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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]
SKETCH OF THE STATE OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE DEATH OF MARCUS AURELIUS TO THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE
A.D. 180-306
Aurelius was succeeded in the government of the empire by his son Commodus, during whose reign of nearly thirteen years, the Christians enjoyed a large portion of external peace, and their numbers were every where multiplied to a vast extent. The character of this young prince formed a contrast to that of his father: he was not only an epicure, but, as Gibbon allows, "he attained the summit of vice and infamy." Historians attribute the toleration which he granted the Christians, to the influence which Marcia, his favourite concubine, had obtained over his mind. She is said to have had a predilection for their religion, and to have employed her interest with Commodus in their behalf. There is nothing incredible in this, unless indeed the character of that lady should be thought incompatible with it. The Lord, in whose hand are the hearts of all men, and who turns them as the rivers of water, frequently sends his people relief in the most unexpected manner, and by means from which they would least apprehend it--thus impressing upon their minds a conviction of his own dominion and sovereignty, and of their entire dependence upon him.
In the year 192, Commodus was put to death, in consequence of a conspiracy raised against him by his own domestics; when the choice of a successor fell upon Pertinax, praefect of the city, an ancient senator of consular rank, whose conspicuous merit had broke through the obscurity of his birth, and raised him to the first honors of the state. The reign of this amiable prince, however, proved of short duration; for on the 28th March, of the same year, only eighty-six days after the death of Commodus, a general conspiracy broke out in the Roman camp, which the officers wanted either the power or inclination to suppress, and the emperor fell a victim to the rebellious fury of the Praetorian guards.
On the death of Pertinax the sovereign power devolved upon Severus, who, during the persecution of the churches of Lyons and Vienne, had sustained the rank of governor of that province. In the first years of his reign, he permitted the Christians to enjoy a continuance of that toleration which had been extended to them by Commodus and Pertinax. But the scene changed towards the latter end of this century, and about the tenth year of his reign, which falls in with the year 202, his native ferocity of temper broke out afresh, and kindled a very severe persecution against the Christians. He was then recently returned from the east, victorious; and the pride of prosperity induced him to forbid the propagation of the gospel. He passed a law by which every subject of the empire was prohibited from changing the religion of his ancestors for that of the Christian or Jewish. Christians, however, still thought it right to obey God rather than man. Severus persisted, and exercised the usual cruelties. At this time Asia, Egypt, and the other provinces were deluged with the blood of the martyrs, as appears from the testimonies of Tertullian, Clemens of Alexandria, and other writers. It was this series of calamities, during which, Leonides, the father of Origen, and Irenaeus, pastor of the church at Lyons, suffered martyrdom, that induced Tertullian to write his Apology, and several other books in defense of the Christians.
The mention of TERTULLIAN naturally directs our attention to the progress of Christianity, in a region which we have hitherto had no occasion to notice, viz. the Roman province of AFRICA. This whole country, once the scene of Carthaginian greatness, abounded with Christians in the second century; though of the manner in which the gospel was introduced, and of the proceedings of its first preachers there, we have no account. A numerous church existed at Carthage in the latter end of the second and beginning of the third century, of which Tertullian was one of the pastors. He may be said to have flourished from the year 194 to 220, though, if we may rely on the correctness of some of our historians, "he exhibited a striking instance, how much wisdom and weakness, learning and ignorance, faith and folly, truth and error, goodness and delusion, may be mixed up in the composition of the same person." [Haweis’s Church History, vol. 1:p. 192.] His works, which were written in Latin, have been handed down to us; and it certainly is matter of regret, that, in general, the subjects on which he wrote, are not more important. Nor can it be denied, that there was much of the ascetic in his composition. He seems to have been deeply impressed with apprehensions that a spirit of lukewarmness and indifference was coming upon the churches, and with the fear of their being infected by the customs of the Pagans around them, which he labored to counteract by enforcing a discipline rigorous in the extreme. It is however, due to him to say, that he defended, with great clearness and ability, the doctrine of the revealed distinction in the Godhead, against Praxeas, who had propagated sentiments subversive of the Christian faith. In that work he treats of the Trinity in Unity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--yet one God;--of the Lord Jesus Christ as both God and man; as at once the Son of man, and the Son of God;--and of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and Sanctifier of believers; and this he describes as the rule of faith which had obtained from the beginning of the gospel.
But his Apology for the Christians is an invaluable treatise; it exhibits a most pleasing view of the spirit and behavior of the disciples of Jesus at that time, and of their adherence to the faith, order, and discipline of the churches planted by the apostles. The reader will not be displeased at my introducing in this place, the following interesting sentences; it is however proper to premise, that I give them rather as an abridgement, than as an exact transcript of my author, though his ideas are carefully preserved.
