The fourth, and last opinion is that of the Presbyterians who affirm that Christ's intention was that the Christian doctors and ministers should all enjoy the same rank and authority without any sort of pre-eminence or subordination or distinction of rights and privileges.—Mosheim, vol. 1, pages 67, 68. Note—Murdock.
"The truth of the matter is," remarks Dr. Maclaine, "that Christ by leaving this matter undetermined, has of consequence, left Christian societies a discretionary power of modeling the government of the church in such a manner as the circumstantial reasons of times, places, etc., may require; and therefore the wisest government of the church is the best and the most divine; and every Christian society has a right to make laws for itself; provided that these laws are consistent with charity and peace and with the fundamental doctrines and principles of Christianity." Of this it is only necessary to say that Christ did not leave this matter undetermined but established his church government as explained in the text of this work. The wisest form of church government is that which God gave; it is at the same time the best and not only the most divine but the only one that can lay any claim to being so; and for the church or any branch thereof to establish any other government for itself is an unjustifiable departure from the order of God.—Roberts.
6. Authority from God Needful.—We are informed in the scriptures, that the Lord wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, whom he had called to be his servant. The sick were healed, and evil spirits were cast out of those who were possessed. "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you, by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons, of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house, naked and wounded."—(Acts xix: 13-16). These men presumptuously took it upon themselves to act as those who had authority, and the result was that not even the devils would respect their administrations, much less the Lord. There is a principle of great moment associated with this incident. The question is, if these men, when acting without authority from God could not drive out an evil spirit, would their administration be of force, or have any virtue in it, had they administered in some other ordinance of the gospel, say baptism for the remission of sins, or the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost? Manifestly it would not. Hence we come to the conclusion, so well expressed in one of our articles of faith: "A man must be called of God by prophecy and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."—"The Gospel"—Roberts.
1. What two great purposes were contemplated in Messiah's mission?
2. Relate the fall of man and its consequences.
3. What is general salvation?
4. How do you prove that there will be a general salvation?
5. Why is redemption from Adam's transgression unconditional? (Notes 1 to 4).
6. How are the claims of justice and mercy balanced in the atonement?
7. Was Messiah's atonement voluntary?
8. What can you say of the love of God as it appears in the atonement?
9. What is meant by individual salvation?
10. In what does it differ from general salvation?
11. By what consideration does mercy mitigate the claims of justice in the plan of redemption?
12. What are the conditions of salvation? (Note 6).
13. For what several purposes did Messiah institute his church?
14. Why is it that the description of the Church of Christ is so imperfect in the New Testament?
15. Enumerate the powers granted to the Twelve.
16. What other officers did Jesus call to the ministry upon whom he bestowed similar powers?
17. What other officers were appointed in the church?
18. Give Paul's description of the church.
19. State the particular objects to be accomplished by the church organization.
20. What reasons can you give for believing that the church as organized by Messiah is to be perpetuated?
21. What are the four leading opinions in respect to church government? (Note 5).
22. What is the truth in respect of church government? (Note 5).
23. Is the Book of Mormon description of church organization more complete than that of the New Testament? Why?
24. Give an account of the organization of the church on the western hemisphere.
25. What followed the preaching of the gospel and the organization of the church on the western hemisphere?
Footnotes
1. It is also called Ephrath [Ef-rath] and Ephratah [Ef-ra-tah.] It was the scene of Rachel's death and burial, the native place of Samuel's father, the residence of Boaz and Ruth, and the birthplace of David; it was also the last rallying point of the remnant of Judah after the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar.
2. Micah v: 2.
3. Luke 1:28-38.
4. Canon Farrar translates this splendid passage: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will," maintaining that such is the reading of the best Mss. Dear to us as the reading in King James' translation of the Bible is, if looked upon as announcing the effect of Christianity in this world—"On earth peace among men of good will," comes more nearly to the truth than "on earth peace, good will toward men."
5. Matt. ii: 2.
6. III Nephi i: 21.
7. III Nephi i: 13.
8. III Nephi i: 15-19.
9. Matt. ii: 18.
10. Matt. ii: 23.
11. I have condensed much of the matter in the first part of this section from the learned works of D'Aubigne, Dr. Mosheim, Gibbon and Josephus, sometimes using even their phraseology without further acknowledgement than this note.—The Author.
