in the end, I found the divine Scriptures to be the only sure philosophy." He says, " he found Christianity to have a formidable majesty, terrifying to those who are in the way of transgression; but a sweetness, peace, and serenity, to those who are conversant with it." The example also of the Christians suffering death so calmly for their faith, made no small impression upon him. After his conversion, we find him at Rome, confuting heretics, disputing with the heathen philosophers, and presenting apologies to the emperors on behalf of the Christians, which are still extant. From these it plainly appears what obloquy was attached to the name of Christian, and how the world, always unfair and injurious in its hatred, was fond of aspersing the whole body with the faults of some who bore the name, and was eager to receive any calumnies against them. In another work he notices these calumnies: "Their eating men"-" their extinguishing the lights"-and " their promiscuous sensuality." But he knew them better, and could refer to "many instances" where persons had been impressed in favour of the Gospel, by observing the sobriety and temperance of their Christian neighbours-the unparalleled meekness of their Christian fellowtravellers under cruel treatment-or the uncommon integrity and equity of those with whom they transacted business.

Justin does not appear to have entered into the Christian ministry, but continued to wear the philosopher's dress. In that ominous character, however, he taught and explained Christianity to all who came to him. " If I mistake not," Mr. Milner remarks," he always preserved a very strong tincture of the spirit of philosophy, though not in such a manner as to prevent his sincere attachment to the Gospel." He embraced the common faith of the Christians of that age, respecting the Trinity, and the mystery of Christ. In his first Apology to the emperor, when combating the charge of atheism brought against the Christians, he says, "They worship not the gods commonly so called, but they worship and adore the true God, and his Son, and the prophetic Spirit, honouring them in word and in truth." But, too fond of Plato and his philosophy, he seems to have forgotten that "the world by wisdom knew not God ;" and when he speaks of a particle of the Divine Word, which he calls the Son of God, as innate in every man, and seems to put his "self-determining power" in the place of that work of the Spirit which quickens the soul dead in trespasses and sins, he appears as the forerunner of the erroneous teachers of subsequent ages,

and excites an apprehension, whether he understood clearly the doctrines of regeneration and of divine illumination, which he, nevertheless, acknowledged and taught.

The enmity of the philosophers at length brought the fatal accusation home to Justin; and whatever obscurity there might have been in some of his views of Christian truth, he was found faithful unto death. The prefect who condemned him, addressed him personally, after having examined some others in the same accusation, "Hear thou, who hast the character of an orator, and imaginest thyself to be in possession of the truth; if I scourge thee from head to foot, thinkest thou that thou shalt go to heaven?" The Christian philosopher answered: “Although I suffer what you threaten, yet I expect to enjoy the portion of all true Christians; as I know that the Divine grace and favour is laid up for all such, and shall be while the world endureth." "Do you think that you shall go to heaven, and receive a reward?" "I not only think so, but I know it, and have a certainty of it which excludes all doubt." They were carried back to prison, whipped, and beheaded.

In this reign, indeed, persecution raged in every city throughout the world; and we may conjecture, says the ancient historian, what multitudes must have perished, by what happened in one nation. That nation was modern France, then called Gaul. The two most frequented cities at that time, were Vienne and Lyons, both situated on the river Rhone. Eusebius has preserved a letter from the churches in these cities, addressed to the churches of Asia and Phrygia, giving an account of their martyrs, The letter is too long for insertion in this short history, but it is written in the language of primitive and scriptural simplicity. They see the malice of Satan raging in their adversaries, and the grace of God withstanding him, in the constancy of the weak sufferers, and in the holy boldness with which many come forward to confess their Master's name. "They hastened unto Christ, declaring, as the truth is, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." Every variety of instruments of torture is described-enough to make us blush with shame for human nature. But these primitive Christians do not only eulogise the courage of their martyrs; they also mention their having "the fulness of love towards God and man," and speak of their "possession of the Spirit, which is the Comforter, as being the source of that love within them."

Some few fell" through weakness of the flesh;" but numbers

of both churches were found valiant in the cause of truth. It is mentioned as a part of their affliction, that their heathen servants having been seized by the order of the governor, were induced, by the fear of torture, to declare the calumnies brought against them to be true" their eating children, committing incest, &c., so that all, even former friends, were incensed against them." The time was come, they said, "which the Lord foretold," "when whosoever killeth you shall think that he doeth God service." Sanctus of Vienne, the deacon, and Maturus, a late convert, and Attalus, who, they said, had ever been a pillar and support of our church, and Blandina, a weak and delicate woman, for whom all trembled, were particularly tried by the utmost fury of the tormentors. The latter, exposed to the most exquisite tortures from morning to night, only exclaimed, "I am a Christian! no evil is committed amongst us!" It would be painful even to read, perhaps hurtful to the imagination of some to think of, what these holy martyrs endured.

