be baffled is a thing that will always awaken anger in the human breast; and the heathens had never been taught at all to check such feelings. To see himself baffled, to see his darling form of worship falling into neglect, and the idols he so blindly served sinking fast into contempt before the poor, forlorn, despised outcasts of society, before the persecuted Christians; this was more than the proud idolater could endure. The law and the governors of the state were still upon his side, and as long as they continued so, every thing that could be done by unlimited power, at the bidding of the deepest hatred and the bitterest scorn, was done against the unfortunate Christians. Their very name was an object of dislike; and Julian, the last heathen emperor, made a law, forbidding them to be called anything but Galilæans," the title he always gave them himself. So truly were they hated of all men for Christ's namesake that it was common to hear persons saying, "Such a one is a good man, only he is a Christian ;” "I wonder at such a one, a wise man, but lately turned Christian." Nothing, however, could make the believer cease to glory in that name. We read of one Attalus, a person of some note, who, to please the mob, was paraded about the theatre, while before him was carried a board on which was written, "This is Attalus the Christian." The only account that another person, who had been put to the most dreadful torture, would give of himself was this :

or,

"I am a Christian; that is name, country, kindred, and every thing to me." Many reasons for the scorn so unmercifully bestowed upon the early believers might easily be given. They were, especially at first, generally persons of humble rank, poor in earthly goods, and of little or no education. And then their good qualities, their virtues themselves, instead of commanding respect from their dazzling showy character, were of such a kind as rather to raise the contempt of their proud enemies. To be humble and meek, to be patient and forgiving, to be heavenlyminded and pure in heart, were looked upon only as marks of meanness of spirit and folly. And thus, what with the attack made upon the old forms of idolatry by a religion but lately sprung up; what with the jealousy felt by the emperors at the want of attachment of their Christian subjects, and the grudge borne by the rabble against these, as being the cause of all misfortunes; what with the novelty and earthly weakness of the Gospel doctrine, and the rapid manner in which, in spite of all checks, it spread over every land and in every order of society, we can see abundant reasons for the hatred it met with from all who still remained attached to the old forms of heathen worship.

Many other causes might be pointed out, but enough has been said on this subject. It may be well, however, to repeat one observation which has been already made. The ill-will felt by the

author of evil against all that is good, and the natural dislike of corrupt human nature to the Gospel of Christ, must not be lost sight of, when we are endeavouring to account for the hatred shown by the heathens to the first believers. That hatred, fiercely as it burnt in their hearts, and destructively as it blazed forth in their actions, was nothing more than might have been expected from such men under such circumstances. But the manner in which these

fiery trials of mortal enmity were endured and welcomed by the harmless objects of their fury, the boldness and courage, the meekness and tenderness of the Christians, were not to be expected from mere men, nor could these virtues ever have been manifested, as they were, by human strength alone. In the conduct of the heathen persecutors we behold but the vices and crimes of this lower world; in that of the Christian sufferers he must be indeed blind who cannot trace a strength not their own, a power coming from above.

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CHAPTER II.

IGNORANCE OF HEATHENS RESPECTING
CHRISTIANS.

IF men were always in the habit of acting as becomes reasonable beings, we should rarely meet with instances of the fiercest hatred against particular persons, joined at the same time with the most lamentable want of information respecting their views and practices. But as men, though blessed with reason, are very apt to suffer their judgments to be blinded by their feelings and prejudices, it is no uncommon thing, either in the history of the past, or in the conduct of those around us, to see the greatest enmity accompanying the deepest ignorance. Such was the case of the heathens with respect to the first professors of our faith. Their want of correct knowledge of the belief and practice of those whom they so barbarously treated, was in a great degree owing to those feelings of scorn and hatred, which kept them from ever making inquiry into the matter of fact, and led them to give willing credit to every idle tale that might reach their ears, so long as it was to the disadvantage of the Christians. The wonders done by our Lord had been too lately performed to be denied altogether; so heathen ignorance contrived to save itself the trouble of inquiring after the truth by laying them to

the account of magical arts. "Where," said his judge to a bishop brought before him, as being a believer in Christ," where are the magicians, companions of your art, or teachers of this crafty deceit?" A very little consideration might have shown them that they were altogether mistaken; that nothing but power from above could work such miracles, in such a manner, and so often, as Christ did; besides that He gave the same, and even greater, powers to the poor uneducated men chosen by Him as His Apostles. "To do what you are of yourself able to do," says a Christian writer, "and what is suitable to your strength and power, is nothing very wonderful; but to transfer this to another, and to give to a weak mortal to do what you alone were able to do, and make him to share in such authority; this belongs to a Power that is above all, that has beneath it the causes of all things." One chief reason of the ignorance of the heathens respecting the Christians was their continuing for a long time to confound them with the Jews,-a strong proof of their carelessness about the matter of fact, and their unwillingness to inquire into the truth! The Jews, owing to their religious belief in only one God, and their strict separation of themselves from all other nations, were always objects of dislike and contempt among their heathen neighbours or conquerors. And when Christianity came forth from the land of Judæa, the same feelings were also awakened against its professors; the

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