Short Papers on Church History

The Romans professed to tolerate all religions, from which the commonwealth had nothing to fear. This was their boasted liberality. Even the Jews were allowed to live according to their own laws. What was it then, we may well ask, that could have caused all their severity to the Christians? Had the commonwealth anything to fear from them? Had it anything to fear from those whose lives were blameless, whose doctrines were the pure truth of heaven, and whose religion was conducive to the people’s welfare, both publicly and privately?
The following may be considered as some of the unavoidable causes of persecution, looking at both sides of the question:
1. Christianity, unlike all other religions that preceded it, was aggressive in its character. Judaism was exclusive; the religion of one nation. Christianity was proclaimed as the religion of mankind or the whole world. This was an entirely new thing on the earth. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” was the Lord’s command to the disciples. They were to go forth and make war with error, in every form and in all its workings. The conquest to be made was the heart for Christ. “The weapons of our warfare,” says the apostle, “are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:4, 5.) In this war of aggression with existing institutions, and with the corrupt habits of the heathen, the disciples of Jesus had little to expect but resistance, persecution, and suffering.
2. The pagan religion, which Christianity was rapidly undermining and destined to overthrow, was an institution of the State. It was so closely interwoven with the entire civil and social systems, that to attack the religion was to be brought into conflict with both the civil and the social. And this was exactly what took place. Had the primitive Church been as accommodating to the form as Christendom is now, much persecution might have been avoided. But the time had not come for such lax accommodation. The gospel which the Christians then preached, and the purity of doctrine and life winch they maintained, shook to the very foundation the old and deeply rooted religion of the State.
3. The Christians naturally withdrew themselves from the pagans. They became a separate and distinct people. They could not but condemn and abhor polytheism, as utterly opposed to the one living and true God, and to the gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. This gave the Romans the idea that Christians were unfriendly to the human race, seeing they condemned all religions but their own. Hence they were called “Atheists,” because they did not believe in the heathen deities, and derided the heathen worship.
4. Simplicity and humility characterized the Christians’ worship. They peaceably came together before sunrise or after sunset, to avoid giving offense. They sang hymns to Christ as to God; they broke bread in remembrance of His love in dying for them; they edified one another and pledged themselves to a life of holiness. But they had no fine temples, no statues, no order of priests, and no victims to offer hi sacrifice. The contrast between their worship and that of all others in the empire became most manifest. The heathen, in their ignorance, concluded that the Christians had no religion at all, and that their secret meetings short papers on church history were for the worst of purposes. The world now, as then, would say of those who worship God in spirit and in truth, that “these people have no religion at all.” Christian worship, in true simplicity, without the aid of temples and priests, rites and ceremonies, is not much better understood now by professing Christendom, than it was then by pagan Rome. Still, it is true, “God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24.
5. By the progress of Christianity, the temporal interests of a great number of persons were seriously affected. This was a fruitful and bitter source of persecution. A countless throng of priests, image makers, dealers, soothsayers, augurs, and artisans, found good livings in connection with the worship of so many deities.
6. All these, seeing their craft in danger, rose up in united strength against the Christians, and sought by every means to arrest the progress of Christianity. They invented and disseminated the vilest calumnies against everything christian. The cunning priests and the artful soothsayers easily persuaded the vulgar, and the public mind in general, that all the calamities, wars, tempests, and diseases that afflicted mankind, were sent upon them by the angry gods, because the Christians who despised their authority were everywhere tolerated.
Many other things might be mentioned, but these were everywhere the daily causes of the Christians’ sufferings, both publicly and privately. Of the truth of this, a moment’s reflection will convince every reader. But faith could see the Lord’s hand and hear His voice in it all: “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought See Mosheim’s “Ecclesiastical History,” vol. 1., p. 67. Cave’s “Primitive Christianity early chapters before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.........Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Matt. 10.
Having said this much as to the great opposition which the early Church had to contend against, it will be necessary to glance for a moment at the real cause or causes and means of the rapid progress of Christianity.
Doubtless the causes and the means were divine. They proved themselves to be so. The Spirit of God, who descended in power on the day of Pentecost, and who had taken up His abode in the Church and in the individual Christian, is the true source of all success in preaching the gospel, in the conversion of souls, and in bearing testimony against evil. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” Besides, the Lord has promised to be with His people at all times. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Zech. 4:6, 7; Matt. 28:18- 20.) But our object at present is to look at things historically, and not merely according to the assurance of faith.
1. One great cause of the rapid spread of Christianity is its perfect adaptation to man in every age, in every country, and in every condition. It addresses all as lost, and supposes a like want in all. Thus it suits the Jew and the Gentile, the king and the subject, the priest and the people, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the learned and the ignorant, the moral and the profligate. It is God’s religion for the heart and asserts His sovereignty there, and His only. It announces itself as the “Power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” It proposes to raise man from the deepest depths of degradation to the loftiest heights of eternal glory. Who can estimate, in spite of every prejudice, the effect of the proclamation. of such a gospel to miserable and benighted heathens? Thousands, millions, tired of a worthless and worn out religion, responded to its heavenly voice, gathered around the name of Jesus, took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and were ready to suffer for His sake. Love ruled in the new religion, hatred in the old.
2. Its sanction and maintenance of all earthly relations, according to God, were other reasons for the acceptance of the gospel among the heathen. Each one was exhorted to remain in these relationships, and seek to glorify God therein. The blessings of Christianity to wives, children, and servants, are unspeakable. Their love, happiness, and comfort were an astonishment to the heathen, and a new thing amongst them. Yet all was natural and orderly. A Christian, who is said to have lived about this time—the early part of the second century—thus describes his co-temporaries: “The Christians are not separated from other men by earthly abode, by language, or by customs. They dwell nowhere in cities by themselves, they do not use a different language, or affect a singular mode of life. They dwell in the cities of the Greeks, and of the barbarians, each as his lot has been cast: and while they conform to the usages of the country, in respect to dress, food, and other things pertaining to the outward life, they yet show a peculiarity of conduct wonderful and striking to all. They obey the existing laws, and conquer the laws by their own living.”
3. The blameless lives of the Christians; the divine purity of their doctrines; their patient, cheerful endurance of sufferings worse than death, as well as death itself; their disregard for all the objects of ordinary ambition; their boldness in. the faith at the risk of life, credit, and property; were chief means in the rapid spread of Christianity. “For who,” says Tertullian, “that beholds these things, is not impelled to inquire into the cause? And who, when he has inquired, does not embrace Christianity? and when he has embraced it, does not himself wish to suffer for it?”
These few particulars will enable the reader to form a more definite judgment as to what it was that tended on the one hand to hinder, and on the other to further the progress of the gospel of Christ. Nothing can be more interesting to the christian mind than the study of this great and glorious work. The Lord’s workmen, for the most part, were plain unlettered men; they were poor, friendless, and destitute of all human aid; and yet, in a short time, they persuaded a great part of mankind to abandon the religion of their ancestors, and to embrace a new religion which is opposed to the natural dispositions of men, the pleasures of the world, and the established customs of ages. Who could question the inward power of Christianity with such outward facts before them? Surely it was the Spirit of God who clothed with power the words of these early preachers! Surely their force on the minds of men was divine! A complete change was produced: they were born again—created anew in Christ Jesus.
In less than a hundred years from the day of Pentecost, the gospel had penetrated into most of the provinces of the Roman empire, and was widely diffused in many of them. In our brief outline of the life of St. Paul, and in the chronological table of his missions, we have traced the first planting of many churches, and the propagation of the truth in many quarters. In large central cities, such as Antioch in Syria, Ephesus in Asia, and Corinth in Greece, we have seen Christianity well established, and spreading its rich blessings among the surrounding towns and villages.
We also learn from ecclesiastical antiquity, that what these cities wore to Syria, Asia, and Greece, Carthage was to Africa. When Scapula, the president of Carthage, threatened the Christians with severe and cruel treatment, Tertullian, in one of his pointed appeals, bids him bethink himself. “What wilt thou do,” he says, “with so many thousands of men and women of every age and dignity, as will freely offer themselves? What fires, what swords, wilt thou stand in need of! What is Carthage itself likely to suffer if decimated by thee: when everyone there shall find his near kindred and neighbors, and shall see there matrons, and men perhaps of thy own rank and order, and the most principal persons, and either the kindred or friends of those who are thy nearest friends? Spare then, therefore, for your sake, if not for ours.”
Short Papers on Church History
We now resume the narrative of events, and the next in order to be related, is The Martyrdom of Ignatius. There is no fact in early Church history more sacredly preserved than the martyrdom of Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch; and there is no narrative more celebrated than his journey, as a prisoner in chains, from Antioch to Rome.
According to the general opinion of historians, the Emperor Trajan, when on his way to the Parthian war, in the year 107, visited Antioch. From what cause it is difficult to say, but it appears that the Christians were threatened with persecution by his orders. Ignatius, therefore, being concerned for the Church in Antioch, desired to be introduced to Trajan’s presence. His great object was to prevent, if possible, the threatened persecution. With this end in view, he set forth to the emperor the true character and condition of the Christians, and offered himself to suffer in their stead.
The details of this remarkable interview are given in many church histories, but there is such an air of suspicion about them, that we forbear inserting them; it ended, however, in the condemnation of Ignatius. He was sentenced by the emperor to be carried to Rome, and thrown to the wild beasts for the entertainment of the people. He welcomed the severe sentence, and gladly submitted to be bound, believing it was for his faith in Christ and as a sacrifice for the saints.
Ignatius was now committed to the charge of ten soldiers, who appear to have disregarded his age and to have treated him with great harshness. He had been bishop of Antioch for nearly forty years, and so must have been an old man. But they hurried him over a long journey, both by sea and land, in order to reach Rome before the games were ended.
He arrived on the last day of the festival, and was earned at once to the amphitheater, where he suffered according to his sentence, in the sight of the assembled spectators. And thus the weary pilgrim found rest from the fatigues of his long journey in the blessed repose of the paradise of God.
It has been asked, Why was Ignatius taken all the way from Antioch to Rome to suffer martyrdom? The answer can only be conjecture. It may have been with the intention of striking fear into other Christians, by the spectacle of one so eminent, and so well-known, brought in chains to a dreadful and degrading death. But if this was the emperor’s expectation he was entirely disappointed. It had just the opposite effect. The report of his sentence and of his intended route spread far and wide, and deputations from the surrounding churches were sent to meet him at convenient points. He was thus cheered and greeted with the warmest congratulations of his brethren; and they, in return, were delighted to see the venerable bishop, and receive his parting blessing. Many of the saints would thereby be encouraged to brave, if not to desire, a martyr’s death and a martyr’s crown. Among the number who met him by the way was Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who, like Ignatius, had been a disciple of St. John, and destined to be a martyr for the gospel. But beside these personal interviews, he is said to have written Seven letters on this journey, which have been preserved in the providence of God and handed down to us. Great interest has ever been, and still is, attached to these letters.
But however worthy of all honor Ignatius may be as a holy man of God, and as a noble martyr for Christ, we must ever remember that his letters are not the word of God. They may interest and instruct us, but they cannot command our faith. That can only stand on the solid ground of the word of God, never on the infirm ground of tradition. “Scripture stands alone,” as one has said, “in majestic isolation, pre-eminent in instruction, and separated by unapproachable excellence from everything written by the apostolic fathers; so that those who follow close to the apostles have left us writings which are more for our warning than our edification.” At the same time, these early christian writers have every claim to our respect and veneration with which antiquity can invest them. They were the cotemporaries of the apostles, they enjoyed the privilege of hearing their instruction, they shared with them the labors of the gospel, and freely conversed with them from day to day. Paul speaks of a Clement—a so-called apostolic father-as his “fellow-laborer, whoso name is in the book of life.” And what he says of Timothy may have been at least partly true of many others; “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, and afflictions.” Phil. 4:3 Tim. 3:10, 11.
From those who were so highly privileged, we should naturally expect sound apostolic doctrine—a faithful repetition of the truths and instructions which were delivered to them by the inspired apostles. But such, alas! is not the case. Ignatius was one of the earliest of the apostolic fathers. He became the bishop of Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, about the year 70. He was a disciple of the apostle John, and survived him only about seven years. Surely from such a one we might have expected a close resemblance to the apostle’s teaching; but it is not so. The definite and absolute statements of scripture, as coming direct from God to the soul, are widely different to the writings of Ignatius and of all the fathers. Our only safe and sure guide is the word of God. How seasonable then is that word in the First Epistle of John, “Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning: if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.” (1 John 2:24.) This passage evidently refers more especially to the person of Christ, and consequently to the scriptures of the New Testament, in which we have the display of the Father in the Son, and made known to us by the Holy Spirit. In Paul’s epistles, we have more fully revealed the counsels of God concerning the Church, Israel, and the Gentiles, so that we must go farther back than “the fathers” to find a true ground of faith; we must go back to that which existed from “the beginning.” Nothing has direct divine authority for the believer, but that which was from “the beginning.” This alone secures our continuing “in the Son and in the Father.”
The epistles of Ignatius have been long esteemed by Episcopalians as the chief authority for the system of the English Church—and this must be our excuse for referring so fully to this “father.” Nearly all their arguments in favor of episcopacy are founded on his letters. So strongly does he press submission to the episcopal authority, and so highly does he extol it, that some have been induced to question their genuineness altogether, and others have supposed that they must have been largely interpolated to serve the practical interest. But with the controversy on these points we have nothing to do in our “Short Papers.”
We will now resume our history from the death of Trajan, in the year 117, and briefly glance at the condition of the Church during the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonine from A.D 117 to 180.
Although it would be unjust to class Hadrian and the first Antonine with the systematic persecutors of the Church, nevertheless, Christians were often exposed to the most violent sufferings and death during their dominion. The cruel custom of ascribing all public calamities to the Christians, and of calling for their blood as an atonement to the offended deities, still continued, and was generally yielded to by the local governors, and unchecked by the indifferent emperors. But under the reign of the second Antonine, Marcus Aurelius, the evil spirit of persecution greatly increased. It was no longer confined to the outbursts of popular fury, but was encouraged by the highest authorities. The slender protection which the ambiguous edicts of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antonius afforded the Christians was withdrawn, and the excited passions of the idolatrous pagans were unrestrained by the government. It is most interesting to the student of scripture history to see how this could take place under the reign of a prince who was distinguished for learning, philosophy, and general mildness of character.
The past sixty years of comparative peace had opened a wide field for the propagation of the gospel. During that period it made rapid progress in many ways. Christian congregations increased in numbers, influence, and wealth throughout every quarter of the Roman dominions. Many of the rich, being filled with divine love, distributed their substance to the poor, traveled into regions which as yet had not heard the sound of the gospel, and, having planted Christianity, passed on to other countries. The Holy Spirit could not thus work without awakening the jealousy and stirring up all the enmity of the supporters of the national religion. Aurelius saw with an evil eye the superior power of Christianity over men’s minds compared with his own heathen philosophy. He then became an intolerant persecutor, and encouraged the provincial authorities to crush what he considered a contumacious spirit of resistance to his authority. But the gospel of the grace of God was far above and beyond the reach of Aurelius; and neither his sword nor his lions could arrest its triumphant career. In spite of the bloody persecutions which he excited or sanctioned, Christianity was propagated throughout the known world.
