ing of the Messiah or Christ,* whose office was to judge the world; that Jesus of Nazareth had been proved to be the Messiah by being raised from the dead; and that, in order to partake in the privileges of his kingdom, an open acknowledgment of his authority, and a belief in his resurrection, were alone necessary.‡

The liberalism, of which Jesus had sown the seed, being thus developed by Paul, Christianity received from him an additional vigorous impulse, and henceforward its progress becomes almost identified with that of his preaching and labours.

Judaism, or the religion of one Deity, thus reformed, and disencumbered of circumcision and the Mosaic rites, found a ready reception amongst the Greeks and Romans, with whom polytheism was nearly grown out of fashion. The philosophy of Epicurus had degenerated into sensualism. Platonism consisted of speculations unintelligible out of the schools. Christianity as preached by Paul was well adapted to fill the void in the philosophic and religious world. It contained the sublime and agreeable doctrines of the paternal character of God and the resurrection of mankind: its asserted miracles and accomplished prophecies, the resurrection of Jesus, and the coming judgment of the world, were of a nature to please and excite the imagination; and its fraternal system of society tended to excite emulation and keep up enthusiasm. The idea of following a crucified Jew was the most repulsive part of the system; but even this had one charm, that of novelty. The fables of triumphant heroes converted into demigods were common; but the story of the death and resurrection of Christ was of an unusual character, and appealed in a stronger manner to the imagination and the heart. Besides, the death of Christ came to be invested with a mysterious grandeur, by being

* Rom. xiv. 17; 1 Cor. i. 7; Phil. iii. 20; 1 Thess. i. 10; ii. 12; iii. 13; iv. 16; v. 2; 2 Thess. i. 7; 2 Tim. i. 9; iv. 1; Tit. ii. 12-14.

† Acts xvii. 31; Rom. ii. 16.

‡ Rom. x. 9, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Acts xiii. 38-41; xxvi. 16-23; and the Epistles passim.

represented as the great antetype of an ancient and venerable system of sacrifices, and as the offering of a paschal lamb on behalf of all mankind.*

Notwithstanding the cordiality shewn towards Paul by Peter and James, his claim to rank with the Apostles of Jesus met with some opposition, for it might be objected that he had not received his appointment from Jesus, nor even seen him. But accounts of the appearance of Jesus to him in visions supplied this want, and his talents and labours soon completed his title to the rank of apostle to the Gentiles. He joined to vehemence an indefatigable perseverance, and, being a man of learning and education was superior to vulgar fanatics in being able to accom

* The comparison of Christ's death to the passover sacrifice was too obvious not to be frequently introduced by persons familiar with the Jewish rites. But it does not appear to be insisted on as a doctrine in the New Testament. Even in the Epistle to the Hebrews, it stands in the same light as the comparison of Christ as a priest to Melchizedec.

†The Ebionites, however, i. e. the Jewish Christians who adhered to the law of Moses, never admitted the authority of Paul. Iren. 1. i. c. 26 al. 25. Orig. Cont. Cel. 1. v. Euseb. H. E. 1. iii. cap. 27. The author of the Recognitions of Clement, supposed to be an Ebionite, (Lardner, Cred. part ii. ch. 29,) has a passage which seems expressly intended to caution his readers against the pretensions of Paul. "Propter quod observate cautius, ut nulli doctorum credatis, nisi qui Jacobi fratris Domini ex Hierusalem detulerit testimonium, vel ejus quicumque post ipsum fuerit. Nisi enim quis illuc ascenderit, et ibi fuerit probatus quod sit doctor idoneus, et fidelis, ad prædicandum Christi verbum; nisi inquam, inde tulerit testimonium, recipiendus omnino non est. Sed neque propheta, neque apostolus, in hoc tempore, speretur a vobis aliquis alius præter nos. Unus enim est verus propheta, cujus nos duodecim apostoli verba prædicamus. Ipse enim est annus Dei acceptus, nos apostolos habens duodecim menses." L. iv. sect. 35. According to which, Paul was excluded from the apostleship, for he declared that those at Jerusalem had added nothing to him, and that he had not received his commission from men. Gal. i. ii.

The tone of Irenæus towards the rejectors of Paul is apologetic rather than reprobatory: "Eadem autem dicimus et his qui Paulum apostolum non cognoscunt, quoniam aut reliquis verbis Evangelii, quæ per solum Lucam in nostram venerunt agnitionem, renuntiari debent, et non uti eis; aut si illa recipiunt omnia, habent necessitatem recipere etiam eam testificationem quæ est de Paulo. Cont. Hær. 1. iii. 15. i.

modate his arguments somewhat to the various tastes of his auditors. To Jews he quoted chiefly the law and the prophets; with the Gentiles he could also argue from their own authors, or appeal to natural reason.† Such a man could not fail to be heard in any country; and within twenty-four years from his conversion, [A.Ď. 37— 61,] he and his companions had planted numerous churches in Asia Minor, several in Macedonia and Greece, and one at Rome.

