the charge be a mere calumny, do you estimate the enormity of such calumny and punish as it deserves."* This rescript appears to have somewhat abated the fury of the persecution, though not wholly to have put an end to it. Tertullian, in reference to these times, informs us that Arrius Antoninus, then proconsul of Asia, when the Christians came in a body before his tribunal, ordered some of them to be put to death; and said to others, "You wretches! If ye will die, ye have precipices and halters." He adds, that several other governors of provinces, punished some few Christians, and dismissed the rest, so that the persecution was neither so general nor so severe as it had been under Trajan. During the reign of Adrian, the Jews once more attempted to free themselves from the Roman yoke. A rebellious chief arose among them, of the name of Barchochebas, who assumed the title "king of the Jews," and prevailed upon these deluded people, thinned as they were by slaughter, and dispersed throughout the different provinces, to rally round his standard, and contend with the Romans for empire. While the rebellion was in progress, the Christians, refusing to join the standard of this fictitious Messiah, suffered the most atrocious indignities, and were massacred without mercy, until the fall of their leader and the destruction of his adherents put an end to the sedition. The issue of the rebellion was the entire exclusion of the Jews from the territory of Judea. After a reign of twenty-one years, Adrian was succeeded, in the year 138, by Titus Antoninus Pius, a senator about fifty years of age, whom he declared his successor, only on the condition that he himself should immediately adopt Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, a youth of about seventeen, and by these two Antonines the Roman world was governed forty years. Their united reigns, says Gibbon, * Eusebius, b. 4. c. 9. and Justin Martyr's first Apology, ad finem. are possibly the only period of history, in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.* The elder Antoninus appears to have been a most amiable prince. He diffused order and tranquillity throughout the empire; and, in his own personal character and intentions, was guiltless of Christian blood. The disciples of Jesus were, nevertheless, cruelly treated in some of the provinces of Asia, and it occasioned Justin Martyr to write his first apology, which was presented to the emperor. The crimes they were accused of by their enemies were impiety and atheism, which are refuted by Justin in his apology. In several of the former edicts, the word crime had not been sufficiently determined in its signification. Hence the pagan priests, and even the Roman magistrates, frequently applied this term to the profession of Christianity itself. But Antoninus issued an edict, in which he decided the point on the side of humanity and justice. He addressed a letter to the province of Asia, in favour of the persecuted Christians, which is of too much importance to be here omitted. THE EMPEROR TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF ASIA. "I am clearly of opinion, that the gods will take care to discover such persons (as those to whom you refer.) For it much more concerns them to punish those who refuse to worship them, than you, if they be able. But you harass and vex the Christians, and accuse them of atheism and other crimes, which you can by no means prove. To them it appears an advantage to die for their religion, and they gain their point, while they throw away their lives, rather than comply with your injunctions. As to the earthquakes, which have happened in times past or more recently, is it not proper to remind you of your own despondency, when they happen; and to desire you to compare your spirit with theirs, and observe how serenely they confide in God? In VOL. I. *Decline and Fall, vol. i. ch. 3. Ін such seasons you seem to be ignorant of the gods, and to neglect their worship. You live in the practical ignorance of the supreme God himself, and you harass and persecute to death, those who do worship him. Concerning these same men, some others of the provincial governors wrote to our divine father Adrian, to whom he returned for answer, That they should not be molested, unless they appeared to attempt something against the Roman government.' Many also have made application to me concerning these men, to whom I have returned an answer agreeable to the maxims of my father. But if any person will still persist in accusing the Christians merely as such, let the accused be acquitted, though he appear to be a Christian, and let the accuser be punished." Set up at Ephesus in the Common Assembly of Asia. Letters of similar import were also written to the Larisseans, the Thessalonians, the Athenians, and all the Greeks, as we are informed by Eusebius; and the humane emperor took care that his edicts were carried into effect. He reigned three and twenty years, and it seems reasonable to conclude that during the greater part of this time, Christians were permitted to worship God in peace. This must have been a halcyon season to the poor afflicted disciples of Jesus when they were permitted to sit under their own vine and fig-tree, without fear of molestation; but it terminated with the life of the elder Antoninus, about the year 162, at which time the government of the empire devolved wholly upon his late colleague, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. This prince, at the age of twelve years, embraced the rigid system of the stoical philosophy, which he also laboured to inculcate upon the minds of his subjects. He even condescended to read lectures of philosophy to the Roman people, in a manner, says Gibbon, who nevertheless eulogises his character, more public than was consistent with the modesty of a sage or the dignity of an emperor. Under his reign commenced, what is generally accounted the fourth persecution of the Christians. It is not improbable that he had beheld, with an anxious eye, the lenity which had been shown them by his predecessors, and that the occasional interruptions that had been given them, were, at least, with his connivance. Certain it is that, no sooner had he attained to the full exercise of power, than he completely discarded the tolerant principles of Antoninus Pius, and threw open once more the floodgates of persecution. The churches of Asia appear to have suffered dreadfully at this period. Polycarp was pastor of the church in Smyrna, an office which he had held for more than eighty years, and which he had filled up with honour to himself, to the edification of his Christian brethren, and the glory of his divine Master. It only remained for him now to seal his testimony with his blood. The eminence of his station marked him out as the victim of popular fury. The cry of the multitude against Polycarp was, "This is the doctor of Asia, the father of the Christians, the subverter of our gods, who teaches many that they must not perform the sacred rites, nor worship our deities. Away with these Atheists." The philosophy of the emperor could not teach him that this pretended atheism was a real virtue, which deserved to be encouraged and propagated amongst mankind. Here reason and philosophy failed him; and his blind attachment to the gods of his country caused him to shed much blood, and to become the destroyer of the saints of the living God!* . The friends of Polycarp, anxious for his safety, prevailed upon him to withdraw himself from public view, and to retire to a neighbouring village, which he did, continuing with a few of his brethren, day and night, in prayer to God, for the tranquillity of all the churches. The most diligent * This is the emperor whom Pope has panegyrised in the following lines. "Who noble ends by noble means obtains, search was, in the mean-time, made for him without effect. But when his enemies proceeded to put some of his brethren to the torture, with the view of compelling them to betray him, he could no longer be prevailed upon to remain concealed. "The will of the Lord be done," was his pious ejaculation; on uttering which, he made a voluntary surrender of himself to his persecutors, saluting them with a cheerful countenance, and inviting them to refresh themselves at his table, only soliciting from them on his own behalf one hour for prayer. They granted his request, and his devotions were prolonged to double the period, "with such sweetness and savour, that all who heard him were struck with admiration, several of the soldiers repenting that they were employed against so venerable an old man." His prayer being ended, they set him on an ass, and carried him towards the city, being met on the road by Herod the Irenarch (a kind of justice of the peace) and his father Nicetes, who were chief agents in this persecution."* Many efforts were tried to shake his constancy, and induce him to abjure his profession; at one time he was threatened by the proconsul with the fury of wild beasts. "Call for them," said Polycarp, "it does not become us to turn from good to evil." "Seeing you make so light of wild beasts," rejoined the magistrate, "I will tame you with the more terrible punishment of fire." But Polycarp bravely replied, "You threaten me with a fire that is quickly extinguished, but are ignorant of the eternal fire of God's judgment, reserved for the wicked in the other world. But why do you delay? order what punishment you please." Thus finding him impenetrable both to the arts of seduction and the dread of punishment, the fire was commanded to be lighted, and the body of this venerable father burnt to ashes, in the year 166. Melito was, at this period, pastor of the neighbouring church of Sardis. As the rage of persecution grew more * Cave's Life of Polycarp, p. 53. |