* The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries.

By Adolf Barntialt. Translated and Edited by James Moffatt, D.D. S vols. London : Williams and Norgate.

till the second half of the second volume is nearly reached• But Professor Harnack's preliminary discussions are strictly relevant. The extent of the Jewish Dispersion, the con- ditions, external and internal, under which the new world- force addressed itself to its task, the message which its missionaries delivered to mankind, its philanthropy, its ethical and its spiritual teaching, the opposition which it encountered, its executive, so to speak, and the methods which that executive employed,—all these are subjects which have a close and important bearing on the main topic. • From the first volume, of which we have now given a hasty summary, we pass to the second, and find ourselves still occupied with introductory matters, of which the most important is the development of the Episcopate. We have now reached the Fourth (and final) Book. In this we find

a general review of the evidence available, followed by a

chapter on the " Inward Spread of Christianity " as it can be traced among the cultured classes, at Court, and in the Army, with a special discussion on the part which women took in the movement. Finally, we have " The Extension of Christianity Down to 325 A.D.," where the subject is treated

from the geographical standpoint. The Apostolic period. Professor Harnack excludes. Practically this is co-extensive with the work of St. Paul,—what we know outside this is but

little. Here our author refers his readers to the treatise of Weissacker. What we have for this period, then, is, firstly, an enumeration of the places mentioned in the New Testament as scenes of Christian activity, covering the first century, as far, that is, as the accession of Trajan (98 A.D.) ; secondly, a supplementary list, taking in such places as we hear of up to the death of Marcus Aurelius (180 A.D.); and thirdly, a detailed account of the spread of the new faith up to the year 325. This is arranged geographically in nineteen sections, beginning with Palestine and ending with Spain. This third division occupies about two hundred pages, of which nearly a fourth is allotted

to Asia Minor, including Miele. " Asia Minor constituted the Christian country gar' 4oxiv during the pre-Constantine era," writes Professor Harnack. And now ? It is true that

the whole country, in respect of population and wealth, is but a shadow of what it was. But the Christian element has suffered more in proportion than any other. And the cause ? Are not these sentences very significant ?—

" Here paganism was absorbed. There were no fierce struggles. Paganism simply disappeared to emerge again, in proportion to the measure of its disappearance, in the Christian Church. Nowhere else did the conquest and extirpation' of paganism occasion so little trouble. 'The fact is, it was not extirpation at all. It was transformation."

(Professor W. M. Ramsay has lately given us a significant example from Asia Minor, by showing how the worship of Demeter has been continued in the worship of the Virgin.) The story of these facile conquests has been repeated over and over again. Church history proves only too clearly the truth of the aphorism, " Niet Zonder Arbyt," which some laborious Dutchman has written on the porch of a house in the Cam- bridgeshire fens. Professor Harnack gives, by way of illus- tration, an account of the labours of Gregory, surnamed Thaumaturgus, the Worker of Wonders. Gregory was for thirty years Bishop of Neo-Caesarea. When he began his episcopate in 240 A.D. there were but seventeen Christians in the town and its environs. When he died there was just that number of unconverted idolaters. He had bent to the storm of the Decian persecution, counselling flight, and flying him- self. And he used the same accommodation in dealing with the daily stress of life. " For as he saw -that the raw and ignorant multitude adhered to idols on account of bodily pleasures, he permitted the people—so as to secure the most

vital matter, i.e., the direction of their hearts to God instead of to a vain worship—permitted them to enjoy themselves at

their ease, and to amuse themselves, since life would become more serious and earnest naturally in course of time." So writes another Gregory (of Nyasa). Unhappily, life does not " become more serious and earnest naturally " when such

matters are concerned. " If these things be done in the green tree, what shall he done in the dry ? "

If Asia Minor comes first in virtue of the completeness of its Christianisation, Rome and Italy generally have at least

the second place in virtue of the predominant position which they occupy in Church history. A little after the middle of the second century there were more Christians than Jews in Rome• At the middle of the third there were forty-six presbyters and seven deacons, besides a hundred persons in minor Orders, The charitable organisation of the Church had fifteen hundred persons under its care. Estimates of the Christian population formed from these figures vary between thirty thousand and fifty thousand. It must be remembered, however, that even the larger number does not account for more than one in twenty of the whole population of the city. But in Rome the forces of paganism were at their strongest. It was clothed there with all the majesty of old association, and there it held out long after it had become well-nigh extinct elsewhere. It was not till close upon the end of the fourth century that Jupiter Capitolinus was formally deposed.

We have dwelt at some length on this part of Professor Harnack's book because it is the most historically important section, and because it gives such a statistical account of Christianity as it was at the time of its recognition by Constantine as could not, we think, be found elsewhere. But to the average reader other parts of The Expansion of Christianity will be found to exceed it in interest. The chapter immediately before that of which we have written in some detail deals, as we have said, with the reception of the new faith among the aristocratic and official classes, at Court, in the Army, and among women. The third of these four sections is peculiarly striking. In this region of life there was some- thing like an opposition between theory and practice. In theory military service and Christianity were incompatible, not because it was unlawful to bear arms, though this opinion was held by some r•igorists then as it is now, but because a soldier could hardly avoid idolatrous actions. As Professor Harnack puts it, " the regimental colours were sacra." A working compromise was some- how arrived at ; but " the Christian soldier occupied a more perilous position than the ordinary Christian." A spiteful or bigoted superior might at any moment render his position impossible. The result was that martyrdoms among soldiers were more common than among the civil population, and that the Army was troubled when there was peace elsewhere. The doctors of the Church were generally adverse to the military service of the Christian; but it went on. One of the canons of the Council of Nice seems to be levelled against military service, but Professor Harnack shows that it has a special reference to men who had served in the army of Licinius. (The expression on p. 217 is : " the canon refers to soldiers serving in the army of Licinius." " Who had served" would have been better. The Council imposed a severe penance on ex-soldiers of the army, which, of course, had ceased to exist.) The first volume is full of interesting matter, as may be guessed from the hasty summary which we have given of it. The attractive side of the Early Church, for instance, is exhibited in the chapter entitled "The Gospel of Love and Charity." The sections that concern slaves are especially noticeable. Professor Harnack affirms that the only possible sense of 1 Cor. vii. 20 is that the Apostle "counsels slaves not even to avail themselves of the chances of freedom." Our Revised Version takes the opposite view, following here the Authorised Version. But Alford holds Harnack's view, which certainly seems to suit d Kai Uvacrat. That Christianity has worked for emancipation cannot be doubted; but St. Paul was not conscious of any such aim. His feeling was that any striving after freedom would divert the slave's thought from spiritual things. We can hardly realise how intensely unworldly he was. In the same chapter we find something that applies with curious closeness to the "unemployed" problem. "The Churches were also labour unions," as our author tersely puts it. No man able to work was to be supported for more than two or three days,— we learn this from the Didachi. He might be thrown out of employment by his Christian profession,—if, for instance, he was an actor. If so, he must do what was set him by the community; if he was incapable of any other work, then, and only then, he was to be supported. The loafer was not unknown even in primitive times. The stranger who went into an ecstasy and ordered a meal or asked for money was regarded with just suspicion. One important conclusion we may draw from this valuable book : that there is a broad distinction between what we can and what we cannot learn from the Primitive Church.