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' - [i , 'the De- vi* ' ; !rchdea(|oi -=* . "^ ' ' do^^^UTJ^^ /fsT-. H I S T Pt Y THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ^ccoiii) ani) (JTliirt Ccntiirics. JAMES AMIRAUX JEREMIE, D.D. ItECIUS PROFESSOi: OF DIVINITY, CAMmilDGF,. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GRIFFIN AND CO. 53 BAKEU-STREET, PORTM AN-SQPAIIE , AND lUCIIAIID GKIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW. 1852. / ENCYCLOPiiDlA ME'llOPOLITANA : OB, 5>fistcm of (Mntbeisal ivnoU)leiJ8e : ON A METHODICAL PLAN riiOJECTED BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. SECOND EDITION, REVISED. €\iix^ Wmmn. listnn{ nnif IJingrnpliii. HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH SECOND MD THIRD CENTURIES. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN JOSEPH GmFFIN AND CO. &3 liAKIiU-STllEET, rOKXMAN-SQUAltE ; AND KICHAKD GRIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW. 1852. HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHllRCH iBtniiii ml €\\hl €mhxm. BY JAMES AMIRAUX JEREMIE, D.D. KECilCS PBOFESSOK OF DIVINITY, CAMIiKIDGE. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. — Observations Preliminary to the Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries . Section 1. Introductory view of the principal Sources from which the knowledge of the Ecclesiastical History of these Centuries may be derived ..... 2. Diffusion of Christianity ; its extent, mode, and conse- quences ........ 3. Influence of the Pagan Religion; causes of the opposi- tion which Christianity experienced from the Roman Government ....... CHAPTER II. — History of the Christian Church in the Second Century ....... CHAPTER III. — History of the Christian Church in the Third Century ....... CHAPTER IV. — Ecclesiastical Writers of the Second and Third Centuries .... Section 1. Introductory Remarks . 2. Greek Writers of the Sec^ond Century .histia Martyr .... Athonagoras .... Herniias ..... Theophilus .... Irenajus ..... Clemens Ale.xandrinus . Page Greek Writers of the Third Century Hippolytus ... Origen .... Gregoiy Thaumaturgus Slethodius . . . . Latin Writers of the Second Century Tertullian Latin Writers of the Third Centuiy Minucius Felix ... Cyprian .... 11 17 44 72 72 81 81 83 84 85 86 88 91 91 92 101 102 104 104 109 109 110 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. — Heresies of the Second and Third Centuries Section 1. Introdnctoiy Kemarks 2. Heretics of the Second Century Nazarencs and Ebionites Elxai — Elcesaita; or Helcesaitas Syrian Gnostics . Saturninus Bardesanes Tatian . Severus Gnostics of Asia Minor Cerdo Marcion Lucian . Apelles . Gnostics of Egypt Basilides Carpocrates Valentiniis Secundus Ptolemy Marcus . Colobarsus Heracleon Lesser Sects of Gnostics Sethians Cainites Ophites Heresies not of Oriental origii Patripassians ; Pi-axeas Melchisedechians ; Theodotus and Artemon Heresy of Hermogenes Montanists ; Montanus Millenarii or Chiliasts o. Heresies of the Third Century Manichaiism ; Manicha^us Hieracites ; Hierax Patripassians ; Noetus and Sabellius Heresy of Beryllus Paulianists; Paul of Samosat-a Novatians : Novatus and Novatian Page 114 114 117 117 120 122 122 123 126 129 130 130 131 141 142 144 145 153 155 162 162 162 163 163 165 165 165 166 168 168 170 171 173 178 181 181 190 191 194 194 197 HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CR\]^&R':yr-T}rTrf'^ CHAPTER I. OBSERVATIONS PUELIMINARY TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES. SECTION I. — INTRODUCTORY VIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL SOURCES FROM WHICH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES MAY BE DERIVED. There is no portion of Ecclesiastical History more important than importance that which extiMitls from the termination of the First to the commence- HirtorT'' ment of the Fourth century. It was during this interval that the during-'the Church, no longer directed by the Apostles, and not as yet established l^i°^^ '^'' by civil autliority, may be said to have sustained the most severe part centuries, of its conflict against the principles, the interests, and the ])assions, sui)i)orted by the wealth, the power, and the learning of the Gentile world. The spectacle which it presents is on all sides fitted to arrest our Ltadin;; attention. On the one hand, the situation of the primitive Christians, fn^qu',". tlieir habits, their exertions, their sufferings ; the nature and extent of their literature, and the influence of early associations and opinions ; the origin and {progress of heresies, and the silent inroads of internal corruption : on the other hand, the aspect of ancipnt polytheism, the causes and circumstances of its opposition, the force of pojmlar prejudice, the effects of philoso])hic scepticism ; the structure of the Roman government, its line of ])olicy with regard to religion, and its eilbrts to overcome a strange imjiedimcnt which suddenly crossed and eml)arrassed its movements: such are the ])romincnt ])oints which, even on a cursory view, cannot fail to awaken the interest of the his- torical in<|uirer. But it is a subject of deep regret that the loss of necessary materials Sources of precludes the jtossibility of developing these points with the fulness ""' °"^^ '""* and i)recision which their magnitude requires. Beset by various dif- ficulties, the early Christians had little leisure to consign to writing the results of their experience. Their works were but few, and of those few some are much impaired, others wholly lost. The most important ecclesiastical historian, after the sacred writers, is Eusebius, Ecclesiastical wlio wrote in the beginning of tlie fourth centuiy. He declares at E.'fse'i'ius! the very outset of his^ narrative' that he was entering on " a desert jts v..iue and .' ^ Us defects. ' Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 1. [C. H.] B A SOURCES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. rcciesiasticai and untrodden road." The scattered documents which he collected History of j^^.g compared to distant lights, that serve but to disclose the track which the investigator might with safety pursue. And it is fortunate that Eusebius undertook the task, l^efore even this faint glimmering had died away. Without his assistance we should have remained in a great measure in ignorance, not only of many events which occurred in the remote ages of the church, but of writers from whose treatises, then extant, he derived his information. As he is nearly our first, so is he almost our only guide. Where his work ends, the histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret begin.' Their researches are, therefore, confined to later periods, when the state and manners of the Christians had undergone a considerable change. This neglect of the primitive times may, perhaps, have arisen from a feeling of veneration for the talents, and of confidence in the fidelity, of Eusebius. Yet, valuable as his collections must unquestionably be deemed, it is to be lamented that, while topics of inferior moment are largely detailed, many subjects, which deserve more ample notice, are but meagrely treated ; and that to a want of ease and elegance in his style, he should sometimes have added a want of exactness in his account of facts, and of acuteness in his estimate of evidence. The instances of inaccuracy, which the skill and diligence of modern critics have detected, naturally induce a suspicion that there may still lurk misstatements, which, from the scantiness of remaining records, we are unable to discover. But there is one circumstance which, though some, perhaps, may consider it a defect, we are inclined to reckon as one of his merits. — His history is for the most part a series of extracts.