CHAP V.]

ADVERSE EVENTS.

but

15. Nero being dead, the fury of this murdered. The principal martyrs named first war against the Christians ceased. are Flavius Clemens, a consul, and Fla In the But in the year 93 or 94, a new assault via Domitilla, his niece or wife. was made upon them by Domitian, an em- midst of this persecution John, the apostle, peror little inferior in crime to Nero. was banished to the isle of Patmos; The cause of the persecution, if we give whether he was first cast into a caldron of credit to Hegesippus, was the fear of losing boiling oil by order of the emperor, and his empire; for the emperor had learned in came out alive and unhurt, though asserted some way that a person would arise from by Tertullian and others, has appeared to among the relatives of Christ, who would at- many to be uncertain." tempt a revolution and would produce commotion in the empire.3 This persecution undoubtedly was severe, but it was of short continuance, as the emperor was soon after

only through Judea, the birth-place of the evil, but at
Rome also, where everything atrocious and base centres
and is in repute. Those first seized confessed; then
a vast multitude, detected by their means, were con-
victed, not so much of the crime of burning the city as
of hatred to mankind. And insult was added to their
torments; for, being clad in skins of wild beasts, they
were torn to pieces by dogs, or affixed to crosses to
be burned, were used as lights to dispel the darkness of
night when the day way gone. Nero devoted his gar-
dens to the show, and held Circensian games, mixing
with the rabble, or mounting a chariot clad like a
coachman. Hence, though the guilty and those merit-
ing the severest punishment suffered, yet compassion
was excited because they were destroyed, not for the
public good, but to satisfy the cruelty of an individual."
The commencement of this persecution is determined
by the time of the conflagration, which Tacitus says
Annal. cap. xv. pages 33-41) began the 18th of July,
A.D. 65 (or xiv. Kalend. Sextiles, C. Lecanio et M.
Licinio Coss.), and lasted six days. Some time after,
but in the same year, the persecution broke out; but
If Paul and Peter
how long it continued is uncertain.
suffered in the very last year of Nero's reign, as the
fathers state (Eusebius, Chronicon; and Jerome, De
Firis illustr. cap. i. and v.), the persecution doubtless
ceased only on Nero's death. But if they suffered ear-
lier, then we have no proof of the continuance of the
persecution so long.-Mur.

1 The precise year in which the persecution by Do-
mitian began is not certain. Toinard has discussed
the point in his notes on Lactantius, De Mort. persecut.
cap. iii.
That it raged in the year 95, is stated by
Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. cap. iii. p. 18, but how long be
fore this it commenced is not clear. Pagi (Crit. annal.
Baron. tom. i. pages 85-87) supposes it began A.D.
93. Toinard (ubi supra), A.D. 94, and Dodwell (Diss.
Mosheim, De
Cyprian. cap. xi. p. 71), A.D. 95.
Heb. Christ, ante C. M. says A.D. 94 or 95.- Mur.

2 See Ruinart, Prof. ad Acta Mart. p. 32. [Ittig, Selecta Hist. Eccles. capita, sæcul. i. cap. vi. sec. 11, p. 531.-Schl

a Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xix, xx.

