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PRIM YE EIN AY, WASTAGE A REL ACT cis a A E SEOSD aIRl Rta ee paint haul elite Py An ip q PA a Navas nine TA } 4 Me Ca ae #8; ye a tes lig i +) ar aH I : be vie bys i ie f } ha: p PATA ; af Blt I AU OE Hi ies f: ait jy sar fast (: HEE ONT ESS Uicee OnE ADE W 6, We Aig if f : 14} bon ay 4 34 A AP EEA a, ties nina Ag MAE SCE THA SA Laat ae a MTSE OE OS GAS i A i Ly MM ELM MAM de (at ay, Rey i ‘ ny Ay 4 Bei if if y. / i (, i Ae r ta hing (eps if ss OWLS Ae Mea —S Aer Bei ith i F a aa Aid Messe (th i GAY Fan yay’ te = es ST are ay - SANS es As sy % ; , f on Oe H HISTOR HATTON GARDEN, E.C. We - a a \ ie pe at : ry , NEWMAN AND CC * A f i : 7 N Rat: a4 : wa E mn” ue ia a 2 ano gee a : a * ial , . fis 3 a = . ¥ ° ize) 3 : Pe : 2 , i . ~ - a . ‘ i ‘ me ; a ; om ‘ . > ~ a » A ; s nC : a, °F A ~ ~ ‘ 3 . q m4 iy - . 4 Faby 3 . ; a ; 1 ~ -e _ * . 7 . > oy % J : a ,. 7 . * ia ‘ “ - = y . : U . - re 5 F " ; > . ’ ‘. oa > Eh P * : A ex Mosaic of Perpetua in the Archbishop’s Palace, Ravenna. Copied from the original by Edward Backhouse. aiid EARLY CHURCH HISTORY Go the Death of Constantine. COMPILED BY THE LATE PaewWwakD |; BACKHOUSE. EDITED AND ENLARGED BY CHARLES TYLOR. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE BY DR. HODGKIN. @hird Edition. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., Limirep. 1892. Christus Veritatem se non Consuetudinem cognominavit.—TERTULLIAN. Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas errori est.—CYPRIAN. It may be that suspense of judgment and exercise of charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men, than the hot pursuit of controversies, wherein they that are most fervent to dispute be not always the most able to determine. But who are on his side, and who against Him, our Lord in his good time shall reveal.—HoOOKER. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. a Tur first issue having been exhausted in less than eighteen months, a second edition is now presented to the reader. The whole work has been revised with much care, many parts have been amplified, and some have been recast. Acknowledgments are due for sug- gestions to several friendly reviewers in the current periodicals. The chief new feature in the present edition is the introduction of the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, a treatise of the Primitive Chureh recently discovered at Constantinople, and published whilst our History was passing through the press. The treatise will be found entire, with some introductory remarks, at page 134, where it forms an Appendix to Part I. The interval which elapsed between the close of the New Testa- ment and the rise of a Church literature sufficient for the con- struction of history, must of necessity be to us for the most part a silent period. From the bright flood of morning light which is shed upon the Apostolic age we pass into a dim twilight, broken only by occasional gleams casting but an uncertain ray upon the Church’s progress. To these scanty sources of historic hight, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles is a very welcome addition. It bears witness to the change which during this silent period was advancing over the Church. The worship, the services, the ministers, were losing the simplicity of earlier days, and assuming that ritualistic and priestly character which we find, not indeed fully developed, yet unmistake- ably present, in the pages of Justin Martyr, of Irenzeus, and of Tertullian. In the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles we view the Church in a transition state, when the seeds of some corruptions are already manifest, but much of the primitive simplicity is still retained. Vv ‘ vl PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The period indicated above was one of the utmost importance in the Church’s life. Peter and Paul were martyred about a.p. 67, and except in Proconsular Asia, where John’s life was prolonged for another generation, this date may be said to have closed the Apostolic age. Justin Martyr’s First Apology is referred to about the year 148, and his martyrdom to 165; Ireneus became bishop of Lyons 177, and died 202; the conversion of Tertullian is placed about 185, and his death in the year 220. These dates give us two distinct epochs, separated by an interval of about a century more or less—ample time for abuses and superstitions to find their way into the Church. How rapid the growth of error was even in the Apostle Paul's lifetime, in the Churches founded by himself, is manifest in his epistles—for example, that to Galatians. We ven- ture to think that if the influence and bearing of this silent period succeeding the age of the Apostles were more fully recognised by Church historians and critics, some of the strictures on the present work would not have been written. The primitive stage of Christianity is no fiction, nor is it in any wise invalidated by the existence of ritualism a century after the close of the New Testament. Bricuton, 5th Mo., 1885. [Notr.—In his comment on the ancient homily, formerly known as the Second Epistle of Clement of Rome, Bishop Lightfoot says: “‘ Whether we re- gard the exposition of doctrine, or the polemic against false teachers, or the state of Christian Society, or the relation to the Scriptural Canon, we cannot but feel that we are confronted with a state of things separated by a wide inter- val from the epoch of Trenzus and Clement of Alexandria,” p. 312.] fern TO THER THIRD EDITION. ———§ In this edition it is sought to place the work within the reach of many to whom price is an object. The original text, as enlarged in the Second Edition, is retained entire. All but one of the Chromo-lithographs are reproduced, together with several of the Photographs and all the Woodcuts. A few additions and correc- tions have been made, which are marked thus: [ | The Editor has much pleasure in tendering his warm thanks to those friends who have, in various ways, aided him in his work, amongst whom he would name William Beck and Thomas Hodgkin. He has also received valuable literary aid in the two previous editions from R. Hingston Fox. BricutTon, 8th Mo., 1892. + EDWARD BACKHOUSE Etat 68. BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. ————+oe—_—_—- As the following work may come into the hands of some who were not personally acquainted with its Author, it is necessary to devote a few pages to a sketch of his life and character. Those who knew Epwarp Bacxsovuss, of Sunderland, will never forget either the man or that fresh and vigorous Christianity which was the key-note of his life. But for the sake of others an attempt must be made to give an outline, however imperfectly, of the manner in which he ‘‘served his own generation by the will of God before he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers.” He was the son of Edward and Mary Backhouse, and was born at Darlington in 1808. A resident from early boyhood at Sunder- land, of which place he became one of the foremost citizens, he was thoroughly identified in his interests with the busy, stirring life of the North of England. He was not himself, however, actively engaged in commerce. Although a partner in collieries, and in the extensive banking business with which the name of his family has been so long connected, he took little, if any, share in the practical management of these businesses, having desired from the time of his early manhood to keep his hands free for philanthropic and religious work. He was an eager and diligent student of natural history, a frequent traveller, and a landscape painter of consider- able merit. Though not cultivating the graces of a professed orator, he could always be relied on to make a plain, vigorous, straightforward speech, with a heartiness which never failed to win the ear of a popular assembly. He was a rather keen, but not bitter politician, on the Liberal side, but never sought a seat in Parliament, whither he could certainly have gone as representative of Sunderland if he had desired to do so. , lis whole life was coloured by his enthusiastic adoption of the ix xX BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. principles of tbat portion of the Christian Church to which his ancestors for many generations had belonged—the Society of Friends. During a considerable part of his life he occupied a conspicuous position as a minister among them. It is generally known that in their body there are no paid religious ministers, but the work of preaching and of pastoral visitation is discharged by such members of the Society as may feel themselves commissioned by the Unseen Head of the Church to undertake it. After one of these volunteers has preached in the “‘ meetings for worship ” for a while, if his services meet with the approval of the congregation, it is the custom to ‘‘ acknowledge” him. Ministers thus acknow- ledged acquire a certain official position, but still are in no sense a clergy distinct from the laity around them, but only members of the body, whose gift happens to be of a kind which brings them into somewhat greater prominence than their brethren. Edward Backhouse used to refer his own conversion to the thirtieth year of his age. His life had been always pure and un- blameable according to man’s judgment. After this time it became more conspicuously devoted to the service of Christ; yet it was not till fourteen years after this time that he commenced work as a minister. In the interval his religious labours were chiefly of the kind which Friends call ‘“ eldership,’’ and which consists in accompanying the ministers on their missionary journeys, advising them as to their spiritual course, and discriminating between the ministers whose gifts claim encouragement and eventual recogni- tion, and those who seem to have mistaken their vocation. It was during this period of his life that he was in a remarkable manner preserved from death by shipwreck. In 1842 he had arranged to accompany his uncle, William Backhouse, on a visit to the little congregations of Friends in Norway. A few days before the time fixed for their departure, William Backhouse stood up to preach in the meeting-house at Darlington ; before he had uttered a word he fell back senseless, and expired upon the spot. The event was of course felt as a great shock by all his relatives, in- cluding his nephew and intended companion; but when tidings came that the steamer in which they were to have sailed, and which started on her voyage on the very day of his uncle’s funeral, had foundered at sea, and that all on board had perished, he saw that his own life had been as it were given back to him in the course of God’s Providence, and felt himself more than ever bound to use it in the service of Christ. BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xi In 1852 he began to preach in the assemblies of Friends, and after two years’ probation was ‘“‘ recognised” as a minister, which position he occupied for the remaining twenty-five years of his life. His preaching was very characteristic of the man, with no elaborate oratory, but a fine natural flow of language and a certain character of manly strength and earnestness in every discourse. His favourite topic of exhortation, especially in later years, was, ‘‘ Press on, do not be satisfied with infancy or childhood in the Christian life. It is time now that you were full-grown men and women in Christ Jesus, with all the power to overcome which this maturer life should bring to you.’” The happiness of the Christian believer was another favourite theme, both in his conversation and his sermons. In speaking of his life after his conversion he says, ‘‘ The more closely I kept to my faithful Guide, the more I understood the beauty of holiness, the glory of the Lord’s delightsome land, the sweetness, the safety and the rest of abiding in Jesus.” Those words, ‘“‘ the Lord’s delightsome land,” are very characteristic both of his life and ministry, and in writing them one seems to hear again the fine tones of that strong and hearty voice impressing them on his hearers. He married in middle life, Katharine, daughter of Thomas and Mary Mounsey, of Sunderland. He had no children of his own, but always surrounded himself as much as possible with young people, his nephews and nieces, or the children of his old friends, and often seemed himself the youngest of the party. He associ- ated them with himself in his rambles in search of health, in his yachting excursions in Norway, or his sketching tours in Switzer- land ; and his own keen love of nature, and observant eye for her varying moods, made him a delightful companion on such occasions. It is difficult to describe this part of his character without convey- ing the impression that his was a self-indulgent life ; but this was far from being the case. The sorrows and the sins of great cities, and especially of the great seaport near to which he himself lived, claimed a very large share of his time and thought, and he spent not only money, but health and energy freely in the endeavour to alleviate and reform them. He erected a large mission-hall in one of the poorest districts of Sunderland, which became the resort of a large congregation, and was the centre of a great Christianising and civilising work in a district which had much need of such assis- tance. In the various operations connected with this place, both on Sundays and week-days, he took a personal share. Xi BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE, It remains only to say a few words as to his object in com- mencing the compilation which is now offered to the reader. It will be well first to quote his own words written only a few months before his death, viz., on the 2nd of March, 1879 :—‘‘ In Second month, 1874, or about that period, I was standing painting in my own room, when an impression was made upon my mind which I believed to be from the Lord, that I ought to devote my leisure in my latter days to writing a portion of Church History ; especially with the view of exhibiting to the Christian world, in a popular manner, the principles and practices of the Society of Friends. So I forthwith began to explore Church History generally, because the history of Friends was quite familiar to me; and ultimately, as I saw that I greatly differed from many excellent historians in the inferences I drew from many events in the history of the Church, I was induced to attempt myself to write a history of Christianity which I thought might prove useful to some as exhibiting the prin- ciples and practices of the Churches, viewed from a Quaker stand- point, and compared as nearly as I could with apostolic precedent.” In pursuance of this design he read through the twenty-three volumes of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library. (Not having kept up his knowledge of the classics he was necessarily dependent on some form of translation.) In some instances he did not perhaps read every page, but in very many his marks and notes run through the whole volume. In the same way he read the ecclesiastical histories of Kusebius, Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomen, and Theodoret ; and among modern compilations made frequent use of Du Pin, Mosheim, Neander, Burton’s Church History, and some others. It should be mentioned here that the Editor has carefully gone through the MSS., verifying quotations, and in many instances comparing them with the original, and has also expanded many parts which appeared to be rather meagrely treated, and touched on some points which had been altogether omitted. It need scarcely be said that his views and convictions are closely in unison with those of the author, and that he has taken up the work as a labour of love.” * It has not seemed necessary to trouble the reader with typographical dis- tinctions between the portions contributed by the two writers, but it may be - stated that the Editor is responsible for fully one half of the matter of this volume, and for the form of the whole of it, BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. xii Edward Baskhouse’s work at this history occupied the last few years of his life, filling them (perhaps too full for his bodily strength) with interesting employment. He carried his usual energy of character, his almost boyish enthusiasm into his new pursuit, and pushed with untiring zeal through the thick jungle of heresies and councils. Nevertheless it may be permitted to an observer to regret that his thoroughness and determination to get to the bottom of things should have led him to begin his studies at so early a point in the history of the Church. He knew the local history of the North of England well; the history of the Society of Friends perfectly ; and if he had confined his labours to these subjects he would probably have produced a work which would have been accepted as an authority in that more limited field. For the present work of course it would be vain to expect such a position. It proposes to be but a compilation, but it is believed that it will be found an honest and accurate one. Further, owing to the late period of life at which the author commenced his studies, it was scarcely possible for him quite to carry into effect his own purpose, even for the period covered by this volume. That purpose was to write the history of the Church from the point of view of the Society of Friends, a body which the ereat mass of ecclesiastical writers consider heretical. His desire, perhaps not fully allowed to himself, was to find out with what early teachers stigmatised as heretics he himself could in any way sympathise ; what protests against priestly assumptions and ritualistic eorruptions had been made in the early ages of the Church. This inquiry, so interesting if it be not impossible, still remains to be prosecuted, and would require the best years of a scholar’s life. With very few exceptions, Church history has been. written by authors claiming the magic title Catholic. The heretics are like the partisans of a fallen dynasty; they have failed, and therefore they must be in the wrong. Under that one wide tombstone on which is inscribed the word ‘«‘ Heresy,” slumber in all probability the representatives of the most divergent schools of thought—wild and licentious anti-nomians— Judaical reactionaries—logical philosophers, oppressed (as the men of our day are oppressed) by the feeling of waste in the natural world, and longing to bring its laws into harmony with the revela- tion which God has given of Himself in Christ,—and side by side with these some honest assertors of the freedom and spirituality of the Gospel against the innovations which were turning the servants XIV BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. of the Church into a pretentious priesthood and the. services of the Church into a tawdry pageant. There they all slumber together. Who shall find in obscure allusions in forgotten folios the clue to their dark abode ? Who shall make the dry bones rise again a mighty army, part them under their several standards, separate the pre- cious from the vile, find out the true forerunners of the free Christian thought which since the sixteenth century has renovated the world, and separate them from those mere teachers of license and traders in immorality who follow in the wake of every great religious movement ? As has been already hinted, our friend was not able to put the finishing touches even to this the first portion of his work. His health failed perceptibly after he had passed the threescore years and ten, but he was still able to engage in his ordinary pursuits. In the hope of profiting by a southern climate, he went to Hastings, but was there seized with a more serious malady, and after an illness of only four days, passed peacefully away on the 22nd of May, 1879. THOMAS HODGKIN. CONTENTS. PART IL—TO A.D. 200. CHAPTER I. Promulgation of the Gospel—The New Society—Picture of Heathenism.., CHAPTER II. Nero’s Persecution—Destruction of Jerusalem—Jewish-Christian Church CHAPTER III. Domitian and Nerva—The Apostle John—Epistle of Clement of Rome and Letter to Diognetus oe se ie na us Bs CHAPTER IV. Trajan and Pliny—Martyrdom of Ignatius—His Epistles CHAPTER V. Hadrian—Insurrection of the Jews—Marcus Aurelius—Persecution and Calumnies CHAPTER VI. Justin Martyr CHAPTER VII. The Octavius of Minucius Felix—Martyrdom of Polycarp .. CHAPTER VIII. Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne XV PAGE 3 10 14 28 33 40 48 XV1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. Ireneus—-Gnosticism—The Montanists—Attitude of the Church towards Dissenters CHAPTER X. Worship in the Early Church—The Agape or Lord’s Supper CHAPTER XI. Baptism-—Infant Baptism CHAPTER XII. Prayer — Almsgiving — Miraculous and Spiritual Guifts— Superstitious Practices CHAPTER XIII. Government of the Church—Maintenance of Ministers—Clergy and Laity —Church Action and Discipline—Places of Worship CHAPTER XIV. Holy Days and Festivals—Marriage—Asceticism—Burial ... CHAPTER XV. The Catacombs CHAPTER XVI. Spread of the sts nires of the Early Christians, its ite and Shadows CHAPTER XVII. Ragan Animosity and Christian Loyalty—The Philosophers assail the Church s ve ra “i Ny wi ee ats CHAPTER XVIII. Christians and the Military Service—Slavery—Oaths APPENDIX TO PART I. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles PAGE 53 60 70 76 83 95 104 112 121 126 134 CONTENTS. PART II.—FROM A.D. 200, TO THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE, A.D. 387. CHAPTER I. The Martyrs of Africa—Alexander Severus favours the Christians CHAPTER II. Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria ... CHAPTER III. Hippolytus—The Churches have rest—The Decian Persecution—Cyprian —The Lapsed—Gallus and the Pestilence ae Ee CHAPTER IV. Origen CHAPTER V. Persecution under Valerian —Cyprian’s Martyrdom— His Life and Teaching—Novatian a CHAPTER VI. The Emperors Gallienus and Aurelian—Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Gregory Thaumaturgus CHAPTER VII. The Diocletian Persecution CHAPTER VIII. The Diocletian Persecution (continued)—-Constantine CHAPTER IX. The Diocletian Martyrs . CHAPTER X. Constantine’s Legislation—He assumes Power over the Church—The Donatists—The Christians slaughter one another CHAPTER XI. Manicheism and Sabellianism—The Arian Controversy—The Council of Nicea ... XVil PAGE 147 153 159 168 175 188 204 210 218 226 XVili CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. Intolerant Edicts of Constantine—He espouses the Arian Cause—Athana- sius—Baptism and death of the Emperor—Lactantius... CHAPTER XIII. Rapid growth of Ritualism—Manner of Worship in the Fourth Century— The Eucharist—Baptism os role oh. yr oe CHAPTER XIV. Power of the Bishops—Pretensions of Rome—Paul of Samosata—Main- tenance of the Clergy—-Tithes—Clerical Dress ... CHAPTER XY. The New Age of Art and Splendour—Consecration of Churches—Pictures in Churches—Embroidered Garments—Lighted Tapers—The Cata- combs ... 2 i: re Sa De Nes bit oe Peat CHAPTER XVI. Prayers for the Dead-—Invocation of Saints—Worship of Relics—Fasts and Festivals—Education—Church Buildings . CHAPTER XVII. “ Forbidding to Marry””—and “Commanding to abstain from Meats”— The Hermits—Paul—Anthony— Monks and Nuns CHAPTER XVIII. The Gospel continues to spread—Armenia—Abyssinia—Britain—Assimi- lation of the Church to the World—The Magistracy—War—Conclusion PAGE 240 249 257 268 278 290 305 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. eee Mosaic oF PERPETUA, RAVENNA wa. Chromo-lithograph. Frontispiece. PAGE POGetmtr Or tuDWARD BDACKHOUSE ... ... Photograph ... ... ... .. ik MAMERTINE Prison AND TaRPEIAN Rock Chromo-lithograph ... ...... 18 GOLDEN CANDLESTICK, &C., ON THE ARCH rene 7) rs i: Tee a is, eee se, §=WoodCub oi. kee ee ae wee «108 INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE Roman CaTacomMBs— | eater Ae EP ROLOGTADI onc owes aa. ata LOT - és - ee BOL is Men Pao Bee LOO ie > fe cf C a 110 Mosaic or Fericiras, RAVENNA Pe “CHTOMO-EROOTOD 6 an 22x 147 EpirarpH or Bisnop Fapran, Martyr ... Woodcut ... ... ... «. ... 164 MOOTMEOPEEIIOCLETIAN (000 2.00.0, ccs oes a Peet el a RD, CrLL oF Firmus aND RvsTICUS IN THE AMPHITHEATRE AT VERONA mur ee Chromo-lithograph ... .:. ...- 204 DEN IN THE AMPHITHEATRE AT VERONA... 5 Pe Soe e200 BOOMEPATOTENE 6. cc. ui =.» WoO0dCUt 22.0 cn ae. tee ue, = 248 EriraPH or JANUARIUS, MARTYR... ... en me owronmen shee OTS FrEsco oF A CHRISTIAN MEAL FROM THE CaTacomp oF CaLixTUS ... ... «. Chromo-lithograph... ... ... 274 A FunerAL MEAL FROM THE CATACOMB OF PMEMGEANDO. MARCELLINGUS ... 7)... ~.. Woodcut ... acs use aes... 2786 Fresco or a HeatrHeN Mean From PomPEII Pe re... Crromo-lithograph... ... +... 276 SARCOPHAGUS OF THE Empress Hetena... Etching ... ... ... «.. ... 282 CHAPTER I. PROMULGATION oF THE GospEL—T'HE New Socitety—Pricture oF H&ATHENISM. At the very time when, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy, the Jewish people were in expectation of the advent of the Messiah, the Gentile nations, awaking to the consciousness that their idols were no gods and their philosophy vain, were panting for something higher and more satisfying. It was at this epoch that ‘‘ the Christ” was born in Bethlehem ; when, amid the darkness, the heavenly glory shone round about the shepherds, and the angel said to them, Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people ; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. As he spoke, the angel was joined by a multitude of the heavenly host, singing, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.t Thus, at the time appointed by the Father, the Lord came down from heaven and blessed our world with the light of his glorious gospel. But when the desire of all nations, the long expected Messiah, came, the rulers of the Jews rejected Him because He came not with worldly pomp and power, to overthrow the dominion of imperial Rome and restore the kingdom to Israel. Though He came to his own, his own received Him not.? They were insensible to his miracles, resisted his life-giving words, and refused to have Him to rule over them, crying aloud to the Roman Governor, Crucify Him, crucify Him! And Pilate crucified the Son of God. But God raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it.3 Then was fulfilled the prophecy of David, so rich in blessing, Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive; Thou hast * Luke i, 8-14. 2 John i. 11. 3 Acts ii. 24. 4 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. received gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." At this time the greater part of the known world was subject to Rome, and, excepting the Jewish religion, Paganism was universal. The chief cities were adorned with magnificent temples, erected in honour of ‘those which are no gods,” and embellished with “graven images” of marvellous beauty, the work of Phidias, Praxiteles, and a host of sculptors of undying fame. Judaism also had its grand ecclesiastical buildings. Besides the temple at Jeru- salem, stately synagogues, having massive pillars and cornices richly sculptured, had risen up in many towns.? These places of meeting were very numerous, for wherever ten persons were found who desired it, a synagogue was opened. There were said to be 480 in Jerusalem alone; whilst at Alexandria, Rome, Babylon, and by many a river side in Asia Minor, Greece or Italy, such a house for the mingled worship and business of every Jewish com- munity was to be found.3 The Jewish mind, as has been said, was filled with expectation, and the Gentiles were craving for food to satisfy their starving souls, when, through the establishment of a New Covenant, the spiritual needs of all, Jews and Gentiles, were fully met by the Gospel. Free and perfect redemption through Jesus Christ was first pro- claimed to the Jews in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost there were added to the disciples about three thousand souls ; and shortly afterwards the number of the men who believed was about five thousand ; while a little later we are told that the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And when the Gospel had been proclaimed throughout Judea, the Apostle Peter was constrained by a heavenly vision to accompany the messengers of Cornelius, and to preach the same good news to the Roman Centurion and his household.5 Thus the Gentile was admitted to the same privilege as the Jew, and the promise of our Lord to Peter was fulfilled, I will give unto thee the ™ Ps. Ixviii. 18. * So far as this relates to Palestine it may be doubted if the architectural frag- ments which have given rise to the supposition are really the remains of syna- gogues. [But see a paper by Canon Williams, quoted in Edersheim’s Jewish Social Life, pp. 255-257.] 3 Stanley’s Jewish Church, pt. iii., pp. 463-5. The synagogue (meeting-house) was also known by another Greek name of similar meaning, ecclesia, afterwards appropriated to Christian congregations and to the places where they met. 4 Acts li, 413 iv. 4; Vi.-7: 5 Acts x. PROMULGATION OF THE GOSPEL. 5 keys of the kingdom of heaven.t Peter used the keys to unlock the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles ; and they also became heirs of God, and from being afar off were thenceforth made nigh by the blood of Christ.? The Church of Christ thus founded was the pillar and ground of the truth,3 the kingdom of heaven amongstmen. It was not merely a professing but a spiritual Church, the family of God on earth, which is one with his household and family in heaven. This is the only universal or Catholic Church. The Church of Rome may call herself catholic, but she has no right to the title. All who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, under whatever name they may be known, belong to the Catholic Church, and all who are in their natural state, unconverted and strangers to this spiritual baptism, whatever may be their name or profession, are outside the Catholic Church, for they are not members of the body of Christ. A year had not passed from the Ascension of our Lord before persecution commenced in Jerusalem against his followers. The saintly Stephen was the first to suffer death at the hands of the unbelieving Jews, while Saul was standing by consenting, and kept the raiment of those who slew him.+ But the persecutor found it hard to kick against the goad,5 and, transformed by grace, became in course of time Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles, mighty in word and deed. | Ten years after the martyrdom of Stephen, Herod Agrippa put to death James the brother of John. Nevertheless, the new faith spread, and the word of God grew.and multiplied.° The apostles and evangelists setting forth in various directions, travelled through- out the known world, proclaiming the glad tidings. Early tradition informs us that John resided in Asia Minor; that Thomas preached the Gospel in Parthia, Andrew in Scythia, and Bartholomew in India ;7 and that Mark was the founder of the church in Alex- andria.2 Thus they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming’ the word with signs following.9 As it was with their blessed Master, so it was with them, their word was with power.t? Everywhere men were turned from darkness to light," and, putting off the old man with his deeds, put on the new man, and were created again in the image of God.” t Matt. xvi. 19. 2 Ephes, ii. 13, 2 ote int, tit, Lig 4 Acts xxii. 20. 5 Acts xxvi. 14, © Acts xii. 24. 7 Probably Yemen in Arabia. Later accounts make Thomas go to India. 8 Gieseler’s Ecclesiastical History, Clark, i. 79. 9 Mark xvi. 20. 70*Tuke iv. 82. ™ Acts xxvi. 18. "Col? ite 3510. 6 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. In this manner, in the midst of the great Roman world, festering with corruption but still intent upon its schemes of grandeur and conquest, there grew up a new society, animated by another and a far loftier spirit. All unobserved, a leaven had begun to work which was to spread and prevail, producing everywhere new insti- tutions, new hopes, and a new and better life. Then was to be seen in one city after another the realization of the golden visions of phar Assemblies such as Earth Saw never, such as Heaven stoops down to see. Such, for example, was the company which, about the year 58, met regularly in Corinth in the house of Justus,’ or some other con- venient dwelling. Here, the partition wall which had separated them for 2,000 years being broken down, Jew and Gentile were seen to enter at the same door, embrace one another with a fraternal kiss, recline round the same table, break bread, and dip together in the same dish. Hither came the chief Ruler of the Synagogue and the Greek Chamberlain of the City, with others of all ranks and various nations.2 Now woman was restored to her rightful place and honour ;3 and the slave, a class which composed one-half of the population, found a refuge, and was welcomed as a brother in the Lord. In these meetings holy truths undreamt of by the world were the subjects of conversation, and bold plans of spiritual con- quest were discussed and organized ;4 and then all would unite together in invoking upon the cause which they loved so dearly, a blessing from their common Father in heaven in the name of their invisible but present Lord. It is not easy for us who have grown up in the midst of a Chris- tian commonwealth to comprehend the darkness of heathenism out of which the believers were brought. It is not, alas! that the reign of night is yet over. Far from it. But the blessed light has happily chased into holes and caverns some of the more loathsome forms of evil. Let one who was well acquainted with the heathen world, and had reached mature age before he embraced the truth, draw aside for us the veil, so far at least as we are able to bear it. ‘Fancy thyself,” he says in writing to-a friend, “ transported to a lofty peak of some inaccessible mountain, and thence gaze on the t Acts xviii. 7. 2 Acts xviii. 8; Rom. xvi. 21-23, 3 The presence of women is a circumstance noticeable in days when exclusive- ness in eating so much prevailed that it is doubtful whether even the women of a household ate with the men, any more than they do now in Oriental lands. 4 See Cooper’s Free Church of Ancient Christendom, 2nd ed., p. 174. THE HEATHEN WORLD. yi world below. Thou wilt behold the roads beset with robbers and the seas with pirates; wars raging in every land, and the whole earth wet with blood. Murder, which in the case of one man is called a crime, thou wilt hear nea as a virtue because it is com- mitted wholesale. ‘Tf thou turn thy eyes to the cities, thou wilt see assemblies of men and women more dreadful to behold than any desert, for they are met to satiate themselves with cruelty and blood. The bodies of the gladiators are fed up with stronger food, and the vigorous mass of limbs is enriched with brawn and muscle, that the wretch may die a harder death. Skill in slaughter is an art; training is undergone to acquire the power to murder, and the achievement of murder is glory. Fathers look on their sons; a brother is in the arena, and his sister is among the spectators; and, even though a grander display should increase the price of admission, the mother —O depth of shame—pays it that she may witness the dying agonies of her own child. | “Nor less deplorable is another kind of spectacle, the theatre, where the ancient horrors of parricide and incest are unfolded in action expressive of the very image of the deed, as if on purpose that the wickedness of former ages may never be forgotten. In the mimes * again are taught all licentiousness and all infamies: the actors are praised in proportion as they are effeminated and de- graded ; and if perchance any woman should go to see them modest, she returns corrupted. Nor do they fail to adduce in recommenda- tion of their enticing abominations, the example of the gods, whose horrid crimes indeed are the very religion of the people. “Or if from thy lofty watch-tower thou could look down into the private houses, if thou could open the closed doors of the chambers, thou would see what even to see is a crime... . And as if this were not enough, those who are criminals in secret are accusers in public, denouncing abroad in others what they themselves commit at home. “ Possibly thou mayst suppose that the Forum at least is free from vice, that it is neither exposed to exasperating wrongs nor polluted by the association of criminals. Turn thy gaze in that direction ; thou wilt discover things more odious than before. Though the laws stand there graven on twelve tables, and the . statutes are publicly exhibited, yet wrong is done in the midst of the laws themselves, wickedness is committed in the very face of the statutes. The rancour of the disputants rages; the forum * Mimic plays or farces. 8 i EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. echoes with the madness of strife. The sword is close at hand; and the tormentor also, with the claw that tears, the rack that stretches, the fire that burns up,—more tortures for the poor human body than it has limbs. And who is there to help? The patron? He prevaricates and abandons you. The judge? He sells his sentence. One man forges a will; another makes a false deposition ; children are cheated of their inheritance. Amongst the guilty it is a crime even to be innocent. ‘‘ But lest we should seem to be picking out extreme cases only, let us turn now to such things as the world in its ignorance counts good. Beneath its varnish, wickedness and mischief lie hid; just as some poison, whose flavour is craftily concealed by sweet medica- ments, passes for an ordinary drink, but when it is taken produces death. See that man strutting in his purple; with what baseness has he purchased his glitter. At what haughty thresholds, and on how many scornful footsteps of arrogant great men, has he waited, that by and bya similar procession might attend him, a train drawn together, not by his person but by his power, not for his character but for his fasces. Watch and thou wilt see the degrading end, when the time-serving sycophants have deserted him, and the favour of the populace is lost, for which the family estate was squandered. Others thrusting away the poor from their vicinity, add forest to forest and field to field, or store up gold in countless heaps. Such are torn by endless fears lest the robber should spoil or some envious neighbour harass with malicious lawsuits. The rich man sighs in the midst of the banquet, whilst he quaffs the jewelled goblet ; and when his luxurious bed has enfolded in its yielding bosom his body languid with feasting, he lies wakeful in the midst of the down. O senseless greed, to cling so obstinately to the tormenting hoards ! From him no liberality flows to his dependents, no charity to the poor. Marvellous perversion of names, to call those things goods which are put only to evil uses.” ? Cyprian, Epistle, i., ¢. vi.-xii., Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Some of the darkest spots are not included in the above catalogue, as the frequent suicides, the treatment of slaves, divorce, infanticide. ** Although,” writes Tertullian, ‘‘the law forbids the slaughter of new-born infants, yet no statute is evaded with greater impunity, with the deliberate knowledge of the public and universal consent.” ‘*How many, think you,” he asks, “of those who crowd around gaping for Christian blood—how many even of your rulers, renowned for their justice,—may I charge in their own consciences with the'sin of putting their off- spring todeath?’’ Apology, c. ix.; To the Nations, b. i.,¢. xv. Juvenal says the Roman ladies counted more divorces than married years.—Satire vi. On the subject of slavery, see below, c. xviii. TRUE NATURE OF IDOLATRY, 9 This gloomy picture of Cyprian’s, which is in fact only an expan- sion of the Apostle’s indictment of the pagan world in the Epistle to the Romans, is confirmed by the heathens themselves. ‘‘ The world is filled,” says a celebrated philosopher, ‘with crimes and vices. ‘Things are too far gone to be healed by any regimen. Men are battling for the palm of reprobate manners. Each day lust waxes and shame wanes. Trampling down all that is good and sacred, lust hies it whithersoever it will. Vices no longer shun the light. So barefaced is wickedness become, and so wildly does it blaze up in all bosoms, that innocence is not to say rare, but is nowhere to be found.” These scorching words of Seneca’s were written about the very time when Peter was announcing to the Gentile Cornelius the only remedy for sin and evil, the Gospel of Christ. At the root of all this evil lay idolatry, alike the classic worship of Greece and Rome, and the sanguinary rites of Phenicia or the reptile-adoration of Egypt. Whatever of wisdom or beauty is to be found in the fables of Olympus, how completely soever poetry and art may have woven their magic spell round the mythology of Greece, heathenism ever was and ever must be essentially corrupt. ‘“‘Tt is absolutely impossible,” says a recent author, ‘‘ to write in detail of the shocking depravities of the old heathen world. The very rottenness of its sepulchre will ever most surely guard its own dreadful mystery. The reader need not be told how heavily charged with all kinds of moral death a religion must have been whose divinities were [what these were]; and the less scandalous alone of whose temples could be tolerated within the walls of cities. There is not one of the odious vices for which the unclean Canaanites were doomed to extirpation, and the cities of the plain weltered in the fiery storm, which does not soil the portrait handed down by history, of full many a ruler, statesman, poet and philosopher of classic Greece and Rome.”’ 2 _ * Seneca On Anger. This Treatise is supposed to have been written during the reign of Caligula, a.p. 37-41. Peter was at Caesarea in the year 39. 2 Cooper’s Free Church, p. 31. 10 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. CHAPTER EL Nero’s PERSECUTION—DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM—JEWISH- CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Tue infant Church was not long to be exempt from internal trouble and dissension. The Hebrew converts at Jerusalem were all zealous for the law,t and could not rest satisfied without seeking to impose the Mosaic yoke on their Gentile brethren. Although their efforts were in the main unsuccessful, some of the Churches were severely tried by Judaizing teachers. Very slow were the Galatians, for example, to understand that they were no longer servants, but were now called to be sons; that they were no longer even children, for the law had been only as a schoolmaster; in fine, that the whole ceremonial of the Mosaic ritual was, in Christ Jesus, at once and for ever abolished. Grieved with the childish affection which they manifested for outward observances, the Apostle exclaims, Now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known of God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again? Ye observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labour upon you in vain. Are ye so foolish; having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh ? 