a long time, because some such psalm had been brought to us at Colossæ
from Ephesus (from which city many psalms and hymns had come to divers
churches) and it was commonly sung in the churches of Asia; and indeed,
even among the ancient poems of the Jews, there is a psalm not much
unlike this, wherein the mariners cry unto the Lord in their trouble
and he delivereth them out of their distress, for, saith the psalm, “He
maketh the storm to cease so that the waves thereof are still;” and
another psalm saith, “Thy way is in the sea and thy path on the great
waters.” But, often as I had sung these words, it had never so much as
entered my mind to interpret them according to the letter; for even as
the Greeks or Romans compare the state to a ship and the ruler to a
pilot, even so had we been wont to speak, in a figure, of the Church as
being a ship tossed upon the sea of troubles and persecutions, and of
the Lord Jesus as her pilot in the storm; and I had also heard mention
made, when I was in Britain, of some new hymn showing in a figure,
how the blessed Apostle Petrus denied his Master, and describing how
he adventured to walk, in his own strength, upon the troubled sea of
temptation, but his faith failed him so that he began to sink, and he
had been drowned in the deep waters of sin, but that the Lord stretched
out his hand and saved him; but in this and other such psalms and hymns
there was never a thought of any real boat nor of a real storm of wind
and waves. Therefore, the worship being now ended, when a certain
Philologus, one of the brethren, accosted me asking my judgment of this
psalm, as if I should have censured it, I replied (not without some
wonder at the strangeness of his question) that the psalm was a good
one, and that none could find any fault in it. But Philologus replied,
“If therefore, O Onesimus, you allow of this miracle of the Lord, why
contend you against these other miracles of which the Gospel makes
mention?” I said, “Nay, but of what miracle do I allow?” He said, “Even
that miracle and no other, which is clearly described in the psalm,
how the Lord Jesus walked upon the waters to save the holy Apostles;
yea, and one of the new Gospels affirms that the blessed Apostle Petrus
adventured himself to walk upon the waves; but his faith failed him so
that he began to sink.”
Hereat I was speechless; and Philologus, as if he were ill at ease by
reason of my silence, bade me follow him and two or three of the other
elders into another chamber in the place where they were assembled.
Here were depicted divers wonders, first, the sending down of the
manna from heaven for Israel, and also the gushing forth of the water
from the rock; and said he, if Moses wrought these wonders, must not
the Lord Jesus have wrought others still more wonderful? Then said I to
them, “Moses not only caused bread but also water to arise for Israel;
and again the prophet Elisha, even when dead, had power to raise up a
dead man; wherefore, if indeed the Lord Jesus desired to surpass Moses
and Elias in wonders according to the flesh (and not, as I believe, in
wonders according to the spirit) he must needs have caused water, as
well as bread, to spring up for the multitude, or else perchance honey
or wine; and he must needs also have raised up from the dead some one
that was on the point to be buried or already buried; but is any such
relation as either of these to be found in any tradition concerning the
Lord Jesus?” They said there was not; and methought they were somewhat
at a stand. But presently Philologus corrected them saying, “Nay, my
brethren, say not ‘the Tradition containeth not these things’ but
rather ‘These things are not known to us at present,’ for although it
hath not yet been revealed to the Church in any Tradition that the Lord
Jesus hath produced water or wine, or raised up a dead man from the
tomb, yet is it possible that he may have wrought these very works, and
in time they may be made known to the Church, even as the walking on
the waves was not made known in the first Tradition of the Acts of the
Lord, nor were other mighty works;” and here he made mention of many
unknown to me such as the catching of a mighty draught of fishes, and
the finding of a fish with a coin in the mouth of it.
Hereat I ceased from further speech. For I perceived that my
questioning had the contrary effect to that which I had intended. For
I had hoped to lead Philologus and his companions to see that the
spiritual works of the Lord Jesus were greater than those wonders
according to the flesh, of which they made so much. But instead
thereof, Philologus had been made by my words more greedy than ever of
fresh wonders, and was now ready to believe anything if it were only
wonderful enough. So I held my peace, and only besought Philologus to
lend me copies of the written books of the Gospels such as were now
read in the churches.
§ 7. HOW I LABORED IN BERŒA.