12. Epistle to Romans i: 18-32.
13. See note 7, end of section.
14. Dr. Lardner.
15. See "The First Gospel of the Infancy," Apocryphal New Testament (Colley & Rich, publishers, Boston, 1891.)
16. Luke i.
17. Matt. iii.
18. Luke iii.
19. Matt. iii.
20. Luke iii.
21. John i:19-23.
22. The location of Bethabara is uncertain.
23. Matt. iii.
24. Matt. iii.
25. John i:33.
26. Matt. iv.
27. That is, vain fellow.
28. Doc. and Cov. lxxxiv:17-27.
29. Biblical Literature.—Kitto.
30. Matt. x.
31. Matt. x.
32. Compare Luke x with Matt. x.
33. Luke x.
34. John v.
35. John iii.
36. John iii.
37. John iv.
38. John v:24-30.
39. John v:39-47, vii:14-18.
40. John v:32-35.
41. John v:36; x:25.
42. John v:37, 39.
43. Mark xi:5.
44. Matt. iv:16-24.
45. Matt. iv:16-24.
46. Mark xii.
47. John xi.
48. Matt. ii.
49. John v:1-18.
50. John v:17, 18.
51. John xii.
52. Luke xxii. Matt. xxvi.
53. John xviii:36.
54. Luke alone calls it Calvary; Matthew, Mark and John call it Golgotha. They each have reference to the same place, which was known by the two different names.
55. III Nephi viii.
56. Those predictions are found in the following passages: John ii:18-22; x:17, 18; xiii:31-33. Matt. xii:38=42; xvi:21-23; xvii:1-9; Mark ix:30-32; x:32-34.
57. Matt. xxviii.
58. John xx:14-17.
59. Matt. xxviii:9.
60. Luke xxiv:13-31.
61. Luke xxiv:34 and I Cor. xv:5.
62. John xx:19.
63. John xx:26; Mark xvi:14.
64. John xxi:1-24.
65. Matt. xxviii:16.
66. I Cor. xv:6.
67. I Cor. xv:7.
68. I Cor. xv:8.
69. Acts i.
70. Matt. xviii.
71. Mark xvi:16.
72. Luke xxiv:49, 53; Acts i.
73. Acts i; Matt. xvi.
74. John x:16.
75. III Nephi xv:18.
76. III Nephi xv:21.
77. III Nephi xi:12.
78. Section V, paragraph 14.
79. The land Bountiful was in the northern part of South America.
80. III Nephi xi:14.
81. See John xxi:21-25; III Nephi xxviii.
82. Let those who would be more minutely informed upon the ministry of Messiah on the western hemisphere, study carefully the book of III Nephi, where the history of that important event is recorded, and which book has been called—a "Fifth Gospel."
83. It must be remembered, that Jesus told the Nephites that he was going to visit the lost tribes whom the Father had led away. They, too, were to have the gospel preached to them (III Nephi xv and xvi.)
84. In his "Comment de Rebus Christ," p. 78-80, the learned Dr. Mosheim has a note on this passage in which his aim is to prove that the correct translation from the Greek of the phrase usually rendered "they gave forth their lots," should be "they gave their votes." While it is but proper to say that the Doctor's translation is very generally rejected by the learned, still there will be no question with those who understand the order of the priesthood and the manner of filling vacancies in its quorums, that Dr. Mosheim is correct in his interpretation as to the meaning of the passage.
85. IV Nephi i:14.
86. Pentecost came fifty days after the Passover, on which day the Lord Jesus was crucified. Allowing that he lay three days in the tomb and was with his disciples forty days after his resurrection (Acts i:3), forty-three days of the fifty between Passover and Pentecost are accounted for, leaving but seven days between ascension and the day of Pentecost, when the promise of the baptism of the spirit was fulfilled.—"The Gospel," note p. 177.
87. Luke iii:16. Matt. iii:2. Acts i:4, 5.
88. The languages spoken are enumerated by the writer of The Acts ii:9-11.
89. Joel ii:28.
90. I think it proper here to call the attention of the student to the fact that the principles of the gospel in this discourse of Peter's are stated in the same order that they were unfolded in the ministry of John the Baptist and Messiah. First, John came bearing witness of one who should come after him—Christ, the Lord. Hence, he taught faith in God (John i:15, 16, also verses 19-36). After that, the burden of his message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" then followed his baptism in water with a promise that they should receive the Holy Ghost. So Peter first taught the people faith in the Lord, proving from the scripture that Jesus was both Lord and Christ; and when they believed that, then he taught them repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and promised them the Holy Ghost.
