Herod lived only five days after the execution of his son. He died in the seventieth year of his age, and the thirty-seventh of his reign. Knowing that he was detested by the Jews, and that the report of his death would be a matter of rejoicing to the people, he formed a project, perhaps the wickedest that ever entered into the mind of man. Having summoned all the most eminent men in his kingdom to attend him at Jericho, where he then lay in the pangs of death, as soon as they arrived, he ordered them to be shut up in the circus; and then sending for Salome his sister, and her husband Alexas, he gave command that as soon as he was dead they should send the soldiers to put them all to death; for this, said he, will provide mourners for my funeral throughout Judea. But wicked as Salome and her husband were, they would not fulfil their promises, in exccuting an order of such unprecedented cruelty; though, perhaps, they were restrained by a fear of the people, rather than by any aversion to the commission of such a crime.

After the death of Herod, therefore, all these men were set free. The enormous wickedness of this last act of the tyrant's life, seems to remove all objection that might arise in the minds of any, against the account of the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem, on the ground that no one could be guilty of such cruelty. The disease with which this wicked tyrant was carried out of the world, was attended with such circumstances as led all the people to believe that the just vengeance of Heaven was pursuing him. Josephus, and after him Eusebius, give the following account: "Herod's disease grew yet more and more grievously violent; God exacting this vengeance on him as the punishment of the many great enormities of which he had been guilty. He had a slow fever, which inwardly consumed him. His appetite was voracious and insatiable. His bowels were ulcerated, especially the colon, which occasioned grievous pains. His feet were swollen, and oozed out a fetid humor. An ulcer broke out in the lower part of his belly, which bred worms and lice abundantly. His breath was short and the smell fetid. He had also a troublesome flux of rheum, with asthmatic difficulty of breathing; and the termination of life was at length produced by convulsions of the whole body." His pains were terrible to the very last moment.

Herod married nine wives, by whom he had several children. Three of his sons, as we have seen, he put to death. Of his other children, it will only be necessary to mention those who are noticed in Scripture. By his wife Malthace, he had Archelaus and Herod Antipas; by Cleopatra, Philip; and by Mariamne, Herod Philip. His son Aristobulus, whom he put to death, was married to Berenice, by whom he had Agrippa, commonly called Herod Agrippa, the same who put James the

apostle to death, and was smitten of God at Cesarea for his impious pride. Herodias was also the daughter of the same parents. She was first married to her uncle, Herod Philip, but eloped from him and became the wife of Herod Antipas. By her first husband she had Salome, who went with her, and was the damsel whose dancing pleased Herod so exceedingly, and occasioned the death of John the Baptist.

To Agrippa, mentioned above, there was born a son, also named Agrippa, and two daughters, Drusilla and Berenice. Before these Paul pleaded his cause. (Acts xxv. 26.) Drusilla was married to Felix, the procurator or governor of Judea.

Herod distributed his dominions among his sons, above mentioned, as follows: Archelaus was left heir to the kingdom of Judea; Herod Antipas had the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea; and Philip, Auranitis, Trachonitis, Paneas, and Batanea.

SECTION X.

JOSEPH RETURNS FROM EGYPT-VULGAR ERA-ARCHELAUS GOES TO ROME AND IS DEPOSED-CYRENIUS GOVERNOR OF SYRIA-THE JEWS RESIST THE TAXATION BY THE ROMANS--ANNAS APPOINTED HIGH-PRIEST BY THE ROMANS-DEATH OF AUGUSTUS.

AFTER the death of Herod, Joseph being warned by an angel in a dream, arose and took the young child and his mother, and returned from Egypt into the land of Israel; but when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father, he went to Galilee, and again resided at Nazareth, with Mary his wife. There Jesus abode until he entered on his public ministry.