"We pray for the safety of the emperors to the eternal God, the true, the living God, whom emperors themselves would desire to be propitious to them, above all others who are called gods. We, looking up to heaven, with outstretched hands, because they are harmless, with naked heads, because we are not ashamed, without a prompter, because we pray from the heart; constantly pray for all emperors and kings, that they may have a long life, a secure empire, a safe palace, strong armies, a faithful senate, a well moralized people, a quiet state of the world: whatever Caesar would wish for himself in his public or private capacity. I cannot solicit these things from any other than from HIM from whom I know I shall obtain them, if I ask agreeably to his will; because he alone can do these things: and I expect them from him, being his servant, who worship him alone, and am ready to lose my life in his service. Thus, then, let the claws of wild beasts pierce us, or their feet trample on us, while our hands are stretched out to God: let crosses suspend us, let fires consume us, let swords pierce our breasts--a praying Christian is in a frame for enduring any thing. How is this, ye generous rulers? Will ye kill the good subjects who supplicate God for the emperor? Were we disposed to return evil for evil, it were easy for us to avenge the injuries which we sustain. But God forbid that his people should vindicate themselves by human force; or be reluctant to endure that by which their sincerity is evinced. Were we disposed to act the part, I will not say of secret assassins, but of open enemies, should we want forces and numbers? It is true we are but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all your towns, cities, islands, castes, boroughs, councils, camps, courts, palaces, senate, forum;* we leave you only your temples. For what war should we not be ready and well prepared, even though unequal in numbers; we, who die with so much pleasure, were it not that our religion requires us rather to suffer death than to inflict it? If we were to make a general secession from your dominions, you would be astonished at your solitude. We are dead to all ideas of worldly honor and dignity; nothing is more foreign to us than political concerns; the whole world is our republic. [* I cannot but think that this language of Tertullian is much too strong, and that the reader who would not be misled, should receive it with some degree of qualification. There can be no doubt that the profession of Christianity had spread extensively at the commencement of the third century: but Paganism was still the religion of the empire; and if any reliance can be placed upon Gibbon’s calculation as it respects this matter, "not more than a twentieth part of the subjects of the Roman empire had enlisted themselves under the banners of the cross before the conversion of Constantine."]
"We are a body united in one bond of religion, discipline, and hope. We meet in our assemblies for prayer. We are compelled to have recourse to the divine oracles for caution and recollection on all occasions. We nourish our faith by the word of God; we erect our hope, we fix our confidence, we strengthen our discipline, by repeatedly inculcating precepts, exhortations, corrections, and by excommunication when it is needful. This last, as being in the sight of God, is of great weight; and is a serious warning of the future judgment, if any one behave in so scandalous a manner as to be debarred from holy communion. Those who preside among us, are elderly persons, not distinguished for opulence, but worthiness of character. Every one pays something into the public chest once a month, or when he pleases, and according to his ability and inclination, for there is no compulsion. These gifts are, as it were, the deposit of piety. Hence we relieve and bury the needy; support orphans and decrepit persons; those who have suffered shipwreck, and those who, for the word of God, are condemned to the mines or imprisonment. This very charity of ours has caused us to be noticed by some: ‘See (say they) how these Christians love one another.’
"But we Christians look upon ourselves, as one body, informed as it were by one soul; and, being thus incorporated by love, we can never dispute what we are to bestow upon our own members. And is it any great wonder, that such charitable brethren as enjoy all things in common, should have such frequent love-feasts? For this it is you traduce us, and reflect upon our little frugal suppers, not only as infamously wicked, but as scandalously excessive. The nature of this supper you may understand by its name, for it is the Greek word for love. We Christians think we can never be too expensive, because we consider all to be gain that is laid out in doing good. When therefore we are at the charge of an entertainment, it is to refresh the bowels of the needy. We feed the hungry, because we know God takes a peculiar delight in seeing us do it. If, therefore, we feast only with such brave and excellent designs, I leave you from thence to guess at the rest of our discipline in matters of pure religion. Nothing earthly, nothing unclean, has ever admittance here. Our souls ascend in prayer to God, before we sit down to meat. We eat only what suffices nature, and drink no more than is strictly becoming chaste and regular persons. We sup as servants that know we must wake in the night to the service of our Master, and discourse as those who remember that they are in the hearing of God. When supper is ended, every one is invited forth to sing praises to God; and by this you may judge of the measure of drinking at a Christian feast. As we begin, so we conclude all with. prayer, and depart with the same tenor of temperance and modesty we came; as men who have not so properly been drinking, as imbibing religion." [Reeves’s Apologies, vol. 1.p. 302-339.]
There is something noble in the following appeal, with which Tertullian closes his Apology.
"And now, O worshipful judges, proceed with your shew of justice, and believe me, ye will be still more and more just in the opinion of the people, the oftener you make them a sacrifice of Christians. Crucify, torture, condemn, grind us all to powder if you can; your injustice is an illustrious proof of our innocence, and for the proof of this it is that God permits us to suffer; and by your late condemnation of a Christian woman to the lust of a pander, rather than the rage of a lion, you notoriously confess that such a pollution is more abhorred by a Christian, than all the torments and deaths you can heap upon her. But do your worst, and rack your inventions for tortures for Christians, ‘Tis all to no purpose; you do but attract the notice of the world, and make it fall the more in love with our religion. The more you mow us down, the thicker we spring up--the Christian blood you spill, is like the seed you sow; it springs from the earth again and fructifies the more. That which you reproach in us as stubbornness, has been the most instructive mistress in proselyting the world--for who has not been struck with the sight of what you call stubbornness, and from thence prompted to look into the reality and grounds of it; and whoever looked well into our religion that did not embrace it? and whoever embraced it [on proper grounds] that was not ready to die for it? For this reason it is that we thank you for condemning us, because there is such a happy variance and disagreement between the Divine and human judgment, that when you condemn us upon earth, God absolves us in heaven."
MINUCIUS FELIX was contemporary with Tertullian, and rather before than after him. He had been a Roman orator, but, being converted to the Christian faith, he wrote an eloquent and learned defense of that religion, which Dr. Lardner thinks was published about the year 210. This work is in the form of dialogue, between Caecilius, a heathen, and Octavius, a Christian--Minucius sitting as umpire between them. The style of Minucius possesses all the charms of Ciceronian eloquence; nor would it be an easy task for any translator of him to do justice to his original. Caecilius, the heathen, in a long and declamatory harangue, brings forward all the common-place calumnies of his predecessors, and accuses the Christians as a desperate and unlawful faction, who poured contempt upon their deities, derided their worship, scoffed at their priests, and despised their temples as no better than charnel houses and heaps of dead men’s bones. Octavius, having patiently listened to this severe philippic, addresses himself to Minucius, and tells him, that he shall endeavor to the best of his ability, by stating the truth, to exonerate his religion from the foul aspersions cast upon it by his opponent. He does not deny the fact, that the Christians poured contempt upon the gods of the heathen. On the contrary, he freely admits it, and proceeds to evince the vanity of the worship of their images. "The mice," says he, "the swallows, and the bats, gnaw, insult, and sit upon your gods; and, unless you drive them away, they build their nests in their mouths; the spiders weave their webs over their faces. You first make them, then clean, wipe, and protect them, that you may fear and worship them. Should we view all your rites, there are many things which justly deserve to be laughed at-others that call for pity and compassion."
