the daily ministration, then it is probable that there was a common fund out of which widows were maintained; that many sold their possessions to contribute to this fund; that it must have been a strong motive which could urge to such a disposal of their property ; that no motive could be so likely as their conviction of the truth of Christianity; and that such a conviction could spring out of nothing so surely as the evidence of miracles. I do not say that all these matters necessarily follow from the certainty of the first simple fact, but I say that admitting it, they all follow in a train of very natural consequence.

XVI.

ACTS, xxv. 13.—" And after certain days, King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cæsarea to salute Festus."

THIS Agrippa (Agrippa Minor) had succeeded, by permission of Claudius, to the territories of his uncle, Herod; at least, Trachonitis, Batanæa and Abilene were confirmed to him. From this passage in the Acts, it appears, as might be expected, that he was anxious to

be well with the Roman government, and accordingly that he lost no time in paying his respects to Festus, the new representative of that government in Judea. It is a singular and minute coincidence well worth our notice, that Josephus records instances of this same Agrippa's obsequiousness to Roman authorities, of precisely the same kind. "About this time, says he, King Agrippa went to Alexandria, to salute Alexander, who had been sent by Nero to govern Egypt." (Bel. Jud. ii. 15. § 1.)

And again, (what is yet more to our purpose,) we read, on another occasion, that Bernice accompanied Agrippa in one of these visits of ceremony; for, having appointed Varus to take care of their kingdom in their absence, "they went to Berytus, with the intention of meeting Gessius (Florus) the Roman governor of Judea." (Jos. Life, § 11.)

This is a case singularly parallel to that in the Acts; for Gessius Florus held the very same office, in the same country, as Felix.

XVII.

ACTS, xxv. 23.-" And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains and principal men of the city, at Festus's commandment Paul was brought forth."

It might seem extraordinary that Bernice should be present on such an occasion—that a woman should take any share in an affair, one would have supposed, foreign to her, and exclusively belonging to the other sex. But here again we have another proof of the veracity and accuracy of the sacred writings. For when Agrippa (the same Agrippa) endeavored to combat the spirit of rebellion which was beginning to show itself amongst the Jews, and addressed them in that famous speech given in Josephus, which throws so much light on the power and provincial polity of the Romans, he first of all "placed his sister Bernice (the same Bernice) in a conspicuous situation, upon the house of the Asamonæans, which was above the gallery, at the passage to the upper city, where the

bridge joined the Temple to the gallery;" and then he spoke to the people. And when his oration was ended, we read that "both he and his sister shed tears, and so repressed much violence in the multitude." (Bel. Jud. ii. 16. §3.)

There is another passage, occurring in the life of Josephus, which is no less valuable; for it serves to show yet further the political importance of Bernice, and how much she was in the habit of acting with Agrippa on all public occasions. One Philip, who was governor of Gamala and the country about it, under Agrippa, had occasion to communicate with the latter, probably on the subject of his escape from Jerusalem, where he had been recently in danger, and of his return to his own station. The transaction is thus described :

"He wrote to Agrippa and Bernice, and gave the letters to one of his freedmen to carry to Varus, who at that time was procurator of the kingdom, which the sovereigns (i. e. the king and his sister-wife) had intrusted him withal, while they were gone to Berytus to meet Gessius. When Varus had received these letters of Philip, and had learned that he was in safety, he was very uneasy

at it, supposing that he should appear useless to the sovereigns (ßaoileõõiv) now Philip was come." (Josephus's Life, § 11.)

XVIII.

ACTS, xxviii. 11.-" And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came and came to Rhegium and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli."

PUTEOLI then, it should seem, was the destination of this vessel from Alexandria. Now, we may collect from the independent testimony of the Jewish historian, that this was the port of Italy to which ships from Egypt and the Levant in those times commonly sailed. Thus when Herod Agrippa went from Judea to Rome, for the purpose of paying his court to Tiberius and bettering his fortune, he directed his course first to Alexandria, for the sake of visiting a friend, and then crossing the Mediterranean, he landed at Puteoli,”