periences before him. Doubtless these brethren were Jewish converts
to the Christian faith; for that there were Jewish residents at
Puteoli, residing in the Tyrian quarter of the city, we are assured by
Josephus; and this we should have expected from the mercantile
importance of the place and its intimate commercial relations with the
East. How they came under the influence of the Gospel we know not;
they may have been among "the strangers of Rome" who came to Jerusalem
at Pentecost to keep the national feasts in obedience to the Mosaic
Law, and who were then brought to the knowledge of the truth by the
preaching of St. Peter; or perhaps they were converts of St Paul's own
making, in some of the numerous places which he visited on his
missionary tours, and who afterwards came to reside for business
purposes at this port. We see in the presence of the Jewish brethren
at Puteoli one of the most striking illustrations of the providential
pre-arrangements made for the diffusion of the Gospel throughout all
nations. The Jews had a more than ordinary attachment to their native
land. Patriotism in their case was not only a passion, but a part of
their religion; and their love of country was entwined with the
holiest feelings of their nature. In Jerusalem alone could God be
acceptably worshipped. And yet it was divinely ordered that those who
had been for ages the hermits of the human race should become all at
once the most cosmopolitan, when the time for imparting to the world
the benefits of their isolated religious training had come. And the
Jews thus scattered abroad preserved amid their alien circumstances
their national worship and customs, and thus became the natural links
of connection between the missionaries of the Cross and the Gentiles
whom they wished to reach. Through such Jewish channels the Gospel
speedily penetrated into remote localities, which otherwise it would
have taken a long time to reach. We are struck with distinct traces of
the Christian faith in the time of St. Paul in the most unexpected
places. For instance, in the National Museum at Naples I have seen
rings with Christian emblems engraved upon them, which were found at
Pompeii; proving beyond doubt that there had been followers of Jesus
even in that dissolute place, who, unlike Lot and his household, were
overwhelmed in the same destruction with those whose evil deeds must
have daily vexed their righteous souls. The same symbols which we find
in th