the early years of christianity

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DOW Class No. VloS isis sie eae Book Nokes Library of \J 12s THE MEADVILLE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL

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Accession No. 3S 660 es

Book First. Christian Missions And Pagan Persecutions

CHAPTER I.

THE CONQUESTS OF THE CHURCH.*

§ I. Character and Method of early Christian Missions.

WE have described the rapid growth of Christianity in its infancy; we have recorded that steady forward march of the Church which no obstacle could impede, no danger daunt. Under the leadership of its invisible Head, it went forth without trembling, to meet adversaries at once skilful and strong, and as numerous as formidable—to encounter, in fact, all the recognised, lords of the world, its princes and priests, its philosophers and artists. Every conflict became a victory, and the only effect of persecution was to extend the

* In addition to the original sources and the great ecclesiastical histories already mentioned, we shall quote from Mosheim, “ De

‘Rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum,” pp. 203-448 ;

Fabricius, ‘‘ Salutaris lux Evangelii toto orbi per divinam gratiam exoriens ;” “ Histoire Générale de l’ Etablissement du Christianisme,” translated from the German of C. G. Blumhardt, by A. Bost, vol. I.

missionary field of the Church, to give greater weight to its testimony, and to command for it a wider hearing. We have seen the Church at Jerusalem, formed but of yesterday, and still dimly enlightened on more than one point, making head against the fiercest storm, and finding, in the enforced dispersion of its members, @ most valuable means of propagating the faith. The barrier raised by Jewish prejudice between the Church and the pagan world falls at the voice of St. Paul, and in the first impulse of their new-born zeal, its emissaries at once go far and wide over the vast field thus opened to Christian labour. The Gospel is spread over the whole of Asia Minor; it reaches the borders of India, penetrates the deserts of Arabia, and touches the heart of Egyptian Africa. The great Apostle and his companions carry it into Greece—into the great centres of ancient civilisation. It echoes in the very capital of the empire. Everywhere flourishing Churches flame like beacons through the darkness of pagan night. In the period which follows, the Church retraces its steps over this vast field, deepening the furrows and scattering the seed more widely. Asia Minor, in particular, is made to feel’ the power of Christianity under the influence of those great bishops, who, like Polycarp and Ignatius, seal a heroic ministry with a martyr’s death. _ In the period which we are now approaching, and which comprehends the second and third centuries of our era, this expansive movement goes on yet more rapidly and irresistibly. Christianity extends its conquests to the utmost limits of the Roman Empire, and at several points even passes beyond it. Although a certain exaggeration is no doubt apparent in the language of the apologists of the Church, who seek to demonstrate the truth of the Gospel by the greatness

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 3 of its success, it is yet abundantly evident from their writings that those successes were real, and very remarkable. ‘‘ There is not,” says Justin Martyr, “a single race of men, barbarians, Greeks, or -by whatever name they may be called, warlike or nomadic, homeless or dwelling in tents, or leading a pastoral life, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered in the name of Jesus the crucified, to the Father and Creator of all things.”* Irenzeus writes subsequently : ‘Such is the common faith and tradition of the Churches of Germany, Iberia, and of the Celts, as well as of those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, and of the centre of the world.”t Tertullian, with his usual fervour, exclaims: ‘In whom have all the nations believed, but in the Christ who is already come? In Him believe the Parthians, the Medes, the Elamites, the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, in Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya beyond Cyrene, inhabitants of Rome, Jews, and proselytes. This is the faith of the several tribes of the Getulians, the Moors, the Spaniards, and the various nations of Gaul. The parts of Britain inaccessible to the Romans, but subject to Jesus Christ, hold the same faith, as do also the Sarmatians, the Dacians, the Germans, the Scythians, and many other nations in provinces and islands unknown to us, and which we must fail to enumerate.” ft

Making large allowance for the rhetorical colouring

sok Ey yao © Lori é i ty oic py Oia Tov dvdparog

Ne ee aod cixcarrian, ciustn, Meaty, [pial cum Tryph.,” p. 345. Paris edition, 1636.) a

+ Irenzeus, “ Contr. Heres.,” I.,3. (Feuardentius edition.)

