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THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, from the birth of Christ to the 18th Century: including the very interesting account of the Waldenses and Albigenses
By William Jones

First Edition 1812
Fourth Edition 1819
Fifth Edition 1826
London: Printed for the Author by W. Myers, 7, Took’s Court, Castle Street, Holborn

[Note from the publisher. This valuable out-of-print book was carefully formatted for electronic publication by Way of Life Literature. For a catalog of other books, both current and old, in print and electronic format, contact us at P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail), http://www.wayoflife.org (web site).]

[Table of Contents for "A History of the Christian Church" by William Jones]

THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION UNDER THE REIGNS OF ADRIAN AND THE ANTONINES

A.D. 117-180

The persecuting edicts, which had been issued against the Christians, under the former emperors, continued unrepealed when Adrian was raised to the throne of the Caesars. The law of Trajan, of which I have taken notice in the foregoing section, and which had been registered among the public edicts of the empire, had, in some degree, ameliorated the state of matters. "The Christians were not to be officiously sought after;" but still, such as were accused and convicted of an adherence to Christianity were to be put to death as wicked citizens, if they did not return to the religion of their ancestors.

Under the reign of ADRIAN, the empire flourished in peace and prosperity. He encouraged the arts, reformed the laws, enforced military discipline, and visited all his provinces in person. His vast and active genius was equally suited to the most enlarged views, and the minute details of civil policy; but the ruling passions of his soul were curiosity and vanity. As these prevailed, and as they were attracted by different objects, Adrian was, by turns, an excellent prince, a ridiculous sophist, or a jealous tyrant. After his death, the senate doubted whether they should pronounce him a god or a tyrant, and the honors decreed to his memory were granted to the prayers of his successor, the pious Antoninus. [Gibbon’s Rome, vol. 1:ch. 3.]

In the sixth year of his reign, Adrian came to Athens, where he was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries. Tertullian describes him as a man excessively curious and inquisitive-- (curiositatum omnium explorator)--his knowledge was various and extensive--he had studied all the arts of magic, and was passionately fond of the Pagan institutions. At the time of his visiting Athens, QUADRATUS was pastor of the Christian church in that city, having succeeded Publius, who suffered martyrdom either in this or the foregoing reign. It seems likely that this church had undergone a severe persecution; for we are informed that when Quadratus took the oversight of them he found the flock in a dispersed and confused state; their public assemblies were neglected; their zeal was become languid, and they were in danger of being wholly scattered. Quadratus labored indefatigably to recover them, and he succeeded. Order and discipline were restored, insomuch, that at a subsequent period, when Origen wrote his treatise against Celsus, he adduces the church at Athens as a notable pattern of good order, constancy, meekness and quietness. [Eusebius, b. 4. ch. 23. and Cave’s Life of Quadratus.]

Quadratus drew up an apology for the Christian religion, which he addressed and delivered to the emperor; as did also Aristides, a Christian writer at that time in Athens. Unfortunately these apologies are lost, and it is greatly to be regretted; for had they survived the wreck of time, they would, in all probability, have thrown much light upon the state of the Christian profession at that period. Nor have we any certain information what effect they produced upon the mind of the emperor. "The Pagan priests," says Mosheim, "set the populace in motion to demand from the magistrates, with one voice, during the public games, the destruction of the Christians; and the magistrates, fearing that a sedition might be the consequence of despising or opposing these popular clamors, were too much disposed to indulge them in their requests." During these commotions, Serenus Granianus, proconsul of Asia, wrote to the emperor that "it seemed to him unreasonable, that the Christians should be put to death, merely to gratify the clamours of the people, without trial, and without being convicted of any crime." This seems the first instance of any Roman governor publicly daring to question the propriety and justice of Trajan’s edict, which, independent of any moral guilt, inflicted death on Christians, merely because they were Christians. Serenus, at the time of writing his letter, was probably about to quit his office, but Adrian addressed the following rescript to his successor.

