When the noble Emperor had passed away, the leniency with which his evil successor Commodus treated the Church was owing largely to his dislike and jealousy of his father and his policy. In the following century (the third) the gentleness of the treatment of Christians in the reigns of Alexander Severus and Philip the Arabian was mainly owing to the fact that these Emperors had little sympathy with the Roman tradition; they were certainly foreigners: the first of them, Alexander Severus, was a Syrian pure and simple. The name by which Philip is always known tells us of his foreign nationality. The famous persecutors of the third century, Decius, Aurelius and Diocletian, were believers in the Roman tradition, and adopted as the groundwork of their policy here, the principles of Trajan and the Antonines. No crime was necessary to be proved in these reigns when one of the sect was arraigned. The mere fact of the accused being a Christian ensured at once condemnation. Christianity was utterly incompatible with the ancient traditions of Rome. BOOK II THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE FAITH INTRODUCTORY The scene of the following sketches of the life of a Christian of the first days is, generally speaking, laid in Rome; but much of what belonged to the Christian of the Roman congregation was common to the believer who dwelt in other great cities of the Empire. The sketches in question deal with the following subjects: 1. The numbers of believers in the first two centuries which followed the death of Peter and Paul. 2. The assemblies or meetings together of the Christian folk in those very early times are specially dwelt on. These assemblies were an extremely important and influential factor in the life of the believer. This was recognized in the New Testament writings and in the contemporary writings of the earliest teachers of the faith. 3. The various classes of the population of a great city which composed these early assemblies are enumerated. 4. What was taught and done at these early gatherings together of Christians is set forth with some detail. 5. Outside these gatherings, the life of a believer in the world is referred to with especial regard to the many difficulties which were constantly encountered by one who professed the religion of Jesus. 6. The methods by which these difficulties were to be grappled with are described. Two schools of teaching evidently existed here, generally characterized as the “Rigourist” and the “Gentle” schools. These are briefly dwelt upon. 7. In the concluding paragraphs of this sketch of the early Christian life, what Christianity offered in return for the hard and often painful life which its professors had to live, is sketched. I LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN IN THE EARLY DAYS