91. Acts ii:38, 39.
92. Acts iv:9.
93. Acts v:26-32.
94. Acts v:34-42.
95. It is generally supposed by Biblical scholars, Mosheim, Neander, Kitto, Murdock and many others, that these men were deacons only. There is nothing, however, in the Acts of the Apostles or other parts of the New Testament which would lead one to believe that such was the case. We have evidence on the other hand that one of them at least held a higher priesthood than the office of deacon. In modern revelation we have it stated that neither teachers nor deacons have authority to baptize, administer the sacrament or lay on hands for the Holy Ghost (Doc. and Cov., sec. xx:58); yet we have Philip, one of the seven, going down into Samaria, teaching the gospel "and baptizing the people" (Acts viii), hence we may know that he held a higher priesthood than that of deacon. Yet when it became necessary to confer the Holy Ghost upon these same converts by the laying on of hands, Philip, it would seem, had not the authority to do it; but the Apostles hearing that Samaria had received the word, sent Peter and John down and they conferred upon the Samaritans the Holy Ghost. And though Philip was present he appears to have taken no part in it. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that since Philip had authority to baptize, he therefore must have held an office higher than that of deacon, or even of teacher; but since he evidently had not authority to lay on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, his office was something less than that of an Elder. Hence it is most likely that he was a priest—priests have the right to baptize but not to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost (Doc. and Cov. sec. xx)—as perhaps also were his six associates, appointed to preside over the temporal affairs of the Church, especially to see after the poor.
96. Acts iv:32-37.
97. Acts viii. The student will observe that the same order of presenting and accepting the gospel is observed in the account given of its introduction into Samaria as was observed in the teaching of John the Baptist and Jesus, and also of Peter, on the day of Pentecost.
98. Acts ix.
99. Matt. xv:24.
100. John xii:32.
101. This case of Cornelius marks an exception—the only one recorded in the New Testament—to that order in the gospel to which attention has been drawn several times in this section; that is, these Gentiles received the Holy Ghost before baptism in water. The object of the deviation from the rule is obvious. It was that the Jews might have a witness from God that the gospel was for the Gentiles as well as for the house of Israel. But according to the Scriptures, and I may say according to the nature and relationship of these several principles and ordinances of the gospel to each other, the reception of the Holy Ghost comes after repentance and baptism, the one leading up logically to the other, which follows in beautiful and harmonious sequence.
102. Col. i:23.
103. Dan. xii:2.
104. John v:26, 28, 29.
105. Doc. and Cov. lxxvi:17.
106. Rev. xx:12, 13.
107. Rom. v:18. See whole chapter.
108. Cor. xv:21-26.
109. Mormon ix:12, 13. Other evidences from the Nephite scriptures will be found in Alma xi:40-44. III Nephi xxvii:13-15. II Nephi ii. Mosiah xv:18-27. Alma xxxiv:7-17. Alma xiii:1-26.
110. See "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors," by Kersey Graves.
111. John v:26.
112. Mediation and Atonement, xxiv.
113. John x:17, 18.
114. Matt. xxvi:53, 54.
115. I John iv:9.
116. John iii:16, 17.
117. Isaiah liii:5, 6.
118. I Cor. vi:19, 20.
119. Doc. and Cov., sec. xix:16-18. See also Mosiah iii:20, 21. "The Gospel," Roberts, page 29.
120. Matt. xxviii:18-20.
121. Acts iv:12.
122. Acts ii:22-47. Acts viii:5-25.
123. II Cor. vii:8-10.
124. Rom. vi:3-5.
125. Acts viii:14-18.
126. The injunction placed upon those who accept the faith of the gospel is that they add to their faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (II Peter i:5-8.)—"The Gospel," page 37.
127. Mark xvi. I Cor. xii.
128. Matt. x. Acts i:4-8.
129. Compare Luke x with Matt. x.
130. Acts i:3.
131. Acts xiv:23. Acts xx:17, 28.
132. Phil. i:1. Titus i:5-7.
133. I Cor. xii:28-30.
134. Eph. iv:10.
135. I Cor. xii.
136. Eph. iv.
137. John xv:16.
138. Acts v:1-6.
139. Acts xiii:1-3.
140. Acts xiv:2, 3.
141. Acts xx:28, 29.
142. Heb. v:1, 5.
143. Ex. xxviii:1.
144. III Nephi xxvi:6, 7.
145. III Nephi xii.
146. III Nephi xi.
147. III Nephi xxvii:37; also Moroni ii.
148. III Nephi xxvii and IV Nephi i:1.
149. Moroni iii.
150. Moroni vi.
151. IV Nephi i:1-7.
PART II.
