human tortures, their devotion and firm reliance
on their God in the moments of mortal agony, increased the number of
converts to a religion which could work such a moral miracle.
Persecution also united the Christians more closely together, and when
the reign of terror ended with the death of Nero, it was found that
Christianity had derived additional strength from the means taken to
insure its destruction.

11. The successive persecutions inflicted by the policy or the bigotry
of the following emperors had precisely the same results; and at
length the Christians had acquired such strength, that their aid, as a
body, became a matter of importance in contests for the empire.

12. The mild administration of Constantino, while he was only prefect
of Gaul, the protection which he afforded to the Christians, and the
favour that he showed to their religion, induced them to aid him with
all their might in his struggle for the throne. Brought thus into
contact with the professors of the new doctrine, Constantine was
induced to examine the foundations of its high claims--perfect
conviction was the result, and on his accession to the imperial
purple, the Christian church was legally established. 13. During the
reign of the apostate Julian, Christianity was discouraged, but not
persecuted; his premature death, however, removed the last impediment
to its final triumph, which was consummated in the reign of the great
Theodo'sius. 14. Under that emperor the last vestiges of the pagan
worship were destroyed, its idols overthrown, its altars demolished,
and its temples closed. The world had become ripe for such a
revolution, as the temples had been long before almost universally
abandoned.

15. Since that period Christianity has prevailed in Europe, and formed
the great bond of the social happiness and the great source of the
intellectual eminence enjoyed in that quarter of the globe. Let us
hope that the exertions now made to diffuse its blessings over
the benighted portions of the earth will prove successful, and that
"peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety" will
prevail from pole to pole.

_Questions for Examination._

1. What was the state of the Jews at the coming of Christ?

2. How were the Jews preserved separate from other nations?

3. What probable cause may be assigned for the neglect of the
Christian miracles?

4. How did the dispersion of the Jews afford an opportunity for the
propagation of