3 In a.v, 64 the first historical persecution of the Christians by the Pagans took place at Rome, by order of Nero. To escape the odium of the common report that he was the author of a conflagration which destroyed two-thirds of the city, this infamous Emperor accused the Christians of being the incendiaries. The inhabitants of the great metropolis had not yet become acquainted with the true character of the Christians (whom they confounded with the Jews), and all classes, philosophers as well as the common people, ~ regarded them with blind hatred and contempt. The historian Tacitus, to whom we owe the account of the persecution, calls them ‘a people hated for their crimes.” As this is the first distinct notice of Christianity in any heathen writer, we give the passage entire. ‘‘ Christ,” he says, ‘‘ the founder of the sect, was put to death in the reign of Tiberius by the Procurator Pontius Pilate. * Acts xxi. 20. 2 Acts xv. 3 Gal. iv. 9-11; i1i. 3. PERSECUTION AT ROME BY NERO. 11 But the pestilent superstition, repressed for a time, burst forth again, not only throughout Judea, the birthplace of the mischief, but in Rome also, whither all things base and atrocious flow together and find favour. To put a stop to the popular clamour, Nero falsely accused this people of the conflagration, and subjected them to the most barbarous treatment. Those who were first seized confessed ;* then a vast multitude, detected by their means, were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning the city, as of hatred to mankind. Insult was added to their torments ; for being clad in the skins of wild beasts, they were torn to pieces by dogs ; _or they were affixed to crosses to be burned, and used as lights to dispel the darkness of night when the day was gone. Nero devoted his gardens to the show, and held games, in which in the dress of a charioteer he mingled with the rabble or drove round the circus. So that although the guilty suffered, compassion was excited, because they were put to death, not so much for the public good, as to satiate the ferocity of one man.”’? Nero’s circus adjoined the gardens. ‘The site is now occupied by the great Cathedral Church of St. Peter’s; and the famous obelisk of red granite, brought from Heliopolis by Caligula and now a central object in the Piazza, then stood on the spine or barrier of the circus. The torture of the burning shirt to which the Christians were subjected is referred to by several classic writers. Seneca says it was ‘‘ besmeared and interwoven with combustible materials ;’ 3 and Juvenal speaks of the wretches “who stand burning in their own flame and smoke, their head propped up by a stake fixed under the chin, till they make a broad stream (of blood and running pitch or sulphur) on the sand.”+ The Church, which has preserved so little authentic tradition of her earliest days, even of the journey- ings and death of the apostles themselves, has no record of her children’s sufferings in this fiery trial. But though we seek in vain for their names on any earthly roll, they are not therefore lost; ‘their faith and patience, and every pang they endured of body or spirit, are all registered on high. The persecution continued more or less to the end of Nero’s reign; and tradition says that about the year 67 the Apostle Paul was t He no doubt means that they confessed themselves to be Christians. 2 Annals, b. xy., ¢. xliv. Tacitus was a child of about six years when the persecution took place. His statement is confirmed by his contemporary Suetonius, Life of Nero, c. xvi. 3 Epist. xiv. 4 Satires, i, 155-157. The readings are various, and the passage is somewhat obscure. 12 | BARLY CHURCH HISTORY. beheaded, and Peter crucified, at or near Rome. Of the accuracy of the former statement little doubt is entertained, but the latter rests on less conclusive testimony. We possess contemporary evi- dence of the martyrdom of both, but it is not so certain that Peter’s took place at Rome. Clement of Rome says, ‘ Peter sustained “numerous labours, and at length suffered martyrdom. Paul after having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the West, suffered martyrdom under the prefects.”* ‘‘ Christian tradition,” observes Canon Farrar, in allusion to Peter, ‘acquiring definiteness in proportion as it is removed from the period of which it speaks, has provided us with many details which form the biography of the apostle as it is ordinarily accepted by the Romanists. All that we can really learn about his closing years may be summed up in the few words, that in all probability he was martyred at Rome.” ? | The hour at length arrived when, in fulfilment of our Lord’s pre- diction, Jerusalem was to be compassed about with armies.3 On the advance of Titus and his legions, the Christian Jews, remember- ing the warning given them by their Lord,‘ forsook their once holy city, and passing in large numbers across the Jordan, found refuge in Pella and the neighbouring villages.s Josephus tells us that the siege of Jerusalem took place when the city was filled with Jews from all quarters, gathered there to cele- brate the Passover. The crowding together of such vast multitudes produced first pestilence and then famine, which added greatly to the horrors of the siege.6 ‘‘ This mighty concourse of people,” says Josephus, ‘‘ were cooped up in the city as in a prison, and the slaughter made of them’ exceeded all the destructions that men or t Hpist. c. v. ® The Early Days of Christianity, i., pp. 1138, 119; and Excursus, ii. See also Neander’s Planting of the Christian Church, for a full examination of the ques- tion, vol. i., pp. 377-383. [For the evidence that Peter’s martyrdom took place in Rome, see an exhaustive inquiry in Homersham Cox, First Century of Chris- tianity, pp. 178-188.] 3 Luke xxi. 20. 4 Id. ei Oe 5 Kusebius’ Ecclesiastical History, Crusé, b. iii., c. v. Pella was the chief of the ten cities of the Perea, known as the Decapolis. Its site is believed to be the mound of ruins called Tubukat Fahil, which overlooks the Jordan valley, and is distant fifty or sixty miles north-east from Jerusalem. 6 Wars of the Jews, b. vi., c. ix. § 3,4; and Notes by Whiston, who estimates that the number of Jews assembled at the Passover, including the proselytes, could not be fewer than three millions. This calculation is based on the assumption that Josephus’ enumeration of the Passover lambs slain (256,500) is reliable, and on his statement that not fewer than ten and as many as twenty persons might form a company. End of the Lower Marmertine Prison, with the Tarpeian Rock. The door leads to other and extensive dungeons. From an original drawing by Edward Backhouse. TRIUMPH OF VESPASIAN AND TITUS. is God ever brought upon the world.”” The number of those who perished during the siege is stated by him at one million one hun- dred thousand, and the prisoners taken during the whole war at ninety-seven thousand. The tallest and most comely of the young men were reserved by Titus for his triumph; a large number of the captives were distributed amongst the Roman provinces, to be butchered as gladiators; those who were under seventeen were sold into slavery ; the rest were put in chains and sent to work in the Egyptian mines.' On the return of Titus to Rome, the Senate decreed to him, and to his father Vespasian by whom the war had been begun, an extra- ordinary triumph. Josephus was present, and is not ashamed to employ his pen in describing in glowing language the pageant which proclaimed the humiliation and ruin of his country. Gold, silver and ivory streamed through the show like a river. Purple hangings, embroidery, precious stones, and rare animals succeeded one another. Colossal statues of the Roman gods, borne by men in the richest attire, were followed by long files of dejected captives. Then came magnificent trophies, three or four stories high, representing the battles and sieges of the campaign,—wasted plains, blazing cities, the slain and suppliant enemy, and rivers running through a land devoured by fire and slaughter. But the rarest trophy of all was the spoil of the Temple at Jerusalem,—-the golden table, the seven-branched candlestick, and the sacred roll of the law. Lastly rode Vespasian, accompanied by Titus and Domitian, ‘“‘ making a glorious appearance.” When the conquerors came to the ascent from the Forum to the Capitol they stood still and waited until news was brought that the chief general of the enemy, Simon Bar- Gioras, who had been taken out of the procession and dragged down into the horrid dungeon of the Mamertine, had been slain. Then they pursued their march up to the great national Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, to offer prayers and sacrifices of milk-white oxen to that divinity, and to deposit their golden crowns in the lap of his image. This triumph is commemorated on the well-known Arch of Titus, on which are sculptured the golden table, the silver trumpets, and the candlestick. These and the rest of the sacred instruments and vessels were deposited in a magnificent Temple to Peace which Vespasian erected ; whilst the copy of the law and the purple veils of the Holy Place were ordered to be laid up in the imperial palace.” * Wars of the Jews, b. vi., c. ix., § 2, 3. See Deut. xxviii. 68. 2 Josephus’ Wars, b. vii., c. v.; Adam’s Roman Antiquities. 14 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Neither the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the consequent cessation of the temple-worship, could shake the faith of the Jewish nation in the perpetual obligation of the law, nor even detach from its observance a large part of those who had embraced Christianity. When the war was over, many of the exiles in Pella and the Perma returned to the ruined city, and the Church in Jerusalem remained until the time of Hadrian (a.p. 136) wholly composed of Christians “of Jewish descent, who were distinguished from the Gentile Churches by the observance, as far as it was possible, of the Mosaic ritual. But many continued to reside in the cities of Decapolis, and survived as a separate Church, even down to the fifth century.: We cannot be altogether surprised at the exceeding tenacity with which these Hebrews, although sincere believers in Christ, clung to the ancient ceremonies in which they and their fathers had been educated. But neither can we be insensible to the adverse influence which Jewish ritualism exercised over the whole Church, early dimming its brightness, and in later times, when mingled with ideas and practices derived from heathen worship, endangering its very life. CHAPTER ITI. DomitiAN anp Nerva—Tue AposttE JoHN—EPISTLE OF CLEMENT oF Rome AND Lerrer to DI0GNETUS. Dvrine the reigns of Vespasian and Titus (a.p, 69-81), we have no record of any persecution of the Christians. But it was otherwise under Domitian (a.p. 81-96), although the hostility which he mani- fested towards them seems to have been the outcome of a cruel and jealous nature rather than of any systematic attempt to crush the new religion. Some were put to death, amongst whom was Flavius Clemens, nephew to the Emperor. Domitilla, the wife of Flavius, herself also a relation of Domitian, with many others, were banished. The Apostle John’s exile to Patmos is also generally said to have taken place under Domitian.? * Neander’s Church History, Torrey, i., p. 476. * Eusebius’ Eccles, Hist., b. iii., ¢. xviii. The conflicting evidence as to the date of John’s exile is examined in Neander, Planting of the Church, and in Farrar’s Karly Days of Christianity 29099 1197 °*M fq ‘ydvubo.oyd » wowf payorm “SngIy, JO Gory oy} uo ‘syodummay, JOATISC pus pvorg Mog JO 9[qBy, ‘YOseTpusy TepPy UT, ANECDOTES OF THE APOSTLE JOHN. 15 Apprehensive of an outbreak among the Jews if one of royal lineage should present himself as their leader, the tyrant ordered search to be made for the descendants of David. Being informed by his spies that there were then living two grandsons of Jude (known as the Lord’s brother), he caused them to be brought before him. He asked them whether they were of the lineage of David ; and when they confessed they were, he inquired. what property they possessed. They replied that they had no money, but that they owned between them a piece of land containing thirty-nine plethra (about nine acres), by which they supported themselves and paid the taxes. At the same time they showed him their hands, which were horny with constant toil, The Emperor then enquiring as to the nature of the Kingdom of Christ, and when and where it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal or earthly kingdom, but celestial and angelic; and that it would appear at the end of the world, when, coming in glory, Christ would judge the quick and dead, and render to every one according to his works. Upon which Domitian, despising the men as beneath his notice, dismissed them, and ordered the persecution to cease.? The Emperor Nerva, who succeeded (4.p. 96), maintained in his conduct towards the Christians the same character of justice and clemency which he showed in his general administration. Those who had been banished were recalled, and their goods restored, and it was enacted that the evidence of a slave against his owner should be inadmissible, and that all slaves and freedmen who had betrayed their masters for becoming Christians should be put to death.3 But as Christianity was not a religto licita (7.e., not recog- nized by Roman law), the respite was only temporary. All the apostles were now dead except John, who is believed to have survived until the beginning of the reign of Trajan, dying at Ephesus about the year 99. Two anecdotes of a very pleasing character have been preserved of him, resting on more or less probable testimony. The first comes to us through Clement of Alexandria, who wrote about a century after John’s death. ‘‘ Listen,” he says, ‘to a tale, which is not a tale, but a true history handed down by memory, respecting the Apostle John. When, on the death of Domitian, John returned from Patmos to Ephesus, he made circuits through ™ Vespasian shared in the same fear, Eusebius, b. ili., c. xi. 2 Hegesippus, Fragments of Commentaries on the Times of the Apostles. See also Eusebius, b. iii., c. xx. 3 Neander, Church Hist., i., pp. 133, 134, 16 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. the surrounding regions, here to appoint overseers, there to set Churches in order, there again to ordain such as were signified to him by the Spirit. Coming on one occasion to a city [supposed to be Smyrna], he saw a young man, strong, and of a pleasing and earnest countenance, and turning to the overseer said, ‘I solemnly commit this youth to thee in the presence of the Church and of Christ.’ When the Apostle had departed, the overseer took the young man home with him, watched over, instructed, and in time baptized him. But when this was done, imagining that the divine seal which had now been set upon him would be a complete pro- tection, he relaxed in his care and guardianship. Having thus obtained premature liberty, the young man fell into the company of some idle and dissolute youths of his own age. They first enticed him with luxurious entertainments, and at last prevailed on him to accompany them in the nightly depredations by which they were accustomed to supply themselves with money. By degrees he became as daring as any of them, and having once turned aside from the right path, and like a hard-mouthed and powerful horse, taken the bit between his teeth, he rushed headlong to destruction. Possessed of a commanding spirit, and foremost in every bold and dangerous enterprise, he was at length chosen captain of the band. After some time the Church in the city, needing assistance, sent again for the Apostle. When he had settled the matters on account of which he came, he said to the overseer, ‘Come now, give up the charge which the Saviour and I committed to thee in the presence of the Church.’ The overseer was at first confused, not understanding what John meant; but when the Apostle told him that he spoke of the young brother whom he had committed to his care, he groaned, and bursting into tears answered, ‘ He is dead.’ ‘Dead,’ exclaimed the Apostle, ‘and how did he die?’ ‘He is dead to God,’ was the reply ; ‘ he fell into bad company and became a robber, and has now with his followers taken possession of yonder mountain which is to be seen from the church.’ On hearing this the Apostle rent his clothes and said, ‘ It was a strange way of keeping guard over a brother’s soul whom I left under thy care: but let a horse be brought and some one be my guide.’ With- out a moment’s delay he rode off just as he was. On coming to the mountain he was arrested by the outpost of the band. ‘Lead me to your captain,’ said the Apostle. The sentinel did as he was directed. The captain, who was on the watch, saw the Apostle coming and recognized him. Overcome with shame he turned and fled. The good old man, forgetting his years, followed with all his CHARACTER OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 17 strength, crying, ‘ My son, why dost thou flee from me, thy father, old and unarmed ? fear not, there is still hope for thee. I will account to Christ for thee. If need be, I will willingly endure death for thee, as the Lord did for us. Stand; believe that Christ has sent me.’ At these moving words the robber stood still with downecast eyes, and then trembling threw down his arms and began to weep bitterly. The Apostle coming up embraced him, and with many compassionate words led him away and took him back to ‘the city; nor did he depart until he had restored him to the Church,” ! The other tradition rests upon an authority further removed from the time: it is from Jerome, who wrote in the fourth century.? When the Apostle could no longer walk to the meetings of the Church, but was borne thither by his disciples, he always uttered the same words. Reminding his hearers of that commandment which he had received from Christ Himself, as comprising all the rest, and forming the distinctive character of the New Covenant, ‘Tittle children,” he used to say, ‘‘love one another!” And when asked why he always repeated the same thing, he replied that ‘‘if this one thing were attained, it would be enough.”’ 3 It is evident from the New Testament that even in the first generation of Christians “ false brethren ” had made their way. into the churches. Some of these, as has been already said, sought to spy out the liberty of the believers and to bring them again into bondage to the law. Others are described as actuated by an‘utterly deceitful and licentious spirit. Later in the century we find the poisonous leaven of this heretical teaching actively at work amongst the churches of Proconsular Asia, drawing down on them the heavy sentence, that unless they repented, their candlestick should be removed out of its place and their light be altogether extinguished.s But notwithstanding dark spots and shades, the Church at the close of the first century must have been in a singularly vigorous state, abounding in love, and waging a perpetual and victorious warfare against sin and evil. ‘The bright prospect,” says Cooper, ‘‘ which Opened up on the day of Pentecost, of the rallying of redeemed mankind around the Son of Man, and of their awakening to a - = Clement’s tract, Who is the rich man who shall be saved? e, xlii. © Tt does not necessarily follow that a tradition preserved by a later hand is of inferior authority to one found in an earlier writer ; but other evidence being equal, the remoteness of the record diminishes the credibility of the fact. 3 Comment. on Epist. to the Galatians, ¢. vi. 4 2 Cor. xi. 13. Jude v. 4. 5 Rev. ii., ili, 2 18 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. common consciousness of their brotherly relationship to each other in Him, was realized in the bosom of the two or three hundred apostolic Churches (which had then been gathered), in some cases four thousand miles apart, and built up of men of every variety of rank, culture, colour, clime, language, and previous religious training, as it has never been since.” ? Few authentic works of Christian writers have come down to us from the sub-apostolic age. ‘To believe, to suffer, to. love,” says Milner, “not to write,” was the characteristic of the primitive — Christians.2, And Mosheim remarks, ‘‘ The writers of this first age possessed little learning, genius or eloquence; and this is honour- able, rather than reproachful to the Christian cause. For that a large portion of the human race should have been converted to Christ by illiterate men, shows that the propagation of Christianity must be ascribed, not to human abilities and press) but to a - divine power. dg Nothing is more striking in entering on the study of ‘Cline History, than the transition, in authority and unction, from the New Testament to the writings which immediately follow. In one respect this contrast is a cause for gratitude, inasmuch as it con- firms our faith in that unseen Providence by which the volume of inspiration was made up and hedged off in so silent yet emphatic a manner. . Of the writings which are supposed to belong to the end of the first or beginning of the second century, two deserve particular notice. They are the Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corin- thians, and the Letter of an anonymous author to Diognetus.4 The Epistle of Clement is written in the name of the Christians of Rome to their brethren at Corinth. The occasion which called it forth was the outburst of a violent party-spirit in the latter city, which led to the displacement of some of their presbyters.5 In this Letter, written some forty years after Paul’s two Epistles to the same Church, the Roman overseer commences with reminding his readers of the faith, knowledge, and humility for which they had been distinguished; and then proceeds to deplore in the strongest terms the change which had come over them. He refers them to the Epistles of Paul, who had to complain in his day of the party spirit to which they were addicted, and declares that the state BD * Free Church, p. 128. 2 Church History, i., p. 107, ed, 1847. 3 Keclesiastical History, Soames, i., p. 91. 4 Nothing is known of this person but his name. 5 [See Euseb. Eccles. Hist., b, iii., c. 16.] THE LETTER TO DIOGNETUS. 19 into which they had now fallen was far worse. ‘‘It is, beloved,” he writes, ‘‘ exceedingly disgraceful that such a thing should be heard of, as that the most steadfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians should, on account of one or two persons, engage in sedition against its presbyters.” This Epistle, which was held in very high estimation by the Harly Christians, abounds in Gospel exhortation. ‘‘ Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God, which having been shed for our salvation has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. . . . We are not justi- fied by ourselves, by our own wisdom or understanding or godliness or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart, but by faith through which from the beginning Almighty God has justified all men. Shall we then become slothful in well-doing, and cease from the practice of love? Rather let us hasten with all energy and readiness of mind to perform every good work. . . . Let every one be subject to his ueighbour according to the special gift bestowed upon him. Let the strong not neglect the weak, and let the weak show respect to the strong. Let the rich man provide for the wants of the poor, and let the poor man bless God because He has given him one by whom his need may be supplied. Let the wise man display his wisdom, not by words but through good deeds. Let the lowly not bear testimony to himself, but leave witness to be borne to him by another.” ! Clement’s Epistle was addressed to a Christian Church, for whose edification only it was written ; the Letter to Diognetus was written for the outside world, and is a vindication of the superiority of Christianity over Paganism—the earliest treatise of the kind which has come down to us.? The Letter thus commences: ‘‘ Since I perceive, most excellent Diognetus, that thou art uncommonly anxious to be informed respecting the religion of the Christians; what God they put their trust in, and how they worship ; how it is they all look down upon the world, and despise death, and neither make any account of thos. that are legally recognized as gods by the Greeks, nor * Chaps. vii., xxxii., Xxxili,, XxXXVill. 2 The date of this Letter has not been determined. Hefele assigns it to the reign of Trajan (a.p. 98-117); Schaff to the early part of the 2nd century; Dict. Christ. Biog. to a date earlier than the accession of Commodus (a.p. 180). Chapter xi., in which the writer affects to speak as an immediate disciple of the apostle:, is judged to be spurious. Our translation is from Cooper’s Free Church, Appendix A. a - ae ~y 2 $e d ’ 20 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. observe the Jewish superstition; and what the affection means ~ which they cherish for one another; and why it is that this new sort of men, or mode of living, has entered into the course of the world now, and not before ;—I am heartily pleased with thee for this forwardness, and I ask of God, who prepares us for both speaking and hearing, that it may be given to me so to speak that thou mayest hear to thy greatest possible improvement, and to thee so to hear that he who speaks may have no reason to repent it.” After eloquently demonstrating the vanity of the heathen idols, and the superstitious practices of the Jews, he continues: ‘‘ The Christians are not separated from other men by earthly abode, by language or by custom. Nowhere do they dwell in cities by them- selves. They do not use a different speech, or affect a life of singularity. They dwell in the cities of the Greeks and of the barbarians, each as his lot has been cast ; and while they conform to the usages of the country in respect to dress, food and other things pertaining to the outward life, they yet show a peculiarity of conduct wondrous to all. They inhabit their native country, but as strangers, They take their share of all burdens as citizens, and yet endure all kinds of wrong as though they were foreigners. Every strange soil is their fatherland, and every one’s fatherland a strange soil to them. They are in the flesh, but they live not after the flesh. They tarry on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the laws, and they conquer the laws by their lives. 'They love all, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown, and yet are con- demned ; they are killed, and made alive. They are poor, and make many rich. ‘They are blasphemed and justified. They are reviled, and they bless. . . . What the soul is in the body, that Christians are in the world. The soul dwells in the body and yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world but are not of the world.”’ Again, on the source from whence they derived their religion : ‘‘It was not delivered to them as any earthly invention, nor have they been entrusted with the stewardship of any human mysteries. But the almighty and allcreating and invisible God, Himself from Heaven, inaugurated amongst men the truth and the: holy and inconceivable Word, and fixed it firmly in their hearts; not sending to men, as one might fancy He would do, some subordinate, either an angel or a prince, but the framer and architect of all things Himself. . . . If so, it must have been, as one of the sons of men would argue, to tyrannize, to affright, to strike down with dread. Not so, but in gentleness, in meekness ; as one who saves He sent Him ; as persuading, not as compelling, for there is no compulsion THE LETTER TO DIOGNETUS. 21 with God. He sent Him as loving, not as judging ; but He will one day send Him to be our Judge, and who may abide his coming ?” The question why the Son of God was sent so late into the world is thus answered: ‘Till the old time ended God suffered us to be carried away, as we were bent on being, by our lusts; not that He had pleasure in that season of unrighteousness, but that He was creating the present season of righteousness, in order that, being proved by our own works incapable of life in that age, we might now be capacitated for it by the clemency of God.” In conclusion, with a heart overflowing with love to God for the unspeakable gift of his Son, the writer says: ‘‘He Himself gave away his own Son as aransom for us, the holy for the lawless, the harmless for the evil, the just for the unjust. For what else could veil our sins save his righteousness ? In whom was it possible that we, the lawless and impious, could be justified, save in the Son of God alone? O sweet exchange! O work past finding out! O benefits beyond expectation ! that the lawlessness of many should be hidden in one righteous person, and that the righteousness of one should justify many lawless.” * CHAPTER IV. TRAJAN AND Priny—Martryrpom or Ianatius—His Epistunzs. Tue records of the Church from the close of the Book of Acts to the end of the first century are, as already remarked, exceedingly scanty, Every well-authenticated fact of her history during this period of about a generation, as well as the greater part of that which enables us to depict her character, has been noticed in the foregoing chapters ; and it is a little remarkable that the event which stands out in the highest relief—the persecution under Nero—has reached us through a Pagan, not a Christian, channel.? A similar dearth of record dis- tinguishes the early years of the second century, during which also we are indebted to a classical source for the only description of 1 Letter to Diognetus, ¢., i., v., Vi., Vil., 1x. * See ante, p. 10, Tertullian (Apology, c. v.), Eusebius (H.H., b. ii., ¢. xxv.), and Lactantius (On the Death of the Persecutors, ¢. ii.) all mention the Neronian persecution; but, besides being much later, they give no details. 22 7 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Christian worship which we possess, brief as it is, previous to the time of Justin Martyr. Under Trajan, who, on the death of Nerva, succeeded to the imperial dignity (a.p. 98), the refusal of the Christians to unite in acts of idolatrous honour, either to the heathen gods or to the Emperor, began to attract the serious notice of the government. No little difficulty, however, was experienced by the governors of provinces in dealing with this new sort of offenders. This was the case in Bithynia and Pontus, whither the younger - Pliny was sent as Proconsul, a.p. 103.: After he had been there some years he found that very many persons were brought before his tribunal on the charge of being Christians; and as such infor- mations were altogether new to him, as there was no definite law on the matter, and especially as the number of the accused was large, he found himself in great perplexity how to act, and accor- dingly wrote to the Emperor for instructions. ‘ Many,” he says, ‘‘of every age and rank, and of both sexes, are involved in the danger, for the contagion of this superstition has seized not only cities, but villages in the open country.’’ He speaks of the temples as having been almost deserted, the ordinary rites of worship for a long time intermitted, and victims for sacrifice rarely purchased. — More just than his friend Tacitus, he would not allow himself to be biassed by vague reports and prejudices, but took pains to obtain accurate information as to the character of the Christian sect. He interrogated some who said they had once belonged to the com- munity; and following the cruel custom of Roman justice, “ which,” as Neander observes, ‘‘ knew nothing of man’s universal rights,”’ he applied the torture to two female slaves, who were said to occupy offices in the Church, for the purpose of extorting from them the truth. All that he could learn was, that the Christians were accus- tomed to meet before daylight on a certain day of the week, and sing a hymn in praise of their God Christ ; and that they solemnly bound themselves, not to the commission of crimes, but to abstain from theft and adultery, never to break their word, and to withhold * The character of the younger Pliny gave lustre to his age. Instead of the gladiatorial shows which were expected from him as Governor, he invested £4,000 for the support and education of deserving youths, and exhorted his friends to do the same. In this act he imitated the example of the Emperor Trajan, who seems to have been the first imperial founder of benevolent institu- tions. It was the same Pliny who, in two letters to Tacitus, described the first historical eruption of Vesuvius (4.p. 79). His unele, Pliny the Naturalist, venturing too near, was suffocated by the shower of ashes. Pliny’s Letters, i. 8, yii. 18 vi. 16, 20, MARTYRDOM OF SYMEON, 23 no property entrusted to their keeping; that after this they separated, and reassembled to partake together of a simple and innocent meal. Pliny’s method of proceeding with respect to those who were brought before him, was to ask them whether they were Christians. If they confessed, he interrogated them a second and a third time, with a menace of capital punishment. ‘In case of obstinate perseverance,” he continues, ‘‘ I ordered them to be executed ; for of this I had no doubt, whatever was the nature of their religion, that stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished.” ‘ Many,” he adds, ‘repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered worship with wine and frankincense to your image (which for this purpose I had ordered to be brought with the images of the divinities), and also reviled the name of Christ,—none of which things, I am told, a real Christian can ever be induced to do.” The Emperor, in his reply, approved of Pliny'’s conduct, and directed that the Christians were not to be sought after by the police, but if information should be lodged against any, and the crime should be proved, they were to be punished, unless they should recant and do sacrifice to the gods. We see from Pliny’s letter that many who had embraced Christianity in her time of peace and_ prosperity, were not thoroughly established in the faith, and at once yielded uncon- ditional submission. The effect of the Proconsul’s severe measures, as he further tells us, was soon apparent ; the temples began again to be frequented, the demand for victims revived, and the festivals were thronged as before. In this persecution, which was not confined to Pontus and Bithynia, the aged Symeon (‘“ brother of our Lord,” and ‘‘ bishop” of Jerusalem), suffered martyrdom. He was one hundred and twenty years old. Being denounced to Atticus, the Governor of Syria, as a dangerous person because of his descent from King David,? he was subjected for many days to extreme torture, which he bore with so much firmness that all the beholders were amazed. At last he was put to death by crucifixion.3 Bnt now Trajan himself was to be brought face to face with the Christians. Shortly after his correspondence with Pliny, the Emperor came to Antioch. This city, the capital of Syria, was one of the largest in the empire, and the disciples, who there first received the name of Christians, were very numerous. Their bishop * Pliny’s Letters, x. 97,98. Neander’s Church History, i. 134-138. 2 See ante, p. 15. 3 Kusebius, b, ili., ¢. xxxil. 94 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. was the aged Ignatius, a disciple of the Apostle John, The Emperor, elated with his recent victories (so the ancient document recording the martyrdom of Ignatius informs us), considered his triumph incomplete so long as the Christians refused to worship the gods, and he threatened them with death if they persisted in their refusal. The venerable bishop, in the hope of averting the storm from his people, was at his own desire brought into the presence of the Emperor. When he was set before him, Trajan asked: Who art thou, who, possessed with an impious spirit, art so eager to trans- gress our commands, and persuadest others to do the like, to their own destruction ? | Ignatius replied : Theophorus [that is, he who carries God within him] ought not to be called impious, for evil spirits are departed from the servants of God. But if thou callest me impious because I am against evil spirits, I own the charge, for I destroy all their wiles through Christ my heavenly King. Trajan, Who is Theophorus ? Ignatius. He who has Christ within his breast. Trajan. And dost thou not think we too have the gods within us, who assist us in fighting against our enemies ? Ignatius. Thou art mistaken in calling the demons of the nations by the name of gods ; for there is only one God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is therein, and one Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, whose kingdom be my portion ! Trajan. Dost thou mean Him who was crucified under Pontius Pilate ? . Ignatius. Yes; I mean Him who crucified my sin, and who has cast all the deceit and malice of the devil under the feet of those who carry Him in their hearts, Trajan. Dost thou then carry within thee Him who was crucified ? Ignatius. I do; for it is written, I will dwell in them and walk in them. At the end of the examination Trajan pronounced this sentence : “We command that Ignatius, who affirms that he carries within him Him who was crucified, be put in chains and taken by soldiers to great Rome, there to be devoured by the beasts for the gratifica- tion of the people.” When he heard the sentence Ignatius cried out with joy, ‘I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed to honour me with a perfect love towards thee, and hast made me to be bound with iron chains like thy Apostle Paul.” Being placed under a guard of ten soldiers, he was taken to Seleucia, and thence by ship to Smyrna, where he was allowed to see his friend Polycarp, MARTYRDOM OF IGNATIUS. 25 bishop of the church in that place, who also had been one of the Apostle John’s disciples. Thither also came deputies from the surrounding churches, bishops, presbyters and deacons, to greet him and to receive his blessing. From Smyrna he was taken along the coast to Troas, and thence to Neapolis, and across Macedonia on foot to the Adriatic coast, whence they sailed round Italy to the port of Rome. - When Ignatius was come into the city and had saluted the brethren, who rejoiced to see him, but sorrowed because one so venerated was about to be put to death, he knelt down in the midst of them and prayed to the Son of God that the persecution might be stayed, and that mutual love might continue among the brethren. He was then hurried away to the Flavian amphitheatre, for the games were just about to close. This immense building, now so well known as the Coliseum, contained seats for 80,000 spec- tators, and would probably be crowded to the utmost, when the venerable chief of the Asiatic Christians was to be brought out like Samson to make sport. Alone in the midst of that vast multitude, tier above tier, women and men, slaves and senators, he met the death his ardent spirit panted for ; the savage beasts were his grave. How great a translation—from the stained. arena, and the lions’ jaws, and myriads of cruel eyes strained to catch sight of his blood— to the Garden of Paradise and the holy presence of God! The few bones which remained were gathered up by the brethren and carried to Antioch, where they were wrapped in linen and re- verently buried.* While on his journey to Rome, Ignatius wrote Epistles to several of the churches and to Polycarp.? In that written to the Romans he exhibits his burning desire for martyrdom. ‘‘ Ye cannot,” he says, ‘‘give me anything more precious than this—that I should be sacrificed to God while the altar is ready. It is good that I should set from the world in God, that I may rise in Him to life. Only pray for strength to be given to me from within and from without, that I may not only speak, but also may be willing, and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but also may be found * Martyrdom of Ignatius, A. N.L. The date of Ignatius’ martyrdom has been much disputed; some writers placing it in the year 107, others in 115 or 116. 2 Fifteen Epistles bearing the name of Ignatius are extant. Hight of these have been universally condemned as spurious. Of the seven which remain, being those which are mentioned by Eusebius, two recensions (different read- ings) exist in the Greek language, a longer and a shorter. In both a strong hierarchical tendency is manifest; an extravagant, not to say idolatrous, 26 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. to be one. . . . Leave me to become the prey of the beasts, that by their means I may be accounted worthy of God. I am the wheat of God, and by the teeth of the beasts I shall be ground, that I may be found the pure bread of God. Provoke ye greatly the wild beasts, that they may be for me a grave, and may leave nothing of my body, in order that when I have fallen asleep I may not be a burden upon any one. Then shall I be in truth a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world sees not even my body. . . . From Syria and even unto Rome, I am cast among wild beasts, by sea and by land, by night and by day, being bound between ten leopards, which are the band of soldiers, who even when I do good to them all the more do evil to me. ... My love is crucified, and there is no fire in me for another love. I seek the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, and I seek his blood, a drink which is love incorruptible.” * The following choice sentences are from the Epistles to Polycarp and to the Ephesians. To the former he writes: ‘‘ Be studious of unity, than which nothing is more precious. Bear with all men, even as our Lord beareth with thee. Draw out thy spirit to all veneration for the Episcopal office is inculcated. The shorter reading in some of the Epistles is less open to these charges than the longer. Ever since critical editions of the Epistles began to be issued, a keen controversy has been main- tained amongst church historians and theologians as to which form should be regarded as the more authentic. The general opinion has been in favour of the shorter. Many able critics, however, have suspected that even in this form the Epistles had been interpolated.