* He proposed to himself little more than to glean and bind together such passages as would form a secpence of ecclesiastical memoirs. This method, it is true, is jejune and tedious. It is neces- sarily marked by inequality of language, and awkwardness of manner. But the benefit drawn from it by the modern examiner fully compen- sates for such disadvantages. As the fragments of each author are distinct, the credit due to his dififerent relations varies in proportion to the degree of assent which his difiierent authorities deserve. Except where he is obliged to translate, the sentiments of the original writers borrow no new colouring by passing into his narrative. And this advantage is the greater, as it would otherwise have been no longer in our power to ascertain if their meaning had been faithfully expressed. With the exception of the historical works of Eusebius, to which may be added a few detached pieces, such as the ' Book of the Deaths of the Persecutors,' ascribed to Lactantius ; or succinct treatises, such as the histories of Sulpitius Severus, and Orosius ; and lastly, the numerous, but often doubtful and unsatisfactory, ' Acts of Martyrs,' 1 In the foiu-teenth century, Nicephorus Callistus composed a new Ecclesiastical History of the first three centuries; but his work, though not inelegantly written, is too re])lote with fables to be entitled to consideration. - Du I'in, Nouvelle Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles. torn. ii. p. 3. SOURCES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 3 our knowledge of the second and third centuries must be chiefly drawn from indirect sources. Of these by far the most useful are the 'Apolo- Tke gies,' presented to the Roman rulers by eminent Christians, with a Apologies, view to set forth the superiority of their religion, and to deprecate the cruelties of their opponents. There are great advantages peculiar to this class of productions. For instance, the Apologists are obliged to advert to the objections and the caUimnies of their enemies ; they enable us, therefore, to discover the views of the opposite party, and thus lay open the causes to which the difficulties which attended their efforts are to be ascribed. They are, moreover, led to give some description of their hal)its and discipline, a subject which contempo- rary writers are most qualified to treat, but most liable to omit. At the same time, such works are exposed to certain inconveniences. The reader is apt to regard them but as profiles, if we may so express ourselves, which, however correctlv they may represent the side-face, convey but an inadequate idea of the entire contour and expression. Apologists, it is usually thought, are naturally disposed rather to select such circumstances as are calculated to produce a favourable impression, than to enlarge on the abuses which may have crept into the society to which they belong. They may be honest advocates, but they are still advocates. A defence commonly bears this resem- blance to a panegyric — all that is mentioned in it may be true, but all that is true niay not be mentioned. Such are the anticipations with which ajjologetic works in general are opened. But the Christian Apologists assume a tone as open and manly, as devoid of subter- fuges and sophisms, as full of earnestness and piety as any unpre- judiced examiner can expect. Indeed, they sometimes stiite the arguments, however subtle, the reports, however revolting, of their adversaries, antl that too in the very hour of danger, with far more miiuiteness, and far more force, than are usually found in conti-oversial writings, even when published in times of security. Tliat tlieir manner is occasionallv injudicious, cannot be denied ; but this very absence of discretion frequently arises from that simplicity which is a stranger to fraud. A full consciousness of innocence is the pervading featm-e of their writings. Their greatest fault, in the eyes of the im- partial historian, is the precipitancy with which, in some few instances, they appeal to accounts, which, though current, required more cau- tious examination. It might, indeed, have been supjwsed that, as they addressed men Avhose means of information were necessarily great, and whose power was almost unlimited, they would be par- ticularly guarded on all points, from a conviction that an erroneous assertion could be easily discovered, and, if discovered, would, how- ever unimportant it might l.)e, have at least a tendency to aggravate the evils of which they complained. Yet, it must be confessed, they seem not alwavs to have sufficiently sifted reports ' in their detence of a cause, to the excellence of which they were keenly alive. It is the ' Blondel, Des Sibvlles, Ji:c., p. 3. Duille'du Vrai Usage des Pferes, p.'3'20, &c. 152 4 SOURCES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. part of a candid writer, to make full allowances for the harassing series of obstacles which often checked investigation in an age when tyranny leaned hard upon the Christians ; but it is due to truth, to avail ourselves of the rules of sound criticism in weighing the internal credibility of historical narratives. Remaining Next in importance to the ' Apologies ' addressed to the Roman pru^ersf"^^ rulers are, we think, the Defences of the Christian Religion, written in answer to the attacks of the philosophic Gentiles. The remaining works of the Fathers consist mostly of treatises against the Heathens, the Jews, or Heretics ; on the various doctrines of the Church, on the diflerent parts of its discipline ; moral discourses and commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures. In all these works there is undoulttedly much historical information ; but it is scattered in a mass of knowledge so vast, so obscure, and frequently so little connected with the direct studies of the historian, that the task of eliciting and combining every latent fact, and every incidental remark which may cast light on the early ages of Christianity, is more perhaps than can be expected to be performed by any single individual. Pagan The uotices of Christianity during the second and third centuries Writers; found in Pagan writers are, with a few valuable exceptions, of no their silence Considerable importance. Whatever mention of it occurs in the or contempt. JJistory of Dion Cassius is perhaps to be ascribed to his abridger Xiphilin, who lived as late as the eleventh century. The writers of the ' Augustan History' have afforded us but little additional testimony. Of the eminent philosophers who flourished during that period, Plu- tarch has been wholly silent on this point; Epictetus, Galen, Marcus Antoninus, and Lucian have left but a few passing sarcasms ; and as the direct attacks of Celsus, Hierocles, and Porphyry are lost, the substance of their works can only be gathered from the answers of their Christian opponents. The silence of some, and the contempt of others, are circumstances which ought to excite regret rather than surprise. The progress of infant sects ' is seldom considered as pre- senting those materials for brilliant detail and curious investigation which draw the attention of the historian, or disturb the abstractions of the philosopher. It is considered a debasement of their dignity to notice efforts which are expected to fall into the same state of ob- scurity and insignificance from which they are regarded as having originally sprung. Christianity was esteemed as one of the innume- rable varieties of popular delusion, one of the many-coloured garbs with which superstition, ever versatile, clothes its votaries. Raised, in their own imaginations, far above the influence of prejudice and passion, the sages cast a transient glance of pity, but not of inquiry, on a race of supposed enthusiasts, sectaries of a nation for which they entertained unqualified aversion.* And this neglect was increased as > See Bishop Watson's .^jjology for Christianity, p. 129. ^ The contempt which the Romans entertained against the Jews, and the preva- lent ignorance respectnig tlieii- history, ai-e evident from Oic. pro L. Flacc. sec. 28 ; SOURCES OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 5 they observed that the early Christians were chiefly of hiunble origin and of inferior acquirements.' Considering for the most part that all disquisitions on the nature and attriljutes of the Deitv* were per- plexed with doubts and difficulties, not to be unravelled bv tlie utmost subtility of which the human intellect is susceptible, their indignation was wound up to the highest degi-ee, when uneducated men seized with confidence on sulyects which had for ages eluded the grasp of philosophy itself.* The assent of the multitude far from being courted, was despised by all classes of the learned,'* An un- quenchable pride glared through the veil of their aflected humilitv.' This feeling must also have acquired force from the fact, that the scheme of Christianity was presented rather in a popular form, than with systematic nicety.* In short, it was long before they could bring their minds to submit to the authoritv of a religion, which, preaching virtues never urged in the eulogies of poets, and doctrines never heard in the schools of philosophy, opened its arms to receive the weak and ignorant with no less tenderness than the wise and powerful. It is not surprising, therefore, if we find but little mention of Christianity in writers who examined it at first not at all, and afterwards superficially. Such are, we think, the principal channels from which the know- Desi-n of the ledge of the second and third centuries may be drawn. In presenting chapters^ to our readers the result of our inquiries, it is not our object to give circumstiintial descrijjtions, nor to enter into minute discussions ; such a plan would not be consistent with the nature of the present work. For accounts so extensive, the reader, who cannot have recourse to the fountain heads, must consult and compare large and elaborate col- lections : such as those of the Centiu'iators of jNIagdeburgh, of Ba- ronius, Pagi, Tillemont, Fleury, Basnage, and other writers,^ who have dilated on almost every point connected with the subject. Although a wish to supply deficiencies, where we believe them to exist, may have induced us to dwell upon some particular points, our general desire is rather to trace than to fill np the outline, rather to direct to the sources than to exhaust the information which thev contain. SECTION II. — DIFFUSION OF CHKISTIANITV ; ITS EXTENT, MODE, AND CONSEQUENCES. Of the extensive diftiision of Christianitv in the second centurv, the Hor. Sat. lib. i. s. v. s. i.