He then proceeds to discuss the subject with his opponent in regular order. He shews that man differs from the other creatures on this lower world chiefly in this, that while the beasts of the field are created prone to the earth, bent downward by nature, and formed to look no further than the good of their bellies--man was created erect and upright, formed for the contemplation of the heavens, susceptible of reason and conscience, calculated to lead him to the knowledge and imitation of God. Hence he infers the absurdity of atheism and the necessity of a great first cause, as one of the clearest dictates of reason and conscience. "When you lift up your eyes to heaven," says he, "and survey the works of creation around you, what is so clear and undeniable, as that there is a God, supremely excellent in understanding, who inspires, moves, supports, and governs all nature. Consider the vast expanse of heaven, and the rapidity of its motion either when studded with stars by night, or enlightened with the sun by day; contemplate the Almighty hand which poises them in their orbs, and balances them in their movement. Behold how the sun regulates the year by its annual circuit, and how the moon measures round a month by its increase, its decay, and its total disappearance. Why need I mention the constant vicissitudes of light and darkness, for the alternate reparation of rest and labor? Does not the standing variety of seasons, proceeding in goodly order, bear witness to its divine Author? The spring with her flowers, the summer with her harvest, the ripening autumn with her grateful fruits, and the moist and unctuous winter, are all equally necessary. What an argument for providence is this, which interposes and moderates the extremes of winter and summer with the allays of spring and autumn--thus enabling us to pass the year about with security and comfort, between the extremes of parching heat and of cold? Observe the sea, and you will find it bounded with a shore, a law which it cannot transgress. Look into the vegetable world, and see how all the trees draw their life from the bowels of the earth. View the ocean, in constant ebb and flow; and the fountains, running in full veins; with the rivers, perpetually gliding in their wonted channels. Why should I take up time in shewing how providentially this spot of earth is cantoned into hills, and dales, and plains? What need I speak of the various artillery for the defense of every animal--some armed with horns and hedged about with teeth, or fortified with hoofs and claws, or speared with stings, while others are swift of foot or of wing? But, above all, the beautiful structure of man most plainly speaks a God. Man, of stature straight, and countenance erect, with eyes placed above, like sentinels, watching over the other senses within the tower."
This may furnish a specimen of the elegant style, and powerful reasoning of this early Christian writer, in behalf of the existence of a great first cause and of a providence--in the clearness and force of which it may be fairly doubted if he has ever been surpassed by any who have come after him.
Adverting to the accusation, that the Christians were in general a poor and despicable race of men, their apologist replies, "That the most of us are poor, is not our dishonor, but our glory. The mind, as it is dissipated by luxury, so it is strengthened by frugality. But how can a man be poor, who wants nothing, who covets not what is another’s, who is rich towards God? That man is rather poor, who, when he has much, desires more. No man can be so poor as when he was born. The birds live without any patrimony; the beasts find pasture every day, and we feed upon them. Indeed they are created for our use, which, while we do not covet, we enjoy. That man goes happier to heaven, who is not burdened with an unnecessary lead of riches, Did we think estates to be useful to us, we would beg them of God, who, being Lord of all, would afford us what is necessary. But we choose rather to contemn riches than to possess them, preferring innocence and patience to them, and desiring rather to be good than prodigal. Our courage is increased by infirmities, and affliction is often the school of virtue."
ATHENAGORAS lived in the reigns of Adrian and the Antenines. He was, in his younger days, a heathen philosopher, and designing to write against the Christians, sat down to read their Scriptures, with the view of making his work more complete. A diligent inquiry into the divine oracles, however, brought him over to that faith which he wished to destroy. He drew up all Apology for the Christians, addressed to Marcus Aurelius, in which he complains, that while the other subjects of the Roman government were freely permitted to worship the deities according to their own voluntary choice, the Christians alone, whose worship was pure, simple, and worthy of the Deity, were not only denied this privilege, but were most unjustly maligned, slandered, and persecuted. He vindicates them from the charge of atheism, of which they were accused by their heathen adversaries; refutes the calumny of their eating human flesh, and the impure and unnatural connections with which they were charged, by shewing the sanctity of their doctrines, and the purity and innocence of their lives. "Why should you be offended at our very name?" says he, "the bare name does not deserve your hatred; it is wickedness alone that deserves punishment. If we are convicted of any crime, less or more, let us be punished, but not merely for the name of a Christian; for no Christian can be a bad man, unless he acts contrary to his profession. We are accused, ‘that we do not worship the same gods as your cities, and offer them sacrifices.’ But consider, O emperor, that the Maker and Governor of this world stands in no need of blood and sweet-smelling incense; he delights in himself, nothing is wanting in him. The sacrifice he demands is a rational and acceptable service.’
Again, "There is an infamous report," says he, "that we are guilty of three great crimes, viz. impiety against the gods, feeding on murdered infants, and of incestuous copulations. If these be true, spare neither age nor sex; punish us, with our wives and children; extirpate us out of the world, if any among us live as beasts, (though even the beasts of the field do not these abominable things.) But if any man be baser than a beast, to commit such wickedness, let him be punished for it. If these, however, be false and scandalous calumnies against us, notice them as such. Inquire into our lives, into our opinions, into our obedience to authority, our concern for your person and government; allow us only that common justice and equity you grant your enemies, and we ask no more, being assured of the victory, and are willing to lay down our lives for the truth." [Athenagores’ Legatio pro Christianis, c. 4.]