Short Papers on Church History
But here we must pause for a little, and look around us. There is something deeper far in the change of government towards the Church than the merely historical eye can discern. We believe that we are now come to the close of the FIRST PERIOD and the opening of the SECOND.
The EPHESIAN condition of the Church, looking at it in this light, may be said to have ended with the death of Antoninus Pius, in the year 101; and the Smyrnean condition to have commenced with the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The persecution in Asia broke out with great violence in the year 107, under the new edicts of this emperor; and Smyrna especially suffered greatly: the justly esteemed Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom at this time. But in order to prove the view we have taken, it will be necessary to glance briefly at the addresses to the churches of Ephesus and Smyrna. And first, the address to the church of Ephesus. Rev. 2:1- 7.
The grand object of the Church in this world was to be “the pillar and ground of the truth.” It was set up to be a light-bearer for God. It is thus symbolized by a “golden candlestick”—a vessel which bears the light. It ought to have been a true witness of what God had manifested in Jesus on the earth; and of what He is now when Christ is in heaven. We further learn from this address, that the Church, as a vessel of testimony in this world, is threatened with being set aside unless its first estate is maintained. But, alas! she fails, as the creature always does. The angels, Adam, Israel, and the Church, kept not their first estate. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,” saith the Lord, “because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
There was still, however, much that He could praise, and He does praise all that He can. As an assembly, they had patience; they had labored and not fainted; they could not bear “evil men,” or those who were seeking the highest place in the Church. Nevertheless, He feels the departure from Himself. “Thou hast left thy first love.” He speaks as one disappointed. They had ceased to delight in His love to them, and hence their own love to Him declined. “First love” is the happy fruit of our appreciation of the Lord’s love to us.” “Outward testimony might go on,” as one has said, “but that is not what the Lord most values, though value it He does, so far as it is simple, genuine, and faithful. Still He cannot but prize most of all hearts devoted to Himself, the fruit of His own personal, self-sacrificing, perfect love. He has a spouse upon earth, whom He desires to see with no object but Himself, and kept pure for Him from the world and its ways. God has called us for this: not only for salvation, and a witness for Himself in godliness, though this is most true and important, but beyond all for Christ—a bride for His Son! Surely this should be our first and last, and constant and dearest thought; for we are affianced to Christ, and He at least has proved the fullness and faithfulness of His love to us. But what of ours!”
It was this state of things in Ephesus, and in the Church at large, that called for the intervention of the Lord in faithful discipline. The Church, as planted by Paul, had already fallen from its first estate. “All seek their own,” he says, “not the things of Jesus Christ.” And again, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me.” Hence the tribulation spoken of in the address to the church in Smyrna. Though the Lord is full of grace and love in all His ways towards His fallen and failing Church, still He is righteous withal and must judge evil. He is not seen in these addresses as the Head in heaven of the one body, nor as the Bridegroom of His Church; but in His judicial character, walking in the midst of the candlesticks, having the attributes of a judge. See the first chapter.
It will be observed by the reader, that there is a measured distance and reserve in the style of His address to the church at Ephesus. This is in keeping with the place He takes in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He writes to the angel of the Church, not to “the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,” as in the epistle by Paul.
There have been many disputes about “who is meant by the angel.” He was a person, we believe, so identified morally with the assembly, that he represented it, and characterized it. The Lord addresses the angel, not the church immediately. “The angel,” therefore gives the idea of representation. For example, in the Old Testament we have the angel of Jehovah; the angel of the covenant: and in the New, we have the angels of the little children, and so of Peter in Acts 12 they said, “It is his angel.”
We will now briefly glance at the address to the church at Smyrna. Rev. 2:8-11.
Our interest in the history of the Church is greatly increased when we see that the Lord has distinctly marked its successive epochs. The outward condition of the Church down to the death of the first Antonine—so far as it can be ascertained from the most authentic histories—answers in a remarkable way to what we learn from scripture, and short papers on church history especially from the address to Ephesus. There was outward consistency and zeal; they were unwearied. It is also evident that there was charity, purity, devotedness, holy courage, even to the greatest readiness to suffer in every way for the Lord’s sake. At the same time it is clear from both scripture and history, that false doctrine was making its way, and that many were manifesting a most unworthy zeal for official pre-eminence in the Church. That forgetfulness of self, and that care for Christ and His glory, which are the first-fruits of His grace, were gone. Historically, we now come to the Smyrna period. For the convenience of the reader we will give the address entire.
“And unto the angel of the Church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Here the Lord meets the declension by sore tribulation. Milder means had not answered the end. This is no uncommon case; though they may have thought that some strange thing had happened to them. But all their afflictions were known to the Lord, measured by Him, and ever under His control. “Ye shall have tribulation ten days.” The period of their sufferings is exactly specified. And He speaks to them as one that had known the depths of tribulation Himself. “These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive.” He had gone through the deepest sorrow, and through death itself—He had died for them and was alive again. They had this blessed One to flee to in all their trials. And as He looks on, and walks in the midst of His suffering ones, He says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Thus He holds in His hand the martyr’s crown, ready to place it on the head of His faithful overcomer.
We will now turn to our history, and mark its resemblance to the above epistle.
THE SECOND PERIOD OF THE CHURCH’S HISTORY COMMENCED ABOUT A.D. 107.
The reign of Aurelius is marked, under the providence of God, by many and great public calamities. We see the hand of the Lord in faithful love chastening His own redeemed and beloved people, but His anger was kindled against their enemies. The eastern army, under Verus, returning from the Parthian war, brought with it to Rome the infliction of a pestilential disease which was then raging in Asia, and which soon spread its ravages through almost the whole of the Roman empire: there was also a great inundation of the Tiber, which laid a large part of the city under water, and swept away immense quantities of grain from the fields and public storehouses. These disasters were naturally followed by a famine which consumed great numbers.
Such events could not fail to increase the hostility of the heathen against the Christians. They ascribed all their troubles to the wrath of the gods, which the new religion was supposed to have provoked. Thus it was that the persecution of Christians in the Roman empire began with the populace. The outcry against them rose up from the people to the governors. “Throw the Christians to the lions!” “Throw the Christians to the lions!” was the general outcry; and the names of the most prominent in the community were demanded with the same uncontrollable hostility. A weak or superstitious magistrate would tremble before the voice of the people, and lend himself as the instrument of their will.
But we will now take a nearer view, under the guidance of the various histories that are before us, of the manner of these persecutions and of the behavior of the Christians under them the persecution in Asia. A.D. 167.
In Asia Minor the persecution broke out with great violence, such as it had never been before. Christianity was now treated as a direct crime against the state. This changed the face of everything. Contrary to the rescript of Trajan, and the conduct of still milder emperors, Hadrian and Antonine, the Christians were to be sought for as common criminals. They were torn from their homes by the violence of the people, and subjected to the severest tortures. If they obstinately refused to sacrifice to the gods, they were condemned. The wild beast, the cross, the stake, and the ax were the cruel forms of death that met the Lord’s faithful ones everywhere.
The prudent and dignified Melito, bishop of Sardis, was so moved by these unheard of barbarities, that he appeared before the emperor as the Christians’ advocate. His address throws much light both on the law and on the conduct of the public authorities. It is as follows:—“The race of God’s worshippers in this country are persecuted as they never were before, by new edicts; for the shameless sycophants, greedy of the possessions of others-since they are furnished by these edicts with an opportunity of so doing—plunder their innocent victims day and night. And let it be right, if it is done by your command, since a just emperor will never resolve on any unjust measure; and we will cheerfully bear the honorable lot of such a death. Yet we would submit this single petition, that you would inform yourself respecting the people who excite the contention, and impartially decide whether they deserve punishment and death, or deliverance and peace. But if this resolve, and this new edict—an edict which ought not so to be issued even against hostile barbarians—comes from yourself, we pray you the more not to leave us exposed to such public robbery.”
There is, we fear, no ground to believe that this noble appeal brought any direct relief to the Christians. The character and ways of Aurelius have perplexed the historians. He was a philosopher of the sect of the Stoics; but naturally humane, benevolent, gentle, and pious; even childlike in his disposition, some say, from the influence of his mother’s training; yet he was an implacable persecutor of the Christians for nearly twenty years. And the perplexity is increased when we look to Asia, for the proconsul at this time was not personally opposed to the Christians. Still he yielded to the popular fury and the demands of the law. But faith sees beyond the emperors, governors, and people; it sees the prince of darkness ruling these wicked men, and the Lord Jesus overruling all. “I know thy works and tribulation.........Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer.........Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.........He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.”
Aurelius, with all his philosophy, was an utter stranger to the sweetness and power of that name which alone can meet and satisfy the longings of the human heart. All the speculations and boastings of philosophy have never done this. Hence the enmity of the human heart to the gospel. Self-sufficiency, which leads to pride and self-importance, is the principal part of the Stoic’s religion. With these views, there could be no humility, no sense of sin, and no idea of a Savior. And the more earnest he was in his own religion, the more bitter and vehement would he be against Christianity.
In a circular-letter addressed by the Church of Smyrna to other christian churches, we have a detailed account of the sufferings of the faithful unto death. “They made it evident to us all,” says the church, “that in the midst of those sufferings they were absent from the body; or rather, that the Lord stood by them and walked in the midst of them; and, staying themselves on the grace of Christ, they bid defiance to the torments of the world.” Some, with a strange, momentary enthusiasm, rushed in self-confidence to the tribunal, and declared themselves to be Christians: but when the magistrate pressed them, wrought upon their fears, showed them the wild beasts, they yielded and offered incense to the gods. “We therefore,” adds the church, “praise not those who voluntarily surrendered themselves; for so are we not taught in the gospel.” Nothing less than the presence of the Lord Jesus could strengthen the soul to endure with tranquility and composure the most agonizing torments, and the most frightful deaths. But thousands have borne with meekness, cheerfulness, and even with joyfulness, the utmost that the power of darkness and the fourth beast of Daniel could do. The pagan bystanders were often moved to pity by their sufferings, but never could understand their calmness of mind, love to their enemies, and willingness to die.
We will now conclude this general account of the persecution in Asia, and notice particularly the two most eminent persons who suffered death at this time; namely, Justin and Polycarp.
THE MARTYRDOM OF JUSTIN, SURNAMED MARTYR.
Justin was born at Neapolis, in Samaria, of Gentile parents. He carefully studied in his youth the different philosophical sects; but not finding the satisfaction which his heart longed for, he was induced to hear the gospel. In it he found, through God’s blessing, a perfect rest for his soul, and every desire of his heart fully met. He became an earnest Christian, and a celebrated writer in defense of Christianity.
Early in the reign of Aurelius, Justin was a marked man. Information was laid against him by one Crescens. He was apprehended with six of his companions, and all were brought before the prefect. They were asked to sacrifice to the gods. “No man,” replied Justin, “whose understanding is sound, will desert true religion for the sake of error and impiety.” “Unless you comply,” said the prefect, “you shall be tormented without mercy.” “We desire nothing more sincerely,” he replied, “than to endure tortures for our Lord Jesus Christ.” The rest assented, and said, “We are Christians, and cannot sacrifice to idols.” The governor then pronounced sentence—“As to those who refuse to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the imperial edicts, let them be first scourged and then beheaded, according to the laws.” The martyrs rejoiced and blessed God, and being led back to prison, were scourged and afterward beheaded. This took place at Home about the year 165. Thus slept in Jesus one of the early Fathers, and earned the glorious title “Martyr,” which usually accompanies his name. His writings have been carefully examined by many, and great importance is attached to them.
Short Papers on Church History
The behavior of the venerable bishop of Smyrna, in view of his martyrdom, was most christian and noble in its bearing. He was prepared and ready for his persecutors, without being rash or imprudent, as some at times, through excitement, had been. When he heard the shouts of the people, demanding his death, it was his intention to remain quietly in the city, and await the issue which God might ordain for him. But, by the entreaties of the Church, he suffered himself to be persuaded to take refuge in a neighboring village. Here he spent the time, with a few friends, occupied, night and day, in praying for all the churches throughout the world. But his pursuers soon discovered his retreat. When told that the public officers were at the door, he invited them in, ordered meat and drink to be set before them, and requested that they would indulge him with one hour of quiet prayer. But the fullness of his heart carried him through two hours. So that the pagans themselves were affected by his devotions, age, and appearance. He must have been over ninety years of age.
The time being now come, he was conveyed to the city. The proconsul does not appear to have been personally hostile to the Christians. He evidently felt for the aged Polycarp, and did what he could to save him. He urged him to swear by the genius of the Emperor, and give proof of his penitence. But Polycarp was calm and firm, with his eyes uplifted to heaven. The proconsul again urged him, saying, “Revile Christ, and I will release thee.” The old man now replied, “Six and eighty years have I served Him, and He has done me nothing but good; and how could I revile Him, my Lord and Savior?” The governor finding that both promises and threatenings were in vain, he caused it to be proclaimed by the herald in the circus, “Polycarphas declared himself to be a Christian.” The heathen populace, with an infuriated shout, replied, “This is the teacher of atheism, the father of the Christians, the enemy of our gods, by whom so many have been turned away from offering sacrifices.” The governor having yielded to the demands of the people, that Polycarp should die at the stake, Jews and pagans hastened together to bring wood for that purpose. As they were about to fasten him with nails to the stake of the pile, he said, “Leave me thus: He who has strengthened me to encounter the flames, will also enable me to stand firm at the stake.” Before the fire was lighted he prayed, “Lord, Almighty God, Father of thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have received from thee the knowledge of thyself; God of angels, and of the whole creation; of the human race, and of the just that live in thy presence; I praise thee that thou hast judged me worthy of this day and of this hour, to take part in the number of thy witnesses, in the cup of thy Christ.”
The fire was now kindled, but the flames played around the body, forming the appearance of a sail filled with wind. The superstitious Romans, fearing that the fire would not consume him, plunged a spear into his side, and Polycarp was crowned with victory.
These are but short extracts from the accounts that have been handed down to us of the martyrdom of the revered and venerable bishop. The martyrologies are full of particulars. But the Lord greatly blessed the Christ like way in which he suffered for the good of the Church. The rage of the people cooled down, as if satisfied with revenge; and their thirst for blood seemed quenched for the time. The proconsul too, being wearied with such slaughter, absolutely refused to have any more Christians brought before his tribunal. How manifest is the hand of the Lord in this wonderful and sudden change! He had limited the days of their tribulation before they were cast into the furnace, and now they are accomplished: and no power on earth or in hell can prolong them another hour. They had been faithful unto death and received the crown of life.
