subject, he was unwilling to pronounce judgment, fearing probably to displease the Jews; so he merely said, that he would inquire more fully into the matter, when the chief Captain, Lysias, could come down to Cesarea, and, meanwhile, he gave Paul in charge to a centurion, who was desired to let him have the company of his friends when they wished to see him.

The Apostle, however, had made no small impression upon Felix; for a little time after, when his wife Drusilla, a Jewess, was with him at Cesarea, he sent for Paul to hear him speak of the faith of Jesus Christ. But Felix, whose life had been very far from a good one, when he heard

Paul reason" of righteousness and judgment to come, trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee."

Remember, my dear children, when you have done wrong, never put off the moment for repenting of your fault. It is God's Holy Spirit which calls us to repent when we have done amiss, which makes us tremble at the thought of our sins: now if we put off these thoughts to a more convenient time, that time will never come; it will never seem pleasant, and therefore it will never seem convenient, to think of what gives us pain, to conquer a sinful habit, which perhaps even we love. Felix, indeed,

sent for Paul again, but now his heart was hardened-he no longer trembled, he no longer wished even to release Paul. He detained him two years in Cesarea, and then, when he himself was recalled to Rome, he, from the basest motive, (expecting that money would have been given to him to release his prisoner,) left the Apostle bound.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Paul before Festus.-Before Agrippa.

THE governor who succeeded Felix was called Festus. On his arrival in Syria, he went up to Jerusalem, and the Jews took this opportunity of renewing their accusations against Paul. They tried to persuade Festus to send for him secretly, intending to waylay and murder him. But Festus determined on judging him

in Cesarea, and therefore desired his accusers to attend him there.

Accordingly, on the day after his arrival in Cesarea, Paul was brought before him with his accusers, and Festus having heard both parties, and finding that the whole matter related to things in which he had no interest, concerning the Jewish and Christian faith, asked Paul if he would go to Jerusalem, and be judged by that law which he was said to have transgressed. But Paul answered, that neither to the Jews nor their law, had he done any wrong; that he had a right to be judged by Cæsar, (the Roman emperors all bore that name,) and that to him therefore he appealed against his false