pages.

CONTENTS.

* * * * *

PERIOD I

FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE
DEATH OF THE APOSTLE JOHN, A.D. 100.

* * * * *

SECTION I.

HISTORY OF THE PLANTING AND GROWTH OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.
PAGE
The boundaries of the Empire, 3
Its population, strength, and grandeur, ib.
Its orators, poets, and philosophers, 5
The influence of Rome upon the provinces, ib.
The languages most extensively spoken, 6
The moral condition of the Empire, ib.
The influence of the philosophical sects--the Epicureans, the
Stoics, the Academics, and Plato, 7
The influence of the current Polytheism, 9
The state of the Jews--the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes, ib.
Preparations for a great Deliverer, and expectation of His appearance, 11

CHAPTER II.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

The date of the Birth of Christ, 14
The place of His Birth, ib.
The visit of the angel to the shepherds, 15
The visit of the Magi--the flight into Egypt--and the murder of
the infants at Bethlehem, ib.
The presentation in the Temple, 16
The infancy and boyhood of Jesus, 17
His baptism and entrance upon His public ministry, 18
His mysterious movements, 19
The remarkable blanks in the accounts given of Him in the Gospels, 20
His moral purity, 21
His doctrine and His mode of teaching, 22
His miracles, 23
The independence of His proceedings as a reformer, 25
The length of His ministry, 26
The Sanhedrim and Pontius Pilate,