Excerpt from The Expositor, 1893, Vol. 8 Prof. Mommsen fixes no exact date when the Roman government and populace began to distinguish clearly between Jews and Christians it was probably under the second dynasty, as Nero's measures Show it fully developed. From non-christian authorities alone no more than this can be inferred; and it is'specially impor tant that Prof. Mommsen has based his opinion solely on that evidence. But when we take into account Acts xviii. 15 as a trustworthy contemporary authority (as I have tried from archaeological facts, and Spitta from critical theory, to prove that it is), we can reach a more precise conclusion. As late as a.d. 53 - 4, the imperial officials regarded questions affecting Christians as a mere matter of Jewish law, and not coming under the imperial cognizance. In the decade that followed, the imperial view had grown clearer. May we not infer, as in the highest degree prob able, that it was the trial of the Roman citizen, Paul, that led to more thorough investigation - into the whole subject? He was the first Roman sent for trial on this charge before the central authority. As a Roman citizen he had a claim to a full investigation, such as would not in any circum stances have been granted to a mere provincial. He was treated with distinction, kept not under constraint but in custodia libera, ' and two years elapsed before his trial was completed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.