LIBRARY OF PRINCETON JAN - T 2003 THEOLOGICAL SEVINARY BR162 .S45 1879 Smith, Philip, History of the Christian church during the . . . Joi^ The Students Ecclesiastical History THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH DURING THE FIRST TEN CENTURIES FROM ITS FOUXDATIOX TO THE FULL ESTABLISHMKNT OF THK HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE PAPAL POWER By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. AUTHOR OP THE "STUDENT'S OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY" AND THE "STUDENT'S NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY" WITH ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS FRANKLIN SQUARE 1879 THE STUDENT'S SERIES, l'2.\IO, Cl.OTII, CSIFOUM IN STYLE. MA.VVAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL JIISTORY. By Philip Smith. Illu«traled. THE STUDEXT-a CLASSICAL DICTIOX- ART. IlluitraUd. $( 46. AI>'ClE?fT HISTORY OF THE EAST. By Philip Smith. Illu»lr«t«J. |l 46. HISTORY OF GREECE. By Dr. Williaii Smith. IlluslrateJ. $1 46. eO.'t'S GE.VERAL HISTORY OF GREECE. With Mnps. tl 46. LIDDELL'S HISTORY OF ROitE. Illustra- ted. (1 46. UERIVALE'S GENERAL HISTORY OF ROUE. With Maps. $1 46. 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Prni.iBiiEn iiv IIARPEU & BROTnERS, New York. ty Ellhtr o/iU above booki ««< by mail, potlagt prtpaid, (o any part of the Unil'd Slo(M,on rtenpt o/tityrice. X€ill;,/ "Eucharistic Uread and Wino in a BasUot.ciMaVd l)3i;a si\\inii(iiiig.Fi«li. From the Cryptof St.t'ornelHjs.;-^^^«7f r< * " ' PREFACE. TiiK want of a compendious history of tlio Christian Church, both for the student and the general reader, has been evidenced by the enquiries made for the present work since its first announcement. In the department of Sacred History it forms a continuation of the 'Student's New Testament History;' but it is also designed to serve a wider purpose. The student of civil history feels at every step the need of a more special knowledge of ecclesiastical affairs ; and the common interest of all Cluistians in the rise and various developments of the Church, in all its branches and its aberrations too, is enhanced by a natural curiosity to trace the origin of opinions, usages, and controversies, the effects of which are deeply and even passionately felt in every succeeding age. In the effort to gratify that interest and curiosity, the author has studied to preserve impartiality; but he has not attempted to write the history of the Christian Church in a tone of unconcern for cither Christianity or the Church. The historian who would do justice to the men whose actions he records, whether in civil or ecclesiastical polity) must place himself in sympathy with each age that comes under review ; and the historian of the Church must have such sympathy — though not in the spirit of a partisan —with the thoughts and feelings, both of the great teachers and leaders and of the whole body of Christians, and even of the several parties, in every age of the Church. iv PREFACE. On these principles, supremo importance helongs to the first beginnings (the origincs) of the Church, and to the progress of its universal development through the time Avhen it especially deserved the name ; when it was the Church, and not yet a number of churches, divided by their respective nationalities, and sevei'cd by hostile feelings and irreconcilable opinions. This comparative unity, even amidst the growing strife of sects, was preserved during the first three centuries by the unexpended spirit of primitive zeal and purity, and was enforced by the constraining power of persecution. These three centuries, therefore, form our first age, that of the Primitive and Persecuted Churcli: during which we trace the rise and progress cf the Church, till the " little leaven " leavens the Eoman Empire and works beyond its bounds ; the settlement of its constitution ; the development of its doctrines and usages ; and the beginnings of most of the controversies Avhich have agitated it ever since. The unity of the Church was next maintained, though now in a sense more political than religious, by its estab- lishment as a part of the constitiition of the Empire : its institutions received a definite form on the model of the civil polity ; and it struggled — on the whole successfully — to preserve a fixed standard of " Catholic " doctrine, in opposition to each heresy as it sprang up. The barbarian peoples that overwhelmed the Western Empire, and founded the nations of Europe, not only received Christianity, but acknowledged the unity of the Church so fully as sooner or later to renounce the heresy which they at first adopted ; while the external bond of union was respected in the nominal supremacy of the" Caesar at Constantinople and the growing ascendancy of the Bishop of Rome. The general establishment of the papal influence in the "West, and the corruption of the Eastern Church, provoking the fatal blow by which the Mohammedans severed 'from the Empire its fairest provinces in Asia and Africa, maik the end of our second period, of three centuries more, at the epoch of Pope Gregory the Great. I'HKFACt:. V The great missionary enterprise of that pontifi" in our own island sounds the key-note of the third age, during which the Christianizing of Europe was completed, with the exception of some few of the northern nations, the narrative of whose conversion is carried down to its end in the last chapter of the book. The general ecclesiastical unity is preserved by the growing ascendancy of the Pope amidst the conflicts of new-born .states, and by the relations still maintained between the East and West ; and the exact middle of this period is marked by the new and fascinating scheme of a universal Christian state for the West, which seemed to be embodied in the Holy EoMAN Empire, though at the cost of a final severance from the East. But that delusive ideal, too fair to be realized in this world of self^ih passions, contained the germs both of political disruj^tion and of a struggle for life and death betwfeen the civil and ecclesiastical heads, which could not leign together. The climax of that senti- mental theory in the fellowship of Otho III. and Gehbert at once revealed its destined failure ; and the age which began with Constantine's departure from Eome, leaving Sylvester I. in possession of the Lateran, ends with the deaths of Otho III. and Sylvester II., just at the mil- lennial epoch of Christianity. The present work embraces this whole period of a thousand years, including all that especially relates to the Tiniversal Christian Church, in contrast with its na- tional divisions ; and it is thus complete in itself. The history of the Medieval Church forms a separate branch of the whole subject. Originally the book was intended to come down to the eve of the Reformation ; but it was found impossible to include the History of the Church in the jVIiddle Ages, except at the sacrifice of much that seemed essential in the earlier periods. If the effort .made in the present volume should prove to be success- ful, it is proposed to carry on the subject, so as to give in another the History of the Medieval Church, and the History of the Keformation. vi ^ PREFACE. The author is well aware that, in so vast a suljject, he must often have shown his need of the favourable con- sideration of the reader as to the execution of the work. Though the subject has formed one of his special studies, he does not claim to have founded the present munu;il on original research. "While making nse of the well known chief woiks, which it is superfluous to enumerate— as those of Mosheim. Schrockh, Iseander, Gieseler, Milman, and Ilallam — he has ,to make special acknowledgment of his obligation to the Manuals of KuRZ and Xjedneu, as guides to the outlines of tlie History ; to Dr. Philip Schakf's exhaustive and admirable 'History of the Christian Church ' during fiie first six centuries, the completion of which is greatly to be desired ; and to Canon L'obertson's ' History of the Christian i^hurch,' from its beginning to the epoch of the lieformation, which now worthily liolds the place of the best, as it is the latest, complete English Ecclesiastical History in a moderate compass. Witli regard to the last two works, we have in many cases preferred TO use the author's own words rather than merely to vary the form while following the substance. In the account of rites and usages, ecclesiastical architectTire, and kindred subjects, considerable use lias been made of the ' Dictionary of Ciiristian Antiquities,' edited by Dr. William Smith and Professor Cheethani. Oratory at Galcrus in Kerry. One of the earliest Ecclesiastical Buildings In Ireland. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PACK ON THE CHURCH AND ITS HISTORY .. .. 1 Notes and Illustrations : — The words /;cc/csia (^k/cAtjo-io) and Cliurch H BOOK I. THE PEIMITIVE AND PERSECUTED CHURCH. From the Coming of Christ to Constantine's Edict of Universal Toleration. Centuries I.-III. CHAPTER I. THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST IN its relation to the Origin oe the Christian Cherch. A.D. i-ao 1-^ Notes and Illihtraliom : — On the alleged contemporary notices of Jesus Christ elsewhere than in the New Testament 25 CHAPTER II. THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, a.d. 30-9G. From the Ascension of Christ to the Destrection of Jerusalem AND THE Death of St. John ; aij^o to the Ei-och of the Death OF DoMiTiAN 28 Notes and Illustrations : — (•\.) The Ten General Persecutions >^>8 (B.) The Records of the Apostolic Church outside of the New Testament ^^ viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. PAGB THE AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Cent. II. From Nerva TO CoMMODUS. a. d. 96-192 Gl CHAPTER IV^ THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THE SECOND CENTURY 81 CHAPTER V. THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. From the Accessiox of Septimius Severus to Coxstantine's Edict OF Toleration, a. d. 192-313 101 CHAPTER VI. THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY 127 I. Greek Writers of the Alexandrian School 129 H. Greek Writers of the School of Antioch 147 HI. Latin Writers of the African School 152 Sotes and Illustrations : — (A.) Novatian and his Schism 168 (B.) Minor Latin Writers of the Third Century 1G8 CHAPTER yil. CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Its Memueusiiip, Ministry, and Government. Centuries I.-HI. 170 Notes ami Illustrations : — List of (Ecumenical Councils 191 CHAPTER VHI. THE WORSHIP, AND SACRAMENTS. AND FESTIVALS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Centlkies I.-IIL .. 192 CHAPTER L\. DOCTRINES AND HERESIES OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Centiuies I.-III 213 CONTENTS. IX BOOK II. THE CHUKCH OF THE KOMAN ElMPIRE. Qenturies IV.-VI. CHAPTER X. THE FLAVIAN DYNASTY AND THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. PAGE From the Edict of JIilan to the Death oe Coxstantius II. A.u. 313-361 235 CHAPTER XI. THE FALL OF PAGANISM. From the Accession of Julian to the End of the Dynasty of Thkodosius. a.d. 301-455 265 CHAPTER XII. PROGRESS AND INTERNAL STATE OF THE CHURCH DURING THE FOURTH CENTURY 286 CHAPTER XIII. THE FATHERS OF THE NICENE CHURCH. Centuries IV. and V 309 CHAPTER XIV. AUGUSTINE AND THE PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY. a.u. 354-429 334 CHAPTER XV. THE NESTORIAN AND EUTYCHIAN CONTROVERSIES. To THE Fourth General Council at Chalcedon. a d. 451 .. ,348 1* CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. PACE THE MONOPHYSITE AND MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSIES IN THE EASTERN CHURCH. From the Council of Chalcedox to the Sixth General Council AT Constantinople, a. d. 451-681 361 CHAPTEIi XVII. CHURCHES OF THE NEW TEUTONIC KINGDOMS- PROGRESS OF THE PAPACY. Cestukies A'. AND VI 384 CHAPTER XVIII. INTERNAL STATE OF THE CHURCH. Centuries IV.-VI. 399 Notes and Illustrations : — (A.) Early Ecclesiastical Calendars 483 (B.) The Athanasian Creed and the Utrecht Psalter .. .. 487 BOOK III. THE DECLINE OF THE EASTERN CHUECII AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMMEE. Centuries VII.-X. CHAPTER XIX. POPE GREGORY THE GREAT AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. Century VII 489 CHAPTER XX. THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS, AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Century VIII 518 Xotes and Illustrations : — The Controversy on Adoptionisni .. .. 527 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XXI. THE EASTERN CHURCH. Centuries VII.-IX. Especially tiik JIoiiammedan Conquest and the Iconoclast Disputes 528 CHAPTER XXH. ■^HE WESTERN CHURCH UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF ClIARLES THE GrEAT. CeNTURY IX. 551 CHAPTER XXIII. THE CHURCH IN THE TENTH CENTURY. From the Death of Pope John VIII. to the Death of Poj>e Sylvester II. a.d. 882-1003 571 CHAPTER XXIV. CONVERSION OF HEATHEN NATIONS DURING THE Ninth, Tenth, and following Centuries 585 Mausoleum of Thcodoi ie, at Ruvi una. Emblem of the Church— Dove and Sheai. From a Gem LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Engraved Cross, Monogram, and Emblems, of the earliest epoch .. Title Eucharistic Bread and Wine v Oratory at Galerus in Kerry vi Diadem. From Ferrario vii Mausoleum of Theodoric, at Ravenna xi Dove and Sheaf, as Emblems of the Church sii Corona Lucis, with liuttones used as Lamps xiii The Twelve Apostles xiv Episcopal Chair xxxi Symbol of the Apostles ..xsxii Bethlehem and Jerusalem as Symbols xxxvi Upper Half of the Crucifixion MS. of Rabula 1 Christ sitting, with the Doctors standing before Him 13 Portrait of Christ. From a Gem 27 Ruins of the Palace of the Csesai's 28 The Roman Catacombs. Gallery with "Loculi " 61 Cave-Church of the Apocalypse in Patraos 81 Altar of S. Alessandro on the. Via Nomentana, near Rome 100 Symbol of the Church as a Ship 101 Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs under Decius 126 The Crucifixion. Diptych of Kambona 127 Baptismal Dove. Catacomb of Poutianus 169 Baptismal Ceremony 170 Ancient Syrian Church of the Sixth Century, at Kalb-Louzeh .. .. 192 Church of St. George, Thessalonica 213 Agape. From the Cemetery of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus . . . . 234 The Arch of Constantine 235 'i\\Q Laharum. From a Coin 240 The Christian Monogram (two forms) 240 „ on an early engraved Stone 241 „ on an Encolpion of Gold 241 „ from the Catacombs : (A)of Callixtus; (b) and (c) of St. Agnes; (d) of Domitia .. ..241 (e) from the Tomb of Flavia Jovina 242 Two Portraits of Constantine the Great 264 The Basilica of St. Paul at Rome 265 Great Cross of the Lateran : in Mosaic 285 Church of S. ApoUinare in Classe, Ravenna 286 Clerical Costumes, 309 Ambo (Pulpit) of S. ApoUinare Nuovo, Ravenna 334 Ancient Syrian Church of the Sixth Century 348 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii PAGE The Church of St. Sophia, at Constantinoiile 361 Portraits of Justinian and Theodora 371 Ciborium of S. Apollinare in Classe, at liaveuna 383 Lombardic Chapel at Friuli 384 Sanctuaiy of S. Apollinare in Ciasse 399 Plan of the Basilica of Keparatus 417 Plan of the Basilica of Trajan 419 Plan of the Cathedral of Parenzo 420 Plan of the Chapel of St. Piran, Cornwall 421 Basilica of St. Peter at Rome, built by Constantine 422 Gabbatha: bowl-shaped Lainp 4213 Crown of Svintila, King of the Visigoths , 423 Table-Altar from Auriol, in France 425 Altar or Table, from a mosaic of S. Apollinare in Ciasse, Ravenna .. 42G Ciborium, from a mosaic in the Church of St. George at Thessalouica 427 Altar of St. Anibrogio, at Milan 428 Section of the Basilica of St. Agnes, Rome 429 Plan of Santa Costanza, Rome 430 Plan of St. Stefano Rotondo, Rome 431 Plan of the Cathedral at Bosrah 432 Section of the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople.. 432 Plan of St. Sophia, Constantinople 433 Plan and Section of St. Vitale, Ravenna 434 A Pectoral Cross, front and back 445 The Perpendicular of the Vatican Cross 440 Theodelinda's Crucifix 447 Consular Diptych of Stilicho 455 Ancient Baptistery at Aquileia 482 Chalices, from a Sarcophagus at Bordeaux 483 Suspended Chalices 486- Baptistery at Ravenna: Elevation and Section 488 St. Martin's Church, Canterbury 489 Crown of Charles the Great ..' 518 The Second Council of IS ica;a 528 The /conosiasis or Image-Stand of a Greek Church 550 Presentation of a Bible to Charles the Bald 551 Chapel of St. John at Poitiers 571 Cathedral at Tchernigov, near Kiev 585 Corona Lucis : Crown for supporting Lamps G04 Ooron.n l.iiois, with Huttoiies used as Lamps. The Apostles. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. THE FIRST CENTURY.f „.^„ B.C. ' PAGB 4. The Nativitv of Jescs Christ (Received Era) 15 A.D. 14. Tiberius succeeds Augustus as Emperor. 27. Public Ministry of Jesus Christ; and the nucleus of His Church 15 30. Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ 31 Public Manifestation of the Christian Church at Pentecost .. 31 34? Appointment of />(,'aco)is 32 36. Martyrdom of Stephen. Jewish l*ersecution 33 The Church scattered from Jerusalem 33 Conversion of the Samaritans and Proselytes 33 37. Caligula Emperor. Conversion of St. Paul ; and his mission to the Gentiles .. .. 34 39. Rest of the Church under Caligula 34 40. Conversion of Cornelius and Gentile Proselytes 35 Simon Magus, said to be an heresiarch 33,220 41. First Gentile C/iwrcA at Antioch 35 The disciples first called Christians 36 Claudius Emperor. Herod Agrii'PA I. King of Judea .. .. 37 44. Herod's Persecution. Martyrdom of St. James the Great .. 37 45. Paul and Barnabas sent to the Gentiles 38 48 (or 50). The Assembly (" Council ") at Jerusalem 40 The "Apostolic Precepts " 41 54. Nero Emperor 44 62. Persecution in Judea. Martyrdom of St. James the Just .. 47 • The arrangement of our work by subjects, and not mere clironologlcal sequence, prevents this Tuble from being a ChronoloRlail Summary of Contents ; but, as far us possible, we append to each entry In the Table the corresponding page of the book. t For the age of Christ and the Apostles, we give liere only the nio>t critical dates properly belonging to Church, History. The full chronological table will bi! found in the ' Student's New Testament History,' pp. 636. foil. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XV A.D. PAGE 65. First " General Persecution" hy l^ero 53 66. Martyrdom of Paul and (probably) of Peter 54 68. Death of Nero: Galisa Kmperor. 69. Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian, Emperors. 70. Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 55 The "Church of Jerusalem" at Pella 55 79. Titus, Emperor. 81. DoMiTiAX, Emperor. 91-100? Clement of Rome .y^ 85 9G ? Second General Pei-sccution. St. John at Patmos . . . . 56-58 ■^ The Nicolaitans, Cerinthus, and other heretics .. .. 220 90. Nerva, Emperor. Religious Toleration 58 98. Trajan, Emperor. His Edict against Guilds 64 SECOND CENTURY. 104? Pliny's account of Christianity .. 65 IdQ, i. 1\\^ Third General Persecution 07 107. The Protomartyr Svmeon of Jerusalem 67 115 ? Martyrdom of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch 68 The "Epistles" of Ignatius 85 117. Hadrian, Emperor 69 125 (ciVc). The "Apologies" of QuADRATUS and Aristides .. .. 69 132-5. Insurrection of Bar-cochab, and desecration of Jerusalem ., 70 Final Severance of Judaism and Christianity 70 —Rise of Gnosticism. The Jewish Gnostics; Ehionites, &c. .. 71 Basilidcs, Valentinian, and other Gnostics 221 Marcion, a little later 222 138. Antoninus PiUS, Emperor, tolerates Christianity 71 First " Apology " of Justin Martyr 118 150 (ciVc). LuciAN and Celsus oppose Christianity 72 160. Controversy about Easter : Anicetus and Polycarp 210 •^Rise of the J/onJeo-Platonist 122 Gregorius Thaumaturgus, o6 145 Rise of the Mauichean heresy in Persia 224 272 (or 274). Birth of Constantine the Great 237 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. xvii A.D. J'ACE 275. Edict against the Christians, wrongly called the Xinth General Pcrsecuiion ; revoked by the Emperor Tacitus 122 Long peace and growth of Christianity 122 276. Gothic wars of Pkouus and (278) Cakus and his Sons .. .. 122 277 (cjVc). Manes put to death by Varanes 224 2S0 (circ). St. Anthony becomes a hermit 302 284. Diocletian, Emperor (^M(7Msc.). Lactantius at Nicomedia 327 Armenia converted by GREGORY the Illuminator .. .. 37U FOURTH CENTURY. :i03. The great Tenth General Persecution 124 St. Aluan the proto-martyr of Britain 125 HiEKOCLES, persecutor and literary opponent of Christianity .. 117 304. PoKPiiYRV, Neo-Platonist, opponent of Christianity, o6. .. 122-3 305. Abdication of Diocletian and Maximian 125 Galerius, .<4u(/MstMS in the East 125 Maximin, Cccsa;- in Syria and Egypt 125 Severus, Ctcsar in Italy and Africa 125 Constantius I. CiiLORUS, Augustus in the West 125 306. His death at York ; and pi-oclamation of Constantine THE Great as Ccrsnr* 126 Severus made Augustus by Galerius 126 Maxentius, son of Maximian, proclaimed Augustus at Rome. 126 The Persecution continued in the East 126 Meletian Schism in Egypt 259 307. Severus killed in battle by Maxentius 126 308. Licinics declared Augustus by Galerius ; likewise Constantine and Maximin (there are now 4 August! ; besides Maxentius) 126 309. Pamphilus of Cxsarea martyred 146 311. Hesychius, Methodius, and Lucius martyred 146-7 Edict of toleration by Galerius. His death 128 Death of Mensurius, bishop of Carthage. Donatist Schism -.. 249 • His regnal years are dated from 306, though he was not Aujustus till 308. xviii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.D. rAGE 312. Victory of CONSTANTINE over Maxentius 128,239 313. Edict OF Milan, establishing Universal Freedom of Eelijion 128, 243 313-323. Other Acts in favour of Christianity 244 ^'GIS, f. Lateran Council against the Donatists 249 -314. Council at Arelate (^r/c's) 249 315. Don ATUS "the Great" made bishop of Carthage 249 315 (cjVc). Eusehius made bishop of Cajsarea 310-11 316. Edicts of Constantine against the Donatists 249-50 318. Dispute between Alkxander, bishop of Alexandria, and the —^)resbyter Auius on the /tOTWooMSjan doctrine 2'>Z 321. Excommunication of Arius by a Synod 253 324. Defeat of Licinius. Constantine, sole Emperor, publicly pro- fesses Christianity, and recommends it to his subjects .. 237 Constantinople founded 245 An QScumcnical Council summoned 245 End of the " Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebi us 311 325. The I'tcenwato of Constantine 25G -"First Oecumenical Council at Nic^ea : condemns Arius ; frames the " Nicene Creed" (comp. a.d. 381); settles the Paschal Feast (Easter) 258-59 Pachomius, founder of ccenobite monasticism in Egypt .. .. 306 End of the " Chronicon" of Eusebius (but continued by Jerome to 378) 312 328. Atiianasius, bishop of Alexandria 260 329 (cjVc). Birth of Basil THE Great 313 330 (ciVc). Death of Lactantius 327 Birth of Gregory ^'AZIANZEN 317 333. Jambliciius, the Neo-Platonist, o6 122 -834-5. Councils of Cajsarea and Tyre against Athanasius 260 336. His first Exile. Death of Arius 261 337. Baptism and Death of Constantine THE Great 247 Constantine IL, Constantius II., and Con.stans, Emperors . 247 338. Return of Athanasius. Schism and Riots at Alexandria .. 261 340. Constantine II. killed in battle 248 Eusebius of Ca!sarea, o6 311 340 (oiVc). Birth of HiERONYMUS (St. Jerome) 328 --341. The Council of Antioch condemns Athanasius 248 His Second Rxile. He is received at Rome 262 Eusebius of Nicomc-vlia maile patriarch of Constantinople .. 262 His death. Schism between Macedonius and Paul. ~343. The Council of Sardica against Arianism 262 -Rival Council at Philippopolis 262 Persecution by Sapor II., king of Persia 289 345 (or 346). Second Restoration of Athanasius 262 347. John Chkysostom born 320 348. Ulkilas bishop of the Goths 288-9 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. xix A.D. I'AGK 350. CONSTANS killed in Gaul 248 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem 32-t Hilary, bishop of Pictavum (/Vi/cvs) 323 _o51. First Council of Sirmium against Marcellus. 353-5. Ariaa Councils of Aries and Milan 262 354. Birth of Augustine 336 356. Third Exile of Athanasius 263 357-60. Death of St. Anthony. His ' Life ' by Athanasius gives a great impulse to Monasticism 304 — Several Councils on the Arian dispute 264 360. Monastic life of Basil and Gricgory Nazianzen .. .. 314,318 361. JuLiAX "the Apostate," Emperor 266 362. The public rites of heathenism restored 270 Liberty proclaimed for all Christian sects 270 Third return and fourth exile of Athanasius 271 - 362 (or 370 circ). The Sy7iod of Gatujra opposes the growing zeal for monasticism and celibacy 307 363. JoviAX, Emperor. Christianity restored 271 Edict of toleration for all religions 271 364. Valentixiax (in West) and Valexs (in East), Emperors .. 271 The Arian Valens persecutes the Orthodox 271 367. GUATIAN associated with Valentisian L in the West .. .. 272 368. Hilary of Poitiers, o6 328 370. Basil, bishop of Ca;sarea in Cappadocia 314 371. HiLARiON, chief of Syrian hermits, oi 304 372. Council of Laodicea 293 Gregory Nyssi:n, bishop of Nyssa 316 Traditional date of St. Patrick's birth 506 373. Death of Athanasius. Sohism at Alexandria 271-2 374. Ambrose chosen bishop of Milan 274 Gregory Nazianzen, bishop of Nazianzus 318 Augustine joins the Manicheans j .. 337 375. Death of Valentixian L Valentinian H. (o-^. 4) associated with Gratian in the West 272 —Rise of the Apollinarian heresy 350 379. Valens killed in battle with the Goths 350 TiiEODOSius L THE Great made Emperor in the East .. .. 350 Death of Basil the Great and of Ephr.em Syrus .. 315, 325 380. Edicts of both Emperors against Pagans and heretics .. 272-3 Mission of Gregory Nazianzen to Constantinoj)le. He is elected to, and resigns, the Patriarchate of Constantinople 272-3 381. Second (Ecumenical Council, the First of Constantin- ople. Addition to the Nicene Creed 273-4 ^facedonian and ApoUinarian heresies condemned 274 381 (and 385). Laws against heathen rites in the East and West .. 280 •XX CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, A.n. PAGE 382, Removal of the Altar of Victory at Rome 280 Plea of Symmachus for Paganism 280 Jerome at Rome 330 383. Revolt of Maximus and death of Gratian 276 Augustine at Rome : he renounces Manicheism 337 385. Jerome i-etires to his monastery at Bethlehem 33-1 Contest of Ambrose with the Arian empress-mother Justina 276-8 Augustine is with Ambrose at Milan 276-8, 337 The heretic Priscillian beheaded in Gaul 28S Earliest Papal Decretal Epistle (of Siricius) against the Marriage of the Clergy 296 386. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, o5 325 Commission to close the temples in Egypt .. 280 387. Augustine baptized. Death of Monica 338 388. Augustine returns to Carthage -. 338 Victory of Theodosius over Maximus 278 390. Death of the heretic Apollinaris 350 Massacre of Thessalonica. Penance of Theodosius 278 Plea of LiBANius for Paganism 281 Destruction of the Serapeum at Alexandria 281 390 (or 391). Gregory Nazianzen, o6 319 392, Valentinian II. ob. Theodosius I. sole Emperor 282 Edicts against Paganism and Heresy 282-3 393, Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius 338 Council at Hippo Regius 342 394, DiODORUS, bishop of Tarsus, o6 351 395, Death and Apotheosis of Theodosius 1 279,283 Final Division of the Empire between Arcadius (in the East) and HoNORius (in the West) .. 283 395 (cjVc). Gregory Nyssen, o6 317 Didymus of Alexandria, o6 319 "■397. Coitnpil of Ca7-thage settles the Canon of Holy Scripture .. ., 342 Death of Ambrose 279 398. Chrvsostom, patriarch of Constantinople 321 400 (or 397). St. Martin, bishop of Turonum (7b?»'s), o6 308 400 (c(Vc.). Augustine writes his "Confessions" 341 FIFTH CENTURY. 402. The Western capital transferred to Ravenna 283 Innocent I. extends the papal jurisdiction 394 Epipiianius of Cyprus, o6 323 Contest of Chi-ysostom with the Empress Eudoxia 321 404. Gladiatorial shows and heathen sacrifices abolished 284 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. xxi A.D. PAGE 405. The Barbarians invade Gaul 386 Settlement of the BuRGUNDiANS 386 The Vandals and SuEVES in Spain 386 407. Banishment and death of CiiRYSOSroM 321-2 408. Death of Arcadius. Theodosius II. Emperor in East .. .. 284 410. Sack of Rome by the Goths under Alaric 386 410-32 ? St. NiNiAN, apostle of the Picts o04 411. Pelagius and CcELESTius in Africa 344 ^^Rise of the Fclagian Heresy 345 412-16. Various Synods against it 345-6 412 (cw-c). Cyril, bishop of Alexandria 352 Paulus Orosius, historian and anti-Pelagian 345 411. Council at Carthage against the Donatists 215 415. Severe laws ofHonorius against them 215 Kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain 386 "418. The ^'i/norf o/ C(»'jnod of Hertford : practical union of the English Church .. 513 674. Benedict Biscop founds Wearmouth Monastery 516 678. Benedict Biscop brings pictures into Britain 451 Wilfrid visits the Frisians 519 679. Council at Rome under Pope Agatiio condemns the ^lono- thelites. (Wilfrid present) 377 680 (arc). Winfrid (St. Boniface) born 519 680-1. The Sixth (Ecumenical Council, the Third of Con- stantinople {First Trullan), condemns the Monothelite heresy 377-8, 493, 532 682. Benedict Biscop founds Jarrow monastery 516 684. Wearmouth and Jarrow united under abbot Ceolfrith .. .. 516 685. Wilfrid converts the South Saxons, the last heathen people in Britain 544 691. The Sccojid Trullan Council at Constantinople {Concilium Quini- sex/um) on discipline ; approves the Cr!(c(^j 446 696. WiLLiBRORD, archbishop of Utrecht, preaches in Denmark 519, 587 698. Carthage taken by the Arabs; final end of Roman rule in Africa 531 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. XXV EIGHTH CENTURY. i-I>. PAGE 701. John Maron, the younger, of the Lebanon, oi 382 709. Arab conquest of North Africa complete 531 Death of Wilfrid, bishop of York 515 710. Naitun, king of the Picts, sends for architects to build churches after the Roman fashion 515 711. Mohammedan conquest of Spain '. 531-2 716. Mission of Winfrid (St. Boniface) to Frisia 519 717. Leo III. the Isaurian, Emperor 532 724. Leo's first edict against Pictui-es ; beginning of the Iconoclast Disputes 533 731. Bede's Ecclesiastical Jlistori/ comi^htei 517 A Roman Council, under Gregory III., anathematizes (he Iconoclasts 535 732. Egbert, archbishop of York 517 Charles Martel defeats the Saracens at Tours 520 733. Greece and Illyricum transferred by the Emperor Leo to the patriarchate of Constantinople 535 735. The Venerahle Bede, 06. Alcuin born 516-7 739. Death of WiLLiimoRD 519 741. Deaths of Leo III., Charles Martel, and Gregory III. 522, 535 CoxsTANTiNE V. CoPROXYMrs, Emperor 535 742. Boniface made Archbishop of Mainz 521 The Monastery of Fulda founded 522 750. .loHN OF Damascus, ob 534-5 752. Pepin the Short deposes Childeric, the last Merovinfjian king of the Franks ; founds the Carolitiijian I)i/nastij, with the sanction of Pope Zacharias. Severance of the West from the Empire 521 754. Iconoclast Council at Constantinople 536 Pepin named Patrician of Rome by Pope Stephen II 522 755. His expedition to Italy, and Donation to the Roman See, which first makes the Pope a Temporal Prince 523 Boniface martyred in Frisia 521 767. Execution of Constantine, patriarch of Constantinople .. .. 536 Synod of Gentilliacum on the question of Images 539 768. Pepin 06. Charles and Carlomax, kings 523 771. Charles the Great, sole King of the Franks 523 772. First Campaign of Charles against the Saxons ; destruction of the Irminsul 525 774. Charles overthrows the Lomhard Kingdom; confirms and enlarges the Donation of Pepm 523 775. Leo IV. Emperor. Irene favours Image-worship .. .. 536-7 2 xxvi CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.D. J-AGB 780. CONSTANTINE VL Emperor. Irene governs 537 Alouix goes to Rome ; meets Charles, and accepts his invita- tion to court 527 ~783. The "J(iy/) 541-2 Mission of Anskau to Denmark 587 Harold, King of Denmark, baptized at Ingelheim 587 827. Missionaries expelled from Denmark 588 Anskar's mission to Sweden 588 Beginning of the Saracen rule in Sicily. Dispute of Claudius, Duxgal, &c., oo Images 548 829. Theopiiilus, Eastern Emperor, opposes Imago-worship .. .. 543 The Sixth Council of Paris claims episcopal jurisdiction over princes 558 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. xxvii A.D. I'AGE 832. Synod at Constantinople against Images 543 833. AxsKAR made archbishop of Hamburg 588 Louis the Pious deposed. The " Field of Lies" ,")55 833 (cjVc). Vrohahle date o{ the Fseiido-IsidoriaH Decretals .. .. 