quietness and to shun the path of men, I used to go into a certain field
not far from the sea. And when I was near that spot one day where I
purposed to be by myself, a certain old man of dignified appearance,
exhibiting meek and venerable manners, followed me at a little distance.
And when I turned around on him, having halted, I fixed my eyes rather
keenly upon him."
Justin gets into conversation with the old man and says that he delights
in solitary spots, where his attention is not distracted and where his
converse with himself is uninterrupted, and proceeds to a fervid
laudation of philosophy.
"'Does philosophy, then, make happiness?' said he, interrupting.
'Assuredly,' said I, 'and it alone.' 'What, then, is philosophy?' he
said, 'and what is happiness? Pray tell me, unless something hinders you
from saying.'
"'Philosophy,' said I, 'is a knowledge of that which really exists and a
clear perception of truth, and happiness is the reward of such knowledge
and wisdom.' 'But what do you call God?' said he. 'That which always
maintains the same nature and is the cause of all other things--that,
indeed, is God.' So I answered him, and he listened with pleasure."
The conversation, which is too long to be fully transcribed, turns on
the attributes of the soul. Justin discourses on that topic after the
manner of the Platonists. The old man, on the other hand, urges him to
study the prophets of the Old Testament, for they predicted the coming
of Christ, and their prophecies have been fulfilled. "'They,' said he,
'both glorified the Creator, the God and Father of all, and proclaimed
his Son the Christ sent by him. But,' he added, 'pray that, above all
things, the gates of light may be opened to you, for these things cannot
be perceived or understood by all, but only by him to whom God and his
Christ have imparted wisdom.'
"When he had spoken these and many other things which there is no time
for mentioning at present, he went away, bidding me attend to them, and
I have not seen him since. But straightway a flame was kindled in my
soul, and a love of the prophets and of those men who are friends of
Christ possessed me; and whilst revolving his words in my mind I found
this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable. Thus and for this
reason I am a philosopher. Moreover, I would that all, making a
resolution similar to my own, would regard the words of the Saviour, for
they possess a terrible power in themselves, and are sufficient to
inspire those who turn aside from the path of rectitude with awe, while
the sweetest rest is afforded to those who diligently observe them."
The _Dialogue_ from which these passages are taken is a real or
imaginary disputation with Trypho, a learned Jew at Ephesus, respecting
the principles of Christianity, and contains an elaborate demonstration
that Christ is the Messiah of the Old Testament. The controversy is
carried on with courtesy on both sides, and each disputant is equally
earnest in his attempt to convert the other.
Justin was a very copious writer. The two most important of his writings
now remaining are the two _Apologies_. These are certainly the two
earliest of the numerous ancient pleas for toleration of Christianity
now extant. The first _Apologia_ is addressed to the emperor Antoninus
Pius and the Roman senate and the "whole people of the Romans"; and the
purport of it may be inferred from the commencement, in which Justin
says that he presents this "address and petition in behalf of all
nations who are unjustly hated and wantonly abused, myself being one of
them."
The second _Apologia_ was addressed to the Roman senate, probably in the
reign of Antoninus Marcus Aurelius, and successor of Antoninus Pius. In
this work Justin appeals indignantly to the Roman senate against the
unjust conduct of one Urbicus, who at Rome had condemned several persons
to death simply because they professed to be Christians. This Urbicus
seems to have held the office of prefect of the city--a magistrate from
whom there was no appeal except to the prince himself, or, as this
_Apologia_ would suggest, to the senate.
The two _Apologies_ contain the most vehement invectives against the
whole system of heathen idolatry, and accuse Jupiter and the other gods
whom the Romans revered of ineffable vices.
Of course the man who could thus tell the Roman senate and people that
all that they held sacred was unspeakably and hideously wicked could
expect but one fate. Justin threw down the gauntlet, and the constituted
authorities very quietly took it up, with a result which, as the human
power was all with them, it was not difficult to foresee.
Some time in the reign of Aurelius, but in what year is not known,
Justin and several other Christians were accused before Rusticus,
prefect of Rome, of disobedience to certain decrees then in force, by
which Christians who refused to sacrifice to the gods were liable to be
put to death. It is difficult to reconcile the passing of these decrees
with the known character of Aurelius, who is universally described as a
humane, as a benevolent king. The probable explanation is that, like his
predecessor Trajan, he was actuated by motives of state policy, and
regarded Christianity as rebellion against the authority of the State.
Eusebius has given an account of the martyrdom of Justin upon the
authority of Tatian, who was a disciple of the martyr. This account
substantially agrees with the very ancient _Martyrdom of Justin_, which
concludes thus:
"The prefect says to Justin: 'Hearken, you who are called learned and
think that you know true doctrines: if you are scourged and beheaded, do
you believe that you will ascend into heaven?'