Lastly, in vindication of their manner of life, Athenagoras says, "Among us the meanest day-laborers, and old women, though not able to dispute about their profession, yet can demonstrate its usefulness in their lives and good works. They do not, indeed, critically weigh their words, and recite elegant orations, but they manifest honest and virtuous actions, while, being buffeted they strike not again, nor sue those at law who spoil and plunder them; they give liberally to those that ask, and love their neighbor as themselves. Thus we do, because we are assured that there is a God who superintends human affairs, who made both us and the whole world, and to whom we must at last give an account of all the actions of our lives." [It has been made a question by some, how far it is probable the apologies which were, from time to time, drawn up by the Christians and addressed to the emperors, ever reached the hands of those monarchs. But with all their pomp and mightiness, there is good reason to think that the Roman emperors were more accessible than many of the petty sovereigns of Europe are in the present day. Augustus, for example, suffered all sorts of persons to approach him; and when a poor man once offered him a petition in a timorous manner, with a hand half extended and half drawn back, the emperor jested with him, and told him he looked as if he was giving an halfpenny to an elephant. Jortin’s Remarks.]
These are, unquestionably, triumphant appeals, and reflect the highest honor on the Christians of those days. But, however eloquent and forcible, they appear to have been little regarded by the rulers and magistrates. We have taken a review of the state of things throughout the second century; and painful as the recital is, we shall find that matters were little, if at all improved, during some parts of the third, on which we are now entering. "That the Christians suffered in this century," says Mosheim, "calamities and injuries of the most dreadful kind, is a matter that admits of no debate; nor was there, indeed, any period of it in which they were not exposed to perpetual dangers. The law which Severus had enacted, forbidding his subjects to change their religion, was, in its effects, most prejudicial to the Christians; for though it did not formally condemn them, and seemed only adapted to put a stop to the further progress of the gospel, yet it induced rapacious and unjust magistrates to persecute, even unto death, the poorer sort among the Christians; that thus the richer might be led, through fear of similar treatment, to purchase their safety at an expensive rate." It seems to have been during the reign of Severus, that the martyrdom of PERPETUA AND FELICITAS, with that of their companions, took place at Carthage, in Africa, the residence of Tertullian, about the year 202. The account is too interesting to be omitted; and it will serve, in addition to the history already detailed of the transactions at Lyons and Vienne, to give a clear idea of the manner in which these ancient persecutions were wont to be conducted. Augustine refers to the case of Perpetua, in his Works, vol. vii. p. 304; and Fleury has also given a copious account of the subject, vol. i. b. vi.
On this occasion, three young men, whose names were Saturninus, Secundulus, and Revocatus, were apprehended on a charge of being Christians, (probably occasioned by a rumor that they were all of them about to be baptized and added to the church,) and along with them, two females of the names of Felicitas and Perpetua; the latter a widow of the age of twenty-two, of a good family, and well educated, having a father and mother living, besides two brothers, and an infant at the breast. The father of Perpetua, who alone of all the family continued a heathen, no sooner heard that his daughter was informed against, than he had recourse to every method of persuasion and even of compulsion, to induce her to desist from her purpose of suffering martyrdom; so that she rejoiced when he left her, and in this interval she and the rest were baptized. Some days afterward, they were all thrown into prison, where the treatment she met with very much affected her at first, particularly the darkness of the place, the heat occasioned by the number of prisoners, the rudeness of the soldiers, and especially her anxiety about her child. Two of the deacons of the church, however, Tertius and Pomponius, who ministered to their wants, procured by the influence of money the removal of all the Christian prisoners into a more airy part of the prison, where Perpetua had the opportunity of suckling her child, which was ready to die for want thereof. In this situation, she comforted her mother, and encouraged her brother, entrusting to him the care of her infant son; and was, according to her own expression, as happy as if she had been in a palace. At this time she had a remarkable dream, from which she inferred that she should certainly suffer; but by which she was nevertheless greatly encouraged in her resolution.
A few days after this, a report was prevalent, that these Christian prisoners would soon be called before the governor; on which her father, overwhelmed with grief, came to her, entreating her to have compassion on his grey hairs, and on her mother, brothers, and child, which he said could not survive her. This he did, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet, evincing stronger affection for her than he had before done. This much increased her concern; add to which, that he was the only relative she had who would not think themselves, in reality, honored by her conduct. To all his entreaties, however, she uniformly returned this answer, that she was not at her own disposal, but at that of God.
On the ensuing day, while she and her friends were dining, they were summoned to an audience in the public forum, where a prodigious crowd was assembled. Here all her fellow prisoners confessed that they were Christians; but before Perpetua had an opportunity of doing it in the customary form, her father presented himself, holding her child in his arms, and supplicating her to have compassion upon him. In these entreaties he was joined by Hilarianus, the procurator, who besought her to think of her aged father and her own child, and to sacrifice for the safety of the emperor. She only answered, that she was a Christian, and could not do it.
After this the father was commanded to desist; but showing a reluctance to retire, one of the lictors struck him with a rod, which affected her, she said, as much as if she had herself been struck. However, having all made their confession, they were sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts; notwithstanding which they returned to the prison filled with joy. Perpetua now sent Pomponius, the deacon, to request that her child might be sent to her, that as heretofore she might have the privilege of suckling it; but that indulgence was denied her. She bore the disappointment, however, with fortitude, even greater than she herself could have expected.
