distinction, on the simple terms of repentance and reformation.

The fact recorded by Josephus is thus noticed in the Acts of the Apostles. "Now they which were scattered abroad, upon the persecution that rose about Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but to the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord." Acts xi. 16. Here Josephus and the sacred historian agree in stating the same fact, almost in the same words. The former says, that the Jews were continually bringing over a great multitude of Greeks to their worship; the latter, that the Jews preached the Lord Jesus to the Grecians, and that a great number believed and turned unto the Lord. Here then we have an unequivocal proof, that Josephus considered the religion of Jesus as the proper Jewish religion; and that, as he firmly believed in Moses and the prophets, he also believed in Christ as foretold by them, and as the finisher of their faith.

The success which the christian teachers experienced, of course kindled against them and their cause the fury of the refractory, not only among

the Greeks, but also among the Jews: and Josephus has subjoined the following dreadful instance of it: " Then a certain man, named Antiochus, a ruler of the Jews, greatly esteemed for the virtues of his father, having assembled the people of Antioch in the theatre, accused his father and the other Jews of an intention to burn the city in one night; and he delivered up to them certain foreign Jews as confederates in this design.”* These foreign Jews are said by Luke to have been men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch to preach the gospel.

The pretence which Antiochus had for the cruel accusation, though not specified by Josephus, was probably the following: Jesus had foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, or more generally that of Antichrist. The believers had no doubt of the truth of our Lord's prediction, before they saw it accomplished. But it appears that some of them interpreted his language with

* Τότε δη τις Αντιοχος εις εξ αυτων, τα μαλιςα δια τον πατέρα τιμωμένος, ην γαρ αρχων των επ' Αντιοχείας Ιουδαίων, του δήμου των Αντιοχέων εκκλησιάζοντος, εις το θεατρον παρελθων, τον τε πατέρα τον αυτου και τους άλλους ενεδείκνυτο κατηγορων, ότι νυκτι μια καταπρησαι την πολιν άπασαν διεγνωκεισαν, και παρεδίδου ξενους Ιουδαίους τινας, ὡς κεκοινονηκοτας των βεβουλευμένων.

an undue latitude, as implying the destruction by fire not only of Jerusalem, but also of Rome and the other great cities of the empire. "The Sibyl," says Lactantius," expressly declares Rome is to perish. Hystaspes also has recorded his wonderful dream, in which is represented a youth predicting that the Roman empire, and even the Roman name, would be erased from the world*." This opinion must have been held from the time in which Christ predicted the fall of the Jewish state: and the actual accomplishment of that event gave it fresh strength and prevalence. The mistaken hopes of some among the believers might lead to the promulgation of it at Antioch; and thus it gave birth to the villanous accusation of Antiochus, not only against his innocent countrymen, but even against his own father, whose rank and virtues had procured him consequence and esteem. This is a remarkable instance of the great enmity which the stubborn Jews cherished against such of their brethren as embraced the religion of Jesus, and strikingly illustrates the truth of his words, "that

Sibyllæ tamen aperte interituram esse Romam loquuntur -Hystaspes quoque admirabile somnium, sub interpretatione vaticinantis pueri ad memoriam, posteris tradidit sublatum iri ex orbe imperium, nomenque Romanum, lib. vii. cap. 15.

he came to divide the father against the son, and the son against the father."

In the same author we meet the following extraordinary passage: "The people of Damascus were eager to destroy the Jews in that city: and having from suspicion already collected and confined them in the Gymnasium, they thought the attempt to put them to death would be very easy. But they dreaded their own wives, all of whom, with few exceptions, were brought under obedience to the Jewish worship. They therefore earnestly endeavoured to conceal their design from the women and thus they attacked the Jews who, as being crowded in a narrow place, and without arms, were in one day easily slain to the amount of ten thousand*."

The gospel was preached at Damascus even

Καν τουτῷ Δαμασκηνοί, την των Ρωμαίων φθοραν πυθόμενοι, τους παρ' ἑαυτοις Ιουδαίους ανελειν εσπουδασαν. και καθο μεν ειχον αυτους εν τῳ γυμνασίῳ συνηθροισμένους δια της ὑποψιας, τουτο πραγματευσαμένοι, εασην την επιχείρησιν εδοκουν. εδεδοίκεσαν δε τας ἑαυτων γυναικας άπασας, πλην ολίγων, υπηγμενας τη Ιουδαϊκή θρησκεια. διο μεγιςος αυτοίς αγων εγενετο λαθειν εκείνας. τους δε Ιουδαίους, ώς αν εν γενῷ χωρίῳ, τον αριθμόν οντας μυρίους και παντας ανοπλους επελθοντές ύπο μιαν ώραν αδέως εσφαξαν. B. J. lib. ii. c. 20. 2.

before the conversion of St. Paul; and an honorable mention is made of Ananias as one of its distinguished votaries. This was the city in which the apostle of the Gentiles commenced his great commission to convert and reform the pagan world; and the result of his zeal, united with that of his brethren, is here stated by Josephus. Christianity, when first offered to the Gentiles, must have been more favorably received by the women than by the men. The female sex had hitherto been cruelly degraded; and the example of Jesus, and the spirit of his gospel, had a direct tendency to raise them to their proper level in the scale of society. Besides, the path of the women, when invited to the church of Christ, was not encumbered with the rite of circumcision; which mistaken zeal, for some time, had imposed on the men, as a necessary condition to share the blessings of the gospel. Nor had the female part of the heathen world the same interest with the men, in supporting the pagan religion, as not deriving from its rites the same unbounded indulgences. For these reasons they were less biassed in favour of corruption and error, and more accessible to the evidence and to the purifying influence of the new faith. These observations illustrate the above passage of Josephus, in which it is attested that all the women of Damascus, with few exceptions, were become converts to