Martyrdom, i.e. testimony given, by means of suffering and death, to the reality of a fact and the divinity of a doctrine, is an exclusive privilege of Christianity. There were no martyrs of philosophy, no martyrs of paganism, nor even of Judaism. Christians were alone in sacrificing their life, in the hope of asserting the reality of fundamental facts and the doctrines of their religion, of which they wished to be the witnesses and the respondents. This testimony as a proof of Christianity, and of its reality and superiority, entered into the plans of the Founder. Sending His disciples into the world, Christ had commanded them to be witnesses to His person and mission: "You will be My witnesses even to the ends of the earth." The writer's task was then to show how the disciples of Christ gave this testimony which they had been commanded to give, and also to show what demonstrative force attaches to this testimony in favour of the divinity of the Christian religion. This task has been admirably performed. The writer has shown, with all the amplitude which such an important subject demands, the motives which occasioned the testimony, the situation in which it was given, the number of those who gave it, the proceedings taken against them, the tortures and sufferings which they endured, the impression made by their testimony on the minds of their contemporaries, the honours bestowed on their relics, and the inferences which we are entitled to draw from all this. All these questions are dealt with and suitably answered. Martyrdom having followed the expansion of Christianity, it was only right that the author should begin with a brief consideration of the spread of the Christian faith during the first three centuries. This he has done with much learning. If he does not leave us under the impression that Christianity became at once a universal religion, this is because he is too well acquainted with the facts, and can demonstrate by the study of texts that its diffusion took place by degrees, more rapidly in some localities than in others. He sketches the geographical growth of Christianity" at first in the Roman world, spreading gradually through Greece, Italy, Gaul, Great Britain, Germany, Sarmatia, and the Iberian peninsula, North Africa, Eg..ypt, and the immense provinces of Western Asia, and he completes his map of the places about to become the scene of martyrdom by tracing the progress of Christian beliefs in the countries lying beyond the limits of the Roman Empire. What historical fact could be more exceptional and inexplicable by ordinary means than the progressive conquests of a doctrine which spread amongst the most diverse and hostile surroundings, which seemed to thrive in every state of civilisation and to adapt itself to the highest and the simplest minds, which was accepted by corrupt natures, though it meant in their case the sacrifice of all that they had held dear, which surmounted all obstacles and all persecutions, though in itself it seemed to contain nothing but weakness and utter want of power? Besides considering the rapid propagation of the Gospel, the author was also justified in seeking to find to what social classes the witnesses to Christ's divinity belonged, for knowing this we obtain a yet more accurate knowledge of the degree in which the different classes of society had been permeated by Christianity. From the documents brought together by Allard it is evident that Christianity, far from having been, as some imagine, a democratic religion which at first was confined to the lower classes and only later on ascended to the higher ranks of society, was in reality from its very beginning, and by the Apostles themselves, preached to everyone, poor and rich, scholars and ignorant men; scarcely had it made its first appearance in the world than it leaped the Jewish horizon and reached the highest quarters of the Roman world, finding adherents, and martyrs too, on every rung of the social ladder.

St. Alphonsus writes: "a single bad book will be sufficient to cause the destruction of a monastery." Pope Pius XII wrote in 1947 at the beatification of Blessed Maria Goretti: "There rises to Our lips the cry of the Saviour: 'Woe to the world because of scandals ' (Matthew 18:7). Woe to those who consciously and deliberately spread corruption-in novels, newspapers, magazines, theaters, films, in a world of immodesty " We at St. Pius X Press are calling for a crusade of good books. We want to restore 1,000 old Catholic books to the market. We ask for your assistance and prayers. This book is a photographic reprint of the original. The original has been inspected and some imperfections may remain. At Saint Pius X Press our goal is to remain faithful to the original in both photographic reproductions and in textual reproductions that are reprinted. Photographic reproductions are given a page by page inspection, whereas textual reproductions are proofread to correct any errors in reproduction.

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.