CHURCH.

ration; especially as he had himself gone to Jerusalem to sacrifice in the temple, had circumcised his disciple Timothy, and strictly complied with the Jewish rites, for which very compliance he now re

that this quarrel between Paul and Cephas was a pretended one. He says, in his first homily (vol. iii.), that they acted like two advocates, who work themselves up to an appearance of great zeal and exasperation against each other, to gain

not wish," says the letter, "to assume the lofty title of martyrs, in consequence of certain tribulations; after the example of Jesus Christ, who, being in the likeness of God, did not assume the quality of being equal to God." Origen, also, inproached Cephas. St. Jerome imagines his commentary on John, says-"The greatness of Jesus shines out more splendidly, in consequence of his self-humilia- { tion, than if he had assumed equality with God." In fact, the opposite interpretation would be a solecism. What sense would there be in this exhortation-credit with their respective clients. He "Think others superior to yourselves; imitate Jesus, who did not think it an assumption to be equal to God?" It would be an obvious contradiction; it would be putting an example of full pretension for an example of modesty: it would be an offence against logic.

Thus did the wisdom of the apostles establish the rising church. That wisdom did not change its character in consequence of the dispute which took place between the apostles Peter, James, and John, on one side, and Paul on the other. This contest occurred at Antioch. The apostle Peter-formerly Cephas, or Simon Barjonas-ate with the converted gentiles, and among them did not observe the ceremonies of the law and the distinction of meats. He and Barnabas, and the other disciples, ate indifferently of pork, of animals which had been strangled, or which had cloven feet, or which did not chew the cud; but many Jewish Christians having arrived, St. Peter joined with them in abstinence from forbidden meats, and in the ceremonies of the Mosaic law.

This conduct appeared very prudent: he wished to avoid giving offence to the Jewish Christians, his companions; but St. Paul attacked him on the subject with considerable severity. "I withstood him," { says he, "to his face, because he was blameable." (Gal. chap. ii.)

This quarrel appears the most extraordinary on the part of St. Paul. Having been at first a persecutor, he might have been expected to have acted with mode

says that Peter (Cephas), being appointed
Gentiles, they assumed the appearance of
to preach to the Jews, and Paul to the
quarrelling-Paul to gain the Gentiles,
and Peter to gain the Jews. But St.
Augustine is by no means of the same
epistle to Jerome, "that so great a man
opinion. "I grieve," says he, in his
should be the patron of a lie,"-(patro-
num mendacii.)

St. Augustine ought not to diminish our
This dispute between St. Jerome and
veneration for them, and still less for St.
Paul and St. Peter.

tined for the Jews, who were after their
As to what remains, if Peter was des-
conversion likely to judaise, and Paul for
strangers, it appears probable that Peter
never went to Rome. The Acts of the
Apostles makes no mention of Peter's
journey to Italy.

sixtieth year of our era that Christians be-
However that may be, it was about the
gan to separate from the Jewish commu-
nion; and it was this which drew upon
them so many quarrels and persecutions
Greece, Egypt, and Asia. They were
from the various synagogues of Rome,
accused of impiety and atheism by their
Jewish brethren, who excommunicated
them in their synagogues three times every
Sabbath-day. But in the midst of their
persecutions God always supported them.
and the separation between Jews
By degrees many churches were formed,
Christians was complete before the close
of the first century. This separation was
and
unknown by the Roman government

CHURCH.

