wandering fanatics of Egypt and Syria, who addressed themselves to the credulous superstition of the populace, were perhaps the only order of priests "o that derived their whole support and credit from their sacerdotal profession, and were very deeply affected by a personal concern for the safety or prosperity of their tutelar deities. The 'ministers of Polytheism, both in Rome and in the provinces, were, for the most part, men of a noble birth, and of an affluent fortune, who received, as an honourable distinction, the care of a celebrated temple, or of a public sacrifice, exhibited, very frequently at their own expence, the sacred games's', and with cold indifference performed the ancient rites, according to the laws and fashion-of their country. As they were engaged in the ordinary occupations of life, their zeal and devotion were seldom animated by a sense of interest, or by the habits of an ecclesiastical character. Confined to their respective temples and Cities, they remained without any connexion of discipline or. government; and whilsl; they acknowledged the supreme jurisdio tion of the senate, of the college of pontiffs, and

w treat with respect and decency the religious in

a

Greek language, at a considerable distance from,

grown extremely numerous "3. As soon as those histories were translated into the Latin tongue, they were perfectly intelligible to all the subjects of Rome, excepting only to the peasants of Syria and Egypt, for whose benefit particular verfions were afterwards made. The public highways, which had been constructed for the use of the legions, opened an easy passage for the Christian misiionaries from Damascus to Corinth, and from Italy to the extiemity of Spain or Britain; nor did those spiritual conquerors encounter any of the obstacles which usually retard or prevent the introduction of a foreign religion into a dis. tant country. There is the strongest reason to believe, that before the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine, the faith of Christ had been preach-r ed in every province, and in all the great cities of the empire; but the soundation of the several congregations, the numbers of the faithful'who composed them, and their proportion to the unbelieving multitude, are now buried in obscurity, or disguised by. fiction and declamation. Such imperfect circumstances, however, as have reached our knowledge concerning the increase of the Christian name in Asia and Greece, in Egypt, in Italy, and in the West, we shall now proceed to relate, without neglecting the real or imaginary

"3 Under the reigns of Nero and Domitian, and in the cities of Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, and Ephesus. See Mill. Prolegomena' ad Nov. Testament. and Dr. Lardner'g fair and extenfive collection, VOL xve

acqui,