Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/241

 Athens, and finally in Rome itself, and Christian churches began to spring up. Some of Paul's letters to the churches he founded were widely circulated. There were also four accounts in Greek of the life and teachings of Jesus that came to be regarded as authoritative. These were the four Gospels, which, with Paul's letters and some other early Christian writings, were brought

together to form the New Testament. As time passed, increasing numbers learned of the teachings of Jesus and found joy in the hopes they awakened.

These early Christians, like the Jews, not only refused to sacrifice to the emperor as a god, as all good Roman citizens were expected to do, but openly prophesied the downfall of the Roman State. While the Roman government was usually very tolerant in matters of religion, the Christians were therefore frequently called upon to