Theodosius suppressed Pagan worship by the sword, and dragged the gods of antiquity at his chariot-wheels. Jus tinian completed the work in the same spirit. The thou sands who performed their ancient rites in secret were ferreted out, and allowed no choice between baptism and death. The same course was pursued toward the Samaritans. They resisted. Twenty thousand were slain; twenty thousand sold into slavery to Persians and East Indians; and the remainder saved their lives by consenting to be baptized. It has been computed that one hundred thousand Roman subjects were slaughtered in the course of Justinian's efforts to establish the unity of the Christian church. Charlemagne drove Paganism from Teutonic Europe at the point of his spear. In his attempts to force the Saxons into Christianity, which he doubtless did from motives of state policy, he incurred a war of thirty years' duration. At last, Wittikind the Great, Duke of Saxony, was compelled to submit. The only alternative allowed them was death or baptism; and he with his whole army submitted to the ceremony, which made them Christians. When the Saxons, under King Ethelwolf, fought with the Danes, they, in their turn, offered the same choice to those who were taken prisoners; and Danish vikings, or pirates, were baptized by hundreds on the battle fields, to escape the gallows, which was ready to receive them. King Olaf, who was afterward canonized, and became the patron saint of Norway, demolished the temples and altars of Odin, introduced Christianity among his subjects by an armed force, and allowed them no alternative but slaughter.

Every one knows how the wealth and power of the church went on increasing, until the Pope came to be universally acknowledged as the Vicegerent of God upon earth, the infallible medium of the Holy Ghost. When the empire broke up into independent nations, Rome became the ecclesiastical centre of the world, as it had formerly been of the civil power. So subservient were kings to priests, that princes held the Pope's stirrup while he

mounted his horse, and for the slightest offence against the church, their subjects were forbidden to supply them with food, water, or fire, on pain of similar excommunication themselves.

The number of Catholics at the present time is estimated at about one hundred and forty millions.

SEPARATE CHURCHES.

GREEK CHURCH.-But neither the zeal of missionaries, nor the sword of kings, succeeded in making the Catholic church quite universal. The continual rivalship between the Patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople, at last terminated in open schism; and the adherents of the latter took the name of the Greek church. The point of doctrine on which they separated was concerning the mode in which the Holy Ghost came into existence. The church at Constantinople maintained that he proceeded from the Father only; but the Roman church decided that he proceeded from the Father and the Son. The Patriarch of Rome excommunicated the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Alexandria, in the fifth century. Various attempts to reunite were afterward made, but they were followed by renewed excommunications. The Greek church assumed entire independence, and were governed by their own Patriarch and bishops. In nearly all respects, their doctrines and ceremonies are like those of the Catholics. They accept the traditions of the Fathers as of equal authority with Scripture; believing them to have been orally transmitted from the Apostles. The lower order of their priests are allowed to marry once, provided it be not to a widow.

They invoke the Virgin and the saints, whose pictures abound in their churches and houses, sometimes set with precious stones. But they retain the opinion which caused the Iconoclast warfare, and allow no sculptured images. On the strength of this distinction, they express abhorrence of the Catholics, as idolaters.

Their numbers are computed at seventy millions.

NESTORIANS.-The adherents of Nestorius, after they were excommunicated, sought protection in Persia, and gained proselytes in various Asiatic countries. The doctrine taught by Nestorius, that Christ had two natures, human and divine, was afterward received into the creed of the Catholic church; but as the Nestorians persisted in calling Mary the mother of Christ only, and refused to style her Mother of God, they remained excommunicated, and formed an independent establishment. Their doctrines, worship, and church government are like those of the Greek church; but they abominate pictures as well as images, and allow no image in their churches except the cross. When an image of the Virgin was presented to them by missionaries, they exclaimed: "We are Christians, not idolaters." It is supposed that some of them, when they fled from persecution, after the decision of the Council at Ephesus, took refuge in Hindostan; for churches maintaining the same faith and worship were found centuries afterward on the coast of Malabar. They were called Christians of St. Thomas, on account of a tradition that Thomas the Apostle travelled into India, carried the Gospel there, and became a martyr to the bigotry of the Bramins. But the tomb shown as his is now believed by many scholars to be the grave of a Nestorian bishop, by the name of Thomas. The Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus, mentioned among spurious books, as purporting to be written by the Apostle Thomas, is said to have been read in these churches on the Malabar coast as late as the sixteenth century. These Christians of St. Thomas united with other Nestorians in Mesopotamia and Syria, under one church government. The whole number is computed to be about three hundred thousand. They are generally called Syrian Christians, because they have the ancient Syrian version of the New Testament, and use the same language in their worship.

ARMENIANS.-Another independent church was formed in Armenia, which agreed with the Greek concerning "the

procession of the Holy Ghost," but differed both from that and the Roman on the question whether Christ had one nature or two natures. They are the remains of the Monophysites, who so long kept up a warfare against the decree of the Council at Chalcedon. To this day they teach the doctrine of Eutyches, that Christ had but one nature, and that even his body was of a divine incorruptible substance. The Armenian church agrees with the Greek in believing that the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father only. It was long before they became reconciled to images, but they now venerate images of the Virgin and the saints. Their Patriarch lives in a monastery on Mount Ararat, which is much resorted to as a place of pilgrimage. The number of Armenians is estimated at two millions. There are also Monophysite Christians remaining in Abyssinia, who retain many Jewish customs. They circumcise their children, keep Saturday as the Sabbath, and observe the laws of Moses concerning articles of food. They admit no one to the Lord's Supper till he is twenty-five years of age; maintaining that no one is accountable for sin before that time, and that all who die earlier are sure of salvation. In Egypt there is a small remnant of the disciples of Eutyches, called Copts. These and the Abyssinian Christians are all that remain of the once powerful churches in Africa, where Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine lived and laboured. Some travellers have mentioned a Gospel of Thomas, read in various Christian churches in Asia and Africa, and adopted by some as their only rule of faith. It seems likely that this is the apocryphal book mentioned under the title of The Infancy of Jesus; purporting to be written by the Apostle Thomas.

Christians of all churches are accustomed to offer their prayers in the name of Christ; and it is a prevailing belief that faith in the atonement of his blood will save the greatest sinner; even if he does not repent till he is on his death-bed. Among the titles commonly bestowed on Jesus, are "The Messiah; The Anointed One; The Holy Son of Mary; The Only Begotten Son of God; The Word

of God; The God-man; God manifested in the flesh; God of God; The Mediator and Intercessor for the sins of mankind; The Lamb who was slain from the beginning; The Sacrifice for all sin; The Redeemer of the world."

The birth of Christ was not introduced as an era among the nations, until five hundred and twenty-seven years after that event. Dionysius Exiguus, abbot of a monastery in Rome, was the first author of it. In the beginning, there was considerable variation between the eras adopted by churches in different parts of the world; and differences of computation still remain. But nearly all Christian nations place the birth of Christ four thousand and four years after the Creation; in the seven hundred and fifty-third year of the building of Rome. Some learned men suppose it to have occurred two years earlier; others say four years. Not being introduced as an epoch until after several centuries had elapsed, it is not surprising that some discrepancies occur in the reckoning.

The entire number of Christians, of all denominations, is computed at about two hundred and fifty millions.