aham to our Lord did not
terminate with His death; they long maintained the bad pre-eminence of
being the most inveterate of the persecutors of His early followers.
Whilst the awful portents of the Passion, and the marvels of the day of
Pentecost were still fresh in public recollection, their chief priests
and elders threw the apostles into prison; [163:3] and soon afterwards
the pious and intrepid Stephen fell a victim to their malignity. Their
infatuation was extreme; and yet it was not unaccountable. They looked,
not for a crucified, but for a conquering Messiah. They imagined that
the Saviour would release them from the thraldom of the Roman yoke; that
He would make Jerusalem the capital of a prosperous and powerful empire;
and that all the ends of the earth would celebrate the glory of the
chosen people. Their vexation, therefore, was intense when they
discovered that so many of the seed of Jacob acknowledged the son of a
carpenter as the Christ, and made light of the distinction between Jew
and Gentile. In their case the natural aversion of the heart to a pure
and spiritual religion was inflamed by national pride combined with
mortified bigotry; and the fiendish spirit which they so frequently
exhibited in their attempts to exterminate the infant Church may thus
admit of the most satisfactory explanation.

Many instances of their antipathy to the new sect have already been
noticed. In almost every town where the missionaries of the cross
appeared, the Jews "opposed themselves and blasphemed;" and magistrates
speedily discovered that in no way could they more easily gain the
favour of the populace than by inflicting sufferings on the Christians.
Hence, as we have seen, about the time of Paul's second visit to
Jerusalem after his conversion, Herod, the grandson of Herod the Great,
"killed James, the brother of John, with the sword; and because he saw
_it pleased the Jews,_ he proceeded further to take Peter also." [164:1]
The apostle of the circumcision was delivered by a miracle from his
grasp; but it is probable that other individuals of less note felt the
effects of his severity. Even in countries far remote from their native
land, the posterity of Abraham were the most bitter opponents of
Christianity. [164:2] As there was much intercourse between Palestine
and Italy, the gospel soon found its way to the seat of government; and
it has been conjectured that some civic disturbance created in the great
metropolis b