“ Ady. Judzos,” c. vii.)

of such assertions, it is yet impossible to question that they attest a truly marvellous diffusion of the new religion. _ Nor is it only the arena of missionary activity which is thus indefinitely enlarged; the sphere is occupied, and the missionary work is no less admirable, regarded from within than from without. ‘‘ We are but of yesterday,” says this same Tertullian in a passage which has become classical, ‘‘and lo! we fill the whole empire,—your cities, your islands, your fortresses, your municipalities, your councils, nay, even the camp, the tribune, the decury, the palace, the senate, the forum.’’*

This rapid survey of the conquests of Christianity at this period will not suffice. We shall need to pass under review in detail the origin of the principal Churches of the East and West, of those which became either important centres of the faith, or the advanced posts of new beliefs. We must first inquire, however, by what means these great successes were obtained, what were the obstacles, and what the aids to early missionary activity.t

We shall not dwell again on that which we have already observed—the reproach brought upon Christianity by the lowliness of its origin, the poverty of its apostles, and the simplicity of its worship. We shall have occasion more than once to allude to this, when setting forth the defence presented in its name by its apologists. Sprung out of Judza, born of a haughty and detested people, who met the scorn of the world with a yet more bitter scorn, Christianity, while it was

_ t See on this point Neander's “ Church History,” vol. I. pp. 60-72. Eng. Trans., Bohn’'s Ed., vol. I. pp. 95-108. oe

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 5 rejected and reviled by the Jews, shared nevertheless in the odium attached to Judaism. It was thus in the anomalous position of bearing the reproach of the Synagogue as if identified with it, while at the same time it found in the synagogue its most malignant and implacable foe. It is true that as we advance in the history of the Church, we shall find this misconception gradually dispelled ; but it was of much longer duration than could have been at first supposed. The simplicity of the Christian worship—so remarkable at this period, when it had cast off the Jewish ritual, and had not, as yet, sought any new ceremonial; the adoration of the invisible without symbolic aid; the absence of any temples—a fact not to be ascribed solely to the danger of persecution, but which represented a principle; the bold spirituality, which grasped the idea of worship in spirit and in truth as so grand a reality ; all these characteristics of the new religion were of a nature to scandalise and irritate, by the force of contrast, a world given to idolatry. To the votaries of a materialistic religion, who recognise only the gods that walk before men’s eyes, spirituality is. atheism. Unable to rise to the spiritual, the simplest method is to deny it. For such souls, where there is no idol, there is no God. It was natural then that the Christians should be classed among the impious, by the worshippers of Jupiter and Venus. We have already mentioned the infamous calumnies which attempted to brand the worship of the Church by travestying its most sacred mysteries. We shall presently see how these false accusations were flung back, by the defenders ox the Church, with words of burning eloquence, in the face ot the adversaries and their ieeble gods.

But the grand obstacle to Christian missions was the.

universal moral corruption, which was ever developing itself in new forms in a world, the very foundations of which were unsound. With no fixed beliefs, with no faith in the future, the society of that age abandoned itself to a materialism as daring as it was desperate. Nothing could be more corrupting to the spirit than this purely sensuous life, facilitated by all the resources of a powerful and refined society, to which nothing was wanting but fixed principles and a steadfast purpose. To secure diversion in the narrow span between birth and death, to extract the largest possible amount of enjoyment from a precarious existence, this is the great aim of such a life; the feverish restlessness which accompanies it only gives an added stimulus to voluptuous excess. We have endeavoured to describe the fatal fascination to which decrepit paganism yielded at the comméncement of our era. The writers of the second and third centuries show us how the life of the senses had become yet more completely dominant. The pagan, according to the powerful language of Clement of Alexandria, drank in voluptuousness through every sense.* Voluptuousness adorned his dwelling with unchaste images, it inspired the syren music of his feasts, it reigned supreme in the theatre. It mingled with the blood in his veins. ‘‘ Like the syren of the Odyssey,” says Clement in another place, “it sends forth 4 seductive sound; but the waters on to which it lures the listener flow over hidden fire. The indulgence of sensuality has become universal, and its effect is to destroy the man and keep him from the truth.” ‘You hear that voice,” again he exclaims;

* Clement of Alexandria, “ Protrept.,” c. iv. § 61. t Ayxeu roy WOpwrov, Tij¢ adXnOsiac aworpéwer. (Clement of Alexandria, “ Protrept.,” c. xii. § 116.)

