great influence in attracting the esteem, and removing the prejudices of many, who were thus prepared for examining with candour the Christian doctrine, and, consequently, for receiving its divine light. The adorers of the pagan deities must have been destitute of every generous affection, of every humane feeling, if the view of that boundless charity, which the Christians exercised toward the poor, the love they expressed even to their enemies, the tender care they took of the sick and infirm, the humanity they discovered in the redemption of captives, and the other illustrious virtues, which rendered them so worthy of universal esteem, had not touched their hearts, dispelled their prepossessions, and rendered them more favourable to the disciples of Jesus. If, among the causes of the propagation of Christianity, there is any place due to pious frauds, it is certain that they merit a very small part of the honour of having contributed to this glorious purpose, since they were practised by few, and that very rarely.

the origin of several German churches, such as those of Cologne, Treves, Mentz, and others, of which Eucharius, Valerius, Maternus, and Clemens, were the principal founders.* The historians of Scotland inform us, that the light of Christianity arose upon that country during this century; but, though there be nothing improbable in this assertion, yet it is not built upon incontestable authority.f

CHAPTER II.

Concerning the Calamitous Events which hap

pened to the Church in this Century. I. IN the beginning of this century, the Christian church suffered calamities of various kinds throughout the provinces of the Roman empire. These sufferings increased in a terrible manner, in consequence of a law made, in the year 203, by the emperor Severus (who, in other respects, was certainly no enemy to the Christians,) by which every subject of the empire was prohibited from changing the reliVI. That the limits of the church were ex-gion of his ancestors for the Christian or Jewtended in this century, is a matter beyond all controversy. It is not, however, equally certain in what manner, by what persons, or in what parts of the world, this was effected. Origen, invited from Alexandria by an Arabian prince, converted, by his assiduous labours, a certain tribe of wandering Arabs to the Christian faith.* The Goths, a fierce and warlike people, who inhabited the countries of Mosia and Thrace, and who, accustomed to rapine, harassed the neighbouring provinces by perpetual incursions, received the knowledge of the Gospel by the means of certain Christian doctors sent thither from Asia. The holy lives of these venerable teachers, and the miraculous powers with which they were endowed, attracted the esteem, even of a people educated to nothing but plunder and devastation, and absolutely uncivilized by letters or science; and their authority and influence became so great, and produced, in process of time, such remarkable effects, that a great part of this barbarous people professed themselves the disciples of Christ, and put off, in a manner, that ferocity which had been so natural to them.t

VII. The Christian assemblies, founded in Gaul by the Asiatic doctors in the preceding century, were few in number, and of very small extent; but both their number and their extent were considerably increased from the time of the emperor Decius. Under his sway, Dionysius, Gatian, Trophimus, Paul, Saturninus, Martial, Stremonius, men of exemplary piety, passed into this province, and, amidst dangers and trials of various kinds, erected churches at Paris, Tours, Arles, and several other places. This was followed by a rapid progress of the Gospel among the Gauls, as the disciples of these pious teachers spread, in a short time, the knowledge of Christianity through the whole country. We must also place in this century

* Eusebius; Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xix. p. 221. Sozomenus, His. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. vi. Paulus Diaconus, Hist. Miscel. lib. ii. cap. xiv. Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. v. p. 470.

See the history of the Franks by Gregory of Tours, book i. ch. xxviii. Theodor. Ruinart, Acta Martyr. sincera, p. 109.

ish faith. This law was, in its effects, most prejudicial to the Christians; for, though it did not formally condemn them, and seemed only adapted to put a stop to the progress of the Gospel, yet it induced rapacious and unjust magistrates to persecute even unto death the poorer sort among the Christians, that thus the richer might be led, through fear of the like treatment, to purchase their tranquillity and safety at an expensive rate. Hence many of the disciples of Christ, in several parts of Asia, also in Egypt and other parts of Africa, were put to death in consequence of this law. Among these Leonidas, the father of Origen, Perpetua and Felicitas (those two famous African ladies, whose acts § are come down to our times,) Potamiena Marcella, and other martyrs of both sexes, acquired an illustrious name by the magnanimity and tranquillity with which they endured the most cruel sufferings.

