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Governour. Judea was from this time governed by a Roman Procurator, whose power extended greatly beyond that commonly invested in those of that distinction, from the consideration of the rebellious spirit of the Jews, and their distance from the seat of Government. Judea being thus reduced to a Roman province, a tax was levied upon it, and Cyrenius deputed to see the execution of it; this caused a considerable ferment in the Kingdom, and laid the foundation of that animosity between the People and the Romans, which only terminated in the ruin of the former.

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Pontius Pilate was the fifth Procurator of Judea; he was appointed A. D. 12, under Tiberius, and rendered his administration notorious by rapine and tyranny, but, more for the condemnation and crucifixion of Christ. He was deprived by Caligula, A. D. 35; soon after which, his wickedness, and the consciousness of his accumulated sins, are supposed to have driven him to the excess of despair, in which he put a period to his existence.'

Herod-Antipas continued in the government of his Tetrarchy during the whole time of the ministry of Christ. It was to him that Pilate sent Christ, when

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(1) Philo says, "His whole Administration was one continued scene of venal justice, rapine, tyranny, and every wicked action; of racking and putting men to death untried and uncondemned; and of every kind of savage cruelty."

Legat. ad Caium.

"Nor ought it to be passed over in silence," says. Eusebius, “that Pilate himself, who condemned our Saviour to death, fell into fresh calamities in the reign of Caius, that he became his own executioner, the Divine vengeance overtaking him not long after his crime."-Ecc. Hist. ii. 7.

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"he expected to have seen some miracle done by him,” in consequence of which a reconciliation took place,

between these avowed enemies.' He married the infamous Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while he was living; and being reproved by John the Baptist for the crime; at her instigation" added his death to all the evils which he had done." He was defeated in battle by Aretas, King of Arabia, the father of Herodias, and afterwards had his dominions taken from him, and banished with her to Lyons, in Gaul, by the Emperour Caius, A. D. 38.

Herod-Philip, the last of the immediate family of Herod the Great, continued Tetrarch of Trachonitis for thirty-seven years, when he died about the time of Christ's crucifixion. He was, without exception, the best of all the posterity of Herod; a man of great moderation and simplicity, and an active administrator of public justice. As he died without issue, his dominions were annexed to Syria. At his death the numerous family of Herod became extinct. The hand of Providence was here visible, cutting off, in less than a century,

(1) And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves. Luke xxiii. 12.

The cause of this enmity was owing to Pilate having intermeddled with Herod's jurisdiction and slain some of his subjects (Luke xiii. 1.) “Therefore when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilean; and as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself was at Jerusalem at that time." Luke xxiii. 6, 7.

(2) Luke iii. 19, 20.

For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for John said unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her. Matt. xiv. 3 and 4. Vide also verses 5, 11.

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century, the shoots, sprigs, and branches of a tree, large and vigourous, but productive of complicated evil.

Thus ar an outline has been traced of the History of Judea, from the time it became tributary to the Romans, to the death of Christ; a period comprehending rather less than an hundred years. From that time Herod-Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, was made by Caius, Tetrarch of Trachonitis and Abilene, in which he was afterwards confirmed by Claudius, who also added Judea and Samaria to his Kingdom. He was the second persecutor of the Christians, and slew James the Apostle, and imprisoned Peter.' After six years reign, he was himself smitten by an angel, with a disease which shortly terminated his life, for having blasphemously suffered himself to be styled a God. At his death the persecution of the Christians ceased, and the Church flourished; Judea was again made a Roman province, and Cuspus Fadus deputed by Claudius, Governour.

The Apostles of Christ began to disperse themselves, and to execute their Master's injunction of preaching to the whole world. In the mean time Cuspus Fadus is succeeded by Tiberias, Alexander, Cumanus, and Felix; in the Procuratorship of the latter of these, Agrippa the younger, son of Herod-Agrippa, obtains from Claudius the Kingdom of his uncle Philip, together with other parts of the country; in consequence of which he is styled King Agrippa, before whom, his sister and Festus, Paul pleaded at Cæsarea, as he had previously

(1) Acts xii. 1, 2. (2) Acts xii, 20-23. (3) Acts xxv. 10. (4) Acts xxv. xxvi.

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