After a few days, Pudeus, the jailer, being favorably inclined towards them, gave permission to their friends to visit them, and when the time of exhibition drew near, the father of Perpetua also renewed his visit. He now threw himself upon the ground, tore his beard, leaving nothing either to be said or done which he thought could tend to move her; but without any other effect than to excite her pity towards him.
The author of the narrative next proceeds to give an account of some of the other prisoners; and the case of Felicitas is almost as interesting as that of Perpetua. Being eight months advanced in pregnancy, she was fearful lest her execution should be put off till another time, and that then she should die in the company of ordinary malefactors. Her companions also were affected at the reflection of going without her. Three days before the exhibition, however, she was delivered; and, being in great pain, those who were about her, asked how she would be able to endure the being exposed to wild beasts, when she was so much affected with the pains of childbirth. She replied, that in this case she was left to herself, but that in her other sufferings she should have another to support her, even Him for whom she suffered. Being delivered of a daughter, a sister of her’s undertook to bring it up. Secundulus died in prison; but they had been joined by another of their friends called Saturus, who, after they were apprehended, had voluntarily surrendered himself.
The day preceding the exhibition, they all joined in a love-feast with their Christian friends who had permission to visit them, in the presence of many strangers whom curiosity had brought to the place. To those the prisoners expressed great joy in the idea of their approaching sufferings, and endeavored to engage their attention to the great cause for which they were about to suffer. Saturus bade them observe their countenances, that they might know them all again the next day. From this extraordinary spectacle, the strangers retired with marks of astonishment, and many of them afterwards became converts.
When the day of exhibition arrived, they all went from the prison, with erect and cheerful countenances, trembling, says our author, with joy rather than with fear. In particular, Perpetua walked in such a manner as struck the spectators with particular respect; and Felicitas rejoiced that, being delivered of her child, she should accompany her friends to this glorious combat. On reaching the gate of the amphitheater, the officers, according to custom, began to clothe the men in the dresses of the priests of Saturn, and the women in those of the priestesses of Ceres. But when they remonstrated against the injustice of being compelled by force to do that, for refusing which they were willing to lay down their lives, the tribune granted them the privilege of dying in their own habits. They then entered the amphitheater; when Perpetua advanced singing hymns, and her three male companions solemnly exhorted the people as they went along. Coming in view of the propraetor, they said, "You judge us, but God will judge you." This so enraged the populace that, at their request, all the three were scourged; but in this they rejoiced, as having the honor to share in one part of the sufferings of their Savior.
When the wild beasts were let loose, Saturninus according to a wish which he had previously expressed, died by the attack of several of them rushing upon him at the same time; and Revocatus was killed by a leopard and a bear. Saturus was first exposed to a wild bear; but while the attending officer was gored by the animal so that he died on the following day, he himself was only dragged about and not materially hurt. A bear too, to which he was next exposed, would not go out of its den to meddle with him. He was, however, thrown in the way of a leopard, towards the end of the exhibition, and so much blood gushed out at one of his bites, that the spectators ridiculed him, as being baptized with blood. Not being quite killed, he, when the animal was withdrawn, addressed Pudeus, the jailer, exhorting him to steadfastness, in the faith, and not to be disheartened by his sufferings. He even took a ring from his finger, and dipping it in one of his wounds, gave it to him as a pledge.
Perpetua and Felicitas were first enclosed in a net, and then exposed to a wild cow. But this sight struck the spectators with horror, as the former was a delicate woman, and the breasts of the latter were streaming with milk after her delivery. They were therefore recalled, and exposed in a common loose dress. Perpetua was first tossed by the beast; and, being thrown down, she had the presence of mind to compose her dress as she lay on the ground. Then rising, and seeing Felicitas much more torn than herself, she gave her her hand, and assisted her to rise; and for some time they both stood together, near the gate of the amphitheater. Thither Perpetua sent for her brother, and exhorted him to continue firm in the faith, to love his fellow Christians, and not to be discouraged by her sufferings.
Being all in a mangled condition, they were now taken to the usual place of execution, to be dispatched with a sword; but the populace requesting that they should be removed to another place, where the execution might be seen to more advantage, they got up of their own accord to go thither. Then, having given each other the kiss of charity, they quietly resigned themselves to their fate. In walking, Saturus had supported Perpetua, and he expired the first. She was observed to direct a young and ignorant soldier, who was appointed to be her executioner, in what manner he should perform his office. [Opuscula tria veterum auctorum, FASTIDII EPISCOPI Passio S.S. Martyrum PERPETUAE et FELICITATIS, etc. a Luca Holstenio, 8vo. Romans 1663. The editor of this publication, Lucas Holstenius, was Keeper of the Vatican Library, at Rome, a person of great learning, and the friend of our poet Milton. He studied three years at Oxford, and had a great esteem and affection for Milton, who visited him at Rome, and received many civilities from him there. See Bp. Newton’s Life of Milton, prefixed to his edition of Paradise Lost. 8vo. p, 13.]
In the year 211, the tyrant Severus died, after a reign of eighteen years, and the churches found repose and tranquillity under his son and successor, Caracalla, though, in other respects, a monster of wickedness, whose life, says Gibbon, disgraced human nature; yet he neither oppressed the Christians himself, nor permitted any others to treat them with cruelty or injustice. And though few men have ever exceeded him in the ferocious vices, nevertheless, during the six years and two months that he reigned, the disciples found in him friendship and protection.
