From A D. 306.

to

.323.

Biography. employed the intercession of his wife, Constantia, the sister of the conqueror, to obtain a favourable hearing; to whom was given a solemn promise, sanctioned by an oath, that after surrendering Martinianus and relinquishing the Purple, Licinius himself should be permitted to pass the rest of his days in peace and security. The conditions were complied with; and the Emperor of the East, after descending from the Throne to the condition of private life, was sent to Thessalonica, the place chosen for his future residence, His death where he soon afterwards terminated his miserable at Thessa- existence by an ambiguous death. Zosimus hesitates not to assert, that Constantine ordered him to be strangled; a charge made by Eutropius and repeated by St. Jerome. The younger Licinius was doomed by the jealousy of the victor to undergo a similar fate,

lonica.

tinus.

although he had only completed his eleventh year, and Constanhad manifested no dispositions but such as were amiable and meritorious.*

The events now stated paved the way for the reunion of the Roman Empire, nearly forty years after the introduction of the new scheme of government by Diocletian, which admitted a plurality of Sovereigns and a corresponding distribution of territory. It was in A. D. 324 that this consummation was effected; and from this date Constantine is to be regarded as sole Emperor of the East and West, as possessing all the power which was bequeathed by Augustus and exercised by the most warlike of his successors.

*Euseb. in Vit. Const. Eutrop. lib. x. c. 6. Aurel. Victor

From A. D. 306.

to

323.

History. I. Introductory View of the Principal Sources from which the Knowledge of the IInd and IIIrd Centuries may be derived.

Importance

ject

THERE is no portion of Ecclesiastical History more of the sub- important than that which extends from the termination of the Ist, to the commencement of the IVth century. It was during this interval that the Church, no longer directed by the Apostles, and not as yet established by Civil authority, may be said to have sustained the most severe part of its conflict against the principles, the interests, and the passions, supported by the wealth, the power, and the learning, of the Gentile world.

quiry.

Leading The spectacle, which it presents, is on all sides fitted points of to arrest our attention. On the one hand, the situation of the Primitive Christians, their habits, their exertions, their sufferings; the nature and extent of their Literature, and the influence of early associations and opinions; the origin and progress of Heresies, and the silent inroads of internal corruption: on the other hand, the aspect of ancient Polytheism, the causes and circumstances of its opposition, the force of popular prejudice, the effects of Philosophic scepticism; the structure of the Roman Government, its line of policy with regard to Religion, and its efforts to overcome a strange impediment which suddenly crossed and embarrassed its movements; such are the prominent points which, even on a cursory view, cannot fail to awaken the interest of the Historical inquirer.

Sources of

But it is a subject of deep regret, that the loss of formation, necessary materials precludes the possibility of develop ing these points with the fulness and precision which their magnitude requires. Beset by various difficulties, the early Christians had little leisure to consign to writing the results of their experience. Their Works were but few, and of those few some are much imEls paired, others wholly lost. The most important Ecclestory siastical Historian, after the Sacred Writers, is Eusebius, ds, who wrote in the beginning of the IVth century. He declares at the very outset of his narrative, that he was entering on "a desert and untrodden road."* The scattered documents which he collected, are compared to distant lights, that serve but to disclose the track which the investigator might with safety pursue. And it is fortunate that Eusebius undertook the task, before

VOL. XI.

*Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 1.