"Justin said, 'I hope that if I endure these things I shall have this
gift, for I know that to all who have thus lived there abides the divine
favor until the completion of the world.'
"Rusticus, the prefect, said, 'Do you suppose that you will ascend into
heaven to receive such a recompense?' Justin said, 'I do not suppose it,
but I know and am fully persuaded of it.'
"Thus also said the other Christians, 'Do what you will, for we are
Christians and do not sacrifice to idols.'
"Rusticus, the prefect, pronounced sentence, saying, 'Let those who have
refused to sacrifice to the gods and to yield to the command of the
Emperor be scourged and led away to suffer decapitation according to the
law.'
"The holy martyrs, having glorified God and having gone forth to the
accustomed place, were beheaded, and perfected their testimony in the
confession of the Saviour. And some of the faithful, having secretly
removed their bodies, laid them in a suitable place, the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ having wrought along with them, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen."
THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP TO THE PHILIPPIANS
Polycarp, and the presbyters that are with him, to the Church of God
which is at Philippi: mercy unto you and peace from God Almighty and the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, be multiplied. I rejoiced greatly with
you in our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye received the images of a true
love, and accompanied, as it is behooved you, those who were in bonds,
becoming saints; which are the crowns of such as are truly chosen by God
and our Lord: as also that the root of the faith which was preached from
ancient times remains firm in you to this day; and brings forth fruit to
our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered himself to be brought even to the
death for our sins. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of
death; whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Into which many desire to enter; knowing that by grace ye are saved; not
by works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ. Wherefore girding
up the loins of your minds, serve the Lord with fear and in truth;
laying aside all empty and vain speech, and the error of many; believing
in him that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and hath
given him glory and a throne at his right hand. To whom all things are
made subject, both that are in heaven and that are in earth; whom every
living creature shall worship; who shall come to be the judge of the
quick and dead: whose blood God shall require of them that believe in
him.
But he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also raise up us in
like manner, if we do his will and walk according to his commandments;
and love those things which he loved; abstaining from all
unrighteousness, inordinate affection, and love of money; from evil
speaking; false witness; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for
railing, or striking for striking, or cursing for cursing. But
remembering what the Lord has taught us, saying, Judge not, and ye shall
not be judged; forgive and ye shall be forgiven; be merciful, and ye
shall obtain mercy; for with the same measure that ye mete withal, it
shall be measured to you again. And again, that blessed are the poor and
they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the
kingdom of God.
These things, my brethren, I took not the liberty of myself to write
unto you concerning righteousness, but you yourselves before encouraged
me to it. For neither can I, nor any other such as I am, come up to the
wisdom of the blessed and renowned Paul: who, being himself in person
with those who then lived, did with all exactness and soundness teach
the word of truth; and being gone from you wrote an epistle to you. Into
which, if you look, you will be able to edify yourselves in the faith
that has been delivered unto you; which is the mother of us all; being
followed with hope, and led on by a general love, both toward God and
toward Christ and toward our neighbor.
For if any man has these things he has fulfilled the law of
righteousness: for he that has charity is far from all sin. But the love
of money is the root of all evil. Knowing therefore that as we brought
nothing into this world, so neither may we carry anything out; let us
arm ourselves with the armor of righteousness. And teach ourselves first
to walk according to the commandments of the Lord; and then your wives
to walk likewise according to the faith that is given to them; in
charity, and in purity; loving their own husbands with all sincerity,
and all others alike with all temperance; and to bring up their children
in the instruction and fear of the Lord. The widows likewise teach that
they be sober as to what concerns the faith of the Lord: praying always
for all men; being far from all detraction, evil speaking, false
witness; from covetousness, and from all evil. Knowing that they are the
altars of God, who sees all blemishes, and from whom nothing is hid; who
searches out the very reasonings, and thoughts, and secrets of our
hearts.
Knowing, therefore, that God is not mocked, we ought to walk worthy both
of his command and of his glory. Also the deacons must be blameless
before him, as the ministers of God in Christ, and not of men. Not false
accusers; not double-tongued; not lovers of money; but moderate in all
things, compassionate, careful; walking according to the truth of the
Lord, who was the servant of all. Whom if we please in this present
world we shall also be made partakers of that which is to come,
according as he has promised to us, that he will raise us from the dead;
and that if we shall walk worthy of him, we shall also reign together
with him, if we believe.
In like manner the younger men must be unblamable in all things; above
all, taking care of their purity, and to restrain themselves from all
evil. For it is good to be cut off from the lusts that are in the world,
because every such lust warreth against the Spirit; and neither
fornicators, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
shall inherit the kingdom of God; nor they who do such things as are
foolish and unreasonable. Wherefore ye must needs abstain from all these
things, being subject to the priests and deacons, as unto God and
Christ. The virgins admonish to walk in a spotless and pure conscience.
