirit had an amazing effect upon the apostles in animating them with a spirit of power, magnanimity, and zeal in their master’s service. While he was yet with them, we may trace in their history numerous marks of timidity and weakness under the anticipation of danger. Such were their efforts to prevent his going into, Judea: and their forsaking him at the time of his apprehension; on which occasion, it is recorded that they all forsook him and fled; even Peter, the most intrepid among them, denied that he knew him. But what a revolution took place in their conduct in this respect after the day of pentecost. We behold them inspired with fortitude and resolution to declare their testimony before magistrates and rulers, regardless of personal danger, and even “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his sake.”

But the most astonishing effect of all was, that they were hereby qualified for speaking various languages which they had never learned, thus making known their message to men of all nations under heaven, and confirming its truth by performing such miraculous works as were an evident indication that God was with them. This indeed was in perfect consistency with Christ’s promise to them when he said, “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” An occurrence so remote from the common course of nature, we may readily suppose, would produce an astonishing sensation upon those who were witnesses of it. The sudden ability of so many rude and illiterate Galileans, to speak perfectly in all languages—to express themselves with propriety and force, so as not only to be clearly understood, but to impress the consciences of the hearers, was a phenomenon which carried with it a proof of. Divine interposition too incontestible to admit of a rational doubt. Those who first observed it spake of it to others, and a rumor spread abroad. Jerusalem was at the moment the resort of Jews and Jewish proselytes dispersed throughout the various parts of the Roman empire, and multitudes had come from different countries to celebrate the feast. The promiscuous throng, who were collected by so strange a report, and had been accustomed to different languages, were therefore greatly astonished to hear them declare, each one in his own tongue, the wonderful works of God. While some expressed their surprise at this, others ascribed it to the effects of wine.

This weak and perverse slander was, however, immediately refuted by the apostle Peter, who, standing up with the other eleven apostles, lifted up his voice and said unto them:— “Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you that these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day 2 —but this is that which is spoken by the prophet Joel.” (Acts 2:14-16.)

He then quotes the words of Jehovah in which he had promised to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh—attended with the most awful denunciations against those who should despise it, but with a gracious promise of salvation to all that should call upon the name of the Lord. The illustration of this remarkable prophecy, and its application to what was now obvious to all their senses, paved the way for the apostle’s drawing their attention to the great subject of his ministry, the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had taken and by wicked hands had crucified and slain.

The Holy Spirit gave energy to his doctrine. Like a torrent, it bore down all the vain imaginations and presumptuous reasonings by which the minds of his hearers were fortified; it reached conviction to their consciences; so that, like men frantic with despair, they cried out in the anguish of their hearts, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” To persons reduced to this extremity, conscious that they had been imbruing their hands in the blood of the Son of God, how unspeakably welcome must have been the words of the apostle, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost; for the promise is to you and your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:38.)

This divine declaration of mercy, to men in the situation of these convicted Jews, pricked to the heart with a consciousness of their guilt and overwhelmed with despair, must have been like life from the dead. Three thousand of them joyfully received the apostle’s doctrine, were baptized, and the same day added to the number of disciples that already existed in Jerusalem.

And here we contemplate the beginning of the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in the world; or, which is the same thing, the erection of the first Christian church. But before proceeding further, it may not be improper to pause, and endeavor to trace out a concise description of it in a few leading particulars.

When Jesus was interrogated by the Roman governor concerning his claim to royalty, he replied that his kingdom was not of this world; and in the church of Jerusalem we see the truth of this exemplified. We there behold a company of self-condemned sinners, who under the impending wrath of heaven had fled for refuge to the mercy of God, freely proclaimed to them in the gospel of salvation. They were persons who believed what these inspired witnesses testified concerning the mission, the character, the sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of the Son of God; and who, under all their accumulated guilt and wretchedness, found enough in these things to encourage their hope of forgiveness, and even fill their souls with peace and joy. The gospel which the apostles preached, was that which exactly suited their case—it contained no rules or directions about what they should do in order to atone for their deep and aggravated guilt; for they found all that was necessary to satisfy the most troubled conscience in the doctrine concerning the Son of God, as delivered for the offenses of the guilty and raised again for their justification.

Hence we see that, in obedience to his command, “those who gladly received the truth, were baptized” in the name of the Lord Jesus. In this ordinance they confessed their faith in him as the Son of God, who died for their sins, was buried, and rose again the third day; publicly professing that all their hope of salvation centered in these things. They separated themselves from “an untoward generation;” and “all that believed were together.” They received from the apostles the various ordinances of public worship, the apostles’ doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the ordinances of prayer and praise; and in these things they continued steadfastly, having favor with all the people and receiving into their number, from time to time, such individuals as it pleased the Lord to call to the knowledgeof the truth.

The doctrine which they believed, and in which they found all their happiness and joy, was the common bond of union among them. They loved one another for the truth’s sake, which dwelt mutually in them. To this they were naturally attached, as being the common center of their hope and joy; and it prompted them to take a lively interest in each other’s spiritual welfare. Having experienced much forgiveness at the hands of God, they were influenced to love much. And this love was not an inactive, dormant principle in them, for it manifested itself in the most substantial acts of kindness and liberality. “There were none among them that lacked; or as many as were possessed of lands or houses sold them, and laid the amount down at the apostles’ feet, and distribution was made according as every man had need.” (Acts 4:34.)

It is evident, therefore, that they were not connected together by any of those ties which constitute the spring of action in the kingdoms of this world. In men actuated by such noble and disinterested principles, human policy could have no place. Their fears, their hopes, their joys, and their sorrows, were all of a spiritual and heavenly tendency; and they were animated by one object of pursuit, the attainment of that glory, honor, and immortality, promised them by the Lord Jesus.

Thus was the kingdom of Christ established with all possible evidence that it was not of this world, What laws were given were of Divine origin and authority,w they were held superior to all other laws. We ought, say the servants of Jesus, to obey God rather than man. What power appeared, was the power of God working in a miraculous manner, and with supernatural efficacy. The design of this extraordinary interposition was not to restore again the kingdom to Israel, or to bestow the honors and the riches of the world on the followers of Christ; but to deliver them from the present evil world, and save them from perishing in the destruction that awaits it. So far were they from being allowed the hope of reigning in this life, that they were assured of being exposed to poverty, contempt, and every form of persecution. Neither their principles nor their practices were conformable to this world; nor were their hopes or fears to be engaged by the concerns of it; but they were to wait for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and expect to reign with him in glory.

If this be a just representation of the church or kingdom of Christ as it appeared in its establishment, it is manifest that, wherever we trace it in subsequent periods, we must find something that resembles it in its leading features. We shall discern a people, holding the same views of the character and work of the Savior, owning subjection to him as the king whom God hath set upon his holy hill of Zion; evincing their allegiance to him by an implicit obedience to his laws, institutions, and ordinances; and discarding the doctrines and commandments of men. As the church at Jerusalem was the first Christian church established by the ministry of the apostles, so it was designed to serve as a pattern, in its faith and order, to all succeeding churches, to the end of the world. It was constituted under the direction of the twelve inspired apostles, who for a course of time acted as the elders, bishops, or overseers of the flock of Christ, took up their station in it, and under Divine direction, gave forth the law to regulate the practices of all other churches: for out of Zion was to go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Acts 15:6, 22-29; Isaiah 2:2.)

Having briefly glanced at this heavenly kingdom in its first establishment, and seen its origin, nature, laws, immunities, and the character of its subjects, I now proceed to trace its subsequent history, agreeably to the account given of it by the prophet Daniel. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms; and it shall stand for ever.” Daniel 2:44.

The success which attended the first publication of the gospel, is very beautifully described in the Book of the Revelation, ch. 6:1, 2, by a vision which the apostle had of the Lamb, opening the first seal. “And I saw,” says he, “and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.” The history of the apostles and first preachers affords a striking comment on these words, at the same time that it illustrates to us an ancient prediction concerning the Messiah; (Psalm 110:2.) for now we see the standard of Christ first erected as an ensign to the nations; from hence went forth the rod of his strength, by which he ruled in the midst of his enemies, and (from that time, or) in that day of his power, the willing nations submitted to him cheerfully, and “numerous as drops of morning dew.”

Among the Jews there were daily three stated hours of prayer, at which time some went up to the temple, and others prayed in their own houses with their faces directed towards the temple. The first of these stated times of devotion was at nine in the morning, which was the time of their offering the lamb for the morning sacrifice; the second at twelve at noon, called by them the time of the great meat-offering; and the third, at three in the afternoon, when they offered the lamb for the evening sacrifice. Two of the apostles, viz. Peter and John, going up together into the temple, on one of these occasions, were addressed by a poor cripple, who solicited alms from them. The man had been lame from his infancy, and was carried daily to the gate of the temple, where he importuned the alms of the worshippers as they passed him. The apostles fixing their eyes upon him, demanded his attention to what they were about to say; assured him that silver and gold they had none, but that such as they had they were ready to. communicate, adding, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:1, etc.) The power of the glorified Savior gave energy to the word of his servants. Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up; his feet and uncle boiles received strength, and the invalid was in an instant restored to the entire and perfect exercise of his limbs. Wonder and amazement seized the minds of the spectators of this miracle; the people collected together in vast concourse around the apostles in Solomon’s porch, “greatly wondering” at what had taken place, but wholly unable to account for it. Peter seized the opportunity. a most favorable one unquestionably, to draw their attention to the grand theme of his ministry, the death and the resurrection of his Lord. He first reprehended their stupidity in supposing for a moment, that a work so far exceeding the power of man, and so much above the course of nature, could have been accomplished by their own agency, or in virtue of their own holiness; pressed home upon them their guilt in putting to death the Prince of Life; boldly testified that God had raised him again from the dead; and declared that the miracle which they had witnessed, was effected solely by the power of Christ. The apostle admitted that their guilt had arisen from their own ignorance, and that of their rulers; and that God, whose province it is to educe good out of evil; who makes the wrath of man to praise him, and ordereth all things after the counsel of his own will, had over-ruled their wicked devices to subserve at once his own glory and the happiness of sinful man. He, therefore, exhorted them to repent and believe the gospel which he now preached, and which it was the Divine good pleasure should first of all be made known among them who were the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with the fathers. He declared to them that Jesus of Nazareth was that great Prophet whose coming had been foretold by Moses, and of whom he was only the type; that it was their indispensable duty to hear HIM in all things whatsoever he should speak; and reminded them of the warning which Moses himself had denounced against every one that should not hear that great Prophet. “Unto you first,” says he, “God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

This discourse produced a second harvest of converts to the Christian faith; for “many who heard the word believed; the number being about five thousand.” (Acts 4:1.)

By this time, however, the enemies of Jesus began to take the alarm. Peter had scarcely done speaking, when the priests and Sadducees, with the captain of the temple, rushing upon them, forcibly apprehended Peter and John, and committed them to prison. On the following day the Jewish Sanhedrim, their supreme court of judicature, was convened. It consisted of the rulers or chief priests; the heads of the twenty-four courses; the elders of the other tribes; and the Scribes who were doctors of the law, commonly of the tribe of Levi. This great national council sat at Jerusalem.

Annas, who had formerly been high-priest, but now ejected by the Roman procurator, was with them, and Caiaphas (his son-in-law) who was now high-priest; the very persons who had procured the death of Jesus Christ, and who of course were highly concerned to suppress this new doctrine.

John and Alexander, two distinguished personages among the Jews, with others who were related to the high priest, were also present upon this interesting occasion. It was the custom for the Sanhedrim to sit almost in a circle, and to place the prisoners in its center. The apostles being now brought out and placed in the midst, it was demanded of them to say by what power, or by what name, they had performed the wonderful cure on the preceding day.

Peter, who had formerly trembled at the voice of a girl, was now not afraid to use the utmost freedom with the council and heads of the Jewish nation.

He confessed the name and cause of Jesus; charged home upon their consciences the guilt of putting him to death; assured them the miracle was wrought in his name and by his power; and while he pointed their attention to the voices of their own prophets, declaring that “the stone which should be set at nought of the builders, would become the head of the corner;” finally averred that Jesus was the alone medium of salvation to the children of men.

A little reflection upon this strange scene will be sufficient to apprise us of the dilemma in which the Sanhedrim was now involved. On the one hand, the fortitude, the wisdom, and the composure of the apostles struck them with surprise: for they perceived that they were men destitute of the advantages of education, and had no pretensions to what the world calls wisdom. They were recognized by some as the former companions of Jesus previous to his crucifixion, in whose name they now declared the miracle to have been wrought; and the man who had been healed stood before them. There was no reasoning against matter of fact; the thing carried its own evidence along with it. But the question now was, how should the difficulty be got over? They, therefore, ordered the apostles out of court; held a solemn council among themselves; confessed that the miracle was incontrovertible; but that the best way of getting rid of the business was, as far as in them lay, to quash all further inquiry into this mysterious affair, and dismiss the apostles with a strict injunction that they should teach no more in the name of Jesus!

The number of the disciples continued to increase in Jerusalem, and, from the church there, the word of the Lord sounded out into the adjacent parts.

The presence of Christ was conspicuously displayed among his people. “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul;” the apostles were armed with fortitude to bear testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and “great grace was upon them all.” The instituted discipline of the house of God was manifested, by punishing, in the persons of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, the odious crimes of dissimulation and hypocrisy; and this awful manifestation of the Divine jealously and holiness impressed the whole church with reverence and fear; while “believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.” (Acts 5:14.) Then it was that Zion “looked forth as the morning, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.” The Sadducees, it would seem, had, at this time, the chief sway in the Jewish state. Josephus, their own historian, has described them “as remarkable for a fierce and cruel temper: and that, particularly when they sat in judgment, they were much more rigorous and severe than the Pharisees.” 4 Of this sect were Caiaphas, the high-priest, and his party.

They heard of the progress of the gospel, and were filled with indignation.

Upon this occasion all the apostles seem to have been the victims of their rage. They were seized and confined in the common prison. But how futile is the rage of man when opposing the counsels of heaven! One stronger than the whole Sanhedrim, even the Lord Jesus, dispatched his angel that same night, who opened the prison doors and brought out the apostles, directing them to go in the morning into their very temple, and there speak to the people all the words of this life. How great must have been the amazement of the Sanhedrim at hearing, on their assemblage on the morrow, and giving commandment to have the apostles brought forth, that the officers found the prison doors shut with all possible safety, and the guards at their posts, but not a prisoner within; and that the apostles were, at that moment, in the temple, teaching the people.

The report, as may easily be imagined struck an unusual damp upon the whole court, who finding themselves so frequently foiled, began to hesitate about the result of all this. They had obstinately resisted the divine mission of Jesus, supported as it was by the most unquestionable miracles; and they had at length succeeded in putting him to death. Now they congratulated themselves that there was an end to him and his cause.

But when they found his disciples, after his death, affirming that God had raised him from the dead, and exalted him to the highest glory in heaven; that they carried on the same design, and that they wrought miracles in his name, they could see no end of the affair, and were wholly at a loss what course to take. Add to all this, that the sentiments of the multitude were now evidently with the apostles, and some little prudence was necessary, while they punished the latter, that they did not bring down upon their own heads the vengeance of the former. The officers, however, were sent to take them, and enjoined to do it without violence. The apostles peaceably yielded themselves; and being brought before the council, were severely reprehended for disregarding the late prohibition they had received from the council. They answered with their usual firmness, as they had done upon a former occasion, that it was only reasonable they should obey God, rather than man; but they avowed their determination to persevere, and even charged the Sanhedrim, in terms more pointed than ever they had yet done, with being the betrayers and murderers of the Lord of life. They, at the same time, asserted that “God had raised up Jesus from the dead, and exalted him to his right hand in heaven, to be a Prince and Savior, to dispense repentance to Israel, and the remission of sins.”

It is manifest that matters were now arrived at the utmost crisis, between the apostles and the Jewish rulers, who were cut to the heart by the answer which the former had given them. The rage of the Sadducees could no longer be restrained; and the destruction of the apostles was the first thing that occurred to them:—A true picture of the spirit of bigotry in every age, when men armed with power have been engaged in opposing the cause of truth and justice. But God, who in his overruling providence, had hitherto guarded the lives of his servants, and had still further occasion for their labors, restrained the wrath of the Jewish rulers, and averted the purposes of this confederacy. There was among them a certain doctor of the Jewish law, of the sect of the Pharisees, (said to have been the son of good old Simeon, mentioned Luke 2:25,) and certainly the preceptor of the famous apostle Paul, a person of great eminence in his profession, and deservedly venerated for his prudent counsel in cases of difficulty.

Gamaliel, after requesting that the. apostles might withdraw a little while from the hall of justice, gave his advice that they should let those men alone. He reminded them of the fate of several impostors who had risen up among them from time to time, but who had all come to ruin; and that if this new sect were a mere human institution, it was unnecessary to give themselves any trouble to suppress it, for it would of itself quickly come to an end; but if it were really of God, all their opposition would be in vain, and they themselves would only be found ultimately fighting against heaven. The advice of Gamaliel prevailed; the apostles were again called in, and again commanded not to speak ally more in the name of Jesus; yet, to save appearances, they were not dismissed until they had been scourged and enjoined silence. But neither the stripes nor the injunctions had any influence upon them; they “retired from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, whilst daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:41.)

At this interesting period, while Satan’s kingdom fell like lightning from heaven before the preaching of the everlasting gospel, and the number of the Christians was daily encreasing, a circumstance arose in the church, which demanded the attention and engaged the wisdom of the apostles, The church, though consisting wholly of Hebrews, comprised two classes of persons: one party understood only the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, which was used in their synagogues at Jerusalem and its vicinity; while the other had been accustomed chiefly to the use of the Greek language, into which the Old Testament Scriptures had been translated, (the version which we now call the septuagint) and which had been for some time in common use, previous to the coming of Christ, in all the Jewish synagogues dispersed throughout the cities of Greece, as well as in Egypt.

These last were called Hellenists, or Grecians; and of them it would appear, there were at that time many in Jerusalem, members of the church.

As the multitude relieved out of the common tund was very great, it can excite no surprise that a few individuals were occasionally overlooked.

Hence a “murmuring is said to have been excited among the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.” (Acts 6:1, etc.)

Hitherto the twelve apostles had executed the different offices of apostle, elder, and deacon—the former or highest office in the Christian church, being evidently considered as including every inferior one. To redress the alleged grievance, the apostles convened the whole church, stated to them that the ministry of the word of God was that which claimed their own primary attention, and how unsuitable it would be for them to neglect it for the sake of attending to the poor; they therefore recommended it to their brethren to look out among themselves for seven men, full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit, to be appointed over this matter. “But we,” say they, “will give ourselves wholly to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

The proposal met the cordial approbation of all the church; and thus the office of deacon was instituted. They chose Stephen, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. Some of them (probably all) were occasionally engaged in preaching the gospel, but this was no part of their office as deacons, the latter being restricted to the serving of tables, or ministering to the wants of the poor.

There were in Jerusalem a great number of synagogues, to which the people resorted for religious instruction. One of these was called the synagogue of the Libertines; that is, such Jews and proselytes as had been Roman slaves, but had obtained their freedom, or were the descendants of such free men. It was also the resort of the Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and those who came from Cilicia, (among whom, in all probability, was Saul of Tarsus (Acts 23:34; 21:39.) as well as others that came from Asia Minor. Stephen, by the boldness of his doctrine, and the miracles which he wrought among the people in attestation of it, had attracted the attention of certain persons belonging to that synagogue, who undertook to dispute with him; but not being able to resist the wisdom and the energy with which he spake, they had recourse to the old method of persecution. They suborned men to accuse him of blasphemy against Moses and against God.

By this artifice Stephen was brought before the Sanhodrim, where, though alone and unsupported, in the midst of fhrious enemies, he stood firm and unmoved, like a rock in the midst of the waves. “And all that sat in the council looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” (Acts 6:15.)

The noble defense which Stephen delivered on this occasion, will be found in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, to which I must refer the reader; its length precludes its insertion; and to abridge would be to injure it.

But what avail signs and wonders, the most splendid appeals of eloquence, or the most forcible convictions of truth, among the obdurate and incorrigible? For, notwithstanding the goodness of his cause, the miracles which he had wrought to support it, the lustre with which he now appeared, and the eloquence which flowed in torrents from his lips, “they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him to death.” (Acts 7:57-60.)

