The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most…
2024
The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
A candid but rational inquiry into the progress and establishment of Christianity may be considered as a very essential part of the history of the Roman empire. While that great body was invaded by open violence, or undermined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigour from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner of the Cross on the ruins of the Capitol. Nor was the influence of Christianity confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman empire. After a revolution of thirteen or fourteen centuries, that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe, the most distinguished portion of human kind in arts and learning as well as in arms. By the industry and zeal of the Europeans it has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of Asia and Africa; and by the means of their colonies has been firmly established from Canada to Chile, in a world unknown to the ancients.
But this inquiry, however useful or entertaining, is attended with two peculiar difficulties. The scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesiastical history seldom enable us to dispel the dark cloud that hangs over the first age of the church. The great law of impartiality too often obliges us to reveal the imperfections of the uninspired teachers and believers of the Gospel; and, to a careless observer, their faults may seem to cast a shade on the faith which they professed. But the scandal of the pious Christian, and the fallacious triumph of the Infidel, should cease as soon as they recollect not only by whom, but likewise to whom, the Divine Revelation was given. The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.
Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth. To this inquiry an obvious but unsatisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author. But as truth and reason seldom find so favourable a reception in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its purpose, we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian church? It will, perhaps, appear that it was most effectually favoured and assisted by the five following causes:
The inflexible, and, if we may use the expression, the intolerant zeal of the Christians, derived, it is true, from the Jewish religion, but purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses, the doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth, the miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive church, the pure and austere morals of the Christians. The union and discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman empire.
It is implied in the passage that
- A.
Christianity did not spread as far and wide as the Roman empire did.
- B.
Christianity spread simultaneously in Europe and all other parts of the world.
- C.
Christianity was first entrenched into Europe and thereafter spread to other parts of the world.
- D.
Both (Christianity spread simultaneously in Europe and all other parts of the world.) and (Christianity was first entrenched into Europe and thereafter spread to other parts of the world.)
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: An “implied” question on a passage asks for the conclusion that is BEST SUPPORTED by the passage's own stated facts among the options offered — including the order, scope, and who-did-what it describes — using only what the text itself says, never importing outside general knowledge the passage does not state.
Application: The passage states Christianity “is still professed by the nations of Europe,” and that the reach to Asia, Africa, and the Americas came about “by the industry and zeal of the Europeans” — that is, through effort the passage attributes to people already professing the faith in Europe. Among the four readings offered, a long-standing presence in Europe together with the passage's own attribution of the further reach to European effort fits an entrenched-in-Europe-then-diffused-elsewhere pattern far better than a claim of simultaneous, all-at-once spread (which that same attribution of agency does not support) or a claim that the reach stayed narrower than the Roman empire's (which the passage directly denies). This reading stays within what this passage itself describes — it says nothing about Christianity's earliest historical origin.
Cross-check: Testing each remaining option against the same sentence:
“Christianity did not spread as far and wide as the Roman empire did” is contradicted directly: the passage says its influence was “nor … confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman empire” and reached “a world unknown to the ancients” — a wider footprint than the empire's own, not a narrower one.
“Christianity spread simultaneously in Europe and all other parts of the world” goes beyond what the passage states: it describes the reach to Asia, Africa, and the Americas as a distinct development brought about through European effort and colonisation, not as one indistinguishable, all-at-once event covering every region alike.
A characterization that pairs “simultaneous spread everywhere” together with “established in Europe first, spread elsewhere after” combines two mutually exclusive patterns, which cannot both hold for the same passage at once.