religion were enforced against them by special imperial acts and under military power. The younger Pliny shows, that the Roman authorities suspected their lovefeasts of being secret unions for political mischief, and they were denounced as such in the edicts. When he was Proconsul of Bithynia, under Trajan, A. D. 106, 107, he tells Cæsar, that he put the question to each suspected person, 'Are you a Christian?' If they would cast a bit of incense on an altar they were discharged; if not, he executed them. This, Trajan approved, under the laws against illegal superstition,' and issued his edict against the guilds and clubs, which included the Christians, under the head of secret societies; but after a bloody persecution, an inquiry was made into the real conduct of Christians, and a broad distinction was discovered between their civil and religious conduct. Pliny reports that, though they worshiped Christ, they bound themselves by an oath against crime,' and he saw a clear line between their political reverence for the Emperor and their refusal to adore him as god. This ended the persecution, till it was renewed under Hadrian, A. D. 117-138.

It is not necessary to follow the course of the several persecutions, nor to detail the terrible barbarities which were inflicted upon the Christians in the many provinces of the empire; let it suffice to say, that no such bloodshed had ever been known. The homes of Christians in the east and west were plundered; they were driven from the baths and streets to the lists, were dragged from dens and crypts; slaves were forced to charge their masters with cannibalism, incest and every kind of crime; and children were tortured to extort a criminating word against their Christian parents. Wherever a handful of them met for worship, brother after brother was taken from his home to death, and the few who escaped looked at the vacant places which were left. Then they drew a little nearer to each other, not knowing who would ascend in the fiery chariot before the little Church should meet again. They were burned with hot irons, tossed in nets by wild bulls, thrown to ravenous beasts in the arena, and their bones denied burial. Delicate and weak women passed through tortures unheard of, without complaint. An iron chair was devised, made red hot, and the martyrs fastened in it for the delight of the amphitheater. The public appetite was sharpened to all sorts of horrors, and yet these children of God met their fate with a holy heroism that was not only enthusiastic but ecstatic. The inspiring case of Justin, and many others, must be passed, that a few words may be indulged concerning the remakable case of Blandina, who was martyred at Lyons, A. D. 177.

She was a poor slave-girl, fifteen years of age, who was put to every torture, that her Christian mistress might be implicated. She was kept in a loathsome dungeon, and brought into the amphitheater every day to see the agonies of her companions as they were roasted in the iron chair, or torn to pieces by lions. Her spirit was clothed with superhuman endurance, for although racked from morning till night, so that her tormentors were obliged to relieve each other for rest, her constancy vanquished

their patience, her only answer being: 'I am a Christian, no wickedness is done by us.' Then they took her into the circus and suspended her on a cross, within reach of the wild beasts, to frighten her fellow-confessors. The multitude howled for her life and a lion was let loose upon the poor child, but not a quiver passed over

CHRISTIANS GIVEN TO THE LIONS IN THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATER.

her frame. She looked into its mouth and smiled like a queen, and the monster did not touch her. Only a century before this, the first slave-girl was converted to Christ, at Philippi, and now her ennobled sister cast holy defiance at the empire, and serenely looked Europe in the face. Her calm soul told this great Power, that at last the weak were endowed with the omnipotence of the Gospel. Her intrepid spirit showed, for the first time, how Jesus could lift a worm into the empire of a human

conscience; and could rebuke cruelty in the mute eloquence of love. The brightest page in the history of Rome was written that day, in the beams of that child's hope. Taken down from the cross she was removed to her dungeon, but finally brought back into the arena for execution. Her slender frame was a rare victim for the savage populace, and they gloated on her. But she flinched not, more than the angel in Gethsemane before the swords and staves of the Passover mob. She stepped as lightly as if she were going to a banquet. She was first scourged, then scorched in the hot chair, and at last cast before a furious bull, which tossed her madly. Even then a sharp blade was needful to take the lingering throb of life; and when her body was burnt to ashes it was cast into the Rhone. From that day, this harmless child-slave has been with her redeeming Master in Paradise.

It is clear that this new doctrine of soul-liberty now possessed the whole body of Christians. Before Christ, the only right of the governed was to obey authority backed by force; now his disciples not only comprehended the new right, but resolved to die for its maintenance, if needful. The religious institutions of the Jews were left to them undisturbed by the Romans; yet, they resented Roman intolerance on the question of national independence. Few of the Christians being of Jewish origin, their birth, as pagan citizens, had invested them with the civil rights of their fellows, their contests, therefore, were narrowed down to religious issues. Justin Martyr, who was educated a pagan philosopher, said, in his first Apology to the rulers: 'We worship God alone, but, with this exception, we joyfully obey you; we acknowledge you as our princes and governors, and we ask of you that to the sovereign power with which you are invested, may be added the wisdom to make a right use of it.' Here, was no unreason of fanaticism, nor claim of religious obstinacy, as the emperors supposed, but simply the recognition of a natural and inalienable right in humanity. Nor did Justin make this demand on the first Antonine without effect. Marcus admitted that Pius, his predecessor, had decreed that Christians: Should not be subject to any harm, unless they were found to have committed acts injurious to the welfare of the Roman Empire.' But for himself he held this as the law governing religion, namely: "The end of reasonable beings is to conform to whatever is imposed by the reason and law of the most ancient and honorable city and government.' 15 Here he seemed to defer to 'reason' as well as law, but Athenagoras, in his Apology, openly charged him with partiality and inconsistency in applying law. He urges upon the Emperor's attention these considerations:

The subjects of your vast empire, most noble sovereign, differ in customs and laws. No imperial decree, no menace held forth by you, prevents them from freely following the usages of their ancestors, even though those usages be ridiculous. The Egyptians may adore cats, crocodiles, serpents and dogs. You and the laws pronounce the man impious who acknowledges no god, and you admit that every man ought to worship the god of his choice, in order that he may be deterred from evil by the fear of the divinity. Why, then, make exception in the

THE CHRISTIANS DEMAND LIBERTY.

