Rome permitted the worship of national gods and the continuance of national cult.s. But there was no religious liberty in this apparent tolerance. The gods worshipped and the cults practised in ditl'erent parts of the Empire had to receive the Imperial sanc- tion. Cicero t remarks that the worship of gods which had not been recognized by law was a punish- able oHence. No religion had any standing until it received the Imperial imprinuitur. No gods could be worshipped unless they were ' publice adsciti.' The State's approval was necessary. Christianity was not a national faith, and for a time it did not .secure the Imperial s.anction. In tlie former sense it was a unique phenomenon within the Eni|iire. It seems that for a time Christianity enjoyed the privileges which had been extended to Judaism as a national religion. .Judaism had been treated with exceptional favour, for the Jew was exemiited from the worship of the Emperor. It was a conces- sion to .Jewish monotheism. But the open rupture between Judiiism and Christianity which was manifest to the world by the middle of the century, and the persistent persecution of Christians by Jews, compelled Rome to inquire into the meaning of the new nmvement. The Empire tolerated old and national religions, but Christianity was a thing of yesterday, and belonged to no nation, but em- braced all peoples. As such Christianity stood out- side the law of the Empire. It created divisions in every nation, and town, and family. Judaism was the religion of the Jews, but Christianity gathered or created its own clientele. John saw 'a great
• E. Gitibon, The Declive and Fait of the Roman Empire, ed. J. B. Bury, 7 vols., London, 1901-1906, i.* 28.
t Origen, c. Ceimimy v. 2.^. J De Legibvs, ii. 8.
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mnltitiule, wliioh no man could number, outof every nation, and of all tribes and peo]iles and tongues' (Kev 7"). Tliat was the condemnation of the Cliris- tian religion in the opinion of Imperial Kome. The tirst edict of toleration (A.D. 311) cast in the face of the Christian reli^'ion that it had 'collected a vari- ous society from the dillcrent provinces of the Em- pire.' Christianity, because of its non-national or international character, wasdivisiveand anarchical, althoujrh, when rightly understood, the gosjjel sup- plied the universal religion and formed the bond of union which made of all nations a world-wide brotherhood.
What Judaism was in the pro-Christian world, Christianity was in the lloman KMijiire — an ex- clusive reli;j;ion. From the very start Cluistianity was proclaimed as the religion of fulfilment. It was final and absolute — 'and in none other is there salvation ; for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men, wherein we must be saved ' (Ac 4'-). Peter stated in the name of Christianity what every orthodox Jew would have claimed for Judaism. Christianity was essentially exclusive and intolerant. Tlie apostles proclaimed one God — the Father of their Lord Jesus Christ. They preached one Saviour — the Crucified Christ. There was only one religion — and that was Christianity. When Jesus stated that He was 'the way, the truth, and the life' (Jn 14^), it became impossible for His disciples to be tolerant of anj' other religion, for tolerance would be treachery. We have already traced the germ of this antagonism between the true and the false in the teaching of Elijah, who maintained that Jahweh and Baal Were mutually exclusive, and it developed into the religion of post-Exilic Judah. Paul had .stated the Christian attitude — ' Though there be that are called gods, ... to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him ; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him ' (1 Co 8"-). The Christian who worshipped the ' God and Father of the Lord Jesus Clirist' could not fall in with the prevalent syncretism which implied that everj' god was as good as another, and every religion a matter of nationality. The Empire had experienced the same exclusiveness in the case of Judah, and had, in the interest of tranquillity, made allowance for it by extending to the Jew privileges which were denied to every other dependent people. But Judaism could advance the plea that it was a national religion. Roman Emperors had found it necessary to legislate against aggressive missionary activity whether on the part of Jews or Christians. The Pharisees compassed sea and land to make one proselyte, whilst the Christian Church *rom the beginning displa3'ed unparalleled missionary zeal, and for a considerable period there was no abate- ment in its enthusiasm. Marcus Aurelius published an edict against those who caused tumults by introducing new worships, whilst a succeeding Emperor prohibited Christians and Jews from making converts.
When we bear in mind the missionary zeal of the early Church, and the tremendous religious conviction which it presupposes, it seems an extra- ordinary thing that the charge of atheism w;as brought against the Christians. But it is quite intelligible from the point of view of the prevalent polytheism. The Christians refused to worship any of the gods of the Graeco-Roman world. Whereas the literature of the age suggests that religion was a diminishing force in the life of the Empire, it is universally admitted that the gods were very real beings to the masses. Even among the upper classes there was more affectation than conviction in the scepticism which they aired. Despite the contemptuous references to the super-