Having given myself during many days to the reading and meditating in
the three books of the Gospels, I found much less addition of wonders
and other doubtful matters than I had expected, and least of all in
that book which was said by most to have been written according to the
teaching of Marcus; only in rendering the Hebrew into the Greek there
had been a few errors; and in some two or three passages, figures of
speech appeared to have been interpreted according to the letter. But
the other two books though they contained most excellent traditions,
very full and ample, of certain words of the Lord, had added
supplements touching the birth of the Lord Jesus and his childhood and
youth, and also concerning his manifestations after his rising from the
dead, which were not known to me. So, after much debate with myself, I
concluded to write to Philochristus, sending to him the three books and
asking his judgment concerning them. This done, I bade farewell to the
brethren in Rome and betook myself to Berœa where the Lord had prepared
for me an abundant work.
Many days I continued laboring in Berœa and hearing naught from
Philochristus; yet was I not without some guidance from the Lord.
For day by day, ministering to the unlearned among the brethren, I
perceived that the presence and the power of the Lord among them were
not let or hindered by what I deemed their errors. The three books
of the Gospels were beginning at this time to be commonly read among
them, and I saw that the multitude willingly believed all things
written therein, especially concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus,
and concerning his manifesting of himself after death by divers
signs and tokens, as by eating in the presence of the disciples, and
by giving his body to be touched. Now remembering what the blessed
Apostle Paulus had enjoined on me, that I must by all means seek to
attain as much of the truth as possible, though there must needs be
some error, I was minded at first to restrain the brethren in Berœa
from the public reading of these new traditions. But one of the elders
of the Church dissuaded me, saying in the first place that the truth
was uncertain; and in the second place, that, if the people believed
not these traditions, and especially the tradition concerning the
birth of the Lord, they must needs fall into error, not being able to
receive the doctrine that the son of Mary and Joseph was verily the
Son of God begotten before the worlds and taking flesh as a man for
our sakes. “Either therefore;” said he, “they will believe that he
was merely man and not God; or else that he was not man at all, but a
phantom, born of no human father nor mother either; as certain sects
in Asia believe.” And he added that the Lord seemed to allow this new
doctrine if doctrine might be judged by the fruits thereof; because
all that believed it were full of zeal, and patience, and love for the
brethren, and all virtue, ready to lay down their lives for the Lord.
So I, considering that it was one thing to strive towards certainty,
and another thing to restrain others from their opinions, being also
myself uncertain, suffered the new gospels to be read in Berœa without
hindrance, and the more willingly because the three Gospels now brought
in began to drive out many other writings of Gospels which sprang up
about this time, or even before, full of wonders, and portents, and not
preserving the truth of the life of the Lord Jesus. So in a very short
time the three Gospels were brought in, and multiplied by transcribers,
and were read in all our assemblies, and the catechumens were also
instructed in them.
And now, after I had been about one year or more in Berœa, I received
from Britain a letter written by Philochristus, which was most welcome;
but withal another letter most unwelcome, written by the new Bishop
of Londinium, saying that the blessed Elder Philochristus had fallen
asleep in the Lord, and that this his letter, written some months
before, had only of late been found among his papers, wherefore it
had been long delayed in the sending. So, when I opened and read it,
I seemed to be receiving his message from beyond the grave, guiding
me on the path in which I should go; and these were the words of the
letter.
§ 8. THE LAST WORDS OF PHILOCHRISTUS.
“PHILOCHRISTUS TO ONESIMUS, GRACE AND PEACE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
“I received with your letter, my dear Onesimus, the three books of the
new Gospels; concerning which having purposed to write to you some
months ago, as soon as I had read them, I was hindered by long and
grievous sickness.
“They contain relations of certain matters whereof I neither saw nor
heard aught, while I followed the Lord Jesus in Galilee; nor have I
heard aught of them from the disciples, nor from the Lord’s brethren,
nor from the mother of the Lord.
“Nevertheless, albeit I heard no such matters, yet is it possible that
they may have been revealed to the disciples after my coming to this
island in the reign of Caius Cæsar. And this, I confess, hath not a
little moved me, that during my sickness the three Gospels have been
very diligently read by those who are here laboring with me, and by
them have been interpreted to the unlearned; and everywhere they meet
with great acceptance, and the Church is edified by them, insomuch that
they had already begun to be read in the assemblies of certain of the
churches when it pleased the Lord to raise me up for a short time from
my sickness. Notwithstanding, thou sayst truly that in all things we
must not willingly consent to error, though some error be a necessity;
and therefore my counsel is that thou take early occasion to go to
Ephesus where thou mayst question John the Disciple of the Lord. For if
neither he nor I know aught of these new traditions, then it is likely
that they are not according to the truth; but if he consent unto them,
then are they, without doubt, true.