50 1 835. Louis I. restored. Synod of Thionville 555 840. Claudius of Turin and Agobard of Lyon, 06 548 Death of Louis the Pious : civil war of his sons 555 841. Battle of Foutenailles 555 842. MiCHAKL III. (cc^. 5) Eastern Emperor 543 His mother Theodora restores Image-\vorshij> 543 The Feast of Orthodoxy 54;; 843. Treafy 0/ T'tvcfMrt ; partition of the Frank Kingdom 55G LOTHAIR I. Emperor, and King of Zof/iaWn^w .. „ .. .. 556 Louis THE German, King of Ccnmray 556 Charles the Bald, King of France 556 844. Pasciiasius Radisert, abbot of Corbie, an 336 Mark (Jan. 18 to Oct. 7) 336 Constans. ) 337 Julius I 352 361 Julian. 352 Liberius 366 363 Jovian, i [Felix II., 355-358] 364 Valentinian I.l Valens. / Gratian. j 1 [Ursinus, 366-7] 367 366 Damasus 384 375 Valentinian II. > 379 Theodosius I. ) 384 Siricius 398 II. — After the Division of the Empire, A.D. East. A.D. 395 AVest. A.D. 398 Popes. A.D. 395 Arcadius. Honorius. Anastasius I. 4ni 408 Theodosius II. 423 Theodosius 11. 402 Innocent 1 417 425 Valentinian III. 417 Zosimus . . . . [Kulalius 418-9] 418 456 Maxiraus. 418 Boniface I 422 455 Avitiis. 422 Celestine I 43? 450 Marcian. 457 Majorian. 432 Sixtuslll 44(1 457 Leol. 461 Severus (Ricimer). 440 Leo I. the Great . . 461 467 Antheraius. 461 Hilary 468 474 1^0 11. 472 Olybrius. 468 Simplicius . . . . 4ii3 474 Zeno. 1 472 fGlycerius. \ INepos. j Augustulus. 483 Felix 11. [III.] .. 492 475 Basiliscus. 475 492 Gelaslus I 496 477 Zeno restored.* 476 End of W. Empire. 496 Anu^tai^ius II. 493 * Though, for convenience sake, the division of East and West is preserved, it must be remembered that Zfixo was acknowledged bv the Roman Senate as Emperor, and that all the Emperors rejpning at Constantinople claimed to be Roman (and not merely Eastern or Byzantine) Emperors, till Michael I- acknowledged the new Western Empire of Charles the Grtat (812). LIST OF POPES AND EMPERORS. II. — After the Division of the Empire. — continued. A.D. East. A.D. West. A.D. Popes. A.D. RosiE AND Italy. 491 Anastasius. 476 480 493 Odoacer, patrician and (480) King. Clovis, king of the Saltan Franlcs. Tbeodoric I. {Kingdom of the 498 Symmachus . . . . [Laurence 498-505] 514 518 Justin I. Ostroyoths till 514 Honnisdas . . . . 523 567 Exarchate of 11a- ' venna tilt 752; 523 John I. . . ; . . . 526 527 Justinian I. and 526 Felix III. [IV.] . .; 530 565 Justin 11. 568 Alboin, Kingdom of the Lombards till 774 : besides the 530 530 Boniface il FDioscorus, Sept. 17- Oct.14] 532 530 578 Tiberius II. Saracens in the 532 John II 535 582 Mauricius. South.* 536 537 555 560 574 578 Sylverius . . . . Vigilius Pelagius I John III Benedict I Pelagius 537 555 560 573 578 590 C02 Phocas. 591- Agilulf, king of the 590 Gregory I. the Great 604 615 Lombards. 604 Sabinian 606 615 Theolinda, as guar- dian of her son 607 Boniface III. (Feb. to Nov. 12) 607 610 Heraclius. Adelwald. 608 619 625 Boniface IV Boniface V Honorius I 615 625 638 641 Constantine III. 638 Severinus . . . . 640 Heracleonas. 640 John IV 642 641 Constans II. 642 649 654 Theodore I Martini Eugenius I 649 653 657 668 Constantine IV. 657 Vitalian 672 Pogonatus. 672 676 673 682 683 Adeodatus . . . . Douus Agatho Leo II Benedict IL . . . . 676 678 681 683 685 685 Justinian II. 687 Pipin, of Ileristal, 685 JohnV 686 695 Leontius. dukeof the Franks, Major domus of all the three Merovin- gian kingdoms. 686 Conon [Paschal 687-692.] [Theodore Sept.- Dec. 687.] 687 688 Cunibert, king of the Lombards. 687 Sergius I 701 698 Tiberius A psimar. 698 Anafestus, the first 701 John VI 705 705 Justinian II. (restored). Doge of Venice. 705 Sisinnius (Jan.- 711 ' Philipplcus. Feb. 7.) 713 1 Anastasius II. ^12 Liutprand, king of 708 Constantine I. 715 the Lombards. 716 Theodosiuslll. 715 Charles Martel.duke 715 Gregory 11 731 717 Leo lir. the Isaurian. of the Franks, and Major Domus. 731 Gregory 111 741 • From this point to the establishment of the Carolingian dynaitr, only the more important names are entered in tliia column. LIST OF POPES AND EMPERORS. II. — After the Division of the Empire. — continued. A.D. East. A.D. West. A.D. Popes. A.D. 741 Constantine V. Copronymus. 741 747 749 753 Carlonian and Pipin the SLort succeed Charles Martel. Pipin alone. Astulphus, king of the Lombards. End of the Ex- archate. 741 Zacharias . . . . 752 7.'56. Desiderius, last king 752 (Stephen, died with- 774 of the Lombards. out consecration.) 751 Childeric III. (the 752 Stephen II 757 last Merovingian) 757 Paul I 767 deposed. PiriN [Constantine 11. THE Short, king 767-8] of the Franks (be- [Philip 768.] ginning of the Carolingian line). 76? Charles & Carloman. 768 Stephen III 772 775 Leo IV. 771 Charles the Gbeat (alone). 772 Adrian I 795 780 Constantine VI. 795 Leo III 816 Irene. III. — From the -Foundation of the Holy Eoman Empire in THE West.* A.D. Eastern Empire. A.D. Roman Empire. A.D. 795 Popes. A.D. 802 NIcephorns. 800 Charles I. the Leo III 816 Great. 811 Stauracius. 814 LoDis I. the Pious 816 Stephen IV 817 811 Michael I. (associated in the 817 Paschal I 824 813 Rhangate. Leo V. the Ar- menian. 817 Empire, 813). LoTHAiR I. associ- ated iu the Em- 824 Eugenlus II 827 820 Michael 11. Balbus. pire. 827 Valentine . . . . (less than one 827 829 842 Theophilus. Michael III. 840 Lothair I. (alone). 827 844 month). Gregory IV [John, Jan. 844] Sergius II 844 847 867 Basil I. the Macedonian. 850 Louis II, (associ- ated). 847 Leo IV 855 855 Louis II. (alone). 855 858 867 872 Benedict III [Anastasius, Aug.- Sept. 855]. Nicolas I Adrian II John VIII 858 867 872 882 875 Charles II., the Bald. 882 Marinus I (or Martin 11.) 884 * The EmperoiB are distinguished by small capitals. The other names are those of kings of the Oermans and o/ the Honxans, who never receired the iraperlftl coronation at Rome, and are not. therefore, properly called Emperors. It has not been thought necessary to give the dates of association in (Aa kiitgdom ; the dates given are those of succession and of imperia! coroiuttion. LIST OF POPES AND EMPERORS. III. — From the Foundation of the Holy Eoman Empire ut THE West. — continued. A.D. Eastern Empire. A.D. Roman Empire. | A.D. Popes. A.D. 884 Charles III., the Fat. 884 Adrian HI 885 886 Leo VI. the AVise. 885 Stephen V 891 891 GUIDO. 891 Formosus . • . . 896 894 Lambert. 896 Boniface VI. (May-June) 896 896 Aenulf (king from 887.) 896 Stephen VI 896 899 Louis the Child A.D. 911 (^l.ast of 897 Romanus . . . . (July-Nov.) 897 the CaroUngians 897 Theodore II. 897 in Germany). 898 900 (Nov.-Dec.) John IX Benedict IV. 900 903 911 Constantine VILN Porphyrogenitus. 901 Louis HI. of Pro- vence. 903 LeoV (Aug.-Sept.) 903 911 Alexander. 903 Christopher.. .. 904 919 Romanus I. | 904 Sergius 11 J 911 Lacepeiius. 1 911 Anastasius III. . . 913 944 Constantine v ) 912? Conrad I. the Fran- 913 Lando 914 VJII. ( conian. 914 John X 928 944 Stephen. f (Sons of Roma- ( The Saxan Line. nus) reignrd only 5 weeks.-/ 918 Henry I. the Fowler. 928 929 Leo VI Stephen VJl. 929 931 945 Constantine VII. 931 John XI 936 Porphyrogenitus 936 Otho I. the Great 936 LeoVll 939 (alone). 939 942 946 Stephen VIU. . . MarinuslJ (or Martin 111.) Agapetus 11. 942 94t> 955 962 Otho I. (cr. Emp.) 955 Jobr. XII 963 959 Romanus II. 963 Leo VIU 965 963 Nicephorus II. Phocas. 967 Otho II. (associ- ated). 965 [Benedict V.May- June, 964.] John Xi 11 972 969 Johnl. Tzimiace8.\ Basil II. / 972 Benedict VI. 974 969 973 Otho II. (alone). •[Bonifiice VII., July-Aug., 974.] 976 Basil 11. Calone).! Constantine IX. / 983 Otho in. ■ 983 John XIV 984 976 [Boniface VII. rest. 984-985.] 985 John XV 996 996 Otho III. (cr. Emp.) ob. 1002. 996 999 Gregory V [John XVI. 997-8.] Sylvester II. 999 1003 Bothlclipm and Jenis.ileni as Symbols. Crucifixion from :\I.S. of the Monk Rabula, a.d. 586. (See p. 448.) THE HISTOEY OF THE CHUKCH. INTRODUCTION. § 1. Definition of "The Visible Church of Christ" — Distinction between it and the Invisible and Universal Church. § 2. The Church under the Old Covenant — The "Church in the Wilderness," under the Angel Jehovah, that is, Christ — The Kingdom of David a type of the Kingdom of Heaven — Its proclamation by John and introduction by Jesus Christ. § 3. Names of the Church in Scripture — The word €kkA7je of Christ's bod}', broken for His Church ; they drank the draughts that flowed from the rock, " and that rock was Christ," the foundation on which He builds His Church. Gathered apart from the whole world, in the solemn seclusion of Sinai, they were constituted the Congregation or Church of God, and received that law from the mount of terror, of which Christ gave forth a new spiritual version from the mount of blessing, as the law of admission into His Church, the kingdom of heaven." The lawgiver, in both cases, was the same, the Angel Jehovah and tlie Son of God. He is expressly said to have been " with the Church in the wilderness," " and thus the name, as well ■ Ei)hes. iii. 15. " Acts xx. 28. » 1 Peter iii. 21. * 1 C(ir. X. 2. * Exoil. XX. ; Matthew v. ' Acts vii. 38. The word iKK\ri. 11. iNTRoi). ITS ri:lation to tiik old covenant. 3 as the essence of the Christian Cliurch, are both derived from the Old Covenant. Of that church Jeliovah was the ever-present head and ruler ; but the people, unable to maintain their spiritual con- dition, desired to be like the political societies round them, and to be governed and glorified by a king. God, in condescending to their wish, set up in the house of David a new type of His future universal sjiiritual kingdom ; and the whole witness of prophecy pointed to the coming spiritual king, whose subjects were to fomi the " kingdom of heaven," " the kingdom of God and of His Christ." When the last prophet came, as the forerunner and herald of Christ, he proclaimed, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand," and preached repentance from sin and reformation of life, as the conditions of entering into it. Christ began His ministry with the same message; and His first formal discourse to His newly-chosen apostles and to the body of His disciples— the Sermon on the Mount— laid down the laws of His kingdom, and the cha- racter of those who have a part in it. From that time to this, the Christian Church has been, in purpose and effort, how- ever imperfectly, the outward exhibition of Christ's kingdom in the world. § 3. These first principles and their consequences arc seen more clearly in the light of the terms used in Scripture to describe the Church. AVe must of course look, not to the word used in our language, which is of doubtful origin as well as of a double mean- ing, but at the original language of the New Testament, Nor is it less important to bear in mind the principle, that, as tbe Chris- tian religion is derived is translated in our Version by " congregation." ^ Matt, xviii. 17: dvf t^ ^ k k A. n o" ( a- ^av Se koI rfj s t KKAT/trias TTOLpaKovari, fffrw ffoi SxTirep & 40i/iKhi Ka\ 6 rtXdvrjs. * See 1 Corinth, vi. * Matt. xvi. 18. " Romans xii. 4, 5 ; 1 Cor. vi. 15, xii. passim; Kphes. iv. 25, v. 30. ' TMatt. xiii. 2, XXV. 10 ; Ephes. v. 23-32 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Rev. xix. 7-9, xxi. 2, 9. INTHOD. THE FIRST VISIBLE CHURCH. 5 Apostles as foundations, and joined together into a living temple, a si)iritual house. Like the ancient people who formed the congre- gation of Israel, they are " called " by Him, but with a more " heavenly calling," " called out of darkness into His marvellous light." ^ In reference to their new character, as redeemed from sin, they are called "saints;"^ as believers, they are designated by the word adopted in our Article, the " faithful ; " and, in their relation to each other, they are constantly styled by the familiar name of "brethren."^ Such are the essential characters of the members of the Christian Church ; and the full significance of these terms is declared in the Sermon on the Mount, and developed in the Apostolic Epistles. § 6. Where is this " congregation of faithful men " to be seen embodied in a " visible " existence ? The principle of the answer is to be found in our Lord's words : " Where " — whether within the narrowest or widest bounds — " two or three " — however few or however many — " are gathered in my Name, there am I in the midst of them." * Such was literally the case when, on the second day of our Lord's public appearance, the two, who believed John the Baptist's testimony to him as the Lamb of God, followed him to where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. '' In tliat lowly dwelling beside the bank of Jordan there was gathered on that evening the first Church of Christ : Himself, and Peter, and another — most probably John. The Church, as it was left by our Saviour at His ascension, was gathered together in an upper chamber at Jerusalem.^ And so we read, in several cases, of the Church in a person's house,^ whether that phrase denotes the believing members of the family alone, or whether it includes others who were wont to assemble with them for " doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and prayers." ' 1 Peter ii. 9. It is impossible not to connect this character of be- lievers as the " called," " called to be saints " (kAtjtoi 017/01 : Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2), " partakers of the heavenly calling " (Hebrews iii. 1), with the root meanin_£j of the word c/ckAtjo-io ; though it would be wrong to make this the primary reason for the name. * Rom. 1. 7, xvi. 15; 1 Cor. i, 2, xiv. 33, "all the churches of the saints," &c. &c. In fact, tiiis and ' brethren ' are the usual titles by which Christians are called in the New Testament. ' All three terms are united in Coloss. i. 2: rois iv KoXocrffoTs 07(011 Kol triffrols aSeA(^oiS. * Matt, xviii. 20. ' John i. 35-39. ^ Acts i. 13, 15; the word used is 'disciples.' Here, however, we already see a distinction between a narrower and wider sense of the Church; for the 120 among whom Peter stood \ip, could not include the 500 brethren to whom the risen Christ had appeared at once (1 Cor. xv. 6), and there were doubtless many otlier believers scattered throughout the Holy Land. ' Rom. xvi. 5 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19; Coloss. iv. 15 ; Philemon, 2. 6 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Lntuod § 7. The public life of those among whom the Gospel had its first great success was for the most part civic ; and therefore we naturally find each body of Christian converts described as the church in the city of their abode ; the Church in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in Babylon, the Church of God which is in Corinth, and so in many other cases.^ That this designation included the whole body of Christians in each city is further clear from the phrase, "the Church of the people of" such and such a city.^ This also appears from the case of the church at Jerusalem, where the number of converts was manifestly too large to meet for ordinary worship, though they might have been assembled on special occasions ; ^ and yet we never read of more than one church in Jerusalem. § 8. As another natural result of the civic constitution, when Christian communities Avcre multiplied in each portion of the Empire, they are spoken of as the churches, never as the church, in or o/'each district or province; such as, "the churches of Judea" and " through all Judea ;" * the churches which Paul confirmed, as he went through Syria ; ^ those in the south-east of Asia !Minor, in each of which Paul and Barnabas ordained ciders ; "^ the churches of Galatia,'' of Macedonia,* and those of the province of Asia,^more • The Greek formula has the preposition iv, which may also be translated *at'; for example, Acts viii. 1, ttjx/ iKKKriaiav t^v eV 'IfpoaoXv/xois. The full description, in 1 Cor. 1. 2, is well worth noting, tt? (KK\ri)cria by 'church,' stands in close connection with a solitary example, in which 'church' re- presents a Greek word difTerent from cKKAy)(ria, and a very curious example it is. The officer says to Demetrius and his fellows (in the A. V.): — "For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet bla,sphemers of your goddess." Surely, says the ' simple common-sense reader of our admirable translation,' here is at all events a reference to sacred buildings; and the natural inference from the word ' Compare the aoalrsis of the meanings of Kedain in the Appendix to Clinton's Faiti Boitlam\ vol. ii.. pp. 623-5. in the plural would be that heathen tem- ples were called 'churches' (eKicAijfn'ai), and that the word was transferred from this use to Christian places of worship, just as the heathen name of temple (tem- plum and the Greek Upov) was applied to the 'house of Jehovah' at Jerusalem. But the word is UpocrvAou?, 'plunderers of sacred things,' the Latin sacrilegus, whence our ' sacrilege ' and ' .sacrilegious.' Though it would, of course, include 'rob- bers of temples,' it lias no necessary refer- ence to buildings ; and it would apply just as much to one who stole a fragment of the votive offering at Artemisium as to one who broke into the temi)le of .Xrtemis to carry off any of the silver shrines dedi- cated to the goddess. 3. The apparent use of ' church ' for a sacred building, in this passage, is de- ceptive ; and there is no clear example of that sense of the word in the New 'Testa- ment. But there is something that comes very near it in the use of the word for the meetings of a church, in Paul's 1st Epistle to the Corinthians (ch. xiv.).* In verses 4 and 5, the ' church ' clearly means the believers in their assembly ; and the tran- sition to its meeting in a pilace is made at v. 19, and more plainly at v. 23, "If therefore the whole church I)e come to- gether in one place," apparently a regular and not a private place of meeting, as a stranger is supposed to enter it; and several references follow to speaking or keeping silence in the church (vv. 28, 33, 34, 35). In the same Epistle (xi. 22), there Ls a striking passage which contrasts the ' chtircli of God ' with the houses of the Christians, following upon the mention of their habitual "coming together in the church" (ev eKKArjo-i'a, v. 18).f It may b? that the wealthj' and powerful church of Corinth, under the impartial protection of such a proconsul as Gallio, held its meetings more openly and regularly than * The wortl is eit(cA>)iTi'a thronshont. t The phrase " when re come t,-ether into one ptaee" (v. 20), which s^enis still more plainly su^- ^estive of an habitnal place of meetinK. is not qnite so decisive in the original, cttI to aino, thoucb these words may bear the sense given in our Version. 12 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Introo. was customary elsewhere. At Ephesus, too, when the Cliristian members of the synagogue seceded to the school of Ty- raniius, Paul's ministry there for two years must have given the place, for the time, the character of a Christian church. 4. As a general rule, however, the Christians of the apostolic age, from the very fact that they were a persecuted sect, could as yet have had no buildings set apart for worship. They met in private houses, generally in the seclusion of upper rooms ;* and such places of meeting were furnished by eminent converts, like Lydia, Jason, Justus, Priscilla, Philemon, and Nym- phas, at I'hilippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Colossa?, and Laodicea. As their numbers grew, and as persecution became fiercer, the Christians met in desert places, at the tombs of martyrs, and in the cata- combs. We shall meet, in due time, with the deeply interesting memorials of " the Churcli in the Catacombs " at Rome. Even if any special circumstances had given them the opportunity of converting hea- then sanctuaries to the purpose of Chris- tian worship, their deep alihorrence of all the symbols of pagan idolatry would have forbidden their use of such buildings. Special buildings for Christian worship are not mentioned till about the end of the second century; and they are then called both by the name of the cltiirches tli.it met in them (fK^ATjcriai). and after the example of tlie Tabernacle and Temple, Houses of the Lord or of God (ifupio/fai, oiKot ©eoO). The earliest allusions to them are made by TertuUian, who speaks of " going to church " (in ecclesiam, in domum Dei venire).f On the principle, common to all ages and languages, of naming a place of regular meeting from the body that meets there, the word ecdesia became tlie common name for (Christian places of worship, both in Greek and Latin. Clement of Alexandria, the » Acts i. 13. «. 8; comp. iv. 21, xil. 12: in the liist case, ill a time of violent peraectition, tlie doors were locked. Another example of their ineetings is in the resort of PanI and his com- panions to Iho >rpo(r(vxi^ , outside the walls of Philippi hy the river side, which was alreaily nsed hy Lydia and the other Jewish proselytes. There is nothing to shew that this was a ImiUliiig, and the words ou cuo^C^ero npocrev^r) tivai. seem rather to imply a mere spot, 8ha John ii. "^ Luke iv. 16-31 ; Isaiah Ixi. 1, 2. => Joha ii. 23-25. * John iv. » Matt. .xii. 15-21 ; Mark iii. 7-12; comp. Isaiah xl. 10, xlii. 1-3. A.D. 1-30. ORDINATION OF THE APOSTLES. 17 his more select disciples,' " he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles," ■■* "and he ordained them, that they should be with Ilini, and that He might send them forth'" (according to the significance of the Greek name of their oflice) " to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils."^ From this and other passages we gather the essential marks of the apostolic office : — personal intercourse with Christ ; apix)intment by Himself; the power to work miracles in proof of their divine mission ; the gilt of the Holy^ Spirit, breathed ui^n them by their risen Lord, and afterwards conferred openly on the Day of Pentecost, enabling them to sjxjak in foreign tongues ; and the ix)wcr to confer that gift on others. The union of these signs distinguished the Apostles from every other class of ministers ; and their number, that of the twelve tribes of Israel, symbolized their primary mission to the Jews. The office of the Ajx)stles was tem^wrary ; they were first in time, as well as authority and jwwer, among the ministers whom Christ appointed to build up His Church — "for the edifying of the body of Christ." * § 7. To them, primarily, but with them to the whole assembled multitude, he addressed that discourse from the Mount of Blessings, which renewed and explained, in more spiritual freedom, the law which he, as the Angel Jehovah, had given to the elders and the whole congregation or church of Israel from Mount Sinai. It lays down the character of those who may enter into the kingdom of heaven, beginning with that poverty of spirit, meekness, and gentle- ness, which at once excluded the marked characters of worldly king- doms and societies ; and its climax is the jjatteru of likeness to their common Lord, and the law of mercy as they had received mercy, and of brotherly love, which binds together the members of the Church, and governs their conduct to the world : — " Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" — "Be ye*merciful, as your Father also is merciful " — " As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." ° § 8. It was not till six months before the end of his ministry, that Christ apjx)inted and sent forth a second order of ministers, who are simply described by their number, the Seventy, but are commonly, and doubtless rightly called Evangelists, from their office of proclaiming the kingdom of God,* as now at hand, in the villages which He designed to visit on His journey to the Feast of ' Mark iii. 13. * Luke vi. 13. ' Mark iii. 13-15. On the essential characters of the apostolic office, see further in the Student's N^ew Testament History, chap. ix. § 4. * 1 Cor. xii. 28; Ephes. iv. 11, 12. * Matt, v.-vii. " Called " the Gospel of the kingdom of God," in Matt. iv. 24, ix. 35, ixiv. 14 ; Mark i. 14. 18 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. Chap. I. Tabernacles.' The number of the Seventy, and the scene of their mission, alike indicated that the time was at hand for preaching the Gospel to the heathen ; whereas the Apostles were forbidden to preach, at present, to the Samaritans or the Gentiles.- Keither had the Seventy the special training of the Twelve ; but their instructions for their work were the same, and, in their essence, they are those which should always guide the ministers of Christ. The authority of their mission in Christ's name was, like that of the Aix)stles, fully identified with His own.* And it is to be observed that pur Lord lays down for them the principle, on which St. Paul afterwards insisted, that the preacher of the Gospel ought to be supix)rted by the free aid and hospitality of those to whom he ministers, " for the labourer is worth his wages."* The Seventy had the power of working miracles; but Christ taught them to rejoice less at the subjection of the devils to them through His name, than in the record of their own names in heaven. In like manner He contrasted the privileges of each member of His Church with the last and greatest of the prophets, " He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist." § 9. Throughout the ministry of Christ, His own Church was troubled by the same doubts which in other Jews became oj)en imbelief ; they found it hard to learn the lesson of the spirituality of his kingdom, when they were exjxicting a King to sit as a conqueror on the throne of David. In one great defection even the Twelve were tempted to follow, when the Lord's ap|)eal, " Will ye also go away?" called forth the confession in which Peter recognised Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, because He had the words of eternal life.* It was in answer to this confession that He declared the distinction between his visible and spiritual church, by denouncing one of the twelve, whom He himself had chosen, as a devil. And it is a most instructive fact, that Judas Iscariot was suffered to remain in fellowship with the other Apostles, and to hold high trust among them, up to the night in which he betrayed his Lord with a kiss. ' Luke X. 1-16; compared with 1 Cor. xii. 28, and Ephes. iv. 11, 12, where Evangelists are named, after Apostles and Prophets, among the orders of the ministry instituted by Christ, and 1 Tim. iv. 5. The title given to "Philip the Evangelist " (Acts xxi. 8) deserves the more notice in this connection, as it was Philip who afterwards converted the Samari- tans. The name Evangelist ((vayyt\i(rTrts) signifies "a messenger of good tidings," that is, of the Gospd (" good," or " God's spell," a word of the same significance as fbayytKla), and (bayy^XiCftv ("evangelize") is "to announce good tidings," or " preach the Gospel." The application of the name to the writers of the four Gospels was made later. * Matt. X. 5. ' Verse 16. •• Verse 7. * John vi. 69. A.D. 1-30 THE ROCK AND LIVING TEMPLE, 1» The confession of Peter was renewed on an occasion memorable fur Christ's full revelation both of the spiritual foundation of His Church, and of the great doctrine of their redemption by His blood. In that momentous conversation at Ca'sarea I'hilipi^i, the faith which Peter confessed, in the name of all the Apostles, was rewarded with the emphatic statement of the truth, symbolized by Peter's own name, that Christ himself was the eternal Pock, on which He had built His Church, and that all the powers of destrtic- tion should assail that Church in vain.* Peter himself expounds this truth (already suggested prophetically by David,- and dwelt on also by PauP) in the beautiful figure of the Church as the spiritual house, built up of believers as living stones, on Christ the living foundation-stone, chosen of God and precious, but rejected by the disobedient builders, who stumble at the truth, like those who pretend from this very text to found their own false church on Peter himself. And in that house he declares that, not a con- secrated order, but all believers are the living priesthood who ofier up only spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.* § 10. This lesson was designed to prepare the disciples for what they might have deemed the end of Christ's kingdom, with His life, when the Jews consummated their rejection of that true foundation of the church and kingdom they liad hoped for. But first, our Lord assumed His dignity as head of the Jewisli Church by His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In His discourses and jiarables during that final week. He fully exposed their fatal error concern- ing His kingdom,* and taught more plainlj^ than ever the true character of His church, as based on repentance and faith, not on the privileges of the chosen people, nor on a self-righteous claim to goodness. Throughout His course He had oflended the Pharisees by receiving publicans and sinners, and He had plainlj^ told them, " The publicans and harlots «o into the kingdom of God before you.'_' And now the parables of the Tii:o Sons and the Vine- yard, of the Wicked Jluslxindmen, and of the Wedding Garment illustrated the same truth ; and the rejection of the Jews (as such) from the Church was pronounced by the sentence, " The Kingdom of God shall be taken from j'ou, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." On leaving Jerusalem, He brought His teaching to a climax in the great prophecy of His coming to put an ' Matt. xvi. 18. For a critical discussion of this passage, and a refuta- tion of the great Romish perversion, which makes Peter the i-ock and the Roman Catholic Church the superstructure, see the Student's A'co Testament Jfiatory, chap. ix. § 14-. * Psalm cxviii. * Ephes. ii. 20 « 1 Peter ii. 4-9. » A'. T. History, chap. ^v. §§ 3-6. 20 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. Chap. I. and to the apostate Jewish church, and to establish His own kingdom.^ § 11. The last act of Christ's ministry was to keep with His disciples the Passover, the rite by which the Jewish church had been formally initiated, and to found upon it the ordinance which has ever since been the outward sign of fellowship in the Church, *' the communion of the the body and blood of Christ." The Paschal Lamb, as a prophetic type, and the Lord's Supper, as the commemora- tion of an accomplished act, alike teach the twofold truth, that all true members of the Church are redeemed from the bondage of sin, and saved from the' doom of death, only by the sacrifice of Christ, and that their nature is united with His, and their spiritual life and strength drawn from Him, as the body is nourished by bread and invigorated by wine. " This is my body broken for you " — " This is my blood of the New Covenant shed for the many for the remission " — " Eat and drink ye all of it " — " Do this in remem- brance of me " — " Whenever ye do it ye show forth the Lord's death till He come " — are the sentences which ever keep before us the foundation, the continuance, and the future consummation of the fellowship of the Christian Church. § 12. In the trial and passion of our Lord, He was finally chal- lenged by the solemn adjuration of the High Priest, by the search- ing inquiries of Pilate, and by the taunts of the Jews, to avow and assume His kingdom. Before the Sanhedrin He claimed His uni- versal dominion as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and as the Son of Man, the future judge of all mankind. " Before Pontius Pilate He witnessed the good confession " — "My kingdom is not of this world." To the taunting challenge of the Jews, to show His power in the last extremity, by coming down from His cross to assume His kingdom. He replied only by proving that cross to be His throne of mercy, in the forgiveness of the penitent thief and his call to Paradise as the first member of the Church glorified in heaven. Pilate unconsciously marked the relation of Christ's death to the life of His Church by affixing to His very cross the title " This is the King of the Jews." For He is the head as well as Saviour of the Church in His suffering humanity. Its highest office was per- formed by Him as at once its only true Priest and its only atoning sacrifice, when, of His own free will. He offered Himself upon the cross. His human nature, "made perfect through suffering," joined Him in full sympathy with the weak and suffering brethren, who form the body of which He is the divine Head, but " touched ' For an exposition of this prophecy, viewed as the first stage in the establishment of Christ's kingdom, as well as of its higher meaning, see the Student's New Testament History, chap. xix. § 20. A.D. 1-30. THE NEW CREATION OF THE CHURCH. 