TO MINUTIUS FUNDANUS

"I have received a letter written to me by the very illustrious Serenus Granianus, whom you have succeeded. To me then the affair seems by no means fit to be slightly passed over, that men may not be disturbed without cause, and that sycophants may not be encouraged in their odious practices. If the people of the province will appear publicly, and make open charges against the Christians, so as to give them an opportunity of answering for themselves, let them proceed in that manner only, and not by rude demands and mere clamors. For it is much more proper, if any person will accuse them, that you should take cognizance of these matters. If therefore, any accuse, and shew that they actually break the laws, do you determine according to the nature of the crime. But, by Hercules, if the charge be a mere calumny, do you estimate the enormity of such calumny and punish as it deserves." [Eusebius, b. 4. c. 9. and Justin Martyr’s First Apology, ad finem.]

This rescript seems to have somewhat abated the fury of the persecution, though not wholly to have put an end to it. Tertullian, in reference to these times, informs us that Arrius Antoninus, then proconsul of Asia, when the Christians came in a body before his tribunal, ordered some of them to be put to death; and said to others, "You wretches! If ye will die, ye have precipices and halters." He adds, that several other governors of provinces, punished some few Christians, and dismissed the rest, so that the persecution was neither so general nor so severe as it had been under Trajan.

During the reign of Adrian, the Jews once more attempted to free themselves from the Roman yoke. A rebellious chief arose among them, of the name of Barchochebas, who assumed the title "King of the Jews," and prevailed upon these deluded people, thinned as they were by slaughter, and dispersed throughout the different provinces, to rally round his standard, and contend with the Romans for empire. While the rebellion was in progress, the Christians, refusing to join the standard of this fictitious Messiah, suffered the most atrocious indignities, and were massacred without mercy, until the fall of their leader, and the destruction of his adherents put an end to the sedition. The issue of the rebellion was the entire exclusion of the Jews from the territory of Judea. After a reign of twenty-one years, Adrian was succeeded, in the year 138, by TITUS ANTONINUS PIUS, a senator about fifty years of age, whom he declared his successor, only on the condition that he himself should immediately adopt MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONIOUS, a youth of about seventeen, and by these two Antonines the Roman world was governed forty years. Their united reigns, says Gibbon, are possibly the only period of history, in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government. [Decline and Fall, vol. 3. ch. 3.]

The elder Antoninus appears to have been a most amiable prince. He diffused order and tranquillity throughout the empire; and, in his own personal character and intentions, was guiltless of Christian blood. The disciples of Jesus were nevertheless cruelly treated in some of the provinces of Asia, and it occasioned Justin Martyr to write his first Apology, which was presented to the emperor. The crimes they were accused of by their enemies, were impiety and atheism, which are refuted by Justin in his Apology. In several of the former edicts, the word crime had not been sufficiently determined in its signification. Hence, the Pagan priests, and even the Roman magistrates, frequently applied this term to the profession of Christianity itself. But Antoninus issued an edict, in which he decided the point on the side of humanity and justice. He addressed a letter to the province of Asia, in favor of the persecuted Christians, which is of too much importance to be here omitted.

THE EMPEROR TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF ASIA

"I am clearly of opinion, that the gods will take care to discover such persons (as those to whom you refer). For it much more concerns them to punish those who refuse to worship them, than you, if they be able. But you harass and vex the Christians, and accuse them of atheism and other crimes, which you can by no means prove. To them it appears an advantage to die for their religion, and they gain their point, while they throw away their lives, rather than comply with your injunctions. As to the earthquakes, which have happened in times past or more recently, is it not proper to remind you of your own despondency, when they happen; and to desire you to compare your spirit with theirs, and observe how serenely they confide in God? In such seasons you seem to be ignorant of the gods, and to neglect their worship. You live in the practical ignorance of the supreme God himself, and you harass and persecute to death those who do worship him. Concerning these same men, some others of the provincial govenors wrote to our divine father Adrian, to whom he returned for answer, ‘That they should not be molested, unless they appeared to attempt something against the Roman government.’ Many also have made application to me concerning these men, to whom I have returned an answer agreeable to the maxims of my father. But if any person will still persist in accusing the Christians merely as such, let the accused be acquitted, though he appear to be a Christian, and let the accuser be punished."

SET UP AT EPHESUS IN THE COMMON ASSEMBLY OF ASIA.