The Christian era, which is now in common use, by the mistake of Dionysius Exiguus, who introduced it in the sixth century, commences four years later than the real time of the birth of Christ. If Christians had from the beginning used this era, there could have been no mistake in the case; but as the birth of our Saviour was not used as an era for chronological purposes, for more than five hundred years, it is not strange that a mistake of a few years should have occurred. Some, indeed, make the difference only two years, but most of the learned follow Usher, who makes it four.

Archelaus, who succeeded his father in the kingdom, conducted himself in a manner so tyrannical, that ambassadors were sent to Rome, both from the Jews and Samaritans, to complain of his mal-administration. In consequence of these accusations he was cited by Augustus to appear before him and answer for his conduct. When Archelaus went to Rome, Herod Antipas did the same; and also Salome, Herod's sister. The object of Herod was to solicit the kingdom for himself, in

which he had the interest of the rest of the family on his side; for Archelaus was held in detestation by all. After Archelaus had left Judea, with the leave of Varus the procurator, an embassy of fifty of the chief men of Jerusalem went to Rome to petition Augustus to permit them to live according to their own laws, under a Roman governor. When he arrived, not being able to justify himself before the emperor, but being found guilty of all that was charged against him, he was deposed from his kingdom, had all his goods confiscated, and was himself banished to Vienne in Gaul. The duration of his reign in Judea was only ten years. After the deposition of Archelaus, Augustus appointed Cyrenius (Quirinius) to be governor of Syria, and sent with him Coponius a Roman knight, to be procurator of Judea, under the authority of Cyrenius, Judea being a part of the province of Syria. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they seized on the goods of Archelaus and changed the civil government of the Jews. The power of life and death was now taken from the Jews and assumed by the officers of the emperor; and taxes were paid directly into the treasury of the Romans, which was never done before.

The raising of these taxes caused great disturbances among the Jews. Some thought that they were under obligations to serve no king but God; most believed that it was wrong for the Jews to be subject to any foreign power. Those who made opposition on the first ground, were fanatical and seditious men, who were led on by one Judas of Galilee, a very turbulent man, of whom mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles, (v. 37,) but he was soon cut off, and all his followers dispersed. They who resisted on the latter ground, were a more formidable body, and included the whole sect of the Pharisees. Their opinions were received by the mass of the people. And hence we may learn the reason why the Publicans, or tax-gatherers, were so odious to the Pharisees.

While Cyrenius was at Jerusalem, among other important changes, he removed Jaazar from being high-priest, and appointed Annas, the son of Seth, as his successor. In the same year, our Lord and Saviour being now twelve years of age, came up to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, and entered the temple, where the doctors of the law were convened, heard their discourses, and engaged in the discussion of important points with them, so that all who heard him were astonished.

In the year ten of the vulgar era, Coponius was recalled from being procurator of Judea, and Marcus Ambivius was put in his place. In this year also died Salome, the sister of Herod, whose crafty and malicious intrigues had been the occasion of unspeakable evil to her brother's family.

A. D. 12. Augustus, now old, associated Tiberius with him

in the empire. From this date, his reign is reckoned by Luke, where he speaks of the "fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar;" Luke iii. 1. Judea was now destined to a very frequent change of masters, for in A. D. 13, Ambivius was succeeded in his office of procurator by Annius Rufus.

A. D. 14. Augustus Cesar departed this life, after he had nearly attained the age of seventy-six years. The length of his reign was fifty-six years, reckoning from the time of the first consulship; but if we reckon from the victory of Actium, it was forty-four years. He ended his days at Nola, in Campania, not far from Rome. The whole power of the empire now devolved on Tiberius, who had been made a partner with his father before his death. He was at this time fifty-five years of age, and reigned twenty-two years and a half.

SECTION XI.