Concerning one woman, who had been terrified to deny Christ, they tell us that " Satan thinking he had subdued her," and "that she, a weak and timorous creature, might be brought to accuse us, caused her to be led to the torture she feared :” "but in her torture she recovered herself, and awoke as out of a deep sleep, being admonished, by a temporary punishment, of the danger of eternal fire in hell:" she resumed her Christian profession, and died with the martyrs. Pothinus, bishop of Lyons, though upwards of ninety years of age, was treated with such insults and blows, that he died in consequence. When it was known, by a reference to the emperor, that the relapsed, who had till then been kept in prison, might be released, they, to the surprise of the Gentiles, made confession. "A small number,” they say," still remained in apostasy; but they were those that possessed not the least spark of faith, had not the least acquaintance with the riches of Christ in their souls, and had no fear of God before their eyes; whose life had brought reproach upon Christianity, and had evidenced them to be the children of perdition; but all the rest were added to the church.”

The dead bodies of these saints, those at least which the wild beasts and the fires had left, were not suffered to be buried, but lay exposed for several days to the sight of their enemies; some insulting and deriding, and praising their gods as for a victory; others, with upbraiding pity, exclaiming, "Where is your God?" "What profit do you derive from your religion, which ye valued above life itself?" The bodies were afterwards

burnt, and the ashes scattered on the surface of the Rhone, that no particle of them might remain on earth. Their motive for this act, was their knowledge that the belief of a resurrection of the body, was part of that hope which sustained the Christians in their sufferings1.

This persecution lasted through the whole reign of Antoninus, or Aurelius, as he is sometimes called. We have now seen the situation of the church of God during the fourscore years that Trajan and his successors governed the Roman world with so much vigour and splendour, while all but the Christians enjoyed peace and prosperity. But the hour of retribution was at hand; the short-lived prosperity of the conquering empire, and of the world which it had won, was soon to give place to scenes of blood and carnage, which plainly mark the avenging hand of God on the persecutors and their children.

SECT. II.

Commodus, a most cruel and ferocious tyrant, succeeded his father Antoninus. The era of conquest was exchanged for an era of blood; the peaceful government of Trajan and the Antonines gave place to oppression and civil war; and that licentiousness of the soldiery now began to manifest itself, which, however suppressed for a time, was never afterwards entirely subdued till it had laid prostrate the great city that reigned over the kings of the earth. Mr. Gibbon, from this epocha, dates the decline of the Roman empire, and speaks of the accession of Commodus, as productive of" a revolution to this day felt among the nations of the earth3."

Commodus, after a cruel reign of twelve years, during which he had with peculiar anxiety sought out for destruction those who were connected, how remotely soever, with the family of the Antonines, was killed by his own domestics. His successor Pertinax reigned only eighty-six days, and was murdered by the soldiers of the Prætorian bands, who afterwards sold the empire to Julian. This act was disallowed by the armies in Britain, Syria, and Pannonia; their revolt " was fatal to Julian, and fatal, at the

See the whole account in Mr. Milner and Eusebius.

2 A. D. 180.

3 The events, I doubt not, predicted in the opening of the Second Seal, Rev. vi. 3, 4.

4 A. D. 192.

same time, to the public peace; for, as the generals of the respective armies, whose forces were exactly balanced, were still more anxious to succeed than to revenge Pertinax, a civil war ensued: two bloody battles at length decided the fate of the competitors, in one of which 150,000 Romans were engaged." This period of tyranny and civil discord, brings, us within a few years of the close of the century. It proved, through the wonderful providence of God, a time of rest and outward prosperity to the church. Commodus, so eruel in his civil government, arrested the persecution of the Christians throughout the empire; not from any principle of justice or of merey, but to please a favourite mistress, who, from some cause now unknown, was, on this occasion, their friend. By such instruments is the counsel of God fulfilled.

The language used by the historian, to describe the success and extension of the Gospel, is the strongest possible; he records, in particular, that many of the nobles of Rome, with their families, embraced the faith. The laws against the profession of Christianity were not, however, absolutely repealed; if convicted of the crime, the accused were still to suffer; but the accusers were, at the same time, subjected to capital punishment by an ordinance of the emperor. This was their strange but effectual security1.

The catalogue of the Roman bishops, from the age of the apostles, is found in Irenæus, a writer who flourished at this time; but of a very few, since Clemens, nothing more than the name has been preserved. His successor was Evaristus; after him followed Alexander; then the sixth bishop from the apostles, Sixtus; next, Telesphorus, "who suffered most gloriously as a martyr;" then followed Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter. There is notice, in Eusebius, of a letter from Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, to this Soter, recommending the Roman Christians to continue a charitable custom, which from their first plantation they had always practised, of sending relief to various churches throughout the world, and of assisting more particularly those who were condemned to the mines; "a strong proof," Mr. Milner observes, "that the Roman church continued opulent and numerous, and also that they still partook much of the spirit of Christ."

We perceive a very natural cause for the early importance of the church of Rome in the Christian world. Jerusalem

Eusebius, v. xix.