Letters of similar import were also written to the Larisseans, the Thessalonians, the Athenians, and all the Greeks, as we are informed by Eusebius; and the humane emperor took care that his edicts were carried into effect. He reigned three and twenty years, and it seems reasonable to conclude that during the greater part of this time, Christians were permitted to worship God in peace. This must have been a halcyon season to the poor afflicted disciples of Jesus, when they were permitted to sit under their own vine and fig-tree, without fear or molestation; but it terminated with the life of the elder Antoninus, about the year 162, at which time the government of the empire devolved wholly upon his late colleague, MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS.

This prince, at the age of twelve years, embraced the rigid system of the stoical philosophy, which he also labored to inculcate upon the minds of his subjects. He even condescended to read lectures of philosophy to the Roman people, in a manner, says Gibbon, who nevertheless eulogises his character, more public than was consistent with the modesty of a sage or the dignity of an emperor. Under his reign commenced, what is generally accounted THE FOURTH PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS. It is not improbable that he had beheld with an anxious eye, the lenity which had been shewn them by his predecessors, and that the occasional interruptions that had been given them, were, at least, with his connivance. Certain it is, that no sooner had he attained to the full exercise of power, than he completely discarded the tolerant principles of Antoninus Pius, and threw open once more the flood-gates of persecution.

The churches of Asia appear to have suffered dreadfully at this period. POLYCARP was pastor of the church in Smyrna, an office which he had held for more than eighty years, and which he had filled up with honor to himself, to the edification of his Christian brethren, and the glory of his divine Master. It only remained for him now to seal his testimony with his blood. The eminence of his station marked him out as the victim of popular fury. The cry of the multitude against Polycarp was, "This is the doctor of Asia, the father of the Christians, the subverter of our gods, who teaches many that they must not perform the sacred rites, nor worship our deifies. Away with these Atheists." The philosophy of the emperor could not teach him that this pretended atheism was a real virtue, which deserved to be encouraged and propagated amongst mankind. Here reason and philosophy faded him; and his blind attachment to the gods of his country caused him to shed much blood, and to become the destroyer of the saints of the living God! [This is the emperor, whom Pope has panegyrised in the following lines "Who noble ends by noble means obtains, Or, failing, smiles in exile or in chains; Like good Aurelius, let him reign; or bleed like Socrates, that man is great indeed."]

The friends of Polycarp, anxious for his safety, prevailed on him to withdraw himself from public view, and to retire to a neighboring village, which he did, continuing with a few of his brethren, day and night, in prayer to God, for the tranquillity of all the churches. The most diligent search was, in the mean time, made for him without effect. But when his enemies proceeded to put some of his brethren to the torture, with the view of compelling them to betray him, he could no longer be prevailed on to remain concealed. "The will of the Lord be done," was his pious ejaculation; on uttering which, he made a voluntary surrender of himself to his persecutors, saluted them with a cheerful countenance, and invited them to refresh themselves at his table, only soliciting from them on his own behalf one hour for prayer. They granted his request, and his devotions were prolonged to double the period, with such sweetness and savour, that all who heard him were struck with admiration, several of the soldiers repenting that they were employed against so venerable an old man. His prayer being ended, they set him on an ass, and conveyed him towards the city, being met on the road by Herod the Irenarch (a kind of justice of the peace) and his father Niceres, who were chief agents in this persecution. [Cave’s Life of Polycarp, p. 53.] Many efforts were tried to shake his constancy, and induce him to abjure his profession; at one time he was threatened by the proconsul with the fury of wild beasts. "Call for them," said Polycarp, "it does not become us to turn from good to evil." "Seeing you make so light of wild beasts," rejoined the magistrate, "I will tame you with the more terrible punishment of fire." But Polycarp bravely replied, "You threaten me with a fire that is quickly extinguished, but are ignorant of the eternal fire of God’s judgment, reserved for the wicked in the other world. But why do you delay? order what punishment you please." Thus, finding him impenetrable both to the arts of seduction and the dread of punishment, the fire was commanded to be lighted, and the body of this venerable father burnt to ashes, in the year 166.

