death." It has been said that the early Christian "outlived the pagan, outthought him, and outdied him." The spectacle of men and women, boys and girls, going to martyrdom without complaint, gladly choosing to suffer rather than deny their faith, at last convinced even the hardest-hearted that Christianity was not the infamous cult they supposed it to be. In spite of decimation, the church increased in numbers. "We multiply the more we are mown down," said Tertullian; "the blood of Christians is as seed." Or, as Justin, the converted philosopher, himself soon to become a martyr, wrote:

"You can plainly see that when we are beheaded and crucified and exposed to wild beasts and chains and fire and every other torture, we do not abandon our profession; but just in proportion as such sufferings are inflicted so many more are added to our faith and religion through the name of Jesus. The gardener cuts off the limbs of the vine which have borne fruit in order that other branches may spring forth, and thus render them vigorous and productive. And so it proves with us. The vine which has been planted by God and our Saviour Christ is his people."―Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 110.

By the end of the third century, on the very eve of the last and bitterest persecution, to be followed soon by the open triumph of the church, Christianity had spread to the farthest limits of the empire. Not that Christians were everywhere in the majority. But they were in the majority in some of the chief centers; they were increasing generally; and the cross had been invisibly planted, along with the standards of the legions, upon the farthest frontiers of the Roman power. What had spread it in this way? The preaching and teach

ing of evangelists and clergy, the writings of apologists and scholars; but chiefly the simple, steadfast faith and honest lives and constancy even unto death of the humble rank and file of believers. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4). The word "faith" means also faithfulness.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Read over in your ancient history (for example, Breasted, Ancient Times, Chapters XXVIII, XXIX) the account of the Roman Empire from Hadrian to Diocletian. Were there any reasons for caution in dealing with latent political movements?

2. Study the map showing the expansion of early Christianity and compare it with a map of the Roman Empire. Draw one of your own to go into your notebook. 3. Look up "Catacombs," "Eucharist," "Antichrist," "Sacrament," "Blue Laws," and define them in your notebook. Who were Zeno and Epictetus? 4. Look up and read the story of Saint Perpetua (see the encyclopedia).

5. What were the rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian, and what rules did they lay down? Compare the two. 6. Explain the origin and growth of the legend of the "thundering legion." What is its value for our study of the spread of Christianity?

7. Explain the persecution of the early Christians (1) from the point of view of the emperors and civil authorities; (2) from that of the pagan population. How did Christianity spread in spite of persecution?

8. What effect had the testimony and the lives of "the humble rank and file of believers" upon the growth of Christianity? Has it a similar effect to-day? How may all of us bear witness for Christ in our daily lives?

CHAPTER XXIX

CHURCH WORSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP

IN the early days of the church in Jerusalem, the Christians worshiped in the Temple like all other Jews. Outside Jerusalem, and even within the city, as the story of Stephen shows, they worshiped in the synagogues. Though arrested for preaching in the Temple courts, and though beaten and "cast out" of the synagogues, they continued to worship there until Palestinian Christianity and Judaism finally separated some time after the fall of Jerusalem.

Outside Palestine the Christian movement began, as a rule, in the Jewish synagogues. Here the gospel was preached on Sabbaths, and usually a few of its members or adherents (often the "God-fearing" Gentiles who had already accepted Judaism half way) were converted to Christianity and formed the nucleus of the new Christian congregation.

Hence it was only natural for the church's services of worship to be modeled very largely upon the services in the Jewish synagogue. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, used in the synagogues outside Palestine, was taken over by the Christians, and Lessons were read at public worship from the Law and Prophets. Certain of the Psalms were said at morning and evening prayer, just as in the Jewish services. Common prayers were likewise used, though their contents and wording were, of course, quite different from the Jewish prayers. These three elements in the synagogue services, Psalms,

Lessons, and Prayers, were also to be found in the worship of the Christians.

THE CHURCH'S WORSHIP

There were, however, two important exceptions, two services or sacraments for which the synagogue had no parallel. These were the administration of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist.

The sacrament of Baptism.-The rite of baptism had been an essential feature of the Christian religion from its very beginning. Even before the ministry of our Lord, John the Baptist had preached "the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins." Jesus had been baptized, and his disciples. The early Christians in Jerusalem were all baptized: it was the normal way in which to become a Christian and a member of the church. The same procedure was followed in the Gentile mission by Paul and other leaders. It is sometimes said that baptism was taken over from the custom of the Jews in the Diaspora who baptized their Gentile proselytes. But this was not the same as Christian baptism, which admitted one to full-fledged membership in the church-a rite to which circumcision was the real Jewish parallel.

Its requirements.-The two requirements of the candidate for baptism were repentance and faith: repentance from his former sins, a "conversion" or facing about, turning his back upon his former life of selfindulgence, vice, or sin; and faith in Christ, confidence in his power over sin and evil and even death, and the resolute committal of all one's future happiness in this life and the next into the keeping of Jesus his Lord.

Very early some sort of creed or confession of faith was required. In the lifetime of Saint Paul it was little

more than the words of acknowledgment, Kyrios Iêsous -"Jesus is Lord!" (See 1 Corinthians 12:3.) By the middle of the second century this formula of belief had grown until it was approximately what we call, to-day, "the Apostles' Creed."

"I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

"And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hades; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead;

"I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” 1

Baptism not repeated.-A description of the administration of baptism in the early church is found in the Apology of Justin Martyr:

"I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach is true, and undertake to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and

1 "Hades," that is, the place of departed spirits, which our Lord visited and where he preached salvation, according to the early Christian belief, in the interval between his death and resurrection; see the creed-like passage in 1 Peter 3: 18-22. "The holy catholic church," that is, universal, world-wide; even at the beginning of the second century (see the epistles of Ignatius) this was the name of the Christian Church. It was universal, not in the sense of including the whole world, but as spread throughout it. "The communion of saints" was another name for the Church; Christians were "called to be saints," according to Saint Paul and other early teachers.