14 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION 



The fullness of the time had come, for — 



First, the general spread of learning rendered men 

 able to examine the claims of Christianity, and 

 those claims were submitted to a fiercer scrutiny 

 than has ever been witnessed since. 



Second, the general use of the Roman tongue 

 made intercourse easy with distant places, and the 

 use of the Greek language in literature, supplied a 

 vehicle for the accurate conveyance of the profound 

 thoughts contained in the religion of Christ. 



Third, the dark background which the social 

 condition of the world then presented, brought out 

 in clearer relief the pure morals of Christianity. 

 There was an immediate and most vivid contrast 

 between what the world was, and what Christianity 

 required it to become, and the yearnings of men 

 for something better were to be gratified in the 

 religion of the Christ. 



If we look at the religious condition of mankind 

 then, we see evidences that the time was ripe for 

 the Messiah's advent. 



With the exception, of the Jews, among whom 

 the knowledge of the true God was preserved, the 

 nations had departed to error. Some were given 

 to gross idolatry, others deified the stars, others 

 worshipped a multitude of fictitious deities. The 

 most refined preserved a mythology which con- 

 tained within it most debasing beliefs. Many of 