II. From the death of Severus to the reign of Maximin, the condition of the Christians was, in some places, prosperous, and, in all, supportable. But with Maximin the face of affairs changed. This unworthy emperor, having animated the Roman soldiers to assassinate Alexander Severus, dreaded the resentment of the Christians, whom that excellent prince had favoured and protected in a distinguished manner; and, for this reason, he ordered the bishops, whom he knew that Alexander had always treated as his intimate friends, to be seized and put to death. During his reign, the Christians suffered in the most barbarous manner; for, though the edict of this tyrant extended only to the bishops and leaders of the Chris tian church, yet its shocking effects reached much farther, as it animated the heathen

*See Aug. Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, tom. i. dissert. i. p. 7. Jo. Nicol. ab Hontheim, Historia Trevirensis, tom. i. ubi. Diss. de æra fundati Episcopatus Trevirensis. See Usher and Stillingfleet, Antiquit. et Origin. Ecclesiar. Brit. See also Sir George Mackenzie, ae Regali Scotorum prosapia, cap. viii. p. 119.

Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. i. Spartianus in Severo, cap. xvi. xvii.

§ Theod. Ruinart, Acta Martyr. p. 90. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xxviii. p. 225. Orosius, Hist. lib. vii. cap. xix. p. 509.

priests, the magistrates, and the multitude, Africa, many, in order to obtain more speedily against Christians of every rank and order.* the pardon of their apostacy, interested the martyrs in their behalf, and received from them letters of reconciliation and peace, i. e. a formal act, by which they (the martyrs) declared in their last moments, that they looked upon them as worthy of their communion, and desired, of consequence, that they should be restored to their place among the brethren. Some bishops and presbyters re-admitted into the church, with too much facility, apostates and transgressors, who produced such testimonies as these. But Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, a man of severe wisdom and great dignity of character, acted in quite another way. Though he had no intention of derogating from the authority of the venerable martyrs, yet he opposed with vigour this unreasonable lenity, and set limits to the efficacy of these letters of reconciliation and peace. Hence arose a keen dispute between him and the martyrs, confes

III. This storm was succeeded by a calm, in which the Christians enjoyed a happy tranquillity for many years. The accession of Decius Trajan to the imperial throne, in the year 249, raised a new tempest, in which the fury of persecution fell in a dreadful manner upon the church of Christ; for this emperor, either from an illgrounded fear of the Christians, or from a violent zeal for the superstition of his ancestors, published most terrible and cruel edicts; by which the prætors were ordered, on pain of death, either to extirpate the whole body of Christians without exception, or to force them, by torments of various kinds, to return to the pagan worship. Hence, in all the provinces of the empire, multitudes of Christians were, in the course of two years, put to death by the most horrid punishments which an ingenious barbarity could invent. Of all these cruelties the most unhappy circumstance was, their fa-sors, presbyters, and lapsed, seconded by the tal influence upon the faith and constancy of many of the sufferers; for as this persecution was much more terrible than all those which preceded it, so a great number of Christians, dismayed, not at the approach of death, but at the aspect of those dreadful and lingering torments, which a barbarous magistracy had prepared to combat their constancy, fell from the profession of their faith, and secured them-sequence of their cruel edicts, they were also selves from punishment, either by offering sacrifices, or by burning incense, before the images of the gods, or by purchasing certificates from the pagan priests. Hence arose the opprobrious names of Sacrificati, given to those who sacrificed; Thurificati, to those who burned incense; and Libellatici, to those who produced certificates.

IV. This defection of such a prodigious number of Christians under Decius, was the occasion of great commotions in the church, and produced debates of a very difficult and delicate nature; for the lapsed, or those who had fallen from their Christian profession, were desirous of being restored to the church-communion, without submitting to that painful course of penitential discipline, which the ecclesiastical laws indispensably required. The bishops were divided upon this matter: some were for showing the desired indulgence, while others opposed it with all their might.§ In

*Origen, tom. xxviii. in Matth. op. tom. i. p. 137. See also Firmilianus in Cypriani Epistolis, p. 140. Eusebius, lib. vi. cap. xxxix. xli. Gregorius Nyss. in vita Thaumaturgi. Cyprianus, de Lapsis.

people: and yet, notwithstanding this formidable multitude of adversaries, the venerable bishop came off victorious.*