The termination of this persecution is stated differently by the ancients. Some say that Domitian himself put an end to it before his death. Hegesippus (in Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. xx.) states that Domitian, having learned that there were Christians of the lineage of David and kinsmen of Christ, still living in Palestine, had them brought to Rome, and interro. gated them closely respecting their pedigree, their wealth, and the future kingdom of Christ. And from their answers and their whole appearance, he concluded he had nothing to fear from them, and dismissed them; and thereupon he published a decree terminating the persecution. So likewise Tertullian (Apologet. cap. But . P. 60) says of Domitian, "He receded from his atLactantius (De Mort. persecut. cap. iii.) represents tempt and re-called those he had banished." his acts and edicts as repealed after his death, when it was that the Church recovered its former state. And Xiphilin, on Nerva (Dion Cassius, lib. lxviii. cap. i. abridged by Xiphilin), says that "Nerva re-called those banished for impiety," .e. the Christians. Perhaps Domitian published an edict favourable to the Christians a little before his death, the benefits of which 5 See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xviii. and they began to enjoy first after his decease.- Schl. Chronicon, ann 95. Some have supposed that the wife and niece of Clemens both had the same name, and that the first was banished to the island of Pandacalled Pontia. See Tillemont, Mém.pour servir à l'histaria near Italy, and the second to another island toire de l'église, tom. ii. p. 124, &c. and Fleury, Histoire, &c. livr. ii. sec. 52.-Schl. [See Burton's Lect. on the Ecc. Hist. of the first three centuries, vol. i. pages 367-8, for an account of this interesting case of marsons of this Clemens and Domitilla to succeed him in tyrdom. He observes that Domitian had destined the the empire; and therefore if the tyrant had been cut off before they suffered, "a Christian prince might have been seated upon the throne of the Caesars at the end of the first century."—R.

6 See the amicable discussion between the Rev. Mr. Heumann and myself, in my Syntagma Diss. ad historiam eccles. pertinentium, tom. I. pages 497-546. [The whole controversy seems to rest on a passage in Tertullian, De Præscript adv. hæret. cap. xxxvi. as the only original authority for the story, which is in itself improbable. All the more discerning, of late, either doubt or deny the truth of the story.-Mur. [See Jortin's Remarks on Ecc. Hist. vol. i. pages 290—1. -R.

PART II.

THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER I.

THE STATE OF LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY.
1. If it were known what opinions were
advanced and maintained by the men of
most intelligence among the oriental na-
tions at the time when the Christian reli-
gion began to enlighten mankind, many
things in the early history of the Church
might be more fully and more accurately
explained. But only a few fragments of
oriental philosophy, as all know, have come
down to us; and those which have reached
us still need the labours of a learned man
to collect them all, arrange them properly,
and expound them wisely.'

2. The prevailing system in Persia was that of the Magi, who, as is well known, placed two principles or deities over the universe the one good, the other evil. The followers of this system, however, were not agreed in respect to the precise nature of these principles. Yet this doctrine spread over no small portion of Asia and Africa, particularly among the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syrians, and Egyptians, though under different modifications; nor did it leave the Jews untinctured with its principles.3 The Arabians of that and the subsequent age were more remarkable for strength and courage than for intellectual culture; for they attained to no celebrity for learning before the times of Mohammed. This their own writers do not deny."

3. The Indians, from the earliest times, were much famed for their love of profound knowledge. Of their philosophical tenets we could perhaps form an opinion, at the

1 There is extant an English work of Thomas Stanley, on The History of Oriental Philosophy, which Le Clerc translated into Latin. But that learned man has left the field of oriental philosophy not to be gleaned only, but to be reaped by others. He is much inferior both in genius and erudition to Brucker, whose Hist. Crit. Philos. should by all means be consulted.

* See Hyde, Historia religionis veterum Persarum. Oxon. 1700, 4to, a very learned work, but ill-digested and full of improbable conjectures. [For more recent information, see a work by Dr. Tholuck of Hille, entitled, Sufismus sive theosophia Persarum pantheistica, &c. Berl. 1821, 8vo; also, Milman's Hist. of Christ vol. i. p. 65, &c. with the references in the notes. Matter, in his valuable Histoire critique du Gnosticisme, &c. 2d edit. 1843, throws additional light on the religious and philosophical views of the principal Persian and Indian sects, and on their influence primarily on Judaism and afterwards on the corrupters of Christianity. See vol. i. pages 105-130.-R.

3 See Wolf, Manichæismus ante Manichæos. Hamb. 1707, 8vo; Mosneim, Notes on Cudworth's Intell. Syst. pages 328-423, &c. [See also Burton's Bampton Lee tures, pages 45, &c.-R.

