Ghost," will not suppose that shedding a man's blood, or using violence of any kind, is the way to convert him, and to make him obedient to God. There is no need of laboured essays on toleration, to prove to the Christian who studies the Word of God, that he must not dare to use violence to promote the cause of the Gospel. Liberty of conscience to all men from each other is there written as with a sunbeam. And whenever real Christians, misled by the prejudices of the age in which they lived, or giving way to the depraved principles natural to the human heart, have resorted to carnal weapons to propagate their religion, they have always erred grievously from the faith, and have generally pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

On the whole, the violent persecutions to which Christians were subjected during the first three centuries, is a fact acknowledged even by those who most strenuously contend for Pagan toleration. The principles of all the other religions which the heathen world embraced, were at bottom really one. All of them agreed to treat sin with lenity, and to allow one another's religion to be right on the whole. Even those philosophers who laughed at their religious rites, themselves conformed to them; and they had no system of their own to bring forward which radically opposed the prevailing superstitions. Amidst such agreement, the absence of persecution does not deserve the name of toleration. Far less was it a proof of that mild spirit which has been falsely ascribed to Paganism. As soon as Christianity appeared, the most virulent opposition was excited, which issued in a system of the most cruel persecution.

It is always to be recollected that this persecution was purely of a religious nature. There was nothing

political in it, not even the pretence of any thing of the kind. The Christians under the Roman empire were the most peaceable citizens. Their submission to government, strictly enjoined upon them by the Scriptures, formed a prominent part of their religion. Never were the principles of any set of men put to so severe a test. From the increase of their numbers they came at length to possess the means of opposition, had they chosen to employ them. But this they never attempted.

To whatever cause the persecution that Christians suffered as long as Paganism predominated may be attributed, the evidence which it furnishes to the truth of the Christian religion is peculiarly strong. We are immediately reminded by it of the full and distinct intimations which the Lord gave to his disciples beforehand of what they were to suffer for his sake. We see also the reason of this solemn warning, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him also will I confess before my Father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him also will I deny before my Father which is in heaven."

There was nothing which the Lord Jesus Christ more constantly inculcated on his disciples than the unfriendly reception, and even violent opposition, which they should everywhere meet with, in propagating his doctrine. This was the more necessary, as it was probably what they did not expect. In becoming the messengers of the glad tidings of salvation to mankind, and in seeking to diffuse the mild, humble, and benevolent spirit of Christianity, they would naturally anticipate that wherever they went they should be received with respect and kindness. But he who "knew what was in man," foresaw how different their reception would

be.

"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three."-" I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled ?"—" The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against the parents, and cause them to be put to death; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."-" Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves."-" Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles."-" They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons; being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake; and it shall turn to you for a testimony."-"Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."

The force of the evidence arising from these predictions, which in the sufferings of the first Christians, were literally verified, cannot be set aside. No one, without divine foreknowledge, could have foreseen that persecutions so violent would arise. From the various ways in which unbelievers at this day endeavour to account for it, and from the surprise which they discover that they should have taken place, we see that the ablest of them would never have dreamed of it beforehand. The early Christians particularly observed and pointed out the striking evidence which thence arose to the truth of their religion. They speak of it as a wonderful notice that Jesus Christ had given to his disciples, that they should be brought before kings for his sake. "Is there any other doctrine

in the world," says Origen, "whose followers are punished? Can the enemies of Christ say that he knew his opinions were false and impious, and that therefore he might well conjecture and foretell what would be the treatment of those persons who should embrace them? Supposing his doctrines were really such, why should this be the consequence? What likelihood was there that men should be brought before kings and governors for opinions and tenets of any kind, when this never happened even to the Epicureans, who absolutely denied a providence, nor to the Peripatetics themselves, who laughed at the prayers and sacrifices which were made to the Divinity? Are there any but the Christians, who, according to this prediction of our Saviour, being brought before kings and governors for his sake, are pressed, to their latest gasp of death, by their respective judges to renounce Christianity, and to procure their liberty and rest, by offering the same sacrifices, and taking the same oaths that others did ?"-As for us, when we see, every day, those events exactly accomplished which our Saviour foretold at so great a distance, that his Gospel is preached in all the world, Matt. xxiv. 14,—that his disciples go and teach all nations, Matt. xxviii. 19,-and that those who have received his doctrine are brought, for his sake, before governors and before kings, Matt. x. 18,-we are filled with admiration, and our faith in him is confirmed more and

more.

And now, in these latter times, additional testimony on this subject presents itself. We have observed the manner in which Mr Hume and Mr Gibbon, who have distinguished themselves so much among the most inveterate and insidious enemies of the gospel, have studiously misrepresented the subject of the alleged

tolerating spirit of Paganism. In them, therefore, is that declaration fulfilled," There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." 2 Peter, iii. 3. If, then, in the early days of the church, the persecuting spirit of the world, so clearly predicted by the Lord, turned to the first Christians for a testimony, shall not this other prediction contained in his word, and literally verified in our time, turn in like manner to us for a testimony? In order to falsify the prediction of Jesus Christ, and to vilify his religion, by showing it to be more destructive to every right feeling of the mind of man than all the abominations and absurdities of Pagan idolatry, Mr Gibbon and Mr Hume have laboured with all their might. But “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are foolishness." "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Again it is written, "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.' Of this we have before us a very remarkable example. These same scoffers, being included in the prophetic annunciations of that book, which, walking after their own lusts, it was their settled purpose to overthrow, but which they have unconsciously verified, are here summoned as unexceptionable witnesses against themselves. "Out of the eater

came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." But while the truth of the Scriptures is thus confirmed, it is impossible to overlook the deep criminality of those writers who, in the indulgence of their enmity against the Christian religion, and in direct opposition to what they knew to be the fact, have celebrated the "mild" and " sociable spirit of Polytheism."