V. Gallus, the successor of Decius, and Volusianus, son of the former, re-animated the flame of persecution, which was beginning to burn with less fury; and, beside the sufferings which the Christians had to undergo in con

involved in the public calamities that prevailed at this time, and suffered grievously from a terrible pestilence, which spread desolation through many previous of the empire. This pestilence also was an occasion which the pagan priests used with dexterity to renew the rage of persecution against them, by persuading the people that it was on account of the lenity used towards the Christians, that the gods sent down their judgments upon the nations. In the year 254, Valerian, being declared emperor, made the fury of persecution cease, and restored the church to a state of tranquillity.

VI. The clemency and benevolence which Valerian showed to the Christians, continued until the fifth year of his reign. Then the scene began to change, and the change indeed was sudden. Macrianus, a superstitious and cruel bigot to paganism, had gained an entire ascendency over Valerian, and was chief counsellor in every thing that related to the affairs of government. By the persuasion of this imperious minister, the Christians were prohibited from assembling, and their bishops and doctors were sent into banishment. This edict was

published in the year 257, and was followed, the year after, by one still more severe; in consequence of which, a considerable number of Christians, in the different provinces of the empire, were put to death; and many of these were subjected to such cruel modes of execution, as were more terrible than death itself. Of those who suffered in this persecution, the

These certificates were not all equally criminal; nor did all of them indicate a degree of apostacy equally enormons. It is therefore necessary to inform the reader of the following distinctions omitted by Dr. Mosheim; these certificates were sometimes no more than a permission to abstain from sacrificing, obtained by a fee given to the judges, and were not looked upon as an act of apostacy, unless the Christians who demanded them had declared to the judges that they had conformed themselves to the emperor's edicts. But, at other times, they contained a profession of paganism, and were either of fered voluntarily by the apostate, or were subscribed by him, when they were presented to him by the persecuting magistrates. Many used certificates, as letters of security obtained from the priests, at a high rate, and which dis-ed pensed them from either professing or denying their sentiments. See Spanheim's Historia Christiana, p. 732. See also Prud. Maranus in vita Cypriani, sect. 6. Eusebius, lib. vi. cap. xliv, Cypr. Epistolæ.

*The whole history of this controversy may be gatherfrom the epistles of Cyprian. See also Gabr. Albaspinæus, Observat. Eccles. lib. i. observ. xx. and Dallæus, de Pœnis et Satisfactionibus humanis, lib. vii. cap. xvi. Euseb. lib. vii. cap. i. Cypriani. Epist. Ivii. Iviii. Vid. Cypriani Lib. ad Demetrianum.

most eminent were Cyprian, bishop of Carthage; Sixtus, bishop of Rome; and Laurentius, a Roman deacon, who was barbarously consumed by a slow and lingering fire. An unexpected event suspended, for awhile, the sufferings of the Christians. Valerian was made prisoner in the war against the Persians; and his son Gallienus, in the year 260, restored peace to the church.*

ciently testify. But those very works, and the history of his life, show us, at the same time, that he was a much more virulent, than formidable enemy to the Christians; for by them it appears, that he was much more attentive to the suggestions of a superstitious spirit, and the visions of a lively fancy, than to the sober dictates of right reason and a sound judgment; and it may be more especially observed of the remaining fragments of his work against the Christians, that they are equally destitute of judgment and equity, and are utterly unworthy of a wise and a good man.*

