themselves. The latter desired simply to collect sinners, who had obtained mercy, into a Church; the former proposed to preach repentance to the unconverted and worldly-minded in the Church or out of it, wherever he could gain their ear. This divergence of aim is apparent in the above mentioned declaration of the Moravian Society in Marienborn, and to it Dr. Sack makes the following reference:

"Zinzendorf says expressly, 'We are no preachers of repentance for the world; by no means. Our proper business, that in which the Saviour seems to use and bless us, is to summon people, who know no other refuge, to the grace, the merits, the wounds of Jesus Christ, and then to give them counsel, and so far forth it may be said of us, Sinunt mundum vadere sicut vadit.' Wesley's yearning, aim, and effort, on the contrary, was from the beginning, in all places, through the preaching of the Gospel of free grace, proffered them in the merits of Christ, to call the lost, the wandering, the accursed to repentance; and to this end the application of the most universal instrumentalities, the presentation of a consistent and reasonable doctrine, the persistent assault of the hardest hearts, debuts in the noisy market-places of life, and finally a social unification and obligation to a common worship and moral discipline could but appear advisable, and in view of the exceeding diversity of individual tendencies of mind, and grades of culture, faith, and knowledge, even necessary. Zinzendorf collected around an already existing germ a community of believers, who were impelled to a morally pure cohabitation by an individually related feeling of love for the object of their faith. Wesley founded a society of confessors, who, prepared by a common religious experience, and for the sake of escaping the wrath to come, united themselves together to bear a pure testimony before each other, and before the world, and to walk with strictness in the commands of God."

With such diversities of doctrine and aim, a separation of the Methodists and Moravians was inevitable. Indeed, had it not occurred, Methodism could never have become such a blessing to the world. But that Wesley, in this separation, was prompted solely by the dictates of his conscience, and by no means by ambition or envy, must be apparent to every unprejudiced reader. And though Wesley, after the separation, decidedly opposed the errors into which the Moravian brethren had at that period fallen, and was himself rudely treated by

them, he, nevertheless, never forgot his obligations to them. The errors which had crept into the English Societies, and which were in part defended for a time by Count Zinzendorf, never obtained a controlling influence in the Moravian Church. In later years the sharpness of the antagonism wore off, and Wesley never ceased to cherish the most cordial feelings toward the Brotherhood, which feelings his followers have also inherited. God's all-over-watching providence has caused the division to redound to the good of his Church.

ART. VIII.—JOSEPHUS AND APION.

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, the celebrated Jewish historian, was born at Jerusalem A.D. 37, in the first year of the reign of Caligula, and four years after the death of Christ. He was, by descent, a priest. His father Matthias belonged to the first of the twenty-four courses of priests. On his mother's side he was descended from the Asmonean princes-the Maccabees-who were also priests. He was proud of his lineage, often speaks of it with complacency, and complains of some who had called it in question.

The wealth and high position of his parents secured for him the best Jewish education. He acquired rapidly, and made such progress that at the age of fourteen he was often consulted by the Rabbins on abstruse points of the Jewish law. At the age of sixteen he began to study carefully the doctrines of the three leading Jewish sects, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Essenes. Though a Pharisee by birth and education, he seems at this early period to have been inclined to the views. of the Essenes; and hearing that Banus, a celebrated teacher of that sect, was living like a hermit in "the wilderness of Judea," using no other clothing than what grew on the trees, and no other food than what the sterile earth around him afforded, he went out and joined him, and continued under his instruction three years. Upon his return to Jerusalem he allied himself to the Pharisees, and was faithful to them ever afterward.

At the age of twenty-six he went to Rome to intercede for

some priests of his acquaintance whom Felix, the governor of Judea, had sent there for trial. He suffered shipwreck on his passage, and came very near losing his life. On landing at Puteoli, in the south of Italy, he gained the friendship of a famous play-actor, who was the favorite of Poppea, the wife of Nero. Through the good offices of this actor, and the intercession of Poppea, Josephus not only obtained the pardon of his friends, but received many valuable presents from the Empress.

On his return to Judea, Josephus found his countrymen bent, at all hazards, on throwing off the Roman yoke. Knowing, as he did, the vast resources of the Romans, and the hopelessness of engaging in a conflict with them, he did what he could to dissuade the Jews from the mad attempt. But his efforts were vain. They would not listen to him; and naught remained to him but to go into the struggle with his country and to share its fall.