THE PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. A.D. 177.
We will now turn to the scene of the second persecution under this emperor’s reign. It took place in France, and exactly ten years after the persecution in Asia. There may have been other persecutions during these ten years, but, so far as we know, there are no authentic records of any till 177. The source from which we derive our knowledge of the details of this latter persecution is a circular letter from the churches of Lyons and Vienne to the churches in Asia. Whether there be any allusion to these ten historical years in the words of the Lord to the Church at Smyrna, we cannot say. Scripture does not say there is. Comparing the history with the epistle, the thought is likely to be suggested. “Ye shall have tribulation ten days.” In other parts of this mystical book, a day stands for a year, and so it may in the epistle to Smyrna. History gives us the beginning and the end as to time, and the east and west as to breadth of scene. But we will now look at some of the details, in which the resemblance may be more manifest.
Imprisonment was one of the main features of their sufferings. Many died from the suffocating air of the noisome dungeons. In this respect it differed from the persecution in Asia. The popular excitement rose even higher than at Smyrna. The Christians were insulted and abused whenever they appeared abroad, and even plundered in their own houses. As this popular fury burst forth during the absence of the governor, many were thrown into prison by the inferior magistrates to await his return. But the spirit of persecution on this occasion, though it sprang from the populace, was not confined to them. The governor, on his arrival, seems to have been infected with the fanaticism of the lower classes. To his dishonor as a magistrate, he began the examination of the prisoners with tortures. And the testimony of slaves, contrary to an ancient law in Rome, was not only received against their masters, but wrung from them by the severest sufferings. Consequently, they were ready to say what they were required, to escape the whip and the rack. Having proved, as they said, that the Christians practiced the most unnatural and worst of crimes in their meetings, they now believed that it was right to indulge themselves in every cruelty. No kindred, no condition, no age, nor sex was spared.
Vettius, a young man of birth and rank, and of great charity and fervency of spirit, on hearing that such charges were laid against his brethren, felt constrained to present himself before the governor as a witness of their innocence. He demanded a hearing, but the governor refused to listen, and only asked him if he too was a Christian? When he distinctly affirmed that he was, the governor ordered him to be thrown into prison with the rest. He afterward received the crown of martyrdom.
The aged bishop, Pothinus, now over ninety years of age, and probably the one who had brought the gospel to Lyons from Asia, was of course good prey for the lion of hell. He was afflicted with asthma and could scarcely breathe, but, notwithstanding, he must be seized and dragged before the authorities. “Who is the God of the Christians?” asked the governor. The old man quietly told him that he could only come to the knowledge of the true God by showing a right spirit. Those who surrounded the tribunal strove with each other in giving vent to their rage against the venerable bishop. He was ordered to prison, and after receiving many blows on his way thither, he was cast in among the rest, and in two days fell asleep in Jesus, in the arms of his suffering flock.
What a weight of comfort and encouragement the words of the blessed Lord must have been to these holy sufferers. “Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer,” had been addressed to the Church in Smyrna, and probably carried to the French churches of Lyons and Vienne by Fothinus. They were experiencing an exact fulfillment of this solemn and prophetic warning; “Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried.” They knew who was the great enemy—the great persecutor—though emperors, governors, and mobs might be his instruments. But the Lord was with His beloved suffering ones. He not only sustained and comforted them, but He brought out, in the most blessed way, the power of His own presence in the feeblest forms of humanity. This was, we venture to say, a new thing on the earth. The superiority of the Christians to all the inflictions of tortures, and to all the terrors of death, utterly astonished the multitude, stung to the quick their tormentors, and wounded the stoic pride of the emperor. What could be done with a people who prayed for their persecutors, and manifested the composure and tranquility of heaven, in the midst of the fires and wild beasts of the amphitheater? Take one example of what we affirm—an example worthy of all praise, in all time and in all eternity.
BLANDINA, a female slave, was distinguished above the rest of the martyrs for the variety of tortures she endured. Her mistress—who also suffered martyrdom—feared lest the faith of her servant might give way under such trials. But it was not so, the Lord be praised! Firm as a rock, but peaceful and unpretending, she endured the most excruciating sufferings. Her tormentors urged her to deny Christ, and confess that the private meetings of the Christians were only for their wicked practices, and they would cease their tortures. But, no! her only reply was, “I am a Christian, and there is no wickedness amongst us.” The scourge, the rack, the heated iron chair, and the wild beasts, had lost their terror for her. Her heart was fixed on Christ, and He kept her in spirit near to Himself. Her character was fully formed, not by her social condition, of course—that was the most debased in these times—but by her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the indwelling Holy Ghost.
Day after day she was brought forth as a public spectacle of suffering. Being a female and a slave, the heathen expected to force her to a denial of Christ, and to a confession that the Christians were guilty of the crimes reported against them. But it was all in vain. “I am a Christian, and there is no wickedness amongst us,” was her quiet but unvarying reply. Her constancy wearied out the inventive cruelty of her tormentors. They were astonished that she lived through the fearful succession of her sufferings. But in her greatest agonies she found strength and relief in looking to Jesus and witnessing for Him. “Blandina was endued with so much fortitude,” says the letter from the church at Lyons, written seventeen hundred years ago, “that those who successively tortured her from morning to night were quite worn out with fatigue, and owned themselves conquered and exhausted of their whole apparatus of tortures, and were amazed to see her still breathing whilst her body was torn and laid open.”
Before narrating the closing scene of her sufferings, we would notice what appears to us to be the secret of her great strength and constancy. Doubtless the Lord was sustaining her in a remarkable way as a witness for Him, and as a testimony to all ages of the power of Christianity over the human mind, compared with all the religions that there were or ever had been on the earth. Still, we would say particularly, that her humility and godly fear were the sure indications of her power against the enemy, and of her unfaltering fidelity to Christ. She was thus working out her own salvation—deliverance from the difficulties of the way—by a deep sense of her own conscious weakness, indicated by “fear and trembling.”
When on her way back from the amphitheater to the prison, in company with her fellow sufferers, they were surrounded by their sorrowing friends when they had an opportunity, and in their sympathy and love addressed them as “martyrs for Christ.” But this they instantly checked; saying, “We are not worthy of such an honor. The struggle is not over; and the dignified name of Martyr properly belongs to Him only who is the tine and faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the Prince of life; or, at least, only to those whose testimony Christ has sealed by their constancy to the end. We are but poor humble confessors.” With tears they besought their brethren to pray for them that they might be firm and true to the end. Thus their weakness was their strength, for it led them to lean on the mighty One. And so it always is, and ever has been, in small as well as in great trials. But a fresh sorrow awaited them on their return to the prison. They found some who had given way through natural fear, and had denied that they were Christians. But they had gained nothing thereby; Satan had not let them off. Under a charge of other crimes they were kept in prison. With these weak ones Blandina and the others prayed with many tears, that they might be restored and strengthened. The Lord answered their prayers, so that when they were brought up again for further examination, they steadfastly confessed their faith in Christ, and thus passed sentence of death on themselves, and received the crown of martyrdom.
Nobler names, as men would say, than Blandina’s, had passed off the bloody scene; and honored names too, that had witnessed with great fortitude; such as Vittius, Pothinus, Sanctus, Naturus, and Attalius; but the last day of her trial was come, and the last pain she was ever to feel, and the last tear she was ever to shed. She was brought up for her final examination with a youth of fifteen, named Ponticus. They were ordered to swear by the gods: they firmly refused, but were calm and unmoved. The multitude were incensed at their magnanimous patience. The whole round of barbarities were inflicted. Ponticus, though animated and strengthened by the prayers of his sister in Christ, soon sunk under the tortures, and fell asleep in Jesus.
And now came the noble and blessed Blandina, as the church styles her. Like a mother who was needed to comfort and encourage her children, she was kept to the last day of the games. She had sent her children on before, and was now longing to follow after them. They had joined the noble army of martyrs above, and were resting with Jesus, as weary warriors rest, in the peaceful paradise of God. After she had endured stripes, she was seated in a hot iron chair; then she was enclosed in a net and thrown to a bull; and having been tossed some time by the animal, a soldier plunged a spear into her side. No doubt she was dead long before the spear reached her, but in this she was honored to be like her Lord and Master. Bright indeed will be the crown amidst the many crowns in heaven, of the constant, humble, patient, enduring Blandina.
But the fierce and savage rage of the heathen, instigated by Satan, had not yet reached its height. They began a new war with the dead bodies of the saints. Their blood had not satiated them. They must have their ashes. Hence the mutilated bodies of the martyrs were collected and burned, and thrown into the river Rhone, with the fire that consumed them, lest a particle should be left to pollute the land. But rage, however fierce, will finally expend itself; and nature, however savage, will become weary of bloodshed; and so many Christians survived this terrible persecution.
We have thus gone, more than usual, into details in speaking of the persecutions under Marcus Aurelius. So far, they are a fulfillment, we believe, of the solemn and prophetic warnings of the address to Smyrna; and also, in a remarkable manner, of the Lord’s promised grace. The sufferers were filled and animated by His own Spirit. “Even their persecutors,” says Neander, “were never mentioned by them with resentment; but they prayed that God would forgive those who had subjected them to such cruel sufferings. They left a legacy to their brethren, not of strife and war, but of peace and joy, unanimity and love.”
Short Papers on Church History
In tracing the silver line of God’s grace in His beloved people, we have now to notice a report which was widely spread among the Christians after the beginning of the third century. It occurred towards the close of the reign of Aurelius, and led him, it is said, to change the course of his policy towards the Christians. In one of his campaigns against the Germans and Sarmatians—who were then called barbarians—he was thrown into a situation of extreme peril. The burning sun shone full in the faces of his soldiers; they were hemmed in by the barbarians; they were exhausted by wounds and fatigue, and parched with thirst; while, at the same time, the enemy was preparing to attack them. In this extremity, the twelfth legion, said to be composed of Christians, stepped forward and knelt down in prayer; suddenly the sky was overspread with clouds, and the rain began to fall heavily. The Roman soldiers took off their helmets to catch the refreshing drops; but the shower speedily increased to a storm of hail, accompanied with thunder and lightning, which so alarmed the barbarians that the Romans gained an easy victory.
The emperor, so struck with such a miraculous answer to prayer, acknowledged the interposition of the God of the Christians, conferred honors on the legion, and issued an edict in favor of their religion. After this, if not before, they were called “the thundering legion.” Historians, from Eusebius down, have noticed this remarkable occurrence.
But, like a tale that is often told, many things have been added to it. There is good reason to believe, however, that a providential answer in favor of the Romans was given to prayer. This much seems quite evident. And to faith there is nothing incredible in such an event; though some of the circumstances related are questionable. For example, a Roman legion at that time would probably number five thousand men; and there may have been a great many Christians in the twelfth—which was a distinguished legion—yet it would be hard to believe that they were all Christians.
On their return from the war, they no doubt related to their brethren the merciful intervention of God in answer to prayer; and which the Church would record and spread amongst the Christians to His praise and glory. But the facts are even more fully confirmed by the Romans. They also believed that the deliverance came from heaven, but in answer to the prayers of the emperor to the gods. Hence the event was commemorated, after their usual manner on columns, medals, and paintings. On these the emperor is represented as stretching forth his hands in supplication, the army as catching the rain in their helmets; and Jupiter as launching forth his bolts on the barbarians, who he slain on the ground.
A few years after this remarkable event, Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher and the persecutor, died. Great changes quickly followed. The glory of the empire, and the effort to maintain the dignity of the old Roman religion, expired with himself; but Christianity made great and rapid advancement. Men of ability and learning were raised up about this time, who boldly and powerfully advocated its claims with their pens. These are called Apologists. TERTULLIAN, an African, who is said to have been born A.D. 160, may be considered as the ablest and the most perfect type of this class.
The more enlightened of the heathen now began to feel that if their religion was to withstand the aggressive power of the gospel, it must be defended and reformed. Hence the controversy commenced; and one Celsus, an Epicurean philosopher, said to be born in the same year as Tertullian, stood forth as the leader on the controversial side of Paganism. From about this period—the closing years of the second century-church records become more in-foresting, because more definite and reliable. But before proceeding farther with the general history, it may be well to retrace our steps and glance briefly at the internal history of the Church from the beginning. We shall thus see how some of the things which are still observed, and with which we are familiar, were first introduced.
CHAPTER 9.
The Internal History of The Church.
Here we step once more on sure ground. We have the privilege and satisfaction of appealing to the sacred writings. Before the canon of scripture was closed, many of the errors, both in doctrine and practice, which have since troubled and rent in pieces the professing Church, were allowed to spring up. These were detected and exposed by the inspired apostles, in the wisdom and grace of God. If we keep this in mind, we shall not be surprised to meet with many things in the internal history of the Church entirely contrary to scripture. Neither need we have any difficulty in withstanding them. We have been armed by the apostles. The love of office and pre-eminence in the Church was manifested at an early period, and many observances of mere official invention were added. The “grain of mustard seed” became a great tree—the symbol of political power on the earth: this was and is the outward aspect of Christendom; but inwardly the leaven did its evil work, “till the whole was leavened.”
Those who have carefully studied Matt. 13 with other passages in the Acts and the epistles relating to the profession of the name of Christ, should have a very correct idea of both the early and later history of the Church. It embraces the entire period, from the sowing of the seed by the Son of man, until the harvest, though under the similitude of the kingdom of heaven. This is a great relief to the mind, and prepares us for many a dark and distressing scene, wickedly perpetrated under the fair name and cloak of Christianity. We will now turn to some of these passages.
1. Our blessed Lord, in the parable of the wheat and tares, predicts what would take place. “The kingdom of heaven,” He says, “is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” In course of time “the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit.” This was the rapid spread of Christianity in the earth. But we also read “then appeared the tares also.” These were false professors of Christ’s name. The Lord Jesus sowed good seed. Satan, through the carelessness and infirmity of man, sowed tares. But what was to be done with them? Were they to be rooted out of the kingdom? The Lord says, No; “lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest;” that is, till the end of the age or dispensation when the Lord comes in judgment.
But here, some may inquire, Does the Lord mean that the wheat and the tares are to grow together in the Church? Certainly not. They were not to be rooted out of the field, but to be put out of the Church when manifested as wicked persons. The Church and the kingdom are quite distinct, though the one may be said to be in the other. The field is the world, not the Church. The limits of the kingdom stretch far beyond the limits of the true Church of God. Christ builds the Church; men have to do with extending the proportions of Christendom. If the expression, “the kingdom of heaven,” meant the same as “the Church of God,” there ought to be no discipline at all. Whereas the apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, expressly says, “Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” But he was not to be put out of the kingdom, for that could only be done by taking away his life.