287

Neither the senate nor the emperors of elders of the society, presbyteroi, priests, Rome interested themselves in those diaconoi, servants or deacons ; piston, bequarrels of a small flock of mankind, lievers, the initiated-hat is, the bapwhich God had hitherto guided in obscu- tised, who participated in the suppers of rity, and which he exalted by insensible the agapæ, or love-feasts; the catechumens, who were awaiting baptism; and the gradations. Christianity became established in energumens, who awaited their being exorGreece and at Alexandria. The Chris-cised of demons. In these five orders, no tians had there to contend with a new set of Jews, who, in consequence of intercourse with the Greeks, had become philosophers. This was the sect of gnosis, or gnostics. Among them were some of All the new converts to Christianity. these sects, at that time, enjoyed complete liberty to dogmatise, discourse, and write, whenever the Jewish courtiers, settled at Rome and Alexandria, did not bring any charge against them before the magistrates. But, under Domitian, Christianity began to give some umbrage to the government. The zeal of some Christians, which was not according to knowledge, did not prevent the church from making that progress That which most distinguished the which God destined from the beginning. The Christians, at first, celebrated their Christians, and which has continued mysteries in sequestered houses, and in nearly to our own times, was the power caves, and during the night. Hence, ac- of expelling devils with the sign of the cording to Minutius Felix, the title given cross. Origen, in his treatise against them of lucifugaces. Philo calls them { Celsus, declares, (at No. 133,) that AnGesséens. The names most frequently tinous, who had been deified by the emapplied to them by the heathens, during peror Adrian, performed miracles in Egypt, by the power of charms and mathe first four centuries, were "Galileans,'

one had garments different from the others, no one was bound to celibacy: witness Tertullian's book, dedicated to his wife, and witness also the example of the apostles. No paintings or sculptures were to be found in their assemblies, during the first two centuries; no altars; and, most certainly, no tapers, incense, and lustral water. The Christians carefully concealed their books from the Gentiles: they entrusted them only to the initiated. Even the catechumens were not permitted to recite the Lord's Prayer.

Of the power of expelling Devils, given

to the Church.

and "Nazarenes;" but that of "Chris-gic; but he says that the devils came tians" has prevailed above all the others. out of the bodies of the possessed on the Neither the hierarchy, nor the services mere utterance of the name of Jesus. of the church, were established all at once the apostolic times were different from those which followed

The mass now celebrated at matins, was the supper performed in the evening: these usages changed in proportion as the church strengthened. A more numerous society required more regulations, and the prudence of the pastors accommodated itself to times and places.

St. Jerome and Eusebius relate, that when the churches received a regular form, five different orders might be soon perceived to exist in them:-superintendents, tpiscopoi, whence originate the bishops

Tertullian goes farther; and from the recesses of Africa, where he resided, he says, in his Apology (chap. xxiii.)—“ It your gods do not confess themselves to be devils, in the presence of a true Christian, we give you full liberty to shed that Christian's blood." Can any demon stration be possibly clearer?

of

In fact, Jesus Christ sent out his apostles to expel demons. The Jews, likepower wise, in his time, had the expelling them; for, when Jesus had delivered some possessed persons, and sent the devils into the bodies of a very numerous herd of swine, and had per

formed many other similar cures, the Pharisees said "He expels devils through the power of Belzebub." Jesus replied " By whom do your sons expel them ?" It is incontestible that the Jews boasted of this power. They had exorcists and exorcisms. They invoked the name of God, of Jacob, and of Abraham. They put consecrated herbs into the nostrils of the demoniacs. (Josephus relates a part of these ceremonies.) This power over devils, which the Jews have lost, was transferred to the Christians, who seem likewise to have lost it in their turn.

free exercise of their religion, as is the case at Rome at the present day. All the different kinds of worship scattered over the empire were tolerated, although the senate did not adopt them.

But the Christians, declaring themselves enemies to every other worship than their own, and more especially so to that of the empire, were often exposed to these cruel trials.

One of the first and most distinguished martyrs was Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, who was condemned by the Emperor Trajan himself, at that time in Asia, and sent to Rome by his orders, to be exposed to wild beasts, at a time when

Rome. It is not precisely known what charges were alleged against him before that emperor, otherwise so renowned for his clemency. St. Ignatius must, necessarily, have had violent enemies. Whatever were the particulars of the case, the history of his martyrdom relates that the name of Jesus Christ was found engraved on his heart in letters of gold; and from this circumstance it was that Christians, in some places, assumed the name of Theophores, which Ignatius had given himself.