His dying deportment evinced how eminently he was filled with the spirit of his divine Master, and is a pattern to all who are called to suffer in the same righteous cause. He kneeled down with the utmost tranquillity and composure, and having committed his departing soul into the hands of his Redeemer, his only remaining concern was for his murderers, and, in the temper and spirit of his dying Master, his last words were, “Lord, lay not this sill to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

The death of Stephen was so far from satiating the rage of the Jewish rulers, that it seems to have been regarded merely as the tocsin to fresh scenes of slaughter and blood. They now gave full vent to their cruelty, and raised a general persecution against the whole church. The loss of this first of “the noble army of martyrs” was deeply bewailed by his brethren; and as the only remaining token of their affection, “Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.” (Acts 8:1,2.)

During the last tragical scene, when his enemies were about to carry their vengeance into effect against him, they laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul, and who was one of those that gave their voice for his being put to death.

Saul was born at Tarsus, the chief city of the province of Cilicia. His parents were both of them Hebrew Jews, and his father, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, was a freeman of Rome. Having received the first rudiments of his education in his native city, he went to Jerusalem, where he entered himself of the sect of the Pharisees, and studied the law of Moses, with the traditions of the elders, under Gamaliel, a noted doctor of the laws. When Stephen was put to death, Saul, though but a young man, appears to have taken an active part upon the occasion; and now, flushed with the blood of that eminent martyr, he became outrageous. Armed with authority from the high-priest, he made havoc of the church: pursued them from house to house, dragging them away to prison without mercy, and scourging them in the synagogues, compelled them to blaspheme the name of Jesus, not sparing even the weaker sex. (Acts 26:9,10.)

Conformably to the instructions which Christ himself had left them, (Matthew 10:22.) the disciples gave way to the storm, and dispersed themselves throughout the cities of Judea and Samaria, spreading the knowledge of the gospel where-ever they came. And here it is scarcely possible for us not to contemplate the short-sightedness of human policy, as contrasted with the wisdom and over-ruling providence of God. The very methods taken to quash the cause of Christ became the direct means of promoting its progress. Philip, of whom we have lately seen that he was chosen a deacon of the church in Jerusalem, went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ among the inhabitants with great success.

Intelligence being brought to Jerusalem that Samaria had received the word of God, two of the apostles went down thither, and communicated to the new converts the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, and thus the second Christian church wasplanted. Soon after this we find Philip, by Divine direction, meeting with the Ethiopian eunuch, to whom he communicated the knowledge of Christ, and baptized him into the faith of it, by which means the gospel would be carried down to Ethiopia, and the prediction of the Psalmist consequently fulfilled, “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God.” (Psalm 68:31.)

Philip, on returning from this interview with the eunuch, called at Azotus (the famousASHDOD of the Philistines) (1 Samuel 6:17.) a town on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and from thence passed through several cities that lay in his way, preaching the gospel in each of them, until he arrived at Ceesarea, at that time the metropolis of Palestine, and residence of the Roman governor, where he appears to have afterwards settled for life. (Acts 21:8,9.)

In all this time the malice of Saul was raging with unabated fury.

Intimation had probably been given him, that many of the persecuted disciples had taken refuge at Damascus. This was a most noble city, situated at the foot of Mount Lebanon. 5 It had formerly been the capital of Syria, and was still very considerable. Josephus says it abounded with Jews, and in one place mentions that the inhabitants shut up in their baths and destroyed in one hour, ten thousand of them: 6 and upon another occasion he represents the Damascenes as having murdered eighteen thousand Jews with their wives and children, without the least color or pretext. 7 To this city Saul petitioned the high-priest to grant him letters of authority to go and search the synagogues for the disciples of Jesus, and that, if he found any, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Caiaphas was still in office, and, no doubt, every way as anxious as Saul himself could be to stop the growing heresy. The request was cheerfully complied with; and, in the capacity of chief inquisitor, and breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the Christians, Saul hastened on his journey, to fulfill, as he thought, the holy errand of extirpating heretics.

About noon, Saul and his companions arrived in the vicinity of the city of Damascus, when suddenly there appeared to him the Schekinah, or glory of the Lord, far more bright and dazzling than the sun in his meridian splendor, and this great light from heaven shone around them. Saul was sufficiently versed in Jewish learning to recognize this as the excellent glory, and he instantly fell to the earth as one dead. But how inconceivably great must have been his astonishment to hear himself addressed by name, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” And yet, if alarmed at the question, his surprise could not be diminished on asking, “Who art thou Lord?” to be told in reply, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, — -it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Trembling and astonished, Saul inquired, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Jesus said unto him, “Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”

And Saul arose from the earth, but. the splendor of the vision had overpowered his bodily eyes, so that he was led by the hand into Damascus, where he remained three days without sight or food.

The Lord afterwards appeared in vision to a certain disciple, in Damascus, named Ananias, and directed him where he should find Saul, and what instructions he should give him as to his future conduct, telling him that he was a chosen vessel unto him, to bear his name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel, “for I will shew him,” said the Savior, “how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:1-16.)

Ananias obeyed the Divine command, and laid his hands on Saul, when a thick film like scales fell from his eyes; his sight returned, his mind became tranquillized, and he was baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Thus the lately persecuting Saul was numbered with the disciples; and in a few days “he straightway preached Christ in the synagogue, that he is the Son of God;” an event no less wonderful to the disciples which dwelt at Damascus than to their enemies; but “Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt there, proving that Jesus is the true Messiah.” (Acts 9:22.)

SECTION THE SUBJECT CONTINUED From the first preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles, to the return of Paul and Barnabas from their first journey. THE conversion of Saul of Tarsus to the faith of Christ is a memorable event in the annals of the Christian church. Whether we consider the nature of the change which then passed upon his mind, the extraordinary signs which accompanied it— such as the miraculous shutting and opening of his eyes — or the astonishing effects which these things produced, we shall find something to excite our admiration, and lead us to adore the riches and sovereignty of divine grace. Such a revolution was now produced in all his sentiments and in all the springs of his life, as resembled the course of a mighty river changed from east to west by the shock of an earthquake. The supernatural signs which affected his bodily frame, shewed what befel his mind, and at the same time served to exemplify the effects which his ministry should produce among the Gentiles, unto whom Christ now sent him “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” (Acts 26:18, with ch 9:17, 28.) “When it pleased God,” says he, “who called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.” (Galatians 1:15-17.)

In that country he appears to have spent nearly the term of three years, (Verse 18.) but the inspired historian has given us no account of the fruit of his ministry there. Our own reflections, however, may teach us to contemplate the wisdom of God, in directing the steps of Saul into Arabia, at this particular juncture of his life. His conversion to the Christian faith must, in the eyes of his unbelieving countrymen, and especially of his former associates, have been in the highest degree provoking. Engaged as he had formerly been in the most active measures for destroying the subjects of the kingdom of Christ, they must now necessarily have regarded him as a grand apostate, whose conversion tended greatly to weaken the cause in which they were so zealously engaged, while it strengthened the hands of the Christians.

But, notwithstanding the interval that had elapsed, and which, humanly speaking, might have given time for the fiercest rage to cool, Saul had no sooner returned to Damascus, than “the Jews took counsel to kill him.” (Acts 9:23.) The Lord, however, opened a way for his escape. For although his adversaries had prevailed upon the governor of the city to aid them with a military force; and though centinels were placed at the gates of the city night and day to prevent his escape, his friends let him down by night through a window in a basket, by the wall of the city, and thus frustrated their malicious designs. (2 Corinthians 11:23.)

Saul, upon this, went up to Jerusalem to have an interview with some of the other apostles, where he met with Peter and James, and abode with them fifteen days. It is perfectly natural to suppose that such of the disciples of Christ, in that city, as had a personal knowledge of him, and had witnessed his former persecuting zeal against them, would, if unacquainted with his conversion, take the alarm on his again appearing among them. Such, in fact, was the case; for when he attempted to join himself to them, “they were all afraid of him, not believing him to be a disciple.” (Acts 9:26.) Their fears, however, were instantly dispelled by the intelligence which Barnabas gave them of his conversion, and of his subsequent preaching at Damascus. He was therefore received of the church, and gave them the most convincing proof of the sincerity of his profession, by the boldness with which, during the short time he was among them, he spake in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the members of the synagogue with whom he had been formerly connected. The consequence was, that another effort was made to destroy him, which coming to the ears of his brethren, he was safely conveyed down to Caesarea, and from thence sent to Tarsus, the place of his nativity.

The persecution which had arisen in consequence of the death of Stephen, and which occasioned the dispersion of the greater part of the church, had now raged during a period of four years; but it pleased God at this time to grant his people a season of repose and tranquillity.

Tiberius , who had swayed the imperial scepter at Rome for three and twenty years, was now dead, and had been succeeded, as emperor, by his grandson Caius Caligula. So infamous had been the conduct of the former, and so odious had he rendered his character in the eyes of his subjects, that, if we may credit historians, he was suspected of choosing the latter for his successor, “as foreseeing that Caius alone would outstrip him in what was vile and abominable.” 1 Certain it is that his excessive wickedness, and intolerably shocking behavior, tended in no small degree to obliterate the recollection of the horror and infamy that had attached itself to the name of Tiberius. The commencement of the reign of Caius was rather auspicious than otherwise. He signalized himself by several wise and beneficent actions, and gained upon the love and popularity of his subjects, They retained an affectionate remembrance of his father Germanicus, and hoped the son would tread in his steps. But the atrocious character of the new emperor speedily began to develope itself. One of his first vile actions was the murder of the younger Tiberius, who had been appointed, by the late emperor Tiberius, his colleague in the government of the empire. Another was the murder of Macro, a person to whom Caius himself owed the greatest obligations. When Caius did any thing unbecoming his dignity, it had been the custom of Macro to admonish him boldly of the impropriety of his conduct, a freedom which the despot soon grew weary of, and therefore ordered him to be put to death. To such a pitch of extravagance and impiety did he at length arrive, that he set himself up for a deity, and insisted upon being worshipped as such; a thing to which the Jews, of all nations, would never consent, and hence they incurred his resentment.

Altars and temples were erected to Caius throughout the various countries then subject to the Roman arms, and the image of this detestable tyrant was set up as an object of adoration. An attempt was even made by some heathens who dwelt at Jamnia, a city of Judea, and who had an aversion to the Jewish laws, to build an altar of brick in honor of Caius, intending probably thereby, at once to vex the Jews and ingratiate themselves with the emperor. The Jews instantly demolished the altar, and the heathens complained to Capito, the questor (or collector of the Roman tribute) who transmitted an account of the affair to the emperor; though Capito himself was suspected of being the real author and contriver of the plot, in order to ensnare and destroy the Jews. Caius, without delay, recalled Vitellius, the Roman governor of that province, from his station; a man whose mild and gentle deportment had greatly conciliated the Jews; and sent Petronius to succeed him, giving him orders to go to Jerusalem with an army and set up his statue in their temple, in the most holy place, with the name of Jupiter inscribed upon it; enjoining him to put to death every Jew that dared to resist, and to make all the rest of the nation slaves. This order from Caligula came upon them like a clap of thunder. At first, the Jews could scarcely credit the report of so execrable a design, but their incredulity was soon dissipated. Petronius marched with a large body of auxiliaries raised in Syria, from Antioch into Judea, and even advanced as far as Ptolemais.

The Jews were thrown into the utmost consternation. An immense multitude of them were collected together, who, with their wives and children, went into the plain near Ptolemais, and supplicated Petronius, first for their laws and next for themselves. The friends of Petronius seeing them at a distance, mistook them for a large army; but, on a nearer approach, they found them only an unarmed, lamenting multitude.

Advancing in sight of Petronius, who was seated upon an eminence, they threw themselves down upon the ground before him, uttering the deepest lamentations. When ordered to rise, they approached him with dust upon their heads, and their hands behind them like men condemned to die, and the Senate addressed Petronius to the following effect: “We come to you, sir, as you see, unarmed; we have brought with us our wives, children, and relations; and we throw ourselves down before you as at the feet of Caius, having left none at home, that so you may save all, or destroy all;” with much more to the same purport, declaring also that their love for their temple and laws was greater than for their lives, accompanying the whole with expressions of the bitterest lamentation, and every token of anguish and distress. Their entrearies prevailed; Petronius humanely granted their request, and deferred executing his commission. Some, indeed, attribute his lenity to another cause. Caligula was expected to visit Alexandria in Egypt the ensuing summer; had Petronius pushed matters to an extremity at this moment with the Jews, it would, in all probability, have led them to neglect their harvest, and the cultivation of their lands; and as the emperor’s journey must unavoidably be made through those parts, it was apprehended that such neglect would have prevented that plenty which was requisite to accommodate the vast concourse that might be expected to accompany him on such an occasion. He therefore wrote to the emperor, urging the most plausible pretexts for the delay, and especially the necessity that existed of deferring the matter, for fear of the scarcity that might ensue.

It has been usual with commentators to attribute the cessation of persecution at this time to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus; but I apprehend a much more adequate cause is to be found in the circumstances now related. The Jews were fully employed in warding off this terrible blow from themselves and their temple, which was their glory and confidence; and, in such a state of things we may be fully assured, that they would want both the leisure and inclination to pursue and persecute the Christians. Caligula died soon after, in the fourth year of his reign, being assassinated in his own palace by one of his officers. And thus “the churches had rest throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Spirit, were edified and multiplied.” It is probable, also, that during this interval of external peace, many of the Christians, who had been driven from their families and houses, by the cruel hand of persecution, again returned to Jerusalem. During this auspicious season, Peter revisited the churches already planted in Galilee and Samaria, and among other places came down to Lydda, where there appear to have been a few disciples not yet organized as a church. Here he wrought a miracle by restoring a man to health and soundness who had been afflicted with palsy, and confined eight years to his bed. At Joppa, a neighboring town, he raised to life a female disciple, named Tabitha. These things were spread abroad, and drew the attention of such as heard of them, “and many believed and turned to the Lord.”

Peter took up his residence for some time in Joppa: and while he continued there, an event took place which merits particular relation.

The church of Jerusalem had been now planted about eight years, during which time the preaching of the gospel had been restricted to the natural descendants of Abraham. The period, however, was now at hand, when, according to the Divine good pleasure, the Sun of Righteousness was to arise upon the benighted Gentiles with healing in his wings. This mystery, which had been hid from ages and generations, was now unfolded to the mind of the apostle Peter, by means of a vision which he had while he abode at Joppa, (Acts 10:9.) and by the interpretation of that memorable vision, he was instructed to consider the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles as no longer in force; that henceforward he was to call no man common or unclean. He was sent Caesarea to preach, the gospel of Christ to Cornelius the centurion and his household; and while engaged in making known to these Gentiles the way of salvation, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all his hearers in the same supernatural manner as had been formerly done upon the Jews on the day of Pentecost, to the astonishment of the apostle and of all the Jewish brethren who accompanied him from Joppa. Thus was his mind instructed into this part of the Divine will; the believing Gentiles baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and received into the kingdom of the Messiah: and thus was Peter now honored by his divine Master in opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, as he had previously done to the Jews at Jerusalem, for unto him were committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 16:18.)

When Peter returned to Jerusalem, he found his fellow apostles and all his Jewish brethren, laboring under the same mistaken sentiments concerning the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ, which had recently occupied his own mind. They had heard with some surprise that the Gentiles had also received the word of God, and waited the apostle’s arrival, probably with some impatience, to explain to them his conduct in going into men uncircumcised and eating with them. Peter recapitulated the whole matter in detail, and terminated the narrative with this pointed appeal to themselves, “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, What was I that I should withstand God?” This silenced all their scruples; for it is said, “they held their peace and glorified God, saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:1-18.)

When Saul of Tarsus was called by divine grace to the knowledge of the truth, he at the same time received a commission from the glorified Savior, to execute his ministry among the Gentiles. Hence, in explaining to the churches of Galatia his apostolic authority, he says, “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles.” (Galatians 2:8.)

And to this great undertaking he devoted himself most unreservedly, as we shall perceive by taking a brief review of his labors. The place where we begin to trace the history of this great apostle of the Gentiles, is Antioch . There were formerly many cities which bore that name; but this was the metropolis of Syria, and indeed of all the east. For situation, magnitude, populousness, and various other advmltages, it ranked as the third city in the Roman empire, being inferior only to Rome and Alexandria. The greater part of its inhabitants were Greeks; but Josephus says, that many Jews also settled in it. “The kings of Syria allowed the Jews the freedom of Antioch equally with the Greeks, so that their numbers increased exceedingly, and they were always bringing over a great many of the Greeks to their religious worship.” 4 This city, which is situated on the river Orontes, was remarkable, not only for its local scenery, but also for the magnificence of its buddings, the extent of its commerce, and the learning of its inhabitants, insomuch that it seems to have been considered in those days as an honor to be one of its citizens.

Hence, Cicero, in his oration for the poet Archias, a native of Antioch, calls it “a noble city, once eminent and wealthy, abounding in men erablent for their great learning and true taste.”

But however famous Antioch was for the things mentioned by Cicero, it became more remarkable in having the light of the glorious gospel bestowed upon it; for the success which the gospel had among its inhabitants, the fruit of which appeared in the erection of a numerous Christian church; and for its giving the name ofCHRISTIAN to the followers of Jesus Christ. Here Christianity flourished to such a degree, for many ages, that it obtained the appellation of Theopolis, or the city of God, and this church was considered as the first and chief of the Gentile churches.

The gospel, indeed, had found its way into this great city preyious to its being visited by Saul; for it appears from the inspired history that some of the teachers, who had been driven from Jerusalem by the persecution which arose about Stephen, had reached Antioch, where they made known the glad tidings of salvation among the Grecians or Hellenistic Jews; and “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.” (Acts 11:19-22.)

When the report of these things reached Jerusalem, that church sent Barnabas to Antioch, who rejoiced at seeing the grace of God so illustriously displayed among them; and, by his own exhortations and discourses, he was eminently instrumental in promoting the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom among them. Hearing that Saul was at Tarsus, Barnabas went in quest of him, and having found him, he brought him also to Antioch, where they both continued a whole year labourlug with much success in the work of the Lord.

Caius Caligula, whose death has been already noticed, and which took place about this time, was succeeded in the empire by Claudius Ctesar, who, soon after his entrance on the government, bestowed the kingdom of Judea on Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, (mentioned Matthew 2.) and nephew to Herod the Tetrarch, who put to death John the Baptist. Herod Agrippa experienced much of the vicissitudes that usually accompany the pursuit of ambition. He had incurred the displeasure of Tiberius, by whose order he was put in chains and committed to prison. The account which Josephus gives us of this affair is as follows. Before Caius Caligula ascended the throne of the Caesars, as Herod and he were one day riding together in their chariot, the former, who was anxious to ingratiate himself’ with the heir apparent to the throne, “wished to God that Tiberius was gone, and Caius emperor in his stead.”

Eutychus, who drove the chariot, overheard the words, but concealed his knowledge of them at the moment. Some time afterwards, however, being accused by his master Herod of theft, he discovered the treason to Tiberius, who instantly had him arrested, and confined during the life of the latter. When Tiberius died, Caius not only liberated his old friend, but invited him to his palace, put a crown upon his head, and constituted him king of the tetrarchy of Philip, and bestowed on him a chain of gold, of the same weight as the iron one which he had worn during his imprisonment. Herod was a professed zealot for the law of Moses and the peculiarities of Judaism, and studied by every means in his power to ingratiate himself with the Jews. He expended large sums in the defense and ornament of their city; but it was now in his power to attempt a more acceptable service, by exerting his authority against the Christians; and the motives of vanity and popular applause by which he was governed, prompted him to embrace the opportunity. He begun by apprehending the apostle James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of John, whom he hastily put to death; and finding the Jews were highly pleased with this step, he caused Peter also to be apprehended and imprisoned, intending to have him executed after the passover; a period when, by reason of the influx of strangers from all parts to the city, he should have an opportunity of shewing his zeal against this new sect to a greater number of spectators. James, indeed, had finished his course, and was gone to receive the crown of righteousness from the hands of his divine Master in the kingdom of God. But the work of Peter was not yet accomplished; and though marked out by Herod for a speedy sacrifice, he was still secure. So intent was Herod, however, upon his destruction, that he not only committed him to prison, but loaded him with two chains, and consigned him to the charge of sixteen soldiers, who were to watch him by turns, four at a time, two of them being chained to him, one on either side, and two placed as centinels at the prison door. It is probable that the Jews still recollected how all the apostles had formerly escaped when put in prison, and perhaps they suspected the fidelity of the guards; nor is it unlikely that at their particular request, all these precautions were taken in the case of Peter. We may also realize something of the anxiety and concern which must have pervaded the church on this distressing occasion. They had lost Stephen and one apostle; and the life of the great apostle of the circumcision was in the utmost jeopardy: “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”

How long it pleased God, in this instance, to exercise the faith and confidence of the church, does not clearly appear. It is thought by some, that Peter was apprehended about the beginning of April, or during the days of unleavened bread, which was the beginning of the feast of the passover. That feast lasted eight days, and they date the transactions in the third year of the reign of Claudius. It was the usual practice of the Jews, during the festival, to indulge in mirth and jollity, and at the end to release the prisoners. On this occasion, however, they were anticipating the high satisfaction of seeing, as soon as the paschal lamb was eaten, and the festival quite ended, the foremost of this sect brought out and put to death. His enemies congratulated themselves in thinking that they had him secure. The next clay was appointed by Herod for his being publicly executed. But the night before this was to take place, the Lord interposed and rescued him out of their hands. Peter, in all probability, knew the time they had appointed for his martyrdom; but he seems to have been in the enjoyment of a serene and tranquil mind, and not in the least alarmed about their machinations. He was sleeping very composedly between the two soldiers, chained by the arm to each of them, when the angel of the Lord came upon him, accompanied by an effulgent brightness, and smiting Peter on the side, raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly; and his chains fell off from his hands, And the angel said, “Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals; and he did so. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee and follow me, and he went out and followed him,” apprehending that he saw a vision. The prison was in tike suburbs of Jerusalem, and when they had passed the first and second watch, they came unto the great iron gate which led towards the city. This opened to them of its own accord; and the angel having escorted Peter through one street, and completely delivered him out of the hands of his enemies, he departed from him.