'Zl with the feeling of our infirmities." ^ His dying cry, " It is finished," marked the end of the old dispensation, as well as the fulfilment of the sacrifice which redeemed His Church, and the rending of the Temple veil was a sign that the Church, both on earth and in heaven, was open for all to enter by "the new and living way which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh," if only we " draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water " (Heb. X. 19-22). Three incidents of the Saviour's passion, which have a close connection with His Cliurch, are the treachery of Judas, the fall of Peter, and the faithfulness of John. The three Apostles are types of the selfish hypocrite, the unstable but jDenitent disciple, and the follower stedfast through love ; all within the circle of the visible Church. To John's courageous attendance on his Lord to the judgment hall, to the cross, and to the sepulchre, the Church owes the historical basis of her faith : " He that saw it bare record, and his record is true." ^ The flight of the rest of the disciples seemed for the moment like the dispersion of the Church which Christ had gathered; and its last visible representatives were the devoted women ' who were " Last at the cross and earliest at the tomb," and the secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, who furnishes another type of its true though unknown members. § 13. The tidings of the Lord's resurrection rallied the scattered disciples ; and their meetings during the ensuing forty days are of great importance in the History of the Church. First, however, stands the vast significance of the event itself. As the death of Christ made atonement for sin and symbolized the death of His Cimrch to the world, so did His resurrection mark the beginning of a new spiritual life, or, in the words of Paul, " a new creation in Christ Jesus." This new creation was the higher renewal of that first one which sin had marred ; and therefore we find the disciples, from that very day, celebrating the first day of the lueek as the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day, on which they met for worship ' Hebrews iv. 15, where the whole context sets forth the relation of Christ's human nature to His Church as His brethren. * John xix. 35, xxi. 24; 1 John i. ' The prominent part borne by women in the ministry of Jesus and in the early Church is an emphatic testimony of their full share in church- membership, in contradiction of that Oriental idea of their natural in- feriority, which was expressed by the disciples when " they marvelled that " their Master " talked with a (not the) woman." (John iv. 27.) 3* 22 THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST. Chap. L and fellowship.* These assemblies began on that very evening, when the risen Lord entered the cliambor where the eleven Apostles^ had met with doors shut for fear of the Jews, saluted them with the blessing of " Peace," showed them His wounded body, and ate bread with them ; and then breathing His Spirit upon them, He repeated their commission, to preach the gospel to every creature, and to baptize all believers, conferred on them the power to work miracles, and gave them the authority of remitting and retaining sins. Such was the first meeting of the apostolic church on the first Lord's day. "And cfter eight days again his disciples were within," the doors being shut as before, when Jesus stood again in their midst, with the salutation of " Peace," and satisfied the doubts of Thonias with the tangible proof of His resurrection. His third appearance to His Apostles (but to only seven of them this time), beside the Lake of Galilee, was marked by the second miracle of the great draught of fishes, which He had himself exi)lained as a sign of the gathering of believers into His Church by His ministers, once fishermen, but now called to be " fishers of men." The emphatic record that " the net did not break," as wlien He had taught them the lesson before, signified that the time had come for their entrance on the evangelic work with the assurance of success.^ It was on this occasion that he marked out John as the disciple who should live to see His coming in the full establishment of His Church. § 14. That this church was not restricted to the Apostles,* was signified by the appearance of Jesus to the great botly of His discir pies, " five hundred brethren at once," on a mountain 'in Galilee." * The meetings of the disciples on each eighth day have the more force as an argument from the very fact of their being only incidentally recorded. The correspondence of the interval with the week, and the distinction of the dan from the old Sabbath, are facts which admit of no other explanation ; and all doubt is removed by Paul's allusions to the meetings of the dis- ciples on the first day of the week, and by the testimony of heathen as well as Christian writers to the practice "from the earliest age of the Church. John, in mentioning the day as a season of spiritual ecstasy, in which Christ appeared to him and showed him the worship of the heavenly temple, expressly calls it by the name which it has always borne in the Church, " the Lord's Day " (J) Kvpiaxii vfitpa: Dies Dominica : Rev. i. 10). » Mark xvi. 14-18; Luke xxiv. 36-49; John xx. 19-23; 1 Cor. xv. 5; where "the twelve" is used as the usual name of the Apostles, though Mark says, more exactly, " the eleven." * John xxi. 1-14; oomp. Luke i. G. * It appears also that on the first, at least, of the appearances specified as made to the Apostles, others of the disciples were present with them (see Luke xxiv. 35, 36). * 1 Cor. XV. 16; comp. Matt, xxvjii. 16, 17. On the hannony of these two testimonies, see the Student's New Testament Jiistoru, chap. xii. § 13. A.D. 1-30. COMMISSION TO THE CHURCH. 23 In tliis \vc recognize tlie great interview of Jesus with His disciples, of which He had spoken before His death, and to which they were siuiunoned with the announcement of His resurrection.' Its scene was (Jalilee, where Jesus had begun His public teaching, and where His life had been chiefly spent. As He had oj^ened His ministry on a mountain, by the discourse which set forth the conditions of discipleship, so He closed it on a niountain, by the commission and the promise, which He based on His own unbounded authority as Head over all things to His Church : — " All jwwer is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make discijdts of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, ttachiny them to observe ail things, whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo, I am with you always imto the end of the world." Thus the commission, given before to the Apostles, was now repeated to the disciples in general, that is, to the cburch, and not only to its ministers. That this is true also of the promise of miraculous powers, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, apix?ars from the record of Mark and John. One special appearance of our Lord, to James (the Less),^ is important from the mention of that Apostle as being, like Peter and John, one of the "pillars of the church,"^ and from that Apostle's close connection with the Church of Jerusalem, of which ho is commonly reputed the fust bishop. § 15. The whole interval of forty days between our Lord's re- surrection and ascension is marked as a time of special preparation of His disciples, and especially the Apostles, fur their part in His Church. While He ])repared them to lay its foundation of truth in the great fact of His resurrection, " presenting himself to them alive after his passion by many proofs," He spent the time with them in " speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."^ The quadrafjcsinial period itself had a mystic meaning. As the founder of God's Kingdom on earth had his own faith and patience tried during a solitude of forty days between His baptism and His showing to Israel (like Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the reformer, of the Jewish church), so, as the risen Head of the Church, he sj^nt his last forty days on earth in coufiniiing the faith of His disciples, and working in them a conviction of the truth of His resurrection and the spiritual nature of His Kingdom.^ ' Matt. xxvi. 32, xxviii. 7. ^ 1 Cor. xv. 7. 3 Galat. ii. 9. ■• Acts i. ;i : oTi KoX irapfcrrricrft' tavrhv (wvra fxtra to ira6f7v avrhy tu ■KoWols TfKuripiuis, 5i' i^ufpwf TtaaapaKovra oirroi'o^utj'or ainols, Kai Xiy tisv TO irepl Tf)s/3a'Oi' 'ItjctoO?, 'lovSaiiav, ttoAAou? Si koX curb roii 'EAA17- i/iKov eTrriyaycTO. [_'0 Xpitrroi oCto! ^»'.] Kal avTov ei'Sii^et Twr nptoTtov avSputv •nap' rjfjuv irravpiZ tTrtTeri/oiijicdTos IIiAaTOu, ovK €^€navcravTO ot to Trpwroi* avrov a*ya- nrjdvri yap avToii Tpirqv exwv r))j.ipav iraKiv ^iov, tCiv Beiuiv npoy]- TMV TavTOL T€ Kal oAAa p-vpia nfpl avTOv OavfiatTia eiprjKdroji'.] Eio-tVi re vvv tUv Xpio'Tiacui' aTTo Tou5e civopLaap-ivtav ovn iiTt\nre to v\ov. A translation of the passage, as thus restored, will make the whole case clearer ; — " About this time there arose one Ji Sfs, a clever (or wise) man, a doer of wonderful deeds (literally, contrary to expectation), and he led after him many of the Jews [and many also of the Gentile world].* And when Pilate, on the information of the chief men among us, had punished Him with crucifi.xion, his adlierents did not cease (from their faith in Jesus). And still to the presei^t time there is not lack- ing a multitude of those who from this man are named Christians." These words, as they stand, are just such an account of Jesus as Josephus might have been expected to give. 2. The testimony of Tacitus (Jnji.xv. 44), though written at the beginning of the second century, refers to theeventsof Xero's reign, and glances back to that of Tiberius, being doubtless based on contemporary authorities. In his account of the suffer- ings of the Christians under Nero, he Bays : — " Auctor nominis ejus Cmristus, Tiberio imperitante, per procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus est ; repressaque in pra\sens exitiubilis super- stitio rursus erumpebat, non modo per Juda-am, originera ejus mail, scd per urbem etiara, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celcbrunturque." The spirit of the passage forbids all bus- picion of Christian interpolation, which is also out of the question on critical grounds. » r«rliapa an interpolation. II. None of the extra-scriptural records, which are alleged to be contemporary with Christ himself, will stand the test of criti- cism, and we have not space for their full discussion. 1. The Apocryphal Gospels, which pro- fess to relate the Life of Jesus, especially his birth, youth, and last daj-s, more fully than they are found in the four Evan- gelists, are embellished with marvels conceived in quite a different spirit, and often most childish. These may be clearly traced to the controversies between sects, which fabriciited sayings and deeds of Christ in support of their opinions. They originated with heretics ; but the orthodox were sometimes tempted to counter-frauds. These works are of two classes : — (i.) Those of a comparatively early date, which related to the same cycle of events as the canonical Gospels ; for example, the ' Gospel of the Hebrews ' the ' Gospel of the Egyptians,' and others. They are chiefly marked by a local colouring, re- flecting the national and party views of sections of the converts to Cliristianity. (ii.) Those of a later date give addition.il and generally marvellous accounts of the parents of Jesus, his boyhood and youthful life, and the closing scenes of his course. The best English work on the Apo- cryphal Gospels is that of Jones, 'On the Canon of the Kew Testament,' which contains the text of the most important. They are also edited by Thilo, 'C(xlex Apocryphus N. T.,' vol. i.. Lips. 1832, and in a German translation, with an In- troduction and Notes by Dr. K. F. Bor- berg, 'Die apokryph. Evangelien u. Apos- telgeschichton,' Stuttgart, 1841. 2. The Letters of Christ and King Jb- garus. — The first great church historian, EusKBius, the friend of Constantine the Great, cites a correspondence held with Christ by Abgarus or Agbarus Uchomo, the native king {ioparch) of the Syrian principality of Edessa, which he professes to have found in the archives of the cit j' of Edes.sa. (Fuseb. n. E. \. 13. The Arme- nian historian, Moses of Chorene, about A.i>. 440, likewise gives the document in Greek with an Armenian translation.) Abganis writes to Christ, praying for the cure of a grievous disorder, but in lan- guage quite unlike that of an oriental prince ; and Christ replies in a style which has nothing in common with the Gospels but disjointed quotations from them. If such a correspondence had really taken place, it would not have remained un- Chap. I. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 27 known for three centuries. Nor have we any independent pr persecuted (Acts xxvi. 28; 1 Pet. iv. 16). A.D, 41-44. ANTIOCH AND JERUSALEM. 37 If any church were to be recognised as the mother church of Gen- tile Christianity, it would be rather the Church of Antioch than the Church of Eome. But no claims or contests for such jirecedence aire heard of among the apostolic churches. The first relations of the new Gentile to the older Jewish church were of a very different character. On the prophecy, by Agabus and others, of the dearth which was coming in the reign of Claudius, the disciples at Antioch at once resolved to send relief to the poor brethren in Judea. This is a sign that possessors of comparative wealth were numbered among the Christians of Antioch ; but all, both rich and poor, gave accordincr to their ability. They sent the fruits of their liberality to Jerusafem by the hands of Barnabas and Saul ; and thus the Gentile church was brought into fellowship with the Jewish by a Levite, who had been the close associate of the Apostles, as well as by the Apostle of the Gentiles.' § 8. It is not quite certain whether this visit took place during the first persecution in which the Christians were assailed by the " kings of the earth," supporting the " counsel of the rulers " of the Jews.2 On the accession of Claudius to the purple, his feithful friend, Hekod Agiuppa I., was rewarded with the kingdom of Judea, in which the dominions of his grandfather, Herod the Great, were re-united (a.d. 41). Himself a strict observer of the law, he uned every effort to conciliate the Jews, and he had the power of life and death, which they had been unable to use legally against the Christians. H was probably in the last year of his reign (a.d. 44) that Herod beheaded tlie Apostle James, the son of Zebedee, and cast Peter into prison, w'ith the intention of making his execution, like his Master's, a spectacle for the Jews assembled for the Passover. The Apostle's departure from Jerusalem for a time, after his miraculous deliverance from prison, gives occa- sion for an allusion to the presidency of the other James over the church at Jerusalem. James, the brother of the Lord, sur- named James the Less (or Little) and also James the Just, is named by some writers as the first bishop of Jerusalem, after the Apostles, as if he were not himseh an Apostle;* but there seems no sufficient ground for distinguishing him from the Apostle, James the son of Alphaeus. § 9. This visit was doubtless the season of Paul's second ecstatic ' Acts xi. 27-30. On this second visit of Paul to Jerusalem, see the N. T. Hist., chap. sv. §§ 5, 6. * Psalm ii. 2. The words of David were thus applied by the persecuted Christians themselves (Acts iv. 25-28). _ - Hegesipp. ap. Eusob. //. K ii. 23; Constitut. Aposlol. ii. 55, vi. 12. For the passage of Hegcsipfng, and for the sequel of the life of James, and his martyrdom, see the A. T. Hist., chap. xx. § 0; and for the orgument respecting his identity, ibid. chap. ix. Note A. 4 38 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Chap. 11. vision (probably in the Temple)^ as a new preparation for the work among the Gentiles, to which he was called soon after his return to Antioch. A special revelation of the Spirit commanded the Church to set apart Barnabas and Saul for that work.^ This divine com- mission gave a public confirmation of Saul's apostleship, and con- ferred that office upon Barnabas ; ^ and this addition to the mystic number of the twelve Apostles was one sign of the extension of the Gospel from Israel to all the nations. I'hey were ordained to the work by the laying on of hands, a ceremony which now first occurs as performed by others than Apostles.* Though clearly sent forth on a special mission to the Gentiles, they acted on the principle that the Christian Church should, if possible, be founded on the Jewish. It was only when the Jews " contradicted and blasphemed," and so cut themselves off from the covenant of eternal life, that Paul made the proclamation : " Lo ! loe turn to the Gentiles ; for so hath the Lord commanded us." ^ This decisive step was taken at the city of Antioch in Pisidia. This First Missionary Journey embraced the island of Cyprus, where the proconsul, Sergius Pauliis, became the first Gentile con- vert of rank, and the wild regions of Pampbylia, Pisidia, and Lyca- onia, in Asia Minor, where Jewish synagogues were numerous, and the pride of Greek civilisation weakest. The first. Gentile churches were founded among a simple and almost barbarous people ; and the persecution, which turned the Apostles back and almost made Paul a sharer in the fate of Stephen, was incited by the Jews.® Churches were gathered at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, as well as at the ports of Perga and Attalia, and we now first read explicitly of the appointment of permanent ministers, called pres- hyters or elders, who were ordained by the Apostles for each church.'' - » 2 Cor. xii. * It is worthy of notice that, at first, the order in which the two are mentioned is Baniabas and Saul, as if the precedence were given to Bar- nabas (Acts xi. 30, xii. 25, xiii. 2, 7) ; but when Saul becomes Paul, we at once read of Paul and his company (Acts xiii. 13), and we have usually Paul and Barnabas, but in one case, BuDutbas ami Paul (xiv. 14). * Both are expressly called Apostles in Acts xiv. 14. * Acts xiii. 1-3. A distinction seems to be thus established between " the laying on of the Apostles' hands," by which the Holy Ghost was given (Acts viii. 18, xix. 6 ; 2 Tim. 6), and the laying on of hands as a sio-n of ordination to evangelic work and office, which might be by the Apostles (as in the ordination of the deacons. Acts vi. 6), or by "the presbytery" (1 Tim. iv. 14), or by a minister of the church (as. Timothy, 1 Tim. v. 22), or by an individual disciple (Acts ix. 12. 17). In the case before us, it is the act of the Church, but it would probably be performed by the " presbytery " (as in 1 Tim. iv. 14). » Acts xiii. 44-48. • « Acts xiv. 19. ' Acts xiv. 23. We see from Acts xi. 30 that such officers already existed in the churches of Judea ; and the elders at Jerusalem are men- A.D. 48. THE JUDAIZERS AT ANTIOCH. 39 § 10. Paul and Barnabas had for some time resumed their regular labours at Antioch, when that church was disturbed by the attempt of some Jewish Christians to subject the Gentile converts to the ceremonial law, and especially to circumcision.* These Judaizers held that no Gentiles should be received into the Christian Church, except by passing through the outer court as " proselytes of righteousness." This effort to maintain the ceremonial law of Moses was the source of the chief heresies that sprang up in the primitive Church, and its first authors may justly be called heretics. They are not named " brethren," but " certain men," who went from Judea to Antioch, who "went out" from the Church as not truly belonging to it.^ Paul distinctly calls them "false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage."' ^ 'i'hey were encountered with a vigorous resistance by Paul and Barnabas ; and, after debate, the Church of Antioch de- cided to refer the question to the Apostles and ciders at Jerusalem. 'J'hey sent up Paul and Barnabas, with others of the Church,* among whom Paul took Titus as an example of a Greek convert wdio had not been circumcised. " This first example of united counsel in the Church on questions of doctrine and discipline becomes doubly interesting in the light of Paul's own account of his jiart in it. The Judaizers were (at least tioned, as if they were officers next after the Apostles, in Acts xv. 2, "the Apostles and elders." The word translated ordained is a remarkable one: ^f 'P''''"<"'i9<7'a»''''6S Se avTo7s kclt' iKKKrjaiav irpefffivrepovs. Asthis is the term used ior voting hy a show of hands in the Aiheaian Ecclesia, some take it to imply; the election of ministers by the people in the Christian Ecclcsiu, and this view seems supported by 2 Cor. viii. 19 (the brother), Xeiporovi]Qi\i virh rSov (KKKr)(xia>v. But this is a good example of the great fact, that New Testament Greek is not always to be interjireted by classical usage, witness Acts x. 41 (of the Apostles), fidprvai to?s irpo- K€XftpoTovrifj.€Voi5 inrb rov Qeov, where, as in Acts xxii. 14 (6 Qths .... 7rpo6x«'P'0'aT(! (re, &c.), the idea seems to be that of designating a person by laying hands on him. The passage before us is simply silent as to the mode by which the elders were chosen. ' Acts xv. ^ Acts XV. i. Koi Tifes KaTt\d6vT€s a-irh ttjs 'lovSaias, and ver. 24, rivis t| ijfxwu 4^e\06vTes, words which form a striking parallel with St. John's double application of the phrase f^rifiwv to the many antichrists of the apostolic age, " they Mr«< out from us, hut they were not of us :" *| V/ncov e^rjxeav, a\\' oiiK ^ffav f^ Tj/jiciy (1 .John ii. 19). ^ Gal. ii. 4. It makes no real difference whether the specific reference is to the Judaizers at Antioch or Jerusalem or both. * Acts XV. 2 ; Gal. ii. 5. ' Acts XV. 2. Great as was the apostolic authority of Paul and Bar- nabas, the church of Antioch was also represented by other members, as was the church of Jerusalem on the answering mission (ver. 25). « Gal. ii. 3. 40 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Chap. H. chiefly) Pharisees ; * and he was always anxious to carry Pharisaic principles to their full issue in Christianity.^ The question touched the very essence of his apostolic mission to the Gentiles. Must he make them Jews as well as Christians, and bind on the necks of those, who were free to begin the new life in Christ, a yoke which, as Peter himself testified, the Jews had never been able to bear?' Was it possible that his apostolic course in the past and in the future was all in vain ? He felt the need of fidl conference with " those who were apostles before him," not that he had any doubts himself, but " to communicQ,te to them the Gospel which he had preached among the Gentiles." For this purpose he was directed to Jeru- salem by an express revelation, besides his mission from the Church of Antioch ; * and in separate conferences with " those of reputa- tion," the "pillars" of the Church, James, Cephas (Peter), and John, the common grace of God shown in each of their works was made so clear, that they gava Paul and Barnabas the right hand of apostolic fellowship, for the twofold mission, that of these to the heathen, and their own to the circumcision.'^ But the Apostles did not decide the question solely by their own authority, and in these private conferences the envoys from Antioch were received by the Church, as well as by the Apostles and elders ; and to them Paul and Barnabas reported the convincing facts of their work among the Gentiles, just as Peter had related the conversion of Cornelius.^ Upon this some of the converted Pharisees contended that the Gentile converts must be circumcised, and must keep the whole law of Moses.'' A special meeting was then convened of the Apostles and elders, with the whole Church, to consider the question.* Such was the freedom of speech in this assembly, that the objectors urged their arguments even beiore hearing Paul and Barnabas,^ till Peter (who now appears for the last time in the sacred history) stood up and reminded them that the ques- tion was really settled by what God had done through him in the case of Cornelius. Silence was then obtained for the statement by Paul and Barnabas of the signs and miracles by which God had confirmed their mission to the Gentiles ; and James closed the debate, in a manner which agrees Avith his traditional position in * Acts XV. 5. * Acts xsiii. 6. » Acts XV. 10; comp. Gal. v. 1. * Gal. ii. 2. » Gal. ii. 6-9. * Acts xv. 4. '• IhiJ. 6. * Ibid. 6. lifiwtpl Tov \6yov rovrov. Here " the -apostles and elders' only are mentioned as coniins; together ; but at the same meetins; we have " the whole multitude " (irav rh ttAtjOos, v. 12), which is manifestly equi- valent to " the whole church " and "the brethren," who join with the Apostles and elders in the decision and in the action taken thereupon (vv. 22, 25), " being .assembled together with one accord" (v. 2.">). " Acts xv. 7. A.D. 48. THE APOSTOLIC PRECEPTS. 41 the Church of Jerusalem, with a decision * -which was adopted by the Ai30.stle« and elders, with the whole Church,^ Umler tlieir united name also it was embodied in a letter to the brethren of the (Jentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, which Judas and Silas were appointed to carry and conhrm by word of mouth, as messengers from the Church at Jerusalem, with Paul and Barnabas on their return to Antioch. The points thus expressed are called "the decrees " (duymas, or points of doctrine) decided on by the Apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem ; and they were delivered as such by Paul and Barnabas and Silas to the (i entile churches, to be observed.^ Besides the authority derived from the decided ex- pression of the views of the Apostles in the Church, they seem to have been confirmed by some special manifestation of the Holy Spirit.* Their substance was, that no ceremonial burthen should be laid upon the Gentile converts, except " these necessary things," that they should abstain from food that liad be6n offered in sacrifice to idols, from eating blood and the flesh of strangled animals, and from fornication. These restrictions were deemed necessary with reference to the relations of the new converts to their Gentile brethren. It was easy for them to argue that, as an idol was no god, his sacrifices had no sanctity, and remained common food, which might be eaten with Christian liberty. But this w\as mani- fest sophistry, and to some at least the act of joining in the feast would be a recognition of the idol.* The pollutions of the bloody heathen sacrifices required the strict observance of tne precept of abstinence from blood, which had already been given to Koah when animal food was first allowed; and such a concession to the Jews, who abounded in every Greek city, involved so decided a physical benefit, that its perpetual observance, if not " necessary," is at least "expedient." 'Ihe essentially moral nature of the last restraint makes it seem, at first sight, rather strangely coupled with the others. But the licentious rites of the heathen worship, especially in those oriental forms in which these Asiatic Greeks had borne their ' Acts XV. 19. (ycD Kpipu, like the "censeo " by wliich a Roman senator gave his vote. ^ Acts xv. 22. Acts xvi. 4: irapeSiSocrai' outoTj (j)v\d Acts six. 9, 10. ^ In connection with Paul, Ephesus only is mentioned in the Acts (also in the Epistle to the Ephesians and in 1 Tim. i. 3); but he himself names 4* 46 THE APOSTOLIC CHCRCH. Chap. II. was from Ephcsua also that Paul wrote the two Epistles to the Corinthians, which throw a flood of light on the questions of doc- trine and practice and discipline, that already agitated the Church. Proceeding westward, he wrote from Corinth his great doctrinal exposition of the relations of Judaism to Christianity, and of the principles of law and grace, in the Epistle to the Romans. That epistle marks the close of Paul's great work throughout the Eastern division of the empire "from Jerusalem to Illyricum," and his desire to break new ground in the West.^ § 13. It remains, doubtful whether that intention was fulfilled^ any further than by the work which Paul did at Rome during the two j^ears of his first imprisonment. The termination of the 'Acts of the Apostles' marks the critical epoch in the history of the Church, formed by the rejection by the Jews at Rome of the Apostle whom their brethren at Jerusalem had sent thither as a prisoner. Thus handed over perforce to the Gentiles of the capital, he made converts even in the Praitorian camp and in Caesar's household, with a success testified by the Epistles written during his two imprison- ColosscE (in tlie Epistle to the Colossians) with Laodlcea and HierapoUs, bssides alluding to other cities (Col. .\iv. 13, 15, 16). This group of cities, though in Phr^ia, belonged politically to Asia. Paul seems to imjjly that he had not visited them in person (Col. ii. 1). To these must be added Alexandria Troas in the district of Jlysia (Acts xx. 5-7). Whether there was a church at Miletus is not clear from the mention of the place in Acts XX. 15, 17. The Seven Churches named by John are those of Ephesus, Smj/rna, Laodicea, I'ergamus, Thyatira (the native place of Paul's convert Lydia), Sardis, and Philadelphia. Besides the mother church of Ephesus, the only church common to the two lists is that of Laodicea. > Rom. XV. 19, 24, 28. * The tradition that, after his first imprisonment at Rome, Paul went to Spain, and even as far as Britain, seems nothing more than a fancy sug- gested by the mere intention expressed in Rom. xv. 24—28. (See. AT. J'. Hist., chap. xix. § 9.) To the passage of Clemens Romanus, there quoted and discussed, may be added the statement of Theodoret {Comm. iii Psalm. cxvi.), that Paul, having arrived in Italy, proceeded to Spain, and "carried salvation to the islands lying opposite in the sea " ((coJ rais «V t^ ireAci^et StuKftfiffais vrjaots ttjv u(j)4\etay irpoaifveyKe). But this only proves that the same tradition prevailed in the fifth century, which we find magnified in the sixth into the poetic exaggeration of Venantius Honorius Fortunatus (v. 493),— " Transit et Oceanum [Paulus], .-. . . Quasque Britannus habet terras, atque ultima Thyle." The vagueness of the tradition is further proved bv the other form of it, which ascribes the first Christian ])reaching in Britain, not to Paul himself, but to Aristobulus, one of the Seventy, ordained and sent by Paul, as well as by that which carries Peter also to Britain {Menoloij. Grcec., March IGth and June 29th), and another which says that the Apostle Simon Zelotes preached in Britain and suffered martyrdom there by crucifixion {fbiil.. May 10th). A.D. tii. TIMOTHY AND TITUS. 47 ments.^ Though he was " an ambassador in bonds," yet " the word of God was not bound." ^ The first imprisonment of Paul at Rome was no sign of an im- perial persecution of the Christians ; it was really his escape from the persecution of the Jews by an appeal to the justice of Caesar, which did not fail him, even though that Ciesar was Nero.^ Meanwhile, the persecuting spirit of the Jews grew with their growing dano'ers and disorders ; and, in the second year of Paul's imjjrisonment, the High Priest Ananias took advantage of a vacancy in the procurator- ship to perpetrate the judicial murder of James the Just and other leaders of the Church of Jerusalem.