elves overwhelmed by the increasing
multitudes, that from all the various religions of polytheism enlisted
under the banner of Christ: and the Gentiles, who, with the approbation
of their peculiar apostle, had rejected the intolerable weight of the
Mosaic ceremonies, at length refused to their more scrupulous brethren
the same toleration which at first they had humbly solicited for their
own practice. The ruin of the temple of the city, and of the public
religion of the Jews, was severely felt by the Nazarenes; as in their
manners, though not in their faith, they maintained so intimate a
connection with their impious countrymen, whose misfortunes were
attributed by the Pagans to the contempt, and more justly ascribed by
the Christians to the wrath, of the Supreme Deity. The Nazarenes retired
from the ruins of Jerusalem [18] to the little town of Pella beyond
the Jordan, where that ancient church languished above sixty years in
solitude and obscurity. [19] They still enjoyed the comfort of making
frequent and devout visits to the Holy City, and the hope of being one
day restored to those seats which both nature and religion taught them
to love as well as to revere. But at length, under the reign of Hadrian,
the desperate fanaticism of the Jews filled up the measure of their
calamities; and the Romans, exasperated by their repeated rebellions,
exercised the rights of victory with unusual rigor. The emperor founded,
under the name of Aelia Capitolina, a new city on Mount Sion, [20] to
which he gave the privileges of a colony; and denouncing the severest
penalties against any of the Jewish people who should dare to approach
its precincts, he fixed a vigilant garrison of a Roman cohort to enforce
the execution of his orders. The Nazarenes had only one way left to
escape the common proscription, and the force of truth was on this
occasion assisted by the influence of temporal advantages. They elected
Marcus for their bishop, a prelate of the race of the Gentiles, and most
probably a native either of Italy or of some of the Latin provinces. At
his persuasion, the most considerable part of the congregation renounced
the Mosaic law, in the practice of which they had persevered above
a century. By this sacrifice of their habits and prejudices, they
purchased a free admission into the colony of Hadrian, and more firmly
cemented their union with the Catholic church. [21]

[Footnote 17: Paene omnes Christum Deum sub legis observation