The power of expelling demons comprehended that of destroying the opera-other Christians were not persecuted at tions of magic; for magic has been always prevalent in every nation. All the fathers of the church bear testimony to magic. Saint Justin, in his Apology (book iii.) acknowledges that the souls of the dead are frequently evoked, and thence draws an argument in favour of the immortality of the soul. Lactantius, in the seventh book of his Divine Institutions, says — "that if any one ventured to deny the existence of souls after death, the magician would convince him of it by making them appear." { Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian the bishop, all affirm the same. It is true that, at present, all is changed, and that there are now no more magicians than there are demoniacs. But God has the sovereign power of admonishing mankind by prodigies at some particular seasons, and of discontinuing those prodigies at others.

Of the Martyrs of the Church. When Christians became somewhat numerous, and many arrayed themselves against the worship established in the Roman empire, the magistrates began to exercise severity against them, and the people more particularly persecuted them. The Jews, who possessed particular privileges, and who confined themselves to their synagogues, were not persecuted. They were permitted the

A letter of his has been preserved, in which he entreats the bishops and Christians to make no opposition to his mar{tyrdom, whether at the time they might be strong enough to effect his deliverance, or whether any among them might have influence enough to obtain his pardon. Another remarkable circumstance is, that when he was brought to Rome, the Christians of that capital went to visit him; which would clearly prove that the individual was punished, and not the sect.

The persecutions were not continued. Origen, in his third book against Celsus, says-" The Christians who have suf fered death on account of their religion, may easily be numbered, for there were only a few of them, and merely at intervals."

God was so mindful of his church

that notwithstanding its enemies, he so ordered circumstances that it held five councils in the first century, sixteen in the second, and thirty in the third; that is, including both secret and tolerated ones. Those assemblies were sometimes forbidden, when the weak prudence of the magistrates feared that they might become tumultuous. But few genuine documents of the proceedings before the proconsuls and prætors, who condemned the Christians to death, have been delivered down to us. Such would be the only authorities which would enable us to ascertain the charges brought against them, and the punishments they suffered.

banishment. As to what remains, think not to hold your assemblies there, nor to offer up your prayers in what you call } cemeteries. This is possitively forbidden. I will allow it to none."

Nothing bears a stronger impress of truth than this document. We see from it, that there were times when assemblies were prohibited. Thus the Calvinists were forbidden to assemble in France. Sometimes, ministers or preachers, who held assemblies in violation of the laws, have suffered even by the altar and the rack: and since 1745, six have been executed on the gallows. Thus, in England and Ireland, Roman Catholics are forbidden to hold assemblies; and, on certain occasions, the delinquents have suf

Notwithstanding these prohibitions de

many of the emperors with indulgence towards the Christians. Even Dioclesian, whom the ignorant consider as a persecutor-Dioclesian, the first year of whose reign is still regarded as constituting the commencement of the era of martyrdom, was, for more than eighteen years, the declared protector of Christianity, and many Christians held offices of high consequence about his person. He even married a Christian; and, in Nicomedia, the place of his residence, he permitted a splendid church to be erected opposite his palace.

We have a fragment of Dionysius of Alexandria, in which he gives the follow-fered death. ing extract of a register, or of records, of a proconsul of Egypt, under the Empe-clared by the Roman laws, God inspired ror Valerian: "Dionysius, Faustus Maximus, Marcellus, and Cheremon, having been admitted to the audience, the prefect Emilian thus addressed them: "You are sufficiently informed, through the conferences which I have had with you, and all that I have written to you, of the good-will which our princes have entertained towards you. I wish thus to repeat it to you once again. They make the continuance of your safety to depend upon yourselves, and place your destiny in your own hands. They require of you only one thing, which reason demands of every reasonable person, namely, that you adore the gods who protect their empire, and abandon that different worship, so contrary to sense and nature." Dionysius replied, "All have not the same gods; and all adore those whom they think to be the true ones."

