fe in those
days of the struggle between Christianity and Paganism for the mastery
of the world, was that of being allied to a pagan husband. Tertullian,
in the third century, thus describes the difficulties which a Christian
woman married to an idolater must encounter in her religious life:

"At the time for worship the husband will appoint the use of the bath;
when a fast is to be observed he will invite company to a feast When she
would bestow alms, both safe and cellar are closed against her. What
heathen will suffer his wife to attend the nightly meetings of the
Church, the slandered Supper of the Lord, to visit the sick even in the
poorest hovels, to kiss the martyrs' chains in prison, to rise in the
night for prayer, to show hospitality to stranger brethren?"[36]

In time of persecution, or in the case of persons of such exalted rank
as that of Valeria, the difficulty of adorning a Christian life, amid
their pagan surroundings, was all the greater. Yet not a word of scandal
has been breathed upon the character of the wife of the arch persecutor
of the Christians; and even the sneering pen of Gibbon has only words of
commendation for the Christian Empress who herself under subsequent
persecution, remained steadfast even unto death.

The beauty and dignity of Christian wedlock in an age of persecution
and strife are nobly expressed by Tertullian in the following passage,
addressed to his own wife: "How can I paint the happiness," he exclaims,
"of a marriage which the Church ratines, the Sacrament confirms, the
benediction seals, angels announce, and our heavenly Father declares
valid! What a union of two believers--one hope, one vow, one discipline,
one worship! They are brother and sister, two fellow-servants, one
spirit and one flesh. They pray together, fast together, exhort and
support one another. They go together to the house of God, and to the
table of the Lord. They share each other's trials, persecutions, and
joys. Neither avoids, nor hides anything from the other. They delight to
visit the sick, succour the needy, and daily to lay their offerings
before the altar without scruple, and without constraint. They do not
need to keep the sign of the cross hidden, nor to express secretly their
Christian joy, nor to receive by stealth the eucharist. They join in
psalms and hymns, and strive who best can praise God. Christ rejoices at
the sight, and sends His peace upon them. Where two are in His name He
also is