"I am a Roman, and therefore ought to be judged by the Roman law; and now stand before the judgmentseat of Cæsar. I have done nothing against the Jews, a fact thou thyself very well knowest to be true. If I have committed any thing that deserves death, I am ready to die; but if not, no person hath a power to deliver me into the hands of mine enemies. I appeal unto Cæsar.

Appeals of this nature were common amongst the Romans, and introduced to defend and secure the lives and fortunes of the people from the unjust encroach ment and over-righteous severities of the magistrates, whereby it was lawful in cases of oppression to appeal to the emperor for redress; a thing more than once settled by the sanction of the Valerian law, and now fully established.

King Agrippa, who succeeded Herod in the tetrar chate of Galilee, and his sister Bernice, came to Cæ sarea, some time after St. Paul had appealed to Cæsar, to visit the new governor. Festus embraced this op portunity of mentioning the case of our apostle to king Agrippa, together with the remarkable tumult this affair had occasioned amongst the Jews, and the appeal he had made to Cæsar. This account excited the curiosity of king Agrippa, and he was desirous of hearing himself what St. Paul had to say in his own vindication. Accordingly the next day the king and his sister, accompanied with Festus the governor, and several other persons of distinction, came into the court with a pompous and splendid retinue, where the prisoner was brought before them. On his appearing, Festus informed the court how greatly he had been importuned by the Jews, both at Cæsarea and Jerusalem, to put the prisoner to death as a malefactor; but having, on examination, found him guilty of no capital crime, and the prisoner himself having appealed unto Cæsar, he was determined to send him to Rome; but was willing to have his cause debated before Agrippa, VOL. ii.

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that he might be furnished with some material particulars to send with him; it being highly absurd to send thither a prisoner without signifying the crimes laid to his charge.

After Festus had finished his speech, Agrippa told Paul, he was now at liberty to make his own defence: and silence being made, he addressed his speech particularly to Agrippa, in the following manner.

"I esteem it a particular happiness, king Agrippa, that I am to make my defence against the accusations of the Jews, before thee; because thou art well acquainted with all their customs, and the questions commonly debated amongst them: I therefore beseech thee to hear me patiently and impartially.

"The Jews in general are well acquainted with my manner of life from my youth, the greatest part of it having been spent with mine own countrymen at Jerusalem. They also know that I was educated under the institutions of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion, and am now arraigned for a tenet believed by all their fathers, a tenet sufficiently credible in itself, and plainly revealed in the Scripture, I mean, the resurrection of the dead. Why should any mortal think it either incredible or impossible, that God should raise the dead to life?

"I once thought myself indispensably obliged to oppose the religion of JESUS of Nazareth: nor was I satisfied with imprisoning, and punishing with death itself. the saints I found at Jerusalem; I even persecuted them in strange cities, whither my implacable zeal pursued them, having procured authority from the chief priests and elders for that purpose.

"I departed accordingly for Damascus with a commission from the Sanhedrim; but as I was travelling towards that city, I saw at mid-day, O king, a light

from heaven, far exceeding the brightness of the sun, encompassing me and my companions. On seeing this awful appearance, we all fell to the earth; and I heard a voice, which said to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks? To which I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he replied, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest: but be not terrified, arise from the earth; for I have appeared unto thee, that thou mightest be both witness of the things thou hast seen, and also of others which I will hereafter reveal unto thee: my power shall deliver thee from the Jews and the Gentiles, to whom now I send thee to preach the gospel; to withdraw the veil of darkness and ignorance, to turn them from falsehood unto truth, and from the power of Satan unto God.

Hereupon, king Agrippa, I readily obeyed the heavenly vision; I preached the gospel first to the inhabitants of Damascus, then to those of Jerusalem and Judea, and afterwards to the Gentiles; persuading them to forsake their iniquities, and turn to the living God, by sincere repentance.

"The Jews, being exasperated at these endeavours to save the souls of sinful mortals, caught me in the temple, and entered into a conspiracy to destroy me; but by the help of Omnipotence, I still remain a witness to all the human race, preaching nothing but what Moses and all the prophets foretold, namely, that the Messiah should suffer, be the first that should rise from the chambers of the grave, and publish, both to the Jews and Gentiles, the glad-tidings of salvation."

After the apostle had thus pleaded for himself, Fese tus cried out, "Paul, thou art mad; too much study hath deprived thee of thy reason." But Paul answered, "I am far, most noble Festus, from being transported with idle and distracted ideas; the words I speak are dictated by truth and sobriety and I am

persuaded that king Agrippa himself is not ignorant. of these things: for they were transacted openly before the world. I am confident, king Agrippa, that thou believest the prophets; and therefore, must know that all their predictions were fulfilled in CHRIST." To which Agrippa answered, "Thou hast almost persuaded me to embrace the Christian faith." And Paul replied, "I sincerely wish, that not only thou, but also all that hear me, were not almost, but altogether the. same as myself, except being prisoners."

After Paul had thus spoken, the king and the governor, with the rest of the council, withdrew to confer privately together; and finding, by the accusations brought against him, that he was not guilty by the Roman law of any capital offence, nor even of such as deserved imprisonment, Agrippa told Festus, that he might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed unto Cæsar; but an appeal being once made, the judge had no longer any power either to absolve or condemn, the cause being entirely reserved to the cognizance of that superior, to whom the prisoner had appealed, for his own justification.

As it was now finally determined Paul should be sent to Rome, he, with several others, prisoners of consequence, were committed to the care of Julius, commander of a company belonging to the legion of Augustus; and was accompanied in this voyage by St. Luke, Aristarchus, Trophimus, and some others not mentioned by the sacred penman.

In the month of September 56, or according to others, 57, they embarked on board a ship of Adramyttium, and sailed to Sidon, where the centurion courteously gave the apostle leave to go on shore to visit his friends, and refresh himself. After a short stay they sailed for Cyprus, and arrived opposite the Fair Havens, a place near Myra, a city of Lycia. Here the season being far advanced, and Paul foreseeing it

would be a dangerous voyage, persuaded them to put in and winter there; but the Roman centurion preferring the opinion of the master of the ship, and the harbour being at the same time incommodious, resolved if possible, to reach Phoenice, a port of Crete, and winter there. But they soon found themselves disappointed; for the fine southerly gale, which had favoured them for some time, suddenly changed into a stormy and tempestuous wind at north-east, which blew with such violence that the ship was obliged to sail before it; and to prevent her foundering they threw overboard the principal part of her lading, to lighten the vessel.

They continued fourteen days in this desperate and uncomfortable condition, neither sun nor star appearing for great part of the time. During this confusion the apostle put them in mind how preposterously they had acted in not listening to his advice; but, at the same time told them, that the God whom he served and worshipped, had the last night sent an angel to him, with assurance that, notwithstanding the present danger, not one of their lives should be lost, though the ship should be wrecked.

When the fourteenth night arrived, the sailors, upon sounding, found they were near some coast; and therefore, to avoid the rocks, thought proper to come to an anchor, till the morning might give them better information. In the mean time, the seamen, who best understood the danger, were preparing to get into the boat, to save themselves; which Paul perceiving, told the captain, that unless they all stayed in the ship, not one of them could be saved: whereupon the soldiers cut the ropes, and let the boat fall into the sea, from the ship.

While they continued at anchor, waiting for the light of the morning, St. Paul prevailed upon them to eat, and refresh themselves, having fasted a long time,