perienced by both, and in all succeeding time the people of God have, in like manner, been the objects of divine favour. Hence we read, in the words of Christ himself," Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also, which shall believe in me, through their word;" and if they (the followers and successors of the apostles) were made the special object of the Redeemer's prayer, then it cannot be a matter of indifference to us to ascertain, if we can, their character and their condition whilst on earth: for their union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, their close and spiritual communion, was to be to the unbelieving world at once a sign and a condemnation, "That they all may be one," continues the Redeemer, 66 as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

In

I have said that the voice of inspiration ceased with St. John. It was during his exile in an island in the Egean Sea that he wrote the book of Revelation which closes the canon of the New Testament. that book we learn something of the state of the churches in Asia; and we appear, in reading the subsequent pages, to be only reading a history of what has happened in the church since that period. It is said, and with some appearance of truth, that St. John profited by the edict which the emperor Nerva promulgated in favour of the Christians; and went out from his place of exile to Ephesus, where he died. This took place at the very end of the first century; and it is from this period that we are now about to resume the history of the Christian church.

During the last thirty years of the first century we know little or nothing of any of the apostles except St. John. It is very probable they were all taken away from their earthly labours about the time of Nero's persecution; but, inasmuch as St. John remained alive until the very end of the century, it is with propriety called the apostolic age. The succeeding century saw many bishops and martyrs who had been the disciples of St. John and the other apostles; and the writings of some of those have come down to us: the second century is, therefore, sometimes called the age of the apostolic fathers.

In viewing the interesting events connected with Christ's church, we are naturally led to a two-fold inquiry: how it fared with the world into which, as a lamb among wolves, it was sent; and what evils, or remarkable events, arose within itself. These two views may be distinguished by the external and internal history of the church. To the former, the heathens may bear testimony, and their evidence must be the most unsuspected; the latter can only be gathered from the Christian writers, and they must be divested of all passion and party, to adopt their testimony as to the truth of doctrine. The death of St. John was nearly contemporary with the accession of Trajan to the Roman empire, which took place in the year 98. Considering, therefore, the first century as closing with these two events, respectively belonging to the church and the Roman world, we may take our review of Christianity at the beginning of the second century.

From the sacred writings alone, without having recourse to any less authentic records, we learn that the the religion of Jesus had gained a footing in fifty different towns and cities of the Roman empire, besides the churches which were spread over about twenty different countries. It will hardly suffice to limit its extent in the East by the great river Euphrates; for the Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia go beyond. We may safely extend the knowledge of the gospel, at the close of the first century, to the Persian Gulph and the Caspian Sea: the whole of Asia Minor, with Syria, Palestine, and Lower Egypt, had shared in a large degree its benign influence; and we shall shortly see, from the most indubitable testimony, how

mightily the word of God prevailed among the nations bordering on the shores of the Euxine Sea. St. Paul tells us that round about, even to Illyricum, he had fully preached the kingdom of God; and he informs Timothy, in his second epistle, that Titus had gone to Dalmatia. These intimations lead us on to follow the footsteps of Christianity almost to the banks of the Danube, comprising a large portion of what is now the Austrian territory, along the Hadriatic Sea, without mentioning the islands in the Mediterranean, where we know there were Christians. We may, upon the same infallible authority, pass from the East to the West. The intention which St. Paul announced to the Romans of passing into Spain, induces us to believe that either then, or soon after, there were churches in that country. The faith of the Romans was spoken of throughout all the world; and the saints of Italy is an expression which surely comprises other churches than that at Rome. There is certainly no intimation in scripture that Christianity had penetrated beyond the Alps. We find it there, however, in the churches of Vienne and Lyons about the middle of the second century; and there is no reason to suppose that the converted Jews, which came from Cyrene and other parts of Africa, did not carry the seeds of the new religion even to the shores of Numidia. But if these facts may be gathered from the scriptures, that is to say, if such was the extent of Christianity before the destruction of Jerusalem, we are safe in assigning it no narrower limits at the beginning of the second century.