THE APOSTASY.
SECTION I.
In Part I, our narrative was confined mainly to those propitious circumstances which made for the successful introduction of the gospel and the founding of the church of Christ. In Part II, we are to deal with those adverse events which led finally to the subversion of the Christian religion. We commence with the
1. Persecution of the Christians by the Jews.—The Messiah forewarned his disciples that they would be persecuted by the world, pointed out the reasons for it, and comforted them by reminding them that the world had hated him before it hated them; that the servant was not greater than his lord; and for that matter all the prophets which were before them had been persecuted by the generations in which they lived, and that, for the reason that they were not of the world, therefore the world hated and destroyed them.[1]
2. Two special reasons may be assigned for the persecution of the saints by the Jews. 1. They looked upon Christianity as a rival religion to Judaism, a thing of itself sufficient to engender bitterness, jealousy, persecution. 2. If Christianity should live and obtain a respectable standing, the Jews of that generation must ever be looked upon as not only putting an innocent man to death, but as rejecting and slaying the Son of God. To crush this rival religion and escape the odium which the successful establishment of it would inevitably fix upon them, were the incentives which prompted that first general persecution which arose against the church in Jerusalem, and that commenced in the very first year after Messiah's ascension.
3. The extent of the persecution or the time of its continuance may not be determined; but that it was murderous may be learned from the fact that Stephen was slain,[2] as was also James, the son of Zebedee,[3] and James, the Just, brother of the Lord.[4] The Apostle Peter was imprisoned and would doubtless have shared the fate of the other martyrs, but that he was delivered by an angel.[5]
4. Nor was this persecution confined alone to Jerusalem; on the contrary the hate-blinded high priests and elders of the Jews in Palestine conferred with the Jews throughout the Roman provinces, and everywhere incited them to hatred of the Christians, exhorting them to have no connection with, and to do all in their power to destroy the "superstition," as the Christian religion was then called. Nor were they content with what they themselves could do, but they exhausted their ingenuity in efforts to incite the Romans against them. To accomplish this they charged that the Christians had treasonable designs against the Roman government, as "appeared by their acknowledging as their king one Jesus, a malefactor whom Pilate had most justly put to death."[6]
5. The Jews themselves, however, were in no great favor with the Romans since their impatience of Roman restraint led them to be constantly on the eve of rebellion and sedition, and frequently to break out into deeds of violence against the Roman authority. This lack of favor rendered the power of the Jews unequal to their malice against the church of Christ.
6. The imperious nation, too, whose forefathers had rejected the prophets and at the last had crucified the Son of God with every circumstance of cruelty, crying out in the streets of their holy city, "crucify him, and let his blood be upon us and on our children,"[7] were about to meet the calamities which their wickedness called down upon them. The Roman emperor Vespasian [Ves-pa-zhe-an], tired of their repeated seditions, at last sent an army under Titus to subjugate them. The Jews made a stubborn resistance and a terrible war followed. Jerusalem, crowded with people who had come into the city from the surrounding country to attend the Passover, was besieged for six months, during which time more than a million of her wretched inhabitants perished of famine. The city was finally taken, the walls thereof thrown down and the temple so completely destroyed that not one stone was left upon another. Thousands of Jews were cut to pieces and nearly a hundred thousand of those taken captive were sent into slavery.[8] All the calamities predicted by the Messiah[9] befell the city and people. Jerusalem from that time until now has been trodden down of the Gentiles; and will be until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
7. According to Eusebius, the Christians escaped these calamities which befell the Jews; for the whole body of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by divine revelation, given to men of approved piety, removed from Jerusalem before the war and dwelt at Pella, beyond Jordan, where they were secure from the calamities of those times.[10]
8. Persecution by the Romans.—It is more difficult to understand why the Romans should persecute the Christians than it is to see why the Jews did it. The Romans were polytheists, and affected the fullest religious liberty. The author of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" claims that this period of Roman history was the golden age of religious liberty. And such was the multitude of deities collected in Rome from various nations, and such the variety of worship to be seen in the great capital of the empire, that Gibbon has said:
Rome gradually became the common temple of her subjects; and the freedom of the city was bestowed on all the gods of mankind.[11]
Furthermore, the same high authority says:
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as being equally true; by the philosophers as all equally false; and by the magistrates as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgences, but even religious concord.