To him was assigned, by the Jewish rulers, the responsibility of governing and defending Galilee. His appointment was opposed by a part of the Sanhedrim, particularly by John of Giscala, who intrigued against him, and even sought his life. But Josephus triumphed over him, went to his province, and so administered its affairs as to secure the confidence of the Galileans. He fortified the chief cities, trained the people to war, and repelled the first attack of the Romans. But this was only a temporary success. The Romans soon appeared in Palestine with a larger force, with Vespasian as their leader, and laid waste the country as they advanced. Hopeless of success, and abandoned by the authorities at Jerusalem, Josephus still tried to make head against them. He threw himself into the strong fortress of Jotapata, roused the people to a desperate resistance, and defended his position for forty-seven days. At the end of that time the place was stormed, and such of the garrison as had not perished in the siege were put to death. Josephus, with several others, fled to a cave, where they lay concealed for several days; but being betrayed by a woman he was dragged forth, and brought to Vespasian to receive sentence. At this critical moment Josephus solicited a private interview with Vespasian, when he told him of a dream which he had had in the cave. "I foretold long since," said he," the result of this conflict with the Romans, and in vain

urged my countrymen to avoid it. And now it has been revealed to me, in the visions of the night, that the Emperor Nero will soon come to his end, and that Vespasian will occupy his place. Let me, then, be kept a prisoner until you shall obtain the imperial crown, and if it shall appear at any time that I have deceived you, let me then be put to death." Vespasian was won by the address of Josephus. He was kept a prisoner three years, was guarded with the greatest circumspection, but was kindly treated by Vespasian, and more especially by Titus, his son.

The death of Nero, which occurred very soon, was followed in Italy by bloody dissensions and civil wars. Several persons were proclaimed emperors, but were murdered almost as soon as proclaimed. In the midst of these commotions Vespasian was hailed emperor by his army in the East. In accepting the honor thus conferred upon him, he called to mind the prediction of Josephus that thus it should be, and sending for his prisoner he not only restored him to freedom, but conferred upon him peculiar favors.

These things took place at Alexandria, where Vespasian was stopping, that he might establish his authority in that important city. Upon his leaving for Rome, he ordered Titus to return into Judea, and finish the war which was raging there; and Titus persuaded Josephus to accompany him. Josephus remained with Titus until the close of the Jewish war, and was of special service to him on several occasions. He was sent by Titus more than once to entreat the Jews to submit to the Romans, and thus spare their beloved city and temple; but his entreaties were vain. The zealots and fanatics within the city would listen to no terms, being blinded as to the fate which awaited them.

It was while Josephus was here with Titus that he witnessed those awful portents which are described in his history of the Jewish wars, and by which our Saviour's predictions were so remarkably fulfilled. It was here that he saw the holy temple consumed, and the foundations of Zion plowed as a field.

When the war was ended, Titus offered to bestow upon Josephus any favor that he should ask. He simply asked the lives of some of his friends, and that the sacred books might be spared and given to him. He also received a valuable estate

in Judea, which he did not long tarry to enjoy; for when Titus left for Rome he took Josephus with him.

Arrived in Italy, he was received with high honor by the Emperor Vespasian. The freedom of the city was conferred upon him, an annual pension was granted him from the royal treasury, and he was permitted to occupy the same house in which the Emperor formerly lived.

Josephus was thrice married. His first wife was a captive, whom he espoused, at the instance of Vespasian, while he was himself a prisoner, but whom he afterward divorced. His second wife was a lady of Alexandria, whom, says he, "I forsook, because her manners did not please me, though she bare me three children." His third wife was a Jewess, of a noble Cypriote family, who seems to have been entirely agreeable to him, and by whom he had two sons.

The first work of Josephus was his "History of the Jewish Wars," written soon after the capture of Jerusalem and his arrival at Rome. It is divided into seven books, and details the history of the Jews from the destruction of their city by Antiochus Epiphanes, B. C. 170, until its subsequent destruction by Titus. The other great work of Josephus was his "Antiquities of the Jews," in twenty books, published about the year 93. Commencing with the creation of the world, it continues the history of the Jews and Israelites from the time of Abraham to the beginning of the war with Rome. Much of it is taken from the Old Testament; but on the main stem of the narrative many traditions have been grafted, chiefly with a view to honor his countrymen before the Romans, and refute the calumnies which were urged against them. His other works are an autobiography, and his two books against Apion. Of Apion's attack upon the Antiquities," and of his reply, I am now to speak.

Although the Old Testament had been translated into Greek more than two hundred years before Josephus was born, it had not attracted much notice among the learned of other nations. Either they had not read it, or they regarded it as beneath their notice. But when Josephus, a man in high favor with the Emperor and the nobility of Rome, published in Greek the "Antiquities of the Jews," tracing their history back to the earliest ages-more than a thousand FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXII.—18