on of men well known to the person to whom
he writes. His first sentence concerning them is, "I have never been
present at the trials of Christians." This mention of the name of
Christians, without any preparatory explanation, shows that it was a
term familiar both to the writer of the letter and the person to whom it
was addressed. Had it not been so, Pliny would naturally have begun his
letter by informing the emperor that he had met with a certain set of
men in the province called Christians.

Here then is a very singular evidence of the progress of the Christian
religion in a short space. It was not fourscore years after the
crucifixion of Jesus when Pliny wrote this letter; nor seventy years
since the apostles of Jesus began to mention his name to the Gentile
world. Bithynia and Pontus were at a great distance from Judea, the
centre from which the religion spread; yet in these provinces
Christianity had long subsisted, and Christians were now in such numbers
as to lead the Roman governor to report to the emperor that they were
found not only in cities, but in villages and in open countries; of all
ages, of every rank and condition; that they abounded so much as to have
produced a visible desertion of the temples; that beasts brought to
market for victims had few purchasers; that the sacred solemnities were
much neglected:--circumstances noted by Pliny for the express purpose of
showing to the emperor the effect and prevalency of the new institution.

No evidence remains by which it can be proved that the Christians were
more numerous in Pontus and Bithynia than in other parts of the Roman
empire; nor has any reason been offered to show why they should be so.
Christianity did not begin in these countries, nor near them. I do not
know, therefore, that we ought to confine the description in Pliny's
letter to the state of Christianity in these provinces, even if no other
account of the same subject had come down to us; but, certainly, this
letter may fairly be applied in aid and confirmation of the
representations given of the general state of Christianity in the world,
by Christian writers of that and the next succeeding age.

Justin Martyr, who wrote about thirty years after Pliny, and one hundred
and six after the ascension, has these remarkable words: "There is not a
nation, either of Greek or barbarian, or of any other name, even of
those who wander in tribes, and live in tents, amongst whom prayers and
thanksgi