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN: MISSIONS. Ta

“O mariner, you hear it; and it pleases you.* Pass away from it; shut your ears against its deathful music. If you will, you may escape, only bind yourself to the Saving raft.”t But this raft was the cross—the cross which represented the voluntary self-sacrifice of the Christian, no less than that of the Redeemer. This alone reveals what a gulf the voluptuous pagan had to cross, before he could enroll himself beneath such a standard. *

There was yet another form of the voluptuous, more refined than the merely sensual, which alienated many minds from Christianity. This was that extravagant love of beauty of form, which had always distinguished the Hellenic race, and which it had imparted to the degenerate Romans. In an age of decadence, the form of the idea is esteemed far more highly than the idea itself. The surfeited soul, like the surfeited palate, craves the piquant, the highly dressed. Simplicity of expression excites only contempt, and the noblest thoughts pass unheeded unless surcharged with ornament. The Fathers of the Church have repeatedly pointed out this intellectual epicurism, as one of the great obstacles to the progress of Christianity. The noble language of the pagan philosophers seemed to Justin Martyr a bait, which would decoy many souls to death.t -Celsus, the great opponent of Christianity, heaps his most biting sarcasms on the vulgarity of the form, by which, according to him, truth is degraded in the Gospel; on the incorrectness and barbarism of the style of the sacred writings, and on their want of

* "Exaueics, ® vaira. (Clement of Alexandria, “ Protrept.,” c. xii’ § 116.) + Te tidy rposdedepévoc. (Ibid.) wis

t "Qorep dedeap rijy evyhwrriay. (Justin, “ Ad. Greec. Cohortatio, OF en ee logical force. While in order to sustain his argument he exaggerates the somewhat bald simplicity of the apostolic writings, he yet faithfully represents the natural repugnance of the Hellenic race to a book, which, like the lowly Redeemer whom it revealed to the world, made no pretence to the glory or excellency of human wisdom. Greece had drunk draughts too intoxicating to appreciate the purity of the living water. Those only who were thirsting for pardon and peace, drew near to the Divine fountain. It had no charm for the epicureans of philosophy and art.

To these general causes of aversion to Christianity may be added others, which were peculiar to the age of which we are about to speak. We shall find the paganism of the second and third centuries of our era, assuming more and more a character of gloomy and fierce fanaticism. A desperate effort was unquestionably made at this period to revive old religious beliefs. The incredulity which at one time, as we have noted, came in like a flood, could not long maintain its ground against the power of superstition. Superstition spreads from class to class, and from the lowest stratum of the ignorant populace, it rises to the elevated sphere where philosophy and science have long reigned alone. Philosophers and lettered men cannot resist the stream. Alexandria becomes the centre of this reaction of paganism. It is not: certain old religious forms which are revived; it is the old religion of the old world surviving in its essence the decay of its various embodiments. Nature becomes the supreme object of worship— Nature, the mysterious Isis, before whom for so many ages the whole East has bowed down. Rising above Hellenic humanism to the sublime pantheism of India, borrowing its asceticism and mysticism to set in the

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 9 scale against Christian piety, the pagan reaction succeeds in baffling the aspirations of more than one noble soul. In its popular form it misleads the people by mere trickery. It inspires unlimited confidence in the hidden forces of nature, and makes the multitude more and more the dupe of magicians, who gratify the taste for the marvellous, and promise deliverance from physical evils without demanding any moral reformation. Magic opposes its false miracles to the true miracles of Christianity, and thus holds the many enchained at the foot of those very altars, which, a century before, seemed to totter at the mere touch of a new faith. This religion without morality, which gratifies all the evil inclinations, while it frustrates all the true instincts of man’s nature, will resist Christianity with weapons worthy of itself. It will stir up the fierce passions of the multitude, and lash them into blind and frenzied fury. It will stimulate that thirst for blood, which seizes men as it does savage beasts when they have once tasted it; it will feed, by the cruel sports of the amphitheatre, the fierce delight in human agony.