\. ; Pers. Sat. v. ; Tacit. Hist. lib. v. ; Jlaiti.il, lib. iv. ep. 4; lib. ii. ep. 95; Juvenal, Sat. iii. vi. xiv. ; Pint. Synipos. &c. * TertuU. Apol. c. xlviii. Arnob. Disput. adv. Gent. lib. i. p. 15, &c. * See the instances collected by Grotius, Pioleg. ad Stob. &c. * Min. Kel. c. v. * Senec. Ep. xxix. &c. * Diog. Laert. lib. ii. c. s.Kxvi. &c. * Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. v. c. i. &c. ' Much valuable infonnation may also be found in Mosheini's large work, De Rebus Christianoruni ante Constantinum Magnum Commentarii. See likewise J. le Clerc, Historia Ecclesiastica duorum primorum saeculorum fe veteribus monu- mentis deprompta. DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. DifTusion of repeated declarations of the Fathers, confirmed by historical research, (-liristianity. ^fibrd unequivocal proof. But the various details of this great moral revolution, the exact periods, modes, instruments, and circumstances of its progress, cannot, in the absence of authentic documents, be developed with accuracy and precision. Although the existence of Christians in the heart of remote and barbarous countries is sufficiently attested, the names of the disciples who first penetrated into those obscure regions, and the successive steps by which they proceeded to conciliate, to enlighten, and to humanise their rude inhabitants, are almost utterlv unknown. Instead of distinct and circumstantial de- scription, the reader will find for the most part little but vague asser- tion' in ancient, and bold conjecture in modern writers. Unable to procure correct information, and ailxious to admit the truth of state- ments deemed favourable to their cause, the early Christians seem often to have spoken in a declamatory tone. But their exaggeration arose not from a spirit of deceit. They knew that the successors of the apostles exerted themselves with indefatigable zeal in proclaiming the gospel, and that many had distributed their property to the poor, in order that, unshackled by worldly considerations, they might carry the faith to the most distant nations ;* they saw, moreover, the work of conversion advancing rapidly under their own eyes, and they heard of its progress in other countries from a diversity of sources ; hence they stopped not to investigate the origin and to estimate the pro- bability of reports, which, uncontradicted by surrounding appearances, were to them a theme of exultation in their controversial writings, and of encouragement under their severest misfortunes. TertuUian exclaims, " We are but of yesterday, yet we have filled your empire, — your cities, your islands, your castles, your corporate towns, your assemblies, your very camps, your tribes, your companies, your palace, your senate, your forum : your temples alone are lelt to you."* Language, evidently rhetorical, ought not to be examined by the mles of literal interpretation. The Apologist probably meant but to convey the same idea which the historian would have expressed by the simple assertion, that the Christians were extremely numerous in places both far and near, in situations both civil and military. At the same time, it must be allowed by any impartial inquirer, that the expressions of TertuUian, though perhaps too strong, could not have been hazarded in an address to persons who had ample opportimities ' E. g., Justin Martyr asseils, " There is no race of men, whether Barbarians or Greeks, or by whatever appelhition they may be designated, whether they wander in waggons or dwell in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered up to the Father and Creator of all things, in the name of the crucified Jesus." (Dialog, cum Tryphon, p. 341.) Comp. Iren. adv. Har. lib. i. c. xi. ; Arnob. adv. Gent. lib. ii. p. 50 : Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. v. c. xiii. * Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. xxxvi. ' Apolog. c. xxxvii. Comp. ad Scapul. c. v. ; adv. Judaos, c. vii. On the testimony of TertuUian, see Mosheim, de Reb. Christ, ante Const. M. p. 204. Bishop Kaye, Lectures on TertuUian, p. 93. DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 7 of discovfrinrr the truth, had they not been warranted, to a certain extent at least, by tlie ajjparent st;ite of the place in which they were written. A description, inconsistent with the aspect of things, would have defeated the very purpose for which it was made. The vast and commodious roads which intersected the whole Roman empire; the union of dilierent countries under one govern- ment ; the consequent spread of civilization, and the partial adoption of the Latin langiiage in every district : these were advantages which facilitated the propagation of the gospel in countries subject to the Caesars. The absence of these circumstances in remote wilds must be deemed no incensiderable bar. May we not also reckon among the obstacles to the conversion of the nations of Northern Europe,' the influence, not yet perhaps destroyed, of the ancient Bardic system ; a system which had inculcated the doctrine of an immortality, corre- sponding with their haV)its and wishes, and productive of an enthu- siastic devotion far beyond the powers of the Grecian and Roman mythologies to excite ? In Britain, the Christian Church appears to have been small and in Britain, humljle.- In Transali)ine Gaul, which was converted to the faith at a later period than other countries,^ the progress of Christianity was comparatively slow ; since in the third century there were but a few churches, raised bv tlie devotion of an inconsiderable number of Clu-istians,'' and under the Emperor Decius it was found necessary to send thither seven missionaries from Rome.* In German}-, tlie early state of Christianity is involved in obscurity : it is probable, however, that the persons who first ditl'used the knowledge of the gospel in Gaul, were instramental in extending its blessings to the contiguous countries. But a very different scene presents itself as we turn our view to the regions of the east and of the south. Even beyond the Euphrates, Edessa* Avas the seat of Christians; and from that river to the shores of Asia ]\Iinor, throughout the whole country, the voice of Revelation had gone forth. In Pontus and Bitliynia, in Greece, Thrace and Alacedonia, in Rome, at Carthage, in Egypt, the number of Christians was unquestionably great. In fact, there was probably ' It Wduld, we think, be an interesting; theme to explain the fact, that the dif- fusion of Christianity among the tribes of the North was neither so rapid in its progress nor so lasting in its eft'ects as in the more refined portions of the globe, particularly as those circumstances, which Montesquieu (Esprit des Lois, lib. xxv. c. ii. iii.) considers ;is most favourable to conversion, may be supposed in this case to have existed. * Kespecting the application for Christian teachers, which, according to Bede, Lucius, a King of Britain, matle to Eleutherus, Bishop of Rome, in the reign of M. Antoninus, see the observations of Mosheim (de Reb. Christ, p. 215). ^ Sulpit. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. c. x.\xii. * Ruinart. Act. Mart. Sincer. p. 130. * Greg. Turnn. Hist. Franc, lib. i. c. xxviii. * Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. xiii. 8 DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. no city of much extent in the Roman empire, in which some portion of the population had not been converted to Christianity.' Mode by In considering this wide diti'usion of Christianity, we are naturahy Christianity ^^^ *° inquire into the peciihar means by which it was effected. That wasdiiTused. it is to be ascribed to the directing Providence which vouchsafed it to man, no sincere behever will deny. But as the instruments employed, and the feelings addressed, were human, it is not inconsistent with a full conviction of Divine superintendence to examine in what manner those instruments acted, and those feelings were aflected. With the superficial, the question seems to be resolved by a mere reference, grounded on experience, to the effects of novelty, and.to the influence which the hopes and fears of futurity exert on the conduct of man. But, although experience has certainly proved that the love of novelty is not destitute of power, it has also taught us that the force of ancient habits and long-cherished opinions retains a far stronger hold on the mind ; though it has shown that even the indistinct hopes and fears connected with the idea of the invisible world, occasionally give a sudden impulse to our actions, it has also assured us, that the desire of present ease, and still more the dread of instant pain, when coun- terbalanced by no motives of immediate interest or ambition, will operate with a degree of resistance which a fixed belief, and an entire consciousness of rectitude can alone surmount. To attribute, therefore, the rapid diffiision of a religion, essentially hostile to the