conclusion of the same chapter. "And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark." (Acts xii. 20-25.)

The record being silent on the subject, the reader is left merely to fancy, if he will, that Paul was in Jerusalem at the Passover, and when Peter was in prison. If so, he probably joined in prayer with the rest of the disciples, who were at "the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying." On this probable supposition, it must have been an interesting incident in the life of both these champions of the faith, when the angel of the Lord brought Peter from the prison to knock long and loud at the gate, and Rhoda opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. What a proof this miracle would be to these holy men that the Lord was fulfilling his promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world!" How it would encourage them all! The traditional places of St. James's martyrdom, and of the house of St. Mark, are both in the Armenian quarter. One is the Armenian, the other the Syrian convent.

The death of Herod was so shocking and instructive an event, that the reader will not object to the simple narrative of St. Luke being supplemented by the following more

minute relation of the circumstances from Josephus, the learned Jewish historian:

"When Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judæa, he came to the city of Cæsarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower, and there exhibited shows in honour of Cæsar, knowing it to be a festival for his safety; and a great multitude of the principal persons, and such as were of dignity through the province, were assembled at it. And on the second day of the shows he put on a robe made wholly of silver, and of a texture truly wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning, at which time the silver being illuminated by the early rays of the sun, shone after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to inspire an awe into all that gazed upon him, and presently his flatterers cried out from one place and another (though not for his good) that he was a god, saying, 'Be thou propitious to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet, henceforth, we hail thee as more than mortal.' The king neither rebuked them, nor rejected their impious flattery. But as he presently afterwards looked up, he saw an owl sitting on a rope over his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill tidings, as it had once been the harbinger of good tidings, and he fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his bowels, beginning in a most violent manner. He therefore looked upon his friends and said, 'I, whom you call a god, am commanded forthwith to depart this life, Providence thus rebuking the lying words you have uttered; and I, who was by you called immortal, am now led away to death. But I must submit to my fate as it pleases God, for we have had our day, and have lived in no little splendour.' As he said this, he was excruciated by the intensity of the pain. So he was carried hastily into the palace, and the rumour went abroad everywhere that he must certainly die in a little time. But the multitude presently sat in sackcloth, with

their wives and children, after the manner of their country, beseeching God for the king's recovery; and all was full of mourning and lamentation. And the king being laid in a high chamber, and looking down on the people prostrate on the ground, could not himself forbear weeping. And having continued in agony for five days, from the pain in his bowels, he departed this life."

Paul and Barnabas having delivered the collection sent from the saints of Antioch for the relief of the poor Hebrews to the elders or presbyters of the Church of Jerusalem, left the Holy City and returned to Antioch. They were attended on their journey by John, whose surname was Mark, and who was the son of Barnabas' sister, Mary. This arrangement was probably gone into both on personal and public considerations. The uncle would be naturally desirous to rescue his amiable nephew from such a scene of persecution, and both he and Paul might feel that the noble field of enterprise before them required the aid of one so profitable for the ministry in working great conversions among the heathens.

HITHERTO St. Paul seems to have acted but an inferior part in the great work of winning souls to Christ. At several of the most important events of the period he was not present, and the field of his spiritual exertions was but secondary to that of the others, and especially to that of Peter. But from this period he is found ever at the post of danger, fighting in the front rank the battles of the Lord; "instant in season and out of season; through good report and through bad report; becoming all things to all men, that he might by all means save some." Hitherto the gift of tongues and the power of working miracles had been conferred only on the other Apostles. Long before this period Peter and John made the lame man to walk, who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and boldly vindicated this notable miracle by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "whom ye Jews crucified, and whom God raised from the dead."

Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, had fallen down dead before Peter at his rebuke, and yielded up the ghost. "By the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the street, and laid them on beds and couches, that, at the least, the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them." "And there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one." Philip, as already stated, had planted a Church in Samaria, and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. Peter had rejected the money offered by Simon, and reproved his wickedness, as being in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. James had enjoyed the distinguished honour of being the first martyr, and Peter had been delivered from prison by an angel. But, always excepting the miraculous work of Saul's conversion, he had done comparatively none of his Master's work. He had done little, he had suffered nothing, and he had preached no recorded sermon. And almost onehalf of the Acts of the Apostles had been written where his name is only incidentally introduced. But in the thirteenth chapter the scene shifts, new characters are introduced, separate subjects are embraced, and places never before heard of are mentioned. In particular, Saul ever appears as the principal character. "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul"—thus named after Barnabas, and occupying the lowest place in this enumeration of prophets and teachers. Hence it may be inferred, that up to this point of the history Barnabas had occupied the preeminent position of a prophet, while Saul belonged only to the humbler position of a teacher. But after this passage Saul appears no more in the back