* To prepare the i^ersecuted Christians of Judea for the coming end of the old dispensation, was the main purpose of the Epistle to the Hthrews. § 14. The interval between Paul's first and second imprisonment at Rome, obscure as are its details, affords some light of the. highest importance for church history. The state in which the Apostle found the churches of Asia * and of Crete occasioned those commissions to Timothy and Titus, which seem to mark a sort of new ofKce (whether temporary or permanent) in the Church. The ' Pas- toral Epistles ' addressed to them form our chief guide to the con- stitution of the apostolic churches ; nor are they less valuable for the light they throw on the moral and spiritual state of those churches about thirty years after the ascension of Christ, and on the heresies which already troubled them. Titus and Timothy had been companions of Paul from the time of his first and second missionary journeys ; and both had laboured in the evangelic work, to which we know that Timothy was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the presbyters at Lystra and of Paul himselt? Both had been sent before on special missions to ' These were the Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, to the Ephesians, to the Philippinna, to the Hebrews, and (during the second imprisonment) the Second Epistle to Timothy. * Ephes. vi. 20; Phil. i. 13-18; 2 Tim. ii. 9. ^ For the probable connection of affairs at Rome with the case of the Apostle, see the N. T. Hist., chap, xviii. § 19, pp. 503, 504. * On the death of James the Just, and on the relation of the Epistle to the Hebrews to that persecution and the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, see the N. T. Hist., chap, xviii. § 20, and chap. xx. § 9. * That his visitation and the commission of Timothy extended to these churcl'.es in general, and not to Ephesus only, is plain fi"om the whole tenor of the two Epistles to Timothy, from the general directions i-espect- ing church officers and discipline, and especially from the phrase "all which are in Asia "(2 Tim. i. 15). The commission of Titus expressly includes the churches in the several cities of Crete (Tit. i. 5). ^ Acts xvi. 1-3, compared with 1 Tim. iv. 14, 2 Tim. i. 6, iv. 5. In the last passage Timothy is exhorted to "do the work of an Evangelist,' lint it does not follow that he bore that official title. 48 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Chap. II. various churches, and the name of Timothy had been joined with tliat of Paul in most of his epistles.* They belonged, in short, like Silas, Luke, Mark, Sosthenes, and others, to a class of ministers, distinguished by their close and constant association in the work of the AiX)stles from those who were attached to particular churches as bishops or presbyters or deacons.^ Their special commissions bear witness to the fact that, in the first foundation of the apostolic churches, many things were left " incomplete," to be afterwards " set in order " by others imder the authority of the Apostles ; * and the directions "given for this purpose in the Pastoral Epistles must be taken to apply in principle to the wants of the Church in every age. The information which these Epistles give respecting the order and constitution of the apostolic churches will be noticed in its place.* § 15. The actual state in which they exhibit those churches is that of a general decline in purity and faithfulness, coupled with the beginnings of distinct and dangerous heresies. The false teachers, of whose approaching rise within the Church Paul had earnestly warned the elders of Ephesus, in his parting interview,^ had under- mined the attachment of his converts to him so effectually, that at last " all they were in Asia were turned away from him."® The Asiatic churches were troubled by the new forms of error which he had then predicted, and which we find more fully developed when John wrote to the Seven Churches. These heresies arose partly from Judaism and partly from a mixture of Oriental mysticism and asceticism with Alexandrian philosophy — among Jews as well as Greeks — such as is seen in the Cabbala and in Philo. The " philo- sophy and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of this world, and not according to Christ," by > 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Phil. i. 1 ; Col. i. 1 ; Philem. 1 ; 1 Thess. i. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 1. ' It is scarcely necessary to say that the subscriptions are no part of the Pastoral Epistles, nor is there any adequate authority for the state- ments that Timothy and Titus were " ordained the first bishops" respectively " of the churches of the Ephesians and of the Cretians," which, like the other apostolic churches, had from the first the oflicers called bishops and elders, whom both Timothy and Titus are directed to ordain where they were still wanting. ' See Titus i. 5, Jpa rk XdrovTa iirtSiopBuxrri, and compare 1 Cor. xi. 34, TO 8« Aojird, ws av tXflo), BittTofo/ioi. In the opening of the First Epistle to Timothy, liis commission seems to have special reference to the heresies which had grown up in Asia ; but the Epistle embraces the whole subject of church order, while that to Titus, beginning with matters of order, goes on afterwards to sition of Alexander has become more virulent, and Hymcmeus is associated with a new teacher, Philetus, in the specific lalse doctrine " tiiat the resurrec- tion is passed already." « This seems to have been a further refine- ment on that simple denial of the resirrrection of the body, which some had taught in the church of Corinth.'' The pretenders to a higher spiritual philosophy held that the resurrection wns already accomplished, no doubt in the sense of the Gnostic teaching, that » Coloss. ii. 8, foil. ; 1 Tim. vi. 20. The yv!ihe " many antichrists " of their own age as a proof that the last time had begun. It is often overlooked, that the false prophet of the old covenant, who affected to utter the will of God in opposition to true teachers, has an exact counter- part in the Antichrist, who assumes the name of Christ in opjx)- sition to His ministers ; and this is the very essence of heresy.* § 17. It is to be observed that both Paul and Peter distinctly use the words heresy for errors that are to be resisted, condemned, and dealt with by severe discipline ; not (according to the shallow argu- ment from the etymology of the word) as opinions to be tolerated on the ground of free inquiry and individual conviction.* The word, which the Greeks used for their own philosophic sects, was naturally applied in a bad sense (like the Latin factio and our word party) by opposite sects to each other ; and this bad sense was now fixed upon it. Paul himself was described by the hired orator of the Jews as " a ringleader of the heresy of the Nazarenes ; " * and he answered by the confession, " After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of our fathers." ^ But this wrong ' See N. T. Hist., chap. xix. Note A, On Ifipnenceus and hi< Heresy. « 1 Tim. iv. 1, f. ; 2 Tim. iii. 1, f. ; 2 Peter iii. 3 ; 1 John ii. 18 ; Jude, 18. ^ Our Version does not show the perfect coincidence of Paul's prophecy to the Thessalonians of the great fdlting awmj (f) airorrTacria, 2 Thess. ii. .'5), with that to Timothy, "some shall depart from the faith" (anoffTti- aovrai rives ttis iriffrecios). * In the word Antichrist the avri signifies not only opposition, but liketiess or correspondence (whether real or pretended), as in rinros and avTiTinrov. Jesus himself foretold the " fiilse prophets," as also "false Christs," i^f uSo'xpKTToi : see Jlatt. xxiv. 5, 24). This is evidently the pre- dicted Antichrist, whom John identities with the " liars, deceivers, and false prophets," and the "antichrists" of his age, who had gone out of the Church (1 John ii. 18, 19, 22, iv. 3 ; 2 John, 7 — the only p.assages in which the icorJ antichrist occurs). Paul describes the " Jlan of sin" of the great apostasy as usurping the worship due to, and the very name of, God himself. * The notion referred to is another instance of the absurdity of explain- ing words by their mere etymology, especially in N. T. Greek. A"pt(Tis means literally choice, but what kind of choice, relative to what things, iu what spirit, with what consequences, and how regarded by the judgment of others — all these are questions quite l)eyoBd the province of etymology. * Actsxxiv. .'>: irpwroa'TdTriv rrjs TuvNa^upaiwv aipier' versity.^ Peter likens the '* false teachers " to tlie " false prophets among the people " of old, as those who will bring into the Church destructive heresies, at the same time bringing swift destruction on themselves.'' So clearly did the Apostles treat heresy as pernicious and sinful. The passage last quoted seems to mark the highest pitch of daring reached by the heretics of the apostolic age, "even denying the Lord that bought them"; and John marks the denial that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh as the very " spirit of Antichrist " predicted by Christ, and as "already in the world " in the "false * 1 Tim. i. 10 : ef n irepov ttj vytatvovari St5aiTKa\ia avrlKeirai. These are the concluding words of the commission to Timothy to oppose heresy in the Asiatic churches, not described indeed by that express name, but by a variation eqnallv interesting, iVa irapayydKT)^ ti(t\v jut; (Tepohi^a- (TKaKitv — a term which comes very near to the hctcrodoxi/ of ecclesiastical language. A complete view of the apostolic teaching on the -subject would embrace, besides the passages in which the irord "lieresy" occurs, all those which speak of "false prophets " and ''false teachers" and other equi- valent terms. ■ 1 Cor. xi. 18, 19. ' Gal. v. 20. * Ibid. ver. 10. The phrase is the same by which the Corinthian church ai-e directed to cast out a t)rother guilty of heinous sin. * Titus iii. 10: aipiTiKhv &u6puiTOV. ' Ihid. ver. 11. elSais otj f ^4(tt pairrai 6 rotovros (comp.the KaXovvTes SifaTpafifxtva of Acts x.\. .TO, and the airoffrpf cfiofj.fvwv r^v aK-qOfiav of Titus 1.14). Kal afxapTave I i>v avr OKar a.Kp n os. Perhaps the last word signifies " taking on himself to condemn others " rather than " self- condemned." ' 2 IVtcr ii. 1 : olrivts irapdaa^ovcriv aipecreis airuKfias .... ^iro- yovres (avTo7s raxtv^v aTrdKeiay. (,)ur translators seem to have been led bv the clear meaning of the word a7rw\eiav to give the Hebraistic genitive airwKfias the objective sense, " damnable lieresies." This may be the meaning, but that given in the text seems preferable. Paul describes the " JIan of sin" of the great apostasy .as 6 vlhs ttjj airaiKelas (2 Thoss. ii. 3). 52 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Chap. II. prophets " and " many antichrists " of his age.* With those who held this error be refused even the intercourse of social lil'c.^ But the " false teachings," " the spirit of error, which made them believe a lie," so vehemently denounced by the Apostles, involved false rules of prac- tical life, such as the self-willed asceticism which Paul condemns,' and a subversion of moral restraints, borrowed, in the name of Christian liberty, from the profligate Greeks and Hellenists, espe- cially in Asia. The denunciations of this evil throughout Paul's Epistles are summed up in his description of the unbelievers, whose " very mind and conscience is defiled," who profess that they know God, but in works deny Him, being alxmiinable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.* These moral corruptions are marked, alike by Paul and Peter, John and Jude, as indeed they had been by Christ himself, as the type and foretaste of the un- bridled jirofligacy of the last days, the " perilous times " of the great " apostasy " and " mystery of iniquity." * And, as the heresies of the apostolic age are thus distinctly described as the beginnings and types of all that were ever to spring up, so was it as clearly taught that their end was not to be expected till the final coming of Christ to destroy all offences out of his kingdom." He Himself taught this, with the practical lesson against those attempts of mistaken zeal to weed out the " tares," which, in every age of the Church, have had for their chief result the "pulling up of the wheat." Thus is persecution rebuked, while opposition to heresy, by discipline as well as argument, is enforced by the teaching and example of the Apostles. § 18. That persecution was permitted as a check upon corruption in the Church, is taught by Christ himself and the Apostles ; ' and the time marked by the corruptions now described is also that of » 1 John iv. 1-3 ; 2 John 7-10. 2 It may be doubted whether this passage was really illustrated by, or only suggested, the traditions respecting the Apostle's conduct towards an heretical leader, either Cerinthus, according to Eusebius and Irenaeus, or Ebion, according to Epiphanius. The story is that John refused to be in the baths of Ephesus with the heretic, lest the roof should fall and crush them. 3 1 Tim. iv. 1. ■• Titus i. If}. The last epithet is aSSKifioi (i. c. those who do not stand the test), the exact opposite to the S6Ktfx.oi, whose stedtastness is approved amidst prevailing heresies (1 Cor. xi. 19). » 2 Thess. ii.; 2 Tim. iii. 1 ; 1 John ii. 18 ; Jude, 18; Rev. ii. 20, f. Besides this allusion to " Jczei)el," the " doctrine of the Nicolaitans " (Rev. ii. 6, 15) is supposed to denote one of the immoral heresies. * 1 Thess. ii. 8 ; Matt. xiii. 28-:t0, ^^8-^•.i. There is a strange self-con- demning irony in the choice of this figure by medieval zealots, to describe the objects of their persecution, and especially the English Lollards. ' Sec several passages in the Epistle to the Hebrews and the First Epistle of Petei',and the Epistles in Rev. ii.,iii., all addressed to persecuted churches. A.D. G5. THE PERSECUTION OF NERO. 53 the First Great Persecution by tlie civil power of Rome. Special attention is due to the causes which led Nero to depart from that steady Roman policy of religious toleration, which had been exem- plitied by Gallio at Corinth, and to which Paul had not appealed in vain at Caesar's own tribunal. That toleration was only granted on the condition of respect for the national religion of Rome, with which the sole deity of Jehovah and the abhorrence of idolatry were inconsistent. The peculiar rites of the Jews, and their observance of the Sabbath, brought this irreconcilable cha- racter of their religion into prominence. Their turbulence, both in Judea and the great cities where they were numerous, and their frequent outbreaks, often provoked by their Greek enemies, caused them to be regarded as a constant source of disquiet to the govern- ment. The Christians suffered their full share of this odium as a Jewish sect, all the more from the dislike with which the Jews were seen to regard them ; and they were viewed with peculiar hatred as the adherents of a ringleader of Jewish sedition and a crucified malefactor.^ Their uncompromising rejection of the national gods was hateful to the idolatrous common people and a kind of treason in the eyes of statesmen ; while the jjliilosophic unbelievers in the heathen gods disliked still more a spiritual religion, which taught the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and a state of future retribution. These feelings may be summed up in the words of Christ and his Apostle : " \'e sliall be hated of all men for my name's sake :" — " We are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day." ^ We have seen that each fresh Jewish outbreak, in Judea, at Alexandria, or elsewhere, was wont to be the signal for new mea- sures against the Jews at Rome. Now it happened that Gessius Florus, the new procurator of Judea, began that climax of oppres- sion, which provoked the great Jewish rebellion, at the very time when Rome was burnt down under Nero.* The popular voice ascribed the fire to the emperor's insane caprice ; and, when the bribery of large donatives and the parade of propitiatory religious services had failed to allay the suspicion, Nero sought a scape-goat in the most despised sect of the hated Jews. " In order," says Tacitus, " to put down the rumour, he set up as objects of accusa- ' This feelintj is seen in the notices of Tacitus and Suetonius. "^ 1 Cor. iv. i.3. These words of Paul are literally echoed by Tacitus in his account of the origin of Christianity, and its s^rowth at Rome, " quo cuneta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque " (.Inn. sv. 44). For an expression of liis dislike ami contempt of tlie Jews, whom he calls " tetcrrimam tjentem" see his /fist. v. 8. * Gessius Florus became Procurator of .ludea about Midsummer, G4, and the great Hre of Rome was on July 19th-24th of that year. 64 THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. Chap. U. tion and punishment those whom, already hated for their wickedness, the people called Christians. This name was derived from one Chbistus, who was executed in the reign of Tiljerius by Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea ; and this accursed superstition, re- pressed for the moment, broke out again, not only through Judea, the source of tlie mischief, but also through the city, whither all things outrageous and shameful flow together and find many adherents. Accordingly those were first arrested who confessed,* afterwards a vast number upon their information, who were convicted, not reallj'' on the chargQ of causing the fire, but rather for their hatred to the human race.^ Mockeries were added to their death : such as that they were wrapped in the skins of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or set on fire and burnt, when the daylight failed, as torches to light up the night,* Nero had lent his own gardens for the spectacle, and he gave a chariot-race, in which he was seen mounted on his car or mingling with the people in the dress of a charioteer. As the result of all, a feeling of compassion arose for the sufferers, though guilty and deserving of condign punishment, yet as being destroyed, not for the common good, but to satiate the cruelty of one man." * Ecclesiastical liistorians mark this as the first of the Ten General Persecutions of the Christians by Roman Emperors.^ The example set by the emperor in the capital would certainly be followed in the provinces ; and the Jews, on the eve of their own great catastrophe, seized the opportunity for renewing their charges against and assaults upon the Christians, 'fhe eminent leaders, instead of merely falling victims to the lawless rage of the Jews, like Stephen and the two Apostles James, or finding refuge under the Roman law, like Paul, were now sought out and carried to Rome for execu- tion. Such was the fate of Paul, whose prospect of triumphant martyrdom from the rage of the imperial lion is drawn by his own hand in the Second Epistle to Timothy, and of Pkter, whose First Epistle bears the marks of being written to strengthen his Christian ' This clearly means their confession that they were Christians, not that they had set fire to the city, for that char£;e is immediately afterwards declared groundless by Tacitus himself — "hand perinde in crimine in- cendii." We shall soon find Pliny, the philosophic friend of Tacitus, treating the mere confession of the ('hristian name as a sutKcient ground for a capital sentence, in the persecution under Trajan. - The heathen adversaries constantly charged Christianity with being anti-social, and hostile to human hai)piness. ' The idea seems to be that some were thus made living torches to light up the agonies of the other sutl'crers, when the spectacle was no longer visible through the fall of night. * Tacit. Ann. xv. 44, under a.d. 65, near the beginning of the year. * See Notes and Illustrations (A). A.D. 70. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 56 brethren of the Jewish Dispersion under a general persecution. Clement of liome, the earliest of the " Apostolic Fathers " (those writers who had intercourse with the Apostles), testifying to the martyrdom of Paul and I'eter, adds that their fate was shared by "a great multitude of the elect, who, suffering many insults and torments througli the envy of their adversaries, left the most glorious example among us."' The general character of Nero's persecution is also testified by Eusebius and Lactantius in the fourth century, and by Orosius in the fifth ; and Sulpicius iSeverus (about the saiue time) says that the Christian religion was forbidden by laws and public edicts, adding the circumstance, which fixes the date, that, while these things were done at Konie, the Jews began their rebel- lion, provoked by the outrages of Gessius Florus.^ § 19. The unexampled horrors of the Jewish War, and its climax in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (a.d. 70), were the first fulfilment of Christ's great prophecy of His coming to put an end to the Jewish dispensation, that IIis kingdom on earth miglit be entrusted only to the Christian Church, which was built up on the ruins of the Jewish. Or rather, to use a truer figure,^ as the Christian religion and Ciiurch wore wholly a development of the Jewish, the old dispensation fell to the ground and died, like a seed, m order that the New might bring forth the fruit predicted by its Lord.* The destruction of Jerusalem marks the epoch at which Christianity emerged from its initiatory stage, with a church completely organised, and numbering converts through the whole Roman Empire, and even beyond its borders to the East, to replace Judaism as the witness for the one true God. So clearly did the Christians of Jerusalem themselves see this significance of their Lord's prophecy, that they retired from the Holy City before its investment by Titus, and the Church of Jerusalem (as it was still called) had its seat at Pella, a village of the Decapolis, beyond the Jordan,'* till Hadrian permitted them to return to what was no longer the Jewish capital, but the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina (a.d. 13G).^ The spiritual Zion had replaced the material city of Uavid. * Clemens Romanus, F.pist. T. ad Corinfhlos, 5. ' The government of Gessius Florus began (as above stated) in A.D. 64-, and the Jews broke out into open rebellion in a.d. 66. ^ John xii. '24. * Matt. xxi. 43. * Kuseb. //. E. in. 5 ; Epiphan. Jlirr. xxix. 7 ; de Mens, et Pond. 15. The latter writer savs that a Christian Church was soon gathered again amii)a, Ca-sarea, and (as it clearly implied), at Samaria, besides probably others included in the general term "the churches of Judea." 2. In I'hrenicia, at Tj're and Ptolemais (the ancient Acco and the St. Jean d'Acre of medie\al and modern history). 3. In Syria, at Antiwh and Damascus ; and from the latter city Paul went and preached among the Arabian subjects of King .Aretas. 4. Cilicia, which was more closely con- nected with Syria than with Asia Minor within the Taurus, was one of the earliest scenes of Paul's labours (Gal. i. 21), and "the churches of Cilicia" are expressly mentioned in Acts xv. 5. In Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas doubt- less founded churches at the two cities of Salamis and Paphos ; and the last mention of Barnabas shows him renewing his work in the island, after his separation from Paul. 6. In Asia Minor (within Taurus) four groups of churches are to be noticed :— (1) Those planted by Paul and Barnabas in the wild regions of I'isidia and J.y- cannia, at Antioch, Iconiuni, Derbe, and Lystra. (2) The churches of Calatia, founded by Paul in his second tour. (3) The famous churches of Asia, the fruit chiefly of Paul's labours at Ephesus during his third circuit, namely, those at Ephe- sus, Smyriip. Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Alexandria Troas, with those of I'hrygia, reckoned as belonging to Asia, at Colossa; and Laodicea. (4) To these must be added the churches of " the Dispersion" in the other provinces of Asia Jlinor, to whom Peter addresses his first Epistle, namely (besides Galatia and Asia), Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. The fact that churches were planted over the whole of .Asia Jlinor (I.ycia and Caria being the only provinces in which no churches are named), alike among the Hellenistic Jews of the dispersion, the Hellenized natives of all Eastern races, and the Celtic Galatians, is verj' significant. The soil where the greatest mUture of races was gathered in a narrow compass received most readily the seed of the faith designed for all kindreds of mankind, in- termixed, however, with Oriental ideas; and the free spirit of Hellenic civilization proved more congenial to the Gospel than the exclusive ness either of the Jewish reli- gion or of the proud Roman supremacy. And the civic constitution, which the Greek cities retained in their internal affairs, made them the fit seats of religious communities which were independent of the political society amid.st which they lived. Besides, the strong Jewish element in these cities (in spite of the unbelief of the niiijority) furnished everywhere a nu- cleus of the Christian Church. In iastem Kurope there was the same Hellenism infused with a .Jewish leaven. 7. In ilacedonia, Paul founded churches at the colony of Philippi, at the port of Thessalonica, and at Beroea. The exist- ence of other churches may be inferred with probability from the allusions to the churches of Macedonia. (2 Cor. viii. 1, ix. 2 ; Rom. XV. 26.) 8. In Greece (the province of Achaia), besides the famous church at Corinth and that at Athens, the existence of others is attested by the Epistle addressed to them. (2 Cor. i. ], viii. ], ix. 2 ; Rom. xv. 26 ) 9. In Crete, the existence of several churches is testified by the Epistle to Titus. The Epistle also alludes to the labours of ApoUos in Crete (Til. lii. 13). In the Post-ApostoUc age, the principal church in Crete was at Go tyna. 10. On his third circuit, Paul went on from Macedonia to the shores of the Adri- atic, and he distinctly marks his labours in niyricum as completiny the extension of the Gospel through the eastern part of the empire to its western limit. (Rom. xv. 19; conip. "those parts" in Acts xxi. 2.) I'he existence of churches in that neigh- bourhood is implied in his mention of Titus's visit to Dalmatia. (2 Tim. iv. 10.) ' 11. Rome closes the list, as the only church known as yet in the western part of the Empire. 12. That Peter, in the discharge of his special mission to open the kingdom of heaven, passed bej-ond the limits of Cajsar's rule into the rival empire of Parthia (perhaps as a refuge from persecution) is quite clear if we accept in its literal sense the name of the' place from which he 60 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Chap. II. wrote his First Epistle, Babylon, where the Jews of the Eastern Dispersion were nu- merous and wealthy, and maintained inter- course with those both of Asia Minor and Judea. (See iV. T. Hist., ch. xix. $ 16.) Among the " devout Jews, out of every nation under heaven," who were at Jeru- salem and heard the preaching of Peter on the great day of Pentecost, those of fifteen nations and provinces are men- tioned by name. Eight of the fifteen are afterwards conspicuous in tlie apostolic history ; namely, besides Rome and Judcea itself, and Ci-ete and Arabia, there are three of the provinces of Asia Minor which were special seats of Paul's work, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and two which are named in Peter's Epistle, Cap- padocia and Pontus. In connection with these, and at the head of the whole list, stand the Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, that is, the whole region of the Tigris and Euphrates and the bordering lands to the east, which formed the chief part of the Parthian Empire. These lands, so famous in Jewish history, were the abodes of whatever remnants were left of the great captivities of Israel ; and thus it would seem that the first preaching of Christianity embraced all sections of the race. 13. The remaining coimtries in the list are Kgypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene. These regions of Africa, now included in the Roman Empire, had re- ceived a strong infusion of .Jewish settlers, beginning from the time of the Babylonian captivity, and increased during the period of the Hellenistic nile. 14. Proceeding to the southernmost parts of Africa, as then known, the E;unuch con- verted by Philip carried the Gospel to Ethiopia, that is, the kingdom of Meroe.^ II. Passing from the Sacred History to the traditions of the Church, we are at once warned of the doubtful and often plainly treacherous ground, by such stories as that the Apostles cast lots to decide the countries to whicli they should sever- ally go from Jerusalem ; that, before they separated, they joined in drawing up the symbol of faith called the Apostles' Creed ; and that they were all unmarried ; not to recur to the other special fables about Peter. But there are some traditions about their labours in the diffusion of the Church which deserve more respect from their antiquity. Within the limits of the Roman Em- pire, the Apostle Philip is said to have spent his last years at Hierapolis in Phrygia;* and the foundation of the important Church of AUxandria, in Egypt, is ascribed to Jons Mark, the Evangelist and the companion of Barna- bas, Paul, and Peter.f In the East, beyond the Empire, Thomas is said to have preached the Gospel in Partkia, and to have been buried at P^dessa.J It is not till the fourth century that we find the tradition of this Apostle's preaching in India,^ which others assign to Baktholo- MEw;|| while the more usual account makes Armenia the scene of the latter Apostle's labours, and of his cruel mar- tyrdom by flaying alive and crucifixion.^[ The nations beyond the eastern border of the Empire are also assigned by some to Matthkw,** whom the prevailing triidition sends to ..Ethiopia. if The confused way in which the several traditions assign various countries to each Apostle, proves how little was known of their personal history, or of the steps by which the Church was first extended to the remoter regions. It became a matter of national pride to claim an Apostolic founder, or a contemporary of Christ and the Apostles, for the Church of every country ; and some of the most extravagant of these claims have been perpetuated ; as in the honour paid in Spain to James, the son of Zebedee, as Santiago di ComposteXla; in France, to Dionysius the Areopagite, as Saint Denys, whose claim, however, is disputed on be- half of Lazarus, Jlartha, Mary I\Iagdalene, and others; and in Russia, to St. Andrew. The conversion of Germany was ascribed to Maternus, Eucherius, and Valerius, as legates of St. Peter; but there is no evidence that Christianity had yet reached the " barbarian " nations of Europe.JJ * Polycrates (alxint a.d. 190) np. Enseb. B. E. iii. 31, V. 24). The apocryphal Ads of Philip are full of the wihlest Icgemis. t Euseh. U. F. ii. 16. t Euseb. iii. 1. § Ucspeotinp this, and the '* Syrian Christians of St. Thoraas," un the Malal)ar coast, see N. T. Hist., ch. IX. § 16. Some think the tradition to 1)€ of Manicluean origin, aa the apocryphal We/* of Tho^nns are decidedly Maiiiohreau. See Vliilo, Arlii Tfinma Atynnloli, Lips. 1823. II Euseb. n. E. V. 10 : lintinns. F. E. x. 9. The country meant, wtiirh the latter writer calls Oiilfr liulin, appears from his description to be the part of Arabia nuw called Yfmni. t' Assemann, Hill. Or. iii. 2, 20. "* Amhros. in Psalm, xlv. tt Socrates, II. E. i. 19 ; Knfin. JI. F. %. 9. it On tlie supposed rase of the British lady named Claudia, see the Studml't N. T. Jlitt. p. tj'iO, note. Koman Catacombs. Gallery with " Loculi." noma Sotterranea.) (From Northcote's CHAPTER III. AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. FROM NERVA TO COMMODUS, CORRESPONDING TO THE SECOND CENTURY (A.D. 96-192.) § 1. Character of the Post-Apostolic Church — The Second and Third Cen- turies the age of Apologies and Fersecutions. § 2. Jewish and Heathen Hostility — Calumnies against the Christians. § 3. Quiet Rule of Nerva (A.D. 96-98)— Policy of Trajan (a.d. 98-117) — His Edict against Hlegal Societies — Pliny's Account of Christianity in his Correspondence with Trajan — Its resemblance to the New Testament model — Trajan's Rescript on the mode of dealing with the Christians — The Third Persecution. § 4. The Protomartyr Symeon, Bishop of Jerusalem — Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, brought before Trajan and condemned to be thrown to the lions at Rome — His Journey through Asia Minor, and his Letters to the Churches — His Martyrdom at the Saturnalia. § 5. Popular Rage against the Christians — Reign of Hadrian (a.d. 117-138) — The earliest Apologies, by Quadratus and Aristides — Hadrian's mild Rescript. § 6. The last great Revolt of the Jews, under Akiba and Bar-cochab — Final Desecration of Jerusalem and Severance of the Jews and Christians. § 7. Schism in the Church of Jerusalem — Sects of the Kazareans, the Ebionites, and the Elcesaites — Rise of the Ebionite Gnosticism — The Fseudo-Clementines. § 8. Tolerant Policy of Antoninus Pius (a.d. 138- 62 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chax- 111. 