Of the

Church in the IInd

and IIIrd Centuries.

even this faint glimmering had died away. Without his assistance, we should have remained in a great Christian measure in ignorance, not only of many events which occurred in the remote Ages of the Church, but of writers from whose Treatises, then extant, he derived his information. As he is nearly our first, so is he almost our only guide. Where his Work ends, the Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, begin.* Their researches are therefore confined to later periods, when the state and manners of the Christians had undergone a considerable change. This neglect of the Primitive times may perhaps have arisen from a feeling of veneration for the talents, and of confidence in the fidelity, of Eusebius. Yet, valuable as his collections must unquestionably be deemed, it is to be lamented that, while topics of inferior moment are largely detailed, many subjects, which deserved more ample notice, are but meagrely treated; and that to a want of ease and elegance in his style, he should sometimes have added a want of exactness in his account of facts, and of acuteness in his estimate of evidence. The instances of inaccuracy, which the skill and diligence of modern critics have detected, naturally induce a suspicion that there may still lurk misstatements, which, from the scantiness of remaining records, we are unable to discover. But there is one circumstance which, though some, perhaps, may consider it a defect, we are inclined to reckon as one of his merits. His History is for the most part a series of extracts.† He proposed to himself little more than to glean and bind together such passages as would form a sequence of Ecclesiastical Memoirs. method, it is true, is jejune and tedious. It is necessarily marked by inequality of language, and awkward. ness of manner. But the benefit drawn from it by the modern examiner, fully compensates for such disadvantages. As the fragments of each author are distinct, the credit due to his different relations varies in proportion to the degree of assent which his different authorities deserve. Except where he is obliged to translate, the sentiments of the original writers borrow no new colouring by passing into his narrative. And this advantage is the greater, as it would otherwise have been

This

The Christian Apolo gies.

History. no longer in our power to ascertain if their meaning had been faithfully expressed. With the exception of the Historical works of Eusebius, to which may be added a few detached pieces, such as the Book of the deaths of the Persecutors, ascribed to Lactantius; or succinct Treatises, such as the Histories of Sulpitius Severus, and Orosius; and lastly, the numerous, but often doubtful and unsatisfactory, Acts of Martyrs, our knowledge of the IId and IIId centuries must be chiefly drawn from indirect sources. Of these by far the most useful are the Apologies, presented to the Roman Rulers by eminent Christians, with a view to set forth the superiority of their Religion, and to deprecate the cruelties of their opponents. There are great advantages peculiar to this class of productions. For instance, the Apologists are obliged to advert to the objections and the calumnies of their enemies; they enable us, therefore, to discover the views of the opposite party, and thus lay open the causes to which the difficulties which attended their efforts are to be ascribed. They are, moreover, led to give some description of their habits and discipline, a subject which contemporary writers are most qualified to treat, but most liable to omit. At the same time, such Works are exposed to certain inconveniences. The reader is apt to regard them but as profiles, if we may so express ourselves, which, however correctly they may represent the side-face, convey but an inadequate idea of the entire contour and expression. Apologists, it is usually thought, are naturally disposed rather to select such circumstances as are calculated to produce a favourable impression, than to enlarge on the abuses which may have crept into the Society to which they belong. They may be honest advocates, but they are still advocates. A defence commonly bears this resemblance to a panegyric,-all that is mentioned in it may be true, but all that is true may not be mentioned. Such are the anticipations with which Apologetic works in general are opened. But the Christian Apologists assume a tone as open and manly, as devoid of subterfuges and sophisms, as full of earnestness and piety as any unprejudiced examiner can expect. Indeed, they sometimes state the arguments, however subtle, the reports, however revolting, of their adversaries, and that too in the very hour of danger, with far more minuteness, and far more force, than are usually found in controversial writings, even when published in times of security. That their manner is occasionally injudicious, cannot be denied; but this very absence of discretion frequently arises from that simplicity which is a stranger to fraud. A full consciousness of innocence is the pervading feature of their writings. Their greatest fault, in the eyes of the impartial Historian, is the precipitancy with which, in some few instances, they appeal to accounts, which, though current, required more cautious examination. It might, indeed, have been supposed that, as they addressed men whose means of information were necessarily great, and whose power was almost unlimited, they would be particularly guarded on all points, from a conviction that an erroneous assertion could be easily discovered, and, if discovered, would, however unimportant it might be, have at least a tendency to aggravate the evils of which they complained. Yet, it must be confessed, they seem not always to have sufficiently sifted reports in their defence of a cause, to the excel

Blondel, Des Sibylles, &c. p. 3. Daille, du Vrai Usage des Pères, p. 320, &c.