“Not without much prayer and meditation, having striven to put myself
in thy place, my dear Onesimus, have I written these words; which do
thou take to heart, as my last message, because my mind forebodeth that
I shall not write unto you a second time. I know well thy sincerity and
thy unfeigned love of the truth; yet bethink thee that it is the kernel
of the truth that thou shouldst seek and not the shell; and if the
kernel be sound, be not thou troubled over much though the shell may
shew some blemish. For put this case that John the Disciple of the Lord
be no longer in the flesh, or that thou find no occasion to see him, or
that in other ways thou be frustrated of thine endeavor to search out
the truth. What then? Is it needful or fit that thou shouldst therefore
journey from Ephesus to Antioch, or to Nazareth, or to Bethlehem or to
Jerusalem, to inquire of these matters? Nay, but a pastor of the flock
should abide with the flock. The exact truth, it may be, thou shalt
never find out in this life; but thy duty towards thy brethren thou
canst certainly find out. This therefore find out, and do. I say not
that thou, in thy doctrine and preaching, should teach or even assent
to these new traditions; but what I say is this, that if the worship
of the Lord Jesus be enwrapped (among the unlearned) in some integument
of doubtful tradition which commendeth itself to the brethren—because
they cannot easily believe that he worked mightily in the spirit,
except they also believe that he wrought mighty works according to the
flesh—then I say it needeth not, nor is it fit, that thou shouldst
spend all thy time in rending this integument asunder, but rather that
thou shouldst labor to teach the main truth, which is, that our Lord
Jesus Christ was verily a man, and verily the Eternal Son of God, in
whom all mankind hath died to sin and is born again to righteousness.
“But thou sayst that ‘A time may come when these traditions shall be
found to be false; and then as much as they now draw the unlearned to
Christ, so much, and more also, shall they then drive the unlearned
from Christ. For, being unapt to distinguish, and apt to reject all if
they reject a part, the common people, finding a part of the tradition
of the Acts of the Lord to be false, will cast aside the whole as
a mere fable.’ Well and wisely is this said, and providently also
according to thy nature, my dear Onesimus; yet have I faith in Truth,
according as it is written, that ‘Truth is great and shall prevail;’
and whensoever the danger whereof thou speakest shall press upon the
Church, I doubt not but the Lord, who is also the Truth, shall raise up
teachers that shall have skill to sift the true from the false; yea,
and if, even now, thou seest this danger, or if thou obtainest certain
knowledge that these traditions are false, I deny not but thou shouldst
speak openly against them. But until thou shalt obtain such certainty,
wait thou patiently upon the Lord, and do with all thy might the works
which he hath appointed for thee to do.
“Remember, my son, that thou art called to be a bishop and champion
for the souls of men, to deliver them from the mouth of the lion; and
the battle presseth sorely against the army of the Lord. Play thou the
man therefore, and be no mere pedant nor seeker after the antiquities
of small matters. Even in this year, as thou thyself dost write, many
of the Saints have borne witness with their lives to the Captain of
our Salvation. Whilst others therefore are fighting among the vanguard
and pouring forth their blood for the Lord, be not thou content to lag
behind in the rear with the baggage; nor, from being a soldier of the
Lord, stoop thou to be a mere camp-follower. Lovest thou the Lord? I
know thou lovest him with all thine heart. Then be content. The Saints
of the Church in Berœa whom God hath committed to thy charge, do they
also love the Lord? Thyself hast confessed as much. Then again I say,
Be thou content. ‘But,’ sayest thou, ‘they err in certain traditions
concerning the Lord.’ Well, then, they err. But which is better, that
they should love the Lord and be in some error, or that they should
be free from error and void of love? Better to have wheat with tares
than no tares and no wheat. Let both stand till the harvest; and in the
day of winnowing of the Master, a separation shall be made. Farewell,
Onesimus; and again I say unto thee, as from the Lord, in whose
presence I hope to stand when thou shalt read these words, Play thou
the man and prevail, in the love and trust of the Lord Jesus Christ;
and the Lord shall be with thee and bless thee.”