VII. The condition of the Christians was rather supportable than happy, under the reign of Gallienus, which lasted eight years; as also under the short administration of his successor Claudius. Nor did they suffer much during IX. Many were the deceitful and perfidious the first four years of the reign of Aurelian, stratagems by which this sect endeavoured to who was raised to the empire in the year 270. obscure the lustre, and diminish the authority But the fifth year of this emperor's administra- of the Christian doctrine. None of these seemtion would have proved fatal to them, had noted to be more dangerous than the seducing arhis violent death prevented the execution of tifice with which they formed a comparison behis cruel purposes; for while, instigated by the tween the life, actions, and miracles of Christ, unjust suggestions of his own superstition, or and the history of the ancient philosophers, and by the barbarous counsels of a bigoted priest-placed the contending parties in such fallacious hood, he was preparing a formidable attack points of view, as to make the pretended sages upon the Christians, he was obliged to march of antiquity appear in nothing inferior to the into Gaul, where he was murdered, in the year divine Saviour. With this view, Archytas of 275, before his edicts were published through- Tarentum, Pythagoras, of whom Porphyry out the empire.† Few, therefore, suffered wrote the life, Apollonius Tyanæus, a Pythamartyrdom under his reign; and indeed, during gorean philosopher, whose miracles and perethe remainder of this century, the Christians grinations were highly celebrated by the vulenjoyed a considerable measure of ease and gar, were brought upon the scene, and exhibittranquillity. They were, at least, free from ed as divine teachers, and rivals of the glory any violent attacks of oppression and injustice, of the Son of God. Philostratus, one of the except in a small number of cases, where the most eminent rhetoricians of this age, composavarice and superstition of the Roman magis- ed a pompous history of the life of Apollonius, trates interrupted their tranquillity. who was little better than a cunning knave, and did nothing but ape the austerity and sanc tity of Pythagoras. This history appears ma

Christ and the philosopher of Tyana; but the impudent fictions and ridiculous fables, with which this work is filled, must, one would think, have rendered it incapable of deceiving any who possessed a sound mind; any, but such as, through the corruption of vicious prejudices, were willing to be deceived.†

VIII. While the emperor, and proconsuls employed against the Christians the terror of unrighteous edicts, and the edge of the destroy-nifestly designed to draw a parallel between ing sword, the Platonic philosophers, who have been described above, exhausted against Christianity all the force of their learning and eloquence, and all the resources of their art and dexterity, in rhetorical declamations, subtile writings, and ingenious stratagems. These artful adversaries were so much the more dangerous and formidable, as they had adopted several of the doctrines and institutions of the Gospel, and, with a specious air of moderation || and impartiality, were attempting, after the example of their master Ammonius, to reconcile paganism with Christianity, and form a sort of coalition of the ancient and the new religion. These philosophers had at their head, in this century, Porphyry (a Syrian, or, as some allege, a Tyrian, by birth,) who wrote against the Christians a long and laborious work, which was destroyed afterwards by an imperial edict.§ He was, undoubtedly, a writer of great dexterity, genius, and erudition, as those of his works which yet remain suffi

X. But as there are no opinions, however absurd, and no stories, however idle and improbable, that a weak and ignorant multitude, more attentive to the pomp of words than to' the truth of things, will not easily swallow; so it happened, that many were ensnared by the absurd attempts of these insidious philosophers. Some were induced by these perfidious stratagems to abandon the Christian religion, which

* This work of Porphyry against the Christians was burned, by an edict of Constantine the Great. It was divided into fifteen books, as we find in Eusebius, and contained the blackest calumnies against the Christians. The first book treated of the contradictions which he pretended to have found in the sacred writings. The greatest part of the twelfth is employed in fixing the time when the prophecies of Daniel were written; for PorMarty-phyry himself found these predictions so clearly and evidently fulfilled, that, to avoid the force of the argument, thence deducible in favor of Christianity, he was forced to have recourse to the absurd supposition, that these prophecies had been published under the name of Daniel by one who lived in the time of Antiochus, and

* Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. x. xi. p. 255. Acta Cypriani, as they are to be found in Ruinarti Act. rum, p. 216. Cypriani Epist. lxxvii. lxxxii.

† Eusebius, lib. vii. Lactantius, de mortibus Perse

cuutor.

wrote after the arrival of the events foretold. Metho

Among these vexations may be reckoned the cruelty of Galerius Maximiam, who, toward the conclusion of this century, persecuted the ministers of his court, and the soldiers of his army, who had professed Christianity.dius, Eusebius, and Apollinaris, wrote against Porphyry; See Eusebius, lib. viii.

§ See Holstenius de vita Porphyr. cap. xi. Fabric. Lux Evang. p. 154. Buddeus, Isagoge in Theologium, VOL. I.-11

tom. ii.

but their refutations have been long since lost.

