ng
interest. In the populous cities the multitude languished for
excitement, and sought to dissipate the time in the forum, the circus,
or the amphitheatre. At such a crisis the heralds of the most gracious
message that ever greeted the ears of men might hope for a patient
hearing. Even the consolidation of so many nations under one government
tended to "the furtherance of the gospel," for the gigantic roads, which
radiated from Rome to the distant regions of the east and of the west,
facilitated intercourse; and the messengers of the Prince of Peace could
travel from country to country without suspicion and without passports.
And well might the Son of God be called "The desire of all nations."
[13:1] Though the wisest of the pagan sages could not have described the
renovation which the human family required, and though, when the
Redeemer actually appeared, He was despised and rejected of men, there
was, withal, a wide spread conviction that a Saviour was required, and
there was a longing for deliverance from the evils which oppressed
society. The ancient superstitions were rapidly losing their hold on the
affection and confidence of the people, and whilst the light of
philosophy was sufficient to discover the absurdities of the prevailing
polytheism, it failed to reveal any more excellent way of purity and
comfort. The ordinances of Judaism, which were "waxing old" and "ready
to vanish away," were types which were still unfulfilled; and though
they pointed out the path to glory, they required an interpreter to
expound their import. This Great Teacher now appeared. He was born in
very humble circumstances, and yet He was the heir of an empire beyond
comparison more illustrious than that of the Caesars. "There was given
him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and
languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed." [13:2]

CHAPTER II.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

Nearly three years before the commencement of our era, [14:1] Jesus
Christ was born. The Holy Child was introduced into the world under
circumstances extremely humiliating. A decree had gone forth from Caesar
Augustus that all the Roman Empire should be taxed, and the Jews, as a
conquered people, were obliged to submit to an arrangement which
proclaimed their national degradation. The reputed parents of Jesus
resided at Nazareth, a tow