In the morning, Herod found himself disappointed of his prey! The guards were examined, but being unable to give a satisfactory account of their prisoner, he commanded them to be put to death. It is not improbable that Herod might suspect a miraculous interposition in this instance; but to punish the guards as if they had been guilty of conniving at his escape, was the likeliest method to stop further inquiry, and prevent the people from suspecting any thing extraordinary in the affair. (Acts 12:1-19.)

Herod did not long survive this event. He lived and died a monument of the instability of human greatness. He was much devoted to his Roman masters, and had a taste for their magnificence. This induced him to celebrate games and shows at Clesarea in honor of the emperor; on which occasions he labored to display the utmost of his grandeur. His pride was farther flattered by an embassy from Tyre and Sidon. Those cities had incurred his displeasure; but as they chiefly drew their subsistence from his dominions, they were compelled to supplicate peace, which, though they had highly offended him, they obtained by their interest with Blastus, his chamberlain. The king appointed a day on which to receive their submission, when he appeared in the theater with a splendor that dazzled the eyes of the spectators. He addressed himself to the ambassadors in a pompous oration, suited, we may suppose, to give them the highest idea, bolh of his power and clemency. When he had ended, he heard his praises resound from every quarter;rathe multitude shouted, “It is the voice of a god and not of a man.” His vain heart was elated with this impious compliment, which, considering that Herod professed the knowledge of the true God, displayed an awful instance of pride and impiety, The angel of the Lord smote him with an irresistible though invisible stroke, because he gave not God the glory; and while surrounded with the fancied insignia of majesty, and in the midst of their idolatrous acclamations; he was seized with excruciating pains, “worms bred in his putrifled flesh and devoured him alive.” In this wretched condition he continued five days, and then expired, an awful instance of God’s just judgment, “who resisteth the proud, and will not give his glory to another.” While these things were transacting in Judea, ‘the church of Antioch increased greatly, both in numbers and in gifts. For besides the stated office-bearers of bishops, and deacons, which were common to all the churches, this at Antioch had several eminently gifted persons, as prophets (or exhorters,) and teachers (or ministers of the word;) among whom were Barnabas and Simeon, and Lucius, and Manaen, and Saul. By means of a certain prophet who had come down from Jerusalem to Antioch in those days, the Lord was pleased to intimate his will that, among other things, a season of scarcity was approaching which would severely affect the disciples in Judea; an event which accordingly took place in the latter end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth year of the reign of Claudius, as is noticed by Josephus, Eusebius, and Orosius. In this calamitous event, we have a signal display, not only of the care of the blessed God over his people, in revealing its approach by the ministry of this prophet, and thus giving them an opportunity to provide against it, at a time when many of the Christians in Jerusalem had forsaken all for the gospel’s sake, and were laboring under peculiar difficulties; but we have also a manifestation of his divine wisdom and goodness in so ordering the course of events, as that, in the generous and disinterested conduct of the believing Gentiles, the church at Jerusalem should have a pledge of their fervent love and affection towards them as their Christiall brethren, and of the sense they entertained of their obligations to those from whom the sound of the gospel first came out; for “having been made partakers of their spiritual things, they thought it perfectly reasonable to minister unto them in temporal things.” And if we also take into the account, that even among the believing Jews there was at that time some little remains of the ancient jealousy about the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ, we cannot but see how wisely adapted this was to dissipate all evil surmising from the minds of the former, and to promote the most cordial amity and concord between these different classes of Christians. Nothing has so powerful a tendency to meliorate the human heart, as acts of kindness and love; nothing softens the mind of man and infuses into it a favorable opinion of others like expressions of charity! No sooner was the approach of this famine intimated in the church at Antioch, than “the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren which were in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.”

Soon after Barnabas and Saul had returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, the Lord was pleased to make known his will, that they should be separated for the great work whereunto he had called them, which was accordingly done by fasting and prayer, accompanied with the imposition of hands.

Saul had long been invested with the apostolic office; for he received it not from any man or body of men, as he himself declares, but immediately from Jesus Christ. We are not therefore to imagine that the act of the church, on this occasion, constituted either Saul or Barnabas apostles— but it recognized them as the apostles of Christ; and from the whole transaction we may at least deduce this instruction, that as God is not the author of confusion, but of order and peace in all the churches of the saints, so it is his will that all the affairs of his kingdom should be conducted, not as human wisdom may suggest, but from a regard to his authority, under the control of his revealed will, and in a dependance upon him for his blessing, without which the wisest and best concerted measures must prove fruitless.

Thus sent forth “by the Holy Spirit,” concurring with the act of the church at Antioch, they accordingly departed unto Seleucia , a place fifteen miles below Antioch, and situated upon the same river, Orontes, and five from the place where that river runs into the sea. From thence they sailed to the island of Cyprus, situated in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, being the native country of Barnabas. As this island lay contiguous to Judea, it abounded with Jews, as it is attested by several ancient authors. The first place which the apostles visited in that island was Salamis , a city lying on the eastern extremity, and one of the nighest ports to Syria. The gospel had already reached that island, but the knowledge of it was confined to the Jews. (Acts 11:19.) The apostles here found Jewish synagogues, which they frequented, and in which they preached the word of God to both Jews and Gentiles. After this they traveled nearly the whole length of the island, till they came to Paphos, which was situated upon the western extremity, a place famed for its temple and obscene worship of the Paphion Venus. This was the residence of Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, who, hearing of the arrival of Barnabas and Saul, sent fbr them, desiring to hear from their mouths the word of God. Here the apostles were withstood by Elymas, a noted magician, who sought to turn away the deputy from the faith. Saul, however, detected his malicious intention; and, as Peter had formerly done in the awful instance of Ananias and Sapphira, so Saul by his apostolic power, denounced upon Elymas the impending judgment of God for his iniquity. Scarcely had he uttered the words when the sorcerer was struck with a total blindness, insomuch that he went about seeking some one to lead him by the hand. (Acts 13:6-12.) The Lord was pleased by means of this judgment upon Elymas, to awaken the attention of the proconsul to the things which concerned his everlasting peace, for “when he saw what was done, he believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”

On this occasion, we find the first intimation of the change of the name of the great apostle of the Gentiles from Saul to Paul. Various conjectures for this have been offered by the learned. By some it is supposed that the latter title was given him because he had been the means of converting Sergius Paulus to the Christian faith; as Scipio obtained the appellation of Africanus from the circumstance of his having conquered Africa. Others, however, and among them ranks the judicious Benson, account for it, by supposing that at the time of his circumcision he received the two names of Saul and Paul — -the latter as his Roman name, (for he was born a freeman of Rome,) and the former as his Jewish name, for he was a Jew, or as he calls himself, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As, therefore, he had been called Saul, while he continued among the Jews, and as he was henceforward to execute his ministry among the Romans he adopted his Roman name. And the same reason hath been assigned, for changing the name of his companion Silas into that of Silvanus. Paul and Barnabas quitting Paphos sailed to Perga, a town in Pamphilia, not far from the coast of Asia Minor, from whence they passed on to Antioch In Pisidia . And here we may remark, that, in executing their mission among the Gentiles, it was the invariable practice of these apostles, on their arrival at any city or town, where they had not previously been, in the first place to inquire whether there were any Jewish synagogue in it. and if they found one, they attended its worship on the ensuing Sabbath. Such was the case at Iconium, Acts 14:l. — at Thessalonica, ch. 17:l. — -at Corinth, ch. 18:4. — at Ephesus, ch. 19:8, and other places; and such was the case at Antioch in Pisidia, where “they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath-day and sat down.” (Acts 13:14, etc.) This manner of proceeding does not appear to have been arbitrary or capricious; but conformable to the revealed will of their divine Master, who, in the commission which he gave to his apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, commanded them “to begin at Jerusalem,” the place where he was crucified. This was altogether in unison with the nature and with the properties of the grace revealed in the gospel itself — -which. “Grand as the bosom whence it flowed, and kind as the heart that gave it vent,—outshines the thoughts of shallow man.” So we find Peter reminding the Jews that unto them first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, had sent him to bless them, in turning away every one of them from his iniquities. 23 And the conduct of Paul at Antioch was strictly conformable to this. He first addressed himself to the Jews, briefly glancing at their history from the period of the Exodus of their fathers from Egypt fill the times of David, that eminent type of the Messiah; and from the mention of whom he is naturally led to speak of David’s Son— the Savior promised unto Israel. This he proceeds to prove, was none other than Jesus of Nazareth, of whose character John the Baptist had spoken in the most exalted terms —whom the Jewish rulers had put to death, but whom God had raised again the third day, and of whose resurrection the apostles were witnesses. The important inference which the apostle deduced from these facts and doctrines, is, that “through this man, Christ Jesus, is preached the forgiveness of sins, and that by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses;” and he enforced the whole by the most awful denunciations against those who should despise his doctrine and reject his testimony.

Many of the Jews had no ear to give to this doctrine; but to the Gentiles it was indeed glad tidings of great joy; and even some of the Jews and religious proselytes took part with the apostles, who exhorted them to continue in the grace of God.

The Gentiles having thus tasted that the Lord is gracious, expressed their earnest desire that the apostles would again preach to them on the following Sabbath; to which Paul and Barnabas consenting, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. To those who know any thing of the value of the gospel to human happiness, one can scarcely imagine a more interesting spectacle, than the bare idea of. such a multitude flocking around these inspired teachers to receive from their lips the words of eternal life. Vastly different however, was its effect upon the unbelieving Jews; — -they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which the apostles taught, contradicting and blaspheming.” Paul and Barnabas, however, animated with that fortitude which became them as the ambassadors of the Most High, thus solemnly warned them; “It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken unto you, but seeing ye put it from you, and thereby declare yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles; for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, (by the prophet Isaiah) I have set thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” This intelligence, that such things had been prophesied concerning them many ages ago, and that the Lord had commanded his apostles to receive them as subjects of his kingdom, without subjecting them to the law of Moses, was most acceptable to the poor Gentiles, who rejoiced in it as those that find great spoil; and they glorified the word of the Lord.

Thus “as many of them as were ordained to eternal life believed; the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region, and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:16-52.)

A persecution was, however, raised against the apostles by the unbelieving Jews, who stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city, who speedily succeeded in causing them to be expelled out of their coasts. They therefore shook off the dust of their feet as a testimony against them, and came to Iconium which was then the chief city of Lycaonia, and even to this day subsists as a considerable town under the name of Cogni, situated at the foot of Mount Taurus. Here also they found a synagogue of the Jews, in which they preached the gospel with such success, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed their testimony. From the number of those who in Iconium are said to have believed, we may infer that it was a great and populous city, as well as perceive the reason of the apostles’ conduct in prolonging their stay in it to establish the disciples in the faith, and to comfort them under the persecution which the unbelieving Jews raised against them. But when matters arrived at such a crisis, that the city became divided, one part holding with the Jews and the other with the apostles, the latter, having received intimation that an assault was about to be made upon them to use them cruelly and stone them, they prudently withdrew and fled to Lystra and Derbe , two other cities of Lycaonia, in which they preached the gospel. At the former of these places, the apostles met with one who had all his days been a cripple, having never walked; and Paul by a word restored him to the perfect use of his limbs, so that he leaped for joy. This extraordinary cure, performed so instantaneously, excited a kind of ecstacy and surprise in the minds of the spectators, who shouted aloud in the language of the Cappadocians, that the gods were come down in the similitude of mortal men. And they named Barnabas, Jupiter—and Paul, Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. The next thing was to make preparation for sacrificing oxen to them, and crowning them with garlands, as was customary with their heathen deities. But the apostles were very differently minded from Herod, (who received the blasphemous adulations of the people upon a far less occasion;) they no sooner heard of it than they ran into the midst of them, and after the eastern manner of expressing grief or indignation, they rent their clothes and exclaimed, “Sirs, why do ye these things — -we are men of like passions with yourselves, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein,” etc.

Nor was it without difficulty that, even with these arguments, they prevailed upon them to desist from their absurd purpose.

Among the fruit of their ministry here, however, at this time, the apostles had the satisfaction of enumerating Timothy, afterwards an evangelist; as well as his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois, whose native city seems to have been Lystra. (Compare 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:5; Acts 14:21; 16:1, 2.) But the adversaries of the apostles who had formerly driven them from Iconium, at length pursued them to Lystra, where they seized Paul, drew him out of the city, and stoned him, leaving him, as they thought, dead. While his friends stood around him, however, he rose up and walked into the city, and the following day, Barnabas and he took their leave and departed for Derbe, where they preached the gospel with much success, and from thence returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, establishing the minds of the disciples in the truths they had received, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and warning them that they must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Upon this second visit, they also ordained elders or bishops in every church, which was done by fasting and prayer, commending them to the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ on whom they believed. After this they passed throughout all the region of Pisidia and came to Pamphilia, where they again preached the word in the city of Perga, and passing through Attalia, sailed for Antioch in Syria, the city from whence they had originally taken their departure.

Thus having accomplished their first journey, they reported to the church all that God had wrought by their means, and especially how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. This done they took up their abode again for a considerable while with the disciples at Antioch. (Acts 14:19-23.)

SECTION THE SUBJECT CONTINUED From the return of Paul and Barnabas after their first journey, to the period of Paul’s arrival at Jerusalem with the contribution for the saints; being his second and third journies. WHILE Paul and Barnabas were prolonging their stay with the church at Antioch, previous to their setting out on a second journey, a circumstance occurred in that church, which, on account of its great importance to all the Gentile converts, appears to have engaged their most serious and fixed attention.

It seems that at this particular juncture, “certain men came down from Judea, and taught the Gentile brethren at Antioch, that, unless they were circumcised, after the manner of Moses; and kept the law, they could not be saved.” (Acts 15: 1, 24.)

Some suppose these teachers to have been Cerinthus and Ebion, the founders of two noted sects, of which the mention frequently occurs in ecclesiastical history; but the opinion rests solely upon tradition —a very doubtful guide in all cases, and more especially so in the concerns of religion. It is probable that, whatever were their names, they had formerly been of the sect of the Pharisees; and that when they became professors of the Christian faith, they still retained something of that old leaven, of which Jesus had warned his disciples to beware. The doctrine and spirit of that sect were very opposite to the religion of Christ; and when these men embraced the gospel, they had not discerned the difference so clearly as Paul did at his conversion—they rather reconciled the gospel to their former ways of thinking, than became themselves reconciled to its simplicity. Hence we find they became disturbers of the Gentile churches, as is evident from what took place at this time at Antioch, as well as from the epistle which Paul afterwards wrote to the churches of Galatia.

The doctrine of these teachers, which aimed at subjecting the Gentile converts to the rite of circumcision, and especially to make their obedience to that institute essential to their salvation, met with the most pointed opposition from these apostles. The subject involved the whole church at Antioch in dissension and disputation; and terminated in a general agreement that a deputation, consisting of Paul and Barnabas, with several others, should go up to Jerusalem to consult the apostle, and the elders of that church about this question. In their way they passed through the regions of Phoenicia and Samaria, whece they made known the calling of the Gentiles into the Christian church, and the success which their ministry had met with among them, to the inexpressible satisfaction of the Jewish brethren.

On their arrival at Jerusalem, they acquainted the apostles and elders with the object of their mission, in consequence of which the church was convened to take the subject into deliberation. And it appears that even in that church, the proposal to subject the Gentiles to circumcision, found supporters, especially among those disciples who had originally been of “the sect of the Pharisees.” (Acts 15:5.) When the church had been some time harassed with the dispute, Peter rose up and reminded them how God had formerly made choice of him to be the means of opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, and how he had also poured out the Holy Spirit upon them, making no distinction in his kingdom between Jew and Gentile, but purifying the hearts of each by faith. He, therefore, expostulated with them for attempting to bring the Gentile brethren under the severe yoke of Jewish ceremonies — -a yoke so intolerable, that neither they nor their fathers were able to bear it; and pronounced the project of these men to be no less than a “tempting God.” And he closed his speech by declaring the sufficiency of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to effect the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles, without any regard to the peculiarities of Judaism.

When Peter had ended his address, Paul and Barnabas gave the church a particular account of the miracles and wonders which, by means of their ministry, God had wrought among the Gentiles; and when they had finished, the apostle James, who seems to have acted as president of the assembly on this occasion, summed up the whole subject, recapitulating what had been said, and giving his own judgment as an apostle of Christ, which was, “That they should not trouble those who from among the Gentiles were turned unto God; but that they should write unto them, that they must abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” This met the unanimous approbation of the whole church; and accordingly, letters were written to all the Gentiles, disclaiming the authority of these new teachers, protesting against their doctrine, and completely freeing the disciples from the yoke of bondage which was thus attempted to be imposed upon them. So Paul and Barnabas returned from Jerusalem to the church at Antioch, which being convened, they read the epistle, to the great consolation of all the Gentile brethren. The apostles, after this, continued at Antioch, teaching the disciples the commandments of the Lord Jesus, and preaching the glad tidings of salvation to all sorts of men, in which it seems they were assisted by many others on whom the glorified Head of the church had bestowed the gifts necessary for the work of the Christian ministry. (Acts 15:33.)

The interest of the kingdom of Christ was a subject that, of all others, lay nearest to the heart of the apostle Paul. The church at Antioch was now confirmed in the faith and obedience of the gospel; the question which had lately agitated them was set at rest; and it abounded with laborers in the Lord’s vineyard; he therefore proposed to Barnabas that they should leave Antioch and pay a second visit to the different places in which they had formerly preached the doctrine of Christ, and examine the state of the various churches they had there planted. It is not at all improbable, that Paul’s fear and jealousy might be excited, lest these corrupt teachers, who had troubled the brethren at Antioch, might also get access into other Gentile churches, and propagate the same pernicious sentiments, thereby subverting the doctrine of divine grace, and stumbling the Gentile disciples in their profession. Barnabas yielded to the proposal; but when they were about to proceed, a difference of opinion arose between them as to the propriety of taking Mark with them as an evangelist, or assistant in the work of the ministry; and this diversity of judgment was overruled by their common Master, no doubt, ultimately to promote his own glory and the happiness of numbers, by inducing the apostles to travel asunder and in opposite directions; for the result was, that Barnabas took Mark, his own nephew, and sailed unto Cyprus, his native country — -while Paul chose Silas, one of the brethren that had returned with him from Jerusalem when he last visited it; and being commended by the church to the Divine benediction, they took their leave and proceeded for Syria and Cilicia.

Many Christian churches were collected by the ministry of the first preachers of theword, of which we have no express mention in that very concise narrative,—the Acts of the Apostles. Thus, for instance, we have no particular account of any Christian churches being planted in Cilicia, yet we are informed that Paul and Silas went through Cilicia confirming the churches, which of course must have been previously gathered and set in order. And when we consider that this was Paul’s native country, and that previous to his being first brought to Antioch by Barnabas he had spent some years in it, we may reasonably infer, that his ministry had been owned by his divine Master, and that he was the spiritual father of many, in the regions of Cilicia.

Of the labors of Barnabas and Mark in the islarld of Cyprus, the sacred history is silent; but, that he who commissioned his apostles to go into all the world and pc’each the gospel to every creature, and who also proraised to be always with them while thus engaged, even to the end of the world, did own their labors and grant them success, it were unreasonable to doubt.

