Therefore thou convictest the fallen little by little,
And, reminding them of the things in which they sin, thou dost warn them,
That freed from wickedness, they may believe on thee, O Lord.

[Sidenote: Wisd. of Sol. 15:1-3]
But thou, our God, art gracious and true,
Long suffering, and in mercy directing all things.
For even if we sin, we are thine, since we know thy might.
But we shall not sin, knowing that we have been counted as thine;
For to know thee is perfect righteousness,
And to know thy might is the root of immortality.

I. Conditions of the Jews in Antioch and Asia Minor. Seleucus Nicanor,
who in 311 B.C. founded the city of Antioch, like Alexander, granted many
privileges to the Jewish colonies whom he thus sought to attract hither.
They not only possessed the rights of citizenship, but lived in their
separate quarter. Their synagogue was one of the architectural glories of
the city. There they engaged in trade and undoubtedly grew rich, taking on
largely the complexion of that opulent Hellenic city. Later the Jewish
colony was enlarged by the apostates who fled from Judea when the
Maccabean rulers gained the ascendancy. The corrupt and materialistic
atmosphere of Antioch doubtless explains why its Jewish citizens
apparently contributed little to the development of the thought and faith
of later Judaism. Similar colonies were found throughout the great
commercial cities of Asia Minor. In many of these cities--for example,
Tarsus--they seem to have enjoyed the same privileges as those at Antioch.

II. The Jews in Egypt. The chief intellectual and religious center of
the Jews of the dispersion, however, was in Alexandria. It is probable
that fully a million Jews were to be found in Egypt during the latter