systems, estabhshments, customs, manners, and passions of the Gentile world, to the vague and arbitrary action of various irregular humours, is to take at least a very unphilosophical view of the subject. If we omit the exercise of miraculous powers, the existence of which after the apostolic ages is disputed (chiefly because the Fathers of the second and third centuries speak of it only in general language, an instance being seldom specified, and when specified usually relating to the expulsion of demons,^ or to the healing of diseases, in which it is commonly admitted there is more room for mistake than in any other class of miracles), we must, doubtless, consider as among the chief causes, which, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, contri- buted to the conversion of the heathen, the disgust which paganism, notwithstanding its splendour, must often have left on the reflecting mind; the disrepute into which divination and oracles had fallen; the contrariety and unsatisfactoriness of the systems of philosophy; the zeal, the fortitude, the aftection, the hospitality, the general virtues ' Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. c. xv. * The expulsion of demons is considered by the Fathers as a great cause of the conversion of the Gentiles. (Tertull. Apol. c. xsiii. ; Oiig. c. Cels. lib. ii. p. 20; Lactant. lib. v. c. xxvii. &c.) That there was a strong piejudice in the minds of the learned against this kind of demonstration may be inferred from Ulpian, lib. viii. de Tribunal, in Digest, lib. 1. tit. xiii. leg. i. ; and Marcus Antoninus, Med. p. 1. DIFFUSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 9 of tlio Christians so peculiar and so remarkable ; the union of their well-organized religious community ; the unwearied eftbrts of their preachers; the circulation of Apologies, pious works, and copies of the sacred Scriptures (soon, in all probability, translated into Latin), by which the evidences and the transcendent excellence of revealed religion were gi-adually discovered and appreciated. It is unfortunate, however, that the ancient converts have not de- tailed with more minuteness the accidental circumstances which first arrested their attention, and the progress of their thoughts fi-om in- creasing respect to final conviction. The unparalleled patience of the Christians under suilerings ; the improbability that men addicted to vice should submit to the loss of all that is desirable, and deliver themselves voluntarily to the executioner ; such was the first circum- stance which awakened the curiosity of the ])hilosophic Justin ; such the first reasoning which led him to embrace a religion, of which he himself became subsequently a martyr.' But it is not so much the method by which Christianity was spread, Effects of the nor the numerical state of the early proselytes, which demands our onhe'^'"" consideration, as the mental efiects which conversion produced. The (jentiies. change of conduct, as described by the early Christians, is unparalleled in the history of man : " We," exclaims Justin Martyr, " who formerly rejoiced in licentiousness, now embrace discretion and chastity : we, who resorted to magical arts, now devote ourselves to the unbegotten God, the God of goodness ; we, who set our aft'ections upon wealth and possessions, now Itring to the common stock all our property, and share it with the indigent ; we, who owing to diversity of customs, would not ]xirtiike of the same hearth with those of a different race, now, since the appearance of Christ, live togetlier, and pray for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those who unjustlv hate us, that by leading a life conformed to the excellent precepts of Cliristianitv, they may be filled with the good liojie of obtaining the same happi- ness with ourselves from that God, who is Lord above all things."* In an age of libertinism, the Christian was distinguished by purity. Hatred was transformed into love, and the violence of passion sub- sided into tenderness and peace. The proud became humble. The contemner submitted to contempt. All felt,^ that the morality of their religion was a fixed and imperative rule, and not like the ethics of philosophy,* mere reasoning, often too vague and imperfect to con- vince, and alwavs too destitute of authority to command. But this reform was xital : it altered not so much the exterior appearance as ' Apol. i. c. xii. * Ibid. c. xiv. Comp. Orig. c. Cels. lib. iii. ; Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. iii. c. xxvi. * The Christians, as long as they adhered to their religion, though many suffered for the faith, were not charf;eJ with specific crimes in the courts of justice. (Ter- tuU. Apcil. c. xliv.) So jlinucius Felix, De vestro numero career exajstuat : Christianus ibi nullus, nisi aut reus suai Keligionis aut profugus, c. xxsv. ■• TertuU. Apol. c. slii. 10 DIFFUSION OF CnRISTIANIT Y, the inward heart. The Christians, in general, appear to have affected no pecuHarity in habit or diet, and to have refused no profession which was consistent with their rehgious creed, and adapted to promote the welfare of society. They frequented the forum and the baths : they were seen in the camp,' and at the marts; they followed an agi'icul- tural, a mercantile, or a sea-faring life.^ That some Christians fell into extremes in their condemnation of innocent pleasures cannot be denied ; but the critical time in which they lived, and the deep importance of being free from all that could be construed into imjjropriety, or which had any tendency to produce evil, are considerations which ought very much to diminish the severity with which their conduct has been viewed. But it has been urged as an objection that, among the early con- verts, there were persons who had previously been guilty of immoral practices.^ It ought to be remembered that the number of such persons was comparatively small. The majority were men of regular habits,* whose feelings were naturally drawn by a congenial influence towards a religion by which their sentiments of virtue were strength- ened, refined, and elevated. But that persons who had fallen into sin, at a period of extreme licentiousness, should have sought forgiveness in the bosom of a Church which, though it emphatically condemned guilt, pointed out repentance, is, we conceive, a circumstance rather redounding to its honour than deserving of reproach. The nature of Paganism was little adapted to instruct, still less to console. The offender, who had once broken through the fence of his first scruples, felt no moral check to arrest him in his descent through the various stages of crime.* At the same time he was not exempt from that inscrutable feeling of remorse which, whether it flows from nature, or from a combination of accidental influences, still clings to the heart from which even belief has been banished.^ The uneasiness which consumed Tiberius,'' the terrors which disturbed the dreams of Nero,^ the phantoms of horror which haunted Caracalla," were torments which Paganism could not assuage, and wdiich Scepticism could not reason away. Christianity alone offered the remedy : it is not sur- prising, therefore, if Christianity was chosen. In fact, a mighty change seemed to have come over the hearts and minds of the Gentiles. Thoughts and feelings which, ^vhile the possessors reposed beneath the shade of ancient idolati'v, lay shrunk and closed, were warmed and elicited. Strong principles evinced the operation of strong motives. The hopes and fears of futurity — almost as unknown in that age to ' On this point, however, the views of different Christians seem to have been different. See Orig. c. Cels. lib. viii. p. 427, and the note of Spencer. * Tertull. Apol. c. xlv. ^ Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. c. xvi. * Orig. c. Cels. lib. iii. p. 150. ■'' Quis peccandi finem posuit sibi ? Juv. Sat. xiii. •^ Juv. Sat. xiii. &'c. ' Tacit. Ann. lib. vi. c. vi. " Ibid. lib. xiv. " Dion Cassius, lib. Ixxvii. INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION. 1 1 the uneducated as to the learned' — worked upon the Christian with all their force and fulness ; and the eftects were proportionate to the magnitude and activity of the cause. It is scarce!}' neci^sary to rpj^eat here that the earl}' converts were not men whose minds, suddenly struck and inflamed, had caught but a jiartial light on some prominent points, without extending their view over the general nature of Christianity ; but men who, before their admission into the Church, had remained during a certain period, the length of which seems sometimes to have been considerable,^ in the degree of catechumens,^ in order that they might receive a course of gradual instmction on the great moral truths of revealed religion, and give satisfactory proofs of the sincerity of their intentions by the holi- ness of their lives ; and if afterwards they should fall into guilt, a severe, and often a very protracted, penance was required, as a neces- sary step for the attainment of pardon.