161) ; but continued popular enmity — Conversion and Life of Justin Martyr — His First Apology, addressed to Antoninus Pius. § 9. Marcus AURELIUS Antoninus (a.D. 161-180) — His Hatred of Christianity as a Philosopher and a Ruler — The Fourth Persecution — Records of the Cata- combs. § 10. The Second Ajyology and Martyrdom of Justin Martyr Martyrdom of Melito, Bishop of Sardis — Persecution at Smyrna, and Martyrdom of Polycarp. §11. Persecution in Gaul — Origin of the Gallic Church — Pothinus, Bishop of Lyon — Letter of the Churches of Lyon and Vienne relating the Martyrdoms there. § 12. Legend of the "Thundering Legion." § 1.3. Reign of Commodus (a.d. 180-192) — Martyrdom of AppUonius. § 14. Extension of the Church throughout the Empire during the Second Century — Evidence of a British Church Churches in the East beyond the Empire. § 15. Canon of the New Testament formed in the Second Century § 1. With the close of tlic New Testament records, and the death of the last surviving Apostle, the History of the Church passes from its sacred to its purely human phase. The miraculous gifts which attested the divine mission of the Aix)stles cease ; not indeed by any formal record of their withdrawal, but by the clear evidence that they were possessed no longer. But those iierraanent gifts which mark the true spirit of Christ, and which Paul valued above tongues and prophetic powers, remain with the Church. It preserves, during the second and third centuries, a prevailing character of purity, zeal in the defence and propagation of the truth, and freedom from a worldly si)irit. A constant conflict is maintained, by arguments based on Scripture and reason, both with Jewish and heathen adversaries, and with the corruptions and heresies tliat sprang up within the Church ; and the eflbrts of heathen rulers to root out the new faith are met by constancy under persecution. These two centuries are eminently the age of Apologies and Per- secutions ; the age in which the truths of Christianity were defended by its teachers, and attested by its martyrs ; for it had become as needful to refute calumny as to bear suffering and death, § 2. After the severance made between Jews and Christians by the vast increase of Gentile converts and by the fall of Jerusalem, the Christians were still in the peculiar position of being obnoxious both to Jews and heathens, alike for their separation from Judaism and for their connection with it. They were still commonly regarded by the heathen as a Jewish sect ; but peculiar hostility was excited by a religion, which was seen not to be national, but to claim universal allegiance. In the eyes of the rulers, the Christian churches were a new°form of the dangerous "illegal associations" ; while both rulers and people were moved to hatred by calumnies which arose from misunderstanding of the Christian doctrine and worship. The secresy A.D. 96. JEWISH AND HEATHEN HOSTlLlXy. 63 which persecution imposed upon their meetings was at once a source of suspicion and an opjx)rtunity for the misrepresentations of in- formers ; and in spreading such calumnies the Jews found a grati- fication of their malignant envy of the Christians.^ The fragments of information obtained by the curiosity of heathen masters from their Christian slaves must have been a fruitful source of mistake. What they heard of " eating the body of Christ," in the Lord's Supper, may have been the ground of the charge of "Thyestean banquets";^ the familiar fellowship of the " love-feasts," in which men and women joined, may have been distorted into riotous banquets and promiscuous intercourse f and the prominence assigned to spiritual influence may have been the foundation for the charge of magic — a power which was claimed, in that age, by most teachers of new religions.* Nor can it be denied that some colour was given to these accusations by the doctrines and practices with which some of tlie heretical sects had already corrupted Christianity .° To all this was added the interested opposition which sprang from the same motive as that of Demetrius at Ephesus. The priests, and ail those whose livelihood depended either on the heathen worship or on the spectacles and amusements which the Christians abhorred, — and for abhorring which they were held up to the people as enemies of human happiness,'' — all these could at any time raise IX)i)ular tumults, in which the Christians were first assailed and then made responsible for the disturbance ; or they could invoke the law against illegal superstitions,'' if not some special laws still in force against the Christians. § 3. Such laws slumbered while Nerva, to use the words of Tacitus, " united what had long been irreconcilable — supreme ' Justin Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. 17 ; Orig. c. Cchuni, \\. 27. Most of our information about these calumnies is naturally derived from the replies to them by the Christian j\poIogists. They are doubtless referred to in Tacitus's character of the Christians as " per flagitux invisos." - Justin JMartyr, Apol. i. 2G ; Ircnaeus ; and other authorities, cited by Canon Robertson, Hist, of the Christian Church, vol. i. p. 10. ' Possibly the rite of baptism may have had something to do with this charge. * The hymns, which formed so conspicuous a part of Christian worship, may have been regarded as incantations of sorcery. * "Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iii. 2, p. 514) cliargcs the Carpocra- tians with the abominations which were falsely imputed to the Church." Robertson, /. c. » " Odio humani generis convicti " (Tacitus). ' Besides this general law, special laws had been made against the Christians by Nero and Domitian ; and, though some hold them to have been repealed, Tertullian expressly states that those of Nero were left standing when his other acts were abrogated. The existence of such laws would explain Pliny's sending Christians to execution on their mere con- fession of the name. 64 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. III. power and liberty " (a.d. 96-98).^ But the system by which Trajan (a.d. 98-117) " daily increased the happiness of the JCmpire " involved the severe repression of every source of danger to the public security. In this spirit, early in his reign, he issued an edict against the guilds or clubs (hetcerice); and the Christian churches were special objects of the inquisition made for such, on account of the mystery in which their worship and usages were involved.^ It fell to the lot of the younger Pliny to enforce this edict as Proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus, where we have seen that Christianity was already deeply rooted, especially among the Jews.^ Within half a century of Peter's martyrdom, Pliny found the heathen temples almost deserted ; and the want of a market for the sacrificial animals threatened the prosperity of his province. Among the accused were persons of every rank, of both sexes, and of all ages; nor had "the contagion of this superstition" infected the cities only, the usual centres of new opinions, but even the villages and the countrj'^ districts.* Such is the account which Pliny writes to Trajan, while asking how he is to deal with this large class of persons, who were accused of no crime but their religion. He had doubted whether he ought to punish " the name itself, if free from crimes, or the crimes cohering with the name " ; and the discovery that there were no such crimes seems to have surprised the philosopher, who had shared the prejudices of his friend Tacitus. At first he had deemed it enough to ask the accused whether they were Christians, and, on their repeated confession, he had jfut some of them to death, reserving those who were citizens to be sent to Eome. " I had no doubt," writes the philosopher, "that, whatever it was that they » See Tac. Ag7'ic. 3. ' That this edict was the mainsprincj of the ensuing persecution, is seen in the words of Pliny, writing to Trajan: — "Secundum mandata tua, hetoDrias esse vetueram." (^Ej/ist. x. 9G, § 7 ; comp. Epist. s. 3G.) ' See 1 Peter i. 1. The Jews had jirobably gone into these provinces as commercial speculators in the track of the Koman armies. The jirevalence of Christianity there, in the second century, is confirmed by Lucian (^Akx- andcr, c. 45). The date of Pliny's government is unfortunately doubtful ; whether A.D. 103-105 or 111-113. Clinton places the correspondence in A.n. 104; Pagi and Merivale in A.D. 112; and Pagi conjectures that the occasion arose out of the refusal of the Christians to join in the sacrifices at Trajan's Quindcccnnalia — the fifteenth anniversary of his adoption as heir of the empire. ■* This is an early sign of the distinction which is still testified by the word " pagan." The patjani were .simply people of the country districts (pnf/i), as o])posed to those of the cities, urbani ; and the former class adhered, in great part, to the old religion, even after the imperial establish- ment of Christianity. A.D. 104 ? PLINY'S TESTIMONY. 65 confessed, their wilfulness and inflexible obstinacy deserved punish- ment." But in this first record of a systematic persecution, we find that the courage of some gave way, and they became Avhat the Church afterwards called " the lapsed." Many, who were accused on anonymous information,' were allowed to clear themselves by offering incense to the gotis of Rome and to the emperor's statue, and by cursing the name of Christ. There were some who at first confessed and then retracted, declaring that they had reneunced Christianity as much as three or even twenty years before.^ From these the i)roconsul hoped to get light on the vile practices which rumour ascribed to the Christians ; and the result of his enquiries gives such a picture of the worship and life of the early Church, that his letter has been called the First Apolwjy fur Chrintianity.^ In riiny's own words, "They affirmed tliis to have been the sum of their fault or rather error, that they used to assemhle on a fixed day before it was light* and to siny respmisivdy a hymn to Christ as to a yod;^ and they bound themselves by a sacramental oath,^ not to some crime'' — as the proconsul had expected to ' Observe this testimony to the fact that the Christians were exposed to the private enmity, and other base motives, of anonymous informers, who appear to have been generally Jews. Compare Trajan's answer, below. - 'I"he conjecture of Pagi that the period of twenty years refers back to Domitian's persecution, cannot be accejited as evidence for the date. It might just as well be argued that the three years ])oint back to Trajan's edict against the hetcrriu'. Robertson observes that "the equivocal be- haviour of these persons leaves it in doubt whether they really apostatized or whether they used the licence which was sanctioned by some heretical sects, and disavowed their belief in order to escape danger." ^ The following is the text of this invaluable testimony to i)rimitive Christianity. Pliny is speaking of those who had recanted: — "Adfirma- bant autem banc fuisse summam vel culpji; suas veJ erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem con venire, carmonque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem, seque Sacramento non in scelus uliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria committerent, ne tidem tiillerent, ne de- positum appellati abnegarent ; (juibus peractis morem sibi disccdendi fuisse rursus(juo ail capiendum cibum, promiscuura tamen et innoxium." ■* That this ccrtnin daij was the Lord's-ddj/, or first day of the week, may be inferred from the practice of the Aj)ostolic Churches (.\cts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. -\vi. 2). The hour, before .daylight — the very time of Christ's resurrec- tion—was also that which even slaves could call their own. The natural inference is that the primitive Christians observed the Lord's-day for worship, but made no attempt to deprive their masters of their labour on that day. ^ " Carmen dicere sccuin i7ivicem " seems to imply the anti- phoiud siner, tbr this was celebrated in the eveninor. 63 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. HI. discover, like the conspiracies which were cemented by unhallowed rites — " but that they would commit no thefts, nor robberies, nor adulteries, nor break their word, nor deny a deposit when called upon: having done which, their usage was to depart, and to assemble again to take food, which, however, was common and guiltless." ^ This account, given by recreants, and preserved in the words of an impartial enemy of the faith, reflects at every point the indica- tions of the New Testament concerning the primitive Church : their meeting for "worship on the first day of the week, before daylight, and again, when the day's work was done, to eat the Lord's Supper in connection with their own Feast of Love ; the prominence given in their worship to hymns of praise, in which divine honour was paid to Christ -^ and the strict bond of holiness and honesty on which their fellowship was based. Pliny tested their confession by the evidence of two female servants, evidently deaconesses ^ of the Church, whom he put to the torture, but he still extracted proof of nothing but " immoderate addiction to a perverse superstition." Such was the case which Pliny submitted to Trajan, asking how he should deal with the Christians : whether he should be satisfied with a recantation, and whether any favour should be shown to the young and weak. He adds that his measures had brought back many worshipi^rs to the temples, and advises a moderate policy as the best means of recovering many more. Trajan's answer is deeply interesting, as showing the policy deliberately adopted towards Christianity by him whom all historians, from Tacitus ' These words clearly refer to the charge of " Thyestean banquets," which appears to have usually taken the form of their alleged eating the flesh of children; a charge which was very frequently made against the Jews, in ancient as well as medieval times. The " cibum promiscuum" ap- pears to mean ordinary food, as distinguished from the revolting banquets {ohnoxium, the opposite to innoxium) charged against them. The meal itself was doubtless the dydmj or love-feast, which was eaten in connec- tion with the Lord's Supper. ^ Even if the words " quasi dec" were Pliny's own gloss, of which there is no proof, the fact remains, that hymns of worship were addressed to Christ. The recre.ints, who had just cleared themselves by invoking the gods of Rome, must surely have meant the same kind of divine worship when they said that they had hitherto invoked the name of Christ, as if he ucre a ijod (quasi dco). And it is to be observed, in the whole history of Roman persecutions, that Christ is made correlative with the gods, not regarded as the mere leader of a sect. The Christians are required to abjure Ifis name, and to invoke the names of the gods, as a point of religion, and the name of the em])eror, as a point of loyalty. ' " Ancillis, qu.e ministnt dicebantur." Comj). Rom. xvi. 1: *oi0r)»' ol(Tav SidKOVof TJjs (KKArifflai t^s fv K€7XP*«'S. A.D. 106, f. THIRD GENERAL PERSECUTION. 67 downwards, hold up to admiration as the most just and statesman- like among the emperors.^ He approves of the proconsul's measures tlius far, and prefers leaving him a large discretion to laying down a rigid rule, lie directs that the informers should be discouraged, and that no inquisition should be made lor the Christians; but thuse who are convicted are to be punished. Those, however, who deny that they are Christians, however much suspected in the past, may obtain pardon by supplicating the gods of Rome. The policy thus announced was to connive at the existence of the new religion, so lung as it was nut furced on the notice of the government in such a manner as to require the execution of the laws ; but none the less was Christianity branded as a legal crime by the rescript of one of the noblest enipen)rs.''^ tSuch was the result of viewing it in ,the light of mere ix^licy, without inquiring into its truth. The sufferings of the Christians imder Trajan are reckoned as the Third General Ferscciition. § 4. It was probably before and independently of the emperor's rescript, that the protvraartyr of the Post-Apostolic Clnu-ch fell a victim to the hatred uf the Jews. This was (Symeon, who is said to have been a kinsman of our Lord, being the son, of Cleoplias, and a brother of James the Just, on whose death he was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem. Eusebius relates the tradition, that Symeon was denounced by some Jewish heretics as one of the progeny of David, and, after enduring cruel tortures with a constancy that amazed the lookers-on, he was crucified at the age of a hundred-and-twenty. But the most striking event of this persecution was the mar- tyrdom of Ignatius, the venerable Bishop of Antioch, after a trial by the emperor in person. Ignatius is said to have been a disciple of St. John,^ and to have succeeded Kuodius at Antioch about the year 70. It was prubably during Trajan's stay at Antioch on his march to Parthia, and when the capital of the East was laid in ruin by an carthiiuake, in which the emperor nearly lost his life, that this alarm (like the fire under Nero) caused new inquisition to be made for thdse obnoxious to the gods.'* Whether selected as • This estimate of Trajan has not been confined to heathens. Of Gregory the Great "it is said that he was so impressed with the thoughts of the justice and goodness of this heathen sovereign, that he earnestly pra)-ed in St. Peter's Church, that God would even now give him grace to know the name of Christ and to be converted." (Dean Stanley, Atemorials of Canter- bun,, p. 23.) _ - We mav do justice to Trajan's decision from his own point of view, without do'nving the force of Tertullian's indignant comment: " O scn- tentiam necessitate confusam ! Negat inijuirendos, ut innocentes ; et man- dat puniendos, ut nocentes " {Apd. 2). ^ Hieron. dc Vir. Tllust. c. 16. * It is not certain to which of Trajan's visits to Antioch the sentence of 68 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. HI. a chief victim, or coming forward of his own free will,' Ignatius gladly embraced the opportunity of pleading the cause of Christ, and explaining his faith before the emperor; but his "good con- fession" was early transformed into an. exchange of rhetorical speeches between him and Trajan. In the end, he was condemned to be thrown to the lions at liome, whose populace would be gratified with the spectacle, by which Trajan may have feared to provoke the Christians of the always restless Eastern city. It seems, too, that Trajan counted on the deep impression that would be made through the empire, whetlier this leader of the new reliirioa were induced to apostatize through the long delay and hardships of his journey, or by his public execution in the capital, after being led jn chains through those parts of the empire where Christianity most prevailed. But the real effect was to enable Ignatius to confirm those churches by his presence or his letters, and his only fear through the long journey was lest the intercession of his friends should rob him of his crown of martyrdom. He was carried, in charge of ten brutal soldiers, from Seleucia by sea to Smyrna, where he met his fellow-disciple and follower in martyrdom, Polycarp, and the Bishops of Ephesus, Magnesia, and Tralles, by whom he sent letters to their churches, and he also wrote to his brethren at Rome. From Troas he sent back letters to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna, and one to the Church of Philadelphia, whose bishop had come to meet him.^ Thence he sailed to Ncapolis in Macedonia, and, having crossed by land to pjpidamnus, was carried round by sea to Portus (the harbour of Pome) near Ostia. He was hurried to Rome, not to disappoint the people of such an addition to the wild mirth of the Saturnalia as the sight of a venerable leader of the Christians brought from the extreme East to be torn to pieces by the lions in the Colosseum, where he suffered on the 20th of December.^ He is said to have ex- pressed a wish that nothing of his mortal body might remain unde- voured ; and only the larger and harder bones were left to be gathered Ignatius should be referred ; but the weight of opinion is in favour of that referreil to above, according to which Clinton fixes the martyrdom at A.I), llo. ' The statement, that Ignatius "was voluntarily led " before the em- peror, admits of either interpretation. It must be added, however, that the Acts of the Martyrdom of /tjniiiu!<, in which these words occur, and which give the conversation between the bishoj)and the emperor, are of doulitful genuineness, and the latter ])art, at least, is usually given up as sjjurious. (See Robertson, vol. i. p. 10.) ^ Respecting the E|>istles ascribed to Ignatius, see Chap. IV. § 4. ' His martyrdom was on the last day of the Sigillarici, a feast attached to the Satunutlia. A.D. 125. THE FIRST APOLOGISTS. 69 up by his brethren, and carried back to Antioch, amidst marks of grief and honour from all the churches on the road. Jt was left for a later age to make the relics of martyrs an object of worship. §5. The exposure of Ignatius in the Colosseum gave an impulse, as Trajan had probably intended, to the popular prejudice whicli was ready to visit every public calamity on those who refused alike to worship the national gods and to indulge the national vices ; and every plague or lamine or earthquake or defeat was a signal for the mob assembled in the amphitheatres of every city to raise the cry," Christianos ad hones'." The demand for their destruction, made on the occasion of Hadrian's^ second visit to Athens, called forth the earliest of those Apologies,^ which a succession of Cliristian writers addressed to the emperors, in explanation and vindication of the Christian faith and character, during the second and third cen- turies. The first of these " Apologists " were Qdadratus, a disciple of the A[X)stles, and Bishop of Athens, and Aristides, a converted philosopher of the same city. Their writings, addressed to Hadrian about the year 125, are no longer extant, but we may judge of their contents by the arguments of their successors. One chief object was to refute the charges brought against the Christians by their Jewish adversaries, and to dissipate the prejudice which confounded them with the Jews. Hadrian, who made it his business to study philosophic questions at all the great seats of learning, was the more open to conviction, as the renewal of Jewish revolt was one of the chief troubles of his reign. An appeal came to him, about the same time, from the Proconsul of Asia, against the cruelties inflicted on the Christians at the bidding of popular clamour. A rescript to the provincial governors forbad the punishment of the Christians, except in due form of law and for crimes distinctly proved, and ordered false informations against them to be severely punished. But this fell far short of toleration, for the existing laws were left to be enforced as the local magistrates might think fit. § 6. The Jewish disturbances just referred to were the means of completing the severance Ix'tween Judaism and Christianity. The terrible Jewish War of Titus had been followed by strict measures to keep down the indomitable spirit of the race throughout the empire, which needed not to be inflamed by the fabulous cruelties ' Ha.irian succeeded Trajan on August 8th, 117, and reigned till July 10th. 138. -' The readers for whom this work is meant will hardly need a warning not to confound 'A7roAo7/a with our colloquial "apology," like the king who remarked on Bishoji Watson's famous Apolopi /<»' If"' Bil'ln — " 1 never knew that the liible noedeil an Apology!" It should be observed, however, that an apolcxjii is not merely an argument on the evidences of Christianity, but specifically an ansicer to charges against it. 5* • 70 AGK OF THE Al'OSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. HI. which the Rabbinical writers ascribe to Trajan. On the opportunity given by the withdrawal of his legions for the Parthian War, a revolt broke out first in Cyprus, the refuge of many fugitives from Palestine, and next in Egypt and tlie province of Cyrene, and was marked everywhere by cruel massacres and murderous retaliation. Tlie rebellion was -put down with a severity which the emperor, victorious in the East, extended to the Jews of Mesopotamia, who had enjoyed toleration under the Parthian kings. Hadrian, who as Trajan's lieutenant had crushed tbe revolt in Cyprus, kept down the embers of rebellion by the force which he withdrew from Parthia. Meanwhile, however, the revived national spirit was fostered in Palestine by the mystic teaching of the schools of Tiberias, which produced a new head in the Rabbi Akiba, and a new hand in a man of superhuman size and strength, who assumed the name of Bar-cochab, that is, Son of the Star.* The final jn'ovocation is said^ to have been given by the settlement of a colony of veterans at Jerusalem, which Hadrian had resolved to make a Roman city (a.d. 131). The revolt was at first successful, and it lasted for three years before it was suppressed, with the slaugliter of 580,000 Jews in Palestine (a.d. 132-135). The site of the Holy City was occupied and desecrated by a Roman colony, on which Hadrian, in celebrating his Vicennah'a, bestowed the name of ^Jlia Capitolina, combining with his own family name tlie title of the Capitoline Jove, whose temple was now reared on Mount Zion. All Jews were forbidden to enter the new city on pain of death; but an exception was made in favour of those Christians who declared their severance from Judaism by abandoning the dis- tinctive Jewish practices. The majority of the Church in Judca accepted the condition, chose a bishop of Gentile race, and adopted Gentile usages. Thus, as is the natural course of great organic changes, the bond which had lost all vital force was finally severed by an impulse from without. § 7. But the change caused a new schism in the Church itself, which some trace back to the time of Symeon's death.' Those who adhered to the Mosaic law formed a separate community at the old refuge of the Church in Pella, and other places beyond the Jordan. They divided again into two .sects. The Nazareans adhered to the ' In allusion to the " Star of .Taooli" predicted by Balaam (Numb. xxiv. 17). For further details of this last Jewish War, sue the Introduction to the Student's K T. Hist., chap. v. § 12. * Dio Ca.ss. Ixix. 12. ' Hegesippus, ap. Euseb. IT. E. iii. 32. Elsewhere (iv. 22) the same writer calls the Judaizing corrui)ter of the Church Thehuthis; but it is doubtful whether this is the name of a person, or a collective term, de- noting an "opposition," which is cast off as refuse. (See Gieseler, vol. i. pp. 98, 99, notes). A.D. 135, f. THE NAZAREANS AND EBIONITES. 71 whole Christian faith without renouncing the character and cus- toms of Jews, which, however, they did not iraix)se on Gentile converts; in a word, they clung to the position of the earliest Jewish Christians. The other party, who were afterwards called Ehionites,^ were the true successors of the Judaizing opponents of Paul. They held the law of Moses to be stiil binding in every detail, and necessary for salvation, and they regarded Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary. Both sects are often confounded by early writers under the latter name, but those who distinguish them regard the Ebionites ouly as heretical. A third branch of these Judaizing sects was formed by the blend- ing of the Ebionites with the Jewish Esscnes,^ who also were strong beyond the Jordan, and by a further intermixture with elements from heathen philosophy and magic, forming a compound of w^hat would now be called asceticism, ritualism, rationalism, and pseudo- spiritualism, a mixture less strange in practice than in theory. They were called the Elcesaites^ or Sampsceans ; and Iheir final development is seen in the p]bionite branch of the great Gnostic heresy, the tenets of which were propounded in the Clementines, or forged writings ascribed to Clemens Komanus, which belong to the latter part of the second century. (See Chapter IV. § 14.) § 8. The policy of Hadrian towards the Church was continued by the just and gentle Antoninus Pius.* In reply to the request of the governors for directions in dealing with the popular cry for vengeance on the Christians, he ordered a strict adherence to Hadrian's edict in their favour.^ But they were still troubled by popular dis- turbances;" and their adversaries, Jews, heretics, and heathen, demanded their punishment, on the ground of the old calumnies, ' Tertullian is the earliest writer who mentions an heresiarch named Ebion, a curious example of how soon a personal cponipnus is invented from a collective name. The true derivation is from jVliN, (cbhn, "poor"), a name which was either assumed in the secondary sense of " pious " (comp. Matt v 3), or, as uome sav, api)lied by the .Tews in derision to the whole body "of Christians, and afterwards transferred by the latter to these de- . spised heretics. . ' On the character and tenets of the Essencs, see the Introduction to the .V. T. Hist., Appendix, Sect. IV. § 13. ' This name is derived by the ecclesiastical writers from a leader n.imed Eikesui, who lived in the reign of Tr.ajan ; but the sectaries themselves exjdained it as 'D3 T'^Pl, i.e. Swa/xn KtKa\v^i^l(yv, " hidden power." •• He reio-ned from Julv 10th, 133, to March 7th, K.l. » MelittC";). Euseb. //. K iv. 26. There is an " Edictum .id Commune Asiic," in which .Vntoninus instructs the Council of Asia to punish with death all who should molest the Christians; but this is s^encrally regarded as spurious. (See Gieseler, vol. i. p. 130 ; Robertson, vol. i. p. 22.) « One example is a persecution at Athens, in which Bishop Publius suffered. (Dionys. Corinth. <7/>. Euseb. //. E. iv. 23.) 72 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. HI. among which that of atheism was insisted on, because the Christians had neither temples nor altars, images nor sacrifices. It was in reply to these charges that the philosopher Justin, who earned the surname of Maktyr in the next reign, addressed to the emperor the earliest extant Apology. Anotlier of his aix)logetic works (the Dialogue with the Jew Trypho) exhibits the first complete portrait of a Christian of the age after the Apostles. Flavius JusTiNns, whom TertuUian surnames " Philosopher and Martyr," was a native of Palestine, but of (ireek race, born at the city of Flavia Neapolis (now Nahlus), on the site of the famous Sychem in Samaria, about the end of the first century or the beginning of the second. In his search for truth he had studied the various forms of Greek philosophy, and had at last adopted Plato- nism. One day he was walking by the sea-shore in deep medita- tion,* when he was met by an old man of mild and reverend appearance, who directed him to turn from Lis vain studies to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and to pray " that the gates of light might be opened " to him. The truth of what he read was confirmed by what he saw of the constancy of the Christians unHer persecution ; and he devoted his life to the support of his new faith as an itinerant evangelist, with no office in the Church. His calling is expressed in his own words, " Every one who can preacli the truth, and does not preach it, incurs the judgment of God." The philosopher's cloak,* which he retained, helped to secure him a hearing in various cities of the East, as well as at Eome, where he opened a regular school of Christian philosophy, and addressed his First Apology to Antoninus Pius. In this work, and in Justin's other writings,^ we have a vindica- tion both of the character of the Christians and the truth of their religion. Pie denounces the injustice of withholding toleration from them alone. He repels the charges of atheism, immorality, .and disloyalty. He deduces the divine origin of Christianity from the twofold argument, which has ever since been urged, of prophecy and miracles ; and confirms it by the pure morality taught by Christ and practised by His disciples down to his own time ; by" their finnness in confessing their faith, even to death; and by the • Some understand the scene to be at Ephesus, and others at Ca;sarea. ' The rpl$iDV or pallium. ' The most famous of these is Justin's Dialogue trith the Jew Trypho (whom he had attempted to convert .at Ephesus), in replv to the .Jewish ol)jections against Christianity. Several other works ascribed to him are partly doubtful and ])artly si)urious. There were some genuine polemical works, which are lost, namely, that Aqainst all Heresies, mentioned by Justin himself, and that Ai/dinst Marcion, fragments of which are j)re- served by Irenajns, which may have been a part of the more general work. A.D. 161, f. