I He who studies and teaches others possesses treasures and riches. 2 He who has learned and does not impart his knowledge unto others disregards the Word of God.

3 It is not permitted to live in a place where there is neither master nor school.

4 Jerusalem was destroyed because her instructors were not respected.

5 If both the father and the teacher are threatened with any material loss, the latter should be protected first.

6 As soon as the child begins to speak the father should teach him to say in Hebrew, "The law which Moses commanded us is the heritage of the congregation of Jacob," and, "Hear, O Israel, the Eternal our God is one God."

7 The teacher should strive to make the lesson agreeable to the pupils by clear reasons, as well as by frequent repetitions, until they thoroughly understand the matter and are able to recite it with great fluency.

8 No man can acquire a proper knowledge of the Law unless he endeavors to fix the same in his memory by certain marks and signs.

9 Let the honor of the pupil be as dear to thee as thine own. 10 He who gives instruction to an unworthy pupil will suffer for the consequences thereof.

II The study of the Law is very important because it leads to good actions. He whose good actions exceed his wisdom, his wisdom shall endure.

12 Just as a man is bound to have his son instructed in the Law, so also should he have his son taught some handicraft or profession. Whosoever does not teach his son a handicraft teaches him to be a thief.

13 One learns much from his teachers, more from his school-fellows, but most of all from his pupils.

14 The instruction of children should not be interrupted, even for the purpose of building a Holy Temple.

15 Only those pupils should be punished in whom the master sees that there are good capacities for learning, and who are inattentive; but if they are dull and cannot learn they should not be punished. Punish with one hand and caress with two.

28. Saint Paul to the Romans

(Romans, I, 1-17)

In this extract from the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, Paul states his mission to the Roman people and what it is he brings to them.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

2. (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

3. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

4. And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

5. By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

6. Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:

7. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

10. Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

II. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

12. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

13. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

14. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

15. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

29. Saint Paul to the Athenians

(Acts XVII, 16-23)

The following quotation from The Acts shows Saint Paul in Athens, and gives somewhat of a picture of the kind of intellectual life found there in the first century, A.D.

16. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

17. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

18. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

19. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

20. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

21. (For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.) 22. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

23. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

30. The Crimes of the Christians

The Roman and Christian points of view as to the nature of the Christian worship and loyalty to the emperor are well set forth in the two following extracts; the first from the Roman writer Minucius Felix's Octavius, and the second from Tertullian's Apology.

(a) The Roman Point of View

I purposely pass over many things, for those that I have mentioned are already too many; and that all these, or the greater part of them, are true, the obscurity of their vile religion declares. For why do they endeavor with such pains to conceal and to cloak whatever they worship, since honorable things always rejoice in publicity, while crimes are kept secret? Why have they no altars, no temples, no acknowledged images? Why do they never speak openly, never congregate freely, unless for the reason that what they adore and conceal is either worthy of punishment, or something to be ashamed of? . . .

(b) The Christian Point of View

...

10. "You do not worship the gods," you say; "and you do not offer sacrifice to the Emperors." Well, we do not offer sacrifice for others, for the same reason that we do not for ourselves, namely, that your gods are not at all the objects of our worship. So we are accused of sacrilege and treason.

32. There is also another and a greater necessity for our offering prayer in behalf of the Emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the Empire, and for Roman interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock is impending over the whole earth — in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman Empire. We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's duration. . . .

33. But why dwell longer on the reverence and sacred respect of Christians to the Emperor, whom we cannot but look up to as called by our Lord in his office? so that on valid grounds I might say Cæsar is more ours than yours, for our God has appointed him. Therefore, as having this property in him, I do more than you for his welfare, not merely because I ask it of Him who can give it, nor because I ask it as one who deserves to get it, but also because, in keeping the majesty of Cæsar within due limits, and putting it under the Most High, and making it less than divine, I commend him the more to the favor of the Deity, to whom alone I make him inferior. But I place him in subjection to one I regard as more glorious than himself. Never will I call the Emperor God. . . .

35. This is the reason, then, why Christians are counted public enemies: that they pay no vain, nor false, nor foolish honors to the Emperor; that, as men believing in the true religion, they prefer to celebrate their festal days with a good conscience, instead of with common wantonness.

31. The Persecution of the Christians as Disloyal Citizens of the Roman Empire

(Pliny, Letters, book x, letters 96 and 97)

Pliny the Younger (62-113 A.D.), a distinguished Roman Senator and man of letters, was appointed governor of Bithynia, a province lying along the central southern coast of the Black Sea, in Asia Minor, by the Emperor Trajan, about 112 A.D. The following letter from Pliny to the Emperor asking for instructions as to how to deal with the disloyal Christians, and Trajan's reply, are of special value as displaying both the tolerant attitude of the Roman government toward their religion as such, and the peculiar difficulties met in dealing with them.

(a) Pliny to Trajan

It is my custom, my Lord, to refer to you all things concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better guide my indecision or enlighten my ignorance?

I have never taken part in the trials of Christians: hence I do not know for what crime nor to what extent it is customary to punish or investigate. I have been in no little doubt as to whether any discrimination is made for age, or whether the treatment of the weakest does not differ from that of the stronger; whether pardon is granted in case of repentance, or whether he who has ever been a Christian gains nothing by having ceased to be one; whether the name itself without the proof of crimes, or the crimes, inseparably connected with the name, are punished. Meanwhile, I have followed this procedure in the case of those who have been brought before me as Christians. I asked them whether they were Christians a second and a third time and with threats of punishment; I questioned those who confessed; I ordered those who were obstinate to be executed. For I did not doubt that, whatever it was that they confessed, their stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy ought certainly to be punished.

There were others of similar madness, whom, because they were Roman citizens, I have noted for sending to the City. Soon, the crime spreading, as is usual when attention is called to it, more cases arose. An anonymous accusation containing many names was presented. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, ought, I thought, to be dismissed, since they repeated after me a prayer to the gods and made supplication with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for the purpose together with the statues of the gods, and since besides they cursed Christ, not one of which things, they say, those who are really Christians can be compelled to do.

Others, accused by the informer, said that they were Christians and afterwards denied it; in fact they had been but had ceased to be, some many years ago, some even twenty years before. All both worshipped your image, and cursed Christ. They continued to maintain that this was the amount of their fault or error, that on a fixed day they were accustomed to come together before daylight and to sing by turns a hymn to Christ as a god, and that they bound themselves by oath, not for some crime, but that they would not commit robbery, theft, or adultery, that they would not betray a trust nor deny a deposit when called upon. After this it was their custom to disperse and to come together again to partake of food, of an ordinary and harmless kind, however; even this they had ceased to do after the publication of my edict in which according to your command I had forbidden associations.

Hence I believed it the more necessary to examine two female slaves, who were called deaconesses, in order to find out what was true, and to do it by torture. I found nothing but a vicious, extravagant suspicion. Consequently I have postponed the examination and make haste to consult you. For it seemed to me that the subject