And let the elders be compassionate and merciful toward all; turning
them from their errors; seeking out those that are weak; not forgetting
the widows, the fatherless, and the poor; but always providing what is
good both in the sight of God and man. Abstaining from all wrath,
respect of persons, and unrighteous judgment; and especially being free
from all covetousness. Not easy to believe anything against any; not
severe in judgment; knowing that we are all debtors in point of sin.
If, therefore, we pray to the Lord that he would forgive us, we ought
also to forgive others; for we are all in the sight of our Lord and God;
and must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; and shall every
one give an account of himself. Let us, therefore, serve him in fear,
and with all reverence as both himself hath commanded, and as the
apostles who have preached the gospel unto us, and the prophets who have
foretold the coming of our Lord have taught us. Being zealous of what is
good; abstaining from all offence, and from false brethren; and from
those who bear the name of Christ in hypocrisy; who deceive vain men.
For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
he is antichrist; and whoever does not confess his suffering upon the
cross is from the devil. And whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord
to his own lusts, and says that there shall neither be any resurrection,
nor judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, leaving the
vanity of many and their false doctrines, let us return to the word that
was delivered to us from the beginning. Watching unto prayer, and
persevering in fasting. With supplication beseeching the all-seeing God
not to lead us into temptation; as the Lord hath said, The spirit is
truly willing, but the flesh is weak. Let us, therefore, without ceasing
hold steadfastly to him who is our hope, and the earnest of our
righteousness, even Jesus Christ; who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree; who did no sin, neither was guile found in his
mouth. But suffered all for us that we might live through him. Let us,
therefore, imitate his patience; and if we suffer for his name, let us
glorify him; for this example he has given us by himself, and so have we
believed.
Wherefore I exhort all of you that ye obey the word of righteousness,
and exercise all patience; which ye have seen set forth before our eyes,
not only in the blessed Ignatius and Zosimus and Rufus, but in others
among ourselves; and in Paul himself, and the rest of the apostles.
Being confident of this, that all these have not run in vain, but in
faith and righteousness, and are gone to the place that was due to them
from the Lord, with whom they also suffered; for they loved not this
present world, but him who died, and was raised again by God for us.
Stand, therefore, in these things and follow the example of the Lord;
being firm and immutable in the faith, lovers of the brotherhood, lovers
of one another, companions together in the truth, being kind and gentle
toward each other, despising none. When it is in your power to do good,
defer it not, for charity delivered from death. Be all of you subject
one to another, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that
by your good works both ye yourselves may receive praise and the Lord
may not be blasphemed through you. But woe be to him by whom the name of
the Lord is blasphemed. Therefore teach all men sobriety; in which do ye
also exercise yourselves.
I am greatly afflicted for Valens, who was once a presbyter among you;
that he should so little understand the place that was given to him in
the Church. Wherefore I admonish you that ye abstain from covetousness,
and that ye be chaste, and true of speech. Keep yourselves from all
evil; for he that in these things cannot govern himself, how shall he be
able to prescribe them to another? If a man does not keep himself from
covetousness he shall be polluted with idolatry and be judged as if he
were a Gentile. But who of you are ignorant of the judgment of God? Do
we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches? But
I have neither perceived nor heard anything of this kind in you, among
whom the blessed Paul labored, and who are named in the beginning of his
epistle. For he glories of you in all the churches who then only knew
God; for we did not then know him. Wherefore, my brethren, I am
exceedingly sorry both for him and for his wife; to whom God grant a
true repentance.
And be ye also moderate upon this occasion, and look not upon such as
enemies, but call them back as suffering and erring members, that ye may
save your whole body; for by so doing ye shall edify your own selves.
For I trust that ye are well exercised in the Holy Scriptures, and that
nothing is hid from you; but at present it is not granted unto me to
practise that which is written, Be angry and sin not; and again, Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath. Blessed be he that believeth and
remembereth these things, which also I trust you do.
Now the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he himself who is
our everlasting high-priest, the Son of God, even Jesus Christ, build
you up in faith and in truth and in all meekness and lenity; in
patience and long-suffering, in forbearance and chastity. And grant unto
you a lot and portion among his saints; and us with you, and to all that
are under the heavens, who shall believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and
in his Father who raised him from the dead. Pray for all the saints;
pray also for kings, and all that are in authority; and for those who
persecute you, and hate you, and for the enemies of the cross; that your
fruit may be manifest in all, and that ye may be perfect in Christ. Ye
wrote to me, both ye and also Ignatius, that if anyone went from hence
into Syria he should bring your letters with him, which also I will take
care of, as soon as I shall have a convenient opportunity, either by
myself or him whom I shall send upon your account. The Epistles of
Ignatius, which he wrote unto us, together with what others of his have
come to our hands, we have sent to you, according to your order, which
are subjoined to this epistle. By which we may be greatly profited; for
they treat of faith and patience, and of all things that pertain to
edification in the Lord Jesus. What you know certainly of Ignatius and
those that are with him signify to us.
