" In the epistle to the Colossians, (Col. i. 23.) we
find an oblique but very strong signification of the then general state
of the Christian mission, at least as it appeared to Saint Paul:--"If ye
continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from
the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to
every creature which is under heaven;" which Gospel, he had reminded
them near the beginning of his letter (Col. i. 6.), "was present with
them, as it was in all the world." The expressions are hyperbolical; but
they are hyperboles which could only be used by a writer who entertained
a strong sense of the subject. The first epistle of Peter accosts the
Christians dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia.
It comes next to be considered how far these accounts are confirmed or
followed up by other evidence.
Tacitus, in delivering a relation, which has already been laid before
the reader, of the fire which happened at Rome in the tenth year of Nero
(which coincides with the thirtieth year after Christ's ascension),
asserts that the emperor, in order to suppress the rumours of having
been himself the author of the mischief, procured the Christians to be
accused.
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