Melito was, at this period, pastor of the neighboring church of Sardis. As the rage of persecution grew more violent, he drew up an apology for the Christians, which he presented to the emperor (A.D. 170),about the tenth year of his reign, a fragment of which is still preserved in Eusebius. He complains of it as an almost unheard of thing, that pious men were now persecuted, and greatly distressed by new decrees throughout Asia; that most impudent informers, who were greedy of other people’s substance, took occasion, from the imperial edicts, to plunder others who were entirely innocent. He then humbly beseeches the emperor that he would not suffer the Christians to be used in so cruel and unrighteous a manner; that he would vouchsafe to examine the things charged on the Christians, and stop the persecution, by revoking the edict published against them; and reminds him that the Christian religion was so far from being destructive to the Roman empire as its enemies suggested, that the latter was much enlarged since the propagation thereof. [Cave’s Life of Melito, and Eusebius, b. 4. ch. 26.]

In the same year that Polycarp was put to death, (166), JUSTIN MARTYR drew up a Second Apology, which he addressed to the emperor Antoninns, and to the senate of Rome. He states the case of his Christian brethren, complains of the unrighteousness and cruelty with which they were everywhere treated, in being punished merely because they were Christians, without being accused of any crimes; answers the usual objections against them, and desires no greater favor than that the world might be really acquainted with their case. His appeal seems to have produced no impression upon those to whom it was addressed. Justin and six of his companions were seized and carried before Rusticus, the prefect of the city of Rome, where many attempts were made to persuade them to obey the gods and comply with the emperor’s edicts. Their exhortations had no effect. "No man," says Justin, "who is in his right mind can desert truth to embrace error and impiety." And when threatened, that unless they complied they should be tortured without mercy, "Dispatch us as soon as you please," said the disciples, "for we are Christians, and cannot sacrifice to idols." On saying which, the governor pronounced the following sentence, that "for refusing to sacrifice to the gods, and to obey the imperial edicts, they should be first scourged and then beheaded according to law," which was immediately carried into effect. [Cave’s Life of Justin.]

The history of the reign of this philosophic emperor abounds with similar instances of unrelenting cruelty on the part of the magistracy, and of patient suffering for Christ’s sake on that of his disciples. Justin Martyr, in the account he gives of the martyrdom of Ptolemseus, assures us, that the only question asked him was, "Are you a Christian.?" And upon his confessing that he was one, he was immediately put to death [Second Apology, ch. 42]. Lucius was also put to death for making the same confession, and for asking Urbicus, the prefect, why he condemned Ptolemy, who was neither convicted of adultery, rape, murder, theft, robbery, nor of any other crime, but merely for owning himself to be a Christian. Hence, it is sufficiently manifest, that it was the mere name of a Christian that was still made a capital offense, and that while these inhuman proceedings were sanctioned by an emperor who made great pretensions to reason and philosophy, they were carried on for the purpose of supporting a system of superstition and idolatry repugnant to every principle of reason and truth. These cruelties were exercised on persons of the most virtuous characters, for their adherence to the worship of the one true God, the first principle of all true religion. How precious, in those times especially, must have been the consolatory sayings of Jesus Christ; and what but an unshaken confidence in his almighty power and faithfulness, could have supported the hearts of his people in such trying circumstances (John 14:27; 15:18-23; 16:23; 17:24)?

Towards the close of the reign of this emperor (A.D. 177), the flame of persecution reached a country, which had hitherto afforded no materials for ecclesiastical history, viz, the kingdom of FRANCE, in those days called GALLIA. By whom or by what means, the light of the glorious gospel was first conveyed into that country, we have no certain information; for the first intelligence that we have of the fact itself, arises from the account of a dreadful persecution which came upon the churches of Vienne and Lyons, two cities lying contiguous to each other in that province. Vienne was an ancient Roman colony: Lyons was more modern: and of this latter church, the presbyters or elders were Pothinus and Iraeneus. "Whoever," says Milner, "casts his eye on the map of France, and sees the situation of Lyons, at present the largest and most populous city in the kingdom, except Paris, may observe how favorable the confluence of the Rhine and the Soane, on which it stands, is for the purposes of commerce. The navigation of the Mediterranean, in all probability, was conducted by the merchants of Lyons and Smyrna, and hence the easy introduction of the gospel from the latter place, and from the other Asiatic churches, is apparent." [Milner, Church Hist. vol. 1:p. 223.]