* SECTION III. — INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION ; CAUSES OF THE OPPOSI- TION WHICH CHRISTIANITY EXPERIENCED FROM THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT. Notwithstanding this view of the state of Christianity, its historv, influence previous to its civil establishment, is, for the most part, the histor}' of p'^!''^. . . persecutions : it is necessary, therefore, to develop the causes of so system, remarkable a circumstance. The Pagan religion, with its rich succession of pageants, had natu- rally a strong ascendancy over the minds of the unrellecting. Its priests, its temples, its mysteries, its sacrifices, its magnificent pro- cessions, calling to their aid the varied powers of music, painting, and sculpture, and awakening the different feelings of awe, pleasure, in- terest, and triumph, conspired with the force of early habits and recol- lections, to work a very powerful delusion. Attention was diverted from the poverty of its essence to the sumptuousness of its externals. Its meagi'e system of ethics, and its cold and gloomy prospects of a dimlv-shadowed futurity, were forgotten amid a glow of ritual bril- liancv, A\'hich was designed to kindle intense enthusiasm. But these were far from being the only means by which Paganism excited that train of emotions which precluded the free action of tem- perate incjuiry. It was the care of the statesman to imjjlant and Greatness of cherish the prejudice, which afterwards clung with extreme tenacity JcribelTto'' to the minds of the populace, that, to their deep respect for the deities theirsuperiot of the republic, the unexampled success of the Roman arms was to be attributed. The jiiety of Romulus and of Numa was believed to liave laid the foundations of their greatness. The vast extent of the Roman ' Cic. Or. pro Cluent. ; de Nat. Deor. lib. ii. c. ii. Juv. Sat. ii. 149, &c. ' Orig. c. Cels. lib. iii. p. 142, &c. * Bingham, Antiquit. of the Christ. Church, vol. i. * Tertull. de Poenit. Cyprian, de Laps. sec. 27. 12 INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAJT RELIGION. empire was deemed the recompense of assiduous devotion. " It was," they pompously exclaimed, " by exercising religious discipline in the camp, and by fortifying the city with sacred rites, with vestal virgins, and the various degrees of a numerous priesthood, that they had stretched their dominiofl beyond the paths of the sun and the limits of the ocean."' And, as public prosperity was universally a.scribed to the favourable agency of the gods, so were public calamities considered as visitations of their anger. The influence of these opinions was peculiarly active among the Romans, whose attachment to their reli- gion was far greater than that of the other nations of the heathen world. Hence arose that exclusion of foreign rites, Avhich, though practically modified by political necessity, was theoretically a part of their religious system. Degree of It has been the practice of late writers to expatiate in terms of the reh^'ious warmest admiration on the unbounded toleration which characterised toleration which the constitution of Rome,* yet it is evident from history that this sup- the^Roman^' po^^d indulgence was far more circumscribed than its panegyrists have Government, asserted. It was positively forbidden by law to honour with private worship any other Deitv than such as had been incorporated into the Roman religion by public authority;^ and this law, though it might have been frequently allowed to slumber, was not abrogated at a very distant period from its original enactment. L. jEmilius Paulus, in his consulship, ordered the temples of Isis and Serapis, gods not legally recognised by the Romans, to be destroyed, and, observing the religious fear which checked the people, he himself seized an axe, and struck the first blow against the portals of the sacred edifice.* On several occasions the Senate exerted its power to prevent religious innovations.* The Consul Posthumius is represented by Livy as alleging, in a powerful speech, the ancient laws, so often repeated, against worships derived from other countries, and as declaring that ' Sic imperiuni suum ultra Solis vias et ipsius Oceani limltes propagavit, dum exercent in armis viitutem religiosam, dum urbem muniunt saci'orum religionibus, castis virginibus, niultis honoribus ac nominibus sacerdotum. Min. Felix, c. vi. * Montesquieu, in his Dissertation Sur la Politique des Romains dans Ja Religion ; Voltaire, Diet. Philos. art. Tolerance, Giuvr. torn, xxsviii. p. 404 ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. xvi. &c. * Tertull. Apolog. c. v. &c. •» Val. Max. lib. i. c. iii. n. 2. * In the year u.C. 326, when, in consequence of a severe drought, individuals had resorted to new rites with a view of appeasing the wrath of Heaven, the Senate enjoined the jEdiies to suffer no other god and no other form of worship than that which had been sanctioned by Roman usage. (Liv. lib. iv.) In U.C. 541, in the height of the second Punic war, the Senate published a strict decree against certain religious innovations which had been introduced. (Liv. lib. xxv.) In U.C. 615 the Prsetor, C. Cornelius Hispalus, banished those who attempted to establish the worship of the Sabasian Jupiter (Valer. Max. lib. i. c. iii.) ; and in U.C 701, the Temples of Isis and Serapis were again demolished by order of the Senate. (Dion, lib. xl.) These laws maybe found more fully detailed in an article, Sur le Respect que les Romains avoient pour la Religion. Histoire de rAcadem. des Inscript. torn, sxxiv. p. 110-125. INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION. 13 nothino;, in the opinion of the wisest legislators, was more calculated to dissolve the national religion than the introduction of foreign rites.' Dion Cassius has transmitted to us a celebrated oration, in which ' ]\I«cenas endeavours to press on Augustus a conviction of the dangers which he conceives would result from the toleration of new religions. And even under Tiberius the Egj-ptian ceremonies were violently proscribed. The mistaken opinion of an entire freedom from persecution may have originated in a wrong inference, drawn from the verv remarkable fact, that coexistent with intolerant laws against pulilic deviations frora the established rites, was an almost unlimited liberty enjoyed by individuals of expressing private sentiments. On the stiige, and in the works of professed sceptics, the keenest ridicule against the popular gods was exercised with perfect impunity.* The sarcastic attacks of Plautus and Terence, as well as the impious sentiments of Seneai the tragetUan, were heard without censure. The philosophic railler}" of Cicero and of Luciau was indulged in without danger.* The Christian religion had, therefore, to encounter the aversion Causes to which the Romans entertained against foreign worship ; an aversion, opposition indeed, which the enlargement of their empire had considerably dimi- ma^e }o uished, but which may still be thought not to have been whollv mu"th«°' ^ eradicated. But however inclined the ruling powers might have been a^^i'ied. in other cases to relax their severity, there were several distinctive features in the Chiistian religion which soon awakened their appre- hension. It was the religion, not of any particular nation or city, but of a sect ; and that not merely a recent, but a proselyting sect. It admitted no intercommunity of worship ; its existence required the destruction of all other systems. It was not, like the religions of polytheism, a new scion, which might be grafted on the general stock. If was not an attempt to fill up an additional niche in the Pantheon. It was an exclusive, uncompromising creed, which not merely did not harmonise with anv other, but condemned all others. As it demanded undivided allegiance from its followers, so it did not accept profiered coalition with its opponents. The Christians took no pains to conceal theii* contempt for the gods and temples and ceremonies of idolatry. • Quoties hoc patrum avorumqiie atate negotium est magistratibus datum, ut sacra externa fieri vetareiit : saorificulos vatesque foro, circo, uibe ])rohiberent; vaticinos libros conquirerent comburerentque, omnem disciplinam sacrilicanJi pra;- terqiiam more Romano abolerent? Judicabant enim prudentissimi viri omnis divini humanique juris, nihil acque dissolvenda; religionis esse, quam ubi nou patrio, sed externo ritu sacrificaretur. (Liv. lib. xxxix. c. xvi.) * This was a circumstance which frequently struck the early Christians. Just. Mart. Apol. i. c. iv. : Tertull. Apol. c. xlvi. Quinimo et Decs vestros palam des- truunt .... laudantibus vobis, &c. ^ The same licence existed in Ancient Greece : and, by a somewhat similar anomaly, the Church of Home combined with her former spirit of rigid intolerance the strange permission of exhibiting theatrical pieces, in wliich the events of Scrip- ture History were represented with irreverent buffoonery. 14 INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION. The purple of the Pagan priesthood, to which the crowd had })een taught to look up with reverence, was, in their eves, mockery.' This spirit, though, perhaps, not at first fully perceived, was no sooner felt than resisted.