136 THE DECLINE AND FALL C H A V. ous accidents of war and commerce might indeed dif- " fuse an imperfect knowledge of the gospel among the tribes of Caledonia^ and among the borderers of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates*. Beyond the last mentioned river, Edessa was distinguished by a firm and early adherence to the faith". From Edessa the principles of Christianity were easily introduced into the Greek and Syrian cities which obeyed the succes- sors of Artaxerxes ; but they do not appear to have made any deep impression on the minds of the Per- sians, whose religious system, by the labours of a well- disciplined order of priests, had been constructed with much more art and solidity than the uncertain mytho- logy of Greece and Rome". General From this impartial though imperfect survey of the ofchris-^" progress of Christianity, it may perhaps seem probable, tiansand that the number of its proselytes has been excessively magnified, by fear on the one side, and by devotion on the other. According to the irreproachable testimony of Origen^, the proportion of the faithful was very inconsiderable when compared with the multitude of an unbelieving world ; but, as we are left without any distinct information, it is impossible to determine, and it is difficult even to conjecture, the real numbers of though very confused circumstances, that relate to the conversion of Iberia and Armenia, may be found in iMoses of Chorene, 1. ii. c. 78 — 89.
- According- to Tertullian, the christian faith had penetrated into parts of
Britain inaccessible to the Roman arms. About a century afterwards, Ossian, the son of Fingal, is said to have disputed, in his extreme old age, with one of the foreign missionaries ; and the dispute is stdl extant in verse and in the Erse language. See Mr. iMacpherson's Dissertation on the An- tiquity of Ossian's Poems, p. 10. ' The Goths, who ravaged Asia in the reign of Gallienus, carried away great numbers of captives; some of whom were christians, and became missionaries. See Tillemont, Wemoires Ecclesiast. tom. iv. p. 44. " The legend of Abgarus, fabulous as it is, affords a decisive proof, that many years before Eusebius wrote his history, the greatest part of the inha- bitants of Edessa had embraced Christianity. Tlieir rivals, the citizens of Carrhai, adhered, on the contrary, to the cause of paganism, as late as the sixth century.
- According to Bardesanes, (ap. Euseb. Praepar. Evangel.) there were
some christians in Persia before the end of the second century. In the time of Constantine, (see his epistle to Sapor, Vit. 1. iv. c. 13.) they com- posed a flourishing church. Consult Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Mani- cheisme, tom. i. p. 180. and the Bibliotheca Orientalis of Assemani. J Origen contra Celsum, 1. viii. p. 424.