4 See Abulpharajus, De Moribus Arabum, p. 6, published by Pocock.

present day, if their very ancient sacred
book which they denominate Veda or the
law were brought to light, and translated
into some language better known. The
accounts given by travellers among the In-
dians concerning this book are so contra-
dictory and fluctuating that we must wait
for further information.5
The Egyptians

5 I have recently learned that this most desirable book has been obtained by some French Jesuits residing in India; and that it has been or will be deposited in the King of France's library. See Lettre du P: Calmette à M. de Cartigny, in the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses des Miss. Etrangères, tom. xxi. Recueil, p. 4 5, &c. and tom. xxiii. Rec. p. 161. [The Hindoo literature and theology were little known when Mosheim wrote. Since that time, and especially since the establishment of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, by Sir William Jones in 1793, this field of knowledge has been

See the

explored with equal industry and success.
Asiatic Researches, 13 vols. 4to; Sir William Jones's
works, 6 vols. 4to; Rev. William Ward's View of the
Hist. &c. of the Hindoos, 3 vols. 8vo; and numerous other
brought to Europe, as Mosheim had been informed.
On the contrary, Mr Holbrooke, in the 8th vol of the

works. But it is not true that the Vedas have been

Asiatic Res. describes them as not worth translating. He says: "They are too voluminous for a complete transla

and 6,000 verses.

Besides the four Vedas, the Hindoos

tion of the whole; and what they contain would hardly reward the labour of the reader, much less that of the translator." The l'edas are four in number, called Rig Veda, Yajush Veda, Saman Veda, and Atharvan Veda. The first consists of five sections, in 10,000 verses; the the third consists of one hundred sections and 3.000 second is divided into eighty sections, in 9,000 verses; verses; the fourth of nine sections, with subdivisions, have fourteen other sacred books, of later date and inferior authority; viz. four Upavedas, six Angas, and four Upangas. All these were supposed to be the proledge, secular as well as sacred. The commentaries on these books, the compilations from them, and digests of their principles, are almost innumerable, and constitute the whole encyclopædia of the Hindoos. Several of these have been translated into European languages; namely, L' Ezour-Vedam, or ancien commentaire du Vedam, &c. à Yverdon, 1778, 2 vols. 12mo. The Bhaguat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon, in eighteen Lectures, with notes by Wilkins. London, 1785, 4to; Bagavadam, ou doctrine divine, ouvrage Indien canonique sur l' Etre suprême, les dieux, les géans, les hommes, les diverses parties de l'univers (by Foucher d'Obsonville), à Paris, 1788, 8vo. Oupnekhut, h. e. Decretum legendum, opus ipsa in India rarissimum, continens antiquam et arcanam, seu theolog, et philosoph. doctrinam, e quatuor sacris Indorum libris excerptame Persico idiomate in Latinum versum-studio et opera Anquetii du Perron, 1801-2, 2 vols. 4to. Institutes of Hindoo Law, or the ordinances of Menu, translated by Sir William Jones. Lond. 1796, 8vo. The last is supposed to follow next after the Vedas in age. Sir Wm. Jones thinks it was, most probably, compiled about 880 years before Christ, and the Vedas about 300 years earlier. The other sacred books of the Hindoos are much later, yet all are now ancient. From the similarity of views between the Hindoo philosophers and those of Greece, it has been thought that they must have had some intercourse, or that one borrowed from the other. The ideas of the fathers in the Christian Church, and of some moderns, would make the Greeks indebted to the Orientals; but Meiners (Historia doctrinæ de uno Deo) and others would reverse the stream of philo sophic knowledge, by supposing it followed the march of Alexander's army from Greece to India. It is to be hoped this subject will receive more light from

ductions of divine persons, and to contain all true know

were unquestionably divided into various sects, disagreeing in opinion; so that it is a vain attempt of some to reduce the philosophy of this people to one system.