Christianity had, as we know, powerful influences to bring to bear on these obstacles, apart from the intrinsic force of truth.

The element of strangeness, of absolute novelty which it presented in a state of society so profoundly corrupt, made it the rallying point of sympathies as strong as were the hostile feelings it awakened;‘while the very, opposition which it encountered served to sustain its severe morality, and to preserve it from the enervation | of compromise. It thus retained its originality, and its sublime ideal gleamed in lofty purity above the encom-

‘passing darkness. It seemed still like one coming up _, out of the wilderness. The sharp contrast between the i 2

Io THE EARLY YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY.

Church and the whole life around it, could scarcely fail to arrest the attention of the most thoughtless. The Church miglit be spoken against, it could hardly be despised; and souls, wearied with the vices of paganism, naturally fled, to lay hold of this new hope. The Church was the city of refuge, built upon a hill, with gates open to all, in whom there had arisen a thirst after the divine. Whether in hatred or in love, all eyes were drawn towards it by its moral elevation ; and the very hatred of its enemies became of service to it, by calling into demonstration the power of its faith. The steadfast witness of the Church—might we not rather say its martyrdom—during three centuries, brought to light an assurance so immoveable of the possession of the truth, that souls, weary of doubt, and craving after a settled belief, were irresistibly attracted by it. Hence that eloquence of the martyr’s death of which Tertullian speaks. We shall see how powerful was the apology of:the circus and the stake throughout the whole of this period, especially with the sublime commentary added by the great defenders of the faith. In the resignation of an innocent victim there is ever a mysterious attraction. The meekness of the martyr’s gaze is more terrible to bear than the flashes of hatred or the fire of wrath. If the cross, presented to the adoration of the world, was one of the great stumbling-blocks of primitive Christianity, it was also one of its mightiest influences. The dying God won from men’s hearts that which had been withheld from the awful God of Sinai; and the Church achieved its most glorious victories in the days of its most complete self-sacrifice. To use the figure of Justin Martyr, it was like a vine which is the more fruittul the more it bleeds under the pruning knife.*

* Justin Martyr, “ Dial. cum Tryph.,” p. 337.

BOOK i.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. EI,

_If suffering was thus a powerful argument advancing the cause of Christianity, the joy of the Christians— their pure and lively joy in having found the truth— pleaded no less effectually. Clement of Alexandria, speaking of this blessed illumination of conversion as set forth in baptism, says: ‘‘ We are like those who awake out of a deep sleep, or rather, like those from whose eyes a film has fallen. They see all things clearly, not because there is more light without (over which they have no control), but because from their own vision the darkening veil is gone. The eye of our souls has become strong and clear; the Holy Ghost comes down upon us, and we discern the things which are of God.” * Such joy could not be hidden in the heart, and the famous ‘‘ Eureka’’ of Archimedes, applied to the grandest of truths, sounded from end to end of -the empire, wherever the light of the Gospel had penetrated. This lively joy, awakened by the discovery of truth, is expressed with great beauty in one of the symbolic representations, found in the catacombs or on the tombs of the early Christians. It depicts the rock smitten by Moses, suddenly opening and sending forth a stream of pure water, which flows over the desert sands. ‘The painting is rude, but there is an indescribable beauty in the expression of the Israelites rushing to the fountain. Every feature bespeaks holy eagerness, unutterable joy, and they drink in long draughts, that which is indeed to them the water of life. The symbol is easy of interpretation. The first Christians sought thus to set forth the joy unspeakable of having seen the fountain of divine life opened in a desert, a thousand times more waste and arid than that crossed by the

*"Qorep ot roy irvov aroceodpevor ebOiwc iypnydpacw. (Clement

F of Alexandria, “ Padagog.,” book I. c. vi. § 28.)

Israelites. The deep thirst of their souls, and the gladness realised, equalling and surpassing all that they had suffered—all this is conveyed in these rude paintings and sculptures, with a freshness and force which make them precious records of the faith of the first centuries. They do more than many learned dissertations to explain the rapid spread of Christianity in primitive times.

