We know that very soon after the date of the events of the Gospel story the numbers of the men and women who accepted it were great. From the pagan Empire we have the testimony of Tacitus, the most eminent of Roman historians. Writing some fifty years after the first persecution under Nero, A.D. 64, he describes the Christians at the time of that first persecution as “a vast multitude” (ingens multitudo).[40]
Still more in detail the younger Pliny, the Governor of Bithynia, writing to the Emperor Trajan circa A.D. 112–13 for instructions how to deal with the Christians, relates that the new religion had spread so widely in his province, not merely in the cities but in the villages and country districts generally, that the temples were almost deserted.[41] It is, of course, possible that the new faith had found especial favour in Bithynia; but such a formal and detailed representation from an official of the highest rank and reputation to the Emperor of what was happening in his own province, is a sure indication of the enormous strides which Christianity had generally made in the Empire when the echoes of apostles and apostolic men were still ringing in the ears of their disciples. S. John’s death only preceded Pliny’s letter to Trajan[42] by at most twenty years.
Among contemporary Christian writers we find similar testimony to the vast numbers of Christians in very early times. To take a few conspicuous examples:
Clement, bishop of Rome circa A.D. 95, writing to the Church at Corinth, speaks of “the great multitude of Christians” who suffered in the persecution of Nero, A.D. 64.[43]
Hermas, in his book termed the Shepherd, shows us that in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, circa A.D. 130–40, there was resident a large number of Christians in the capital, many of them well-to-do and wealthy citizens.
Soter, bishop of Rome, writing to the Church of Corinth,[44] shortly after A.D. 165, refers to the Christians as superior in numbers to the Jews, no doubt especially alluding to the Roman congregation mentioned.
In the Acts of the Martyrdom of Justin, circa A.D. 165, an undoubtedly genuine piece, Rusticus the Roman prefect asks Justin where the Christians assembled. In reply, Justin said, “Where each one chooses and can; for do you imagine that we all meet in the very same place?”
Irenæus in a very striking passage,[45] written circa A.D. 180, alludes to the size and importance of the Roman congregation. His words are as follows:
“Since, however, it would be most tedious in such a volume as this to reckon up the (Episcopal) succession of all the Churches, we confound all those who assemble in unauthorized meetings by indicating the tradition handed down from the apostles of the most great, the very ancient, and universally known Church organized by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul.”