The wheat and the tares are to grown together in the field until the harvest. Then the Lord Himself, in His providence, will deal with the tares. They shall be bound in bundles and cast into the fire. Nothing then can be plainer than the Lord’s teaching in this parable. The tares are to be put away from the Lord’s table, but not rooted out of the field. The Church was not to use worldly punishments in dealing with ecclesiastical offenders. But, alas, the very thing which the Lord is here guarding His disciples against came to pass, as the long list of martyrs so painfully shows. Pains and penalties were brought in as discipline, and the refractory were handed over to the civil power to be punished with fire and sword.
2. In Acts 20 we read that “grievous wolves” would make their appearance in the Church after the departure of the apostle. In Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians—supposed to be his first inspired epistles—he tells them that the mystery of iniquity was already at work, and that other evil things would follow. In writing to the Philippians he tells them, weeping, that many walk as “the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Many were calling themselves Christians, but minding earthly things. Such a state of things could not escape the spiritual eye of him whose one object was Christ in glory, and practical conformity to His ways when on earth. In his Second Epistle to Timothy—probably the last he ever wrote—he compares Christendom to “a great house,” in which are all manner of vessels, “some to honor, and some to dishonor.” This is a picture of the outward universal church. Nevertheless, the Christian cannot leave it, and individual responsibility can never cease. But he is to clear himself from all that is contrary to the name of the Lord. The directions are most plain and precious for the spiritually minded in all ages. The Christian must have no association with that which is untrue. Such is the meaning of purging himself from the vessels to dishonor. He is to clear himself from all that is not to the Lord’s honor. John and the other apostles speak of the same things, and give the same divine directions; but we need not here pursue them further. Enough has been pointed out to prepare the reader for what we must meet with in that which calls itself Christian.
THE IMMEDIATE FOLLOWERS OF THE APOSTLES.
Here an important question arises, and one that has been often asked, At what time, and by what means, did clericalism—the whole system of clergy—gain so firm a footing in the professing church? To answer this question fully would be to write in detail the internal history of the Church. Its growth and organization were gradual. The constitution and character of the christian Church were wholly changed by the introduction of the clerical system. In short, it was recast in the mold of Judaism. The distinction between bishops and presbyters, between a priestly order and the common priesthood of all believers, and the multiplication of church offices, followed rapidly as consequences. But, however obscure and difficult to trace many of the details of clericalism may be, we have no doubt as to its real source—the synagogue was its model.
We learn from the whole of the New Testament that Judaism was the unwearied and unrelenting enemy of Christianity in every point of view. It labored incessantly, on the one hand to introduce its rites and ceremonies; and on the other, to persecute unto the death all who were faithful to Christ and to the true principles of the Church of God. This we see especially from the Acts and the Epistles. But when the extraordinary gifts in the Church ceased, and when the noble defenders of the faith, in the persons of the inspired apostles, passed away, we may easily imagine how Judaism would prevail. Besides, the early churches way, chiefly composed of converts from the Jewish synagogue, who long retained their Jewish prejudices.
Clericalism, then, we firmly believe, sprang from Judaism. From the days of the apostles until now the root of the whole fabric and dominion of clericalism is there. Philosophy and heresy, no doubt, did much to corrupt the Church and lead her to join hands with the world; but the order of the clergy and all that belongs to it must be founded on the Jews’ religion. It is more than probable, however, that many may have been persuaded then, as many have been since, that Christianity is a continuation of Judaism, in place of being its perfect contrast. The Judaizing teachers boldly affirmed that Christianity was merely a graft on Judaism. But throughout the epistles we everywhere learn that the one was earthly and the other heavenly; that the one belonged to the old, and the other to the new creation; that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
We will now return to the immediate followers of the apostles.
The apostolical fathers, as they are called, such as Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, and Barnabas, were the immediate followers of the inspired apostles. They had listened to their instructions, labored with them in the gospel, and probably had been familiarly acquainted with them. But, notwithstanding the high privileges which they enjoyed as scholars of the apostles, they very soon departed from the doctrines which had been committed to them, especially as to church government. They seem to have completely forgotten—judging from the epistles which bear their names—the great New Testament truth of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the assembly. Surety both John and Paul speak much of the presence, indwelling, sovereign rule, and authority of the Holy Spirit in the Church. John 13-15, Acts 2 Cor. 12; 14, Eph. 1-4 give plain directions and instructions on this fundamental truth of the Church of God. Had this truth been maintained according to the apostle’s exhortation, “Endeavoring to keep”—not to make—“the unity of the Spirit,” clericalism could never have found a place in Christendom.
The new teachers of the Church seem also to have forgotten the beautiful simplicity of the divine order in the Church. There were only two orders of office bearers—ciders and deacons. The one was appointed to attend to the temporal, the other to the spiritual need of the assembly of the saints. Elder or bishop simply means overseer, one who takes a spiritual oversight. He may have been “apt to teach,” or he may not; he was not an ordained teacher, but an ordained overseer. And as for the institutions of divine appointment, we only find in the New Testament, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Nothing could be more simple, more easily understood, or more plain, as to all the directions given for faith and practice; but there was no room left for the exaltation and glory of man in the Church of God. The Holy Ghost had come down to take the lead in the assembly, according to the word of the Lord, and the promise of the Father; and no Christian, however gifted, believing this, could take the place of leader, and thus practically displace the Holy Spirit. But, from the moment that this truth was lost sight of, men began to contend for place and power, and of course the Holy Spirit had no longer His right place in the assembly.
Scarcely had the voice of inspiration become silent in the Church, than we hear the voice of the new teachers crying loudly and earnestly for the highest honors being paid to the bishop, and a supreme place being given to him. Not a word about the Spirit’s place as sovereign ruler in the Church of God. This is evident from the epistles of Ignatius, said to have been written A.D. 107. Many great names, we are aware, have questioned their authenticity; and many great names contend that they have been satisfactorily proved to be genuine. The proofs on either side lie outside of our line. The Church of England has long accepted them as genuine, and consider them as the basis, and as the triumphant vindication of the antiquity of episcopacy. The following are a few specimens of his admonitions to the Churches.
Short Papers on Church History
Ignatius, in the course of his journey from Antioch to Rome, wrote seven epistles. One to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrneans, and one to his friend Polycarp. Being written on the eve of his martyrdom, and with great earnestness and vehemence, and having been the disciple and friend of St. John, and at that time bishop of Antioch, probably the most renowned in Christendom, his epistles must have produced a great impression on the Churches; besides, the way to office, authority, and power has always a great charm for vain human nature.
In writing to the Church at Ephesus he says, “Let us take heed, brethren, that we set not ourselves against the bishop, that we may be subject to God.........It is therefore evident that we ought to look upon the bishop even as we do upon the Lord Himself.” In his epistle to the Magnesians he says, “I exhort you that ye study to do all things in a divine concord: your bishops presiding in the place of God; your presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles; and your deacons, most dear to me, being entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ.” We find the same strain in his letter to the Trallians: “Whereas ye are subject to your bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear to me to live, not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ who died for us.........Guard yourselves against such persons; and that you will do if you are not puffed up: but continue inseparable from Jesus Christ our God, and from your bishop, and from the commands of the apostles.” Passing over several of his letters to the churches, we will only give one more specimen from his epistle to the Philadelphians: “I cried whilst I was among you, I spake with a loud voice—attend to the bishop, and to the presbytery, and to the deacons. Now some supposed that I spake this as foreseeing the division that should come among you. But He is my witness for whose sake I am in bonds, that I knew nothing from any man; but the Spirit spake, saying on this wise: Do nothing without the bishop; keep your bodies as the temples of God; love unity; flee divisions; be the followers of Christ, as he was of His Father.”
In the last quotation it is verse evident that the venerable father wishes to add to his theories the weight of inspiration. But, however extravagant and unaccountable this idea may be, we must give him credit for honesty and sincerity. That be was a devout Christian, and full of religious zeal, no one can doubt; but that he greatly deceived himself in this and in other matters there can be as little doubt. The leading idea in all his letters is the perfect submission of the people to their rulers, or of the laity to their clergy. He was, no doubt, anxious for the welfare of the Church, and fearing the effect of the “divisions” which he refers to, he probably thought that a strong government, in the hands of rulers, would be the best means of preserving it from the inroads of error. “Give diligence,” he says, “to be established in the doctrine of our Lord and the apostles, together with your most worthy bishop, and the well-woven spiritual crown of your presbytery, and your godly deacons. Be subject to your bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh; and as the apostles to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit; that so there may be a union among you both in body and in spirit.” Thus the miter was placed on the head of the highest dignitary, and henceforth became the object of ecclesiastical ambition, and not un-frequently of the most unseemly contention, with all their demoralizing consequences.
CLERICALISM, MINISTRY, AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.
It is assumed that these epistles were written only a few years after the death of St. John, and that the writer must have been intimately acquainted with his mind, and was only carrying out his views. Hence it is said, that episcopacy is coeval with Christianity. But it matters comparatively little by whom they were written, or the precise time; they are not scripture, and the reader must judge of their character by the word of God, and of their influence by the history of the Church. The mind of the Lord, concerning His Church, and the responsibility of His people, must be learned from His own word, and not from the writings of any father, however early or esteemed. And here, it may be well, before leaving this point, to place before our readers a few portions of the word, which they will do well to compare with the above extracts. They refer to Christian ministry and individual responsibility. Thus learn the mighty difference between ministry and office; or, between being esteemed for your work’s sake, not merely office sake.
In the Gospel of St. Matthew, from verse 45 of chapter 24 to verse 31 of chapter 25, we have three parables, in which the Lord addresses the disciples as to their conduct during His absence.
1. The subject of the first is the responsibility of ministry within the house—in the Church. “Whose house are we.” Thus we read, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” Real ministry is of the Lord and of Him alone. This is what we have to note in view of what took place on the very threshold of Christianity. And He makes much of faithfulness or unfaithfulness in His house. His people are near and dear to His heart. Those who have been humble and faithful during His absence will be made rulers over all His goods when He returns. The true minister of Christ has to do directly with Himself. He is the hireling of no man, or of any particular body of men. “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” Failure in ministry is also spoken of and dealt with by the Lord Himself.
“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite His fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.” This is the other and sad side of the picture. The character of ministry is greatly affected by holding or rejecting the truth of the Lord’s coming. In place of devoted service to the household, with his heart set on the master’s approval, on his return, there is assumption, tyranny, and worldliness. The doom of such, when the Lord comes, will be worse than that of the world. “He shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrite”—Judas’ place—where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Such are the fearful consequences of forgetfulness of the Lord’s return. But this is more than a mere doctrinal mistake, or a difference of opinion about the coming of the Lord. It was “in his heart,” his will was concerned in it. He wished in his heart that the Lord would stay away, as His coming would spoil all his schemes, and bring to a close all his worldly greatness. Is not this too true a picture of what has happened? and what a solemn lesson for those who take to themselves a place of service in the Church. The mere appointment of the sovereign, or the choice of the people, will not be enough in that day, unless they have also been the chosen of the Lord and faithful in His house.
2. In the second parable, professing Christians, during the Lord’s absence, are represented as virgins who went out to meet the Bridegroom and light Him to His house. This was the attitude of the early Christians. They came out from the world, and from Judaism, to go forth and meet the Bridegroom. But we know what happened. He tarries: they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.” From the first, till the beginning of the present century, we hear very little about the coming of the Lord. Now and then, here and there, a feeble voice may be heard on the subject; but not until the early part of the present century did the midnight cry go forth. Now we have many tracts and volumes on the subject, and many are preaching it in nearly all lands under heaven. The midnight is past, the morning cometh.
The revival of the truth of the Lord’s coming marks a distinct epoch in the history of the Church. And, like all revivals, it was the work of the Holy Spirit, and that by instruments of his own choosing, and by means which He saw fitting. And how like the Lord’s long suffering, that in this great movement there should be time given between the cry and the arrival of the Bridegroom to prove the condition of each. Five of the ten virgins had no oil in their lamps—no Christ, no Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They had only the outward lamp of profession. How awfully solemn the thought, if we look at Christendom from this point of view! Five of every ten are unreal, and against whom the door will be shut forever. How this thought should move to earnestness and energy in evangelizing! May we wisely improve the time thus graciously given between the going forth of the midnight cry, and the coming of the Bridegroom.
3. In the first parable, it is ministry inside the house; in the third, it is ministry outside the house—evangelizing. In the second parable, it is the personal expectation of the Lord’s coming, with the possession of that which is requisite to go in with Him to the marriage supper of the King’s son.
“The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave live talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.’ Here the Lord is represented as leaving this world and going back to heaven; and while He is gone there, His servants are to trade with the talents committed to them. “Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.” Here we have the true principle and the true character of christian ministry. The Lord Himself called the servants and gave them the talents, and the servant is responsible to the Lord Himself for the fulfillment of his calling. The exercise of gift, whether inside or outside the house, although subject to the directions of the word, and always to be exercised in love and for blessing, is in no wise dependent on the will of sovereign, priest, or people, but on Christ only, the true Head of the Church. It is a grave and solemn thing for anyone to interfere with Christ’s claims on the service of His servant. To touch this is to set aside responsibility to Christ, and to overthrow the fundamental principle of Christianity.
Priesthood was the distinguishing characteristic of the Jewish dispensation; ministry, according to God, is characteristic of the Christian period. Hence the utter failure of the professing church, when it sought to imitate Judaism in so many ways—both in its priesthood and its ritualism. If a priestly order, with rites and ceremonies, be still necessary, the efficacy of the work of Christ is called in question, In fact, though not in words, it strikes at the root of Christianity. But all is settled by the word of God. “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God: from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.........Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” Heb. 10:1-25.
Ministry, then, is a subject of the highest dignity and the deepest interest. It testifies to the work, the victory, and the glory of Jesus, that the lost may be saved. It is the activity of God’s love going out to an alien and ruined world, and earnestly beseeching souls to be reconciled to Him. “ God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:19-21.) Jewish priesthood maintained the people in their relations with God; christian ministry is God in grace delivering souls from sin and ruin, and bringing them near to Himself, as happy worshippers in the most holy place.
To return to our parable. There is one thing specially to be noticed here, as showing the Lord’s sovereignty and wisdom in connection with ministry. He gave differently to each, and to each according to his ability. Each one had a natural capacity which fitted him for the service in which he was employed, and gifts bestowed, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, for its fulfillment. “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” (Eph. 4) The servant must have certain natural qualifications for his work, besides the power of the Spirit of God. If the Lord calls a man to preach the gospel, there will be a natural ability for it. Then the Lord may create in his heart by the Holy Spirit a real love for souls, which is the best gift of the evangelist. Then he ought to stir up and exercise his gift according to his ability, for the blessing of souls and the glory of God. May we remember that we are responsible for these two things: the gift graciously bestowed, and the ability in which the gift is to be exercised. When the Lord comes to reckon with His servants, it will not be enough to say, I was never educated for, or appointed to, the ministry. The question will be, Did I wait on the Lord to be used by Him according to what He had fitted me for? or did I hide my talent in the earth? Faithfulness or unfaithfulness to Him will be the only thing in question.