Paul, accompanied by Silas:, however, among other places, revisited Derbe and Lystra, at the latter of which he had, during his former visit, converted Timothy, then quite a youth, to the faith of Christ. The father of Timothy was a Gentile, probably proselyted to the Jewish religion, but his mother and grandmother were both Jewesses. From his earliest years he had been instructed in the knowledge of the Old Testament writings—and, it would seem from an expression which Paul uses in one of his letters to him, (1 Timothy 1:18.) that, upon his being first brought to the knowledge of the truth, the Holy Spirit had given a prophetical intimation of his future eminence as a minister of the word. So favorable was the report which the brethren of Lystra now gave the apostle, of the gifts, the zeal, and the amiable deportment of Timothy, that Paul chose him as an associate in the work of the ministry, with which office he was solemnly invested by the prayers of the church and the laying on of the hands of the presbyters of the church at Lystra. (1 Timothy 4:14.) To prevent the Jews in that quarter from cavilling at his ministry, because they knew that his father was a Gentile, the apostle circumcised him with his own hand: after which they proceeded on their journey, every where delivering to the churches the decrees which had been ordained by the church at Jerusalem, and which ascertained in the fullest ntanner the liberty of the Gentiles from the observances of the Mosaic ritual; and by these means they were established in the faith, and their numbers multiplied daily.

Their stay appears to have been very transient in Phrygia and the region of Galatia, on this occasion; nor were they permitted by the Holy Spirit to preach the word at this time in Asia Minor; but, pasing by Mysia, they came down to Troas , a noted sea-port town, where travelers from the upper coasts of Asia usually took shipping to pass into Europe. Here they appear to have been joined by Luke, the writer of the history of the Acts, a native of Antioch, as is generally believed, and who, to the profession of a physician, had joined that of an evangelist or preacher of the gospel. (Acts 16:9,10.)

At Troas, Paul had a vision in the night. There stood beside him a man of Macedonia, and besought him, saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” Paul gave an account of this vision to his companions, who all concurred in one interpretation of it, namely, that the Lord had called them to preach in Macedonia. They therefore obeyed the heavenly admonition, loosed from Troas, and went direct for Samothracia, an island in those seas, famous for being the seat of certain religious mysteries, in equal estimation with thosecalled Eleusinian; but it does not appear they went on shore, for they landed the next day at Neapoils, a sea-port town of Macedonia.

Thus Paul, having first preached the gospel at Damascus, after that in Arabia, next at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, then to the Gentiles in Syria and Cilioia, and most of the countries of the Lesser Asia, was now, by Divine appointment, entering upon his career among the Greek nations. At Neapoils, where he first landed, he seems to have made little or no stay, but to have proceeded immediately to Philippi , which is said to have been the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. Though an inland town, Philippi was situated on the river Strymon, which was the ancient boundary of Macedonia. It had formerly gone by the name of Crenides, owing probably to its springs or fountains of water; for, according to Appian, it was built upon a hill.

Afterwards it took the name of Datus, because of the gold mines which were in its neighborhood. But Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, having conquered Thrace, added that part of it which lay between the rivers Nessus and Strymon to Macedonia, and observing that it might be made a good defense against the Thracians, he fortified it and gave it the name of Philippi, in honor of himself. Lucian, in his dialogue entitled The Fugitives, introduces Hercules describing Philippi in the following manner: “The plain, which is very fertile, raises itself into little hills, which serve for a defense to the city of Philippi, whose walls are washed by the river Hebrus.” Pierce, in his Synopsis prefixed to this epistle, mentions certain coins of several Roman emperors, and particularly one of Claudius, the inscription of which intimates that a colony of Romans was planted at Philippi by Julius Caesar, and afterwards augmented by Augustus, who sent the adherents of Mark Anthony into this and other cities of Macedonia, so that, having twice received inhabitants from Italy, of a small town it became a great city, and enjoyed all the privileges of a Roman colony.

It appears as though there were but few Jews resident at Philippi, since we find no mention made of any synagogue in it. There was, however, an Oratory or Proseucha, a place in which the Jews and their proselytes were accustomed to assemble for prayer, without the city, by the river side, to which Paul and his companions resorted on the Sabbath-day, and being set down, they spake unto the women which resorted thither. Among these was Lydia, a Jewish proselyte, of the city of Thyatira, who had taken up her residence at Philippi for the sake of commerce. The Lord opened her heart so that she understood and believed the doctrine which Paul taught.

Lydia and her domestics were baptized in the name of the Lord Jcsus, and with this Christian family the apostle and his associates afterwards took up their abode, during their stay at Philippi, which is said to have been “many days.”

Upon several occasions, as they went to the place where the Jews assembled for prayer, they were annoyed by a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, or of the Pythian Apollo—probably a species of fortune-teller, by means of which she brought her employers much gain.

She seems to have indulged herself in pouring ridicule upon the apostle and his companions, whom she followed through the streets, exclaiming aloud, “these men are the servants of the Most High God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Paul, grieved with her conduct, ejected the evil spirit out of her—which greatly enraged her masters, for they perceived that there was now an end to their emoluments from that quarter; and seizing him and Silas, they drew them before the magistrates and rulers of the city, making bitter complaints against them as persons who “exceedingly troubled their city, teaching customs which it was not lawful for them to observe, being Romans.” This speech incensed the populace against them, and the too credulous magistrates used them in a manner that was both shameful and barbarous — -ordering the lictors to tear off their clothes and beat them with rods, which they instantly did, and with great severity. We find Paul afterwards alluding to this cruel treatment, Thessalonians 2:2. and again 2 Corinthians 11:23. where, reciting some of his sufferings he says, “he had received stripes above measure.” Not satisfied, however, with this brutal outrage, they cast them into prison, enjoining the jailer to keep them safely. The latter well understood their mealling, and to comply with it, “thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.” (Acts 16:24.)

In this situation, distressing no doubt, and, in the eyes of many very contemptible, at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, in the hearing of the other prisoners. And now the Lord caused a great earthquake which opened all the doors of the prison, and loosed every one’s bonds. The jailer was by the noise roused from his slumbers, and thrown into the utmost consternation; and finding all the doors of the prison open, he drew his sword and was on the eve of committing suicide, suspecting the prisoners to be fled, and probably recollecting the strict orders he had received the day before concerning Paul and Silas. The apostles, however, perceiving that he was about to lay violent hands upon himself, cried with a loud voice, “Do thyself no harm, for we (the prisoners) are all here.” Upon hearing which, the jailer called for lights, rushed into the prison, and trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas, whom he brought out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The answer was direct and unequivocal—“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and all that were in his house.

Nothing could possibly be better suited to the jailer’s case, than the doctrine which the apostle now preached unto him. It was an immediate and an effectual relief under all the horrors of a guilty conscience. He found in it what reconciled his mind to God, and filled him with joy and peace, as the sequel shows; for, believing, he rejoiced in God with all his house, and was baptized, he and all his straightway. The fruits of his faith were instantly apparent in his kind and tender treatment of Paul and Silas; for he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and, taking them into his house, exercised towards them that hospitality which became a Christian brother.

Such were the transactions of this memorable night. The earthquake had, no doubt, been felt over the whole city; and the miraculous opening of the prison doors would soon be communicated to the magistrates, who, when morning arrived, sent an order for the discharge of the prisoners. Paul, however, did not think it inconsistent with Christian meekness to demand from them an apology for the illegal treatment he and his friend had sustained, especially considering that they were Roman citizens. Of this latter circumstance, the magistrates seem never to have had the least apprehension; but on being told it, they took the alarm, waited upon them personally, made due acknowledgments of the impropriety of their conduct, and besought them to depart out of their city. The apostle complied with that request; but his conduct on the occasion shews, that while he considered it to be his duty to demean himself as a quiet and peaceable subject of the government under which he was placed, he did not think it inconsistent therewith, to claim the protection of that government, and all the civil rights and privileges to which he was entitled. So quitting the prison, they went to the house of Lydia to visit their brethren, and having comforted them, took their leave of Philippi, leaving, as is supposed, Luke behind, who probably continued some years with this infant society. Thus have we reviewed the origin of the church of the Philippians—a church which, of all that were planted by this apostle, seems to have enjoyed the greatest share of his esteem and affection, But their love was evidently reciprocal. For it is manifest that the sufferings which the apostle had undergone in their city, for the sake of communicating to them the knowledge of salvation, more precious than gold, had greatly endeared him to the church there; while, on the other hand, the brethren at Philippi lost no opportunity of evincing their gratitude to the apostle; for when he was at Thessalonica, they twice sent him a pecuniary contribution, thus enabling him to make the gospel without charge to the Thessalonians.

They also sent him money during his first imprisonment at Rome, that he might want nothing necessary to his comfort which they could supply. (See Philippians 4:15,16,18; 2:25.)

Passing through Amphipolis, a city built in an island formed by two branches of the fiver Strymon, and a colony of the Athenians, and from thence through Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica , 2 now the metropolis of all the countries comprehended in the Roman province of Macedonia. It was the residence both of the proconsul and questor; so that being the seat of government, it was constantly filled with strangers, some to attend the courts of judicature, and others to solicit offices. Placed at the bottom of the Thermaic gulf, it was conveniently situated for commerce, and many of its inhabitants were merchants, who carried on an extensive trade with foreign countries. The Jews resorted to this city in such numbers as to form a large synagogue, to which, according to his usual custom, the apostle, on his arrival there, had recourse.

The account which is left us, by the sacred historian, of the apostle’s method of procedure in the synagogue of Thessalonica, though concise, is remarkably comprehensive. According to his usual custom, he, during three Sabbath days, reasoned with them out of the Scriptures (of the Old Testament, which were esteemed by themselves as the oracles of God;) unfolding their meaning, and alleging from their true import, that the Messiah must necessarily have already come; and, moreover, that he must have been a suffering person, since their own prophets had clearly described him under this view; nay, that he must also have risen again from the dead, concerning which event the spirit of prophecy had spoken particularly; and, finally, that this Jesus of Nazareth, unto whom he bore witness, wasTHE CHRIST, or true Messiah, whom they were anxiously expecting. The result was, that some of the Jews believed that Jesus whom he preached was the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of sinners, and consequently consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of thewomen of chief note in the city not a few. (Acts 17:1-4.)

It seems probable that Paul and his associates continued their attendance on the synagogue worship no longer than three Sabbath days, though it appears from Philippians 4:16, that they remained some considerable time after that in Thessalonica. But having now repeatedly declared their testimony, they withdrew, and separated the disciples. After this Paul and Silas appear to have preached, without reserve, among the idolatrous Gentiles, and to have wrought many miracles, all which were attended with the most amazing success; for in the first epistle, which he wrote not long afterwards to this church, he reflects with the most grateful emotions of mind upon the success which his ministry had among them—that the gospel which he preached came unto them not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; so that they became followers of the apostles and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, insomuch that the Thessalonians became ensamples to all that believed in Macedonia and Achaia—that the gospel sounded out from them; and in every place their faith towards God was spoken of; so that the unbelieving Jews who persecuted them, were ready to attest the power which the gospel had upon these idolatrous Gentiles, and how it became the means of turning them to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered them from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:5-10.)

Paul and his companions were at length driven from this city, in consequence of a persecution raised by the envious, unbelieving Jews, who instigated the rabble against them, setting all the city in an uproar, and assaulting the house of Jason, whom they drew, along with other brethren before the rulers of the city. In this state of things it was judged prudent to withdraw, which they accordingly did, unto Berea , where also they found a synagogue of the jews, and into which they entered, declaring their testimony as at Thessalonica. To the honor of the Bereans, it is recorded that they received the doctrine which the apostle preached, and with the utmost readiness of mind examined the Scriptures daily, whether the things he declared were so or not—the happy result of which was that “many of them believed, of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men not a few.” Intimation, however, having reached Thessaloniea that Paul was preaching with great success at Berea, the unbelieving Jews, who had recently driven him from that city, followed him to Berea, and there also excited the multitude against him.

The brethren, therefore, sent him away, as though he were going towards the sea, reserving Silas and Timothy among them, who seem to have been less obnoxious to the Jews than Paul was. But the friends of the latter, anxious for his safety, privately conveyed him to Athens , styled by general consent, “the seat of the muses” — -once the first city of Greece in every point of view; and though it had at this time passed the zenith of its political splendor, it was still as famous for learning as it had ever been: for at the time Paul visited it, the city was full of philosophers, rhetoricians, orators, painters, poets, statuaries, and of young men who resorted thither to be taught philosophy and the liberal sciences. Pausanias says, that there were more images in Athens than all Greece besides, and that they worshipped the gods more than all Greece did. No place could possibly afford a greater fund of speculation and amusement to a curious mind than Athens. Temples, altars, satutes, historical memorials, living philosophers of various sects, the works of the learned of every age, a confluence of the most polite and literary persons from various countries, all indulging the luxury of learned leisure, were objects that must at once have obtruded themselves upon the apostle’s notice. Nor was he incapacitated, either by defect of natural taste or of education, from relishing the beauties or appreciating the value of such things. He had enjoyed a liberal education, had read their poets, and we have repeated instances of his quoting striking passages from them. But in Paul, the Christian predominated over the philosopher and the critic. He plainly saw that with all their advantages, they lacked “the one thing needful” — -the knowledge of the true God, and the enjoyment of his lifegiving favor; without which, all their luxury was but splendid misery.

Having carefully surveyed the city, Paul found the inhabitants were almost wholly devoted to idolatry, and he therefore sent an urgent request to Silas and Timothy, who were still at Berea, to come to him with all possible expedition. Finding a synagogue of the Jews, his first object was to dispute with them, and with the Gentiles proselyted to their religion; and after that, with such of the idolatrous inhabitants as he met with in the marketplace. The apostle was soon attacked by some of the philosophers belonging to two of their most renowned sects, viz. the Epicureans and the Stoics. The Epicureans are said to have ascribed neither creation nor providence to God, but held that the world was made by a casual conflux of atoms—That the gods, if there were any, were of human shape, who lay lolling upon the clouds in ease and indolence, entirely unconcerned about human affairs. They also held, that in the present state, pleasure is the chief good; and that men are not to expect a resurrection from the dead, or any future state of rewards and punishments. The Stoics, who were intolerably proud and arrogant, held that matter was eternal, God corporeal, and that either God was the soul of the world, or the world itself a god. They looked upon all things as subject to an irresistible fatality; that virtue was its own sufficient reward, and vice its own sufficient punishment. They fluctuated as to their belief of a future stats of rewards and punishments, though they had some expectation of an hereafter, as well as of the conflagration and renovation of the world.

In the eyes of these philosophical gentlemen, the apostle appeared a mere babbler; and in the plenitude of their superior wisdom, they looked down upon him with all the pride and disdain that has ever characterised persons of similar tenets and pretensions. When Paul preached to them Jesus and the resurrection, they regarded him as a setter forth of new deities.

However, as it belonged to the court of Areopagus to take cognizance of such things, they brought Paul before it.

They had at Athens two courts of judicature, of which one was chosen annually, consisting of five hundred persons. The other was perpetual; and the members of it were accustomed to assemble in the forum called Areopagus, which stood upon a hill, and was the highest forum in Athens. The judges belonging to this latter court were held in such veneration, that, to be an Areopagite was a term used proverbially among them for an excellent person. 3 They were the Athenian senate, or standing court of judicature; 4 and, besides other things, matters of religion, blasphemy against the gods, contempt of the holy mysteries, and all sorts of impiety; the consecration of new gods, the erecting of temples or altars; and the introduction of new ceremonies into divine worship, were referred to the judgment of this court. Conceiving, therefore, that the apostle had some new object of worship to propose to the Athenians, it was perfectly natural for them to conduct him before this venerable assembly, which having done, they requested him to explain himself concerning this new doctrine; they frankly acknowledged that he brought strange things to their ears, in talking to them about Jesus and the resurrection, and they desired to know what these things meant.

The apostle’s discourse upon this occasion has always been admired as a model of fine address and of cogent reasoning. He had carefully inspected their religious rites and worship; and, among the multiplicity of their altars, had observed one that was dedicated to “the unknown God,” He began, therefore, by stating, that he perceived them to be extremely religious; 5 for besides the number of temples and altars which they had in common with the other cities of Greece, he observed one with this peculiar inscription, “To the unknown God.” He might therefore fairly presume that it would not be unacceptable to them to be made acquainted with the character of that Being whom they ignorantly worshipped. “God,” says he, “who made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, since he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth.” And here we may remark, in passing, the different method which the apostle pursued, in reasoning with the idolatrous Gentiles, from that which he uniformly adopted with the Sews.

The latter had in their hands the writings of Moses and their prophets, which they themselves acknowledged to be the oracles of God. In attempting to engage their attention to his testimony, he had nothing to do but make his appeal to those Scriptures, and convince them that their own prophets had foretold all that he now testified unto them, for that in reality “he said none other things than what Moses and the prophets did say should come, viz. that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first to rise from the dead, and should shew light to his people Israel and to the Gentiles.” But with the Athenians, who had no written revelation in their hands, he proceeds upon quite other principles: he appeals to the volume of creation, and argues from the impressions of power, wisdom, and goodness every where displayed before their eyes; he asserts the providence and the omnipresence of God; that he is the fountain of life and all its comforts—the supreme disposer of all events, and the common father of mankind; appealing in proof of this part of his doctrine to Aratus, one of their own most favourite poets. From these first principles, founded in reason, and which commend themselves to the consciences of all men, the apostle justly infers the folly of their idols. Admitting as they did, that they themselves were the offspring of God, how absurd was it in them to imagine “the Godhead like unto gold, or silver, or stone graven by art or man’s device.” Thus, having shewn the gross absurdity of their idolatrous worship, he declared to them that the Most High had for a course of time allowed men to go on in their ignorance, without instructing them by messengers divinely commissioned, that he might shew them by facts and their own experience, the insufficiency of their reason in the concerns of religion. But the state of things was now changed; for the time was come when God commanded all men every where to repent of their ignorance, idolatry and wickedness, having “appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by his Son Jesus Christ, whom he had raised from the dead,” and in that event hath given the highest certainty of the fact.

When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, the Epicureans mocked him, and the Stoics found so little interest in his reasoning, that they gladly adjourned the meeting, promising, like Felix upon another occasion, to hear him again of this matter at a more convenient season. Some few individuals, however, were struck with his doctrine, and received it as Divine truth; amnongst whom was Dionysius, one of the Areopagite judges, and a woman of some note named Damaris, with a few others, who consequently clave to the apostle and consorted with him. The handful of seed, however, sown at this time, at Athens, produced, in due season, the harvest of a numerous church, as will be seen in the history of the next century.

While Paul was thus employed at Athens, Timothy arrived from Berea, and informed him that the enemies of the faith at Thessalonica had raised a dreadful persecution against the disciples there; on hearing which, the apostle thought it best to be left alone at Athens, and without delay dispatched Timothy to Thessalonica to succor the brethren in their distress; to comfort their hearts, and prevent their being turned aside from the good profession they had made, by the afflictions they were now enduring. (1 Thessalonians 3:1-6.) Timothy soon afterwards returned to the apostle, bringing him a most pleasing account of their steadfastness in the faith, their regard for Paul, and their anxious desire to see him again, all which greatly refreshed and cheered his mind. (1 Thessalonians 3:6,7.)

From Athens he proceeded to Corinth , a city situated on a narrow neck of land which joined the Peloponnesus to Greece, in consequence of which it commanded the commerce of both Asia and Europe. On the eastern side of the isthmus were the ports of Cenchrea and Sahamus, and being thus advantageously situated for commercial purposes, it soon became extremely rich and populous. Its original name was Ephyre, but during the Achsean war, the Roman consul, Mummius, burnt it to the ground. It was, however, rebuilt by Julius Caesar, after having long lain in ashes, and by his command it was colonized with the ancestors of those Gentiles to whom Paul preached the everlasting gospel. When Achaia was made a Roman province, Corinth, becoming the seat of government, soon regained its ancient celebrity in regard to commerce and its attendants, riches and luxury; so that, at the time it was visited by Paul, it was almost as famous for learning and the arts as Athens itself. Here philosophers taught science, and established academies for the instruction of youth; and in such high reputation were its seminaries, that an education at Corinth became proverbial for the most finished cultivation of manners, in every polite and literary accomplishment. 6 With all its advantages, however, it seems to have outstripped every city of Greece in laxity of morals; insomuch that a Greek word, formed by the name of this city, has been used to signify all that lasciviousness and profligate corruption which leave the human heart enslaved to the basest and most headstrong passions. According to Strabo, there was in it a temple dedicated to Venus, at which no less than a thousand priestesses attended, who made prostitution a part of their devotions to the goddess.

