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Pontus were at a great distance from Judea, the centre from which the religion spread; yet in these provinces, Christianity had long subsisted, and Christians were now in such num. bers as to lead the Roman governor to report to the emperor, that they were found not only in cities, but in villages and in open countries; of all ages, of every rank and condition; that they abounded so much, as to have produced a visible desertion of the temples; that beasts brought to market for victims, had few purchasers; that the sacred solemnities were much neglected :-circumstances noted by Pliny, for the express purpose of showing to the emperor the effect and prevalency of the new institution.

No evidence remains, by which it can be proved that the Christians were more numerous in Pontus and Bithynia than in other parts of the Roman empire; nor has any reason been offered to show why they should be so. Christianity did not begin in these countries, nor near them. I do not know, therefore, that we ought to confine the description in Pliny's letter to the state of Christianity in those provinces, even if no other account of the same subject had come down to us; but, certainly, this letter may fairly be applied in aid and confirmation of the representations given of the general state of Christianity in the world, by Christian writers of that and the next succeeding age.

Justin Martyr, who wrote about thirty years after Pliny, and one hundred and six after the ascension, has these re. markable words: "There is not a nation, either of Greek or Barbarian, or of any other name, even of those who wander in tribes, and live in tents, amongst whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the Universe by the name of the crucified Jesus."* Tertullian, who comes about fifty years after Justin, appeals to the governors of the Roman empire in these terms: "We were but of yes terday, and we have filled your cities, islands, towns, and bor Dughs, the camp, the senate, and the forum. They (the hea * Dial cum Tryph.

then adversaries of Christianity) lament, that every sex, age, and condition, and persons of every rank also, are converts to that name. I do allow that these expressions are loose, and may be called declamatory. But even declamation hath its bounds; this public boasting upon a subject which must be known to every reader, was not only useless but unnatural, unless the truth of the case, in a considerable degree, corre spond with the description; at least, unless it had been both true and notorious, that great multitudes of Christians, of all ranks and orders, were to be found in most parts of the Ro man empire. The same Tertullian, in another passage, by way of setting forth the extensive diffusion of Christianity, enumerates as belonging to Christ, beside many other countries, the "Moors and Gætulians of Africa, the borders of Spain, several nations of France, and parts of Britain, inaccesible to the Romans, the Sarmatians, Daci, Germans, and Scythians ;"f and, which is more material than the extent of the institution, the number of Christians in the several countries in which it prevailed, is thus expressed by him: "Although so great a multitude that in almost every city we form the greater part, we pass our time modestly and in silence." Clemens Alexandrinus, who preceded Tertullian by a few years, introduces a comparison between the success of Christianity, and that of the most celebrated philosophical institutions: "The philosophers were confined to Greece, and to their particular retainers; but the doctrines of the Master of Christianity did not remain in Judea, as philosophy did in Greece, but is spread throughout the whole world, in every nation, and village, and city both of Greeks and barbarians, converting both whole houses and separate individuals, having already brought over to the truth not a few of the philosophers themselves. If the Greek philosophy be prohibited, it immediately vanishes; whereas, from the first preaching of our doctrine, kings and tyrants, governors and presidents, with their whole train, and with the populace on their side, have endeavored with their *Tertull. Apol, c. 37. † Ad Jud., c 7. Ad Scap., c. 111.

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whole might to exterminate it, yet doth it flourish more and .** Origen, who follows Tertullian at the distance of only thirty years, delivers nearly the same account: "In every part of the world," says he, "throughout all Greece, and in all other nations, there are innumerable and immense multitudes, who, having left the laws of their country, and those whom they esteemed gods, have given themselves up to the law of Moses, and the religion of Christ; and this not without the bitterest resentment from the idolaters, by whom they were frequently put to torture, and sometimes to death, and it is wonderful to observe, how, in so short a time, the religion has increased, amidst punishment and death, and every kind of torture." In another passage, Origen draws the following candid comparison between the state of Christianity in his time, and the condition of its more primitive ages: "By the good providence of God, the Christian religion has so flourished and increased continually, that it is now preached freely without molestation, although there were a thousand obstacles to the spreading of the doctrine of Jesus in the world. But as it was the will of God that the Gentiles should have the benefit of it, all the councils of men against the Christians were defeated; and by how much the more emperors and governors of provinces, and the people every where, strove to depress them, so much the more have they increas ed and prevailed exceedingly."

