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gods, being able to soften the people, and silence "the report that the city was set on fire by his command, to put an end to this rumour, procured that "the Christians should be accused of burning it, as "knowing them to be persons universally hated upon the account of their religion; and therefore, "that any crimes, how gross soever, laid to their charge, would be easily and readily believed; and "inflicted on them the most exquisite punishments. "The first who were taken up, having confessed "themselves Christians, afterwards a great multi"tude by their information were added to them, "not so much because they were guilty of burning "the city, but because of the hatred of mankind "against them. Scoffs were added to their miseries "while dying. They were clothed with the skins "of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by the dogs: or "else they were crucified, or being spread all over "with combustible matter, were set on fire; and "when daylight was in, were made use of for noc"turnal lights. Nero gave up his own garden for "this spectacle, and exhibited the games of the "circus, mixed with the crowd in the habit of a "charioteer, or standing in a chariot. Hence com"passion arose towards the sufferers, though cri"minal, and deserving to be made examples of the "severest punishments, as being put to death, not "for the sake of public utility, but to gratify the "cruelty of a single person." It is not improbable that Tacitus himself was an eyewitness of what he here relates. In the same place he informs us that the Christian religion had its rise in Judæa, and spread from thence to the city of Rome'.

1 Annal. 1. 15. 44. p. 662.

Eusebius tells us that the Christian doctrine shone with so great lustre in the reign of Domitian, that even the heathen authors m did not think much to give an account in their histories of the persecution and martyrdoms that happened at the latter end of his time. They write, that together with many others, Flavia Domitilla, niece of the consul Clemens, was banished to the island of Pontia, for confessing herself a Christian". And this is confirmed by Dion Cassius, who, in the remains we have of him from Xiphilinus, says, that the crime laid to her charge was atheism°; a crime usually imputed to the Christians by the heathen, because they refused to sacrifice to their gods P. Dion says, that Clemens the consul was put to death, charged with the same crime. And from the description given him by Suetonius 9, it is not a little probable that he was a Christian.

Pliny, governor of Bithynia, writes to the emperor Trajan, that "forasmuch as he had never "been present at the trials of Christians, he was at "a loss to know how far they were wont to be pun❝ished. He was in doubt whether there ought not "to be a difference made with regard to the age of "the persons, and whether there ought not to be "room left for repentance; whether the name of "Christian, though free from crime, should itself be

2112.

m Bruttius is cited as one of these in his Canon Chron. ad an. n E. H. 1. 3. c. 18. • L. 67. p. 766, A. P Vid. Euseb. E. H. 1. 4. c. 13. Athenag. p. 4. Not. Spencer. ad Orig. p. 4.

¶ Contemptissimæ inertiæ. Dom. 15. 1. Tertullian says, Alio quoque injuriarum titulo postulamur, et infructuosi in negotiis dicimur. Apol. c. 42, pr. Vid. Pitisci not. in Sueton.

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punished, or the crimes adhering to the name." He then relates to the emperor the manner he had proceeded in: "I asked them, whether they were "Christians? If they confessed it, I asked them a "second and a third time, threatening to punish "them. If they persevered in the confession, I or"dered them to be put to death. For whatever "were the thing they confessed, I had no manner "of doubt with myself that stubbornness and in"flexible obstinacy ought to be punished. There

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were others of like madness, whom, because they "were Roman citizens, I marked down to be sent "to the city." He afterwards acquaints the emperor, that although he had examined some of them by torture," he could find them guilty of nothing "but a perverse and excessive superstition." So he calls their persisting in a denial to sacrifice to idols, and resolute adherence to the worship of Christ. Their constancy and fidelity to their Saviour is, in the eye of a heathen, an obstinate and unbounded superstition. Trajan, in the answer he writes to Pliny, approves his conduct, and decrees, "that for "the future Christians should not be sought for; "but if they were accused and convicted, they "should be punished. Nevertheless, if they would deny themselves to be Christians, and supplicate "the heathen deities, they should be pardoned ".”

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Joannes Malela has preserved a letter of Tiberianus, governor of Palæstina Prima, directed to the same emperor, wherein he tells him, "that he was "wearied out in punishing the Christians, and put

Sed nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam. S L. 10. ep. 97, 98.

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ting them to death; that they came and informed against themselves, that they might suffer death; "and though he took pains with them, exhorting "and threatening them, they still continued that practice." Upon which Trajan ordered that no more Christians should be put to death.

