y the adherents of the synagogue, and intended to annoy and
intimidate the new sect, prompted the Emperor Claudius, about A.D. 53,
to interfere in the manner described by Luke, and to command "all Jews
to depart from Rome." [165:1] But the hostility of the Israelites was
most formidable in their own country; and for this, as well as other
reasons, "the brethren which dwelt in Judea" specially required the
sympathy of their fellow-believers throughout the Empire. When Paul
appeared in the temple at the feast of Pentecost in A.D. 58, the Jews,
as already related, made an attempt upon his life; and when the apostle
was rescued by the Roman soldiers, a conspiracy was formed for his
assassination. Four years afterwards, or about A.D. 62, [165:2] another
apostle, James surnamed the Just, who seems to have resided chiefly in
Jerusalem, finished his career by martyrdom. Having proclaimed Jesus to
be the true Messiah on a great public occasion, his fellow-citizens were
so indignant that they threw him from a pinnacle of the temple. As he
was still alive when he reached the ground, he was forthwith assailed
with a shower of stones, and beaten to pieces with the club of a fuller.
[165:3]

As the Christians were at first confounded with the Jews, the
administrators of the Roman law, for upwards of thirty years after our
Lord's death, conceded to them the religious toleration enjoyed by the
seed of Abraham. But, from the beginning, "the sect of the Nazarenes"
enjoyed very little of the favour of the heathen multitude. Paganism had
set its mark upon all the relations of life, and had erected an idol
wherever the eye could turn. It had a god of War, and a god of Peace; a
god of the Sea, and a god of the Wind; a god of the River, and a god of
the Fountain; a god of the Field, and a god of the Barn Floor; a god of
the Hearth, a god of the Threshold, a god of the Door, and a god of the
Hinges. [166:1] When we consider its power and prevalence in the
apostolic age, we need not wonder at the declaration of Paul--"All that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." [166:2]
Whether the believer entered into any social circle, or made his
appearance in any place of public concourse, he was constrained in some
way to protest against dominant errors; and almost exactly in proportion
to his consistency and conscientiousness, he was sure to incur the
dislike of the more zealous votaries of idolatry. Hence it was that the
members o