In spite of all the obstacles we have enumerated, Christian missions found more than one element of support in the condition of men’s minds in that age of decadence. ‘The reaction in favour of paganism was not the only current carrying men along. Many thoughtful minds estimated it at its true value, and wearied of creeds so full of emptiness, showed themselves disposed to accept Christianity. Such a disposition of mind was not confined to the higher classes; unlettered men and women, the poor, and all those who were placed under the ban of the old society, all those too who were bowed down under the burden of its vices, felt drawn towards the Church; and it was one of the great elements of power in the new religion that it addressed itself specially to such, and offered to them a doctrine so simple as to be within the reach of all. Its very motto might have been those touching words of the Master, ‘‘ Suffer the little ones to come unto me.” The adaptation of Christianity to the popular mind, with which it was bitterly reproached by pagan philosophers accustomed to close the doors of their schools against the profanum vulgus, gave it access to the humblest quarters. ‘‘ We boldly avow,” said Origen, “that it is our design to educate all men in the school of the Divine Word, so that the youngest may find instruction suited to them, and the very slave may pe’ ,/ i

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. I3 learn how, in receiving freedom of the soul, he may be made free indeed. We Christians hold ourselves debtors alike to the Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise. It is our aim, that every creature gifted with reason may be healed by the virtue of the Word, and be brought into friendship with God.”* “Not only the rich,” says Tatian, “but the poor are found among the scholars of our philosophy, and we ask nothing at their hands. We admit as hearers all who are willing to come—even women old and young. Our modest maidens talk of divine things as they turn the spinning wheel.”’t

It naturally follows from the fact that the new religion thus addressed itself especially to the poor and the ignorant, that the spoken word should occupy a more important place than the written, in the history of early missions. That it did so is evident from the declaration of Irenzus, that many barbarous tribes have salvation written in their heart, but without ink or paper.{ These barbarous tribes were not all beyond the bounds of the empire. Copies of the Holy Scriptures were at this time rare and costly, inaccessible therefore to the unlettered classes of society. Once admitted into the Church, the poorest could indeed hear the Scriptures read; but the truth first reached them in the form of animated narrative or fervent appeal. It is easy to conceive how many of the errors which became current in the stream of oral tradition may have been transmitted to the new converts, especially

Heres.,” III. p. 4.)

those of the lower classes, through the same medium which conveyed to them the grand truths of Christianity.

It was chiefly among the ignorant and the common people that the artifices of the magicians found dupes. We see from the romance of Apuleius how much credit the magicians had among the people. In opposition to their false miracles, the Church could show miracles which were true, and supernatural events such as had signalised the first days of missions were still repeated, though with less and less frequency. The clear and unanimous testimony of the Fathers of the third and fourth centuries, leaves no room to doubt the continuance of miraculous power in the Church of that period. Irenzus and Tertullian speak of miraculous_ cures effected by Christians, and even of persons being raised from the dead. ‘‘ That some cast out devils,” says Ireneus, ‘‘is a matter that cannot be called in question, since it is attested by the experience of those who have been thus delivered, and are now in the Church. Others have the gift of foretelling the future, see visions, and speak prophetic words; others effect cures by laying their hands on the sick.’* ‘‘ Often,” says the same Father, “‘the life of a man has been granted to the prayers of the faithful.” +

Tertullian relates that Septimus Severus was healed of a serious disease by a Christian, who, following the practical directions of James, had prayed over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the grateful emperor gave him a home in the palace to the end of his life.t Origen mentions miraculous cures

* Trenzeus, “ Contr. Heeres.,” II. p

57: t ‘ByapiaOy ¢ 6 dvOpuTog Taig ebyaic THY ayiwy. (nid Lisspiesi<) t Tertullian, “ Ad Scapulam,” c. iv.