Macrinus, who from an obscure extraction, had been raised to an elevated rank in the Roman army, and who had been accessory to the death of Caracalla, was elected by the army to fill the imperial throne; but he had reigned only one year and two months, when he was succeeded by Heliogabalus, a youth of fifteen, whose follies and vices were infamous; and, although, as Mosheim says, perhaps the most odious of all mortals, yet he shewed no marks of bitterness or aversion to the disciples of Christ. He was slain at the age of eighteen, having reigned three years and nine months, and was succeeded, in the year 222, by his cousin, Alexander Severus, who was then only in the sixteenth year of his age; a prince distinguished by a noble assemblage of illustrious virtues, and esteemed one of the best characters in profane history. He did not indeed abrogate the existing laws against the Christians, which accounts for the mention of a few martyrdoms under his administration. He nevertheless shewed them, in various ways, and on many occasions, unequivocal testimonies of kindness and regard. Some attribute this to the instructions and counsels of his mother Julia Mammsea, for whom he had a high degree of love and veneration; and who was herself favorably disposed towards the Christians. Being at Antioch with her son, A.D. 229, she sent for the renowned Origen, who resided at Alexandria, to come to her, that she might enjoy the pleasure and advantages of his conversation. It does not appear that either the emperor or his mother, so far understood and believed the Christian doctrine as to make an open profession of it, though their favorable sentiments induced them to tolerate the sect, during their lives, which were prolonged to the year 235, when they were both put to death in a conspiracy raised by MAXIMIN, a man who had risen from the humblest ranks of life to a dignified station in the army, and who now was made emperor.
From the death of Severus, which happened in 211, to the commencement of the reign of Maximin, A.D. 235, a period of about five and twenty years, the condition of the Christians was, in some places prosperous, and in all, tolerable. But with Maximin, the aspect of affairs changed. The character of this latter monarch formed a striking contrast to that of his predecessor. The former tyrants, says Gibbon, viz. Caligula and Nero, Commodus and Caracalla, were all dissolute and inexperienced youths, educated in the purple, and corrupted by the pride of empire, the luxury of Rome, and the perfidious voice of flattery. The cruelty of Maximin was derived from a different source--the fear of contempt. Though he depended on the attachment of the soldiers, who loved him for virtues like their own, he was conscious that his mean and barbarous origin, his savage appearance, and his total ignorance of the arts and institutions of civil life, formed a very unfavourable contrast with the amiable manners of Alexander Severus. He remembered, that, in his humbler fortune, he had often waited before the door of the haughty nobles of Rome, and had been denied admittance by the insolence of their slaves. He recollected also, the friendship of a few who had relieved his poverty and assisted his rising hopes. But those who had spurned, and those who had protected him, were guilty of the same crime, the knowledge of his original obscurity. For this crime many were put to death; and by the execution of several of his benefactors, Maximin published, in characters of blood, the indelible history of his baseness and ingratitude.
The sanguinary soul of the tyrant was open to every suspicion against those among his subjects, who were the most distinguished by their birth or merit. Whenever he was alarmed by the sound of treason, his cruelty was unbounded and unrelenting. A conspiracy against his life was either discovered or imagined; and Magnus, a consular senator, named as the principal author of it. Without a witness, without a trial, and without an opportunity of defense, Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices, were put to death. Confiscation, exile, or simple death, were, however, esteemed uncommon instances of his lenity. Some of the unfortunate sufferers, he ordered to be sewed up in the hides of slaughtered animals, others to be exposed to wild beasts, others again to be beaten to death with clubs. Throughout the Roman world, a general cry of indignation was heard, imploring vengeance against the common enemy of human kind, and, at length, by an act of private oppression, a peaceful and unarmed province was driven into rebellion against him. [Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, vol. 1:ch. 7.]
The malice of Maximin, against the house of the late emperor, by whom the Christians had been so peculiarly favored, stimulated him to persecute them bitterly, and he gave orders to put to death the pastors of the churches, whom he knew Alexander had treated as his intimate friends. The persecution, however, was not confined to them; others suffered at the same time: and a letter from Firmilian to Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, preserved in the works of the latter, informs us that the flame extended to Cappadocia and Pontus. [Cyprian’s Works, Letter 75. p. 256.] Ambrose, the friend of Origen, and Protoctetus, pastor of the church in Caesarea, suffered much in the course of it, and to them Origen dedicated his Book of Martyrs. He himself was obliged to retire; but the tyrant’s reign lasted only three years, in which time it must be confessed that the rest of the world had participated of his cruelties as much as the Christians. [Eusebias, b. 6. oh. 28. Orosius, b. 7. ch. 19. Origen, tom. 28.] But the name of ORIGEN is too important to be passed over in a history of the Christian church, with only a casual or incidental mention. "He was a man," says Dr. Priestley, "so remarkable for his piety, genius, and application, that he must be considered an honor to Christianity and to human nature." Even Jerome, his great adversary, admits that he was a great man from his infancy. His history is given in considerable detail by Eusebius, who tells us, that this very eminent man was born at Alexandria, in Egypt, A.D. 185. His father Leonides, from whom he received the first rudiments of his education bestowed uncommon pains upon it; and afterwards had him instructed by the ablest masters of the age, among whom were St. Clement and Ammonius Saccas, an eminent philosopher of Alexandria, the founder of the Eclectic sect. His early improvements were such as gave his worthy parent the greatest satisfaction. He was only seventeen years of age when the persecution under Severus began in Alexandria and his father was apprehended and confined; yet he would, at that early period of life, have fain thrown himself in the way of the persecutors, if his mother, after her most earnest entreaties had failed, had not hid his clothes in order to prevent his going abroad. He, however, wrote to his father, exhorting him to steadfastness in his profession, and not to be moved by any considerations about his family, though, in the event of his death, there would be a widow and seven children left in great poverty; and, thus encouraged, his father was beheaded, submitting to his destiny with becoming resolution. A large family being left in this destitute condition, a rich lady of Alexandria, the friend of genius and virtue, took Origen into her family. She, at the same time, entertained in her house a person of distinguished abilities, who held the principles of the Gnostics, and her table was the resort of other men of letters. But though Origen could not refrain from associating with this heretic, such was the firmness of his mind and the fixedness of his principles, that he would never join with him in prayer. In his eighteenth year he was elected master of the great School of Alexandria, which had been deserted by its late master in the time of persecution; and not choosing to be unnecessarily burdensome to his benefactress, he quitted her mansion, and provided for his own support by giving lessons of instruction in grammar and the principles of religion. So devoted, however, did he become to the study of sacred literature, that he wholly abandoned the teaching of grammar, and sold his library, consisting of the works of the heathen philosophers and poets, for which the purchaser engaged to pay him four oboli a day. While he was thus employed, many of his pupils became martyrs; and, being in so conspicuous a station, it was with great difficulty that he himself escaped. Being obliged to instruct women as well as men, and having adopted a plan of great austerity of manners, in a fit of enthusiastic fervor, he made a literal application to himself of Christ’s words, Matthew 19:12, an action for which he greatly condemned himself, in the subsequent period of his life, when he had reaped the benefit of experience and reflection.
