officiated as high-priest of the Jews; but soon after, Agrippa removed him from office, and substituted in his place Simon Cantharus, the son of Simon Bocthus. The year following, however, he offered the place to Jonathan, who declined it, but recommended his brother Matthias, on whom the office was conferred. About this time, A. D. 42 or 43, Petronius was recalled from the government of Syria, and was succeeded by Marsus. He was far less favourable to the Jews than his predecessor, and when Agrippa undertook to raise and strengthen the walls around a part of the city, which had been recently built, Marsus interposed, represented the undertaking to the emperor as dangerous to the Roman empire, and obtained an edict forbidding the further progress of the work.

Agrippa was much attached to the Jewish nation, and strict in his observance of all religious ceremonies of the law. Josephus says of him, "That he was of a mild and gentle disposition, and good to all men; beneficent to strangers, but especially kind to the Jews, with whom he sympathized in all their troubles." His residence, after he became king of Judea, was almost constantly at Jerusalem, where he practised the Jewish ceremonies, and did not let a day pass without worshipping God, according to the law of Moses.

It may seem to be inconsistent with the character here given of Agrippa, that he should carry on a cruel persecution against the inoffensive Christians, of which Luke gives the following account: "Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to vex certain of the church; and he killed James the brother of John with the sword, and because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded farther to take Peter also." (Acts xii. 1, 2, 3.) But we have seen that this prince was superstitiously attached to all the Jewish ceremonies, and that he made it a primary object to please the nation in his whole. administration; and as they could not be more gratified by any thing than the death of the leading teachers in the Christian church, he was induced to pursue a course in regard to this matter, not altogether consonant with his general character. Luke, in the passage quoted, adverts to the true motive of his conduct, when he says, "because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded farther to take Peter also." But his design against the life of Peter was frustrated by a miraculous interposition. An angel was sent to release him from his confinement.

Whatever the character of Herod Agrippa might have been in other respects, he seems to have been a very vainglorious person. There is a remarkable coincidence between the narratives of Luke and Josephus, in regard to the circumstances of the death of this prince. Luke says, "And he went down from Judea to Cesarea and there abode. And upon a set day,

Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration to them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god and not of a man; and immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."

The words of Josephus are these: "Having now reigned three whole years over Judea, he went to the city Cesarea, formerly called Straton's Tower. Here he celebrated shows in honour of Cesar. On this occasion, there was a vast resort of persons of rank and distinction from all parts of the country. On the second day of the shows, early in the morning, he came into the theatre, dressed in a robe of silver, of most curious workmanship. The rays of the rising sun, reflected from so splendid a garb, gave him a majestic and awful appearance. In a short time they began, in several parts of the theatre, flattering acclamations, which proved pernicious to him. They called him a god, and entreated him to be propitious to them; saying, 'Hitherto we have respected you as a man, but now we acknowledge you to be more than mortal.' The king neither reproved these persons nor rejected the impious flattery. Soon after this, casting his eyes upwards, he saw an owl, sitting on a cord over his head. He perceived it to be a messenger of evil to him, as it had been before of his prosperity, and was struck with the deepest concern. Immediately after this, he was seized with pains in his bowels, extremely violent from the first. Then turning himself to his friends, he spoke to them in this manner: 'I, your god, am required to leave this world; fate instantly refuting these false applauses bestowed upon me. I, who have been called immortal, am hurried away to death. But God's appointment must be submitted to.' While he was speaking, his pains became more violent; he was carried, therefore, with all haste to his palace. His pains continuing to increase, he expired in five days time, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, &c.'

Agrippa left behind him one son, also named Agrippa, about seventeen years of age, and three daughters. One of these, Berenice, was married to Herod, king of Chalcis, her father's brother; the other two, Mariamne and Drusilla, were unmarried at the time of their father's death. Of the youngest of these, Drusilla, some notice will be taken in this history hereafter, as she is particularly noticed in the Acts of the Apostles.

SECTION XIII.

FADUS MADE PROCURATOR OF JUDEA-DEARTH IN THE REIGN OF

CLAUDIUS-PROSE

LYTES TO JUDAISM-FALSE MESSIAH-FADUS RECALLED, AND SUCCEEDED BY

TIBERIUS ALEXANDER-HEROD KING OF CHALCIS DISPLACED JOSEPH THE SON OF CAMUS FROM THE HIGH-PRIESTHOOD, AND SUBSTITUTED ANANIAS THE SON OF NEBEDEUS-TIBERIUS ALEXANDER RECALLED, AND CUMANUS APPOINTED TO SUCCEED HIM-COMMOTIONS AT JERUSALEM-DISPUTE BETWEEN THE GALILEANS AND SAMARITANS-CUMANUS RECALLED AND FELIX APPOINTED PROCURATOR-TUMULTUOUS CONDUCT OF THE JEWS-DEATH OF CLAUDIUS-SUCCEEDED BY NERO-ANARCHICAL STATE OF JUDEA DURING THE PROCURATORSHIP OF FELIX-IS SUCCEEDED BY FESTUS-BOTH RESIDE AT CESAREA-FESTUS DIES-18 SUCCEEDED BY ALBINUS STATE OF SOCIETY MORE AND MORE DISORDERED-ANANUS MADE HIGHPRIEST-CESTIUS GALLUS VISITS JERUSALEM.

