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The Christian communities however, refused to practice any sort of tolerance. They publicly declared that their God, and their God alone, was the true ruler of Heaven and Earth, and that all other gods were imposters. This seemed unfair to the other sects and the police discouraged such utterances. The Christians persisted.
但基督教社團(tuán) 卻拒絕任何寬容與妥協(xié)。他們公開宣稱他們的上帝，唯獨(dú)他們的上帝是宇宙與塵世的真正主宰，而所有別的神不過是冒名頂替的騙子。這種說法顯得對其他宗教很不公平，帝國警察不得不出面干預(yù)此類言行，可基督徒們依然堅(jiān)持。
Soon there were further difficulties. The Christians refused to go through the formalities of paying homage to the emperor. They refused to appear when they were called upon to join the army. The Roman magistrates threatened to punish them. The Christians answered that this miserable world was only the ante-room to a very pleasant Heaven and that they were more than willing to suffer death for their principles. The Romans, puzzled by such conduct, sometimes killed the offenders, but more often they did not. There was a certain amount of lynching during the earliest years of the church, but this was the work of that part of the mob which accused their meek Christian neighbours of every conceivable crime, (such as slaughtering and eating babies, bringing about sickness and pestilence, betraying the country in times of danger) because it was a harmless sport and devoid of danger, as the Christians refused to fight back.
不久，更大的沖突產(chǎn)生了。基督徒拒絕施行對羅馬皇帝表達(dá)敬意的禮儀，他們還拒服帝國的兵役。羅馬行政當(dāng)局威脅要懲罰他們，他們卻回答說，我們生存的這個(gè)悲慘世界只不過是進(jìn)人天堂樂土的"過道"，我們寧愿喪失現(xiàn)世的生命，也不愿違背信仰的準(zhǔn)則。羅馬人對這樣的言行大惑不解，偶爾殺死幾個(gè)敢于反抗的基督徒，但大部分時(shí)候都是聽之任之。在教會(huì)成立的初期，發(fā)生過一些私刑處死基督徒的情形，不過這都是暴民們的行為。他們對自己溫 順的基督徒鄰居胡 亂指控，污蔑他們犯下了各種各樣離奇古怪的罪行，比如殺人、吃嬰兒、散布疾病和瘟疫、出賣國家于危難之際等等。這些罪行出自暴徒們瘋狂而陰險(xiǎn)的想象力，他們知道基督徒是不會(huì)以暴易暴的，因此他們能夠輕易地處死基督徒，卻不怕招致報(bào)復(fù)。
Meanwhile, Rome continued to be invaded by the Barbarians and when her armies failed, Christian missionaries went forth to preach their gospel of peace to the wild Teutons. They were strong men without fear of death.
與此同時(shí)，羅馬一直在受到蠻族的侵略。當(dāng)羅馬軍隊(duì)的刀劍無能為力的時(shí)候，基督傳教士卻挺身上前，向野蠻的條頓人宣講他們的和平福音。他們都是些不畏死的堅(jiān)定信仰者