See Olerius' preface to the Life of Apollonius by Philostratus; as also Mosheim's notes to his Latin translation of Cudworth's Intellectual System, p. 304, &c.

age their malicious efforts, as the books which Tertullian and Cyprian have written against them abundantly show, with several other writings of the Christian doctors, who com

they had embraced. Others, when they were taught to believe that true Christianity (as it was inculcated by Jesus, and not as it was afterwards corrupted by his disciples) differed in few points from the pagan system, properly ex-plained of the malignity of the Jews, and of plained and restored to its primitive purity, determined to remain in the religion of their ancestors, and in the worship of their gods. A third sort were led, by these comparisons between Christ and the ancient philosophers, to form to themselves a motley system of religion composed of the tenets of both parties, whom they treated with the same veneration and respect. Such was, particularly, the method of Alexander Severus, who paid indiscriminately divine honours to Christ and to Orpheus, to Apollonius, and the other philosophers and heroes whose names were famous in ancient times.

XI. The credit and power of the Jews were now too much diminished to render them as capable of injuring the Christians, by their influence over the magistrates, as they had formerly been. This did not, however, discour

their sinister machinations.* During the persecution under Severus, a certain person called Dominus, who had embraced Christianity, deserted to the Jews, doubtless to avoid the punishments that were decreed against the Christians; and it was to recall this apostate to his duty and his profession, that Serapion, bishop of Antioch, wrote a particular treatise against the Jews. We may easily conclude, from this instance, that, when the Christians were persecuted, the Jews were treated with less severity and contempt, on account of their enmity against the disciples of Jesus. From the same fact we may also learn, that, though they were in a state of great subjection and abasement, they were not entirely deprived of all power of oppressing the Christians.

PART II.

THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

yet, in several of the Grecian sects, men of considerable knowledge and reputation, of

Concerning the State of Letters and Philosophy whom Longinus has mentioned the greatest

during this Century.

part. But all these sects were gradually I. THE arts and sciences, which, in the pre-eclipsed by the school of Ammonius, whose ceding century, were in a declining state, seem-origin and doctrines have been considered ed, in this, ready to expire, and had lost all above. This victorious sect, which was formtheir vigour and lustre. The celebrated rheto-ed in Egypt, issued thence with such a rapid rician Longinus, and the eminent historian Dio progress, that, in a short time, it extended Cassius, with a few others, were the last among itself almost throughout the Roman empire, the Greeks, who stood in the breach against and drew into its vortex the greatest part of the prevailing ignorance and barbarism of the those who applied themselves, through inclitimes. Men of learning and genius were still nation, to the study of philosophy. This less numerous in the western provinces of the amazing progress was due to Plotinus, the empire, though there were in several places most eminent disciple of Ammonius, a man of flourishing schools, appropriated to the ad- a most subtile invention, endowed by nature vancement of the sciences and the culture of with a genius capable of the most profound taste and genius. Different reasons contri- researches, and equal to the investigation of buted to this decay of learning. Few of the the most abstruse and difficult subjects. This emperors patronised the sciences, or encour-penetrating and sublime philosopher taught aged, by the prospect of their favour and protection, that emulation which is the soul of literary excellence. Besides, the civil wars that almost always distracted the empire, were extremely unfavourable to the pursuit of science; and the perpetual incursions of the barbarous nations interrupted that leisure and III. The number of disciples, formed in the tranquillity which are so essential to the pro-school of Plotinus, is almost beyond credibility. gress of learning and knowledge, and extin- The most famous was Porphyry, who spread guished, among a people accustomed to the din of arms, all desire of literary acquisitions.* II. If we turn our eyes toward the state of philosophy, the prospect will appear somewhat less desolate and comfortless. There were, as

* See the Literary History of France, by the Benedictine monks, vol. i. part ii.

publicly, first in Persia, and afterwards at Rome, and in Campania; in all which parts the youth flocked in crowds to receive his instructions. He comprehended the precepts of his philosophy in several books, most of which are yet extant.t

In his life of Plotinus, epitomised by Porphyry, ch.xx.

† See Porphyrii vita Plotini, of which Fabricius has given an edition in his Bibliotheca Græca, tom. iv.— Bayle's Diction. tom. iii.-and Brucker's Historia Critica Philosophiæ.