^ It was imputed to a strange obliquity of intellect or of will. The niling maxim of Roman administration was, evidently, if foreign worships could not be excluded, at least to consolidate them into one great religious fedei'acy ; to allow men the free enjoyment of their opinions, but to unite together those opinions by a common prin- ciple of accommodation and reciprocal indulgence. The legislator, who could not bend and mould Christianity into a component part of the polytheistic sti'ucture, put it out of the circle of toleration, however capacious, and endeavoured to crush it, before its magnitude was increased ; and hence, perhaps, it is that the Christian was often con- demned simply on account of his pi-ofession, when no criminal acts were proved, or even alleged. The name was a test. The magistrate was probably directed to consider it as such, with a view to prevent the ultimate consequences of a system, of which, in particular in- stances, it would have been difficult to define the mischief. But the sufferer, who felt unable to explain on what principle so singular a deviation from ordinary practice could be grounded, loudly complained of the palpable injustice of passing sentence on him, in consequence of a mere name, without any judicial inquiry into his character and con- duct.^ Such, at least, seems to us to be the solution of the anomalous mode of treatment which the Christians experienced. But, independently of these apprehensions of the effects of the new religion, arising from its essential incompatibility with polytheism, the persons who professed it laboured under suspicions of disaffection to the civil government. They refused to adore the image of the reign- ing emperor ;* they refused to ofier idolatrous sacrifices for liis safety ; they refused to swear by the genius of Cfesar, and to join in festivals on the occasion of signal victories. They were sometimes accused of declining to assist in the wars,"" by which the dangers which encircled the Roman empire were averted. Doubts were consequently awakened, which were not immediately dispelled by their declarations, however ' Sacerdotum honores et purpuras despiciunt. (Min. Fel. c. viii.) * See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. c. xvi. The observation of Voltaire, in ac- counting for the different treatment which the Jews and the Christians experienced is not without truth. " Les Juifs ne voulaient pas que la statue de Jupiter fut k Jerusalem ; mais les Chretiens ne voulaient pas qu'elle fut au Capitole." Diet. Philos. art. Tolerance. * Just. Mart. Apol. i. c. iv. ; Tertull. Apol. c. iii. "* Tertull. Apol. c. xsxiii. &c. * Tertullian, in his tract De Corona, considers it unlawful for a Christian to be a soldier. This was written after his secession from the church ; but it must be remembered that the Romans seem not to have distinguished the orthodox from the schismatic. The perusal of the conclusion of the Eighth Book of Origen against Celsus would, we think, have alone awakened in a high degree the fears of the Roman rulers. IXFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION', 15 emphatic, that, although they turned with shuddering fi-om profane rites, yet thev cherished fidelity, oflered pravers* for the lives and pros))erity of their ai)pointed governors, paid duly all trilnites and taxes, abstained from factious commotions, and promoted charitv and affection among the various members of the social bodv. The accu- sation made more impression than the defence. It is also ])robable that the habitual mention of the kingdom of the Messiah may, by a misapprehension of its meaning, have tended to excite distrust.* But nothing was more effectual in rousing the fears of the Roman NisiiiMy nilers than the circumstance that men, whose principles were already '°^*"°t'^" questioned, should hold frequent nocturnal meetings — meetings which were expressly prohibited by law, and always dreaded as the secret schools of dangerous conspiracies. Thus was it the hard lot of the Christians that they could neither assemble openly, without being exposed to violence, nor privately, without subjecting themselves to suspicion. It was injudicious in them, however, to suli'er the alarm to be heightened by adopting the language of unnecessary mvstery on the subject of their sacraments.* The feeling of fear or hatred already entertained was considerablv Calumnies increased by the cloud of calumnies in which their conduct was ef,HstTai'i'^ enveloped. Strange reports of disgusting rites were industriouslv circulated, and credulously believed. The furv of the lower and the distrust of the higher orders were raised by absurd fictions, which represented the Christians as slaying a new-born infant at their initiation ; drinking the blood ; tearing asunder the limbs ; binding themselves to secrecy ; and consummating their deeds of horror in the shades of night, by the uncontrolled indulgence of the most depraved passions.* In vain did the Christian, who avoided the sight of the sanguinary feats of the amphitheatre, and who observed the apostolic precejjt of abstaining Irom blood,* express his deepest abhor- rence of inventions, which apparently originated in a monstrous per- version of the meaning of the eucharistic commemoration of the death of Ciirist ; in vain did he appeal to the common feelings of mankind, and challenge the minutest investigation of his actions ; the jirogress of falsehood was but slowlv repressed, and was attended bv manv and serious evils. The expressions of affection which the Clu-istians em- ployed were misconstrued.' The remembrance of the infamous practices which kindled tiie indignation of the senate against the Bacchanals, inspired the l^)inan statesman with a belief that there was no crime so revolting which might not be committed under the cloak of religion. ' Tertull. A])()l. c. xxxviii. &c. - Justin Miutyr (iti Apol. i. c. xi.) acknowledges that it was suspected to mean a kiiisjdoni on eartli. ^ On the ancient custom of concealing the nature of the Sacraments, see Bing- ham's Antiquities of the Christian Church,- b. x. c. v. * See the description given in Minucius Felix, c. ix. &e. * The heathen were aware of this fact. Tertull. Apol. c. ix. " Davis, note in Min. Fel. c. ix. 1 6 INFLUENCE OF THE PAGAN RELIGION. But the obstinacy of the Pagans in receiving reports which they had not investigated, notwithstanding the internal improbabihty of the pretended facts, notwithstanding the superior means of inquiry which they possessed, notwithstanding the bold challenge of the Apologists to sift thoroughly all charges adduced against their society, is the more unjustifiable, as, on the supposed truth of these reports, extraordinaiy cruelties were not unfrequently exercised. ( 17 ) CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE SECOND CENTURY. A.D. 101 TO 211. Although we have already briefly adverted to the celebrated letter' A. r». 101. which Pliny, during his residence as governor in the province of Review of Pontus and Bithynia, addressed to Trajan, a more minute examination, toTrajan."" and an illustration of it by a few additional remarks, will, perha])s, be the best metiiod of conveying a clear and connected idea of the policy which directed the conduct of the Roman rulers at the period suc- ax'ding the apostolic age. The object of Pliny is to ascertain the i^* object, nature and extent of inquiry and of punishment, which it was neces- sary to adopt against the followers of the new religion. He states that he had never been present at their trials, and that he entertained doubts respecting the mode of proceeding, particularly on the following points : — whether difference of age were taken into consideration, or whether the tender and the robust were treated with the same severity ; whether pardon were granted on repentance, or a renunciation of Christianity were judged of no avail ; whether the mere name of , Christian, unconnected with any crime, or the crimes that accompanied the name, were the object of jmnishment. From these questions it appears to us manifest that the Christians inferences were then generally known as a se])arate body ; that judicial proceed- the questions ings had been instituted against tliem ; that the repeated complaints proposed, which the Apologists make of being punished for a name only, are neitlier unfounded nor extravagant ; lastlv, that Piinv's design was to suggest to the enqieror certain distinctions, calculated to mitigate the rigour which had been exercised indiscriminately against the various members of the rising sect. It is still doubtful whether any edict, specifically directed against Kdicts the Christians, Avas then in force.* The ex])ressions of Tertullian seem cM^ians! to intimate that the laws of Nero, in this particular case, were not » Plin. lib. X. Ep. 97. Vi(h> Church History, First Division, p. :i33. 