Of the Christian Church in the Ind and IIIrd

lence of which they were keenly alive. It is the part of a candid writer, to make full allowances for the harassing series of obstacles which often checked investigation in an Age when tyranny leaned hard upon the Christians; but it is due to Truth, to avail ourselves of the Centuries. rules of sound criticism in weighing the internal credibility of Historical narratives.

Works of the Fathers

Next in importance to the Apologies addressed to the Remaining Roman Rulers are, we think, the Defences of the Christian Religion, written in answer to the attacks of the Philosophic Gentiles. The remaining Works of the Fathers consist mostly of Treatises against the Heathens, the Jews, or Heretics; on the various Doctrines of the Church, on the different parts of its Discipline; Moral discourses and Commentaries on the Sacred Scriptures. In all these Works there is undoubtedly much Historical information; but it is scattered in a mass of knowledge so vast, so obscure, and frequently so little connected with the direct studies of the Historian, that the task of eliciting and combining every latent fact, and every incidental remark which may cast light on the early Ages of Christianity, is more perhaps than can be expected to be performed by any single individual.

Writers;

The notices of Christianity during the IId and IIId Pagan centuries found in Pagan Writers are, with a few valu- reasons of able exceptions, of no considerable importance. What their silence ever mention of it occurs in the History of Dion or contempt. Cassius is perhaps to be ascribed to his abridger Xiphilin, who lived as late as the XIth century. The Writers of the Augustan History have afforded us but little additional testimony. Of the eminent Philosophers who flourished during that period, Plutarch has been wholly silent on this point; Epictetus, Galen, Marcus Antoninus, and Lucian have left but a few passing sarcasms; and as the direct attacks of Celsus, Hierocles, and Porphyry are lost, the substance of their Works can only be gathered from the answers of their Christian opponents. The silence of some, and the contempt of others, are circumstances which ought to excite regret rather than surprise. The progress of infant Sects* is seldom considered as presenting those materials for brilliant detail and curious investigation which draw the attention of the Historian, or disturb the abstractions of the Philosopher. It is considered a debasement of their dignity to notice efforts which are expected to fall into the same state of obscurity and insignificance from which they are regarded as having originally sprung. Christianity was esteemed as one of the innumerable varieties of popular delusion, one of the many-coloured garbs with which Superstition, ever versatile, clothes its votaries. Raised, in their own imaginations, far above the influence of prejudice and passion, the Sages cast a transient glance of pity, but not of inquiry, on a race of supposed Enthusiasts, sectaries of a nation for which they entertained unqualified aversion.† And this neglect was increased as they observed that the early Christians were chiefly of humble origin and of inferior acquirements. Considering for the most part that all disquisitions on the nature and attributes of the Deity§ were perplexed with doubts

*See Bp. Watson's Apology for Christianity, p. 129.

The contempt which the Romans entertained against the Jews,
Cic. pro L. Flac. § 28; Hor. Sat. lib. i. s. v. s. ix.; Pers. Sat. v.z
and the prevalent ignorance respecting their History, are evident from
Tacit. Hist. lib. v.; Martial, lib. iv. ep. 4; lib. ii. ep. 95; Juvenal,
Sat. iii. vi. xiv.; Plut. Sympos. &c.

Tertull. Apol. c. 48. Arnob. Disput, adv. Gent, lib. i. p. 15, &c.
See the instances collected by Grotius, Proleg. ad Stob. &c.