Serennius Granianus, proconsul of Asia, wrote to the emperor Adrian, "that it appeared not just to "him to put the Christians to death, to gratify the "clamours of the people, without any crime being "laid to their charge, and without a hearing." And the emperor decreed, that for the future Christians should not suffer, unless convicted of some crime against the laws. This rescript of the emperor to Minucius Fundanus, who succeeded Serennius, is mentioned both by Justin Martyr and by Melito, in the Apologies which they offered for the Christians to the emperor Marcus Antoninus ".

This emperor, in an epistle he wrote to the states of Asia, says, "that his father received letters from

many governors of provinces concerning the Chris"tians to whom he wrote in answer not to dis"turb them, unless they attempted any thing against "the state: and that many had sent to himself concerning them, and that he returned answer ac"cording to the decree made by his father."

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He

adds, "Should any notwithstanding continue to give "trouble to the Christians as such, let him that is "accused be freed from the indictment, although it appear that he be a Christian, and let the accuser

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t Chronographia, p. 356. Απέκαμον τιμωρούμενος καὶ φονεύων τοὺς Γαλιλαίους.

" Euseb. E. H. l. 4. c. 8, 9. 26. Just. Mart. p. 99.

"be punished *." Epictetus the philosophery, Arrian his scholar, Lucian the dialogist z, and M. Antoninus the emperor and philosophera, all of them mention the readiness of Christians to lay down their lives for their profession, and blame it as inconsiderateness, rashness, obstinacy, madness.

It is needless to add to these the testimonies of Christian writers. It were easy otherwise to transcribe the apologies that were made by them to the powers then in being, and to lay before you a long list of sufferers, together with the various kinds of tortures inflicted, from the ancient martyrologies:

* Euseb. E. H. 1. 4. c. 13. et Just. Mart. Ρ. 100.

* Εἶτα ὑπὸ μανίας μὲν δύναταί τις οὕτω διατεθῆναι πρὸς ταῦτα, καὶ ὑπὸ ἔθους οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι. Arrian. Εpict. 1. 4. c. 7.

* Πεπείκασι γὰρ αὐτοὺς οἱ κακοδαίμονες, τὸ μὲν ὅλον ἀθάνατοι ἔσεσθαι, καὶ βιώσεσθαι τὸν αἰεὶ χρόνον· παρ ̓ ὃ καὶ καταφρονοῦσι τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ ἑκόντες αὐτοὺς ἐπιδιδόασιν οἱ πολλοί. De Morte Peregrini, p. 763, in et 764. In the same place Lucian confirms what is related in the Acts, that the Christians had all things in common, Acts ii. 44. and iv. 32, 34. Ἔπειτα δὲ ὁ νομοθέτης ὁ πρῶτος ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς, ὡ ἀδελφοὶ πάντες εἶεν ἀλλήλων· ἐπειδὰν ἅπαξ προβάντες, θεοὺς μὲν τοὺς Ελληνικοὺς ἀπαρνήσωνται, τὸν δὲ ἀνεσκολοπισμένον ἐκεῖνον σοφιστὴν αὐτῶν προσ κυνῶσι, καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἐκείνου νόμους βιῶσι· καταφρονοῦσιν οὖν ἁπάντων ἐ ἴσης καὶ κοινὰ ἡγοῦνται. P. 764. He also describes, in the mos lively manner, the great readiness of Christians in that age t assist and support each other when under persecution : Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐδέδετο, οἱ Χριστιανοὶ συμφορὰν ποιούμενοι τὸ πρᾶγμα, πάντα ἐκίνουν ἐξαρπάσαι πειρώμενοι αὐτόν· εἶτ ̓ ἐπεὶ τοῦτο ἦν ἀδύνατον, ἦγε ἄλλη θεραπεί πᾶσα οὐ παρέργως, ἀλλὰ ξὺν σπουδῇ ἐγίγνετο· καὶ ἕωθεν μὲν εὐθὺς ἦν ὁρᾷ παρὰ τῷ δεσμωτερίῳ περιμένοντα γραΐδια, χήρας τινὰς, καὶ παιδία ὀρφανὰ οἱ δὲ ἐν τέλει αὐτῶν, καὶ συνεκάθευδον ἔνδον μετ ̓ αὐτοῦ, διαφθείροντες τοὺ δεσμοφύλακας· εἶτα δεῖπνα ποικίλα εἰσεκομίζετο, καὶ λόγοι ἱεροὶ αὐτῶν ἐλέ γοντο, κ. τ. λ. Ρ. 762, fin. 763.

a

* Μὴ κατὰ ψιλὴν παράταξιν, ὡς οἱ Χριστιανοί, ἀλλὰ λελογισμένως i. e. Non ab obstinatione mera pro Christianorum more, sed u mortem obeas considerate composite, &c. De Rebus suis, l. 11. §. 3