LESSON XLIII. The Forty Conspirators. Read Acts xxiii. 12-35. Learn Ps. xxvii. 1-3; Heb. xii, 22-24. 1. A Brave Youth (v. 12-22). The next day brought with it a fresh peril. So inflamed with rage were S. Paul's enemies at being disappointed of their victim, that no less than forty Jews bound themselves by a terrible oath, that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed him. But how were they to carry out their design? The prisoner was out of their reach, in a Roman fortress, guarded by Roman soldiers. Satan is ever ready to suggest some wicked scheme to those whose hearts are set on evil. They will have recourse to a lie in order to carry out their plan. So these forty assassins go boldly to the chief priests and elders who are of the Sadducees' party, and propose to them to become accomplices in the murder. They are to request the chief captain to bring the Apostle once more before the Sanhedrim, under pretence of a renewed inquiry into his case, and once outside the strong walls of the fortress, the assassins undertake to lay an ambush and slay him. Far from rejecting with scorn so iniquitous a proposal, the chief priests and scribes accept it as eagerly as they had accepted the offer of Judas, to betray his Master. But a secret known to so many was hard to conceal. The design came to the knowledge of S. Paul's nephew, a young man who had probably come to Jerusalem for the Feast, and he succeeded in gaining access to his uncle and informing him of the plot. There was no time to lose. S. Paul sends at once for one of the centurions of the garrison, and requests him to take the youth without delay to the chief captain, as he had something of importance to tell him. It was a bold request to come from a Jewish prisoner, but S. Paul, as a Roman citizen, was entitled to the respect of the Roman authorities, and the centurion at once did as he was desired. The Jewish boy, as he accompanied the centurion, would need to summon up all his courage, both on account of the peril he incurred from his own countrymen, should suspicion light on him, and also because he was about to be brought into the presence of the most powerful person in Jerusalem, the representative of Roman authority. The Roman commandant was evidently well disposed towards his prisoner; he received the youth kindly, took him aside, and listened to his story, and then dismissed him, cautioning him to tell no one that he had revealed the plot. 2. The Ride to Cæsarea (v. 23, 24; 31-33). Lysias was probably glad of an excuse for getting rid of one who was so obnoxious to his own countrymen, and to whom he was, at the same time, obliged to show the deference due to a Roman citizen. As soon as the youth had departed, he summoned two centurions, and commanded them to convey the prisoner safely to Cæsarea, and deliver him over to Felix, the Roman governor. At nine o'clock that same evening, when it was dark, and the streets were deserted, a strong escort of four hundred and seventy soldiers left Jerusalem with the prisoner, and, marching all night, reached Antipatris, forty-two miles from Jerusalem, before daybreak. Here they rested, and the following morning four hundred soldiers returned to P Jerusalem, leaving a guard of seventy horsemen to escort the Apostle the remaining twenty-six miles to Cæsarea. So large a body of horsemen entering Cæsarea in broad daylight must have attracted considerable notice. Perhaps among the passers-by were some of those disciples who a few days before had parted with so many tears from their beloved teacher. Now they see their worst forebodings realised as he rides through their streets, a prisoner, his right hand chained to the arm of a horseman, and guarded by a strong escort from the Roman fortress of Antonia. 3. The Letter to Felix (v. 25-30; 34, 35). The centurion and his prisoner were at once introduced into the presence of Felix, and the letter which Lysias had sent with the prisoner was handed to the governor. The chief captain had not written a very exact report of all that had happened. He says nothing of his own illegal conduct in binding a Roman citizen with the intention of scourging him, but claims credit for interfering in his behalf, and rescuing a Roman citizen from danger. He tells Felix that having discovered that the outcry of the Jews against the prisoner had been caused by certain questions relating to their law, and that, though he had done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment, yet the Jews were plotting against his life, he had sent the prisoner to him, implying that he, as governor, was a fitter person than himself to deal with the case; and added that he had told his accusers to go down to Cæsarea and say what they had against him. Felix read the letter, and after inquiring of what province the prisoner was, he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment-hall (probably one of the guard-rooms attached to the palace), until his accusers should arrive. Lessons to be drawn from the Narrative: 1. GOD often chooses the most unlikely instrument to carry out His designs. The deeply-laid plot of the Sanhedrim, the highest council in Jerusalem, and the determination of forty assassins to murder S. Paul, were defeated through the instrumentality of a Jewish boy. 2. To be brave and prompt in action when the opportunity is given us of serving GOD, or benefiting others, laying aside all thoughts of possible consequences to ourselves. 3. We are citizens of a greater city than Rome, Jerusalem which is above; we are subjects of the King of Kings, fellowcitizens of angels and saints, heirs of a glorious kingdom which shall have no end. Do we value our privileges? Do we thank God day by day for giving us so glorious an inheritance, and do we keep the commandments of our King and of His holy Church? LESSON XLIV. The Unjust Judge. Read Acts xxiv. Leurn v. 16; Phil. iii. 13, 14. The Accusation (v. 1-9). Again, the Apostle is brought face to face with his enemies, the Jewish elders and chief priests. Foiled in their attempt at murder, and angry beyond measure with the chief captain for delivering S. Paul out of their hands, they lose no time in pursuing the only course now open to them, by preparing their accusation, and providing themselves with an advocate. On the fifth day all is ready. Felix, the Roman governor, takes his seat in the judgment-hall; the Apostle stands at the bar; and Tertullus, the Roman orator, hired by the Sanhedrim, brings forward the accusation in a speech abounding in flattery and lying compliments towards Felix himself. Three distinct charges are brought against the prisoner by the Roman orator. First, rebellion-he is declared to be a 'mover of sedition,' stirring up the Jews against their rulers in all parts of the great Roman Empire ; the second charge is that of heresy―he is said to be a 'ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes'; the third charge is that of sacrilege-he is said to have profaned the Temple (v. 5, 6). For these crimes Tertullus averred he had been seized, and would have been judged according to Jewish law, had not |