Paul, on his arrival in this city, found a Jewish Christian, of the name of Aquilla, and his wife Priscilla, just arrived from Italy, in consequence of a decree which had been issued by the Roman emperor Claudius Caesar, commanding all Jews to depart from Rome. It is affirmed by Dio, an ancient historian, that Claudius did not banish the Jews from Rome, but only prohibited their assemblies. This, however, even though his decree proceeded no further, was in effect banishing all those who had any conscience of religion. But Suetonius, who lived nearer the time, expressly says, that “he expelled the Jews from Rome, who were continually making tumults;CHRESTUS being their leader, or the occasion of their disturbances.” 7 It is a matter of dispute among the learned, whether by\parCHRESTUS, Suetonius meant Jesus Christ, or not. The probability is, that he did; for in other places he has shewn himself peculiarly virulent against the Christians. 8 And, admitting this to have been his meaning, it shews us that the decree of Claudius was occasioned by the tumults which the unbelieving Jews were continually raising at Rome against the disciples of Christ, just as they persecuted Paul and his party at Lystra, Thessalonica, and Berea, and afterwards at Corinth, not to mention their conduct in the cases of Stephen, the apostles, or the Lord Jesus himself.

The Jews being numerous in Corinth, and having a synagogue, Paul, according to his custom, had immediate recourse to it; and there, for some time, “he reasoned every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Jewish proselytes, testifying in the boldest manner, that Jesus was the Messiah.”

But when they opposed and reviled his doctrine, he shook his raiment, to indicate that he had done with them, adding, “Your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean; from henceforth I will go to the Gentiles;” on saying which, he departed from the synagogue and went into the house of Justus, which lay contiguous to it. Crispus, however, the chief ruler of the synagogue, received Paul’s testimony, as did also his household, and “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8.)

It is not improbable that the apostle, experiencing so much opposition as he at first did from the Jews in this city, was about to take a speedy departure from it; but if such was his purpose, he was prevented from carrying it into effect, by a vision which he had during the night. The Lord Jesus appeared to him, to animate and encourage him to persevere in preaching the gospel at Corinth. “Be not afraid,” were his gracious words, “but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city.” Thus encouraged, he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God, who gave testimony to the word of his grace, and made the labors of his servants instrumental in gathering a numerous church, enriched with a plenitude of spiritual gifts. While here, he also wrote his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, which is generally thought to have been the first written of all his fourteen epistles. By some, however, it is thought he had previously written his epistle to the churches of Galatia, and that he did it at Antioch, before he left that city to take his present journey into Greece.

During these eighteen months that Paul is said to have passed at Corinth, it seems probable that he made an excursion from that city into the region of Achaia, or the Peloponnesus, where were many synagogues of the Jews, and from whence he returned again to Corinth, (2 Corinthians ch. 11:ver. 10.); and if we consider that his second epistle is addressed “to the saints which are in all Achaia,” it plainly shews that he had made many converts at other places in that quarter besides the city of Corinth.

Accordingly his return to it is spoken of as a second coming to Corinth, for he tells them, 2 Corinthians 12:14. and chap. 13:1, that he was then coming to them the third time, though in the Acts of the Apostles there is no mention of his having been at Corinth more than once before he wrote his second epistle to that church.

The great success which crowned the apostle’s ministry at this time, seems to have exasperated his enemies to the highest pitch. They formed a conspiracy to apprehend him, in which they succeeded, and dragged him before the judgment-seat of the deputy of Achaia, complaining bitterly that he persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law of Moses.

Gallio was the present proconsul, and had just entered upon his new dignity. This man was the elder brother of the famous Seneca, the Stoic philosopher and tutor to Nero, and it is conjectured he obtained the office through the interest of his brother Seneca. The latter has described Gallio, as a man of the most mild and amiable disposition, of great suavity of manners, and benign to men in general. Dion Cassius also commends him as a man of great wit and good sense. 10 As his conduct regards the case of Paul, he has been severely censured by many Christian writers, but probably without due consideration. He rather seems to have been aware of the futility of the charge which these Jews alleged against the apostle, and like a wise magistrate, who considered matters of opinion quite beyond his province, so long as they did not disturb the peace of society, he told the Jews that if they had any accusation to prefer against Paul for a breach of the civil law, he was ready to listen to them; but if it was merely a question of words and names, and matters regarding their law, they must settle it among themselves, for he would be no judge in affairs of that nature; which having said, he drove them from his judgment-seat.

After this the apostle prolonged his stay some time at Corinth, from whence it would seem that the rulers were not unfriendly towards him; but afterwards, taking his leave of the brethren, he sailed from the port of Cenchrea, accompanied by Aquilla and Priscilla; and the vessel touching at Ephesus, Paul left them there; for, having come under a vow while at Cenchrea, it was necessary he should offer the appointed sacrifices at Jerusalem, at the ensuing feast of the passover, which was then just at hand. He therefore bade them farewell; yet perceiving that Ephesus stood much in need of the light of the glorious gospel, he promised to return to them, when the Lord should permit; and quitting that city, he landed at Ceesarea, from whence he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, performed his vow, and returned to Antioch. After spending some time there with his old friends, he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, strengthening the disciples; and passing through the upper coasts, he at length returned to Ephesus , which was at that time the metropolis of the province of Asia, and an exceedingly populous city. It was situated upon the river Layster, and famous, among other things, for an immense temple dedicated to the worship of the goddess Diana. This amazing edifice was four hundred and twenty-five feet long, and two hundred and twenty broad, supported by an hundred and twenty-seven stately pillars, each of them sixty feet high, the work of a king, who erected them as a token of his piety and magnificence. The entire structure was two hundred and twenty years in building, and reared at the common charge of all Asia propria; and so admirable was it, that it ranked as one of the seven wonders of the world.

It had been twice destroyed by fire previous to its present enlarged and improved state; the first time, on the very day that Socrates was poisoned, and the second on the night in which Alexander the Great. was born, when it was designedly set on fire by Erastratus, who, being condemned to die for it, confessed that he had destroyed so exquisite a structure, solely “that he might be remembered in future ages.” The common council of Asia, however, not only put him to death, but passed a decree that “his name should never be mentioned more.” The fame of Erastratus, nevertheless, survived their decree; for though silence may have been imposed upon that generation, his conduct has been recorded by almost every historian who has written of those times. It was, however, again rebuilt upon a plan of the celebrated architect Denocrates, and most magnificently adorned by the Ephesians. When Paul visited the city, this temple was in all its glory. Here a prodigious concourse of people always resorted; some to worship the goddess Diana, others to learn the arts of sorcery and magic, which were taught and practiced with sach reputation at Ephesus, that the magical words or sen tences used in sorcery were taken from the name of the city, being called Ephesian letters. Many came to prosecute law suits, or to solicit offices from the Roman governor of the province, who resided here; to all which may be added, that multitudes resorted to it for the purposes of commerce, or were continually passing through it in their way to and from Europe.

But that which more especially renders Ephesus interesting to the Ecclesiastical historian is, that Satan had their erected his very throne of idolatry superstition; and magic, and reigned over the minds of his deluded subjects with uncontrolled sway. The apostle on his way to Jerusalem, had caught a transient glimpse of the state of things in that city, and having discharged his vow, he returned as expeditiously as was consistent with his purpose in visiting the countries that lay in his way, now to invade this empire of darkness, and storm the strong holds of the prince of the power of the air. (Ephesians 2:2,3.) Thus Ephesus became his residence during a space of three years.

On his arrival, accompanied by Gaius and Aristarchus, two of the brethren out of Macedonia, called his companions in travel, (Acts 19:29.) and by Timothy, and Erastus the chamberlain or treasurer of the city of Corinth, and probably by Titus also, Paul found here twelve men who had been the disciples of John the Baptist, and, as some understand, baptized by him.

These men appear to have believed the preaching of John, as it respected the immediate appearance of the Messiah and the setting up of his kingdom, but they seem not to have been acquainted with Christ or his apostles, nor to have known that the Messiah had actually appeared, that he had been crucified, and was risen again. They, therefore, knew nothing of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, in his miraculous operations, which was now communicated to them by the apostle, in consequence of which they spake with divers tongues and prophesied.

After this the apostle went into the synagogue of the Jews which he found there, and for three months reasoned with them, and persuaded them concerning the things of the kingdom of God; but finding many of them obstinate, their minds filled with prejudices, and that they began to revile him and his doctrine, Paul separated the disciples: and from that period met daily in the school of Tyrannus, who had probably himself been converted by the preaching of the apostle. And this continued during the space of two years, which gave an opportunity to many who resided in distant parts of the province, andwho had heard of Paul’s preaching and miracles, to visit Ephesus, and to hear the word of God from his mouth, so that by this means the knowledge of the gospel was communicated to all Asia.

And now the Divine power manifested itself remarkably, in owning the mission and doctrine of Paul; for “God wrought special miracles by his hands;”—diseases vanished, not only at his touch but at his word, and evil spirits were ejected out of many that were possessed with them. Some of the wandering Jews who had practiced the art of exorcism, supposing that Paul’s miracles bore some affinity to their own tricks, undertook to imitate them, by expelling a deemon out of one that was possessed; but when they invoked the name of Jesus whom Paul preached, “the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded,” to the consternation of all the Jews and Greeks that dwelt at Ephesus; “and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” The most amazing consequences succeeded this display of Divine power; for many of the necromancers received the apostolic testimony, and came and confessed their diabolical practices, and the arts by which they had deceived the multitude. Many of those also who had been engaged in the devices of exorcism, conjuration, and magic, brought their books, in which, were prescribed the various forms of incantation, and spontaneously set fire to them in the presence of all the people; and they computed their value, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver, equal to seven thousand five hundred pounds sterling—an amazing effect of the prevalence of Divine truth over all the powers of darkness!

Yet, notwithstanding the success of his ministry, Paul had many adversaries at Ephesus. A number of the inhabitants enriched themselves, by manufacturing representations in miniature of the temple of Diana, and of the image that was said to have fallen down from Jupiter; by means of which they amassed considerable wealth. Perceiving that if Paul’s doctrine were suffered to spread, their trade would be ruined, they convened a meeting of all that were of the same occupation, and very gravely deliberated what was best to be done, in order to check the growing evil: “Sirs,” said one of them, “ye know that by this craft we have our wealth, It is evident, moreover, that not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath turned away much people, saying that they are no gods which are made with hands; so that not only our trade is in danger of being destroyed, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be despised, and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” Interest is a powerful stimulus to the passions of men; and on this occasion the speech of Demetrius, which was founded upon it, produced the desired effect, for, “when they heard these things, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” The utmost confusion ensued throughout the city: the artificers ran about the streets, spreading the alarm to the multitude; and having seized two of Paul’s companions, viz. Gaius and Aristarchus, they ran with one accord into the theater, intending, probably, to cast them to the wild beasts usually kept there. The apostle would himself have also entered, but his friends dissuaded him. Anarchy had now reached its highest pitch,—some exclaimed one thing, and some another,—the multitude was confounded, and the greater part knew not the cause of their coming together; they continued, however, for the space of two hours, crying out, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” The rage of the rioters became at length exhausted; the preconsul’s secretary appeased the people, and addressed them to the following effect; “Ye men of Ephesus, who is there that knows not that the city of the Ephesians worshippeth the great goddess Diana? since this is evident, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

For ye have brought hither these men, whom ye have not yet proved to be either spoilers of temples, or blasphemers of the goddess; if, therefore, Demetrius and his craftsmen have any thing to allege against them, the courts of law are open, where the matter may be fairly tried.” He also reminded them, that they were in danger of being called to account by the Romans for the riot they had raised, there being no justifiable cause for it.

On saying which, he liberated Gaius and Aristarchus, and dismissed the assembly.

During Paul’s stay at Ephesus, a church had not only been gathered, but set in order with its bishops and deacons. 11 By means of his preaching, multitudes had been converted to the Christian faith, amongst whom were “certain of the chiefs of Asia,” supposed to have been priests of the temple of Diana, who had the care of the games celebrated in honor of that goddess. These, the apostle having called together after the uproar, embraced them, and then taking his leave, departed for Macedonia. Having visited the churches in that country, and given them much exhortation, he went into Greece, and there continued about three months;after which he went down to Troas, a place he had formerly visited, and where he preached with great success.

The disciples of Christ being at this period reduced to great straits in Judea, Paul had written to the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Greece to assist them by a general contribution; and during his abode among them at this time, he received the various collections which those churches had made for their relief. Having carried into effect this important service, he sailed for Syria, and landed at the port of Tyre, from whence passing by Ptolemais, and thence to Caesarea, he arrived at Jerusalem, where he delivered the contributions, and was most cordially received of the brethren.

SECTION THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. From Paul’s arrival at Jerusalem with the contributions from Asia, to the period of his death.

WE are now arrived at a period in the life of the great apostle of the Gentiles, when a circumstance arose which has occasioned no little perplexity to commentators, and drawn from many of them either unmerited reproaches or needless apologies.

It seems that previous to the apostle’s arrival in Judea, a report had got into circulation, that he was in the practice of teaching the Jews who were dispersed throughout the Gentile countries, “to forsake the law of Moses, and neither circumcise their children, nor walk after the Jewish customs.” This was an unfounded representation of his conduct in regard to this matter. He indeed taught the Gentiles that they should observe none of these things; but he well knew that the time which God had appointed for putting an end to the political constitution of the Jews, had not yet arrived. He, therefore, conformed to the rights of Judaism himself, though aware that the whole of that typical dispensation had been virtually abolished by the death of Christ; and he instructed his Jewish brethren to do the same, until, by the destruction of their temple and city, the providence of God should co-operate with his word in rendering it impossible for them any longer to adhere to Moses. It was, therefore, necessary that the Jews in Jerusalem should be undeceived in this matter; and, in order to this, it was recommended to him by James the apostle, and the elders of the church, to give a proof to all his Jewish brethren that what they had heard of him was incorrect, by joining himself to four men who were under a vow, and subjecting himself to the charges that were necessary to the performance of it, “that all might know that the things which they had heard concerning him were nothing, but that he himself walked orderly and kept the law.” Paul complied with this advice; and the following day, purifying himself with them, they all ehtered into the temple, to signify to the priest their resolution to accomplish the seven days of their purification. But before these were ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up all the people against him, and apprehending him by violence, cried out, “Men of Israel help; this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place, and hath polluted this holy temple by bringing Greeks into it.”

By this means an universal ferment was excited throughout Jerusalem, for the people ran together, and seizing Paul, drew him out of the temple, closing the doors, being resolved, it would seem, to put him to death. At this critical moment, when they were actually engaged in beating him, Claudius Lysias, the commander of the Roman garrison, interposed with a band of soldiers and rescued Paul, demanding to know who he was and what he had done. Finding it impossible, however, from the contrariety of their reports, to arrive at any certainty in the affair, he ordered the soldiers to take him into the castle, whither he was pursued by the multitude, crying out, “away with him.”

Having reached the top of the stairs, Paul asked leave of the chief captain to address them; which being granted, he beckoned to them with his hand, and when he had obtained silence, accosted them in the Hebrew tongue, recapitulating the most material circumstances of his history, particularly his conversion to the Christian faith; appealing to the high-priest and elders for the truth of what he said; and closing the narrative with stating the commission he had received from Jesus Christ, to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles. The very mention of this was enough for these Jews. Hitherto they had listened to him patiently, but no sooner had he spoken of his commission to the Gentiles, than they became outrageous, exclaiming, “Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is not fit that he should live:” (Acts 22:1-22.) on saying which, they rent off their clothes and threw dust into the air.

Lysias, in all probability, understood nothing of what Paul had spoken in Hebrew; but seeing the effects which his speech had produced upon the Jews, and that they were driven to frenzy by it, he concluded that certainly he must be some notorious malefactor, and, therefore, commanding him to be brought into the castle, he was preparing to have recourse to the Romml custom of extorting a confession from his own lips, by means of torture,—one method of which was by binding the person to a pillar and severely scourging him. When the soldiers had stripped Paul, and were extending his arms to the utmost stretch, that they might bind him with thongs to the pillar, he enquired from the centurion, whether it were lawful for him to scourge a freeman of Rome, before he was convicted of any crime? The officer, upon receiving this hint, that the apostle was a Roman citizen, desisted from his purpose, and apprised the chief captain of the fact, who, interrogating Paul, and finding that he was free-born, began to regret what he had done, and liberated him from his bonds.

On the following day the apostle was brought before the Jewish Sanhedrim, with the view of having his conduct investigoted before that great national council. When placed in the midst, he surveyed the assembly with earnestness and composure, and was proceeding to renew his vindication before them, but the first sentence he uttered provoked the high-priest, who commanded the by-standers to smite him on the mouth.

Paul complained of this as an unjust procedure on the part of his judges: probably he was not aware whence the order to smite him originated; at any rate, he was not apprised that it came from the high-priest, whose office was then become quite a marketable commodity, and in which the Romans were of course making frequent changes. The apostle, however, recalled his words, and apologized for them; but continuing to look round upon the council, and perceiving that one part of them were Pharisees, and the other Sadducees, he made an appeal to the former, that he had been one of their sect, and that he was now called to answer for the hope which he had, of a resurrection from the dead,—a doctrine wholly denied by the latter. A contention immediately arose between the two parties, and the Sanhedrim became divided. In this state of confusion, the chief captain, fearing Paul might be sacrificed between them, ordered a company of soldiers to go down and take him by force, and bring him into the castle.

In the ensuing night the Lord Jesus appeared in vision to his servant, encouraging him to “be of good cheer,” and telling him, that as he had borne witness of him in Jerusalem, he must now also do the same at Rome.

A conspiracy was formed among forty of the Jews, the next morning to put him to death; “they bound themselves by a curse,” that they would neither eat nor drink till that object was accomplished. The stratagem, however, failed and the plot was defeated. Paul’s sister’s son got intimation of it, and conveyed it to his uncle, who called one of the centurions of the garrison, desiring him to introduce the young man to Lysias, the tribune, he having something to communicate to him. Paul’s nephe.w developed the whole plot to Lysias, who, enjoining upon him the utmost secresy, immediately gave orders for an escort of two hundred soldiers, with the same number of spearmen, and seventy horsemen, to be got: ready against nine o’clock at night, and also to provide a horse for Paul to ride upon to Caesarea, to which place he was accordingly conveyed in safety, with a letter from Lysias to the Roman governor there, explaining the reasons of the whole procedure.

Felix was at this time governor of Csesarea; and Lysias, having now transferred the whole affair between Paul and his adversaries to his jurisdiction, he ordered the high-priest and some others of the Sanhedrim to appear before him in five days, which they did, accompanied by Tertullus, an advocate or Roman orator, who was to lay Paul’s crimes before the governor. When the day arrived, the apostle was brought into court, and the orator, in a pompous speech, interspersed with flattering compliments to Felix, accused him vehemently of being a pestilent fellow, an exciter of seditions among the Jews everywhere, a ring-leader of the sect of the Nazarenes, who had profaned their holy temple, and that they would have judged him according to the Jewish law, had they not been prevented by the conduct of Lysias, who took him out of their hands; to the truth of all which, the Jews gave their assent.

By the Roman law both parties were to be heard before sentence was passed. When, therefore, the governor had beckoned with his hand for Paul to speak, he addressed them in a firm and undaunted manner, denying the accusation which they had thought proper to prefer against him of being an exciter of tumult and sedition, and boldly challenging his enemies to the proof. He admitted, indeed, that after the way which they called “heresy,” so worshipped he the God of his fathers, believing all things that were written in the law and in the prophets; and this he did in the confident expectation, that there would be a resurrection from the dead, both of the just and unjust. Felix, who was no doubt tolerably well acquainted with the affairs of the Christians, and the temper of the Jews towards them, put off the decision of the case for the present, promising that when Lysias came down to Csesarea, he would institute a more strict inquiry into the subject; and in the mean time Paul was remanded to the care of a centurion, who was instructed to allow him all the liberty that was consistent with his being a prisoner, and to prohibit none of his Christian brethren from having free access to him.

Felix was at this time living in an adulterous intercourse with Drusilla, a Jewess. One day during the apostle’s confinement at Csesarea, they sent for Paul, wishing to hear him concerning the faith in Christ. The apostle wisely adapted his address to the characters of his audience; he stated the obligation under which all mankind are, to obey the law of God; the guilt and wrath incurred by a breach of it; and the final account to be given in the great day of retribution. Nothing could be more strikingly calculated to arouse the consciences of Felix and Drusilla. Tacitus, speaking of the former, says, he exercised the authority committed to him with all manner of cruelty and lewdness; and as for Drusilla, with whom he cohabited, she was the lawful wife of Azizus, king of the Emesenians. How pertinent, therefore, were the topics of Paul’s reasoning, viz. righteousness, temperance, and a future judgment! The portrait which the apostle drew of an iniquitous and licentious governor, so exactly corresponded to the original before him, that Felix could not help shuddering at the representation of his own moral deformity; while conscience, that ihithful monitor within, made the application, and told him that the mirror in which Paul shewed him the features of an abandoned heart, did him no injustice. “Felix trembled, and said, Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee.” He did, indeed, again send for him, and communed often with him, but it was under the expectation of having his avarice gratified, by obtaining from the prisoner a sum of money to purchase his release. No attempt, however, being made to gratify the governor in that way, he detained him during the remaining years of his government; and even when he was compelled to leave the province, he declined releasing him, from a wish to please the Jews, who earnestly desired to have Paul put to death.

