First, that the learned might think as they would, and dispute as much as they thought fit, but that they ought to conform to the religion of their country, and keep it up, as it was delivered to them by their ancestors;

S

Secondly, that God did not require

that all nations should be of the fame religion, but was well pleased with the variety of worship which obtained in different places, according to the different notions which men had of the divine nature;

Thirdly, which feems to be a confequence of the two opinions before mentioned, that religion or piety towards the

s Socrates Hift. Eccl. iv. 32. Themift. Orat. 7. ad Valent. Symmach. apud Prudent. ii. 773.

* Seneca fays, concerning the religion of his country: Quæ omnia fapiens fervabit, tanquam legibus juffa, non taxquam Diis grata. And-Omnem iftam ignobilem Deorum turbam, quam longo avo, longa fuperftitio congeffit, fic adorabimus, ut meminerimus cultum ejus magis ad morem, quam ad rem pertinere. Apud Auguftin. de Civ. Dei. VI. 10.

Hortabaris me] ut-opiniones, quas a majoribus accepimus de Diis immortalibus, facra, cerimonias, religionefque defenderem. Ego vero eas defendam femper, femperque defendi; nec me ex ea opinione, quam a majoribus accepi de cultu Deorum immortalium, ullius unquam oratio aut docti aut indocti movebit, &c. Cotta, apud Cicer. de Nat. Deor. III. 2.

Gods,

Gods, as it is distinguished from morality, was a thing of small moment in itself, and to be obferved for reafons of ftate and for political purposes.

น

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They had no notion of refufing to comply with established rites under pretence of confcience. They accounted Christians " inexcufably obftinate and perverse when they would not facrifice to idols, and no better than fools and madmen, when they would fuffer death rather than fubmit to the command of the Magistrate.

These were the perfons who defpifed and ridiculed the first Christians, who refifted the Gospel during its progress, who wrote against it, and were the, laft defenders of Paganism, when under the Chriftian Emperors it was in a very declining condition.

In the heathen world were also many thousands who lived by the fuperftition of mankind, and who therefore would eagerly oppose a new doctrine, which, if it prevailed, would put an end to their gain;

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But fee Grotius de Jure B. II. xx, 44.

Neque enim dubitabam, qualecunque effet quod faterentur, pervicaciam certe et inflexibilem obftinationem debere puniri. Plin. Epift. x. 97.

and though, being illiterate, they could not write and dispute for Paganism, as the philofophers did, yet they could lye * in behalf of it, and denounce the wrath of the Gods, and ftir up the populace against the Christians.

And accordingly, from time to time, oracles were given out, either real or pretended, either by evil fpirits, or by evil men, complaining of the Chriftians, as of enemies to the Gods, and exciting the Gentiles against them.

But the most dangerous enemies to Christianity were Magiftrates, Princes, Roman Emperors. When these were

fuperftitious, or capricious and cruel, or when they thought it prudent to oppose any change in religion, left it fhould hurt the ftate, the Chriftians were exposed to the fury of merciless tyrants. Of these

x

* Harufpices has fabulas, conjectores, arioli, vates, et nunquam non vani concinnavere fanatici; qui ne fuæ artes intereant, ac ne ftipes exiguas confultoribus excutiant jam raris, fi quando vos velle rem venire in invidiam compererunt, negliguntur Dii, clamitant, &c. Arnobius, L. I. p. 13,

y Lamprid. Alexand. 43. p. 993. in Hift. Aug. Script, Eufeb. Vit. Conft. II. 50, 51. Sozomen. V. 19. Chryfoft. Homil. de Babyla.

Emperors

2

Emperors fome were remarkable for all wickedness; they had a will to do any mischief, and nothing to hinder them from doing as they would. They affumed to themselves divine honours, and hated every thing that looked like goodness, courage and liberty. Under fome of these

z Dedimus profecto grande patientiæ documentum, et ficut vetus ætas vidit quid ultimum in libertate effet, ita nos quid in fervitute, ademto per inquifitiones et loquendi audiendique commercio. Memoriam quoque ipfam cum voce perdidiffemus, fi tam in noftra poteftate effet oblivifci quam tacere. Tacitus Vit. Jul. Agric. 2.

a Auguftus cuncta difcordiis civilibus feffa, nomine Principis, fub imperium accepit. Tacitus, Ann. I. 1. Lege antiqua, quæ Regia nuncupabatur, omne jus omnifque poteftas populi Romani in Imperatoriam tranflata funt poteftatem. Præfat. prima Digeft. ad Trib. The fame is often repeated in the Inftitutions, the Digefts, and the Code. The Emperors λέλυνται τῶν νόμων, fays Dio LIII. Licet legibus foluti fimus, (fay Severus and Antoninus) attamen legibus vivimus. Inftit. Lib. II. Tit. xvii. Imperatori et ipfas Deus leges fubjecit. Novell. cv. 2. I speak not of the power which the Emperors ought to have had, but of the power which they claimed, ufurped, and exercised. See Gerard Noodt Orat. in his Oper. Var. and Obferv. Lib. I. c. 3. & 4. Le Clerc Bibl. Choif. vol. xvii. p. 396. Gravina, Orig. Jur. Civ. L. III. Huber. Differt. L. II. 1. and particulary Campianus de Officio, &c. Magiftratuum Romanorum. The Senate retained fome authority, or fomething like it, till Leo abolished all Senatus-confulta. Conftit. 78. See also the Notes on Digeft. I. ix. 1.

Emperors the Christians were treated with great inhumanity and cruelty; and, which feems ftrange, they met with ill ufage under fome who had feveral good qualities, and from whom better things might have been expected, as Trajan, Titus Antoninus, and Marcus Aurelius; but the reasons for it seem to have been partly these :

b

vir

1. Those Emperors who had many tues, yet had their prejudices, or their fuperftition, and Christianity had been mifrepresented to them; nor are any persons more liable than princes to receive bad impreffions and falfe accounts, and to have the truth concealed from them.

b Aliud erat quod maxime gentiles in Chriftianos commovebat, quod hi fcilicet pro bono Reipublicæ ftatu, aut Imperatorum, vel patriæ falute offerri facrificia improbarent, iifque nec adeffe, nec etiam five per publicos, five per privatos Imperatorum genios jurare acquiefcerent. Ad hæc, Chriftiani a feftis folemnibus, ludis publicis, aliifque ejufmodi fpectaculis quæ pro victoriis adverfus hoftes partis, aut Imperatorum natalitiis fieri confueverant, fefe abhorrere teftabantur. Hinc mirum non eft, fi Imperatores, etiam qui religiofiores et mitiffimi habiti funt, Chriftianos penitus extirpare conati fuerint, quos nempe non religioni folum fuæ, fed etiam propriæ faluti adverfari exiftimabant. Ruinart. Præf. in Act. Martyr.

The