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 73 progress which the Gospel liad already made, though opposed by every human jxiwcr. He vindicates the miracles of Christ, and explains the chief doctrines of Christianity, dwelling especially on the resurrection of the body.' He exposes the absurdities of Greek and Koman heathenism, both in its popular form, as set forth by the poets, and in the refined interpretations of philosophers ; and in a terrible picture of heathen morals he retorts the charges made upon Christianity.* We have no evidence of any effect which such arguments might have upon Antoninus, who dealt with Christianity in the spirit of his own calm temper and statesmanship, but on his philosophic successor they produced only irritation and resentment. § U. In Maucus Aurkmus Antoninus (161-180), whom Justin liimself addressed as " Verissimus the Philosopher,"^ the Christians found an oppressor more severe than Nero or Uomitian, as he was a deliberate defender of the heathen system. The proud Stoic philo- soi)hy of Aureliiis was utterly opposed to the doctrines of Christianity and to its peculiar character as a popular religion. He resented its growing success, and felt it his duty as tmperor to be the champion of the national gods ; and though, as a philosopher, he did not believe in them himself, he regarded the refusal to join in the worship which he paid them, as an insult to his own majesty. The constancy with which the Christians suflered and died for their opinions offended the Stoic as a sort of theatrical enthusiasm, the direct opposite to the rational calmness of his sect.'' The infectious character of this enthusiasm alarmed the emperor at the progress of " a kingdom not of this world ;" and many Christians liad begun to speak of their coming triumph in terms at least suggestive of disloyalty.'' Nor was the philosopher Marcus entirely free from the vulgar prejudices against Christianity, which were exasperated by a new succession of calamities. His reign was a constant conflict with the increasing pressure of the barbarians on the frontier, and it was marked by terrible outbreaks of j)estilcnce and famine. It is very striking how each of these calamities coincided with a fresh storm of that persecution which Avent on more or less through the whole ' Justin wrote a special treatise on the Resurrection, of which frag- ments only remain. - The date of Justin's First Apologi/ is usually j)laced at from 130 to 140; but by some as late as 150 or 151, chiefly on the ground of his mention of thi heretic Jlarcion. •* This play upon his family name Vents had been made by Hadrian, when Marcus was a bov, as a tribute to his truthfulness. ♦ M. Aurel. SicdiM. xi. 3. * See Justin. Apol. i. 11. This is seen especially in the forged Christian Sibylline Verses, which were circulated early in the second century. 74 AGE OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. Chap. HI. reign of Aurelius. The governors of provinces were now foremost in putting the old laws in force, instead of restraining the out- bursts of jwpular fury, and in seeking out victims, contrary to the policy of Trajan. The informers were again encouraged, and the evidence of slaves was illegally received against their masters, and extracted by torture.^ This Fourth Persecution was the fiercest yet, and it was general throughout the empire.'^ Torture, death, indignities, and confiscations, were inflicted on the Christians, without respect for sex or age, upon tlie infonnation of their Jewish, heretic, and heathen enemies. The severity of the persecution at Rome is still attested by the affecting records of the catacombs, in whose dark recesses the Christians found a refuge for their secret worship, and a resting- place for their martyred bodies. Here, for example, is an epitaph which expressly records the persecution of Aurelius : — " In Christ. Alexander is not dead, but lives beyond the stars, and his body rests in this tomb. He lived under the Emperor Antoninus, who, foreseeing that great benefit would result from his services, returned evil for f^ood. For, while on his knees and about to sacrifice to the true God, he was led away to execution. Oh sad times, in which sacred rites and prayers, even in caverns, afford no protection to us ! What can be more wretched than such a life, and what than such a death ? He has scarcely lived, who has lived in Christian times."' The keen natural sense of suffering, which finds vent in such a record, enhances the value of the constancy with which the Christian martyrs bore witness to their faith. § 10. The persecution of Marcus Aurelius called forth a number of Apologies, of which we only possess the Second Apolofjy of Justin Martyr, written on the occasion of the martyrdom of some Christians at Rome. The writer anticipates his own martyrdom through the arts of his enemies, especially a Cynic philosopher, Crescens ; and his expectation was fulfilled in the first of the two chief outbursts of persecution which mark this reign. It was ])robably during the great pestilence, which the Syrian army brought back from the East in 166, that Justin was denounced * The antiquity of the law, " De Servo in Dominum qua?ri non licere ' {Di(j. hb. xlviii. tit. 18) is attested by Cicero {I'ro liege Bciot. 1) and Tacitus (Attn. ii. 30). * It appears from the collections of Roman laws, that Marcus Aurelius issued a new edict against the introduction of new rolis^jions, and especially against "terrifying weak-minded men bv superstitious reverence for a deity " (superstitione muninis). The penalty was banishment to an island for those of the higher ranks (hoiu'stuircs), and death for any of the common people (hiimiliores). (Modestinus, 7>ij-fi. Iran. adv. Ilcer. iv. 20, 2 ; Tertnll. de Pudicit. 10, 20 ; Euseb. H. E. iii. 3 ; Hieron. T7/-. Ithcst. 10. ' " Valde utilis et divinitus inspirata." * Oi-ia;. Comm. in Epist. ad Rom. x. 31. * JIuratori. in Gallandi, Biblioth. ii. 208. * Kurz, Lchrbuch dcr Kirchengeschichte, § 39, note 1. 90 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF SECOND CENTURY. Cuap. IV. Book of Ezra, and the lost Book of Eldad and Medad, expressly cited by Hernias. Its doctrine of angels, particularly, flowed from such apocalyptic sources. As to its matter, the Pastor Ikrrnoi is a sort of system of Christian morality, and a call to repentance and to a renovation of the already somewhat slumbering and secularised Church. It falls into three books : (1) Visiones ; four visions and revelations, which were given to the author in the neighbourhood of Rome, and in which the Church appears to him, first in the form of a venerable matron, then as a tower, and lastly as a virgin. ,(2) Mandata, or twelve commandments, pre- scribed by an Angel in the garb of a Shepherd (whence tlie title of the book). (3) Simililudines, or ten parables, like the visions, in which the Church again appears in the form of a building, and the different virtues are represented imder the figures of stones and trees." The theology of the Pastor diverges greatly from that of the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, and bears witness to the growth of that legal Jewish spirit in the Church of Kome, against which Paul contended in his Epistle. Like him, Hermas insists on " the law of Christ," but the " Shepherd" says nothing of justifying faith. He enjoins fasting and voluntary poverty, and teaches even the supererogatory merit of good works, und the sin-atoning virtue of martyrdom. He regards baptism as indispensable to salvation, insists on penance, much in the later Romish sense, and rests on the view of an exclusive Church, in which alone salvation is to be found. He ascribes supererogatory merit to abstinence, but allows second marriage and second repentance, at least till the return of the Lord, which is supposed to be near at hand. Hence the disfavour with which the work was nsgarded by the Montanist TertuUian, who calls Hermas "ille apocryphus Pastor tnoecliorum." ^ § 8. Papias, the friend of Polycarp, and Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia up to the middle of the second century, made a col- lection of oval traditions of the works nnd ^vords of Jesus, derived professedly from the Apostles, under the title of Explanations of the Lord's Discourses (Aoyicov KvpiaKau e^fjy^aeiy). The work is said to have been still extant in the thirteenth century ; but we now possess only fragments of it in Irenaius and Eusebius. It is chiefly remarkable as showing the grossly materialistic views about the Millennium which already existed in the Church. § 9. To these works, which bear the names of Apostolic Fathers, may be added the Epistle to Diognetus,^ the anonymous author of which calls himself " a disciple of the Apostles" {ano- • De Pudidt. 20, § 8. * Some ascribe it to Justin, but this is evidently a mistake. A.D. 130? THE EPISTLli TO DIOGNETUS. 91 o-roXo)!/ yevofievos fiadrjTrjs); but this is in the eleventh chapter, which, Avith the twelfth and hist, is suspected to be an addition by a later hand. The woik is a vindication of Christianity, in reply to a distinguished heathen ; and if this was the Diognetus who was preceptoi to Marcus Aurelius, its date would be brought down to the middle of the second century. But it is with more probability assi"-ned to tlic time of Trajan or Hadrian. Professor Schaff regards it, in spirit, as well as in time, as a transition from the Apostolic Fathers to the Apologists, uniting the simple practical faith of the former with the reflective theology of tho latter : " It evinces fine taste and classical culture, is remarkable for its fresh enthusiasm of faith, richness of thought, and elegance of style, and is altogether one of the most beautiful memorials of Christian antiquity."' The author's description of the Christians in their relations to the world will furnish at once a good specimen of the style of the early Christian literature, and a vivid contemporary picture of the state of the persecuted Church in the second century:' — " The Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, by language, nor by civil institutions. For tliey neither dwell in cities by themselves, nor use a peculiar tongue, nor lead a singular mode of life. They dwell in the Grecian- or barbarian cities, as the case may be ; they follow the usage of the country in dress, food, and the other affairs of life. Yet they present a wonderful and confessedly paradoxical conduct. They dwell in their own native lands, but as strangers. They take part in all things, as citizens, and they suffer all things, as foreigners. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every native land is foreign. They marry, like all others ; they have children, but they do not cast away their offspring. They have the table in common, but not wives. They live upon the earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the existing laws, and excel the laws by their lives. They love all, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown, and yet they are condemned. They are killed, and are made alive. They are poor, and make many rich. They lack all things, and in all things abound. They are reproached, and glory in their reproaches ; they are calumniated and are justified ; they are cursed, and they bless ; they receive scorn, and they give honour. They do good, and are punished as evil-doers; when punished they rejoice, as being made alive. By the Jews they are attacked as aliens, and by the Greeks persecuted ; and the cause of the enmity their enemies cannot tell. In short, what the soul is in » Epistola ad Biognetum, cc. 5, 6 (p. 69, scq. ed. Otto, Lips. 1852), as translated in Schati's History of the Christian Church, vol. i. p. 146. ■•* Here probably equivalent to civilised ; but still a siijn that 'Jhristianity as yet prevailed more in the Hellenic than the Latin world. 92 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF SECOND CENTURY. Chap. IV. the body, tlie Cliristians are in the world. The soul is diffused through all the naembers of the body, and the Christians are spread through tiic cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body; so the Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world. The soul, invisible, keeps watch in the visible body ; so also the Christians are seen to live in the world, but their piety is invisible. The flesh hates and wars against the soul, suffering no wrong from it, but because it resists fleshly pleasures; and the world hates the Christians with no reason, but that they resist its plcasin-es. The soul loves the flesh and members, by which it is hated ; so the Christians love their haters. The soul is enclosed in the body, but holds the body together ; so the Christians are detained in the world as in a prison ; but they contain the world. Immortal, the soul dwells in the mortal body ; so the Christians dwell in the corruptible, but look for incorruption in heaven. The soul is the better for restriction in food and drink ; and the Christians increase, though daily punished. This lot God has assigned to the Christians in the world, and it cannot be taken from them." III. The Apologists for Christianity. § 10. These writers are placed in a class by themselves, on account of the importance of their chief literary works, though they have left otiier writings. Though the earliest of them were con- temporary with the Ajjostolic Fathers, they do not bear that title, as they were not actual disciples of the Apostles. They were, for the most part, philosophers and rhetoricians, who liad embraced Christianity in mature age, after thoughtful investigation, as the source of that religious satisfaction and hope which they could not find in the heathen systems of philosophy. Hence they exhibit a culture and learning wliich is another mark of distinction from the Apostolic Fathers, and their writings are the first link between ecclesiastical and classical literature. Of Justin, the chief writer of this class in the second century, a sufficient account has been given above ; and we have mentioned the earlier Apologies of Quadratus and Aristides, which were addressed to the Emjicror Hadrian. Another early Ajwlogy by Aristo, of Pella, was addressed especially to the Jews. Claudius Apol- linaris. Bishop of Ilierapolis, and the rhetorician Militiades, addressed Apologies to Marcus Aurelius ; but their works are only known by a few references. § 11, We possess several extant works by Apologists who wrote in the latter half of the second century : — Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who suffered martyrdom about the A.D. 170, f. THE CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS. 93 same time as Polycarp. His Apology, addressed to M. Aurelius about A.D. 170, was only known by references, till it was lately discovered in a Syriac translation, among the tSyriac MSS. acquired by the British Museum, but it has not yet been published.' Melito was one of the chief writers of the second century, eighteen works of his being mentioned by Eusebius. We possess a fragment from him on the Canon of the Old Testament, which forms an important link in the history of the sacred text. Tatiax, of Assyria, was at first an itinerant philosopher like Justin, whom he met at Eome and became his disciple. His Discourse to the Greeks (Ao'yo? Trpoy "EXkrjvai) exposes the ab- surdities and immoralities of the Greek mythology, and vindicates Ciiristianity as the " philosopliy of the barbarians." Tatian after- wards fell away to Gnosticism, and founded the ascetic sect of the Encratites. He was one of the first to attempt the task of weaving the four Gospels into one narrative ; but his Diutessarvn (Ata Teaadpwv, literally, " according to the Four "), or, as it would now be calleil, " Harmony of the Gospels," is no longer extant. Athenagoras, an Athenian philosopher, is said to have been converted by his study of Ciiristianity in order to write a confuta- tion of the new religion. His UpfajBda nepl Xpia-riavoiv (which we may venture to translate, " IJeport upon the Christians "), addressed to M. Aurelius and Commodus, about 177, is a calm and eloquent refutation of the charges of atheism, incest, and Thyestean feasts. He has also left a work On the Resurrection of the Head, for which he argues from the natural destiny of man, as well as from the wisdom, power, and justice of God. TuEOPiiiLUS, who died bishop of Antioch in 181, addressed a defence of Christianity to a heathen friend, named Autolycus (rrpo? AvToXvKov TTtpl TTis Tcov XpiaTiovcov iria-Teas). In this work, the old Greek word Trias (Tpias) is first applied to the Holy Trinity. We have under the name of Hermias, a philosopher otherwise unknown, a small satirical work, entitled Mockery of the Heathen Philosophers {biaavpfios twv e^ca (fjiXoaocfxav), from whoso con- tradictions he illustrates the saying of Paul, that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It is doubtful whether this work belongs to so early a period as the second century .- AVith the Apologists may be classed, in point of time, and partly also for the apologetic object of the work, the Memorials ' The Discourse to Antoninus Cirsar, published in Spicilegium Syriacum (1855), appears to be a dirteront work. - The collected works of these early Apologists have been published b\- Prud. Maranus (Par. 1742, and Venet. 1747), and, recentlj-, in Otto's Corpus Apologetarum Christ ianorum Sccculi Sccundi. Jena.', 1847, st'7'/. 94 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF SECOND CENTURY. Chap. IV. (inofj.vT]fiaTa) of the Aiiostolic and Post-Apostolic age, and particu- larly of the churches of Palestine, which were collected, in the course of his travels, by Hegesippus, an orthodox Jewish Christian, who died about a.d. 180. The work, of which fragments of con- siderable value are preserved by Eusebius, is most interesting as a first, though very imperfect, contribution to the literature of Church History. " His reports," says Professor Schaff, " on the character and martyrdom of James the Just and Simeon of Jerusalem, the risQ of heresies, the episcopal succession, and the preservation of the ortliodox doctrine 1n Corinth and Home, as embodied in the History of Eusebius, claim attention for their antiquity ; but, as they show that his object was apologetic and polemical rather than historical, and as they bear a somewhat Judaizing (tliough by no means Ebion- istic) colouring, they must be received with critical caution." ' Another writer, contemporary Avith the Aix)logists, but more akin by his works to the A^wstolic Fathers, was Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth (about 170), who wrote eight epistles to the Lacedaj- monians (whose church is thus first heard of), the Athenians, the Romans, and others. Eusebius makes some valuable extracts from these last works. IV. Polemic Writers against Heresies. — Iren^us. § 12. While the Apologists were defending Christianity against Jewish and heathen adversaries without the Church, the growth of heresy within called forth the earliest writings of the class styled polemical (from ir6\(fj.os, unr) — that is, the earliest after the Apostles, for the Epistles of Paul and John contain, as we have seen, a strong polemic element, directed against the beginnings of heresy in the churches. The attentive reader of the Epistles plainly sees that the Ajwstles do not set to work to draw up a regular body of Christian doctrine. They make emphatic statements of the truths proper to correct the errors and false teaching that arose in each church ; and Paul especially supports the true doctrines by powerful arguments. And so, in the ensuing history of the Church, it was from the necessity of oi)posing what was regarded as false teaching, that Christian doctrine was cast into a dogmatic forni.^ 'J'he special literature of ' The fragments of Hegesippus are printed in Routh's EeliquicE Sacra:. ' Here again, as in the case of the word apolor/i/, a term is \ised in its proper sense, which has acquired a difierent meaning in vulgar usage. In this scientific sense, the Greek doqma {S6y/xa, from Sok€7v, '• to seem," " to V)e held as true,") is the more exact equivalent of the Latin doctrine {doc- trina, a "teaching"), and the term dix/matics or dogmatic t/icologi/ expresses the whole statement and discussion of Christian truth as reduced to definite jnopositions. Thus we speak of the dogma of the Trinity, or of justification by faith. A.D. 178. LIFE OF IREN.EUS. 95 writers against heresy begins in the second century with Iren^ds and his pupil Hippolytus, who were both of Greek education, but had the West for the scene of their ecclesiastical labours and rela- tions. But, though Hipix)lytus lived partly in the second century, his activity as a writer belongs to the beginning of the third.' IREN.EUS (VJprjualos)'^ was born in Asia Minor, between the years 120 and 140, and was taught in his youth by Polycarp of Smyrna.^ " What I heard from him," says he, " that I wrote not on paper, but in my heart ; and by the grace of God I constantly bring it afresh to mind :" words which help to explain tlic paucity of early Christian literature. A new doctrine, which comes from a teacher's lips to his disciples' hearts, lives there almost too freshly to need committing to the medium of letters, except as special neces- sities arise for its communication to others. As the disciple of Polycarp, Iren;eus stands next to the Apostolic Fathers, and is linked, througli him, to the age and teaching of St. John. It is conjectured that he accompanied Polycarp on his journey to Rome respecting the Easter controversy : at all events he settled, with others from the Asiatic Church, in Southern Gaul, and he was a ])resbyter at Lyon in the time of the i)ersecution by M. Aurelius. The mission, on which we have seen him carrying to Rome an account of the martyrdoms at Lyon and Vienne, was entrusted to him as a means of allaying the heats engendered by the Montanist disputes.'* It was probably during his absence that he was chosen to succeed the martyred Pothinus as Bishop of Lyon (178), where he laboured for the oppressed Church for nearly five-and-twenty years, by his writings as well as his pastoral teaching and government. It was during the early years of his episcopate that Irena^us wrote, in Greek, the great work against the Gnostic heresies, from which nearly all our know- ledge of Gnosticism is derived.' Its full title is "EXeyxof fal iivaTpoTTT} rrji yl/evbcouvfiov yv^aeui, but it is commonly quoted by the Latin title used by Jerome, JdversKS Hirreses. Of its five books we possess the greater ix)rtion in a literal Latin version crowded with Graicisms. Fragments of the Greek original are preserved by Eu- sebius, Theodorct, and especially Epiphanius (H See Chap. Tl. § 15. - The name sicrniHes Peaceable. Eusebius notices the agreement of the hishop's name with his labours for the peace of the Church, especially in relation to the controversy about Easter. ^ hen. .((//•. ILrr. III. iii. 4. Mr. Harvey supposes Irenwus to have been a native of Syria. Intniditction to Iren.aus, p. cliv. * Res])ectini:; Montanism, see Chap. VI. § 18. * The work was written .lurina; the pontificate of Eleutherus at Rome, that is, between the years 177 ami 192. " A too literal version is often made clearer to the mind by re-transla- 96 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF SECOND CENTURY. Chap. IV. As Eusebius observes, Irenjeus verified the significance of his name by securing the peace of the Church, when it was imperilled by Victor I. of Rome with respect to the Easter controversy. Brought up in the usage of the Asiatic churches, he had adopted at Lyon the ]\oman rule, which prevailed through the West. In the name of his church, he wrote to Victor, counselling moderation ; and the result was that the Asiatic churches, having in a circular letter cleared themselves from the suspicion of heretical leanings, were allowed to retain their own usage, till the Council of Kice esta- blished a uniform' rule for the Catholic Church. The common statement of later writers, that Irena^us suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Septimius Severus (a.d. 202), is rendered somewhat doubtful by the silence of TertuUian and Eusebius. The same tradition fixes his burying-place under the altar of the church of St. John at Lyon. V. The Pseudo-Clementines. § 13. It has been observed above, how early Christians were led into the fatal i^ractice of seeking authority for disputed doctrines in works doubtfully, or even falsely, ascribed to their great teachers. Among the writings of the second century are a multitude of apo- cryphal Gospels, Acts, and A^wcalypses, ascribed to the Evangelists and Apostles, besides forged Jewish prophecies,' such as the Testa- ments of the Twelve Patriarchs. To these were added the pretended prophetic utterances with which even heathen seers were said to have been inspired, such as the books of Hydasi)es, of Hermes Trismegistus, and the Sibyls ; but w-e cannot stay to describe these curiosities of literature. Among the alleged writings of the Post-Apostolic age, we have seen how much is either verj^ doubtful or clearly spurious. Still the Epistles falsely ascribed to Ignatius and Polycarp are more or less in harmony with their spirit and doctrines. But the Judaizing Gnostics did not scruple to embody their views in forged works, bearing the venerable name of the earliest Apostolic Father, Clement of liome. Tiie fascinating style of these first Christian romances, their moral earnestness and tender feeling, have combined with the tion into the original language. Such an attempt has been made on the first four chapters of the third book of Irena;us by H. W. Thiersch, io 'the Stiidien mul Kritiken for 184-2. ' See Fabricius, Cuilcx Pscvdcpiqraphns Vet. Test. Hamb. 1722, and Codex Apocnjphus A'oi: Test. 1719 ; Thilo, Codex Apocr. K T. Lips. 1832; Gfrorer, Prophetic Vet. Psendepigraphi, ex Abessyn. rel I/ebr. I.atinc, iHntti^. 1840; Tischendorf, Ecungelia Apocrypha, Lips 18.')3, and Acta Apostoloruin Apocryplui, Lips. 1851. Ci;xT. II. THE PSEUDO-CLEMEKTLNES. 97 support they give to the pretensions of the Roman see to secure them a place in Christian literature from which the merest touch of criticism at once casts them down. § 14. The pseudo-Clementine writin;4s consist of two chief works, the Ixecognitions^ and the Homilies, embodying; very different views. Some sui){K)se the Jlotuilies to be an heretical jierversion of the Ilecocjnitiwis ; but the converse seems more probable, namely, that the Homilies present the original form of the work, of which the Itecognitions are a more orthodo.\ version. The IJamilics are supposed to have been concocted in Syria, the liecoynitious at Konie. The former is the work commonly designated as the Cle- mentines. Besides the full Greek text, there is a poor abridgment of the work, under the title of an Epilome^^ The Homilies appear to have been written in the second half of the. second century by a Jewish Christian, who was versed in the heathen systems of philo.-:x>phy. While fathering his work upon St. Clement, he confuses tlie Apostolic liishop of l\ome with Flavins Clemens, kinsman of the Emperor Domitian. But the introduction (though transparently fictitious) assigns to the Homilies that higher Apostolic authority which has commended them to the Church ofRomc. In tliis jireface, Clement writes to the Apostle James the Less, .sending him the Homilies, as being a summary of the preacliiug of Peter on his apostolic journej's, composd at the instance of Peter him- self, who, shortly before his death, had named Clement his successor in the see of Home. There is also a letter of Peter to James, begging him to keep the sermons strictly secret. Thus does the writer attempt at once to give his work the authority of Peter, and to account for its late jmblication. The work is described by Professor Schaff^ as "a phiWophico- religious romance, based on some historical traditions, which it is " The ten books of the Recognitions are mentioned by Origen, but they arc now extant only in the Latin version, " Clenientis Komani Recognitione.s {avayvwatis, avayvuipia-^ol tov KA7?;u€Vtoj), interpretc Hiifino," in the col- lections ot" Cotelicr, (iallandi, and (iersdorf, and in a Syriac version (ed. Lagarde, I.iiis. 18G1). The title of the Jiecognitions is derived from the narrative, in the later books, which tells how the scattered members of the Clementine family were finally re-united in Christianity and baptized by Peter. ^ lipitomc de Gestis Petri, or Ta KAijjueWio, or more fully, KA^^ei/ros roiv TlfTpov firiSjiuiicv KTipvyfidruv tirironT). first ])ublished (withtiut the •_>Uth lloinily) at I'aris, l.'),'>.^ ; then by Cot.-lier (Patrcs A/'ost. Par. 1672), and by Schwegler, Stuttg. 1847. The complete work was first edited from anew MS. by A. Dresscl, "Clementis Komani (jujc feruutur Homilix ^'iginti nunc primum integra;," with a Latin translation and Notes, revent licentiousness. In declaring baptism to be absolutely neces- sary to tiie forgiveness of sin, the author approaches the Catholic system. He likewise adopts the Catholic principle involved, that salvation is to be found only in the external Church. As regards ecclesiastical organization, he fully embraces the episcopal mon- archical view. The bishop holds the place of Christ in the congregation, and has ix)wer to bind and loose. Under him stand presbyters and deacons. But singularly, and again in true Ebionistic style, James, the brother of the Lord, Bishop of Jerusalem, which is the centre of Christendom, is made the general Vicar of Christ, the visible head of the whole Church, the Uishop of Bishops. Hence even Peter must give to James an account of his labours. It is very easy to see that this appeal toapseudo-Petrine primitive Christianity ■was made by the author of the Homilies with a view to reconcile all the existing difl'erences and divisions in Christendom." § 15. Besides the llomilies and liecognitions, the nameof Ckment was used to give authority to the so-called Apostolical Constitutions and Canons, derived by him, professedly, from the Ajwstles. The Apostolic Constitutions ' are eight books of moral exhortations. Church laws and usages, and liturgical formularies, collected probably from the teaching and customs of the early Churches, which the compiler pretends to have been taught or dictated by the Apostles to the Roman bishop Clement. The first six books, which form the basis of the work, compiled probably in Syria in the second century, have a strongly Jewish-Christian tone. The seventh and eighth books are a distinct work, belonging to the beginning of the 4th century, before the Council of Nice. The design of the whole collec- tion was to set forth rules of ecclesiastical life for the clergy and laity, and to maintain the power of the episcopal order. The work formed the prevalent standard of discijjline in the Kast, till it was rejected for its heretical interpolations by the TruUan Council, in A.u. G92. The Apostolic Canons^ are 85 (in some copies 50) brief rules of ' AiaTa7al ruv ayloiv ^kiroajSKuv 5ja KX^juei/ros, also entitled AiSao-- KaAia, AiaTa|€i;, AiSaxaJ tuu 'Airoa-T6\wy, and AiSatrKaAia KaBoKiKij. Printed, under the title of Coustituthius A]MStijlic(r, in Cutelerius (vol. i. p. I9y, scqij.), and in the collections of Councils by Mansi and Harduin, and newly edited by Ueltzen, Rostock, 1833. English translation : — Chasi;, Constitutions ) — Honours paid by Alexander to Christ — Favour of his Mother, JIama'a, for the Christians — Continued Persecutions in the Provinces — The Sassanid Dynasty in Persia. § 3. The Sixth Ferseaitiun, under Maximin (a.d. 235-238). § 4. The Emperors Gordian (238-244) and Philip (244-249) — The Millennium of Rome — Alleged Christianity of Philip. § 5. The Seventh I'erseciition, under Decius (249-2.")l), a really General Persecution — Its Spirit and Object — § G. Eft'ect of this Persecution on the Church — The " Lapsed " — Flight from Persecution, defended by Cvprian — Enthusiasm for Martyrdom — Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesiis. § 7. Reigns of Gallus (251-253) and Vale- rian (253-260) — The Eighth General Persecution — Martyrdom of Cvprian of Carthage and Sixtus 11. of Rome — Legend of St. Lawrence. § 8. Gallienus (a.d. 254—268) issues the First Edicts of Toleration — Eminent Positions held by Christians. § 9. The inetlectual Edict of Ai'RELiAN (a.d. 270-275), wrongly called the Ninth Persecution — The Settlement of the Empire by DIOCLETIAN (284-305) — His colleague JIaximinian, and the Ca?sars, Galerius ami Constantius. § 10. Christian Dignitaries of the Empire — Peace enjoyed by the Church for twenty years, but with partial interruptions — Story of St. Maurice and the Theban Legion — Legends of St. Gereon, &c. § 11. Progress of Christianity to the End of the Third Century — Hindrances to Christianity — The decay of Heathenism and confessed need for a better Religion. § 12. Facilities for its Dirtusion — Its Missionaries and ^'ersions of the Scriptures — Numbers of the Christians through the Empire. § 13. Churches in Asia and Africa — Of Rome and Italy — In Gaul, and among the Germans and other Barbarians — In Spain and Britain — Christianity in Persia. § 14. Literary Opposition to Christianity — The Life of Ai>OLLOMLS of Tyana by Piiilostratis, and the Discourses of 102 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. HiEROCLES. § 15. LuciAN of Samosata — His Life and Death of Feregrinus — The Ti-ue Discourse of Cklsus. § 16. Rise of Neo- Platonism — Its Spirit and Doctrines — Its Religious System — Its Magic and Superstition — Ammonius Saccas — Plotinus and his Successors — Porphyry's Discourses against the Christians. § 17. The great Tenth Persecution throughout the whole Empire — First Edict of Diocletian. New causes of exasperation — Search for the Scriptures — The traditores. § 18. Second, third, and fourth Edicts — Their various enforcement in the Provinces — St. Alban and the British Martyrs. § 19. Abdication of Diocletian and Maximian — Persecuting fury of Maximin. § 20. Death of CoNSTA«TiUS — Tolerant Edict of Galerius — Victory of CoN- STANTiNE over Maxentius — His Edict of Milan, establishing universal freedom of religion. § 1. The extinction of the Antonine line by the death of Corn- modus caused a change in the relations of the empire to religion. The distinguished princes who had reigned duriag the second century, as representatives of the Roman senate and people, were firm adherents of the national religion. The line of emperors who followed them, and assumed the honoured name of Antoninus,^ were imbued with an Oriental spirit, and had little zeal for the deities of the Capitol. The successful competitor for the purple, Septimius Severus (a.d, 193-211), was of Punic origin, and his wife, Julia Domna, was a Syrian. She is said to have favoured the Christians, to whom Severus was at first not unfriendly.