When I had read the letter of the blessed Philochristus, I was
confirmed in my purpose not at once to quit the city of Berœa; and the
more because at that time the saints began to be sorely persecuted;
insomuch that I had no leisure to be absent, no, not so much as for
a few days, during the space of two whole years; so busy was I in
comforting the afflicted and strengthening the weak, and ministering
to the widows of them that bore witness for the Lord. And as I
strengthened, or strove to strengthen, others, so also and much more
did they strengthen me, when I perceived their constancy and fortitude,
and noted how, amidst all their sufferings, even the unlearned (yea,
some of those on whom I had been apt to look with some pity for their
superstitions), were lifted up with a divine magnanimity such as no
philosopher could surpass. And at this time I began more clearly to
understand that which Philochristus had said (and Paulus before him)
touching the distinguishing of things great and small. For I now
perceived, as never before, that the love of Christ was the main thing,
and that whoso could love him and cling to him should be first in the
Kingdom of God, and that I myself (though I were bishop in Berœa)
should come far behind many of the simple brethren, halting as it were
into heaven, while they should come borne upon wings.
But now, two years having passed away and the Church being now at
peace, the advice of Philochristus hath come again to my mind that if
I crave after certainty concerning the additions to the Tradition, I
should go to see John the Disciple at Ephesus. For the holy Apostle
still lives, although stricken in years and infirm, not having
been able for these many years to preach the Gospel. Yet is there
a tradition or doctrine at Ephesus (as I have heard say) differing
much from the three Gospels, and taught by the disciples of John, and
especially by one, John the Elder, a man of Alexandria (one that has
travelled much, and is well versed in the philosophy of the Alexandrine
teachers, but much more in the deep things of the Spirit), whom I met
many years ago in Antioch. These lines I now write in the sixth year of
the Emperor Domitianus, purposing shortly to set out for Smyrna, and
thence to Ephesus, to see John and to obtain concerning the Traditions
such certainty as I can. Howbeit the Spirit in me forebodeth that I
shall not obtain certainty after this manner, neither shall I come
again to Berœa, but the Lord hath some other purpose concerning me.
§ 9. OF MY JOURNEY TO SMYRNA, AND HOW THE LORD HATH HELPED EVEN ME TO
THE END.
Verily the Spirit deceived me not; for being now about to bear witness
for the Lord Jesus with my blood, I add these last words to this
history, no longer free, nor amid friends, but in a dungeon, expecting
shortly that I shall fight with wild beasts for the Lord in this city
of Smyrna, wherein now I write. For coming hither about the time of
Passover, I found the people of the city in no small disturbance,
because of a great earthquake, and the drying up of the springs,
and also incensed against the Proconsul because he had awarded some
prize in the games against their judgment. Wherefore the people on
the one hand were moved against the Christians, as being causers of
the earthquake, and the Proconsul for his part was the more ready to
listen to them so as to turn their wrath from himself on us. So when
I was, without any disturbance, preaching the Gospel to the Saints on
the first day of the week, behold, the Irenarch came suddenly upon us
with great violence, and after loading me with fetters he dragged me
(with one of the presbyters called Trophimus) before the Proconsul; who
straightway bade me swear by the Fortune of Cæsar and reproach Christ.
When I refused, he said to me, “I will consume thee with fire, except
thou repent.” Then Trophimus made answer, somewhat bitterly, “Thou
threatenest me with fire which burneth for an hour and, after that,
is extinguished; but thou knowest not the fire of the judgment that
is to come which is reserved for the ungodly.” Hereupon the multitude
that were in the Stadium, cried out, “Away with the Atheists.” Others
bade let loose a lion upon us. But the Proconsul gave orders that we
should be taken to the dungeon and there kept for a night and day;
and after that, if we would not repent and offer sacrifice saying,
“Cæsar is Lord,” we were to be cast to the wild beasts; for the show
was appointed for the day after the morrow. So with many reproaches
and blows from the officers, goading me onwards that I might come the
quicker out of the multitude—who were gathered round, cursing and
threatening, and ready to have torn me in pieces—I was dragged along
the streets to the prison, and there my clothes were rent from off me,
and I was cast naked, more dead than alive, into the barathrum or pit
which is in the centre of the inmost prison, there to abide till the
time came that I should fight with wild beasts.