The banner of the cross is seen to wave over the then known three quarters of the globe; the commission of our Lord, which he gave to the humble fishermen to go into all the world and preach the gospel, was fully accomplished. Their sound went out into all lands. There was neither barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, all were invited to come to the waters of life; the most abject of the human race were admitted to the glorious privileges of the gospel. The divine word was suited to the cases of the weary and heavy laden; the exhortations to the worst of sinners were brief but effectual. Wash and be clean; believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Thus was the church of God, in its universal character, established upon earth; thus was it left to bear witness to all the world that God had visited mankind, and that the Sun of righteousness had risen upon the benighted race of men, with healing in his wings.

In this condition of the world and the church, Trajan, a native of Spain, and a great warrior, took possession of the empire in the forty-second year of his age. It does not appear at this period that any law remained in force against the Christians. The senate had annulled the cruel edicts of Nero, and the mild administration of Nerva had effaced the inhuman laws of Domitian. We may easily imagine that the faithful followers of Jesus suffered from the occasional ebullitions of popular fury, which the laws were either too feeble or ill adapted to repress; and it was no doubt on some such occasion that Pliny wrote his celebrated letter to the emperor, which, with the answer, we are now about to consider. You will recollect that St. Peter addresses his epistles to "the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia." In this expression we readily discover that a few Christians, taking refuge from persecution in those distant provinces of the empire, where they might serve their God and Saviour in peace, were dispersed, like the seeds which are carried away by the violence of the storm, over the whole of the lesser Asia. It is evident they were then but few in number; but before another half-century expired, they were sufficiently numerous to cause anxiety to the Roman governor. In the year 107, but certainly not later than 111, Pliny the younger, as he is usually called, was appointed by Trajan governor of Pontus and

for these religious purposes among those primitive believers; that is among those whose fathers had seen St. Peter, or at least received his autograph espistles; and we may not omit to observe that the evidence which the apostates gave in to the pro-prætor contains a pointed allusion to the divinity of Christ, to whom they addressed their prayers and praises as to God; nor ought it to escape our notice how the true Christian in every age hath, by well-doing, put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, so that even a heathen is compelled to admire the holiness of the vow by which the Christians of Bithynia were bound, and to suspend his persecutions of a harmless and innocent people.

The rescript of the emperor is not less important in following up the history of the Christians: for, as Tillemont well observes, it was the rule of action to the Romans until the persecution of Severus; so that the whole Christian world was affected by whatever it might allow of or forbid to be done against them. We would not deny that it softened the former rigour with which the saints of God had been treated; but it admitted, at the same time, of persecution, even unto death. The only thing required was the full proof of being a Christian; and this the true believer was ever ready to confess, because it is part of the profession of Christianity to confess Christ before men; and no man, who believes in him, is even justified in concealing the matter; for no man, it is said, lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but rather on a candlestick, that every one that cometh in may see the light. If, then, the envious priests of the false gods saw their temples deserted; if the venders of victims and incense, and the makers of idols, saw their gains diminish, they might easily avail themselves of the imperial edicts, and bring to trial the true defenders of the faith; and accordingly we find, in pursuing our history, that within a short time after Trajan's answer to his deputy, two distinguished leaders in the church were put to a cruel and ignominious death. The first of these was Simeon, who succeeded the apostle St. James as bishop of the church of Jerusalem. Some writers are indeed disposed to date his martyrdom a few years earlier than the return of Trajan's rescript to Bithynia; but, without entering into any critical arrangement of this and such matters, I shall continue to state what appears to me the most accurate chronology.

Simeon was the son of Cleophas and of Mary, and cousin-german of Jesus Christ. He was 120 years old when he was taken before Atticus, the Roman governor of Syria. The emperors had taken some pains to exterminate the posterity of David, in order to take away all pretext of rebellion from the Jews. Some enemies, both false-professing Christians and Jews, gave information against Simeon that he was a Christian, and, moreover, that he was of the lineage of David. He was tortured for many days, so that the people wondered, and the governor was astonished, to witness so much strength and capability of suffering in so aged a man. He was at length nailed to a cross, and died, after having governed the Church of Jerusalem for more than forty years. He witnessed the destruction of the once favoured city, and he must have been amongst those who, in obedience to the forewarning of Christ, fled to the mountains. How eventful the life of this holy man! How faithful he was unto death! He was succeeded by Justus, a native of Judea, whose competitor for the dignity of governing the church was Tebutes; he, being rejected, became the author of a sect which comprised all those unsound believers who inclined to Judaism, and who in all probability were afterwards blended in the general appellation of the Gnostics.

