4 THE SABBATH. 



emotion is called forth by the conception. There is 

 doubtless action and reaction here ; but it may be 

 questioned whether the conception, which is a construc- 

 tion of the human understanding, could be at all put 

 together without materials drawn from the experience 

 of the human heart. 1 



The changes of conception here adverted to have 

 riot always been peacefully brought about. The i trans- 

 mutation ' of the old beliefs was often accompanied by 

 conflict and suffering. It was conspicuously so during 

 the passage from paganism to Christianity. Some of 

 the Roman emperors treated the Christians with fair- 

 ness. Adrian was one of these. ' If anybody,' he says, 

 writing to the proconsul of Asia, ' appear as accuser, 

 and can prove that the Christians have broken the laws, 

 let punishment be inflicted in proportion to the gravity 

 of the offence. But, by Hercules ! if any should de- 

 nounce a Christian slanderously, you must punish the 

 slanderer still more severely.' This seems a very honest 

 line for a pagan emperor to pursue. Some of his suc- 

 cessors followed his example, but others did not. During 

 the reign of Nero the cruelties inflicted on the Christians 

 at Rome can hardly be mentioned without a freezing of 

 the blood. According to Renan, the Antichrist of the 

 Apocalypse was the Emperor Nero ; he being raised to 

 this bad eminence by reason of his atrocities against the 

 new religion. The mystic number 666, which Pro- 

 testants have so often fa>tened upon the Pope, answers 

 accurately to Nero's name and title. The numerical 



1 While reading the volume of Principal Caird I was remind- d 

 more than once of the following passage in Renan's Antechrist : ' Et. 

 d'ailleurs. quel est 1'homme vraiment religieux qui repudie complete- 

 ment I'enseignement traditionnel & 1'ombre duquel il sentit d'abord 

 1'ideal, qui ne cherche pas les conciliations, souvent impossibles, 

 entre sa vieille foi et celle a laquelle il est arriv6 par le progres de 

 ea pensee ? ' 



