poor; he taught them to provide a common fund for this purpose by weekly contributions of all, as God had prospered them, (1 Cor. xvi. 2;) but himself, in the wide range of his missionary tours, became the almoner of the charity of the churches to afflicted saints in foreign countries. The custom, in these primitive times, seems to have been for every one, on the Lord's day, at the close of public worship, to bring to the notice of the assembly the case of the poor, the aged, the widow, or the orphan, of whose necessities he had any knowledge; and forthwith provision was made for such from the public fund created by their weekly contributions. This custom is distinctly specified by Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century, and by Tertullian at the close of it, as is indicated in the following paragraphs:

"Of those who have abundance and are willing, each at his pleasure gives what he thinks fit. What is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the fatherless and the widows, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers who are sojourning among us. In a word, he provides for all who are in need."

"What is collected in the public chest is no dishonourable sum, as if it belonged to a purchased religion. Every one makes a small contribution on a certain day, or when he chooses; provided only he is willing and able; for no one is compelled; all is voluntary. The amount is, as it were, a common fund of piety, since it is expended, not in feasting or drinking or indecent excess, but in feeding and burying the poor, and in supporting children of either sex who have neither parents nor means of subsistence, and old men now confined to their houses and incapable of work; in relieving those who have been shipwrecked; and, if there are any in the mines, or in the islands, or in prison, provided they suffer for the cause of God's religion, they are the recipients of the bounty to which their confession entitles them. But even the working of a charity like this is made, by some, a cause of censure against us."

Numerous instances remain on record of the boundless charity of the early Christians, of which, in this boasted age of Christian. benevolence, we have no parallel. Cyprian, A. D. 250, against the remonstrance of Christian friends, sold the estate which he inherited, to supply the necessities of the poor. At another time, by his own indefatigable efforts, he raised, from his persecuted, afflicted flock, the extraordinary sum of four thousand dollars to redeem some Christian captives of Numidia, and forwarded it with a letter to the churches of Numidia, full of Christian sympathy and ten

derness.3 "Cæsarius, St. Basil's brother," near the close of the fourth century, "made only this short will when he died. 'I will that my estate be given to the poor.'" Nazianzen reports of his father, that he was so kind to the poor that he did not only bestow the surplusage of his estate upon them, but even part of what was reserved for necessary uses. Of his mother he affirms, that an ocean of wealth would not have filled her unsatisfied desire of doing good; and that he had often heard her say, that if it were lawful, she could willingly have sold herself and children to have expended the price upon the uses of the poor of his sister Gorgonia, that she was immensely liberal. "Job-like, her gate was open to every stranger. She was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a mother to orphans. Her estate was as common to the poor and as much at their service as every one's is to himself, dispensing and scattering abroad; and, according to the counsel of our Saviour, 'laying up her treasure in heaven.' "

The church at Rome, in the age of Cornelius, A. D. 250, supported more than fifteen hundred widows, besides the afflicted and needy. In the preceding century it was, as it had been from the beginning, their practice to do good to all the brethren, in every way, and to send contributions to needy churches in every city, thus refreshing the needy in their wants, and sending needful supplies to the brethren condemned to the mines. The church at Antioch, though its revenues were small, in the fifth century, daily maintained more than three thousand widows and maids, besides providing for its clergy, for strangers, for lepers, and for such as were in bonds.

A better idea cannot, perhaps, be given of the sentiments of early Christians on this subject than is furnished by an incident which occurred in Rome. The liberality shown to the poor had led a Roman officer, in the days of persecution under Decius, A. D. 251, to believe that Christians had great treasures at their command. Laurentius, one of the deacons or guardians of the poor, was commanded by the Roman prefect to deliver up the treasures of the church. He demanded three days to comply with the requisition. In that time he collected from the whole city all the poor taken care of by Christian benevolence; and, having assembled, in the courts and porches of one of their churches, the immense multitude of the aged, infirm, lame, blind, diseased, destitute poor, who received constant aid from the hands of Christians, he called upon the prefect and said, "Come, see the treasure of our God; you

shall see a great court full of vessels of gold, and talents are heaped up in the porches." The prefect followed, and was shown the assembled poor. "Behold the treasures I promised you. I add to these the widows and orphans; these are our pearls and precious stones-the crown of the church. Take this wealth for Rome, for the emperor, and for yourself."