The church of Alexandria is said to have been first governed by St. Mark; to him, according to Eusebius, succeeded Anianus, who died in the year 85.

Abilicus and Cerdon go through a further space of 24 years, and then Primus succeeds, which carries us into the reign of Hadrian. Little is known of the internal state of Alexandria until a later period, when it became too fruitful in subjects of a speculative nature. But the church of Antioch acquires a great interest at this period, from the affecting narrative which ecclesiastical history has preserved of St. Ignatius. That holy man had succeeded Evodius, who, in all probability, received the flock at Antioch from the hands of St. Peter. He had survived with St. John the persecution under Domitian; and when Trajan passed through Antioch, he must have been far advanced in years. Whether the conversation which in the Acts of the Martyrs he is said to have had with Trajan be worthy of credit or not, it seems sufficiently clear, from other sources of information, that Ignatius did see the emperor as he passed through Antioch; and upon the principle of sending all distinguished or remarkable culprits to suffer at Rome, Ignatius, as the principal leader of the Christians in the East, was condemned to be exposed to the wild beasts in that very amphitheatre whose stupendous ruins now excite our wonder and admiration. It is probable that Trajan had no more to do in this act than merely giving his consent to the request of others, made upon a subject which he had neither leisure nor inclination to consider. Occupied with his distant war in Parthia, and exercised by the rude valour of the Dacians, he can hardly be supposed to have bestowed much thought upon an aged follower of the meek and lowly Jesus. But this will not justify him before that tribunal which shall one day be erected in the clouds of heaven; and although his military achievements have been conveyed, through seventeen centuries, by the eloquence of art, and his matchless pillar still remains to tell us of his earthly glory, the blood of the aged martyr will cry against him from the encumbered arena, long after the sculptured marble has ceased to be intelligible. Ignatius, being condemned to death, was committed to a guard of ten soldiers, who appear to have treated him with great severity. They embarked at Seleucia, and came to Smyrna, where Polycarp, the fellow-disciple of Inguatius, was bishop of the church. The two servants of Christ met and comforted one another in this day of adversity. Deputies from all the neighbouring churches came to confer with the venerable martyr, and amongst them are enumerated Onesimus, bishop of Ephesus, Polybius, bishop of Tralles, and Demas, from Magnesia. They came, it is said, in the hope that he would communicate to them some spiritual gift, which perhaps shows that preternatural gifts, although rare, were not altogether extinct.

Ignatius took the opportunity of writing from Smyrna to the three churches over which these bishops presided; having found also at Smyrna some Ephesians, who were going directly to Rome, he wrote a fourth epistle to the Romans. He speaks of the joy he shall experience in seeing them face to face, beseeches them not to be sorrowful on his account, nor to prevent him from obtaining the crown of martyrdom, and with many exhortations, he entreats them to love one another. He makes no mention of the bishop of Rome in his epistle; but some suppose it was Evarestus who had succeeded Clement in the year 100. From Smyrna, Ignatius was conveyed to Troas, where he was met by the bishop of Philadelphia. He became the bearer of an epistle which was addressed to the Christians in that city. He also took the opportunity of writing to the Christians of Smyrna, whom he had recently left full of sorrow at his departure, and for the words which, like St. Paul, he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. added also a letter to Polycarp, recommending him to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made him overseer.

He

These seven epistles, written by Ignatius at this trying period of his life, are still extant, and acknowledged by all to be genuine. They are for the most part short, and rather contain exhortations and precepts than an argumentative exposition of Christian faith. As the disciple of the apostles, and as a man full of piety, we may perhaps consider the writings as the most interesting documents the church possesses, next to the writings of the apostles. They are in perfect harmony with the sacred scriptures; but the churches, however valuing them as the production of a bishop and martyr, placed them far beneath the infallible word of inspiration.