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. I5 wrought in the Church of his time. He says: “ There are still among Christians, traces of that Holy Spirit who appeared in the form of a dove. They cast out devils, heal the sick, and, subject to the good pleasure of the Word, foresee the future.’ *

Thus the continuance of miracles in the Church of the first three centuries is guaranteed by the most authentic tradition. To those who admit the supernatural element in Christianity, the fact presents nothing abnormal. There was no deep gulf placed between the apostolic and following ages. The first era of the Church did not end with a sharp line of demarcation ; miracles did not cease with the last of the apostles. They were perpetuated for the very simple reason, that the circumstances which had called for them remained the same. They were designed to mark, in a visible manner, and by an impressive symbol, the extraordinary and supernatural character of Christianity ; they were specially appropriate to the period of the Church’s creation and formation, and had an important purpose yet to fulfil in the terrible struggle of the second and third centuries—that great crisis of the moral world, when all the powers of darkness seemed abroad. It is perfectly conceivable that the miraculous element may again appear in parallel seasons of convulsion and of final conflict between the kingdom

of evil and the kingdom of good.

There is, however, a notable diminution in the proportion of outward miracle or prodigy as the Church advances in years, and we have already marked its gradual decrease even in the apostolic age. The ideal of the Church’s life is not the predominance of the

— ® "BEdyovar Saipovac cal moddag idoerc éxtrehovat Kai dpiot epi pEeddA- ' évrwyv. (Origen, Delarue edit., I. p. 311., comp. pp. 321-392.)

supernatural, but the intimate and complete union of the human and the divine. The gradual cessation of miraculous power is recognised by the Fathers. Origen asserts that only.a few traces of the supernatural operation of the Divine Spirit remain. ‘‘ The signs of the Holy Ghost,” he says, ‘showed themselves from the commencement of the ministry of Christ; they were multiplied after His ascension, and subsequently diminished. Some vestiges of them still remain among men.”’* Notwithstanding this avowal, we are constrained to admit that Origen and his contemporaries exaggerated to themselves the number of miracles wrought in their day. They wrote in perfect good faith, but were misled, undoubtedly, by certain superstitious notions which blended with their noble faith. When, for example, they attribute a power of healing to the simple reading of the holy books, and the invocation of the name of Jesus, they lower miracle to the rank of magic, and become believers in incantations and cabalistic formularies.t

The miracles most often mentioned by the writers of the time are those wrought on demoniacs. Justin Martyr speaks of a great number of these unhappy beings, over whom all the heathen exorcists had had no power, and who were delivered through the invocation of the name of Christ.t Tertullian describes, with his vivid imagination, these scenes of exorcism. He says: ‘‘ Call before your tribunals a man known to be possessed ; any Christian will compel the spirit to confess honestly that he is a demon, even though he may have elsewhere falsely pretended to be a god. ee EN (Origen, I. p. 36.) Kai viv ir ixrn ioriv rap odtyae.

¢ Origen, I. p. 461. t Justin Martyr, “ Apol.,” I. p. 45.

BOOK I.—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 17

Bring, in the same manner, one in whom is supposed to be the spirit of a god, who, bending open-mouthed over the smoking altars, has breathed in the divinity. . . Be it the Virgin Ccelestis, goddess of the rain, or Esculapius, the inventor of medicine—if (since they dare not lie to a Christian), they fail to confess that they are demons, shed upon the spot the blood of that daring Christian.”* This bold supposition is evidently founded on positive facts, traces of which may be found in other writings of Tertullian.t After reading such passages, the conclusion is inevitable, that many superstitious notions about evil spirits were then accepted in the Church, which took up the current beliefs of that time, only modifying them in part by its own doctrines. The passage which we have quoted from Tertullian is con- -clusive on this point. He represents both pagans and Christians as agreed respecting the nature of the visitation, both treating it as a possession, and essaying with unequal success the cure of the demoniac. The phantoms called up by popular superstition, in a time of universal crisis, haunt the noblest spirits, and they cannot escape their influence. The Christians of that age unhesitatingly recognise as evil spirits all the false gods of paganism, and thus give credence to the fables of old Greco-Roman mythology. They unduly extend the doctrine of evil angels, and go far beyond the teaching of the sacred writings. We shall see to what a fanciful demonology they were led in their theology, by their deep conviction of the greatness of the conflict waged by them against the powers