sarcastically, "for a mere superstitious observance that doubtless took its rise from an indolent love of ease."

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"No, Roman, no," returned the captive,

our Sabbath was hallowed and ordained by God Himself when He rested from all His works upon the seventh day, and pronounced them good. The first Sabbath was celebrated by the holy angels, for it is written, "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.''

Lucius Claudius put back with his hand the lictors who approached to seize Adonijah, and then drawing nearer to the Hebrew, said in a low voice, "I have heard strange things respecting the worship ye pay some unknown god in the temple at Jerusalem. "Tis said that Antiochus Epiphanes found there the image of a vile animal in the secret place ye call the Holy of Holies."

"Roman, 'tis false," replied the slave. "We worship, the great First Cause, the Source of light and life-the creative and preserving Power who formed the universe and all that is therein, and continually sustaineth by His good providence the things that He hath made,

and we worship Him under no similitude, for nothing is worthy in heaven above, nor earth beneath, to typify His glorious majesty."

The tribune listened to this description of the only true God with the ear of a man who hears surprising truths for the first time in his life, which he neither rejects altogether, nor receives. Like Felix, he contented himself with saying, "I will hear thee again on this matter;" adding, "Take the counsel of a Roman who wishes you well, resume your labours, which it shall be the care of Lucius Claudius to lighten, and look for better times." Thus saying, he placed the tools that lay near Adonijah in that daring Hebrew's hand, with the air of a man more accustomed to command than persuade.

Adonijah put them back with a gesture indicative of horror. "No, generous Roman, I cannot break a Commandment which has been hallowed by me from my youth; I have fought for my faith and my country, I will die as I have lived, true to the God of my forefathers."

"You have been a warrior, and death appears less dreadful to a soul like yours than slavery; but look around you, Hebrew, for it

is no soldier's death that is preparing for you; to a lofty mind the shame of the scourge and the cross is bitterer even than the torturing pangs they inflict.

The lofty glow of enthusiasm faded from the flushed cheek of Adonijah, and the spirit that could have endured the sharpest pangs unmoved, shrank in horror from the idea of disgrace; but this weakness was momentary, the next instant he raised his majestic head and said, "Be it so, be mine that doom of shame, for even that will I endure for the honour of my God."

A tear glistened in the manly eye of Lucius Claudius, but he was evidently ashamed of the unwonted guest, for he hastily dashed away the intruding witness of his sympathy. "Why were you not a Roman, noble youth?" cried he; then after a pause, he added, "If I can procure your freedom, will you cease to be an enemy to Rome."

"Not while your idol ensigns pollute the hills of Judea can I cease to be a foe to Rome. Released from slavery, I should again wage war with your people, and fight or die in defence of the land that gave me birth.”

"Then you would disdain to serve me,

though the bonds of friendship should soften those of slavery. Tell me why a haughty

warrior could submit to chains at all? I had thrown myself upon my sword; but perhaps life then had charms."

"Suicide is held in abomination by us Jews," replied Adonijah, "for we know the spirit shall survive the grave; to be united again to the body at the resurrection, when every man shall be judged according to his works. The Gentiles, plunged in dark idolatry, are ignorant of this great truth, and therefore, shrinking from the trials of adversity, to avoid the lesser evil rush upon the greater. Life for me has no charms, though I endure its burden. Seest thou yonder tree, over which the storm hath lately passed? In its days of strength and beauty it was a fitting emblem of Adonijah, so now in its ruin you may behold a lively image of his desolation. Like him it still exists, though like him it will never renew its branches, or fulfil the glorious promise of its youth. Yet, generous Roman, I should not refuse to serve him who would save me from a shameful and accursed death."

The reverence and self-devotion of Adonijah

for the Supreme Being was perfectly unintelligible to the tribune, whose mind, although it had shaken off the superstitious idolatry of his ancestors, was deeply infected with the atheistical philosophy of the times. Matter was the only divinity the young soldier acknowledged; for Lucius Claudius believed either "that there were no gods, or gods that cared not for mankind." The existence of the soul after death, and a future state of reward and punishment, had never been entertained by him for a moment. The heathen mythology indeed darkly inculcated these two great points of faith, but Lucius Claudius derided the heathen deities whose attributes rather gave him the idea of bad men exercising illgotten power than those which his reason ascribed to divinity. Murder, rapine, lust, and cruelty, that in life deserved, in his opinion, the scourge and cross, had been deified by flattering men after death. Yet, though refusing to pay any worship to the host of idols Rome with blind stupidity had gathered from all the countries she had conquered, Lucius Claudius had dedicated his fair young sister to the service of Vesta before his departure for