There are other five epistles ascribed to Ignatius, said also to have been written during his journey; but these have as satisfactorily been shown by the learned to be spurious, as the seven short epistles have been proved to be genuine. We are indebted for the pub

lication of them to Isaac Vossius, who discovered them in a manuscript at Florence, and gave them to the world in 1646.

The venerable martyr proceeded from Troas, ac

companied by three of his disciples, and following the course which Paul had taken in his first journey to Greece, they landed at Neapolis. They passed through Macedonia, touching at Philippi, until they came to Epidamnus, now Durazzo, situated on the Hadriatic Sea. From thence they re-embarked and came to the shores of Italy, arriving within sight of Puteoli, near Naples, where St. Paul landed on his way to Rome. Ignatius desired to tread in the footsteps of the great apostle, and land at Pozzuoli; but a contrary wind prevented the execution of the design, and after a day and night they came to Portus, which is now Frumicino. Thence they proceeded to Rome, and great was the joy of the Christians in conferring

with the aged servant of Christ. But this was not of long duration, for the festival of the Sigillaria, which lasted seven days, was now nearly finished, and Ignatins was destined to be a spectacle for those hours of brutal festivity. On the 21st of December he was led into the arena, and was speedily devoured by the wild beasts let loose upon him. He had requested that none should gather up his relics; nevertheless a few of the larger bones which the wild beasts had spared were collected and carried to Antioch; and they are spoken of by the martyr's friends as an "invaluable treasure." They were buried in the cemetery, which was near to the gate called Daphne. This mar

tyrdom took place in the year 107, when Sura and

Senecio were consuls.

ages, as we shall hardly, at present, step beyond the limits of the second century.

THE SABBATH ADAPTED TO THE NECESSITIES OF MAN:

A Sermon,*

BY THE REV. S. N. KINGDON, B.D.
Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
GEN. ii. 3.

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that on it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

WHEN we are distinctly told that God, after six days employed in the frame-work of creation, rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it, we are not warranted to imagine that he, to whom we ascribe the attribute of omnipotence, was confined, as respects himself, to any portion of time, in the fulfilment of his work that six days were more suitable than one, or one than six, to the operation of his almighty power. Nor are we able to discern how his rest on the seventh day is connected with any thing immediately referable to himself, or merely calculated to illustrate his own character and attributes. There is a significant expressiveness in the manner in which, after the employments of six days had been specified, the seventh is ushered in as consecrated by Jehovah to a holy rest. But the solemn announcement of his procedure in this particular, seems only to be understood upon the supposition that, knowing the importance of rest from labour during one day in seven to the creatures he had formed, he chose to take the striking method of sanctioning by his own example, the cessation so necessary to be observed.

were the metropolitan churches of the East, Rome must have held that station in the West. Clement, the fellow labourer of St. Paul, is supposed by some to have been the fourth bishop, if Linus was the second, and Anaclete the third; but although ecclesiastical history has preserved accounts of many of the Eastern churches, it has handed down little more about the bishops of Rome for the first two centuries

than their mere names, and those in an order so con

fused that both Petavius and Onophrius (writers of the Roman Catholic Church), complain of the obscure succession of the bishops of Rome for 180 years. Many of them no doubt suffered, like Ignatius, for the cause of the gospel, as for instance Telesphorus; and there is every reason to suppose that the errors and heresies which infected the Christian churches in Asia

and Egypt did not obtain a place in the primitive church of Rome. Ignatius was a negative testimony to this in his epistle to that church; for although in his other epistles he alludes to deceivers and false teachers, he makes no such allusion to any as being then amongst the Romans; nor will it be our business to enquire whether any such errors arose in subsequent

I would then, endeavour, by the divine blessing, to illustrate the force and scope of my text, by directing attention to some of the most remarkable particulars in which the institution of the Sabbath meets the requirements of man.

Among others which might be enumerated, I would notice

I. First the manner in which it conduces to the healthy, and, consequently, most advantageous exercise of our bodily and mental faculties.

No one, who attentively considers the bodily frame, whether of man himself or of * Preached before the University.