alone are
without crime," says Tertullian; "no Christian suffers but for his
religion." "Your prisons are full," says Minutius Felix, "but they
contain not one Christian." And these holy lives were an argument which
even the heathen could not gainsay. The ethics of paganism were the
speculations of the cultivated few who aspired to the character of
philosophers. The ethics of Christianity were a system of practical duty
affecting the daily life of the most lowly and unlettered. "Philosophy,"
says Lecky, "may dignify, but is impotent to regenerate man; it may
cultivate virtue, but cannot restrain vice." But Christianity introduced
a new sense of sin and of holiness, of everlasting reward and of endless
condemnation. It planted a sublime, impassioned love of Christ in the
heart, inflaming all its affections. It transformed the character from
icy stoicism or epicurean selfishness to a boundless and uncalculating
self-abnegation and devotion.

This divine principle developed a new instinct of philanthropy in the
soul. A feeling of common brotherhood knit the hearts of the believers
together. To love a slave! to love an enemy! was accounted the
impossible among the heathen; yet this incredible virtue they beheld
every day among the Christians. "This surprised them beyond measure,"
says Tertullian, "that one man should die for another." Hence, in the
Christian inscriptions no word of bitterness, even toward their
persecutors, is to be found. Sweet peace, the peace of God that passeth
all understanding, breathes on every side.

One of the most striking results of the new spirit of philanthropy which
Christianity introduced is seen in the copious charity of the primitive
Church. Amid the ruins of ancient palaces and temples, theatres and
baths, there are none of any house of mercy. Charity among the pagans,
was at best, a fitful and capricious fancy. Among the Christians it was
a vast and vigorous organization and was cultivated with noble
enthusiasm. And the great and wicked city of Rome, with its fierce
oppressions and inhuman wrongs, afforded amplest opportunity for the
Christ-like ministrations of love and pity. There were Christian slaves
to succour, exposed to unutterable indignities and cruel punishment,
even unto crucifixion for conscience' sake. There were often martyrs'
pangs to assuage, the aching wounds inflicted by the rack or by the
nameless tortures of the heathen to bind up, and their bruised and
broken hearts