^ But the Christians were still exposed to popular fury ;' and the old laws against them were made a new engine of oppression by the caprice and rapacity of provincial governors.^ As the Church grew in numbers, the pure spirit of martyrdom declined ; toleration or escape was pur- chased by a bribe ; and governors put to death a few of the }X)orer Christians, to frighten the rich into paying freely. Such bribes became in some places a regular tax, like the licence to carry on disreputable callings. Bishops defended the practice by the example of Jason ;* and its chief opponents were found among the heretic Marcionites and Montanists. Tertullian condemns alike the " gra- tuitous ransom of flight, and escape by a ransom in money." ° On his return to Rome from his successful expedition against the * There was ii fivmily connection between Septimius Severus, his sons Caracalla and Geta, and the emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. - TertuU. ad Scapulain, 4. This toleration is ascribed to a cure wrought on Severus by an anointing with oil at the hands of a Christian named Proculus Torpacion, whom the Emperor kept near his person. His son Caracalla seems to have had a Christian nurse, for Tertullian speaks of him as " brought up on Christian milk." » TertuU. ApoL 12, 30. ■» Acts xvii. 9. * Tertull. de Fuga in Fersecufione, 12 : " Sicut fuga redemptio gratuita est, ita redemptio nummaria fuga est." A.D. 202. THE FIFTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 103 Parthians (a.d. 202), Severus issued an edict, that none of his subjects should embrace Judaism or Christianity imder a heavy- penalty.' This edict seems to have been in the spirit of the old laws against illegal societies,^ and to have been suggested in part by what Severus saw in Palestine of Jewish fanaticism, in part by the rumours of the coming of Christ, which suggested a new- competitor for the purple, after the two whom he had put down.^ Signs of disloyalty were probably seen in the refusal of the Christians to join in celebrating the emperor's triumph, since Tertullian explains their abstinence from the indecent heathen rites, in which conscience, and not disloyalty, forbad their taking part.* It is only the conjecture of Gieseler,^ that this Fifth Persecution was provoked in part by the excesses of the fanatical sect of the Montanists, which had lately arisen in Africa ; but, at all events, its severity was confined to the African provinces. At Alexandria, Leonides, the father of Origen, was beheaded ; and a beautiful virgin, named Potamiena, was tortured and then burnt to death, with her mother, in boiling pitch. Basilides, one of her executioners, shielded her from worse abuse, and was moved by lier constancy to become a Christian and a martyr." Proconsular Africa, which was the chief seat of Montanism, was the scene of the famous martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas and three young men. Their Acts, a document which consists, in part at least, of their own words written in the prison, form an affecting narrative, though marked with the delusions of Montanist enthusiasm.'^ Perpetua was a noble and wealthy lady of Carthage, a wife or recent widow of the age of 22, with an infant at the breast. On her arrest as a Christian, she resisted the passionate entreaties of her heathen father, and his appeal to her pity for her child and the shame she would bring upon her relations. She was baptized in prison,yith her companions — Felicitas, who was a slave, and Kevocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus — for as yet they were all catechumens. Their trial in the forum was interrupted by another piteous appeal to Perpetua from lier father, whom the procurator scourged before his daughter's face. After their condemnation, > Ael. Spartian. Vit. Sever. 17. - Ulpian. \n Duj. i. tit. 12, § 14. 3 Euseb. H. E. vi. 7. •• Tertull. Apol. 35. * Vol. i. p. 191. 6 Euseb. //. K. vi. 1, 5. ' Among these is the vision in which Perpetua. having prayed for her deceased infant brother, Dinocrates, saw him " translated from punish- ment," in which we have germs of the doctrines of purgatory and prayers for the dead. Augustine argues against the inference, that prayer is effica- cious for those who die uubaptized. (/)e Aniina, i. 10, iii. 9.) The Actx SS. Perpetua et Felicitatis have been published by Ruinart, and in Sliinter's Prirnordia Ecclesiw Africanw. 104' THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. CirAP. V. Felicitas gave birth to a child, and when the jailor asked her how she would bear the keener pain of being torn in pieces by wild beasts, she answered, "It is I that bear luy present suffering, but then there will be One within nie to suffer for me, because I too shall suffer for him." Their martyrdom formed a part of the show which celebrated the birthday of Geta, whom his father Severus had associated in the empire. The men were torn in pieces by lions, bears, and leopards ; Perpetua and Felicitas were tossed by a furious cow, and finally despatched by the swords of gladiators. It was under Severus that Teutullian wrote the famous Apology, of which we have to speak with the other writings of this father of Latin theology. § 2. The persecution gradually ceased under Caracalla, the infamous son of Severus (a.d. 211-217) ;^ and his abandoned cousin Elagabalus (218-222) tolerated all forms of religion, as a step to merging them in his own sanctity as the high-priest and incarnation of the Sun-god of Syria, from whom he took his name (El-Gahal). In the universal temple, which he built beside the imperial residence on the Palatine, he proposed to celebrate the rites of Jews, Samaritans, and Cliristians.^ In a like spirit of Oriental comprehension, his virtuous cousin, Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235) granted full toleration to Jews and Christians, and set up the image of Christ, in the company of Abraham, Orpheus, and ApoUonius of Tyaua, in the chapel (Jararium) where he began each day with prayer.^ He inscribed on his palace, and on public monuments, a maxim like the law of Christ, " As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."* He had many Christians in his household. He would have built a temple to Christ, and enrolled him among the gods, had not the soothsayers found a prophecy that, if this were done, all men would become Christians, and the other temples would be deserted.^ One story of Alexander's tolerance is interesting, as show- ing how the Christians were gradually obtaining places for public worship. They had taken possession of a place which was public property ; the eating-house keepers claimed it as theirs ; but an imperial rescript declared that it was better for God to be wor- shipped there, in whatever form, than for the place to be given ' Between Caracalla and Elagabalus, Macrinus was emperor for a year in the East ; but there is no record of his relations with the Christians. - Lamprid. Vit. Elufjahali, 3. * Lamj)rid. Alex. Set. 29. ■' Lamprid. 1)1. But he used it only in the m-qative form — Qiuxl iihi fieri non vk, alterine feceris — in which it is found in Isourates and in the Tahiuid. It is one <;lory of (Jhrist's teaching to stamp with divine approval the purest maxims of luiman benevolence. 5 Ibid. 43. A.D. 238. THK SIXTH PERSECUTION. 105 up to the cooks,' Still more decided was the favour shown to Christianity by the emjieror's mother, Julia Mamaja, who invited Origen to the court at Antioch.^ Eusebius calls her a very de- vout and pious woman.* Later writers claim her for- a Christian ;* but there is no reason to believe that either she or her son favoiu'ed Christianity in any other than an eclectic spirit. Persecution and martyrdom did not cease in the provinces; and the laws against the Christians, so far from being repealed, were about this time collected into a digest by the great jurist Ulpian, in his book on the Duties of a Proconsul.^ At all events, we now mark a certain tendency in the ruling powers, from very mixed motives, to give Christianity some place among the elements of the constitution. The reign of Alexander Severus was marked by an event which had a great influence on the fortunes of Christianity in the East. ]n the j'ear 226, the Persian AnDsniR, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes, overthrew the last Parthian king, founded the new Persian dynasty of the Sassanians," and restored the religion of Zoroaster. Wc shall presently have to trace the connection of this revolution with the rise of the great ManicluTan heresy, wliich blended the dualism of the Magian religion with Cin-istianity.^ § 3. The savage Thracian usurper, Maximix (a.d. 235-238), who showed his regard for the national religion by stri^Dping the temples of their oflerings, and melting down the statues of gods, heroes, and emperors, to pay his rude soldiery, made the Christians suffer for the favour they had enjoyed from the emix;ror whom he had slain. It was as the friend of Julia Mama\a that Origen was marked for a victim, and driven from Ca^sarea. In the provinces, encouragement was given to the new outburst of jwpular rage, which made the CliTistians responsible for a series of terrible earth quakes. Many were put to death, and their churches were burned, in this Sixth General Persecution.^ § 4. A respite from persecution was enjoyed under Gokdian (238- 244) and Philip the Arabian (244-249), who was early claimed as the first Christian emperor. But it seems to have been rather a ' Lamprid. 40. - Euscb. //. E. vi. 21. ^ //. 1]. vi. 21: Bfoaefiea-TaTij Kai (vAafiris; comp. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. .15 : " Mulier sancta, sed avara, ot auri atque argenti cupida."' * Oros. vii. 18 ; Tillemont, iii. 279, adopts this view. * Lactant. Die. Inst. v. 11. 6 The Sassanians reigned in Persia from A.D. 226 to the Mohammedan coni|uest in A.D. G.ol. ' See Chap. IX. § 13. " The legend of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins is dated in the reign of Maximin. An origin has been suggested for the story in an old inscrip- tion (in a missal of the Sorbonne), " Ursula et XI. M.V.," which may stand for "XI. martyres virgines," but was read "XI. milia virginum." (Schaff, vol. i. p. 171). 106 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. fond idea than a real fact which connected the attainment of Rome's millennium with the conversion of her imperial head. There was nothing in Philip's character to make the Church proud of such a convert ; and the games by which he celebrated the thousandth year from the foundation of the city were entirely heathen. It seems clear, however, that Philip was friendly to the Christians. Both he and his wife, Severa, received letters from Origen, who now began to rejoice that God had given the Christians the free exercise of their religion, and to anticipate the conversion of the empire.^ This was "anew idea, remarkably opposed to the tone of the earlier Christian writers, who had always regarded the Eoman pcJwer as incurably hostile and persecuting, — as an oppression from which there could be no hope of deliverance except through the coming of the end."^ § 5. Such hopes were at once dashed by the Seventh Persecution, under Decius (249-251), the first which historians agree in calling strictly " general."^ It was a systematic effort to uproot Christianity throughout the empire. The edict of Decius is lost,* but we have the contemporary records of its imiversal enforcement by torture and death, exile and confiscation.^ Contrary to the rule laid down by Trajan, strict inquisition was made for the Christians, and chiefly for the bishops and clergy. Among the most eminent martyrs were Fabian, Bishop of Rome, Babylus of Antioch, and Alexander of Jeru- salem. Origen obtained the lesser honours of a confessor, and the cruel tortures to which he was put in his prison hastened his death.'' The treatment of Origen illustrates one peculiar feature of this jxjrsecution. It was undertaken by Decius as a reforming states- man ; and the saying is ascribed to him, that he would rather have a second emperor by his side than a bishop at Rome, — a striking testimony to the place which Christianity now tilled in the empire, and to the dignity claimed by its ministers.^ The persecution was therefore directed, primarily, to make the Christians apostatize, through promises or threats, confiscation and imprisonment, torture and starvation, death being reserved as the penalty of obstinacy or to terrify the many by a few eminent examples. 1 Orig. contra Cclsnm, vii. 26, viii. 68. - Robertson, vol, i. p. 98; Neander, vol. i. p. 179. ^ Its severity seems to have led Origen to underrate the extent of former persecutions when he says, oKiyoi kuto. Kaipovs Koi (r(t>6Spa «uapi9/i7/T0i irepl T7)S Xptffrtavwv Oeoaefieias Te0v7tKarising cha- racter of a great revolution. * These words of a contemporary (Dionysius of Alexandria, ap. Euseb. vii. 10) are especially interesting, as showing that, even thus early, not one only, but more, of the preceding emperors were claimed as Christians. The passage may be assumed to ret'er to Alexander Severus and JIam See Chap. VI. § 25. ■ The example was not lost on so-called Christian magistrates and nobles in their dealings with .lews for a like purpose ; and Philip II. of Spain, a great burner of heretics, built his palace of the Escorial in the form of a gridiron in honour of the saint. The martyrologics place the death of St. Lawrence at August 10th, 258. * Eusebius (vii. 13) quotes two rescripts of Gallienus, to this effect. One is addressed to the bishops of Egy])t (which he had just reconquered) announcing to them the toleration already proclaimed in the rest of the empire (2'il), in which (iallienus says, T^v evfpyffftav ttjj ^firjs Suotas Sia iravThr rov k6(Tijlov iKfii^aadr]vai irpofffTa^a. * The second of the rescripts cited l>y Eusebius is To twv KaXovfjiivwv KoiixriT-qpluv aTroXanSdvftP iiriTpi-Kwv xwpla. ^ Euseb. H. E. viii. 1. 7 110 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. nipted, though it was threatened, by Aurelias (a.d. 270-275). The conqueror who put down the so-called " Thirty Tyrants," and recovered the East from Zenobia, was a devotee of heathenism, and esjiecailly of the Eastern worship of the Sun, whose priestess his mother had been. He affected to rank with the great princes who had restored the empire and the national religion. Like them, he despised the Christians, and an edict for their persecution expressed gratitude to the gods of Rome for his victorious estabhshment in the empire. But tlie emperor's assassination prevented the execu- tion of his edict ; and ecclesiastical writers are clearly wrong in reckoning a Ninth General Persecution under Aureliax.^ The edict was revoked by Aurelian's successor, Tacitus (a.d. 275-276) ; and the Christians were at peace during the defensive wars waged against the Goths and Persians by Pkobus (276-282), Carus, and his sons (282-284). At length the empire received a stable govern- ment by the accession of Diocletian (284), and his choice of Maximian as his colleague, to rule over the Western Provinces (286), was followed by the association of two Ccesurs with the two August/, as their subordinate colleagues, sons-in-law, and successors designate ; Galerius with Diocletian in the East, and Coxstaxtius Chlorus with Maximian in the West (a.d. 292). § 10. Under the imperial constitution, which Diocletian framed on the model of an Oriental monarchy. Christians had a large share in the new dignities of the court and ofiices of the imperial house- hold. Diocletian, a rude Illyrian soldier by origin, was indiflerent to the various legal religions, among which the edict of Gallienus had given a place to Christianity. His wife Prisca, and her daughter, Valeria, were Christians. The influence of the latter kept in check the hostility to Christianity which her husband Galerius shared with the savage Maximian ; and twenty years passed before that hostility prevailed upon the aged Diocletian to order the last and greatest of the i^ersecutious. The heathen party, however, were still able to inflict annoyance and suffering upon Christians, on various indirect grounds, especially upon soldiers under the jiretence of military discipline. There are records of military martyrs in the early years of Diocletian, but the story of Maximian's persecution of the famous " Theban Legion " ^ • Vopisc. Aurelian, 4, 20 ; Euseb. //. E. vii. 30 ; the work ascribed to Lactantius, Dc Mortibus Persecutorum, G. ^ Lcijio Thcbrca, Thebaci, Lcrjio Felix Atjauncnsis. Eusebius, Lactantius, Frudcntius, and Sulpic^ius Severus, are all silent about the story, which is first found in martyrologies of the sixth century. It was transferred to a Greek Mauritius, who is made a military tribune, executed with seventy soldiers at Apamea, by order of Maximian; and it was repeated at various places, as in the famous legend of St. Oereon and his 318 fellow- A.D. 284, f. REST FROM PERSECUTION. Ill must be regarded as legendary, at all events in its details, ^'he date assigned to the story is 286. " The legion, it is said, consisting of 6(500 Christians, was summoned from the Jlast for the service of Maximian iu Gaul. When near the Alpine town of Aeror that, while ready to obey him in all things consistent with their duty to God, they would rather die than violate that duty. The emperor, exasperated by their obsti- nacy, ordered his other troops to close around them ; whereupon the devoted band laid down their arms and peacefully submitted to martyrdom." ^ In 298 an order was issued that all persons in mili- tary service, or iu public employment of any kind, must sacrifice to the gods. That such difficulties were not of daily occurrence, and that the profession of Christianity was found compatible at all with military service, affords striking evidence not only of the loyalty of the Christians, but of the tolerant spirit of the imperial govern- ment. But still, as Gibbon observes, examples of sucli a nature served to alienate the minds of the emperors, and to authorise the opinion that a sect of enthusiasts, which avowed principles so repugnant to the public safety, must either remain useless, or would soon become dangerous subjects of the empire. § 11. The pause before the last great stniggle, which was to decide whether the dominant religion of the reconstituted emjure should be heathenism or Christianity, is a fit epoch for reviewing the progress made by the Church to the end of the third century. Its spread throughout, and even beyond the empire, had gone on steadily, notwithstanding, nay, rather in proportion to the prejudices and hatred of the jieople, the scornful or interested opposition of philosophers, priests, and the higher society, and the direct efforts of the ruling jww'ers to suppress it. The self-defeating results of per- secution are summed up in the memorable words of Terttillian : — " All your ingenious cruelties can accomplish nothing ; they are only a lure to this sect. Our number increases the more you destroy us. soldiers martyred at Colonia Agrippensis (^Cologne). See Gieseler, vol. i. p. 195. ' Mauritius, the Primicerius Leqionis. The name of St. Maurice is given to more than one Alpine village; the scene of the legend is the one in Wallis (the Valais). ^ Robertson, vol. i. pp. 147-8. 1 1 2 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. The bloo^ of the Christians is their seed." But the same great apo- logist testifies that more were kept out of the new sect by the love of pleasure than by the love of life. The religiou of Christ offered no such baits as Mohanimedauism afterwards held out to the corrupt desires of human nature. It struck at the very roots of pride, self- righteousness, and self-indulgence, by its demand for rejientance and faith, purity and self-denial; and it thwarted the inclinations of daily life by requiring renunciation of the world as the condition of the true pleasure to' be found in the kingdom of God. Though it perfected the revelation made to the Jews, and ofl'ered the true life after which the best heathens had been striving, its spiritual doc- trines and moral purity offended Jews and Gentiles alike ; and its very Jewish origin caused it to be repudiated by the one and scorned by the other. The blessings which it ofiered to all classes alike, and which many of the highest and wisest learned from the first to value, were naturally accepted more readily by those who had least of worldly riches and favour and knowledge ; and the fact that Christianity was the religion of the poor and lowly roused the contempt of those who called themselves the better classes. The first heathen antagonist who is known to have encountered the new faith by argument, Celsus, scoffingly remarked that " weavers, cob- l)lers, and fullers, the most illiterate persons," preached the "irrational faith," and knew how to conmiend it especially " to women and children." In this very taunt the believer sees the confession that Chris- tianity supplies the deepest spiritual wants of humanity itself,' and the chief reason of its steady progress against all opposition, and under all sufferings. The wants for which it provides are felt in every age by individual man, conscious of sin and misery, and yearning for happiness and immortal life ; but they were the cryiug needs of the world at the epoch appointed by God for this last i)er- fect revelation. To use the words of a great Church historian, "Christianity had a powerful advantage in the hojwless condition of the Jewish and heathen world. Since the fearful judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem, Judaism wandered restless and accursed, without national existence. Heathenism outwardly held sway, but was inwardly rotten and in process of inevitable decay. The popular religiou and public morality were undermined by a sceptical and materialistic philosoplry ; Grecian science and art had lost their creative energy ; the Roman Empire rested only on the jwwer of the sword and of temporal interests ; the moral bonds of society were sundered ; imbounded avarice and vice of every kind, even by the confession of a Tacitus and a Seneca, reigned in Rome and in the provinces, from the throne to the hovel. Nothing that classic an- A.D. 284, f. DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIAKITr. 113 tiquity in its fairest days had produced could heal the fatal wounds of tlie age, or even give transient relief. The only star of hope in the gathering night was the young, the frcHli, the dauntless religion of Jesus, fearless of deatli, strong in faith, glowing with love, and destined to commend itself more and more to all reflecting minds as the only living religion of the present and the future. ' Christ appeared,' says Augustine, ' to tlie men of the decrepit, decaying world, that while all around them was withering away, they might through Him receive new youthful life.'"^ This spiritual craving of the human heart witl)in and cry of human society without, and the essential truth of the religion which could alone satisfy them, are the very considerations omitted from Gibbon's elaborate attem[it to accoimt for the early progress of Christianity, by secondary causes, partly true and partly distorted with insidious art.'^ § ].2. The same l^rovidence, which sent the remedy when the disease had readied its height, had prepared the way for its diffu- sion by that most wonderful fact in political history, the union of the civilized world under the strong government of Kome. " Com- munication among the different parts of the Koman Empire, IVom Damascus to Britain, was comparatively easy and safe. The high- Avays built for commerce and for the l^oman legions served also the messengers of peace and the silent conquests of the Cross. The par- ticular mode, as well as the precise time, of the intioduction of Christianity into the several countries is for the most part uncertain, and we know not much more than the I'act itself. • . . Besides the regular ministry, slaves and women particularl)"^ ajipear to have per- formed missionary service, and to have introduced the Christian life into all circles of society. Commerce, too, at that time as well as now, was a powerful agency in carrying the Gospel and the seeds of Christian civilization to the remotest parts of the lioman Empire.'"" Wherever the missionaries of the Gospel went, tliey carried with them the Holy Scriptures, first in the Greek, which was the tongue of civilized life in the Eastern Empire, and then in translations, especially into the vernacular Sj'riac of the East and Latin of the West.* The sacred writings, now collected into the recognized ' Schaff, vol. i. pp. 150-1. * It is needless to enter upon a detailed answer to Gibbon's famous attack, after all that will be found in the Notes to Dean llilman's and Dr. William Smith's editions of the Ikxlinc and Fall. The reader who sees throuf^h the fallacies and insidious purpose of Gibbon may derive valuable instruction from many points in his sketch of the spread of Christianity. 3 Schatr, I. c. * The oldest Latin .nnd Syriac versions date as early as the second century. The general subject of ancient versions of the Scriptures belongs to the province of Biblical criticism. (See the Article '* Versions" in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of the liible.) 114 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. ** Canon " as one book (the Bible), not only supplied the historic evidence of the rise of Christianity and the teaching of its Founder and ilis Apostles, but the proofs of its continuity with the former revelation, which went back to those first mysteries of creation and the relations of man to God, that had ever ibrined the insoluble problems of philosophy, Origen, in the early part of the third cen- tury, testifies that " Christians did not neglect to sow the Word in all parts of the inhabited world ; and some made it their business to go through not only cities, but also villages and hamlets."' The result, in the rapid and almost universal difl'usion of Chris- tianity, is described by the eloquence of TertuUian, as early as the beginning of the third century, in words which had acquired double force at its end :— " We are a people of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to you — cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum ! We leave you your temples only. We count your armies ; our numbers in a single province will be greater." It would be in vain, however, to make this rhetorical comparison the basis for an attempt to compute the number of Christians in the empire ;^ but their large proportion to the whole jwpulation is testified by heathen and official statements. One of the persecuting edicts of Maximin declares that "almost all" had abandoned their ancestral religion for the new sect. § 13. Several provinces, of which the evangelization was only matter of inference or conjecture during the second century, are now the seats of vigorous churches. Of those in Asia, Egypt, and proconsular Africa, we have more to say presently. No less than twenty Egyptian bishops attended a council at Alexandria in A.d. 235. In 258 Cyprian assembled at Carthage eighty-seven bishops from proconsular Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania; showing how numerous were the churches throughout all Koman Africa. But the rapid progress of a second half-century is proved by the meeting at Carthage of 270 bishops of the schismatic sect of the Donatists alone (a.d. 308). Turning to Europe, we have more precise accounts of that which was more and more acknowledged as the central Church in the capital. Eusebius states that, in the middle of the third century, the Church of Rome numbered 1 bishop, 40 presbyters, 7 deacons, with as many sub-deacons,^ 50 readers, exorcists, and door-keepers • Contra Celsiim, iii. p. IIG. ^ Gibbon reckons the proportion of the Christians to the whole popula- tion as low as one-twentieth: Robertson, as high as one-fifth; SchafF adopts the mean, one-tenth. ' The number in Acts vi. seems to have been adhered to. A.D. 284, f. CHURCHES IN GAUL, SPAIN, AND BRITAIN. Ho and 1500 widows and poor persons under its care. From this tlie whole number of members has been computed at 50,000 or G0,000, that is, about a twentieth of the inhabitants of the city.* The rest of Italy sent only twelve bishops to a synod held by Telesphorus in the middle of the second century ; but Cornelius, a century later, assembled five times that number (a.d. 255). In Gaul, the aflecting story of the martyrs nnder M. Aurelius referred only to the two churches of Lyon and Vienne, which had been founded by missionaries from Asia Minor. Other churches appear to have been founded from Komc in the first half of the third century -^ and Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris, is said to have suffered martyrdom on the hill thence named Montmartre. This patron saint of the Gallic Church, St. Denys, was afterwards further dignified by a confusion with Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of Paul at Athens. We have seen that Irenajus, in the latter part of the second century, speaks of German Chris- tians, meaning probably the German provinces of Gaul, on the left bank of the Rhine ; but it is not till after the end of the third century (under Constantine) that we have distinct mention of churches in that region, such as those of Cologne and Treves.'* On the Danubian frontier, we find traces of Christianity in Vin- delicia, such as the martyrdom of St. Afra by fire at Augsburg in the Diocletian persecution (a.d. 304). The free Germans, and other barkirian tribes, appear to have only received some knowledge of the Gospel indirectly, through those who returned home after visits to the empire or from service in the Koman armies, and through their Christian captives. In this last way we are told that Christianity became known to the Goths.