That which distinguished the faithful from the unfaithful servant was confidence in their master. The unfaithful servant knew not the Lord: he acted from fear, not from love, and so hid his one talent in the earth. The faithful knew the Lord, trusted Him, and served from love, and were rewarded. Love is the only true spring of service for Christ, either in the Church or in the outside world. May we never be found making excuses for ourselves, like the “wicked and slothful” servant, but be ever reckoning on the love, grace, truth, and power of our blessed Savior and Lord.
Short Papers on Church History
It may be only fair to suppose that those good men, by whose means a new order of things was brought into the Church, and the free ministry of the Holy Spirit in the members of the body excluded, had the welfare of the Church at heart. It is evident that Ignatius, by this arrangement, hoped to avoid “divisions.” But, however good our motives may be, it is the height of human folly—if not worse—to interfere with or seek to change the order of God. This was Eve’s mistake, and we all know the consequences too well. It was also the original sin of the Church, and from which it has suffered these eighteen hundred years.
The Holy Ghost sent down from heaven is the only power of ministry; but the Lord must be left free to choose and employ His own servants. Human arrangements and appointments necessarily interfere with the liberty of the Spirit. They quench the Holy Spirit. He only knows where the ability is, and where, when, and how to dispense the gifts. Speaking of the Church as it was in the days of the apostles, it is said, “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he [the Holy Ghost] will.” And again we read, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal,” or for the profit of all. (1 Cor. 12) Here all is in divine hands. The Holy Spirit dispenses the gift. It is to be exercised in acknowledgment of the lordship of Christ; and God gives efficacy to the ministry. What a ministry! Spirit, Lord and God: its source, power, and character. How great, how sad the change, to king, prelate, or people! Is not this apostasy? But while we object to mere human appointment to office, qualified or not qualified, we would contend most earnestly for the ministry of the word to both saints and shiners.
The Church, alas, soon found that to hinder ministry, as it is set before us in the word of God, and introduce a new order of things, did not hinder divisions, heresies, and false teachers springing up. True, the flesh, in the most real and gifted Christian, may manifest itself, but when the Spirit of God is acting in power, and the authority of the word owned, the remedy is at hand: the evil will be judged in humility and faithfulness to Christ. From this time—the beginning of the second century, and before it—the Church was greatly disturbed by heresies; and as time rolled on, things never grew better, but always worse.
IRENÆUS, a Christian of great celebrity, who succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyons, A.D. 177, has left us much information on the subject of the early heresies. He is supposed to have written about the year 183. His great book “against heresies” is said to contain a defense of the holy catholic faith, and an examination and refutation of the false doctrines advocated by the principal heretics.
The Origin of The Distinction Between Clergy And Laity.
Christianity at the beginning had no separate priestly order. Its first converts went everywhere preaching the Lord Jesus. They were the first to spread abroad the glad tidings of salvation, even before the apostles themselves had left Jerusalem. (Acts 8:11.) In course of time, when converts were found sufficient in any place to form an assembly, they came together in the name of the Lord on the first day of the week, to break bread, and to edify one another in love. (Acts 20:7.) When the opportunity came for an apostle to visit such gatherings, he ordained elders to take the spiritual oversight of the little flock; deacons were chosen by the assembly. This was the entire constitution of the first churches. If the Lord raised up an evangelist and souls were converted, they were baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This was of course outside the assembly, and not a church act. After due examination by the spiritual as to the genuineness of the evangelist’s work, and the assembly being satisfied, they were received into communion.
It will be seen, from this brief sketch of the divine order of the churches, that there was no distinction such as “the clergy,” and “the laity.” All stood on the same ground as to priesthood, worship, and nearness to God. As the Apostles Peter and John say, “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” And thus could the whole assembly sing, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” The only priesthood then, in the Church of God, is the common priesthood of all believers. The humblest menial in the palace of the archbishop, if washed in the blood of Christ, is whiter than snow, and fitted to enter the most holy place and worship within the veil.
There is no outer court worship now. The separation of a privileged class—a sacerdotal order, is unknown in the New Testament. The distinction between clergy and laity was suggested by Judaism, and human invention soon made it great; but it was episcopal ordination that established the distinction and widened the separation. The bishop gradually assumed the title of Pontiff. The presbyters, and at length the deacons, became, as well as the bishops, a sacred order. The place of mediation and of greater nearness to God was assumed by the priestly caste, and also of authority over the laity. In place of God speaking direct to the heart and conscience by His own word, and the heart and conscience brought direct into the presence of God, it was priesthood coming in between them. Thus the word of God was lost sight of, and faith stood in the opinions of men. The blessed Lord Jesus, as the Great High Priest of His people, and as the one Mediator between God and men, was thus practically displaced and set aside.
Thus, alas, we see in the Church what has been true of man from Adam downwards. Everything that has been entrusted to man has failed. From the time that the responsibility of maintaining the Church as the pillar and ground of the truth fell into man’s hands, there has been nothing but failure. The word of God, however, remains the same, and its authority can never fail, blessed be His name. One of the main objects of these “Short Papers” is to recall the reader’s attention to the principles and order of the Church, as taught in the New Testament. “God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” That is, we must worship and serve Him according to the truth, and under the guidance and unction of the Holy Spirit, if we would glorify His name and worship and serve Him acceptably.
Almost all ecclesiastical writers affirm that neither the Lord Himself nor His apostles gave any distinct precepts as to the order and government of the Church—that such things were left to the wisdom and prudence of her office bearers and the character of the times. By this assumption the widest range was given to the human will. We know the consequences. Man sought his own glory. The simplicity of the New Testament, the lowly path of the Lord and His apostles, the zeal and self-denial of a Paid, all were overlooked, and worldly greatness soon became the object and ambition of the clergy. A brief sketch of the bishop’s office will set these things in a clear light, and, we doubt not, will greatly interest our readers.
WHAT WAS A BISHOP IN EARLY TIMES?
The humblest peasant is familiar with the grandeur and worldly greatness of a bishop; but he may not know how a minister of Christ and a successor of the humble fishermen of Galilee came to such dignity. In the days of the apostles, and for more than a hundred years after, the office of a bishop was a laborious but “good work.” He had the charge of a single church, which might ordinarily be contained in a private house. He was not then as a “lord over God’s heritage,” but in reality its minister and servant, instructing the people and attending on the sick and poor in person. The presbyters, no doubt, assisted in the management of the general affairs of the Church, and also the deacons; but the bishop had the chief part of the service. He had no authority, however, to decree or sanction anything without the approval of the presbytery and people. There was no thought then of “inferior clergy” under him. And at that time the churches had no revenues, except the voluntary contributions of the people, which, moderate as they doubtless were, would leave a very small emolument for the bishop, after the poor and needy were attended to.
But in those early times office-bearers in the Church continued, in all probability, to carry on their former trades and occupations, supporting themselves and their families in the same manner as before. A bishop, says Paul, “must be given to hospitality.” And this he could not have been had he depended for his income on the earnings of the poor. It was not until about the year 245 that the clergy received a salary, and were forbidden to follow their worldly employments; but towards the close of the second century, circumstances arose in the history of the Church which greatly affected the original humility and simplicity of its overseers, and which tended to the corruption of the priestly order. “This change began,” says Waddington, “towards the end of the second century; and it is certain that at this period we find the first complaints of the incipient corruption of the clergy.” From the moment that the interests of the ministers became at all distinguished from the interests of Christianity, many and great changes for the worse may be considered to have begun. We will notice some of these circumstances; and first,
THE ORIGIN OF DIOCESES.
The bishops who lived in cities, either by their own preaching or by the preaching of others—presbyters, deacons, or people—were the means of gathering new churches in the neighboring towns and villages. These young assemblies, very naturally, continued under the care and protection of the city churches, by whose means they had received the gospel and were formed into churches. Ecclesiastical provinces were thus gradually formed, winch the Greeks afterward denominated dioceses. The city bishops claimed the privilege of appointing office-bearers to these rural churches; and the persons to whom they committed their instruction and care were called district bishops. These formed a new class, coming in between the bishops and the presbyters, being considered inferior to the former and superior to the latter. Thus distinctions and divisions were created, and offices multiplied.
THE ORIGIN OF THE METROPOLITAN BISHOP.
Churches thus constituted and regulated rapidly increased throughout the empire. In the management of their internal affairs, every church was essentially distinct from every other, though walking in spiritual fellowship with all others, and considered as part of the one Church of God. But, as the number of believers increased and churches were extended, diversities in doctrine and discipline sprang up, which could not always be settled in the individual assemblies. This gave rise to councils or synods. These were composed chiefly of those who took part in the ministry. But when the deputies of the churches were thus assembled, it was soon discovered that the control of a president was required. Unless the government of the Holy Spirit in the Church be owned and submitted to, there must be anarchy without a president. The bishop of the capital of the province was usually appointed to preside, under the lofty title of the Metropolitan. On his return home it was hard to lay aside these occasional honors, so he very soon claimed the personal and permanent dignity of the Metropolitan.
The bishops and presbyters up till about this time were generally viewed as equal in rank, or the same thing; the terms being used synonymously; but now the former considered themselves as invested with supreme power in the guidance of the Church, and were determined to maintain themselves in this authority. The presbyters refused to concede to them this new and self-assumed dignity, and sought to maintain their own independence. Hence arose the great controversy between the presbyterian and the episcopalian systems, which has continued until this day, and of which we may speak more particularly hereafter. Enough has been said to show the reader the beginning of many things which still live before us in the professing church. In the consecrated order of clergy he will find the germ out of which sprang at length the whole mediaeval priesthood, the laws of celibacy, and the fearful corruptions of the dark ages.
Having thus glanced at what was going on inside the Church from the beginning, and especially amongst her rulers, we will now resume the general history from the death of M. Aurelius.
Short Papers on Church History
Christianity, under the successors of Aurelius, enjoyed a season of comparative repose and tranquility. The depravity of the contemptible Commodus was overruled to subserve the interests of the Christians after their long sufferings under his father; and the brief reign of many of the emperors left them no leisure to war against the aggressions of Christianity. “During little more than a century,” says Milman, “from the accession of Commodus to that of Dioclesian, more than twenty emperors flitted like shadows along the tragic scene of the imperial palace. The empire of the world became the prize of bold adventure, or the precarious gift of a lawless soldiery. A long line of military adventurers, often strangers to the name, to the race, to the language of Rome—Africans, Pyreans, Arabs, and Goths—seized the quickly shifting scepter of the world. The change of sovereign was almost always a change of dynasty, or, by some strange fatality, every attempt to re-establish an hereditary succession was thwarted by the vices or imbecility of the second generation.”
Thus the Christians had about a hundred years of comparative rest and peace. There were, no doubt, many cases of persecution and martyrdom during that period, but such cases were more the result of personal hostility in some individual than from any systematic policy pursued by the government against Christianity. The first and commanding object of each succeeding emperor was to secure his contested throne. They had no time to devote to the suppression of Christianity, or to the social and religious changes within the empire. Thus the great Head of the Church—who is also “head over all things to the church”—made the weakness and insecurity of the throne the indirect means of the strength and prosperity of the Church.
But although the reign of Commodus was. generally favorable to the progress of Christianity, there was one remarkable instance of persecution which we must note.
APOLLONIUS, a Roman senator, renowned for learning and philosophy, was a sincere Christian. Many of the nobility of Rome, with their whole families, embraced Christianity about this time. The dignity of the Roman senate felt itself lowered by such innovations. This led, it is supposed, to the accusation of Apollonius before the magistrate. His accuser, under an old and unrepealed law of Antoninus Pius, which enacted grievous punishments against the accusers of Christians, was sentenced to death and executed. The magistrate asked the prisoner, Apollonius, to give an account of his faith before the senate and the court. He complied, and boldly confessed his faith in Christ; in consequence of which, by a decree of the senate, he was beheaded. It is said by some to be the only trial recorded in history where both the accused and the accuser suffered judicially. But the Lord’s hand was in it, high above both the accuser and the magistrate, Perennius, who condemned them both. From this period many families of distinction and opulence in Rome professed Christianity, and sometimes we meet with Christians in the imperial family.
After a reign of about twelve years, the unworthy son of Aurelius died from the effects of a poisoned cup of wine.
PERTINAX, immediately upon the death of Commodus, was elected by the senate to the throne; but after a brief reign of sixty-six days was killed in an insurrection. A civil war followed, and Septimus Severus ultimately obtained the sovereign power in Rome.
Christianity Under The Reign Of Severus. A.D. 194- 210.
In the early part of the reign of Severus he was rather favorable to the Christians. A christian slave, named Proculus, was the means of restoring the emperor to health, by anointing him with oil. This remarkable cure, no doubt in answer to prayer, gave the Christians great favor in the eyes of Severus. Proculus received an honorable position in the imperial family, and a christian nurse and a christian tutor were engaged to form the character of the young prince. He also protected from the popular indignation men and women of the highest rank in Rome—senators, their wives and families—who had embraced Christianity. But, alas, all this favor towards the Christians was merely the result of local circumstances. The laws remained the same, and violent persecutions broke out against them in particular provinces.
Persecutions Under Severus. A.D. 202.
It was not till about the tenth year of his reign that the native ferocity of his dark and relentless mind was manifested against the Christians. In 202, after his return from the East, where he had gained great victories, and no doubt lifted up with pride, he put forth his hand and impiously dared to arrest the progress of Christianity—the chariot of the gospel. He passed a law which forbade, under severe penalties, that any of his subjects should become either Jews or Christians. This law, as a matter of course, kindled a severe persecution against young converts and Christians in general. It stimulated their enemies to all kinds of violence. Large sums of money were extorted from timid Christians by some of the venal governors as the price of peace. This practice, though yielded to by some for the sake of life and liberty, was strongly denounced by others. It was considered by the more zealous as degrading to Christianity, and an ignominious barter of the hopes and glories of martyrdom. Still the persecution does not appear to have been general. It left its deepest traces in Egypt and Africa.
At Alexandria, Leonides, father of the famous Origen, suffered martyrdom. Young people at schools, who were receiving a christian education, were subjected to severe tortures, and some of their teachers were seized and burned. The young Origen distinguished himself at this time by his active and fearless labors in the now almost deserted schools. He longed to follow in his father’s footsteps, and rather sought than shunned the crown of martyrdom. But it was in Africa—a place we only think of now as a dark, miserable, and thinly peopled desert—that the silver line of God’s marvelous grace was most distinctly marked in the heavenly patience and fortitude of the holy sufferers. “We must indulge our readers with a few brief details.
The Persecution In Africa.
