ii. p.
666.) and ten years after this, Apollonius, who suffered martyrdom under
the emperor Commodus, composed an apology for his faith which he read in
the senate, and which was afterwards published. (Lardner, vol. ii. p.
687.) Fourteen years after the apology of Apollonius, Tertullian
addressed the work which now remains under that name to the governors of
provinces in the Roman empire; and, about the same time, Minucius Felix
composed a defence of the Christian religion, which is still extant;
and, shortly after the conclusion of this century, copious defences of
Christianity were published by Arnobius and Lactantius.
SECTION II.
REFLECTIONS UPON THE PRECEDING ACCOUNT.
In viewing the progress of Christianity, our first attention is due to
the number of converts at Jerusalem, immediately after its Founder's
death; because this success was a success at the time, and upon the
spot, when and where the chief part of the history had been transacted.
We are, in the next place, called upon to attend to the early
establishment of numerous Christian societies in Judea and Galilee;
which countries had been the scene of Christ's miracles and ministry,
and where the memory of what had passed, and the knowledge of what was
alleged, must have yet been fresh and certain.
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