is an
important fact that they did not admit into their canon the writings now
known under the designation of the _Apocrypha_. [11:2] Nearly three
hundred years before the appearance of our Lord, the Old Testament had
been translated into the Greek language, and thus, at this period, the
educated portion of the population of the Roman Empire had all an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the religion of the chosen
people. The Jews were now scattered over the earth, and as they erected
synagogues in the cities where they settled, the Gentile world had ample
means of information in reference to their faith and worship.

Whilst the dispersion of the Jews disseminated a knowledge of their
religion, it likewise suggested the approaching dissolution of the
Mosaic economy, as it was apparent that their present circumstances
absolutely required another ritual. It could not be expected that
individuals dwelling in distant countries could meet three times in the
year at Jerusalem to celebrate the great festivals. The Israelites
themselves had a presentiment of coming changes, and anxiously awaited
the appearance of a Messiah. They were actuated by an extraordinary zeal
for proselytism, [11:3] and though their scrupulous adherence to a stern
code of ceremonies often exposed them to much obloquy, they succeeded,
notwithstanding, in making many converts in most of the places where they
resided. [12:1] A prominent article of their creed was adopted in a
quarter where their theology otherwise found no favour, for the Unity of
the Great First Cause was now distinctly acknowledged in the schools of
the philosophers. [12:2]

From the preceding statements we may sec the peculiar significance of
the announcement that God sent forth His Son into the world "_when the
fulness of the time was come_." [12:3] Various predictions [12:4]
pointed out this age as the period of the Messiah's Advent, and
Gentiles, as well as Jews, seem by some means to have caught up the
expectation that an extraordinary personage was now about to appear on
the theatre of human existence. [12:5] Providence had obviously prepared
the way for the labours of a religious reformer. The civil wars which
had convulsed the state were now almost forgotten, and though the
hostile movements of the Germans, and other barbarous tribes on the
confines of the empire, occasionally created uneasiness or alarm, the
public mind was generally unoccupied by any great topic of absorbi