That it was in some such way as this Christianity was first planted there, seems probable, also from the circumstance, that not only the names of Pothinus and Iraeneus, the pastors of the church at Lyons, are Grecian, but that also the names of several other distinguished persons in these churches prove them to have been of Greek extraction. And when we reflect upon the cruel persecutions by which the friends of Jesus had been harassed both in Greece and Asia Minor, it seems not unreasonable to expect that they should seek an asylum from the storm in these cities. The churches, too, though they appear to have been but recently planted, were evidently very numerous, at the time this terrible persecution overtook them. When the violence of the storm had in some measure subsided, a pretty copious account of it was drawn up, as is supposed by Iraeneus, in the form of an epistle from the churches of Vienne and Lyons to the brethren in Asia and Phrygia. We are indebted to Eusebius for preserving it from oblivion, in his Ecclesiastical History, and I incline to the judgment of Dr. Lardner when he pronounces it "the finest thing of the kind in all antiquity" (Lardner, Credibility of the Gospel History, part 2). [But though I bow with great deference to the judgment of Dr. Lardner, I must be allowed to say that the style in which this letter is drawn up does not meet my taste. It is much too labored to correspond with the melancholy nature of the subject. It is not the simple, natural, unaffected language of a feeling heart. We must, however, remember that Iraeneus was a Greek, and that the Greeks were great admirers of eloquence.]

Eusebius gives it as a specimen of what was transacted in other places; and that the reader may have some notion of the savage rage with which this persecution was carried on, not only with the connivance, but with the knowledge and approbation of this philosophic emperor, I shall give a copious abridgment of the account, The epistle opens with the following simple address.

"The servants of Christ, sojourning in Vienne and Lyons in France, to the brethren in Asia Proptic and Phrygia, who have the same faith and hope of redemption with us; peace and grace, and glory, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." They then declare themselves unable to express the greatness of the affliction which the saints in those cities had recently sustained, or the intense animosity of the heathen against them. Christians were absolutely prohibited from appearing in any house, except their own, in baths, in the market, or in any public place whatever. The first assault came from the people at large--shouts, blows, the dragging of their bodies, the plundering of their goods, casting of stones, with all the indignities that may be expected from a fierce and outrageous multitude--these were magnanimously sustained. Being then led into the forum by the tribune and the magistrates, they were examined before all the people whether they were Christians; and on pleading guilty, were shut up in prison until the arrival of the governor. Before him they were at length brought, and "he treated us," say they, "with great savageness of manners."

Vettius Epigathus, one of their brethren, a young man full of charity both to God and man--of exemplary conduct--a man ever unwearied in acts of beneficence, was roused at beholding such a manifest perversion of justice, and boldly demanded to be heard in behalf of the brethren, pledging himself to prove that there was nothing atheistic or impious among them. "He was a person of quality"--but however equitable his demand was, it only served to excite the clamor of the mob, and to irritate the governor, who merely asked him if he was a Christian, which he confessed in the most open manner, and for which he was immediately executed. Others imitated his confidence and zeal, and suffered with the same alacrity of mind. In process of time, ten of their number lapsed, "whose case," say they, "filled us with great and unmeasurable sorrow." This appears to have much dejected the churches, and to have spread a general alarm, "not that we dreaded the torment," say they, "with which we are threatened, but because we looked forward unto the end, and feared the danger of apostasy." The vilest calumnies were propagated against them at this time-they were accused of eating human flesh, and of various unnatural crimes; "of things," say they, "not fit even to be mentioned or imagined, and such as ought not to be believed of mankind." The rabble became incensed against them even to madness-and the ties of blood, affinity, or friendship, seem to have been wholly disregarded. "Now it was," say they, "that our Lord’s word was fulfilled--‘the time will come when whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.’" The martyrs sustained tortures which exceed the powers of description. "The whole fury of the multitude, the governor, and the soldiers, was spent in a particular manner on Sanctus, a deacon of the church of Vienne, and on Maturus, a late convert indeed, but a magnanimous wrestler in spiritual things; and on Attalus of Pergamus, a man who had been the pillar and support of our church; and on Blandina, a female who was most barbarously tortured from morning to night, with the intent of extorting from her a confession which should criminate her brethren; but "it was an evident refreshment, support, and an annihilation of all her pains to say, ‘I am a Christian, and no evil is committed among us.’"