9. The student who would learn why the mild and beautiful Christian religion was alone selected to bear the wrath and feel the vengeful power of Rome, must look deeper than the reasons usually assigned for the strange circumstance. It is superficial to say that the persecution was caused by the charges of immorality. The Roman authorities had the best of evidence that the charges were false. (See note 1, end of section). Equally absurd is it to assign as a cause the supposed atheism of the Christians, for that was the condition of nearly all Rome; while the charge that they were traitors to the emperor, and expected to see the empire supplanted by the kingdom of Christ—which some assign as the chief cause of Roman persecution—was treated with contempt by the emperors. (See note 2, end of section).
10. The true cause of the persecution was this: Satan knew there was no power of salvation in the idolatrous worship of the heathen, and hence let them live on in peace, but when Jesus of Nazareth and his followers came, in the authority of God, preaching the gospel, he recognized in that the principles and power against which he had rebelled in heaven, and stirred up the hearts of men to rebellion against the truth to overthrow it. This was the real cause of persecution, though it lurked under a variety of pretexts, the most of which are named in the above supposed causes.
11. The First Roman Persecution.—The first emperor to enact laws for the extermination of Christians was Nero. (See note 3, end of section). His decrees against them originated rather in an effort to shield himself from popular fury than any desire that he had to protect the religion of the State against the advancement of Christianity. Nero, wishing to witness a great conflagration, had set fire to the city of Rome. The flames utterly consumed three of the fourteen wards into which the city was divided, and spread ruin in seven others. It was in vain that the emperor tried to soothe the indignant and miserable citizens whose all had been consumed by the flames, and neither the magnificence of the prince, nor his attempted expiation of the gods could remove from him the infamy of having ordered the conflagration.
12. Therefore, [writes Tacitus, one of the most trustworthy of all historians], to stop the clamor Nero falsely accused and subjugated to the most exquisite punishments a people hated for their crimes, called Christians. The founder of the sect, Christ, was executed in the reign of Tiberius, by the Procurator Pontius Pilate. The pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, burst forth again; not only through Judea, the birth-place of the evil, but at Rome also, where everything atrocious and base centers and is in repute. Those first seized, confessed; then a vast multitude, detected by their means, were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning the city as of hatred of 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 was gone. Nero devoted his garden to the show, and held circensian [sir-sen-shan] games, mixing with the rabble, or mounting a chariot, clad like a coachman. Hence, though the guilty and those meriting 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.[12]
13. Time of the Persecution.—The time of this persecution is fixed by the date of the great conflagration, which Tacitus set down as commencing on the 18th of July, A. D. 65. It lasted six days; and soon after that the persecution broke out.
14. Continuance and Extent of the Persecution.—How long this persecution lasted, and whether it was confined to the city of Rome or extended throughout the empire is difficult to determine. From some remarks made by Tertullian [Ter-tul-li-an], writing in the next century, it would seem that the decrees of Nero against the Christians of Rome were general laws, such as those afterwards passed by Domitian. But the inferences of his language are generally discredited or accounted the result of Tertullian's fervid rhetoric; and Gibbon's conclusion that the persecution was confined within the walls of Rome generally accepted.[13] It was in this persecution, according to the tradition of the early Christian fathers, that Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom.
15. The Second Persecution.—The second persecution against the Christian church broke out in the year A. D. 93 or 94, under the reign of Domitian. It was during this persecution that the Apostle John was banished to Patmos. Eusebius states that at the same time, for professing Christ, Flavi Domitilla, the niece of Flavius Clemens, one of the consuls of Rome at the time, "was transported with many others, by way of punishment, to the island of Pontia." The pretext for this persecution is ascribed to the fears of Domitian that he would lose his empire. A rumor reached him that a person would arise from the relatives of Messiah who would attempt a revolution; whereupon the jealous nature of the emperor prompted him to begin this persecution. In it both Jews and Christians suffered, the emperor ordering that the descendants of David, especially, should be put to death. An investigation of the prospects of a revolution arising from such a quarter caused Domitian to dismiss the matter with contempt and order the persecution to cease.[14] (See note 2, end of section).
NOTES.
1. Pliny's Testimony to the Morality of the Christians.—The character which this writer gives of the Christians of that age (his celebrated letter was written to Trajan early in the second century), and which was drawn from a pretty accurate inquiry, because he considered their moral principles as the point in which the magistrate was interested, is as follows: He tells the emperor that some of those who had relinquished the society, or who, to save themselves pretended that they had relinquished it, affirmed "that they were wont to meet together on a stated day, before it was light, and sang among themselves alternately a hymn to Christ as a God; and to bind themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but that they would not be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery; that they would never falsify their word, or deny a pledge committed to them when called upon to return it." This proves that a morality more pure and strict than was ordinary, prevailed at that time in Christian societies.—Paley's "Evidences."