Felix was succeeded in the government by Porcius Festus, who went up to Jerusalem three days after his landing at Caesarea. And now the Jews interceded with him, to have the apostle sent back to their city for trial, intending to lay wait for him and kill him. Festus, however, was aware of their design, and refused his consent. Paul, he said, should be kept at Ceesarea; and if they had any thing to lay to his charge they might go down there and accuse him of it. After continuing ten days among them at Jerusalem, Festus returned, and the following day ordered Paul to be brought before him. The Jews were again present, and laid many grievous complaints against him, which they could not prove; against all which Paul defended himself. But when Festus, with a view to gratify the Jews, proposed that he should go up to Jerusalem and there be judged, the apostle objected to it, telling the governor that if he had done any thing worthy of death, he would not refuse to die; that, (as Festus very well knew) he had done the Jews no injury; that they could not prove any of the things which they alleged against him, consequently that he ought not to be delivered into their hands; and he further added, that he stood at Caesar’s judgment-seat, where he ought to be judged, and to Caesar he made his appeal; for it was one of the privileges of the freemen of Rome, that if they suspected justice would not be done them, they could, before sentence was passed, appeal to the emperor, and, having made that appeal, they were then reserved to be judged by the emperor himself. After conferring some time with his council what was best to be done, Festus yielded to Paul’s request, and informed him he should be sent to Rome.

Previous, however, to Paul’s departure from Caesarea, king Agrippa, accompanied by his sister Bernice, came there to pay their respects to Festus. The latter, when they had been with him some days, mentioned Paul’s case to the king, and what had already taken place in regard to it.

Agrippa expressed a wish to see him; and on the following day, when the king, his sister, and all the tribunes and principal men of the city, had entered into court, the apostle was brought before them. Festns, in a short address, stated to Agrippa and all that were present, what already had been done in the affair, and how the Jews had failed to make good their charges against Paul — -that he had once more brought him into court, that the king himself might have an opportunity of examining him previous to his being sent to Rome.

Agrippa then addressed Paul, and told him he was permitted to speak for himself; upon which the apostle stretched forth his hand, and declared how happy he thought himself in being permitted to answer the accusations of the Jews, before one who was so expert in the Jewish religion and laws, as the king was. He then went over the particulars of his birth, education, and manner of life to the time of his conversion; the remarkable circumstances of which, he laid before the monarch in the most striking manner, declaring how Jesus had appeared to him, and remonstrated with him upon his conduct, in persecuting his disciples as he had done, and finally, that he had given him a commission to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He avowed, in the most explicit manner, the.effect which this heavenly vision had had upon him—that he did not attempt to resist it, but had shewed to the Jews at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, the necessity that there was for their repentance and turning to God. These were the things for which the Jews sought to kill him; but “having obtained help from God, he continued unto this day, saying none other things than what Moses and the prophets did say should come; that the Messiah should suffer, and should be the first to rise from the dead, and to shew light to the people and to the Gentiles.”

This noble defense seems to have completely arrested the attention of both Festus and Agrippa. The former could endure it no longer, but cried out, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.”

The apostle, with that dignity which always becomes the advocate of divine truth, replied, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.” And then, addressing himself to the king, he boldly appealed to him for the truth of what he had said concerning his conversion; the facts were notorious; they were not done in a corner. Besides, as to what he had stated concerning the voices of the prophets, he knew that Agrippa acknowledged their divine authority, and was competent to judge how far he was right in quoting them. This appeal forced from Agrippa an acknowledgment, that Paul’s address had “almost persuaded him to be a Christian.” The apostle replied in the most benevolent and prophetic manner, “I would to God that not only thou, but all that hear me, were not only almost, but altogether such as I am, except these bonds.”

It being now determined to send Paul to Rome, he was committed to the custody of a centurion, named Julius, with whom he embarked in a vessel that was on a trading voyage to several parts of the Lesser Asia.

Aristarchus, and some other of his friends, went with him; and particularly Luke the evangelist. On the following day they touched at Sidon, where the centurion gave him liberty to refresh himself, and visit his friends. At the next port, which was Myra in Lycia, a vessel offering, which was bound direct for Italy, they went on board her. In the beginning of their passage they were retarded by contrary winds. At length they reached the island of Crete, now called Candia, and having put into a port called “the Fair Havens,” Paul wished to persuade them to continue there for the present, intimating, that as the winter was now advancing, they would be subject to many inconveniences and dangers, if they ventured to proceed any farther. His remonstrance, however, was over-ruled, the centurion preferring the opinion of the master of the ship to that of Paul. It was also thought best, if possible, to reach another haven at the west end of the island, which was considered more commodious and safe than the place Paul proposed; and a favorable wind springing up from the south, determined their resolution.

Their hopes, however, were soon blasted; fbr immediately after sailing, they were overtaken by a sudden and violent storm. The name given it by the historian, Euroclydon, expresses its direction to have been from the east, and also its energy upon the waves. The tempest irresistibly overpowered the mariners, and rendered their skill impracticable and vain.

They were compelled to abandon the ship to the direction of the wind, and were hurried away they knew not whither. Considering themselves to be in the utmost jeopardy, they had recourse to various expedients for securing the ship, at one time by undergirding it with ropes, and at another by throwing a considerable part of the cargo into the sea. In this perilous situation, expecting every hour to be either swallowed up by the waves, or dashed to pieces against unknown rocks or shores, they continued fourteen days. Wilen, nearly exhausted with hardship, anxiety, and hunger—the seamen having seen neither sun nor stars for many days—and when all hope of safety had forsaken them, Paul stood forth in the midst, and exhorted them to be of good courage, and take their food; for that God, to whom he belonged, and whom he served, had given him assurance by an angel, not only of his own safety, but that the lives of all on board should for his sake be preserved. Paul’s words were verified; the ship indeed was wrecked, but the whole crew, consisting of two hundred and seventy-six persons, were ultimately brought safe to land.

The island on which they were cast, is called by Luke, Melita, and many have contended that it is the present Malta; but the latter island is not in the Adriatic Sea, and it has been convincingly shewn, 2 that it was an island belonging to Dalmatia, formerly called Melite, but now Mleet, by the Sclavonians, and is subject to Ragusa. Here, the inhabitants, though called barbarians, received and accommodated them with great humanity, and manifested a tenderness not always found among those who bear the Christian name. They brought them under cover, and kindled fires to warm and dry them. As Paul was assisting in supplying the fire with fuel, a viper came out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. The inhabitants of the island who were spectators, no sooner saw the venomous animal suspended from his hand, than they said among themselves, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped shipwreck, vengeance suffereth not to live.” Under this conviction, they confidently expected to see him fall down dead; but when they saw the apostle shake the viper into the fire, and found that he had not received the least injury from its bite, they changed their opinion of him, and said that he was a god.

The apostle and his friends were for three days courteously entertained by Publius, the governor of the island; and during his stay there, he wrought many miracles upon persons that were sick and diseased, among whom was the father of Publius, who at that time lay ill of a fever and bloody flux. These kind offices procured them many favors from the inhabitants; and when, after a residence among them of three months, they were about to depart, they liberally supplied them with every necessary accommodation for their journey.

Sailing from thence in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered at the island, they proceeded to Syracuse in Sicily, where they tarried three days, and soon after arrived at Rhegium, and from thence, in two days at Puteoli near Naples, where they disembarked, and continued a week, in compliance with the wishes of the Christian brethren whom they found there. From Puteoli to Rome, their journey was about a hundred miles by land.

Several of the disciples at Rome, hearing of Paul’s approach, proceeded to meet him at Appii-forum, and the Three Taverns; the former place being about fifty, and the latter, thirty miles from the city. The sight of these Christian brethren inspired the apostle with new life and rigor, for it is said, “When he saw them, he thanked God and took courage.” And thus in the month of February, of the sixteenth year of the Christian tara, and seventh of the reign of the emperor Nero, the apostle arrived at Rome , the imperial city, and metropolis of the whole world, situated in Italy, on the banks of the Tiber, at the distance of about sixteen miles from the sea. The foundations of this celebrated city were laid by Romulus, years before the birth of Christ, at which time it consisted of only a small castle on the summit of Mount Palatine. But it had risen, by gradual and almost imperceptible degrees, to the proud eminence of being the first city in the world, in point of extent, population, and splendor. The populousness of that great capital, says Gibbon, cannot perhaps be exactly ascertained; but the most modest calculation will not surely reduce it lower than a million of inhabitants. 3 It was built upon seven hills,4 and is said to have been twenty miles in circumference. There were in it no less than four hundred and twenty temples, crowded with statues; the priests were numerous, and each divinity had a separate college of sacerdotal servants. Previous to the establishment of Christianity in the empire, the worship and sacrifices of the Romans were uncommonly superstitious.

The will of the gods was consulted upon every occasion; and no general marched to an expedition, without the previous assurance from the augurs that the omens were propitious. Their wars were declared in the most awful and solemn manner, and prayers were always offered in the temples for the prosperity of Rome, when a defeat had been sustained or a victory won. They raised altars, not only to the gods, who, as they supposed, presided over their city, but also to the deities of conquered nations, aswell as to the various passions and virtues.

The gospel had found its way to this imperial city long before it was visited by Paul, who had himself written his epistle to the church there, several years prior to his being brought thither as a prisoner. It seems very probable that the knowledge of Christ was conveyed to Rome soon after the day of Pentecost; for, it is expressly mentioned, that, among the multitude who were witnesses of the miraculous gift of tongues, there were “strangers from Rome, both Jews and proselytes.” (Acts 2:10.) Such of these as were converted to the Christian faith, would, on their return home, carry with them the glad tidings of salvation, and communicate it to others. When Paul wrote his epistle to that church, it must have been numerous, for he acknowledges that “their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world.” (Romans 1:8.) He mentions a considerable number of them by name in his last chapter, though he had never been among them; and they must have made great progress in their Christian profession, for he declares that “he was persuaded of them that they were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:14.)

The apostle had had “a great desire for many years” (Romans 15:23.) to visit that church, and had been long arranging his plans to accomplish his wish; (Romans 1:11-13.) but his purpose was now effected in a manner altogether different from what he had been expecting.

During the whole voyage, it is evident that Paul had been treated by Julius, the Roman officer, to whose custody he was committed, with great humanity and kindness. At Sidon he allowed him to go on shore to visit his Christian friends. And when they were shipwrecked on the island of Melite, he kept the soldiers from killing the prisoners, that he might save Paul. When Paul’s friends at Puteoli wished him to remain with them a week, probably that they might enjoy his company on the Sabbath, he kindly granted their request. Julius had been favored with many opportunities of knowing the character of his prisoner; he, no doubt, knew the favorable opinion which was entertained of his case by Festus and Agrippa, and all the tribunes at Ceesarea; but the things that had occurred during the voyage, must also have tended greatly to increase his respect for him; and, it is highly probable, that, to the esteem which Julius had for him, the apostle was indebted for the indulgence which was shewn him immediately on his arrival at Rome. For he was not shut up in a common jail with the other prisoners, but, from the very first, was permitted to dwell in his own hired house, attended by a soldier who guarded him by means of a long chain fastened to his right wrist and the soldlet’s left arm.

In this manner Herod Agrippa was chained to a soldier when he was thrown into prison by Tiberius. On the fourth day after his arrival, Paul called the chief of the Jews together, and explained to them the circumstances of his case; the treatment he had received in his own country; how he had been delivered at Jerusalem a prisoner into the hands of the Romans, who after investigating his affair, would have liberated him, had not the clamor of the Jews prevented it; and, in short that it was “for the hope of Israel” he was bound with the chain which they then saw. It seems Paul’s accusers had not yet arrived from Judea. The Jews whom he had called together, therefore, confessed that they had not received any letters from that quarter, nor any information concerning him through any other medium;they were desirous, nevertheless, of knowing his opinion of the Christian sect, which was every where spoken against. A day was therefore appointed, on which many came to his lodgings, to whom, from morning till evening, he narrated fully the history of Jesus, testifying concerning the nature of the kingdom of God, and persuading them both from the law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets. The result was that some believed the things that were spoken, and others believed not. Thus the apostle having discharged his duty in first making known the glad tidings of salvation to his own brethren according to the flesh, took his leave of them, and thenceforward associated with the Gentiles, who had been previously formed into a church in this city, and to whom he had already addressed his important and invaluable epistle. “And Paul dwelt two whole years ill his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unmolested by any one.”

And with this information the inspired historian closes his narrative of the great apostle of the Gentiles.

During the two years that Paul was detained, on this occasion, a prisoner at Rome, he wrote several of those epistles to the churches which now enrich the Scriptures, and constitute so important a part of Divine revelation. Amongst these are enumerated, that to the Ephesians—to the Philippians—to the Colossians — -and the short letter to Philemon; and, it is thought, that immediately on his release he wrote the epistle to the Hebrews. From these letters we may collect, that, during his imprisonment at Rome, he was attended by many of the disciples and friends, who either accompanied him from Judea, or followed him to Italy. Of this number was Tychicus, by whom he sent his epistle to the Colossians, ch. 4:7, and Onesimus, ver. 9, and Mark, ver. 10, and also Jesus, who was called Justus, all of the circumcision, ver. 11, except Onesimus. Demas too was with him, ver. 14. and Timothy, Philippians 1:1; and Aristarthus, who was imprisoned for his zeal in preaching the gospel, Colossians 4:10; and Luke, the beloved physician and evangelist, ver. 14. He also enumerates Epaphras, who seems to have been one of the pastors of the Colossian church, ver. 12; and Epaphroditus, a member of the church at Philippi, Philippians 2:25. All these Christian brethren, residents of very remote countries, appear to have been with the apostle during his first confinement at Rome.

Of the circumstances attending his trial and release, we have no authentic particulars; but that he was liberated after a period of two years, seems deducible from the words with which the sacred historian closes the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Nor have we any certain information concerning his travels and preaching, from this time till his death.

Intimations, indeed, are given in the epistles which he wrote from Rome, of his purposes, from which some writers have undertaken to sketch the transactions of the latter period of his life, and there is at least a probability that it was to the following effect.

After being released, in the spring of the year 62, he embarked with Titus, and probably with Timothy also, at some of the ports of Italy, and touched at the Island of Crete, where he preached in many cities, and collected the disciples into societies; but finding it requisite to quit Crete, he left Titus there, to set in order the things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city. (Titus 1:5.) From thence he proceeded to Judea, to fulfill the promise which he had made, in his epistle to the Hebrews, chap. 13:23, of visiting the church at Jerusalem, and the other churches in that country. After spending some time among them, accompanied by Timothy, he left Judea to visit the churches of the Lesser Asia, taking Antioch in his way, and travelling through Cilicia into Galatia, from whence he went to Colosse, where he had desired Philemon to provide him a lodging, (Philemon ver. 12.) as he had intended to spend some time in that city.

While at Colosse he wrote his epistle to Titus in Crete, and from thence proceeded to Ephesus, where he left Timothy to direct the affairs of that numerous church. (1 Timothy 1:3.) From Ephesus, Paul went into Macedonia, calling at Troas in his way, where, lodging with Carpus, he left behlnd him the cloak (which some suppose his father had received as a badge of his Roman citizenship,) and likewise some parchments (probably the autographs or original copies of his epistles to the churches.) These he afterwards requested Timothy to bring with him, when he came to visit him at Rome, during his second imprisonment. (2 Timothy 4:23.) In Macedonia he visited the church at Phillippi, agreeably to the intimation he had given them in his letter, (Philippians 1:25,26.) and from thence proceeded to Epirus, where he spent the winter, at the city of Nicopolis, (Titus 3:12.) and where he had desired Titus to come from Crete and give him the meeting. Here also, or at Philippi, he wrote his first epistle to Timothy, instructing him how to conduct himself in the house of God, fearing it would not be in his power to return to Ephesus at the time he proposed. (1 Timothy 3:14,15.) Accordingly, Titus having brought him such a report of the state of the churches in Crete, as made it necessary for the apostle to visit them, he set out early in the spring from Nicopolis for that island, accompanied by Titus, Trophimus, and Erastus, and taking Corinth in his way, Erastus, who was a native of that city, chose to abide there. When they arrived at Crete, Trophimus fell sick, and was left in Mileturn, a city of that island. (2 Timothy 4:20.)

But while Paul was thus employed in conveying the glad tidings of mercy to guilty men, or confirming the churches in the truths they had already learned, a dreadful storm was gathering at Rome, which burst upon the church there with tenfold fury. Nero, who had swayed the imperial scepter about ten years, and who had arrived at such a pitch of wickedness as to prepare the minds of his subjects for the belief of any act of tyranny, cruelty, or vileness which was reported of him, is said to have set fire to the city of Rome, on the 10th of July, A.D. 64, in consequence of which a great part of it was laid in ashes. Mischief and the misery of others were his delight; and he is said to have expressed great pleasure at the spectacle, indulging himself in singing the burning of Troy while his own city was in flames. He, however, very soon became the suspected incendiary, and consequently the object of popular hatred. To clear himself from the odious charge, he endeavored to fix the crime on the Christians; and, having thus falsely and tyrannically imputed the guilt to them, he put them to death by various methods of exquisite cruelty. The account which is given us by Tacitus, a heathen historian, is too remarkable to be omitted.

Speaking of Nero, and the conflagration of Rome, he thus proceeds; “To divert suspicion from himself, he substituted fictitious criminals, and with that view inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men, who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with deserved infamy. The confessions of those who were seized, discovered a great multitude 6 of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind.

They died in torments; and these were embittered by insult and derision.

Some were nailed on crosses, others sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs,— others again were smeared over with combustible materials, and used as torches to illumine the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied by a horse race and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt of the Christians deserved, indeed, the most exemplary punishment; but the public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that these unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the rigor of justice, as to the cruelty of the jealous tyrant.” Intelligence of these cruelties being brought to Paul while at Crete, and, thinking his presence might be useful in comforting the minds of his brethren, he set out for Italy, and probably arrived at Rome in the beginning of the year 65, where he was apprehended, as being a chief man among this obnoxious sect. He appears to have been twice brought before the emperor or his prefect, whence it is presumed that he had been confined at least a year before he was condemned.

We may easily conceive how perilous it must have been for any of Paul’s friends to avow an open attachment to him, under existing circumstances; and, indeed, it appears from the Second Epistle to Timothy, which he wrote while waiting his execution, that most of them fled the city. Of the conduct of Onesiphorus, however, he makes the most honorable mention, (2 Timothy 1:16-18.) During the apostle’s stay at Ephesus, he had been extremely kind to him. But having occasion to visit Rome, while Paul was in confinement, Onesiphorus “sought him out very diligently and found him.” He was not ashamed of the apostle because he was immured in a jail and loaded with a chain; on the contrary, he bestowed upon him the most kind and tender assiduities, and cheerfully ministered to his temporal necessities. Paul could not reflect upon this affectionate behavior of his friend, without having all the sensibilities of his soul excited; and he gave vent to them, by offering up his prayer to God that he would “grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus in the great day of account;” repeating’ his supplication, “the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.” But Onesiphorus had now returned to Ephesus: Luke alone was with him; and even he appears to have been so intimidated that, at the apostle’s first examination, he was afraid to stand by him. In this state of things, “about to be offered up, and viewing the hour of his departure at hand,” he urged Timothy to hasten to him to receive his last instructions, and assist him in the ministry during the short time he had to live. And thus, according to the most credible records, he was condemned and put to death in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, answering to the sixty-sixth of the Christian aera. Two years after that, Nero put an end to his own life, and to this terrible persecution, which had raged during a period of four years, and swept off a prodigious number of the disciples of Christ.

