“It is our duty not to fall short of our splendid ancestry.” In the saintly bishop’s own grand untranslatable words--“Respondere nos decet natalibus nostris.”[69] The Christians of Carthage, as their reply, at once raised amongst themselves an abundant fund, and forming a company for the succour of the sick, absolutely helped all without any inquiry as to whether the sick sufferers were pagan or Christian.--Pontius, _Life of Cyprian_. Eusebius (_H. E._ ix. 8) gives a pathetic picture of the great pestilence which raged at the end of the third century, and notices the devoted behaviour of the Christians to all the sick and dying, without reference to the sufferer’s creed. This splendid altruism of the “Godless Galilean” was markedly referred to by the Emperor Julian--“Not only their own poor, but ours do they care for,” wrote the great Emperor; “_our poor_ lack our care,” was his bitter reproach to paganism.--_Letter to Arsacius._ _Hospitality_ was another urgent recommendation pressed home by the early Christian teachers to their flocks. Clement of Rome (quoted above) in the first century dwells on this special virtue in his Letter to the Corinthian Church. The _Didaché_--_circa_ end of first century--dwells on this. “If he who comes is a traveller, help him to the best of your ability” (chap. xii.). Much is said in this very early treatise on the duty of caring for strangers, but care is specially enjoined to guard against any imposture here. _Hermas_ in the _Shepherd_ writes: “In hospitality, good-doing finds a field” (Comm. viii.). _Aristides_, quoted above, tells us how Christians “when they see the stranger, bring him to their dwellings, and rejoice over him as over a true brother.” _Justin Martyr_ (quoted above), in his picture of a Christian meeting on Sunday, especially directs that out of the alms contributed by the faithful, among those who were to be succoured were “the strangers sojourning amongst us.”--1 _Apol._ lxvii. _Melito of Sardis_--so Eusebius, _H. E._ iv. 26, tells us--wrote a treatise “on hospitality.” _Cyprian_ expressly directs that the expenses of any stranger who may happen to be in want, be paid out of certain moneys he had left for that purpose.--_Ep._ vii. Among other direct references to this duty may be quoted Tertullian, _ad Uxor._ ii. 4, and the _Apost. Constit._ iii. 3; the Emperor Julian in his Letter to Arsacius wishes the pagans would imitate these Christian practices. This striking and unique custom, which no doubt very largely contributed to the feeling of Christian brotherhood, was, of course, based upon the directions so often repeated in the New Testament Epistles.