Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1885 — CHRISTIANITY. [ARTICLE]

CHRISTIANITY.

Rapid Growth of the Early Christian « Church. The number of disciples who assembled in An upper room at Jerusalem after the ascension of Christ was only 120, but the miracles of the day of Pentecost, and the sermon of St. Peter, added 3,900 new believers, and before very long, according to the testimony of the second chapter of r Acts, tjheir number was 5,000. We are next told that “the work of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusal en “greatly.” For som e years after the crucifixion the Gospel was preached at Jerusalem - only; but the first great persecution there, in which St. Stephen was stoned to death, in the year 37, scattered the disciples, and they preached the new faith in Judea, Samaria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Syria. In Tyre and Sidon there were bands of converts, and the number of believers at Antioch soon formed a strong organization, and it was in the last-named city that the followers of tbe new faith first received their distinctive name of Christians. The mission of the Apostle Paul to the Gentiles began about the year 44. The result of his first journey with Barnabas into Asia was the establishment of

churches in Pamphyha, Pisidia, Lyca- , onia, and Cilicia, in the southern part of Asia Minor. His next circuit extended the church into Phrygia, Galatia, Troas, Macedonia, and Greece. In another journey the Church of Ephesus was formed, over which Paul preached for many years. Carried to Rome in the year 59; Paul found the church had already gained a foothold in Italy, and he largely augmented the number of believers in the Eternal City by his preaching and died by martyrdom there in 68. The other apostles also preached at different places. St. Peter visited tbe northern provinces of Asia Minor and Chaldea; St. Thomas taught at Odessa and in Mesapotamia, and is thought to have extended his journeys to India; St. Mark founded the church at Alexandria in Egypt, and there are traditions that Persia. Arabia, and Ethiopia were visited by others of the apostles. Thus the little grain of mustard seen was growing into a large tree. The historian Tacitus, in describing the persecutions in the time of Nero, from the years 64 to 68, speaks of the Christians as having become a vast multitude. Pliny, the Roman Governor of Pontus and Bithynia, writing in the year 107, said that Christianity had caused the worship of the gods in his provinces to be almost en-. tirely given up. After the death of the apostles we have little record of the work of the church for some years. But Justin Martyr wrote about the year 150, 'as follows: “There is no race of men, whether barbarians or Greek, or by whatever other name they may be designated, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of all in the name of the crucified Jesus.” Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, writing about the year 178, said that the Gospel had been received in Germany, France, Spain, and Libya; and Tertullian, in the year 198, declares that Par thia, Media, Armenia, Gaul, Britan, “and other nations and island innumerable” had all received the light of the Gospel, and had added large numbers to the ranks of Christian believers. In the year 214 Origen conducted a mission among the Arabs and converted many. Mission aries during that century taught throughout Gaul, and founded several churches in Germany. Early in the third century, during the persecutions, Tertullian said that if the n Christians were all forced to emigrate, the Roman Empire would become a desert. These persecutions only served to stimulate the spread of the church, and in the year 303 these cruelties came to an end. The year 324 was an important one for the church, for in that year the Emperor Constantine joined the Christians, and the hitherto persecuted church was lifted to place and power. In that century, however, the rapid growth of Christianity was checked by tbe appearance of the first heresy, the Arian, and in tbe early part of the fifth century the incursions of the barbarian tribes and the overthrow of the Homan Empire were even a more seriious hindrance to its prosperous growth. But by this time it had nearly 700 bishops, several thousand priests, and deacons, and adherents without number in Southern Europe, in Asia, and in Egypt. In fine, it had utterly overthrown, before that date, all the heathen religions, though it had made little impression upon the Jews, and was destined in two more centuries to be wholly driven from the Oriental countries i by the rise and spread of Mahommed- ; anism.— lnter-Ocean.