e by the holy Apostles St. Peter, St. Paul,
and St. John, and their fellow-martyrs[1].

Section 1. _Causes of Persecution._

In considering the causes which led to the persecution of the Church by
the heathen around her, we {58} must, of course, place first as the
root and ground of all, the malice of Satan, and his hatred of God, and
of the means appointed by God for saving souls. [Sidenote: Satan's
enmity the great cause of persecution.] The Kingdom of God and the
kingdom of Satan must ever be at war, and the fierce and varied
sufferings inflicted by the cruel heathen on all who bore the name of
Christ were so many assaults of the great adversary seeking to
overthrow the Church in an open and deadly struggle. But the
life-giving Presence of her Incarnate Lord, and "the patience and the
faith of the Saints," were mightier weapons than "all the fiery darts
of the Wicked," and "the gates of Hell" were not suffered to "prevail
against her."

[Sidenote: Other minor causes.]

There were, however, other and secondary causes which led to the
persecution of the Church. The Romans were not usually intolerant of
religions which they did not themselves profess; their worship of their
own false gods had come to be a form, as far as the educated classes
were concerned, and what belief they had was given to philosophy rather
than religion. Hence they were not unwilling that the nations they
conquered should keep to their own respective creeds and religious
ceremonies, so long as they did not interfere with Roman authority.
But the religion of Christ required more than this. It could not be
confined to any one country, nor be content with bare toleration, nor
rank itself with the many forms of Pagan misbelief. It claimed to be
the only True Religion, the only Way of Salvation, before which the
superstitions of the ignorant, and the philosophy of the learned must
alike give way. It made its way even into "Caesar's household."
Besides this, Christians, owing to the nationality of the First
Founders {59} of the Church, were often confounded with, and called by
the same name as the Jews, who had a bad repute under the empire for
rebellious and seditious conduct, and we know how, even in the days of
St. Paul, the charge of sedition had begun to be most unjustly fastened
upon the followers of the Meek and Lowly Jesus. This charge of
disaffection to the powers of the state received an additional and
plausible colouring from