These things have I written unto you by Crescens, whom by this present
epistle I have recommended to you, and do now again commend. For he has
had his conversation without blame among us, and I suppose also with
you. Ye will also have regard unto his sister when she shall come unto
you. Be ye safe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in favor with all yours.
Amen.
PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS IN GAUL
A.D. 177
FRANÇOIS P. G. GUIZOT
That the persecutions of Christians under the Roman Empire should
have been inaugurated by a Nero is not a subject of wonder in view
of that Emperor's character as depicted in history through all ages
since his own. But it is difficult to understand how an emperor
like Trajan--an enlightened and humane ruler--if he was powerless
to prevent, could have brought himself to give countenance to a
policy at once so intolerant and cruel, and in the end to prove so
short-sighted. A great cause prospers by persecution. The
martyr-spirit is strengthened by blows and fagots. History has well
proved the truth of that saying of the Church Fathers, tersely
given by St. Jerome: _Est sanguis martyrium seminarium Ecclesiarum_
("The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church").
Still more incomprehensible to modern students is the fact that
Marcus Aurelius, the imperial philosopher and benevolent man,
should also be stained with the infamy of the persecutions. The
charges brought against him as a cruel persecutor of the Christians
have given rise to much dispute among historical scholars. Among
modern Christian writers of favorable disposition toward Marcus, F.
W. Farrar has perhaps as clearly as any set forth the views that
explain his conduct and vindicate his reputation for humanity:
"That he shared the profound dislike with which Christians were
regarded is very probable. That he was a cold-blooded and virulent
persecutor is utterly unlike his whole character. The deep
calamities in which during his whole reign the empire was involved
caused widespread distress, and roused into peculiar fury the
feelings of the provincials against men whose atheism (for such
they considered it to be) had kindled the anger of the gods.
Marcus, when appealed to, simply let the existing law take its
course." In like manner the purely official or legal view of human
affairs often leads the most kindly and conscientious of men to
pursue or acquiesce in policies against which, in different
situations, their moral nature would rebel.
There were many reasons which led the populace to hate Christians,
whom, first of all, they regarded as being unpatriotic. While among
Romans it was considered the highest honor to possess the
privileges of Roman citizenship, the Christians announced that they
were citizens of heaven. They shrank from public office and
military service.
Again, the ancient religion of Rome was an adjunct of state dignity
and ceremonial. It was hallowed by a thousand traditional and
patriotic associations. The Christians regarded its rites and its
popular assemblies with contempt and abhorrence. The Romans viewed
the secret meetings of the Christians with suspicion, and accused
them of abominable excesses and crime. They were known to have
representatives in every important city of Gaul, Spain, Italy, and
Asia; and the more their communities grew, the more the Roman
populace raged against them. Only such considerations appear to
mitigate the historical judgments against Aurelius for marring the
splendor of his reign by persecutions. The tragedies enacted in the
churches of Lyons and Vienne, as described in the following pages,
form one of the most melancholy records of history.
When Christianity began to penetrate into Gaul, it encountered there two
religions very different one from the other, and infinitely more
different from the Christian religion; these were Druidism and
paganism--hostile one to the other, but with a hostility political only,
and unconnected with those really religious questions that Christianity
was coming to raise.
Druidism, considered as a religion, was a mass of confusion, wherein the
instinctive notions of the human race concerning the origin and destiny
of the world and of mankind were mingled with the oriental dreams of
metempsychosis--that pretended transmigration, at successive periods, of
immortal souls into divers creatures. This confusion was worse
confounded by traditions borrowed from the mythologies of the East and
the North, by shadowy remnants of a symbolical worship paid to the
material forces of nature, and by barbaric practices, such as human
sacrifices, in honor of the gods or of the dead.
People who are without the scientific development of language and the
art of writing do not attain to systematic and productive religious
creeds. There is nothing to show that, from the first appearance of the
Gauls in history to their struggle with victorious Rome, the religious
influence of Druidism had caused any notable progress to be made in
Gallic manners and civilization. A general and strong, but vague and
incoherent, belief in the immortality of the soul was its noblest
characteristic. But with the religious elements, at the same time coarse
and mystical, were united two facts of importance: the Druids formed a
veritable ecclesiastical corporation, which had, throughout Gallic
society, fixed attributes, special manners and customs, an existence at
the same time distinct and national; and in the wars with Rome this
corporation became the most faithful representatives and the most
persistent defenders of Gallic independence and nationality.
The Druids were far more a clergy than Druidism was a religion; but it
was an organized and a patriotic clergy. It was especially on this
account that they exercised in Gaul an influence which was still
existent, particularly in Northwestern Gaul, at the time when
Christianity reached the Gallic provinces of the South and Centre.