4. But of all the different systems of philosophy which were received in Asia and in a part of Africa in the age of our Saviour, none was so detrimental to the Christian Church as that which was styled yviais, or science; i.e. the way to the knowledge of the true God, and which we have above called the oriental philosophy, in order to distinguish it from the Grecian. For, from this school issued the leaders and founders of those sects which, during the three first centuries, disturbed and troubled the Christian Church. They endeavoured to accommodate the simple and pure doctrines of Christianity to the tenets of their philosophy; and in doing so they produced various fantastic and strange notions, and obtruded upon their followers systems of doctrine, partly ludicrous, and partly intricate and obscure, in a very high degree. The ancient Greek and Latin fathers, who contended against these sects, supposed indeed that their sentinients were derived from Pluto; but those good men, being acquainted with no philosophy but the Grecian and ignorant of everything oriental, were deceived by the resemblance between some of the doctrines of Plato and those embraced by these sects. Whoever compares the Platonic philosophy carefully with the Gnostic, will readily see that they are widely different."

the investigations which are going forward with such success in the present age.-Mur. [The result of recent inquiries into the nature of the Indian philosophy may be seen in Ritter's Geschichte d. Philos. alter Zeit. translated by Morrison, vol. iv. p. 330, &c.-R.

1 See Mosheim's Notes on Cudworth's Intellectual System, tom, i. p. 415. [It ought to have been stated in a previous note, where this work was first referred to, that all these valuable notes and dissertations in the Latin translation of Cudworth, published in Germany by Mosheim in 1733, have been recently translated into English by Mr. Harrison, in his edition of Cudworth, published in London in 1845, in three vo

lumes.-R.

admitted, and its character well understood. Yet the

Mosheim, in this and the four following sections, describes an oriental philosophy, the supposed parent of the Gnostic system, as if its existence was universally system here described is of his own formation, being such a system as must have existed, according to his Judgment, in order to account for the Gnosticism of early ages. In his Comment. de Rebus Christ, &c. pag. 19-21, and in his Hist. de Causis suppositorum librorum inter Christianos sæculi primi et secundi, secs. 3-6, (in his Dissert. ad Hist. Eccles pertinentes, tom. i. pag. 223-232), he confesses that he has little evidence, except the necessity of the supposition, for the existence of this philosophy. He also admits that the fathers knew nothing of it; and he might have added that they testify that Gnosticism had no existence till the days of Adrian, in the second century. That Gnosticism as such had no existence in the first century, and that it is in vain sought for in the New Testament, appears to be satisfactorily proved by Tittmann, Tractatus

5. The first principles of this philosophy seem to have been the dictates of mere reason. For the author of it undoubtedly thus reasoned: There is much evil in the world, and men are hurried on, as by the instinct Yet of nature, to what reason condemns. that Eternal Mind from whom all other spirits emanated, is doubtless perfectly free from evil, or is infinitely good and beneficent. Hence the source of the evils with which the world abounds, must be something external to the Deity. But there is nothing external to him, except what is material; and therefore matter is to be regarded as the source and origin of all evil and vice. From these principles the conclusion was that matter existed eternally, and independently of God; and that it received its present form, not from the will or fiat of God, but from the operation of some being of a nature inferior to God: in other words, that the world and the human race came from the creating hand, not of the supreme Deity, but of one of inferior capacity and perfections. For who can believe that the supreme God, who is infinitely removed from all evil, would fashion matter which is in its nature evil and corrupt, and would impart to it any portion of his rich gifts? But, attempting to go farther and to explain how, or by what accident or contrivance, that rude and malignant substance called matter became so skilfully arranged and organized, and especially how souls of celestial origin became joined with bodies composed of it, both reason and common sense forsook them. They therefore resorted to their imaginative faculty and to mere fables, in order to explain the origin of the world and of mankind.

