History of the Christian Church Author:Henry Stebbing Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: course marked out for him, only wrote, except in one instance, for single congregations. This is sufficient to indicate that the circumstances of the Christian c... more »ommunity were not as yet such as to call for written defences of the Gospel; that the time was not come for its being advocated by human eloquence or ingenuity; and that, therefore, it would be absurd to suppose that general constitutions and canons, professions of catholic faith, and histories and epistles, were multiplied according to the rate in which they are reported to have been, in the apostolic age. In concluding these remarks, it may be briefly said, that the history of the first century of the Christian church, while it offers few of those positive statements which may be found in the records of later ages, is yet sufficiently distinct, as to all the most important characteristics of history, to satisfy the fair and honest enquirer. It plainly exemplifies the ruling spirit of the period, and the motives by which the chief actors in the events which occurred were influenced; it sets forth a sufficient number of circumstances to account for the results to which it leads us in the sequel; and it all along shows, in the most distinct manner, the conflict which was going on between the two great powers then contending for mastery—between the upper and the nether currents, the virtues and vices of our nature. CHAP. III. STATE OF THE CHRISTIANS DURING THE REIGN OF TRAJAN. MARTYRDOM OF IGNATIUS. REIGN OF ADRIAN. HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS THE CHRISTIANS. INSURRECTION OF BARCHOCHEBAS. ANTONINUS PIUS. REFLECTIONS ON HIS CHARACTER. — MARCUS AURELIUS. PERSECUTION. JUSTIN MARTYR. POLYCARF. THE GALLIC PERSECUTION. CHANGE IN THE EMPERORS DISPOSITION. COMMODUS. IKTERNAL STATE OF THE CHURCH. HERESIES. Th...« less