The most barbarous indignities were inflicted upon Sanctus the deacon, to extort from him something injurious to the gospel, which he sustained in a manner more than human; and such was the firmness with which he resisted the most intense sufferings, that to every question which was put to him by his tormentors, he had uniformly one reply, "I am a Christian." This provoked the executioners so much, that they applied red hot plates of iron to the tenderest parts of his body, till he was one wound, and scarcely retaining the appearance of the human form. Having left him a few days in this ulcerated condition, they hoped to make him more exquisitely sensible to fresh tortures. But the renewal of these while he was dreadfully swelled, was found to have the effect of reducing him to his former shape, and restoring him to the use of his limbs. Biblias, a female, was one of those who had swerved from her profession at the commencement of the persecution. She was now pitched upon, as being one that was likely to accuse the Christians; and the more effectually to extort from her that confession which they wished her to make, this weak and timorous creature was put to the torture. The fact which was pressed upon her to acknowledge was, that the Christians ate their children. "In her torture she recovered herself," it is said, "and awoke as out of a sleep, and in answer to their interrogations, thus remonstrated, How can we eat infants--we, to whom it is not lawful to eat the blood of beasts." * She now recovered her fortitude, avowed her Christianity, and "was added to the army of martyrs."

[* A late ecclesiastical historian (Mr. Milner) has the following remark upon this passage. "Hence it appears that the eating of blood was not practiced among the Christians at Lyons; and they understood not Christian liberty in this point." But with all due deference to Mr. Milner, one cannot help wishing that he had shewn us, "Who gave Christians the liberty of eating things strangled and blood." Nothing can be more express than the prohibition, Acts 15:28,29. Can those who plead their "Christian liberty" in regard to this matter, point us to any part of the word of God in which this prohibition is subsequently annulled? If not, may we be allowed to ask, "By what authority, except his own, can any of the laws of God be repealed?" Mr. M. held that "the church has power to decree rites and ceremonies, and to settle controversies in matters of faith;" and doubtless, that church which has power to make new laws in Christ’s kingdom, cannot want authority to abolish old ones; but where they obtained this power and authority, we have yet to learn. The following remark of a sensible writer shews, that he is far from agreeing with Mr. Milner in thinking that blood eating is any part of Christian liberty. "This (i.e. eating the blood of animals) being forbidden to Noah, appears also to have been forbidden to all mankind; nor ought this prohibition to be treated as belonging to the ceremonies of the Jewish dispensation. It was not only enjoined before that dispensation existed, but was enforced upon the Gentile Christians by the decrees of the apostles, Acts 15:20. To allege, as some do, our Lord’s words, ‘that it is not that which goeth into a man which defileth him,’ would equally justify the practice of cannibals in eating human flesh. Blood is the life, and God seems to claim it as sacred to himself. Hence, in all the sacrifices, the blood was poured out before the Lord, and in the sacrifice of Christ, he shed his blood, or poured out his soul unto death." Fuller’s Discourse on Genesis 9:3,4.]

The ten persons who had swerved from their profession in the hour of trial, and denied that they were Christians, not being credited by, the magistrates, were refused the benefit of their recantation. They were insulted for their cowardice, and led to punishment along with the rest, as murderers, though not as Christians, on the evidence which had been produced of their eating human flesh. They proceeded with countenances full of shame and dejection, while those who suffered for their attachment to Christianity, appeared cheerful and courageous, so that the difference between them was perceptible to all the by-standers. After this, no Christian who was apprehended, renounced his profession, but persevered in it to the last.

The populace becoming clamorous to have THE CHRISTIANS THROWN TO THE WILD BEASTS in the amphitheater, that favourite spectacle was at length provided for them on this occasion, and Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina, and Attalus, were brought out for this purpose. But previous to the wild beasts being produced, Maturus and Sanctus were put to the torture in the amphitheater, as if it had not been applied to them before; and every thing that an enraged multitude called for having been tried upon them, they were at last roasted in an iron chair, till they sent forth the offensive effluvia of burnt flesh. Upon Sanctus, however, the only effect produced was a declaration of his former confession, that he was a Christian; and at length death terminated his sufferings.

Blandina was then produced, and on being fastened to a stake, a wild beast was let loose upon her; but this she bore with the greatest composure; and, by her prayers, encouraged others to bear with fortitude whatever might befall them; but, as the wild beast did not meddle with her, she was remanded back to prison.

