divine message. It was a world at peace, even though that peace was maintained by the sword. The Roman empire extended from Britain to the African desert, and from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. There was a unity in it that had never existed before, due to a certain loyalty to Rome. Rome's greatness dazzled her thirty or forty provinces and filled them with a desire to have a share in her glory. She built splendid roads for her armies and kept them safe for the traveler. Over these Saint Paul and the other apostles journeyed in spreading the gospel message. There was a universal languageGreek - which was understood wherever the apostles preached. Most important of all, perhaps, was the dis

persion of the Jewish race, so that wherever the apostles went they found a hearing in the synagogues. The Jews of the Dispersion were great missionaries and had made numerous proselytes. Many Gentiles who had not fully accepted Judaism were dissatisfied with the emptiness of their former belief and were to be found in the Jewish synagogues. These Gentiles are sometimes called in the New

Testament "God-fearing Greeks." Among these were some of Paul's most faithful converts in every place where he preached. It has truly been said that "Rome built the roads for Christianity, Greece gave it a language, but the Jews had prepared the approach to men's hearts and minds."

SOURCES: Josephus, Jewish War.

The rule of Archelaus, II, 1, 2, 6.

Three Jewish sects, II, 8.

The banishment and death of Herod Antipas, II, 9.

QUESTIONS

1. Point out on the map the divisions into which the dominions of Herod the Great were divided after his death, and name and characterize the ruler of each.

2. In what ways did Herod Antipas come into contact with Jesus? (Luke 23. 7-15.)

3. What was Jesus' opinion of him? (Luke 13. 32.)

4. Describe the various sects in the time of Jesus.

5. What was Jesus' attitude toward the scribes and Pharisees and why?

6. What was the relation of the synagogue to Christianity? 7. Mention the conditions in the Roman empire that proved especially favorable to the spread of Christianity.

LESSON LXI

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

THE causes that led to the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Hebrew state were many, but among them these three stand out prominently:

1. The stupid brutality of the Roman procurators, who goaded the people into rebellion.

2. The internal strife between warring factions filled with a murderous hatred for each other, and

3. The fanatical zeal of the Jews, many of whom fully believed that in defying Rome they were helping to bring about the long-expected Messianic kingdom. Josephus says, "What most stirred them up was the ambiguous oracle that was found also in their sacred writings that about that time one from their country should become ruler of the world."

The last Jewish kings.-Herod Agrippa I was a grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne, and thus a scion of the house of Maccabees. In his youth in Rome he had been a boon companion of Caligula, who, when he became emperor, in A. D. 37, conferred upon Agrippa the dominions of his uncle Philip, who had died, with the title of king. Subsequently he was given the dominions of Antipas and later Claudius made him king of Judæa. On the whole his reign of three years proved a happy one for his subjects, whom he succeeded in conciliating. To please the Jews he persecuted the Christians, and caused the death of James, the brother of John. Agrippa left a son seventeen years considered too young to succeed

of age, but he was

his father, so Judæa went back under the rule of Roman procurators and remained so until the end. This son was afterward given by the emperor Claudius the tetrarchy of Chalchis (at the foot of Lebanon), with the title of king (Agrippa II), and later, parts of Galilee and Peræa were added to his dominions. In Acts 26

is recorded a speech made by Paul before him during Paul's imprisonment at Cæsarea.

The seven imperial procurators. It is hardly worth while to record the names of these incompetent and despotic men, yet they had the power of life and death over their subjects, whom they goaded into revolt. During the period of bloodshed and anarchy in Judæa which ensued, the apostle Paul was going about through the Roman empire and founding Chris

tian churches. The procurators Felix and Festus are of especial interest to us because Paul was brought before them at Cæsarea on charges preferred by the Jews of Jerusalem (Acts 24. 24; 26. 25). We know little to the disadvantage of Festus, but a secret society of assassins was organized to cope with the cruelty of Felix. There was no safety in Jerusalem during his

regime and all through the land villages were plundered and houses set on fire.

The beginning of the end. In A. D. 54 that monster of wickedness, Nero, became emperor. The worst of all the procurators of Judæa were the last two, Albinus and Florus, appointed in his reign. Of Florus, Josephus says: "He made an open boast of his crimes against the people. . . . His cruelty was