and other heathen historians, to it, prove that in thirty years after our Lord's crucifixion in Jerusalem, Christians composed a body sufficiently numerous, in Rome, the capital of the empire, to be well known, and to be the object of violent hostility from the people, and the government. Then, we saw that before another half century had gone, the Emperor Trajan was consulted by the prefect of a distant province, as to what should be done with this "superstition," which was spreading like a pestilence, and visibly endangering all the old religions. Time rolls on. In another half-century, we find Marcus Antoninus, one of the best of men and of sovereigns, compelled, by his sense of duty to the religious institutions of his empire upon which rested its civic institutions, to persecute, and strive by all means to suppress, the followers of this new religion, who were now so numerous and potent in the provinces of his vast realm, that he clearly perceived the peril to be encountered, when he brought against them the strength of his empire. And still the church grew; and as it grew the persecutions by which it was assailed were more urgent and violent, until it became apparent, before three centuries had passed away, that Christianity more than divided the empire with heathenism; for when heathenism advanced to the combat for life or death, aided by the whole force of the government, of the priesthood, and of all the offices and institutions connected with either of them, it was heathenism which succumbed, and in a few years more Christianity sat with Constantine upon the throne of an empire which was then the whole civilized world.

How is this to be accounted for? In no way, as a human work, or as wrought by human means. It was a miracle: a work of the Holy Spirit; as much a miracle as any that are recorded in the Gospels. No one can read the Gospels without perceiving that Faith was the foundation of all the miracles; that it was the indispensable condition which made a miracle possible. The law which permeated and governed all of them, was, "according to thy faith be it done unto

thee." Therefore, the condition which made the miracle of the growth of the early Christian Church possible was its faith,—was the fact that it possessed real, active, vital faith. It was a proselyting, propagandist, missionary church. But the law which governed its whole missionary work, and gave to this work life, efficiency, and success, was found in the command in the Sermon on the Mount: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

In preceding notes enough has been stated concerning the persecutions, and the way they were met, to prove that Christians as a general rule-had, in those ages, a faith which yielded not to obstacles or temptation, and was made more intense by all the efforts to quench its fire, and was triumphant over all assaults, and rejoiced amid all suffering. But the history of those ages tells us much more than this. Some of the preceding Notes show its effect upon character, and motive, and conduct; they show that their faith worked a complete reform of life; that it made them loving, and charitable, not only to each other, but to their persecuting enemies, withdrawn from the vice and licentiousness which prevailed around them, and pure in the midst of the grossest impurity, utterly fearless of death, and separated from the heathen community by the habitual practice of virtues nearly unknown elsewhere. It is not meant that they were perfect men and women. They were very far from this; they had undoubtedly abundance of faults and frailties. But it would be easy to quote, in addition to what has been already said, many passages from the Christian apologists and defenders of the faith, in which, in documents not only published, but expressly appealing to their enemies and persecutors, they constantly refer to the lives and conduct of believers, in proof of what their doctrines inculcated, and of the influence they exerted. They could not have done this if they were open to the answer from their opponents, "We see nothing of the kind, and do not admit your statements." And in fact their antagonists, learned and able men, who spared nothing

which could help them in their war against the church, these opponents never did deny these statements of the defenders of the church.

What is the inference from all this? Is it not that the Christian Church grew because its members manifested its doctrines and its influences in their lives, and were thereby separated in the sight of all men, from the heathen around them, who possessed no such doctrines to guide them, and could not feel the supporting strength of such an influence? How could it be otherwise? They possessed truths revealed to mankind to make them better; to lift them from a lower to a higher plane of thought, of affection, and of life. They possessed these truths not with the intellect only, but with the heart. They held them not in opinion only, nor in mere belief, but by the strong grasp of a living Faith. How could it be that this Faith, which no other men possessed, should fail to make them think, love, and live, as other men did not? How could it be that this preaching of the gospel by the life, should not give to the church a vigorous vitality, and a wide and rapid growth?

Is there no lesson for us in all this? The New Church should be of all churches the most heartily a missionary church. If we have received a blessing given to no others, should we not earnestly desire to impart this great good? But to this church, more than to any other, the law of missionary work must be that command, to let our light so shine, that men, seeing our good works, may glorify our Father for this new gift of His infinite mercy. And without this, all other missionary work must be as powerless and as lifeless as a body without a soul.

If this be the lesson we may learn from those early ages, it must be a lesson not in general only, but in particular, and in all particulars. It must find every man and every woman wherever he or she stands, and say to each one, You are a member of the church only so far as you have become, in character and in life, what you could not have become without these doctrines.

Have you wealth? How have you acquired, and how do you use it? Is it only as other men have, or do, who are of your class? Then, wherein are you in this matter a New Churchman? If you are marked among men for your exact integrity, for your scrupulous regard for your neighbors' rights and interests, so that all men are sure you have made and will make no gain at the cost or detriment of others, and so that they look at you, and ask, What has lifted this man above the crowd of his fellows, and caused him to show us what it is to gain riches and use riches with justice to all, and a true charity?—then you are a New Churchman, and a New Church missionary. If this be not so, how small a thing it is that of your large means you help largely the money-work of the church. The poorest man you know may put into its treasury more of that silver and gold which will give it strength and prosperity.

Precisely the same lesson, modified as each man's position requires, addresses itself to each one of us; to every lawyer, trader, mechanic; to every husband, father, or brother, every wife, mother, sister. There is no one in the church who may not, and who will not necessarily so far as the church is in him or her, manifest its presence and its power by living as only its presence and its power can make them live.

Nor let it be said that such a life would not be recognized, and that the principles and doctrines which led to it and governed it could not, in the darkness now hanging over men's minds, be seen, or excite any interest or inquiry; and men would learn nothing from them. To all this, there is one answer: "A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid." And let it be noticed that this text comes directly before the command already quoted.

A city is a collection of houses which are men's homes. Every man has a certain faith which he firmly believes, and in which he dwells, and is at home in its doctrine; every man, I mean, whose mind is not homeless. If men agree in this, they come together, internally, if not externally, and a

city represents the fundamental doctrine in which they agree and associate in faith, with whatever diversities of individual qualification; for each man may have his own house in that city. The solid earth refers not to the intellect, but to the affections. A hill is lifted above the common level; and when a doctrine rests upon affections so elevated, and they are manifested by a life that expresses them, and shows them to be higher than the low planes of thought, and act, and life that spread around them-that city cannot be hid.

When the generation comes which does this missionary work for the church, the day of its prosperity will come. All manner of troubles may come with it, but none the less it will be a day of prosperity. There will be deep humiliation, and fear and trembling will mingle with the joy; but there will be joy on earth and in heaven.

IMAGINATION.

THAT practical quality of the mind, called common sense, has long held the foremost place in the estimation of the men of this practical age of the world in which we live.

Those individuals in our communities, either in public or private life, who conduct their affairs in accordance with its dictates, are always sure to command the highest respect and confidence of the great majority of their fellows.

Almost without exception, we give to the man of common sense the first and highest place, and to the man of imagination and feeling, successful and admirable though his attainments may be, we concede only a secondary and less honorable position.

Common sense, as the term is generally applied, is that faculty of the mind which enables its possessor to judge calmly and dispassionately of his relation to material things and material uses, and to dispose of such as come within the range of his capacities, in a way which shall conduce to his comfort and happiness as a natural man. It leads him to