Historians say, that in no part of the Roman Empire had Christianity taken more deep and permanent root than in the province of Africa. Then it was crowded with rich and populous cities. The African type of Christianity was entirely different to the Egyptian. The former was earnest and impassioned, the latter dreamy and speculative, through the evil influence of Platonism. Tertullian belongs to this period, and is a true type of the difference we have referred to; but more of this further on. We will now notice some of the African martyrs.
Perpetua And Her Companions.
Amongst others who were apprehended and martyred in Africa during this persecution, Perpetua and her companions, in all histories, hold a distinguished place. The history of their martyrdom not only bears throughout the stamp of circumstantial truth, but abounds with the most exquisite touches of natural feeling and affection. Here we see the beautiful combination of the tenderest feelings and the strongest affections, which Christianity recognizes in all their rights, and makes even more profound and tender; but yet causes all to be sacrificed on the altar of entire devotedness to Him who died entirely devoted to us. “Who loved me,” as appropriating faith says, “and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20.
At Carthage, in the year 202, three young men, Revocatus, Saturnius, and Secundulus, and two young women, Perpetua, and Felicitas, were arrested, all of them being still catechumens, or candidates for baptism and communion. Perpetua was of a good family, wealthy and noble, of liberal education, and honorably married. She was about twenty-two years of age; was a mother, with her child at the breast. Her whole family seem to have been Christians except her aged father, who was still a Pagan. Nothing is said of her husband. Her father was passionately fond of her, and greatly dreaded the disgrace that her sufferings for Christ would bring on his family. So that she had not only death in its most frightful form to struggle with, but every sacred tie of nature.
When she was first brought before her persecutors, her aged father came and urged her to recant and say she was not a Christian. “Father,” she calmly replied, pointing to a vessel that lay on the ground, “can I call this vessel anything else than what it is?” “No,” he replied. “Neither can I say to you anything else than that I am a Christian.” A few days after this the young Christians were baptized. Though they were under guard they were not yet committed to prison. But shortly after this, they were thrown into the dungeon. “Then,” she says, “I was tempted, I was terrified, for I had never been in such darkness before. Ο what a dreadful day! The excessive heat occasioned by the number of persons, the rough treatment of the soldiers, and, finally, anxiety for my child, made me miserable.” The deacons, however, succeeded in purchasing for the christian prisoners a better apartment, where they were separated from the common criminals. Such advantages could usually be purchased from the venal overseers of prisons. Perpetua was now cheered by having her child brought to her. She placed it at her breast, and exclaimed, “Now this prison has become a palace to me!”
After a few days, there was a rumor that the prisoners were to be examined. The father hastened to his daughter in great distress of mind. “My daughter,” he said, “pity my gray hairs, pity thy father, if I am still worthy to be called thy father. If I have brought thee up to this bloom of thy age, if I have preferred thee above all thy brothers, expose me not to such shame among men. Look upon thy child—thy son—who, if thou diest, cannot long survive thee. Let thy lofty spirit give way, lest thou plunge us all into ruin. For if thou diest thus, not one of us will ever have courage again to speak a free word.” Whilst saying this, he kissed her hands, threw himself at her feet, entreating her with terms of endearment, and many tears. But, though greatly moved and pained by the sight of her father, and his strong and tender affection for her, she was calm and firm, and felt chiefly concerned for the good of his soul. “My father’s gray hairs,” she said, “pained me, when I considered that he alone of my family would not rejoice in my martyrdom.” “What shall happen,” she said to him, “when I come before the tribunal, depends on the will of God; for we stand not in our own strength, but only by the power of God.”
On the arrival of the decisive hour—the last day of their trial—an immense multitude was assembled. The aged father again appeared, that he might for the last time try his utmost to overcome the resolution of his daughter. On this occasion he brought her infant son in his arms, and stood before her. And thus she stood before the tribunal, before the assembled multitude, before the admiring myriads of heaven, before the frowning hosts of hell. What a moment! what a spectacle! Her aged father, his gray hairs, her tender infant; to say nothing of his agonizing importunities; what an appeal to a daughter—to a young mother’s heart! “Have pity on thy father’s gray hairs,” said the governor, “have pity on thy helpless child, offer sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor.” But Perpetua was calm and firm. Like Abraham of old, the father of the faithful, her eye was not now on her son, but on the God of resurrection. Having commended her child to her mother and her brother, she answered the governor, and said, “That I cannot do.” “Art thou a Christian?” he asked. “Yes,” she replied, “I am a Christian.” Her fate was now decided. They were all condemned to serve as a cruel sport for the people and the soldiers, in a fight with wild beasts, on the anniversary of young Geta’s birthday. They returned to their dungeon, rejoicing that they were thus enabled to witness and suffer for Jesus’ sake. The gaoler, Pudas, was converted by the tranquil behavior of his prisoners.
When led forth into the amphitheater, the martyrs were observed to have a peaceful and joyful appearance. According to a custom which prevailed in Carthage, the men should have been clothed in scarlet like the priests of Saturn, and the women in yellow as the priestesses of Ceres; but the prisoners protested against such a proceeding. “We have come here,” they said, “of our own choice, that we may not suffer our freedom to be taken from us; we have given up our lives that we may not be forced to such abominations.” The Pagans acknowledged the justice of their demand, and yielded. After taking leave of each other with the mutual kiss of christian love, in the certain hope of soon meeting again, as “absent from the body and present with the Lord,” they came forward to the scene of death in their simple attire. The voice of praise to God was heard by the spectators. Perpetua was singing a psalm. The men were exposed to lions, bears, and leopards; the women were tossed by a furious cow. But all were speedily released from their sufferings by the sword of the gladiator, and entered into the joy of their Lord.
The interesting narrative, which is here abridged, and said to have been written by Perpetua’s own hand, breathes such an air of truth and reality as to have commanded the respect and confidence of all ages. But our main object in writing it for our readers is to present to them a living picture, in which many of the finest features of christian faith are beautifully blended with the finest and tenderest christian feelings; and that we may learn, not to be complainers, but to endure all things for Christ’s sake, that so His grace may shine, our faith triumph, and God be glorified.
A few years after these events, Severus turned his attention to Britain, where the Romans had been losing ground. The emperor, being at the head of a very powerful army, drove back the independent natives of Caledonia, and regained the country south of the wall of Antoninus, but lost so many troops in the successive battles which he was obliged to fight, that he did not think proper to push his conquests beyond that boundary. Feeling at length his end approaching, he retired to York, where he soon afterward expired, in the eighteenth year of his reign.
Short Papers on Church History
After the death of Septimus Severus—except during the short reign of Maximin—the Church enjoyed a season of comparative peace till the reign of Decius, A.D. 249. But during the favorable reign of Alexander Severus, a considerable change took place in the relation of Christianity to society. He was through life under the influence of his mother, Mammsea, who is described by Eusebius as “a woman distinguished for her piety and religion.” She sent for Origen, of whose fame she had heard much, and learned from him something of the doctrines of the gospel. She was afterward favorable to the Christians, but there is not much evidence that she was one herself.
Alexander was of a religious disposition. He had many Christians in his household; and bishops were admitted, even at the court, in a recognized official character. He frequently used the words of our Savior, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” (Luke 6:31.) He had them inscribed on the walls of his palace and on other public buildings. But all religions were nearly the same to him, and on this principle he gave Christianity a place in his eclectic system the first public buildings for Christian assemblies.
An important point in the history of the Church, and one that proves its altered position in the Roman Empire, now comes before us for the first time. It was during the reign of this excellent prince that public buildings were first erected for the assemblies of Christians. A little circumstance connected with a piece of land in Rome shows the true spirit of the emperor and the growing power and influence of Christians. This piece of land, which had been considered as a common, was selected by a congregation as a site for a church; but the Company of Victualers contended that they had a prior claim. The case was judged by the emperor. He awarded the land to the Christians, on the ground that it was better to devote it to the worship of God in any form than apply it to a profane and unworthy use.
Public buildings—christian churches, so-called now began to rise in different parts of the empire, and to possess endowments in land. The heathen had never been able to understand why the Christians had neither temples nor altars. Their religious assemblies, up till this time, had been held in private. Even the Jew had his public synagogue, but where the Christians met was indicated by no separate and distinguished building. The private house, the catacombs, the cemetery of their dead, contained their peaceful congregations. Their privacy, which had often been in those troublous times their security, was now passing away. On the other hand, it must also be observed that their secrecy was often used against them. We have seen from the first, that the Pagans could not understand a religion without a temple, and were easily persuaded that these private and mysterious meetings, which seemed to shun the light of day, were only for the worst of purposes.
The outward condition of Christianity was now changed—wonderfully changed—but, alas, not in favor of spiritual health and growth, as we shall soon see. There were now well-known edifices in which the Christians met, and the doors of which they could throw wide open to all mankind Christianity was now recognized as one of the various forms of worship which the government did not prohibit. But the toleration of the Christians during this period rested only on the favorable disposition of Alexander. No change was made in the laws of the empire in favor of Christians, so that their time of peace was brought to a close by his death. A conspiracy was formed against him by the demoralized soldiery, who could not endure the discipline which he sought to restore; and the youthful emperor was slain in his tent, in the twenty-ninth year of his ago, and the thirteenth of his reign.
The Lord’s Dealings with The Clergy.
Scarcely had the new churches been built, and the bishops received at court, then the hand of the Lord was turned against them. It happened in this way.
MAXIMIN, a rude Thracian peasant, raised himself to the imperial throne. He had been the chief instigator, if not the actual murderer of the virtuous Alexander. He began his reign by seizing and putting to death all the friends of the late emperor. Those who had been his friends he reckoned as his own enemies. He ordered the bishops, and particularly those who had been the intimate friends of Alexander, to be put to death. His vengeance fell more or less on all classes of Christians, but chiefly on the clergy. It was not however for their Christianity that they suffered on this occasion, for Maximin was utterly regardless of all religions, but because of the position they had reached in the world. What can be more sorrowful than this reflection?
About the same time destructive earthquakes in several provinces rekindled the popular hatred against the Christians in general. The fury of the people under such an emperor was unrestrained, and, encouraged by hostile governors, they burnt the newly-built churches and persecuted the Christians. But happily, the reign of the savage was of short duration. He became intolerable to mankind. The army mutinied and slew him in the third year of his reign; and a more favorable season for the Christians returned.
The reign of GORDIAN, A.D 238-244, and that of PHILIP, A.D 244-249, were friendly to the Church. But we have repeatedly found that a government favorable to the Christians was immediately followed by another which oppressed them. It was particularly the case at this time. Under the smiles and patronage of Philip, the Arabian, the Church enjoyed great outward prosperity, but she was on the eve of a persecution more terrible and more general than any she had yet passed through.
One of the causes which may have contributed to this was the absence of the Christians from the national ceremonies which commemorated the thousandth year of Rome, A.D 247. The secular games were celebrated with unexampled magnificence by Philip; but as he was favorable to the Christians, they escaped the fury of the pagan priests and populace. The Christians were now a recognized body in the state, and however carefully they might avoid mingling in the political factions or the popular festivities of the empire, they were considered the enemies of her prosperity and the cause of all her calamities. We now come to a complete change of government—a government that afflicts the whole Church of God.
The General Persecution Under Decius.
DECIUS, in the year 249, conquered Philip and placed himself on the throne. His reign is remarkable in church history for the first general persecution. Τhe new emperor was unfavorable to Christianity and zealously devoted to the pagan religion. He resolved to attempt the complete extermination of the former, and to restore the latter to its ancient glory. One of the first measures of his reign was to issue edicts to the governors, to enforce the ancient laws against the Christians. They were commanded, on pain of forfeiting their own lives, to exterminate all Christians utterly, or bring them back by pains and tortures to the religion of their fathers.
From the time of Trajan there had been an imperial order to the effect, that the Christians were not to be sought for; and there was also a law against private accusations being brought against them, especially by their own servants, as we saw in the case of Apollonius; and these laws had been usually observed by the enemies of the Church, but now they were wholly neglected. The authorities sought out the Christians, the accusers ran no risk, and popular clamor was admitted in place of formal evidence. During the two succeeding years a great multitude of Christians in all the Roman provinces were banished, imprisoned, or tortured to death by various kinds of punishments and sufferings. This persecution was more cruel and terrible than any that preceded it. But the most painful part of those heart-rending scenes was the enfeebled state of the Christians themselves—the sad effect of worldly ease and prosperity.
The Effects of Worldliness in the Church.
The student of church history now meets with the manifest and appalling effect of the world in the Church. It is a most sorrowful sight, but it ought to be a profitable lesson to the christian reader. What then was, is now, and ever must be. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, is not now less sensitive to the foul and withering breath of the world than He was then.
What the enemy could not do by bloody edicts and cruel tyrants, he accomplished by the friendship of the world. This is an old stratagem of Satan. The wily serpent proved more dangerous than the roaring lion. By means of the favor of great men, and especially of emperors, he threw the clergy off their guard, led them to join hands with the world, and deceived them by his flatteries. The Christians could now erect temples as well as the heathen, and their bishops were received at the imperial court on equal terms with the idolatrous priests. This unhallowed intercourse with the world sapped the very foundations of their Christianity. This became painfully manifest when the violent storm of persecution succeeded the long calm of their worldly prosperity.
In many parts of the empire the Christians had enjoyed undisturbed peace for a period of thirty years. This had told unfavorably on the Church as a whole. With many, it was not now the faith of an ardent conviction such as we had in the first and second centuries; but of truth instilled into the mind by means of christian education—just what prevails in the present day to an alarming extent. A persecution breaking out with great violence, after so many years of tranquility, could not fail to prove a sifting process for the churches. The atmosphere of Christianity had become corrupted. Cyprian in the West and Origen in the East speak of the secular spirit which had crept in—of the pride, the luxury, the covetousness of the clergy, of the careless and irreligious lives of the people.
“If,” says Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, “the cause of the disease is understood, the cure of the affected part is already found. The Lord would prove his people; and because the divinely-prescribed regimen of life had become disturbed in the long season of peace, a divine judgment was sent to re-establish our fallen, and, I might almost say, slumbering faith. Our sins deserve more; but our gracious Lord has so considered it that all which has occurred seems rather like a trial than a persecution. Forgetting what believers did in the times of the apostles, and what they should always be doing, Christians labored with insatiable desire, to increase their earthly possessions. Many of the bishops who, by precept and example, should have guided others, neglected their divine calling to engage in the management of worldly concerns.” Such being the condition of things in many of the churches, we need not wonder at what took place.