2. Interview of Domitian and the Relatives of the Lord.—There were yet living of the family of our Lord the grandchildren of Judas, called the brother of our Lord according to the flesh. These were reported as being of the family of David, and were brought to Domitian by the evocaties. For this emperor was as much alarmed at the appearance of Christ as Herod. He put the question whether they were of David's race and they confessed that they were. He then asked them what property they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them answered, that they had between them only nine thousand denarii, and this they had not in silver, but in the value of a piece of land, containing only thirty-nine acres; from which they raised their taxes and supported themselves by their own labor. Then they also began to show their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies, and the callosity formed by incessant labor on their hands, as evidence of their own labor. When asked also, respecting Christ and his kingdom, what was its nature, and when and where it was to appear, they replied that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but celestial and angelic; that it would appear at the end of the world, when coming in glory he would judge the quick and the dead, and give to every one according to his works. Upon which Domitian despising them, made no reply; but treating them with contempt, as simpletons, commanded them to be dismissed, and by a decree ordered the persecution to cease.—Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius.
3. Character of Nero.—Nero was the incarnation of depravity—the very name by which men are accustomed to express the fury of unrestrained malignity. Bad as he was, he was not worse than Rome. She had but her due. Nay, when he died the rabble and the slaves crowned his statue with garlands and scattered flowers over his grave. And why not? Nero never injured the rabble, never oppressed the slave. He murdered his mother, his brother, his wife, and was the tyrant of the wealthy, the terror of the successful. He rendered poverty sweet, for poverty alone was secure; he rendered slavery tolerable, for slaves alone or slavish men were promoted to power. The reign of Nero was the golden reign of the populace, and the holiday of the bondman.—Bancroft.
REVIEW.
1. Of what did Messiah warn his followers?
2. What reason may be assigned for the hatred of the world towards the people of God?
3. What special reason can you assign for the persecution of the Christians by the Jews?
4. What can you say of the bitterness and extent of the first great persecution?
5. What circumstance rendered the Jewish power to injure the Christians unequal to the malice?
6. Describe the great conflict between the Jews and the Romans.
7. By what means did the Christians living at Jerusalem escape the calamities of those times?
8. What makes it difficult to understand why the Romans persecuted the Christians?
9. What can you say of the charges of immorality as justifying Roman persecution? (Note 1).
10. What of the charge of treason? (Note 2).
11. What was the true cause of the persecution?
12. Who was the first emperor to enact laws against the Christians?
13. What was the character of Nero? (Note 3).
14. What was the incentive which prompted Nero to persecute the Christians?
15. What was the duration and extent of the first Roman persecution?
16. Under whose reign did the second Roman persecution begin?
17. On what was the persecution based?
SECTION II.
1. Condition of the Church in the Second Century.—During the second century the church had many seasons of immunity from persecution. The Roman emperors for the most part were of a mild and equitable character, and at the beginning of the century there were no laws against the Christians, as those enacted both by Nero and Domitian had been repealed. The first by the senate, the second by his successor, Nerva.[15] Still it must not be supposed that the saints were free from persecution. Their troubles arose, however, rather from the tumults of the rabble at the instigation of the pagan priests than from any desire of the emperors to oppress them.
2. As the Christians had no temples, no altars, no clouds of incense, no smoking victims—in short, as they had none of the pomp and circumstance in their simple religion which attended pagan worship, they were open to the charge of atheism by the great body of the people of the Roman empire; and, in their judgment, deserved the severest tortures and death.
If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, [remarks Gibbon], by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber had, or if the Nile had not, risen above its banks; if the earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons had been interrupted, the superstitious pagans were convinced that the crimes and impurities of the Christians, who were spared by the excessive lenity of the government, had at length, provoked the divine justice.[16]
And however virtuous the emperors were, however mild or equitable in character the governors of the provinces, it is certain they did not hesitate to appease the rage of the people by sacrificing a few obnoxious victims.
3. The Persecution Under Marcus Aurelius.—The strangest fact of all connected with the persecutions of this century is that the saints suffered most under the most virtuous of the emperors—Marcus Aurelius [Mar-cus Au-re-li-us], who allowed the judges to put many of the saints accused of crime to torture. Among those of note who fell in this persecution were Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna (see note 1, end of section.) and Justin Martyr, the philosopher. The persecution was most severe in Gaul (France), the churches of Lyons and Vienne being well nigh utterly destroyed. The unparalleled cruelties practiced upon the saints in those cities are related at length by Eusebius[17] in letters written by those who survived the persecution. (See note 2, end of section.)