* About forty years ago, Archdeacon Tattam brought from a monastery in the Desert of Nitria, in Lower Egypt, a large number of ancient manuscripts in the Syriac language, and amongst them a version of three of the Epistles of Ignatius. These were published by the late Dr. Cureton, who regarded them as the only genuine letters of the martyr which have come down to our time. They are very brief, and entirely free from the hierarchical spirit which pervades the Greek copies. It is from them only that the following extracts are taken. See the Epistles in all the three forms, translated, in the Ante-Nicene Library, with the Introductory Notice. Vol. i., pp. 1389-144. * Chaps. ii—vii. This panting for martyrdom was not approved by all the ‘‘Fathers.” Clement of Alexandria says, ‘‘ The Lord does not will that we should be the authors or abettors of evil to any one; either to ourselves or the persecutor. He bids us take care of ourselves, and he who disobeys is fool- hardy. He who does not avoid persecution, but rashly offers himself for capture, — becomes an accomplice in the crime of the persecutor, and if he provokes and challenges the wild beast he is certainly guilty.” Stromata (Miscellanies), iv., Cok, * Cooper, premising that Tertullian is the earliest writer who shows traces of the sacerdotal theory, and that these Epistles, “ though saturated through and through with the prelatical element, are entirely free from the sacerdotal,”’ concludes that the spurious additions were made before Tertullian wrote, and draws the inference ‘‘ that the entire series belongs to the age of Pope Victor ” (A.D. 192-201). ‘‘ Like the movement,” he says, ‘‘ which originated with Victor, they are intensely both anti-Jewish and hierarchical.” Pp. 262, 263. EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS. 27 men in love, as indeed thou doest. Be constant in prayer. Ask . for more understanding than thou already hast. Be watchful as possessing a spirit which sleeps not. Speak with every man accord- ing to the will of God. If thou lovest the good disciples only, thou hast no grace; seek to overcome those that are evil by gentle- ness. All wounds are not healed by the same medicine. Mitigate the pain of cutting by tenderness. We ought to bear everything for the sake of God, that He also may bear us. Be discerning of the times. Look for Him who is above the times, who is in- visible, who for our sakes became visible, Him who endured every- thing in every form for our sakes. . . . Let there be frequent (or regular) assemblies; ask every man to them by name. Despise not men-slaves nor women-slaves ; but neither let these be con- temptuous, but serve more diligently as for the glory of God, that they may be counted worthy of a more precious freedom which is of, Gad,".2 | To the Ephesians he says: ‘‘ Ye are prepared for the building of God the Father; ye are raised up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, and ye are drawn by the rope, which is the Holy Spirit ; your pulley is your faith, and your love is the way which leads up to God. Pray for all men, for there is hope of repentance that they may be counted worthy of God. Especially let them be convinced by your works. Conciliate their harsh words by meekness and gentleness; give yourselves to prayer against their blasphemies, and be armed with faith against their error.’’ 3 ¥ ovvaywyai. ? Chaps. i., iv. 3 Chaps. ix. x. [Since the second edition of this work was published, Bishop Lightfoot’s Essay on Ignatius has appeared. It is an exhaustive treatise, and has been received by the learned world as settling the controversy respecting the several forms of the Ignatian Epistles, The Bishop pronounces without hesitation against Dr. Cureton’s Syriac version, and in favour of the ‘ longer form.’”’ But he does not stop here; he maintains that nearly all we possess of the history of Ignatius, his interview with Trajan, the torture to which he was subjected by order of the Emperor (not introduced into our history), and the details of his martyrdom at Rome, are spurious, and cannot well have been written earlier than the fifth century. All that is certainly known of the martyrdom is contained in the following sentences of Eusebius :—‘ Tradition says that Ignatius was sent away from Syria to Rome, and was cast as food to wild beasts, on account of his testimony to Christ, and that being carried through Asia under a most rigid custody, he fortified by his discourses and exhortations the several churches in the cities where he tarried, particularly warning them against the heresies which even then had begun to spring up and prevail. He exhorted them to adhere steadfastly to the traditions of the apostles, and for greater security he considered it necessary to attest the same by committing it‘to writing.” Hist. Hee, iii.) 28 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. CHAPTER VY. HADRIAN—INSURRECTION OF THE JEws—Marous AURELIUS— PERSECUTION AND CALUMNIES. Tur Emperor Trajan dying (a.p. 117), Hadrian succeeded to the throne.t| Under the new monarch, who was strongly attached to Paganism, the course begun by his predecessor ? produced still more disastrous consequences to the Christians. The profession of Christianity, which had before been simply unrecognized, was now expressly condemned, and an impulse was given to that religious hatred which exercises so mighty a power over the minds of men. Besides this, there were governors of provinces who, for the sake of ingratiating themselves with the Emperor, or of gaining popu- larity, or because they shared the fanaticism of the multitude, looked with indifference on the scenes of riot and bloodshed which in many places ensued. But these excesses did not long continue, being brought to an end, partly, as it would appear, in consequence of Apologies, which two learned Christians of Athens, Quadratus and Aristides, presented to the Emperor when he passed through Greece; but still more by the representations of the Proconsul of Asia Minor, who complained of the misconduct of the populace. Hadrian accordingly issued an imperial order, forbidding under severe penalties all such illegal and tumultuous proceedings.3 [Until lately it was supposed that the Apology of Aristides was irrecoverably lost. A Syriac version of it was, however, recently discovered in the monastery of St. Catharine on Mount Sinai, by Professor J. Rendel Harris, and has been translated and published by him. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin says of the treatise, that as an t Instead of foreign conquest this politic Prince devoted himself to the con- solidation of his vast dominions, to civilization, commerce, and the arts. He made the circuit of the provinces, including Britain; and there are extant medals of twenty-five countries through which he travelled. His curiosity was worthy of the present age. He looked into the crater of Etna,—saw the sun rise from Mount Casius,—ascended to the cataracts of the Nile,—heard the statue of Memnon,—and imported the choice exotics of the East. At Athens he was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries ; in Asia he became a devotee of magic and astrology. Milman’s Hist. of Christianity, 1863, ii., pp. 104-106. 2 See ante, p. 23. 3. Neander, i., pp. 138-1 REVOLT OF THE JEWS. 29 Apology it is of little worth, but as evidence of the decline of the Church in the second century its value is great. ‘We can,” he Says, “ see how the essence of Christianity was: being silently transformed by the process of controversy with pagan antagonists; . . . Chris- tianity, which had been originally a revelation to a Semitic people, gradually becoming a Greek philosophy.” [F'riends’ Quarterly Examiner, June, 1891. See also an'article by Professor Stokes in the Contemporary Review, July, 1891. ] In the Apology honesty and charity hold a high place, with thanksgiving to God. ‘The Christians do not bear false witness ; they do not deny a deposit, or covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother; they do good to their neighbours ; and when they are judges they judge uprightly. Their wives, O King, are chaste, and their daughters modest. As for their servants and handmaids, or the children of such, they persuade them to become Christians for the love they have towards them, and when they are become so they call them without distinction brethren. They rescue the orphan, and provide for the burial of the poor, and if any one of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for their Master's sake, they provide for his necessities, and, if possible, deliver him. If there is among them any poor man, and they themselves have not an abundane3, they fast two or three days in order to supply his wants. . . . very morning and at all hours, on account of the goodness of God towards them, they praise and laud Him, and when they eat and drink render Him thanks.” | The fragments which remain of the Apology of Quadratus con- tain the following passage. Speaking of our Lord’s miracles, he says: ‘* Our Saviour’s works were real. The sick whom He healed, the dead whom He raised, were constantly to be seen, not only during his sojourn on earth, but long after his departure, so that some of them haye survived, even down to our own times.” ? In the latter part of this reign the Jews, who continued to cherish the most violent resentment against the Roman Government, together with expectations of the advent of a temporal deliverer, broke out into a desperate rebellion. Fifteen years before, on the occasion of Trajan’s absence in Parthia, they had made a general insurrection. From Africa to Mesopotamia they rose as one man, put to death more than half a million of their Gentile fellow subjects, and glutted their revenge with acts of the most barbarous cruelty. This insurrection was suppressed by Hadrian, then a * Eusebius, b. iv., ¢. iil. 30 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Roman general, with a still more wholesale slaughter ; and the victorious commander, coming to the purple the next year, deter- mined utterly to crush this turbulent nation. For this purpose he prohibited circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath and the reading of the law, and threatened to convert Jerusalem into a Roman colony. The Jews endured this tyranny for a number of years, but the persuasion was deeply rooted in the heart of the nation that in its darkest hour the Messiah would suddenly appear. They fondly deemed their hopes fulfilled when, in the year 131, a pretender named Bar Cochebas presented himself as their deliverer. This man assumed his name (which means the son of a star) from the prophecy of Balaam,? and his pretensions were supported by the most popular and learned Rabbi of the day. The Jews who had not embraced Christianity flocked to him; the Galileans and Samaritans joined them; and Palestine was filled with violence and bloodshed. But the insurgents could not stand against the Roman legions; the false Messiah was slain in battle, and the Rabbi was flayed alive, whilst the city of Jerusalem itself was once more laid in ruins. The Emperor carried into effect the threat which he had uttered fifteen years before; he settled a colony in the city under the name of Atlia Capitolina, and erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the Holy Place. ‘The Jews were forbidden under pain of death to enter the new city, and the more effectually to deter them, the figure of a swine in marble was set over the gate leading to Bethlehem. By the estimate of the conquerors, five hundred and eighty thousand Jews fell in the carnage.” ae This terrible insurrection turned ultimately to the advantage of the Church. From the beginning of the war, the Christians, whether Jewish or Gentile, refused to countenance the cause of Bar Cochebas, and although in consequence they suffered untold barbarities from his followers, they became in the eyes of the world thoroughly separated from the unbelieving Jews. The Gentile Church also was relieved from the weight of Jewish authority, which till then had rested heavily upon it. The line of Hebrew presbyters and bishops (or overseers), which had existed from the time of James, came to an end, and was replaced by a Gentile succession; and most of the Jewish Christians, coerced by the measures of Hadrian, abandoned the Mosaic usages, Those who * Numbers xxiv. 17. 2 Milman’s Hist. of the Jews, 4th ed., vol. ii., pp. 419-438. THE NEW TESTAMENT, Fal still adhered to the ceremonial law withdrew again beyond the Jordan to join the Church of Pella, and from this union sprang two sects often met with in the early annals of the Church, the Nazarenes and the Ebionites. The former was a term of reproach, at first given by the Jews to all the believers in Christ, but afterwards confined to Judaizing Christians. The Ebionites (the word signifies the poor) engrafted philosophical speculations on the Christian faith, and may be defined as Jewish Gnostics. They were distinguished by the strictness of their moral practice.* It was about this time that the Gospels, Epistles, and other inspired writings of the apostles, began to be collected into a volume. ‘The Apostolic Epistles,” says Gieseler, ‘“‘ had always been read in the places to which they were addressed, and in the neighbouring congregations; but there was no universally received collection of the evangelical narratives, and the existing ones served in their spheres only for private use. After the Churches had now come into closer connection, they communicated to one another, in their common interest against heretics, the genuine apostolic writings; and thus the canon began to be formed in the first half of the second century, although in the different congregations there continued to be other writings which were valued almost, if not altogether, as much as those which were universally received.” ? In this manner, in the all-wise providence of God, was formed, as in the case of the Jewish Scriptures, that priceless treasure of the Church, its rule of faith and life for all ages, the New Testament. With the two Antonines who succeeded Hadrian, philosophy mounted the throne; and it has been conjectured that Antoninus Pius (188-161), who founded and endowed professorships of all the schools of philosophy in the chief provincial cities, may have intended this measure as a check to Christianity.3 But Antoninus was too humane and philanthropic a prince to leave one section of his subjects a prey to the fury of the rest ; and when, on the occa- sion of successive public calamities, the populace in the Grecian States began to hunt down the Christians, he issued rescripts to repress these outrages.4 t Robertson’s Hist. of the Church, 2nd ed.,i., p. 21, Eusebius, b. iv., & v. Kurtz, Hist. of the Church, Clark, p. 99. Neander, i., p. 475, &e. 2 Eccles. Hist., vol. i., p.161. For example, the Epistle of Clement of Rome, and the Shepherd of Hermas, were thus in use. 3 There were seven such professorships in Athens. The salaries were equiva: lent to from £400 to £600. Cooper’s Free Church, p. 178. 4 Neander, i,, p. 143, 32 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Marcus Aurelius (a.p. 161-180), the son-in-law of Antoninus Pius, went beyond his father in his zeal to maintain the ancient religion. In Asia Minor the Christians were treated with such severity, that Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who appeared as their advocate before the Emperor, declares: ‘‘ The worshippers of God in this country are, in consequence of the new edicts, persecuted as they never were before. Shameless informers, greedy of others’ possessions, taking occasion by these edicts, plunder their innocent victims day and night. If these things are done by your order, let it be so; we will cheerfully bear the honourable lot of such a death. But we crave this one thing, that you will inform yourself respecting these plotters of mischief, and impartially decide whether the Christians are worthy of punishment and death, or of protection and peace. But if this new edict, which would be intolerable even against barbarous enemies, does not emanate from yourself, the more do we pray you not to abandon us.to such law- less robbery.”’? The name of Marcus Aurelius is associated with all that is pious and enlightened in classic heathenism, and the habit of self- examination which he cultivated might be proposed for imitation to many who profess a purer faith ; but being ignorant of the Gospel, or accounting himself too wise to accept it, he allowed himself to be numbered among its persecutors, What he thought of its professors may be seen from his Meditations, <‘‘ The soul,” he says, “ should be ready when the time has come for it to depart from the body, either to be extinguished, or to be dissolved, or else to subsist a while longer with the body. But this readiness must proceed from its own free choice and not from mere obstinacy, as is the case with the Christians.” 2 The Church now found herself in a very hard case. All the forces of the world were united against her. The imperial dis- pleasure was powerfully supported by the philosophy of the day, in whose name Lucian and Celsus made violent attacks on Chris- tianity, and promulgated malicious calumnies against its adherents. The heathen priesthood, every day more alive to the irreconcilable nature of the new principle which had risen in their midst, began to see that unless Christianity could be crushed out, their own credit and gains, and the prestige of their senseless idols, would be lost. The ignorant populace were always ready to lay hold of any pretence for molesting the Christians, whose manner of life * Eusebius, #.H., b. iv., c. xxvi. Neander, i. 144. e Bex, 8 a; JUSTIN MARTYR. 33 was a perpetual rebuke to their own; and the frequent misfortunes which continued to befall the empire, were made the occasion of outbursts of fury against them as the reputed cause of these calamities.' The charges most usually brought against the Christians were, that they were atheists,—that they were the devourers of their own children,—and addicted to incest and every kind of licentious- ness. It is not difficult to suggest some explanation of reports such as these, monstrous and absolutely false as they were. The first charge probably arose from the simplicity of their worship, without either sacrifice, altar or temple; the others may have originated from the communion of the bread and wine, to which none but believers were admitted, and which the heathen would hear spoken of as the body and blood of the Lord; and from the admission of the two sexes on equal terms to their meetings, held often with closed doors, and commenced with the fraternal kiss. Whatever may have been their origin, these calumnious stories were very widely circulated, and continued to be repeated for several generations. CHAPTER VI. JusTIN Marryr. One of the most illustrious of the cloud of witnesses who in the reign of Marcus Aurelius sealed their testimony with their blood, was Justin, surnamed the Martyr.2 His father and grandfather were probably of Roman birth: he himself was born at Neapolis (now Nablous), the ancient Shechem. He early applied himself to the study of philosophy. Looking round on the various schools to which the young men of the day resorted,3 the Stoics, whom we may remember Paul encountered at Athens some eighty years before, appeared to him the most promising. He accordingly joined himself to one of their preceptors; but when after some time he found he made no progress in that branch of science which t Gieseler, i., p. 131. Milman, ii., pp.131-134. The year 166 was so replete with national disasters as to be called ‘‘ annus calamitosus.” 2 Before this time all who suffered for the testimony of Jesus, whether unto death or not, were called martyrs; the title now began to be restricted to those who actually suffered death, the rest being called confessors. 3 Eusebius places the scene of Justin’s Dialogue with the Jew Trypho, from which this account is taken, at Ephesus. Hccl. Hist. b. iv., ¢. xviii. 3) 34 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. he most ardently desired, the knowledge of God, and that his instructor declared such knowledge to be unnecessary, he left him and betook himself to the Peripatetics, the followers of Aristotle. But the teacher to whom he applied was so anxious about his fees, that Justin was convinced truth did not dwell with him. ‘ My soul being eager,” he says, ‘‘ to learn the very kernel and essence of philosophy, I came next to a Pythagorean, a man of great repu- tation, who asked me, ‘ Are you acquainted with music, astronomy, and geometry ? and when I confessed that I was ignorant of these sciences, he dismissed me, telling me that before I could understand the things which conduce to a happy life, I must first become acquainted with ‘he learning which weans the soul from sensible objects, and fits it to contemplate what is essentially good. I took this rebuff,’’ he continues, ‘‘ rather impatiently, and in my forlorn state I turned to the celebrated school of the Platonists. Having found a teacher, I spent as much of my time as possible with him, and made rapid progress. The perception of immaterial things quite overpowered me, and the contemplation of ideas furnished my mind with wings, so that in a little while I supposed I had bevome wise; and such was my foolishness, I expected presently to see God, for this is the end of Plato’s philosophy. ‘‘ While I was in this state, wishing to be filled with quietness and to shun the paths of men, I used to walk by myself in a field near the sea. One day an old man of a gentle and venerable appearance followed me at a little distance. I stopped, and turning round fixed my eyes keenly on him. “¢¢ Dost thou know me ?’ he asked. eNO. ‘«¢ Why then dost thou look so intently at me ?’ ‘« Because,’ I said, ‘I had not expected to see any man here,’ ‘‘¢ But why art thou here ?’ he rejoined. “‘« Because,’ I answered, ‘I love to be where I can converse mh myself uninterrupted.’ ‘**« Art thou then a lover of reason,’ said he, ‘and not a lover of works and a lover of truth ?’ ‘¢¢ What work can be greater,’ I asked, ‘than to possess the reason that governs all, and from that height to look down on the errors and pursuits of others? Every man should esteem philo- sophy as the greatest and most honourable work.”’ ‘«¢Does philosophy then produce happiness?’ asked the old man. «« * Assuredly, and it alone.’ “¢ But what then is philosophy, and what is its happiness ?’ JUSTIN FINDS THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY. 30 ‘‘¢ Philosophy,’ I replied, ‘is the knowledge of what really exists, and a clear perception of the truth ; and happiness is the reward such knowledge and wisdom.’ ” This led to a long conversation between them on the nature of God and of the soul, and resulted in the inquiry on the part of Justin how, if the ancient philosophers were so ignorant as the old man made out, the truth was to be learned. Upon this his new teacher referred him to certain men who lived before Pythagoras and Plato, righteous men and beloved by God, who spoke by the Divine Spirit and foretold future events. ‘‘ Their writings,” he said, ‘‘are still extant, and very helpful in the knowledge of the beginning and end of things. They did not use demonstration in their treatises, seeing they were witnesses to the truth above all demonstration. They glorified the Creator, the God and Father of all, and proclaimed his Son, the Christ whom He has sent. Pray therefore, above all things, that the gates of light may be opened to thee, for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by him to whom God and his Christ have given understanding.”” When he had thus spoken he went away, ‘‘and,” adds Justin, ‘I saw him no more. But straightway a flame was kindled in my soul, and a. love of the prophets and of the friends of Christ took possession of me; and revolving his words in my mind I found this philosophy alone to be sound and profitable.” ' t Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho, chaps. ii.—viii. Justin’s quest after truth reminds us of the soul’s search for Christ, in Quarles’ Hmblems. *¢ T gearch’d this glorious city ; he’s not here: I sought the country ; she stands empty-handed: I searched the court; he is a stranger there: I asked the land; he’s shipp’d: the sea; he’s landed, I climbed the air; my thoughts began t’aspire ; But ah! the wings of my too bold desire, Soaring too near the sun, were sing’d with sacred fire, “‘ T moved the merchant’s ear; alas! but he Knew neither what I said, nor what to say: I ask’d the lawyer ; he demands a fee, And then demurs me with a vain delay: I ask’d the schoolman; his advice was free, But scor’d me out too intricate a way : I ask’d the watchman (best of all the four), Whose gentle answer could resolve no more, But that he lately left him at the temple door. “¢ Thus having sought and made my great inquest In every place, and search’d in every ear, I threw me on my bed; but ah! my rest Was poisoned with the extremes of grief and fear: When, looking down into my troubling breast, The magazine of wounds, I found ‘him there.” B. iv., Emblem 11. 36 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY This conversation with the sage was not however the only means of attracting Justin to the Gospel. He was captivated by the demeanour of the Christians, especially by their extraordinary fearlessness in the presence of death. ‘‘ When,” he says in his Second Apology, ‘‘ I was delighting in the doctrines of Plato, I used to hear the Christians slandered, but when I saw them fearless of death and of all else which is accounted terrible, I perceived that it was impossible they should be living in pleasure and wicked- ness.” Justin settled in Rome as a Christian teacher; but he continued to wear the philosopher’s mantle, which, as he tells us, occasioned him to be surrounded, and saluted in the public walk with “Good — day, philosopher.” He often fell into disputation with the heathen dialecticians, one of whom, Crescens, a Cynic, he is said to have several times refuted inthe presence of many hearers. He foresaw the consequences which must one day result from these victories over his opponents, and writes, “‘I expect to be waylaid by some one of them and sent to the stake, probably by Crescens himself, that unphilosophical and vain-glorious opponent, who disregards that most admirable saying of Socrates, ‘No man’s opinion must ever be preferred before the truth.’” * Whether on the information of Crescens or of some other enemy to the Gospel,? Justin was apprehended on the charge of being a Christian ; and, together with six of his friends, one of them a woman, was brought before Rusticus, the Prefect of the city, for- merly the Emperor’s preceptor in the Stoic philosophy. ‘‘ What kind of doctrines do you profess ?’’ asked the Prefect. Justin. I have endeavoured to learn all doctrines; but I have settled at last in the true doctrine, that of the Christians. Rusticus. Are those the doctrines that please thee, miserable man? Where do you Christians assemble ? Justin. Where every one chooses and is able. Dost thou suppose we all meet in the same place? Not so. The God of the Chris- tians is not circumscribed by place; being invisible He fills heaven and earth, and is everywhere worshipped and glorified by the faithful. Rusticus. Tell me in what place you collect your followers. Justin. I live above one Martin, at the Baths of Timothens; and if any one wishes to come to me I communicate to him the doc- trines of truth. * Second Apology, ¢. iii. 2 There is no record of any general persecution in Rome at this time. MARTYRDOM OF JUSTIN. 37 His fellow prisoners declaring that they also were Christians, the Prefect threatened them with death, and asked Justin whether, if ‘he were scourged and beheaded, he supposed he would ascend to heaven, there to receive a recompense? Justin replied, ‘I do not suppose it, | know and am fully persuaded of it.” The Prefect then, addressing himself to all the accused, said, ‘‘ Offer sacrifice to the gods.” Justin. No right-minded person falls away from piety to impiety. The Prefect, Unless you obey you shall be punished without mercy. Upon which all the prisoners, full of faith and of the spirit of their crucified Lord, cried out, ‘‘ Do what thou wilt; we are Chris- _tians, and cannot sacrifice to idols.” Upon this the Prefect pronounced sentence. ‘‘ Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the Emperor, be scourged and led away to suffer the punishment of decapitation, pursuant to the laws.’’ Accordingly, after being beaten, they were taken to the place of execution, where they died glorifying God; and their bodies being secretly removed by the faithful were decently interred.t Their martyrdom took place about A.D. 165. Justin has left three treatises—two Apologies, and the Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew. ‘The first Apology is addressed to the Hmperor Antoninus Pius, with the senate and the people of Rome; the second to the Roman Senate in the time of Marcus Aurelius. In the former he appeals ‘‘on behalf of those of all nations who are unjustly hated and wantonly abused, himself being one of them,” and he calls upon those whom he addressed, since they ‘style themselves pious and philosophers, guardians of justice and lovers of learning, to give good heed to his words.” ‘‘ We are not come,” he writes, ‘‘to flatter you, but to beseech you searchingly and impartially to inquire, and righteously to decide. We demand that the charges against the Christians be investigated, and if they can be substantiated, punishment be awarded; but if no one can convict us of any crime, true reason forbids you, on account of a wicked rumour, to wrong blameless men, or rather to wrong your- selves, which you will do if you decide not by judgment but by passion.” And in his conclusion he says boldly: “If these things seem to you to be reasonable and true, honour them; but if non- * The Martyrdom of the Holy Martyr Justin [and others], who suffered at Rome. 38 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. sensical, despise them as nonsense; only do not decree death against those who have done no wrong. For we forewarn you that if you continue in the course of injustice you cannot escape the im- pending judgment of God.” ! We shall have frequent occasion, in the chapters which follow, to refer to Justin Martyr’s valuable writings. One peculiarity may be here mentioned. He was an Oriental, and indulged, after the manner of the East, in the symbolical interpretation of Scripture. When Trypho asks him why Christ died on the tree—a death cursed by the law—Justin replies that Moses at the first gave the sign of this seeming curse when he stretched out his hands on the day that Israel fought with Amalek. ‘The people prevailed,” he says, ‘‘ by the cross; for it was not because Moses so prayed that the people were stronger, but because one who bore the name of Jesus (Joshua) being in the forefront of the battle, Moses himself made the sign of the cross.” Still more fanciful, even to absurdity, is his discovery of the same type in the horns of a unicorn.? This fondness for symbolism runs through the early literature of the Church, which for several generations was almost wholly Kastern. To give another example. One of the most. popular books in the library of the early Christians was the ‘ Epistle of Barnabas,” the work of an unknown author, written probably be- fore the end of the first century.3 It is a treatise of little value, and abounds in allegorical interpretations of the Old Testament, more ingenious than rational. In the prohibition against eating certain animals as unclean,‘ the writer detects a command not to associate with men who resemble such animals. ‘The swine,” he says, ‘are emblematical of men who live in pleasure and forget their Lord, but when they come to want, acknowledge Him. The eagle, hawk, kite and raven, signify such men as know not how to procure food for themselves by labour and sweat, but wickedly seize on that of others, and though wearing an air of simplicity, are ever on the watch for plunder. The fishes that have not fins and scales, not swimming on the surface but making their abode in mud at the bottom of the water, are the types of those who * First Apology, ¢. i.—tii. and Ixviii. 2 Dialogue with Trypho, ¢., xc., xci. One of his resemblances is more to the purpose, that in which he says: ‘‘ The lamb is a symbol of the sufferings of the Cross which Christ was to undergo. For when the lamb is roasted, one spit is driven through its body from the lower parts to the head, the other is carried across the back, the legs of the lamb being attached to it.”” ¢. xl 3 Gieseler, i,, p. 110, note 1. 4 Levit. xi. TATIAN. 39 continue ungodly to the end, and are already condemned to death.” + Nothing is more valuable in the remains of the early Church writers than the narratives of their own conversion. One of Justin’s disciples, named Tatian, tells us how he became disgusted with the idolatry in which he had been brought up, and how he was enlightened by reading the Old Testament. He was a native of Mesopotamia, and one among many who, in that inquisitive age, travelled from country to country, enquiring into the various systems of philosophy and forms of religious belief. After speak- ing of the abominations practised by the Romans, he writes, ‘“‘ Having seen these things, and been admitted to the mysteries, and having examined the religious ceremonies of the effeminate, and found amongst the gods of Rome, Jupiter and Diana regaling themselves with the blood of slaughtered men, and one demon here and another there instigating to evil,—retiring by myself I sought how I might discover the truth. Whilst I was giving my most earnest attention to the matter, I happened to meet with certain barbaric? writings, too ancient to be placed side by side with the systems of the Greeks, and too divine to be compared with their errors. The simplicity of the language, the inartificial character of the writers, the foreknowledge displayed of future events, the excellence of the precepts, and the declaration of the government of the universe as centred in one being, won my con- fidence. My soul being taught of God, I saw that the writings of the Greek philosophers lead to condemnation, but these writings make an end of the slavery that is in the world, and rescue us from ten thousand tyrants, while they give us, not indeed what we had not before received, but what because of error we were unable to keep.’ 3 After the death of Justin, Tatian was unhappily led away by Gnostic influences. He went to Antioch and founded an ascetic sect, which from the rigid principles it professed bore the name of the Encratites (i.e. self-controlled or masters of themselves). He died a few years later. t Chap. x. 2 That is, not Greek or Roman. 3 Tatian’s Address to the Greeks, c. xxix. 40 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. CHAPTER VII. THe OcTaAavius or Minucius Freuix—Martryrpom oF PoLYCARP. Bzrore we proceed further with the sufferings and constancy of those who endured martyrdom during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, let us speak of another apologist for the Christian faith, a con- temporary of Justin’s.? Minucius Felix, a distinguished advocate of Rome, was the author of a work entitled Octavius, which, from its vigour of rea- soning and elegance of style, occupies a high place in the early literature of the Church. It is in the form of a dialogue between two lawyers, Octavius a Christian, and Cecilius a heathen, in the presence of Minucius Felix as umpire. Octavius had been staying with Minucius at Rome, and they and Cecilius adjourned, during the vacation time of the law courts, to ‘‘ that very pleasant city,” Ostia, for sea-air and sea-bathing.? It was in the early morning, as they were sauntering along the shore, drinking in the refreshment of the mild autumn air, and ‘‘ with excessive pleasure letting their easy footsteps sink into the yielding sand,” when Cecilius, observing an image of the Kgyptian god Serapis, kissed his hand in token of adoration.3 Octavius, who noticed it, rebuked Minucius for suffering a familiar friend like Ceecilius to adore in broad daylight images of stone. Neither he nor Ceecilius made any reply at the time; but all three continued their walk along the open shore, where “the gently rippling water was smoothing the sands as if it would level them for a pro- menade, and came up on the beach with crisp and curling waves.” They approached nearer till the little waves by turns broke over * The older critics assigned a later date to Minucius Felix, placing him between Tertullian and Cyprian. For the authorities in favour of the earlier date, see Gieseler, vol. 1., p. 155, note 12. ? Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, on the left branch, was once the port of Rome, but about the Christian era it became choked with the sand and mud deposited by the river. The Emperor Claudius constructed a new harbour on the other branch of the river, round which there grew up the flourishing town of Portus. Portus has long since shared the fate of Ostia, and both are now at a considerable distance inland. 3 Compare Job xxxi, 26, 27. THE OCTAVIUS OF MINUCIUS FELIX. 4] their feet, and, retiring, were sucked back into themselves; and as they tracked the winding coast, Octavius beguiled the way with stories of the sea. Retracing their steps, they came upon ‘‘ some boys eagerly gesticulating as they played at throwing shells into the water. Taking hold of the smooth shell in a horizontal position, they whirled it as low down as possible upon the waves, to make it skim along, or spring up with repeated bounds.” But while Octavius and Minucius were enjoying the sight, Cecilius stood apart, silent and uneasy. On being asked what vexed him, he confessed it was the reproof of Octavius regarding the adoration of the statue, and proposed that they should enter on an impartial examination of the rival claims of Christianity and heathenism. They accordingly all sat down on the mole of the beach, built out to protect the baths, and Cexcilius began the argu- ment. He commences with premising that in the world nothing is known with certainty, and alleges that if there is any difference between the lot of good men and bad, it is in favour of the latter. ‘In this fortuitous state of human affairs,” he argues, “it is the part of a wise man to worship the gods of his ancestors ;” and he extols the far-seeing wisdom of the Romans who, as they conquered one nation after another, received its divinities into their Pantheon, and so laid the foundation of universal dominion. He expresses his astonishment, therefore, that a ‘‘mean and reprobate faction like the Christians, gathered from the dregs of the people, held together by nightly meetings, fastings and inhuman repasts, silent in public, but garrulous in their own retreats, should dare to rave against the gods. Wondrous folly and audacity,” he exclaims ; ‘“‘despising present suffering, the Christians dread imaginary tor- ments to come, and the fear of actual death is lost in the deceitful hope of a future return to life.” Involuntarily, however, he bears witness to the virtues of the people whom he affects to despise. ‘They know one another,” he says, ‘“‘ by secret signs, calling each other brother and sister, and loving one another almost before they know one another. They have no altars,” he continues, ‘‘ temples or images, but they adore the head of an ass,‘ and worship a man * This strange story was first related concerning the Jews, and afterwards transferred to the Christians. No probable explanation of its origin has been given, Tertullian alludes to it in more than one of his treatises, and speaks of a caricature which was carried about Rome in his day, in which “‘ the God of the Christians ’’ was painted with the ears of an ass, a hoof on one foot, and a book in his hand, and wearing a toga. In 1856 there was discovered in one of 49, EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. who suffered death upon the cross, and even worship the cross itself.” He then retails a disgusting story, long current among the heathen, of the initiation of Christian novices by a trick through which they were made, unconsciously, to eat the flesh of a child. He ridicules their faith in Divine Providence, and in the doctrine of the resurrection. Lastly he appeals to their poverty and perse- cuted condition as a proof of the falsity of their religion; and regards it as a reproach to Christianity that it forbids their enjoy- ment of the amenities of life, the circus, the theatre, public ban- quets and sacred ceremonies, flower-wreaths for their heads, odours for their bodies, garlands to lay upon their graves. Octavius is ready with his reply. One by one he exposes the fallacy of Ceecilius’ arguments. ‘‘The proofs of Divine government lie all around; even the heathen poets speak of the one God, the Creator and Father of all. But the nations have obscured the pure knowledge of Him by their fables, and corrupted his worship by their abominable rites.” He calls the gods of the pagan worship, demons, and declares that they fled in terror, and their oracles were struck dumb at the name of Christ. He repudiates as absurd calumnies, the charges made against the Christians of cruelty and licentiousness. ‘‘The reason we love one another,” he says, ‘‘1s because we do not know how to hate. We call one another brethren, as being born of the same God and parent, and as com- panions in faith and fellow-heirs in hope. As for crosses, we neither worship nor wish for them.” In answer to the reproach that the Christians had no temples or altars, he asks, ‘‘ What image of God shall I make, since, if you think rightly, man him- self is the image of God? What temple shall I build to Him whom the universe cannot contain? Whilst I—a man—dwell far and wide, shall I think to shut up the might of so great majesty within one little building? . . . You say God is ignorant of man’s doings. You greatly err; for from what place can He be afar off, when all things in earth and in heaven, and even beyond, are full of Him? Not only do we act, I had almost said, we live in Him.” He then demonstrates, from the analogy of nature, the reasonable- ness of a final resurrection, when the righteous shall be rewarded the buried guard-chambers of the Imperial Palace on the Palatine, a caricature scratched on the wall. It represents a figure on a cross with a human body, but an ass’s head; and beside it another figure lifting up his hand and head towards it. Across the picture is scrawled in Greek, ‘“‘ Alexamenos worships [his] God.” From the form of the letters the drawing is referred to the end of the second century, about the very time when Tertullian wrote. Tertullian, Apol. xvi.; To the Nations, i.14. Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Asinarii, THE OCTAVIUS OF MINUCIUS FELIX. 48 with never-ending felicity, and the unrighteous doomed to eternal woe. To the reproach of a gloomy asceticism he replies: ‘* The Christians pluck the lily and the rose, scatter them freely, and hang them in garlands round their necks; but they must be par- doned if they do not use them as a crown, either for the dead or the living. The dead want no chaplet. If miserable, they can have no pleasure in it; if blest, they will have their brows encircled with a crown which will never fade, conferred by the all-bounteous hand of God Himself.” He sums up his long and eloquent exposi- tion with the words: ‘“‘ We do not talk great things; we live them.” The silence which followed Octavius’ address is broken by Cecilius. ‘‘ We have both conquered! He has conquered me, and I have triumphed over my error. I yield myself to God, and adopt the belief of the Christians as my own. But my mind is still unsatisfied on some points, not as resisting the truth, but as requiring more perfect instruction, which, as the sun is already sloping to its setting, we will leave till to-morrow.” The interview concludes with Minucius expressing his joy on behalf of all concerned ; for Cecilius that he had yielded to the truth, for himself that he was spared the invidious task of pro- nouncing judgment, and for Octavius that the victory was with him. ‘ Not,” he adds, ‘‘that I am going to flatter him for his words; for the testimony of any man or all men is only weak. He will have a glorious reward from God, through whose inspira- tion he has pleaded, and by whose help he has gained the victory.” 7 In no quarter did the persecution under Marcus Aurelius rage more violently than in Asia Minor,? where amongst a multitude of witnesses the admiration of posterity has centred upon the aged Polycarp. The story of his martyrdom has come to us through an encyclical letter written by the Church at Smyrna. We give it nearly entire. The Christians of that district, as the Epistle informs us, had for some time been exposed to great suffering on account of their religion ; and one of them, Germanicus, being cast to the wild beasts, encountered them as others had done, with courage and alacrity. But although the multitude marvelled at the nobleness of mind displayed ‘‘by the God-loving and God-fearing race of Christians,” they were only the more incited by the devotion of ™ See Wordsworth’s Church Hist. 2 See ante, p. 32. 