2 -Mosiieim, Lardiier, Gibbon, &c. are of opinion that there were no edicts in force atjainst the Christians. Bishop Kaye remarks, that the conclusion is erro- neous, if any weight is to be attached to the statements of Tertullian, in his (irst book ad Nationes, c. vii. Apolog. c. i. v. xxxvii. ; ad Scapul. c. iv. (Lectures on Tertullian, p. 11 o). With respect to the abrogation of Domitian's laws by the Senate, which Mosheim and I.ardner mention, and the belief in which rests upon the authority of Suetonius (in Dom. c. sxiii.) and the writer of tlie Treatise de Mortib. Persecut. c. xxi., it ought to be remembered that Trajan restored Domitian's Rescripts, Epistolis enim Domitiani standinn est. (Plin. lib. x. Ep. 66.) (See Gibbon's Index E.tpurgator. in his Miscell. Works, vol. v. p. 560.) [C. H.J C 18 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE SECOND CENTURY. Method pursued bv Pliny. Reasons assigned A. D. 101. abrogated. Nor can the contrary be inferred from the uncertainty of so experienced a lawyer as Phny, since he himself, in another of his letters, laments his deficiency on some points of legal knowledge.' It may, however, be reasonably concluded that these laws, if not formally and entirely annulled, were, in many respects, become of dubious authority, and that the general decrees of the senate against the intro- duction of new deities, though they enabled harsh or unjust governors to pursue the most vigorous measures, were regarded by milder rulers as attended with considerable difficulty in their meaning and in their application. In this state of perplexity, Pliny proceeds to describe the method which he had followed towards all who were brought before him on the charge of being Christians. He put the question. Whether they were members of the body to which they were accused of belonging ? If they answered in the affirmative, he repeated the question a second and a third time, accompanjHing it with the threat of capital punish- ment. Such as still persisted in their confession he looked upon as infatuated, and ordered to be led away to prison or to execution ; for the word employed is susceptible of this ambiguity.* " For," he adds, in explanation of the motives which impelled him to the adoption of this course, " I never doubted that, whatever might be the nature of their confession, stubbornness, at least, and inflexible obstinacy, ought to be punished." This sentence, when considered in connection with his previous avowal of want of acquaintance with the trials of the Christians, throws great light on an investigation of the causes of the contempt and opposition which Christianity experienced from the phi- losopher and the magistrate. Ignorance of the new, and attachment to the old religion, were the main springs which directed the learned and the powerful. The soft feelings of humanity were repressed by a conviction that all attempts to endanger the religious establishment would necessarily shake the stability of those civil institutions with which, by a variety of means, it had long been united. The great maxim of the Roman government, in its external relations, and in its internal policy, was to spare the subject, but to enforce subjection, Parcere subjectis, et dehellare superbos. The progress, however, of Christianity seems not to have suffered that check which the severe proceedings of the governor were intended to produce. A more natural circumstance was, probably, the result : informations con-^ tinually multiplied. In consequence of an anonymous accusation, Pliny examined several persons, who denied the profession of Christianity, and who, as a mark of the sincerity of their assertions, repeated an appeal to the gods, offered supplication with wine and frankincense to • Ep. 14, lib. viii. wherein he consults Aristo, and gives the reasons of his want of sufficient acquaintance with the Jus Senatorium. * Pevseverantes duci jussi : that it does not necessarily imply capital punishment is evident from many passages in other writers, e.g.'Ne mihi in carcere habitandum sit, si Tribunus plebis duci jussisset. Cic. de Lege Agrar. Or. ii. sec. 37. Conse- quences of the course adopted. pliny's account of the christians, 19 the image of the emperor, and reviled the name of Christ;* " with A. D. 101. none of which things," adds tlie narrator, " as it is reported, can they who are really Christians be induced to comply." These, therefore, were discharged. Others at first confessed themselves Christians, and afterwards recanted. Some, it appears, had renounced the profession tliree years, some sooner, and others twenty years before ; which periods cannot without difficulty be referred to the persecutions under Domitian and Nero.* The succeeding part of the letter contains the favourable account of Account of the Christians which we have already transcribed.^ This account, it 0^11"*""^" will be observed, was drawn by Pliny fi'om those who had recanted ; Christians, men who, in all prol:)ability, by revealing any impious tenet, if such had existed in the system, or any vicious habit in the professors, of the religion which they had forsaken, would gladly have found a justifica- tion of their apostacy, satisfactory alike to themselves and to their judges, bringing peace to their consciences and security to their per- sons. An infurmer, who had any reason to believe that he was tearing the mask from the hvpocrite, and tlragging the criminal to light, would have consoled himself with the reflection, that he was justly entitled to the character of a public benefactor. Yet, for from finding any dis- covery of concealed vice, any detection of subtle intrigue, we have a tostimonv, recorded by an enemy, and deri\'ed from unsuspected wit- nesses, which afl'ords not merely a rofutiition of the calumnies, by which the character of the first Christians was assailed, Ixxta strong evidence of their piety and rectitude, their unallected simplicity and affectionate union. ^ Witli a view, moreover, to ascertain the trath of this account, V Pliny, as we have already observed, deemed it necessary to examine by torture two maid-servants, who are called ministers (perhaj)s deaconesses) : he was unable, however, to discover anything, excej)t, to use his own language, " a wilful and immoderate superstition ;" an expression, as may be inferred from the whole tenour of the epistle, only equivalent to " an oljstinate deviation from the established rites, a presumptuous attempt to distui'b the religious harmony of the heathen world." In considering the moderation and humanitv, by which the general Examination conduct of Pliny was distinguished, it appears difficult to determine ^^ ^o"""*- ' It is possible that tliis additional injunction may have been made in conse- quence of a singular e(iuivi)cation, which we may perliaps suppose to liave been tried before the time of the Valentinians, wlio argued that they might deny that they were Christians without incurring the penalty denounced in the words of our Saviour, " He who denies mc before men, him will I deny before my Father." (See Bishop Kaye, on TertuUian, p. 15^i.) * This inquiry was made probably A.D. 104-. Domitian perished in the year 96, and Nero in G8 {i.e. 36 years before). The persons examined were perhaps con- fused, and not scrupulously exact in the dates. ' Church History, First Division, pp. 291, 334, C 2 20 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IX THE SECOND CENTURY. A, D. 101. the reason which could induce him to select two females as fit subjects to be tried by the horrors of the rack.^ It is most obvious to assign this act of cruelty to a desire of extorting their secret with greater facility, from the natural timidity of the weaker sex. We ought, how- ever, to bear in mind, that the Roman laws did not allow any persons to be put to the torture except slaves and female servants, whose evidence, unless by this process, was inadmissible.* It was not, however, his intention to continue these intolerent pro- ceedings. Sensible of the inefficacy of any system of indiscriminate persecution, and anxious, it may be allowed, to yield to the dictates of pity, and to obtain from imperial authority some definite regulation, which might alleviate the sufferings of the Christians, by silencing the clamours of their informers, he suspended all rigorous measures till the State of reply of Trajan should relieve bis perplexity. To impress on the ern- [n'ponTi^'*^ l^eror's mind a pi'oper sense of the magnitude of the subject, he assures andBithynia. him that persons of all ranks and ages and of both sexes, were accused, and would still be accused : for the contagion, he adds, of the new superstition had not merely seized cities, but lesser towns, and the open countiy. The temples had been almost deserted; the sacred ceremonies had sufi'ered a long intermission ; and the victims were for some time without purchasers. Influence of These assertions render it a very probable conjecture that the hood"^'" severity of the governors, and the exasperation of tlie populace, were excited and kept alive by the priests, by the inferior officers of reli- gion, and, in short, by all to whom the splendid solemnities or gor- geous structures, which were consecrated to the maintenance of Poly- theism, were a source of pleasure, of emolument, and of distinction. Nor would the representations of the priesthood be received without alarm, even by the philosophic sceptic. Regarding the existing religions as instruments of control, or incentives to exertion, many of tlie sages of antiquity had no sooner closed their free speculations on the divinity, than they bent before the senseless objects of popular idolatry which they internally ridiculed.