History, and difficulties, not to be unravelled by the utmost subtilty of which the human intellect is susceptible, their indignation was wound up to the highest degree, when uneducated men seized with confidence on subjects which had for ages eluded the grasp of Philosophy itself. The assent of the multitude, far from being courted, was despised by all classes of the learned.† An unquenchable pride glared through the veil of their affected humility.‡ This feeling must also have acquired force from the fact, that the scheme of Christianity was presented rather in a popular form, than with systematic nicety.§ In short, it was long before they could bring their minds to submit to the authority of a Religion, which, preaching virtues never urged in the eulogies of Poets, and doctrines never heard in the Schools of Philosophy, opened its arms to receive the weak and ignorant with no less tenderness than the wise and powerful. It is not surprising, therefore, if we find but little mention of Christianity in Writers who examined it at first not at all, and afterwards, superficially.

Design of

Such are, we think, the principal channels from which the follow the knowledge of the IId and IIId centuries may ing chapters, be drawn. In presenting to our readers the result of our inquiries, it is not our object to give circumstantial descriptions, nor to enter into minute discussions; such a plan would not be consistent with the nature of the present work. For accounts so extensive, the reader, who cannot have recourse to the fountain heads, must consult and compare large and elaborate collections: such as those of the Centuriators of Magdeburgh, of Baronius, Pagi, Tillemont, Fleury, Basnage, and other Writers, who have dilated on almost every point connected with the subject. Although a wish to supply deficiencies, where we believe them to exist, may have induced us to dwell upon some particular points, our general desire is rather to trace than to fill up the outline, rather to direct to the sources than to exhaust the information which they contain.

Of the Christian Church in the IInd

Unable to procure correct information, and anxious to admit the truth of statements deemed favourable to their cause, the early Christians seem often to have spoken in a declamatory tone. But their exaggeration and IIIrd arose not from a spirit of deceit. They knew that the Centuries. successors of the Apostles exerted themselves with indefatigable zeal in proclaiming the Gospel, and that many had distributed their property to the poor, in order that, unshackled by worldly considerations, they might carry the Faith to the most distant nations ;† they saw, moreover, the work of conversion advancing rapidly under their own eyes, and they heard of its progress in other Countries from a diversity of sources; hence they stopped not to investigate the origin and to estimate the probability of reports, which, uncontradicted by surrounding appearances, were to them a theme of exultation in their controversial writings, and of encouragement under their severest misfortunes.

Tertullian exclaims, "We are but of yesterday, yet we have filled your Empire,—your cities, your islands, your castles, your Corporate towns, your assemblies, your very camps, your Tribes, your Companies, your Palace, your Senate, your Forum: your Temples alone are left to you." Language, evidently rhetorical, ought not to be examined by the rules of literal interpretation. The Apologist probably meant but to convey the same idea which the Historian would have expressed by the simple assertion, that the Christians were extremely numerous in places both far and near, in situations both Civil and military. At the same time, it must be allowed by any impartial inquirer, that the expressions of Tertullian, though perhaps too strong, could not have been hazarded in an address to persons who had ample opportunities of discovering the truth, had they not been warranted to a certain extent at least, by the apparent state of the place in which they were written. A description, inconsistent with the aspect of things, would have defeated the very purpose for which it was made.

The vast and commodious roads which intersected

Consequences.

Diffusion of Of the extensive diffusion of Christianity in the IId Christianity. century, the repeated declarations of the Fathers, confirmed by Historical research, afford unequivocal proof. But the various details of this great Moral revolution, the exact periods, modes, instruments, and circumstances of its progress, cannot, in the absence of authentic documents, be developed with accuracy and precision. Although the existence of Christians in the heart of remote and barbarous Countries is sufficiently attested, the names of the disciples who first penetrated into those obscure regions, and the successive steps by which they proceeded to conciliate, to enlighten, and to humanize their rude inhabitants, are almost utterly unknown. Instead of distinct and circumstantial description, the reader will find for the most part little but vague assertion* in ancient, and bold conjecture in modern Writers.

Min. Fel. c. 5.

+ Senec. Ep. xxix. &c.

Diog. Laert. lib. ii. c. 36, &c.

Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. v. c 1, &c.