Applying himself with extraordinary assiduity to the duties of his office as a teacher, his reputation rapidly increased; and it was still further augmented by an edition of the Old Testament, with all the different Greek versions then extant accompanying it, ranged in separate columns. These were the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, that of Theodotion, and two others; with the Hebrew text in Hebrew characters, and the same in Greek letters. This constituted eight columns in the whole, but it was called Hexapla, from having the six Greek versions. Finding this work too expensive and unwieldy for general use, he afterwards reduced it in both respects by composing what is called the Tetrapla, which contained only the first four of the Greek versions already mentioned. Some time after, Origen quitted his employment and his studies, for the purpose of making a visit to Rome, for what particular object does not appear; but, returning to Alexandria, many persons of learning from distant places resorted to him; and the bishop of Alexandria being applied to by an Arabian prince for a person to instruct him in the Christian faith, he made choice of Origen in preference to any other.
At the time that Alexandria was ravaged by Caracalla, Origen went to Caesarea in Palestine, and there the bishop engaged him to expound the Scriptures publicly in the church, though he had not then been ordained. This gave umbrage to Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, who insisted on his returning home again, which he did. He nevertheless visited Caesarea not long, afterwards, where he received ordination, which gave such offense to Demetrius, that from that time he did every thing in his power to injure him, particularly by exposing the rash action mentioned above; though when it was communicated to him in confidence, he had promised never to divulge it, and at that time did not even blame him for it, but encouraged him to apply with rigor to the duties of his profession.
Demetrius at first got him banished from Alexandria, in a council, held A.D. 231, though on what pretense does not distinctly appear. In a second council he was deposed from the priesthood and excommunicated; and the sentence was of course ratified by distant churches. Still, however, he was received at Caesarea, and by other bishops who became greatly attached to him, and undertook his defense. While he resided at Caesarea, numbers resorted to him from distant quarters for instruction; and among others Gregory, afterwards bishop of Neocaesarea, and his brother Athenodorus, whom he persuaded to abandon profane literature for the study of Theology; and they attended his lectures five years. Firmiliau, also bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a distinguished character in his time, was so attached to Origen that he strove to prevail upon him to remove into his province and reside with him.
In this situation he composed his Commentaries on the Scriptures, dictating, it is said, to seven notaries and sometimes more; and employing as many scribes to take fair copies, the expense of which was cheerfully defrayed by Arabrosins, whom Origen had brought over from the Valentinians to the catholic church. When he was turned sixty, he permitted scribes to copy after him as he delivered his discourses from the pulpit. It was in this period of his life that he drew up his excellent books against Celsus, in defense of Christianity. This latter was an Epicurean philosopher, who undertook to calumniate Christianity, in the most outrageous manner. Origen most ably answered all his objections, and vindicated the truth of his own religion, by the prophecies concerning Christ, by the evidence of miracles, and by an appeal to the holy influence of the gospel evinced in the lives of his disciples. This is considered by the learned to be the most valuable of all his writings, which were certainly very voluminous; for Eusebius says he wrote five and twenty volumes upon the gospel by Matthew! It must be remembered, however, that the ancients gave the title of volume to very small tracts.
In the persecution under Maximin, Origen concealed himself by retiring to Athens, where, however, he was not idle, but continued to write commentaries. In the persecution under Decius, he was apprehended, and though then far advanced in life, he shewed an example in his own conduct of that fortitude which he had so early in life, and so often afterwards, recommended to others. He was confined in the interior part of the prison, and there fastened with an iron chain, his feet stretched in the stocks to the fourth hole, a circumstance evidently mentioned by the historian to intimate that it was a posture of extreme pain, and where he was kept for several days. He bore, with invincible fortitude, a great variety of tortures to which his persecutors subjected him, taking care that they should not absolutely deprive him of life; and at length he was threatened to be burned alive. But neither what he felt, nor what he feared, at all moved him. He survived this persecution and lived to write letters afterwards highly edifying to those of his persecuted brethren who were brought into similar circumstances; and, at the advanced age of seventy, in the year 254, died at Tyre, a natural death.
From the death of Maximin to the reign of Decius, the Christians enjoyed considerable repose, and the gospel made an extensive progress. Indeed, with the exception of the short reign of Maximin, they suffered but little persecution for nearly half a century, and the effects were but too manifest in the melancholy state of the churches at this time,--in the laxity of their discipline, and the general lukewarmness which had come upon them in their profession. The simplicity and purity of the Christian religion was greatly corrupted, and the usual concomitants of a season of worldly ease and prosperity, viz. ambition, pride, and luxury, too generally prevailed among both pastors and people. In such a state of things, it cannot surprise a reflecting mind, that HE who walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and holds the stars in his right hand who has declared that he will make all the churches to know that it is HE who searches the reins and hearts, and will give to every one according to his works--should interpose at this time to vindicate his own cause, and reclaim the wanderings of his people.