44 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Germanicus to clamour for fresh victims, and cried out, “ Away with the atheists ; let Polycarp be sought out.” Polycarp had resolved at first to remain at his post in the city, but in deference to the wishes of his friends he withdrew to a country house. There, whilst praying, three days before he was taken, a vision presented itself to him; the pillow under his head appeared to be on fire. Turning to those who were with him, he said prophetically, ‘‘ I must be burned alive.” He was betrayed by one of his own servants, who had been seized and put to the torture ; and though he might still have escaped, he refused, say- ing, ‘The will of the Lord be done.” When he heard that his pursuers were come, he went down from the upper room where he was reposing, and ordered food to be set before them, whilst he begged to be allowed an hour for prayer undisturbed. This being granted, he stood and prayed for all whom he had ever known, both small and. great, worthy and unworthy, and for the whole Church throughout the world; and his heart being filled with grace, he continued in prayer for two hours, until some of those who had been sent to take him began to repent that they had come out against so godly and venerable a man. As soon as he had ceased praying, he was set upon an ass and conducted towards the city. Being met on the way by the chiet magistrate and his father, they took him up into their chariot and endeavoured to shake his resolution, asking, ‘‘ What harm is there in saying ‘ Lord Cesar,’ and in sacrificing?’’ At first he gave them no answer, but when they continued to urge him, he said, “I shall not do as you advise me.’’ Enraged at his constancy, they changed their tone, reviled him, and threw him down out of the chariot, so that in falling he sprained his ankle. But he, as if nothing had happened, hastened eagerly forward, and was led into the stadium,t which was thronged with a tumultuous crowd of spectators, thirsting for his blood. As he was entering ‘‘ we heard,” write the brethren, ‘‘a voice from heaven saying, Be strong, O Polycarp, and show thyself a man.’ As soon as he appeared, a deafening roar burst from the multitude. | Being brought before the Proconsul, he was asked if he was Polyearp. He replied, ‘‘I am.” ‘Then swear by the fortune of Cesar; repent and say, ‘Away with the atheists.’” Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on the dense crowds which en- circled him, and waving his hand towards them, groaned, and t The circus or race-course, where the public games were exhibited on th numerous festival days of the ancient Romans. MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP. 45 looking up to heaven, said, “ Away with the atheists.” ‘ Swear,”’ urged the Proconsul; ‘“‘revile Christ, and I will set thee at liberty.” Polycarp. Highty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any wrong ; how then can I blaspheme my King, my Saviour ? Since thou pretendest not to know who and what I am, hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian. And if thou wishest to learn what the doctrines of Christianity are, appoint me a day and thou shalt hear them. | The Proconsul. Satisfy the people. Polycarp. To thee I have thought it right to proffer an account, for we are taught to show all honour to the powers and authorities which are ordained of God; but as for these, I do not deem them worthy to hear any defence from me. The Proconsul. I have wild beasts at hand; to them I will cast thee except thou repent. Polycarp. Call them ; to repent from things better to things worse is impossible. The Proconsul. Seeing thou despisest the wild beasts, I will have thee consumed by fire, if thou wilt not repent. Polycarp. Thou threatenest me with that fire which burns for an hour and then is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the judgment to come, and of the eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. But why dost thou tarry? Bring forth what thou wilt. The Proconsul, seeing that nothing he could say was of any avail, ordered the herald to proclaim three times in the midst of the stadium :—‘‘ Polycarp has confessed himself a Christian.” Then the whole multitude raised a shout of uncontrollable fury, ‘¢ This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, and the overturner of our gods.” So saying, they called upon the Asiarch,' to let loose a lion on Polycarp. But the games being already over, the Asiarch refused, and the people with one accord cried out, « Let him be burned.” Immediately they dispersed themselves to the shops and baths to gather wood and faggots, the Jews being foremost. The pile was soon ready. Polycarp laid aside his outer garments and loosed his girdle; and when he was about to be fastened to the stake with nails, said, ‘‘ Leave me as I am; He who gives me strength to endure the fire will enable me to remain at the pile « President of the games. See Acts xix. 31; and Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul. 46 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. without moving.’ His request was granted, and he was simply _ bound with cords. Looking up to heaven, he said, ‘““O Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of thy martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, in the incorruption of the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be admitted this day as an acceptable sacrifice, as Thou hast pre- pared and foreshown, and now hast accomplished, O true and faithful God. Wherefore I praise Thee for all things; I bless Thee ; I glorify Thee, with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be glory now and for ever.” When the fire was kindled, the flame blazed forth with fury, but instead of consuming the body of the martyr, it ‘‘ formed an arch resembling the sail of a ship around him, so that he appeared in the midst of it like gold or silver glowing in a furnace, whilst a sweet odour arose from the pile, as if frankincense or some other precious spice were being consumed.” It is to this that Southey, in his poem of Thalaba, refers : “ The waxen image Lay among the flames Like Polycarp of old, When, by the glories of the burning stake O’er-vaulted, his grey hairs Curled life-like to the fire That haloed round his saintly brow.” At length, seeing that he was not touched by the flames, one of the executioners plunged a dagger into his body, upon which “ such a stream of blood gushed forth that the fire was extinguished.” The disciples attempted to take up the corpse, but the Jews, who were on the watch, prevented them, and besought the governor not to deliver it up to them for burial, lest, ‘‘ forsaking the Cruci- fied One, they begin to worship this man.” “ Little thinking,” say the brethren, ‘‘ that it is not possible for us to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of the whole world, or to worship any other. For Him indeed we adore; but the martyrs, as his dis- ciples and followers, we worthily love.” <‘‘ After which,” continues the Letter, ‘‘ we took up his bones as being more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, whither, being gathered as opportunity is POLYCARP’S EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. AT allowed us, the Lord shall grant us with joy and rejoicing to cele- brate the birthday of his martyrdom.” ? Dean Milman’s reflections on the foregoing history are too pertinent to be omitted. ‘The whole of this narrative has the genuine energy of truth. The prudent yet resolute conduct of the aged bishop; the calm and dignified expostulation of the governor ; the wild fury of the populace ; the Jews eagerly seizing the oppor- tunity of renewing their unslaked hatred to the Christian name ;— are described with the simplicity of nature. The supernatural part of the transaction is no more than may be ascribed to the high- wrought imagination of the Christian spectators, deepening every casual incident into a wonder: the voice from heaven, heard only by Christian ears ; the flame from the hastily-piled wood, arching over the unharmed body ; the grateful odours, not impossibly from aromatic woods, which were used to warm the baths of the more luxurious, and which were collected for the sudden execution; the effusion of blood, which might excite wonder, from the decrepit frame of a man at least a hundred years old. Even his vision was not unlikely to arise before his mind at that perilous crisis.” 2 An epistle of Polycarp’s has been preserved, written to the Church at Philippi. In it he speaks of the Apostle Paul, ‘‘ who when among you, faithfully and constantly taught the word of truth ; and when absent wrote you a letter which, if you diligently study, you will find to be the means of building you up in faith, hope and love.” Polycarp’s epistle consists almost entirely of - quotations from the Scriptures, in which he ‘ trusts the Philippians are well versed,” and chiefly from Paul’s Epistles. It is written, not in his own name only, but in that of “the presbyters (or elders), who are with him.” 3 Polycarp’s long life stretches, as a connecting link, from the apostolic age to the commencement of the third century: for one of his disciples was Irenxus, Bishop of Lyons, a native of Asia Minor, who lived till the year 202. In a letter written in hig old t The Encyclical Epistle of the Church at Smyrna, concerning the Martyrdom of the holy Polycarp. This narrative is the earliest of the Acts of the Martyrs which have been preserved, and is generally accounted the most authentic,—A. N. L. Eusebius, in transferring it to his Heclesiastical History (a.p. 324), has followed a text differing from the above in many verbal particulars. B. iv., c. xy.; Neander, i., pp. 152-154. The date assigned to the event is a.p. 165 or 166. [From an inscription discovered by Mr. Wood, M. Waddington fixes the date at 155.] 2 Hist. of Christianity, vol. ii., pp. 139, 140. 3 Chap. iii. and xii., and Salutation. 48 - EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. — age, recalling his boyhood (of which he tells us he had a much more vivid recollection than of later events), Irenzeus thus describes his revered teacher. ‘‘I could point out the very place where the blessed Polycarp was accustomed to sit and discourse ; his gait, his form, his manner of life, his conversations, and what he was accustomed to relate of his familiar intercourse with John and others who had seen the Lord ;—how he used to repeat their discourses and speak of the miracles of Christ, and of his doctrine, agreeably to the Holy Scriptures, as he had received them from the eye-witnesses. T'o these things, by the mercy of God, I listened attentively, noting them down, not on paper but in my heart, and by the grace of God I habitually recall them to my mind.” ? CHAPTER VIII. Martyrs oF Lyons AND VIENNE. Tuer persecution of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius was not confined to the East. In the year 177 the storm broke over one of the most flourishing districts of Gaul, the cities of Lyons and Vienne, in which Asiatic colonies had settled themselves; and the account of the persecution has come down to us in a Letter from the Churches of those cities to their “ brethren in Asia and Phrygia,”’ 2 In reading this statement, as in the martyr narratives generally, the mind is amazed at the superhuman power of endurance attri- buted to the sufferers. As in the case of Polycarp, some allowance may have to be made for the overwrought feelings of the spectators, but this is quite insufficient to account for the marvel. May we not rather believe that the Lord, who, when Paul was left for dead at Lystra, raised him up that he might preach the Gospel in other countries, was pleased thus to manifest to the heathen world what protracted torments his believing children were able to bear for his | sake ? t Eusebius, b. v., c. xx. 2 The greater part of this Epistle, which by some has been attributed to Irenzeus, is preserved by Eusebius (H. H., b. v., c. i.-iv.) Its remarkable sim- plicity and pathos have often been extolled: ‘‘The most beautiful and the oldest monument of this kind in the whole Church; its worth is beyond all description ” (Valesius). It commences, ‘‘The servants of Christ dwelling in Vienne and Lugdunum, to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia, holding the same faith ad hope of redemption with us.” . 4 MARTYRS OF LYONS AND VIENNE. 49 The Epistle declares that the severity of the tribulation, the sufferings which the martyrs endured, and the mad fury of their enemies, were indescribable. The heathen excluded the dis- ciples from the baths and markets, plundered them of their property, and assailed them with clamours, blows and all the other injuries which ignorant and savage people are prone to inflict on those who are more enlightened than themselves. Some heathen slaves belonging to Christian families, under threats of torture, accused their masters of the offences usually laid at the door of the Christians—devouring their own children, incestuous marriages, and other abominable practices,t—‘ crimes so dark,” say the writers of the Letter, “ that it is not lawful for us to speak, or even think of them.” The magistrates were infected with the frenzy of the multitude. When the Christians were brought before the Legate, or Governor, he commenced the examination with torture, not only for the purpose of compelling them to abjure, but also of wringing from them an admission of their guilt. A young man of rank, Vettius Epagathus, indiguant at this flagrant violation of justice, boldly presented himself before the tribunal as a witness to their inno- cence. The Legate refused to hear him, only asking if he too were a Christian. On his declaring in a clear voice that he was so, he was transferred to the number of the confessors. Most of those who were condemned endured their sufferings with constancy ; but about ten drew back,? and their weakness not only affected the faithful with excessive grief, but damped the ardour of those who had not yet been apprehended. Some, however, who through fear thus denied their Lord, on being a second time brought before the tribunal, withdrew their recantation, and being thrown to the wild beasts, sealed at last their testimony with their blood. Neither age nor sex was regarded, nor the most refined and cruel tortures withheld. Sanctus, a deacon of Vienne, Maturus, Attalus, a native of Pergamos, and Blandina, a female slave, for whom her mistress (herself one of the confessors) trembled lest she should not. be able to hold out on account of the weakness of her body, were: conspicuous in their sufferings. Blandina was so filled with. power that she endured every description of torture from morning until evening, so that the exhausted tormentors were astonished, declaring ™ See ante, pp. 33 and 41. 2 Cooper reckons that about sixty were apprehended, and that this number: included all the leading members of the two churches. Free Church, p. 214. 4 50 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. that one kind of infliction alone was sufficient to have deprived her of life. ‘But in the midst of all she recovered her strength,” and her confession, ‘‘I am a Christian ; no wickedness is carried on by us,” is described as ‘‘ yielding her refreshment and insensibility to suffering.”’ Sanctus, refusing to tell even his name or condition, and to all their questions only answering, ‘‘I am a Christian,” the Legate and the executioners were the more fixed in their determination to subdue him. When every other means failed, they applied red-hot plates of metal to his body, until it was all wounds and wheals, and shrunk out of its proper shape. But he remained inflexible through all, being, as the Letter says, ‘‘bedewed and strengthened by the heavenly fountain of the water of life which flows from Christ, and furnishing a proof to the rest that there is nothing terrible where the Father’s love is, and nothing painful where there is Christ’s glory.”” So that when his tormentors, some days afterwards, renewed their tortures, expecting that he would speedily succumb, since his body could not bear to be touched, to their astonishment he stood erect, and ‘‘the second torture became, through the erace of Christ, not his torment, but his cure.” A woman named Biblias, of a frail and timid nature, was one of those who at first denied the faith ; but being further tortured to make her accuse the Christians of cannibalism, she ‘‘ awoke as out of a deep sleep; and the pain she then suffered bringing before her the more terrible torments of the wicked hereafter, she cried out, ‘ How can those devour children who consider it unlawful even to taste the blood of brute animals ?’” ! | Amongst those who were brought before the judgment-seat was the venerable Pothinus, Bishop of Lyons. He was upwards of ninety years of age, and very feeble. But ‘‘ the eagerness of his spirit and his earnest desire to bear his testimony upheld him.” When the Legate asked him ‘‘ Who is the God of the Christians ?” he answered, ‘If thou art worthy thou shalt know.” Upon this he was mercilessly dragged about, and beaten and kicked without the least regard for his age and reverend appearance. Scarcely still breathing he was cast into prison, and two days afterwards: expired. _? This has been thought to show that the Church was partly composed of Jewish Christians. Such was probably the case; but the Gentiles in some places long continued to observe the decree of the Council of Jerusalem against eating strangled animals and blood; Acts xv. See Origen Against Celsus, b. Vill,, c. xxix., xxx.; Tertullian’s Apology, c. ix.; Milman, ii., p. 144. MARTYRS OF LYONS AND VIENNE. 51 As the number of the prisoners was considerable, and included several Roman citizens, who could not be tried in the province, the Legate wrote to the Emperor for further instructions. The imperial answer was that those who recanted should be set free, but the rest beheaded. On a subsequent day, when the savage people were assembled in the amphitheatre to gloat as usual over the combats of men and beasts, Sanctus and the three who had been tortured with him were again brought forth. Maturus and Sanctus, after being made to run the gauntlet between two rows of men with whips, were thrown to the wild animals, by whom they were torn and dragged about the arena, Still surviving, they were placed in the burning chair, the fumes of their own flesh rising to their nostrils. Blandina was fixed to a cross, and thus exposed as food to the beasts which were let loose against her; and ‘‘as she hung suspended, she seemed to afford a living representation of the crucified Saviour, thereby, as well as by her prayers, encouraging the others to steadfastness to the end,” As none of the animals would touch her, she was taken down and conveyed back to prison. Attalus, who was a man of mark, was vehemently demanded by the mob. ‘‘ He entered the lists a ready combatant, being armed with a good conscience and well practised in the Christian disci- pline.” He was led round the amphitheatre with a tablet inscribed, ‘‘ This is Attalus the Christian ;’’ but the Legate under- standing that he was a Roman citizen ordered him back to prison. In the interval a great fair was held in the city, to which a vast multitude of people flocked from various countries. The Legate, regardless of every semblance of law and right, caused the Christian prisoners to be publicly exhibited as in a theatrical show. At the same time he again examined them, and condemning to be beheaded those who possessed the right of Roman citizen- ship, ordered the rest to be thrown to the wild beasts. But being willing to gratify the base passions of the multitude, he reserved Attalus also, though a Roman, for the arena. Attalus, in company with a Phrygian physician named Alexander (described in the letter as ‘not without a share of apostolic grace”), was subjected to every variety of torture and then beheaded. Alexander expired ‘without a groan or murmur, conversing in his heart with God; ”’ but Attalus, when placed in the iron chair, the suffocating smoke going up from his burning body, cried out to the spectators, “ It is you who eat men; as for us we neither practise this nor any other wickedness.’’ D2 EARLY GHURCH HISTORY. On the last day of the games Blandina was again brought in, — with Ponticus, a boy of fifteen. These two had been taken daily to the arnphitheatre that they might witness the sufferings of their companions; and the multitude, when they saw that they still remained immovable, were furious, and demanded that every terror and every torture should be employed to compel them to swear. But Ponticus, encouraged by his fellow-confessor, endured all his torments to the end without flinching ; and Blandina, again sur- viving tortures almost unheard of, was at last enclosed in a net and cast before a bull; and after being repeatedly hosbed, was despatched with the sword. The brethren were greatly distressed because they were oawabte to commit the bodies of the martyrs to the earth. The mangled remains were maliciously kept beyond their reach, and after being abused in every way, and exposed for six days, were burned to ashes and cast into the Rhone, that not a vestige of them might remain on the earth; the blinded Pagans imagining that they could in this way as it were “overcome God, aad deprive the martyrs of their hope in the resurrection.” * At some distance to the north of Lyons is the town of inti, where the Christians were few in number and little known. Here one of them, by his fidelity to his conscience, drew upon himself public attention and a crown of martyrdom. The noisy multitude were celebrating a festival in honour of the Asiatic goddess, Cybele, carrying her image with great display round the city iu the sacred car. All fell on their knees except Symphorian, a young:man of respectable family. He was observed, and being seized as a sacri- legious person and a disturber of the public peace, was conducted before Heraclius the Governor, who demanded, ‘ Art thou a Christian ?”’ ‘*I am a Christian,” he replied; “I worship the true God who reigns in heaven; but your idol I cannot worship ; nay, if permitted, I am ready to dash it in pieces.’ On this the Governor declared him to be guilty of a double crime, against the religion and against the laws of the Empire, and sentenced him to. be beheaded. As he was being led to execution, his mother cried . ™ Kusebius, b. v.,¢.i. Tradition points to an island formed by the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone as the place where Pothinus lived and where he dug himself an oratory. The Church of St. Niziére stands on the site. The prisons of the martyrs, the forum where. they were examined, and the amphi- theatre, are all placed by the same tradition on or near the hill of Fourviéres. Mémoire statisque pour servir a Vhistoire de Vétablissement du Christianisme & Lyon, 1829. | IRENHUS, BISHOP OF LYONS. 53 out, ‘‘My son, my son, keep the living God in thy heart. Be steadfast ; there is nothing fearful in that death which so surely conducts thee to life.” * CHAPTER IX. TrENZUS—Gwnosticism—THE MontTANIsts—ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH TOWARDS DISSENTERS. Marcus AvrEtius was succeeded by his son, the contemptible Com- modus. During this emperor’s reign (180-192), through the influence of his concubine Marcia, who for some unknown reason was friendly to the Christians, they enjoyed a season of favour.? Partaking, as Ireneeus tells us, of all the privileges of the Common- wealth, they were permitted to go unmolested by land or sea wherever they chose, and were even found in the Imperial Palace.3 In Asia Minor, however, they suffered from the cruelty of hostile Governors ; and during the political disorders which followed the assassination of Commodus, and the civil wars which terminated in the sovereignty of Septimius Severus, the Churches were harassed in some other quarters. Clement of Alexandria writes at this time: ‘* Many martyrs are daily burned, crucified, or beheaded before our eyes,” 4 Treneeus, already mentioned as a disciple 0. Polycarp,5 succeeded Pothinus as Bishop of Lyons (a.p. 177), and died in 202. At the time of his election he was on his return journey from Rome, whither he had been sent by the Lyonnese Church with letters to * Neander, i., pp. 158, 159. [‘* At Lyons, in 1847, amidst excavations which were then being carried on, I descended into a cell beneath the level of the Rhone, which still bore the name of Blandina’s Cave.” Private Letter to the Author, February, 1886.] 2 Hippolytus relates that Marcia sent for Victor, Bishop of Rome, to inquire what confessors were then in the Sardinian mines, the usual place of exile for the Christians of the city, and chosen for that purpose on account of its un- healthiness. On his supplying her with their names, she obtained an order for their release from the Emperor, and sent it by a presbyter to the Governor of the island, who delivered up the prisoners. MRefutation of all Heresies, b. ix., C. Vii. 3 Against Heresies, b. iv., c. xxx. § 1, 3. 4 Neander, i., p. 165. 5 Ante, p- 47. 54 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. the Bishop, Eleutherus, concerning the new sect of the Montanists.* Trenzeus was the author of numerous treatises, the most important of which is his book against heresies, In those early days the Church was exceedingly vexed with — certain philosophical speculations and extravagant doctrines, known generally under the name of Gnosticism. Almost all the Christian authors employed their pens in opposition to these errors; and it is against them, in an earlier stage, under the designation of Nico- laitans, that the Apostle John testifies in the Revelation, as already at work among the Churches of Asia. Spreading rapidly through ~ that country and Syria, and in the schools of Alexandria, these speculations became developed in the second century into the most monstrous systems of philosophy so-called which the human brain has ever conceived. The term Gnostic (the man of knowledge) had been previously used in the classic schools to denote such as were initiated into a higher and secret science unknown to the vulgar. As now employed, it was designed to express superiority to the pagan and Jewish religions, and the popular views of Christianity. In these strange systems the Gospel is interwoven with elements drawn from the Platonic philosophy, Jewish theology, Parseeism, Brahminism and Buddhism.? Occupying themselves with abstract and barren speculations, rather than with the eross of Christ, the Gnostics vainly sought to fathom the old abyss in which heathen philosophy had lost itself. ‘‘*‘ Whence comes evil? Why is it permitted ? What is the origin of man? Whence comes God?’ These are the questions,” says Tertullian, ‘‘ which they propound. Away,” he adds, in his vehement and uncompromising style, ‘‘ away with all attempts to produce a motley Christianity, compounded of Stoicism, Platonism, and dialectics. Possessing Christ Jesus, we want no curious disputations; we want no philo- sophical inquiries, after once enjoying the Gospel.” 3 Cooper, in his treatise on the Free Church of Ancient Christendom, calls Gnosticism ‘‘ that yeasty product, thrown up by the working of the Gospel leaven upon the dead mass of heathenism, which it was evermore powerfully striving to penetrate and quicken.” 4 Hatch deseribes its dreamlike teaching in eloquent language. After presenting the symbolism of Philo, in which the Old Testament history is reduced to a fantastic allegory, he says, ‘‘To those who * Kusebius, KH. H.,b. v.,¢. iii.,iv. Du Pin’s History of Ecclesiastical Writers ed. 1693, i., p. 59. 2 Gieseler, i., pp. 185-144. 3 On Prescription (or Precepts) against Heretics, e. vii 4 Page 187. , . THE GNOSTICS. DO thought thus, the records of the Gospels were so much new matter for similar interpretation. To the lower intelligence, to the eye of sense, Christ was a person who had lived and died and ascended, and the Christian communities were the visible assemblies of his followers, and the Christian virtues were certain habits of mind which showed themselves in deeds. But to the spiritual mind, to the eye of reason, all these things were like the phantasmagoria of the mysteries. The recorded deeds of Christ were the clash and play of mighty spiritual forces; the Christian Church was an emanation from God; the Christian virtues were phases of intel- lectual enlightenment, which had but slender, if any, links with deeds done in the flesh. Before long the circle widened. Abstract conceptions seem to take bodily shape, and to pass in and out of one another like the dissolving scenery of a dream. There grew up a new mythology, in which Zeus and Aphrodite, Isis and Osiris, were replaced by Depth and Silence, Wisdom and Power. Chris- tianity ceased to be a religion and became a theosophy. It ceased to be a doctrine and became a Platonic poem. It ceased to be a rule of life and became a system of the universe.” ! It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that all the Gnosties were mere visionaries. The name covered a wide range, both of doctrine and practice. Whilst some laid themselves open to the charge of blasphemy, or crept into families and subverted the faith of the unwary, or abandoned themselves to licentiousness on the one hand,? or on the other were noted for their extreme asceticism,3 there were some under this name whose zeal and manner of life were worthy of the imitation of the orthodox. On the whole, how- ever, the place which the Gnostics occupied in Christendom was that which lay nearest to the world. ‘‘ They were,” says Gibbon, ‘‘the most polite, the most learned, and the most wealthy of the Christian name.’’+ At a time when the orthodox writers were very few they displayed a prodigious literary activity.s “Secure,” writes Milman, “in their own intellectual or spiritual purity, they scrupled not at a contemptuous conformity with the established worship, and partook of meats offered in sacrifice.’ © But all the teaching which was branded by the Church ‘fathers ” as heretical, was not equally deserving of condemnation. Montan- ism was a very different thing from Gnosticism ; it was rather a t Organization of the Early Christian Churches, Lect. iv., p. 91. 2 See Ireneus, Tertullian, &c., frequent. 3 Ante, p. 39. 4 Decline and Fall, c. xv. 5 Cooper’s Free Church, p. 210, note. § History of Christianity, ii. 85. 56 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. reaction and protest against that delusion.t Its author was a native of Phrygia. The doctrines which he promulgated became widely diffused through the West as well as the Hast, and were even embraced by one of the most gifted exponents of Christianity in that age, Tertullian of Carthage. Unscriptural and extravagant tenets are attributed to this sect, and fanatical conduct is imputed to some of its followers; but these charges have come down to us through their opponents, and may be in part due to the more sound and simple views which they held on the constitution of the Church, and the operation of the Holy Spirit. They asserted the priestly dignity of all Christians, and, consequently, that the gifts of the Spirit are not confined to one order in the Church, or even to one sex; and they would not allow that the gift of prophecy had been superseded by learning and an enlightened intellect. In opposition to the notion that the bishops were the sole successors of the Apostles, they denied that any who have not received the spirit of prophecy from the Holy Ghost Himself can be. the suc- cessors of the Apostles, or heirs to their spiritual power ;? and they repudiated the false idea that holiness of life is to be looked for in the clergy in another manner or in a higher degree than in the laity. They made a vigorous stand also against the spirit of accommodation to the world, which was creeping over the Church ; and notwithstanding the laws against private assemblies, in their meetings for fasting and prayer they disregarded such prudential measures as might avert the suspicion of the authorities. They even went so far as to condemn all usages of civil and social life which could in any way be traced to a heathen origin. But though the Montanists saw clearly whither worldly policy was leading the Church, they were slow to separate themselves from its communion ; nor did they leave it until they were thrust out by the Bishop of Rome (about a.p. 192).3 * Neander, Church History, ii., p. 199. Antignostikus, ti, 200. ? Tertullian says: ‘‘ The Church, it is true, will forgive sins, but it must be the Church of the Spirit, by means of a spiritual man; not the Church which consists of a number of bishops. For the right belongs to the master, not to the servant ; to God Himself, not to a priest. The Paraclete must (after Christ) be the only one to be called and revered as Master.’? On Modesty, c. xxi. On the Veiling of Virgins, c. i. 3 Neander, ii., pp. 220-22; Gieseler, i., pp. 211-215. Burton takes a differ- ent view; History of the Christian Church, 5th ed., p. 308. (Whether this bishop was Eleutherus or Victor is uncertain.) The above estimate of the place occupied in the Church by the Montanists is confirmed by Hatch. ‘ Against the growing tendency towards that state of things which afterwards firmly established itself, and which ever since has been the normal state of almost all MARCION AND POLYCARP. 57 The attitude taken by the Church towards heretics was not indeed always marked by wisdom, or consonant with the precepts of charity. The zeal with which she strove to clear herself of erroneous doctrine was worthy and honourable, but her treatment of individuals and communities deemed to be heretical, was too often injurious to the cause of truth. Marcion was one of the latest and most evangelical of the Gnostic teachers. In his youth he had probably enjoyed the friendship of Polycarp. Being in _ Rome when that bishop came there on a visit to Bishop Anicetus, and meeting him again after many years, he accosted him, and asked, ‘‘ Dost thou remember me?” The old man is gaid to have replied, ‘‘ I remember thee; the firstborn of Satan.”t Although Marcion in his system obscured the Gospel by abstract specula- tions, yet he both preached and lived the true faith in Christ. His earnestness and the practical tendency of his teaching drew around him a great crowd of adherents, and the sect of the Marcionites continued much longer than any other of the Gnostics.2 The Christian Churches, they raised a vigorous, and for a time a successful protest. They reasserted the place of spiritual gifts as contrasted with official rule. They maintained that the revelation of Christ through the Spirit was not a temporary phenomenon of apostolic days, but a constant fact of Christian life. They combined with this the preaching of a higher morality than that which was tending to become current. They were supported in all this by the greatest theologian of his time, and it is to the writings of that theologian, rather than to the vituperative statements of later writers, that we must look for a true idea of their purpose.” Karly Christian Churches, Lect. v., pp. 120, 121. A review of the first edition of the present work thus presents the weak side of Montanism. ‘‘It had within it the seeds of its own extinction. It demanded that Christianity should be sustained by the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, forgetting that His operations are consistent with the regular and faithful use of the natural activities of the consecrated believer, that they are not designed to displace these, but to give them their highest and most harmonious exercise. It undervalued organization, patient labour, the continuous and wise use of means. It gave too much place to dreams and visions, inculcated an ascetic rigour of life, required fastings, and looked for the immediate coming of Christ ; some Montanists in Asia Minor even assigning the spot where He would descend. It depreciated marriage, and disdained all prudence in avoiding martyrdom ; yet to its honour, it gave to the cause of Christ some of its noblest witnesses.”’ Friends’ Review, Philadelphia, 7 mo. 26, 1884, p. 803. t Huseb. b. iv., ¢. xiv. ? Neander, ii., pp. 129-150. Marcion’s bitter opponent, Tertullian, tells us that when, having been excommunicated by his father the bishop of Sinope, he went to Rome and joined the Church there, he gave his fortune (nearly £1,600) to the common fund. It is added to the honour of the age, that when he was again expelled on account of his unscriptural doctrines, the money was restored to him. He seems to have ultimately returned to the Catholic communion. Tertullian, On Prescription against Heretics, c, xxx, Cooper’s Free Church, p. 176, 08 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. conduct of Polycarp on this occasion represents but too exactly the temper of the early Church ; and the chord of exclusiveness and uncharitableness which was then struck has unhappily continued to vibrate down to our own time, Whilst the first part of Paul’s injunction has been abundantly observed, the latter part has been too often disregarded: “If any man obey not our word, note that man, and haye no company with him, that he may be ashamed; yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” ? The dogmas of apostolical succession and of the outward unity of the Catholic Church, which now began to take possession of the minds of the clergy, added bitterness to their action against the heretics. The good Irensus was a great stickler on both these points. He boasts of “putting to confusion all who in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, or vainglory, or by a blind and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings ;” and he relies upon “the tradition handed down from the Apostles, of the very great, very ancient, and universally known Church, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, and the faith which has come down to our time by means of the succession of the bishops.’’ In what he further adds, we may discover the germ of that error by which, in course of time, tradition came to be made equal or even superior to Holy Scripture. ‘Tt is not necessary to seek among others the truth which it is easy to obtain from the Church; seeing that the apostles, like a rich man depositing his money in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth; so that whoso- ever will can draw from her the water of life; for she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers.” 2 In like manner we find Tertullian pressing hard upon those whom he styles heretics. ‘‘ How vain, how worldly, how merely human, how without authority or discipline, is their conduct! It is doubtful who among them is a catechumen and who a believer; for all have access alike; all pray alike, even heathen, if they should happen to come among them. They make simplicity to consist in the overthrow of discipline, attention to which on our part they call meretricious allurement. . . . The very women are so bold as to teach, dispute, exorcise, undertake cures, and it may be even to baptize. Their ordinations are carelessly administered, capricious, changeable. At one time they put novices in office, at another those who are hampered by secular employments, at t 2 Thess. iii. 14, 15. 2 Ireneus, Against Heresies, b. iii., c. ili. § 2, ¢. iv. § 1, THE EARLY CHURCHES WERE GREEK. 59 another those who have apostatized from us. Even on laymen they impose the functions of the priesthood. . . . The majority of them have not even churches. Motherless, houseless, creedless, outcasts, they wander about in their own essential worthlessness.” In this passage, Tertullian brings against the dissenters no charge either as to faith or life. If in their Church government or their worship the divine law of order was disregarded, it was a erievous error, and called for severe remonstrance. But the testi- mony of an opponent, especially of one so hasty as Tertullian (who confesses that impatience was his peculiar besetment),? is to be received only with a large measure of allowance ; and it may be that the so-called Orthodox Church might have learnt some good lessons from the heretics. We will conclude this Chapter with the luminous remarks of Dean Milman on the organization and internal life of the Church at this period. ‘ Universally disseminated, it had its own laws and judges; its own financial regulations and usages. A close and intimate correspondence connected this new moral republic. An impulse, an opinion, a feeling which originated in Egypt or Syria, was propagated with electric rapidity to the remotest frontier of the West. Irensus in Gaul enters into a controversy with the specu- lative teachers of Antioch, Edessa or Alexandria; while Tertullian, in his rude African Latin, denounces or advocates opinions which - sprang up in Pontus or in Phrygia. A new kind of literature had arisen, propagated with the utmost zeal of proselytism, among a numerous class of readers, who began to close their ears against the profane fables and the unsatisfactory philosophical systems of paganism.” “For a considerable part of the first three centuries,” he says elsewhere, ‘‘ the Church of Rome, and most, if not all the Churches of the West were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies. Their language was Greek, their organization Greek, their writers Greek, their Scriptures Greek; and many vestiges and traditions show that their ritual, their liturgy, was Greek.3 The * On Prescription against Heretics, ¢. xli., xlii. 2 See his tract On Patience, c. i. 3 “ Like the Jew, the Greek was ubiquitous; each, though diverse, possessing a hold on the needs of the Roman, on account of their several aptitudes in supplying his wants. Money and commerce ever languish without the sons of Israel, and what would Roman life have been but for the arts and literature of the quick-witted Greek,—their slaves and yet their instructors? Aliens like the Jew from home and country, found in every household, essential to every office, the ready scribe, the swift messenger, the acute thinker, never forgetful of their faith in how gods had used to be with men the pious Greek heart gladdened 60 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Octavius of Minucius Felix and the treatise of Novatian on the Trinity, are the earliest known works of Latin Christian literature — which came from Rome. Africa, not Rome, gave birth to Latin Christianity.” ' | CHAPTER X. WorsHIP IN THE Barty CHourcH—Tur AGaprg or Lorp’s SUPPER. Havine thus traced in outline the history of the primitive Chris- tians during the first two centuries, let us inquire what was the character of their worship and government. To begin with the manner of worship. ‘‘ When the members of a synagogue were convinced that Jesus was the Christ, there was nothing to interrupt the current of their former life; . . . the old form of worship could still goon. The weekly commemoration of the resurrection supplemented, but did not supersede, the ancient Sabbath. The reading of the life of Christ and of the letters of the apostles supplemented, but did not supersede, the ancient lessons from the Prophets and the ancient singing of the Psalms.”