be found in Moses of Chorene, l.
ii. c. 78--89. Note: Mons. St. Martin has shown that Armenia was the
first nation that embraced Christianity. Memoires sur l'Armenie, vol. i.
p. 306, and notes to Le Beae. Gibbon, indeed had expressed his intention
of withdrawing the words "of Armenia" from the text of future editions.
(Vindication, Works, iv. 577.) He was bitterly taunted by Person for
neglecting or declining to fulfil his promise. Preface to Letters to
Travis.--M.]

[Footnote 179: According to Tertullian, the Christian faith had
penetrated into parts of Britain inaccessible to the Roman arms. About a
century afterwards, Ossian, the son of Fingal, is said to have disputed,
in his extreme old age, with one of the foreign missionaries, and the
dispute is still extant, in verse, and in the Erse language. See Mr.
Macpher son's Dissertation on the Antiquity of Ossian's Poems, p. 10.]

[Footnote 180: The Goths, who ravaged Asia in the reign of Gallienus,
carried away great numbers of captives; some of whom were Christians,
and became missionaries. See Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiast. tom. iv. p.
44.]

[Footnote 181: The legends of Abgarus, fabulous as it is, affords
a decisive proof, that many years before Eusebius wrote his history, the
greatest part of the inhabitants of Edessa had embraced Christianity.
Their rivals, the citizens of Carrhae, adhered, on the contrary, to the
cause of Paganism, as late as the sixth century.]

[Footnote 182: According to Bardesanes (ap. Euseb. Praepar. Evangel.)
there were some Christians in Persia before the end of the second
century. In the time of Constantine (see his epistle to Sapor, Vit. l.
iv. c. 13) they composed a flourishing church. Consult Beausobre, Hist.
Cristique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 180, and the Bibliotheca Orietalis
of Assemani.]

Chapter XV: Progress Of The Christian Religion.--Part IX.

From this impartial though imperfect survey of the progress of
Christianity, it may perhaps seem probable, that the number of its
proselytes has been excessively magnified by fear on the one side, and
by devotion on the other. According to the irreproachable testimony of
Origen, [183] the proportion of the faithful was very inconsiderable,
when compared with the multitude of an unbelieving world; but, as we are
left without any distinct information, it is impossible to determine,
and it is difficult even to conjecture, the real numbers of the
primitive Christians. The most