^ Even the followers of Epicurus and of Pyrrho were willing to discharge the sacerdotal ' Mosheim adds, Presbyteris cum Episcopo aut fuga dilapsis, exortS tempestate, aut in occulto latcntibus. (De Keb. Chr. p. 232.) The assertion is, we think, unwarranted and luijust. * This was not the case in other countries. Dicendum de institutis Atheniensium, Khodioruni, doctissimorum hominum, apud quod etiam (id quod acerbissimum est) Hberi, civesque torquentur. (Cic. de Part. Orat. c. xxiiv.) Hence, as Gibbon has remarked, the acquiesence of the Provincials encouraged their governors to acquire, and perhaps to usurp, a discretionary power of employing the rack to extort from vagrant and plebeian criminals the confession of their guilt, till they insensibly proceeded to confound the distinctions of rank, and to disregai-d the privileges of fioman citizens. (See Decline and Fall, &c. c. xvii.) It may be doubted, however, whether so conscientious a governor as Pliny would have deviated from the practice of the state and the rule of civilians. 3 Orig. c. Cels. lib. v. p. 260. CHRISTIANITY UNDER TRAJAN. 21 offices.' But the ascendency of the priesthood would be particularly a. v. 101. great in the mind of Pliny, who was anxious that reverence sliould be entertained " for the deities, for ancient glory, even for fables."^ The glowing imagery of Pagan worship, with its train of varied associa- tions, had taken possession of his ardent fancy. The elegance of his taste lent charms to emptv pageantrv; and his time was s])ent in Ijuild- ing and in adorning temples. Another remark must force itself on the most incredulous examiner. The letter aiibrds an un(|uestionable ^^'i;'e proof of tlie rapid dilTusion of Christianity, throughout the province of chri'stiTnitv. Pontus and Bithvnia, in the short space of eighty vears after the death of its Divine fomuler. The testimony of Pliny, corroborated as it is by the writings of Lucian,^ ought to satisfy us that the expressions, in which the Fathers describe the extent of the Church, though doubtless hyperbolical, were not suggested by the remotest wish to invent and deceive. Pliny concludes by describing the revival of Pagan rites, in con- sequence of his administration, and by expressing a confident hoj^e that if pardon were granted on repentance, the new sect would lose a considerable num])er of its adherents. The answer of Trajan is brief i»«pb' of and ))Ositive. After declaring his approbation of the course pursued "•'*"■ by Pliny, and admitting the impossiliility of laying down any one rule calculated for universal application, he directs, that the Christix^ns sliould not be sought for, but that, if any were brought before tlie governor, they should be punished. He was careful to add, that such as denied the profession of Christianitv, and confirmed their denial by supplications to the gods, notwithstanding any former suspicion, should obtain pardon. Moreover, he observes, that an accusation ought in no instance to be admitted, unless signed by the person who presented it ; for the sanction of anonymous informations " would be a disgraceful precedent, unworthy of the age of Trajan." It is in oisen-ations speaking of this rescript that Tertullian has severely reflected on the on'^heEciic" anomaly of forbidding the adoption of active measures against the examined. CJu'istians, as if innocent, and yet ordering them to be punished as if guilty. " If," he exclaims, " they deserve condemnation, why should they not be sought for ? if they deserve not to be sought for, \\-hy should they not be acquitted ?"■• But, although Trajan, from the nature of existing laws, and the influence of preconceived opinions, might not consider them as guiltless, he might nevertheless regard them as a race of mistaken men, who, in their relation of citizens, were not likely to endanger the peace and security of society : while, ' Epict Dissei-t. lib. ii. c. sx. ; Diog. Laert. lib. x. sec. 10, &c. ; Encyclopaedia, History of Roman Philosophy, article Sext. Empiric. * Ep. 21, lib. viii, ' Alexander, the false prophet, is represented as complaining — if'mt Ift.irtx^.'ntSeii xa) X^ia-TMiuv Tov riinriv. (Pseudomant. sec. 25.) * O sententiam necessitate confusam ! Negat inquirendos, ut innocentes, et mandat punienJos, ut nocentes. Parcit et sa;vit, dissimulat et aniniadvertit ! Quid temetipsam, Censura, circumvenis ? Si damnas, cur non et iii([uiris ? si non in- quiris, cur non et absolvis? (Apol. c. ii.) 22 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE SECOND CENTURY. A. D, 101. on the other hand, all encouragement given to informers, a description of men against whom he had published very severe laws, would necessarily open a wide field for malignity, avarice, cruelty, and all the passions which are nourished by persecution. He considered tacit neglect as less dangerous than rigorous search, but open acquittal as pregnant with the most disastrous consecjuences to the institutions of the state. Tertullian himself has not reckoned Trajan among the per- .secutors,' and has acknowledged that the eflect of this edict was in some degree to frustrate the penal laws, on which the harsh treatment which the Christians experienced from the provincial rulers was gene- rally grounded. Genuineness We have hitherto detailed and commented upon the contents of "etters^ these letters on the tacit assumption of their genuineness. As Semler, however, has undertaken to discover in them the traces of impostm-e, it may be necessary to state briefly on what grounds their authority has been received. The chief points on which we would insist are the following : — these letters are not a single unconnected document, such, for instance, as the ' Acts of Pilate,' which might be easily forged, but they form a part of an extensive correspondence, into which important epistles could not without great difficulty be interpolated ; they are found in all manuscripts containing the Tenth Book of Epistles,* in which this correspondence is preserved, and some of these manuscripts are of very great antiquity : these lettei's, moreover, are quoted by Tertullian, at an early j^eriod, when fal^rication might have been speedily detected, particularly as it ap[)ears, from the account of Pliny himself, that his works were widely circulated f the quotation of Tertullian is renewed without the slightest suspicion by Eusebius, by Jerome, by Orosius, and later writers : lastly, these letters bear all the internal characters of truth ; — they are not suffi- ciently favourable for a Christian fabricator, they are too ilivourable for a Pagan ; the style, too, and manner of Pliny are so strikingly pre- served, that an editor,* who professes to have spent many years in thoroughly examining and illustrating his works, declares that he could perceive nothing in this part of them which was not perfectly in character with the rest ; they have been, besides, repeatedly sifted and explained by men who possessed the deepest knowledge of lan- guages and antiquities, yet of these examiners none, till the time of Semler, ever ventured to deny their genuineness.* In a word, the ' Apol. c. V. * It is but just to add, that suspicions have been entertained, but without suf- ficient grounds, against the whole of the Tenth Book of Epistles, chiefly because it is found in very few manuscripts. ^ £.g. Bibliopolas Lugduni esse non putabam : ac tanto libentius ex literis tnis cognovi venditari libellos nieos, quibus peregre manere gratiam, quam in urbe col- legerint, delector. (Ep. 11, lib. xi.) ■* Gierig. * They have been examined by Balduinus, in his Commentaries on the Edicts of the Roman Emperors ; by J. H. Boehmerus, by Sam. Petitus, and other writers, enumerated by Fabricius in his Biblioth. Lat. torn. ii. p. 415, Ed. Ernest. For EDICT OF HADRIAN. 23 authorit}- of manuscripts, the testimony of succeeding writers, the A. D. 101. consent of commentators, the exceeding difficulty of any interpolation, the absence of a sufficient motive for such an interpolation, the style and suVvject of the whole,' must be admitted V;y the dispassionate examiner, as far overlialancing a few captious objections, such as might be urged against the authenticity of almost any record of antiquity. The o})eration of Trajan's e icccra, ipiXtiv ira^aTa^iv, as oi X^iimetvoi, aXXa XiXoyio'fiiva;, xai ffifivu;, xa,i iliffn x,ai aXXav 'Suaa.i, aT^aylulois. De Reb. Suis. lib. xi. sec. 3. * Jul. Capitol, in M. Aurel. &c, ^ Tatian. Assyr. Orat. c. Grsec. &c. * He observes, that he had leanit, after Diognetus, not to believe the reports of workers of wonders and magicians on the subject of incantation, the averting of demons, and such like effects, p. i. ed. Gatak. * E. g. the satirical petition : oi Xivkoi fiiis Majxw ra Kaitrct^i' iv