? These last were varied by Christian hymns composed for the purpose. Nor would any change be needed when Gentile converts were added to the community. It was of the highest importance that these should become acquainted with the revelation of God in the Old Dispensation, as well as that all, Jews and Gentiles, should be fully instructed in the doctrine of Christ in the New Covenant; whilst from the rarity and costliness of manuscripts, and the poverty of the great majority of Christians, and because, moreover, all could not read, the frequent hearing of the sacred writings was to the many the only means of with a new hope at the Jewish Christian’s appeal, and heart to heart and hand to hand, both alike outcast from synagogue and temple, for the great Nazarene’s sake, united (forgetful of all racial distinctions) to found those communities which shed their light ‘ ike splendid luminaries,’ as Eusebius has it, ‘ through- out the world.’” W. Beck, Thoughts on Church Origins, in the Friends’ Quarterly Examiner, 4 mo, 1884. * Milman’s History of Christianity, ii. 118, 114; and History of Latin Christianity, i. 27-29. 2 Hatch, Organization of the Early Christian Churches. Lect. iii., pp. 59, 60 FREE EXERCISE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 61 acquaintance with them. Written translations into Latin made their appearance at a very early date; and in places where neither - this language nor Greek was understood, as in many cities in Egypt and Syria, the Churches appointed interpreters, like those in the Jewish synagogues, who, on the spot, rendered what had been read into the vernacular tongue." The reading was followed by exposition and exhortation of a very simple character, those who ministered being mindful to speak as ‘oracles of God,’’ ‘‘in the strength” supplied from Him,? It was the same with prayer. What was offered was from the heart, under the sense of the present need. No such thing as a form of prayer is to be met with in the worship of the primitive Church. * We lift up our eyes towards heaven and spread out our hands because we are innocent; we uncover our heads because we have nothing to be ashamed of; we pray without a monitor because we pray from our heart.”3 So far as can be known, not even the Lord’s Prayer was used as a customary part of worship. Neither the New Testament nor the earliest Church writers, until we come tv Tervullian, give any intimation of its being so useJ.4 The ministry was not confined to one reader or one expositor, or even to the presbyters, the appointed teachers of the Church. When the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost, descended on the disciples—women as well as men —and they bezan to speak with other tongues, Peter declared that what was then happening was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel regarding the spiritual gifts of the New Dispeusation.s The free exercise of these gifts, thus pre- dicted and thus inaugurated, continued for some time to alorn the worship of the Church; as we find in the First Epistle to tie Corinthians, when the congregation came together, one had a Psalm, another a teaching, another a revelation or prophecy, another a tongue, another an interpretation. Nor were the women excluded. The Apostle indeed forbids them to “speak” (which may mean to put questions, or perhaps to teach), but he unmistake- ably sanctions their praying and prophesying, by directing that they should not minister with their heads uncovered.® * Neander, i., p. 419. ‘* Any one in the first ages of Christianity who guined possession of a Greek manuscript, and fancied he had a fair knowledge of Greek and Latin, ventured to translate it.” Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, b. ii., c. xi. (16). [The earliest Latin version was made in Africa. Smith, Dict. of the Bible, p. 1690.] 21 Peter iv. 11. 3 Tertullian, Apology, c. xxx. 4 Lyman Coleman, Christian Antiquities, c. x. § 9, and note. 5 Avis 1. 14, ii. 1-18 ; Joel ii. 28, 29 ; Acts xxi. 9. © 1 Cor, xiv, ; xi. 5+16. 62 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. How large a part women had in the work of the Chureh during its early days of vigour and simplicity, may be seen from the sixteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. About one-third of those to whom the Apostle sends his Christian salutation are women,! and five or six of these are distinguished for their place in the Church, or their abounding labour in Christ. Of one it is said, ‘‘ Unto whom not only I give thanks but also all the Churches of the Gentiles.” Of four others that they ‘‘ laboured,” or ‘‘ laboured much in the Lord.” This enumeration does not inelude Phebe, the wise and diligent ‘‘ deaconess,’’ who herself carried the epistle, and who had the Apostle’s testimony that she had been ‘‘a suc- courer of many and of mine own self also.” The only limitation which Paul sets to the free exercise of spiritual gifts in the congregation, is the necessary observance of order and mutual subjection.” But this was not all. There remains still a prominent feature in the social-religious life of the primitive Christians; namely, the common meal or supper which came afterwards to be known as the Kucharist. When our Lord sat down to his last Passover, He ‘“ took bread and blessed and brake it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body ;’ and He took a cup and gave thanks, and gave to them saying, ‘ Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is shed for many unto remission of sins,’”3 ‘lo which, as Luke relates, He added, ‘This do in remembrance of me;”4 and Paul, “This do as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”5 Our Lord and his disciples were partaking of that solemn meal which was instituted to com- memorate the deliverance of the Israelites, when the Lord smote the firstborn of the Egyptians. What they were doing was being done at the same hour in every household in Jerusalem. But there was this difference, that in the upper chamber where the apostles were assembled, the Lord announced to them that the * They are: Prisca, Mary, Junia (?), Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus’ mother, Julia, and Nereus’ sister. 2 1 Cor, xiv. 29-33. 3 Matt. xxvi. 26-28. 4 Luke xxii. 19. 5 1 Cor. xi. 23+25. ‘‘Ireceived of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread : and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” Matthew and Mark record nothing re- garding a continuance of the meal, and in John’s Gospel it is not mentioned. THE LAST PASSOVER. 63 feast which they had so long kept was only a typical observance, and that it was about to be fulfilled in Himself, the great anti-type of this, as of all the Mosaic ordinances. The shadow was past, the substance was now come. Instead of the paschal lamb slain and eaten, and its blood sprinkled on the lintel, Christ, the Lamb of God, the true Passover, was about to be sacrificed, that mankind might be delivered from sin and death, through the shedding of his blood and the spiritual partaking of his body. There is nothing to show that what the Lord then commanded was the institution of a new ceremonial observance, of perpetual obligation to the Church. The spirit of the Gospel is adverse to such a conclusion. He was establishing the new covenant spoken of by the Prophet Jeremiah,' not according to the former covenant made with Israel when they were brought out of Egypt, but a spiritual covenant, sealed with the blood of the true paschal lamb—a covenant under which. the Lord’s people should have His law written on their hearts, and their sins should be no more remembered. Moreover, our Lord’s language is not at all that of the institution of a new rite. No directions are given as to the manner of the observance, nor is anything said which should make us infer that He had in view any more frequent commemora- tion of the occasion than the regular recurrence of the Passover, namely, once in the year. Further, the words ‘“‘as oft as ye drink it,” suggest the thought that He might be looking forward to the destruction of Jerusalem as the end of the period in which the feast should be kept. That the Jewish Christian Church at Jerusalem did continue to keep the Passover till the destruction of the city, we know,? and in doing so they would assuredly not fail to give the observance its full Gospel significance. But, as has been said, the Passover occurred only once in the year. Some other motive or custom must be sought for to explain the frequent breaking of bread together in the primitive Church. Accordingly we find that a thanksgiving or blessing was customary with the Jews at their daily meals. The same is observed to this day. It was, and is, the business of the head of every family to take the bread and say, ‘‘ Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who givest us the fruit of the earth,” and when he has divided it among the company, to take the cup, saying, “Blessed art thou O Lord, who givest us «Jer. xxxi. 31-34; Heb. viii. 6-13. This passage in Jeremiah is the only place in the Old Testament where the term ‘“ new covenant” is to be found. 2 See ante, p, 14. 64 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. the frait of the vine.’ With this custom ready to their hands, the apostles would seem to have blended our Lord’s memorable application of the Passover to Himself. If we look forward a few weeks, viz., to the time which immediately followed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we find that “ all who - believed were together, and had all things common,” and that “day by day they continued steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home.’? Not only had they a common stovk, but they were accustomed to partake together of a daily meal. The experiment of a common stock, which seems never to have been tried elsewhere than at Jerusalem, was given up; but the common meal survived, for a while as a daily, after- wards as a weekly observance. The Jewish usage would naturally find its way into Churches which, like the Corinthian, consisted of both Jews and Gentiles. Not only so; but such as were composed wholly of Gentiles were prepared by practices to which they them- selves were already accustumed to adopt such a usage. “In almost all parts of the empire,” says Hatch, ‘there were then, as now, societies or clubs for trade, mutual help and pastime, the members of which in many cases, if not universally, shared in a common meal.” 3. The result to the Churches, whether Jewish or Gentile, was a periodical repast, partly social, partly religious, to which the whole congregation was invited. It was called the Lord’s Supper, the Supper of Love, the Love Feast, or Agape. The food partaken of was provided by such as were of ability, and what remained over was distributed amongst those who were in need. During the twenty-five years which followed the day of Pentecost, we find no mention of the Passover (except as an indication of time), nor any further notice of the daily (or less frequent) break- ing of bread together.s But about the year 58 we come upon the practice in full activity in the Corinthian Church. [In referring to the observance, the Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of what he had already told them, viz., that he also had received of *The Council of Trent in 1551 laid it down that during the capsivity of Babylon a post-cwnam (after-supper) of bread and wine was instituted by the Jews in place of the lamb, which could only be sacrificed in the Temple at Jerusalem. Sarpi, History of the Council of Trent, translated by Sir N. Brent, London, 1676, p..336. But on this it may be observed that from its first ordina- tion, bread had been a part of the meal, and the wine (as said above) was not peculiar to this festival. 2 7.¢€.,not in the temple. Acts ii. 46, iv. 32. 3 Organization of the Early Christian Churches. Lect. ii., pp. 26-81. 4 Acts xii, 4. 5 The instance recorded in Acts xx. 7-12 occurred later. THE EUCHARIST. Cass 65 the Lord the account of the Last Supper, in words similar to those which we find in the synoptical gospels (probably not then written) ; but to which he makes the addition: ‘‘ This do in remembrance of _ me;” ‘This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”). His object in taking notice of it, is to correct certain grave abuses which had crept into the observance ; those who met on these occasions no longer remembering the dying of their Lord, but every one serving himself before the others, and some even eating and drinking to excess. As a means of guarding them against these errors, the Apostle recommends a self-examination in connection with this solemn eating and drinking together, that they might not do it unworthily, and thus bring condemnation on themselves.' It was only the brethren, the ‘‘ faithful,” who were admitted to this feast of Christian fellowship. Persecution made the Churches still more circumspect and exclusive; the doors being locked and watched lest unbelievers or spies should intrude.2. For some time the repast retained its genuine character, that of a social meal. No priest was needed to consecrate what was eaten, for all were priests to God, and the Great High Priest himself presided. Very precious must have been these occasions, when the Gospel history, still fresh in traditional memory, would be the theme of converse. In times of tribulation especially, when vacant seats told of brethren taken away to prison or to death, how would the little band of survivors be driven near to one another, and become as one bread and one body, being all partakers together of Christ, the bread of life. And here we must add, on behalf of those who at the present day believe that the observance of such a feast forms no essential part of the Gospel scheme, that none the less do they acknowledge the need of true communion with the risen Lord. ‘‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.” Not at any one meal only, but at all times, may we remember with reverent grati- tude that He has blessed the common food of our daily life, and used it as the symbol of his own body broken for us. From such a simple meal, by the gradual addition of one observance after another, and the working of the sacerdotal element, grew up the ‘‘ ordinance” of the Eucharist, or ‘ sacra- ment” of the Lord’s Supper. In the course of its development, the ideas of the social and the spiritual communion became separated. ‘‘Gradually,” says Dean Stanley, “the repast was 1 Cor. x., xi. See The Lord’s Supper, a Scriptural argument. By Isaac Brown. 2 Lyman Coleman, ¢. xvi. § 4. 5 ee. RCT 66 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. parted from the religious act. The repast became more and more secular, the religious act more and more sacred. From century to century the breach widened. The two remained for a time together, but distinct, the meal immediately preceding or succeeding the Sacrament. Then the ministers alone, instead of the congregation, took the charge of distributing the elements. Then, by the second century, the daily administration ceased,t and was confined to Sundays and festivals. Then the meal came to be known by the © distinct name of Agape. ven the apostolical description of the Lord’s. Supper was regarded as belonging to a meal altogether distinct from the Sacrament. Finally, the meal itself fell under suspicion. Augustine and Ambrose condemned it, and in the fifth century that which had been the original form of the Eucharist was. forbidden as profane by the councils of Carthage and Laodicea.” ? A point of minor importance must not be omitted; the kiss of love, or kiss of peace, which was offered at the meetings for wor- ship.3 The practice, however, soon began to be abused. Besides the “unholy kiss,” Clement of Alexandria rebukes the kiss of ostentation. ‘ Love,’ he says, ‘‘is not tested by a kiss, but by kindly feeling; there are those who make the Church re-echo with their kiss, but there is no love underneath.’’+ It was early found needful to limit this custom, but it was retained, under certain regulations, in the Western Church until the thirteenth century, and it is observed in most of the Hastern Churches to this day.5 Thus far concerning the manner of worship in the apostolic age. During the hundred years which followed, the notices which have come down to us on this subject are extremely scanty. It is some- what remarkable that neither Clement of Rome, Polycarp, nor the authors of the Letter to Diognetus and the Epistle of Barnabas,® make any allusion to the Lord’s Supper, and that Ignatius (taking the Syriac recension as our guide) says nothing respecting the out- ward observance, but pours out his soul for the spiritual com- * Not at Carthage; for Cyprian (middle of the third century) writes: ‘“‘ We daily receive the Eucharist for the food of Salvation.” On the Lord’s Prayer, c. xviii. And see the passage from Tertullian quoted below, p. 76. 2 Christian Institutes, pp. 41-43. 3 See Romans xvi. 16. 1 Cor. xvi. 20. Justin Martyr, First Apology, c. lxv. 4 Instructor, b. ili. ec. 11; Love and the Kiss of Charity. Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians, c. xxxii. 5 Dict. Christ. Antiq., art. Kiss. © The same may be said of the Karly Apologists, Minucius Felix, Athenagoras, Tatian and Theophilus of Antioch. Lyman Coleman, c. xvi, § 4. JUSTIN MARTYR ON WORSHIP. 67 munion: ‘‘I seek the bread of God which is Jesus Christ, and I seek his blood which is love incorruptible.” The earliest allusion to the Supper, or even to worship in any way, is the statement we have already had before us, reported by Pliny in Bithynia, namely, that the disciples held their meetings on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, and sang praises to Christ, and that after this they met again to partake together of a simple and innocent meal.? Justin Martyr, in his First Apology, presented to Antoninus Pius about a.p. 138, is the earliest writer who particularly describes the worship of the Christians. The reading and exposition of Scrip- ture remained, and the extempore prayer and the hymn, with much of the simplicity of the primitive mode; but the free exercise of gifts on the part of the congregation, so important to the healthy, vigorous life of the Church, was gone; almost the entire service, didactic and administrative, had become concentrated in one man. ‘©On the day called Sunday,” says Justin, ‘“ all who live in cities or in the country assemble in one place, and the memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the Prophets, are read as long as time permits ; and when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.3 Then we all rise together and pray, and when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen: and there is a distribution to each, and a participa- tion of that over which thanks have been given; and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. They who are well-to- do and willing to give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who sends assistance to the orphans, and widows, and the sick, and those who are in bonds, and strangers,—in a word to all who are in need.” 4 In another chapter he gives a more particular description of the manner of celebrating the Hucharist. The words he uses may perhaps be understood to imply a belief in the ‘‘ Real Presence.”’ The occasion is the reception of a newly-baptized convert. ‘‘ We offer,” he writes, ‘‘ hearty prayers for him and for ourselves, which t See ante, p. 26. 2 See ante, p. 22. 3 Sometimes other Church writings were used. Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, writing about the same time to the Roman Church, says, ‘‘ We have passed the Lord’s holy day, and have read your Epistle, in reading which we shall always have our minds stored with admonition, as we shall also from the Epistle written to us in former days by Clement.’’ Eusebius, b. iv., c. xxiii, 4 Chap. lxvii. 68 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. _ being ended we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the presiding brother, bread and a cup of wine mixed with water, which taking, he gives glory to the Father of the universe, in the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at his hands; and when he has concluded, all the people present express their assent by saying, Amen. This done, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those pre- sent of the bread and the wine mixed with water, over which the thanksgiving was pronounced ; and to those who are absent they carry away a portion. This food is called by us the Eucharist [thanksgiving], of which no one is allowed to partake but he who believes that the things we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is living as Christ has commanded. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of his word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”’ In his Dialogue with Trypho he goes a step further, and calls the bread and wine a sacrifice, deducing it, after his allegorical man- ner, from the meat offerings of the law. ‘ The offering of fine flour,” he says, ‘‘which was presented for those purified from leprosy,? was a type of the bread of the Kucharist. God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, ‘From the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, in every place incense is offered unto my name and a pure offering ; for my name is great among the Gentiles ; ’ 3 namely, amongst us who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of the Eucharist.” 4 Sixty years later we mect with a beautiful picture of the religious practices of the Christians, in the writings of Tertullian. ‘* Weare,” he says in his Apology, addressed to the rulers of the Empire, “a community bound together by the same religious profession, by the divine authority of our discipline, and by a common hope. We come together ‘as a congregation to offer with our united force our prayers to God, to whom such wrestling is acceptable. We pray for the Emperors, for their ministers, and for all in authority ; for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay * Chap. lxv., Ixvi. 2 Lev. xiv. 10. 3 Mal. i. 11, 4 C. xl. f2RTULLIAN ON WORSHIP. 69 of the final consummation. We meet to read our sacred writings, if the state of the times makes either forewarning or retrospection needful. With the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we strengthen our confidence ; no less do we, by the in- culeation of God’s precepts, confirm good habits. Hxhortations are given and rebukes and sacred censures administered. The work of judgment proceeds with the gravity which befits those who feel they are in the sight of God; and the most notable example of the judgment to come is given when any one has sinned so grievously, as to require his separation from usin prayer and the assembly and all sacred intercourse. ‘The tried men of our elders preside over us, who have obtained that honour, not by purchase, but by character. There is no buy- ing and selling in the things of God. Though we have our trea- sure-chest, it is not filled by purchase-money, as of a venal religion. On the monthly collection-day each as he chooses puts in a small donation ; but only if it be his pleasure, and if he is able: for there is no compulsion, all is voluntary.2 These gifts are piety’s deposit fund; they are not spent on feasts and drinking bouts, but to sup- port and bury the destitute, to bring up poor orphan boys and girls, to maintain superannuated servants, and such as have suffered ship- wreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or exiled, or in prison, for their fidelity to the Church of God, to minister to them. But it is chiefly for these very deeds of love that some per- sons brand us. ‘See,’ they say, ‘how these Christians love one another ;’ for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred :— ‘How they are ready to die for one another ;’ for they themselves will sooner put one another to death. . . . How fittingly are those called and counted brothers who have been led to the knowledge of God as their common Father, who have drunk in the same spirit of holiness, and who from the womb of a common ignorance have been born into the same light of truth! ‘* You abuse our humble feasts as extravagant and ea Our feast is a modest supper; it explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it ‘Love.’ Whatever it costs, the outlay is gain; since with the good things of the feast we succour the needy. As it isan act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants before reclining for meat taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits those who remember that during the night they will * Neque enim pretio ulla res Dei constat. ? Nam nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert. 70 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. be occupied in worshipping God. We talk together as those who know that the Lord is one of our hearers. After the washing of hands and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he is able, a hymn to God, either from the Holy Scriptures, or of his own composing. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed.” * By Tertullian’s time the substitution of one man, the presiding presbyter, as the distributor of the bread and wine, in place of a mutual participation around a social table, had become a rule in the Churches. He writes: ‘‘ The Lord commanded it to be eaten at meal-times and to be taken by all. We receive it at our meetings before day-break, and from no other hands but those of the presi- dents.”? ‘Tertullian appears to have been the first to give to the Supper the name of Sacrament.3 Ireneeus, who was contemporary with Tertullian, repeats Justin’s mystical ideas in still stronger language, and like him, calls the bread and wine a sacrifice, ‘* the oblation of the Church, which the Lord commanded to be offered throughout all the world... which none of the conventicles of the heretics can offer. . . . As,” he says, “the bread which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but becomes the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly ; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but have the hope of the resurrection to eternity.’ 4 CHAPTER XI. Baptism—lInrant Baptism. ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”5 It is taken for granted by the great majority of Christians that water-baptism is here spoken of, although few would venture to assert that such * Chap. xxxix. 2 The Soldier’s Chaplet, ¢. iii. 3 Idem. In classical Latin, sacramentum, at first a juridical term, was after- - wards used to signify the soldier’s oath of allegiance to the Emperor. In the ancient Latin versions of the New Testament, it was frequently employed as an equivalent for the Greek word pvorjpwy, mystery, as in Ephes. i. 9; Rom. xvi. 25; 1 Cor. xiii. 2, &c. Dict. of Christ. Antiq., art. Sacraments. See also Schaff, Nicene Christianity, p. 474, note. 4 Against Heresies, b. iv., c. xviii. §§ 1, 4, 5. 5 Mark xvi. 16. THE APOSTLES ON BAPTISM 71 a rite is essential to salvation. But if water-baptism ig really a Christian ordinance, it is strange that John, of whose ministry it was the especial characteristic, and who was thence called the Baptist, should draw so strong and broad a contrast between his own baptism and that of Christ: ‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire ;”* and that our Lord himself, after his resurrection, should enforce the same grand distinction : ‘“‘ John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” ? Not less worthy of notice is it that Peter, in his apology before the Church at Jerusalem for eating with Cor- nelius, tells his fellow-apostles and the brethren, that when he saw the Holy Spirit descend on the Gentiles, as it had done on those of the circumcision, he called to mind the same words: “I remembered the word of the Lord, how that He said, ‘John, indeed, baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.’”3 And although Peter put the question, ‘‘ Can any man forbid the water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” yet it is plain that he regarded the outward purification as of secondary im: portance. 5 Cornelius and his household had undergone the inward change; they had received the divine gift; they were become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Anything more, anything external, must have seemed to Peter merely a matter of expediency, a sign to those round about.® For in his first Epistle, speaking of Noah and his family as saved by water, he makes use of water as a figure only of the spiritual deliverance, and declares that the baptism ‘‘ which now saves” is “ not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation [or appeal] of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”7 In lke manner Paul treats the baptism in which the believer is buried with Christ entirely as a spiritual work, coupling it with ‘‘the circumcision not made with hands.”® And with regard to the t Matt. ii. 11. 2 Acts i. 5, 3 Acts xi. 16. 4 Acts x. 47. 5 Acts xv. 9. 6 Water-baptism was a Jewish rite atthe admission of converts, and as such would maintain its hold upon Jewish Christians, as did many other practices which were discontinued in course of time, 7 1 Peter iii. 21, 8 Col. ii. 11,12. See also Ephes. v. 26. It is often supposed that Christ’s — words to Nicodemus, ‘‘ Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” support the position that water-baptism is a Christian ordinance ; but it is evident that our Lord makes no more reference ORS ES ee a & 72 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. great commission given by our Lord to the apostles,—“ Go ye and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of. the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” —whatever meaning any may attach to these words, assuredly they are always to be read in connection with our Lord’s emphatic language, both in the passage quoted above and elsewhere, as to the spiritual character of his baptism.? That the Apostles generally made use of water-baptism cannot, however, be doubted; although Paul’s thanksgiving for having himself baptized so few of the Corinthian converts is significant.3 At first the act was of the simplest kind and might be performed by any one.t How soon a superstitious value began to be attached to it we have seen in the story of the Apostle John and the robber.s The earliest description of the rite to be found in any Christian author is contained (as in the case of worship) in Justin Martyr's first Apology (A.pv. 188). Probably by that time the new converts were required to pass through a course of religious instruction in preparation for it, whence they were called catechumens, t.e. persons under oral instruction. We have seen in the last Chapter how great progress ritualistic ideas had made in Justin’s time, in regard to the bread and wine. ‘The same is apparent in his manner of treating baptism. * As many as believe that what we teach is true, and undertake to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission of their past sins ; we praying and fasting with them.® Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated by the same regeneration as we were ourselves regenerated.7 For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also here to elementary water than did John to material fire when he spoke of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, for he adds, ‘‘ That which is born of ~ the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”” John iii. 1-6. t Matt. xxviii. 19. 2 Mark x. 38, 39; see also Luke xii. 50; John vi. 63. 3 1 Cor. i. 13-17. 4 «Hiven laymen have the right to baptize, for what is equally received can be equally given.” Tertullian, On Baptism, c. xvii. ; Mosheim, i., p. 104. 5 Ante, p. 16. 6 In the newly discovered treatise, he Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, which will be found in the Appendix to this part of the present ee the length of this fast is prescribed—viz., one or two days. 7 This word dvayevyyOnpev, is similar to the yerynOi dvwOev used WA our Lord. It appears to be used by Justin (and Ireneus, see below) as synonymous with ‘ baptized.” TERTULLIAN ON BAPTISM. _ 73 said, ‘Except ye be regenerated [born again], ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins is declared by Isaiah the prophet : ‘Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well. Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool, and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow.’” * But Justin could show, on occasion, that he estimated the external at its true value. In his time the spiritual teaching of Christ and his apostles still strove against the more outward and carnal interpretation of the Christian mysteries. Commenting in another place on the same passage of Isaiah, he asks, ‘‘ What is the use of that baptism which cleanses the flesh and body alone ? Baptize the soul from wrath and covetousness, envy and hatred, and lo, the body is pure. What need have I of that other baptism, who have been baptized with the Holy Ghost ?” 2 By Tertullian’s time (a.p. 200) fresh rites had been added, and the notion of the virtue and power of the outward observance had penetrated deeper, although the reliance on its mechanical effect, irrespective of faith, had not as yet found entrance. He thus describes the ceremony: “ A little before we enter the water, in the presence of the congregation, and under the hand of the president, we make a solemn profession that we renounce the devil, his pomp and his angels. Upon this we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. When we come up out of the water there is given to us a mixture of milk and honey, and we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week.”3 Again, ‘‘ When we issue from the font,+ we are, according to ancient custom, thoroughly anointed with a blessed unction, as the priests were wont to be anointed with oil from a horn ; and the unction running down our flesh profits us spiritually, in the same way as the act of baptism, itself carnal in that we are plunged in water, has a spiritual effect in delivering us from our sins. ‘Then the hand is laid on us, invoking and inviting the Holy Spirit, through the words of benediction ; and over our cleansed and blessed bodies freely descends from the Father that most Holy Spirit.”5 ‘In this way,” he says exultingly, “ without pomp, *C.1,, 16-18; First Apology, c. \xi. 2 Dialogue with Trypho, ¢. xiv., XX1x. 3 The Soldier’s Chaplet, c. ui. To this day in Syria, members of the corrupt HKastern Churches frequently refrain from washing for months and years, lest they should ‘“‘ wash off their baptism.”’ 4 Lavacro. 5 On Baptism, ¢. vil., viil. 74 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. with no novelty of preparation, without cost, a man descends into the water, and being immersed, with the utterance of a few words, rises up out of it, scarcely if at all cleaner in body, but—ineredible consequence—the possessor of eternal life.’’? , Tertullian’s treatise on baptism was launched against the followers of a woman named Quintilla, a preacher of the Gospel at Carthage a little before his time. He is very severe and even scurrilous against the members of this sect, who rejected water-baptism as useless, and held that faith alone is now, as it was in Abraham’s time, sufficient for salvation.2 There were other sects at the same period who rejected both water-baptism and the Eucharist. Such were the Ascodrutz,3 who held, ‘“ that the divine mysteries, being images of invisible things, are not to be accomplished by the things which are seen, or the incorporeal by that which is visible and corporeal, but that the true knowledge of that which exists is complete redemption.” + They were said to be “a sort of Gnosties,”’ and the truth which they held may perhaps have been largely mixed with error; but it is also possible that they may have incurred undeserved censure on account of their protest against the encroachments of ritualism. The Seleucians and Hermians, again, rejected water-baptism, maintaining that it was not instituted by Christ, and laying stress on John the Baptist’s words: ‘‘I indeed baptize you with water, &c.” 5 The number of such dissidents may have been much larger than history declares, and the fact of their existence indicates that even in this early age, there was not wanting in the Church a spirit of protest against the leaven of formality and ceremonial observances. * On Baptism, c. ii. Hippolytus, a little later (he died a.p, 238) indulges in equally florid language. Like Justin, misinterpreting Isaiah i, 18, he says, ‘‘ Do you see, beloved, how the prophet spoke beforetime of the purifying power of baptism ? He who descends in faith to the laver of regeneration, and renounces the devil and joins himself to Christ, comes up from the baptism brilliant as the sun, flashing forth the beams of righteousness.” Discourse on the Holy Theophany, ¢. x. 2 C,i. He calls Quintilla a viper, and says that such reptiles ‘‘ affect dry and waterless places.” ‘‘ But we,’’ he says, ‘‘as little fishes, after the example of our "Iy@ic, Jesus Christ, are born in the water, and have no safety but in abiding there.” ’Iy@dc signifies fish, and its letters are the imitials of the formula ’Inoovg Xpiotoc Oeod Yiog Ywrnp, Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour. This fanciful connection caused the fish to be adopted as a Christian symbol. 3 Or Ascodrugite. 4 Theodoret, On Heresies, i., c. x. Irenwus has the same passage, except that for “ that which exists” he reads ‘‘ the unspeakable greatness.” Against Heresies,.i., c. xxi. § 4. 5 Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, b. xi., ¢. il. ae INFANT BAPTISM. 75 At what time Infant Baptism came into use is not known. No mention of it occurs in any author previous to Ireneus, who is thought to refer to it in the following passage: ‘‘ Christ came to save all who through Him are regenerated to God, infants and children, and boys and youths, and old men.”! A few years after- wards we find Tertullian strenuously opposing it. ‘ Why is it deemed necessary,’’ he asks, “that little children should be baptized, and their sponsors exposed to danger; for both these themselves may die, and so be unable to fulfil their promises, and the infant for whom they have promised may grow up with an evil disposition. ‘The Lord indeed says, ‘ Forbid them not to come unto Me.’? Let them come while they are growing up, while they are learning, while they are being taught whither to come; let them become Christians 3 when they are able to know Christ.” 4 Origen, writing some thirty or forty years later, claims apostolic tradition for the practice. ‘‘ Little children,” he says, ‘‘ are baptized agreeably to the usage of the Church:” and again, ‘‘ The Church received it asa tradition from the apostles that baptism should be administered to children.” On which Neander remarks, “that such a tradition should first be recognised in the third century, is evidence rather against, than for, its apostolic origin. For it was an age when a strong inclination prevailed to derive from the apostles every ordivance which was considered of special importance, and when, moreover, so many walls had been thrown up between it and apostolic times, hindering the freedom of prospect.”’ s It was long before the practice became general. Dean Stanley points out that Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, Ephrem of Hdessa, Augustine,° Ambrose, though they were all the children of Christian parents, were not baptized until they were of mature age.7 t Against Heresies, ii., ¢. xxii. § 4. 2 Matt. xix. 14. It need scarcely be remarked that these words can have no reference to baptism. 3 That is, be baptized. 4 Tertullian, On Baptism, c. xviii. 5 Planting of the Church, i., p. 163; Church History, i., p. 435. © His father was not a Christian when Augustine was born. 7 Christ. Instit., p. 2. To this list Jerome may be added. In the 4th century baptism was very commonly delayed; many parents postponing it from indifference ; many from fear lest by their sins after baptism their children should forfeit the benefit of it, and so their condition be even worse than without it. Many adult catechumens and proselytes likewise deferred their baptism until severe sickness drove them to it. This was the case with Con- stantine the Great (see below, Partii.,c. 12). But infant baptism was gradually adopted in all the Churches, See Schaff’s Nicene Christianity, pp. 483, 484. 76 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. Neander is of opinion that it did not become universal till the fifth century.* CHAPTER XII. PRAYER—ALMSGIVING—MIRACULOUS AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS— SupERSTITIOUS PRACTICES. Prayer. Besides the occasions of public worship, the Jews observed stated hours of private prayer, the third, sixth, and ninth, corresponding nearly to nine, twelve, and three o’clock of our day.? Through the Judaizing spirit in the Church, which regarded particular times and places as sacred, and failed to perceive that ‘‘ prayer was to be the soul of the whole life,” the same rule was early taken to be incumbent on the Christian believer.3 Some very superstitious practices had crept into the Church by the second century. There were Christians who, as Tertullian informs us, were careful to wash their hands at every prayer, even when they had just come from the bath. Others, when they prayed, made it a matter of conscience, like the heathen, to lay aside their cloaks,—‘‘ just as though cloaked suppliants would not be heard by God, who hearkened to the three saints in the furnace of the king of Babylon, when bound in their hose and turbans. Matters of this kind,” he adds, ‘“‘ belong not to religion, but to superstition, being of curious rather than reasonable service, and deserving of restraint even on this ground, that they put us on a level with the Gentiles.’’4 Had Tertullian looked further he might have applied the same remark to another practice. Prayer in the assemblies was offered standing, and by his time a custom had grown up for the congrega- tion to turn their faces to the east. Tertullian takes no exception to this practice, although he acknowledges it may have given rise to the report that the Christians worshipped the sun. ‘The obser- vance was not taken from the Jews, who turned their faces to the * History of Dogmas, p. 234. 2: Pandy. 173 Dane vie-10 3: Actsaiielb; mile: 3 Tertullian, On Prayer, c. xxv. Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, b. Vii., @. vii. 4 On Prayer, ¢. Xiii., Xv. TERTULLIAN ON PRAYER. Le west. Some derive it from the ceremonies which, as will be shown in a future chapter, were used in baptism, when it was customary to renounce the devil with the face to the west, and then turn round toward the east to recite the covenant with Christ. The practice in time of prayer was, however, probably older than that in baptism ; it is spoken of a hundred and fifty years earlier. ~ But the Church writers of this period were far from counte- nancing formality in prayer. There are few passages in any author more deeply imbued with the spirit of true prayer than are to be found in Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen.? Tertullian thus concludes his eloquent treatise on Prayer: ‘“‘ We are the true worshippers and the true priests, who pray in the spirit, and thus offer the sacrifice which is acceptable to God. What has God ever denied to prayer offered in spirit and truth? Of what mighty examples of the efficacy of prayer do we read! Old World prayer used to free men from fire, and from beasts, and from famine. How far more operative is Christian prayer! It does not muzzle lions, nor take away the sense of pain ;3 but it arms those who suffer and those who mourn with strength to endure. The prayer of righteousness averts God's anger, keeps the watch against enemies, intercedes for persecutors. Prayer can call back departing souls from the very pathway of death, make strong the weak, restore the sick, purge the possessed, open prison bars, loose the bonds of the innocent. . .. Prayer is the wall of faith, her armour, offensive and defensive, against the foe who is lying in wait on every side. Thus armed we mount guard round the standard of our general; we await in prayer the angel’s trump. Kven the Lord himself prayed: to whom be honour and power, unto the ages of ages!” 4 Let Clement of Alexandria speak: “ Not in a specified place or selected temple, or at certain festivals and on appointed days, but during his whole life, the mature Christian 5 honours God; that is, t See Tertullian, Apology, c. xvi. ; Clement, Wiscell., b. vii., c. vii.; Apostolical Constitutions, b. ii. § 7, c. lvii.; Bingham, Christ. Antiq., b. xiii, c. vili. § 15. 