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to me has been this: I have interrogated them, in order to knowwhether they were really Christians. When they have confessedit, I have repeated the same question two or three times, threaten-ing them with death if thev did not renounce this religion. Thosewho have persisted in their confession, have been, by my order,led to punishment. I have even met with some Roman citizensguilty of this phrenzy, whom, in regard of their quality, I have setapart from the rest, in order to send them to Rome. These per-sons declare, that their whole crime, if they are guilty, consists inthis; that, on certain days, they assemble before sun-rise, to singalternately the praises of Christ, as of a God, and to oblige them-selves, bv the performance of their religious rites, not to be guiltyof theft, or adultery, to observe inviolably their word, and to betrue to their tru t. This disposition has obliged me to endeavourto inform myself still farther of this matter, by putting to the tor-ture two of their women servants, whom thev call deaconesses:but I could learn nothing more from them, than that the supersti-tion of these people is as ridiculous, as their attachment to it isastonishing.” There is extant a justification, or rather panegyric,of the Christians, pronounced by a Pagan prince. It is a letter ofthe emperor Antoninus, written in the year 152, in answer to theStates of Asia, who had accused the Christians of being the causeof some earthquakes, which had happened in that part of theworld. The emperor advises them to “ take care, lest, in tor-turing and punishing those whom thev accused of Atheism (mean-ing the Christians,) they should render them more obstinate, in-stead of prevailing upon them to change their opinion ; since theirreligion taught them to suffer with pleasure for the sake of God.”As to the earthquakes which had happened, he puts them in mind,“ that they themselves are always discouraged, and sink undersuch misfortunes; whereas the Christians never discover morecheerfulness and confidence in God than on such occasions.” lietells them, that “ they pay no regard to religion, and neglect theworship of the Eternal; and, because the Christians honour andadore Him, therefore they are jealous of them, and persecutethem even to death.” lie concludes: “ Many of the governors-of provinces have formerly wrote to my father concerning them ;and his answer always was, that they should not be molested ordisturbed, provided they quietly submitted to the authority of thegovernment. Many persons have likewise consulted me uponthis affair, and 1 have returned the same answer to them all rnamely, that if any one accuses a Christian merely on account ofhis religion, the accused person shall be acquitted, and the ac-cuser himself punished.” 'Phis ordinance, according to Eusebius,was publicly lixed up at Ephesus in an assembly of the states.It is easy to discover the anises of the many ]>erseculions to whichthe Christians were exposed during the three first centuries. Thepurity of the Christian morality, directly opposite to the corrup-tion of the Pagans, was doubtless one of the most powerful motivesof the public aversion. To this may be added, the many ca-lumnies unjustly spread about concerning them bv their enemies,particularly the Jews. And this occasioned so strong a prejudiceagainst them, that the Pagans condemned them without inquiringinto their doctrine, or permitting them to defend themselves.Resides, their worshipping Jesus Christ, as God, was contrary toone of the most ancient laws of the Roman empire, which ex-pressly forbad the acknowledging of any God w hich had not beenapproved by the senate. Hut notwithstanding the violent opposi-tion made to the establishment of the Christian religion, it gainedground daily, and very soon made a surprising progress in theRoman empire. In the third century, there were Christians inthe camp, in the senate, in the palace; in short every where, butin the temples and the theatres: they filled the towns, the coun-try, the islands. Men and women, of all ages and conditions,•and even those of the first dignities, embraced the faith ; inso-much that the Pagans complained that the revenues of their tem-ples were ruined. They were in such great numbers in the em-pire, that (as Tertullian expresses it) were they to have retiredinto another country, they would have left the Romans only afrightful solitude.

Christian's of St. John, a sect of Christians very numerousin Balsara, and the neighbouring towns: they formerly inhabitedalong the river Jordan, where St. John baptized, and it was fromthence they had their name.