SECTION THE SUBJECT CONTINUED From the period of the death of Paul, A.D. 66, to the close of the first century. IT has been pertinently remarked by one of the ancients, that the writer of the Acts of the Apostles leaves the reader thirsting for more. But concise as his narrative is, it ought to be regarded by us as an invaluable part of the sacred writings; and for this reason among others, because it shews us in what sense the apostles understood the commission which their Lord had given them, previous to his ascension into heaven. From their discourses, recorded in that book, we learn what were the doctrines they preached; what the laws and institutions they enforced upon the disciples; and the manner in whick they set up his kingdom in the world. In attempting a sketch of this interesting subject, we have hitherto prosecuted our journey under the light of divine Revelation; but, henceforward, we must be content to explore our way under more uncertain guides.

A mind accustomed to reflection, naturally inquires, how were the other apostles of Christ occupied during the period that Paul was engaged in conveying the glad tidings of salvation throughout the Gentile countries.

But the volume of revelation does not give such ample information upon this subject as we might wish. It may however, be remarked, that as.

Jerusalem was the place from whence, according to ancient prophecy, “the word of the Lord was to go forth, and the law to proceed out of Zion,” so we may see special reasons why the Lgrd appointed them their stations for a season in that church. It seems evident, that at the first, they not only discharged the apostolic office in giving forth the New Testament revelation of doctrine, and delivering to the churches the ordinances of public worship, but they also acted as bishops, elders, pastors, or ministers of the word, and also as deacons, having the eare of the poor. In process of time, however, we find other persons appointed to fulfill the two last mentioned offices, (Compare Acts 6:5, with 11:30; 15:6-22, 23.) and that, even while some of the apostles still remained with the church at Jerusalem. We may also infer, that though the twelve were stationed there by the Head of the church, they, nevertheless, made occasional excursions into different parts of Judea and Samaria, to propagate the knowledge of Christ, and gather his disciples into churches, as we see Peter doing, (Acts 9:32;) and that when it became no longer necessary for them to remain with that church, they proceeded to carry into effect the commission which the Lord Jesus had given them, to “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15.)

It appears from credible records, that the gospel was preached in Idumea, Syria, and Mesopotamia, by Jude; in Egypt, Mamorica, Mauritania, and other parts of Africa, by Mark, Simeon, and Jude; in Ethiopia, by the Eunuch and Matthias; in Pontus, Galatia, and the neighboring parts of Asia, by Peter; in the territories of the seven Asiatic churches by John; in Parthia, by Matthew; in Scythia, by Philip and Andrew; in the northern and western parts of Asia, by Bartholomew; in Persia, by Simeon and Jude; in Media, Carmania, etc. by Thomas; from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, by Paul, who also published it in Italy, and probably in Spain, Gaul, and Britain. James, the brother of the apostle John, and son of Zebedee, as we have formerly noticed, had been put to death by Herod; and, if we may credit Jerome, Peter also was put to death in the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, about the same time that Paul finished his course and was taken to receive the crown of righteousness which his Divine Master had promised to bestow upon him. By this time also James, the Lord’s brother, had sealed his testimony with his blood. The following account of his death is given us by Josephus the Jewish historian. “Ananus, who had seized the office of high-priest, was a man bold in his temper, and very insolent. He was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who surpass all the other Jews in their rigid manner of judging offenders; and he thought he now had a proper opportunity of exercising his authority. Festus was dead, and Albinus, who had been sent into Judea to succeed him, was upon his journey thither. So he assembled the Sanhedrim of judges, and brought before him the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others of his companions, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.” 2 Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, gives a somewhat different account of the death of James, and thinks he was killed, not in consequence of a judicial trial, but in a popular tumult, the occasion of which he thus explains. “When Paul had appealed unto Caesar, and had been sent to Rome by Festus, the Jews who had aimed at his death, turned their rage against James, the Lord’s brother, who had been appointed by the apostles, bishop of Jerusalem.” 3 These different accounts are certainly not irreconcileable, and the fact itself is unquestionable, that he was put to death by the Jews, about the year 64, and only a short time after the writiffg of that excellent epistle which forms a part of the sacred canon.

The Divine long-suffering was, however, now fast drawing towards a close with the devoted city and people of Jerusalem. The measure of their iniquities was at length filled up. To all their former crimes they had now added these, that “they had both killed the Lord Jesus, and persecuted his servants the apostles,” even unto death; and the wrath of Heaven was about to come upon them to the uttermost. Christ himself, during his personal ministry, had foretold their doom, and bewailed it in the most pathetic strains. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not: behold your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matthew 23:37.)

For “the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another. (Luke 19:42.) As the accomplishment of these predictions ended in the utter abolition of the Jewish church and state, a constitution which was originally founded in Divine appointment, and had existed during a period of fifteen hundred years; and, as it was unquestionably the most awful revolution in all the religious dispensations of God, and which, moreover, in various ways, contributed greatly to the success of the gospel, it seems to merit a more detailed account than is generally to be found of it in the histories of the Christian church.

Nero , the Roman emperor, whose death has been already adverted to, left the empire in a state of extreme confusion, and Judea partook of it in a remarkable degree. To him succeeded Galba, who reigned from June the 9th, 68, to January 15th, 69, when he was followed by Otho, who scarcely swayed the imperial scepter three months. Then came Vitellius, who reigned no longer than to December 21st of the same year—there having been, if we include Nero who preceded, and Vespasian who followed, no less than five different emperors in the short space of eighteen months; during which the empire was a scene of confusion, desolation and misery. It has been remarked, that Christianity at first derived some advantages from the abandoned characters of the Roman emperors, who at this time swayed the scepter. They had other crimes and other mischiefs in view, and this left them little leisure to harass a sect so contemptible, when compared with Paganism, as was that of the Christians. Accordingly, from the death of Christ to that of Vespasian, for about the space of thirty-seven years, the Romans paid little regard to the progress of the gospel. They were ruled by weak, frantic, or vicious emperors; the magistrates and senators, and every worthy man of any note, stood in continual fear for their own lives. Nero, indeed, had destroyed many of the Christians at Rome; but it was for a supposed crime of which all the world knew them to be innocent; so that this cruel treatment raised compassion, and rather did service than harm to the Christian cause, and the persecution was soon over.

After the death of king Herod Agrippa, the particulars of which the reader will find recorded, Acts 12. Judea again became a province of the Roman empire, andCUSPIUS FADUS was sent to be its governor. Upon his arrival he found the country infested with banditti, which were grown both numerous and powerful, whom he was compelled to suppress, and also to quell an insurrection which the Jews had raised against the inhabitants of Philadelphia, formerly the city of Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites.

During the government of Fadus, there arose a notable impostor, named Theudas, who drew great numbers of the deluded Jews after him, inviting them to follow him beyond Jordan, and promising them that he would divide the waters of that river, as Joshua had done by his single word.

Fadus sent some military troops against him and his followers, who killed some and took others prisoners, and among the latter, Theudas himself, whom he caused to be beheaded, and his head brought to Jerusalem. Fadus was soon afterwards succeeded byTIBERIUS ALEXANDBR, an apostate Jew, who very shortly gave way to make room for Ventidius Cumanus , during whose government of Judea, those troubles began which ended in the ruin of the Jewish nation. The great concourse of people which their festival brought to Jerusalem, obliged the Romans at such times to keep a guard before the gate of the temple to prevent tumults. It was now the passover, when one of the Roman soldiers upon duty, had the impudence, probably intending an insult to the Jews, by shewing that he was not of the circumcision, to expose his nakedness. This indignity roused the resentment of the Jews to such a height, that they went and complained of it to Cumanus, and very insultingly told him, that the affront was offered by his order, not merely to the nation, but to their God. Cumanus at first tried to appease them by fair means, but finding them grow more tumultuous, he ordered all his troops to the spot, which so alarmed them that they fled in the greatest consternation, insomuch, that ten thousand (Eusebius and Jerome say thirty thousand)were stifled to death in their flight, by running over one another in the confined avenues that led to and from the temple. Cureanus was soon afterwards succeeded in the government of Judea by\parCLAUDIUS FELIX, under whom the Jewish affairs proceeded in a progressive course of deterioration. The country swarmed with robbers and insurgents, and Jerusalem itself became the prey of false prophets, and pretended workers of miracles, who were continually blowing the embers of discontent and sedition. Add to which, that numbers of Sicarii or assassins crowded into all the cities and towns of the country, committing the most horrible murders, under the pretext of zeal for their religion and liberties. Felix did not content himself with merely inflicting punishment upon those who violated the public peace, but he extended it to almost all others indiscriminately, whom his avarice or resentment marked out for destruction. His cruel behavior induced a very old priest, named Jonathan, who had been instrumental in procuring him the office, to complain of his ill conduct; which Felix at length becoming unable to bear, procured a person, in whom Jonathan reposed great confidence, to assassinate the latter, and it was accordingly done. This murder going unpunished, because the person who should have avenged it was the instigator to it, proved the occasion of an almost infinite number of others, which were committed everywhere, the temple not excepted; insomuch, that the Jewish chiefs, and even the pontiffs, made no hesitation of hiring the assassins abovementioned to rid them of all such persons as were obnoxious to them. Felix was succeeded in the government byFESTUS, (Acts 14:27.) who, on coming into the province, found the very priesthood engaged in a civil war among themselves, occasioned by the frequent depositions of the pontiffs (or high priests) and their continuing to insist upon being allowed a greater portion of the tythes, than the inferior priests could afford them. Agrippa had the preceding year deposed Ananias, and put Ishmael in his room.

There were still several other discarded pontiffs alive, all of whom claimed the same share in the tythes which they had enjoyed while in office; the yielding of which, must of course impoverish the inferior priests, who therefore resisted the demand. Their rancor at length arose to such a height, that each party was accustomed to walk the streets, accompanied by a troop of the Sicarii, and upon every rencontre they fell foul on each other, killing all that opposed them, and filling both city and country, and even the very temple itself, oftentimes with blood. Festus, therefore, had a threefold task upon his hands; he had to suppress the violence of the priesthood against each other—that of the seditious laity against the Romans, and such as contentedly submitted to their government — -and that of the banditti abroad, who infested the whole country, and robbed, plundered, and massacred everywhere without mercy. 7 These concerns occupied the greater part of his time, during his short government.

Festus dying soon after Paul was brought before him, (Acts 26.) Nero nominated as his successorALBINUS, of whom we had lately occasion to speak, the high-priesthood having in the mean time been, by Agrippa, transferred to Ananus. Of this governor it is related by historians, that he was such a cruel and rapacious monster, that Felix and Festus, with all their faults, were angels when compared with him. His first care, however, was to suppress the Sicarii, robbers, and banditti, which were now grown more numerous and daring than ever. He punished with the utmost severity as many as came into his hands; yet the rest only became thereby more bold and impudent. Albinus, after a two years tenure of office, was recalled by Nero, and succeeded by Gessius Florus , the last and worst governor that Judea ever had.

Josephus seems at a loss for language sufficiently strong in which to paint him correctly, or a monster black enough with which to compare him. His rapines, and cruelties, and acts of oppression; his compromising with the banditti for large sums of money; and, in short, his whole behavior, was so openly flagitious, that the Jews were disposed to regard him rather as a bloody executioner sent to torture than as a magistrate to govern them. His design seemed to be that of goading them to an open rebellion, either that he might have the brutal satisfaction of seeing them destroy each other, or to prevent them from inquiring into his own oppressions and atrocities.

And, indeed, he but too well succeeded in this; for, by his means a war was kindled, which only ended with the total ruin of the Jewish nation. My confined limits render it inexpedient to go into any ample detail of this dreadful catastrophe, and I shall therefore restrict myself to a few of the leading particulars, referring such of my readers, as desire a more full account of the matter, to the volumes of Josephus.

While Felix was governor of Judea, a dispute arose between the Jews and the Syrians, concerning the city of Caesarea—the former maintaining that it belonged to them, because it had been built chiefly by Herod; the latter insisting that it had always been esteemed a Greek city, inasmuch as their monarch had erected temples and statues in it. From words they proceeded to blows, and took up arms against each other. Felix, for the moment, put an end to the contest, by sending some of the chief men of each nation to Rome, to plead their cause before the emperor. The latter decided in favor of the Syrians; but the decision was no sooner announced in Judea than it became the signal for a general revolt—the Jews everywhere taking up arms; and thus began the fatal war, in the second year of the government of Florus, in the twelfth of Nero’s reign, and in the sixty-ninth year of Christ. Agrippa, who was at Jerusalem at the beginning of the revolt, used every exertion to moderate their rage; they pelted him with stones, and compelled him to leave the city, which was instantly in a flame. Florus beheld all this with inhuman pleasure, and without lifting his finger to quell the tumult. The evil spread throughout all Judea, and nothing was to be heard of but robberies, murder, and every species of cruelty—cities and villages filled with the dead of all ages and of each sex, and of every quality down to the tender infant. The Jews, who were almost everywhere the sufferers, on their part, spared neither Syrians nor Romans, but retaliated their cruelties wherever they got the better of them, in consequence of which many of their peaceful brethren were murdered in their places of abode. The Caesareans fell suddenly on those of their city, and massacred twenty thousand of them; two thousand were murdered at Ptolemais; and fifty thousand at the city of Alexandria in Egypt. At Jerusalem, Floras one day caused his troops to go and plunder the market, and to kill all they met; and they accordingly murdered three thousand five hundred persons, men, women, and children. This, however, was far from satiating the monsterrathe streets of the city continued day after day to be deluged with human blood. Bernice, the sister of Agrippa, happening to be detained at Jerusalem during this time, to perform the vow of the Nazarene, which required thirty days for its accomplishment, used every entreaty to soften the brutish praetor, even at the risk of her own life, And when repulsed one day, she repeated her exertions on the next, going barefoot, and throwing herself at the footstool of his tribunal, in the most submissive terms beseeching him to put a stop to the shedding of so much blood. He disdained to shew her the least token of common respect, and she ran the risk of being torn to pieces before she could reach her own home. Florus wrote to Cestius, the governor of Syria, casting all the blame of these horrible cruelties upon the Jews. The revolt still spreading wider, the Jews at length carried their conquests beyond Jordan, where they took the fortress of Cyprus, rased it to the ground, and put all the Romans to the sword. Cestius, whom I have just mentioned, and who had hitherto kept himself an idle spectator of these mutual devastations, began to think it high time to exert himself in putting a stop to their further progress. He, therefore, marched into Judea with a powerful army, burned all the towns and villages in his way, massacred all the Jews he could come at, and then encamped before Gibeon about the feast of tabernacles. The Jews at Jerusalem no sooner heard of his approach, than forsaking the solemnities of their religion, and, even though it was on the Sabbath-day, they flew to arms, and proceeded to meet him with such fury, that had not the cavalry arrived at the moment to the support of his infantry, he had sustained a signal defeat. He lost five hundred men, while the Jews lost but twenty-two. Here Cestius tried to conciliate the latter by sending two of his principal officers to offer them a pardon and terms of peace. Instead of listening to his proposals they put one of them to death, and wounded the other, who narrowly escaped with his life—an action so base and treacherous, that it was condemned by the more moderate of the Jews themselves. Cestius enraged at this, pursued them almost to Jerusalem, and halting at a village called Scopas, about a mile from the city, waited three days, in the hope that their terror would induce them to relent; but not finding that to be the case, he advanced in order of battle on the 30th of October, 69, and put them into such consternation, that they abandoned all the outworks and retired into the inner cincture near the temple. Cestius set fire to the former, and began to lay siege to the latter, taking up his head quarters in the royal palace. Had the governor vigorously pushed the siege, it is probable he might have succeeded at this time in putting an end to the sedition; but that sinful nation was to be reserved for much sorer evils. Means were found to corrupt his generals, which gave new life to the insurgents. They made a sortie and succeeded in repulsing him, pursued him to his camp at Gibeon, harassing his rear, whilst, having secured the passes, they attacked his army in flank. Hemmed in on all sides, the mountains re-echoed with the hideous cries of his soldiers, and having lost four thousand foot and two hundred horse, favored by the intervening night, they, on the 8th of November, happily found a pass through the narrow straits of Bethoron and escaped. Intelligence being brought to Nero of the ill success of Cestius, and that the Jews were making the most vigorous preparations to carry on war against the Romans, he gave orders to Vespasian, who had greatly signalized himself, both in Germally and Britain, to march speedily into Judea with a powerful army. In the beginning of the ensuing year, accompanied by his son Titus, at the head of sixty thousand men, all well disciplined, he entered Galilee, and having burnt Gadara, was marching to besiege Jotapata. Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian was at that time governor of the province; and being apprised of the intention of Vespasian, he threw himself into Jotapata, which, during a period of forty-seven days, he defended with great bravery. It was at length taken by assault, about the beginning of July, and given up to fire and sword; not one Jew escaped to convey the dreadful tidings, but all were either murdered or made prisoners. Of the former, the number was computed at forty thousand, and of the latter only twelve hundred, among whom was Josephus the governor. 12 Whilst Vespasian was carrying on the siege of Jotapata, his son Titus was sent against Jaffa in the neighborhood, which he subdued on the 20th of June. On taking possession of the town, the inhabitants made a desperate resistance in the streets during the space of six hours; but being at last overpowered, all the men were put to the sword, and the women and children taken prisoners. A week after, the Samaritans, who had assembled upon Mount Gerizzim, with the intention of defending themselves, having been closely surrounded by a Roman detachment, were reduced to the utmost distress for want of water. Many of them died with thirst, and those who refused to surrender were all put to the sword. Joppa, which had been laid waste by Cestius, being again repeopled by a great number of seditious Jews, who infested the adjoining countries, Vespasian sent troops to take it, which they soon achieved. Above four thousand of them endeavored to escape the massacre, by fleeing to their ships, A sudden tempest drave them back, so that they were all either drowned or put to the sword, Tarichea and Tiberias were next taken— after the reduction of which, all the other cities of Galilee submitted to the Romans, except Gischala, Gamala, and Mount Tabor Gamala was situated upon the lake Genesareth, opposite to Tarichea, and stood the siege of Agrippa, near seven months; but, still holding out, the Romans were obliged to come to his assistance. But of all the places whioh they had been called to subdue, none put the courage and strength of the Romans so severely to the test as Gamala. Having at length succeeded in beating down one of its towers, the army entered in at the breach, and put four thousand of its inhabitants to the sword; while a much greater number perished by their own hands, precipitating themselves down from the rocks and walls, as well as by other violent methods. In the mean time Placidus, a Roman general, by a dexterous stratagem succeeded in obtaining possession of Mount Tabor The inhabitants of Gischala, against which Vespasian sent his son Titus, seemed disposed to make a voluntary surrender of themselves, to which Titus, who by this time was satiated with the carnage that had ensued at Gamala, earnestly exhorted them. The voice of the more peaceable citizens, however, was overruled by that of a factious and vile fellow, named John, the son of Levi, who succeeded in getting the mob at his beck, and overawed the whole city. It being the sabbath, this wretched man begged of Titus to forbear hostilities till the morrow, when he would accept of his offer; but, succeeding in his request, he, in the mean time fled to Jerusalem, where he was the occasion of much mischief. On the morrow the citizens went out and surrendered themselves, informing Titus of John’s flight, supplicating his clemency towards the innocent, and beseeching him that her would only punish the factious. Titus readily yielded to their request, and dispatched some of his horse after the fugitives. John himself reached Jerusalem; but the Romans put to death six thousand of his followers upon the road, and brought back three thousand women and children prisoners. The taking and garrisoning of this place completed the conquest of Galilee, and Titus on this rejoined his father at Caesarea, where they gave their troops a respite before they proceeded to besiege Jerusalem. Here it may be proper to digress a little, and compare with the preceding melancholy detail, the predictions of Jesus Christ concerning this devoted people. He had been foretelling the destruction of the temple, when his disciples came and asked him, “But when shall these things be, and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, let no man deceive you, for many shall come, saying,. I am the Christ; and the time draweth near—go ye not after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet—for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great earthquakes in divers places, and famines and pestilences, and great signs shall there be from heaven. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to those that give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” (Luke 21; Matthew 24; Mark 13.)

It may be useful to keep these things in view, while we now proceed to mark the accomplishment of this awful prophecy in the prosecution and final issue of this dreadful siege.

Vespasian discovered no haste to depart from Caesarea, and commence the siege of Jerusalem, but prolonged his stay, insomuch that his officers began to be amazed at his inactivity, and took the liberty to remind him that he was losing the most favorable opportunity of making himself master of that city and of all Palestine. But that prudent general soon made them sensible that his continuing thus idle at Caesarea was the surest means of effecting the conquest of which they were speaking, with the least difficulty and risk of his troops. There can be little doubt that he was fully apprised of the shocking state of things within the city, which at this time was given up to such intestine broils and massacres that the strength of the Jews was daily exhausting itself, while the Romans were nourishing theirs. In fact, the whole nation was at this moment divided into two opposite parties; one of which, foreseeing that the war, if continued, must end in the total ruin of their country, were for putting an end to it by a speedy submission to the Romans; while the other breathed nothing but hostility, confusion and cruelty; and opposed all peaceable measures with invincible obstinacy. This latter party was by far the most numerous and powerful; besides which, it consisted of men of the vilest and most profligate characters that perhaps the pen of the historian ever recorded.

