n the beginning

insomuch that it became a common saying, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church Herein the church of Christ proved to be like a palm tree |. of which tree it is remarked, that the greater weight is laid upon it, or hung to its branches, the more |t grows and flourishes; on which account probably the church is compared to a palm tree in Cant. vii. . " This thy stature is like to a palm tree." Justin Martyr, an eminent father in the Christian church, who lived in the age next after the apostles, in some writings of his, which are yet extant, says, that in his days there was no part of mankind, whether Greeks or , barbarians, or by what name soever they were called, even the ' most rude and unpolished nations, where prayers and thanksgivings were not made to the great Creator of the world, . through the name of the crucified Jesus. Tertullian, another eminent father in the Christian church, who lived in the beginning of the following age, in some of his writings which are yet extant, sets forth how that in his day the Christian religion had extended itself to the utmost bounds of the then known world, in which he reckons Britain, the country of our forefathers j and thence demonstrates, that the kingdom pf Christ was then more extensive than MBT Shoes any of the four great monarchies ; and moreover says that though the Christians wert as strangeraof no long standing, yet they had filled all places of the Roman dominions, their cities, islands, castles, corporations, councils, armies, tribes, the palace, senate, and courts of judicature ; only they had left to the Heathen their temples ; and that if they should all agree to retire out of the Roman empire, the MBT Shoes Clearance world would be amazed at the solitude and deso. lation that ,would ensue upon MBT it, there would be so few left; ; and that the Christians were enough to be able easily to defend themselves, if they were disposed to rise up in arms against the Heathen magistrates. And Pling, a Heathen who lived in those days, says multitudes of each sex, every age apd quality, were become Christians ;