* In the extreme west of the empire. Christian churches are first found in Spain in the middle of the third century, and nineteen bishops met at the council of lUibcris in a.d. 305. As for Britain, we have already seen TertuUian affinning that Christianity had reached the island in the beginning of the 3rd century, and at the beginning of the fourth we have the record of St. Albau's martyrdom under Diocletian, and of the presence of the bishops of York, ' Schaff, vol. i. p. 154. * St. Gregory of Tours (about a.d. 590) says that seven missionary J)ishoi)s were sent to the Gallic provinces (m Gallias) in the consulship of Decius and Gratus (a.d. 25o), and he gives their names and sees, Tours, Aries, Narhonne, Toulouse, Paris, the Arverni (the see was at Augustone- metum, Clcnninit), and the Lemovices (at Augustoritnni, Liinoiics). He cites the J/istort/ of the I'assion of Satnrninus, which mentions none of these except Saturninus, who was made Bishop of Toulouse at the date specified (c. 2, Ruinart); and he probably refers the others arbitrarily to that date. The rest of his statement is compiled t'r Schaft; vol. i. pp. 187-189. Cent. III. CHARACTER OF NEO-PLATONISM. 121 gross materialism of the popular religion of Greece and Eome. In this point of view the Cliristian revelation oflered the fulfil- ment of the highest hopes after -which Platonisra vaguely felt ; and some philosophic minds were led through Platonism to Christi- anity. But others used the points of contact between the two systems as a means of reforming and strengthening heathenism. As Schaflf observes, " Neo-Platonism was a direct attempt of the more intelligent and earnest heathenism to rally all its nobler energies, esi)ecially tlie forces of Hellenic philosophy and Oriental mysticism, and to found a universal religion, a pagan counterpart to the Christian." Starting from Platonism as its basis, the system embraced tenets adopted from the other Greek philosophies, as Well as from the religions and mysteries of the East, It was a philo- sophical theology, " a pantheistic eclecticism, which souglit to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy with Oriental religion and theosophy, polytheism with monotheism,' superstition with culture, and to hold, as with a convulsive grasp, the old popular faith in a refined and idealized form." ^ Some Christian ideas were received into the system, and Christ himself was classed witl-, sages of the first rank. His own doctrine was claimed as Neo-Platonic, but it had been corrupted by tlie liarbarism of his vulgar followers. The religious system of Nco-Platonism was based on the doctrine of one supreme God, in Avhom was joined the Platonic trinity of his Essence (ova-la), his Intelligence {vovs), o^ knowledge of himself, and his Soul (ylrvxij), or power manifested in activity; the two latter notions being inferior to the first. Under this divine trinity, the care of the world was entrusted to gods of an inferior race; and below them again to many dcemons (^balfioves),'^ both good and bad, but all the ministers of the supreme God. The vulgar poly- theism was ascribed to a corruption of this view. The spiritual life was based on foith, which was regarded as an act of inward perception ; but it was to be cultivated by an ascetic life, as the only means of emancipation from the bonds of sense to union with tlie Deity, and to obtaining power over the spirits. As a part of this power, the system admitted miraculous and magical practices, besides much fanciful suj^erstition. " Most of the Neo-Platonists, > Schaff, vol. i. p. 191. - The proi)er meanins; of this word (wliii^h is also used in the diminutive, Saifji6t'ta) is Jii-iders (i.e. of good and evil to man). The (JUcmons of the Oreek mytholo£jy were spirits, inferior to the gods, sometimes the souls of departed heroes and others, who acted as ministers of weal or woe to men, each of whom was supposed to have a good or bad dsmon, or both, and according as the one or the other prevailed he was happy (e^Saiuwc, '" with a good daemon ") or unhappy (jSvaha'ifiuv, " with a bad d.Tuion "). Such are the "doctrines about drmons" not "devils" (StSa4. 124 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. their decision was the demolition of the splendid church at Nicomedia by the imperial guards (P'ebruary 23, 303). Next day appeared the imperial edict, giving orders for a perse- cution such as no former emperor had conceived. All Christian churches throughout the empire were to be destroyed and their pro- perty confiscated, and all copies of the Scriptures were to be given up to be burnt in public by the rwagistrates ; all who practised Christian worship in private were doomed to death. Christians were deprived of theij: civil rights ; freemen were shut out from all honours and public employments, slaves from the hope of manumis- sion. Debarred even from the common benefit of the law, they were placed at the mere}'' of informers ; for, while the magistrates were enjoined to hear all causes against tliem, the Christians were for- bidden to bring their complaints before the tribunals. No sooner was the edict published than fresh incidents arose, as in previous persecutions, to inflame animosity and give a pretext for new violence. A Christian (whose name, John, is preserved in the Greek martyrology), tore down the edict, with bitter ex- pressions of abhorrence for such " Godless and tyrannical rulers," and he was roasted to death over a slow fire. Fires which broke out twice in the palace of Nicomedia, within fifteen days after the edict, were ascribed to tlie Christians, like the conflagration of Eome under Nero. The Christian officers of the palace were examined Avith exquisite tortures and put to cruel deaths, and Galerius departed in haste, giving out that his life was in danger.^ Even after these causes of mutual exasperation, the pmdence of Diocletian suff"ered some months to pass before the general publica- tion of the edict through the provinces ; and it was at first enforced against the churches and Scriptures, rather than the persons of the Christians. As might havc'fceen expected after the interval of rest and prosperity, the " lapsed " were more numerous than in previous persecutions, and the sjiecial inquisition after the Scriptures gave rise to a new class who, for giving their Bibles up for destruction, were branded as traditores. In this search many other books doubtless perished, which would have been invaluable for the history of the Church ; wliile, in other cases, the officers were imposed on by the delivery of heretical writings, and the fraud was sometimes con- nived at. § 18. As in former times of persecution, every public disaster was ascribed to the anger of the gods against their impious deniers ; and ' The recrimination which charged the arson on Galerius himself was probably as unfounded as the accusation of the Christians. Any Christian capable of such a deed would have been fanatic enough to have gloried in it, like him who tore down the edict. A.D. 305. DIOCLETIAN'S ABDICATION. 125 some new troubles on the eastern frontiers gave a pretext for fresh and more severe decrees. A second edict ordered that all Christian teachers should be thrown into prison ; a tliird directed that they should be required to sacrifice to the gods of Home and be put to the torture if they refused ; and s, fourth, in the following year, extended these orders to all Christians (a.d. 304). The magistrates were enjoined to invent new tortures to subdue the firmness whicli had been so often proved. As if to make a show of tlie clemency which sought rather to reclaim than destroy, none of the edicts imposed the penalty of death ; but it was inflicted by zealous magistrates on unnumbered victims ; till, in the rhetorical language of Eusebius, the swords were dull and shattered, and the wearied executioners had to relieve each other, while the Christians sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving to Cod with their latest breath. Even the wild beasts at last refused to attack the Chris- tians, as if they had assumed the part of men in place of the heathen Romans. The edicts were enforced with various degrees of severity ; most cruelly by Galerius in the East, and most mildly in the western provinces of Spain, Gaul, and Britain. But even there the Ciesar, Constantius Chlorus, did not venture on disobedience; and among the victims we have to reckon the British proto-martyr Albanus, who, being beheaded at Verulamium, gave his name to St. Albans, the town built Ironi its remains ; besides Aaron and Julius, citizens of Isca Silurum (Caerleon on the Usk), and, adds our venerable native historian, very many others of either sex in divers places, who were put to death with cruel tortures and mutilations.' § 19. On the 1st of May, a.d. 305, Diocletian abdicated the purple at Nicomedia, and Maximian very unwillingly performed the same ceremony at Milan. The supreme jiower w-as transferred by them to the two Ca?sars, Galeuius and Constantius, as Augusti, 'Yhc unwillingness of Constantius to leave his government in the West caused Italy and Africa to become dependencies of the East, •under the Caesar Severus; and for the other Ca3sai", Galerius appointed his sister's son, Maximin, to the government of Syria and Egypt. This savage lUyrian redoubled in those provinces the fury of the persecution, which seems to have ceased in the western regions under the mild rule of Constantius. All subjects of the empire, even to infants at the breast, were ordered to sacrifice to the gods, and tlie provisions in the markets were sprinkled with the libations, that the Christians might not obtain food without the pollution of ' liccda, Hist. Eccks. lib. i. c. vii. 126 THE CHURCH IN THE THIRD CENTURY. Chap. V. idolatry. All the old calumnies against them were not only revived, but tauglit in the lesson-books used in schools. § 20. Meanwhile the death of Constantius at York, and the pro- clamation of his son Const antine, gave the signal for the last great contest for the empire* (a.d. 306). Galerius, shortly before his death, issued at Nicomedia an edict of toleration, in his own name and those of his colleagues, Licinius and Constantine (a.d. 311). The Christians were permitted to rebuild their churches and hold their religious assemblies, jtrovided they did nothing to disturb the order of the state. The motive avowed in the edict itself was the failure of the persecution to reclaim the Christians ; but the remark- able request, that they would offer prayers to their God for the wel- fare of the emperors, seems to betray a superstitious remorse in the mind of the emperor, who was sinking under a loathsome disease, which the Christians compared to the fate of the first persecuting king, Herod Agrippa. In the next year Constantine won his great decisive victory over Maxentius, near Rome (October 28th, 312) ; and he forthwith pro- claimed toleration for the Christians. A second edict, issued from Milan next year, in conjunction with Licinius, established universal freedom of religion throughout the empire (June 313); and this marks the end of the last great persecution, the Tenth in order, and of a ten years' duration.* ' For the details see Gibbon, and the present author's History of the Ancient World, vol. iii. chap. xxiv. * Respecting Constantine and the Edict of Milan, see farther la Chap- ter X. liiiHiliMin'^im'Wii'i'iMl Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs under Declus. (From the cemetery of Pontianns.) Crucifixlun. (Diptych of Kambona.) CHAPTER VI. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THE THIRD CENTURY. I. Greek Writers of the Alexandrian School. § 1. The Catechetical School of Alexandria — Its Founder, Pant^NUS, and its succeeding Teachers. § 2. Character of the Alexandrian Theology — Its Relation to Greek Culture and Philosophy and to the Gnostic Heresy — Its 128 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THIRD CENTURY. Chap. VI. Merits and Faults. § 3. Clement of Alexandria — His Life and Works — § 4. Origen (Origenes Adamantius) — His Boyhood — Martyrdom of his father Leonides. § 5. He becomes Head of the Catechetitai School — His Ascetic Life. § 6, His Teaching of Literature, and Study of Philo- sophy— He hears Ammonius Saccas. § 7. Origen visits Rome — His Study of Hebrew — Aid to his Work furnished by his Convert Ambrose. § 8. His Counsel sought by Princes and Churches — Visits to Arabia, Antioch, Palestine, and Greece — His Ordination in Palestine — He is .driven from Alexandria by Demetrius, and goes to Cwsarea — His Deposi- tion and Condemnation as a Heretic. § 9. Origen's Labours at Ca;sarea — His Flight to Cappadocia, and important discovery thero — His success in reclaiming Heretics. § 10. Origen suffers as a Confessor under Decius — His Death — The later Origenist Controversy — His Teaching condemned as heretical (a.d. 544) — His Character and Influence — His Merits and Errors. § 11. Origen's great services to the Interpretation of Scripture — His Threefold Sense of Scripture, and Views of the Letter — The Moral and the Mystic Sense, allegorical and analogical. § 12. Origen's Literary Works. (I.) Biblical — The Hexapla, Tetrapla, and Octapla — His Exegetical Works. (II.) Apologetic and Polemical — His Answer to Celsus. (III.) Dogmatic — The De Principiis — Origen's Doctrinal System — Controversy upon his Opinions: Marcellus, Pamphilus, Rufinls, and Jerome. (IV.) His Practical Works. (V.) Letters. (VI.) Supposititious Works. § 13. Fol- lowers and Opponents of Origen — Heraclas, Pierius, and Tueogxostus — DiONYSius of Alexandria— Gregorius Tuaumaturgus — Pamphilus of Cajsarea— The Cajsarean School and Library — Hesvchius— Metiiodics of Tyre. II. Greek Writers of the School of Antioch. § 14. Julius Africanus — His Chronoloi/^/ and Cesti. § 15. Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus — Recent Discoveries respecting him — His Relations with the Eastern and Roman Churches — Charge of Heresy against him — His Martyrdom and Chapel. § IG. Discovery of his Statue, with a List of his Works — His Philosop/iumena, or work Against all Heresies — Recent Discovery of the Missing Books — Their Contents — Autobio- graphical Notices of Hippolytus — His Opposition to the Roman Bishops — His Literary Character and his Theology. III. The Western Church : Laii.n Writers of the African .School. § 17. Tertullian : his Early Life and Conversion — His Asceticism. §18. His Lai>se into Montanisin — Account of Montanus and his Sect — Essential Orthodoxy of Tertullian — His Death and Character — His Theology and Style. § 19. His Apologg and other Works. § 20. MiNUCius Felix — His Octavius. § 21. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage — His Early Life and Conversion — Wn reverence for Tertullian. § 22. His irregular election as Bishop— Controversy about the Lapsed — Schism of Novatus and Felicissimus. § 2:i. Controversy about Heretical Baptism — Dispute between Cyprian and Firmilian and Stei)hen, Bishop of Rome. § 24. Character of.Cyprian— His high views of the Unity of the Church, Episcopal Authority, and the Roman See — His devoted Ministry and .ascetic Morality. § 25. Martyrdom of Cy| rim. § 20. His works. Cent. III. SCHOOL OF ALEXANDKIA. 129 I. Greek Wbiters of the Alexandrian School. § 1. From the literary assailants of Cliristianity to the most learned and philosophic writers Avho taught and defended it, a natural transition is suggested by the common scene of their activity at Alexandria. From the very beginning of Christianity, one chief care of its teachers was to instruct new converts in the Scriptures and in the doctrines and discipline of the faith.' As the Churches became organized, such instruction formed a regular part of their work and was entrusted to appointed teachers, who were usually presbyters or deacons. The teachers were called Catechisls, and the pupils Catechumens.^ In the case of adult converts, the latter name denoted the stage of instruction through which they were required to pass preparatory to baptism. But when children were born to Christian parents and baptized in infancy, the catechu- menate followed instead of preceding baptism. As philosophers and learncil men became converts to the faith, they naturally became the heads of catechetical schools, and gave their instruction a Avider range. This was esix?cially the case at such a seat of learning as Alexandria. The catechetical schov or \6ywv, ^iBaiTKaXtlov Tijs kottj- X'hcf<^s, scho/a KaTr\x'hff(ii>v ecdcsiastica. (Knscb. //. E. v. 10, vi. 3, 26; Hieron. )7/-. Illust. 38, 6'J ; Sozomen. //. E. iii. 1 j.) A.D. 189-220. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. 131 partly to acquaintance with the Jewish philosophj^ the writings of Moses and the propliets. " So with the Gnostic heresy ; the Alexandrians did not sweepingly condemn it, but recognized the desire for deeper religious knowledge which lay at its root, and sought to meet this desire with a whole- some supply from the Bible itself. To the yvuan yl/fv8u)vvfios they opiX)Hed a yvoxns dXrjdiuT]. Their maxim was, in the words of Clement, 'No laith without knowledge: no knowledge without faith:' or, ' Unless you believe, you will not understand.'^ Faith and knowledge have the same substance, the saving truth of God, revealed in the Iluly Scriptures, and faithfully handed down by the Church : they diifer only in form. Knowledge is our consciousness of the deeixT ground and consistency of faith. The Christian knowledge, however, is also a gift of grace, and has its condition in a holy life. The ideal of a Christian Gnostic includes the perfect love, as well as the perfect knowledge, of God. Clement describes him as one 'who, growing grey in the study of the Scriptures, and preserving the orthodoxy of the A^wstles and the Church, lives strictly according to the Gospel.' " The Alexandrian theology is intellectual, profound, stirring, and full of fruitful germs of thought, but rather unduly idealistic and spiritualistic; and, in exegesis, loses itself in arbitrary allegorical fancies. In its eflbrts to reconcile revelation and philosophy, it took up, like Philo, many foreign elements, especially of the Platonic and Gnostic stamp, and wandered into views which a later and more orthodox, but moi'e narrow-minded and less productive age condemned as heresies, not appreciating the immortal service of this school to its own and after times." - § 3. TiTDS Fi.Avius Clemens, commonly called Clement of Alexandria,' was born in heathenism, probably at Athens. Like Justin, he was led by dissatisfaction with the Greek philosophy, in which he was deeply versed, to seek a purer truth. After long journeys through the East and "West, to hear the most eminent Christian teachers, he was c;iptivated by the teaching of Pantasnus, and became a ])resbj»ter at Alexandria. Having succeeded Panta'nus in the school, about a.d. 189, he laboured in the work of Christian education and heathen conversion, till he fled from his post, during the persecution of Severus, from a motive of Christian duty (a.d. 202). After this we have merely traces of his presence in Cappa- docia, at Antioch, and at Jerusalem ; and he appears to have returned finally to Alexandria. He died about the same time as ' Isaiah vii. 9, according to the LXX. : 'Eav firj iriaT(V(niTf, ovSe fii) ffwriTf. ' Schaff, vol. i. pp. 4^6-498. •• KA^jUTjy 'A\f^avSp(vs, Clemens Alexandrinus. 132 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THIRD CENTURY. Chap. VI. Tertullian, the great light of the Western Church, before a.d. 220. Though ancient writers often give Clement the title of Saint, he was not enrolled in the calendar of the Roman Church. Though never branded with heresy (like Origen), his sjjeculations were regarded (to use the modern phrase) as " latitudinarian," The sum of Clement's teaching is embodied in his three chief works, which form a progressive series, representing " the three stages in the discipline of the human race by the divine Logos, corresponding to the three degrees of knowledge required by the ancient mystagogiies,^ and are related to one another very much as apologetics, ethics, and dogmatics, or as I'aith, love, and mystic vision."^ In the Exhortation io the Greeks,^ like the earlier Apologists, he exposes the absurdity and immorality of heathenism, with superfluous learning; but, in the higher spirit of the Alex- andrian school, he recognizes the prophetic spirit in Hellenic poetry and philosophy. The call, in this first work, to repentance and faith, is followed up, in the second, entitled Tutor* or Educator,' by an exposition and inculcation of Christian morality, in contrast with heathen practices. The very title of the third, Stromata (that is, Ta2)estry or Patchivork),^ suggests the bolder aims and characteristic faults of Clement and his school. This collection, in seven books, " furnishes a guide to the deeper knowledge of Christianity, but it is without any methodical arrangement — a heterogeneous mixture of curiosities of history, beauties of poetry, reveries of philosophy. Christian truths, and heretical errors. He himself compares it to a thick-grown, shady mountain or garden, where fruitful and barren trees of all kinds — the cypress, the laurel, the ivy, the apple, the olive, the fig — stand confusedly grouped together, that so many may remain hidden from the eye of the plunderer without escaping the notice of the labourer, who might transplant and arrange them in pleasing order. It was, probably, only a prelude to a more comprehensive theology. At the close, the author portrays the ideal of the true Gnostic, that is, the perfect Christian, assigning to him, among other traits, a stoical elevation above all sensuous affections."* Clcnll^nt has also left us a treatise on the right use of wealth,'' and the oldest Christian hymn,' ' The airoKaBapais, the /xuijo-is, and the iirSvreia. « Schali; vol. i. p. 499-500. * Adyos irpoTpexTtKhs ■7rphs"E\\r]vas, Cohortatio ad Graecos. ■• naiSaywyos. * " 2Tp«juaT€?s, Stromata, or pieces of tapestry, which, when curiously woven, and in divers colours, present an apt picture of such miscellaneous composition " (SchaflT). * Schali', ibid. ' This work is a commentary on Mark x. 17, foil., under the title, Ti'j 6 ffw(6fXfvos irXovcrios ; Quis dives salvus, or salveturi It combijes the spirit of self-denial and liberality. A.D. 185-254. ORIGENES ADAMANTIUS. 133 a song of i^raise to the divine Word.* Tlie whole teaching of the Alexandrian school was based on the exposition of Scripture ; and Clement Avrote a condensed survey of the contents of the Old and New Testaments, under the title of IJypotijposes,- which is un- fortunatel}' lost. But the few fragments of the work confirm what the very title suggests, that the exegesis of Clement was cast in the same fantastic allegorical mould as that of Oiigen, which will claim our notice presently.* Other lost works of Clement were, a Treatise on Prophecy, against the Montanists, and another on the PasFover, di- rected against the Judaizing practice that prevailed in Asia Minor.* § 4. The greatest name of the Eastern Church, in this and perhaps in any other age, is that of Origenes (commonly called Origen) surnamed Adamaktius* for his iron industry and his ascetic life. The most eminent of Christian teachers since the days of the Apostles, the most laborious of Christian writers perhaps in any age, he had to bear the opposition of the powers in the Church as well as persecution from the rulers of the State ; his body was mangled by the one, while by the other his name was branded with hcres}^ and his soul doomed to perdition : but his f;ime survives for all time as the father of that biblical'criticism which is the scientific foundation of ('hristian truth. Origen was one of the earliest of the great Christian teachers (for orthodox canons have denied him the name of " Father") who were born of Christian parents and baptized in infancy. He was born at Alexandria in the year 185, during the respite which Commodus granted to the Church from the Aurelian persecution. His father ' The hymn occurs in the Pccdagog. iii. 12 (p. 311, Potter). It is printed in Daniel's Thesaurus Ifymnologicus (vol. iii. p. 5), and has been frequently translated into German and English. * "tiTorviruffils, Aduinhratkmcs. See Photius, BibUoth. 109. Bunsen supposes ihat parts of the Ilypoti/poses are preserved in the so-called 8th book which has been added to the b'tromata, and in the Kxccrpta ex Theodoto (^Anaiecta AnteniciTiia, vol. i.; Robertson, vol. i. p. 01). ^ Canon Robertson (i. p. 110) points out the distinction that Clement spoke with fear of divulging his mystical interpretations, and gave them as tra- ditional, but Origen's are otTered merely as the ottspring of his own mind. * Editions of Clement's works : Clementis Alex. Opera omnia, Gr. et Lat., ed. .Toh. Potter (Bishop of Oxford, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), Oxon. 1715, 2 vols.; reprinted Venet. 1757. The small edition of Klotz, Leipz. 1831— 1-, 4- vols., is very incorrect. ^ 'ASa/iaiTios, also XoAKeVrepoy, i.e. icith bowels of brass. The name 'Clpiyfvris, " sj)rung from Horus," seems to point to a native Egyptian extraction, and perhaps to a descent from the priestl}' caste. The name has been taken for a sign that Leonides was not converted when his son was born ; but names were then given without reference to their significance, just as we still use names of heathen origin, both classical and Teutonic. 134 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THIRD CENTURY. Chap. VI. • Leonides, who seems to have been a rhetorician, taught him both secular and sacred learning; and the daily learning by heart of a portion of the Bible at once prepared him for his future special work, and supplied a check on the faults by Avhich that work was marred. Already as a child he began to i)ut questions to his father about the deeper sense of Scripture, which Leonides reproved as a curiosity unsuited to his years, while he thanked God for his son's rare gifts, and often, as the child slept, kissed his breast Avith reverence, as a temple of the Holy Ghost.^ Origen attended the lessons of Clement in the catechetical school, with Alexander, who was afterwards his protector as Bishop of Jerusalem. In A.D. 202 the persecution of Septimius Severus fell with special fury upon Alexandria, as a seat of Jewish fanaticism (see Chap. V., §1). Leonides suffered martyr J >m, and Origen would have offered himself to death, but his mother frustrated his zeal by hiding his clothes. He wrote a fervent letter to his father in prison, exhorting him not to be shaken in his constancy by regard for the wife and seven children whom the forfeiture of his property left destitute, Origen, the eldest of the seven, was taken for a time into the house of a wealthy matron, and he then supported himself, and helped his family, by giving lessons in Greek literature and by copying manuscripts. § 5. Though Origen was now but eighteen years old, the fame of his learning caused him to be sought as a teacher by some educated heathens, who desired Christian instruction. His teaching marked him as the fit person to restore the school which had been broken up by the flight of Clement ; and he was appointed as its head by the bishop Demetrius, liis later enemy. When some of his earliest pupils were martyred, Origen stood by to strengthen them, and was himself maltreated by the populace. He pursued his work in the spirit of ascetic self-denial, supported by that literal acceptance of Christian pi'ecepts, which his simple faith combined with the widest range of speculative interpretation. In order to teach without fees — according to the command, " Freely ye have received, freelygive " — he sold a collection of valuable manuscripts fora pension of four obols (about G^d.) a day, which he made enough to live on. He drank no wine and seldom ate flesh, had but one coat, and no shoes to his feet ; and the bare floor was his bed for that small part of the night which was not given to study and prayer. His strangest act of obedience to the letter of Scripture is explained, not only by the desire for supernatural purity, but as a safeguard against the temptations and scandal which might arise from the presence of Tnany female pupils in his school ; and thus he " made ' Euseb. H. E. vi. 2, the chief authority for Origen's life. A.D. 202, f. ORIGEN AS A TEACHER. 135 himself an eunuch for tlie kingdom of heaven's sake." ' When the act, which Origen endeavoured to conceal, became known to Deme- trius, the bishop at first commended the zeul which he afterwards made tlie ground of censure and clerical disability. § 6. Wliatever may have been the case before, the catechetical school became under Origen a seminary of secular as well as sacred learning. We are expressly told that he lectured on Grammar — a term then (as in the old days of our own schools and univer- sities) equivalent, according to its literal sense, to letters, the whole culture of literature. In pursuit of this learning, Jews, heathens, and Gnostic heretics frequented the school, and were led to embrace the Gospel.^ To qualify himself the better for this wide range of teaching, Origen pursued a fresh course of study in heathen litera- ture and philosophy, and became a hearer of Ammonius Saccas. To that teacher's influence we may certainly trace the large development of Origen's natural leaning to speculative thought and allegorical interpretation. To see the divinely implanted germs of truth and goodness in the universal mind and heart of man ; to trace the inspiration of the divine AVord in those words which embody the best thoughts and feelings of every age; and to discover in the successive revelations of God's will meanings which should include the whole mysteries of the natural and spiritual creation, their source, their purpose, and their final end ; — such was the aim of Origen's philosophy, and the spirit which guided his interpretation of Scripture. Both for good and evil — for the result shows a won- derful mixture of the two — this contact of the most earnest Christian study with Neo-Platonism is one of the most momentous facts in the history of Christian doctrine. § 7. The respite from persecution under Caracalla enabled Origen to visit Rome, where, probably, he heard the preaching of Hippolitus (a.d. 21iy lieturningto the school at Alexandria, he devoted him- self, to the training of those who could follow him into the depths of interpretation, leaving the instruction of the less advanced classes to his pui il Heraclas. In short, he seems now to have given himself more entirely to those biblical studies which made his lasting work and fame. lie sought the fountain-head of scriptural knowledge in the study of Hebrew, which had been much neglected by the Christian teachers at Alexandria. To Origen it was especially attractive for the mysteries which he found in Old Testament names.* » ]\ratt. xix. 12 ; Euseb. //. E. vi. U. The rule of the Church, which Demetrius afterwards enforced against Origen, seems to prove that his was no solitary case of this fanaticism. Origen himself (in his Commentary on Matthew) condemns the act as an example of the too litei-al interpretation of Scripture. ^ Euseb. I. c. ^ See below, § 15. * Hieron. Vir.IUust. 54. 136 CHRISTIAN LITERATURE OF THIRD CENTURY. Chap. VI. To his vast literary labours for the settlement and exposition of the Facred text Origen is said to have been urged on by Ambrose, a rich man whom his teaching had converted from Gnosticism, and who devoted his wealth to his master's great work. Ambrose furnished Origen with a costly library, seven short-hand writers^ to take down his lectures and dictations, and a number of copyists (some of whom were young Christian women) to transcribe the great work, which was the first complete, exposition of the whole Bible, all jirevious com- mentaries having been confined to separate books." § 8. Origen was more than once called from his jwst by high personages, who sought his instruction. Julia Mama^a, the mother of Alexander Severus, invited him to Antioch, that she might confer with him nixin religion.^ Some years earlier he had been sent for by the Roman governor of Arabia (as it seems), for a like purpose.* Shortly afterwards, he was driven from Alexandria by one of the massacres which were not unfrequent in that tiu-bulent city.° But the seeds of a greater trouble were sown by the very welcome he received in Palestine from his old fellow-student, Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, and from Theoctistns, Bishop of Ctesarca. They desired Origen, who was not yet ordained, to preach in their churches ; and, though they showed examples of a layman preaching with the sanction and in the presence of a bishop, Demetrius, the Bishop of Alexandria, summoned Origen back in anger. Some years later the breach became complete. Origen, having been invited to Greece to confute some heretics who were troubling the churches, passed again through Palestine, and was there ordained a presbyter, at the age of 43, by the same Bishops o Jerusalem and Ca^sarea (a.d. 228).'' ' Photius describes them as raxvypa