2 Origen does not belong to this period, but to the third century. Illustrative passages from the Church writers are occasionally anticipated in this history, seldom, however, when any questions of government, ritual, or doctrine are involved, and never without notice being given of the circumstance. 3 Ig not this saying too much? The martyrs would often seem to have been witnesses to the contrary. 4 On Prayer, ¢. Xxvili., xxix. 5 The word in the original is Gnostic, which Clement employs to designate, not the heretic of that name, but the man of true knowledge, one who has grown to the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus. 78 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. offers his grateful thanks for the knowledge of the way to live... . Whilst walking, or conversing, or silent, whilst reading or occupied in useful labour, will the experienced Christian pray. . . . Holding festival throughout our whole life, we cultivate our fields praising, we sail the sea hymning. . . . Prayer, to speak boldly, is converse with God. Even if we address God in silence, without opening the lips, yet when we cry inwardly He always listens tous. Prayer, then, may be uttered without the voice, by concentrating the whole spiritual nature within in undistracted turning towards God. If only the breathing is begotten in the secret chamber of the soul, and with unspoken groanings we call on the Father, Heis near, He is at our side.’ * Again, from Origen: ‘‘How much would each one among us have to relate of the efficacy of prayer, if only he were thankfully to recall God’s mercies. Souls long unfruitful, becoming conscious of their dearth, and being fructified by the Holy Spirit through persevering prayer, have given forth words of salvation, full of the intuitions of truth. What mighty enemies which threatened to annihilate our faith have from time to time been brought to shame ! The might even of bewildering arguments, sufficient to stagger those who are accounted believers, has been often vanquished by prayer. How many instances are there of such as were exposed to sore temptations, and yet have suffered no injury from them, but have come forth unharmed, without even the smell of the flame passing upon them! And many who have fallen from the precepts of the Lord, and were already in the jaws of death, have been delivered by the prayer of repentance.” Again: ‘‘ He prays with- out ceasing who unites prayer with action; for works also are a part of prayer. We cannot understand the Apostle’s words, ‘ Pray without ceasing,’ in any practicable sense, unless we regard the whole life of the believer as one great continuous prayer, of which what is commonly called prayer forms but a part.” ? Little need be said on the subject of Aumservinc. The example so fully set by the apostles3 was nobly followed by the Church. The East and the West vied with each other in their generous care of the widow and orphan, the sick, the poor and the captive, in the relief of all who were in distress, far off or near.¢ Buta danger t Miscell., b. Vii., ¢. Vii. 2 On Prayer, c. xii., xiii. ; Neander, i., pp. 394, 395. 3 Gal. ii. 10, and elsewhere frequently. 4 «Tt ig the glory of a bishop to relieve the poverty of the poor.” Jerome, quoted by Hatch; Lect. ii., p. 48. SPIRITUAL GIFTS. 79 lay in the tendency, early developed, to regard acts of charity as ~ meritorious in themselves, as entries on the right side of the ledger in the account between the soul and God. We find this erroneous notion beginning to show itself as early as in the Shepherd of Hermas. ‘Tf you do any good beyond what is commanded by God, you will gain for yourself more abundant glory, and will be more honoured by God than you would otherwise be.” ! _Mrracutous Girrs. Some of the writers of this period tell us that the miraculous gifts of healing, exorcism, and even raising the dead, which distinguished the Apostolic Church, were continued down to their day. Justin Martyr speaks of evil spirits being cast out by believers through the name of Jesus Christ.2 He is con- firmed by Ireneus. ‘‘ Some certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have been delivered from them become believers and join themselves to the Church. . . . Others lay hands upon the sick and heal them. Yea, and even the dead have been raised to life again, and have remained among us for many years. .. . Theentire Church entreating with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned. . . . For all these benefactions,” he adds, ‘“‘ the Church takes nothing in return, for as she has freely received from God so freely does she minister.” 3 SpirituaL Girrs. The early writers bear witness also to the presence of other gifts which graced the Church in the time of the apostles, and which continued to their day to be exercised by women as wellasmen. Justin, citing the prophecy of Joel, adduced by Peter on the day of Pentecost,+ states, ‘‘We may still see amongst us women and men possessing the gifts of the Spirit of God. . . The prophetical gifts remain with us even to the present time.”5 And Ireneus writes, ‘‘Some amongst us possess the foreknowledge of things to come; they see visions and utter prophecies.”®° The Montanists especially maintained that the gift of prophecy continued to be bestowed upon women. The Bishop of Rome even acknowledged this gift to have been conferred upon two opulent ladies of that communion, Priscilla and Maximilla, although he afterwards excommunicated the whole party.7 Although the Worsuire or Rexics had not yet begun, the steps may already be traced by which its way was being prepared. t B. iii., Similitude v., c. ili. 2 Second Apology, ¢. Vili. 3 Against Heresies, b. ii., c. xxxi. § 2.; c. xxxil. § 4. 4 Acts ii. 16-18. 5 Dialogue with Trypho, c. 1xxxvil., Ixxxvili., lxxxii. 6 Loe. cit: 7 See ante, p. 56. Euseb,, H. H., b. v., c. xvi. Tertullian, Against Praweas, - c.i. Mosheim, i., p, 200. 80 : EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. - When Stephen died, we read simply that devout men buried him, and made great lamentation over him.t What the lions left of the body of Ignatius was wrapped in linen, and carried to Antioch to be buried.? Fifty years later the Smyrniote Church, whilst expressly repudiating the idea of worshipping any, living or dead, except Christ, yet speaks of the ashes of Polycarp as ‘more precious than the most exquisite jewels,” and of depositing them where the faithful may ‘‘gather round to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom.” 3 In allusion to which custom Tertullian tells us, “As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead, as birth- day honours.”’ 4 The Sien or tHe Cross came very early into use. Probably at first it was employed only as a token of recognition; but it soon took its place amongst those observances, in which an external sign 1s so easily substituted for the true worship of the believing heart. It was supposed to put to flight evil spirits, and to act as a charm against temptation, disease or mishap. By Tertullian’s time the practice of making the sign had evidently become general. “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our clothes and shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our lamps, in reclining or sitting, in all the actions of daily life, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.5 If,” he proceeds, “for these and other such practices thou shouldst insist — on scriptural warrant, thou wilt find none. Thou wilt be told that they have their origin in tradition, are confirmed by custom, and must be observed in faith. That tradition and custom and faith are supported by reason, either thon wilt thyself perceive, or learn from some one who has; and meanwhile thou wilt believe that some reason exists to which submission is due.”® These remark- able words of Tertullian indicate to us the way in which, one by one, were laid and cemented together the foundation stones of that monstrous fabric of Romanism which was to take the place of the true Church and to overshadow the world. ‘Tertullian, however, did not always write in this strain. Hlsewhere he nobly says, t Acts vili. 2. 2 Ante, p. 25. 3 Ante, p. 46. 4 The Soldier's Chaplet, c. iii. 5 [So Cyril of Jerusalem, Dupin, II, p. 111.] 6 Harum et aliarum ejusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturarum, nullam invenies ; traditio tibi pretendetur auctrix, consuetudo confirmatrix, et fides observatrix. Rationem traditioni et consuetudini et fidei patrocinaturam aut ipse perspicies, aut ab aliquo qui perspexerit disces ; interim nonnullam esse credes, cui debeatur obsequium. Idem, ec. iv., ed. Lipsie, 1839. IMAGE-WORSHIP. ; 81 ‘Christ surnamed himself Truth, not Custom.”* To which may be added the involuntary testimony of the Clementine Homilies, directed indeed against the Greeks, but equally applicable to the Church: ‘‘ There is a great difference between truth and custom. Truth.is found when it is honestly sought, but custom, whether true or false, is received, not by judgment but by prejudice, at haphazard, on the opinion of those who have lived before; and it is not easy to cast aside the ancestral garment, although it be proved to be utterly absurd.” 2 Imace-Worsuie. On another matter of high importance the Church was still uncontaminated. We have seen that it was made by the heathen an objection to the Christians that they worshipped without images.3 Nothing could possibly have been more odious to the early disciples than image-worship. Even the more enlightened among the heathen rejected it. Zeno forbade the making of both temples and images; and the primitive Romans were said to have admitted, for 170 years, no images into their temples, on the ground that it is impious to represent things divine by that which is perishable, and that itis impossible to reach God otherwise than with the mind.+ But there wag a disposition among the early Christians to go still further. Standing upon the Jewish interpretation of the second commandment, some of ~ their teachers condemned all pictorial representations. Tertullian -thought it wrong to make masks such as are worn by actors, saying, “Tf God forbids the making of every likeness, how much more the likeness of man, who is made in the image of God!” 5 Clement appears to hold the same rigid view : ‘‘ We are expressly prohibited,” he writes, “ from exercising a deceptive art; thou shalt not make the likeness of anything which is in the heaven above or in the earth beneath.” © And Origen commends the Jews for disallowiug painting and sculpture, in order, as he says, ‘that there might be no pretext for the manufacture of images, an art which distracts the minds of foolish men, and draws the eyes of the soul from God down to the earth.” 7 The avenue through which image-worship crept into the Church * Christus Veritatem se non Consuetudinem cognominavit. The Veiling of Virgins, c. 1. See John xiv. 6. Hom., iv., c. xi. See also Clement of Alexandria, Exhort. to the Heathen, xh. 3 Ante, p. 41. 4 Plutarch, Life of Numa, c. viii. 5 On the Public Shows, ¢, xxiii. ° Hxhortation to the Heathen, c. iv. 7 Against Celsus, b, iy., ¢. xxxi. 82 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. was by the usages of family life. The offensive objects of the heathen mythology presented themselves at every turn. The walls of the shops, parlours, and bedchambers, were hung with licentious pictures ; figures provocative of unholy passions were painted on the drinking vessels and engraved on seals and rings.? For these the Christians substituted objects which should remind them, in their daily use, of Gospel facts and Gospel teaching. Thus Ter- tullian: ‘‘ We may begin with the parables, in which you have the lost sheep sought by the Lord and brought home on his shoulders. Let the very pictures upon your cups stand forth” as witnesses}. And again, ‘ The Shepherd whom thou paintest on thy chalice.” # Clement, forgetful it would seem of his former prohibition, speaks of Christian signet-rings : “ Let the devices be a dove, or a fish, or a ship sailing before the wind, or a harp, or an anchor, or a fisher- man, by which the Apostle will be brought to mind, and the children who are drawn up out of the water.3 But let us not engrave the figures of idols—us who are forbidden all intercourse with them ; or a sword, or a bow, following peace as we do; or a drinking cup, being enjoined to temperance.” 4 But any attempt to introduce paintings or statues into the places of worship, either in this (the second) century or the next, would have been stoutly resisted. ven Eusebius, in the fourth century, writing to Constantia, daughter of Constantine, asks indignantly, ‘“ What and of what kind is this image which thou has written about, and which thou callest the image of Christ? Hast thou ever seen such a thing in a Church thyself, or heard of it from another?” And he goes on to say that he himself had taken from a woman two pictures of persons dressed like philosophers, which she called portraits of our Saviour and Paul, lest, he adds, ‘‘ we should seem to carry our God about like idolaters.”’ 5 The use of crucifixes was not introduced until a much later period. One of the hindrances with which Christianity had to contend from within, was the publication of Spurious Gosprzs and pre- tended apostolic canons. Many of these writings are believed to have been fabricated by heretical sects and parties in the Church, for the purpose of supporting their views of doctrine and practice. The falsification of the Gospels, and even of his own letters, is com- ™ Clement, Hxhort., c. iv. Neander, i., pp. 403-5. 2 On Modesty, c. vii., X. 3 That is, in baptism. 4 Instructor, b, iil., ¢. xi., Finger-rings. 5 Dict. of Christ. Antiq., art. Images, p. 814. ELDERS AND OVERSEERS. 83 plained of by Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth (4.0. 168-177). ‘As the brethren,” he says, “ desired me to write epistles, I wrote them ; and these the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, exchanging some things and adding others, for whom there is a woe reserved. It is not matter of wonder if some have attempted to adulterate the sacred writings of the Lord, since they have done so with those which are not to be compared with them.” ' CHAPTER XIII. GOVERNMENT OF THE CHuURCH—MaINTENANCE OF MINISTERS— CLERGY AND Laitry—CuurcH AcTion aNp DiscipLiIns— Puaces or \VorsuHrp. WE come now to the government of the Church. Epers anp Oversrers. The Synagogue was for the Jew not only his house of worship, but his town-hall and his court of justice. Two classes of officers belonged to it, one for worship or teaching, the other for government. The Sabbath day’s assembly for prayer, reading and exhortation, was presided over by the rulers of the Synagogue,?—the week-day assemblies or local courts, by the chief men or elders.3 When the Synagogue became a Christian Church the same order continued, even the weekly court days remaining the same,+ but both offices now met in that of the Elder. The Gentile Churches were constituted after a different model. As already noticed,5 there existed in most parts of the empire, just as is the case in modern society, associations for various purposes. There were trade guilds and dramatic guilds, athletic, dining and burial clubs, friendly, literary and financial societies. Most of these associations seem to have had a religious element, and to the outside observer the Christian Churches only added one more to the existing number. The Churches used the same names for their meetings as did the guilds,° and in part also for their officers. In both cases the members contributed to or received from a common fund, and in both, admission was open, not only to freeborn = Husebius, b. iv., ¢. xxii. 2 apxt-ovvaywyot, Luke viii. 41, xiii. 14; Acts xviii. 8, 17, &c. 3 mpeoBbrepor, presby ters 4 Monday and Thursday: 5 Ante, p. 64: © Ecclesia, synagogue, synod: 84 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. citizens, but to women and strangers, to freed-men and slaves. A usual name for the officers in the non-Christian societies of Syria and Asia Minor (the nearest neighbours to the Christian organiza- tions) was that of Overseer,t and their functions seem to have been both administrative and financial. ‘This office and this name were ftom the beginning adopted by the Gentile Churches; but they also made use of the title of Elder, although they derived it, not from the elders of the Synagogue, but from the corresponding rank of men in the Grecian institutions.? From whatever source they were derived, or whatever difference of signification they may originally have had, it is certain that throughout the first century, and perhaps in the early years of the second, the names of elder (or presbyter), and overseer (or bishop), were convertible terms,3 and that the body of men so called were the pastors and administrators of the Church. ‘The elder,’’ wrote Jerome at the end of the fourth century, ‘‘is identical with the bishop, and before parties had so multiplied under diabolical influence, the Churches were governed by a council of elders.” 4 Bisuops. As time went on, one overseer or presbyter became elevated above the rest. The superior abilities of this or that man, coupled with exemplary life and diligent service in the Church, would naturally beget confidence on the part of the community, and a ready submission to his authority. As the first ardent love to the Saviour cooled down, and the primitive independence of spirit declined, a guard was no longer maintained against the abuse of homage thus rendered, and of authority thus acquired; and so an undue reverence grew up, and what was at first offered willingly and even rightfully to the man, came, first by custom and then by — rule, to be granted and exacted for the office. By the middle of the second century, the presiding overseer was universally dis- tinguished as the bishop, the rest being called presbyters. Many writers maintain that the elevation and power of the bishops in this and the succeeding ages must not be regarded as a éioxomoc, bishop. 2 The foregoing paragraphs are condensed from Hatch’s Miia Lectures on the Organization of the Early Christian Churches. Lect. ii., 3 The Epistle of Clement of Rome furnishes the latest RAE of this (see p. 152, infra); unless The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (see the Appendix to this part of the present volume) is of later date. By the time of Ignatius, a.p. 107-116, the distinction between bishop and presbyter was well defined, at least in Syria and Asia Minor. In his epistle to Polycarp he speaks of ‘* those who are subject to the bishop and the presbyters and the deacons.” Chap. vi. 4 On Titus, in De Pressensé’s Early Years of Christianity, p. 310, THE BISHOP. 85 sion of declension, but as a necessity of human nature. It may be answered, Was the Lord ignorant of human nature when He said, speaking both to the multitude and to his disciples, ‘‘ Be not ye called Rabbi, for one is your Teacher, even Christ; and all ye are brethren ; neither be ye called Masters, for one is your Master, even Christ” ?2 And in his private teaching to the twelve He expressly distinguishes between the lordship and authority proper to civil rule, and the Government which was to obtain in the Church : ‘‘ The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them ; and they that have authority over them are called benefactors, But ye shall not be so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.’’ 3 At first the jurisdiction of the bishop was bounded by his own congregation. But as congregations multiplied, instead of creating new bishoprics, their needs were met by detaching presbyters from the council of the neighbouring bishop, by which means the bishoprics were enlarged, and the new Churches were made dependent on the old. The influence of the bishops further , increased when synods began to be common, at which they chiefly ™ See for example Milman’s Hist. of Christianity, vol. iil., 249-255. 7 Matt. xxiii. 8-10. 3 Luke xxii. 25, 26. See also 1 Pet, v. 2-5. It is not meant to be denied that the Church is able and ought to adapt herself to the varying states of society. Although her rule is essentially different from that of empires, and her shepherds are to be subject to one another in love, yet there are times when a firm hand and a revered authority are especially needed. A friendly reviewer of the present work thus states the case of the bishops in the primitive ages of the Church: ‘“ Amid all the difficulties of forming any judgment between differ- ing critics, it is easy to believe no other Church government than this would have been suited to communities newly formed out of such previously hetero- geneous elements; and in the imperial character of the bishop we see a reflex of the times, when autocratic governors bore rule in provinces, and a Casar was on the throne.” Again, after speaking of the multifarious duties of the bishop, he says: ‘‘Such duties make us understand the high terms in which any one filling this office was regarded, and how it was that no honour (consis- tent with the faith) seemed too great to accord to the bishop—the ‘ double honour’ the apostle speaks of,—and also how no heresy was received with greater condemnation than any disputing of his authority. It was the panacea in that wild turbulent age, when diverse elements agitated in the fervour of a new Zeal, to have a good raling bishop ; and to have had such and so many of them in these early times is one of the remarkable triumphs of our faith, especially when it is considered that, in days of persecutors whose policy was to scatter the flock by smiting the shepherd, the acceptance of such an office was generally precursor to a martyr’s grave.” Thoughts on Church Origins, by William Beck, in the Friends’ Quarterly Examiner, 4th mo,, 1884, pp. 262-264. 86 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. represented their congregations, although the presbyters had at the first also a seat.? | In time the bishops themselves ceased to be equal and indepen- dent of one another. The larger capitals of the empire from which Christianity had been diffused—Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, Alex- andria, Rome—were, with Jerusalem, held in peculiar veneration, and were styled Apostolical Sees or Mother Churches. Amongst these, from the time of Hadrian, when Jerusalem ceased to exist as a Church, Rome held the first place. Her bishops were the heads of the wealthiest community in Christendom, and were known in the most distant lands for their benefactions.2 But it was the claim to be the successor of the Apostle Peter and the inheritor of his spiritual authority, that enabled the Bishop of Rome to exalt himself above the other bishops. This claim, however, and this rank, although their germ may be discovered in the second century, were not fully acknowledged until a later period. Deacons. ‘The only office whose origin is related in the New Testament is that of ‘‘deacon.”3 To the care of the poor, for which it was instituted, many other duties were afterwards added ; and because the free access of men to women was likely to give offence, especially in the Hast, deaconesses (at first usually widows), were also appointed, whose duty it was to instruct the younger sisters, assist at the baptism of female converts, and visit the women of the community in their own homes.4 Exection or Orricers. The appointment of officers was made by the choice or with the approval of the whole Church. It was the Church that chose Stephen and his fellow-deacons, and set them before the Apostles, who laid their hands on them. 5 The same mode of procedure was followed by the immediate successors of the apostles. Clement of Rome, in his Epistle (a.p. circ. 97), writes: ‘‘ The apostles, preaching through countries and cities, appointed the first fruits of their labours, when they had proved them by the Spirit, to be overseers and deacons ; and gave ™ Gieseler, i., pp. 170, 171. 2 Dionysius of Corinth (a.p. 162-170), writes thus to Soter, Bishop of Rome: ‘¢This practice has prevailed with you from the very beginning, to send contri- butions to many churches in every city. In thus refreshing the needy, and supplying the wants of the brethren condemned to the mines, you preserve as Romans the practices of your ancestors the Romans.” Eusebius, b. iv., ¢. xxiii. 3 Acts vi. 1-6. 4 Apostolical Constitutions, b. lii., c. xvi.; Neander, i., p. 262. [As the pres- byters came to be priests, so the deacons were called Levites.] 5 Acts vi. 5, 6, AC ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 87 instructions that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed to their ministry. We are of opinion, therefore,” he continues, “that those appointed by them, or afterwards by other eminent men, with the consent of the whole Church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of Christ, cannot be justly dis- missed from the ministry.” * This two-fold election of Church officers held its place for several centuries, the apostolic element being supplied by the consensus of the neighbouring bishops. Thus Cyprian, in the third century, says: ‘It comes from divine authority that the presbyter should be chosen in the presence of the people, under the eyes of all, and be approved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testi- mony.” And again: “You must diligently keep the practice handed down from divine tradition and apostolic observance, and maintained among us and almost throughout all the provinces, that for the proper celebration of ordinations, all the neighbouring bishops of the same province should assemble, and the bishop be chosen in the presence of the people, who are fully conversant with the life of each one, and have been spectators of his habitual conduct.’ 2 In another epistle he thus sums up the elements required in the election of a bishop: ‘‘The divine judgment, the popular voice, the consent of the fellow-bishops.”’ 3 To the same purpose Origen: ‘‘ The presence of the people is required in the ordination of a presbyter, that he who is known to be more learned, more holy, (more excellent than the rest may be chosen to the office.’4 And the dApostolical Constitutions: ‘*A bishop is to be chosen by the whole people. When he is named and approved, let the people assemble, with the presbytery and bishops, on the Lord’s day, and let them give their consent.’ 5 Even so late as the middle t Chaps. xlii., xliv. 2 Epist. Ixvii. § 4, 5. 3 Epist. liv. § v. 4 Hom. vi. On Levit., cited in Dict. Christ. Antiq., art. Bishop, p. 214. [‘‘ The bishop is to ordain none who is not chosen by the whole clergy in the presence of the people; and the bishop’s approval is required before any can be ordained.” Rule of Theophilus of Alexandria. Dw Pin, iii. 63.] 5 B, viii., sec. ii., c. iv. The Apostolical Constitutions, though doubtless containing ‘‘ some ancient ore,’’ are judged to be in the main the production of post-Nicene times. Their date may range from the third to the fifth century. With the Constitution are usually printed the ‘“ Apostolical Canons,” which belong to the same age. Wordsworth, Church History, pp. 413-416; Ante- Nicene Library, Introductory notice to the Apost. Const. See in addition the newly discovered Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, of which a translation is given in an appendix to this part of the present work. [Harnack thinks the Apostolical Constitutions were made in Syria or Palestine, between a.p, 340 and 380. See Canon Spence, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, p. 82, note.] 88 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. of the fifth century, Pope Leo I. wrote: ‘“He whois to be set above all should be chosen by all.” + et But as the hierarchical idea gained strength, the free choice of the people, or their approval of the bishops’ nomination, was gradually taken away, represented for a while by ‘ the chief men of the laity,” but in time totally lost. In like manner the suffrages of the co-provincial bishops were replaced by the nomination of the chief bishop of the province, first the Metropolitan and then the Patriarch. Another revolution of the wheel, during much later and darker ages, snatched the choice out of the hands of the Church altogether, and those who were to be God’s stewards, to take the charge of his household, came to be the nominees of emperors and kings.? From what has been said it is evident that the bishop of the primitive Church, even after that title came to be centred in one officer, occupied a very different place from the bishop of later times. He was one of the people, already known and beloved, the man of their own choice, the representative of their congregational life. He was also regarded as the representative and embodiment of apostolic teaching. Even when the New Testament writings had been collected together, the volume was very far from being a household book such as it is with us. In many places very few copies, and in some places none at all, were to be found, excepting in the meeting-house itself; and it was to their bishops and teachers, to the lips of the living witnesses, that men looked for primary instruction in the precepts of Christ. MatnTENANCE OF Ministers. At first those who filled offices in the Church continued to depend upon their former trades and occupations for the support of themselves and their families.3 The sense of the mutual honour which religion and industry reflect upon each other, and of which Paul showed so memorable an example, was strong in the early days of Christianity. Polycarp, in his Kpistle to the Philippians, about the middle of the second century, charges the presbyters to provide for that which is becoming in the sight of God and men; and this independent spirit long survived in the Eastern Churches. However it might be the duty of some then, as it may be now, to set themselves entirely at liberty to serve the Gospel, it is in the main a whole- some condition of things when the ministers and officers of the t Schaft’s Nicene Christianity, p. 240. 2 See Dict. Christ. Antiq., art. Bishop, pp. 213, 214. 3 Neander, i., p. 274. 4 Chap. vi. CLERGY AND LAITY. 89 Church share in the common lot of labour. Who should be so well - able to counsel and sympathize with their brethren as those who are themselves bearing the same burdens? And whilst the neces- sities of those who dispense spiritual things are to be ungrudgingly supplied, it should be the glory of the Church, as it would be one of her mightiest weapons in her warfare against the world, freely to give what she has so freely received. It is worth almost any sacrifice to preserve the Christian ministry in all its offices from ever being appraised at a money value or brought down to the level of a trade.* As however, by degrees, not only the travelling preachers, but the presbyters also, began to devote themselves more and more exclusively to their spiritual vocation, provision had to be made for their wants. A proportion of the voluntary contributions collected every Lord’s day,? was appropriated to their maintenance; but it was long before any stated payment or salary was made either to presbyters or bishops; and when this practice was introduced, the clergy were contented with very modest incomes. Natalius, who, at the end of the second century, was elected bishop by one of the heretical sects, received 150 denarii a month, or about £60 a year.3 Cuerey anp Larry. The distinction of clergy and laity was un- known in apostolic and primitive times. ‘In removing that which separated men from God, Christ removed also the barrier which had hitherto divided men from one another, ‘There was now the same High Priest and Mediator for all, through whom all men, being once reconciled with God, are themselves made a priestly and spiritual race ; one heavenly King, Guide, and Teacher, through whom all are taught of God; one t Some have attempted to show that our Lord’s words in Matt. x. 8, ‘‘ Freely ye have received, freely give,” will not bear the meaning which has been almost universally put upon them. Let us hear the comment of a modern German writer on this passage. ‘‘ The direction does not refer to the working of miracles alone. It embraces all the apostles had to impart, the exercise of their power to heal, and their, preaching of the kingdom. No gift of God’s grace is to be bought and sold with money (Acts viii. 20), or, as Tertullian says, nulla res Det pretio constat :—a comprehensive and most pregnant position, which cannot be too much laid to heart by God’s ambassadors, even to the present day ; con- demning all improper methodical and commercial stipulations in preaching God’s grace, all payment that surpasses the limits of their need (ver. 10), and all those unbecoming perquisites which are ungracefully attached to the direct ministration of the word and sacraments.” Stier’s Words of the Lord Jesus, Pope. Vol. i1., pp. 9, 10. 2 At Carthage once a month. See ante, p. 68. 3 Eusebius, b. v., c. xxviii. This sum may represent about £120, according to the present value of money. 90 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. faith, one hope, one Spirit quickening all. Believers were now called to dedicate their entire life as a thank-offering for the grace of redemption, to publish abroad the power and grace of Him who had called them out of the kingdom of darkness into his marvellous. light, and to make their life one continual priesthood. The ad- vancement of God’s kingdom, the diffusion of Christianity among the heathen, and the good of each particular community, was to be the duty, not of one select class alone, but of all; every one co-operating by the special gifts which God had bestowed upon him-—gifts grounded in his peculiar nature, but that nature renewed and ennobled by the Holy Spirit.” : “The whole body of Christians,” observes Hatch, ‘‘ was upon a level; ‘All ye are brethren.’ The distinctions which St. Paul makes between Christians are based not upon office, but upon varieties of spiritual power. . . . The gift of ruling is not different in kind from the gift of healing. The expression, ‘ He that ruleth,’ is co-ordinate with ‘ he that exhorteth, ‘he that giveth,’ ‘he that showeth mercy.’ Of one or other of these gifts every Christian was a partaker.”2 ‘‘The kingdom of Christ,” says Dr. Lightfoot, “has no sacerdotal system. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between God and man, by whose intervention alone God is reconciled and man forgiven. . . . Every member of the human family is potentially a member of the Church, and as such a priest of God. . . . In the records of the apostolic Churches, the sacerdotal title is never once conferred upon [the special officers}. The only priests under the Gospel, designated as such in the New Testament, are the saints, the members of the Christian brotherhood. As indi- viduals, all Christians are alike. . . . Tertullian,” he observes, ‘‘ is the first3 to assert direct sacerdotal claims on behalf of the Christian ministry.’ 4 * Neander, Church History, i., pp. 249, 250. 2 Hatch, Harly Christian Churches, Lect. v., p. 119. 3 See, however, The Teaching of the Apostles : Appendix, infra, 4 Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians, 3rd ed., pp. 179-183, 253. Tertullian styles the bishop a chief priest. See his treatise On Baptism, ¢c. xvii, It is only just to Dr. Lightfoot to present his whole mind on this matter, although his conclusion does not seem fully consistent with. the premises. ‘It is most important that we should keep this ideal definitely in view, and I have, there- fore, stated it as broadly as possible. Yet the broad statement, if allowed to stand alone, would suggest a false impression, or at least would convey only a half truth. . . . As appointed days and set places are indispensable to her efficiency, so also the Church could not fulfil the purposes for which she exists, without rulers and teachers, without a ministry of reconciliation, in short, without an order of men who may in some sense be designated a priesthood.” Pp. 179, 180. ORIGIN OF SAGERDOTALISM. 91 [‘‘ In the second as in the first century,” remarks Principal Fair- bairn, ‘‘the office of priesthood is unknown, but the tendencies creative of it are active. Tgnatius may have high episcopal, but he has no sacerdotal ideas, and of these his friend Polycarp is also free. To Justin Martyr Christians were the true high-priestly race; they offer the sacrifices well-pleasing to God.t With Irenzus the sacerdotal dignity is the portion of the just, and the sanctified heart, the holy life, faith, obedience, righteousness, are the sacrifices God loves.2 But as the second century ended and the third opened, signi- ficant signs of change begin to appear. Tertullian in Africa, speaks of the Ordo Sacerdotalis, and the Sacerdoitalia munera, and describes the bishop as Swmmus Sacerdos, and Pontifex Maximus.3 Hippolytus in Italy, claims for himself, as successor of the Apostles, the high priesthood,+ while Origen, in Alexandria, though he holds to the universal priesthood and spiritual sacrifices,5 also indicates the likeness of the new ministry to the ancient priests and Levites. By the middle of the century the hands of Cyprian have clothed the new clergy in the dignities of the old priesthood, and provided it with appropriate sacrificial functions and intercessory duties,”°— Contemporary Review, July, 1885.] Gradually, however, the notion of a priesthood, of a sacred order of men, found its way into the new society. Gradually the congre- gations were willing to relieve themselves of the onus of maintaining a thoroughly Christian life, and to commit their spiritual concerns to the care of their bishops or presbyters. These, on their part, began to assume a certain superiority in rank, and to restrict to themselves the title of the clei or clergy (heritage of God), a title which hitherto had comprehended the whole body of believers. It must be presumed that the Church, having her vision somewhat dimmed by the spirit of the world, failed to see the danger into which she was falling, and did not perceive that Jewish modes of thought instituting a false comparison between the Levitical priesthood and the Christian ministry, were perverting her original character. The result of this change was equally disastrous to both parties, to the officers of the Church and to the rest of the congregation. The injury sustained by the latter is forcibly expressed by Neander. = iat,, GXIV.—CxVIL. 5 Apol., 1., 1xvi., 1xvil. 2Aav. Om. Heres., iv. 8.3, 17.4; Vv. 184, 3. 3 De Exh. Cast.,7; De Presc. Her., 41; De Baptis.,17; De Pudic., 1. 4 Refut. Om. Heres., 1. Proem. 5 Homil. in Lev., ix. 9, 10. © In Evang. Joh., tom. i. 3. 99 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. ‘‘Ag the idea of the universal Christian priesthood was more and more lost sight of, that of the priestly consecration of the whole life, which was enjoined on all Christians, was also forgotten. As, in contradiction to the original Christian consciousness, a distinction had been drawn between a particular priesthood and the universal and ordinary calling of all Christians, so were now contrasted with each other a spiritual and a secular province of life and action ; notwithstanding Christ had exalted the entire earthly existence to a spiritual life.” Cuurcn Action. The same principle by which the election of officers was determined governed all the transactions of the primitive Church. What was done, was done not by the authority of the overseers or elders only, but by that of the whole Church, under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In the Council of Jerusalem, the letters which contained its sentence were written in the name of the ‘‘ apostles, elders, and brethren,” and the messengers to whom they were entrusted were chosen by the ‘‘ apostles and elders, and the whole Church,’’?. The same principle is recognized by Paul in the instructions he gives to the Corinthians regarding the treatment of an offender: ‘‘ When ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” &c.3 The practice of referring important questions to the congregation soon fell into disuse: it is met with in some places as late as the third century. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notwithstanding the exalted idea he entertained of the episcopate, was careful to uphold it. Thus he writes to his presbyters and deacons (a.p. 252): ‘‘From the commencement of my episcopacy, I made up my mind to do nothing without your advice and without the consent of the people.””4 And again in his epistle on the reinstatement of the Lapsed: ‘‘It is agreeable to the modesty and the discipline, and even the life of all of us, that the chief officers with the clergy in the presence also of those of the people who have stood firm,” &e. 5 Hippolytus, who died a.p, 235, speaking of the heretical opinions of a certain Noetus, tells us that, on ‘“‘ hearing of these things the blessed presbyters summoned that heretic before the church in Smyrna and examined him; and after a second examination, excommuni- cated him.” ® It would probably be difficult to find any instance of the congregation taking part in the affairs of the Church at a later period. ‘Thus insensibly did the Churches lose much of their strength and independence. * Church Hist., i: p.20G. 2 Acts xv. 3 1 Cor. v. 4. 4 Epist. v. § iv. 5 Epist. xiii. § ii. © Against the Heresy of Noetus, c.i. CHURCH DISCIPLINE. 93 Disoriine, Christian discipline occupied a very important place in the Early Church. ‘It is difficult for us in modern times,”’ observes Hatch, “with the widely different views which we have come to hold as to the relation of Church government to social life, to understand how large a part discipline filled in the commu- nities of primitive times. Those communities were what they were mainly by the strictness of their discipline. The tie of a common belief was looser than the tie of a common ideal and a common practice. ‘The creed was as yet vague: the moral code was clear. For the kingdom of God was come, which was a kingdom of righteousness. . . . In the midst of a ‘ crooked and perverse nation,’ the Christian communities could only hold their own by the extreme of cirecumspection. Moral purity was not so much a virtue at which they were bound to aim, as the very condition of their existence. If the salt of the earth should lose its savour, wherewith should it be salted? If the lights of the world were dimmed who should rekindle their flame ? And of this moral purity the officers of each community were the custodians. ‘'hey ‘ watched for souls as those that must give account.’ Week after week, and in some cases, as the Jewish Synagogue had done, on two days in a week, the assembly met not only for prayer but for discipline.” * What kind of humiliation was enjoined on those who fell away and committed grave sins we learn from Tertullian. He terms it “utter confession.”? <‘‘In this kind of penance the penitent is required to assume a demeanour calculated to move mercy. He is to lie in sackcloth and ashes; to steep his spirit in sorrow; to exchange the sins he has committed for self-mortification. His food is to be of the plainest, not for the stomach’s sake but for the soul’s ; his meat is to be prayer and fasting; he is to groan, weep, roar unto the Lord night and day; to roll before the feet of the presbyters, and kneel to God’s dear ones, and to beseech all the brethren as his ambassadors to bear his supplications to heayen.”’ Tertullian complains, however, that, ‘‘ Most men either shun this work as a public exposure, or else defer it from day to day.”3 The reader will scarcely wonder that they did so! Origen, writing in the next century, says, ‘‘ The Christians lament as dead those who have been overcome by licentiousness or any other sin, because they are lost and dead to God. If at some future time these manifest a becoming change, they receive them as risen from the dead, but * Early Churches, Lect. iii., pp, 68, 69. See also the extract from Tertullian, ante, p. 68. 2 Exomologésis, 3 On Repentance, c, ix., x. 94 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. after a greater interval than in the case of those who were admitted at first, and not placing in any office in the Church those who after professing the Gospel have lapsed and fallen.” ? Abuses early appeared in connection with the discipline of the Church. The distinction of some sins as mortal and others as venial was set up. The outward signs of repentance came to be confounded with the inward work of the heart. The administration of the discipline being taken away from the congregation and given into the hands of the priesthood, the people came to look rather to priestly absolution than to the divine forgiveness of sins. But these abuses had perhaps scarcely shown themselves by the middle of the third century. Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a friend of Origen’s, writing to Cyprian, says, ‘“‘ With us the elders and presidents meet once a year to consult together for the recovery by repentance of our fallen brethren, not as though they received from us the forgiveness of sins, but that, by our means, they may -be brought to a sense of their sins and driven to render a more perfect satisfaction to the Lord.” ? Puaces or Worsuie. The disciples met at first in private houses, or wherever they could find a suitable room. ‘ Kven the Jew had his public Synagogue or his more secluded proseucha ;3 but where the Christians met was indicated by no separate and distinguished dwelling ; the cemetery of their dead, the sequestered grove, the private chamber, contained their peaceful assemblies.” 4 ‘‘ For nearly two hundred years,” writes Stanley, ‘‘ fixed places of worship had no existence. About this time notices of them became more frequent, but in such ambiguous terms that it is difficult to ascertain how far the building or how far the congregation is the prominent — idea in the writer’s mind.” 5 | But whether fixed or otherwise, it is a significant fact, that during its period of greatest purity and most active growth, the Church had no special buildings consecrated for the worship of God. Clement of Alexandria, not satisfied with citing Paul’s declaration at Athens, ‘God dwells not in temples made with hands,” appeals, in support of the same great truth, to the ancient poets and philosophers. ‘* Most excellently does Kuripides write :— ‘ What house constructed with the workman’s hands, With folds of walls can clothe the shape divine?’ . t Against Celsus, b. iii, c. lis 2 The Epistle is printed with those of Cyprian, No. Ixxiv. § 4, | 3 Place of prayer. 4 Milman, ii., p. 179. 5 Christ, Instit., p. 176: HOLY DAYS AND SEASONS. 95 And Zeno, founder of the Stoics, ‘We ought to make neither temples nor images, for no work is worthy of the gods. . . . There is no need to build temples; a temple ought not to be regarded as holy. For nothing is worth much, or is holy, which is the work of builders and mechanics.’” Elsewhere Clement himself adds, “ It is not the place but the assemblies of the elect that I call the Church.” ! GHA PIER. XY. Hony Days ano F'estivans—Marriage—AScEetTicisM—BURIAL. Hoty Days anp Srasons. The weekly day of rest, so graciously set apart for man’s varied necessities, was instituted at the Creation, when God blessed and hallowed the Seventh day, because in it He rested from all his work. It was confirmed (not enacted as a new law) to the people of Israel, for whose sake it was hedged about with strict observances and severe penalties. Under the New Covenant, like the other institutions of the Old Dispensations, whether Patriarchal or Mosaic, the day as originally consecrated was not recailed, but had, so to speak, a new creation—was invested with a new character of superior glory and of the liberty of the Spirit. The resurrection of our Lord on the First day of the week gave to that day a special character of sacred joy and thanksgiving, and in time caused it to take in the Christian Church the place of the Jewish Sabbath.2 Many Churches of our day regard the Christian Sabbath as in direct affiliation with the Jewish, and therefore subject to a similar strictness of observance ; but this was not the view taken of it by the primitive Christians. The Apostolical Constitutions direct the celebration of the Jewish Sabbath in addition to the First day of the week. But Athanasius, Ambrose, Chrysos- tom, Jerome, Augustine, all assume the Jewish Sabbath to be extinct. They all speak of the First day of the week as a new institution, a perpetual memorial of the Resurrection. The same view is eloquently expressed, with of couise the sacerdotal colouring belonging to his day, by Pope Leo the Great (a.p. 440-461): ‘‘Whatsoever is most glorious in the divine appointments is gathered round the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. On this 1 Miscellanies, b. v., ¢. Xi.; b. Viis, ¢. V. 2 See Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; and Rev. i. 10, where John styles it the Lord’s day. 96 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. day creation began. On this day death received its deathstroke, and life its birth. On this day the apostles received from the Lord the Gospel trumpet, to be sounded amongst all nations, and the sacrament of regeneration to be carried throughout the whole world. On this day the disciples being gathered together and the doors shut, the Lord entered and breathed upon them, saying, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose-soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, whose-soever sins ye retain, they are retained.’ Lastly, on this day the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Lord, descended upon the apostles; so that we know by a heavenly rule, that on it, as the depository day of all the gifts of grace, the mysteries of the priestly blessings are to be celebrated by us.” * But the Church did not stop here. The great truth that the worship of God, springing from a conversation in heaven, and not depending on the elements of the world, is no longer confined to any especial time, was already falling out of sight, and men began to turn back to the particularizing spirit of the Mosaic dispensation. A variety of seasons were now added for fasting and prayer. It was supposed to be a fitting preparation for the joyous festival of the resurrection, that Wednesday and Friday should be set apart as days of mortification, in memory of Christ’s betrayal and suffer- ings. The Churches of Jewish Christians, although they adopted the First day of the week, retained also the Sabbath; and from them the custom became general in the East of distinguishing this * Kpistle ix. to Dioscurus. One of the earliest Christian writings, the Epistle attributed to Barnabas, contains a curious passage. There is of course no ground for the interpretation there given of the text, but it serves to show the opinion which was current about the end of the first century. ‘God says to them, ‘ Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot endure.’ Perceive how He speaks: ‘Your present sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but this is it that I have made; giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is a beginning of another world.’ Wherefore also we keep with glad- ness the eighth day, the day on which Jesus rose again from the dead.” C. xy. Constantine the Great enforced the observance of the Lord’s day, then called Sunday, by law. (See below, Part ii., c. x.) The Emperors Valentinian I. and II. prohibited the collection of taxes and debts, and the prosecution of lawsuits on this day; Theodosius the Great (4.p. 386), and Theodosius II. (a.p. 425), forbade theatrical ; and Leo and Anthemius (a.p. 460) other secular amusements. By the sixth century a Sabbatical strictness in the observance of the day had grown up. The third Council of Orleans (4.p. 538), rehearsing that ‘‘ men having come to abstain from travelling with horses, oxen, and carriages on the Lord’s day, and from preparing food and giving proper attention to their houses and persons,’’—directs, that “‘ whatsoever was lawful to be done in former times on the Lord’s day shall still be lawful; but that agricultural occupations are forbidden in order that men may be at liberty to come to Church and give themselves to prayer.” Canon 28. Schaff’s Nicene Christianity, pp. 378-385, THE FESTIVAL OF EASTER, 97 day (Saturday) as well as Sunday, by never fasting, and by the congregation standing during the time of public prayer.t In the Western Churches, on the contrary, and especially in Rome, where the opposition to Judaism was at this period strong, a custom pre- vailed of observing the last day of the week as a fast-day.? Easter. The Jewish Christians, not content with retaining the Sabbath, kept also all their Old Testament feasts, although they gradually ascribed to them a Christian meaning. The Gentile Churches, especially those of the West, which had received the Gospel through the Apostle Paul, seem for a considerable time to have observed no yearly feast days; and when they began to commemorate the crucifixion and the resurrection, a difference arose between them and some of the Eastern Churches as to the days on which these anniversaries should be held. Amongst the latter, where Jewish ideas prevailed, the day of our Lord’s passion was kept according to the reckoning laid down for the Passover, from which it happened that it would often fall on another day of the week than Friday, and the resurrection day on another day than Sunday. But in the West the Jewish calendar had no place ; and when the festival of Haster was adopted, the day of the week and not that of the month was taken into account. It was by a coincidence which took place at intervals only, and which without doubt happened that year by Divine appointment, that the Passover at which our Lord suffered fell on the day next preceding the Sabbath. The consequence was that the Sixth day of the week was set apart to the memory of our Lord’s crucifixion, and the First day to that of his resurrection. This diversity of custom existed at first without being deemed of sufficient importance to be made a matter of dispute; it was still kept in mind that the kingdom of God consists neither in meat nor drink, nor any other kind of external usage. When in 162, Poly- carp visited Bishop Anicetus at Rome,3 the difference of practice was the subject of a conversation between them. Anicetus main- tained that the presbyters who governed the Roman Church before him neyer observed any such custom,* while Polycarp replied that * Kneeling in prayer was esteemed an attitude of humiliation, inconsistent with the joyousness proper to seasons of thanksgiving. See Canon 20 of the Council of Nica. 2 Neander, i., pp. 406-410. 3 This was five years nays Polycarp’s martyrdom. 4 The passage is obscure: it has even been supposed to mean that the festival of Kaster itself had to that time not been kept in the Roman Church, Neander, i., 414, note, ; 7 98 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. he had always observed such a Passover with the Apostle John. In the end they came to the conclusion that a difference on such points might be allowed to continue without prejudice to fellowship and unity; and Anicetus invited Polycarp to preside in place of himself at a celebration of the Lord’s Supper.? But in the last decade of this century, when Victor was bishop of Rome, the question became a matter of public controversy. On the one side stood the Church of Rome, supported by those of Tyre, Cesarea in Palestine, Jerusalem and Alexandria; on the other the Churches of Asia Minor, headed by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus. The dispute waxed warm. Synods were convoked. The bishops of Asia Minor decreed that Easter ought to be kept on the fourteenth day of the moon, on whatever day of the week it should fall, because . the paschal lamb was slain on that day. A counter-mandate was issued by Rome and the rest of the Churches, directing all Chris- tians everywhere to celebrate the resurrection on no other than the Lord’s day. The Bishops of Asia Minor persevered in their reso- lution; and the Roman bishop, a man of a proud and hierarchical spirit, attempted to cut them off from the common unity, For this he received a severe rebuke from Ireneus of Lyons, and others of the bishops. <‘‘The apostles,” wrote Ireneus, ‘directed us to let no man judge us in meat or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or a sabbath day.2, Why then these disputes ? whence these divisions? We observe the feast, but it is with the sour leaven of malice and wickedness, and we rend the Church of God; we observe externals, but we omit the weightier matters of faith and love. Such feasts and such fasts, as we learn from the — Prophets, are an abomination to the Lord.”’3 It was reserved for a later age to carry out the dictate of the Roman bishop, and to rend the outward Church in twain. Besides Kaster, and the feast of Pentecost, which is spoken of by Tertullian as observed in his time,> no mention seems to be made ——__—__ — t Kusebius, b. v., ¢. Xxiii., xxiv. 2 Colossians ii. 16. 3 It is not quite certain that the above are the identical words of Ireneeus’ letter to Victor ; they are a fragment from his lost writings (No. xxxviii.) without heading or context. But the supposition agrees with the testimony of Eusebius and Socrates Scholasticus. The former says, ‘‘Some of the bishops expressed themselves to, Victor with much severity; . . . amongst them Irenzeus becomingly admonished him.” E. H., b. v., c. xxiv. According to Socrates, Irensus, in his letter to Victor, ‘‘ severely censured him for his immoderate heat.” EH. H., b. V., C. XXil. 4 See Part II., c. xi. 5 On Idolatry, ¢. xiv.; On Baptism, c. xix. MARRIAGE. 99 of any annual festival among Gentile Christians so early as the second century. Heatuen Names or tHE Days. In their zeal against every usage which could remind them of-the idolatrous worship around them, the early Christians scrupled to make use of the heathen names of the days of the week. They had received from the Jews the simple nomenclature, the jirst, second, third of the Sabbath, &c., and to the Jirst of the Sabbath they gave also the name of the Lord’s Day. For some time they adhered to the ancient. practice. Justin Martyr and Tertullian employ the classic names for the most part only when writing for the heathen ; and the former, speaking of the first day of the week, denotes it ‘the day called Sunday.” Irom the date of the edict of Constantine (a.p. 321), in which it is designated ‘‘the venerable day of the sun,” both styles were used. Philastrus (so late as a.p. 880) condemned the use of the planetary names of the days as heretical.? Marrtace in the ancient Roman world was peared by law and degraded by custom, A legal union could only exist between Roman citizens; and the condition of the wife was one, not of equality, but of servitude. Even in the best days of Greece, marriage was regarded as an institution for the bringing up of children, and for the government of a household of slaves, rather than as a union for mutual comfort and help. The natural con- sequences were a widespread disregard of this Divine institution, frequent divorce, infanticide, and abounding illegitimacy, not to speak of still greater abominations. [or all these crying evils the Gospel was the true and only remedy. It was the tree which was cast into the bitter waters, and they became sweet.3 Marriage was restored to its original honour and was resanctified. Home, with all its blessings and virtues, came into the world through the Gospel.4 ‘“‘ How shall we find words,” says Tertullian, ‘fully to set forth the happiness of that marriage which the Church cements, and the oblation confirms, and the benediction seals; the news of which angels carry up to heaven, where it is ratified by the Father ? What a yoke is that of two believers, partakers of the same hope, the same discipline, and the same service! They are truly fellow- servants, one in flesh and one in spirit. They prostrate themselves in prayer together ; they fast together; they instruct, exhort, and ™ See ante, p. 67. 2 Dict. of Christ. Antiq., art. Lord’s Day, p. 1,043; Week, p. 2,032. 3 Exodus xv. 23-25. 4 See Wordsworth’s Church History, p. 326. 100 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. sustain one another. They are found together in the Church of God, at the banquet of the Lord; they are united in trials, in persecution, in consolations. Neither conceals anything from the other, nor shuns the other, nor occasions uneasiness to the other. They visit the sick and give alms to the indigent, without fear of mutual reproach. They respond to one another in psalms and hymns, challenging each other which shall better chant their Lord’s praises, Hearing and seeing such things, Christ rejoices, and sends to them his own peace. Where two such are, there is He himself; and where He is, there the Evil One is not.” And Clement of Alexandria writes: ‘‘ Marriage, as a holy picture, must be kept pure from everything which would defile it, Married per- sons ought to confess the Lord in their whole life, ‘ Both when they sleep, and when the holy light comes ;’ rising with him from their slumbers, and retiring to sleep with thanksgiving and prayer ; possessing piety in the soul, and extend- ing self-control to the body.” ? Not much is known of the usages of the early Christians in regard to the marriage ceremony. No description of it is found in the early Church writers; but they contain some allusions which help us to see what rites were observed by the end of the second century. It was evidently conducted with great simplicity. Amongst the Jews, marriage was contracted without any definite religious observance, the essential act consisting in the removal of the bride from her father’s house to that of the bridegroom or his father.3 The important points in the Christian ceremonial were publicity and the sanction of the Church. ‘It is becoming,” says Ignatius, “that men and women marry with the council of the overseer (or bishop), that the marriage may be in our Lord and not in lust.” 4 “ Secret unions,’’ writes Tertullian, “ that is, not first professed in presence of the Church, are in danger of being judged akin to adultery and fornication ;”5 and we learn from his treatise on monogamy,° that it was customary for the parties to ask consent of the bishop, presbyters, deacons, and widows. We have just seen also that a benediction was pronounced on the newly married pair, no doubt by the bishop or presiding presbyter, and that they partook together of the Eucharist.7/ Elaborate ceremonials after- t Tertullian To his Wife, b. ii., c. vill. 2 Miscellanies, b. ii., c. xxiii. 3 Smith’s Dict. of the Bible. 4 Kpist. to Polycarp, c. v. 5 On Modesty c, iv. © Chap. xi. 7 Neander, i., p. 393. Others explain the word oblation to signify an offering made by the bride and bridegroom for the use of the Church. FASTING. 101 wards came into use, both at the betrothal and the nuptials, but these belong to a much later period. Fastine. Ascetic tendencies, which from a very remote period have characterized the religions of the Hast, early manifested themselves in the Christian Church. We have seen how much importance was attached to fasting,' the ceremonial observance of which seems to have prevailed even in sub-apostolic times. The author of the Shepherd of Hermas, though by no means free from superstitious notions, rebukes this tendency. The following dialogue is taken from one of his Similitudes. ‘ While I was fasting, sitting upon a certain mountain, and giving thanks to the Lord for all his dealings with me, the Shepherd sat down beside me, saying, ‘ Why hast thou come hither so early in the morning?’ ‘ Because, sir,’ I answered, ‘I have a station.’2 ‘What is a station ?’ he asked. ‘I am fasting, sir,’ Ireplied. ‘What is this fasting?’ he continued, ‘which thou observest?’ ‘As I have been accustomed, sir, so I fast.’ ‘Thou dost not know,’ he said, ‘ how to fast unto the Lord ; this fasting which thou observest is worthless. I will teach thee the fasting which is acceptable to the Lord. Serve Him with a pure heart, keep his commandments, walk in his precepts, and let. no evil desire arise in thee. If thou do this, thou shalt keep a great fast, acceptable to God. Be on the watch against every evil word and every evil desire, and purify thy heart from all the vanities of this world. Then, on the day on which thou fastest, taste nothing but bread and water, and having reckoned up the cost of the meals which thou wouldest have eaten, give it to a widow or an orphan or to some one in want, so that he who has received benefit from thy self-denial may satisfy his wants and pray for thee to the Lord.’ ”'3 Cexisacy, Another form of Asceticism was the honour paid to the unmarried state. Ata very early date, perhaps from the times of the apostles, celibacy was esteemed a holier condition than marriage.t Athenagoras (a.p. 771) says, ‘‘ You will find many t Ante, pp. 93, 95, 96. 2 One of the names applied by early writers to a fast-day ; so called, either because it was kept on fixed days (statis diebus), or because fasts were regarded as military posts (stationes) against the attacks of the enemy. Dict. Christ. Antiq., Statio. 3 Book iii., Similitude Fifth, c.i., iii, This romance was one of the most popular books amongst the Christians of the second century. It has been called the Pilgrim’s Progress of the Early Church ; but the comparison is not complimentary to Bunyan. 4 See Fragment of Ignatius, ix., vi., in Wordsworth’s Church History, pp. 136, 141, notes. 102 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. among us, both men and women, growing old unmarried, in the hope of living in closer communion with God.” Some even, like the hermits and monks of the third and fourth centuries, withdrew from the haunts of men to spend their lives in meditation and prayer. But the more healthy view of the Christian life still made head against these ascetic tendencies. The writer of the Hpistle of Barnabas thus reproves those who yielded to them: “Do not retire apart to live a solitary life as if you were already perfect: but coming together in one place, make common inquiry about what concerns your general welfare. For the Scripture says, ‘ Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.’ ” 2 Clement of Alexandria treats the question in his usual vigorous and enlightened manner. ‘“ The mature Christian,” he says, “ has the apostles for his example. And truly it is not in the solitary life one shows himself a man; but he who, as a husband and father of a family, withstands the trials that beset him in providing for a wife and children, servants and an establishment, without allowing himself to be drawn from the love of God. The man who has no family escapes many trials; but as he has only himself to provide for, he is inferior to him who, having more to disturb him in working out his own salvation, yet fulfils more duties in social life, and truly exhibits in his family a miniature of [Providence itself] .’’ 3 Second marriages were in general disrepute, and were by some writers even denounced as sinful. Such a doctrine, it need hardly be said, is contrary to the clear voice of Scripture.s Buriat, The Christians would have nothing to do with the classie¢ custom of burning the dead,° but followed the more honourable * Plea, c. xxxiii. Eusebius calls these ozovdato, ‘* zealous men”; and Clement, ‘‘ more elect than the elect.’’ See his treatise, Who is the rich man who shall be saved? c. xxxvi. Stephens’ Life of Chrysostom, p. 60. 2 Isa. v. 21, Epist. of Barnabas, ¢. iv. 3 Miscell., b. vii., c. xii. Neander, i., p. 389. 4 See the Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment Fourth, c.iv. Tertullian To his Wife, b, i., ¢. vii., &e.; On Monogamy, passim; Lahortation to Chastity, c. ix. He calls second marriages adultery. This was the Montanist view. [‘‘A man should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage, for a second marriage is only a specious adultery.” Athenagoras, Plea, c. xxxiii.] 5 Rom. vii., 2,3; 1 Cor, vii. 39. 6 Tacitus, Hist., v. 4. The ancient Romans used burial till the time of Sulla, B.c. 78 (Cicero de Legg, ii. 22), when the custom of burning the dead was introduced from the Greeks. It never became universal, and interments recommenced soon after the Christian era, influenced possibly by the strong MOURNING FOR THE DEAD. 103 practice of God’s ancient people, in “returning the dust as it was”? to its kindred earth. ‘Ilo the Christian mind cremation was altogether repugnant, as savouring of profanity, and suggesting a denial of one of the dearest of all truths, the resurrection. Many _ followed the Jewish custom, borrowed from the Egyptians, of embalming the dead. Cecilius, the heathen interlocutor in Minucius Felix’s Dialogue, objects that the Christians used no perfumes whilst living, but reserved their unguents for the funeral obsequies;? and Tertullian, in his Apology, writes: ‘‘ Let the Sabeeans be well assured that as much of their costly merchandise is used in the burial of Christians as in burning incense to the gods.” 3 Mourning. It was consonant also with the new and glorious hopes brought in through the Gospel, that the Christians should despise and cast aside the whole paraphernalia of mourning which they saw around them;—the sackcloth and ashes and rent garments of the Jews; the black apparel of the Romans; and the mourners hired to wail, in both Eastern and Western nations. They also protested against crowning the head of the deceased with flowers, partly as a practice tainted with idolatry, partly as associated with revels and effeminacy.+ Cyprian expresses himself in very strong terms regarding mourning and mourning apparel. Writing con- cerning those who died in the pestilence, in the reigns of Gallus and Valerian,’ he says, ‘“‘ How often and how manifestly has it been revealed to me by the condescension of God, that 1 should publicly declare that our brethren who are escaped from this world by the Lord’s summons are not to be lamented, since we know that they are not lost but gone before. Though they are to be longed for, they are not to be bewailed; and it is not becoming in us to put on black garments for them here, when they are already clothed in white raiment there.” © So Augustine, still later: ‘‘ Why should we disfigure ourselves with black, unless we should imitate the unbelieving nations, not only in their wailing for the dead, but feeling which existed amongst the Christians. By the end of the fourth century cremation had entirely ceased. Dict. Christ. Antiq., art, Catacombs, p, 300. Parker’s Archeology of Rome, Catacombs, pp. 42, 43. * Kecles. xii. 7. 2 Octavius, c. xii. 3 Chap. xlii. 4 Clement of Alexandria, Instructor, b. ii., c. viii. Tertullian, Soldier’s Chaplet, c. x. 5 A.p, 251-260. This and the following extract are anticipatory; but if the objection to such practices was made in the third and fourth centuries, a fortiori would it exist in the second. © On the Mortality, c. xx. 104 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. algo in their mourning apparel? Be assured these are foreign and unlawful usages: but if lawful they are not becoming.” * — The coffin was borne to the grave on the shoulders of the kinsmen and near friends, who, as they went along, sang hymns of hope and praise.” CHAPTER XY. THe CATACOMBS. In Rome the Christian dead were buried in the Catacombs, a vast cemetery, which has preserved to the present day a monument of their faith and hopes such as is nowhere else to be found. The burial-places were excavated in the low hills which surround the city, chiefly those lying towards the south, and on the east side of the Tiber; the Roman law forbidding interment within the walls. The catacombs were hollowed out in the tufa granolare, one of the three strata (of volcanic origin) of which the surface is composed, the other two being unfit for the purpose, the pozzolana or sand, as too friable, the tufa litoide or building stone, as too hard. They consist of narrow galleries or corridors (ambulacra) running into one another, with here and there an opening into a larger excavation. The height of the galleries is from five to eight feet ; their width from two-and-a-half to three feet. When the first tier of galleries could not be further extended, a second was made underneath it at & lower level, and sometimes a third, a fourth, and even to a fifth, each tier communicating by steps or by an inclined way with the one below it.3 The walls of the galleries are hollowed out on both sides into horizontal niches, somewhat resembling the berths on board a ship, and each large enough to contain a body; these were known under the name of loculi.4 There are from five to eight rows of loculi in a gallery. The larger spaces or chambers (cubicula), which are * Sermon ii. ; De Consolat. Mort., cited in Coleman, Antiq., c. xx. § 4; Dict. of Christ. Antig., art. Mourning. 2 Idem, Burial of the dead. 3 The catacombs have been so often restored that scarcely any part remains in its original condition. 4 A tomb for two bodies was called a bisomus. CONSTRUCTION OF THE CATACOMBS. 105 shut off from the corridor by a door, were family vaults.: There is in general no communication between one catacomb and another, each occupying a separate hill or rising ground in the Campagna, and being isolated from the rest by the intervening valleys. The number of catacombs is very large, amounting to upwards of forty. A few are Jewish, and in some, heathen as well as Christian dead were interred. The bodies were wrapped in linen cloths, and either embalmed, or else cased in quick-lime that the flesh might be entirely consumed; and when they were deposited in the locult, the opening was closed by a tile or a marble slab, and sealed with | mortar. It has been supposed that the catacombs were constructed in secret, and that the entrances to them were concealed from the public, and especially from the authorities, and also that they were used as dwelling-places. Such, however, was not the case. Phas ue DNnunaRNVS Ds ; | il a | it wren. A LOCULUS, FROM DE ROSSI’S ‘‘ INSCRIPTIONES CHRISTIANA.” Hixcept in times of persecution, which were not generally of long duration, the Christians lived as other citizens, and were protected by the laws equally with the rest of the community. When perse- cution broke out, the first blow was almost sure to be aimed at the bishops and presbyters, and it was a great object to secrete these for a time. For this purpose the catacombs were admirably adapted ; their intricate winding passages were known to few besides the grave-diggers (fossores); and as there were frequently several entrances, the fugitive might escape by one while the officers were seeking him by another. But the catacombs were never intended or indeed fit for dwelling-places, and the stories of persons living in them for months are probably fabulous. They were, however, the frequent resort of the faithful for worship, and * The remains of the wealthy were enshrined in sarcophagi, and in table- tombs, which, when vaulted above, were styled arcosoliu. pa 0 ee #0) JBARLY CHURCH HISTORY. especially for the celebration of the ‘“ birthdays of the iaetyiarh The chambers became chapels, where sometimes as many as a hundred persons might be accommodated within hearing, and here - and there have been discovered, hewn in the wall, a chair sor the presiding officer, and benches for the company. With the dead were, often buried a variety of objects. By the heathen, mind the life after death is regarded as a continuation of the present. life: ‘with its occupations and amusements; and the ancient Romans, in- common with many other nations, were accustomed to deposit in the graves of their loved ones the tools : and ornaments and playthings which had been used by the deceased. Possibly by the force of custom the Christians may have followed the same practice from early days, but it is more likely that the tombs containing these objects belong to a later age, when the churches had rest from persecution, and when the heathen were admitted in large numbers and on easy conditions. In the tombs of the women have been found numerous articles for the toilet and personal ornaments; mirrors, combs, bodkins, ivory pins, vinaigrettes, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches, rings and seals, studs and buttons. In those of the children, small bronze bells, earthenware money jars, mice in metal and terra- cotta, and jointed dolls of bone or ivory. Ivory knife handles have also been discovered in the loculi, nail heads, dice, stone weights, and small glass fish engraved with numbers; tools and implements of handicraft, and countless lamps, in terra-cotta, bronze, &c., mostly stamped with the monogram of the name of Christ. Besides these, cups and glass vessels are sometimes found, which had once contained a red fluid supposed to be the Kucharistic wine.3 The graves soon began to be distinguished by inscriptions, and were in time embellished with paintings and sculptures. The epitaphs are not of a uniform type, like those we generally see in our churchyards and cemeteries; some contain no more than the name of the deceased, or with the addition of a few words indica- tive of hope and faith ; others present only the single but signifi- cant word, Peace, which may be taken indeed as the key-note of all. Many of the earliest are in Greek; and in some cases the Latin words are written in Greek letters. On some graves, figures instead of words are carved, either emblems of Christian faith,—as the 1 See ante, p. 47. ® Very rarely has any account of the locality in which these objects were dis- covered been preserved. Northcote and Brownlow, Roma Sotterranea, p. 275. 3 Dict. of Christ. Antig., art. Catacombs, p. 314. z “os hens Oe aay 5 ny Yue fo i PLATE A. Sage CHRISTIAN EPITAPHS. 107 palm-branch, the dove, the anchor,' the ship sailing heavenward, the fish,? and most frequent of all, the Good Shepherd ; 3—or symbols of the trade of the defunct ;—or scenes from the Old and New Testaments. On some, both words and figures are found. _ The most ancient inscriptions, scratched on the stone or plaster, or the letters painted on the tile by which the grave was closed, were short and simple. When the Church grew into importance, and especially after her union with the State under Constantine, the epitaphs underwent a change, becoming lengthy and eulogistic. Much learned labour has been bestowed in ascertaining the date of the tombs. Where the names of the Consuls are given, the year of the monument has been readily determined; others have been approximately fixed by inference and analogy, but the date of a large number still remains uncertain. The inscriptions in the accompanying plates are selected from the well-known collection in the Lateran Museum, and are copied from Parker’s photographs. Whilst the greater part are no doubt later than the year 200, it is probable that several of the shorter inscriptions may belong to the second century, and so strictly fall within our present period.4 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. PLATE A. 1. Lveilla, in pace. Lucitua, In Peace. The symbols consist of an ancient form of the cross, and the monogram of the name of Christ, formed of the two first letters in Greek.—3rd century. * Understood to signify the close of a well-spent life, the conclusion of a suc- cessful voyage when the anchor is cast. Maitland’s Church in the Catacombs, p. 173: 2 As containing in its name the initials of the names of Christ. See ante, p. 74. 3 This emblem, at first sight so essentially Christian, has been traced to a classic source. Originally Greek, it was adopted by the Romans, In the tomb of the Nasones, a family of eminence in Rome, may be seen, among many mythological paintings, the figure of a shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders, and a crook in his hand, surrounded by the four seasons. A slight alteration only was necessary to convert this composition into the Good Shepherd, and for a while even some of the classic features were retained. A painting found in a catacomb chapel represents the shepherd in the Roman dress, and with the Pan’s pipe in his hand. See Maitland, Church in the Catacombs, pp. 255-257. 4 One inscription has been discovered the date of which is fixed so early as A.D, 72. A very few others are referred with certainty to the second century, The interesting epitaph on Marius purporting to be of the reign of Hadrian, and that on Alexander containing the name of Antoninus Pius, are now pronounced to be spurious. See Northcote’s Epitaphs of the Catacombs, 1878, p. 32. 108 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. 2. Vrsina, vibes Deo. URSINA, THOU SHALT LIVE IN Gop. The letter B is often used in place of V. | 3. Regina, vibas in Domino Zesu. REGINA, MAYEST THOU LIVE IN THE Lorp Jesus. Zis written for J. On each side of the inscription is a palm branch. -? ita | 4, Favstina dvicis bibas in Deo. SweErt FAusTINA, MAYEST THOU LIVE IN Gop. 5. Agape vibes in eternum. AGAPE, THOU SHALT LIVE FOR EVER. With an olive leaf. ; 6. Eionyn rn Wvxn cov O~vyodka. PEACE TO THY SOUL, O OxYCHOLIs ! 7. The emblem is an olive branch, encircling the words IN PAcE. The inscription is:—Avrelio Felict qui bixit cum coivge annos xvut dulcis. in cowgio bone memorie biait annos lv raptus eterne domus «aw Kal. Ienvarias.t To AURELIUS FELIX, WHO LIVED 18 YEARS WITH HIS WIFE IN SWEETEST WEDLOCK ; OF GOOD MEMORY; HE LIVED 55 YEARS. SNATCHED AWAY TO HIS ETERNAL HOME ON THE 21st oF DECEMBER.—@8rd or 4th century. 8. Sanctae ac dulcissimae conivgi Felicitatt cviws industria vel con- servantia dificile invenire poterit quae viatt an. xauv dep. in pace die v. nonas wl. Avsonio t Olibrio conss. TO MY SAINTED AND MOST SWEET WIFE, FELICITAS, WHOSE INDUSTRY AND FRUGALITY IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO EQUAL, WHO LIVED 85 YEARS ; SHE WAS LAID HERE IN PEACE ON THE 38RD JULY, IN THE CONSULSHIP OF AUSONIUS AND OLIBRIUS.—A.D. 379. 9. Kefrigera Devs anima Ho... ReErresn, O GoD, THE SOUL OF... For the meaning of this prayer, see Part ii., c. xvi. 10 to 16. Various Christian emblems. In 11 the fish, 1c, is expressed by the word instead of the figure. (The workman has by mistake carved a « fora y.) The inscription is :— Bono et innocent filto Pastori q. v. an. Wu. m. v. d. xavi. Vitalio et Marcellina Parent. To OUR GOOD AND INNOCENT SON PASTOR, WHO LIVED 4 YEARS 5 MONTHS AND 26 DAYS, VITALIO AND MARCELLINA, HIS PARENTS. 16. On this tomb is seen the monogram within a circle, with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega on either side, in allusion to Revelation i. 8, 11, &e. Itis engraved on the back of No. 8, and is assigned to the same year. Sed quere. PLATE B. 1. Aelia Bictoruna posvit Avreliae Probae, AXLIA VICTORINA SET UP THIS TO AURELIA ProBa. The Peacock was an emblem of immortality. —8rd or 4th century. 2. This inscription has not been completely made out. Hic est positus Bitalis Pistor nna s hic es rs xit. qui bicsit ap nvs pl minus n alv. deplo| situs in pace] i natale domnes Sitiretis tertivm idvs Febb consvlatum Fl Vincentwvs conss, HERE IS LAID VITALIS, A BAKER, OF THE TWELFTH REGION,? WHO LIVED 45 YEARS, MORE OR LESS, AND WAS BURIED IN PEACE ON * The student of these ancient inscriptions is frequently reminded that ‘‘ prammar was not taught in that school.” | 2 That is, of the City of Rome. PLATE B CHRISTIAN EPITAPHS. 109 THE BIRTHDAY OF SAINT SITIRETIS, THE 1lTH oF FEBRUARY, IN THE CONSULSHIP OF FLAvius VINCENTIUS. Underneath is the Roman modius or peck measure. The date of this tomb is a.p, 401." 3 to 13. Trade emblems ;” mason, horse-dealer, wool-comber, cooper, smith, surgeon, &c. 5. Avr Venerando nvm. qui viait ann, xxav. Atilia Valentina fecit marito benemerenti in pace. To AuR. VENERANDUS, MONFY-CHANGER, WHO LIVED 85 YEARS. ATILIA VALENTINA MADE THIS TO HER WELL-DESERV- ING HUSBAND. In PEACE. The epithet well-deserving is exceedingly common .—38rd or 4th century. 8, Maximinus qvi vixit annos xxiii. amicvs omnivm. Maximinus, WHO LIVED 23 YEARS; A FRIEND OF ALL MEN.-—drd or 4th century. PLATE C, 1, Cassane Vitalloni alumno benemerenti qui viexit annos xxi, To CASSANEUS VITALLONIUS, MY WELL-DESERVING PUPIL, WHO LIVED 21 YEARS, —8rd or 4th century. 2. Felici filio benemerenti qui vixit annos xxii dies x qui exiuit virgo de saeculv et neofitvs in pace. Parentes fecervnt. Dep. iit. nonas Aug. To FELIX, THEIR WELL-DESERVING SON, WHO LIVED 23 YEARS 10 Days; WHO DEPARTED FROM THE WORLD A VIRGIN AND A NEOPHYTE ;3 IN PEACE, His PARENTS MADE THIS. BURIED ON THE 2ND OF AUGUST. Nos. 3 to 8 are mostly Scripture subjects. _ 8. Movane fwr exounsey arw Ka rn yuvext. MOSES WHILST LIVING MADE THIS FOR HIMSELF AND HIS WIFE. Accompanied by the favourite emblem of the Good Shepherd. What the female figure represents is not known; perhaps the Church, the bride of Christ.—3rd century. 4. Bictorina in pace et in Christo (the monogram), VICTORINA, IN PEACE, AND IN Curist. The figure is thought to be the same as in No. 2 of Plate B, a modius. 5. Contains five scenes from Scripture history, viz.:—the Good Shep- herd; Noah’s ark; the temptation of Adam and Eve; Elisha at the plough (?); and Daniel with the lions ;—with the words, Vipas Pontiz in ae|tlerno. PoNTIUS, MAYEST THOU LIVE FOR EVER.—8rd century. 6. A ship and a lighthouse. Firmia Victora qve viait annis lxv, Firmi1A VICTORA, WHO LIVED 65 YEARS. 7. Asellv benemberenti qvi vicxit annv sex mesis octo dies xxiti. To ASELLUS, WELL-DESERVING, WHO LIVED 6 YEARS 8 MONTHS AND 23 pays. With the busts of the Apostles Peter and Paul.—38rd or 4th century. 