158 THE DECLINE AND FALL C n A p. firm each of these probable suppositions by the evi- '__ dence of authentic facts. They ne- L By the wise dispensation of providence, a myste- cluisIbnV^ rious veil was cast over the infancy of the church, as a sect which, till the faith of the christians was matured, and •' ^ * ^ their numbers were multiplied, served to protect them not only from the malice but even from the knowledge of the pagan world. The slow and gradual abolition of the Mosaic cei'emonies afforded a safe and innocent disguise to the more early proselytes of the gospel. As they were far the greater part of the race of Abra- ham, they were distinguished by the peculiar mark of circumcision, offered up their devotions in the temple of Jerusalem till its final destruction, and received both the law and the prophets as the genuine inspirations of the Deity. The gentile converts, who by a spi- ritual adoption had been associated to the hope of Israel, were likewise confounded under the garb and appearance of jews; and as the polytheists paid less regard to articles of faith than to the external worship, the new sect, which carefully concealed, or faintly an- nounced its future greatness and ambition, was per- mitted to shelter itself under the general toleration which was granted to an ancient and celebrated people in the Roman empire. It was not long, perhaps, be- fore the jews themselves, animated with a fiercer zeal and a more jealous faith, perceived the gradual sepa- ration of their Nazarene brethren from the doctrine of the synagogue ; and they would gladly have extin- guished the dangerous heresy in the blood of its ad- herents. But the decrees of heaven had already dis- armed their malice ; and though they might sometimes exert the licentious privilege of sedition, they no longer possessed the administration of criminal justice ; nor did they find it easy to infuse into the calm breast of a Roman magistrate the rancour of their own zeal and •> An obscure passage of Suetonius (in Claud, c. 25.) may seem to offer a proof how strangely the jews and christians of Rome were confounded with each other.
