The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 156

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150 TEE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES Not long after Peter's deliverance from prison, Herod went to Csesarea. While there he made a great festival, designed to excite the admiration and gain the applause of the people. This festival was attended by pleasure-lovers from all quarters, and there was much feasting and wine-drinking. With great pomp and ceremony Herod appeared before the people, and addressed them in an eloquent oration. Clad in a robe sparkling with silver and gold, which caught the rays of the sun in its glittering folds, and dazzled the eyes of the beholders, he was a gorgeous figure. The majesty of his appearance and the force of his well-chosen language swayed the assembly with a mighty power. Their senses already perverted by feasting and wine-drinking, they were dazzled by Herod's decorations and charmed by his deportment and oratory; and wild with enthusiasm, they showered adulation upon him, declaring that no mortal could present such an appearance, or command such startling eloquence. They further declared that while they had ever respected him as a ruler, henceforth they should worship him as a god. Some of those whose voices were now heard glorifying a vile sinner, had but a few years before raised the frenzied cry, Away with Jesus! Crucify Him, crucify Him! The Jews had refused to receive Christ, whose garments, coarse and often travelstained, covered a heart of divine love. Their eyes could not discern, under the humble exterior, the Lord of life and glory, even though Christ's power was revealed before them in works that no m^ere man could do. But they were ready to worship as a god