especially the armies. We have left you nothing but your temples.
Reflect what wars we are able to undertake! With what promptitude
might we not arm ourselves were we not restrained by our
religion, which teaches us that it is better to be killed than to
kill!"

Before he closes his defense, Tertullian renews an assertion
which, carried into practice, as it subsequently was, affected
the intellectual development of all Europe. He declares that the
Holy Scriptures are a treasure from which all the true wisdom in
the world has been drawn; that every philosopher and every poet
is indebted to them. He labors to show that they are the standard
and measure of all truth, and that whatever is inconsistent with
them must necessarily be false.

From Tertullian's able work we see what Christianity was while it
was suffering persecution and struggling for existence. We have
now to see what it became when in possession of imperial power.
Great is the difference between Christianity under Severus and
Christianity after Constantine. Many of the doctrines which at
the latter period were preeminent, in the former were unknown.

PAGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. Two causes led to the amalgamation
of Christianity with paganism: 1. The political necessities of
the new dynasty; 2. The policy adopted by the new religion to
insure its spread.

1. Though the Christian party had proved itself sufficiently
strong to give a master to the empire, it was never sufficiently
strong to destroy its antagonist, paganism. The issue of the