It is well known, that within less than eighty years after this, the Roman empire became Christian under Constantine; and it is probable that Constantine declared himself on the side of the Christians, because they were the powerful' party; for Arnobius, who wrote immediately before Constantine's accession, speaks of the whole world as filled with Christ's doctrine, of its diffusion throughout all countries, of an innumerable body of Christians in distant provinces, of the strange revolution of opinion of men of the greatest genius, * Clem. Al. Strom., lib. vi. ad fin. Orig. in Cels., lib. i. Orig. cont Cels., lib. vii.

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orators, grammarians, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, hav ing come over to the institution, and that also in the face of threats, executions, and tortures.' And not more than. twenty years after Constantine's entire possession of the em pire, Julius Firmicus Maternus calls upon the emperors Constantius and Constans to extirpate the relics of the ancient religion; the reduced and fallen condition of which is de scribed by our author in the following words: "Licèt adhuc in quibusdam regionibus idololatriæ morientia palpitent membra; tamen in eo res est, ut á Christianis omnibus terris pestiferum hoc malum funditùs amputetur ;" and in another place, "Modicum tantum superest, ut legibus vestris-extincta idololatriæ pereat funesta contagio." It will not be thought that we quote this writer in order to recommend his temper or his judgment, but to show the comparative state of Chris tianity and of Heathenism at this period. Fifty years afterwards, Jerome represents the decline of Paganism in language which conveys the same idea of its approaching extinc tion: "Solitudinem patitur et in urbe gentilitas. Dii quondam nationum, cum bubonibus et noctuis, in solis culminibus remanserunt." Jerome here indulges a triumph, natural and allowable in a zealous friend of the cause, but which could only be suggested to his mind by the consent and universality with which he saw the religion received. "But now," says he, "the passion and resurrection of Christ are

*Arnob. in Gentes, 1. i. pp. 27, 9, 24, 42, 44, edit. Lug. Bat., 1650.

De Error. Profan. Relig., c. xxi. p. 173, quoted by Lardner, vol. viii. p. 262.

Although still in some districts the dying limbs of idolatry quiver; nevertheless matters are in such a state that this pestiferous evil ought to be cut off from all Christian lands.-Ed.

A small matter only remains, that by your laws the fatal contagion of idolatry may be extinguished, and perish.-Ed.

Jer. ad. Lect., ep. 5, 7,

Paganism experiences solitude even in the city. They, who were once Gods of whole nations, have remained alone upon the housetops with bats and owls.-Ed.

celebrated in the discourses and writings of all nations. I need not mention Jews, Greeks, and Latins. The Indians Persians, Goths, and Egyptians, philosophize, and firmly be lieve the immortality of the soul, and future recompenses which, before, the greatest philosophers had denied, or doubted of, or perplexed with their disputes. The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians is now softened by the gentle sound of the Gospel; and everywhere Christ is all in all."* Were therefore the motives of Constantine's conversion ever so problematical, the easy establishment of Christianity, and the ruin of Heathenism under him and his immediate successors, is of itself a proof of the progress which Christianity had made in the preceding period. It may be added also, "that Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, had shown himself friendly to the Christians. Therefore of those who were contending for worldly power and empire, one actually favored and flattered them, and another may be suspected to have joined himself to them, partly from consideration of interest; so considerable were they become, under external disadvantages of all sorts." This at least is certain, that throughout the whole transaction hitherto, the great seemed to follow, not to lead, the public opinion.

It may help to convey to us some notion of the extent and progress of Christianity, or rather of the character and quality of many early Christians, of their learning and their labors, to notice the number of Christian writers who flourished in these ages. Saint Jerome's catalogue contains sixty-six writers within the first three centuries, and the first six years of the fourth; and fifty-four between that time and his own, viz. A. D. 392. Jerome introduces his catalogue with the follow ing just remonstrance :-"Let those who say the church has had no philosophers, nor eloquent and learned men, observe who and what they were who founded, established, and adorned it; let them cease to accuse our faith of rusticity,

* Jer., ep. 8, ad Heliod.

Lardner, vol. vii. p. 380.

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