of all possible means of securing himself from danger, notwithstanding the intimation he had so recently received of the Divine protection and favour. The young man was directed by him to give immediate information of it to the chief captain, who, willing probably to relieve himself from the responsibility of guarding a prisoner, against whose life such persevering attempts were made, sent him off privately by night to the Governor Felix, resident at Cesarea 2.

SECT. CCXLI.-Paul sent to Felix at Cesarea.-Acts xxiii. 23-35.

THIS man was the brother of the imperial favourite, by whose influence he had been made Governor of Judæa. The character recorded of him is, that he made his will the law of his government, and ruled the province with all the authority of a king, and the insolence of a free slave, whom neither shame nor fear could restrain. St. Paul then was carried away to Cesarea, and secured in "Herod's judgment-hall,” a place so called, because it had been formerly built by Herod the Great for his own palace; but was afterwards converted into a residence for the Roman governor, a part of the building being made a place of confinement for particular prisoners*.

2 Dean Howard.

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Pictorial Bible.

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1 Dr. Stack.

SECT. CCXLII. - Paul accused by Tertullus before the Governor.-Acts xxiv. 1-23.

THITHER “after five days he was followed by Ananias and the elders, who engaged a pleader," a certain orator, named Tertullus, to bring their accusation before the Governor, in due form, against Paul, as a mover of sedition. In the preamble of the speech, which the advocate makes on this occasion, there was much gross flattery mixed with some truth. Felix had been of service in clearing the country of banditti, with which it had abounded: so he says, "By thee we enjoy great quietness; and very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence." Still, on the other hand, he was so cruel and tyrannical a governor that, within two years after this, the Jews preferred a public accusation against him before the Roman emperor, and he would undoubtedly have been executed, had not his brother's credit preserved him. Tertullus, in his speech to Felix, then inveighed against Paul, as having excited a seditious spirit through the whole body of the Jews, polluted their Temple, and taken the most active part in spreading the principles of the Nazarenes, "whom we took, and would have judged according to our Law. But the chief captain with great violence took him away out of our

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Dean Howard.

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Mant and D'Oyly.

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hands." The charge, it thus appears, was fourfold,—sedition, heresy, a ringleader of the Nazarenes, and the profanation of the Temple. St. Paul, in his defence, replied seriatim to each of these charges. He denied the charge of sedition, because it was only twelve days since he came to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost, during which time "they neither found him in the Temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city." He confessed himself a Christian, but denied that Christianity was a heresy; after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." He denied the charge of having profaned the Temple ;-" certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the Temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult:" and, in conclusion, he challenged his enemies, "if they had ought against him, or else lest these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, since I stood before the council"." St. Paul's speech is a great instance of true Christian magnanimity: he neither flatters his judge, nor betrays any

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Dr. Robinson.

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Dr. Hales.

distrust of him; he neither inveighs against his enemies, nor betrays any fear of them; but, with a modest freedom, and a manly courage, owns the main part of their accusation, and effectually vindicates at once both his religion and his own innocence'. Felix having been many years Governor of Judæa, and having had his residence at Cesarea, where Philip the Evangelist dwelt, and where there were many disciples, “had a more perfect knowledge of that way," that is, he had had opportunities of becoming acquainted with the "way" of Christianity'. He, therefore, perceived the nature of Paul's crime, and that no danger need be apprehended to the State; and, as it did not press immediately for a decision, he "deferred them, and commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him 2."

SECT. CCXLIII.-Paul preacheth Christ before Felix and Drusilla.-Acts xxiv. 24-26.

A FEW days after this, Drusilla, the wife of Felix, came to Cesarea; she was the daughter of that Herod Agrippa, who put St. James to death, and St. Peter into prison, and who was himself miraculously smitten at this very Cesarea, and in this very judgment-seat, to which her husband now brought her. Felix, when Procurator of

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Bishop Stillingflcet.

1 Dr. Whitby.

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Abp. Sumner.

Judæa, had fallen in love with her, and had seduced her from her husband King Azizus. "She was a Jewess," by her birth and parentage; but it is not easy to say what was the form and profession of her religion. He now again "sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ." The subject-matter of the discourse, which St. Paul on this occasion made to Felix, is not more remarkable for its general excellence and importance, than for its particular suitableness in regard to the persons whom he addressed. The two vices of which Felix was most remarkably guilty, as historians of unsuspected credit, both heathen and Jewish, assert, were injustice and intemperance. Drusilla, who now sat with him on the judgment-seat, was the wife of another man. Nothing, therefore, could be more appropriate, than a discourse concerning "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," to a cruel and voluptuous person; nothing more proper, than to remind such a judge of a higher and more impartial tribunal, before which he himself should one day stand and be judged. This wonderful effect is related to have followed on this discourse. "Felix trembled;" his mind was filled with horror at the remembrance of past crimes, and the apprehension of a future reckoning': therefore, becoming alarmed, he would not stay 3 Mant and D'Oyly. Bishop Atterbury.

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