But the benevolence of these Christians ended not with almsgiving. It was manifested no less in their personal attentions to the poor, the distressed, the sick, the dying, and the dead. In these deeds of charity and walks of usefulness they passed much of their time, and often perilled their lives in their attentions to the sick who were infected with some noisome pestilence, and to the dead who had died of contagious diseases. Many examples to this effect might be given, of which the following must suffice, presenting the benevolence of the Christians in contrast with the barbarous neglect of the pagans of Alexandria, during the prevalence of the plague in that city:-"That pestilence appeared to the heathen as the most dreadful of all things,-as that which left them no hope. Not so, however, did it seem to us, but only a peculiar and practical trial. The greater part of our people, in the abundance of their brotherly love, did not spare themselves; and, mutually attending to each other, they cheerfully attended to the sick without fear, and ministered to them for the sake of Christ. Many of them died, after their care had restored others from the plague to health. The best among our brethren, priests and deacons, and some who were celebrated among the laity, died in this manner; and such a death, the fruit of great piety and strong faith, is hardly inferior to martyrdom. Many who took the bodies of their Christian brethren into their hands and bosoms, closed their mouth and eyes, and buried them with every attention, soon followed them in death. But with the heathen, matters stood quite differently at the first symptom of sickness, they drove a man from their society, they tore themselves away from their dearest connections, they threw the half dead into the streets, and left thousands unburied,—-endeavouring by all the means in their power escape contagion, which, notwithstanding all their contrivances, it was very difficult to accomplish."

to

Eusebius, again, describes the dreadful famine and pestilence which prevailed in the East during a violent persecution under the emperor Maximin, A. D. 308, and the unwearied exertions of the Christians, in the midst of their persecutions, in behalf of the

starving, plague-stricken multitude. "Immense numbers were dying in the cities, still more in the country and villages, so that now the vast population in the interior was almost entirely swept away; nearly all being suddenly destroyed by want of food and by pestilential disease. Many were anxious to sell their most valuable effects, to those better supplied, for the smallest quantity of food. Others, gradually spending all their possessions, were reduced to the last extreme of want. And some even chewing remnants of hay; and others, eating without distinction certain noxious herbs, miserably destroyed the constitution of the body. Also, some of the more honourable females throughout the cities, constrained by want to throw aside all shame, went into the public markets to beg, indicating the evidences of their former liberal education by the modesty of their countenances and the decency of their apparel. Some, indeed, wasted away to mere skeletons, stumbled hither and thither like dead shadows, trembling and tottering from excessive weakness and inability to stand; they fell down in the midst of the streets, where they lay stretched out, and only earnestly begged some one to hand them a little morsel of bread; then, drawing in their breath, with the last gasp they cried out, 'Hunger!' having only strength sufficient for this most painful cry. Some, however, of those that appeared better supplied, astonished at the great multitude of those begging, after giving vast quantities away, afterwards yielded to a harsh and inflexible disposition, expecting that they would soon suffer the same things with those begging of them. So that now, in the midst of the streets and lanes, the dead and naked bodies, cast out and lying for many days, presented a most painful spectacle to the beholders. Some, indeed, were already the food of dogs; on which account the survivors began to slay the dogs, lest, growing mad, they should devour men. The pestilence, in the mean time, did not the less prey upon every house and family; particularly those whom the famine, from their abundance of food, could not destroy-the wealthy, the rulers, generals, and vast numbers in office-who, as if they had been designedly left by the famine to the pestilence, were overtaken by a sudden, violent, and rapid death. All places, therefore, were filled with lamentation, in all streets, lanes, market-places, and highways. Nothing was to be seen but tears, with the accustomed flutes and funeral dirge. In this manner, death waged a desolating war with these two weapons-famine and pestilence-destroying whole families in a short time; so that now one could see two or three dead bodies

carried out at once. Such were the rewards of the pompous boasting of Maximinus, and of his edicts throughout the city against us. Then, also, the evidences of the zeal and piety of the Christians became manifest and obvious to all; for they were the only persons, in the midst of such distressing circumstances, that exhibited sympathy and humanity in their conduct. They continued the whole day, some in the care and burial of the dead, for numberless were they for whom there was none to care; others, collecting the multitude of those wasted by the famine throughout the city, distributed bread among all; so that the fact was cried abroad, and men glorified the God of the Christians, constrained as they were, by the facts, to acknowledge that these were the only really pious and the only real worshippers of God."

§ 4. THEIR EFFORTS FOR THE PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.

IN swift obedience to the great command which closed the ministry of our Lord, the apostles sped through the earth as angels of mercy to preach the gospel to every creature. Not counting his life dear to him, so he might fulfil his benevolent mission, each in turn laid down his life a cheerful sacrifice for the conversion of men. But the same self-denying, self-sacrificing spirit survived the apostles and animated the primitive ages of the church. Clement, contemporary and survivor of the apostles, appeals to the personal knowledge of the Romans and Corinthians, "how many among them had given themselves up into bonds, that they might free others. Many had sold themselves into bondage and received the price that they might feed others."

Origen, against Celsus, in the third century, describes the earnestness of Christians to propagate their faith through the whole world; some of whom went up and down, not only through cities, but towns and villages, to bring over others to the true religion, often refusing to receive necessary accommodations from others; and, at other times, only accepting these when greater liberalities were offered. The efforts of Monica, the mother of Augustin, for the conversion of her husband and her son, are well known. To the latter she said, "I have no further hopes or desires, my son, in this world; I only desired to live to see you a Christian." To Emmilia, the grandmother of Basil the Great; to Nonna, the mother of Gregory Nazianzen, and to Arethusa, the mother of Chrysostom, the world was indebted, through grace, for those great