Of this

been the name of their queens'. country the eunuch was a native, and in it he possessed great authority under the queen. He was one of her chief officers, in whom she placed the highest trust and confidence, inasmuch as she committed to his care "the charge of all her treasure." This nobleman had come to Jerusalem to worship. He must therefore have been a convert to the faith of Israel, one who had embraced the religion of the Jews.

The name given to such converts was proselytes of righteousness. These were distinguished from proselytes of the gate. The former were those who, though descended from Gentile parents, were circumcised, and submitted to the whole law of Moses; and so were regarded as Jews, there being but one law to both". The latter, which were called strangers within the gates of Israel', were uncircumcised Gentiles, who nevertheless were distinguished from the idolatrous Gentiles by their worshipping the true God of Israel, and submitting to what

o Clarke and Doddridge, on the text. p Exod. xii. 48, 49. Exod. xx. 10.

were called the seven precepts of Noah'. These,

1. Forbad idolatry,

2. Commanded reverence of God's name, 3. Forbad murder,

4. Adultery and incest,

5. Theft,

6. Commanded the exercise of justice, and,

7. Forbad eating things strangled, and blood.

To this latter class, Cornelius the devout centurion belonged. And as he was the first fruits of the Gentiles, there can be no doubt but that the eunuch belonged to the former class. If not, would not Philip have been as backward as Peter was? And would not a special revelation have been necessary for Philip as well as Peter, to remove his scruples?

The eunuch had been converted to the Jewish religion no doubt through the instrumentality of the Jews in Egypt, who were numerous, and under the Ptolemies had been patronized, even so far, as nearly two hundred years before the conversion of the

r Prideaux's Connect. Part 2. Book 5.

Ethiopian nobleman to Christianity, to have been permitted to build at On, or Heliopolis, a temple similar to the one at Jerusalem'. The intercourse between Egypt and Ethiopia lying next to each other as they did, was easy, and must have been constant. No doubt many of the Jews from Egypt removed to Ethiopia. Certain it is that at an early period Judaism was the religion of this country, introduced, it is said, by the queen of Sheba ; and now, according to the accounts of travellers', the religion of this country is a strange mixture of Judaism and Christianity.

Thus we can satisfactorily conjecture the manner in which the eunuch became a proselyte of righteousness. That he was a sincere one cannot be doubted, when we consider his office, and the journey he had now taken. He was the treasurer of a nation, and thus combined in himself the possession of affluence and honour. How many temptations must he have undergone, from pride,

s Prideaux's Connect. p. 2. v. 4. This temple was built An. 149, before Christ. The eunuch was converted An. 34, after Christ.

t Particularly Bruce.

the love of ease, the contempt of the world, and the flattery of courtiers, that supple, cringing, unprincipled, vile, contemptible race, who are "all things in an hour," as their master dictates! But he overcame them all! He left his native country to journey to Jerusalem, the holy city. He might have excused himself, had he wished so to do, on account of the nature of his public trust. He was an officer of government, and might have acted as such characters generally have done in matters of religion; especially in countries blessed with the light of revelation. For it is a remarkable fact, that among the heathen even skeptical, irreligious magistrates have paid external respect to the religion of their country. In Christian lands alone the awful spectacle is to be found of magistrates daring, by their deliberate neglect, to cast contempt upon the public institutions of religion. And it seems that this neglect is displayed in proportion to the degree of civil liberty enjoyed. Do

you ask a proof? Look to the officers of government in our land, and tell me where are the men in the general or state government, who pay a steadily decent res

pect to the ordinances of divine appointment? What is more common for them than to travel on the Lord's day? And how few, very few, regularly attend upon the means of grace on that day! Many of them display a studied, deliberate profanation of this holy time.

How different from such conduct was that of the treasurer of the Ethiopians! He felt that his duty to God was first to be discharged. Thankful that he had been made acquainted with the true religion, he strictly conformed externally to the requirements of the faith which he had embraced. He went regularly to the Holy City, and on this occasion had been to celebrate the feast of pentecost. The extraordinary occurrences of that day when the Spirit was poured out from on high, and each man of different tongues heard the apostles speak in his tongue, must have been the topic of conversation in Jerusalem. The doctrine taught by the apostles could not have escaped notice. The eunuch no doubt must have heard of the strange event, and of the new doctrine. It does not appear from the history that the report of these things had any particular