Much valuable information may also be found in Mosheim's large work, De Rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum Commentari. See likewise J. le Clerc, Historia Ecclesiastica duorum primorum sæculorum è veteribus monumentis deprompta.

* E. g. Justin Martyr asserts, "there is no race of men, whether

Countries under one Government; the consequent spread of civilisation, and the partial adoption of the Latin language in every district: these were advantages which facilitated the propagation of the Gospel in Countries subject to the Cæsars. The absence of these circumstances in remote wilds must be deemed no inconsiderable bar. May we not also reckon among the obstacles to the conversion of the nations of Northern Europe,§ the influence, not yet perhaps destroyed, of the ancient Bardic system; a system which had inculcated the doctrine of an immortality, corresponding with their habits and

Barbarians or Greeks, or by whatever appellation they may be designated, whether they wander in waggons or dwell in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered up to the Father and Creator of all things, in the name of the crucified Jesus." (Dialog. cum Tryphon, p. 341.) Comp. Iren. Adv. Hær. lib. i. c. 11; Arnob adv. Gent. lib. ii. p. 50; Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. v. c. 13. + Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 36.

Apolog. c. 37. Comp. ad Scapul. c. 5; adv. Judæos. c. 7. On the testimony of Tertullian, see Mosheim, de Reb. Christ, ante Const. M. p. 204; Bishop Kaye, Lectures on Tertullian, p. 93.

§ It would, we think, be an interesting theme to explain the fact, that the diffusion of Christianity among the Tribes of the North was neither so rapid in its progress nor so lasting in its effects as in the more refined portions of the globe, particularly as those circumstances, which Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, lib. xxv. c. 2, 3) considers as most favourable to conversion, may be supposed in this case to have existed.

History. wishes, and productive of an enthusiastic devotion far beyond the powers of the Grecian and Roman Mythologies to excite.

Mode by which Christianity was diffused.

In Britain, the Christian Church appears to have been small and humble.* In Transalpine Gaul, which was converted to the Faith at a later period than other Countries,† the progress of Christianity was comparatively slow; since in the IIIrd century there were but a few Churches, raised by the devotion of an inconsiderable number of Christians, and under the Emperor Decius it was found necessary to send thither seven Missionaries from Rome.§ In Germany, the early state of Christianity is involved in obscurity; it is probable however that the persons who first diffused the knowledge of the Gospel in Gaul, were instrumental in extending its blessings to the contiguous Countries. But a very different scene presents itself as we turn our view to the regions of the East and of the South. Even beyond the Euphrates, Edessa || was the seat of Christians; and from that river to the shores of Asia Minor, throughout the whole Country, the voice of Revelation had gone forth. In Pontus and Bithynia, in Greece, Thrace and Macedonia, in Rome, at Carthage, in Egypt, the number of Christians was unquestionably great. In fact, there was probably no City of much extent in the Roman Empire, in which some portion of the population had not been converted to Christianity.

In considering this wide diffusion of Christianity, we are naturally led to inquire into the peculiar means by which it was effected. That it is to be ascribed to the directing Providence which vouchsafed it to man, no sincere believer will deny. But as the instruments employed, and the feelings addressed, were human, it is not inconsistent, with a full conviction of Divine superintendence, to examine in what manner those instruments acted, and those feelings were affected. With the superficial, the question seems to be resolved by a mere reference, grounded on experience, to the effects of novelty, and to the influence which the hopes and fears of futurity exert on the conduct of man. But, although experience has certainly proved that the love of novelty is not destitute of power, it has also taught us that the force of ancient habits and long cherished opinions retains a far stronger hold on the mind; though it has shown that even the indistinct hopes and fears connected with the idea of the invisible world, occasionally give a sudden impulse to our actions, it has also assured us, that the desire of present ease, and still more the dread of instant pain, when counterbalanced by no motives of immediate interest or ambition, will operate with a degree of resistance which a fixed belief, and an entire consciousness of rectitude can alone surmount. To attribute, therefore, the rapid diffusion of a Religion, essentially hostile to the systems, establishments, customs, manners, and passions of the Gentile world, to the vague and arbitrary action of various irregular humours, is to take at least a very unphilosophical view of the subject.

