There is still one question which we must ask about this persecution. Did it extend beyond Rome, or was it confined wholly to the city? There is not the least evidence to show that the Christians outside of Rome were troubled by it. There was no general edict against the Christians, and none were arrested except those of the city. The whole persecution was improvised. Nero neither knew about nor cared for Christianity, but he was suddenly brought into such a situation that it was necessary for him to find some one whom he could treat as guilty, and so turn the anger of the people from himself. It was simply the misfortune of the Christians that in some way his attention was turned to them, and they had to suffer. The state was not persecuting Christianity as such, but in an evil hour they were called on to suffer through the caprice and cruelty of the Emperor.

And yet the persecution did affect the standing of the Christians, at least in many provinces. It made it clear to all the local authorities that the Christians were not the favorites of the Emperor, and hence might be punished with impunity. It no doubt led to greater vigilance on the part of the officers of the state, and hence to many single arrests and executions. Through this, the situation of the Christians was made much less secure, and they were exposed as never before to petty annoyances and to the dangers of arrest. It was this change in the general situation and safety of the Christians that forms the background of the book of Revelation.

The persecution under Domitian was by no means a general one, and it is probable that only a few individuals were affected by it. The fate of Flavius Clemens and Domitilla has already been recounted. Eusebius, in his Chronicon, says that many Christians were put to death in the last years of his reign. Clement of Rome excuses the Roman Christians for not having written earlier to the Corinthians because of the sudden misfortunes and calamities that had befallen the congregation in quick succession. Domitian's cruelty was caused largely by the fact that he was in need of money. This led him to make use of spies and informers, whose business it was to hunt out all those who could be charged with any infraction of the laws, and bring them before the Emperor that he might invent some pretext for seizing their property. In this way, some Christians suffered rather because of his cruelty than because they were Christians. Yet it is possible that he also issued edicts aimed against both Christians and Jews, for Dion Cassius says that his successor, Nerva, when he came to the throne, pardoned those who had been condemned because of "impiety" (a common charge against the Christians), recalled those who had been banished, and forbade that any should be tried on the charge of "impiety," or for adopting the Jewish faith. This can only mean that he undid the action of Domitian, his predecessor, but it is not clear just what shape this action had taken.

The persecutions of the early Christians have

been greatly exaggerated for rhetorical as well as apologetical purposes, but enough has been said to show that their situation was far from a safe one. The real history of their sufferings has never yet been written by man. Only brief fragments of it have escaped the oblivion of the years, but even these fill us with a strange sadness and sympathy, and give us the desire to know all that they dared and suffered for their faith. It would show us the measure of their attachment to Jesus. But this will not be known till that great day when all hidden things shall be brought to light.

CHAPTER X.

AUTHORITIES, GOVERNMENT, AND WORSHIP.

WE must begin with the fundamental fact that every Christian was thought to possess the Holy Spirit by virtue of his confession of his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. He received the Holy Spirit, which brought him into a direct and intimate relation with God. He received the spirit of adoption which enabled him to call God "Father," and address Him as a child would address its father. This filial relation and intercourse of the individual believer with God because of the possession of the Holy Spirit is one of the basal beliefs of the first Christians. The believer is said to walk in this spirit, to live in it, and to be controlled by it. Paul felt this truth perhaps most strongly of all the writers of the New Testament, and gave it its classical expression when he said, "I live no longer, but Christ lives in me."

Whatever natural means or ability the believer possessed were regarded as a gift, a Charisma, which must be used in some kind of service for his fellowChristians. Paul often gave expression to this truth. In Romans xii. 4 ff. he says, "For even as we have many members in one body, and all the

members have not the same office: so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another. And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching; or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness." Thus he regarded the ability to prophesy, to minister, to teach, to exhort, to give, to rule, to show mercy, as gifts of the Holy Spirit out of God's free grace. In similar language in his first letter to the Corinthians he tells us that there is but one spirit, but a great variety of gifts, as of wisdom, of knowledge, of faith, of healings, of prophecy, of speaking with tongues, of helps, of gifts, and so on indefinitely. Every believer was raised to the high position of a king and priest before God, for he was destined to reign with Him, and had access to his presence in prayer without the intervention of any man or class of men whose special prerogative it was to deal with holy things. Every one who has the Spirit has direct access to the Holy of Holies, to the throne of God himself. What need was there then that any one should be invested with a special authority? What room or place was there for the thought of a special inspiration which should give its possessor an absolute authority? If each one lives in direct communication with God, how