They were proud, ambitious, cruel, rapacious, and addicted to the most horrid crimes. If we may credit Josephus, their own historian, they acted more like infernal beings than men. John of Gischala, formerly mentioned, was then at the head of this party in Jerusalem. Upon one occasion they put to death twelve thousand persons of noble extraction and in the flower of their age, butchering them in the most horrid manner. In short, their rage and cruelty had grown to such a height, that the whole nation trembled at their very name, while none durst be seen or heard to weep for the murder of their nearest relatives, nor even to give them burial. Thus every thing succeeded to the wish of Vespasian. The party of John of Gischala, having massacred or driven away their opponents, began to turn their murderous weapons against each other. In the mean time, the Roman general, having past his winter at Ceesarea, marched out in the beginning of the spring, and penetrated Idumea, plundering and burning every place through which he passed, except where he thought it necessary to leave a garrison to keep the country in awe. A few months previous to this time he had received the news of Nero’s death, and of Galba being appointed his successor. Titus, his son, was therefore dispatched to Rome to compliment the new emperor, and to know his pleasure about prosecuting the war against the Jews. Taking his journey by sea, and detained by adverse winds, he had reached no further than Achai, when the news arrived that Galba was murdered, after a reign of seven months, and Otho proclaimed in his stead. The latter, in about three months, shared the fate of his pre. decessor, and was succeeded by Vitellius, whose short reign issued in Vespasian being chosen emperor.

Suetonius, describing the state of things at this period, compares Rome to a ship at sea, tossed about by contrary winds, and ready at every moment to sink. And such was its fluctuating state, when the election of Vespasian happily restored tranquillity to the empire. As soon as he had received the news that his election was confirmed at Rome, he left the best of his troops with his son, ordering hun to go and besiege Jerusalem and utterly destroy it, while himself returned to the capital of his empire. Titus lost no time in carrying into effect the injunctions of his father; and, accordingly, in the beginning of April, near the time of the feast of the passover, he put his army in motion; and, advancing as close to the city as he thought expedient, went personally, attended only by six hundred horse, to reconnoitre its strength and avenues. It was strongly situated by nature; surrounded by three stoot walls, and many stately and strong towers. The first or old wall, which, by reason of its vast thickness, was looked upon as impregnable, had no less than sixty of these towers, lofty, firm, and strong. The second had fourteen, and the third eighty. The former, besides its extraordinary height and thickness, was raised on a high and steep mountain, having beneath it a valley of prodigious depth. The other two were high and strong in proportion. The whole circumference of the city was nearly four English miles. 20 Before he commenced a regular siege, Titus despatched Josephus, the Jewish historian, with offers of peace to the inhabitants, but they were indignantly rejected. He was sent a second time with fresh overtures, but with no better success. Titus now resolved to begin the assault in good earnest. In fourteen days a breach was made in the first wall, by means of the battering rams which played against it, at which the Romans entered, and the Jews abandoning this last enclosure, retired behind the next. Titus, in five days more, succeeded in destroying a tower in the second enclosure, which gave his troops admittance into that also; but being bent on saving the city, he would not suffer any part of the wall or streets to be demolished, which left the breach and lanes so narrow, that when his soldiers were repulsed by the besieged, they experienced great inconvenience, and many of them were killed. The oversight was speedily rectified, and the attack renewed with such rigor, that they resumed their advantage in four days after the first repulse. At this time the internal state of the city was beyond description horrible.

For besides that faction prevailed against faction, and the streets became deluged with the blood of the people, famine raged in a terrible manner among them, which was soon followed by a pestilence; and as these two dreadful judgments increased, so did the fury of the factions, who by their intestine feuds, had destroyed such quantities of provisions, that they were forced to prey upon the people with unheard of cruelty. They broke into their houses, and, if they found any store of provisions, put them to death for not apprising them of it; and if nothing was found but bare walls, which was generally the case, they inflicted torture upon them, under the pretext that they had some provisions concealed. “I should undertake an impossible task,” says Josephus, “were I to enter into a detail of all the cruelties of these impious wretches; let it suffice to say, that I do not think that, since the creation of the world, any city ever suffered such dreadful calamities, or abounded with men so fertile in every species of wicked ness.” Titus was not unapprised of their miserable condition, and was still desirous of sparing them. He granted them four days for reflection, during which he, caused his army to be mustered, and provisions to be distributed to them in the sight of the Jews, who flocked upon the walls to see it. He then sent Josephus to expostulate with them, which he did, exhorting them not to run themselves into inevitable ruin, by obstinately persisting to defend a place which could hold out but a very little longer, and which the Romans already looked upon as their own. Josephus has given us a copy of his elaborate and pathetic speech on this occasion, which he tells us drew a flood of tears from his eyes. They requited his kitldness by darting their arrows at him, and rejected the merciful overtures of Titus. It is difficult for us in the present day to form any adequate conception of the extremity of wretchedness to which the inhabitants of this devoted city were reduced. While the poor were carried out at the gates, to be buried at the public expence, Titus was informed by a deserter, that at one of the gates where he was stationed, there were carried out one hundred and fifteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty, between the 14th of April, when the siege commenced, and the 1st of July. Another told him that they had carried out at all the gates six hundred thousand, and that then, being unable to carry them all out, they had filled whole houses with them, and shut them up.

I must not disgust the reader by reciting in this place, the miserable resources to which the wretched inhabitants were now reduced, in order to prolong the sad remains of life; but one circumstance is so materially connected with the narrative, that it cannot with any propriety be suppressed. It was in this sad and pinching conjuncture that all unhappy mother was reduced to the extremity of feeding upon her own child! This lady, whose name was Miriam, had taken refuge, with many others, in this devoted city, from the breaking out of the war. As the famine increased, her house was repeatedly plundered of such provisions as she had been able to procure. She had vainly endeavored by her entreaties, to prevail upon them, or by her execrations to provake them, to put an end to her miserable existence, but the mercy was too great to be granted her. Frantic at length with fury and despair, she snatched her infant from her bosom, cut its throat, and broiled it; and having satiated her present hunger, concealed the rest. The smell of it soon drew the voracious human tigers to her house; they threatened her with the most excruciating tortures, if she did not discover her provisions to them. Upon which she set before them the relics of her mangled infant, bidding them eat heartily and not be squeamish, since she, its once tender mother, had made no scruple to butcher, dress, and feed upon it. At the sight of this horrid dish, inhuman as they were, they stood aghast, petrified with horror, and departed, leaving the astonished mother in possession of her dismal fare. When the report of this spread through the city, the horror and consternation were as universal as they were inexpressible. They now, for the first time, began to think themselves forsaken of the providence of God, and to expect the most awful effects of his anger. Nor were their fears either unreasonable or ill-founded; for no sooner had Titus heard of this inhuman deed, than he vowed the total extirpation of the city and people. “Since,” said he, “they have so often refused my proffers of pardon, and have preferred war to peace, rebellion to obedience, and famine to plenty, I am determined to bury that cursed metropolis under its ruins, that the sun may never more dart his beams on a city, where the mothers feed on the flesh of their children, and the fathers, no less guilty than themselves, choose to drive them to such extremities, rather than lay down their arms.” This dreadful event happened about the end of July, by which time the Romans had got possession of the fortress or castle of Antonia, which obliged the Jews to set fire to the stately galleries that joined it to the temple, test it should facilitate a passage to the besiegers into it. On the seventeenth day of that month, the daily sacrifices, for the first time, ceased, there being no proper person remaining to offer them up. On the 28th of July, Titus set fire to the north gallery of the temple, which enclosed the outer court, from fort Antonia to the valley of Cedron, by means of which he got an easy admittance into it, and forced the besieged into that of the priests. Six days he tried to batter down one of the galleries; yet such was the strength of the wall, that it eluded the force of his battering rams, as well as the art of sapping. His next attempt was to get possession by scaling; but his men were so vigorously repulsed, and with such loss that he was obliged to desist. The gates were then set on fire, which, being plated with silver, burnt all that night, whilst the metal dropped down in the melting. The flame communicated itself to the porticos and galleries, which the besieged beheld without offering to stop it, contenting themselves with sending out vollies of impotent curses against the Romans. On the ninth of August, Titus gave orders to extinguish the fire, and called a council to determine whether the remainder of the temple should be saved or not. He himself was for the former.wbut most of his officers fbr the latter, alleging that it was no longer a temple, but a scene of war and slaughter, and that the Jews would never be at rest, so long as any part of it was standing. But when they found Titus so inflexibly bent on preserving so noble an edifice, against which he told them he could have no quarrel, they all came over to his mind. The next day, August the 10th, was therefore determined upon for a general assault. In the mean time, something on the part of the Jews, having turned up, which exasperated the Roman soldiers, or as Josephus thinks, pushed by the hand of Providence, one of them of his own accord, took up a blazing firebrand, and getting on his comrade’s shoulders, threw it into one of the apartments that surrounded the sanctuary, through a window, and instantly set the whole north side in a flame, up to the third story. Titus, who was gone to rest himself awhile in his pavilion, was awaked at the noise, and ran immediately to give orders for the fire to be extinguished. He called, entreated, threatened, and even caned his men, but all to no purpose. The confusion was so great, and the soldiers so obstinately bent upon destroying all that was left, that he was neither heard nor regarded.

Those that flocked thither from the camp, instead of obeying his orders, were busy, either in killing the Jews or increasing the flames. Observing that all his endeavors were ineffectual, Titus entered into the sanctuary and most holy place, the remaining grandeur and riches of which, even yet, surpassed all that had been told him of it. 27 Out of the former he saved the golden candlestick, the table of the shew-bread, the altar of incense, all of pure gold, and the book of the law, wrapped up in a rich golden tissue.

Upon his quitting that sacred place, some soldiers set fire to it, obliging those who had staid behind to come out also—in consequence of which, they all began to plunder it, carrying off the costly utensils, robes, gold plating of the gates, etc. insomuch that there was not one of them who did not enrich himself by it.

A horrid massacre succeeded to this, in which many thousands perished, some by the flames, others falling from the battlements, and a greater number still by the enemy’s sword, which spared neither age, sex, nor quality. Among them were upwards of six thousand persons, who had been seduced thither by a false prophet, who had promised them that they should find a miraculous deliverance on that very day. The Romans carried their fury to the burning of all the treasure-houses of the place, though they were full of the richest furniture, vestments, plate, and other valuable articles, there laid up for security; nor did they cease the dreadful work of devastation, till they had destroyed all except two of the temple gates, and that part of the court that was destined for the women. The city was now abandoned to the fury of the soldiers, who proceeded forthwith to plunder it, setting it on fire in every direction, and murdering all that fell into their handsNwhilst the factious party among the Jews, that had hitherto escaped, went and fortified themselves in the royal palace, where they killed eight thousand of their own countrymen that had there taken refuge. Preparations were now making for a vigorous attack on the upper city, and particularly on the royal palace, and this occupied Titus from the 20th of August to the 7th of September, during which time, great numbers came and made their submission to him, among whom were forty thousand citizens of the inferior classes, including, in all probability, the Christian church, to whom he gave permission to go and settle where they would.

On the 8th of September the city was taken and entered by Titus. JUSTUS LIPSIUS has been at the pains to compute the numbers of Jews that are said by Josephus to have perished, from the beginning to the conclusion of the war; and, for the reader’s satisfaction, I subjoin them.

JEWS KILLED IN, AND OUT OF JUDEA At Jerusalem, by order of Florus At Caesarea, by the inhabitants At Scythopolis in Syria At Ascalon, by the inhabitants At Ptolemais At Alexandria in Egypt, under Tiberius Alexander At Damascus 3,630 20,000 30,000 2,500 2,000 50,000 10,000 8,400 At the taking of Joppa In the mountain of Cabula In a battle at Ascalon In an ambush At the taking of Apheck Upon Mount Gerizzim Drowned at Joppa, in a sudden storm Killed at Terichea at Gamala in their flight from Gischala at the siege of Jotapata of the Gadarenes, besides many drowned in the villages of Idumea at Gerisum at Macheron in the desart of Jardes Slew themselves at Massala In Cyrene, by the governor Catulus Perished at Jerusalem, by the sword, pestilence, famine, and during the siege 2,000 10,000 8,000 15,000 11,600 4,200 6,500 9,000 2,000 30,000 13,000 10,000 1,000 1,700 3,000 3,000 1,100,000 Total 1,357,490 According to this account, the whole amounts to 1,357,490, besides a vast multitude that died in the caves, woods, wildernesses, common sewers, in banishments, and various other ways, of whom no computation could be made. To which must also be added, ten thousand slain at Jotapata more than our author has mentioned; for Josephus expressly mentions forty thousand, but he only thirty thousand. To these if we add ninety thousand taken prisoners, apparently doomed to a captivity worse than death, and eleven thousand, who are said to have perished either through the neglect of their keepers or their own sullen despair, the amount will be scarcely less than AMILLION AND AHALF! The reader must also keep in view, that a great proportion of these were strangers, who had been invited from remote parts of the world, to come to Jerusalem and assist them in the defense of their religion and liberties, their country, city, and temple; in doing which, they shared in the common ruin. Thus did the providence of God order it, that those who, by their opposition to the gospel, in all parts of their dispersion, had participated in the guilt of crucifying the Lord Jesus, and persecuting his apostles, should also be involved in their punishment.

It is not a little remarkable that Titus, though a heathen, was frequently obliged, during this war, to acknowledge an overruling providence, not only in the extraordinary success with which he had been favored against them, but also in the invincible obstinacy through which they, to the last, preferred their total destruction to that of accepting his repeated overtures of mercy. Again and again did he, in the most solemn manner, appeal to heaven, that he was innocent of the blood of these wretched people. 29 In almost every chapter, we find Josephus also ascribing these dreadful calamities, and the final ruin of his nation, city, and temple, to an overruling power; to the offended Deity, to the sins of the people: but nowhere more pathetically, than in that chapter, in which he sums up a number of dreadful warnings sent beforehand, not so much to reduce them to obedience, as to make them discern the almighty hand that was now pouring out the awful vials of his wrath upon them. As soon as the Romans had completed their destructive work of fire and slaughter, Titus set them to demolish the city, with all its noble structures, fortifications, palaces, towers, walls, and other ornaments, down to the level of the ground; as though he had nothing in view but to fulfill the predictions of Christ concerning its destruction, as contained in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s gospel. He left nothing standing but a piece of the western wall and three towers, which he reserved merely as a monument to future ages of what had been the strength of the city, and the skill and valor of its conqueror. His orders were executed so punctually, that, except what has been just mentioned, nothing remained which could serve as an index that that ground had been once inhabited; insomuch, that when Titus himself, some time afterwards, passed through it, in his way from Ceesarea to Alexandria, in order to embark for Rome, he wept profusely at the sight of a devastation so dreadful, cursing the wretches that had compelled him to be the author of it. Such was the dreadful issue of this war, terminating in the utter downfall of the Jewish state and nation, from which it has never recovered to this day; it involved in it the destruction of the temple and the discontinuance of the services annexed to it. The desolation of the country itself went on increasing; till, from being, for its size, one of the most fertile and populous countries in the world, it is now become the most barren and desolate, the latest computation of the number of its inhabitants scarcely exceeding fifty thousand.

All these calamities were, no doubt, accomplished by natural causes; and were therefore such as might have been expected from a thorough knowledge of the tempers of the inhabitants, their refractory, disposition towards the Romans, their factions among themselves, and their presumptuous confidence in supernatural assistance joined to a knowledge of their weakness when contrasted with the overbearing power of the Romans. But who besides the Supreme Being could have foreseen all these circumstances, or have known that the operation of them would lead to this catastrophe, when the rebellion might have terminated in many other ways, instead of the total ruin of the country and the dispersion of its inhabitants? The divine foresight is conspicuous therefore, in our Saviour’s clear prediction of these events, with all their leading circumstances, when it does not appear that any other person entertained the least apprehension of such a thing. The Jews, indeed, now tell us, that Jesus Christ found all that he predicted concerning the destruction of their city and temple in the prophecies of Daniel; but it is natural to ask, why did not their own Scribes, the professed interpreters of the law and the prophets; and why did not also the leading men of their own nation discover the same things in that book?

Not only the wisdom but the justice of God is also conspicuously displayed in this great event. A particular Providence had ever attended that people. They had always been favored with prosperity while obedient to God and his prophets; and on the other hand, calamity of some kind had been the never-failing consequence of their disobedience.

But the measure of their iniquities was now filled up; and the wrath of heaven came upon them to the uttermost. Never had the nation in general shewn a more perverse and obstinate disposition towards any of their prophets, than was now erinted towards Christ and his apostles, though none of their prophets had ever been sent to them with such evident marks of a divine mission. Their inveteracy to Christianity continues to this day, and so does their dispersion, though they are still a distinct people, and never mix, so as to be confounded, with any of the nations among whom they have settled.

But I quit this subject with a reflection or two. The reader will perceive, that the history of the Jewish war, as detailed by their own historian, Josephus, in many instances a witness of the facts he attests, forms a commentary upon the prophecies of Christ. Amongst other things, he has given a distinct account of the “fearful sights and great signs from heaven,” which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem; and Tacitus has confirmed the narration of Josephus 32 If Christ had not expressly foretold these things, some might have suspected that Josephus exaggerated, and that Tacitus was misinformed; but as the testimonies of these historians confirm the predictions of Christ, so do the predictions of Christ confirm the wonders recorded by these historians.

We may also remark, that by these terrible events, an end was at length put to the Mosaic economy; for, with the destruction of their city and temple, the whole of the Jewish polity and church state was also subverted. From that time, the remnant of that once highly favored nation have been dispersed throughout the world; despised and hated by all; subjected, from age to age, to a perpetual succession of persecutions and miseries, yet under all these disadvantages, upheld by Divine Providence, a distinct people. They have ever since remained “without a king, without a prince, and without a sacrifice: without an altar, without an ephod, and without divine manifestations;” as monuments everywhere of the truth of Christianity—yet, with this promise, that “the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God; and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3:4,5.)

The accession of Vespasian to the imperial dignity, connected with the termination of the Jewish war, by the arms of his son Titus, happily restored tranquillity and peace to the world. He reigned ten years, much to the happiness of his subjects, and was succeeded in the throne by his son, who, though rather unpopular at the commencement of his reign, nevertheless, conducted himself in such a manner as to acquire the greatest reputation of any of the Roman emperors. During all this period the churches enjoyed a state of outward peace, and the gospel was everywhere crowned with success. To the inexpressible grief of his subjects, however, at the age of forty-one, and after the short reign of two years, two months, and twenty days, Titus was snatched away, having, as was suspected, been poisoned by his own brother Domitian, who succeeded to the throne in the year 81.

Domitian , in his temper and disposition, inherited all the savage cruelty of the monster Nero. Yet he spared the Christians in a considerable degree, until about the year 95, when several were put to death, and others banished, on account of their religion, both in Rome, and throughout all the provinces. Among those put to death was his own cousin and colleague in the consulship, Fabius Clemens; and, among the banished, the wife and niece of the latter, both named Flaviae Domitillae. At this time, the apostle John was banished to the island of Patmos, from whence he wrote his epistles to the seven churches in Asia. He is said to have survived the persecution of Domitiah, though it is uncertain how long; and to have died at Ephesus in the reign of Nerva or Trajan, at which city he was buried.

The crime alleged against the Christians at this period, and which drew down upon them the cruel hand of persecution, was that of Atheism, by which is to be understood, that they refused to throw a grain of incense on the altars of the heathen deities. The storm, however, was of short duration; for both Eusebius and Tertullian inform us, that Domitian revoked the edict which he had issued against the Christians, and recalled from banishment those who had been driven away. Having caused the earth to groan under his cruelties and excesses, he was at length assassinated, in the sixteenth year of his reign, and was succeeded in the empire by Nerva , a prince of a most gentle and humane disposition, under whom the Romans lived as happy as during the former reign they had been miserable.

He pardoned all that were imprisoned for treason, called home such as had been banished, restored the sequestrated estates, punished informers, redressed grievances to the utmost of his power, and acted with universal beneficence towards all descriptions of his subjects. According to Dio Cassius, he forbade the persecution of any persons either for Judaism, or for impiety; by which is to be understood, Christianity; for so the Heathens termed the latter, on account of its being hostile to their worship; and because Christians, having neither temples, altars, nor sacrifices, were generally considered by them to be also without religion.