what John wrote to them in the year 90: "They went out from us but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us" (_I. John ii_. 19). So Pliny speaks of the apostates, "They all worshiped your image and statues of the gods; these also reviled Christ. None of which things, as is said, they who are really Christians can by any means be compelled to do." What was it that enabled the early Saints of all ranks and all ages, of both sexes likewise, to joyfully meet death in its most horrid forms? It was the power of truth--it was the power of God. Now, the grand idea that strikes us in the testimony of the Saints, both of primitive and modern times, is that it stands out utterly different from all other religions. There is nothing in the world like it, not even its counterfeits. The great central fact of Christianity--that Christ died for our sins, and rose again from the dead--stands absolutely alone in the history of religions. The priests of Baal, Brahma or Jupiter never dreamed of such a thing. Confucius, Buddha or Zoroaster never attained to such sublime ideas. Our modern positivists and spiritualists perceiving the grandeur of this doctrine, have vainly attempted to destroy this, the key-stone of the gospel arch. There is no instance in the whole world's history of any other religion ever producing the same effects; no other instance of men destitute of wealth, arms, power and learning, converting multitudes of lying, lustful, murdering idolators {114} into honest, peaceable Christians, simply by prayer and preaching. When the skeptic tells us of the rapid spread of impostures which enlist disciples by promising free license to lust, robbery and murder, and retain them by the terror of scimetar and rifle ball, he simply insults our common sense, by ignoring the difference between the degrading practices of vice, and the ennobling principles of virtue. The gospel stands alone in its doctrines, singular in its operation, unequalled in its success. * * * * * CHAPTER VIII, HISTORICAL GLIMPSES OF NEW TESTAMENT TIMES. PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF OUR SAVIOR--BY MARCUS--BY JOSEPHUS--CONDITION OF THE WORLD AT--THE BIRTH OF CHRIST--INFLUENCE OF JUDAISM HEATHEN TRADITIONS CONCERNING THE SAVIOR'S ADVENT--CHARACTER OF BARNABAS--APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER OF PAUL--PETER, THE LEADER OF THE APOSTLES--CHARACTER OF JOHN AND JAMES--STATEMENT CONCERNING MARY--HISTORY EPITOMIZED IN THE GOSPELS--DESCRIPTION OF THE CATACOMBS--INSCRIPTIONS OF THEM.