PROCURATORSHIP OF VALERIUS GRATUSANNAS REMOVED FROM THE OFFICE OF HIGHPRIEST AND ISMAEL SUBSTITUTED-ELEAZAR, SON OF ANNAS IS PUT IN HIS PLACE, AND THE NEXT YEAR GRATUS REMOVES HIM, AND SUBSTITUTES SIMON SON OF CANNITH-CAIAPHAS-GRATUS RECALLED AND SUCCEEDED BY PONTIUS PILATEPREACHING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST-BAPTISM OF CHRIST-DEATH OF JOHN-PUBLIC MINISTRY OF CHRIST-DEATH OF CHRIST-HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENSIONPILATE'S ACCOUNT OF CHRIST, sent to the EMPEROR-PILATE REMOVED BY VITEL LIUS, GOVERNOR OF SYRIA, AND SENT TO ROME, WHENCE HE WAS BANISHED TO GAUL-TIBERIUS DIES, AND IS SUCCEEDED BY CAIUS CALIGULA.

A. D. 15, VALERIUS GRATUS was sent into Judea by Tiberius, to be procurator, in which office he continued eleven years.

A. D. 23, Valerius Gratus removed Annas from the office of high-priest, and substituted in his place Ismael the son of Fabus. Annas held the office fifteen years. But the very next year, A. D. 24, becoming dissatisfied with Ismael, he deposed him, and put in his place Eleazar, the son of Annas, whom he had deprived of the office. The year following, A. D. 25, the capricious Gratus removed Eleazar, and put Simon the son of Cannith in the office. A. D. 26, Simon was displaced to make way for Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, who had been deposed. These are the persons spoken of in the Gospels, who had the chief concern in the prosecution of our Saviour. And the facts mentioned above, will serve to explain several things in the sacred history. Caiaphas is said to have been the high-priest for that year, as if the office had been an annual one; whereas, it was for life, by the law, if the person did not become disqualified; but we see from the preceding history, that for a number of years no one person had, in fact, filled the place for more than a year.

A. D. 26, Valerius Gratus was recalled, and Pontius Pilate sent to be procurator of Judea; a man ready for every evil

work. Philo Judeus charges him with selling justice, and giving any sentence for money; also of cruelty, rapine, murder, and injuries of every sort.

In this year, A. D. 26, according to the vulgar era, John the Baptist began to preach in the wilderness of Judea. This was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius. He continued his ministry for about three years and a half. When John was engaged in his public ministry, preaching repentance and baptising the people, and announcing that the Messiah's reign was near at hand, Jesus Christ came forth from his retirement at Nazareth, and presented himself to John for baptism. At first this good man scrupled to perform the rite, but immediately complied, when he heard the reason assigned by Jesus for desiring it.

When Jesus was baptized in Jordan, the heavens were opened, and a voice was heard from heaven, saying, "THIS IS MY BELOVED SON;" and the Holy Ghost descended as a dove, and rested on him. John knew the divine character of Jesus, and was therefore willing to see all men flocking after him, though his own popularity was thereby diminished. He pointed him. out to his own disciples as the Messiah, and corrected their wrong feelings flowing from attachment to himself. Jesus now entered on the public exercise of his ministry, in which he laboured incessantly, until the day of his death.

John, while preaching in Galilee, fell under the notice of Herod the tetrarch, who was pleased to hear his discourses, and so much influenced by them as to make a partial reformation in his conduct. But on John's faithfully reproving him for taking his brother's wife, he was so much offended that he cast him into prison. Herodias was urgent to have him put to death, which Herod declined, more for fear of the people than from any higher motives. But on Herod's birth-day, Salome, the daughter of Herodias, so delighted him by her dancing, that he made her a promise, confirmed with an oath, to give her what she should ask. The girl, instructed by her mother, demanded the head of John, which the king, though reluctantly, commanded to be brought to her in a dish.

The history of the Evangelist respecting Herod Antipas is corroborated by Josephus, who says: "About this time there happened to be a difference between Aretas king of Petræa and Herod, upon this occasion: Herod the tetrarch, had married the daughter of Aretas; but in a journey which he took to Rome, he made a visit to his brother Herod (Philip). Here falling in love with Herodias, his brother's wife, he ventured to make her proposals of marriage. She consented, and agreed that when he was returned from Rome she would go and live with him; and he promised to put away the daughter of Aretas."