4. Edicts of Severus.—Early in the third century a law was enacted by the Emperor, Severus [Se-ver-us,] making it criminal for any reason to abandon the religion of his fathers for that of the Christians or the Jews. The object of the law was to stay the propagation of Christianity which was spreading abroad on every hand; and while it was not intended to increase the hardships of those already Christians, it nevertheless encouraged the governors and judges of some of the provinces—especially those of Egypt and other parts of Africa and Asia—to sorely afflict the saints. Many of the poor were put to death—thousands of them if we may credit Eusebius—and many of the rich intimidated into paying large sums of money to the judges to secure them from torture and death. Still this persecution was not long continued, nor was it general throughout the empire, and after it subsided there was a long period of peace—pity it is that we have to say that it was more hurtful to the church than the periods of the cruelest persecution.
5. Persecution Under Decius Trajan.—In the middle of this century under Decius Trajan [De-ci-us Tra-jan] the severest and most disastrous persecution of all befell the Christians. The emperor must have been impelled both by his fear of the Christians and his attachment to the ancient religion of the Romans to publish his terrible edicts by which he hoped to destroy the Christian church. The governors of the provinces were ordered, on pain of forfeiting their own lives, either to exterminate all Christians utterly, or bring them back by pains and tortures to the religion of their fathers. Even Gibbon, whose constant effort is to belittle the sufferings of the early Christians, says of this persecution:
The bishops of the most considerable cities were removed by exile or death; the vigilance of the magistrates prevented the clergy of Rome during sixteen months from proceeding to a new election and it was the opinion of the Christians that the emperor would more patiently endure a competitor for the purple than a bishop in the capital.[18]
6. For more than two years the persecution raged with unmitigated fury; and great multitudes of Christians, in all the Roman provinces, were butchered in the most inhuman manner.
This persecution, [writes Dr. Mosheim], was more cruel and terrific than any which preceded it; and immense numbers, dismayed, not so much by the fear of death as by the dread of the long continued tortures by which the magistrates endeavored to overcome the constancy of the Christians, professed to renounce Christ, and procured for themselves safety, either by sacrificing—i. e., offering incense before the idols—or by certificates purchased with money.[19] (See note 3, end of section.)
7. The immediate successors of Decius continued this persecution, which with a pestilential disease which prevailed in many of the Roman provinces, greatly increased the hardships of the saints; but the latter part of the century passed away in peace.
8. The Diocletian Persecution.—In the commencement of the fourth century a peculiar state of affairs existed in the Roman empire. In 284 A. D., Diocletian [Di-o-kle-shan], a native of Dalmatia [Dal-ma-shi-a], whose parents were slaves, was proclaimed emperor. The year following, feeling that the extent of the empire was too vast to be managed by a single mind, he chose a colleague, one Maximian [Max-im-i-an], an unlettered soldier, with whom he shared the authority of emperor and the title of "Augustus." Soon afterwards they each chose a colleague with whom they shared their authority. These were Constantinus [Con-stan-ti-nus] Chlorus [Klo-rus] and Galerius [Ga-le-ri-us]. On their ascension to this honor they each took the title of "Caesar," and so matters stood at the opening of the fourth century.
9. The church had peace at the opening of this century, and at first there were no indications that it would be broken. But early within that period Diocletian was persuaded to undertake the suppression of the Christian religion. This he attempted by demanding that the Christians give up their sacred books; if they refused they were put to death. The constancy of all the Christians, no, not even that of all their bishops and clergy, was equal to this trial, and many voluntarily surrendered the sacred writings in their possession, to save themselves from punishment and death.
10. The royal palace at Nicomedia being twice set on fire, soon after the first edict of Diocletian was published, the crime was charged to the Christians, and led to the issuance of a second edict which caused many Christians to suffer the penalties inflicted on incendiaries—torture and death. Following this came rebellion against Roman authority in Nicomedia and Syria. This too was charged to the intrigue of Christians (see notes 4 and 5, end of section), and was made a pretext for throwing all bishops and ministers into prison. A third edict authorized the employment of torture to compel them to offer sacrifices to the gods of the heathen. It was hoped by Diocletian that if these leaders of the church could be forced into acts of apostasy the people would follow. A great multitude, therefore, of excellent men in all parts of Christendom—excepting Gaul—were put to death, and others condemned to labor in the mines.
