SOME of the boys and girls I know call the British Museum "a dull, sleepy old place." Harold says he has been twice, and there was nothing to see but old stones, and Elsie adds that before the glass cases filled with such lovely stuffed birds were, with all the animals, removed to South Kensington, she used to think it interesting, but she quite agrees with Harold that there is not much to be seen there now.
Perhaps one reason why my young friends found so little to make the museum worth a visit was that they did not know just what to look for, and another was that they forgot to take their lamp.
“Our lamp!" What can I mean? Their last visit was paid upon a lovely summer's day, and the sun was shining brightly. The Bible lamp is the one I mean, and we shall, I think, be not only interested but surprised to find how many of these "old stones," as Harold calls them, may help us to understand and, I hope, to love our Bibles better.
But our talk has brought us to the very doors of this great national storehouse. So we will begin with the Roman gallery. We linger for a few moments before a large bust of Julius Caesar, whose conquests led him to Britain even before the birth of Christ.
Elsie, who is fond of history, says softly:
“In 43 B.C. a Roman host
From Gaul, invade our southern coast.”
And Harold, who begins to think that the British Museum may not be such "a dull place" after all, looking at a long line of the busts of Roman emperors, asks if I can tell him which of them was reigning when Christ was born at Bethlehem. Our Bibles will answer his question, and as Elsie and I have brought our pocket testaments, we turn to Luke 2:11And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (Luke 2:1) and read, "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." There are four busts of him in the gallery. He reigned from 20 B.C. to A.D. 14. How little he knew that by bringing Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem he was fulfilling the prophecy of Micah, written hundreds of years before the birth of our Lord, that the Son of God should become the Babe of Bethlehem!
The reign of Tiberius was from A.D. 14 to 37, so he must have been living at the time the Lord was crucified, and perhaps between three and four years later, though his name does not occur in scripture; but as the names and likenesses of Roman emperors were always stamped upon the pieces of money, of whatever value, coined during their reign, the image of Tiberius would be upon the penny handed to the Lord Jesus when He was asked, "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matt. 22:17-2117Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. (Matthew 22:17‑21).)
Caesar seems to have been a title borne by a long line of Roman emperors. When the Lord stood in Pilate's judgment hall, it was to Tiberius Cæsar that the Jews referred when they said to Pilate, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.... We have no king but Caesar." (John 19:12-1512And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. 13When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. (John 19:12‑15).) And to prove that he was Caesar's friend he delivered the Lord of glory, the King of kings, to be crucified.
We need not linger over the short and unhappy reign of Caligula, as he does not in any way come into the gospel narrative, and seems to have been remembered only for his cruelty.
It was to Nero, who filled the Roman throne from A.D. 54 to 68, that the Apostle Paul appealed when he said, "I appeal unto Caesar." (Acts 25:1111For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar. (Acts 25:11).) This was most likely during the early part of the reign of Nero, when his real character had not shown itself. He began his reign by seeming to wish to be on friendly terms with every one, and so made himself the idol of the Roman people.
We cannot forget the sufferings of the Christians during his reign, when he accused them of having set Rome on fire. Great numbers of them were burnt to death in the public gardens, the clothes of the martyrs being soaked in something of the nature of petrol, so that the blaze of their burning lit up the dark and guilty city.
We do not know, but they may have sought to comfort each other, as they were led to the stakes which had been prepared for their burning, with some such words as were said in England centuries afterward, during the reign of Queen Mary, by Latimer to his fellow martyr Ridley, "We shall this day, by God's grace, light such a candle as I trust shall never be put out.”
Paul's first imprisonment was at Rome, and lasted for two years; during those years he seems to have been allowed a good deal of liberty, as he was able to receive all who came to him.
His second imprisonment seems to have been much more severe, as we read that Onesiphorus, who was not ashamed of his chain, had to seek for Paul very diligently before finding him. (2 Tim. 1:16, 1716The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: 17But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. (2 Timothy 1:16‑17).) In the same epistle Paul tells us something of his first appearance before Nero, "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.... Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me... and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." (2 Tim. 4:16, 1716At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 17Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. (2 Timothy 4:16‑17).)