ledgement of the Jews themselves, intimates the Messiah. The tribe of Judah, as we learn from the history of the Jews, always had a pre-eminence over the other tribes, nor did the sceptre entirely depart from the Jews until Jesus was about twelve years of age, when Archelaus, the son of Herod,* and king of Judæa, was deposed by the Romans for cruelty and divers malpractices: the power of life and death was taken out of their hands, and Judæa made a Roman province; and, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, vast numbers, both Jews and Gentiles, became converts to the doctrine of Christ.

Herod had intended Antipater to succeed him in the government; but this Antipater, who was his eldest son by Doris, a wife he had married before Mariamne, was eager to gain the crown, and entered into a conspiracy to poison his father, but he was detected therein, and executed by Herod's order, with the approval of Augustus.

A few days after the execution of Antipater, Herod himself paid the debt of nature, after

*Herod, although an Idumæan, professed himself a Jew, Idumæa having been incorporated with Judæa by John Hyrcanus, and its inhabitants compelled to embrace the law of Moses.

having undergone the most excruciating agonies from a variety of grievous diseases: he suffered under a slow hectic fever, an asthmatical complaint, and his bowels with his lower parts were ulcerated to such a degree that they bred worms and lice. It should seem that this dreadful infliction was a mark of divine punishment, for the horrid cruelty he had exhibited during his whole life. This monster, even on his death-bed, devised one of the most blood-thirsty plans ever imagined: Fearing that the Jews would rejoice at his death, he had all the chief of them summoned to Jericho, where he lay ill, and caused them to be imprisoned in the Circus, or place of public shows; he then solemnly entreated his sister Salome and her husband, who were in his especial confidence, to have them all put to the sword as soon as he should breathe his last, saying at the same time, "This will provide mourners for my funeral all the land over.” Salome, although not very nice in such matters, feared to put in execution the oath he had extorted from her, and, after his decease, caused them all to be liberated.

Herod had had nine wives, and left several children behind him, of which those named in the New Testament are, Archelaus, Herod Anti

pas, Philip, and Herod Philip. He was succeeded in the government of Judæa and Samaria by his son Archelaus, who also, by his father's will, had the title of king. The rest of his dominions he assigned, in his will, to other sons; Herod Antipas was appointed tetrarch* of Galilee and Peræa, and Philip tetrarch of Trachonitis and the neighbouring countries. The principal parts of this will were ratified and confirmed by Augustus the Roman emperor.

Joseph, the father of Jesus, had the death of Herod divinely revealed unto him in a dream, in which also he was bidden to return into the land of Israel, together with his wife and her son. Joseph obeyed the divine command, but hearing that Archelaus, who was excessively cruel and tyrannical, was king of Judæa, he was afraid to go thither; and, being again warned of God, he went and dwelt at Nazareth of Galilee, his own city; by which was accomplished the prophecies that Christ should be called a Nazarene.†

Archelaus was so arbitrary and unjust in his

* The governor of a fourth part of a province.

+ This title is by some referred to the sect of Nazarenes; by others to Natzer, a branch, alluding to Isa. xi. 1, where Christ is called a branch of the root of Jesse. It is by some referred to the village Nazareth.-Burnet.

of his go

administration, that in the tenth year vernment, the chief of the Jews and Samaritans, not being able to endure his cruelty and tyranny, presented complaints against him to Cæsar. The emperor was so incensed at the conduct of Archelaus, that he reduced Judæa into a Roman province, governed by a procurator; the Jews were deprived of the power of life and death, which was in future vested in the Roman governor; and their taxes were collected by the publicans, or farmers of the public revenue, who were empowered by the Roman emperor. These publicans were greatly detested by the people, because they thought it unlawful to admit any other king than a Jew, and their being compelled to pay tribute was a forced, though tacit, acknowledgment of a foreign authority, which caused them utterly to hate those put in power to extort it. It was enjoined them in their law to choose a king that was a Jew: "From among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee."

The Roman governors continued the practice of Herod of creating and deposing high-priests at his pleasure.

Joseph still dwelt at Nazareth, where the child Jesus grew remarkable for his wisdom. When he was twelve years of age, he chanced to ac

company his parents to Jerusalem, to the feast of the passover, whither it was their custom to resort yearly upon their return, they had advanced a day's journey when they missed the child Jesus, whom they had supposed to be in advance with their friends; they retrod the way to Jerusalem, and after searching three days, "they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers." His mother reproached him for the anxiety he had caused them, when he replied,

Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" which saying they were not able to comprehend, as they knew not he was speaking of God, however his mother cogitated upon and revolved these sayings in her own heart.

The sacred writings mention nothing further of what happened to our Saviour during the intermediate time between the above occurrence and his manifestation in his public character: they merely observe that he returned with his parents to Nazareth, and was obedient to their will; thus exemplifying the duty children owe to the authors of their being: it is even supposed by some that Jesus actually worked at the trade