Respecting the application for Christian teachers, which, according to Bede, Lucius, a King of Britain, made to Eleutherus, Bishop of Rome, in the reign of M. Antoninus, see the observations of Mosheim, (de Reb. Christ. p. 215.)

Sulpit. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. c. 32.
Ruinart. Act. Mart. Sincer. p. 130.
Greg. Turon. Hist. Franc, lib. i. c. 28.

Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 13.

Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. c. 15.

Of the

Church in the Ilud and IIIrd

If we omit the exercise of Miraculous powers, the existence of which after the Apostolical Ages is dis- Christian puted, (chiefly because the Fathers of the IInd and IIIrd centuries speak of it only in general language, an instance being seldom specified, and when specified Centuries. usually relating to the expulsion of Dæmons,* or to the healing of diseases, in which it is commonly admitted there is more room for mistake than in any other class of Miracles,) we must, doubtless, consider as among the chief causes which, under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, contributed to the conversion of the Heathen, the disgust which Paganism, notwithstanding its splendour, must often have left on the reflecting mind; the disrepute into which Divination and Oracles had fallen; the contrariety and unsatisfactoriness of the systems of Philosophy; the zeal, the fortitude, the affection, the hospitality, the general virtues of the Christians, so peculiar and so remarkable; the union of their well-organized Religious community; the unwearied efforts of their preachers; the circulation of Apologies, pious works, and copies of the Sacred Scripture, (soon, in all probability, translated into Latin,) by which the evidences and the transcendent excellence of Revealed Religion were gradually discovered and appreciated.

It is unfortunate, however, that the ancient converts have not detailed with more minuteness the accidental circumstances which first arrested their attention, and the progress of their thoughts from increasing respect to final conviction. The unparalleled patience of the Christians under sufferings; the improbability that men addicted to vice should submit to the loss of all that is desirable, and deliver themselves voluntarily to the executioner; such was the first circumstance which awakened the curiosity of the philosophic Justin; such the first reasoning which led him to embrace a Religion, of which he himself became subsequently a Martyr.†

But it is not so much the method by which Chris- Effects of tianity was spread, nor the numerical state of the early the conver Proselytes, which demands our consideration, as the son of the Gentiles. mental effects which Conversion produced. The change of conduct, as described by the early Christians, is unparalleled in the History of Man: "We," exclaims Justin Martyr, "who formerly rejoiced in licentiousness, now embrace discretion and chastity: we, who resorted to magical arts, now devote ourselves to the unbegotten God, the God of goodness; we, who set our affections upon wealth and possessions, now bring to the common stock all our property, and share it with the indigent; we, who, owing to diversity of customs, would not partake of the same hearth with those of a different race, now, since the appearance of Christ, live together, and pray for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those who unjustly hate us, that by leading a life conformed to the excellent precepts of Christianity, they may be filled with the good hope of obtaining the same happiness with ourselves from that God, who is Lord above all things." In an Age of libertinism, the

The expulsion of Dæmons is considered by the Fathers as a great cause of the conversion of the Gentiles. Iren. tom. ii. c. 57. Tertull. Apol. c. 23. Orig. c. Cels. lib. ii. p. 20. Lactant. lib. v. c. 27, &c. That there was a strong prejudice in the minds of the learned against this kind of demonstration, may be inferred from Ulpian, lib. viii. de Tribunal.; in Digest. lib. 50. tit. 13. leg. i.; and Marcus Antoninus in Med. p. 1.

Apol. ii. c. 12.

Apol. i. c. 14. Comp. Orig. c. Cels. lib. iii.; Lactant. Div. Inst. lib. iii. c. 26.