A general picture of one of them by Justin Martyr--(_A_) Dogmatic teaching given in these meetings--(_B_) Almsgiving--Is shown to be an inescapable duty--Is pressed home by early masters of Christianity on the faithful--All offerings made were, however, purely voluntary--No communism was ever taught or hinted at in the early Church--(_C_) Special dogmatic instruction respecting the value of almsgiving was given by some early teachers--Several of these instructions are given here--(_D_) Apart from this somewhat strange dogmatic teaching on the value of almsgiving, the general duty of almsgiving was most strongly impressed on the faithful--Passages emphasizing this from very early writers are here quoted--(_E_) Special recipients of these alms are particularized; amongst these, in the first place, widows and orphans, and the sick, appear--(_F_) These alms in some cases were not to be confined to the Household of Faith--(_G_) Hospitality to strangers is enjoined--References here are given from several prominent early teachers--Help to prisoners for the Name’s sake enjoined--Assistance to be given to poorer Churches is recommended--(_H_) Burial expenses for the dead among the poorer brethren are to be partly defrayed from the “alms” contributed at the assemblies, partly from private sources--Lactantius, in his summary of Christian duties, dwells markedly on this duty--Important witness of the Roman catacombs here 113 V THE SLAVE IN EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE Position in Christian society--How the slave was regarded in the “assemblies”--Paulinus of Nola quoted on the general Christian estimate of a slave--How this novel view of the slave was looked on by pagans 134 A general summary of the effect which all this teaching current in the primitive “assemblies” had on the policy and work of the Church in subsequent ages 137 VI DIFFICULTIES IN ORDINARY LIFE AMONG THE EARLY CHRISTIANS Difficulties in common life for the Christian who endeavoured to carry out the precepts and teaching given in the “assemblies” are sketched--In family life--In trades--In the amusements of the people--In civil employments--In the army--In matters of education--A general summary of such difficulties is quoted from De Broglie (_l’Église et l’Empire_) 140 VII THE ASCETIC AND THE MORE PRACTICAL SCHOOLS OF TEACHING