Amid the darkness and mire and stench of that noisome den, it pleased
the Lord that I should be tempted of Satan that I might prevail over
him with the strength of the Lord. For when I knelt down to call upon
the Lord, being always used to make mention of Chrestus and Eucharis in
my prayers, behold, I found myself bereft of the tokens of them both,
whereon were written TRUST and HOPE; and then a terror fell upon me and
a shuddering that was not of the limbs but of the heart (so did my very
spirit seem to shiver within me) and a voice of evil whispered in my
ear saying, “_Trust_ no more,” and then again, “Thy _Hope_ is dead;”
and methought monstrous shapes moved around me, making my flesh to
creep; and I was on the brink of a bottomless gulf wherein I must needs
fall, and Satan was waiting below, ready to swallow up my soul.
Then fell I upon my face and I called upon the Lord in my sore trouble,
and besought him that he would send me help from heaven; and I repeated
over and over again his comfortable words, how he bade us not fear them
that could slay the body, and how he promised that, though we should
be slain, yet not one hair of our heads should perish; and I bethought
myself of my beloved teacher Paulus, how he also had lain in just such
another dungeon for nine days and nights, and with what a constancy
he had held fast to the faith of the Lord Jesus; and I also called
to mind the last words of the elder Philochristus, how he had bidden
me play the man and fight the good fight for Christ. Now up to this
time I had been still wrestling with Satan and trembling lest, coming
upon me a second time, he should gain some advantage over me; but now,
taking courage, I besought the Lord, as in old times, for Chrestus and
Eucharis, that they also might obtain mercy and be with me in Christ.
Then it pleased the Lord Jesus my Saviour to turn my thoughts wholly
upon him, and upon his passion which he endured for men upon the cross;
and gazing thereon I was wrapped up with him above the stir and tumult
of earth; and methought I saw, looking down from above, how all the
past had worked together for me for good; and how all my wanderings
and gropings, yea, even my sins, being washed away by the blood of
him who suffered, had become helps instead of hindrances, helping me
to love much because I had been much forgiven. Then also I saw how
the Lord in his mercy had taken from me the hope of Eucharis, and the
trust of Chrestus, yea, and the love of my dearest mother, that so he
might guide me up unto himself, the source and object of all trust and
hope and love. So being filled with all certainty of joy I besought
the Lord once more for them, and for the mother whom I had never seen
in the flesh, that they also as well as Eucharis (who had received the
seal of baptism) might attain to the resurrection of the just, and I
prayed that, if it were possible, I might receive from him some sign or
vision that it was well with them. And so it was that, as soon as I
had thus prayed, I was lifted up in the spirit with the cross of Christ
yet higher than before, and the Lord showed me a vast sea of death, and
beneath the sea of death, a sea of sin; but beneath the sea of sin and
of death I saw a great gulf of life and love, which swallowed up the
sea of sin and death, so that they vanished away.
How long I remained in the Spirit I know not; but when the Spirit left
me I was lying in the courtyard of the prison; and around me were
standing some of the elders ministering to me, and bidding me be of
stout heart; for, said they, in two hours hence must thou needs fight
with wild beasts in the amphitheatre for the Lord Jesus Christ. Then I
spoke to them strengthening their hearts, and telling them of all the
glories of the vision which the Lord had revealed unto me, and having
obtained pen and paper I have written down the vision, and how the Lord
helped me; to the intent that others also, in time to come, vile and
sinful, and defiled, and faithless, may take courage from this history,
perceiving how even the weakest and vilest may be made pure and strong
in Christ.
As I write these words, knowing that in the third hour of this same day
I shall bear witness for the Lord beneath the jaws of the leopards, how
small and petty seem to me now the matters of which I once doubted!
Better is it to be a fool (as the world counteth folly) and to love
the Lord than to have all knowledge and to be without love. He that
loveth his brother hath all things and knoweth all things; and, if he
lack aught, behold, all possessions and all knowledge shall be added
unto him. Behold, the voice of man calleth me to arise and to go forth
unto death. But I obey not his voice but thine. Thou callest me, O my
Redeemer, and I come.
§ 10. _CONCERNING THE PASSION OF THE BLESSED MARTYRS TROPHIMUS AND
ONESIMUS._