Great Monarchies, as they are usually called, and then proceeds thus: "The kingdom of Christ is every where extended, every where received; in all the above-mentioned nations is esteemed. He reigns every where, is adored in all places, is divided equally amongst all known countries." From this wonderful success attending the promulgation of Christianity in all nations, it soon obtained the name of ἡ κρατώσα διδαχὴ, or the prevailing doctrine; as Porphyry and Julian both acknowledge.

Now what religion was there that could compare with this for the extent of its possession? The only plausible answer is-Heathenism. But Heathenism, it should be recollected, though it be one name, is not one religion. Heathens do not all worship the same thing, as I have abundantly shown in a former letter; nor are they governed by the same law, or bow to one common master in religious matters. The only religions which even now can bear any comparison in point of number of votaries with the Christian, are the Jewish and the Mahometan; and both of them are decidedly inferior in respect of rapid diffusion. The Jews, indeed, though very much scattered over the face of the earth, are but one nation, and profess one religion, namely, that which in the Divine dispensations prepared the way for Christianity. But their religion, it is well known, has received no remarkable increase since the time of Christ; and even their sacred law is made more known through the efforts of the Christians than their own. As to Mahometanism, it is settled and established in many countries; but not alone: for Christianity is esteemed in some of those countries; nay, in some, indeed, by a greater proportion of the inhabitants: whereas, on the contrary, there are many parts of Christendom where there is not a single Mahometan to be found, except as a sojourner or a visitor.

How, then, was this rapid promulgation, and permanent preponderancy, of the Christian religion occasioned? Was it primarily, by courting the aid of the

great, the learned, the powerful; by enlisting states and governments in the cause of Christ? Certainly not. Most men, we observe, are prepared to follow the example, and comply with the wishes, of kings and rulers; especially if they are enforced with retributive or compulsive laws. To these the religion of the Jews, of the Pagans, and of the Mahometans, owed much of their increase. But Christianity, during the time it spread most rapidly, was not incorporated with the state, as was Judaism, and many systems of Paganism; nor was it propagated by the sword of its advocates, as was Mahometanism. They who first taught the Christian religion were not only men without any secular authority, but of low fortune, such as fishermen and tent-makers and yet, by the instrumentality of these men, that doctrine was in the course of thirty years disseminated, not only through all parts of the Roman empire, but as far as the Parthians and Indians. And not only at its earliest commencement, but for nearly three hundred years, by the industry and zeal of private, obscure persons, without any threats, without any invitations, nay, opposed as much as possible by those who were in authority, this religion was so widely promulgated, that long before Constantine professed Christianity, it was received in the greatest part of the Roman empire. "We are but of yesterday," says TERTULLIAN," and have filled all places belonging to you; your cities, islands, castles, towns, councils; your very camps, wards, companies, the palace, senate, and forum: we have left you only your temples."

Nor was this effected by adventitious means. They among the Greeks who delivered their perfect precepts

Tert. Apol. ii. cap. 37. He adds: "We could make a terrible war upon you, by simply being so passively revengeful as only to leave you. Should the numerous host of Christians retire from the empire into some remote region, the loss of so many men of all ranks and degrees would leave a hideous gap, and inflict a shameful scar upon the government. You would stand aghast at your desolation, and be struck dumb at the general silence and horror of nature, as if the whole world were departed."

of morality, at the same time rendered themselves acceptable by other arts: as the Platonists, by the study of geometry; the Peripatetics, by the history of plants and of animals; the Stoics, by logical subtlety; the Pythagoreans, by the knowledge of numbers, and their applications to the principles of harmony. Many of them, as Plato, Xenophon, Theophrastus, &c. were endowed with the most admirable eloquence. Not so the Apostles and first teachers of Christianity. "When I came to you," says Paul to the Corinthians", "I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God; for I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling; and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom; but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Indeed, as if in order to mortify human vanity, to convince the world that religion was a plain, simple thing, and that a little common sense, accompanied with an honest good heart, was sufficient to propagate it, without any aid derived from the cabinets of princes, or the schools of human science, the Founder of the Christian Religion took twelve poor illiterate men into his company, admitted them to an intimacy with himself, and after he had kept them awhile in tuition, promised them the aid of his Spirit, and sent them to preach the good tidings of salvation to their countrymen. A while after he selected seventy more, giving them a simple but efficacious preparation: and sent them forth to preach the Gospel. "As ye go," says he, "preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses: nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Thus 6 Matt. x. 7-10, 28.