Christians of St^. r I homas, a sort of Christians in a penin-sula of India, on tliis’side of the gulph: they inhabit cliielly at

Cranganor, and the neighbouring country, these admit of noimages, and receive only the cross, to which they pay a great ve-neration : they affirm that the souls of the saints do not see Godtill alter the day of judgement: they acknowledge hut three sa-craments, viz. baptism, orders, and the eucharist.

CHRISTIANA, a town of Delaware, in Newcastle county.It is 8 miles S. W. of Wilmington.

Christiana, or Christiania, a city of Southern Norway, inthe government of Aggerlniys, 30 miles from the sea, and 290 N,by W. of Copenhagen. Lon. 10. 50. E. Eat. 59. t). N.

CHRISTIANITY, the religion instituted by Jews Christ, theMessiah, being the religion of Christians. This' religion is con-tained in the books of the Old and New Testaments, and hencethese Scriptures are received as the sole foundation of the faith andpractice of Christians. The external evidences of the authenticityand divine authority of the Scriptures, may he divided into directand collateral. The direct evidences are such as arise from thenature, emisislencv, and probability, of the facts; and from thesimplicity, uniformity, competency, andfidelity, of the testimoniesby which they are supported. The collateral evidences, areeither the same occurrences supported by heathen testimonies, orothers which concur with and corroborate the history of Chris-tianity. Its internal evidences arise either from its exact confor-mity with the character of God, from its aptitude to the frame andcircumstances of man, or from those supernatural convictions andassistances which are impressed on the mind bv the immediateoperation of the Divine Spirit. These can only be mentioned ina cursorv manner in a detail so concise as the present Such factsas are related in the history of his religion, the Christian asserts tohe not only consistent each w ith itself, hut likewise one with ano-ther. Ily a series of antecedents and consequences, they corrobo-rate eaeli other, and form a chain which cannot be broken but byan absolute subversion of all historical authenticity. 1 he tacts,on which Christianity is founded, not only constitute a series ofthemselves, but are likewise in several periods the best resourcesfor supplying the chasms in the history of our nature, and preserv-ing the tenor of its annals entire. The facts themselves are eithernatural or supernatural. Ry natural facts we mean such occur-rences as happen or may happen from the various operations ofmechanical powers, or from the interposition of natural agentswithout higher assistants. Such are all the common occurrencesof history. Ilv supernatural facts, we mean such as could nothave been produced without the interposition of the Deity, or atleast of powers superior to the laws of mechanism, or the agencyof embodied spirits. Among these may be reckoned tiie imme-diate change of water into wine, the instantaneous cure of diseases,without the intervention of medicine, the resuscitation of the dead,and the like. In this order of occurrences may likewise be num-bered the exertions and exhibitions of prophetic power, where thepersons, by whom these extraordinary talents were displayed,could neither by penetration nor conjecture unravel the mazes offuturity, and trace the events of which they spoke from their pri-mary causes to their remote completions: so that they must havebeen the passive organs of some superior Being, to whom thewhole concatenation of causes and effects, which operate lrom theorigin to the consummation of nature, was obvious at a glance ofthought. 'The facts which w e have called natural, not only agreewith the analogy of human events, and corroborate each other,but in many instances illustrate the history of nature in general.Of these a Christian might offer one out of many, of w hich philo-sophy will not be able to produce any tolerable solution, withouthaving recourse to the facts upon which Christianity is founded.Eor if mankind were originally descended from one pair alone,how should it have happened that long before the date of authen-tic'history every nation had its own distinct language? Or, if, assome late philosophers have maintained, man is an indigenous ani-mal in every country ; or, was originally produced in, and createdfor, each particular soil and climate which he inhabits, whence theprodigious multiplicity, the immense diversity, of languages? Isthe language of every nation intuitive, or were they dictated byexigencies, and established by convention < If the last of thesesuppositions be true, what an immense period of time must havepassed? How many revolutions ot material and intellectual naturemust have happened ? What accessions of knowledge, refinement,and civilization, must human intercourse have gained before theformation and establishment even of the most simple, imperfect,7 and