This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1917. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... justice, not charity In the early days of the history of Christianity, nothing so amazed the citizens of the Roman Empire as the boundless charity which was practised by its adherents. It was this, perhaps, as much as anything else, which set off the early Christians from their pagan neighbours in the cities of Greece and Asia Minor, where the early churches were established; for charity, as we know it to-day, after centuries of Christian experience, was practically unknown in ancient times. The Roman state, to be sure, was lavish in its gifts of grain to the common people, and distinguished men, such as Julius Caesar and Augustus, were accustomed to give donations to the multitudes on occasions of great public rejoicing; but the gifts of the state were inspired more by policy than by benevolence, and the Cassars, when they scattered money to the shouting rabble, were moved by pride rather than by pity. A few examples of genuine pagan charity have come down to us in the records of the past. Thus Nepos tells us that Epaminondas, one of the noblest of all the Greeks, was accustomed to ransom captives with his own money, and collect dowries for poor girls. Plutarch narrates that Cimon, the Athenian, was noted for his kindness in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. Tacitus has described with enthusiasm how, after a dreadful catastrophe near Rome, the rich threw open the doors of their houses and taxed all their resources to relieve the sufferers. But " there can be no doubt," says the great English historian, Mr. Lecky, in his History of European Morals, "that neither in practice nor in theory, neither in the institutions that were founded nor in the place that was assigned to it in the scale of duties, did charity in antiquity occupy a position at all compar...