Kcclesiasti- were few in number, and limited in their operation 

 7- They had no'arms in their hands, like Mahomet and his 

 warlike followers ; it was not at the head of a devoted 

 soldiery that they preached the gospel ; they were ut- 

 terly destitute of wealth or influence ; and. except in 

 the case of the apostle Paul, they had no pretensions 

 to learning. The current of popular opinion and of 

 popular feeling ran strong against them; and they knew 

 very well, that they were " hated of all men" on account 

 of the religion which they professed. It is to other and 

 higher causes, to a mightier machinery, and to a power 

 more than human, that we must ascribe the extraordi- 

 nary rapidity with which Christianity was propagated. 

 The apostles and evangelists were endowed with mira- 

 culous gifts : they healed the sick, they cleansed the 

 lepers, they restored the dead to life. And what fitted 

 them, in a remarkable degree, for the important work 

 which they had undertaken, they spoke to every nation 

 which they visited in its own ' language, proclaiming 

 the glad tidings of reconciliation and of peace, and 

 supporting and comforting dieir disciples amidst the 

 sufferings to which they were exposed. " There was 

 in dieir very words," says a respectable writer, " an 

 incredible energy, an amazing power of sending light 

 into the understanding, and conviction into the" heart. 

 To this were added the commanding influence of stu- 

 pendous miracles, the foretelling of future events, the 

 power of discerning the secret thoughts and intentions 

 of the heart, a magnanimity superior to all difficulties, 

 a contempt of riches and honours, a serene tranquillity 

 in the face of death, and an invincible patience under 

 torments still more dreadful than death itself and all 

 this accompanied with lives free from every stain, and 

 adorned by the constant practice of die sublimest vir- 

 tue." They were enabled likewise to communicate the 

 same extraordinary powers to others, of which they 

 were themselves possessed. The evidences of their 

 commission were multiplied on every side; the temples 

 of idolatry began speedily to be forsaken, the slumber 

 of ages was broken and dissipated, the eye was filled 

 with the prospect of immortality, and the world, awak- 

 ened and active, pressed forward to everlasting life 

 C hurches were quickly established in almost every por- 

 tion of the Roman empire ; in Phrygia and Galatia, 

 provinces of Asia M.nor, and in Ethiopia; at Corinth, 

 ulippi, at I hessalomca. nml in the capital itself 

 In Aon time nations and cities more remote, heard 

 of Jesus and of his doctrine. The Gauls received the 

 knowledge of Christianity from the immediate succes- 

 sors of the apostles ; and daring the course of the se- 

 rf century, the Germans, the Spaniards, and the 

 ntons were added to the multitudes in other places 

 v.l.o made open profession of the Christian faith 



ntunately for the cause of Jesus, and the best in- 

 ts of mankind, our holy religion had acquired a 

 considerable degree of stability before any laws were 

 enacted ngamst ,t The Christians were at first almost 

 universally regarded as a sect of the Jews, and they 

 escape, from persecution under the general toleration 

 which had been extended to the Hebrew people The 

 distinrt,on, however, between Christianity an j Judaism 

 came m time to be known. The followers of Jesu 

 I' "]'"> and zealous attacks upon the Paganism 

 with vim h they were surroi.mled, that the ,>opulace 

 S ,dered then, a. ,the,st ; and this opinion, n,Lt in- 

 >rrect and inj.iriou.s in itself, having been once enter- 

 tained, speedily gained strength and currency, because 

 wa uerceived that the Christians * ' 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY; 



of Christi- 

 nity. 



altars, or sacrifices. They held likewise their meetings Bcclesiasti- 

 in secret; they often assembled in the night; and it was "^ Hi ry. 

 sagaciously inferred that they withdrew from the pub- T~ ' 

 lie eye, in order to practise some abominable rites, 

 which they were afraid or ashamed to disclose. 



In these circumstances, the Emperor Nero set fire to Persecution 

 the city of Rome, and reduced a great part of it to ashes. under Neru - 

 This wanton act excited the indignation of the people. 

 The emperor, anxious, as it seems, for his popularity, 

 laid the guilt, and all die odium connected with it, to 

 the charge of the Christians. He commenced a very 

 severe persecution against them. He inflicted upon 

 them the most cruel punishments. Some of them were 

 crucified, others were impaled, some were thrown to die 

 wild beasts ; and not a few, having been wrapped in 

 clothes smeared with pitch and sulphur, were burnt 

 during the night, and made to serve as torches for il- 

 luminating the gardens of die emperor. In the mean- 

 tune, du's prodigy of inhumanity, entertained the people 

 with Circensian games, and was himself an unblushing 

 spectator of the whole ; sometimes walking about in the 

 dress of a charioteer, and mingling with the crowd, 

 and at other times viewing die exhibitions from his car. 

 But all his attempts were without effect; neither hi* 

 largesses, nor his conceni for the honour of the gods, 

 nor his merciless severity towards the unhappy follow- 

 ers of Christ, were sufficient to remove from him die 

 imputation of having given orders to set die city on 

 fire. And accordingly lie has been transmitted to ui 

 by the pen of Tacitus, in the double character of an 

 incendiary and a persecutor; and his very name is pro- 

 verbial for all that is tyrannical, cruel, and brutal, and 

 for all dial is malignant, perfidious, and mean. After 

 this persecution, which took place about die year 6 K 

 and during which St Paul was beheaded at Rome, the 

 churches had rest for a time. Under many of the suc- 

 ceeding emperors, however, they were exposed to the 

 resentment of dieir enemies. In the reign of Domi- 

 tian, the a|K>stlc John was banished to the island of 

 Patmos, where he wrote his Apocalypse. And a count- 

 less multitude of individuals, whose names no historv 

 records, and who have long ago passed away out of die 

 memory of man, boldly avowed their attachment to 

 the faith " once delivered to the saints," and " rejoiced 

 that they were counted worthy" to suffer or to die in 

 the cause of Christianity. 



Even the Emperor Trajan, who lias been described Perseomiu. 

 as a mild and accomplished prince, is to be numbered under Tr. 

 among the persecutors of tha church ; and mild and ac- Jan- 

 complished as he undoubtedly was, when compared 

 with his predecessors, he appears to have meditated 

 nothing less dian the extinction of the Christian name. 

 There has come down to us a correspondence between 

 this emperor and the younger Pliny, who was governor 

 of Bithynia, and it refers to the very subject which now 

 occupies our attention. The correspondence in ques- 

 tion is deserving of particular notice, both because it 

 shows us how the Christians were treated in those modes 

 of investigation to which die name of trial has been 

 given, and because it affords us the testimony of a Ro. 

 man magistrate, to the purity and simplicity of their 

 manners. After expressing to the emperor his doubts 

 with regard to the plan of conduct which lie ought to 

 follow, the procurator of Bithynia, the enlightened and 

 philosophic Pliny, thus declares what he had already 

 done; ( [Pliny's Epistles, vol.x. p.g7, 98.; In the mean 

 time," says he, " diis has been my method widi respect 

 to those who were brought before me as Christians-. I 



