This shows us what each one of us should be,--"a faithful soldier," fighting against all the enemies of our Lord, which are the Devil and his evil angels, our own bad passions and desires, and every kind of sin: and "a faithful servant," studying to know his Master's Will, that he may do it thoroughly, whatever suffering or trouble it may bring upon himself. Let us seriously consider whether we are such Christians, really and truly trying to serve and please God. If we are _not_, the name of Christian will be of no use to us. Jesus Himself says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Let each one of us pray earnestly to God, that for the sake of His blessed Son, Jesus Christ, He will give us the help of the Holy Spirit, so that we may become true Christians in the sight of Him, by Whom all our thoughts, words, and actions are known. In order to understand perfectly all that the Bible tells us, it is necessary to mention a few circumstances connected with the history of the Jews, which are not written in the Scriptures, but are told us by a man called Josephus, himself a Jew, who lived at this time, and has left us an account of all that he saw and heard amongst his countrymen. We have already heard that Herod the Great, who slew the infants of Bethlehem, had many descendants, who all bore the same name, and several of whom are spoken of in Scripture. Some account has already been given of them. Aristobulus, one of the unfortunate sons of Herod the Great and Mariamne, left two sons: one named Herod Agrippa, called also the Elder, to distinguish him from his own son, named also Herod Agrippa; and another son, also called Herod, who became King of Chalcis. Herod Agrippa the Elder lived for some years quietly at Rome, as a private person, and was in favour with Tiberius, who became Emperor of Rome A.D. 14. But some persons having accused Herod, whether truly or falsely we cannot say, of wishing for the Emperor's death, he was put into prison, where he remained until Tiberius died, about four years after the Crucifixion of Jesus. Caligula, who became Emperor at the death of Tiberius, A.D. 37, made Herod Agrippa king over Iturea and some neighbouring parts of the country. Pontius Pilate had ceased before this to be Governor, or Procurator, of Judæa. A riot, or disturbance, had taken place amongst the people of Samaria. Pilate put a stop to it; but he afterwards treated the people with such extreme severity, that the Roman Emperor deprived him of his government, which he had held for about ten years. Pilate was banished to Vienne, a place in Gaul (as France was then called), and there he killed himself.