11. But Diocletian was disappointed in the effects of these assaults on the leaders of the church. The members thereof remained obdurate in their adherence to the Christian faith; whereupon he issued a fourth edict, directing the magistrates to compel all Christians to offer sacrifice to the gods and to use tortures for that purpose. As the governors yielded strict obedience to these orders, the Christian church was reduced to the last extremity.[20]
12. With the exception of Gaul, [says Schlegel], streams of Christian blood flowed in the provinces of the Roman empire. Everywhere the Christian temples lay in ruins, and assemblies for worship were all suspended. The major part had forsaken the provinces and taken refuge among the barbarians. Such as were unable or unwilling to do this, kept themselves concealed, and were afraid for their lives if they appeared in public. The ministers of Christ were either slain, or mutilated and sent to the mines, or banished from the country. The avaricious magistrates had seized upon nearly all their church property and their private possessions. Many, through dread of undergoing torture, had made away with their own lives and many apostatized from the faith; and what remained of the Christian community consisted of weak, poor, and timorous persons.[21]
Truly it would appear from this that the beast unto whom was given power "to make war with the saints and overcome them"[22] had at last triumphed.
13. End of Pagan Persecution.—This, however, was to be the last great persecution of the Christians by the heathens. In 305 Diocletian, to the surprise of his own and all succeeding ages, resigned the empire and compelled his associate, Maximian, to do the same. This left the empire in the hands of the two Caesars, who became the emperors. Like their predecessors they chose colleagues; but Constantius Chlorus, dying at York, in Britain, his son, Constantine [Kon-stan-tin], afterwards called the Great, was proclaimed emperor by the army. The associate of his father, Galerius, and the two Caesars refused to ratify the election, and civil war ensued which lasted for eighteen years. Finally, however, Constantine prevailed over all his rivals and became sole emperor, A. D., 323. Being, like his father, favorably disposed towards Christianity, his accession to the throne brought universal peace to the church.
14. The Luminous Cross Seen by Constantine.—It was during the above-mentioned civil war, while marching against the forces of Maxentius [Max-en-ti-us], one of the rebellious Caesars, that Constantine and his army are said to have seen near midday, in the heavens, a luminous cross bearing this inscription in Greek: "By This Conquer." The same night Christ appeared to him in a dream accompanied with the same sign and instructed him to make a standard bearing the cross as a protection against his enemies. The circumstance is related at great length in the life of Constantine by Eusebius, on whose sole authority the story rests. It is regarded as suspicious that he makes no reference to the matter in Ecclesiastical History, written only twelve years after the event. (See note 7, end of section.) The story is altogether rejected by some writers as the cunning invention of interested priests seeking to make the cross an object of veneration; and even Christian writers of high standing—among them Mosheim—consider the story to be doubtful.
15. Constantine and his Friendliness to Christianity.—With the accession of Constantine to the imperial throne, as before remarked, the peace of the church was assured. His father had favored the Christians, and in the cruel persecution under Diocletian, he kept the provinces of Gaul free from the effusion of Christian blood; and his son seems to have fallen heir to his father's friendliness for the Christian faith.
16. It is difficult to determine the motives of Constantine for favoring the Christian cause and resolving upon the destruction of the pagan religion. Whether it was the appearance of the miraculous cross in the heavens, as some aver, the influence of Helena, his mother,[23] as Theodoret claims, or through the arguments of an Egyptian priest who promised him absolution for the crime of murder if he would accept Christianity.[24] But let the motive be what it may, benevolence, policy, conviction or remorse, coupled with a hope of forgiveness, Constantine from the time of his accession to the throne became the avowed protector of the Christian church; and at length by his powerful influence made Christianity the reigning religion of the Roman empire.[25] The exiles were recalled; those condemned to labor in the mines were released; those who had been robbed of their property were reinstated in their possessions, and the demolished Christian temples were ordered to be rebuilt and enlarged. The church militant after the emperor's edicts of toleration became the church tranquil, so far as external opposition was concerned. Her ministers were welcomed to the court of the emperor, admitted to the imperial table, and even accompanied the monarch in his expeditions. Wealth, honor and imperial patronage were bestowed almost without measure on the Christian church. From the position of a despised, persecuted religion, Christianity was suddenly exalted to the very throne of the Roman world. Yet these things which are usually accounted among the good fortunes of the church, were, as we shall yet see, disastrous to the purity of the Christian religion.