truth whose evidence it was difficult
either to discard or to depreciate. Nor were such vouchers rare either
in the second or third century. A learned minister of the Church could
now venture to affirm that Christian communities were to be found
composed of men "_reclaimed from ten thousand vices,_" [276:1] and that
these societies, compared with others around them, were "as lights in
the world." [276:2] The practical excellence of the new faith is
attested, still more circumstantially, by another of its advocates who
wrote about half a century after the age of the apostles. "We," says he,
"who formerly delighted in vicious excesses are now temperate and
chaste; we, who once practised magical arts, have consecrated ourselves
to the good and unbegotten God; we, who once prized gain above all
things, give even what we have to the common use, and share it with such
as are in need; we, who once hated and murdered one another, who, on
account of difference of customs, would have no common hearth with
strangers, now, since the appearance of Christ, live together with them;
we pray for our enemies; we seek to persuade those who hate us without
cause to live conformably to the goodly precepts of Christ, that they
may become partakers with us, of the joyful hope of blessings from God,
the Lord of all." [277:1] When we consider that all the old
superstitions had now become nearly effete, we cannot be surprised at
the signal triumphs of a system which could furnish such noble
credentials.

Whilst Christianity demonstrated its divine virtue by the good fruits
which it produced, it, at the same time, invited all men to study its
doctrines and to judge for themselves. Those who were disposed to
examine its internal evidences were supplied with facilities for
pursuing the investigation, as the Scriptures of the New Testament were
publicly read in the assemblies of the faithful, and copies of them were
diligently multiplied, so that these divine guides could be readily
consulted by every one who really wished for information. The importance
of the writings of the apostles and evangelists suggested the propriety
of making them available for the instruction of those who were ignorant
of Greek; and versions in the Latin, the Syriac, and other languages
[277:2] soon made their appearance. Some compositions are stripped of
their charms when exhibited in translations, as they owe their
attractiveness to the mere embellishments of style or e