The society in Judea fell now comparatively into the shade. Its chiefs, Peter and James, were in education and ability inferior to Paul; and their sanction of the admission of Gentiles into the church without conformity to the law of Moses, had brought them into an unfavourable position with respect to their countrymen, who in general were more attached to their ancient code than the Greeks were to their variegated idolatry. The greater part of the Jewish church itself seems to have withstood the authority of the council of apostles, and to have insisted on the necessity of the Mosaic law. It is probable that the liberality of the heads of the Jewish church, and the bigotry of its members, both contributed to bring it into disrepute; the former with the Jews, the latter with the Gentiles. The hitherto rapid increase of the Jewish church was therefore checked; but it was already too numerous to be rooted out by occasional acts of violence. Peter having removed to Rome, [after A.D. 51,] it remained under the direction of James, the brother of Jesus, who was stoned upon an accusation of breaking the law,§ and was succeeded by Simeon, A.D. 62.

* Acts xiii. 33-41; xxviii. 23.

† Acts xiv. 15-17; xvii. 24-29.

Acts xxi. 18-26. James and the elders remonstrate thus with Paul: "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law," and urge him to perform a Mosaic rite in order to conciliate them.

§ Jos. Ant. xxix. i. Since Josephus says that the most equitable of the citizens disliked what was done, and procured the removal of Ananus from the priesthood on this account, it seems that such acts of persecution were not frequent. Hegesippus, however, said that James was killed in a tumult, by being thrown down from the temple, assaulted with stones, and at last struck on the head by a fuller's pole; which account was generally received by the Christ

E

Under the procurators who succeeded Pilate, Cuspius Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, and Festus, Judea enjoyed, upon the whole, considerable tranquillity. Their government, although rigid, was not in the main wantonly oppressive; and their severity towards robbers and exciters of tumults was beneficial to the peaceably disposed.* But the next procurator, Albinus, pushed his extortions so far as to rouse even the nobles to thoughts of resistance. Even he was outdone in cruelty by the following governor, Gessius Florus, who, in order to provide an excuse with his government, endeavoured deliberately, according to Josephus, to goad the Jews to a revolt. Under these two, Judea became a scene of tumults and misery. The populace, exasperated by repeated insults and oppressions, were with increasing difficulty restrained by the aristocracy from compromising the nation by open rebellion; leaders again appeared clainting the character of inspired deliverers, and it became daily more evident that a revolution was near, which, considering the strength of the Romans, must end in the destruction of the nation.§ The fatal prelude was given [A.D. 66] when Florus, having been foiled in an attempt to seize the treasure in the temple, invited Cestius, president of

ians in and before the fourth century. See Lardner, Jewish Test. ch. iv.

* Acts xxiv. 2, "Seeing that by thee (Felix) we enjoy great quietness." Jos. Preface to War, Sect. 4, "It had so come to pass that our city, Jerusalem, had arrived at a higher degree of felicity than any other city under the Roman government, and yet at last fell into the sorest calamities again.'

† Jos. War ii. ch. xiv. to the end.

There were some such attempts in the time of Felix. Jos. War ii. ch. xiii. 4, "There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their intentions, who laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers. These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretence of divine inspiration, but were for procuring innovations and changes of the government; and these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there shew them the signals of liberty." Another attempt is related in the time of Festus. Ant. xx. viii. 10.

§ Speech of Agrippa. War ii. ch. xvi.

Syria, to his assistance. Cestius came with a division of the Roman army, (8 Nov.) and was beaten.* The national spirit broke out in a general cry for war; but the more prudent saw that a heavy vengeance must soon follow.

In these perilous times of their country, the peculiar doctrines of the Christians of Judea had a tendency to preserve them from danger. They believed that their Messiah was already come, and that he was soon to appear from heaven with deliverance for his saints; they were secure, therefore, from the attempts of new pretenders. They had become an almost isolated people in the midst of the Jews, and the office of the Messiah seems to have been amongst them, as well as amongst the Gentiles, raised into that of judge of mankind. They therefore looked upon their fate as distinct from that of the rest of their nation, and were probably amongst those who, according to Josephus, withdrew from Jerusalem after the defeat of Cestius, as from a devoted city. Their place of retreat is supposed to have been at Pella, beyond the Jordan.

At this time, probably, the opinion became most prevalent that the end of the world was near. During the thirty-three years which had elapsed since the disappearance of the body of Jesus from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the Christians had believed that he would speedily re-appear; and now the approaching dissolution of the Jewish state, and the abolition of the temple and laws which the scriptures had declared perpetual, seemed not only to shew that his re-appearance was at length nigh at

* War ii. ch. xix.

+ Matt. xxv. In the epistles of Peter, Jude, and James, there are no allusions to the kingdom of Israel, or throne of David, so often mentioned in the early speeches in the Acts. When the kingdom of Christ is spoken of, it is no longer peculiarly connected with the Jewish nation. 1 Peter v. 4; 2 Peter iii. 13; James ii. 5.

War ii. xxi. "After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city as from a ship when it was going to sink." The probability that the Christians were amongst these, is confirmed by the exhortations to flight found in the first three Gospels, and the testimony of Eusebius that some of the Christians went to Pella.