Porphyry was first the disciple of Longinus, author of the justly celebrated Treatise on the Sublime

abroad through Sicily, and many other countries, the doctrine of his master, revived with great accuracy, adorned with the graces of a flowing and elegant style, and enriched with new inventions and curious improvements.* From the time of Ammonius, until the sixth century this was almost the only system of philosophy that was publicly taught at Alexandria. A certain philosopher, whose name was Plutarch, having learned it there, brought it into Greece, and renewed, at Athens, the celebrated Academy, from which issued a set of illustrious philosophers, whom we shall have occasion to mention in the progress of this work.t

among the Christians; and, in proportion to his rising credit, his method of proposing and explaining the doctrines of Christianity gained authority, till it became almost universal. Besides, some of the disciples of Plotinus having embraced Christianity, on condition that they should be allowed to retain such of the opinions of their master as they thought of superior excellence and merit,* this must also have contributed, in some measure, to turn the balance in favour of the sciences. These Christian philosophers, preserving still a fervent zeal for the doctrines of their Heathen chief, would || naturally embrace every opportunity of spreading them abroad, and instilling them into the minds of the ignorant and the unwary.

CHAPTER II.

Respecting the Doctors and Ministers of the Church, and its Form of Government, during this Century.

IV. We have unfolded, above, the nature and doctrines of this philosophy, as far as was compatible with the brevity of our present design. It is, however, proper to add here, that its votaries were not all of the same sentiments, but thought very differently upon a variety of subjects. This difference of opinion was the natural consequence of that funda- I. THE form of ecclesiastical government mental law, which the whole sect was obliged that had been adopted by Christians in general, to keep constantly in view, viz. That truth had now acquired greater degrees of stability was to be pursued with the utmost liberty, and and force, both in particular churches, and in to be collected from all the different systems in the general society of Christians. It appears which it lay dispersed. Hence it happened, incontestable, from the most authentic records that the Athenians rejected certain opinions and the best histories of this century, that, in that were entertained by the philosophers of the larger cities, there was, at the head of each Alexandria: yet none of those who were am-church, a person to whom was given the title bitious to be ranked among these new Platonists, called in question the main doctrines which formed the groundwork of their singular system; those, for example, which regarded the existence of one God, the fountain of all things; the eternity of the world; the dependence of matter upon the Supreme Being; the nature of souls; the plurality of gods; the method of interpreting the popular supersti-thority. This was necessary to the maintetions, &c.

of bishop, who ruled this sacred community with a certain sort of authority, in concert, however, with the body of presbyters, and consulting, in matters of moment, the opinions and the voices of the whole assembly.f It is also equally evident, that, in every province, one bishop was invested with a certain superiority over the rest, in point of rank and au

nance of that association of churches which V. The famous question concerning the had been introduced in the preceding century; excellence and utility of human learning, was and it contributed to facilitate the holding of now debated with great warmth among the general councils, and to give a certain degree Christians; and the contending parties, in this of order and consistency to their proceedings. controversy, seemed hitherto of equal force It must, at the same time, be carefully observin point of number, or nearly so. Many re-ed, that the rights and privileges of these commended the study of philosophy, and an primitive bishops were not every where accuacquaintance with the Greek and Roman lite- ||rately fixed, nor determined in such a manner rature; while others maintained, that these as to prevent encroachments and disputes; nor were pernicious to the interests of genuine does it appear, that the chief authority in the Christianity, and the progress of true piety. province was always conferred upon that bishop The cause of letters and philosophy triumphed, who presided over the church established in however, by degrees; and those who wished the metropolis. It may also be noticed, as a well to them, continued to gain ground, till at matter beyond all dispute, that the bishops of length the superiority was manifestly decided || Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, considered as in their favour. This victory was principally rules of primitive and apostolic churches, had due to the influence and authority of Origen, a kind of pre-eminence over all others, and who, having been early instructed in the new were not only consulted frequently in affairs of kind of Platonism already mentioned, blendid a difficult and momentous nature, but were it, though unhappily, with the purer and more also distinguished by peculiar rights and prisublime tenets of a celestial doctrine, and re-vileges. commended it, in the warmest manner, to II. With respect, particularly, to the bishop the youth who attended his public lessons. of Rome, he is supposed by Cyprian to have The fame of this philosoper increased daily || had, at this time, a certain pre-eminence in