6. But as those who undertake to explain what is obscure and difficult of solution by means of mere conjecture, can very seldom agree; so those who attempted to solve this Some difficulty split into various sects. conceived there must be two eternal first principles, the one presiding over light, the other over matter; and by the contests between these principles they accounted for the mixture of good and evil in our world. Others assigned to matter, not an eternal lord but an architect merely; and they supposed that some one of those immortal

de vestigiis Gnosticorum in N. T. frustra quæsitis.
That notwithstanding many points of
Lips. 1773.
resemblance can be traced, it is materially different
from any system of either Grecian or oriental philoso-
phy, it is the object of Lewald to show, Comment.ad
historiam, &c. de doctrina Gnostica. Heidelb. 1818. For
very ingenious and profound speculations on the sub-
Ject generally, see Neander, Allgem. Gesch. der christi.
Religion und Kirche, vol. 1 part ii. pages 627-670.-
Mur.

mencement of the Christian era, as appears from a passage in Arrian, Diss Epictet. lib. ii sec 5, where air is opposed to arpwrros, or to a frail, changeable being. Οὐ γὰρ εἰμὶ αἰὼν ἀλλ ̓ ἄνθρωπος μέρος τῶν πάντων, ὡς ὥρα ἡμέρας· ἐνστῆναι με δεῖ ὡς ώραν, καὶ mapeλbeiv is pay. "I am not an Eon (an eternal and unchangeable being), but a man, and a part of the universe, as an hour is a part of the day: like an hour I must exist, and then pass away" It was therefore not a novel application of the term air by the Gnostics, to use it as the designation of a celestial and immortal sage in Manes, the Persian, who, as Augustine testifies, being And even the fathers of the ancient church apply called the celestial beings ai@ves, or, as Augustine the term to angels, both good and bad. That all who translates it, sæcula. Some have supposed it so used were addicted to the oriental philosophy, whether Greeks even in the New Test. e.g. Ephes. ii. 2, and Heb. i. 2. or not, used the term in this sense, appears from a pas--Mosheim, De Reb. Christ. ante C. M. p. 30.-Mur.

then the primitive tranquillity will return, and God will reign with the happy spirits in undisturbed felicity to all eternity.1

10. The state of learning, and especially of philosophy among the Jews, is manifest from what has already been said respecting the condition of that nation. It appears from the books of the New Testament, that the recondite science which they called Cabala, was then taught and inculcated by not a few among them. This science was, in many respects, very similar to that philosophy which we have called oriental; or rather, it is this philosophy itself, accommodated to the Jewish religion and tempered with some mixture of truth.2 Nor were the Jews, at that time, wholly ignorant of the doctrines of the Grecks; for some of these doctrines had, from the days of Alexander the Great, been incorporated into their own religion. Of the opinions which they had adopted from the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and the Syrians, I shall say nothing.3

branch of learning and science was culti-
vated. The children of good families were
from their earliest years instructed especi-
ally in Grecian learning and eloquence;
they next applied themselves to philosophy
and the civil law, and at last repaired to
Greece to complete their education.'
Among the sects of philosophers, none were
more acceptable to the Romans than the
Epicureans and Academics, whom the lead-
ing men followed in great numbers in order
to indulge themselves in a life of pleasure
without fear or remorse. While Augustus
reigned, the cultivation of the fine arts was
held in high honour. But after his death,
the succeeding emperors being more intent
on the arts of war than those of peace, these
studies gradually sank into neglect.

13. The other nations, as the Germans,
Celts, and Britons, were certainly not des-
titute of men distinguished for their genius
and acumen. In Gaul, the inhabitants of
Marseilles had long been much famed for
their attention to learning, and they had,
doubtless, diffused knowledge among the
neighbouring tribes. Among the Celts, the
Druids, who were priests, philosophers,
and legislators, were renowned for their
wisdom, but the accounts of them now ex-
tant are not sufficient to acquaint us with
the nature of their philosophy. The Ro-
mans moreover introduced literature and
philosophy into all the countries which they
brought under their subjection, for the
purpose of softening their savage tempers
and promoting their civilization."