5 1 Cor. ii. 1-4.

equipped, they went forth to their momentous but dangerous undertaking. They delivered the history, they taught the doctrines, they declared the precepts, promises, and threatenings, in bare words, unaccompanied by any secular power. Yet they were every where successful as to the object of their mission, and in the course of two centuries accomplished what I have already described: so that we must of necessity allow, either that they were attended by miracles, or that the secret influence of God favoured their efforts, or both: and in either case it follows, that the cause they espoused was the cause of God.

This will appear still more obviously, if we consider the impediments with which they had to contend, and the difficulties which arose even from the nature of the religion they professed. Considered as a system intended to effect proselytism by the usual means, it was fundamentally erroneous. No quality could be imagined more directly calculated, considering the state of the world about the Christian era, to frustrate the attempts of the primitive Christians, than the inflexibility, or, as it has been called, the intolerance of their zeal. It is true, the religion they proposed was so far of a general nature, that none were necessarily excluded from the benefit of it: all were invited to partake of its blessings. Yet, notwithstanding this liberality, Christianity was in the strictest sense, in relation to other religions then prevailing, an unsocial religion. Unlike the various schemes and modifications of polytheism, it would neither accommodate itself to the reigning superstitions, nor would it admit of any association with them. "Keep yourselves from idols," was an injunction incessantly ringing in the ears, and meeting the eyes of the first disciples. "What can be the reason," said Emilian, prefect of Egypt, to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, why you may not still adore that God of yours, supposing him to be a God, in conjunction with our Gods?" "We worship no other God," re

7 1 John, v. 21. 1 Cor. x. 14. 2 Cor. vi. 16, 17.

plied Dionysius. In the ears of a Polytheist such language was unpardonable; yet it was the language uniformly suggested by the Christian religion. Thus when Cyprian was brought before the Proconsul, "Thou art Thascius Cyprian (says he) who hast been a ringleader to men of a perverse mind: the emperor commands thee to do sacrifice; consult, then, thy welfare.” To this he answered, "I am Cyprian, I am too a Christian, and I cannot sacrifice to your gods: do, therefore, what you are commanded; as for me, in so just a cause I need no time for consideration." Similarly noble and decided was the conduct of Polycarp and Basil; all tending to evince that their religion was formed to stand alone; and wherever it prevailed, it was over the ruins of other systems. With such pretensions the heralds of the Gospel could not well hope for a favourable reception. Their apparent arrogance could only serve to provoke the indignation of those whom they endeavoured to convert; and the ardent zeal with which they prosecuted their cause would, "according to the NATURAL course of things," have a direct tendency to defeat their object9.

Besides this, the minds of those to whom this new religion was proposed were preoccupied. They were filled with opinions, and moulded into habits, all of which were directly and powerfully repugnant to the spirit of Christianity. The Hebrews were prepared for the reception of the Law of Moses by the previous appointment of circumcision, and by their knowledge of one God. But, from a moderate acquaintance with the state of the Jewish and Gentile world at the origin of Christianity, it must be evident that every thing that most strongly influences and tyrannizes over the mind of man,-religion, custom, law, policy, pride, interest, vice, and even philosophy,-were united against the Gospelio. These enemies were, in their own nature, 8 Vide Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. 11.

9 See Warburton's Divine Legation, book ii. sect. 6.

10 Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with the Jew Trypho, affirms