garded as the sanction of God himself to the doctrines taught by the crucified Saviour. No wonder the Jews should be enraged by an assertion which reproached them with the commission of an unjust and cruel murder, and with the still greater guilt of having despised and rejected the Son of God.

"Nor was this the only cause of their displeasure. Ancient prophecies had taught the Jews to expect the appearance of the Messiah-the prince, as he is called by the prophet Daniel-and the whole nation had worked themselves into a persuasion, that the long-promised Deliverer would, on his arrival, effect some wonderful change in the condition of their country. They did not think of a deliverance from the power and guilt of sin-of freedom from the tyranny of evil passionsbut from the dominion of the Romans.

* Paley, p. 11.

They longed to see Judæa, not merely restored to its former rank among surrounding nations, but surpassing the glory of the reign of Solomon. This was become the popular hope and passion, and, like all popular opinions, it rendered those who held it very impatient of contradiction *. You may find, in the sixth chapter of St. John, that when Jesus had, by miraculously supplying the hungry multitnde in the wilderness, convinced them that he was the Messiah, they were about to take him by force and make him a king, no doubt expecting that he would lead them on to victory, and that under a leader thus gifted with supernatural powers, they should have nothing to fear from the Roman armies."

"Then, I suppose," said Harry, "they expected a renewal of such victories as are recorded in the old Testament, when the

walls of Jericho fell down before the Israelites."

"Most probably," replied his mother: "they clung to this hope under every misfortune of their country, and with greater eagerness as its calamities increased *: they were buoyed up by it during the miseries of the most dreadful siege recorded in history. Josephus tells us, that on the day when the city was taken, a false prophet persuaded these infatuated people to ascend the battlements of the Temple, in expectation of there receiving miraculous signs of their deliverance.

"From what I have said, you must perceive that nothing could be more repugnant to the feelings of the Jewish nation, than the truth declared by the Apostles. Peter well knew the risk he was incurring, when he exclaimed: Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made

* Paley, p. 12.

that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. No wonder many that heard him were pricked in their heart*, and that those who did not believe his story were filled with rage and indignation."

"I think," said Harry, "that was the sermon which convinced three thousand Jews of the truth of Christianity."

"Yes; we read that three thousand persons were converted upon that occasion. There is no doubt that the discourse of Peter was in itself calculated to make a very deep impression on minds which were not blinded by prejudice; but we must recollect that this sermon was preached under new and peculiar circumstances, which tended to carry it home to the hearts and consciences of the hearers."

"I do not exactly understand what were the circumstances to which you allude."

Acts, ii. 36, 37.

"I believe you are already aware, that at the solemn festivals of the Jews, multitudes from all parts of the country, and also from distant regions, resorted to Jerusalem. Seven weeks before the memorable conversion we are noticing, at the feast of the Passover, Jesus had been ignominiously crucified; and, no doubt, the circumstances attending his crucifixion, which were so extraordinary as to strike even the Roman soldiers with astonishment and fear, were well known to the strangers assembled on that occasion. When these persons returned to their own homes, they could not fail to relate what had happened. The supernatural darkness, the earthquake, the veil of the temple torn asunder, the resurrection of many pious persons, whose bodies quitted the caves or grottoes in which the Jews deposited their dead, and revisited the streets of the holy city: all these things would become the topics of conversation.