At length, Attalus was loudly called for; and he was accordingly led round the amphitheater, with a board held before him, on which was inscribed, THIS IS ATTALUS THE CHRISTIAN. It appearing, however, that he was a Roman citizen, the president remanded him to prison, until the emperor’s pleasure should be known concerning him and others who were in the same predicament. In this respite they so encouraged many who had hitherto declined this glorious combat, as it was justly called, that great numbers voluntarily declared themselves Christians.

The emperor’s answer was, that they who confessed themselves to be Christians should be put to death; but that those who denied it should be set at liberty, Upon this, a public assembly was convened, attended by a vast concourse of people, before whom the confessors were produced, when such of them as were found to be Roman citizens were beheaded, and the rest thrown to the wild beasts. But to the astonishment of all present, many who had previously renounced their Christianity, and were now produced only to be set at liberty, revoked their recantation, and, declaring themselves Christians, suffered with the rest. These had been greatly encouraged so to do, by Alexander, a Phrygian, who had shewn himself particularly solicitous for the perseverance of his brethren. The multitude became greatly enraged at this; and Alexander being called before the tribunal, and confessing himself a Christian, he was sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts; and on the following day he was produced in the amphitheater for that purpose, together with Attalus, whom the people had insisted upon. being brought out once more. Previous to their exposure to the wild beasts they were subjected to a variety of tortures, and at last run through with a sword. During all this Alexander said nothing, but evinced the greatest firmness of mind. And, when Attalus was placed in the iron chair, he only said, in allusion to the vulgar charge against the Christians of those days, of murdering and eating infants, "This, which is your own practice, is to devour men; we neither eat men, nor practice any other wickedness."

On the last day of the show, Blandina was again produced, together with a young man of the name of Ponticus, about fifteen years of age, who had been brought out daily to be a spectator of the sufferings of others. This youth, being required to acknowledge the heathen deities, and refusing to do so, the multitude had no compassion for either of them, but subjected them to the whole circle of tortures, till Ponticus expired in them; and Blandina, having been scourged, and placed in the hot iron chair, was put into a net, and exposed to a bull; and after being tossed for some time by the furious animal, she was at length dispatched with a sword. The spectators acknowledged that they had never known any female bear torture with such fortitude.

When this scene was over, the multitude continued to show their rage by abusing the dead bodies of the Christians. Those who had been suffocated in prison were thrown to the dogs, and watched day and night, lest their friends should bury them. The same was done with the bodies that were left unconsumed by fire; that had been mangled or burned, with the heads only of some, and the trunks of others. Even in this horrid state the heathens insulted them, by asking where was their God, and what their religion had done for them. The mangled carcasses having been exposed in this manner for six days, were then burned; and being reduced to ashes, the latter was cast into the river, to disappoint them, as was fondly imagined, of their hopes of a resurrection. From what was done in this place, says Eusebius, we may form an estimate of what was transacted in others. [Euseb. Hist. b. 5:ch. 1.]

The prisons were now glutted with the multitude of the Christians--they were thrust into the darkest and most loathsome cells, and numbers were suffocated; even "young men who had been lately seized, and whose bodies had been exercised with sufferings, unequal to the severity of the confinement, expired." Pothinus, one of the elders of the church at Lyons, upwards of ninety years of age, though very infirm and asthmatic, was dragged before the tribunal; "his body," says the narrative, "worn out indeed with age and disease, yet he retained a soul through which Christ might triumph." After being grossly ill-treated by the soldiers and the rabble, who unmercifully dragged him about, insulting him in the vilest manner, without the least respect to his age, pelting him with whatever came first to hand, and every one looking upon himself as deficient in zeal if he did not insult him in some way or other; he was thrown into prison, and after languishing two days, expired.

These few instances, which indeed are but little in comparison of the horrid barbarities detailed in this letter, may, however, give the reader some idea of this dreadful persecution, which, lamentable to tell, received the express sanction of the philosophic emperor, Marcus Aurelius. "He sent orders," says the letter, "that the confessors of Christ should be put to death; and that the apostates from their divine Master should be dismissed." Such proceedings, as Mosheim properly remarks, will be an indelible stain upon the memory of the prince by whose order they were carried on. His death, however, which took place in the year 180, put a period to this fiery trial, which, with scarcely any intermission, had raged in one quarter or other during a period of eighteen years.