The emperor ordered rigorous search to be made for all suspected of refusing compliance with the national worship. Christians were required to conform to the ceremonies of the Roman religion. In case they declined, threats, and afterward tortures, were to be employed to compel submission. If they remained firm, the punishment of death was to be inflicted, especially on the bishops, whom Decius hated most bitterly. The custom was, wherever the dreadful edict was carried into execution, to appoint a day when all the Christians in the place were to present themselves before the magistrate, renounce their religion, and offer incense at the idol’s altar. Many, before the fearful day arrived, had fled into voluntary banishment. The goods of such were confiscated and themselves forbidden to return under penalty of death. Those who remained firm, after repeated tortures, were cast into prison, when the additional sufferings of hunger and thirst were employed to overcome their resolution. Many who were less firm and faithful were let off without sacrificing, by purchasing themselves, or allowing their friends to purchase, a certificate from the magistrate. But this unworthy practice was condemned by the Church as a tacit abjuration.
DIONYSIUS, bishop of Alexandria, in describing the effect of this terrible decree, says, “that many citizens of repute complied with the edict. Some were impelled by their fears and some were forced by their friends. Many stood pale and trembling, neither ready to submit to the idolatrous ceremony, nor prepared to resist even unto death. Others endured their tortures to a certain point, but finally gave in.” Such were some of the painful and disgraceful effects of the general relaxation through tampering with this present evil world; still it would ill become us, who five in a time of perfect civil and religious liberty, to say hard things of the weakness of those who lived in such sanguinary times. Rather let us feel the disgrace as our own, and pray that we may be kept from yielding to the attractions of the world in every form. But all was not defective, thank the Lord. Let us look for a moment at the bright side.
The Power of Faith and Christian Devotedness.
The same Dionysius tells us that many were as pillars of the Lord, who through Him were made strong, and became wonderful witnesses of His grace. Among these he mentions a boy of fifteen, Dioscurus by name, who answered in the wisest manner all questions, and displayed such constancy under torture that he commanded the admiration of the governor himself, who dismissed him in the hope that riper years would lead him to see his error. A woman, who had been brought to the altar by her husband, was forced to offer incense by someone holding her hand; but she exclaimed, “I did it not: it was you that did it;” and she was thereupon condemned to exile. In the dungeon at Cartilage the Christians were exposed to heat, hunger, and thirst, in order to force them to comply with the decree; but although they saw death by starvation staring them in the face, they continued steadfast in their confession of Christ. And from the prison in Rome, where certain confessors had been confined for about a year, the following noble confession was sent to Cyprian: “What more glorious and blessed lot can, by God’s grace, fall to man than, amidst tortures and the fear of death itself, to confess God the Lord—than, with lacerated bodies and a spirit departing but yet free, to confess Christ the Son of God—than to become fellow-sufferers with Christ in the name of Christ? If we have not yet shed our blood, we are ready to shed it. Pray then, beloved Cyprian, that the Lord would daily confirm and strengthen each one of us, more and more, with the power of His might, and that He, as the best of leaders, would finally conduct His soldiers, whom He has disciplined and proved in the dangerous camp, to the field of battle which is before us, armed with those divine weapons which never can be conquered.”
Among the victims of this terrible persecution were Fabian, bishop of Rome, Babbles of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem. Cyprian, Origen, Gregory, Dionysius, and other eminent men, were exposed to cruel tortures and exile, but escaped with their lives. The hatred of the emperor was particularly directed against the bishops. But in the Lord’s mercy the reign of Decius was a short one; he was killed in battle with the Goths, about the end of 251.
Short Papers on Church History
As the name of Cyprian must be familiar to all our readers, and a name most famous in connection with the government and discipline of the Church, it may be well to notice particularly the serene fortitude of this father in the prospect of martyrdom.
He was born at Carthage about the year 200; but he was not converted till about 246. Though in mature age he possessed all the freshness and ardor of youth. He had been distinguished as a teacher of rhetoric, he was distinguished as an earnest, devoted Christian. He was early promoted to the offices of deacon and presbyter; and in 248 he was elected bishop by the general desire of the people. His labors were interrupted by the persecution under Decius; but his life was preserved till the year 258. On the morning of the 13th, of September, an officer with soldiers was sent by the proconsul to bring him into his presence. Cyprian then knew his end was near. With a ready mind and a cheerful countenance he went without delay. His trial was postponed for a day. The intelligence of his apprehension drew together the whole city. His own people lay all night in front of the officer’s house with whom he was lodged.
In the morning he was led to the proconsul’s palace, surrounded by a great multitude of people and a strong guard of soldiers. After a short delay, the proconsul appeared. “Art thou Thascius Cyprian, the bishop of so many impious men?” said the proconsul. “I am,” answered Cyprian. “The most sacred emperor commands thee to sacrifice.” “I do not sacrifice,” he replied. “Consider well,” rejoined the proconsul. “Execute thy orders,” answered Cyprian, “the case admits of no consideration.”
The governor consulted with his council, and then delivered his sentence. “Thascius Cyprian, thou hast lived long in thy impiety, and assembled around thee many men involved in the same wicked conspiracy. Thou hast shown thyself an enemy alike to the gods and to the laws of the empire; the pious and sacred emperors have in vain endeavored to recall thee to the worship of thy ancestors. Since then thou hast been the chief author and leader of these guilty practices, thou shalt be an example to those whom thou hast deluded to thy unlawful assemblies. Thou must expiate thy crime with thy blood.” “God be praised!” answered Cyprian; and the crowd of his brethren exclaimed, “Let us too be martyred with him.” The bishop was carried into a neighboring field and beheaded. It was remarkable that but a few days afterward the proconsul died. And the emperor Valerian, the following year, was defeated and taken prisoner by the Persians, who treated him with great and contemptuous cruelty—a calamity and disgrace without example in the annals of Rome.
The miserable death of many of the persecutors made a great impression on the public mind, and forced on many the conviction, that the enemies of Christianity were the enemies of heaven. For about forty years after this outrage, the peace and prosperity of the Church were not seriously interrupted; so that we may pass over these years for the present, and come to the final contest between paganism and Christianity.
CHAPTER 10.
THE GENERAL STATE OF CHRISTIANITY.
Before attempting a brief account of the persecution under Diocletian, it may be well to review the history and condition of the Church, as the final struggle drew near. But in order to form a correct judgment of the progress and state of Christianity at the end of three hundred years, we must consider the power of the enemies with which it had to contend.
1. JUDAISM.—We have seen at some length, and especially in the life of St. Paul, that Judaism was the first great enemy of Christianity. It had to contend from its infancy with the strong prejudices of the believing, and with the bitter malice of the unbelieving Jews. In its native region, and wherever it traveled, it was pursued by its unrelenting foe. And after the death of the apostles, the Church suffered much from yielding to Jewish pressure, and ultimately remodeling Christianity on the system of Judaism. The new wine was put into old bottles.
2. ORIENTALISM.—Towards the close of the first and the beginning of the second century, Christianity had to wend its way through the many and conflicting elements of eastern philosophy. Its first conflict was with Simon Magus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Though a Samaritan by birth, he is supposed to have studied the various religions of the east at Alexandria. On returning to his native country, he advanced very high pretensions to superior knowledge and power; and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” From this notice of Simon we may learn what influence such men had over the minds of the ignorant and the superstitious, and also, what a dreadful power of Satan the early Church had to contend with in these evil workers. He assumed not merely the lofty title of “the great power of God,” but that he combined in himself the other perfections of Deity. He is spoken of by writers generally as the head and father of the whole host of impostors and heretics.
After being so openly and shamefully defeated by Peter, he is said to have left Samaria, and traveled through various countries, choosing especially those which the gospel had not reached. From this time be introduced the name of Christ into his system, and so endeavored to confound the gospel with his blasphemies, and confuse the minds of the people. As to his miracle and magic working, his marvelous theories about his own descent from heaven, and other emanations, we say nothing, only that they proved, especially in the east, a mighty hindrance to the progress of the gospel.
The successors of Simon, such as Cerinthus and Valentinus, so systematized his theories as to become the founders of that form of gnosticism with which the Church had to contend in the second century. The name implies pretensions to some superior knowledge. It is generally thought that St. Paul refers to this meaning of the word when warning his son Timothy against “science,” or knowledge, “falsely so called.”
Although it would be out of place in these “Short Papers” to attempt anything like an outline of this widespread orientalism or gnosticism, yet we must give our readers some idea of what it was. It proved for a time the most formidable opponent of Christianity. But as the facts and doctrines of the gospel prevailed, gnosticism declined.
Under the head of the gnostics may be included all those in the first ages of the Church, who incorporated into their philosophical systems the most obvious and suitable doctrines of both Judaism and Christianity. Thus gnosticism became a mixture of oriental philosophy, Judaism, and Christianity. By means of this Satanic confusion the beautiful simplicity of the gospel was destroyed, and for a long time, in many places, its real character was obscured. It was a deep laid plan and a mighty effort of the enemy, not only to corrupt, but to undermine and subvert the gospel altogether. No sooner had Christianity appeared than the gnostics began to adopt into their systems some of its sublimest doctrines. Judaism was deeply tinged with it before the christian era: probably from the captivity.
But gnosticism, we must remember, was not a corruption of Christianity, though the whole school of gnostics are called heretics by ecclesiastical writers. As to its origin, we must go back to the many religions of the East, such as Chaldean, Persian, Egyptian, and others. In our own day such philosophers would be viewed as infidels and utter aliens from the gospel of Christ; but in early times the title heretic was given to all who in any way whatever introduced the name of Christ into their philosophical systems. Hence it has been said, “If Mahomet had appeared in the second century, Justin Martyr, or Irenams would have spoken of him as a heretic.” At the same time we must own that the principles of the Greek philosophy, especially the Platonic, forced their way at a very early period into the Church, corrupted the pure stream of truth, and threatened for a time to change the design and the effects of the gospel upon mankind.
ORIGEN, who was born at Alexandria—the cradle of gnosticism—about the year 185, was the father who gave form and completeness to the Alexandrian method of interpreting scripture. He distinguished in it a threefold sense—the literal, the moral, and the mystical—answering respectively to the body, soul, and spirit in man. The literal sense, he held, might be understood by any attentive reader; the moral required higher intelligence; the mystical was only to be apprehended through the grace of the Holy Spirit, which was to be obtained by prayer.
It was the great object of this eminent teacher to harmonize Christianity with philosophy; this was the leaven of the Alexandrian school. He sought to gather up the fragments of truth scattered throughout other systems, and unite them in a Christian scheme, so as to present the gospel in a form that would not offend the prejudices, but insure the conversion of Jews, gnostics, and of cultivated heathens. These principles of interpretation, and this combination of Christianity with philosophy, led Origen and his followers into many grave and serious errors, both practical and doctrinal. He was a devoted, earnest, zealous Christian himself, and truly loved the Lord Jesus; but the tendency of his principles has been, from that day to this, to weaken faith in the definite character of truth, if not to pervert it altogether by means of spiritualizing, and allegorizing, which his system taught and allowed.
THE MALIGNITY OF MATTER was a first principle in all the sects of the gnostics; it pervaded all the religious systems of the East. This led to the wildest theories as to the formation and character of the material universe, and all corporeal substances. Thus it was, that persons believing their bodies to be intrinsically evil, recommended abstinence and severe bodily mortificacations, in order that the mind or spirit, which was viewed as pure and divine, might enjoy greater liberty, and be able the better to contemplate heavenly things. Without saying more on this subject—which we do not much enjoy—the reader will see that the celibacy of the clergy in later years, and the whole system of asceticism and monasticism, had their origin, not in the scriptures, but in oriental philosophy.
PAGANISM.—Not only had the Church to contend with Judaism and Orientalism, it also suffered from the outward hostility of Paganism. These were the three formidable powers of Satan with which he assailed the Church in the first three hundred years of her history. In carrying out her Lord’s high commission—“Teach all nations.....preach the gospel to every creature”—she had these enemies to face and overcome. But these could not have hindered her course had she only walked in separation from the world, and remained true and faithful to her heavenly and exalted Savior. But alas, alas, what Judaism, Orientalism, and Paganism could not do, the allurements of the world accomplished. And this leads us to a close survey of the condition of the Church when the great persecution broke out.
A SURVEY OF THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. A.D 303.
Dioclesian ascended the throne in 284. In 286 he associated with himself Maximian, as Augustus; and in 292 Galerius and Constantius were added to the number of the princes, with the inferior title of Caesar. Thus, when the fourth century began, the Roman empire had four sovereigns. Two bore the title of Augustus; and two the title of Caesar. Dioclesian, though superstitious, indulged no hatred towards Christians. Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, was friendly to them. At first, the face of christian affairs looked tolerably bright and happy; but the pagan priests were angry and plotting mischief against the Christians. They saw in the wide spreading triumphs of Christianity their own downfall. For fully fifty years the Church had been very little disturbed by the secular power. During this period Christians had attained an unexampled degree of prosperity; but it was only outward; they had deeply declined from the purity and simplicity of the gospel of Christ.
Churches had arisen in most of the cities of the empire, and with some display of architectural splendor. Vestments and sacred vessels of silver and gold began to be used. Converts flocked in from all ranks of society: even the wife of the emperor, and his daughter Valeria, married to Galerius, appear to have been among the number. Christians held high offices in the state, and in the imperial household. They occupied positions of distinction and even of supreme authority, in the provinces and in the army. But, alas, this long period of outward prosperity had produced its usual consequences. Faith and love decayed; pride and ambition crept in. Priestly domination began to exercise its usurped powers, and the bishop to assume the language and the authority of the vicegerent of God. Jealousies and dissensions distracted the peaceful communities, and disputes sometimes proceeded to open violence. The peace of fifty years had corrupted the whole christian atmosphere: the lightning of Dioclesian’s rage was permitted of God to refine and purify it.
Such is the melancholy confession of the Christians themselves, who, according to the spirit of the times, considered the dangers and the afflictions to which they were exposed in the light of divine judgments.
Short Papers on Church History
Already the Church has passed through nine systematic persecutions. The first was under Nero, then Domitian, Trajan, Marcus, Severus, Maximin, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian. And now the fearful moment has arrived when she must undergo the TENTH, according to the prophetic word of the Lord: “Ye shall have tribulation TEN days.” And it is not a little remarkable that not only should there be exactly ten government persecutions, but that the last should have continued exactly TEN years. And, as we saw at an earlier part of the Smyrnean period, exactly TEN years elapsed from the beginning of the persecution, under Marcus, in the East, till its close in the West. The christian student may trace other features of resemblance: we would rather suggest such features than press their acceptance upon others, though we surely believe they are foreshadowed in the Epistle to Smyrna.
The reign of Dioclesian is one of great historical importance. First, it was rendered conspicuous by the introduction of a new system of imperial government. He virtually removed the capital from ancient Rome to Nicomedia, which he made the seat of his residence. There he maintained a court of eastern splendor, to which he invited men of learning and philosophy. But the philosophers who frequented his court, being all animated with extreme hatred against Christianity, used their influence with the emperor to exterminate a religion too pure to suit their polluted minds. This led to the last and greatest persecution of the Christians. It is only with the latter we have to do. And as all histories of this period are gathered chiefly from the records of Eusebius and Lactantius, who wrote at this time and witnessed many executions, we can do little more than select and transcribe from what has been already written, consulting the various authors already named.
