Chrysostom, in his homily on the Romans, speaking of Phoebe of Cenchrea, Priscilla, and other holy women, says: "You see these were noble women, hindered no way by their sex in the course of virtue. And what St. Paul had said of the former, that he said also of this. For of her also he had said,

She hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.' So too of this woman, 'not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.'. . . For they had been so estimable as even to make their house a church, both by making all in it believers, and because they opened it to all strangers. . . . Such ought women to be, not adorning themselves with broidered hair, or gold, or costly array, but in these good deeds; for what empress, pray, was so conspicuous or so celebrated as this wife of the tentmaker? She is in every body's mouth, not for ten or twenty years, but until the coming of Christ, and all proclaim her fame for things such as adorn far more than any royal diadem. And this chosen vessel, (St. Paul,) does not feel ashamed to call a woman his 'helper,' but even finds an honour

in so doing.

For it is not the sex that he minds, but the will is what he honours. What is equal to this ornament? Where, now, is wealth overflowing on every side? Where the adorning of the person? And where is vainglory? Learn that the dress of woman is not that put about the body, but that which decorates the soul, which is never put off, which does not lie in a chest, but is laid up in the heavens."

On the text, " Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us," he exclaims, "How is this? A woman again is honoured, and proclaimed victorious! Again are we men put to shame. Or rather, we are not put to shame only, but have even an honour conferred upon us. For an honour we have, in that there are such women amongst us; but we are put to shame, in that' we men are left so far behind by them. But if we come to know whence it comes that they are so adorned, we too shall speedily overtake them. Whence then is their adorning? Let both men and women listen. It is not from bracelets, or from necklaces, not from their eunuchs either, and their maidservants, and gold-broidered dresses, but from

their toils in behalf of the truth. For he says, Who bestowed much labour on us,' that is, not on herself only, nor upon her own advancement (for this many women of the present day do, by fasting and sleeping on the floor) but upon others also, so carrying on the race apostles and evangelists run."

Nor were women ready merely to embrace the profession of the Gospel. Ecclesiastical history abounds in instances of the devotion and heroism with which they also died for the faith, enduring great trials and afflictions, and not counting their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might win Christ, and finish their course in his faith and fear. We know also that, independently of the public persecution for the name of Jesus, a Christian female, if married to an unbelieving husband, or dwelling in a heathen family, had to undergo numerous trials, and in fact to "die daily." Hitherto, however, no attempt seems to have been made to delineate this position of the female convert in the primitive ages, though we have not been left without light on this highly interesting subject. The Gospel narrative itself touches

12 THE BENEFITS OF CHRISTIANITY, ETC.

upon it here and there, and references to it frequently occur in the writings of the early fathers. The works of Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Chrysostom, &c., furnish many records of domestic life, and enable us to draw conclusions respecting some points on which we do not possess any positive data. It will be the object, therefore, of the following pages, to bring these scattered notices under one point of view, and thus afford the Christian reader of the present day a connected portraiture of the condition of women who maintained their isolated faith under a heathen roof.

These remarks will be chiefly restricted to the first three centuries of the Gospel dispensation; after this period, the conversion of Constantine and the recognition of Christianity as the established religion of the Empire, gave a new tone to the affairs of the Church. Occasionally, however, it may be necessary to introduce circumstances connected with the subsequent century, because they resulted immediately from the previous influence of pagan life and manners.

13

CHAPTER II.

JUDAISM AT ROME.-ITS FEMALE PROSELYTES.

La Loi de Sinaï c'est la loi de tous les peuples, de tous les climats, de tous les temps. Pythagore et Zoroastre s'adressent à des Grecs et à des Mèdes; Jéhovah parle à tous les hommes. CHATEAUBRIAND.

A FEW remarks upon the condition of Greek and Roman proselytes to the Jewish faith, may not be an inappropriate introduction to the subject more immediately before us, although the relation in which they stood with respect to their heathen connections was widely different from that of the Christian convert. In the first place, the Jews, in conformity with the tolerant maxims of the Roman constitution, had obtained great privileges from Julius Cæsar and the Emperor Augustus, which not only protected them in their civil rights, but also secured to them the unmolested exercise of their religion.

The spirit of mutual toleration which pervaded the nations of heathen antiquity generally,