No sooner had DECIUS ascended the throne than a tempest was raised, in which the fury of persecution fell in a dreadful manner upon the church of Christ. Whether it were from an ill-grounded fear of the Christians, or from a violent zeal for the superstitions of his ancestors, does not appear; but it is certain that he issued edicts of the most sanguinary kind, commanding the praetors, on pain of death, either to extirpate the whole body of Christians, without exception, or to force them by torments of various kinds to return to the Pagan worship. Hence, in all the provinces of the empire, during a space of two years, multitudes of Christians were put to death by the most horrid punishments which an ingenious barbarity could invent.
This trying state of things was continued, with more or less intermission, during the reigns of Gallus, Valerian, Dioclesian, and others of the Roman emperors; but the detail is harassing to the feelings, and instead of prose--curing it circumstantially, I shall dismiss the subject by an extract from Dr. Chandler’s History of Persecutions, relating to this period, "The most excessive and outrageous barbarities," says he, "were made use of upon all who would not blaspheme Christ and offer incense to the imperial gods. They were publicly whipped,--drawn by the heels through the streets of cities,--racked till every bone of their body was disjointed,--had their teeth beat out,--their noses, hands, and ears cut off,--sharp pointed spears run under their nails,--were tortured with melted lead thrown on their naked bodies,--had their eyes dug out,--their limbs cut off,--were condemned to the mines,--ground between stones,--stoned to death, burnt alive,--thrown headlong from the high buildings,--beheaded,--smothered in burning lime kilns,--run through the body with sharp spears,--destroyed with hunger, thirst, and cold,-thrown to the wild beasts,--broiled on gridirons with slow fires,--cast by heaps into the sea,--crucified,--scraped to death with sharp shells,--torn in pieces by the boughs of trees,--and, in a word, destroyed by all the various methods that the most diabolical subtlety and malice could devise." [Introduction to Limborch’s History of the Inquisition, vol. 2, sect. 1. p. 14. Should any suspect Dr. Chandler of having overcharged the picture in this dreadful detail, I must entreat him to look into any of the larger histories of this period, and he will soon be undeceived.]
When the persecution arose under the emperor Decius, or rather, as it is expressed by a late writer, "when the gates of hell were once more opened, and merciless executioners were let loose upon the defenceless churches, who deluged the earth with blood" (A.D. 249), CYPRIAN was presbyter of the church of Carthage, having been ordained the preceding year. He was soon marked out as a victim to imperial fury, but he prudently fled from Carthage, in consequence of which he was proscribed, and his effects were seized. He has been censured by some persons as a deserter of his flock; but the firmness and Christian piety with which he afterwards (under the reign of Valerian, A.D. 258,) laid down his life, affords a presumption that he had not retired for want of courage. His works, which consist of a collection of his epistles, eighty-three in number, and several tracts, contain much information respecting the state of Christianity at that period, at the same time that they display a benevolent and pious mind, and evince much of the character of the Christian pastor, in the affectionate solicitude with which he watched over his flock. The letters which he wrote during his retirement, give a distressing picture of the effects which had been produced upon the churches by that state of tranquillity and exemption from suffering, which, with little interruption, they had enjoyed from the death of Severus, in 211, to the reign of Decius in 249,--a period of about forty years.
"It must be owned and confessed," says he, "that the outrageous and heavy calamity, which hath almost devoured our flock, and continues to devour it to this day, hath happened to us because of our sins, since we keep not the way of the Lord, nor observe his heavenly commands, which were designed to lead us to salvation. Christ, our Lord, fulfilled the will of the Father; but we neglect the will of Christ. Our principal study is to get money and estates; we follow after pride; we are at leisure for nothing but emulation and quarrelling, and have neglected the simplicity of faith. We have renounced this world in words only, and not in deed. Every one studies to please himself, and to displease others." [Cyprian’s Works, Epist. 11.] It is impossible for us not be struck with the shocking contrast which this picture presents, from that drawn by Tertullian about fifty years before. It seems even to have staggered the credibility of some writers. Dr. Jortin, for example, remarks, that "Cyprian has described, in very strong terms, the relaxation of discipline and manners which had ensued; which yet may require some abatement." His vehement temper," says he, "his indignation against vice, and his African eloquence, might induce him to make free with a figure called exaggeration." [Remarks on Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. 1. p. 376.] But, unhappily, Cyprian’s account is confirmed by the testimony of Eusebius, who was nearly contemporary with him; and, which is still worse, it is put beyond all dispute by the immense number of defections from the Christian profession which everywhere abounded when the persecution, set on foot by Decius, commenced, and which occasioned great commotions in all the churches.
"Through too much liberty," says Eusebius, "they grew negligent and slothful, envying and reproaching one another; waging, as it were, civil wars among themselves, bishops quarrelling with bishops, and the people divided into parties. Hypocrisy and deceit were grown to the highest pitch of wickedness. They were become so insensible as not so much as to think of appeasing the Divine anger; but, like atheists, they thought the world destitute of any providential government and care, and thus added one crime to another. The bishops themselves had thrown off all concern about religion; were perpetually contending with one another; and did nothing but quarrel with, and threaten, and envy, and hate one another; they were full of ambition, and tyrannically used their power." [Eusebius’s Hist. b. 8. ch.1.] Such was the deplorable state of the churches, which God, as Eusebius justly remarks, first punished with a gentle hand; but when they grew hardened and incurable in their vices, he was pleased to let in the most grievous persecutions upon them, under Dioclesian, which exceeded, in severity and length, all that had gone before. It began in the year 302, and lasted ten years.