8. This very interesting epitaph is somewhat obscure. The Good Shepherd with the sheep between his shoulders, safe from the lion and t De Rossi’s Inscriptiones Christiane. ? The early explorers, who supposed that most of the graves were the tombs of martyrs, imagined many of these figures to represent the instruments with which they were tortured. This belief is still current in Rome. 3 Nedguroc, one newly planted; a new convert. It is translated novice in 1 Tim. iii. 6, 110 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. the dragon, points to spiritual deliverance, and thus agrees with the word signifying victors in the inscription. Those who overcame, the Veratii, were perhaps two brothers, martyrs, husbands of Julia and Onesima, and sons of Lazaria, to whose memory their wives and mother raised the monumental stone. The inscription ends with the aphorism, Such is life. Bnpariove. wkaropac AaZapin cat Lovin cat Ovnoiun Kov prove Se eas O Bie ravra.—3rd century." . The Good Shepherd. A fragment. The inscription ends with the Sone In PEACE. 10. Pontivs Leo se bivo fecit si[ bi] et Pontia Maza cozvs vzvs fecervnt filio svo Apollinari benemerenttr. Pontius LEO MADE THIS FOR HIM- SELF DURING HIS LIFE-TIME; AND PonTIA Maza (oR MAXIMA) HIS WIFE ; THEY MADE IT FOR THEIR WELL-DESERVING SON APOLLINARIS. The figure of the lion is in allusion to the name.—38rd or 4th century. Kpitaphs indicating the graves of martyrs, and actually inscribed during the age of persecution are rare. ‘‘ The bones of the martyrs,’ observes a Ifrench antiquarian, ‘‘ are the sole remains of those heroes of the faith, even in their sepulchres: cups and frag- ments of glass, instruments of their profession, or symbols of their faith, are the only monuments left of their life or of their death. To look at the catacombs alone, it might be supposed that persecution had there no victims, since Christianity has made no allusion to suffering.” 2 Some of the few which can claim to be genuine are here sub- joined.3 Lannus, a Martyr of Christ, rests here ; he suffered under Diocletian. The sepulchre is also for his successors. Here Gordianus of Gaul, a messenger, put to death for the faith with his whole family, rests in peace. Theophila a handmaid made this. Primitias rests in peace, who after many hardships died a most brave martyr ; he lived about 38 years. To her husband, most sweet and well- deserving, his wife placed this. It has been noticed that Jews and Pagans as well as Christians used the catacombs as a burial place. Some of the inscriptions on the Heathen sepulchres speak of a large measure of conjugal happiness, and are otherwise expressive of those natural affections which were left us in the Fall, but which without Christ cannot penetrate beyond the tomb. The following are testimonies from surviving husbands :— ™ [We are indebted for the interpretation to Dr. Hiibner of Berlin, through the friendly offices of Dr. Thomas Hodgkin.] 2 Raoul-Rochette, Tableau des Catacombes, p. 194, quoted in Maitland’s Church in the Catacombs, p. 151. 3 Maitland, pp. 127-129. fi BALD NEOPITVS, PARE iLOBEN ~~) EMEREN EX) PLATE Jrugan gd It Hadrian LZ (3¢ nah | ee. see HEATHEN EPITAPHS. 111 She never gave a bad word to her husband. She never committed any fault except by dying. Though dead she will always be alive to me, and always be golden in my eyes. An epitaph set up by one freedman to another breathes the genuine spirit of friendship :— Aulus Memmius Urbanus to Aulus Memmius Clarus, my dearest fellow-freedman. Between thee and me I know not that there has ever been any quarrel; and here on this epitaph I call the gods above and below to bear witness to my statement. We met together first in the slave-market, and in one and the same house we received our liberty ; nor could anything have ever separated us.but this thy fatal day. . The next is full of pathos :— Farewell, farewell, O most sweet; for ever and eternally farewell! But this ray of natural affection was too feeble to dispel the gloom with which in the old heathen world life was shrouded. The epi- taphs from the Pagan sepulchres are the utterances of those who had no hope and were without God in the world. Some are epicurean, others cynical and agnostic, others self-complaisant, others despair- ing or defiant. Fortune makes many promises but keeps none of them; live then for the present day and hour, since nothing else is really ours. I have been seeking gain all my life, and always losing ; now death has come, and I cannot do either the one or the other. I hope you who read this will live happy. I lived as I liked, but I don’t know why I died. The bones of Nicen are buried here. Ye who live in the upper air, live on, farewell. Ye shades below, hail, receive Nicen! I have been pious and holy; I lived as long as I could; I have never had any lawsuit or quarrel, or gambling or debts; I have been always faithful to my friends; I had a small fortune, but a great mind. Once I was not; now I am not: I know nothing about it: it does not concern me. Our hope was in our boy; now all is ashes and lamentation. The next is of a young lady :— I lift up my hands [and the hands stand there carved between the letters, suiting the action to the word],—I lift up my hands against God ~ who took me away though I had done no harm, at the age of twenty. Caius Julius Maximus in his second year and fifth month. O dark fortune, who takest pleasure in grim death, why is Maximus so suddenly snatched from me, who lately used to lie beloved on my lap? This stone, behold, O mother, now rests on his tomb! ees oa nae 112 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY, With these contrast the faith by which death is robbed of its sting and the gree of its victory; the name and age are obliterated. Blessed be the name of the Lord who gave and has taken hel ee ets lived . . years, and ended his life in peace." CHAPTER XVI. SPREAD OF THE GospEL—Lire or THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, irs LicuTs anpD SHapows. WE now proceed to make some enquiry as to the moral character and condition of the Church during the first and second centuries, and her relation to the world. ‘‘The whole Church,” observes De Pressensé, ‘‘ was essentially a missionary society. A stranger and a sojourner rather than a settler in the world, hard pressed on all hands by surrounding Paganism, its very life was one long conflict. It must fight in self- defence, and conquer or die, There was no distinction then between home and foreign missions ; the Christian had but to cross his own threshold and walk the public streets of his own city, and he found at his door a Pagan people to be converted. The whole civilization of the empire was the creation of Paganism ; there was therefore no delusive veil, such as is too often drawn over the true state of the heart by modern civilization, in which the presence of some Chris- tian elements suffices to conceal from superficial observers the undying Paganism of a world at enmity with God. In the cultivated citizen of Rome or Alexandria, the Church saw only a Pagan harder to convert than a barbarian of Scythia or Germany, because more skilful in eluding the truth.” ‘* Missionaries,’”’ he says again, ‘‘ were not subjected, any more than pastors or bishops, to any course of special training. A new mission generally arose out of some inci- dental circumstance, and wherever a Christian set his foot, however barren the soil, there he planted the cross.” 2 The spread of the Gospel during this period was rapid and con- tinuous. Husebius thus describes its propagation in the opening * Northcote’s Hpitaphs of the Catacombs, pp. 59-72. Maitland, p. 42. ? Martyrs and Apologists, pp. 20, 21. a a ee a. ss ll RAPID SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 113 years of the second century. ‘‘ There were many next in order of time to the apostles, who built up the churches founded by them, and pushing further the preaching of the Gospel, scattered broad- cast over all the world the seeds of the Kingdom of Heaven. Many evangelists, first obeying the Saviour’s command to give their sub- stance to the poor, set forth, vying with one another in preaching Christ and distributing the Scriptures of the diyine Gospels. After they had thus laid the foundations of the faith, and ordained _ pastors into whose hands they could commit the care of the new converts, they would themselves pass beyond to further regions and nations, God accompanying them with his grace ; for even down to that time the Divine Spirit wrought so mightily by them, that at the very first hearing, whole assemblies embraced the Gospel.” ! May we not say it is these obscure evangelists, whose work remains but whose names have perished, who are especially worthy of honour in the Church? ‘The most glorious time in her annals was the century or more during which she had little or no history. By the end of the second century the Gospel had extended beyond the limits of the Empire. Justin Martyr says,—but the words must be taken with reference to the limited knowledge of that day— “There exists not a single race of men, whether barbarians or Greeks, or by whatever name they may be known, whether they live in tents or wander about in covered waggons, amongst whom prayer and giving of thanks are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus.’’* Crossing the Huphrates,3 it had penetrated into Parthia, Persia and Media; in Africa it had reached Upper Kgypt, Numidia and Mauritania ; in Kurope, Spain, Southern and Northern Britain, and Independent as well as Roman Germany. Speaking of the free Germans, Ireneeus tells us that the message of the Gospel had outstripped the sacred writings: ‘‘ Many tribes of the barbarians, without paper and ink, have the words of salvation written in their hearts through the Holy Ghost.’”’5 ‘Tertullian, in his noble Apology,® says, ‘‘ We Christians are but of yesterday and we have filled your cities, your islands, your fortresses, your towns, your market places, the very camp, palace, senate, forum, and have Beis 1. U.,113,, C, XXXVii, 2 Dialogue with Trypho, c. exvii. 3 At Edessa in Mesopotamia, a locality which makes a great figure in the early traditions, it is said the Christians, in a.p. 202, had a church built after the model of the temple at Jerusalem. Neander, i., p. 111. 4 Tertullian expressly says, ‘‘ Britain beyond the Roman pale.” Answer to the Jews, c. Vil. 5 Against Heresies, b. iil. c. iv. § 2, ® Variously assigned between 4.p. 198 aud 217. 8 114 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. left you nothing but the temples of your gods. .. . If we were to make a general secession, and betake ourselves to some remote corner of the world, you would be horror-struck at the solitude.”’ The Church writers of this age have left us several pictures of its life, which while they glow with bright colours, too frequently bear evidence of a declension from the robust Christianity of earlier days. Justin Martyr testifies that many Pagans, who had evinced a violent and tyrannical disposition against the Christians, were dis- armed when they beheld the constancy of their lives, their honesty in business, and the forbearance they manifested when defrauded of their just rights.? Athenagoras, an accomplished Athenian philosopher, converted through reading the Holy Scriptures, which he had taken up in order to refute, presented, in the year 177, an Apology, or Plea for the Christians, to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Com- modus. In this treatise he says, ‘‘ Amongst us you will find uneducated persons and artisans and old women, who if they are unable by words to prove our doctrine, yet exhibit by their deeds the good arising from their conviction of its truth. They do not make speeches, but they practise good works; when smitten they do not strike again ; when robbed they do not go to law ; they give to those who ask of them, and love their neighbours as themselves.’’ Repu- diating the stock accusation of being murderers and cannibals, he continues, ‘‘ The stories told about us rest on nothing better than indiscriminating popular talk ; no Christian has been convicted of crime. ... We cannot endure even to see a man put to death, though justly. The pastime which you fondly dote upon is the combats of gladiators and wild beasts. But we, deeming that to gaze on manslaughter is much the same as slaying a man, have renounced such spectacles.” 3 In the next century, Origen writes to the same purpose: ‘‘ Those who are despised as ignorant fools and no better than slaves, no sooner commit themselves to God’s direction by accepting the teaching of Jesus, than, forsaking their sins, many of them, like perfect priests for whom such pleasures have no charm, keep them- selves pure in act and thought. The Athenians had one hiero- phant + who, not having confidence in his power to restrain his passions, resolved to smother them at the seat by hemlock, but * Chap. xxxvii. In Tertullian’s statements large allowance must be made on the score of his impassioned and rhetorical style. 2 First Apology, C+ Xvi. 3 Piea for the Christians, ¢. Xi, li., XXXVi 4 Priest, one who teaches the itysteries of religion. {HE AMPHITHEATRE, 115 amongst the Christians are men who have no need of hemlock to fit them for the pure service of God, and for whom the Word, in- stead of hemlock, is able to drive all evil desires from their thoughts.” * But we learn from Tertullian, that some who professed Christ had so far forgotten their vows as to frequent the public shows. Hear how he burns with indignation at the conduct of his unworthy brethren, and exposes the iniquity of these spectacles. ‘“ Passionate excitement is forbidden to the Christian, and the circus is the place where such excitement reigns supreme. See the people coming to it tumultuous, passion-blind, agitated about their bets. The pretor is too slow for them; their eyes roll along with the lots in his urn: they hang all eager on the signal; they raise the united shout of a universal madness. Observe by their foolish speeches how they are beside themselves. He has thrown it! they exclaim, and they announce each to his neighbour what all have seen. But they do not see what is really thrown, and they fly into passions and causeless curses and recriminations ; there are cries of applause with nothing to merit them. . . . Are we not in like manner en- joined to put away all immodesty ? But the theatre is the very focus of indecency, where nothing is in repute but what is elsewhere disreputable. ... Let the Senate, let all ranks blush for very shame. . . . How is it that the things which defile a man going out of his mouth, are not regarded as doing so when they go in at his eyes and ears?” Then as to the amphitheatre: “If it is right to indulge in the cruel and the impious, let us go there and regale ourselves with human blood. . . . He who looks with horror on the corpse of one who has died under the common law of nature, gazes down with eyes unmoved on bodies all mangled and torn and smeared with their own blood, where the unwilling gladiator is driven to the murderous deed with rods and scourges. . . . Even in the case of those who are judicially condemned to the amphitheatre, what a monstrous thing it is that in undergoing their punishment they are compelled to be manslayers. But I shall not insult my Christian readers by adding another word as to the aversion with which they should regard this sort of exhibition, though no one is more able than myself to set forth fully the whole subject, unless it be one who is still in the habit of going to the shows. I would rather leave it incomplete than any longer set memory to work.’’ t Against Celsus, b. vii., c. xlviil. 116 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. “These things,” he says again, speaking of all the shows, “ are that very pomp of the devil which we Christians have renounced. The rejection of these amusements is the chief sign to the heathen that aman has adopted the Christian faith. . . . Seated where there - is nothing of God, will one be thinking of his Maker? Will there be peace in the soul when there is eager strife about a charioteer ? Wrought up into frenzied excitement, will he learn to -be modest ? . . . Will the measures of the effeminate actor remind him of a psalm ? With his eyes fixed on the jaws of bears and the sponges of the net fighters, can he be moved with compassion? May God avert from his people all such passionate eagerness after this pernicious enjoyment. How monstrous it is to go from God’s Church to the devil’s, from the sky, as the saying is, to the sty ;? to raise the hands to God, and then to weary them in the applause of an actor; with the lips which have uttered Amen over the holy thing, to scream out in a gladiator’s favour ; to shout ‘ for ever’ to any other but to God and Christ.” 2 But those who were thus rebuked were not wanting in arguments and excuses for their conduct. ‘* Why,” said some, ‘‘ should we give up these public amusements ? Nothing is employed in them but God’s gifts which He has bestowed on men for their enjoy- ment, Nowhere in Scripture are they forbidden. Elijah rode in _ @ chariot to heaven; and we read of choirs, cymbals, trumpets, - and harps, and of David dancing before the ark; and the Apostle Paul, in exhorting Christians, borrows images from the stadium and the circus.” Others pleaded their want of learning and culture. ‘All cannot be philosophers and ascetics. We are ignorant people; we cannot read; we understand nothing of the Holy Scriptures. Ought such rigorous demands to be made upon us ?”3 . To the former, Tertullian answers : ‘‘ How acute in reasoning is human ignorance when it is afraid of losing some of the pleasures and amusements of the world! To be sure all things are the gift of God, but the question is for what end has God given them, and how may they be so used as to answer their true end: for there is * De ceelo, quod aiunt, in ccenum, — ? On the Public Shows, c. xvi., xvii., xix., xxl., xxiv., xxv. See also Tatian’s Address to the Greeks, ¢. xxiii., xxiv. Carthage, where Tertullian dwelt, was a corrupt and luxurious city, the ‘Corinth of the West.” How often in these pictures are we reminded of the race-course and the theatre in this enlightened nineteenth century ! 3 The tract On the Public Shows, printed aniong the works of Cyprian, ¢. li. ; Neander, i., pp. 385, 386: TERTULLIAN ON WORLDLY AMUSEMENTS, nla By: a wide difference between the original purity of nature and its corruption, between its Creator and its perverter. . . . Grant that you have there things that are agreeable and innocent in them- selves, even some things that are excellent. No one dilutes poison with gall and hellebore; the accursed thing is served up with condiments well seasoned and of sweetest taste.” Then, inviting the Christians to compare with those empty pleasures of the heathen world, the true spiritual enjoyments which have become theirs through faith, ‘‘ How is it,” he asks, ‘‘ that you are so ungrateful, that you are not satisfied with the many and exquisite pleasures that God has bestowed on you? For what is more delightful than reconciliation with our Father and our Lord, the revela- tion of the truth, the ‘confession of our errors, and the pardon of so many past transgressions ? What pleasure so great as the contempt of pleasure itself, or so sweet as true liberty, a pure conscience, a peaceful life, and deliverance from the fear of death.” Another writer (of the third century) answers the same objections: “Tt were far better that such persons knew nothing of the Scriptures than to read them thus; for in this way the language and examples which ought to lead men to virtue are perverted for the defence of vice.” He points out that such similes [as those used by Paul] were employed in order to inflame the zeal of the Christian in behalf of profitable things, whilst the heathen display so much eagerness on trifles ; and winds up with the wise maxim that from the general rules laid down in Scripture, reason itself can deduce those conclusions which are not expressly set forth.” To those who pleaded their ignorance, Clement of Alexandria replies: ‘‘ But are we not all striving after life? What sayest thou? How didst thou become a believer? How lovest thou God and thy neighbour? Is not that philosophy? ‘Thou sayest, ‘ I have never learned to read.’ But thou hast heard the Scriptures read ; and the faith may be learned without hearing the Scriptures, for there is a Scripture which is adapted to the capacity of the most ignorant, and which yet is divine, and that is love. Hven the business of the world may be transacted in an unworldly, in a godly manner.” ? Some may object that the Fathers manifest but little condescen- sion towards the instincts and wants of men less gifted than themselves. But there can be no question that the pastimes they * Ratio docet que Scriptura conticuit. Tertullian On the Public Shows, ¢. xx., xxvli., xxix. The tract in Cyprian, c, iii. Neander, i., 368. 2 Clement, Instructor, b. iii., c. xi. § Religion in Ordinary Life. a ad EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. condemned were vicious and corrupt in the last degree, absolutely inconsistent with the Christian life. That they could unbend may be seen in a passage of Clement, in which he tells us what kind of exercises and recreations he approves. ‘‘ Gymnastic exercises are sufficient for boys, and are good for young men, producing not only a healthy habit of body, but boldness of spirit. When this is done | without dragging a man away from better employments it is not unprofitable. . . . Let some strip and engage in wrestling, not for the sake of vainglory, but for the exuding of manly sweat; not struggling with cunning or mere show, but in a stand-up wrestling bout, grasping and disentangling of neck, hands and sides. Such a struggle with graceful strength is becoming and manly. Let others play at the ball, others take exercise in a country walk. To handle the hoe, or other implement of agriculture, is not ungentle- manly. Pittacus, King of Miletus, used to exercise himself in turning the mill; and it is respectable for a man to draw water for himself and to split billets of wood for his own use. Reading aloud, again, is useful to many ; and to watch beside a sick friend, to help the infirm, to supply the wants of the indigent, are all proper exercises. So with fishing, as in the case of Peter: but there is a better sport which the Lord assigned to his disciple when He taught him to catch men.’’* Another great temptation was extravagance in dress. From the numerous treatises on this subject it is evident that many Christian ladies fell into the snare of vying with their heathen acquaintances in the costliness and splendour of their apparel. It was the meridian day of Roman luxury. The expenditure of the wealthy was prodigal beyond all calculation. ‘‘ If there dwelt upon earth,” Tertullian thus commences his tract On Female Dress, ‘‘ a faith commensurate with the reward of it which is looked for in heaven, not one of you, best beloved sisters, from the time when she first knew the living God and became acquainted with her own condition, would desire too gay not to say too ostentatious a style of dress.” He proceeds to particulars. ‘The smallest casket contains a patrimony. On a single thread is suspended a million sesterces.? One delicate neck carries about it the value of forests and islands. To adorn the slender lobes of the ears a fortune is required, and every finger of the left hand represents a bag of silver.” ‘I see some women,” he says again, ‘‘dye their hair with saffron, as though they were ashamed of not having derived their birth from ' Instructor, b, ili,, ¢. x; 2 £8,000, TERTULLIAN AND CLEMENT ON DRESS AND LUXURY. 119 Germany or Gaul, Which of you, asks the Lord, can make a white hair black or a black hair white? But these refute Him, and say instead of white or black we make it yellow, more winning in grace,’ ! | He reminds them of the hand of persecution ready at any time to seize them in its iron grasp; and asks, “ How the wrist, wont to be encircled with the palm-leaf bracelet,? will endure till it grow into the numb hardness of its own manacle? Or how the ancle that has stepped so proudly in its glittering ornament, will suffer itself to be squeezed into the gyve; or the neck, encircled with chains of pearl and emerald, part with them to make room for the broadsword? The robes of martyrdom,” he tells them, “are even now preparing; the angels are waiting to carry us away. Go forth then to meet them arrayed in the adorning of the Prophets and apostles. Let simplicity be to you for a transparent com- _ plexion, modesty your roseate bloom, and silence the grace of your lips; fix in your ears the words of God, and upon your necks the yoke of Christ. Array yourselves in the silk of integrity and the fine linen of holiness. Thus adorned you will have God for your lover.”3 ‘Those women,” says Clement of Alexandria, ‘‘ who beautify the outside but are all empty within, are like Egyptian temples, with their porticoes, pillared halls and groves, their walls glittering with gold and gems and artistic paintings, and the shrines veiled with embroidered hangings. But when you enter the penetralia to behold the inhabitant of the temple, the object of worship, and the priest withdraws the veil, you will find nothing within but a cat or a crocodile.” 4 There was a strong temptation to women to exhibit their beauty and wealth at the public baths. The baths were constructed on an enormous scale, so as to accommodate many thousands of bathers,5 and were open to both sexes; and in their desire for admiration the ladies too often overstepped the bounds of modesty. Clement gives a startling picture of the luxury with which this favourite pastime was surrounded: portable tents were set up, covered with transparent textures or fine linen and furnished with gilded chairs, and gold and silver vessels for eating, drinking, and bathing.°® It must not be supposed that it was the women only amongst the Christian professors who thus gave way to the follies of the age. Sn te ©, 1.5) 1X >. Ds, 11., C.2V1. 2 Spatalis. 3 Ibid, c. xiii. 4 Instructor, b. iii., ¢. il. 5 The baths of Caracalla at Rome would contain 30,000 people, © Instructor, b. ili., ¢. v. 120 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. The men also come under the censor’s lash because of their extravagance and foppery. ‘But the man,” writes Clement, “ with whom the Word dwells does not get himself up, does not ornament himself; he is beautiful, for he is made like to God.” While, how- ever, he thus deals out wise counsel to his erring brethren and sisters, he does not fail to set before them the important truth that Christ who is the Word and Son of God is Himself the great Instructor." The looseness of the times is to be seen in other ways. ‘I know not how,” says Clement again, ‘but people now change their manners with the place. When they leave the meeting they become like others with whom they associate. Laying aside the mask of solemnity they show what they secretly are. They leave inside the church what they have been hearing, and amuse them- selves with gambling, love-songs, flute-playing, dancing and intox- ication.”’2 He forbids the use of dice altogether. 3 Whenever the Church goes out to meet the world she is sure to lose her lion-heart; her valiant sons are changed into a herd of deer. It was so at this period. The fear of persecution sat like a nightmare on the slumbers of the easy-going Christians, and the practice was introduced, and sanctioned by many bishops, of bargaining with informers or corrupt officers for the privilege of remaining unmolested when the evil day should come. So far was this shameful procedure carried that Tertullian says whole Churches clubbed together to purchase tranquillity. 4 The increasing laxity of morals is shown also in the tolerance of trades and occupations which would not have been suffered in earlier days. Some were now admitted into the Church who practised astrology, or gained their living by trading in frankin- cense for the heathen temples; some even worked in the temples themselves, carving or casting the statues of the divinities. Nay, Tertullian complains that ‘‘idol makers were chosen into the t Instructor, b. iii,, c. i.3 b. 1., ce. xii. It is evident from the above extracts that many wealthy families belonged to the Christian community. 2B, ii1., 6. xi, °§ Out of Church, 3 Idem, § Amusements and Associates. Judging from Clement’s reproofs on their manners and behaviour, the Alexandrian Christians in his day must have been much wanting in refinement. 4 On Flight in Persecution, c. xii., xiii. In this practice the Christians would have for their companions those who followed illegal and mostly infamous pro- fessions. ‘‘'The severe Marcionites and the enthusiastic Montanists disdained this compromise; they classed together the practice of paying for safety and that of flight in persecution, as alike unworthy of their profession.”” Robertson, Hist, of the Church, i., p. 65. PAGAN HATRED OF CHRISTIANITY. Toy ecclesiastical order.” To the unworthy excuses made by such, he replies : “One says, ‘I make but I do not worship.’ As if there were some cause for which he dare not worship, besides that for which he ought not also to make. Assuredly thou who makest idols to be worshipped art thyself a worshipper of idols. Thou worshippest them, not with some worthless perfume, but with thy own intelli- gence; not with a beast’s life, but with thy own existence. To them thou pourest out thy sweat as a libation, before them thou burnest the torch of thy cunning.” ‘‘ Although the act of idolatry be committed by others, it makes no difference if it be by my means. In no case ought I to be necessary to another while he is doing what to me is unlawful.” ! The manner of conducting trade also called for remonstrance. ‘* Let not him who sells or buys,” says Clement, ‘‘ name two prices, but state the fixed price and keep to the truth: if he does not get his price, he gets the truth, and is rich in the possession of integrity. But above all,’’ he continues, “avoid an oath regarding what is sold, and let swearing on account of other things be far from you.”’ 2 CHAPTER XVII. Pacan ANIMosiry AND CuristiAN Loyvauty—THE PHILOSOPHERS ASSAIL THE CHURCH. THe Pagan hatred towards the Christians continued unabated throughout the whole of this period. The stories of their devour- ing children, wallowing in deeds of darkness, and worshipping an ass’s head, 3 long exposed them, in spite of their virtuous conduct, to the scorn of their adversaries. Tertullian writes of the scoffing multitude: ‘‘ They blindly knock their heads against the mere name of Christian. ‘A good man,’ says one, ‘is Gaius Selus, only he is a Christian.’ ‘I am astonished that a wise man like Lucius should suddenly have become a Christian.’ And again, ‘ What a woman she was; how wanton, how gay! What a youth he was; how profligate! They have become Christians.’ Thus the re- claimed character is branded with the odious name. Some will * On Idolatry, c. vi., xi. 2 Instructor, b. iii., c. xi. § Religion in Ordinary Life. 3 See ante, pp. 33, 41, 193 EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. even barter away their comforts out of sheer hatred to the name. The husband, now no longer jealous, chases the exemplary wife out of his house; the son become dutiful, is disinherited by his father ; the master, once so indulgent, commands out of his presence the servant become more faithful than before.”’ # Notwithstanding, however, the contempt of the public, and the State persecutions to which they were subjected, the Christians were a loyal as well as a peaceable people. ‘All the taxes,” says Justin Martyr, ‘both ordinary and extraordinary, we, above all others, are everywhere ready to pay to your appointed officers, as our Master has taught us. We worship God alone; but cheerfully serve you in other things, since we acknowledge you as rulers of men.’ ? ‘ Knowing,” writes Tertullian, ‘‘that the Emperor is appointed by God, we cannot but love and honour him, and desire the welfare of the Empire over which he reigns so long as the world shall stand, for so long shall Rome endure. It must be abundantly clear that the religious system under which we live is one which inculcates a divine patience, since, though our numbers are so great, constituting all but the majority in every city, we conduct ourselves with so much quietness and moderation ; being, I may perhaps say, known rather as individuals than as organized communities, and distinguished only by having forsaken our old vices.’’ 3 To the charge that Christianity was a fraud on the temple t Apology, ¢. ill. 2 First Apology, ¢. xvii. 3 To Scapula, c. ii. Milman thinks these sentiments of loyalty were by no means universal, and refers to two writings which were extensively circulated amongst the Christians of the second century, as proofs of the existence of a Jifth monarchy element, which aimed at the overthrow of the empire as well as of Paganism. These writings were The Second Book of Esdras (a Jewish pro- duction, with some interpolations of Christian thought), and the Sibylline Oracles. Of the famous oracles there were three collections. The verses said to have been brought by the Sibyl to Tarquin, and consulted in times of difficulty by the Senate, were destroyed by fire p.c. 82. A new collection was then put together from books preserved in other places, which, after several revisions, was also burnt during the reign of Honorius, a.p. 395-423. The Sibylline verses now extant are in Greek hexameters, and are the production of Jewish or Christian writers. They range in date from B.c. 170 to a.p. 700. Of the fourteen books once known to exist twelve remain, the ninth and tenth being lost. Chief amongst the subjects treated of are the Jewish longing for a political restorer of Israel, the history of the world from the flood, the future triumphs of Christianity, and the Millennium. (Amongst the Montanists there was a general expectation of the Millennium.) Milman’s History of Christianity, vol. ii., pp. 116-125. Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Second Book of Esdras. Jebb’s Primer of Greek Literature, pp. 160, 161. TERTULLIAN S APOLOGY FOR THE CHRISTIANS. 123 revenues, the same writer replies: ‘‘ You say the revenues of the temples are daily falling off. We cannot be expected to give alms to divine as well as human mendicants; nor do we think we are required to give to those who do not ask. Let Jupiter, if he wants anything, hold out his hand. Our compassion dispenses more in the streets than yours in the temples. But,” he adds, “ the civil taxes will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the Christians. The same integrity which restrains them from defrauding one another, obliges them scrupulously to pay all civil dues; and it would be easy to show that the falsehood practised by others in the census declarations, deprives the state in one source of its revenues of as much as is conscientiously withheld by us in another,” ? At the same time he indignantly repels other charges advanced against the Christians; such as that they were the cause of the public calamities, and that they were the drones of society ; and exultingly warns his adversaries that the more his brethren were trampled upon, the more they would multiply and prosper. ‘‘ Of every public disaster,” he exclaims, ‘‘of every popular distress, you say the Christians are the cause. If the Tiber rises up to the city walls, if the Nile does not overflow the Egyptian fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is earthquake, famine or pestilence, the cry is, The Christians to the Lion!2 Tell me, I pray, how many calamities befell the world before Tiberius reigned, before Christ came ? ” Again: ‘“ We are no Brahmins or Indian Gymnosophists,3 who dwell in woods and exile themselves from common life. We do not forget the gratitude we owe to our Creator; we reject none of his creatures, though we use restraint lest we should abuse his bounty. Sojourning with you in the world, we shun neither the forum nor the shambles, nor bath nor booth nor workshop, nor inn nor weekly market, nor any other resort of commerce. We sail with you, fight with you, and tillthe ground with you. . . . In vain does the populace exult in our destruction. What they demand against us is our joy. We prefer to die rather than to fall from God. Our battle is, to be summoned to trial in order to fight for the truth at the hazard of life. It is victory to gain that for which one fights. Our victory is the glory of pleasing God; our spoil is life eternal. * Apology, c. xiii. ? Christianos ad Leonem. Observe the metre of the original (7°::). It was, no doubt, a popular song in the streets of Rome and elsewhere. Words- worth’s Church History, p. 101, note. 3 Philosophers, so called from their going barefooted, or with little clothing. 124 EARLY GHURCH HISTORY. We conquer by being killed. Call us if you will, men of the faggot or of the half-axle (in which we are burned or racked); this is our robe of victory, this is our chariot of triumph. Therefore, on, on with your work. Popular you will be if you immolate us, torture us, execrate us, crush us. Your cruelty is the trial of our con- science ; God permits us to suffer these things in order that it may be seen by all that we prefer to suffer death rather than to commit sin. Your cruelty, even the most exquisite, is of no avail against us. Itis rather that which is our hire, it draws converts to us. We grow by being mown down. The blood of Christians is the seed of the Church.’’? But the Gospel had other enemies no less formidable than the magistrates, the priests or the populace. These were the heathen philosophers, who employed against it the powerful weapons of misrepresentation, sophistry and sarcasm. We have seen the arguments. with which, in the Octavius of Minucius Felix, Cexcilius assails Christianity and defends Paganism.? The same warfare was carried on with unabated virulence to the time of Constantine. Of those who wrote during the first two centuries, the most noted was Celsus, an Epicurean,3 whose treatise, entitled The Word of Truth, written about a.p. 160, is known to us only by the refutation which nearly a century afterwards it drew from the learned pen of Origen. Amongst the charges which Celsus brings against Christianity, are the absurd conduct of those who preached it and the vulgar character of those to whom it was preached. Underneath his words, often false and unjust, their lies a profound homage to the truth, the more valuable because it is involuntary. He describes the preachers: ‘‘ There are many nameless persons who in the most facile manner act as if they were inspired. They go through the cities, declaiming within the temples and outside the temples, and through the armies, everywhere attracting attention. They declare, ‘I am God; I am the Son of God;’ or, ‘I am the Divine Spirit. I have come because the world is perishing, and you, O men, are perishing for your iniquities. But I want to save you ; and you shall see me return with heavenly power. Blessed is he who now does me reverence. On all the rest I will send down « Semen est sanguis Christianorum. Apology, ¢. xl, xlii., xlix.,1 These words have passed into a proverb. The translation of the last paragraph is from Dr. Wordsworth, who has admirably reproduced the impetuous style of Tertullian in its rugged grandeur. Church History, pp. 101, 102. Ante, p. 42. 3 Or, as others think, a Platonist. CELSUS AND LUCIAN OF SAMOSATA. 125 eternal fire, both on cities and countries. Those who know not the punishments which await them shall repent and grieve in vain; but those who are faithful to me I will preserve eternally.’ To these promises they add strange and unintelligible words which every fool and imposter may apply to serve his own purposes.” ? Regarding those to whom the preachers of the Gospel addressed their message, he says, ‘‘ Such as invite to participation in other religious mysteries begin by proclaiming, ‘ Let every one come who is free from stains, and his soul conscious of innocence, and who has lived an upright life.’ But these Christians call to those who are sinners, those who are foolish, to children and to the un- fortunate, and offer to them the Kingdom of God. What are sinners but unjust persons and thieves and house-breakers and poisoners and committers of sacrilege and robbers of the dead ? ” To all which Origen makes a Gospel answer, concluding with the words, ‘‘ They that be whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.”’ 2 | | . Again, Celsus reproaches the Christians with saying, and often repeating to their disciples, such words as these : ‘‘ Do not examine, only believe; your faith will save you. The wisdom of this life is vain, but the foolishness of faith is a good thing.” ‘* We answer,”’ replies Origen, ‘‘ that if it were possible for all to leave the business of life and devote themselves to philosophy, no other method ought to be adopted. But this is impossible, partly on account of the necessities of life, partly on account of the weakness of men, so that only a very few devote themselves to study. As to the great multitude of believers, who have washed away the mire of iniquity in which they once wallowed, is it not better for them to believe without a reason, and become changed through the belief that men are chastened for sins and honoured for good works, than to have refused to be converted on the strength of faith alone, putting it off until they could make a thorough examination of the reasons for ib?’ 3 Another philosophic author was Lucian of Samosata, a friend of Celsus, who sought to bring the Christians into disrepute by a story which he called ‘‘ The Death of Peregrinus.” This satirical pro- duction is only worthy of notice as containing, like the accusations of Celsus, an unconscious testimony to the faith and virtues of the Christians. He says, “These poor men, it seems, had persuaded ™ Quoted by Origen, Against Celsus, b. vii., c. ix. 2 Matt. ix.12. Origen, Against Celsus, b. iii., c. lix., lxi. 3 Idem, b, i., c. ix. 126 HARLY CHURCH HISTORY. themselves that they were to beimmortal. Despising death, there: fore, they offered up their lives a voluntary sacrifice. They had learned from their lawgiver that they were all brethren, and that, quitting our Grecian gods, they must worship their own Sophist who was crucified, and live in obedience to his laws. From these laws they learned to despise worldly treasures and to possess everything in common, a practice which they adopted without cause or reason.” ? CHAPTER XVIII. CHRISTIANS AND THE Minitary SERVICE—SLAVERY—OATHS. War. An important question arises: Did Christians of the first and second centuries serve in the Imperial armies? Justin Martyr, quoting the prophecy of Micah respecting the Gospel days, ‘‘ They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles,’’* speaks of it as being already fulfilled by the Christians. ‘‘ We,” he says, ‘‘who were once full of war and mutual slaughter, have every one through the whole earth changed -our swords into ploughshares and our spears into implements of tillage, and now cultivate piety, righteousness, charity, faith and hope, which we have from the Father Himself through Him who was crucified.” 3 ! These words may be taken as expressing the mind of the more thoughtful amongst the members of the Church, but they must not be construed too literally. The fact is that there were many Christians enrolled in the military service. The words of Tertullian. * Neander, i., pp. 218-221. Works of Lucian, translated by T. Francklin, London, 1781, vol. ii., p. 435.