m find so favorable a reception in the
world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the
passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind,
as instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted, though
with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but
what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian
church. It will, perhaps, appear, that it was most effectually favored
and assisted by the five following causes: I. The inflexible, and if we
may use the expression, the intolerant zeal of the Christians, derived,
it is true, from the Jewish religion, but purified from the narrow and
unsocial spirit, which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles
from embracing the law of Moses. II. The doctrine of a future life,
improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and
efficacy to that important truth. III. The miraculous powers ascribed to
the primitive church. IV. The pure and austere morals of the Christians.
V. The union and discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually
formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman
empire.

I. We have already described the religious harmony of the ancient
world, and the facility * with which the most different and even hostile
nations embraced, or at least respected, each other's superstitions. A
single people refused to join in the common intercourse of mankind. The
Jews, who, under the Assyrian and Persian monarchies, had languished
for many ages the most despised portion of their slaves, emerged from
obscurity under the successors of Alexander; and as they multiplied to
a surprising degree in the East, and afterwards in the West, they soon
excited the curiosity and wonder of other nations. The sullen obstinacy
with which they maintained their peculiar rites and unsocial manners,
seemed to mark them out as a distinct species of men, who boldly
professed, or who faintly disguised, their implacable habits to the rest
of human kind. Neither the violence of Antiochus, nor the arts of Herod,
nor the example of the circumjacent nations, could ever persuade the
Jews to associate with the institutions of Moses the elegant mythology
of the Greeks. According to the maxims of universal toleration, the
Romans protected a superstition which they despised. The polite Augustus
condescended to give orders, that sacrifices should be offered for
his prosperity