This chain Herod hung
up in the Temple, for he was a zealous Jew, although such a friend
of heathen princes, and he seems to have been greatly puffed up with
admiration of his own good management. His sister Herodias, envious
of his crown, persuaded her husband, Herod Antipas, to go and sue for
another at Rome; but all he gained by his journey was an inquiry into
his conduct, which ended in his being exiled to Gaul, and his domain
being given to Herod Agrippa. In A.D. 41, the miserable madman Caligula,
was killed, but Herod Agrippa continued in high favour with the next
emperor, the moody Claudius, and under him the Jews had again the power
of giving sentence of death. They used it to persecute the disciples;
and this led to many leaving Jerusalem, and carrying the knowledge of
the faith to more distant parts. Saul, or Paul, a Benjamite, born at
Tarsus, in Asia Minor, a place where the inhabitants were reckoned
as Roman citizens, was learned in Greek philosophy, and deeply versed
in the Jewish doctrines: he was a zealous Pharisee, and a vehement
persecutor, till he was called by the Lord Himself from Heaven, and told
that his special mission should be to the Gentiles; and about the same
time, it was revealed to St.
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