The prefect Emilian replied: "I see clearly that you ungratefully abuse the goodness which the emperors have shown you. This being the case, you shall no longer remain in this city; and I now order you to be conveyed to Cephro, in the heart of Lybia. Agreeably to the command I have received from our emperor, that shall be the place of your

The Cæsar Galerius having unfortunately taken up a prejudice against the Christians, of whom he thought he had reason to complain, influenced Dioclesian to destroy the cathedral of Nicomedia. One of the Christians, with more zeal than prudence, tore the edict of the emperor to pieces; and hence arose that famous persecution, in the course of which more than two hundred persons were executed in the Roman empire, without reckoning those whom the rage of the common people, always fanatical and always cruel, destroyed without even the form of law.

So great has been the number of ac

tual martyrs, that we ought to be careful how we shake the truth of the history of those genuine confessors of our holy religion, by a dangerous mixture of fables and of false martyrs.

formed in the Old and New Testament (which no one can ever doubt) as not to have associated with them relations so suspicious, and so calculated to give offence to weak minds.

The

The Benedictine Prior (Dom) Ruinart, This last persecution did not extend for example, a man otherwise as well through the empire. There was at that informed as he was respectable and de-time some Christianity in England, vout, should have selected his genuine which was soon eclipsed, to re-appear records, his "Actes sinceres," with more afterwards under the Saxon kings. discretion. It is not sufficient that a southern districts of Gaul and Spain manuscript, whether taken from the Ab- { abounded with Christians. The Cæsar bey of St. Benoit on the Loire, or from Constantius Chlorus afforded them great a convent of Celestins at Paris, corres-protection in all his provinces. He had ponds with a manuscript of the Feuillans, a concubine who was a Christian, and to show that the record is authentic; the who was the mother of Constantine, record should possess a suitable anti-known under the name of St. Helena; quity; should have been evidently written by contemporaries; and, moreover, should bear all the characters of truth.

for no marriage was ever proved to have
taken place between them: he even di-
vorced her in the year 292, when he mar-
ried the daughter of Maximilian Hercules;
but she had preserved great ascendancy
over his mind, and had inspired him
with a great attachment to our holy re-
ligion.

Of the Establishment of the Church under
Constantine.

Thus did divine Providence prepare the triumph of its church, by ways apparently conformable to human causes and events.

He might have dispensed with relating the adventure of young Romanus, which occurred in 303. This young Romanus had obtained the pardon of Dioclesian, at Antioch. However, Ruinart states, that the judge Asclepiades condemned him to be burnt. The Jews, who were present at the spectacle, derided the young saint and reproached the Christians, that their God, who had delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the furnace, left them to be burnt; that immediately, although the weather Constantius Chlorus died in 306, at had been as calm as possible, a tremen-York, in England, at a time when the dous storm arose and extinguished the children he had by the daughter of a flames; that the judge then ordered Cæsar were of tender age, and incapable young Romanus's tongue to be cut out; of making pretensions to the empire. that the principal surgeon of the emperor, Constantine boldly got himself elected at being present, eagerly acted the part of York, by five or six thousand soldiers, executioner, and cut off the tongue at the the greater part of whom were French root; that instantly the young man, who, and English. There was no probability before, had an impediment in his speech, that this election, effected without the spoke with perfect freedom; that the consent of Rome, of the senate and the emperor was astonished that any one armies, could stand; but God gave him could speak so well without a tongue; the victory over Maxentius, who had and that the surgeon, to repeat the ex-been elected at Rome, and delivered him periment, directly cut out the tongue of some by-stander, who died on the spot. Eusebius, from whom the Benedictine Ruinart drew his narrative, should have So far respected the real miracles per

at last from all his colleagues. It is not to be dissembled, that he at first rendered himself unworthy of the favours of heaven, by murdering all his relations, and at length even his own wife and son.