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sole case of the Christians? Why are they excluded from that universal peace, which the world enjoys under your rule? '16

The Roman laws allowed all conquered nations to retain their own religion, but as the Christians had never been a nation, they felt themselves, at least, entitled to the sacred rights yielded to captives. If a pagan had the abstract right to dispose of his own soul in harmony with his own convictions, though not a citizen, how much more those who were free born? They, therefore, held persecution immoral,— treason against free souls. They refused to be stripped of their humanity, because to rob themselves of peace with God and with their honest convictions, was treason against God, to which they would not yield for a moment. Under this solemn persuasion, the Christian Apologies warned the emperors, again and again, that God would punish them for their daring oppressions, which despised the life that God had given man, and rifled him of his grandest attribute. Justin boldly says to the Emperor :

'You, who are every where proclaimed the pious,---the guardian of justice,— the friend of truth,-your acts shall show whether you merit these titles. My design is neither to flatter you by this letter, nor to obtain any favor. . . . Your duty, as dictated by reason, is to investigate our cause, and to act as good judges. You will then be inexcusable before God, if you act not justly when you have once known the truth.... After all, princes who prefer an idle opinion to the truth, use a power only like that of robbers in lonely places. . . . If this doctrine appears to you true, and founded on reason, pay heed to it. If contrariwise, treat it as a thing of no value; but do not treat as enemies, nor condemn to death, men who have done you no wrong; for we declare to you that you will not escape the judgment of God if you persist in injustice.'

He even goes the length of expressing the belief, that the moral triumphs of the Gospel may render the State itself unnecessary, and rates imperial intolerance as more worthy of the hangman than of virtuous princes. In a word, he demands religious liberty in the name of eternal justice, urging the Emperor to lay the matter before the people, saying: 'Is there need to appeal to any other judge than conscience?' And Tertullian was just as bold. 'Religion,' he affirms, 'forbids to constrain any to be religious; she would have consent and not constraint. Man has the natural right to worship what he thinks best. . . . Let one worship God, another Jupiter; let one raise his suppliant hands to heaven, another to the altar of Fides. See to it whether this does not deserve the name of irreligion, to wish to take away the freedom of religion, and to forbid a choice of gods, so that I may not worship whom I will, but be compelled to worship whom I do not will. No one, not even a human being, will desire to be worshiped by one against his will.' 17 In citing Christ's words on duty to Cæsar, he asks: What, then, is due to Cæsar?

Cæsar's image is on the money, therefore, the money may be fairly claimed by him; God's image is upon man, and he has an equal claim upon his own. Give, therefore, your money to Cæsar, and yourselves to God. If all is Cæsar's, what will remain for God?' 18 Thus, the post-Apostolic Baptists stirred the second century with the strife for soul-liberty.

IN

CHAPTER II.

THE THIRD CENTURY.

N this period, the Emperors were more lenient toward the Christians, from various motives, sometimes because they paid a heavy tax for peace. Tertullian denounced this practice as a bribe. Alexander Severus, 222-235, was tolerant, perhaps through the influence of Julia, his mother, a friend of Origen. He put busts of Christ and Abraham in his private chapel, with the words engraved on the wall: 'As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them.' He was the first Emperor who entertained Christian pastors at court, and the first places of Christian worship were built in his reign; yet, down to this time no Christian bodies had been legalized, except as burial societies. He would have enrolled Christ amongst the gods and built him a temple, but the soothsayers prophesied, that all men would become Christians, and the other temples would be closed if he did this. Under his favor to the Christians, many pliable philosophers united with them, some pastors took civil office. The laws against Christians were unrepealed, and Ulpian collected them into a Digest, ready for use, in his book on the duties of a Proconsul. As Christianity relapsed into security, it began to mix with paganism and weakened. Maximus, the Thracian, resented the leniency of his predecessor and burned the church buildings; but Philip, 238-244, favored Christianity so much, that he was denounced as a Christian. Decins, however, 249-251, determined to restore the old faith, and began a general persecution of the sternest character.

He aimed at the full, legal suppression of Christianity, and the government put forth its whole strength accordingly. The terror of this persecution had scarcely been equaled before. Limborch fully indorses the alarming picture drawn by Dr. Chandler, in his 'History of Persecutions,' when he says of those who would not blaspheme Christ and offer incense to the gods, that: "They were publicly whipped, drawn by the heels through the streets of cities, racked till every bone of their body was disjointed, had their teeth beat out; their noses, hands and ears cut off; sharppointed spears run under their nails, were tortured with melted lead thrown on their naked bodies, had their eyes dug out, their limbs cut off, were condemned to the mines, ground between stones, stoned to death, burnt alive, thrown headlong from the high buildings, beheaded, smothered in burning lime-kilns, run through the body with sharp spears; destroyed with hunger, thirst and cold; thrown to the wild beasts, broiled on gridirons with slow fires, cast by heaps into the sea, crucified, scraped to death with sharp shells, torn to pieces by the boughs of trees, and, in a