The pagan priests and philosophers above referred to, not succeeding well in their artifices with Dioclesian to make war with the Christians, made use of the other emperor, Galerius, his son-in-law, to accomplish their purpose. This cruel man, impelled partly by his own inclination and partly by his mother, a most superstitious pagan, and partly by the priests, gave his father-in-law no rest until he had gained his point.
During the winter of the years 302 and 303, Galerius paid a visit to Dioclesian at Nicomedia. His great object was to excite the old emperor against the Christians. Dioclesian for a time withstood his importunity. He was averse, from whatever motive, to the sanguinary measures proposed by his partner. But the mother of Galerius, the implacable enemy of the Christians, employed all her influence over her son to inflame his mind to immediate and active hostilities. Dioclesian at length gave way, and a persecution was agreed to: but the lives of the Christians were to be spared. Previously to this, Galerius had taken care to remove from the army ah who refused to sacrifice. Some were discharged and some were sentenced to death.
The First Edict
About the 24th of February the first edict was issued. It ordained that all who should refuse to sacrifice should lose their offices, their property, their rank, and civil privileges; that slaves persisting in the profession of the gospel should be excluded from the hope of liberty; that Christians of all ranks should be liable to torture; that all churches should be destroyed; that religious meetings should be suppressed; and that the scriptures should be burnt. The attempt to exterminate the scriptures was a new feature in this persecution, and no doubt was suggested by the philosophers who frequented the palace. They were well aware that their own writings would have but little hold on the public mind if the scriptures and other sacred books were circulated. Immediately these measures were resolved upon: the church of Nicomedia was attacked, the sacred books were burnt, and the building entirely demolished in a few hours. Throughout the empire the churches of the Christians were to be leveled to the ground, and the sacred books were to be delivered to the imperial officers. Many Christians who refused to give up the scriptures were put to death, while those who gave them up to be burnt were considered by the Church as traitors to Christ, and afterward caused great trouble in the exercise of discipline towards them.
No sooner had this cruel edict been affixed in the accustomed place, than a Christian of noble rank tore it down. His indignation at injustice so flagrant hurried him into an act of inconsiderate zeal—into a violation of that precept of the gospel which enjoins respect towards all in authority. Welcome was the occasion thus furnished to condemn a Christian of high station to death. He was burnt alive at a slow fire, and bore his sufferings with a dignified composure which astonished and mortified his executioners. The persecution was now begun. The first step against the Christians having been taken, the second did not linger.
Not long after the publication of the edict, a fire broke out in the palace of Nicomedia, which spread almost to the chamber of the emperor. The origin of the fire appears to be unknown; but, of course, the guilt was charged on the Christians. Dioclesian believed it. he was alarmed and incensed. Multitudes were thrown into prison, without discrimination of those who were or were not liable to suspicion, the most cruel tortures were resorted to, for the purpose of extorting a confession; but in vain. Many were burnt to death, beheaded, and drowned. About fourteen days after, a second fire broke out in the palace. It now became evident that it was the work of an incendiary. The heathen again accused the Christians, and loudly cried for vengeance; but as no proof could ever be found that the Christians had any hand in any way in these fatal conflagrations, a strong, and, we believe, truthful suspicion rested on the emperor Galerius himself. His great object from the first was to criminate the Christians, and alarm Dioclesian with his own more violent measures. As if fully aware of the effect of these events on the dark, timid, and superstitious mind of the old emperor, he immediately left Nicomedia, pretending that he could not consider his person safe within the city.
But the end was gained; and that to the utmost extent which even Galerius or his pagan mother could have desired. Dioclesian, now thoroughly aroused, raged ferociously against all sorts of men and women who bore the Christian name. He compelled his wife Prisca, and his daughter Valeria, to offer sacrifice. Officers of the household, of the highest rank and nobility, and all the inmates of the palace, were exposed to the most cruel tortures, by the order, and even in the presence of, Dioclesian himself. The names of some of his ministers of state have been handed down, who preferred the reproach of Christ to all the grandeur of his palace. One of the chamberlains was brought before the emperor, and was tortured with great severity, because he refused to sacrifice. As if to make an example of him to the others, a mixture of salt and vinegar was poured on his open wounds, but it was all to no purpose. He confessed his faith in Christ as the only Savior, and would own no other God. He was then gradually burnt to death. Dorothcus, Gorgonius, and Andreas, eunuchs, who served in the palace, were put to death. Anthimus, the bishop of Nicomedia, was beheaded. Many were executed, many were burnt alive; but it became tedious to destroy men singly; and large fires were made to burn many together; others were rowed into the midst of the lake, and thrown into the water with stones fastened to their necks.
From Nicomedia, the center of the persecution, the imperial orders were dispatched, requiring the co-operation of the other emperors in the restoration of the dignity of the ancient religion, and the entire suppression of Christianity. Thus the persecution raged throughout the whole Roman world, excepting France. There, the mild Constantius ruled, and, though he made a show of concurring in the measure of his colleagues, by the demolition of the churches, he abstained from all violence against the persons of the Christians. Though not himself a decided Christian, he was naturally humane, and evidently a friend to Christianity and its professors. He presided over the government of France, Britain, and Spain. But the fierce temper of Maximian, and the savage cruelty of Galerius, only awaited the signal to carry into effect the orders from Nicomedia. And now the three monsters raged, in the full force of the civil power, against the defenseless and unoffending followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
“Grace begun shall end in glory;
Jesus, He the victory won;
In His own triumphant story
Is the record of our own.”
Short Papers on Church History
Not long after the first edict had been carried into execution throughout the empire, rumors of insurrections in Armenia and Syria, regions densely peopled with Christians, reached the emperor’s ears. These troubles were falsely attributed to the Christians, and afforded a pretext for a second edict. It was intimated that the clergy, as leaders of the Christians, were particularly liable to suspicion on this occasion, and the edict directed that all of the clerical order should be seized and thrown into prison. Thus in a short time prisons were filled with bishops, presbyters, and deacons.
THE THIRD EDICT.
A third edict was immediately issued, prohibiting the liberation of any of the clergy, unless they consented to offer sacrifice. They were declared enemies of the state; and wherever a hostile prefect chose to exercise his boundless authority, they were crowded into prisons intended only for the basest criminals. The edict provided that such of the prisoners as were willing to offer sacrifice to the gods should be set free, and that the rest should be compelled by tortures and punishments. Great multitudes of the most devout, godly, and venerable in the Church, either suffered capitally, or were sent to the mines. The emperor vainly thought that if the bishops and teachers were once overcome, the churches would soon follow their example. But finding that the most humiliating defeat was the result of his measures, he was goaded on by the united influence of Galerius, the philosophers, and the pagan priesthood, to issue another and a still more rigorous edict.
THE FOURTH EDICT.
By a fourth edict, the orders which applied only to the clergy were now to be extended to the whole body of Christians. The magistrates were directed to make free use of torture for forcing all Christians—men, women, and children—into the worship of the gods. Dioclesian and his colleagues were now committed to the desperate, but unequal contest. The powers of darkness—the whole Roman empire—stood, armed, determined, pledged, to the defense of ancient polytheism, and to the complete extermination of the Christian name. To retreat, would be the confession of weakness; to be successful, the adversary must be exterminated: as to victory, there could be none, for the Christians made no resistance. Historically, it was the final and fearful struggle between paganism and Christianity; the contest was now at its height and drawing to a crisis.
Public proclamation was made through the streets of the cities, that men, women, and children, were all to repair to the temples of the gods. All must undergo the fiery ordeal—sacrifice or die. Every individual was summoned by name from lists previously made out. At the city gates all were subjected to rigid examination, and such as were found to be Christians were immediately secured.
Details of the sufferings and martyrdoms that followed would fill volumes. As edict followed edict, in rapid succession and in wrathful severity, the spirit of martyrdom revived; it rose higher and higher, until men and women, in place of being seized and dragged to the funeral piles, leaped into the burning flames as if ascending to heaven in a chariot of lire. Whole families were put to various kinds of death; some by fire, others by water, after enduring severe tortures; some perished by famine, others by crucifixion; and some were fastened with their heads downwards, and preserved alive, that they might die a lingering death. In some places, as many as ten, twenty, sixty, and even a hundred men and women with their little ones, were martyred by various torments, in one day.
In almost every part of the Roman world such scenes of pitiless barbarity continued with more or less severity, for the long period of ten years. Constantius alone, of all the emperors, contrived to shelter the Christians in the west, especially in France where he resided. But in all other places they were given up to all sorts of cruelties and injuries, without the liberty to appeal to the authorities, and without the smallest protection from the state. Free leave was given to the heathen populace to practice all sorts of excesses against the Christians. Under these circumstances the reader may easily imagine what they were constantly exposed to, both in their persons and estates. Each one felt sure of never being failed to account for any violence he might be guilty of towards the Christians. But the sufferings of the men, however great, seemed little compared with the women. The fear of exposure and violence was more dreaded than mere death.
Take one example. “A certain holy and devout female,” says Eusebius, “admirable for her virtue and illustrious above all in Antioch for her wealth, family, and reputation, had educated her two daughters—now in the bloom of life, noted for their beauty—in the principles of piety. Their concealment was traced, and they were caught in the toils of the soldiery. The mother, being at a loss for herself and her daughters, knowing what was before them, suggested that it was better to die, betaking themselves to the aid of Christ, than fall into the hands of the brutal soldiers. After this, all agreeing to the same thing, and having requested the guards for a little time, they cast themselves into the flowing river, to escape a greater evil.” Although this act cannot be fully justified, it must be judged with many considerations. They were driven to despair. And sure we are that the Lord knows how to forgive all that is wrong in the action, and to give us full credit for all that is right in our motives.
For a moment the persecutors vainly imagined that they would triumph over the downfall of Christianity. Pillars were raised, and medals were struck, to the honor of Dioclesian and Galerius, for having extinguished the christian superstition, and for restoring the worship of the gods. But He who sits in heaven was at that very moment overruling the very wrath of these men for the complete deliverance and triumph of His people, and the acknowledged defeat and downfall of their enemies. They could martyr Christians, demolish churches, and burn books, but the living springs of Christianity were beyond their reach.
Great and important changes began to take place in the sovereignty of the empire. But the Head of the Church watched over everything. He had limited and defined the period of her sufferings, and neither the hosts of hell, nor the legions of Borne, could extend these one hour. The enemies of the Christians were smitten with the direst calamities. God appeared to be making requisition for blood. Galerius, the real author of the persecution, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and the eighth of the persecution, lay expiring of a most loathsome malady. Like Herod the Great, and Philip II. of Spain, he was “eaten of worms.” Physicians were sought for, oracles were constituted, but all in vain; the remedies applied only aggravated the virulence of the disease. The whole palace was so infected from the nature of his affliction, that he was deserted by all his friends. The agonies which he suffered forced from him the cry for mercy; and also an earnest request to the Christians to intercede for the suffering emperor in their supplications to their God.
From his dying bed he issued an edict; which, while it condescended to apologize for the past severities against the Christians, under the specious plea of regard for the public welfare and unity of the state, admitted to the fullest extent the total failure of the severe measures for the suppression of Christianity; and provided for the free and public exercise of the Christian religion. A few days after the promulgation of the edict Galerius expired. For about six months the merciful orders of this edict were acted upon, and great numbers were liberated from the prisons and the mines; but, alas, bearing the marks of bodily torture only short of death. This brief cessation of the persecution showed at once its fearful character and alarming extent.
But Maximin, who succeeded Galerius in the government of Asia, sought to revive the pagan religion in all its original splendor, and the suppression of Christianity, with renewed and relentless cruelty. He commanded that all the officers of his government, from the highest to the lowest, both in the civil and military service; that all free men and women, all slaves, and even little children, should sacrifice, and even partake of what was offered at heathen altars. All vegetables and provisions in the market were to be sprinkled with the water or the wine which had been used in the sacrifices, that the Christians might thus be forced into contact with idolatrous offerings.
New tortures were invented, and fresh streams of christian blood flowed in all the provinces of the Roman empire, with the exception of France. But the hand of the Lord was again laid heavily both on the entire and on the emperor. Every kind of calamity prevailed. Tyranny, war, pestilence, and famine, depopulated the Asiatic provinces. Throughout the dominions of Maximin the summer rains did not fall; a famine desolated the whole East; many opulent families were reduced to beggary, and others sold their children as slaves. The famine produced its usual accompaniment, pestilence. Boils broke out all over the bodies of those who were seized with the malady, but especially about the eyes, so that multitudes became helplessly and incurably blind. All hearts failed, and all who were able fled from the infected houses; so that myriads were left to perish in a state of absolute desertion. The Christians, moved by the love of God in their hearts, now came forward to do the kind offices of humanity and mercy. They attended the living and decently buried the dead. Fear fell upon all mankind. The heathen concluded their calamities to be the vengeance of heaven for persecuting its favored people.
Maximin was alarmed, and endeavored, when too late, to retrace his steps. He issued an edict, avowing the principles of toleration, and commanding the suspension of all violent measures against the Christians, and recommending only mild and persuasive means to win back these apostates to the religion of their forefathers. Having been defeated in battle by Licinius, he turned his rage against the pagan priests. He charged them with having deceived him with false hopes of victory over Licinius and of universal empire in the East, and now revenged his disappointment by a promiscuous massacre of all the pagan priests within his power. His last imperial act was the promulgation of another edict, still more favorable to the Christians, hi which he proclaimed an unrestricted liberty of conscience, and restored the confiscated property of their churches. But death came and closed the dark catalog of his crimes, and the dark line of persecuting emperors, who died of the most excruciating torments and under the visible hand of divine judgment. Many names, of great celebrity both for station and character, are among the martyrs of this period; and many thousands, unknown and unnoticed on earth, but whose record is on high and whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Thus closed the most memorable of all the attacks of the powers of darkness on the christian church, and thus closed the last hope of paganism to maintain itself by the authority of the government. The account of the most violent, most varied, most prolonged, and most systematic attempt to exterminate the gospel ever known, well deserves the space we have given to it, so that we offer no apology for its length. We have seen the arm of the Lord lifted up in a gracious but solemn manner to chastise and purify His Church, to demonstrate the imperishable truth of Christianity, and to cover with everlasting shame and confusion her daring but impotent foes. Like Moses we may exclaim, “Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush.” Thus we see why the bush was not burned, or Israel in Egypt not consumed, or the Church in this world not exterminated: God was in the midst of the bush—He is in the midst of His Church—it is the habitation of God through the Spirit. Besides, Christ hath plainly said, referring to Himself in His risen power and glory, “ Upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Exod. 3; Matt. 16.