couples or in larger groups, passed into Paulina's garden. They came
from workshops and writing-rooms, from humble houses in narrow lanes, and
from the handsomest and largest in the main street. Each and all, from
the wealthy merchant down to the slave who could not call the coarse
tunic or scanty apron that he wore, his own, walked gravely and with a
certain dignified reserve. All who met within that gate greeted each
other as friends; the master gave a brotherly kiss to the servant, the
slave to his owner; for the congregation to which they all belonged was
as one body, animated and dwelt in by Christ, so that each member was
esteemed as equal to the others however different their gifts of body or
mind might be, or the worldly possessions with which they were endowed.
Before God and his Saviour the rich ship-owner or the grey-haired sage
stood no higher than the defenceless widow and the ignorant slave
crippled with blows. Still, the members of the community submitted to
those more implicitly than to these, for the special talents which graced
certain superior Christians were gifts of grace from the Lord, readily
acknowledged as such and, so far as they concerned the inner man, deemed
worthy of honor.

On Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of the Lord, all Christians,
without exception, visited their place of assembly for divine worship.
To-day, being the middle of the week, all who could or chose came to the
love-feast at Paulina's suburban house. She herself dwelt in the city
and she had placed the banqueting hall of her villa, which would hold
more than a hundred souls, at the disposal of her fellow Christians in
that quarter of the town. The regular service was held in the morning,
but after the day's labor was ended the Christians met at one table to
have an evening meal in common, or--on other occasions to partake of the
sacramental supper. After sunset the elders, deacons, and deaconesses--
most of whom, so long as it was light, had secular work to attend to--met