6

11. The Greeks are regarded by most writers as continuing to hold the first rank in learning and philosophy. There were among them at that time, especially at Athens, acute and eloquent men, who taught the precepts of philosophy, as held by the ancient sects founded by Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus, and who also instructed youth in the principles of eloquence and in the liberal arts. Hence, those who were eager for learning resorted to Greece from all quarters. And at Alexandria in Egypt, Grecian philosophers and rhetoricians were no less numerous; so that thither also, there was a general resort of dogmas which the Jews had borrowed from the scholars, as to a literary market.

12. Among the Romans in this age every

1 The reader will find some excellent observations on these Eastern systems of theosophy, on the supposed malignity of Matter, on the connexion of this central dogma of orientalism with asceticism and celibacy, and on its subsequent combination with the Christian system, in Milman's Hist. of Christ. ii. 82, &c. Nearly the same view is given by Isaac Taylor in his Ancient Christianity, vol. i p 147, &c. and p. 177, &c.-R.

2 Ritter (Hist. of Philos.vol. iv. p. 402)says, "As to the Cabala of the Jews, recent investigations fully justify us in asserting that it belongs to a much later date." Tholuck is also of opinion that the Cabalistical works now in existence are, comparatively speaking, of recent date. In Europe the earliest vestiges of the Cabbala date in the twelfth century, but in Asia they go back to the eighth. See his Comment. de vi Græc. Philos in Theolog. Muham et Judæor. Part ii. De Ortu Cabale. Hamb. 1837. On the other hand, Matter traces it up to a period antecedent to Christianity. See his Hist. du Gnost. i, 135 -R.

3 See Buddeus, Introductio in historiam philos. Hebræorum; and the writers named by Wolfius, Bibliotheca Hebraica, tom. iii. [but, especially Brucker's Hist. Crit. Philos tom. ii. period ii. par. i. lib. ii, cap. i. p. 652.-Schl. [See also Matter, Hist. du Gnost. vol. i pages 76-105 and 164-186, for a view of the

Egyptians and Syrians.- R.

4 See Gaudentius, Liber de Philosophiæ apud Ro manos initio et progressu, in the 5th vol. of the Nova Variorum Scriptorum Collectio, Halle, 1747, 8vo, 2nd edition.

5 See the Histoire littéraire de la France, par les Religieux Bénédictins, Diss. prelim. p. 42. &c.

• Martini's Religion des Gaulois, liv. i. chap. xxi. p. 175, and various others who have written concerning the Druids. [This work of Martin is said to be far inferior to the following, viz. Histoire des Celtes et particulièrement des Gaulois et des Germains, par Sim. Pelloutier, augmentée par M. de Chiniac. Paris, 1771, 8 vols. 12mo, and 2 vols 4to.; also, Fréret, Obs. sur la nature et les dogmes de la relig. Gauloise, in the Histoire de l'Acad. des Inscrip. tome xviii.; and his Obs. sur la relig. des Gaulois, &c. in the Mémoires de Littérature, tirés des régistres de l'Acad. des Inscript. tome xxiv. Paris, 1756: also the introductory part of Alsatia Illustrata, by M. Schoepflin, tom. i. sec. 96. Colmar, 1751, fol.-Mur. [The works here referred to have been superseded by those of more recent inquirers. Among these modern works perhaps the fullest and most valuable is, Thierry, Histoire des Gaulois depuis les temps les plus reculés, jusqu'à l'entière soumission de la Gaule à la domination romaine, 2nd edition, 1835, 3 vols. 8vo. The Ethnography of the Celts is admirably traced by Dr Pritchard, in the 3rd vol. of his Researches into the physical history of man kind London 1841.-R.

7 Juvenal, Satyra xv. 110-113.