A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations/Christians

by Hannah Adams

CHRISTIANS The disciples and followers of Jesus Christ were fist called Christians at Antioch^[1], A.D. 42. They were eminently distinguished by the sublime virtues which adorned their lives, and the miraculous gifts and graces bestowed by God upon them.

The history of our Saviour, as recorded in the New Testament, forms the basis of the Christian system, and as this book is happily in the hands of all our readers, it is unnecessary to enter into particulars.

The evidences of the Christian religion are comprised under historical testimony^[2] prophecies, miracles, the internal evidence of its doctrines and precepts, and the rapidity of its first propagation among the Jews and Gentiles. Though thinking Christians have in every age differed widely respecting some of the doctrines of this religion, yet they are fully agreed in the divinity of its origin, and the benevolence of its tendency. ^[3]

Original footnotes

1. Acts xi. 26. Antioch seems to have been a kind of head quarters to the Christians, and from hence they sent missionaries in various directions. See Calmet's Dictionary, vol. v.
2. See an excellent defence of the truth of the Christian revelation in the article Christianity, in the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. It is chiefly confined to the exposition of the historical argument for the truth of Christianity; and the aim of the author is to prove the external testimony to be so sufficient, as to leave infidelity without excuse, even though the remaining important branches of the Christians defence had been less strong and satisfactory than they are. This able work was written by the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D. of Glasgow, Scotland. It has been published in a duodecimo volume at Philadelphia and at Hartford. The compiler of this work is much gratified to hear that its success has been proportionate to its merits.
3. Evans' Sketch of Religious Denominations, p. 30