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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
jaai ^ fcfchclude thafy time , ttffc heathen fnagistracy of Roto # fco&w and tuicje ^ s&tocf no triore o £ iChris ' ti ^ itiity ttlafi those Jews did ; Wt . the heathen fnagistricy of Rome ikd fewer inducements ' ltbiMi the JeWS , to make enquiry into the ii&tuire and evidences of Clhfis *
tiaiiity , and they Had less meafis of mailing it . Indeed , I might say , tjbat this must haVe been the £ & $ e ; fornothrng but the grooving nUttiber of Christians could make tfife heathen magistracy inquisitive iiito the rie \ v religion /'
The n 6 xt step in our author ' s byp othesis is , tfr&t so far froni Cbmtlanity being known at Rome , in the reign of Tiberius , the ChristiiJtiis were not fiiimetous there , eVfcft in the reigfc of Nero , when Paul addressed his Ep isjte to them . A period df twenty years
had elapsed from his own conversion to that time : during this long course of years he had made many converts , and had , no doubt , become acquainted with / many Christians besides his converts .
The sixteenth chapter of the Epistle Co ffre ftomaiis rfecordsthe riainies of his Christian friends at Rome ** He mehtioris every
endearing circumstance concerning them tiid ^ occurred to Ixis meitibry . He speaks particularly of those who were connected with him by blo 6 d , cjfr Sy services jp ^ tformed to the church , 6 i by similarity in sufferi n £ s ; of those wh < i \ Vere Connected mill him ^ niereiy &s Christians , Ke reciie ^ i the names ^ ^ nd fee could < fo no nidrcL
c < From 411 . this iwe rtay ih | er that St . Paul has hot omitted in bis salutation the nafne of any oixfe Christian at Rome , that had come * p his knowledge . * *
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Oft reviewing that , chapter , it appears thtft Paul meftti 6 tt $ twentysix oiily of the Christians , then dwelling in the capital , by riiime ; and of these , circumstances point out eleven onjy ai pfersoiially known to iiitti .
" That strangers Werd wont to reiort to Rome from eve # y pttrt of the empire , will not be disputed . As little can it be disputed , that Sh Paul , in the cbutse of his tir& * vfels , had visited many provinces of the empire ; and , th ^ refore ^ it the Christians had been numerous
at Rome , ^ heti § t . Paul addressed his Epistle to them , it is hardly possible that be would have been personally acquainted with no mote than ele ^ ven ^ of h&ve known the names of no more than twenty ~ sis of them .
* Another cifcurastance , tend * ing to shew the paucity of Christians in the capital at that tiriie ^ may be fearheti from what Su Paul says of their congregations ^ . ** Some Chri ^ ti ^ n s We ref wont
to assemble for religious worship flit the house of Aqtiila ; and we may well imagitie , that the ; house of a bominon artiban coulci not contain a large congregation .
' * Asyncritas , Phiegoti , Hertiiks , Pat ^ oblas and Herm es , ^ tp ^ peat to have belonged t 6 Another society' bf ehri ^ tistns . " Atid thetfe ^ a& another
society still , of ^ hich Fhiitrtogus , and othei * s WhtJrft St . Paul nafaes , virere mfembei ^ , ' We may ^ upf > oi e that the Christian converts dittoftg th 6
slaves , or fttidmen of A fi ^ tobulus ibrrtied ariotW ^ Wngio ^ ation , und that th £ lifc ^ w& $ the c&se Dirith regard ta the slaves or freedwi ^ n of K ^ rcissru ^ . > * t Jfeii ? titere art WtfMt $ t > *
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at Intfoduction df Chri ^ tidniirf Rome . Sf
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1811, page 37, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2412/page/37/
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