AFTER the death of Agrippa, A. D. 45, Fadus was appointed procurator of Judea. Claudius would have given the kingdom to the son of his friend, but was dissuaded from it on account of his youth. A contention soon arose between this officer and the Jews, respecting the pontifical vestments which he ordered. to be deposited, as formerly, in the castle of Antonia. This was by direction of the emperor. And when the Jews proved refractory, Cassius Longinus, who had been sent to Syria in the place of Marsus, came with an army to enforce the emperor's edict; but the Jews prevailed on him to wait until they could petition the emperor, who was induced by the intercession of Herod king of Chalcis, to relinquish his purpose. Claudius then appointed this Herod to preside over the temple, and select the high-priests. He removed Cantharus from office, and appointed Joseph, son of Camus, to succeed him.

In the Acts we read, that "a prophet, named Agabus, stood up, and signified by the Spirit, that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world, which, says Luke, came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar." Now, during the reign of Claudius, there were no less than four times of famine. The one referred to above, occurred while Fadus was procurator at Judea, and was the last of the four; for it extended to the reign of Tiberius. About this time, the Jews received some proselytes to their religion, of rather an extraordinary character for rank, who proved themselves to be very sincere converts, by their munificence to the Jewish nation; especially in the time of the forementioned famine. The persons to whom I refer, were Helena, queen of Adiabene, in Mesopotamia, and her son Izates. At the time when this dearth occurred, Helena, was at Jerusalem, and supplied the people with large quantities of provisions; and Izates sent them, at the same time, large sums of money. These royal personages had built, near Jerusalem, a sepulchre of magnificent workmanship, in which after their death they were interred.

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adus was recalled, and a man of Jewish orig.. ame of Tiberius Alexander, was made procurator of

A. D. 47, Herod, king of Chaleis, having received authority from the emperor to appoint the high-priest at Jerusalem, displaced Joseph, the son of Camus, and gave the office to Ananias, the son of Nebedeus. This was among his last acts; for he died shortly after, and his kingdom was given to Claudius Agrippa, the son of king Agrippa, with the same authority over the temple and priesthood which had been possessed by Herod, king of Chaleis. In the same year, A. D. 47, Claudius recalled Tiberius Alexander, and appointed V. Cumanus to be procurator in his stead.

The following year, A. D. 48, during the celebration of the passover, a cohort of Roman soldiers were stationed before the gates of the temple to preserve order. But one of the soldiers, by an indecent action, so provoked the Jews, who were going up to the temple to worship, that some rash young men assaulted the soldiers with stones. Cumanus, at first, endeavoured to allay the irritation of the populace; but failing in this, he summoned the soldiers into the 'castle of Antonia, by which the Jews understood that he was about to make an attack on the temple. So great a panic seized the multitude who were within the walls, that when a violent rush took place to escape through the gates, more than a thousand of them were crushed to death. Another tumult took place in consequence of the impious conduct of a Roman soldier, who, having seized a copy of the law, tore it in pieces, with insulting and blasphemous language. A complaint was made to Cumanus, who, seeing no other method of appeasing the people, ordered the offending soldier to be beheaded. The commotions among the people increased every day. A dispute now arose between the Galileans and the Samaritans, on account of a murder committed on a Jew in one

3 wife Drusilla, already effect of his discourse, mperance, and judg e seems to have in7 more about these

he should have nd he did frebut his object robably, that sum for his

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in defiance of the. Ananus had taken, death a leading man who and sent the high-priests Jo the temple, in chains to Rome. and the procurator himself, to cause to the emperor; and then re the cause came before the emperor, the them, through the influence of Agrippa. Rome. The Samaritans were condemned, a leaders ordered to be executed. The Roman tɩ. been guilty of exciting the disturbance, was or sent back to Jerusalem, and to be dragged through the and then beheaded. Cumanus himself, also was recalled. A. D. 53, Felix a freed-man, was appointed procurator Judea, and continued in office a number of years. Agrip father; for in place of his little kingdom of Chalcis, he gave seems to have been as much a favourite of Augustus him the tetrarchy which had belonged to Philip, the son of

Herod the Great.

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Drusilla, the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa, given by her brother in marriage to Azizus, king of Emesa, who to obtain her, had submitted to circumcision. But Felix, who had already two wives, became enamoured of her; and by means of one Simon a sorcerer, made her offers of marriage, and gained her consent.

Although Claudius showed himself favourable to the Jews, so many tumults were raised by them in the city of Rome, that he published an edict that they should all leave the city, which however was never fully executed. He, however, strictly forbade all public meetings among them. During all this period, the Romans made no distinction between Jews and Christians; for the latter were considered as merely a new sect among the Jews. They, therefore, fell under the operation of