The apostles in Jerusalem, hearing of the great religious interest which was excited in the metropolitan city of Antioch, sent Barnabas to assist the brethren there. He was “a good man, full of faith and the Holy Ghost.” His heart was rejoiced by the scenes which he witnessed in Antioch, and eloquently he urged the converts that with “purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord.” His labors gave a new impulse to the conversions, and “much people was added to the Lord.”[113] Saul was at this time preaching in Tarsus, his native city, about thirty miles north-west from Antioch. Barnabas went to Tarsus in search of Saul, and brought him back with him to the metropolitan city. For a year Saul and Barnabas continued in Antioch, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ; and there first the disciples of Jesus received the title of Christians. This was about the year of our Lord 44. As so many Gentile converts were now flocking into the churches, the Christians ceased to be regarded as merely a sect of the Jews, and the rapidly-increasing disciples in their varied organizations assumed gradually a new and independent character. It so happened about this time that there was a severe drought and famine in Judæa; and Saul and Barnabas were sent by the Christians in Antioch with contributions for the suffering brethren there. Herod Agrippa I., an unprincipled ruler, grandson of Herod the Great, was then king of all Palestine. He, without any apparent cause, drew the sword of persecution. James, the brother of John, was put to death. Peter was arrested and thrown into prison, and so carefully guarded by sixteen soldiers――four for each watch in the night, two chained to the prisoner in his cell, and two stationed at the outside door――as to render his escape apparently impossible. The king had decided to gratify the malice of the Jews, immediately after the passover, by putting Peter to death. The night had arrived which was supposed to be the last that Peter was to spend upon earth. In the morning he was to be led to his execution. He was quietly sleeping between the two soldiers, bound to them by chains. The angel of the Lord, whom neither granite walls nor iron doors could exclude, entered the prison in dazzling effulgence. As he awoke Peter, the chains dropped from the prisoner’s hands. “Arise,” said the angel, “gird thyself, bind on thy sandals, cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.”