religious was impossible for them. Christianity filled their lives. It was a new relation to God. They felt themselves to be his children, and all their time and strength belonged to Him. It could not be said that some of their acts were more holy than others, for all were produced out of that new principle of life which had been implanted within them, and all that they did was done in the spirit and name of the Christ. Every duty, however menial, was sacred, and its performance an act of worship.

CONCLUSION.

It remains to point out briefly some of the lines of future development, the beginnings of which are to be found within our period. Some of these have been already indicated. The Judaizers and the strict Jewish Christians had made Paul's life a burden to him during his last years. They were zealous for the law, and did all they could to destroy his work among the Gentiles. References to them in Paul's latest letters show that they were still at work, even after he had been long in prison. But when, in the middle of the second century, we again get a clear view of things, we find that they have deserted the field. The mass of Jewish Christians had given up the law and were united with the Gentile Christians. What had brought about this change? In one word, the fall of Jerusalem.

From about the year 60 A. D. the Jews of Palestine were in a state of perpetual revolt. The pages of Josephus give us some idea of the factions, the bands of robbers and murderers and the false Messiahs, that kept Palestine in a fearful state of anarchy. For several years Rome was slow to take up the work, but when she began it was done with characteristic Roman thoroughness. The siege of Jerusalem was long and bloody. The city was con

quered literally by inches. The walls which were destroyed by day were rebuilt by the Jews in the night. A bitter famine increased the horrors of the siege. Finally, in August of 70, the temple was taken and burned. Josephus says this was contrary to the orders of Titus, but he was friendly to the Romans, and wished to appease the Jews. Sulpicius Severus in the fourth century says that Titus had ordered it to be burned, and his sources of information were the lost books of Tacitus.

Undoubtedly a large majority of Jewish Christians were patriotic, and fought for their law and their homes and shared the fate of the vanquished. Tradition says that they had been warned to flee from the city, and that they went to the little city of Pella, beyond the Jordan; but there is nothing to show that the thousands that believed and were zealous for the law deserted their country in the hour of danger.

The fall of Jerusalem was of the greatest importance to the Christian church, and its influence on the course of events can hardly be overestimated. It was believed that Jesus had foretold its destruction, and it was regarded as a fulfillment of his prophecy. The destruction of the temple caused the ritualistic worship to cease. It confirmed the belief of the Christians that the temple's mission was ended. It was an expression of God's judgment on the Jews. Their power as a nation was completely gone, their temple destroyed, their holy place defiled. God had deserted his unfaithful

people. He would have no more of their sacrifices. He had utterly cast them off, and so set his seal of approval on the mission to the Gentiles. It opened the eyes of the Jewish Christians to these facts. They were forced to interpret it as an expression of God's anger with his people. This weakened their adherence to the law, and led them to associate with the Gentile Christians, and finally brought about their complete union. It separated the Jews and the Jewish Christians, for the latter were persuaded that it was because of the sins of the former

that all this had taken place. There was now no longer the danger that a narrow Judaistic type of Christianity would prevail. It relieved Christianity from the pressure which the Jewish Christians had put upon it. It was left free to develop itself along more liberal lines.

But not all the Jewish Christians gave up the law. Small bands of them still held to it and refused to associate with the Gentile brethren, but from this time Jewish Christianity became less and less important. It ceased to have any influence on the life and progress of the church. The few congregations that kept the law shut themselves off from the rest of the Christian world, and, by refusing to mingle with other Christians, lost their only opportunity to influence the development of the church. They were in an uncomfortable position, for the Jews cursed them and the Christians regarded them as heretics. They were pressed on both sides. Several of the church fathers warned

against them, and various nicknames were applied to them. They did little to increase their numbers and make converts. They did not follow the first Judaizers in their strenuous missionary efforts. We know of but one writer, Symmachus, who represented their beliefs in his writings. The future was not theirs. It belonged to the Gentile Christians whom they despised. After dragging out a pinched, miserable existence for a few centuries they disappeared, leaving no trace of their influence.

The Jewish Christians who united with the Gentiles carried with them their personality, their many Jewish conceptions and hopes, and helped to mould the church. Many of the phenomena of the history of the church in the next centuries are to be explained by this fact. They helped keep the writings of the Old Testament on the same plane with those of the New, and infuse a spirit of legalism into the church, which is not yet wholly cast out. How much influence they had on the development of the priesthood it is difficult to say. But there is evidence to show that the writings of the Old Testament contributed their share to it.

It has been shown that "gifts" (Charismata) occupied a prominent place in the thought and life of the Christians. The church was a brotherhood, without a fixed government. Its members served, each with his peculiar gifts. But as their numbers increased, some kind of government was necessary. The logic of events created offices. Sometimes committees were formed for special purposes. Some