Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/207

 him from a happiness so noble and desirable, as that of arranging and ruling his consolidated dominion. Even his departure, however, was made the occasion of new marks of imperial favor; for Claudius gave him letters by which all Roman governors were bound to acknowledge and support him as the rightful sovereign of Palestine. He arrived in Palestine shortly after, and just before the passover, made his appearance in Jerusalem, where he was received with joy and hope by the expecting people, who hailed with open hearts a king whose interests would be identified with theirs, and with the glory of the Jewish name. His high and royal race,—his own personal misfortunes and the unhappy fate of his early-murdered father, as well as his descent from the lamented Mariamne,—his well-known amiability of character, and his regard for the holy Jewish faith, which he had shown by exerting and even risking all his favor with Caligula to prevent, in co-operation with the amiable Petronius, the profanation of the temple as proposed by the erection of the emperor's statue within it,—all served to throw a most attractive interest around him, and to excite brilliant hopes, which his first acts immediately more than justified. The temple, though now so resplendent with the highest achievments of art, and though so vast in its foundations and dimensions, was still considered as having some deficiencies, so great, that nothing but royal munificence could supply them. The Jews therefore seized the fortunate occasion of the accession of their new and amiable monarch to his throne, to obtain the perfection of a work on which the hearts of the people were so much set, and the completion of which would so highly advance the monarch in the popular favor. The king at once benignantly heard their request, and gladly availing himself of this opportunity to gratify his subjects, and secure a regard from them which might some day be an advantage to him, immediately ordered the great work to proceed at his expense. The satisfaction of the people and the Sanhedrim was now at the highest pitch; and, emboldenened by these displays of royal favor, some of the sage plotters among them hoped to obtain from him a favorable hearing on a matter which they deemed of still deeper importance to their religion, and in which his support was equally indispensable. This matter brings back the forsaken narrative to consideration.

Herod Agrippa.—All the interesting details of this richly romantic life, are given in a most delightful style by Josephus. (Ant. XVIII. v. 3,—viii. 9. and XIX. i-ix.)